Most Of The News
All The Time
Volume No. 17 No. 17
THE STATE PORT PILOT
6-Pages Today
A Good Newspaperjn A Good Community
SOUTHPORT, N. C. WEDNESDAYfTOBER 20, 1954
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
The Pilot Covers
Brunswick County
$1.50 PER YEAR
In l he Wake Of The Storm
DEBRIS—This is Ray Street in Southport after the
nk£rWh6re fnday' In,the left foreground is the G.I. Sur
plus Stole, from which the roof and the back side were
tel,du.rilW the hurricane. The tree on the right
Whittier s Park.”—(Photo by Art Newton )
. DESOLATE.—This is Long Beach, and the cinder block in the foreground is all
the visible evidence of several cottages that stood along the strand. EeySd the elec
by Art Ne^on.?^ betW6en there and the °Cean there was a of houses -(Photo
SURVEY—Waters Thompson, left, and his father
R. L. Thompson, survey the wreckage of their Esso Ma
rine Dock, which is piled up on Moore Street beside the
H. T. St George home following the storm.— (Photo by
Art Newton.)
Brief Bits Of
HNEWS
POSTPONE MEETING
The regular meeting of South
port Lions Club has been post
poned and will not be held tomor
row
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
The Rev. William L. Hicks will
be in charge of the evening wor
ship service Sunday at St. Phil
lips Episcopal church.
Superintendent On
New Orleans Trip
R M. Buchanan, Southern Su
perintendent for T. F. Scholes,
Inc., was among the 26 promin
ent Presbyterians who flew to
New Oi leans Friday to attend the
national meeting of Presbyterian
men.
Twenty of the men making the
tuip were from St. Andrew’s
Church in Wilmington, the other
six were from various other
churches in the area. They char
tered a plane for the round trip
and returned home Sunday even
ing.
Seek Supervision
Of Construction
On Waterfront
Local Citizens Ask Depart
ment Of Conservation
And Development For
Advice On Rs-Building
Southport Waterfront
The following letter, signed by
L. G. Brown, M. D., N. M. Horn
stein, M. D., J. J, Loughlin, Jr.,
and E. H. Arrington, has been
addressed to the Department of
Conservation and Development:
“We have been very interested
in the many references in the
press during the past year as to
the unsightly and disreputable ap
pearance of the waterfronts in al
most all of the North Carolina
waterfront towns.
“Tlie Southport waterfront has
been completely destroyed by the
recent hurricane “Hazel”. Now is
the opportune time for replace
ment of the former unsightly ap
pearance by proper planning, a
building code, and zoning. As pri
vate citizens, we are requesting
[that the Department of Conser
vation and Development take the
I 'nitlative and prod the local of
I, lclals and citizens into action.
Properly carrying out a well
planned program would of necs
sary require outside financial aid.
According to recent news reports,
Federal funds have been made
available.” •
SHOUT SESSION
The Board of County Commis
sioners were in session for a short
while Monday. The meeting was
mostly of a conference nature and |
the body adjourned to reconvene i
today. _ I
Disaster RelieJ
Being Provide)
By Red Ci
Rehabilitation Assistance
Being Extended Througq
Disaster Relief Headquarj
ters; Two Offices In Thii
County
Victims of the hurricane “H;
zel” who are discovering they car •
not meet their disaster cause i
needs through their own resoures s
are turning to the Red Cross f(r
rehabilitation assistance througl -
out the 24 counties in North Ca -
olina and South Carolina swej t
by the hurricane.
At Wilmington, where the R^d
Cross has set up an area disaster
headquarters from which the field
operations throughout the disaster
headquarters from which the field
operations throughout the disaster
area will be directed to assist the
local Red Cross chapters to pro
vide rehabilitation assistance, John
Russell, director of disaster serv
ices in the Southeastern Area,
outlined the basic Red Cross dis
aster relief policies governing the
extension of such assistance. He
said:
1. Red Cross relief is based or !
need, not loss.
2. The Red Cross deals only t
witn problems created or agfgrav
ated by disaster and relief is giv
en to disaster sufferers only.
3. Mass relief is extended du
ring the emergency period im
mediately following the disaster,
but is terminated at the earliest
possible date: the further assist
ance determined by case work
processes is given in the rehabili
tation period upon the basis of
(Continued on page 6)
W. B. KKZIAH
Our
ROVING
Reporter
The past week nas been one of
the few times in many years when
we haven’t been reading- the daily
newspapers. We personally sub
scribe to three of them, but this
week we did not need them. Did
not have time to read them,
did not want to know any more
of -.he disaster to Brunswick co
unty than what we were forced
to see. It was terrible, but we lost
sight of much of the horror be
cause of our faith in the future
of Brunswick county and in our
effort to do what we could to
help get things to rolling again.
Most of our people arose to the
situation and immediately set a
bout the work of rebuilding and
carrying on. And those folks won
our admiration. There was Mer
rit Moore, whose house and furni
ture was badly damaged. His fam
ily had to move out during the
height of the storm and' are still
having to stay out till things co
uld be fixed and cleaned. His
shrimp house was turned over.
Saturday morning found him wor
king at the effort to right the
shrimp house in readiness for
Monday. Sunday a motor crane
set the shrimp house back on its
foundations and Monday it was
handling catches of shrimp.
And there was Dallas Pigott,
his home suffering heavy water
(Continued On Page Five)
Nine Persons Killed , Millions
In Property Damage In Worst
History
Disaster In County
Heavy Equipment
Left' Undamaged
At Sunny Point
One Loaded Barge Goes
Aground And Some Lum
ber Lost In High Wind,
But Damage Small At
The Government Termin
al Project
HEAVY CRANES ON
CLEAN-UP JOB HERE
Contractors Have Been Ex
tremely Cooperative In
Making Use Of Heavy
Equipment Avail
able
By W. B. KEZIAH
While it went through the same
buffeting as the rest of the co
unty, Sunny Point came through
unscathed. The Diamond Con
struction Company builders of the
three docks, lost a few hundred
feet of lumber that was bsed for
concrete forms and the same com
pany had one of its barges loaded
".with concrete piles to go ashore.
It was floated without difficulty.
That sums up the damage. The
seven pile driving rigs and the
quarter of a million dollar cement
I plant came through in good shape.
The sunny side of things began
to show Saturday morning. From
the Diamond’s equipment a pow
erful motor rig rolled into South
port, ready to pull fallen trees
off houses and to move anything
that needed to be moved. It was
followed in a couple of hours by
a huge truck from the T. F. Scho
les, Inc., railroad contractor1, which
was carrying a powerful crawler
crane owned by the Hertford-Ceeil
company and with Joe Cecil, one
of the owners, personally in char
ge. Those two machines worked
through Saturday and Sunday,
cleaning up what they could. The
Hertford-Cecil Company machine,
a vital piece of equipment in the
Sunny Point operations, had to
return to its job Monday, but
the plans are to send it in again
today, this time to launch 13
shrimp boats for Lockwoods Fol
ly fishermen.
Sunday afternoon while work
ing with the motor crane, Ken
Stewart, Superintendent of Con
struction for the Diamond, came
by and said he would gladly send
one of the big floating cranes to
lift the stranded shrimp trawlers
back into the water. The machine
lifts 50-tons, and the offer was
gladly accepted.
It has been lifting the 35 to
40 ton boats about like they are
toys and putting them in their
native element. Naturally, it has
taken a little time to get tackle
Continued On Page Two
At Shallotte
DAMAGE—The front of the Shallotte Motor Sales
building- at Shallotte was badly damaged by the storm
which caused considerable other destruction to buildings
in that town.— (Graham Fore Photo.)
Honeymoon Couple
Survives “Hazel”
Mr. And Mrs. Jerry Helms
Survive Seven Hours Of
Drifting On Sea During
Hurricane
By CAROL LEWIS
Hazel, in her path of destruc
tion, was no respector of persons,
including honeymooners.
Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Helms, who
were married in Whiteville Sat
urday, October 9, arrived at Long
Beach after a short honeymoon
trip. Being tired, they did not
turn on the radio, and, as a re
sult, did not hear the warnings
of Hurricane Hazel. However, it
was pouring rain, and they did
decide they would come back to
Whiteville Friday morning. (Mrs.
Helms is the former Miss Connie
Hussey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Joe Duncan of Whiteville.)
When they awoke Friday mor
ning about daylight, they saw the
fury of the storm* but did not
know the seriousness, and began
to pack their car. They left the
cottage, but after traveling for a
few minutes, they realized it was
impossible to get off the beach.
By the time they returned to the
cottage, water was waist-deep,
and they swam to a near-by two
story building for refuge. How
ever, after they had been in a
second floor bedroom about 30
minutes, they realized the house
*vuuxu uc nociung Derore very
long. In the room they miracu
lously found an air foam mat
tress, which they pushed through
the window. The couple said that
as they stood beside the window
looking out over the scene, the
world looked unreal, with houses
flying by like rockets. As they
drifted out in the sea on' the mat
tress, breakers would wash over
them, and of course, they believed
each moment was the last. After
drifting for several hours on the
mattress and a Board they saw
the tops of some trees, which had
not been covered by water. They
held to one of these trees until
the water went down enough for
them to pull themselves from one
short tree to another until they
reached higher ground.
Jerry and Connie firmly be
lieve that it was a miracle that
they were not drowned. They said
as they held on the tree, with
water washing over them, they
could see houses bearing down on
them at 50 or 60 miles an hour
Continued On Page Two
Resume School
Schedule Today
Brunswick county schools,
which have been closed since
Friday morning because of the
hurricane, were reopened today.
Although some damage has be
en reported to the various bu
ildings, it is not expected that
repairs will interfere with the
operation of school.
Neither Southport nor Shal
lotte played football Friday.
Southport was due to play host
to Hope Mills-, and Shallotte
was scheduled to play at Beau
fort.
This week Southport will play
the Wilmington JVs there, and
Shallotte will play at Camp
Lejeune. Bolivia plays at Tabor
City.
Highway Work
For Brunswick
Work In County Last Month
Included Resurfacing Of
Highway From Bishop
Store To Maco
ihe State Highway Commissi
on completed 56.02 miles of high
way improvements in the Third
Highway Division during Septem
ber, Commissioner C. Heide Trask
reported last week.
Brunswick, Duplin, New Han
over, Onslow, Pender and^ Samp
son compose the Third. Division
headquarters are in Wilmington.
C. E. Brown is division engineer;
R. V. Biberstein is assistant divi
sion engineer.
In Brunswick County, Contract- i
or forces resurfaced with bitu-;
minous concrete two 22-foot wide
roads, and their lengths: from!
Maco to Bishop Store, 9.16 miles;
and US 74 and 76 from junction
of US 17 in sections to Columbus
County line, 11.5 miles. US 17,'
74 and 76 Causeway, which are
24 feet wide in this section, were
also resurfaced for 1.86 miles
with bituminous concrete. ;
Full Force Of Tropical
Storm Strikes Brunswick
County Ccastal Area
Leaving Death And De
struction
BEACHES VIRTUALLY
WIPED OUT STORM
No Deaths Nor Serious In
jury In Southport But
Waterfront Property Is
Heavily Damaged
By Hurricane
At least 12 persons lost their
live and three others are missing
following a hurricane which hit
the Brunswick county coast early
Friday morning. In additioh to
the death toll, property damage
for the county will run between
six and eight million dollars.
The full force of the storm ap
pears to have hit the area from
the mouth of the Cape Fear west
ward to the South Carolina line,
and the beach communities oi
Brunswick county were leveled,
leaving hundreds of permanent
residents homeless. There were
many stories of harrowing exper
iences and of narrow escape that
prevented the death toll from
mounting higher.
The worst tragedy occurred at
Ocean Isle Beach near Shaliotte
where 11 persons were stranded
after all means of escape to the
mainland were out. Included in
this group were Mr. and Mrs.
Sherman Register and their son,
Buddy, all of whom were lost.
Also in the group were Mr. and
Mrs. Bunky Bellamy, who with
one High Point couple, managed
to ride floating debris across the
inland waterway to safety. Four
other persons, Mr. and' Mrs. W.
Frank Armfield, Jr. and Mrs. J.
Elwood Cox, were drowned, bring
ing the toll from this one group
to 7. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are form
er residents of Southport, where
they made their home just before
World War II while Mr. Cox vvas
engaged in the lumber business.
The body of E. B. Todcj of Lum
berton was recovered at Long
Beach. He had come down to
Southport Thursday night with
Shelton Bullard, who is still miss
ing and is presumed lost. The
body of William H. West, Ashe
boro and David Glass also were
recovered.
Still ^missing in addition to
Bullard*are the bodies of Mrs.
Register and Mrs. Lewis of
Greensboro.
Southport Waterfront
The Southport waterfront was
wrecked by the wind, which hit
with hurricane force from a
northeasterly direction, later
swinging about to the southwest.
Not a dock was left standing,
and one after one the shrimp
packing houses were tossed into
Continued On Page Two
Tide Table
Following Is the tide Sable
for Southport during the next
week. These hours are approxi
mately correct and were furn
ished The State Port Pilot
through the courtesy of the
Cape Fear Pilot’s Association.
ttlgh Tide Low Tide
Thursday, October 21
3:46 A. M. 9:52 A. M.
4:05 P. If. 10:23 P. M.
Friday, October 22
4:40 A. M. 10:46 A. M.
4:55 P. M. 11:10 P. M.
Saturday, October 23
5:28 A. M. 11:34 a. M.
5:40 P. M. ii;52 P. m.
Sunday, October 24
6:12 A. M. 0:00 A. M.
6:22 P. M. 12:19 P. M.
Monday, October 25
6:53 A. M. 0:31 A. M.
7:00 P. M. 1:01 p. m.
Tuesday, Oetober 26
7:30 A. M. 1:09 A. M.
7:36 P. M. 1:41 p M
Wednesday, Oetober 27
8:07 A. M. 1:46 A. M.
8:12 P. M. 2:21 P. M,