THE STATE POST PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
/OLUME42
No. 48
14-PAGES TODAY
WEDNESDA Y, JUNE 23, 1971
SOUTHPORT. N. C.
5c A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
Here For Festival
These are the famous U.S. Army Golden
Knights who will be a feature attraction during
Fourth of July Festival in Southport this year.
They will perform their thrilling air show on
Saturday afternoon, July 3.
Board Asks School Body
To Scale Down Requests
County schools have asked
for too much money, the
commissioners say, so the
board of education has been
told to come up with
something less than the
$300,000 increase it has
requested.
The school board has asked
for $889,000, compared with
$578,000 a year ago.
The commissioners, in
their regular Monday
meeting, objected to the
request for five additional
trailers to be used as
classrooms. The board
reportedly believes that the
schools should get by with
what they have until the three
consolidated schools are
completed next year.
A revised school budget
was expected by today
(Wednesday) but no word
was available by press time.
It also has been suggested
that if the school change is
acceptable, the county
commissioners will approve
the tax levy for the next fiscal
year.
Mayor Lowe At
Public Hearing
A Brunswick County
delegation, headed by South
port Mayor Lester Lowe,
went to Raleigh last week to
tell state government that
Bald Head Island should be
developed by private in
terests.
Lowe, speaking to the
Senate Conservation and
Development Committee,
said the island near Southport
“could become the out
standing seashore convention
center of North Carolina.”
The matter came before
the committee in a bill
sponsored by Sen. S. Bunn
Frink of Brunswick. Frink’s
bill would prohibit the state
from condemning the island
for public use.
BOTH SIDES HEARD
While the Senate and House
committees have heard both
sides of the continuing
debate, Frink’s bill is the only
legislation introduced on the
issue. Gov. Bob Scott has
suggested that the legislature
condemn the island tor use as
a research-education
recreation area.
Joining Mayor Lowe in
support of Frink’s bill was
William Kopp, chairman of
the Brunswick County
commissioners. Kopp told the
senators the ecology of the
island would be protected
with “proper and successful
development.”
Thomas Harrelson, who
represents Brunswick County
in the state House of
Representatives, spoke to the
committee in favor of private
development and also ad
vocated the re-openig of
Corncake Inlet north of the
island that has been closed by
storm action.
“If Bald Head Island is
privately developed and
(Continued On Page Pour)
County Manager Jerry
Lewis said, “All the com
missioners want to give the
school board as much money
as possible tor necessary
items, but in some instances
it was felt that the requests
were not in the best interest
of the county.”
NO WAVES
The commissioners also
asked the North Carolina
Wildlife Resources Com
mission to enact a regulation
governing the operation of
motor boats on the In
tracoastal Waterway.
A “no-wake” law would
affect several areas along the
Brunswick County waterway,
including the Southport yacht
basin and boat harbor,
Tranquil Harbour Marina
and waterfront sites farther
down the coast.
The commissioners said in
their petition to the wildlife
agency that property damage
and personal injury to in
dividuals have occurred
because of craft traveling at
excessive speeds in and
around the seven designated
(Continued On Page Four)
e And Tide
June 24,1936: A Southport woman, Mrs. H.T. St. George, had
Ibeen honored by election as Grand Adah for the State
organization for the Order of Eastern Star. Her picture ap
peared on Page 1. There was another photo on the front page,
this one of the giant oak at Supply, standing in front of the old
McKeithan home. (It since has been blown down during a
storm.)
Semi • annual pension checks had been received for the one
remaining Confederate veteran and for widows of Confederate
veterans in Brunswick; Ormond Leggett and Mrs. George
Whatley had won cartons of cigarettes for rightly predicting the
top songs on “The Hit Parade”; and “Showboat,” starring
(Oontkmed On P«fi Tout)
Open House
At Post Office
The inauguaration of the
new United States Postal
Service on July 1 will be
celebrated in Washington,
D.C., and in every post office
across the country. Post
master Marjorie P.
Livingston has announced
that all members of the
community are invited to
visit their local post office on
that day and enjoy the
hospitality of the men and
women who comprise the new
U.S. Postal Service.
Dedication ceremonies in
Washington will be hosted by
Postmaster General Blount.
Honored guests at the
dedication will include
members of Congress, for
mer Postmasters General,
the Board of Governors of the
new Postal Service and their
wives, as well as Assistant
Postmasters General,
headquarters personnel and
other dignitaries.
Visitors to the post office
will be given a souvenir
envelope imprinted with the
old and new insignia of the
Postal Service. This envelope
also will be made available in
limited numbers as a first
day cancellation - for just the
(Continued On Page Four)
Plans Taking Shape For
Fourth Of July Festival
Everything is beginning to
fall into place for the three -
day Fourth of July Festival
observance this year in
Southport.
The big attraction for
Saturday will be the sky show
put on during the afternoon
by the Golden Knights. That
evening the spotlight will
shift to Hatch Memorial
Auditorium at the N.C.
Baptist Assembly for the
Fourth of July Pageant.
In between during the day
there will be an opportunity
for visitors to go aboard the
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter
Mendota, visit the Art Shows,
the Heritage House or to visit
the various other interesting
displays which will be in
Southport.
Visitors are invited to at
tend a church of their choice
on Sunday morning. The
afternoon program ranges all
the way from a Donkey
Baseball game at Taylor
Field to a concert by the
Charlotte Scottish Pipe Band.
Later in the evening, on the
Southport waterfront, there
will be a special program by
the Kachada Indian Dancers.
Everything points to a
One-Cent Sales Tax For
County Would Aid Budget
A one-cent sales tax could
mean as much as one-quarter
million dollars for the county
during the next 12 months,
and the commissioners have
the authority to pass the levy.
The matter was discussed
on Monday by the com
missioners, who must find
some way to finance county
government. The one-cent
tax is often considered the
most equitable way, and
recently counties adjacent to
Brunswick have okayed the
measure.
Bladen County levied the
tax earlier this month, while
Columbus County’s board
adopted the tax in its Monday
afternoon session.
The North Carolina
General Assembly has
authorized the com
missioners to levy the tax
without a vote of die people.
The tax could, however, be
repealed after the first year if
a number of registered voters
equal to the number who cast
ballots in the last presidential
election were to petition for
the tax to be removed. In that
case, a referendum would be
Election Trial
Now In Progress
A Columbus County
registrar charged with fraud
and forgery in the November
H* general election has ad
mitted changing the vote
totals, according to an SBI
special agent who testified in
the trial that began in
Whiteville Tuesday morning.
Mrs. Alma Ward, who
served as registrar in con
troversial South Lees
precinct, is charged with
forging the names of the
Democrat and Republican
judges, removing a page
from the poll book, making a
false entry in the poll book
and making an erasure on the
tally sheet.
According to testimony by
SBI agent J.B. Barrett, Mrs.
Ward told him on January 5
that she had changed the vote
totals on the tally sheet
because there was a mistake.
This was done the day after
the election, he reported her
as saying.
The interview came during
the two-month investigation
into alleged voting
irregularities that followed
the November 3 election. The
race in question was between
Arthur Williamson and
Thomas Harrelson, a young
Southport man making his
first run at political office.
The race was much closer
than expected, and after
several petitions to the state
— including a request for a
recountof votes in South Lees
and a decision on a “spoiled”
ballot — the State Board of
Elections declared the race to
be a tie at 5,452 votes apiece.
Then, after other in
formation, the State Board of
Elections held a three-day
hearing in Whiteville and
awarded the House seat to
Harrelson.
The first report to the
county Board of Elections
was that Williamson had
received 13 votes in the
precinct, but the tally sheet
returned two days later
reported his total as 20. Both
his total and the total for R.C.
Soles, Jr., now serving in the
state House, were written
over reported erasures.
Harrelson’s total did not
change, nor did that of
Republican J.W. Suggs, the
fourth candidate.
Continued on Page 8
held.
If the commissioners were
to approve the tax before the
end of June, the earliest date
the levy could begin is August
1. The board, however, has
not yet announced its in
tentions to levy any such tax,
and notice of a public hearing
would be required
beforehand.
There are two ways the
money could be distributed —
eith on a per capita basis or
according to ad valorem
taxes.
Bill Kopp, chairman of the
commissioners, said the
board has been encouraged to
levy the tax but that any
decision on the matter will
likely not be made for some
time.
“There are numerous
areas in the county where
that much money could be
put to good use,’’ Kopp said,
“but we aren’t going to jump
up and do something like this
until we have made a
thorough study of the
(Continued On Pag* Wmr)
Mayor Receives
Note Of Thanks
Mayor Lester V. Lowe has
received a gracious letter
from Commander H.A.
Paulsen, Jr., commanding
officer of the USCGC Eagle,
whose vessel was in port here
for three days during May.
Following is the text of that
letter:
“I want to thank you and all
the members of your com
munity for the graciousness
which was extended to the
crew of the EAGLE. It was an
honor to receive the Key to
the City and I will have it
mounted with our plaques
already aboard. I cannot
remember one instance
where we have received a full
grand finale on Monday, July
5.
From 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. the
.Junior Woman’s Club art
show at the City Hall will be
open. The display of flags and
linens at St. Philips Church
on W. Moore Street, the
Sidewalk Art Show near the
Post Office, the N.C. Mobile
Museum of History and the
Winston - Salem Fire
Prevention Van, both to be
located on Howe Street, and a
color slide program at the
library are other attractions.
The slide program entitled
“Welcome to Southport”
includes color slides of
historical and scenic sites in
Southport and the Southport
area. It includes the beaches
and other communities near
Southport, and also Sunny
Point Military Ocean Ter
minal and the Brunswick
Nuclear Power Plant.
Heritage House, at the
Community Building will be
open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.
with a display of antiques and
rarities owned and displayed
by local citizens.
The really big event of the
day is the Fourth of July
parade scheduled to begin at
11 a.m. The parade will
feature over fifty different
units and will hold something
for everyone’s interest. There
will be 25 floats, bands,
marching units, the calliope,
horses, beauty queens and
the newly - coronated Miss
4th of July. Heading the
parade will be the Color
Guard and Honor Flight from
Fort Fisher Air Force
Station.
At 1:30, the Fayetteville
Arsenal Musket and Gun Club
will present an antique
Continued on Page 8
page spread in a newspaper
to welcome EAGLE and the
signal flag welcome message
was quite a novelty.
“The loan of the two
vehicles and bus enabled us
to tour Southport and to reach
the fine recreation areas, and
the use of the golf facilities
and air tour were most ap
preciated.
“The cocktail party and
dinner given the Officers at
Chez Steak was an out
standing event. The Cadets
are still talking about the
Dance and the Enlisted Crew
of the Beer-Ballgames which
they participated in. I un
(Oontfcmed Ob Ptfi Fbur)
School Building At Shallotte
This picture of the western area high school
building now under construction near Shallotte
was taken Thursday. With favorable weather
conditions prevailing in recent weeks, good
progress is being made on this building. (Ed
Harper Photo)