Newspapers / The Pilot (Southern Pines, … / Feb. 14, 1979, edition 1 / Page 1
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j. ■■ LOT ■f Vol. 59, Number 16 50 Pages Southern Pines, North Carolina 28387 Wednesday, February 14, 1979 50 Pages PRICE 15 CENTS Moore Seen In Good Shape For New Speedy Trial Law Court Facility Ready By April BE MY VALENTINE —From yesterday’s sublime to today’s ridiculous. Valentine’s Day Started In Rome BY PATSY TUCKER People have been celebrating Valentine’s Day since before the sfx'ead of Christianity. In 496 Pope Gelasius changed the Roman feast of Lupercalia to St. Valentine’s Day also changing the date the festival was celebrated on from February 15 to the 14. The Romans celebrated their feast as a lovers’ festival by drawing names of young men and women from a box. Then partners exchanged gifts as a sign of affection. They usuaUy continued to enjoy one another’s company long after the festival and in some cases the courtship ended in marriage. Historians disagree about the identity of St. Valentine. One St. Valentine was a priest who lived in Rome during the 200s under Emperior Claudius II. The Romans jailed him for aiding persecuted Christians. It was thought that he cured the jailkeeper’s daughter of blind ness. He was beheaded in 270 A.D. The other St. Valentine was a bishop of Terni, about 60 miles (Continued on Page 12-A) Rescue Squad Is Making Reorganization Attempt Directors of Southern Pines’ temporarily defunct rescue squad have voted to expand the board of directors from three to seven members as the first step of a reorganization effort. > In the meantime, the Southern Pines Fire Department will continue to handle rescue calls under the direction of Chief Pete Rapatas. Directors Bobby Overton, Robert Patterson and Dr. John Tierney met Tuesday with Mayor Emanuel Douglass, Town (Continued on Page 14-A) Aberdeen Gets Promises In Rezoning For CP&L The Aberdeen Board of Commissioners attracted a large ■% group of citizens to its Monday night meeting as re-zoning of land for the district branch of the Carolina Power and Light Co. for industrial use and use of the old depot building as a community center were discussed. Ed Dorsett, division operator of the Aberdeen branch, was spokesman for CP&L, and was required several times at the meeting by Council members and area residents Col. and Mrs. Richard Page and Mr. and Mrs. Roy Smith to give his word about the quality of planting CP&L would do on a 30-foot buffer zone (Continued on Page 16-A) Architects for the new courts facility are betting on early spring-late March perhaps-for its occupancy. “All of the site improvements won’t be complete, but the building itself should be usable,’’ architect E.J. Austin said yesterday. By site im provements, he means that parking areas may not be paved, along with other outside work. If the weather is reasonable in coining weeks, Austin believes the exterior of the building should be complete by the latter half of March. It should take no more than two to three more weeks to lay the carpet and install the furnishings. The massive concrete building overlooking the courthouse circle in downtown C^arthage has a finished appearance from the outside. Inside the sturdy fortress of justice there is much activity: wood work being finished, panelling installed in cour trooms, ceilings going up, painting, floors installed, and some carpeting. Austin expects the courtrooms to be cbmplete in a couple of weeks. Bad weather last winter delayed the general contractor, King-Hunter Inc. of Greensboro, Lake Surf Bid Upped Once More Sanford attorney Jiuuny L. Love upped his bid by $2,002.50 Friday on the Lake Surf foreclosure sale, an act which upsets his own previous bid of $^,450 and means a second sale must be called. It was Love’s thir;d bid and his second upset bid on the resort property. Notice was posted Monday on the bulletin board in the Moore County Courthouse in Carthage that the new sale time will be March 1 at 10 a.m. at the courthouse door; Love, who is acting on behalf of an unidentified client, placed the first bid for $840,050 on Feb. 1. An upset bid offered within 10 days of the first bid calls for a second sale. A series of such upset bids can continue a foreclosure sale almost indefinitely. The latest bid has the effect of extending the sale date for two pieces of Whispering Pines property which developer A.B. Hardee included in the Lake Surf mortgage as additional security. The Whispering Pines properties are the South Golf Course and the South Club House. Hardee is said to owe $1.25 million to GMR Properties of Jacksonville, Fla. for the Lake Surf property. Whispering Pines property, mortgaged to a local bank, was sold at foreclosure to (Continued on Page 12-A) * Group Home For Retarded Approved By Town Council A standing room only Southern Pines Town Council meeting listened to a prepared statement given by Emerson Ogborn representing the neighborhood ,«( surrounding the proposed site of the group home for mentally retarded adults to be located at 340 E. Pennsylvania Ave. After lengthy statements both for and against the council unan imously approved the home at the Tuesday night meeting. Ogbum brought up several points that the neighbors found objectionable: -They (the neighbors) felt that the supervisors for the home should have more experience and that they were from out-of-state so they would not have the feeling for the community that an in-state resident would have. -They did not feel that a few citizens should be made to contribute to the care of these residents when the state was already doing so. -It had been stated that part of the rehabUitation of the residents was that the neighbors were expected to treat them the same way they would anybody and make friends with them, and they (the neighbors) were on a first name basis and cUdn’t feel they should have this responsibility. -That aU the back yards are accessible to the proposed group (Continued on Page 14-A) and the firm has not been able to catch up ever since, according to the architect. The project remains four to five months behind schedule. Weather conditions likewise affect the site work, is con siderable because of the steep slope. This sub-contract is held by C3ancy-Theys Construction Co. of Raleigh. Austin hastened to clear up one (Continued on Page 12-A) Final Day Tomorrow For Tags The lines are longer this year than in several years, in^cating that more people are waiting until the last minute to get their 1979 auto license renewal stickers. At any rate, tomorrow (Thursday) is the last day North (Carolina motorists can drive with the old stickers, and Ann Jordan of the N.C. Motor Vehicles auto license agency in Aberdeen is expecting it to be the busiest day of the year. On Tuesday the line at the Aberdeen agency office at 106 East Main Street was nearly three blocks long at times. Even so, Ms. Jordan said she didn’t thiiik most people had to wait more than 30 minutes, and everybody was polite and in good humor. “We’re busier than we’ve been in five years,’’ she said, and she exix'essed the opinion that it may be because “money is tighter.” “Of course, we’ve grown a lot,” Ms. Jordan said, pointing out that the Aberdeen office handled more than 40,000 transactions last year. Some delays at the Aberdeen office are caused by people not (Continued on Page 16-A) Moore County is moving toward completion of the reappraisal program uiiich is expected to result in a property valuation more than double the present $580 million figure. Ted B^es, project supervisor for Trumble McGuirk and Associates, says his firm has completed appraising about 90 percent of the approximately 40,000 pieces of real estate involved in the revaluation study. The notices are mailed to ‘ property owners by the county as the reappraisal people complete their work. Local citizens seem to have a greater understanding of the project these days, and Bailes reports a sharp decline in tiie number of requests fropj property owners for appointments to discuss their new valuations. During the first three weeks of these appointments, in mid-January, the firm was very busy, but this activity has slowed down in the past two weeks. This aspect of the project ends Friday, Feb. 16. (Continued on Page 12-A) THE PILOT LIGHT WALKER-State Senator Russell Walker, whose 16th Senatorial District includes Moore County, is the new chairman of North Carolina Democrats. He was the choice of (jovernor Jim Hunt to succeed Betty McCain, who chose not to seek another term. At the election on Saturday the Democratic Executive Committee also voted to change the rules so that Walker can seek reelection to the S^iate next year and still hold the chairman’s post. Walker said, however, that at this point he did not know if he would seek reelection. “I enjoy being in the Senate and there are some important things coming up in 1981-one of them is redistricting,” he said. Walker, who last year sold his grocery chain, said that his approach as state chairman would be as a “businessman who organizes and i delegates authority.” E.R.A.-Both Senator Walker and Senator (Carles Vickery from/this district were among the sponsors of the bill to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment introduced last week in the State Senate. Other State Senators who signed the bill included Lawing, Alexander, Creech, Davis, Garrison, Gray, Hill, Jenkins, Jordan, Marvin, Mathis, Noble, Scott, Sebo, Ward, Whichard, Wynne and Leake. (Continued on Page 12-A) 4 t-r*. BY FLORENCE GILKESON Once Moore County’s new courts facility is complete, court officials expect no (fffficulty in complying with the State’s “speedy trial” law. District Attorney Carroll Lowder of Monroe is optimistic about the criminal court situation in IM^e County. “CertainM when the new facility is avMable, we should have no diffbultw complying with the ‘speea!;i;^iar law and keeping our criminal dockets current in Moore County,” Lowder told The Pilot. The new building should be ready for occupancy in late March or early April. In fact, Lowder said he is not having serious problems complying with the law now, although at times Moore criminal courts have had “a considerable backlog” of untried cases. The backlog of superior court cases has been reduced in recent months by holding a couple of special sessions. Lowder said his seven assist ants should be sufficient to hand le all criminal sessions needed in his five-county 20th Judicial District. The other counties are Richmond, Stanly, Anson, and Union. District court is short one judge as the result of the late December retirement pf Judge E.E. Outchfield of Alb^arle, a successor for whom has not been named. Judge D.R. Huffman Jr. of Wadesboro is the chief district court judge, and four others, including the Crutchfield vacancy, are assigned to the 20th District. The real problem here has been the availability of only one courtroom, Lowder said. The one courtrooin in the courthouse at Carthage is used for district and superior courts, both criminal and civil. On an every-other-week basis district criminal court is moved to the councU meeting room in the Southern Pines mimicipal building for a Friday morning session. ’This room is described as adequate for trial of simple district court cases, but it is an inconvenient and time-consuming operation for the clerk of court staff. “With additional courtrooms we will be in a better position to (Continued on Page 16-A) ” 4 SECOND SNOW — A snowfall in the Sandhills is not a common occurrence and two snows in one week is most unusual. A second snow came Friday morning-it was soft and fleecy and clung to the pine trees, as shown in this picture on Walsh Lane.—(Photo by Glenn M. Sides). Two Snows Come In Week; Schools Closed Two Days Moore Tax Base Awaiting Personal Property Value BY JENNIFER CALDWELL Approximately six inches of snow fell on Moore County in two snowstorms last week, with traces lingering for Valentine’s Day. Robert Edwards, of the N.C. Forestry Service, reports about a four-inch accumulation after the first snow, which began about 7 p.m. Tuesday and lasted well into Wednesday morning. Another snow began after Moore County school children left their homes Friday morning. Edison Powers with the Moore County Schools said that conditions to the north and west of Carthage were judged by Weather Bureau personnel and the Highway Patrol to be dangerous, so school was ended Friday morning at 11. Two snow day closings were observed on Feb. 7 and 8, which Powers said will be made up during part of the Spring vacation on April 19 and 20. If any more days are taken off due to weather, the “winter break” established by the schools, March 12 and 13, will be scheduled as make-up days. The snow and ice accumulations did not interefere greatly with either telephone or electrical service to Sandhills area customers, according to Joe Kimball with Carolina Telephone Company and Ed Hitchings, customer service representative with Carolina Power and Light. Kimball said that when “all the children were home the lines were tied up but we didn’t have any trouble.” Hitchings said “Snow normally doesn’t give us any trouble at all. Ice on the pines gives us trouble; but we’ve been real lucky so far this year.” Moore County Agriculture (Continued on Page 16-A) Pinebluff New Charter Sought In Auman Bill There are no major changes in the present charter of Pinebluff in a bill introduced last week in the North (Molina Legislature by Rep. T. Clyde Auman to revise and consolidate the town’s charter. The bill was sent to the Local Government I committee and since there is no stated op position to the bill it is expected to be approved and enacted into law within a few days. Mayor John H. Gaunter said the new charter will be “pretty much as it was, with no major changes.” (Continued on Page 16-A) County Convention Set By Moore Republicans George W. Little, Chairman of the Moore County Republican Party, has called for the 1979 Moore County Republican Convention to be held on Saturday, March 17, at 11 a.m. at the Courthouse in Carthage. Precinct meetings have also been scheduled prior to Satur day, March 10. The precinct meetings business agenda will consist of election of precinct officers and delegates and alternates to the County Convention. The agenda for the County Convention will consists of electing county officers and delegates and sdternates to the (Continued on Page 12-A) Wimberly Says All Equipment Was There When He Left Office “There’s no truth in it” says Charles G. Wimberly of charges made by Sheriff Jerome L. Whipple that equipment was missing from the Moore County Sheriff’s Department when he took office. Wimberly, who served 8 years as sheriff, was unseated by Whipple, a Republican, in the November general election. Wimberly told The Pilot that he has no katement to make at this point but he did “emphatically declare that everything-all of the equipment-was there” when he left office on Monday, Dec. 4, the day Whipple was sworn in. The former sheriff said he remained at the sheriff’s office all that morning waiting for his successor to arrive. By midday Whipple had not arrived, and Wimberly said he left. Wimberly said that he left Lt. Jim Ritter to handle the task of turning over the department’s equipment to the new administration. Ritter was assisted by Doug McGuiney, who at that time was a dispatcher with the sheriff’s department. (Following the swearing-in ceremony, Whipple attended the county commissioners’ meeting, where he was tied up most of the morning. He first asked the commissioners to rescind a decision made at a special meeting the previous week to (Continued on Page 12-A)
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Feb. 14, 1979, edition 1
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