THE WEST CRAVEN
HIGHLIGHT
a
Volume 2, No. 47
Vanceboro, N.C. - Thursday, November 29 1979 12 pages
20 Cents
Open House a big success!
Santa visits Vanceboro
By Rick Cannon
Santa Claus, making a
special appearance in
Vanceboro, spent over two
hours talking to over one
hundred children about
what they want for
Christmas. Claus, com
menting briefly between
visitors, said that most
children were asking for
bicycles and trucks while
some of the bigger kids
were wanting stereos, tape
decks, and even cars. One
visitor requested a tall,
dark and handsome man.
Santa came into Vance
boro on the back of the
town’s new fire truck
driven by Fire Depart-
Wright wins
again!!
For the second week in a
row Earl Wright won the
Football Contest being
sponsored this fall by the
Highlights and area
businesses. Wright had to
edge out Christopher
Hargett of Cove City in the
tie breaker to preserve the
win. Hargett finished
second and was awarded
five dollars. Five persons
finished in a dead heat for
third place. After the
points and money was
divided among those
finishers each received
eighty cents and four
tenths of bonus point. The
five, all tied at 10-4 and
each predicting the same
point total of the winner,
« -e Harper Wethering-
, John McLawhorn,
Johnny Daly, Ervin
Whitehurst, and Stacey
Patterson.
With his win, Earl
Wright moved into a tie for
first place with Larry
Hayes for the trip to Walt
Disney World in Orlando,
Florida for two. The person
having the highest total of
bonus points at the end of
the contest wins the trip
and fifty dollars expense
money.
The correct winners in
last weekend’s games were
^^ffalo, Pittsburgh, San
l^ego, Los Angeles,
Miami, Minnesota, New
Orleans, Oakland, Phila
delphia, Cincinnati, N. Y.
Giants, ECU, UNC,
Houston, (tie-breaker)
Seattle won and scored 30
points.
AND I WANT A Santa listens closely to this
youngster to make sure he has everything on his list.
His elves will be very busy filling this order.
ment Chief
Nobles.
Ed "Footsie”
SANTA — Santa arrives
from the North Pole via a
Vanceboro Fire Truck.
Santa was on hand for
the Open House last
Sunday.
Shortly after Santa’s
arrival, Howard Tyre,
Vanceboro’s newest
alderman, spoke briefly
before turning on the
electricity lighting
Vanceboro’s Christmas
Tree. Tyre commented
that he was pleased to see
so many people participat
ing in an activity that
supported the town. He
encouraged those in
attendance to do all they
could to support Vance
boro to help make the town
prosper. He added that he
hoped that people would
remember to keep "Christ”
in Christmas. In the midst
of all the commmercial
celebration, he emphasized
that people could Still find
a place to celebrate the
brith of Jesus Christ and
what that means to the
world.
Mrs. Daphne Cleve,
another Vanceboro aider-
man and Recreation
Commissioner, encour
aged everyone to remem
ber that Christmas should
not be just a few days out of
the year, but rather should
last all year long. She
explained that Christmas
is not just getting but also
and more importantly,
giving. Mrs. Cleve
commented that money has
been appropriated to
construct a picnic shelter
at Vanceboro’s new town
park. She added that a lot
of cooperation and help
would be required to make
the shelter and town park a
reality for Vanceboro. In
addition, she praised
everyone that had a part in
putting together this
Christmas Opening in
Vanceboro.
Merchants commented
that the day was successful
in that many people were
able to come in and browse
at the gift ideas available.
Some estimated the crowd
in Vanceboro at over three
hundred people. The
Christmas Open House, an
annual event, was an effort
by merchants in downtown
Vanceboro to off ically open
the Christmas shopping
season by displaying gift
ideas in their businesses.
“This is simply a way to
allow people in the area to
see what Vanceboro has to
offer for Christmas,”
commented William Cleve,
owner of M & W Gift Shop.
Participating in this year’s
See Open House
Page 2
EAS Approved
By Connie Bryan
It may be two years
away, but it is coming.
Area residents voted in
favor of the proposed plan
for extended area service,
according to James Stocks,
district commercial
manager for Carolina
Telephone. Stocks revealed
that in the recent mail
survey of all telephone
subscribers in the New
Bern, Havelock, and
Vanceboro areas, 58.4%
returning their ballots
voted in favor of the
extended area service. He
added that the company is
proceeding with plans to
put the service into effect
saying, “The new service
T. V. set explosion blamed
Fire guts
Huff home
By Rick Cannon
Fire, apparently
caused by an explosion
of the family’s television
set, gutted the interior
of the Jfimmy Huff home
on Main Street in
Vanceboro Monday
night. Damages in the
10:35 p.m. blaze were
estimated at between
twenty-five and thirty
thousand dollars said
Huff. All three family
members in the house
escaped injury.
According to son. Jay,
units from the Vance
boro Volunteer Fire
Department responded
almost within only a
couple of minutes to
bring the blaze under
control.
First to discover the
fire was Jay Huff, the
Huffs sixteen year old
son. “I was upstairs
watching T.V. in my
room when I smelled
smoke. I ran down
stairs only to find the
den ablaze. By this time
the smoke had become
so heavy that it set off
the smoke alarm. I
screamed that the house
was on fire and we all
V
got out,” explained Jay.
Fire officials com
mented later that due to
the location of the fire
escape could have been
very difficult. The
officials blamed the fire
on a freak explosion of
the family’s television
set.
Mr. Huff and his
family are lifelong
residents of Vanceboro.
He is a partner in an
insurance agency and
tax-bookkeeping service
in Vanceboro.
wwirw^:
I iin4
Blue Bell
Not Coming
requires installation of
additional equipment and
it will be approximately 18
to 24 months before this
plan will become effective.”
The plan, which will give
Vanceboro subscribers
access to 20,000 additional
telephones, was welcomed
by Vanceboro Mayor
Jimmie Morris. He
commented that the toll-
free services would make
county services more
readily available to the
Vanceboro people. He also
noted it may draw business
from New Bern. He added
that he felt like the phone
bills would be cheaper in
the long run.
By Connie Bryan
Mayor Jimmie Morris of
Vanceboro announced on
Monday that Blue Bell
representatives had turned
down Vanceboro as a
possible site for a sewing
plant, electing instead to
purchase an existing
sewing plant already in
production. However he
commented that Blue Bell
had been very favorably
impressed with the labor
supply in the area and that
they had expressed their
appreciation to the
Vanceboro Community for
the warm reception and
cooperation of everyone.
Morris explained that the
owners of the factory had
turned down the bid by
Blue Bell earlier, after
which Blue Bell had
started taking labor
surveys. They were then
contacted by the owners
saying that their bid had
been reconsidered and
accepted.
Mayor Morris reported,
however, that the specula
tive building was still
available to industry and
that two companies were
very interested in Vance
boro. Of course, nothing is
definite at this time, but
Mayor Morris is confident
that Vanceboro will be able
to convince an industry to
locate here.