Most Of The News All The Time Volume No. 17 No. 24 THE STATE A Good Newspaper IA 4-Pages Today SOUTHPORT, N. C. WEDNESD, ORT PILOT Good Community DECEMBER 26, 1956 The Pilot Covers Brunswick County $1.50 PER YEAR PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY Fishing Ground No Secret Says Fisheries Head Off-Shore Explorations Have Revealed Some Good Pros pects For North Carolina Fishermen OTHER RESULTS HAVE VARIED Two Vessels Were Operat ing Off North Carolina Coast For U. S. Fish And Wildlife Service There is a rich, “unfished” fish ing ground off the North Carolina coast, but the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is not keeping it a secret, as it has been accused recently, Garland Fulcher, presi dent of the North Carolina Fish eries Association said this week. The Federal Service was accused of withholding information follow ing exploratory trawls by the Service boats Bowers and Combat off the coast in November. These vessels put in at Southport sev eral times during this period. At the same time test trawls were done at mid-depth and down to 250 fathoms by the Sarah J., owned by Earl H. Holton, vice president of the North Carolina Fisheries Association. The exploratory trawls between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear were costly in the loss of nets and gear, according to Holton and G. B. Talbot chief of the Fish and Wildlife Service laboratory at Morehead City. Several types of deep-water shrimp were taken in the nets—the largest counting 60 shrimp to the pound, and the largest catch of them three pounds in one drag of the trawl nets. The next was found to be soft and difficult to process, Hol ton reported. The fishing grounds known to the commercial fishermen, but not adequately fished, however, is the Raleigh Bay area, Fulcher said. Known as the “Fish Basket of the Carolinas,” it extends from Cape Lookout to Cape Hatteras, about 45 miles in length and up to 10 miles in width. The direct approach to it is through Ocra coke Inlet, which has silted un-~ til it is dangerous to all but the smallest fishing craft. The alter nate route in 90 miles around through Beaufort or Oregon Inlets. The NCFA received a most favorable reception from the U. S. Corps of Army Engineers when it presented the case for the deep ening and stabilization of Ocra coke Inlet recently, Fulcher said, and favorable action for its im provement is expected in the next session of The Congress, where an enabling act and an appro priation must be approved for the work. Thereafter, Fulcher said, great er income will come to North Carolina from the rich, “open secret” fishing grounds of Raleigh Bay. Brief Bits Of lnewsj STUDENT PROGRAM Student Recognition Night will be observed at Trinity Methodist Church Sunday evening with col lege students who are at home for the Christmas holidays in charge of the program. TO PLAY AT PARTY The Brunswick County Train ing Schools’ Swing Ensemble, composed of part of the regular school band, is scheduled to play at the New Year Party at SPAT. This is a special 12-piece band formed into an orchestra for dance music. Prof. S. S. Riggs, director of the regular band, will be in charge of the group at the party. ON DEANS LIST The names of Lester A. Den ton, Freeland; Betty Jo Fulcher, Leland; Francis W. Owen, Shal lotte; are on the dean's list at Wilmington College, Dean Wil liam M. Randall announced last week. The Dean’s List, issued at the end of the Fall quarter, con tains the names of forty-two stu dents who distinguished them selves for the excellence of their academic work in the college. HOLIDAYS HERE Mr. and Mrs. John Hevener of Buxton, where Mr. Hevener is with the Coast Guard, are spend ing the holidays here at home. Their son, George M. Hevener, who has bee n serving in the Pacific came in Monday to spend Christmas and a few days with them. Mr. Hevener, Sr., served here in the Coast Guard for a year and a half and since then they have called Southport their home. They own a home here. Dies Suddenly DECEASED—Friends in Brunswick county and throughout the state were shocked this week by news of the sudden death on Wednesday of Sam T. Bennett. Health Center Is Still Undecided Commissioners Follow Trip ’ To Raleigh Last Wednes day With Thursday Sess ion That Ends In Dead lock POSTPONE ACTION UNTIL JANUARY 7 v Funds Available For Con struction Of This Facility If Location Can Be Reconciled The fourth day of deliberation for the purpose of settling a dis pute over the site of a Health Center for Brunswick county ended Thursday with no decision, and the matter was postponed until the regular meeting of the j board of county commissioners on January 7. Last Wednesday Chairman Herbert Swain and Commissioner Durwood Clark were in Raleigh for a conference with officials of the State Board of Health. They were accompanied by representa tives from Shallotte and South port. On Thursday a report was made of that meeting. Represen tatives were present from both communities, and both groups ap peared determined to see the proposed building located within their own town. The only attempt at official dissolution of the tie came when Commissioner R. E. Bellamy of fered a motion to build the Health Center at Shallotte. There was no second. On the trip to Raleigh con continued On Page Two Tarpon Tourney Seen As Boon Southport Man Now Serving As Director Of Conven tion Bureau In Orlando, Fla., Says Southport Mis sing Good Thing After spending Christmas here with his parents, Mr. and Mxs. Joel L. Moore, Sr., Joel Moore, Jr., executive director of the Or lando, Fla. Convention Burean, is being accompanied home this week by his mother, who will spend her vacation in the Florida city. As official host for Orlando, Moore travels about a great deal securing conventions for that city. In addition he makes hundreds of contacts with individuals attend ing the t conventions and with .sportsmen visiting the convention city. With a lifetime of knowledge of what Southport has in the way of sport fishing, he loses no chance to speak up for his home Continued On Page Two 5 Receive Funds For Hungarians Hungarian Relief Funds be ing ■collected by the Ameri can Red Cross continue to come in, and Mrs. Phil King, chairman of the Brunswick County Chapter, says that there appears to be no doubt but that the local quota will be met. Thus far, the most generous ' contribution was a check for $100 received from W. L. Bell, native of Southport, now a resident of Maderia Beach, Fla. Mrs. King urges that con tributions be sent in at once in order that all funds col lected may be forwarded to headquarters. Air Force Man Back In States Capt. Teddy Lewi?; And Family Returned From Duty In Alaska In Time To Spend Christmas With Mother Captain and Mrs. Teddy Lewis and their three children arrived home from Alaska just in time to celebrate Christmas with his mother, Mrs. Brady Lewis. To the Captain, Mrs. Lewis and their two older children the return marked the end of a two and a half year stay in the more or less frozen North. To Wanda Mae, the youngest daughter, the leaving marked the leaving of her place of birth, but it is doubtful that she realized that. She was born in Alaska only 4 months ego. The oldest girl in the family is 5 and the second child, a boy, is 3. Both were born in the United States. In his high school days at Southport Captain Lewis was a star on the Southport- high school basketball team. Just as soon as he graduated he enlisted in the Army Air Force. For about 3 years he served as an airplane mechanic and at the same time learned the rudiments of flying. World War II came along and he was promoted to Lieutenant and became a pilot. He has now been serving 15 years as a pilot and has thous ands of flying hours to his credit. Here with his mother for the Continued On Page Two Sam T. Bennett Dies Suddenly On Wednesday Popular Public Official And Real Estate Man Died In Shallotte While On After noon Visit With Family. FUNERAL BEING HELD HERE TODAY Deceased Was Clerk Of Court For 6 Years Before Voluntary Retirement In 1952 Sam T. Bennett, public official and prominent business man of Southport, died suddenly Wednes day afternoon and news of his death brought a pall of gloom over holiday festivities through out Brunswick county. Death was attributed to a heart attack, and came while he was in Shallotte on his way home from an afternoon of visiting various people and places ia Brunswick with his wife, his brother, L. B. Benriett and his wife. A short time before his death the deceased had complained of pains in his Chest, and as a result they had stopped by Shallotte to consult a physician. Dr. Graves had made a hasty examination, then advised that Mr. Bennett be taken to the hospital immediately. He died be fore they could leave for South port. The deceased was the propritor of Franklin Park Motel here in Southport and was successfully en gaged in the real estate and auto mobile business. He also was hold ing the office of coroner for Brunswick county. Few men in the history of this county have had a wider circle of friends than he did. Many of these contacts came during tl)e 16 years that he served as Clerk of Superior Court, an office to which he was elected in 1938 and from which he retired voluntarily in 1952. HS He was 6. member of Pythagor as Lodge in Southport, a member Continued On Page Two Chris (.mas tTflriy Enjoyed By All County Officials And Guests Gathered Friday To Hold Party And Exchange Gifts A group of folks in and around the court house staged a Christ mas party Friday before Christ mas and it was such a success that they decided to repeat it next Christmas. Thirty-nine people par ticipated in the event. The arrangements were to put the 39 names in a box with each participant drawing a name and to provide a present for the per son whose name was drawn. A brief program was given at the event, the “Greetings” being in charge of Kirby Sullivan; “Spirit of Christmas” by Ray Walton; “Entertainment” by H. G. Ratcliffe; Santa Claus by Bill Keziah; “Refreshments” by Davis Herring and “Goodbye” by Dwight McEwen. Participating in the event were: Henry C. Stone, H. G. Ratcliffe, Jack Brown, Ernest Parker, Dwight McEwen, Thomas St. George, Henry Hickman, James C. Bowman, W. B. Keziah, Ken neth T. Bellamy, Ray Walton, Davis Herring, Neil Lewis, E. J. Prevatte, Kirby Sullivan, James Continued On Page Two 1 Qualified |NE 2ND LT. HENRY E. ItT, JR., son of Mr. and |nry E. GilBert of Bolivia, recently as a carrier lilbert is a graduate of jrolina College. To qualify bleted six landings aboard It aircraft carrier USS |n the Gulf of Mexico. He undergoing instruction in |ht flying at the Corry aval Auxiliary Air Sta nsacola, Fla. Bn|swick Man Hi Prominent le In Rescue Curtis Evans Led Volunteer BoaiCrew On Dangerous Chriitmas Eve Rescue Mia CurtiSgjSvans, native of Bruns wick coiiity and stationed at Oak Island p£or to being demoted in rank ant; assigned to the Coast Guard C|tter Absecon, volunteer k a lifeboat out in rough sei to rescue two badly burned seamen and transfer them to a hospital early Christmas morning. A Panama freighter called the Coast Guard vessel and asked for aid iji transferring the badly roughTsess, divans and a crew volunteered to man the lifeboat and get the men off. They ac complished their task successful ly, getting both men to a hospital Continued On Page Two Mail Delivery All Completed Post Office Employees Man aged To Keep Ahead Of Their Unusually Big Holi day Assignment Everything entrusted to the mails was in the boxes before Christmas Day, except a little belated mail that people held off from sending until the last moment and which did not ar rive until Christmas Day. In other words, the decks were all cleared of incoming mail be fore the holiday, according to Postmaster J; B. Russ of the Southport office. He thought the same state of affairs existed at other offices in the county. There was no decrease in quantity. In fact, the holiday mail was much above normal. It just seems that this Christ mas the mail patrons finally heeded the urging to send their Continued On Page Two Our ROVING Reporter With the New Year to make its bow next Tuesday, just a week after Christmas, a great many people are going to be hard put to adjust themselves from Christ mas Greetings to Happy New Year. This paper, coming out with this week’s issue just the day after Christmas, is able to ad-, just itself fairly quickly. It is able to say “Happy New Year’’ to a great many readers and to say it the first of the week be fore New Year. We wish every body who reads the State Port Pilot a very Happy New Year. If we ever knew who it was that first gave us the title of “Mr. Sunny Point”, we have com pletely forgotten to whom credit, if any, is due. All we know is that the title has stuck and is still sticking. During the holidays the overworked Southport post office staff had no hesitation. When a card or letter came ad dressed “to Mr. Sunny Point”, Southport, they chucked it right into our post office drawer. A good many of those messages were from official sources in Washington and New York. One “Mr. Sunny Point” greeting card that just missed the Christmas deadline in getting here was from Colonel and Mrs. Wm. A. McAleer of Brooklyn. Monday of last week was the birthday of Mrs. Lou Holliday Smith, former health nurse and resident of Southport. She now lives at AIcolu, S. C. She cele brated her birthday by sending us 4 subscriptions to the State Port Pilot, for friends and rela Contiaued On Page Two Promising Plans F6r Grid Loop Planning Meeting Held Last Week At Waccamaw With Follow-Up Session Planned BY JIGGS POWERS ASH, Dec. 26—Concrete moves were made to give Southeastern North Carolina a new football conference at a meeting held at Waccamaw High School audito rium last Wednesday night. Ana, a January uaie was an at which the loop is expected to be formally organized. Seven schools from Columbus, Bruns wick and Bladen Counties were represented at the meet at which Toni Webb, Southport principal and football coach, presided. ' Seven Represented Southport, Bolivia and Wacca maw in Brunswick; Acme-Delco, Hallsboro and Williams Township in Columbus; and Bladenboro from Bladen County had repre sentatives on hand. Only Clark ton of Bladen of the eight schools invited failed to send an official. ■ It was said at the gathering that Clarkton was not interested in moving up to 11-man football —the type play planned for the proposed loop—from six-man ac tion, in which that school has been engaged for the past several years. Coaches on hand included Webb and T. M. Lee of Southport; Ernest Atkinson, Bladenboro; Danny Peacock, Williams; Paul Brummett, Waccamaw; Gene Nel TOM WEBB . . ; . . son, Acme-Delco; Landrum Wil son, Bolivia; and Harrell Steph ens, Hallsboro. Principals R. C. Elkins, Hallsboro and John G. Long of Waccamaw were also present. Long acted as host to the group. Webb led a discussion on plans Continued On Page Two Demonstration Of Driving Hazards Be Observed The Waccamaw Bank & Trust Co., the Southport Sav ings & Loan Association, the county and city offices and the post office will be closed Tuesday in observance of New Year’s Day. Several places of business also will be closed. All Brunswick county schools will remain closed for the holidays until next Wednes day, January 2. Menhaden Boats Have Good Luck Local Boats Return Home In Time To Determine That Prospects Are Good In Local Waters Returning from Beaufort last week and putting in one day in tiome waters, the Southport boats were expecting to resume work here today or tomorrow after ty ing up for 4 days, owing partly to foggy weather and partly to allow the men to rest up a bit during Christmas. The six weeks at Beaufort were very profitable, with each boat getting from 3 to 4 million fish. These were mostly roe menhaden, valuable for their great oil con tent and also providing the fish ermen stores of fish roe for their own use or for gifts to friends. The one day of work put in Continued On Page Two 4-— Support Rates On Weed Crop Price Support For Certain Varieties Will Be Reduc ed For 1957 Tobacco Crop Major change in the 1957 flue cured price support program, made to discourage production of varieties viewed as undesirable under present demand conditions and to encourage an increase in the proportion of the crop having characteristics currently in de mand, were announced last week by the United States Department of Agriculture. These charges, which are in accordance with recommendations of grower organizations and in dustry leaders in the flue-cured tobacco area, are as follow: (1) 1957 crop flue-cured tobacco of varieties “139,” “140”, and “244”, irrespective of grade, will be sup Continued On Page Two Safety Officials From Sun Illustrate Difficulty Of Stopping SCHOOL STUDENTS AT DEMONSTRATION Measurements Show Exact Distance Traveled Under Varying Conditions And Different Speeds Making a plea for safe driving on the highways during the holi days so that none of the young people to whom they were speak ing would be injured, Lt. Col. William F. Murphy and W. W. Haugton of SPAT spoke to the high school students here Thurs day morning, preceding a safe driving demonstration that was staged with State Highway Pa trolmen and the Southport Police cooperating with safety experts from Sunny Point. Commenting on the fact that there was a very slight up grade and that a gravel surface on that particular stretch of highway made stopping much easier than would be the case on a smooth stretch of road, William W. Hau ghton, Safety Director at SPAT and his assistant, Gene Burke, directed a very revealing road demonstration. The demonstration was inten ded to impress on how far a car travels between the time a driver receives a signal and when he can bring it to a dead stop without danger to either the car or its occupants. The driver is, of course, aware that in the test he will get a signal to be acted on. The tests showed how far he let the car go after the signal came and be fore he or she could react by ap plying the brakes. It also showed the distance the car continued its forward movement after the brakes were applied and before the machine came to a full stop. At a 20-miles per hour speed the driver, a high school girl, traveled 12-feet before she react ed to the signal and her breaking distance in bringing the car to a halt was 27 feet. At 30-mph a male student driv er did not react to the expected signal until his car had gone 27 feet from the signal and it took him 63 !4 feet to brake the car to a halt. At 40-nrph the reaction time was 30-feet and the car traveled 91-feet before it could be safely halted. Even then the machine Continued On Page Two General Glore Visits Spring With Newsman Former Commanding Offi cer At New York Port Of Embarkation Greatly Im pressed With Great Nat ural Resource MAY ATTEMPT TO ATTRACT DEVELOPER General And Mrs. Glore And Daughter Spent The Christmas Holidays With Friends Here In Southport This week at the request of Brigadier General James Glore a newsman accompanied the gen eral and his daughter, Clare Mar garet, to Bouncing Log Spring. He saw the semi-petrified log rolling around, the pure clear water gushing up and he was not lacking in enthusiasm at the possibilities for either domestic consumption or industry. Both he and his daughter got a good drink of the water and the general stated that he knew of several industries in the North for which he believed the water was made to order. He expressed his intention of talking to some of the contacts that he is fre quently making. __ Speaking literally and with permission to quote, General Glore, former Commanding offi cer at the Port of Embarkation in New York until he retired a year ago to engage in some private work said: “There is a growing shortage of pure water for industrial pur poses in the Northern part of the United States. In fact this short age is growing everywhere and it applies to water for both in dustrial and domestic uses. “I believe that the potential value of the Bouncing Log Spring for large scale, dependable in dustrial use is undeniable. There fore, continued effort to develop the spring must be carried on until such industry is attracted. Although some time may be desired results, I believe that Ft,T-1^lllll county and Southport have a wonderful natural resource that will inevitably be recognized and put to great use.” Coming here frequently during the Sunny Point construction period, General Glore became possessed of a deep personal con viction that there was much in natural resources in Brunswick that the general public has al ways failed to notice. This visit has only deepened this conviction. Hurt Painfully In Auto Wreck Florida-Bound Man In Hos pital As Result Of Collis ion With Pick-Up Truck Friday A new car bound for Florida was damaged to the extent of $1,500 and a pickup truck, owned and operated by Henry Elton Hewett of Ash became a total loss on the highway near Shallotte Friday afternoon. The driver of the New York car, James Frazer is in the Dosher Memorial hospital with bad cuts about the head. The driver of the pickup is under arrest, charged with drunk en driving and possession. Some how, a jug of liquor in the body Continued On Page Two Tide Table Following is the tide table for Southport during the next week. These hours ore ap proximately correct and were furnished The State Fort Pilot through the courtesy of the Cape Fear Pilot’s Association. High Tide Low TMs Thursday, December 27, 4:16 A. M. 10:28 A. M. 4:26 P. M. 10:38 P. M. Friday, December 28, 5:10 A. M. 11:22 A. M. 5:20 P. M. 11:29 P. M. Saturday, December 29, 6:01 A. M. 0:00 A. M. 6:10 P. M. 12:12 P. M. Sunday, December SO, 6:47 A. M. 0:16 A. M. 6:56 P. M. 12:57 P. M. Monday, December 31, 7:30 A. M. 1:01 A. M. 7:37 P. M. 1:39 P. M.