? 1
PROGRESS SENTINEL
OloL. XXXXV11 NO. 52 USPS 162 860 KENANSVILLE. NC 28349 12 PAGES THIS WEEK DECEMBER 29, 1983 10 CENTS PLUS TAX
i DELIVERY TO SANTA - The Kenansville
and Duplin County chapters of the Jaycees
sponsored a Toys for Tots program in
cooperation with the Du^lLo County Social
Services Department. The donations of used
toys were collected in Kenansville at Wiley
?Tioth's Insurance office and Duplin County
Jaycees at the Kenansville Correctional
Center made necessary repairs to the toys
before they were taken to the Social Services
office for distribution. The Jaycees delivered
the van-load of toys to Santa at the
Department of Social Services Dec. 21.
Pictured, left to risht, above. Advisor of the
Duplin County Jaycees Buddy Avant, Toys
for Tots project chairman Truett Booth with
the Kenansville Jaycees, Department of
Social Services "Santa" Johnny Pickett,
and president ot'tne lJuplin County Jaycees
Randy Brake.
1 Duplin Farmer Invited
To White House
Furnie Lee Boyette of
Kenansville is glad to have
i the worries faced by the
| majority of farmers because
he knows they are the
rewards of three years and
$25,000 spent in conserva
tion practices on his farm.
Conservation work done by
Boyette with the assistance
of the Duplin County Soil and
Water Conservation Service
Wias saved 25 to 30 tons of
opsoil per acre on the farm
and brought local, state and
national recognition to the
family. Boyette was named
the Duplin Conservation
Farmer of the Year, along
with winning the district and
state titles. The state award
will be presented in Char
lotte Jan. 10. In addition.
Boyette and his wife, Mar
tturet, were named among
?ie national finalists in soil
I and water conservation
families from 35 states and
invited to the White House.
During the trip last week the
; couple met the nine other
finalists, U.S. Secretary John
Block and officials of the
National Endowment for Soil
and Water Conservation.
Farmers from Wisconsin,
Dregon and Kentycky were
iCelected from the 10 finalists
to re eive $1,000 awards
from the National Endow
ment.
"We took a disaster and
made something of it, "
Furnie Boyette said. He pur
chased the 146-acre farm in'
1969 and the second season
rains washed gullies taking
acres of crops and soil. "The
first year's crops were fair
and we thought every year
would be better, but it kept
going down." he said.
This season Boyette
shared the worries of
drought on the crops which
cut corn yields by 50 percent
over last year. But, Boyette
explained, his corn crop
dropped to 60 bushels or less
per acre until water control
methods were installed on
the farm. The 1982 corn crop
averaged 120 bushels per
acre on the Boyette farm and
tobacco production has in
creased 1,500 to 2,100
pounds per acre.
Boyette has worked three
years installing conservation
techniques and lacks one
waterway which he intends
to build this winter. To date.
Boyette has eight waterways
which required hundreds of
hours of labor transplanting
grass to form the brittom
before rains turned the land
back into gullies. Parallel
terraces and diversions to
stop the flow of water were
also installed along with
grassed field borders. Ac
cording to Boyette. as much
as a 50-foot drop can be
found in some of the fields on
the farm which caused a
rapid run-off during rains.
"The second year after we
bought it. we got six inches
of rain at one time and that is
when we started finding out
about the problems," Boy
ette said. "I called Kenneth
Fu'real (Duplin Soil and
Water Conservation director)
and he said we needed to
s'art immediately working on
conservation, but money was
so scarce we didn't begin
right away. And, with every
rain, more of the land
washed away until we had to
do something because there
wouldn't be any land left in a
few years."
Total spending. Boyette
es'imated. was 525,000 on
conservation practices for the
farm. The greatest portion of
? he funds was received on
loan from the Farmers Home
Administration. Funds were
also received from the Soil
Conservation Service.
"I doubt if my farm would
be worth $75,000 today
without the conservation
work." Boyette said. "The
water washing kept making
the fullies in the fields
deeper and wider."
According to the Duplin Soil
and Water Conservation
figures, the Boyette farm has
a market value today of
$175,000.
Sickle-Cell Anemia Claims
Aspiring Pupil Of Wallace
peggy Ann McMillian had
planned to go to college next
year, but last week she died.
Relatives said the 18-year
old woman's death was
caused by sickle-cell anemia.
Miss McMillian had been
through "good days and bad
days" but had not appeared
seriously ill until recently,
/unity members said. They
Aild this was the first death
from sickle-cell anemia that
they knew nf in the family.
Funerai sci vices wc*w i.wlu
in Adoram Baptist Church in
Wallace with the Rev. Jack
H/.zell officiating. Burial fol
lowed in the church ceme
tery.
A senior at Wallace-Rose
Hill High School, Miss Mc
Millinn had been getting
information from various
colleges and planned to
apply to several for admis
sion. "Now she won't ever
get to go," a relative saiai
w. "J
Miss McMillian was the
daughter of Alice McMillian
of Wallace.
Sickle-cell anemia is a
hereditary disease that
occurs chiefly'among blacks.
The disease limits the oxy
gen supply in red blood cells,
causing them to assume a
sickle or half-moon shape.
It causes attacks that in
clude severe pair, high fever
an4damage to bodv tissue.
Duplin Poultry Producers
Fear Spread Of Avian Flu
Poultry producers in the
Southeast fear the deadly
strain of avian flu now devas
tating the Pennsylvania
poultry industry might
spread and cost the nation's
major poultry producing area
hundreds of millions of dol
lars.
Producers in North Caro
lina are taking extra pre
cautions to prevent spread of
the disease to the state.
The poultry industry has
become one of North Caro
lina's major sources of in
come in the last three de
cades, grossing just under $1
billion last year. The state is
one of the top three in the
United States in overall
poultry production and the
leader in turkey production.
Duplin County, in which
poultry brought a gross in
come of about $130 million
last year, has been called the
biggest poultry producing
county in the nation with a
combination of turkeys,
broilers, market eggs and
hatching eggs.
Principal responsibility for
prevention of the spread
rests with the poultry pro
ducers, said Dr. Thomas F.
Zweigart, director of the
N.C. Department of Agricul
ture's animal health division.
"It's awfully difficult to
control what an individual
does, but the people at risk
with their money are mostly
doing what they have to."
Zweigart said.
"People are very cautious
about letting anyone come on
their farms. I understand
that in Pennsylvania they
could follow visits of service
men, mechanics, etc. and
find outbreaks in flocks
seven days later," Zweigart
said.
"The state and federal
governments can't keep
policemen out there," he
said.
While the avian flu strain
does not affect humans or
other livestock, it kills a high
percentage of birds in in
fected chicken, turkey, duck
and guinea fowl flocks.
By Tuesday of last week,
the deadly strain of flu had
been identified in 168 flocks,
all but three of which were in
southeastern Pennsylvania.
More than 7 million birds,
including chickens turkeys,
guineas and ducks, had been
destroyed.
Owners of the birds will
receive an indemnity, but
this does not include costs of
disposal and cost of cleaning
up the poultry houses and
grounds. Zweigart said the
indemnity averages $1.68
per bird, but varies with the
species of fowl, the age of the
flock and other factors.
The indemnity does not
include the loss of profit to
the farmers or the bird
owners and it does not
include payment for the time
the farmers are without
flocks. Loss of their flocks,
time arid clean-up costs could
break many farmers, poultry
leaders point out.
More than $12 million in
indemnity has already been
committed but that is just a
small part of the total loss in
Pennsylvania.
"The threat is stirring the
industry to protect itself from
bringitfg anything in from
that (the infested) area."
Zweigart said. "The disease
can be spread by people, egg
cases, birds, trucks, that
type of thing, from infected
areas.
"The way I see it. they are
going to pretty much have to
control traffic on tlfeir es
tablishments."
He said hatcheries are
taking extra precaut' >ns to
disinfect anything they have
that goes into the affected
area.
Dr. Hugh Powell, director
of the diagnostic laboratory
at Rose Hill, recently said the
lab was being asked to test
many more birds than usual.
Cowan Museum May
Become Mental
Health Facility
By a 3-2 vote the Duplin
County Board of Commis
sioners last week agreed to
consider Dr. E.J. Raman's
request for space on the
ground floor of the county
agricultural building in
Kenansville for a mental
health hospital day-care pro
gram. ,
The space is now occupied
by the Cowan Museum. The
museum will move to new
quarters in a historic
Kenansville house now being*
readied for it.
Raman is director of the
Duplin-Sampson Mental
Heal'h Department. The
mental health program now
is on the third floor of Duplin
General Hospital in Kenans
ville.
Voting to consider the
request were Commissioners
Dovey Penney, D.J. Fussell
and Calvin Coolidge Turner.
Opposing the request were
W. J. Costin and Allen
Nethercutt.
Costin and Nethercutt said
they were not against giving
Raman more space. They
suggested that the former
Kenansville Elementary
school building, which is
being given to the county,
might provide a better loca
tion for his project .
The board also agreed to
study the former Kenansville
school to see if it could be
used for a public meeting
center and as a headquarters
for the annual county fair.
Roy Houston of the Duplin
Agribusiness Council said
that the council needs the
building and the grounds for
the annual fair. He said the
fair has grown each year.
Last year, he said, 45,000
people attended the fair and
it showed a $5,000 profit.
The board hopes to make a
decision on how to use the
building. The building needs
extensive repairs in January.
County Librarian John Mi
chaud reported on use of a
$44,590 state appropriation
to the library. The allocations
are: $25,000 for books,
$1,000 for a typewriter, $300
vehicle repair, $500 postage.
$5,564 to pay part-time
workers for six months in the
Beulaville, Faison and Rose
Hill branches; $3,000 to ob
tain more space for the
Warsaw branch; $1,500 to
the Thelma Dingus Bryant
Library of Wallace for books,
and $1.726 in a reserve fund.
Hallelujah Hit Parade
Coming To Kenansvi'w
JACK * SALI Y JEN KINS
Sing Hallelujah. Come On
Get Happy! The Hit Parade
is coming to Kcnansville.
and the event promises to be
a music-filled, memory
packed extravaganza.
"Hallelujah Hit Parade,"
which is being sponsored by
the Tar Heel Fine Arts
Society, will be at the Kenan
Memorial Auditorium on
Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 8 p.m.
This is a non-stop ex
cursion through two decades
of musical magic, when lyrics
were unashamedly romantic
and the melodies were me
morable. "Hallelujah Hit
Parade" reunites a trio of
performers whose individual
credentials qualify each as a
first-magnitude star. Mac
Frampton brings his dazzling
keyboard artistry and en
gaging personality to the Hit
Parade stage, where his
spectacular arrangements
enlivened through the soar
ing voices and stunnin
showmanship of Jack am
Sally Jenkins. i
The show picks up where
the bottom dropped out: the
eve of the Great Depression,
when "Happy Days are Here
Again"-and "Brother. Can
You Spare A Dime" shared
the airwaves and the hearts
of Americans in a strange
sor.t of paradox. If tlje t^a
liunal mood was grin> in
those days, the mood on the
Hit Parade stage is anything
but. as the Jenkins and
Frampton spin out literally
dozens of the top-ten hits
that helped the world
weather the economic storm.
The sun was shining on the
"Sunny Side of the Street"
even if there was occasional
"Stormy Weather." The
"Deep Purple" of the na
tional mixid was tempered by
a lingering "Stardust" rev
erie. And somehow every
body knew that in "Over the
Rainbow" lay America's new
strength. The War came; the
songs followed to document
every event, every mood.
"I'll Be Seeing You" and
"Don't Sit Under the Apple
Tree" were on every lover's
lips.
Hallelujah Hit Parade is a
great evening of entertain
ment. To be sure, you will
not want to miss this dra
matic journey through
America's adolescence to
full-born maturity.
Plan now to attend "Halle
lujah Hit Parade" starring
Mac Frampton and Jack and
Sally Jenkins on Tuesday,
Jan. 10. A limited number of
season tickets will be avail
able at the door at Si 2.50 for
adults and S5 for students.
Duplin Shows Off Wine
Bottles of Duplin Wine
Cellars award-winning Mag
nolia wine were presented to
the N.C. Board of Agricul
ture at a recent meeting of
the board.
In presenting the 1981
vintage wine; David Fussell,
president1 of Duplin Wine
Cellars, told the board that
the wine won a bronze medal
at the Eastern Wine Compe
tition held in New York
earlier this month.
"The award indicates that
North Carolina can produce
wines of high caliber which
deserve the attention of the
consumers both in North
Carolina and across the*
country," Fussell said.
Woman Killed In
Home Near Baltic
Fannie Brown Swinson,
69, was killed ih a house fire
Saturday. She died in the fire
that destroyed her home on
Highway 24 near the Samp
son County line about 4 p.m.
Saturday.
Her husband, Robert, 70,
told Deputy E.G. Baker she
had gone into the house to
light the heater while he
parked the car. When he got
to the wood frame house
minutes later, smoke was
pouring out.
Swinson opened the door
and was knocked to the
ground by the smoke that
poured out of the house. A
passing motorist helped him
up and then telephoned
authorities.
I At least one fire hose froze
while firemen battled the
blaze. Firemen from Warsaw
and Turkey were unable to
save the house.
Firemen were called to the
i house a second time before
finding the burned body of
Mrs. Swinson. They looked
for the remains at the first
i fire and were on tne scene for
three and one-half hours.
? They were called back as the
fire caught up again and
found the body at 9:45 Satur
1
MACFRAMPTON
it
Rose Hill*
Man
Charged With
Murder
Bruce Wilder, 20, of Rose
Hill was charged with
murder Friday night in the
shooting death of Thomas
James Newkirk, 28, of Route
2, Rose Hill. The incident
occurred about /:30 Friday
night at Duffs Creek Trailer
Park west of Rose Hill on
Rural Road 1137. Newkirk
was shot in the head with an
automatic rifle, according to
reports.
Wilder was arrested at
9:30 Friday night at his
mother's home in Pender
County. He is in the Duplin
County Jail charged with
murder without the privilege
of bond. ? f