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THE CARDINAL is one of our most-common and most-enjoy
able birds.
Cardinals Only Red
Birds With Us All Year
BY BILL FAVER
The cardinal is supposed to have gotten its name from the red robes
of the cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church. This beautiful bird is
one of our most common species and is often seen
in our yards, along roadsides, and almost any place
where low, bushy habitat is found. Throughout the
South, cardinals have been called "Red Birds" and
are the only red birds that arc with us all year.
The male is an all-red bird with a pointed crest, a
black face, and a heavy triangular red bill. The fe
male is a buff-brown color tinged with red on the
crest, wings, and tail. Though her colors arc more
subdued, she is a beautifully-colored bird as well.
Both arc about the same size, around 8-9 inches.
The large bill easily labels cardinals as seed-eaters
and they arc expert at cracking sunflower and melon seeds. They also
feed on weed seed, small berries and fruits, and insects. During breed
ing season, insects arc fed to the young. Courtship begins in late March
or early April with the male offering bits of food to the female, some
times on the bird feeder where they arc easily observed.
The female builds the nest in vines or shrubs from 3-15 feet above
the ground. The male sings iu lici while die itosi building takes place,
but once the 3 to 4 pale green, brown- spotted eggs arc laid, he will sit
on the nest for short periods of time to give her a break. He will bring
food to her while she spends the 12 or 13 days it takes for incubation.
The young remain in the nest for about 10 days and arc fed by both par
ents during this time. There may be two or three broods during the sea
son and often the male will care for the young for a while after they
leave the nest, freeing the female to get on with the next brood.
Cardinals sing all year, but it is in Spring when they arc most not
ed for their songs-a rhythmic "what-chccr, cheer, cheer." They are
heard from the Dakotas and Nova Scotia down to the Gulf coast. We
can join poet Archibald Rutlcdge in rejoicing:
It was the happy cardinal
With crystal-ringing voice.
Whose music summoned all the world
To listen and rejoice.
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Shallotte Man Gets Five Years
On Cocaine
Charge
BY TKRRY POPE
A Shallotlc man who was arrest
ed for allegedly selling crack co
caine just two weeks after being
placed on probation for the same of
fense was sentenced to five years in
prison Monday.
Jerry Lcc McNeil, 37, of Airport
Road, pleaded guilty in Brunswick
County Superior Court to posses
sion of a controlled substance.
Judge Giles R. Clark ordered that
McNeil be given credit for time
served awaiting trial.
McNeil was arrested in Decem
ber following a search of his mobile
home that uncovered 28 pieces of
crack cocaine and other drug para
phernalia, said Assistant District At
torney Thomas Hicks.
When sheriff's detectives receiv
ed an anonymous tip that drug ac
tivity was allegedly taking place at
the suspect's home, a search war
rant was obtained and officers, aid
ed by State Highway Patrol Trooper
Jerry Dove and his drug-sniffing
dog, Augustus Marcos, uncovered
an estimated $3, OCX) worth of crack
cocaine.
The dog led officers to a medi
cine cabinct in the bathroom where
McNeil had run, reported Lt. David
Crocker with the Brunswick County
Sheriff's Department.
In the back of the cabinct was the
crack cocaine, each piece wrapped
in cellophane. Hicks said.
At sentencing Monday, McNeil
described how he had found the
drugs while cleaning up the house.
He said he had quit using drugs on
his own.
"It had been there quite some pc
riod of lime," McNcil said.
He admitted that he did sell some
to a friend the morning of his arrest.
The female who made the purchase
had given him some dollar bills in
the exchange but he said he did not
count the money.
When questioned by Hicks, Mc
Ncil said he attempted to hide when
officers entered the home because
he did not know they were police
officers. He was in a rear bedroom
when the officers entered the home.
Hicks told Judge Clark that Mc
Ncil had been placed on probation
in December after pleading guilty to
possession with intent to sell and
deliver crack cocaine. That sentence
was handed down in Brunswick
County Superior Court just 10 days
before McNeil's sccond arrest,
Hicks said.
"You just never got around to
getting rid of that stuff?" Hicks
asked McNeil.
His attorney, Robert Floyd, said it
was not the actions of a smart crimi
nal. He asked Judge Clark to delay a
prison term because of the death of
McNeil's half-sister Monday morn
ing. When McNeil said he couldn't
remember the sister's last name.
Judge Clark denied the request
"It looks like Mr. McNeil just
won't quit," said Hicks, who asked
Judge Clark to impose the maxi
mum sentence on the defendant.
Hicks asked that the delay in im
prisonment be denied.
"He doesn't know her last namt
and it's out of state in New Jersey,"
Hicks said. "There's a real good
chancc that he wouldn't be coming
I back."
TO MEET TUESDAY
Leland Residents
Oppose Town's Annexation Plans
BY TERRY POPE
Some residents of the Old Lcland
community don't want to become a
part of the town of Lcland and are
organizing a fight against a pro
posed June annexation.
Residents will meet next Tuesday,
March 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Lcland
Community Building at the site of
the old Lcland School to form a
committee to oppose the annexation
move that would double the size of
Lcland in population, making it the
largest town in Brunswick County.
Petitions are circulating in the
community opposing the move.
Paul Austin, of Clcatewood subdivi
sion, said he has gathered names of
about 170 residents who don't want
annexation while other copies have
gathered additional names, he said.
"Mayor (Russell) Baldwin says
the area wants to be incorporated
and that's just not true,"' Austin said.
However, Lcland has received a
petition from about 200 residents
asking to be annexed by the town.
The opponents' petition states
that residents there don't want an
nexation bccause the town of Lc
land has no services it can offer.
"We have a fire department, a
rescue squad and a sanitary district
which serves us and also serves
you," the petition sutica. "You iuivc
no services to offer the proposed an
nexation area and it would be to
your advantage to establish services
to your own citizens before you try
to enlarge a town that you have no
services for now."
The petition states that Lcland
should spend its time establishing ba
sic services "instead of trying to be
the largest town with no services."
"We deserve the right to choose
to live in a town with no services to
offer. We choose the county. Please
let us be your neighbor and not your
enemy," it concludes.
The annexation area would
stretch to the Eastbrook community
on the north, to the Navassa town
limits on the cast, to the edge of
Leland Industrial Park on the west
and to Old Fayettcville Road on the
south. An estimated 2,000 residents
live in the proposed annexation area.
The town conducted a straw vote
of the proposed annexation area last
April that showed support for annex
ation. Of those voting, 47 favored
annexation while seven opposed it.
Austin said the town held the
straw vote a week earlier tin n when
it said they would take the vote. He
said the numbers were too small to
be considered a true representative
sample of the 2,000 people affected.
Austin said the town is only in
terested in increasing its tax base.
Lcland Mayor Russell Baldwin
told County Commissioner Donald
Shaw last month thai the town plaii>
to begin providing services to resi
dents by forming its own police
force in July, when the new fiscal
year begins.
A rash of break-ins in the commu
nity has prompted the towns of Bcl
ville and Navassa to consider form
ing a joint police force with the town
of Lcland to combat crime there.
Lclaiui, which incorporated in 1989,
also plans to begin installing street
lights during the next fiscal year.
A public hearing will be held in
June on the annexation proposal.
Northern Mayors Meet Friday
Brunswick County Commission
er Donald Shaw will be meeting
with mayors from three northern
Brunswick County towns Friday to
discuss ways to provide police pro
tection to residents there.
The Northern Mayors Council
will meet at the Leland Sanitary Dis
trict office on Village Road at 7 p.m.
Attending the meeting will be
Navassa Mayor Louis "Bobby"
Brown, Leland Mayor Russell Bald
win and Belville Mayor Ken Mcs
scr. The public is invited.
Neither of the three adjacent
towns currently has a police depart
ment, although Leland has said it
hopes to form one in July, when the
1991-92 fiscal year begins. Sheriff
deputies now respond to calls in the
towns as part of their routine patrols.
Residents of the Leland commu
nity have approached county com
niiihiiuiicrs about ways to combat a
high crime rate in the Leland area.
A community meeting was held last
month in Leland to discuss how tlte
towns can work toward forming a
police force to patrol the area.
Shaw has asked the three towns
and the Leland Sanitary District to
work together to finance a police
forcc.
"Together they could have a fine
one," Shaw said, "one that can cov
er some area."
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