The Pilot Covers
Brunswick County
THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper in A Good Community
B
Most of the News
All The Time
VOLUME 42 No. 13
10-Pages Today SOUTHPORT, N.C. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1970
5c A COPY
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PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
School Building Bids For
Brunswick Exceed Funds
p ^ * p mm
Lions Donate To Bookmobile
When Friends of the library set up a goal of
$4,500 to pay for the new Brunswick county Book
mobile members of the Southport lions Club pledged
$700 to this project. Ass a result of house to house
solicitation and an active canvassing of business firms,
this drive has resulted in a contribution of $900 to
this cause. Shown here in a check presentation cere
mony Monday, left to right, are Lion Tommie Harrel
son, Lion William Hughes, Mrs. Dorothy Davis,
librarian, Robert Howard, county chairman for the
Bookmobile Fund '-Drive, Lion C. D. Pickerrell, who
dressed up in a granny garb as he went all out to help
with this cause; and Lion President Fraser Law.
(Photo by Spencer)
Horse Show Is
Set For Sunday
Hie Southport J aycees expect a
big turnout Sunday for their
Western Horse Show. Horsemen
from all over southeastern North
Carolina have been invited to
attend this event, and bleachers
have been put up to give all
spectators a good view of the
action.
The program consists of 18
events ranging from halter
classes to western games. There
will be three halter classes:
stallions, mares and geldings. In
these classes each horse, un
saddled, will be led into the ring
by his trainer. The judge will
base his decision on posture,
grooming and obedience.
In the costume class both horse
and rider will be fully outfitted,
and it is not always the most
expensively dressed horse and
rider that win. Neatness and
suitability are big factors in
determining the trophy and blue
ribbon winner.
The pleasure classes are
designed to determine the
obedience of horse to rider. All
horses will be required to walk,
jog and canter. Not only must the
horses perform these gaits in
different order, but they must
also stop on command and back
up when so instructed.
Smoothness of transition from
one gait to another and posture
are some of the criteria the judge
will consider in these classes.
An electronic timer geared to
one-hundredth of a second will be
used in all western games. In the
apple race, the rider, always
(Continued On Page Two)
Rescue Shallotte
Man After 10 Days
A drawnout drama with all of
the overtones of tragedy had a
happy ending Tuesday night
when Clarence M. (Preacher)
Johnson was found alive in the
woods west of Highway No. 130
and north of the Shallotte Fire
Tower.
He was emaciated and weak,
but a Shallotte physician who
examined him said that he was in
remarkably good condition. He
was sent by the Shallotte Rescue
Squad to New Hanover Memorial
Man Surrenders In
Embezzlement Case
By ED HARPER
The Rev. Robert Johnson,
charged with the fraudulent
writing of checks on Sencland
Community Action two years
ago, walked into court Thursday
and surrendered.
He pleaded guilty to charges of
false pretense: specifically, the
writing and cashing of about 20
checks in the names of persons
whose names were on the payroll,
but who were not working in the
Neighborhood Youth Corps of
which Rev. Johnson was director
for Sencland Community Action.
Superior Court Judge Hamilton
H. Hobgood, who told Rev.
Johnson that his surrender was
the first step toward
rehabilitation, sentenced the
defendant to a three-to-five year
term in prison.
Rev. Johnson will be eligible
for payrole in nine months.
The appearance of Johnson
surprised the court; the cases
have been scheduled for trial on
several occasions and during the
June court session Judge William
Y. Bickett ordered Bondsman
Lucian Williams to pay the $5,000
surety on Rev. Johnson.
Clerk of Court Lacy Thompson
said Williams will not be reim
bursed by the court, and reported
that the money has been
designated for use by the county
Board of Education. Unofficial
sources report that Williams will
file a suit in an attempt ta get his
$5,000 back.
Johnson said he came to court
because he realized he couldn’t
(Continued On Page Two)
Hospital where he is being
treated for malnutrition and
shock. 5
Children playing near the
George Piver home Tuesday
afternoon told Mrs. Piver they
had heard somebody yelling
down in they woods from die
Radford-Piver Cemetery. Mrs.
Piver determined this was not
their imagination and got word to
Ernest Hewett, who is guardian
for Johnson. This was about 6
o’clock, and when Hewett and
some volunteers from the
Shallotte Rescue Squad started to
yell, they received an answer.
The Pay-off was a response to a
three-yell sequence, and mem
bers of the rescue squad knew
they finally were about to be
rewarded their week-long efforts
to locate the missing man.
A couple of hours of intensive
hard work still stood between the
growing band of volunteers and
the man they sought, but about 9
o’clock they reached the point in
the woods where apparently he
has been for more than a week.
Some of the men made a hand
saddle and carried him out to
where he could be placed in the
ambulance operated by the
Shallotte Rescue Squad and he
was taken to the office of Dr. B.J.
Ford who made the preliminary
examination.
Johnson was conscious and
recognized some of his friends in
the crowd. He told them he had
become lost in trying to take a
short cut through the woods from
the Goley Road. He said that he
had heard noises during the
period when there was an in
(Continued On Page Two)
Bids for construction of three
consolidated high school
buildings were opened this
(Wednesday) afternoon by
members of the Brunswick
County Board of Education and
appeared to be higher than those
submitted in April of this year.
Bids received at that time were
rejected because they exceeded
available funds.
Leland Getting
Phone Exchange
Southern Bell will place a new
telephone exchange in service in
June 1971 to initially serve some
800 subscribers in the Leland
area according to R.E. Nantz,
Wilmington manager.
A mobile telephone office will
be Dlaced on a lot adjacent to the
Leland Mobile Home Park in the
very near future. Contracts have
been let to pour a concrete
foundation. The mobile telephone
exchange is presently being used
in the Raleigh area while a
permanent building is being
constructed there.
Nantz said those subscribers
whose numbers will be changed
to the 371 area are primarily
residence subscribers west of
Navassa Road to the end of the
present boundary between the
Acme Telephone Exchange and
the Wilmington 762 exchange.
The subscriber closest to
Wilmington would be Mac’s
Furniture Company on Highway
74-76. Each individual subscriber
affected will be notified suf
ficiently in advance of the change
in telephone number.
A second transfer will take
place the following year in the
area which is now southwest in
the Belville, Clarendon, and
(Continued On Page Three)
Two Southport
Men In Florida
Ernest Parker, Jr. and James
T. Barnes of Southport are two of
the Fisheries officials who will
represent North Carolina at the
Atlantic-Gulf States Marine
Fisheries Commission meeting,
October 15-16, in Tampa, Florida.
Parker is Chairman of the
Commercial and Sports Fisheries
Committee under the Boaru of
Conservation and Development
and Barnes is a member of the
Commercial and Sport Fisheries
Advisory Board for this state
department.
While in Tampa, the officials
will also tour the annual Fish
Expo, an extravaganza of
commercial fishing boats, gears,
and products. The Commission
meeting provides an opportunity
for officials from several states
to get together and discuss large
scale fisheries problems,
problems that have no state
boundaries.
Fish Expo provides a place
each year to keep abreast of
products and engineering ad
vancement in the fisheries field.
Horse Show Entry
Susan Smith is getting her favorite mount in shape for the Jaycee Horse Show
which will be held in Southport Sunday afternoon. Entries are expected from
surrounding southeastern North Carolina counties and a large crowd is anticipated
at the arena at Bonnetts Creek.
e And Tide
October 9,1935, and a front page headline told of the conviction of
Dillon Jenrette for second degree murder and of his sentence by Judge
Clawson Williams to serve 20-30 years. The Southport plant of the
North Carolina Fisheries, Inc. had been opened with the late Chas. E.
Gause as manager. And a front page feature told of the place in history
that had been earned by Fort Caswell.
The editor wrote that it would be a good thing to have a fire escape
leading from the courtroom; home economics and public school music
had been included in the curriculum of Southport High School after an
absence of several years; and application had been made for a truck
franchise to supplement the freight-hauling efforts of the W.B. &S.
from Southport to Wilmington.
The late H.M. Shannon had been named chairman of the Local Draft
Board. That action was reported in our issue of October 9, 1940.
Another front page story told of the appointment of J.J. Hawes as
chairman of the Brunswick County Board of Elections. Proof positive
that this was the political season was summed up in the announcement
that a Four-County Democratic Rally would be held in Whiteville later
in the month.
A Brunswick county man had shot and killed a $350 mule while
trying to kill a chicken with a rifle; Mrs. Maxine Fulcher had been
hostess at a birthday party for her son, Phillip Agnew, on his 7th birth
day; and 21 Brunswick county young men had enlisted in the U.S.
Army.
It was the fall of 1945, October 10 to be exact, and Mr. and Mrs. A.D.
v (Ooetiuued On Pag* wear)
In an effort to obtain proposals
for which financing is available,
school architect Jack Croft
prepared plans for several in
crements of a complete plant,
and bids were made on this basis.
The apparent low bidder for
general construction for all three
schools was J.W. Cook & Son of
Whiteville, whose figure was
$1,561,320. A.G. Carter & Son,
also of Whiteville, was the ap
parent low bidder for shower and
dressing room facilities with a
figure of $45,493 for each school.
Luther Rogers construction Co.
of Wilmington was the apparent
low bidder for gymtorfums with a
figure of $82,500 for each school.
For the option of providing
shop facilities and classrooms
A.G. Carter submitted a bid of
$60,589 for each school.
Watson Electric Co. of Wilson
submitted the apparent low bid of
$276,800 for plumbing at all three
schools. He also submitted the
apparent low bid of $312,000 for
heating and airconditioning at all
three schools.
David Jacobi of Wilmington
submitted the aDDarent low bid of
Representatives Go
To Highway Meet
County Commissioner V.A.
Creech, Jr., said this week he will
attend the East Coast Highway
Conference in Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina on October 19 and
encourages other persons in the
area to attend also. Citizen
groups and local public officials
along the East Coast are
promoting the conference in
support of a Coastal Corridor
Freeway.
The Conference will be a one
day session following a weekend
in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
It is designed to present
testimony pointing up the need
for a coastal north-south highway
connecting the Norfolk, Virginia
and Savannah, Georgia areas.
Such a highway would influence
economic activity to the north
and south of the highway area
and will have untold effect on
coastal North and South
Carolina. A resolution to
Congress and the Department of
Transportation will be adopted.
Dr. Leo W. Jenkins, President
of East Carolina University in
Greenville will be the moderator
of the Conference. Governor
Robert W. Scott of North Carolina
and Governor Robert E. McNair
of South Carolina will attend and
be on the program and the
Governors of Georgia, Virginia,
Delaware and Maryland have
also been invited to participate. A
number of people representing
the states involved will be on the
program. These include Robert
B. Morgan, Attorney General of
North Carolina; Charles E.
Frazier, President of Sea Pines
Plantation in Hilton Head Island,
South Carolina; Mayor Dallas G.
Truitt of Salisbury, Maryland;
Gilliam K. Horton, Chairman of
North Carolina Board of Con
servation and Development;
Clyde a Eltzroth, Chairman of
South Carolina Wildlife
Resources Commission; Wilbur
S. Smith, President of Wilbur
Smith and Associates; R.
Wallace Howard, Senior Vice
President of Wachovia Bank and
Trust Company and Fred A.
Brinkman, Executive Vice
President of the Greater Myrtle
Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Creech said “It is a citizen’s
movement designed by
economic development
organizations and chambers of
commerce throughout the coastal
areas of six states from Georgia
through Delaware. Many people
(Continued On Page Three)
$93,383 for installing kitchen
equipment at all three schools.
The Cook firm specified 450
days for completion of their
contract in the event they are
awarded the bids.
It is significant that these are
only the apparent low bids.
Members of the Board of
Education and school officials
will be in session until late tonight
trying to work out combinations
which may get construction costs
within rank of budget figures.
Since some of the contractors bid
on one or two schools, and not on
all three, there is the possibility
that contracts may go to one or
more firms not listed here.
Sites for the three schools have
been selected with the western
area school to be located near
Shallotte, the northern area
school to be located at Leland and
the southern area school to be
located at Boiling Spring Lakes,
midway between Southport and
Bolivia.
No bids were received for
grading and site preparation.
GOP Chairman
In Brunswick
Republican State Chairman
James E. Holshouser, Jr. will
appear at a free rally fish-fry at
Garland Varnum’s Landing in
Varnumtown Friday.
Holshouser is the minority joint
caucus leader and has served on
the powerful joint appropriations
subcommittee in the 1965 and 1969
general assemblies. He recently
has been touring the state to help
Republican candidate and to
focus public attention on the tax
legislation passed in the last
session of the general assembly.
He is expected to speak on
behalf of Brunswick County
Republican. All interested
citizens are cordially invited.
Country and western music will
be provided.
Holshouser is a graduate of
Davidson College and of the law
(Continued On Page Two)
Festival Queen In Washington
Diane Rees, Southport’s Miss Fourth of July, recently made a two - day visit to
Washington, D. C., with her chaperone, Mrs. Connie Young. Representative Alton
Lennon’s office arranged tours of the White House and the Capitol, with visits to the
House and Senate sessions. Miss Rees personally invited Ctpgressman Lennon and
Senators Ervin and Jordan to attend next year’s Fourth ox July celebration at
Southport. Miss Rees is shown with Congressman Lennon on the Capitol steps.
J