■HEMH
The Pilot Covers
Brunswick County
THE STATE
T PILOT
4, 1970—5
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOLUME 42
No. 16
10-Pages Today
SOUTHPORT, N. C. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1970
5c A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESD,
Appear In Sunday Concert *
The instrumental section of the New Directions will give an afternoon Con
cert of contemporary music at the auditorium at the Baptist Assembly Sunday
afternoon. The concert is being sponsored by the United Methodist Youth Fellow
ship and churches of Brunswick county.
Misleading Ads, Fraud
Speaker Warns Audience
About Deceptive Come-Ons
North Carolina Attorney
General Robert Morgan told the
annual meeting of the Brunswick
Electric Membership
cooperative here Saturday that
his office was dedicated to
bringing out the other side of the
picture in consumer advertising.
“There are those who say we
have gone beyond the
requirements of the office,”
Morgan outlined to some 4,000
members on hand, “but I feel it is
our duty to protect the public
from deceptive advertising and
even fraud.”
The meeting was held at
Columbus County tobacco
warehouse with Whiteville Mayor
Horace B. Whitley extending the
welcome, the invocation by Rev.
Charlie Sparks, pastor of
Whiteville United Methodist
church, a message by C.D.
Branch, chairman of the Board of
Directors, treasurer’s report by
J.B. Ward, Jr., manager’s report
by Robert G. Hubbard, Jr. and
remarks by Rep. Alton A. Len
non.
Citing numerous instances of
deceptive advertising, Morgan
said his office was dealing in
protecting the consumer “from
any type of deceptive or
misleading advertising practiced
by business houses over the
state.”
He noted that 50 years ago
people traded with merchants
they knew and merchants who
knew the customers, and that the
(Oaonmad On Bun Ftra)
Brunswick Shares
In Special Grant
Brunswick County will receive
$44,500 to be used for construction
of jail facilities, according to an
announcement made Friday by
the Governor’s Committee on
Law and Order.
News of the aid, which must be
matched by local funds, was
released by Berry A. Williams,
chairman of the Lower Cape
Fear Planning Unit which in
cludes Brunswick, New Hanover,
Columbus and Pender counties.
The four counties recived
$212,820 of the $7 million given
throughout the state. The largest
single grant for the Lower Cape
Fear Planting Unit was $91,758
for a juvenile detention center for
the four-county area.
Other expenditures for
Brunswick County include $600
for a Sherfif’s Department
records project, $2,280 for a
Southport Police Department
communications center, and
$3,00 for a Sheriff's Department
paddy wagon.
Walton Willis, chief of the
Southport Police Department,
said he is pleased that the
committee decided to allot the
WBmmmsuL.
Robert Morgan... “Call My Office”
$91,758 for the juvenile detention
center. The committee will meet
Thursday to discuss the
feasibility of the center which
would accommodate delinquents,
school dropouts and youthful
drug abusers.
The detention center
-halfway house concept is being
promoted by the Cape Fear
Council of Governments, The
Lower Cape Fear Planning Unit,
and the New Hanover County
Drug Abuse Commission, each of
which will have representation at
the Thursday meeting.
Public Hearing
Next Tuesday
A public hearing on the
proposed design of US 74-76 from
the existing divided roadway
west of Leland to Alligator Creek
will be held at Leland High
School, November 10, at 4 p.m.
R.W. McGowan, Highway
Department chief engineer for
preconstruction, will conduct the
hearing, where the proposed
design will be explained in detail.
After the explanation, comments
and questions from the public will
be invited.
The project will interchange
with state road 1441 (Dupont
Road), overpass existing US 74-76
and Seaboard Coastline Railroad,
underpass relocated state road
1437 (Old Fayetteville Road)
without contact, interchange with
(Continued On Page Three)
MYF Sponsors
Sunday Concert
At Assembly
The New Directions concert of
contemporary music scheduled
for Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock
in the Baptist Assembly
Auditorium promises to be a huge
success. Notonly are a number of
groups planning to attend from
within Brunswick county, but
several groups of young people
will be attending from
Wilmington.
Because of the special interest
of the youth in attending the
concert, adults have wondered
whether the event ws for the
teenagers only. A spokesman for
the Brunswick United Methodist
Youth Fellowship has given
assurances that everyone—
including adults—are welcome.
They say adults should take this
opportunity to see what the non
hippy teenagers of today are
interested in.
The Sunday afternoon program
at Fort Caswell will be similar in
content to those to be given in
Jacksonville on Saturday evening
and Sunday morning. A number
of the selections will be those
recorded in The New Directions
third LP album. This album is
expected to be issued around
Thanksgiving of this year.
The United Methodist Youth of
the county decided to provide
Brunswick with the opportunity
to hear The New Directions after
several of them heard them in
Siler City early in September.
Those who heard them were so
impressed that steps were im
mediately taken to bring this
singing group here.
The concert is offered as a
public service and not as a
money-making project and no
admission will be charged.
The publicity efforts of the
youth for the concert have been
wholeheartedly supported by
Radio Stations WKLM in
Wilmington and WVCB in
Shallotte, by the State Port Pilot,
the Brunswick Beacon and the
Wilmington Star-News, and by
TV Station WECT.
The youthful New Directions
personnel will be the dinner
guests of the Brunswick Sub
district United Methodist Youth
Fellowship after the concert. The
dinner will be a covered dish
affair at the Trinity United
Methodist Church in Southport.
Gun Accident
Kills Youth
A member of a Green Swamp
hunting party was killed Wed
nesday morning when he ac
cidentally dropped his shotgun
and it discharged.
Gene Laverne Simmons, 19, of
Rt. 4 Whiteville, was one of a
group of 13 friends and relatives
who had entered the Green
Swamp to hunt deer.
Simmons, a painter, ap
parently started to get out of his
pickup when he dropped the gun,
Coroner Buell Lanier said, and its
firing hammer hit the running
board. The gun’s charge struck
Simmons in the left arm with
fragments piercing his head.
Several fellow hunters were
nearby but were not within sight
when the gun went off, the
coroner was advised.
Simmons, after being hit, fell
into the seat of his pickup.
The Whiteville Rescue Unit
ambulance was summoned and '
(Continued On Page Three)
e And Tide
A front page write-up in our edition for October 30,1935, recounted -
the tale of a marathon swim made by Lee Greer of Whiteville from
Southport to Wilmington. There also was a report of the annual ~
Brunswick Baptist Association meeting.
Local shrimpers had made a big haul on Monday of that week; a '
suggestion had been made to change the name of the Brunswick
County Hospital at Southport to “J. Arthur Dosher Memorial '
Hospital”; and Lt. Ralph Glenn had reported as commander of the
local CCC Camp.
Members of the Outdoor Writers of America had been to Southport "
and Brunswick County for a meeting. This was reported in our issue
for October 30, 1940. One of their members who had attracted par- ~
ticular attention was Capt. O.L. Hawk, fishing expert and trick
flycaster. This was big news, but an announcement of even greater -
moment was that the Bruswick Selective Service Board had listed
serial numbers for all registrants and were getting re ady to make -
then- first draft.
This was also the week before the General Election, a year for the -
presidential election, hence considerable activity and excitement in
Brunswick. An old-time fiddler convention was slated at Bolivia; the -
(Continued Ob Page Jtouf)
Republicans Sweep Five
Commissioners Positions
\
Brunswick County Republicans
elected all five members of the
Board of Commissioners and re
elected their sheriff Tuesday to
assume the dominant role in
county government for the first
time since 1932.
The Democrats succeeded only
in re-electing Clerk of Court J.E.
Brown and Coroner L.B. Bennett.
But a story of even more
amazing proportions still is
Winning Republican Candidates
HAROLD WILLETTS
WM. A. KOPP, JR.
JOHN H. BRAY
J. T. CLEMMONS
ROBERT SIMMONS
ww mmmwm
VARDELL HUGHES
Board Agrees
On Grading
The Brunswick County Board
of Education met in special
session on Friday and awarded
low bids for grading of con
solidated school grounds to the
following contractor: Mac
Construction Company norther,
$34,000; Western $36,000; L.R.
Armstrong and Son Southern
$38,345.
After discussing with Jack
Croft, schools architect,
tabulation of low bids and
proposed bids to be contracted, it
was agreed by the board to defer
(Continued on Page Three)
Democrat Winners
J. E. BROWN
LOWELL B. BENNETT,
unfolding as Thomas Harrelson
wound up trailing veteran
legislator Arthur W. Williamson
by only four votes in the two
county 13th House District.
Williamson had a combined vote
total of 5440 to 5436 for Harrelson,
the young Southport man who
also doubled as Republican party
chairman during the precedent
breaking election campaign.
There has been no official
decision, but the possibility exists
that Harrelson may call for a
recount.
His unexpected challenging
position resulted from a 3660 vote
he received in Brunswick County,
to go with his 1776 voted in
Columbus. Williamson had 2365
votes in Brunswick to add with'
his 3075 in Columbus.
Representative R.C. Soles
appeared to be home-free, as he
polled 3069 votes in Brunswick
and 3195 in Columbus for a total
of 6314. J.W. Suggs, Harrelson’s
running mate on the Republican
ticket, had 2556 votes in Brun
swick and 1988 in Columbus for a
4544 vote total.
In the race fra* county com
missioner, all five Republican
nominees polled more votes than
the highest Democratic can
didate. Leading the Republican
surge was William A. Kopp, Jr.,
of Town Creek with 3751 votes,
followed by Robert Simmons of
Shallotte Township with 3450;
J.T. Clemmons of Lockwoods
Folly with 3234; John H. Bray of
Smithville with 2991; and Vardell
Hughes of Waccamaw with 2962.
High man for the Democrats
for commissioner was Jerry A.
Moore of Lockwoods Folly
Township with 2916. He was
followed by Willie D. Ward with
2691 votes; George T. Rourk with
2672; L.T. Yaskell with 2542; and
R.L. Rabon with 2222.
In the race for Clerk of Couri
Jack Brown had 3631 votes to 283?
for Lonnie (Vick) Brown, his
Republican opponent.
Bennett polled 3776 votes to win
over Fred V. Davis in the race for
Coroner. The latter polled 2582
votes.
Sheriff Harold Willetts piled op
4233 votes to lead the ticket for
Republicans and gain a con
vincing victory over Clinton E.
Bellamy, who had 2374 votes.
Lee J. Greer was without op
position for Solicitor for the 13th
Solicitorial District and pulled up
3325 votes in Brunswick county to
add to his totals in Columbus and
Bladen.
S. Bunn Frink had no opponent
for a seat in the State Senate
representing the 15th Senatorial
District and gained 3935 votes.