THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOLUME 42
NO. 49
10PAGES TODAY
WEDNESDA Y. JUNE 30, 1971 SOUTHPORT, N. C.
5c A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
Gala Fourth Of July Schedulei
SATURDAY, JULY 3
EXHIBITS
9:00 A.M. —5:00 P.M.
Jr. Woman's Club Art Show
(City Hall)
St. Philips Church
(W. Moore St.)
Slide Program
(Library)
Sidewalk Art Show
(Post Office)
Mobile Museum of History
(Howe St.)
Fire Prevention Van
(Howe St.)
1:00 P.M. —6:00P.M.
Heritage House
(Community Building)
SPECIAL EVENTS
1:00 P.M. — 4:00 P.M. — Open House,
U.S.C.G. Cutter Mendota
2: )5 P.M. — Golden Knights
(Ft. Johnston)
3:00 P.M. — Air Force Fly - over
(Waterfront)
4:00 P.M. — Queens' Motorcade
(Downtown)
8:00 P.M. — Miss 4th of July Pageant
(Baptist Assembly Auditorium,
Ft. Caswell)
SUNDAY, JULY 4
EXHIBITS
1:00 P.M. —5:00 P.M.
Jr. Woman's Club Art Show
(City Hall)
St. Philips Church
(W. Moore St.)
Slide Program
(Library)
Sidewalk Art Show
(Post Office)
Mobile Museum of History
(Howe St.)
Fire Prevention Van
(Howe St.)
t:OOP.M. — 6:00P.M.
Heritage House
(Community Building)
SPECIAL EVENTS
11:00 A.M. — Church Services
1:00 P.M. — 4:00 P.M. — Open House,
U.S.C.G. Cutter Mendota
3:00 P.M. — Queens' Tea
(Brunswick Town)
4:00 P.M. — Children's Field
Events (Taylor Field)
6:30 P.M. — Donkey Ball Game
(Taylor Field)
8:00 P.M. — Scottish Pipe Band
(Waterfront)
9:15 P.M. — Kachada Indian Dancers
(Waterfront)
MONDAY, JULY 5
EXHIBITS
9:00A.M. —5.00P.M.
Jr. Woman's Club Art Show
(City Hall)
St. Philips Church
(W. Moore St.)
Slide Program
(Library)
Sidewalk Art Show
(Post Office)
MobileMuseum of History
(Howe St.)
Fire Prevention Van
(Howe St.)
9:00 A.M. —6:00 P.M.
Heritage House
(Community Building)
SPECIAL EVENTS
11:00 A. M. — Parade
' 1:00 P.M. —4:00 P.M.— Open
House, U.S.C.G. Cutter Mendota
1:30 P.M. — Musket Firing
Exhibition (Taylor Field)
2:30 P.M. — Boat Races
(Waterfront)
7:30 P.M. — Calliope Concert *
(Whittlers Bench)
8:30 P.M. — Boat Ticket Drawing
(Whittlers Bench)
9:00 P.M. — Patriotic Movie
(Waterfront)
9:30 P.M. — Fireworks Display
(Waterfront) ’
CP&L
“Hung Up” On Quality
Harold Banks of Southport
I'”6’® lias e “hang up” —- about
quality.
He walks through mud,
climbs places where men of
fainter heart would dare not
tread, and travels thousands
of miles in search of quality.
Banks and his assistants,
Bill Phillips and George M.
Simpson, are responsible for
Carolina Power & Light Co.’s
quality assurance program
during construction of the
firm’s nuclear electric
generating plant near South
port — the first nuclear plant
in North Carolina.
The three men are the
power company’s on-site
representatives, according to
W.B. Kincaid, head of
CP&L’s power plant design
and construction department.
Brown & Root, Inc., is
building the facility for
CP&L.
The CP&L men are
responsible for assuring that
the unit is built to designated
requirements, specifications
and codes.
A large number of reports
and inspections — officially
called audits — take up the
majority of their time.
Quality Assurance Engineers
Harold Banks, left, and Bill Phillips inspect a blueprint on the construction
site of the Carolina Power & Light Co. nuclear generating plant near South
port. Banks and Phillips and George M. Simpson are responsible for CP&L’s
quality assurance program during construction of the plant, which is the first
nuclear generating unit in North Carolina.
Paperwork covering,
preliminary audits, since '
construction began early in
1970, fills nearly two dozen
file drawers. The men will
make thousands of audits
before the first unit is
operating in 1974.
Banks is familiar with the
complex procedures
necessary for operation of
nuclear units. He was an
officer in the Navy Nuclear
Program, and ship
superintendent for con
struction and repair of
nuclear units from 1959-68.
He was in charge of the
quality assurance program
for CP&L during construction
of the power company’s
nuclear generating unit in
Hartsville, S.C. That unit
went into operation earlier
this year.
Phillips has the sure
footednesss of a mountain
(Continued On Page Ten)
Saturday Night Pageant
Will Pick Festival Queen
The Miss Fourth of July
Pageant to be held Saturday
night at 8 o’clock in Hatch
Auditorium at the N.C.
Baptist Assembly, will
feature the No One In Par
ticular Singers from High
Point. The group consists of
three girls and three boys
who specialize in choral
arrangement of popular
music. They have performed
for many civic functions in
High Point. The program
they have planned for the
pageant will include Burt
Bacharach’s “Walk On By,”
a medley of the Carpenters’
hits and “Aquarius.”
Also on the entertainment
line - up for the pageant will
be Rick Johnstone and John
Richards, two Southport men
who play guitar and sing;
Rebecca Griffin, Miss
Reidsville of 1971, who sang
in last year’s pageant; and
Cindy Sellers, who has
performed in the Miss Fourth
of July Pageant for the last
two years.
One of the highlights of the
evening will be the crowning
of the queen at which time a
new song, “Our Miss Fourth
of July”, written especially
for the pageant by Leila
Pigott, will be sung by Cindy
Sellers. Mrs. Susan Bellamy
Herring, organist, and Miss
Cheryl Blackburn, pianist.
Miss Dianne Rees is the
reigning Miss Fourth of July,
and she will crown the young
lady who is chosen Saturday
night to be her successor and
to preside over this year’s
Fourth of July festivities.
Ten local young ladies are
contestants for this year’s
(Continued On Page Ten?
Time And Tide
There was an early crop year in Brunswick in 1936 and during
the last week in June several fanners had put in tobacco. Hus
was in our edition for July 1, June also had been a warm month,
and one headline said: “Month of June Passes On Leaving
Citizens Sweltering From Heat.”
Southport music lovers still were sending off prediction cards
in the Hit Parade contests, and there had been 10 more local
winners that week. There was a front page prediction that
Brunswick would go for Clyde R. Hoey in the second primary
Saturday; Will Rogers was starring in “The Connecticut
Yankee,” which was playing at the movies; and a parole had
been granted Jesse C. Walker, convicted killer of a Brunswick
County sheriff.
In our July 2 issue for 1941 there was an announcement of the
opening date for the Border Belt Tobacco Market, with August
5th having been set. Orton Plantation owner J. Lawrence
Sprunt said that he was pleased with progress that had been
made in expanding the plantation gardens during the year.
Jtme that year had not been excessively hot; reports from
Frying Pan lightship were that shark and barracuda were out
there in great numbers; and Southport boys were collecting
scrap aluminum for sale.
There was a front page bulletin in our edition for June 26,
(Continued On Peg* Pour)
Answer Soon
On Bald Head
Will the state pay $5 million
or more for Bald Head
Island?
The General Assembly is
expected to answer that
question when it decides on
an appropriations bill that
was introduced in the Senate
on Tuesday. The bill seeks
$4.75 million for the state to
acquire the controversial
island at the mouth of the
Cape Fear River near South
port.
Sen. Russell Kirby from
Wilson County introduced the
bill not at the request of the
governor, he said, but for
another senator he would not
name. Gov. Scott has ad
vocated condemnation of the
property, but present owner
Wiliam Henderson has said
that to do this, the state might
have to pay as much as $20
million.
Today (Wednesday) there
will be debate of a Bunn
Frink bill that would prohibit
state acquisition of Bald
Head and would pave the way
for private development. “I
have not talked to one senator
yet who would favor ex
penditure of $5 million in
state funds to buy the island,”
said Frink, a representative
of Brunswick County in the
(Continued On Page Ten)
Festival Art
Show Planned
Preparations for the
eleventh annual Southport
Arts Festival, sponsored by
the Junior Woman’s Club, are
nearly complete. The festival
will be open Saturday
through Monday from 9 a.m.
until 5 p.m. except on Sunday
vwhen it will be open from
1:30-5. There have been
numerous inquiries about
entries in all of the categories
— oils, including water
colors, graphics, crafts and
the Junior Show. Entries
must be placed on Friday
from 10 a.m, until 5 p.m. and
be ready for hanging.
The judging will take place
on Saturday from 9 until 10:30
a.m. This year’s judge is
Luther Sowers, head of Art
Education in the Wilson City
Schools. Mr. Sowers says that
he is looking forward to the
Arts Festival as well as
seeing “Southport’s famous
old fashioned Fourth of July
Celebration.”
This year’s festival
promises to be even larger
than those of past years. Any
interested artists please
address their questions to
Patricia Foy or Tina Lerch of
Southport.
Parade On Monday
Biggest, Best Festival
Begins Here Saturday
, Completes Her Year
This is Miss Dianne Rees, who for the past year
has worn the crown of Miss Fourth of July. Her
successor will be named Saturday night.
One of the most well •
rounded programs in the
history of Fourth of July
celebrations in Southport will
begin here Saturday and
continue through the early
hour3 of Monday evening as
citizens of this community
play host to thousands of |
visitors for the annual Fourth
of July Festival.
Exhibits which will be open i
during the three days include
Heritage House at the
Community Building; Junior
Woman’s Club Art Festival at
the City Hall; the Color aide
Program at the Public
Library Building; the
Sidewalk Art Show, next to
the postoffice; the Mobile
Museum of History and the
Fire Prevention Va, both on
Howe St.
Special events on Saturday
will include visitation board
the US Coast Guard Cutter
Mendota, the Sky show by the
Golden Knights at 2:15 p.m.;
the U.S. Air Force Fly - over
at 3 O'CLOCK: THE Queen’s
Motorcade at 4 o’clock; and
the Miss Fourth of July
Pageant at 8 o’clock at the
N.C. Baptist Assembly.
Special events for Sunday
include invitations from all
congregations to visitors to
worship at the 11 o’clock
hour; the Queens Tea at
Brunswick Town at 3 pm.;
the Childrens Field Events at
Taylor Field at 4 o’clock; the
Donkey Baseball Game at
6:30 o’clock; the concert by
the Scottish Pipe Band on the
waterfront at 8 o’clock; and
the program by the Kachada ^
Indian Dancers, aim on the
waterfront, at 9:15 o’clock. “■
Congressman Alton Lennon
(Continued Oa Page Ten)
Innocent Mrs. Alma
Is Smiling Again...
Her lawyer described Alma
Ward as a woman without a
friend who had no reason to
smile all week.
But just before lunch on
Friday, a Superior Court jury
found the South Lees
registrar not guilty of fraud
and forgery charges that
stemmed from the November
3 general election.
Few people thought Mrs.
Ward would be found guilty of
the crimes; most felt that 12
jurors selected at random
could not render a verdict. No
one familiar with the case
expected the decision to free
her.
Mrs. Ward was charged
with forging the names of
Republican judges in the poll
book, removing a page from
the poll book, making a false
entry in the poll book and
making an erasure on the
tally sheet. Misdemeanor
offenses of failing to ad
minister oaths to vote
counters and failing to keep
the ballot boxes in her safe
keeping were dismissed by
Judge Henry McKinnon as
“too trivial” when compared
to the five felony charges.
No testimony was offered
in behalf of the defendant, so
the statements of SBI Agent
J.B. Barrett were not refuted.
He said Mrs. Ward told him
she made an erasure on the
tally sheet, had the poll book
in her possession at all times
until it was returned to the
Board of Elections, and wrote
the names of all persons who
voted in South Lees precinct
that dav.
The names of Alonzo Ward
and his wife Lillie appear on
the poll book, though she
testified that neither she nor
her invalid husband voted.
The five - day trial was
attended by few spectators.
Republican Judges Tommie
and Dorothy Sarvis were
there until the end. So was
Maxie Lee Ross, who worked
regularly on his daily
crossword puzzle. His wife
Leah, the Democratic poll
judge, was nearby.
Judge McKinnon told the
jury that “regardless of the
verdict, the airing of the case
should have some beneficial
effect on elections in your
county and in your state." He
said he has learned of voting
practices in Columbus
County that should not be
allowed.
Alma Ward appeared
nervous while she waited for
the jury, and when she heard
the verdict, she cried quietly.
And then she smiled.
Schools Get
Levy Of $1.02
The Board of Education
will receive a $1.02 tax levy
during the next fiscal year,
slightly under the amount it
requested.
The board had asked for a
$1.06 levy based on 90 percent
collection of the $80 million
Brunswick County valuation.
In the opinion of the Board of
Education, the rate was
necessary to meet the needs
of the schools, especially in
the capital outlay budget to
complete the three con
solidated high schools.
The board stated that
several items have been
deleted or deferred from the
original contracts to meet the
current rate of tax levy.
The county commissioners
had considered the $1.06 levy
but asked the education
board members to reconsider
and fit their budget within the
$1.02 limit. Hie board agreed
that a one-cent sales tax
should be considered to meet
the needs of the county
agencies and towns in
Brunswick.
The board of com
missioners approved the levy
on the condition that should a
one-cent levy be passed, the
revenue would be shared
among the county agencies at
the present tax rate.
SCHOOL ACCREDITED
Mrs. Ruth White,
elementary supervisor, has
announced that a letter from
Dr. Jerome Melton, assistant
superintendent of Public
Instruction for North
(Continued On Page Ten)