One Down, Four To Go
Trojans prepare for Friday's bout with
Purnell Swett, the second of five 4A schools
on this season's schedule. Page 7-B.
THr
12/31
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Thirty-First Year, Number 41
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! 1 49234
Powerful stuff
CP&L, electric co-ops work toward a 30
year agreement on power supply,
organizational coordination. Page 11-C
UUvV-^Cv If-vcov '
Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, September 2, 1 993 50c Per Copy 1 00 Pages Including Supplement,, 4 Sections, 3 Inserts
STAFF PHOTO BY EtIC CARLSON
What Shipwreck?
Two-year-old CJ. Pennock of Sunset Beach seems unimpressed by all the commotion caused when a 70-foot shrimp trawler lost steering
and came ashore near his home Friday morning. Among the scores of curious onlookers were his mother, Susan Pennock (left) and
grandmother Joyce Pennock of Osawtomie, Kansas. Story, Page 10-A.
Law Would Ban Smoking In All Public Places
BY ERIC CARLSON
A committee of the Brunswick County Health
Department has drafted an ordinance that would
ban smoking in all restaurants as of July 1995,
and would require employers to prohibit smoking
in all areas of the workplace not served by a sepa
rate ventilation system beginning Jan. 1.
Except in areas specifically noted in the law,
smoking would be prohibited in all public places.
Exempted from the law are private residences and
clubs, state and federal facilities and hotels that
have rooms with ventilation systems preventing
second-hand smoke from reaching nonsmokers.
The proposed law would require the owners of
restaurants with more than 50 seats to phase out
smoking in their establishments by setting aside a
third of the seating capacity for non smokers
starting next year. The prohibition would be
broadened to half the seating area as of July,
1994, until the full ban becomes effective 12
months later.
Owners of smaller restaurants would be re
quired to designate their entire seating area as ei
ther smoking or non smoking until the full smok
ing prohibition goes into effect.
TTie sweeping new ordinance was drafted in an
effort to beat an Oct. 15 deadline established in
state legislation that prohibits local governments
from enacting stricter smoking prohibitions than
those set by the state.
The new state law specifically requires that
smoking be allowed in at least 20 percent of the
enclosed areas in all state controlled buildings
and prohibits local lawmakers from adopting
"regulations that exceed those established in this
article."
Brunswick County Health Board members plan
to discuss the proposed ordinance at their next
meeting Sept. 13. If it is recommended for adop
tion by the full health board, committee chairman
Brad Kerr has asked that a public hearing on the
proposal be held Sept. 21 at 7 p.m.
Although the health board is not required to
hold a hearing, member Don Warren, who is also
chairman of the county commissioners, said he
was pleased to hear that the public will be given
an opportunity to comment on the proposal.
"I had voiced my feelings strongly that we
need a public hearing," Warren said. "This would
have a dramatic effect on the citizens of
Brunswick County and on many business owners'
pocket books."
Warren said Tuesday he had just received a
copy of the proposal and had not studied it
enough to say whether he wili support the mea
sure.
"1 know I'll have some changes to suggest," he
said.
The proposal's stated purpose is "to protect and
promote the public health and welfare by regulat
ing smoking" so as to "minimize the public's ex
posure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)."
It further notes that "where individual needs con
flsct, the need to breathe smoke-free air shall have
priority."
It notes that the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency classifies ETS "as a Class A carcinogen
and as one of the few agents known to cause can
cer in humans."
Among the "public places" where smoking
would be prohibited, the proposed law specifical
ly mentions "art and entertainment facilities, en
closed shopping malls, educational facilities, ele
vators, health care facilities, pharmacies, public
transportation vehicles, restrooms, public areas
within businesses, sports facilities, grocery stores,
convenience stores and department stores."
The new law would place a significant burden
on employers, who would be required to "make
reasonable provisions for smoke-free air for non
(See SMOKING, Page 2-A)
Commissioners Asked To Record,
Protect Abandoned Cemeteries
BY SUSAN USHER
The graves are there, just a few
feet behind lot marker No. 44 on
Island Drive in the River View
Section of River Run Plantation.
The shallow indentations in the
fallen leaves are almost unnoticcable
except for the red and white flags
that mark the head and foot of each.
Inside...
Birthdays 2B
Business News UC
Calendar..., 15A
Church News I4A
Classified 1-IOC
Court Docket I5-16C
Crime Report 6A
Fishing MB
Golf.... 10B
Obituaries 14 A
Opinion 4-5 A
People In The News 7A
Plant Doctor. 5B
Sports 6- 1 1 B
Television 1 2- 1 3C
The flags were placed there in
February by state archaeologist John
Clauser, who assisted descendants of
those buried in the cemetery in re
establishing its boundaries and those
of another cemetery that served
blacks living in the same communi
ty, once known as Zion Hill. The
graves date back to approximately
1758, with the last burial of record
in 1928.
Like hundreds of other small,
abandoned cemeteries across
Brunswick County, the gravesites
don't appear on recent maps or
deeds of the property, though the
black cemetery is marked on one
early deed.
"We can't put this on record be
cause we don't own it," said Gerald
Kirby, whose maternal great-grand
mother, Rebecca Jan Spencer, is
buried there, along with other ances
tors. "Only county commissioners
can."
Between the two cemeteries, tra
dition has it, once stood Mount Zion
Church, where black and white wor
shipped before the Civil War. The
church later relocated and the com
munity lost its momentum after the
turn of the century ? about the time
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
straightened the channel of
Lockwood Folly River. "It kind of
isolated this place," said the Rev.
Tracie Varnum. pointing. "The main
channel was once right here."
He can remember crossing Lock
wood Folly River by boat? a tradi
tional approach to the cemetery for
local residents? with his father to
visit the grave of his father's grand
father. He was about 1 3 years old at
the time.
"These cedars were tall and green
then," he said, referring to the re
mains of the cedars that once
marked the graveyard's boundaries.
Along with Lancaster, who died
in 1928, those buried at the site in
clude Roland Varnam, the "father"
of the Varnurn/Varnam line in
Brunswick County, and early settler
of the Varnamtown community;
Sonny Alexander Galloway; Jane
Spencer Galloway; Ellie Simmons
and her baby; some other Sim
monses and some Fulwoods as well.
Approximately 11 years ago, be
fore development of the subdivision
on Sunset Harbor Road began,
members of Kirby's family came
(See DOCUMENT, Page 2-A)
County, Islanders
Braced For Worst,
. But Kept Smiling
BY THE NEWS STAFF
"I'd rather be over-prepared than
not prepared at all."
With that, a calm Traci Wise shut
the trunk lid of her car in the parking
lot at Wal-Mart in Shallotle Monday
morning.
An employee of of a local med
ical office. Wise was filling her car
with "office supplies:" a lantern,
rechargeable and Krypton flash
lights, canned drinks, water, paper
plates and plastic utensils. Should
Hurricane Emily continue to threat
en, she and fellow staffers planned
to wait out the storm at the office.
"I hope all of this is a trial run,"
she said. "That would be nice."
For Brunswick County, Hurricane
Emily was a dry run as coastal
Carolina's peak hurricane season
(September-October) approached.
The area was expected to experi
ence only "fringe" effects of the
storm as it turned to the north
Tuesday along the Outer Banks. A
hurricane watch for Brunswick
County was lifted at midmorning
Tuesday as Emily turned north. The
area remained under a heavy surf
advisory Tuesday evening, with an
increased chance of rain, and winds
expected to range from 15 mph to
25 mph.
"We needed to be spared and we
were." said Brunswick County
Emergency Management Coordin
ator Cecil Logan after a tense 48
hours-plus.
Wise's attitude Monday was like
that of many South Brunswick Is
lands area residents, including Lo
gan: cautious optimism.
The storm proved to be a chance
for those who hadn't made their
plans back at the start of hurricane
season June 1 to check emergency
arrangements and stock up. And
stock up they did: on plywood, bat
teries, lamps and lanterns, lamp oil.
paper goods, soft drinks, canned
goods, loaf bread, bottled water ?
and stickers.
If the South Brunswick Islands
should face a hurricane later in the
season, approximately 500 property
owners can thank Hurricane Emily
for their new, up-to-date window
stickers. Town halls at Holden
Beach. Ocean Isle Beach and Sunset
Beach were kept hopping Monday,
selling the vehicle window decals
needed to return to the island after a
storm evacuation.
In Shallotte, Olive McWilliams of
Supply was shopping late Monday
morning for a few canned goods and
three bottles of water ? just in case.
"I don't know if Emily is going to
hit us or not," she said.
Robert Gray, manager of Food
Lion in Shallotte, said customers
wiped out two pallets of 70 cases
each (six gallon bottles to the case)
by mid-day Sunday. He stocked an
other 350 cases, hoping it would be
enough.
Stores couldn't respond as quick
ly to the high demand for "D" bat
teries ? the size used to run most
flashlights, as well as portable TV.n
ar.d radios.
Wal-Mart Customer Service Man
ager Crystal Bruce said Sunday's
business reminded her of the Fourth
of July: "It was crazy. Every register
line was open and had customers
backed up. They were buying stuff
by the bagload, including one man
(Sec EMILY, Page 2-A)
1
Brunswick Officers Help
Hunt Fugitive In Horry
As the Beacon went to press Tuesday night, Brunswick County
sheriff's deputies were assisting Horry County,
S.C., authorities in a manhunt for escaped killer
Garland Thomas Tedder in the Buck Creek area off
highway 905 just south of the state line.
There was an unconfirmed report that two
Horry County Sheriff's Deputies had been shot and
wounded during the search for Tedder, who at press
time was reported to be surrounded by police in a
heavily wooded area.
Law enforcement agencies throughout the area
have been searching for Tedder, 31, of Whiteville, n?r?T?iri?
since he escaped from a Scotland County prison TEDDER
unit with the help of his wife and girlfriend. A prison guard was shot
and wounded during the escape.
(See TEDDER, Page 2-A)
* ** STAFF PHOTOS BY SUSAN USHER
SEVERAL LOCAL FAMILIES are circulating a petition that will ask Brunswick County
Commissioners to record abandoned cemeteries, such as this one in River Run Plantation, as directed
by state law. This site has been sold to an individual property owner for a home site. Though State
Archives has it registered as the Lancaster Cemetery, there is no public record of it in Brunswick
County. Above (from left) are Ralph Varnam, the Rev. Trade Varnum and Washley Lancaster, descen
dants of men and women known to be buried in the cemetery.