VOLUME 42
THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
NO. 42 14 PAGES TODAY WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 1971 SOUTHPORT, N. C. 5c A COPY PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
Scene At Jaycee Horse Show
Taylor Field was the scene of busy activity Saturday af
ternoon during the course of the Jaycee Horse Show. This
candid shot gives a panoramic impression of what was going
on. Scores of horses and hundreds of spectators enjoyed the
festivities.
Ed Kirby
New Druggist
In Southport
Freeman Edward Kirby
was born and reared in
Brunswick County so when he
received his degree in
pharmacy from the Medical
College of South Carolina in
1968 he knew that it would be
only a matter of time before
he returned to go into
business for himself.
That was this week in
Southport in the same
building where Watson’s
Pharmacy was situated for so
many years. The name has
been changed to Southport
Pharmacy.
Kirby graduated from
Shallotte High School and
from Louisburg College
(Continued On Page Four)
Board Increases Valuation
Of Island To Asking Price
E.J. Prevatte, secretary of
Carolina Cape Fear Cor
poration, plans to appear
Monday before the Brun
swick County Board of
Equalization and Review to
protest recent action of the
Board of County Com
missioners increasing
valuation of Bald Head Island
from $380,000 to $5.5 million.
“It is unfair and it is
unrealistic,” Prevatte said
with regard to this action. “It
is against the policy which
has prevailed in the past to
encourage development of
our natural resources. Raw,
undeveloped land has been
improved and placed on the
market and buildings and
improvements that have been
made have been fairly taxed.
“I point with some pride to
the rapid growth in our tax
valuation during the past few
years as a justification for
this policy,” the former
county attorney said.
If the action is upheld, it
will raise the yearly property
tax bill for Carolina Cape
Fear Corporation from $3,610
to $52,250 if the present
county tax rate were
retained. The move to in
crease valuation was
unanimously passed by the
five-member county board
last week.
Any decision can be ap
pealed to the State Board of
Dr. Hornstein
Back In Town
Dr. N.M. Hornstein has
moved back to Southport to
engage in the practice of
medicine and has opened an
office on Howe St. next door
to Western Auto.
This is the fourth time Dr.
Hornstein has moved here.
This time he returns from
Shelter Island, N.Y. He has
Time And Tide
1936 was election year, and on one side of the front page of
The Pilot for May 6 there was announcement of the Republican
slate of candidates, which had been named in convention on the
previous Saturday, and on the other side of the page there was
an article listing 8 additional candidates for Democratic
nominations. Among them was Harry Robinson, who was
running for sheriff.
The late Sheriff Jasper Russ had arrested the late
Congressman Marion A. Zioncheck; E. D. Bishop had been re
elected mayor of Shallotte; and April had been an unusually
dry tune that year, with only 1.56-inches of rainfall here.
Announcement on the front page of The Pilot for May 7,1941,
indicated that a Navy Section Base would be established at Fort
Caswell. The late John D. Eriksen had been re-elected mayor of
Southport and all six members of the board of aldermen had
been returned to office with him.
Defense Saying Stamps and Bonds had gone on sale for the
first time during the past week at the Southport post office, and
there had been a healthy demand; there was a sombre note in a
front page headline: “Thirteen Percent of The South’s Timber
Is Destroyed By Fire”; and a quail had flown against the
window of a store in the Southport business district.
In The May 1, 1946, issue of The Pilot announcement was
(Continued On Page Four)
DR. HORNSTEIN
spent the past two and one
half years practicing in that
state, at Shelter Island and
earlier at Baldwinsville.
“They say that a rolling
stone gathers no moss,” Dr.
Hornstein said Tuesday,
“but I believe that being
away for two and one-half
years was a great help to me.
I had an opportunity to learn
a lot about new techniques
and practices.”
He made it clear that he is
glad to be back and that he
thinks life here in Eastern
North Carolina is great. He
has rented the former Mit
(Continued On Pag* Flour)
Assessment, a group of state
tax officials,and from that
board to state courts.
The $5.5 million figure has
been mentioned for nearly a
decade as the asking price for
the island, although it was
purchased for payment of
less than $40,000 back taxes
by Frank Sherrill in the 1930s.
Sherrill sold the island in
1969 to Carolina Cape Fear,
headed by William R. Hen
derson of High Point, but no
sale figure has been revealed.
Henderson recently told a
General Assembly hearing
the island was worth $20
million now and that his
development plan could
eventually involve as much
as $280 million.
Besides putting a new twist
on the Bald Head Island
question, the action of the
Brunswick commissioners
could open a rare test of the
taxing powers of local
governments over the plans
of recreation area
developers, land speculators
and subdivision builders.
lhe $380,000 figure was set
in 1967 following countywide
revaluation. Prevatte con
tends there has been no
construction on the island and
no subdivision lines laid out.
But board members con
tended they had powers
under state assessment laws
which say they can reap
praise property “which has
increased in value...by
virtue of circumstances other
than general economiic in
creases,” or when the
previous figure was
“manifestly unjust when
compared to similar property
in the county.”
Jim Jeffries, the Brun
swick County tax supervisor,
said the action of the com
missioners was not
necessarily against Carolina
Cape Fear plans.
"It is the general consensus
of the board to see the island
developed, not necessarily
condemned,” he said.
Gov. Bob Scott, backing
conservationists, has
proposed that the state at
tempt to acquire the island by
condemnation.
The big jump in valuation
for the island, if it stuck,
could also lead to a reduction
in the county’s current $1.90
tax rate. Next year’s rate
hasn’t been set, pending
outcome of the hearing.
Board Studies
County Budget
The Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners met
in regular session Monday for
a general discussion of the
forthcoming 1972 fiscal
budget. It was noted that
most county departments
were projecting increases in
the cost of operation with the
greatest increase being by
the Board of Education whose
initial request for funds
would require $1.25 per $100
tax levy compared to the
current 96 cents per $100 levy.
The mosquito control
program for the forthcoming
season was discussed and
plans are being made to
implement this program in
the near future.
County Manager Jerry
Lowis gave the status of the
Sanitary Landfill Program
and pointed out that a request
has been made to Farmers
Home Administration for a
grant and loan to implement
this program as well as a
request to the State Board of
Health to meet with the
commissioners for presen
tation of the Sanitary Landfill
(Continued On Page Four)
Easy Win For Banker
Voters Name Lowe
Mayor Of Southport
Lester V. Lowe was elected
Mayor of Southport Tuesday
as a record number of
citizens cast their ballots in
this municipal election.
Elected to serve as
members of the Board of
Aldermen were Mrs. Dorothy
R. Gilbert and A1 Martin
from Ward No. I and Harold
Aldridge and Harold Davis
from Ward No. 2. Martin and
Davis will be new members
of the board.
The large number of
candidates probably ac
counts for the fact that 720
voters visited the polls. Five
candidates sought election as
mayor while there were five
candidates in each of the two
MAYOR
Crowe
Lowe
Porterfield
Tharp
Thorsen
T>
l
40
154
35
12
38
32
40
40
111
80
ALDERMEN-WARD I
Gilbert 127 175
Hewett 93
Hufham 132
Martin 116
Miller 31
95
120
159
48
Aldridge
Clark
Davis
Koontz
Smith
171
60
86
96
78
161
87
222
108
71
o
H
72
303
75
123
118
302
188
252
275
79
ALDERMEN-WARD II
332
147
308
204
149
wards, with two vacancies to
be filled from each.
In the race for mayor Lowe
Lester Lowe
had 303 votes, which were
about equally divided bet
ween the two wards. The
second high man was Robert
Tharp, who had 123 votes,
followed by W.R. Thorsen
with 118, James K. Por
terfield with 75 and William
Crowe with 72.
Mrs. Gilbert led the field
among candidates from Ward
No. I with 302 votes. Martin
had 275 votes to edge out W.L.
Hufham, a member of the
present board, who had 252
votes. Dempsey Hewett had
188 votes and Bili Miller 79.
In Ward No. II Aldridge,
who has 16 years of service as
an alderman, was high for all
candidates for this position
(Continued On Page Stour)
Voter Turnout
High In County
Brunswick County towns
elected their city fathers for
the next several years
Tuesday with voter turnout
good. All 47 of the registered
voters at Holden Beach cast
ballots during tlie municipal
election there.
Incumbent town com
missioners Hugh Dutton and
J.D. Griffin won re-election
and Mayor John F. Holden
was unopposed. Other
members of the town council
are Charles Saddingtoh, Mrs.
Doris Newman and Ernest
Madlin.
Erosion Project
Starts At Beach
Gov. Bob Scott has directed
the State Department of
Water and Air Resources to
being construction of groins
at Holden Beach to protect
against beach erosion.
The announcement was
made last Thursday. Rep.
R.C. Soles, Jr., who
represents Brunswick in the
North Carolina General
Assembly, said “I am sure
the people in the Holden
Beach area will be pleased
with this information.” He
reported that the con
struction was held up for
awhile, but that the gover
nor’s charge should have
immediate results. Soles said
he had attempted for two
years to have the groins
constructed at the inlet at
Holden Beach, and had been
rne^ by inaction on the part of
some state agencies involved.
The initial phase of con
struction should cost about
$50,000 of state funds, said
Soles. If this initial con
struction appears to work out
well, the program will be
expanded with additional
funding. If not, a new course
of action will be chosen.
Soles said the groins
would be a solid wall perhaps
of timbers and rock which
will extend out in the ocean to
redirect the flow of inlet tides
and prevent further erosion
of the beach.
Soles said Holden Beach
has lost a front row block of
residential property along the
beach, and many houses
along the front row were
plunged into the water, or had
to be moved back to higher
ground.
Unsuccessful candidates
were Hermit Coble, Mrs.
Gladys Hare and Milton
Harper.
SHALLOTTE
Robert Hawes, Harry A.
White and Michael Russ were
re-elected to the town council
by 47 voters who cast ballots
Tuesday. They had no op
position.
BOILING SPRING
LAKES
94 of 117 registered voters
cast ballots Tuesday in the
Boiling Spring Lakes town
election. Paul Day, Alfred
Switzer and Oscar Williams
were successful in their bids
for the vacant seats on the
town board, defeating Fred
Beck, incumbent John Cobb,
Lester Mason and Jane
Melian.
LONG BEACH
The beach voters elected its
first mayor Tuesday with
O.G. Coleman, Jr., defeating
E.W. Morgan, 261 to 83. Of the
388 registered voters, 344 cast
ballots.
Winning four-year terms on
the town board were Herman
E. Joyce and Mrs. Virginia
Christenbury. Other can
didates were James H.
Ratcliffe, Lewis H. Conley,
Robert L. O’Quinn, R.M.
Ferrell and John J. Burke.
YAUPONBEACH
Clarence Murphy, Gib
Barbee and Jack Allen were
elected to the three open
seats on the Town of Yaupon
Beach board Tuesday. As top
vote-getter, Murphy was re
elected mayor. Of the 187
registered voters, 171 voted.
Losing candidates were
Weyland Vereen, the Rev.
Shuler, R.T. Dixon, Luke
Appling and A.C. Harris.
Dredge Works Close To Shore
A
I his is the USE Dredge Gerig working close to
the shoreline Saturday as the big hopper dredge
deepened the north edge of the Cape Fear River
channel to project depth. Many persons stopped
on Bay Street to get a close-up view of this big
vessel at work (Photo by Spencer)