North Carolina Newspapers

PROGRESS SENTINEL I1 VOL. XXXXVI1 NO. 5 USPS 162-860 KKNANSVILM NC 'SW IANUAKV 2" PjM l?> P U.ES THIS WKKK UK I N I S t'H S I AX Duplin School Board > Adds Snow Days A severe snowstorm this winter could mean up to five days vacation for Duplin County students and teachers. The board of education at last week's meeting decided . to go along with an optional I state provision allowing school systems up to five days off for inclement weather without having to make up the days on Satur days, holidays or by extend ing the school year. In its 1982 short session, the General Assembly amended the school atten dance law that requires schools to be in session 180 days. The amendment per mitted loss of five days due to weather or other emer gencies 'without having to make them up. Additional lost days would have to be made up as in the past. Local systems were per mitted the option of requir ing the full 180 days of school or going along with the amendment. The board agreed to w aive its rule against out-of-state travel for student groups to permit the band and choral group of James Kenan High School to go to Busch Gardens near Williamsburg, Va. The groups will leave by chartered bus April 20 and miss one day of school. Cost of the trip will be SI00 per student. One chaperone will be provided for every 15 students. Permission for the trip was sought by Frank Moore and Tom Newman. Merle Creech. Duplin County Arts Council director, received permission to hold a fund raising drive in schools Susan Quinn Heath, special education teacher at B.F. Gradv School, was named Duplin County teacher of the year. Honor able mention went to Angela F. Smith, Warsaw Elemen tary; Bettye H. Whaley, East Duplin High School; Grace Sanderson Farrior, Wallace Elementary; Cecile Langley Rackley. North Duplin Junior High, and Linda Williams Lee, Chinquapin 11. The $18,000 cost of replac ing a faulty roof on the new Kenansville Elementary School building will be divided between the archi tectural firm Ballard. McKim and Sawyer of Wilmington, and the roofing contractor. Scott Roofing Co. of Kinston. 400TH Anniversary Committee Meets The Duplin County Four Hundredth Anniversary Committee attended a regional meeting in New B;-rnJan. 19 to discuss plans t 'fur "'the next four yeai>. Six.een county chairman and other committee members )exchanged ideas that the counties were planning to execute during the four-year celebration of America's be ginning at Roanoke Island. The official commemoration celebration extends from April 27. 1984 until August 18. 1987. Activities in this country will begin July 13. 1984. the anniversary of the arrival of the huglish in America. Feel free to contact any committee member if you have an> item, article, story, picture or project you think others would enjoy reading about in our county papers or seeing a published photo giapii. Our county is high in history and it is the com mittee's hope that this can be shared with others. You might be considering some project in your area that will live on for future generations to enjoy. Some ideas might be in tree planting, turning an unsightly area into a small garden spot, developing na ture trails, planting grape vines, trees and shrubs. Do you know any champion big trees, a hanging tree, meet ing tree or any famous historical trees that can be explored and shared? Old family histories, old photographs, homcplaces, wells, etc. could be research ed and made public. Church histories, services, songs and ministers would be hiterjstt ing. Let us in Duplin play an active part in our country's celebration for Duplin County is proud of its heri tage. Committee members you might contact concerning ar ticles you would like to have developed are: Ann Craft, chairman. Barbara Guy. Mary Fmtna Hawes, Alta L. Kornegay, Anntilla Oswald. Carl D. Pate. Dovie Penney. Vernell Stevens. Melvin Williams. 1 Anne Katharine Bland and Leila Baldwin. Poultry Cooking School Due to the large number of requests, arrangements have been made to have Mrs. Emmie Whitley conduct anrther poultry cooking school in Duplin County. Mrs. Whitley is a home ^ economist with the North Carolina Poultrv Federation in Raleigh and has traveled across North Carolina con ducting cooking schools and apprearing on television pro grams.. The cooking school will be held Wednesday night. Feb. 2 at 7 o'clock at the Agri cultural Extension office in Kenansville. During the school you will see Emmie prepare chicken and turkey dishes using some her favo rite recipes, taste dishes prepared, discover ways of cooking a number of poultry dishes in the microwave, receive a collection of recipes as well as learn new ways of economizing with family meal planning. A registration fee of $1 will be collected to cover ex penses. Any persons bring ing tit least four people with them to this school will be given a poultry cookbook during registration. During the program, additional door prizes will be given away. This event is sponsored by the Duplin County Agricul tural Extension Service. "We hope you will help us inform others about it." states Judy H. Wallace, home economics extension agent. Rose Hill Annual Police Report Rose Hill Police Chief Bob Maready reported that during the year of 1982. his department answered 1.945 calls, investigating 51 auto accidents that caused $37,145 in damages. There were 114 arrests during the year and the number one offense, or the most people were arrested for was drunk driving. 44. The next highest offense was larceny with 14, breaking and entering was next with 14. The other 28 different offenses had less than 10 each. There were 133 traffic ? ,.**A ~ ' Mfiiuua liiutu 111111.." ???? year and 78 dog complaints and 13 cat complaints. The department patrolled 31.521 miles during 1982 and made 4,901 senior citizen calls. There were 84 investiga tions which included two forgeries, totaling S380. There were 24 breaking and entering and larcenies, with a total taken of $6,084; recovered, $859.95. There w as one assault with a deadly weapon, two attempted breaking and entering, and 46 larcenies. The total taken was $7,871.70 and total re covered, $3,616.60. There were two vandalisms doing $140 in damages. 4 ' Wallace Police Annual Report Wallace Police Chief . Roscoe Rich reported that * during the year of 1982, his department answered 4,767 calls as compared to 5,505 the year before. There were 384 arrests There were 138 speeding and other moving violation citations issued during 1982 as compared to 260 during 1981. Charges of drunk and disruptive were 25 for 1982 and 27 for 1981. There were I 106 tights and disturbances for both years. Other investigations during 1.982 include seven drug violations, four carrying a concealed weapon, five for assault with a deadly weapon. 70 for drunk driving and 31 parking violations. There were 187 auto acci dent investigations causing orooerty damage of $159,433. There were five robberies investigated, 12 assaults. 62 breaking and entering. 127 larcenies, and 12 motor vehicle thefts. During the year, property stolen amounted to $61 427.45 and recovered was $18,979.99. ^ L m l , ???*? NINE Of NINETEEN INJURED >.iric- Wavne Counts junior high and elementary school students were inj: d Prtdas morning is their school bus and an unloaded log truck ollid nisi over the Duplin < mills line The accident occurred between ( 1st and Mount Olive on Highsyas IP Bs-Pass. The bus was traveling ? ist Rural Road I 144. i stopped at the intersection of Highway It" ?! the 'op sign end then started across, pulling into the path of (he n . b ml U . .mi Hie truck stria k tin rear ol the bus. sliding it around am; turning it over. The log truck driver. Timothy Paul Whales . 2.4. of Wallace- stated. "I was headed for the ditch when we collided. .! tried to miss it (the bus)." t rooper Jimnis Ball stated the school bus driver. Bernard Grantham. I. ol Mount Olive, was - MM .11 , _ r v . -?? . star. charged with failing to v iel . right .>f <va. Ii was the bus drive si olid dav driving as a substitute 'river I hp injured bint student- -m ? .?k? n (<? local doctors' offices. Another school bus transported ,k > . tits on to school. .Those injured .vert- Donald Antillu II 'id vo Vii I? w ho had broken or era. M collarbones. Danielle i)an'. i . ?< vV n ( ampbcll. II. Shon Met a >p 12. I.ric Mr( al p Is Mai ?? r < Jamie Wellington Is. an etov William- ?h. >1 n and bruises Others on tt.e bus hut not injureo Vvcre lerrv s latio. lommv Watson. Garv VV'ithefington. Michael Withcringtoi Hivjii Witherington. (iwen haircloth, Hill Strickland. Antonim Harden. Ji tlirv Wellington and the driver. Bernard Otantham. - ? ? m bleep Monthly Kates Hurt Albertson Water System High monthly costs to potential users may drv up interest in a proposed Albertson area rural water system. If the currently discussed financing package could be put together, an average residential water bill would be an estimated $19.50 per month. The minimum bill ? for consumption of less that 2,000 gallons ? would be $1-4 a month. Bert Hall, district Farmers Home Administration repre sentative front New Bern, explained Monday of 'ast week at the Duplin County Board of Commissioners meeting, that the north central Duplin County project \ ould be expensive because of the low sensttv of population. The proposed Albertson water district system would serve about TOO families with an average of about seven customers per mile of line. A water district was organized last year. Project cost was estimated at about SI .4 million bv Bob Pittman of Rivers & Asso ciates. consulting engineers. Pittman said a $.113.IT"" state clean water bond grant would be available for the project until Feb. 21. Other financing proposed for the project would be a $576,000 FmHA grant and a 40-year $500,000 FmHA loan. In terest on a loan to the water district would be 7.375 per cent at current rates. Hall said. Hall described the project as an expensive water system that might or might not work out. "It is not the ideal situation, but we don't want to build up false hopes nor do we want to throw cold water on it." he said. "We are accustomed to lower water bills." Aaron Smith of Albertson said the average water bill would be more than people of the area would accept. Hall said a meeting will have to be held in the water district to inform people of the estimated costs and to allow them t? decide what 4 tliev want to do about .the project: No date has been sel for the meeting. The Duplin commissioners Voted to advertise for a tax collector to succeed S. Leland Grady, who resigned effec tive in March. The board is offering $ In. -448 a year for the job. The county auditing con tract lor the next three years was awarded to the second lowest bidder. Donald Pickett of Beulaville. a certi fied public accountant, as the low est bidder from the county, Pickett bid $18,(MM) tor the three-year contract. Low bidder was Pittard & Perry of Racford at $17,400. D.J. Russell said. "I'd like to sec a Duplin man get it if we could." Commissioner Allen Netbercutt made the motion, seconded by,'bus-sell.'? to award the contract to Pickett. Other bidders were Kdward I Barrow of Kinston. 18.300: Randy I Albert son of Beulavillc. $1 l),5(K); John C. Smith Jr. of Pink Hill. $2.1.170; Julian C . Knott for A.M. Pullcn Co.. kalctgh. $.16,000. and Donald H Thompson of Jacksonville. VI 7.500. Bill BovettC of Warsaw, who held the contract the past three years, did not hid. The board tentatively set April 12. 1.1. 10 and 20 as budget hearing nights. The board agreed to put up "425 jn county funds for uc squad training equip mem after Hiram Brinson. emergency services coordi nator. said the county rescue association would put up S4.VS. Craven Brewer d Warsaw and Amos Brinsor. of He nansville were re appointed to the Duplin development hoard and HI wood Allen of fatson was named to tile board to succeed I S Guy. who asked not to be re appointed Commissioner Dovey Penney ot Wallace was named to the county health board to succeed Nefhercutt Fiscal Health Of Duplin Hospital Questioned - .< Duplin General Hospital's operating expenses exceeded its income by $20% "4*) during the 1981-82 fiscal year, and the new year's outlook tor the rural hospital is for a continued tight squetve. according to this year's audit report Federal budget balancing efforts unbalance the books of community hospitals like Duplin General, auditors told members of the hospital board and the county com missioners last week. Operating subsidies from the county government have been necessary to keep the hospital's budget in balance. Some county officials ex pressed skepticism about whether those subsidies could be increased. The hospital's fiscal year begins Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30. During the last fiscal year operating revenues totaled $4,365,870 while operating expenses totaled $4,575,610. according to the report of Ernst and Whinney. certified public accountants of Raleigh. Non- ope rating revenues of $99,531 reduced the imbalance to $110.218. Despite the bleak financial outlook. i.ou'nt) Commis sioner D.J. Fusscll empha sized al the meeting's end. "We're nut going to let this hospital close." Asked by County Com missioner Allen Nethercutt, How much do you think we need to supplement the hos pital to get it on a sound footing." Hospital Adminis trator R.F.. Harrell said. "I don't know the exact answer. I'll be glad to work up figures as the situation stands right now and as 1 hope it will improve." "We've been supple menting the hospital ever since it was built." Fussell said. "As long as we have sick people there's no way they can pay medical costs without help. We cannot afford to raise taxes any more. We cannot afford to close the hospital." He told the hospital administration. "You've got to try every avenue to save money. I don't see any way out." Operating expenses ex ceeded operating income in the preceding fiscal year by $2.19.971, which was reduced to $180,968 by gifts and grants of $59,003. Harrell said an increase in the -number of physicians on the hospital's staff tn the last \ear should improve the hospital's situation by in creasing its use by Duplin County residents He noted patient population for the last three months of the fiscal year averaged 47.5 per day compared with 46.4 a da\ a sear earlier. Joe Hart of the auditing firm reported the hospital's higher than usual ratio of Medicaid. Medicare and indigent patients creates most of the problem. Medi care and Medicaid program allowances do not cover hos pital costs, he said. "By law you cannot bill the patients for the difference." he said. Payments to the hospital from these programs totaled $404,518 less than what the hospital charged for services to patients. He said if the hospital had been able to collect its full billing from these programs, operating income would have exceeded costs. The $404,518 plus a pro vision of $446,086 for un collectible accounts. $58,498 for free care to indigent patients under the federal HiJI-Burton financial act agreement and S14 9?"1 in courtesy allowances totaled $924,024 less than patient costs. Hart said o2 percent of the hospital's patient load came under the Medicare or Medicaid programs "You don't have enough patients paying full rates to shift these costs to them. Hart said. "The government is cutting back wherever it can and the outlook is bleak for improvement in Medicaid and Medicare payments: The difference between cost and payment is increasing." The audit report showed the difference between cost of care and payment for Medicare and Medicaid' (health insurance program contractual allowances) in the hospital's 1980-82 year was SI?'7.44b. The bad debt provision for that vear was $342,407, just ( .100,000 under the re year's figure, reflectin current bad economic si n. Operating revenue lyjs been less than operating expense in ea?h of the last five years, the auditor said. The ratio of assets to lia bilities decreased from $3.10 to $1 in 1978 to $1.10 to $1 at present.