The Pilot Covers
Brunswick County
THE STATE PORT PILOT
Most of the News
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
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VOLUME 42 No. 20
22 Pages Today
SOUTHPORT, N. C. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1970
5c A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
Back In Business
Mobile classrooms have replaced the brick walls of
Southport High School, but the site on Nash Street
in Southport was the seat of learning again this week
as students formerly attending classes at the Baptist
Assembly at Fort Caswell attended classes in the new
facilities. The old building was razed by fire in
January, 1969, and the ruins finally were removed
this fall. (Photo by Spencer).
Shallotte Will
Hold Christmas
Parade Saturday
ShaiJotee’s gala Christmas
Parade will be held Saturday and
“Miss Merry Christmas,” Anne
Gurganus, will reign over the
festivities.
i Miss Gurganus was selected for
the honor Saturday night in the
pageant held Saturday night in
the Shallotte School auditorium.
She is the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Billy Gurganus of Shallotte.
The parade, sponsored by the
Shallotte Junior Chamber of
Commerce, will start at 10 a.m.,
according to club president
Doug Huddle.
Miss Gurganus, as Miss Merry
Christmas, is the parade marshal.
She was elected from a field of
12 young ladies from the
Shallotte area. Other contestants
included Sandy Maree, Wendy
Redwine, Debbie West, Judy
Lewis, Sondra Inman, Karen
Richardson, Vickie Babson,
Lorraine Holden, Teresa
Me Lamb, Angie Smith and
Carolyn Hewett.
A. Earl Milliken served as
master of ceremonies for the
pageant. Judges were District
Court Judge Giles Clark of
Elizabethtown; Clerk of Court
Lacy Thompson from Columbus
County; and Miss Cheryl
Meacham, probation officer for
the court district that includes
Brunswick County.
Special music was furnished by
pianist Kathy Formyduval,
Darrel Inman on the guitar and
Albert Hughes, vocalist.
Miss Brunswick County, Myra
Lynn Hewett, crowned the
winner.
New Regime In
Office Monday
For the first time since 1932 the
affairs of government in Brun
swick county will pass into the
hands of an all-Republican Board
of County Commissioners when
new officers are sworn in here
Monday morning.
Back in the forties Allen Russ
scored a break-through to
become the only Republican to
serve as a member of the board
since that time.
But in the General Election on
November 3 the voters of
Brunswick County elected a
complete slate of Republicans to
membership on the Board of
Commissioners.
William A. Kopp, Jr., from
Town Creek Tonwship led his
colleagues in this race and it
appears likely that he will be
named to head the board as
chairman. Other members will
be John H. Bray, of Southport,
who also might be considered for
the chairmanship because of his
convenient residence in South
On Pag* Fbur)
School Site Preparation
Initial site work has been started for the three consolidated high schobls in Bruns
wick County. Grading contractors are working on all three school sites and estimate
that the grading and other site work will be completed within the next 30 days.
Resolution On
Roads Offered
The Mid-East Economic
Development Commission plans
presented a package of
resolutions on a proposed Coastal
Corridor to the Coastal Plains
Regional Commission at its
meeting Monday in Columbia,
S.C.
Among the resolution was one
approved at a meeting or
representatives of citizen groups
and state and local envpmmpnts
at Myrtle Beach, S.C. last month.
Since then, Mid-East has been
and is still receiving individual
resolutions from county and
municipal governments which
(Oonttnuad On Ptfi Vtour)
New Board Gets
County Problems
The decLsion on whether to
build one jail or two in Brunswick
County has been dumped into the
laps of the new bo£.~d of county
commissioners that takes office
Monday.
By unanimous consent, the old
board at its last regular meeting
agreed to leave the problem for
the five new members of the
board who were chosen in the
recent general election.
The commissioners decided to
not take further action on a
Department of Social Services
directive that concerned the
e And Tide
The date was November 27, 1935, and tomorrow was
Thanksgiving. There was a front page picture showing the pilgrims
on their way to church, and a front page editorial on thanksgiving.
Shrimping still was good, even that late in the season, and 140 boats
were working here.
In an early season basketball game, the Southport girls had
defeated Shallotte by a score of 11-10; boxing bouts were being
scheduled for the following Tuesday night at Camp Sapona; and
there was a front page note which said: “News crowded out this
week will appear next week.”
Five years later to the day, on Thanksgiving eve, the editor had
this to say about a world that already was at war: “Each day that we
stay out of the present European conflict it appears that we get that
much further away from active participation; but no nation now is
existence will be able to escape the reprecussions of this madness. It
is for our opportunity to use all of the resources at our command for
good that we should be truly thankful; and if we are to have a
reverent attitude of gratefulness, we must dedicate the efforts of our
(Continued On Pec* Pour)
proposed jail facilities. The
reason for leaving the matter in
other hands is that the building
and financing of the jail facilities
will be during the new ad
(Continued On Pag* Tour)
Soil Election
In Brunswick
All qualified voters in Brun
swick County will be eligible to
vote for a Soil & Water Con
servation District Supervisor on
December 11. Each year the local
district conducts an election
during December.
The district has nominated
James D. Bellamy, Jr. for re
election.
Any person or group within the
county may nominate someone
by a petition signed by 25
qualified voters. The forms may
be obtained by contacting any of
the supervisors or the Soil
Conservation Service office in
Shallotte.
1 The one elected will serve a 3
year term beginning January 6.
The district coordinates and
promotes the soil and water
conservation activities of the
several agencies in the county,
especially the program of the Soil
Conservation Service. It is
governed by a five member
(Continued On Pag* Tom)
Harrelson Trails By One
Vote Deadlock Possible
In Battle For House Seat
By WRAY THOMPSON
A single vote separates Arthur
W. Williamson and Thomas
Harrelson from a tie in the 13th
District House race.
Incumbent Williamson’s
“victory” evolved Tuesday when
ballots of South Lees precinct
were recounted under the
direction of Alex Brock,
executive secretary of the State
Board of Elections.
South Lees gave Williamson 19
votes, according to recount tally,
and Harrelson 8.
Williamson’s reported score on
the night of the election was 13
while Harrelson got 8. Three days
later, during the official county
canvass, the South Lees abstract
showed Williamson's total as 20.
The recount Tuesday took
place in the Superior courtroom.
The State Board of Elections,
which ordered the recount in
South Lees precinct, ordered
Executive Secretary Brock to
personally represent the board
and to supervise all phases of the
operation.
Harrelson originally petitioned
for a recount of House ballots in
all Columbus County precincts,
basing his petition on alleged
violations of state election laws in
numerous precincts including
South Lees.
It was a box containing
“spoiled” ballots that presented
the latest puzzler. A ballot was
extracted on which the voter had
voted for both candidates for the
office of coroner. The citizen also
had voted for Harrelson and J.W.
Suggs, another Republican.
Brock therefore was faced with
the question as to whether the
vote on the “spoiled” ballot
should be credited to Harrelson
or not. If so, this would bring the
two-county totals for Williamson
and Harrelson to 5,452 each.
Thomas Horne, attorney for
Petitioner Harrelson, quoted a
law whereby only the votes of the
coroner race should be in
validated on the ballot, thus the
vote cast for Harrelson should be
considered valid. He contended
that the ballot most likely was
disqualified by election officials
in South Lees.
Edward L. Williamson, at
torney for the Columbus County
Board of Elections, asserted that
the voter could have placed the
Hearing On
Inlet Closing
In July 1967, the engineers
office in Wilmington announced
an application for a Department
of the Army permit by the Town
of Sunset Beach to relocate Tubbs
Inlet in Brunswick County by
dredging and filling for the
purpose of stopping severe
erosion taking place within the
town limits. The permit issued
following that notice will be null
and void if the authorized work is
not completed on or before
December 31.
The inlet has been relocated
but has not been stabilized as au
thorized.
The Town of Sunset Beach has
advised that, because of shortage
of funds and other difficulties, it
is impossible at this time to
complete the Tubbs Inlet project
and requests a one-year ex
tension of time for completion of
the work.
The decision as to whether an
extension of time will be granted
will be based on an evaluation of
the impact of the proposed work
on the public interest. Factors
affecting the public interest in
clude, but are not limited to
navigation, fish and wildlife,
water quality, economics, con
servation, aesthetics, recreation,
water supply, flood damage
prevention, ecosystems, and, in
general, the needs and welfare of
the people. Comments on these
factors will be accepted and
made part of the record and will
be considered in determinging
whether it would be in the best
public interest to grant an ex
tension of time.
Written comments pertinent to
the proposed work, as outlined
above, will be received until
December 14.
ballot in the spoils box, and
requested a new ballot. Thus
Williamson argued that the ballot
under study should not be con
sidered as valid.
Brock conceded that the
contentions of both Williamson
and Home have legal merit. He
said the judgment on the con>
troversial ballot should be made
by the full membership of his
COwMwU On Page Ten)
'Opening Ballot Box
Alex Brock, Executive Secretary of the State Board of Elections, unlocks the
ballot box for South Lees Precinct in Columbus County Tuesday as proceedings
got underway for a ballot recount. Looking on in the foreground is Leroy Stocks,
member, and Bennett White, Chairman, of the Columbus Board of Elections.
On the right is Thomas Harrelson of Brunswick County, Republican candidate
for the House of Representatives, (Elgie Clemmons Photo)
Sencland Agency Refunded;
Longwood Area Has Grant
New Holiday Queen
Cheryl Johnson of Long Beach is the new Holiday
Queen, having received this honor last week in Greens
boro in connection with the annual Thanksgiving Day
parade. A student at East Carolina University, she was
the recipient of a $500 college scholarship. She is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Johnson and is a
former Miss Fourth of July.
Jackie Stephenson of
Southport has been elected
board chairman for Senciand
Community Action, Inc., the
anti-poverty agency that serves
Brunswick, Bladen and
Columbus counties.
Stephenson is executive
director of the Brunswick
County Resources Development
Commission. He has served for
the past year as a member of the
Senciand board of directors and
has been re-appointed for. a
three-year term.
Other officers elected at the
Tuesday night meeting of the
board were Fairley W. Newton,
president; Mrs. Delilah Blanks,
secretary; and Reuben Moore,
treasurer.
Charles Mumford, executive
director of the community
action agency, said that the
Office of Economic Opportunity
has announced a grant of
$536,351 for the operation of
the agency for the next program
year. Mumford said this year is
the first time since the program
was started that the
announcement of funds was
made before the start of the
program year December 1.
Gov. Bob Scott, who must give
his approval for the funding, has
notified Mumford that .the gTant
has been okayed by his office.
The total grant includes
$353,741 for personnel costs
and $182,610 for non-personnel
costs. The non-federal share is
$89,000.
The board approved the grant
and agreed to special conditions
pertaining to the use of the
money.
The approved federal share last
year was $509,000, and an
estimated $23,700 was leftover
at the start of this program year.
The additional federal funds
granted this year by the
Regional Office in Atlanta
(Contented Ob Par* ftour)