Cnut^ountg
West Craven Highlights
VOLUME 10 NO. 26 JUNE 25, 1987
VANCEBORO, NORTH CAROLINA PHONE 244 0780 OR 946-2144
(UPSP 412-110)25 CENTS SIX PAGES
Craven Native
Leads Program
To Help Youth
By MIKE VOSS
EdJior
WASHINGTON - Kathy
Smith learned from her youthfUl
experiences in Vanceboro and is
working to help keep young peo
ple from “crossing the line" — a
line she has seen others cross
into troubles, problems and woe.
Mrs. Smith, who grew up in
Vanceboro, said experiences in
her life led her to an interest in
working with children who are
facing the temptations of peer
pressure. And it is peer pressure
that is the “number one influ
ence on these kids,” said Mrs.
Smith.
*T was a Smith and married a
Smith. Everybody knows me,”
she said of growing up in Vance
boro.
Mrs. Smith said she can look
back at her own teenage years
and see reasons that have
"brought her to where she is to
day. She is director of Pamlico
Pals, an organization that pairs
adult volunteers with troubled
children. These children often
come from single-parent homes
and have had brushes with the
law.
Most of the children involved
in the program are boys, who
often lack a father figure or the
father figure they have is weak
and ineffective, said Mrs. Smith.
“These kids are looking for atten
tion. That’s why they often do the
things they do that gets them into
trouble,” she added.
And children growing up in ru
ral areas often are faced with "no
thing to do.” Asked if rural chil
dren run a higher rish of "getting
into trouble,” Mrs. Smith said,
"Probably.” Trouble often fol
lows children who receive no or
little attention and who don't
have beneficial things to take up
their time.
After graduating from East
Carolina University with a con
centration of study in child de
velopment, Mrs. Smith took her
present position in November
1985. She specifically was look
ing for the type of work she is
presently involved with at Pamli
co Pals. “This is the type of work
— working with ‘at risk’ kids —
that I’ve wanted to do.”
Mrs. Smith characterizes her
young clients as "a type that real
ly needs help and appreciates it.”
And although she has seen just
how far children can go astray,
she doesn’t believe there is a
child who can’t be reached and
influenced. “I would never say
they are beyond help. Some of
them are just harder to reach.”
Has she ever given up an a
youth? “Not one child,” she re
sponds when asked. “I have nev
er given up.”
And although some of the rela-
(See CRAVEN. Page 5)
West Craven students with the Maniloffs
Multi-Agency Cooperation
Officers Destroy
$4 Million Worth
Of Marijuana Plants
WILMAR — Law enforcement
officials destroyed a cache of
2,746 marijuana plants — worth
an estimated $4 million — found
growing near the Weyerhaeuser
Co. road in Big Pocossin Friday,
Lt. J.C. Woolard of the Craven
County Sheriffs Department
said.
Woolard said the seizure was a
joint effort of the Beaufort Coun
ty Sheriffs Department, the
Craven County Sherifl's Depart
ment, the Beaufort County Alco
holic Beverage Control Board,
the Alcohol Law Enforcement
Agency and the State Bureau of
Investigation.
He said that the Sheriffs De
partment learned of the mari
juana crop Thursday on a tip
from “concerned citizens,”
whom Hodges did not identify.
The tip came in on the
Crimestoppers line about 8:30
p.m. Thursday. The person who
called in the tip said there was
“suspicious activity in a small
clearing” near the site of the
marijuana. After an investigation
rowaled marijuana plants close
tolD^ small clearing, an airplane
was brought in to help officers.
“We requested an aerial search
that confirmed the presence of a
large amount of marijuana,” said
Woolard.
Eleven officers from the five
agencies began pulling the
plants and destroying them at 10
8.m. Friday and worked all day,
said Milton Hodges, chief deputy
of the Beaufort County Sheriffs
Department.
He said that an investigation
into who planted the field, which
was located on Weyerhaeuser Co.
land, is continuing. No arrests
had been made by Monday.
Woolard said the plants ranged
from two to six feet and would
probably have been mature in
September. ”We figure that they
would have been worth about
$4,393,600 at maturity. They
could have been used now, but
they would have been worth a lot
more at the first of September,”
said Woolard.
The illegal crop was growing in
two sites about 'A mile fron the
Craven-Beaufort county line.
One site was a 15 or 20 acre tract
and the other was smaller.
Woolard said, “Whoever was
growing the marijuana knew
what they were doing.”
Investigators have been moni
toring “suspicious traffic” in the
area, he added. “We have some
major leads. That’s all I can say
right now,” said Woolard.
The marijuana was destroyed
at an undisclosed location.
Woolard, who is also chairman
of Craven County Crimestop
pers, said anyone with informa
tion on ther marijuana fields or
any past or ongoing crimes can
call Crimestoppers at 633-5141
and be eligible for up to a $1,000
reward. Crimestoppers is a non
profit organization and callers do
not have to give their names.
7 Should Have Turned Left’
People from all over eastern North Carolina enjoy a good muds-
linging. That is if the mudslingers are trucks and not politicians. The
political mudslinging is not as much fun. This driver heads into the
West Craven Awarded
Beautification Honors
muddy pit during a recent mudsling held in the area. He might have
won, but one suspects it took lots longer to clean the truck than it
took to muddy it up. (Ric Carter photo)
RALEIGH — West Craven
High School didn’t win first
place in the the state for the Keep
North Carolina Clean and
Beautiful School Beautification
Program, but the school did take
first place in its district.
Dr. Howard Maniloff associate
superintendent of the N.C. De
partment of Public Instruction,
spoke the the group of students,
teachers, administrators and
community leaders that met in
Raleigh for the awards luncheon.
He presented awards to each of
the winners in the eight school
districts in North Carolina.
New Bern’s H.J. MacDonald
Middle School won first place in
the state in the middle school di-
Schools from across the state
received recognition for parti
cipation in the School Beauti
fication Program, a state-wide
student beautification effort
sponsored by KNCCB in con
junction with the Department of
Public Instruction and Division
of Vocational Education.
The School Beautification
Program began during the admi
nistration of the late Gov. Dan K.
Moore and seeks to bring an
awareness of the visual environ
ment of North Carolina to the
student population of the state,
encouraging them to accept the
responsibility of maintaining
and improving the environment
of their school and community.
(Jp On The Roof
Two of Edward Earl Wilson Jr.’s goats decide the rooftop is the
place to be to beat the heat and watch passersby in Vanceboro.
Wilson says he uses his three goats to help keep a lot free of brush
and tall grass. The goats, especially the two on the roof, didn’t seem
too interested in working Tuesday evening. Maybe they would
rather get a job helping a roofer. (Mike Voss photo)
No Crack(ed)pots
Allowed Around
Pottery Business
By .MIKE VOSS
Editor
If you've ever crossed the
Craven-Beaufort county line
on U.S. 17 headed toward
Vanceboro and fell you were
being stared at by hundreds
of eyes just past the county
line» you were right.
Those hundreds of forever-
staring eyes belong to the re
sidents of Craven Pottery.
Those eyes never blink be
cause they belong to statues.
And if the mouths that go
with those eyes could talk,
what stories they could tell.
About nine years ago what
started out has ‘'just a hob
by,” turned into big business
as “people wanted more and
more ” said Mike Anderson.
The whole Anderson clan is
involved in the business —
from father W.L. “Sweetie”
Anderson, mother Pattie,
brother Jerry and sometimes
sisters Barbara Ann and
Kathy.
Big business on the road
side? Anytime you can move
20 tons of sand and 200 bags
of cement to make pottery
that's big business for a
family.
Anderson said he, his father
and brother were out riding
around one weekend and
“seen a place where people
were making it.” Of course
the family “though we could
do it,” said Anderson. It’s
been mixing those 20 tons of
sand and 200 bags of cement
by using shovel and buckets
ever since.
The sales area resembles a
cement zoo. Animals of every
description, color and size
abound. Throw in a few fairy
tale gnomes, elves and other
creatures and you still ha
ven’t seen it all. If you don’t
see it just ask; it’s probably
around somewhere.
Although much business
comes from tourists driving
by, stopping down the road
and coming back, the Ander-
sons make a lot of pottery for
wholesale use. Wholesale
buyers pick up orders by the
(See POTTERY, Page 2)
Anderson in piiintiiig area