(Bniuc^ountii
West Craven Highlishts
Vrit’s From Atoftfi Thv ItattKs OfThv \vusv ipfl^
HATCNM rewSRMVn
VOLUME 12 NO. 7
FEBRUARY 16, 1989
VANCEBORO, NORTH CAROLINA
PHONE 244-0780 OR 946-2144
(UPSP 412-110)
2S CENTS
SIX PACES
Russian Journalist. N.C. Students Have ‘^Summit’
Br BETIY CRAY
Slwrfal lo Ihc
We»l Craven HigMighU
aiasnost, the new spirit of
openness in the USSR, came
alive Friday in eastern North
Carolina.
Students fYom Betsy Hodges'
third-grade class at John Cotton
Tay';oe School had an impromp-
liisocial studies lesson fYom a
news editor fiom Moscow.
Ms. Hodges' pupils were on a
routine tour of the West Craven
Highlights' office in Washington
and the Washington Daily News
oflice.
The Soviet newsman, Alexan
der Podakin, was visiting
Washington with Hal Sharpe,
publisher of the The Graphic of
Nashville, N.C., as part of a
National Newspaper Association
exchange program.
The two groups crossed paths
adjacent to the Highlights' office
next to the newsroom of the Dai
ly News and a curious exchange
of questions and answers fol
lowed.
“How many languages do you
speak?" asked one child.
“Say something in Russian!"
“How do you write?”
The entranced group of eight-
and nine-year olds asked ques
tions, and Podakin obligingly
answered.
Podakin arrived in tbe state
Sunday from Moscow, where he
works as an editor and writer for
the Novasti news agency. His
visit is the second part of an ex
change that took Sharpe to Kras
nodar in the USSR last fall.
Podakin, a member of the
Communist Party who served as
a press and information officer at
the Soviet embassy in Ottawa,
Canada, said the purpose of the
exchange is to give newspapers
in smaller towns a good look at
the outside world.
“Small newspapers tend to
occupy themselves with local
news. Period,” he said. “This is a
luxury they can no longer
afford."
“This is peristroika, restructur
ing, in fUll swing. It has a great
effect on all of us whether we see
it or not,” he said.
The exchange between Sharpe
and Podakin is the first exhange
between a Soviet and an Amer
ican sponsored by the newspap
er association.
Podakin's visit to Nashville
has been like “sticking a lighted
match to dynamite,” Sharpe
said, and has included visits to
the local Lions Club, a Voice of
America site, a political science
class at N.C. Wesleyan College
and a meeting of the John Birch
Society.
Podakin said his visit to a small
town has more effect than a visit
to a larger city where Russians
come and go as part of daily
events.
His visit “becomes an ex-
(See RUSSIAN, Page 2)
By HO KHtKlHHAI.
Sports Editor
WASHINGTON — West
Craven will be represented by
seven wrestlers in this
weekend's North Carolina High
School Athletic Association's
Class 3-A Eastern Regional
■*T5restling tournament Friday
and Saturday at East Wake High
School
The Eagles' standard will be
bom by two Coastal Conference
weight-class finalists — and a
champion, Eddie McKeel, who
earned his title in the conference
tournament last weekend in the
Washington High School gym-
Wrestlers Advance
To 3-A Regioruxls
nasmm.
West Craven head coach Clay
Jordan said he was surprised by
the success his wrestlers had in
dividually in the tournament
which was dominated by D.H.
Conley, which advanced 11
finalists to eight weight class
cliampionships.
West Craven finished fifth
while West Carteret was second,
Havelock third and Washington
foiuth in the one-day affair.
“I was surprised by how we
did,” said Jordan. “Three in the
finals is quite a few for our
(See WRESTLERS, Page 2)
McKeel (left photo) seeks advantage and Allen (rigid photo) goes for leg
Rate Dispute
Over Water
Brought Suit
Lawyer Says Bills Paid,
Rate Hike Not Justified
By MiKi: VOSS
Editor
COVE CITY — The lawyer
handling Cove City's lawsuit
against the City of New Bern
over water said it is based on a
disagreement over water rates
rather than alleged non-payment
of water bills.
The suit was scheduled for last
week’s session of Superior Court
was continued, said Kenneth R.
Wooten, the lawyer handling the
case for Cove City. No date has
been set on when the case will be
heard, said Wooten.
Wooten said New Bern has not
provided a complete set of docu
ments it said pertains to the case.
“They were supposed to provide
the documents at the end of
January. They said last last week
they had some more but they
were not ready.” Wooten wants
to review the documents before
going back to court.
The town was recently turned
down on its grant request of
$600,000, part of which was
targeted for drilling a well and
hooking up to the Northwest
Craven water system. The denial
of the grant has lelt the town
seeking its own water source in
stead of depending on New Bern.
The town’s water woes came to
light last February when it filed
suit against the City of New Bern
and City Manager Walter B. Hart
man Jr. alter the town and New
Bern were unable to reach an
agreement on a water rate in
crease and New Bern threatened
to shut off Cove City’s water
supply.
In March, 1987, the New Bern
City Council increased the rate it
charged Cove City for water to 99
cents per 1,000 gallons of water,
plus a surcharge each month
based on meter size.
The town obtained a tempor
ary restraining order to keep
New Bern from shutting off the
water.
The town still gets its water
from New Bern.
Wooten said the contract be
tween Cove City and New Bern
requires New Bern to justify any
increase. “They haven’t done
that,” said Wooten. The lawyer
said New Bern could only cut off
water to Cove City under certain
(See WATER. Page 4)
Area S&L Head Recommends Sticking To Original Concept
In 1831 Comly Rich, a lam
plighter and comb maker, bor
rowed $375 to buy a home on
Orchard Street in Philadelphia.
The lender was the Oxford Pro-
ATident Building Association,
formed by 37 people who made
an initial deposit of $5 each and
pledged to deposit $3 a month
into the new institution.
Oxford Provident’s loan to
Rich is thought to be the first
home loan by a savings associa
tion in America.
Oxford Provident had been
founded for two reasons — to
provide a way for its members to
save money and a place for them
to borrow money to buy or build
homes. From there, the savings-
and-loan industry grew with
those two functions as their
primary objectives.
Thomas Vann, president and
chief executive oftlcer of Home
Savings & Loan Association,
said that sticking to the concept
on which they were founded — a
pool of savings from which home
loans could be made to local
families — has kept Craven
County savings and loans from
suffering the financial problems
affecting some of those in the
Southwest.
“The stated purpose of Home
Savings & Loan is to build
houses to the benefit of the pub
lic and to encourage thrift,” he
said.
William F. Taylor Jr., an area
branch manager of Cooperative
Savings & Loan Association,
said local savings and loans like
the ones in Craven County con
tinue to do well “because we
have never lost sight of our ori
ginal mission — to be a safe
haven for savings and to provide
home loans for the people of east
ern North Carolina.”
Vann said his customers are in
terested in the savings and loan
situation and some have asked
questions, but “they are healthy
questions.”
Crises in the banking and sav
ings institutions arc “crises of
confidence,” he said. “And there
is no crisis of confidence today.”
Home Savings & Loan, with
offices in New Bern, Kill Devil
Hills, Washington and Elizabeth
City, lent more than $37,294,()00
on homes and businesses in east
ern North Carolina in 1988.
It paid almost $4,415,000 in in
terest to its savings customers,
according to the association’s
statement of condition.
The association’s profits were
more than $919,000 and its re
serves are more than $6,726,000.
Taylor said a few customers
have asked questions but a letter
mailed Dec. 12 to customers by
(See SAVINGS, Page 4)
Texasgulf Workers
Turn Down Union
B, HIKE VOSS
Eflilor
A group of Texasgulf Chemic-
,als fio. employees at Aurora
vof^ overwhelmingly Thursday
to reject an attempt to unionize.
With about a 3-to-l margin,
maintenance workers in the Pro
duction and Maintenance Divi
sion of the Lee Creek operation
voted against letting the Interna
tional Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers be their bargaining
voice.
The final tally was 253 votes
against the union and 89 for it.
TTie vote count was completed
about 5:45 p.m. The 253 votes
represents 74 percent of the votes
cast.
The election affected about 360
employees. Had the union been
approved, IBEW Local 495 from
Wilmington would have repre
sented the workers.
Under National Labor Rela
tions Board rules, a year must
pass before the same employees
can be approached by union offi
cials in another organizing
attempt.
The vote was held between
12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. and be
tween 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. It was
observed by two company offi
cials, two union officials and an
agent from the NLRB. R.W.
Hatcher, business manager of
Local 495, attended the pre-
voting conference held 30 mi
nutes before the election and the
vote count afterwards.
“We've very pleased that large
a percentage of our employees
expressed their support for the
company,” said Rann Carpenter,
manager of public relations and
governmental affairs at the Lee
Creek site. “We look forward to
continuing our business and
working together with all em
ployees to address all issues of
concern,” said Carpenter.
“We weren’t trying to guess or
speculate about the outcome,”
said Carpenter when asked if the
vote was what the company ex
pected. He said the company
wanted to work with the em
ployees to continue making
strides in improvements and “we
want that message to come
across to our employees."
The vote came after several
months of organizing efforts.
Hatcher had said the union was
approached by Texasgulf em
ployees. The union originally
targeted workers in the instru
mentation and electrical divi
sion, but later Texasgulf and
IBEW agreed that the proposed
bargaining unit would be the
maintenance workers in the pro
duction and maintenance divi
sion at Texasgulf. That stipula
tion was agreed to at a Jan. 3
meeting at NLRB offices.
(See UNION, Page 2)
Lady Eagles Stumble,
Fall Out Of Top Spot
‘WhaCs Up Doc?*
That may be the question these two tykes asked the rabbit in the
young girl’s arms. TTie two unidentified children appear engrossed
in their tour of a petting zoo. Wonder if the rabbit found a new
home?
D.H. Conley’s girls took over
first place in the Coastal Confer
ence standings by routing co
leader West Craven Tuesday
night. The other co-leader. West
Carteret, also fell from the
league’s top spot after its loss to
Havelock. East Carteret lost to
Ayden-Grifton in the other game.
In hoys' action, D.H. Conley
survived West Craven to stay in
first while Havelock blasted
West Carteret and East Carteret
lost to Class 2-A Ayden-Grifton
in a non-conference battle.
West Craven played slowdown
basketball in its game with Coas
tal leader D.H. Conley and
almost pulled off a monumental
upset, but Viking forward Terry
Williams stole a pass underneath
with two seconds left to seal the
37-35 victory.
In the girls' game, Glenda Har
dy, a 5-6 sophomore, tallied a sea-
son-high 22 points while Len-
dora Tyson, the league's second-
leading scorer, scored a game-
high 27 as the Valkyries took
over first with a 69-33 triumph.
In the hoys' game. West Craven
held for the final minute and
attempted a shot. Conley re
bounded but the Eagles came
through with a steal which set up
the final sequence.
Conley's defense held West
Craven guard Linetta Bryant to
just eight points in the girls'
game. Bryant entered as the con
ference’s third-leading scorer.
At Havelock, the Lady Rams
pulled within a half-game of
third place by beating West Car
teret 52-43 behind Dee Godette's
19 point outing.
Wendi Nelson led the Lady
Patriots with 16 points.
In the boys’ game, Havelock
won easily, 89-57, despite foul
trouble to the Rams' 6-9 senior
center Anthony Robinson. With
Robinson on the bench with
three fouls in the first quarter,
Ledel George scored outside
while Kimbreu Morris battled in
side to spark the Havelock romp
that kept it in second place be
hind leader D.H. Conley.
George, a 6-3 senior headed to
North Carolina State on a foot
ball grant-in-aid, led the Rams
with 26 points while Morris
added 14.
West Carteret won the junior
varsity game 62-55.
In Ayden, Billy Ellison and Joe
Montford, both seniors, con
tinued their scoring tear for the
East Carteret boys, scoring 32
and 20 points, respectively, but
Ayden-Grifton topped the
Mariners 84-74 as Leon Dixon
scored 34 points and Ronnell
Peterson added 20.
No details were available on
the girls game, which Blast Car
teret lost.