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Complete News Coverage Of Warren County
Volume 80 15* Per Copy Warrenton, County Of Warren, North Carolina Thursday, June 30, 1977 Number 26
County Loses Round
In Try For Facility
Warren County lost its
second round in its effort to
have Warrenton selected as
a site for a 90-bed nursing
home at a hearing held at
Durham at 6:30 p. m. by the
Capital Health System
Ageney.
Leland Gottschalk, of
Warrenton, a member of the
Board of Directors of the
Capital Health Systems
Agency, said yesterday that
the vote was extremely
close. Also attending the
meeting from Warren Coun<
ty were John Hawkins,
Project Review Board
member, J. B. Martin and
W. P. Jones, chairman of
Holiday
Warrenton and
Warren County will
come to a virtual halt
on Monday as businesses
and offices
close to observe the
Fourth of July.
A poll authorized
by the Warren County
Chamber of Commerce
revealed that
most all stores, with
the exception of two
retail grocery chains,
convenience markets
and service stations,
will be closed.
the Warren County Board of
Commissioners.
Gottschalk said that the
Agency was very much
impressed with the large
number of citizens present
from Warren County who
attended the hearing in
Henderson on Tuesday night
of last week in support of the
bid of J. B. Martin to erect a
nursing home at Warrenton.
At the hearing in Durham
Monday night, Granville
County got the nod to have
the nursing home established
at Oxford.
Affecting the decision,
Gottschalk said, was the
larger population of Granville,
its nearness to larger
hospital facilities, and perhaps,
the overriding consideration
was the fact that six
physicians, mostly from
Henderson, were investing
in and backing the establishment
of the home on the
Oxford site.
Warren County will have
one more chance, Gottschalk
said, when the full
board of the Capital Health
Systems Agency will meet
in Jordan Hall in Cary at 2 p.
m. on Wednesday, July 6,
when the Durham decision
will be reviewed. Gottschalk
said that it is vital to
Warren's chances that a
large delegation from Warren
County attend this
meeting.
Black-White Teacher Ratio
Subject Of Report To Board
The faculty of John
Graham High School is
composed of 17 white and 13
non-white teachers, J.
Roger Peeler, Supt. of
Schools, told members of
the Warren County Board of
Education in a called
meeting held here last week.
The division of teachers
by race in the other schools
of the county were revealed
by Peeler, as follows:
Norlina High School—15
white, 12 non-whites.
Hawkins, Jr. High School,
Warrenton—8 whites and 22
non-whites.
Mariam Boyd—12 whites
and 14 non-whites.
North Warren Middle
School—9 whites and 18
non-whites.
Northside School, Rt. 1,
Norlina—8 whites and 11
non-whites.
South Warren Elementary
School, Rt. 2, Warrenton—2
whites and 15 non-whites.
Vaughan Elementary
School—nine whites and 9
non-whites.
The total number of
teachers in the Warren
County schools is 80 whites
and 114 non-whites.
Pedestrian, Bike Rider Hurt In Warren
A pedestrian and bicycle
rider were injured in
separate accidents during
the weekend, according to
Trooper W. C. Palmer of the
Highway Patrol.
Palmer reported that
Ralph Carroll, 57, of Rt. 2,
Norlina, was apparently run
over by a truck operated
by Walter Anderson Royster,
Jr., 23, of Rt. 2, Norlina.
The accident occurred about
9:30 p. m. Friday night
about six miles south of
Warrenton on State Road
1131. Carroll was injured
and hospitalized at Maria
Parham Hospital following
the mishap.
Trooper Palmer said that
Royster was driving west,
momentarily blinded by
lights of an oncoming
vehicle and failed to see the
pedestrian in the highway in
time to avoid the accident.
An eyewitness reported that
Carroll was lying in the
roadway in the path of the
truck.
David Scott Phillips, 13, of
Rt. 1, Warrenton, was
injured and carried to
Warren General Hospital
after he was struck by an
Warren County Sheriff Clarence A. Davis inspects the wreckage of a four-passenger
airplane which crashed here Friday afternoon. Three Penosylvanians were fatally
injured in the accident bringing the total to seven persons killed in airplane crashes in
less than a year in Warren. Last November four New Jersey businessmen were killed
in a crash near Oakville. Another view can be found on Page 3.
[ Staff Photos by Don Stith ]
Aircrash Kills Three
A dry gas tank may
explain the cause of a tragic
plane crash near Littleton
last Friday afternoon in
which three members of a
Pennsylvania family were
killed, Sheriff Clarence
Davis said yesterday.
He said that Richard G.
Rodngui, supervisor of
safety investigation at Dulles
Airport at Washington,
D. C., and A. J. Abernathy,
Federal Aviation Authority,
of Raleigh, spent Saturday
in Raleigh examining the
plane. He said they took the
motor apart and reported no
signs of mulfunction in
either motor or plane. He
said they found the gasoline
tank of the plane empty.
The three persons were
killed when this light private
auto driven by George Clark
Robinson, 67, of Rt. 1,
Macon.
The bicycle-auto accident
occurred on U. S. Highway
158 bypass about six miles
north of Warrenton.
Trooper Palmer reported
that young Phillips and the
Robinson vehicle were both
travelling west on the
highway when Phillips on
the bike suddenly swerved
left to the center of the road
in the path of the auto.
Robinson reportedly carried
the youth to the hospital
in his car. Damages were
listed at $75 to the bicycle
and auto.
Damages were set at $250
to an auto operated by
Mansfield Cheyenne Russell,
19, of Warrenton
following an accident on the
Henderson-Warrenton road
just west of the city limits on
Saturday morning.
According to Trooper V.
R. Vaughan, Russell advised
that an unidentified
vehicle entered the highway
from a private drive in his
path. He applied brakes and
veered off the highway to
the right into a ditch.
plane crashed into some
trees in an apparent attempt
to land in Warren County.
The dead were identified
as Dorothy Leona Linsenback
of Lemoyne, Pa., and
Greenville, S. C., Richard H.
Linsenback of Mechanicsburg,
Pa., and Margaret L.
Linsenback of Camp Hill,
Pa. No ages were given.
The plane, a Rockwell
Commander 144, crash
landed about 4:10 p. m. into
trees along a pasture one
mile south of US 158 and one
mile west of Littleton.
Witnesses reported hearing
the plane's motor go on
and off and backfire several
times as the craft circled the
area twice before crashing.
There was no fire and no
odor of fuel at the crash site.
The plane was reportedly
heading west at the time of
the crash.
Sheriff Davis said yesterday
that he was grateful for
the assistance given the
Sheriff's Department by the
Warren County Rescue
Squad.
Services Restored
As Tax Rate Set
Most of the items cut in
the proposed county budget
by the commissioners were
restored following a public
hearing in the county courtroom
on Thursday of last
week when some 75 or more
persons told the commissioners
that they preferred
vital public services to a cut
in the tax rate.
The protest was sparked
by reductions in funds for
fire protection, ambulance
service, the public schools,
the arts, and for failure to
provide adequately for
public recreations. These
were restored in the main by
the commissioners, who
after the restoration set the
tax rate at 59 cents.
A score of those present
spoke for both fire protection
and public schools.
William Brauer of Ridgeway,
a charter member of
the Warrenton Rural Fire
Department, was an effective
speaker for the restoration
of rural fire companies,
but he also spoke of the need
for public schools, although
he had no children. Lew
Myers of Soul City, also
childless, was listed as those
speaking for the firemen but
he also spoke for better
county support of public
schools.
Mrs. Eva Clayton, chairman
of the Warren County
Democratic Executive Committee,
who emphasized the
need for the commissioners
to support the public
schools, also spoke out
strongly in support of more
money for the firemen. Mrs.
Clayton said that she
attended private schools in
Georgia, and had no fight on
private schools. One, she
said, should have a choice as
part of the Democratic
system. "But there is no
way," she added "for a
private school to educate
the people of Warren
County."
T. T. Clayton, attorney,
who spoke strongly for
schools, also addressed his
remarks to other subjects in
addition to fire departments
and schools. He stressed the
need for more money for
public recreation, and described
the one effort, a
couple of tennis courts
"under the railroad tracks"
as a disgrace.
Roger Peeler, superintendent
of Warren County
schools, was among the
early speakers. He told the
commissioners that he had
only a few hours before the
meeting learned that the
commissioners had reduced
funds for operational purposes
as well as taking out
funds allotted for purchase
of a site for a proposed
consolidated high school. He
told the commissioners that
unless they restored the
funds for operational ex
penses the "Board of
Education will have no recourse
except to bring suit
against the board of county
commissioners."
The commissioners later
were to restore the operational
items, but failed to
put back into the budget the
$25,000 allotted for purchase
of the school site.
Peeler said that while the
schools had gone through
two years in which keeping
the schools open was a touch
and go affair, that since that
time the schools had been
making steady progress.
During the course of tl)e
meeting, the commissioners
justified their action by
stating that at a public
hearing held the previous
Thursday, only seven persons
appeared before the
.(Continued on page 3)
Warrenton Rate
Is Set At 60 Cents
The Board of Town Commissioners
on Monday night
following a public hearing
adopted the town budget
calling for total expenditures
of $426,097 and a tax
rate of 60c.
The budget, based on a
valuation of $13,000,000, and
a total tax of $78,000, with a
one-cent tax rate bringing in
$1,300, was adopted by a
four to three vote. Voting to
approve the budget were
Commissioners Sam Massey,
Norfleet Cliborne, Bill
Leary and Anna Butler;
opposing were Commissioners
B. G. White, Billy
Lanier, Jr., and Gordon
Haithcock.
The budget adoption followed
a suggestion by
Massey that the budget
could be cut by reducing
$8,000 "in fat" from the
police department and a
statement by Town Manager
Bill Davis that he had
no control over the Police
Department but was confident
that he could reduce
police department expenditures
if given such control.
Later his contract was
amended to make him
zoning supervisor and to
change his title from town
administrator to town manager,
with charge over all
departments of the town.
The vote to make him town
manager was unanimous.
The budget is broken
down into the following
allocations: General fund,
$234,140; debt service, $19,181;
water and sewer fund,
$132,950.
Town Manager Bill Davis
was the center of protest,
with some protesters opposed
to a town manager,
others protesting an increase
in his salary to
$16,000, as too much of a
jump at one time. He was
not without his defenders
but those who opposed the
increase were in the
majority. The commissioners,
after hearing the
arguments, voted to increase
Davis's increase to
$12,500 and pay him $3,500
for his added duties as
Zoning Supervisor. The vote
was three against, four for,
following the same line as
budget adoption.
Some two hours of the
three hour session were
spent in hearing pleas for a
cut in the tax bill.
Frank Ballance appeared
in behalf of his clients who
wanted the budget reduced,
saying that he too, would
like a tax cut. He said that
he couldn't feel that the
$16,000 proposed for the
manager's salary was any
great salary in these days.
Also appearing before the
commissioners was Balance's
law partner T. T.
Clayton, who appeared
without discussion with his
partner. Clayton not only
asked that Davis's salary be
increased to $16,000, but that
the tax rate be increased if
ne&ssary in order to pay
town employees, particularly
unskilled labor, a decent
wage.
Ed Hendricks spoke brief(Continued
on page 3)
Inez Merchant
Robbed, Beaten
Kearney Thompson,
elderly Inez merchant, is
recovering in Franklin
County Memorial Hospital
at Louisburg from injuries
received when he was
assaulted and robbed at his
store on Saturday at 6 p. m.
According to a report
from the Sheriff's Department,
Thompson was assaulted
from behind, pulled
behind the counter, choked
and robbed of papers and a
small amount of cash from
one of his pockets. Sheriff
Clarence Davis said that
Thompson described his
assailant as a black man
about 6 feet tall and wearing
a stocking over his head and
face.
Thompson's injuries were
described as a fractured hip
and a bruised elbow.
Sheriff Davis said yesterday
that his department was
continuing the investigation.
Figures Show Warren With Tax Valuation Of $177 Million
By BIGNALL JONES
Warren County's total
valuation following a revaluation
of the entire county is
$177,632,652, Mrs. Janice
Haynes, tax supervisor, announced
Tuesday. This
valuation, she said, includes
real property in the amount
of $128,137,031 and personal
property in the amount of
$31,693,367. Excluded by law
is property in the amount of
$3,042,055. This includes
homestead exemptions for
the elderly with combined
incomes of less than $7500.
Valuations are also reduced
many millions by a
change in revaluation which
exempts timber from taxation
until harvested.
Last year real estate was
valued at $62,030,190, less
than half the valuation
placed on it in 1977; taxable
personal property was valued
at $28,586,665 and
exclusions totalled $2,809,199.
While real property doubled
in valuation, personal
property only increased by
$3,107,722. A large part of
the personal property valuation
was on automobiles,
which must be listed at a
value set by the state.
In addition to township
valuation, Wildwood Point
was valued separately. In
1976 the total valuation of
Wildwood Point waa $2,102,
163, with exclusions of
$3,000, compared with a
valuation in 1977 of $3,496,650
and exclusions of
$207,013.
Utilities were valued at
$17,802,234 in 1976 under
special formula, and the
same valuation was accepted
in 1977 as an estimate.
Based upon valuations
Warrenton Township remains
the richest township
in the county, more than
doubling in valuation since
1976. Smith Creek was in
second place with $19,205,068.
Sixpound township was
in third place with a valuation
of $14,194,946. This
increase reflects developments
on Gaston Lake.
1976 Values
1977 Values
TOWNSHIP Taxable Taxable Total Exclu. Taxable Taxable Total Exclu.
Real Personal Real Personal
RIVER 3,960,250 1,544,156 5,504,406
SIXPOUND 5,099,740 1,461,025 6,560,765
HAWTREE 4,657,047 1,748,666 6,405,713
SMITH CREEK 7,081,526 6,360,873 13,442,399
NUTBUSH 4,897,344 1,939,757 6,837,101
SANDY CREEK 4,125,001 1,684,873 5,809,874
SHOCCO 2,550,479 1,105,638 3,656,117
FISHING CREEK 3,570,404 1,565,445 5,135,849
JUDKINS 3,736,138 1,091,674 4,827,812
WARRENTON 16,114,477 8,610,752 24,725,229
FORK 2,055,433 813,770 2,869,203
ROANOKE 2,287,201 453,023 2,740,224
WILDWOOD POINT 1,895,150 207,013 2,102,163
UTILITIES 17.802.234
126,590
197,178
202,812
452,684
171,494
233,375
156,250
138,226
137,330
913,722
61,138
15,400
3,000
10,525,300
12,540,693
9,616,485
12,945,121
10,123,639
8,688,330
5,641,153
7,324,759
7,510,840
28,296,011
4,785,22°
6,642,830
3,496,650
1,644,330
1,654,253
1,782,043
6,259,947
2,265,772
1,946,401
1,390,495
i, 845,548
1,189,385
9,855,285
930,744
615,901
313,283
12,169,630
14,194,946
11,398,528
19,205,068
12,389,411
10,634,731
7,031,648
9,170,307
8,700,255
38,151,296
5,715,964
7,258,|31
3,809,f33
181,413
196,441
238,937
499,841
176,226
231,615
185,825
134,311
147,590
943,130
76,688
21,920
8,118
17,8»2:j34(Eat.f
TOTAL
62,030,190 28,586,665 108,419,069 2,809,199 128,137,031 31,693,387 177,632,652 3,042,055