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'^1
ore Than 19,000
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Published every Thursday — Serving Wake and Franklin Counties
Wake Forest, N. C. 27587, Thursday Morning, June 30, 1977 20 pages - 2 Sections
State and National
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Two more Franklinton
police officers leaving
By CALVIN MERCER
Wake Weekly Staff Writer
Two more Franklinton pol
ice officers have submitted
resignations, Police Chief Leo
Edwards said Monday. The
two resignations now leave
the department four men
short of the usual work force.
Officer Carl Kearney turn
ed in his resignation this past
Friday after returning from a
week’s suspension from duty.
His last working day will be
tomorrow.
Kearney was contacted
about the matter but failed to
The “tremendous turnover’’ in policemen is due
to the low pay of small town police officers, Chief
Eldwards said.
return the reporter’s call.
This past Friday was Kear
ney’s first day at work follow
ing the week’s suspension
from duty. When asked about
the suspension, Chief Ed
wards said Kearney had call
ed in sick one day. Edwards
learned, however, that Kear
ney was working at another
job in Raleigh and so sus
pended him.
Edwards said Kearney was
not “mad.” “But he felt it
would be better to resign.
He’s a fine officer and I hate to
lose him,” Edwards said.
Kearney has been with the
department almost four
years. He will remain on as a
member of the town’s auxO-
iary police force, Edwards
said.
The other officer leaving,
James Frazier, resigned for a
better paying job. He wOl
leave in August. Frazier has
been on the force nearly four
years, longer than any other
officer except Chief Edwards
and Assistant Chief Tom
Allen.
The two resignations now
leave the police department
with vacancies in three officer
positions and a night dis-
(Please turn to page 16)
jworks work
There’s a lot of tedious work being done by a dedicated crew to fuse all the
fireworks for Wake Forest’s display Sunday night. Shown are Kathy Jackson,
Jerry Warren and BiUy Shearon.
—Bob Allen photo
Bad day
for new
driver
Wake Forest girl cadet
n
55^
Resigns after suicide
incident in Raleigh
Fireworks, July 4th program set
for Wake Forest over four days
•OLLY HOWES
Weekly Staff Writer
ear’s fireworks dis-
je more than “bombs
in air.” With over
rorth of purchased
, including 10 ground
this celebration
to be the best one
ake Forest,
tacular patriotic pre
will highlight the
turing Linda Nelson
atue of Liberty and
splays of the Ameri
can flag, the Liberty Bell, the
American eagle, 100 ft. of falls
and countless aerial shots.
The Fourth of July program
starts at 9 p.m. Sunday. Main
guest and speaker will be Jim
Graham, N. C. Secretary of
Agriculture. James T. Bar
tholomew is master of
ceremonies.
Ryan Keith, as Uncle Sam,
and Fred Chanditj , ' •
pro tern, will also sit on the
platform. Justice I. Beverly
Lake will give the invocation.
Miss Fourth of July, selected
Friday night, will be intro
duced to the crowd.
Several Amran Shriner
clowns will also be on hand to
entertain.
Gates will open at 7:30
Sunday night. People are en
couraged to walk to the sta
dium to save parking spaces
for those who must drive and
arrive early for a good s^at.
the fireworks commiitee, in
vites the community to come
see how the fireworks dis
plays are set up Sunday after
noon at the stadium from 2 to
4:30. Members of the fire
works committee will be there
to answer questions and ex
plain how the fireworks work.
The July Fourth celebra
tion starts Friday, July 1,
with the Miss Fourth of July
Beauty Pageant at 7:45 at the
high school stadium. The
Wake Forest Kickers square
d 'ncing group will perform.
Reigning queen is Margie
Goldston.
Saturday morning is for
(Please turn to page 2)
And the bottles came ’a
tumblin’ down.
Everyone has a bad day
now and then, but Phil Mayo,
driver for the Seven-Up Bot
tling Co., had more than his
share of trouble last Thursday
morning.
About 24 cases (or 576
bottles) of soft drinks fell off
his truck as he drove down S.
Main St., leaving a nearly 200-
foot-long trail of soda pop and
broken glass.
Mayo, who has been work
ing for the company only one
month, had just come from
Raleigh for his morning de
liveries when the 9 o’clock
mishap occurred.
told Wake Forest Police
man Wilbur Harrison and by
standers that he forgot to
close the side door of his
(Please turn to page 16)
After two months at the
Raleigh Police Academy and a
close call last Thursday when
an escaped mental patient
from Dorothea Dix Hospital
threatened her life, Beverly
Medlin Seaver of Wake For
est resigned from the force
Monday morning.
Ms. Seaver, 25, said Mon
day that her run-in with the
patient was not the only
reason for her decision. She
said she was having a difficult
time in her self-defense course
and was not sure she could
handle all situations she might
face as an officer.
Last Thursday, Tommie
Lee Hester confronted Ms.
Seaver on Cabarrus St. in Ral
eigh and demanded her police
revolver. He held a knife to
her throat, threatening to kill
her if she did not comply.
After taking the gun, he shot
and killed himself.
Ms. Seaver was unharmed
but reconsidered her position
on the force and decided to
resign.
“I’m not that much of a
women’s libber anymore,” she
said. “There are some things
that a woman just has a hard
time doing, like being a
policeman.”
Ms. Seaver said she does
not regret her experience
with the force and now appre
ciates the efforts of policemen
more. □
Billy Shearon takes
j Batchelor named
nngsville principal
fireworks seriously
By POLLY HOWES
Wake Weekly Staff Writer
Batchelor, a 28-
raduate of the Uni-
North Carolina at
and East Carolina
ty, was hired last
principal of the
l&e school.
lor was hired on a
B decision by the
County Board of
last Thursday. The
visory Council had
ided Batchelor to
;y board.
The new principal and his
family will move to Youngs-
ville as soon as possible. He
begins work tomorrow. The
resignation of B. W. Whitlock
is effective today.
Batchelor has taught 7th
and 8th grade and coached at
the Jasper Elementary School
in Jasper and has served as
gruidance counselor and direc
tor of guidance at the Bertie
Senior High School in Wind
sor. The high school has
approximately 1,500 students.
A graduate of Jacksonville
High School, Batchelor re
ceived an A. B. in inter
mediate education at UNC-CH
and a master’s in guidance
at ECU. He also received a
Master of Education at ECU
in administration and holds a
principal’s certificate from the
same school.
He and his wife have two
children, a 6-month-old boy
and a 3 V2 -year-old girl. □
WF-R PAPER wins top
awards, p. 2
MAY HOLD final Booster
meeting in Franklinton,
p. 8
TWO LOCAL girls to
make debuts, p. 11
AREA ball results and
standings, p. 12
WINNING a dream for
coach, boys, p. 14
IS
HILL’S tomato patch
5 acres big, p. 17
EDITORIALS, letter,
columns, p. 4
AREA obituaries, p. 7
NATURE draws bowhunt-
er to sport, p. 14
If everyone gets as big a
bang out of fireworks as Billy
Shearon, head of the fire
works committee, there is no
way this year’s display can
fizzle out.
Shearon takes his fireworks
seriously.
He starts planning a show
in January, deciding what
types of displays will be used
and how the show will be
organized. “People think we
just go out there, open up
some boxes and shoot off fire
works,” he says, “but every
shell has its exact spot in the
show.”
After Shearon plans the
program and determines what
materials will be needed, he
accepts bids from firecracker
manufacturers to get the best
deal.
During the show, he co
ordinates the entire program
by telephone links with his
ground crew. He follows a de
tailed schedule, marked in
15-second blocks, so that each
firecracker and ground dis
play goes off at the right time.
Wake Forest’s fireworks
display is quite different from
those of most other commun
ities. Instead of purchasing
fireworks fused by the manu
facturer and pre-constructed
ground displays, the fire
works committee buys the
materials and members do the
labor themselves.
This saves the community
considerable expense,
Shearon says. On every shell
fused by the committee, a
dollar is saved. All together,
the Wake Forest display,
which cost $2,074.72, would
have cost about $7,300 if pre
built by the fireworks com
pany, he says.
Shearon, who has planned
Wake Forest’s fireworks for
five years, almost “went off’
in a panic state last week
when the fireworks materials
had not arrived.
The truck delivering the
fireworks from the Vitale
Fireworks Manufacturing Co.
in New Castle, Pa., was
(Please turn to page 2)
'en girls vie for Miss Wake Forest July Fourth title Friday
Photos by
Bob Allen &
Greg Allen
rls are entered in this
Miss Wake Forest
of July beauty
Friday evening at the
ool stadium,
ig the contest will be
Vood, company com-
mander of the Headquarters
Attachment in Raleigh; Ed
McIntyre, channel 5 TV per
sonality; and Bob Doughty,
plant manager of Huyck-
Formex.
The girls will be judged in
swim suits, sports outfits and
evening wear. Finalists will
also compete in a question-
and-answer segment.
Rehearsal for the pageant
will be Thursday evening at
6:30 at the stadium. Following
the rehearsal, the contestants
and judges will meet informal
ly at the Pizza Barn for
supper.
This is the first year the
pageant has been held at the
stadium.
The girls entered are:
Courtney Box, 16, is a rising
senior at Enloe Sr. High
School. She is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Luda Box of
1564 N. Main St., Wake
Forest. Her hobbies include
playing tennis, swimming,
drawing and photography.
Courtney is sponsored by
Solid Sounds.
Karla Jean Bujewski, 17, is
a rising senior at MUlbrook
Sr. High School. Her parents
are Mr. and Mrs. Craig
Bujewski of Bayleaf. She
enjoys teaching children to
play the piano and singing and
jogging. Her sponsor is Del’s
Variety Shoppe.
Amy Garner, 16, will be a
junior this fall at WF-R Sr.
High School. She is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
John Garner of Route 2,
Wake Forest. She enjoys
tennis and dancing. She is
(Please turn to page 2)
m
TERRI HOPKINS
AMY GARNER
CONNIE KENNEDY
WENDY LYNAM
COURTNEY BOX