EDITORIALS:
YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT
On Saturday we go to the polls to
vote on a constitutional amendment
which will have an important bearing
upon our public school system here in
North Carolina, and unless we mistake
the signs, there is a distressing absence
of concern on the part of the majority
of our people.
This might well be the most impor
tant question upon which we ever have
had an opportunity to vote. Public edu
cation is our most important business,
and the Pearsall Plan holds the key to
its future.
Opponents of the proposal say that it
will bring about the ruin of our public
school system in that it makes provision
for closing schools within a given dis
trict by majority vote of the citizens of
that district. They see the promise of
payments for tuition in private schools
as a further threat to public education
as we know it. They favor stressing the
importance of the pupil assignment
plan. The more moderate opponents of
the Pearsall Plan hold high hopes for
voluntary segregation; the more ex
treme opponents favor immediate inte
gration. Both groups claim that the
Pearsall Plan will be found to be uncon
stitutional.
Those who favor the Pearsall Plan
look upon it as the best solution that
has been offered to one of the most per
plexing problems of our time. They be
lieve that the majority of our citizens
are not now ready for integration of
white and Negro pupils in our public
schools and they see in this plan an op
portunity to insure additional time in
which to bring about far-reaching social
changes. They have seen violence and
threats of violence in other Southern
States, and they believe that the Pear
sall Plan will prevent incidents of this
nature in North Carolina. Proponents of
the plan do not believe that it ever will
be necessary to invoke the more ex
treme provisions. Rather than a threat
to our public schools, those wTho favor
the Pearsall Plan look upon it as a
measure which will help preserve our
program of public education here in
North Carolina as we have known it.
Our own opinion is that, while no
claim is made that the Pearsall Plan is
perfect, it is the product of an honest,
sincere effort to find some workable
solution to a serious problem. The seven
man commission that was headed by
the Rocky Mount lawyer-farmer spent
months in careful study, and they had
the benefit of advice from educational
leaders, outstanding lawyers and legis
lators. Their decision was not hastily
nor frivilously arrived at, and all along
the line they asked for and received
criticism and suggestions that were
helpful in shaping the plan upon which
you will be called upon to vote Satur
day. Governor Luther H. Hodges is sup
porting this plan one-hundred percent
and so are the two United State Sena
ators from North Carolina. They and
hundreds of other political and educa
tional leaders believe that it is the best
plan that has yet been brought forward
for the preservation of our public
school system.
As a good citizen you have the right
to make your own decision as to how
you will vote on this important question,
but as a good citizen you have no right
to consider that it is none of your con
cern.
KIRBY'S
The other day we rode through Shal
lotte and saw workmen erecting a new
sign on one of the principal business
buildings. When we came h#ck through
that night we saw the word “Kirby’s”
pi’ominently displayed across the front
of what has formerly been known as
“Shallotte Trading Co.”
To us it is a good change. For years
the Kirby name has been connected in
the minds of Brunswick county peop'e
with good merchandising practices. It
started with the late G. W. Kirby '’nd
his store at Supply, which for years was
the merchandising center of the county.
During the mid-thirties, one son, Hob
son Kirby, moved to Shallotte where he
purchased the building and stock of the
Shallotte Trading Co. from Levi Swain.
Another son, Floyd Kirby, remained at
the old stand at Supply. Another son,
Elbert, purchased the Harry Robinson
store on U. S. No. 17 and set up busi
ness there. In recent years, Mr. Floyd
Kirby has been associated in business
with his son, Floyd, Jr. Mr. Hobson
Kirby has had the assistance of a
nephew, Thomas Batson.
Through the years, these have been
good men with whom to do business.
They have earned their reputation for
honesty and reliability, and their efforts
have prospered.
To us it was good to see the new sign
on the store at Shallotte. “Kirby’s” is
a good and honorable name in the mer
chandising history of Brunswick county.
THE FOUR AMENDMENTS
Saturday is the day of decision for
support or defeat of four amendments
to the North Carolina constitution.
The ballot will contain four questions
to be voted on. The first is the so-called
Pearsall amendment concerning- the
operation of public schools. This is the
most controversal question of the four.
The other amendments are : 1—for
changing the date for the convening
of the General Assembly from January
to February. This change is made nec
essary because of the change from
March 15 to April 15 for payment of
income taxes. This amendment should
recieve a large, favorable vote.
2— This amendment would authorize
a married woman to exercise a power
of attroney conferred on her by her
husband. This is a good amendment we
think and should recieve favorable
support.
3— Limiting necessary compensation
of members of the General Assembly.
The State Port Pilot
Published Everv Wednesdav
Southport, N. C.
JAMES M. HARPER, JR. Editor
Entered as second-class matter April 20, 1928
at the Post Office at Southport, N. C., under
the Act of March 3, 1878.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
ONE YEAR .$1.50
SIX MONTHS . 1.00
rHREE MONTHS . .76
We think this amendment should re
cieve a favorable vote, although we say
this somewhat with tongue-in-cheek.
Unless members of the General Assem
bly do get an increase in compensation
we fear that it will develope into a
rich man’s organization, because a poor
man would not be able to pay his way
while there unless he accepted “hand
outs” from lobbyists. However, the per
diem expense feature of this amend
ment is the part that we don't like. The
Assembly, in the appropriation bill, sets
the rate of per diem expense allowed
state employees and that same rate
would apply to the per diem they
would get, thereby setting their own
per diem amount. We’ll probably have
take this entirely on faith because we
feel so strongly that the members
should have more pay than they are
getting at the present.
These are four amendments you will
be called upon to vote on Saturday. We
hope every votor will fulfill his civic
duty and vote on all four of the amend
ments. If you are not sure you under
stand the amendments then ask some
one qualified to explain them, then
make up your own mind and vote.
If all the political speeches, to be
made in this country this year, were
laid end to end, there would be no end
to political speeches.
In every community, including ours,
there are some local nabobs who
think that the law was made for others
to obey.
The best way to earn a rest is to com
plete your work.
YOU'RE
VOTING
THIS YEAR,
AREN'T
YOU?
WELL.. I
FIGURE MY ONE
UTTLE VOTE
WON’T MAKE MUCH
DIFFERENCE.
S-V-OST'^'
ONE VOTE
AOPED TO OTHER VOTES
SOON TOTALS A LOT OF
VOTES/
INFORM YOURSELF ON
THE ISSUES, AND WHEN
THE TIME COMES
VOTE!
i
SATURDAY,
SEPT. 8.
ROVING REPORTER
Continued From Page One
waters of the Southport harbor.
His style became cramped in the
narrow confines of Banks chan
nel. Since the tournament he and
several others in Southport have
put ip a lot of time and from
the way they looked and cavorted
about this past week end we are
inclined to think that if you
give them as good waters as we
have at Southport, Billy and the
other boys will hold their own.
It looks as if skiing is here to
stay.
It is a daily question, some
times a dozen times daily, as to
what will be done, industrially or
otherwise, with the many millions
of gallons of pure ground water
that lies under the greater por
tion of Brunswick county, await
ing for some use to be found for
it. The answer to such inquiries
is that the matter of the water
is still very much alive. Efforts
to tie it in with industries is
waiting until it can be seen what
form of industry will mean the
most to the people of Brunswick
in exchange for the water. Frqn»J
authentic information, water in
great quantities can be obtained
at countless places in Brunswick
county. J. H. Legrande, Federal
Water Expert, and Dr. Jasper
Stucky, the State Geologist, have
both said the suply will last for
ever. In the Allen Creek area
alone, the daily supply was put
at probably 70-million gallons.
Although we live right at the
tip of what S. Kipp Farrington,
famed salt water expert, told us
would one day become the most
widely known fishing area on the
Ataintic coast north of Florida, j
we still personally cling to fresh
water as offering the top for real
sport. That means we were born
on freshwater. Being away behind
with our freshwater fishing, with
a friend from Greenwood, S. C., !
we set out to catch up with some ;
of it Monday. Only trouble was ]
that we ran out of bait midway
of the morning. The blue gills!
and bream took all we had to
offer. Resourceful, we found a
peck of freshwater mussels and
devoted them to the creation of
bait. Quitting time, and we had
all of the nice blue gills and
bream the law allows.
Seeing Long Beach last week
while he and his family were at
Yaupon Beach making plans for
their new year-round home there,
Bill Sharpe of The State told us
that he was very much surprised
at all of the rebuilding of homes
that has taken place since the
storm of two years ago. This
rebuilding is still going on and
residents say that all indications
point to this fall and winter bring
ing the most substantia] amount
of home building that they have
had there in years.
During the past week more
than one hundred good-sized out
board motor boats carrying from
3 to 6 persons fished out from
the ramp here in nearby waters.
The number of locally owned
boats of this type has increased
greatly during the summer. Quite
a number of upstate boats have
been brought down and kept here
or on Davis Creek all summer.
Saturdays and Sundays 15 or
more boats come in on trailers
and there has not been a day this
past week when less than 6 such
boats came in for one or two
days of fishing. The boat loading
ramp at Southport has been a
boom to the outboard powered
boat owners and has brought good
business to the town.
Pushing a peanut for a full
block and touching it with noth
ing but your nose is not going
to be as easy a task as some
people suppose. An inch at a time,
on the average, is as much as
either of the men involved in the
forthcoming election bet can hope
for. It will be an event in which
there is no competition to spur
on the loser of the bet in fact,
there will be nothing but discom
fort in the undertaking. To get
down to the goober will entail sore
hands and probably a stiff neck
that will last for days. Years ago
we personally made an election
bet that involved the pushing of a
wheelbarrow 26 miles. We won
the bet, but the other party to
the affair refused to carry out
the bargain. As the newspapers
had stated someone would push
the wheelbarrow we turned to and
pushed it ourself, despite the fact
we had won.
BILL SHARPE HAS
Continued From I age One
.Between the two of us a lasting
regard sprung up. He went on
with his work and the business
of knowning North Carolina and
teaching what he knew to others
inside and outside of North Caro
lina.
When he resigned from this
work after several years to go
into business for himself at Win
ston-Salem, there was a general
feeilng of loss to the State. So
much that after a few years of I
his private business, Bill was re- !
called to again head the State’s
publicity work. A year or two of
wearing this harness and the Car
olina Power and Light Company
drafted him as their director of
public relations.
Bill became head man for pub
licity with the power company,
and he more than made good. He
left this position to become co
publisher and owner of The State,
a weekly magazine founded by
Carl Goerch. The magazine has
continued with Bill's lifetime
work of publicizing North Caro
lina.
Our own knowledge of North
Carolina is on a very much less
er scale than that of Bill Sharpe,
but we do know Brunswick coun
ty. It was no surprise to us when
Bill called at the office of the
State Port Pilot last week and
said: “Bill, we are going to be
come your neighbor, we are pre
paring to start building a home
at Yaupon Beach, near South
port this fall.”
The point to this story is that
Brunswick County, Southport and
Yaupon Beach should be proud
of the fact that Bill Sharpe, who
knows all of North Carolina, has
picked Yaupon Beach, near South
port for his summer home.
AWARDS PROGRAM
Continued From Page One
fine manner in which everything
was directed. Many who attend
ed declared it to be one of the
most enjoyable occasions ever held
in Southport.
BRUNSWICK ONE
Continued From rage One
illinois, Massachusetts; New
Mexico, North Carolina, and South
Carolina, 1 each.
SAILFISH RECORD
Continued From Page One
Whitacre and party of Raleigh
out Sunday and they brought in
309 mackerel and blues. W. B.
Logan and party of Kings Moun
tain were out with him Monday
and returned with 27 Spanish
mackerel, 3 king mackerel, 3
dolphin, 2 bonito and 1 barra
cuda.
Capt. Hulan Watts had R. J.
Willis and party of Greensboro
out Sunday and they brought in
148 blues and mackerel. On Mon
day Dr. George Johnson and par
ty of Wilmington had 150 mack
erel and blues.
The Sunday trip for Capt. Basil i
Watts saw R. J. Willis and party |
of Greensboro catching 100 Span
ish mackerel and 2 bonito. The
next day R. B. Hudson and party
of Thomasville had 178 mackerel
and blues. ,
Capt. H. A. Schmidt had Ar
nold Kizer and party of Kings
Mountain out Saturday and they
caught 232 Spanish mackerel. The
next day this party got into the
sailfish picture with 1 of these
fish and 3 king mackerel. On
Monday Dewey Allen and party
of Deiiton had 4 king mackerel i
8 barracuda, 3 amberjack, i
bonito and 41 Spanish mackerel. |
Captain Ray Stubbs brought in
Not Exactly News
The first man to bring- in a marsh lien here this
season was Johnnie Potter, who picked one off
Saturday even though the tides were not high.
He carried his gun along when he went fishing,
and one unwary bird fluttered up within range
. . . Bu’ly Ganey of Leland says that he can get
a band together any time there is a demand for a
little square dance music. He thinks that with the
return of cool weather it might be a good idea
to begin a new series here in Southport . . . Fish
ermen have been having good luck with black
drum at the quarantine station.
Southport is practically hemmed in by highway
improvement projects. Grading has commenced on
the highway No. 87 job; the new by-pass project
at Sunny Point still has not been opened; they are
sand-sealing highway Not. 130 between Southport
and Supply; U. S. No. 17 is being widened; and
work has not yet been completed on the Supply
Bolton road. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Jimmie Barnes,
who are building a new home in Deep Water Hei
ghts, are working on a lawn while their house is
under construction and therefore will not have to
wait a year for for beautification projects to be
gin making a show.
The Flying Cloud, Mathews cruiser owned by Dr.
Elliott Finger of Marion, S. C., and based here for
the past several months, has been sold to a man in
Dothan, Alabama, who will base the craft at Pana
ma City, Fla. She is on her way to her new port.
. . . Saturday set a new record for sailfish caught
in one day at Southport when six were brought in.
It has been a good year for billfish. . . . We saw
a pair of quail the other afternoon, but no little
ones. That's a bad sign . . . The Rev. Norwood
Jones, former Southport Methodist minister who
is now stationed at Burlington, was here last
week-end and was much interested in the possi
bility of a return visit some time this month for
a marsh hen hunting trip.
“All That Heaven Allows” is the Sunday-Mon
day show at the Amuzu. Jane Wyman and Rock
Hudson are the stars. . . That Hudson man also is
the star of “One Desire”, the Thursday and Friday
show at Long Beach Drive-In ... We continue to
hear local people making plans to attend the “Ice
Capades,” which will be in Raleigh the last week
in this month . . . The first football game of the
season in Brunswick county will be played Friday
night under the lights at Shallotte . . . Bolivia
will be playing away that afternoon. ■ Southport
waits another week to open . . . Brunswick county
was well represented at the Stock Car Races at
Darlington, S. C., Monday.
The used car lot at Elmore Motor Co. will be a
perfect place to hold the Bolivia Livestock Exhibit
Saturday, for the sheds will afford shelter from
the sun and possibly from rain . . . Several of the
stars of the 1953 Shallotte high school football,
team will be out of service this fall in time to
enter college under the G. I. Bill and you may be
hearing more of some of them on the college grid
iron . . . The biggest business in Brunswick county
is back at work this week—the schools.
a Fayetteville party Sunday with
the biggest catch of blues and
mackerel made this summer. They
had boated 509 of these fish.
SPECIAL GENERAL
Continued From Page One
has taken an active personal in
terest in the Pearsall Plan and
has been joined by a number of
other prominent State officials in
urging that it be given the en
dorsement of an overwhelming
majority of the voters.
Three other amendments, how
ever, are up for the electorate
decision. Generally they have been
overshadowed by the school is
sue.
One is to allow the General
Assembly date to be changed to
February from January. This is
required because of the shift of
the income tax deadline from
March 15 to April 15.
As matters stand now, the
state’s bureau of the budget is
not in position to estimate fairly
state income needs so far in ad
vance. This makes the Assem
bly’s task of providing funds
hazardous.
Another amendment will allow
i married woman to execute a
power of attorney conferred on
her by her husband. The practice
is common to 46 other states
now. It would allow women to
transfer property they own solely
without consent of her husband,
or allow her to convey her hus
band’s property for him provid
ing" a proper power of attorney
is granted.
The other amendment lip for
decision is that which would grant
legislators per diem and mileage
at the same rate as granted to
boards and commissions: would
lengthen the available time for
the General Assembly to 120 days
from 90 days, and would provide
for special sessions of not over
25 days duration.
At present the Assembly sets
the per diem and mileage ex
penses for the commissions and
boards, and any increases given
those groups, or any cuts, would
automatically be passed on to
the legislators.
Th official canvass of the vote
will be held Tuesday following
the election at 10 a. m.
NEW PUPILS IN
Continued From Fage One
and it is hoped that these stu
dents will come in this week.
Principal Webb and a great
number of patrons of the school
were greatly pleased over yester
day’s enrollment. “If we can keep
the enrollmnt for 10 days,” he
said, “we are assured of another
teacher. I think we not only keep
it up, we can increase the en
rollment. if parents in the dis
trict will only show pride in their
school and insist on the children
attending.”
As an illustration of the in
crease in student enrollment this
year, Principal Webb cited the
fact that the first grade got an
enrollment of 47 students yester
day. Other grades were propor
tionately loaded. The enrollment
by grades on teh opening day
last year was not immediately
available, but it is said that in
all cases the enrollment by
grades shows an increase over
last year’s at the beginning of
school.
With an additional teacher as
sured if the Tuesday enrollment
is maintained at its present en
rollment for 10 days, parents of
school age children are urged to
have them enrolled now and keep
them going.
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Southport Savings & Loan Association
W. P. JORGENSEN, Sec’y.-Treas. SOUTHPORT, N. C.