STA? moro BY EMC CARLSON
ATTORNEY William Fairley (left) and his client Daniel
Cummings listen to the responses of potential jurors in his
first-degree murder trial Monday .
Prospective Jurors Quizzed On Death
Penalty
BY ERIC CARLSON
The painstaking process of finding 14 people
willing to impose the death penalty began
Monday in the trial of a Robeson County man ac
cused of fatally shooting 74-year-old Bums
Babson during an attempted robbery of his cor
ner store in Ash last April.
As of Tuesday evening, three jurors had been
selected to decide whether Daniel Cummings Jr.,
39. of Red Springs is guilty of first-degree mur
der. robbery with a dangerous weapon and as
sault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill in
flicting serious injury.
Attorneys say it could take more than a week
to scat the jury and two alternates who will hear
the evidence against Cummings, because each
candidate must be closely questioned regarding
his or her feelings about capital punishment.
If the jurors unanimously agree that
Cummings murdered Babson, they will be asked
a second, more difficult question. Docs the evi
dence suggest he should be executed for his
crime? Or should he serve a term of life impris
onment?
Although defendants have been convicted of
capital offenses here, no one has received the
death penalty from a Brunswick County jury for
more than 50 years. District Attorney Rex Gore
said Monday.
Cummings has allegedly given statements to
police in which he admitted entering Babson's
Bamboo Corner Ash Beverage store on
Whiteville Road April 22 while "scoping" places
to rob. He said he "told the old man, "Give me
your money," according to one statement.
Babson moved toward the cash register and
"came back with a gun and shot at me,"
Cummings allegedly told Brunswick County
Sheriff's Detective Tom Hunter.
"We struggled over the gun. I believe I heard
or counted four shots that went off inside the
store. I took the old man's wallet. I got the mon
ey out of the cash register and left the old man
lying face down in the chair," Cummings al
legedly said in his statement
Cummings also admitted being confronted by
Babson's wife as he left the store and said he
fired the pistol "Until the weapon was empty."
She later entered the store and found Babson
dead with bullet wounds to the face, the back and
the arm.
Defense attorneys Michael Ramos and
William Fairley tried unsuccessfully to keep
Cummings' statements from being used in the
trial, claiming their client "was suffering from
withdrawal from approximately one week's con
stant use of cocaine" and that his mentai state
during questioning made him unable to under
stand his Constitutional rights.
Superior Court Judge Jack Thompson has
ruled that the jury should be allowed to consider
the statements.
Cummings also allegedly admitted to police
that he broke into a home in Red Springs and
stole an elderly woman's purse three days before
Babson's murder.
Red Springs Police have charged Cummings
(See CAPITAL, Page 2-A)
Th WICK# BEACON
Thirty-Third Year, Number 5 ?ivn fM mutmmcM hacom Shallotto, North Carolina, Thursday, December 1, 1994 50 ? Per Copy 40 Pages, 4 Sections, Plus Inserts
n 1 i ;i
IXUUIK LlUIUiy
May Reopen
This Month
BY ERIC CARLSON
West Brunswick readers can hope
for a special Christmas present this
year as the newly remodeled and ex
panded Rourk Library branch is ex
pected to reopen on Mam Street in
Shallotte around the last week of
December
"I hesitate to say exactly when it
will re-open, what with holiday dis
ruptions," said Marie Harrison, a
member of the Brunswick County
Library Board of Trustees. "But we
hope to see it open before the first of
the year.
"Everyone will be tickled to death
when they see it," she said "It will
be a wonderful Christmas present."
Harrison toured the new building
with library board Chairman Anne
I fines, architect John Sawyer amt
countv engineer Robert Tucket dur
ing a "jHinch list" inspection
luesday afternoon. Contractors
were given then final instructions
for co rv acting the rcrr?t>dcling job
bet-He turning the building over to
the county for use.
Saying there is "nothing major"
remaining to be done on the
S2#y,649 job, Harrison estimated
that the architect will be ready to re
lease the building in about two
weeks. It will take at least a week to
re-stock the library's book collection
before re-opening, she said.
The Friends of West Brunswick
Library has kept a temporary branch
library open to the public since
April. The organization is expected
to help county personnel move into
the new building. But some of the
books are in storage and others will
have to be transferred from other li
braries, llaiTison said
"I expect a lot of them will have
family obligations, so it would be
speculation at best to say how long
it will take," she said. "They've
done a masterful job of keeping a li
brary open. They arc to lie com
mended for their efforts. We art
very fortunate to have them "
The final work to be done at the
newly remodeled library includes
touch-up painting, some electrical
work and the installation of tele
phones and other electronic equip
ment, Harrison said. The carpeting
has been put down and most of the
book shelves are in place.
Formerly the West Brunswick
Library, the building has been re
named the Rourk Branch of the
Brunswick County Library system
in honor of Harrison's parents, who
donated the land on which the origi
nal building was built.
The remodeling project includes
an additional wing of 1,^04 square
feet and a renovation of 2,232
square feet.
Inside...
Birthdays ... ? 2B
Business News . ? ? S-9C
Calendar.
Church News.
Classified
Club News...
Crime Report .
Court Docket.
Golf.
Obituaries - IOC
Opinion ?4-SA
People In The News
Plant Doctor ?
Snorts 1-5D
iTAff PHOTO rt IYNN OJLSOH
Up And Over
A house, moved from III J Ocean Houlevard West, Holden Heach, lumber* over the Intracoastal
Waterway, simultaneously pulled by a Million House Movers truck and pushed by a front-end loader.
The moving took place the day before Thanksgiving.
Trucker Tried To
Report Accident;
No Charges Filed
BY ERIC CARLSON
"I think I hit a lady," said the
frightened voice recorded at the
Brunswick County Eimergency
Communications Center last week
"You hit a deer." came the confi
dent reply from a 91 1 dispatcher
The caller was right. TTie operator
was wrong.
But investigations by police and
local emergency response officials
suggest the mistake probably made
no difference in the fate of a
Wilmington woman who apparently
walked onto the northbound lane of
L' S 17 near Lcland and was struck
by a Uactor-lrailcr truck shortly be
fore dawn last Monday (Nov. 2i).
It wasn't until first light that the
body parts strewn for more than a
half mile along the highway were
identified as those of a human
Authorities believe the victim, 54
year-old Ellen Smith Marsh, was hit
at about to a m and run over by nu
merous other vehicles before police
stopped traffic through the area
about an hour later.
Several rescue workers and law
enforcement officers who frequently
respond to violent crimes and auto
accidents said it was the most grue
some scene they have ever encoun
tered.
District Attorney Rex Gore an
nounced Monday that no charges
will be filed in what he called a
"tragic accidental death."
Evidence collected by Trooper
B C. Jones of the N.C. Highway pa
trol indicates that Marsh was initial
ly hit near the highway's intersec
tion with Zion Church Road by a
large delivery truck drive, t by
Charles Gowan Jr., 31, of Ft. Mill.
SC.
"He saw a moving object in the
middle of two northbound lanes,"
Gore said in a prepared statement.
"He hit his brakes and swerved in an
attempt to miss the object, but hit it
(See NO FAULT. Page 2-A)
Former BCC Instructor Gets Cash , Statement In Settlement
BY SUSAN USHKK
Brunswick Community College and former
business instructor Jane Page have reached a
settlement in which Page will receive a
S? 5 .(MM I payment and acknowledgement that
there is no evidence she falsified attendance
records.
BCC trustees approved the court -mediated
settlement and resolution in a closed session
with attorneys at the hoard's Nov. 16 meeting
and said they would not disclose terms until
the settlement was finalized
Walters and BCC President Michael Reaves
have signed the agreement. Page was to sign it
Wednesday, according to her attorney. Gary
Shipman of Wilmington
Walters said last week he would have no
comment on the settlement until all parties had
signed
Page, whose suit claimed her outspoke ness
led to her dismissal, said she filed suit to call
attention to problems she says still exist at the
college While the legal action has been a
painful experience, she said she's not sorry she
went through with it
"There are serious problems on that campus
and I tried to do something about it," she said
last week "Maybe this will bring some good
leadership in there, at least that's what I'm
hoping."
Page's cash settlement w ill be a non-taxable
award "for emotional distress," not wages, ac
cording to Shipman
As part of the agreement, neither party ad
mits any wrongdoing. The resolution ap
proved by trustees acknowledges, however,
that while discrepancies were found, the col
lege has no evidence Page intentionally falsi
fied class attendance records, said Shipman.
BCC has said Page's contract was not re
newed upon her supervisor's recommendation
and because of her "failure to comply with
college policies relating to class attendance
records," and that auditors had found "serious
discrepancies" in her class records that could
have placed the college in jeopardy of not re
ceiving some federal student financial aid or
having to repay state or federal funds.
Class attendance records are important be
cause most state funding for community col
(Se* FORMER, Page 2-A)
Monday Night Fire Displaces
Two Auto Repair Businesses
BY SUSAN USI1KK
Investigators Tuesday pinpointed
the general starling point of a
Monday night fire that
displaced two businesses,
hut could not determine its
cause.
Firefighters from Shal
lotte, Shallotte Point and
Ocean Isle Beach re
sponded to the 6:23 p ra.
fire that gutted the office,
parts room anil waiting
room and seriously dam
aged bays and equipment at Shal
lotte Muffler & Brake Shop, a state
inspection station, and L & (i Auto
motive Repair. The two businesses
shared a metal shell building on
N.C. 179 just south of the Shallotte
town limits.
Muffler shop and building owner
Cleve Gore, whose business burned
once before in August 1988, was
making plans Tuesday morning to
get back in business. "We're work
ing just as quick as we can on it," he
said.
The business was insured, said
Gore. "After the last fire we were
back at ground zero and had tp bor
row again to rebuild. And when you
borrow you have to have insurance."
While waiting for word from the
insurance adjuster. Gore said both
he and Larry Tapio, who for the past
year has leased one-half the building
and some equipment fioiii Gore for
the auto repair business, plan to try
working temporarily from a small
building in back of the shop. They
may reopen in as little as
two weeks' time.
"We're trying to get the
power on," said Gore. "If
we can get the outside lift
going and an air compres
sor going, we'll be back in
business, on a smaller
scale."
He expects to salvage
some equipment, and said
the company's insurance adjuster
thinks it may be possible to repair
part of the building.
Gore has been buoyed by the sup
port of customers and others, such
as the electrician checking to see
what's need to set up shop in back
and Brunswick Electric Membership
Corp., which has promised to give
the connection a high priority.
"Everybody's been great. Lots of
customers have come up there al
ready. The support's been great. It
shocks me," he said Tuesday after
noon.
Watch dog Butch, a Japanese
Akita, was not in the shop at the
time of the fire because Gore and his
wife, Sylvia, are trying to mate their
unusual breed of dog. "Everybody's
asked about the dog, even though
he's pretty ferocious when he's in
(See SHALLOTTE, P?g?? 2-A)
Friday fire
claims two
Calabash
businesses,
Page 2-A.
- ? ..twiw Wi Ujntl
THE SBl is still trying to pinpoint the cause of a fire that gutted part of Shallotte Muffler & Brake
Shop on N.C. 179 Monday night. Firefighters from Shallotte, Shallotte Point and Ocean Isle Beach re
sponded after a hunter spotted wisps of smoke coming from the metal shell building.