THE STATE PORT PILOT
VOLUME43 NUMBER 11 12PAGES TODAY
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
‘Blue-Chip’ Industry Plans $40 Million Plant Here
!T,N.C,
Aerial View Of Pfizer Property
Aerial view showing approximate outlines of property purchased by Pfizer
Inc. some three-and-a-half miles north of Southport. The 850-acre site is being
considered as a possible location for a modern multi-million dollar citric
acid facility. The plant would be located near the Ferry Slip.
Lawsuit Filed By State
Due To Bridge Damage
A lawsuit asking one
million dollars in damages
has been filed by the N.C.
State Highway Commission
as a result of the September 7
mishap that cut Oak Island’s
only link with the mainland.
Defendant in the case is
C.G. Willis, Inc., of
Wilmington, Del., owner and
operator of the towboat and
barges that struck the Oak
Island bridge in the early
morning, a few hours after
the official close of Labor
Day Weekend. Many tourists
were stranded on the island
and the approximately 2,000
permanent residents have
only limited contact with the
mainland.
School children are ferried
across the Cape Fear River
each day, and the fall tourist
and fishing season, usually a
time of prosperity for the
islanders, is practically non
existent.
The lawsuit was filed
Friday with Brunswick
County Clerk of Court Jack
Brown by Richard Conley of
Attorney General Robert
Morgan’s office.
The state alleges in the suit
that the bridge will have to be
replaced, and the channel
fenders repaired. In the
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Time And Tide
Political news predominated in The Pilot for October 7,1936.
Senator Bob Reynolds had been in town for a visit; Judge
Henry L. Stevens had been the speaker at the meeting of Young
Democrats; and Kenneth McKeithan had been elected
president of that organization.
Improvement was promised in electric service for Southport
citizens with the purchase of new machinery for the power
plant; the editor had had a word of praise for the Coast Guard
as it watched over the shrimping activities of “some 200 boats
in local waters”; and tentative dates had been set for a sailing
regatta here the following summer.
“Ft. Caswell Is Purchased By U.S. Navy As Site Of Section
Base Allotted For Southport” — that was the big headline on
the front page of The Pilot for October 8,1941.
The front page pictures showed St. Phillips Church at
Brunswick Town and the Indian Trail Tree in the Cranmer
(Continued On Page PomO
Pfizeriircc., Purchases 850-Acre Tract
Announcement was made
in Southport Tuesday that
Pfizer, Inc., has purchased a
tract of 850 acres located on
the Cape Fear River near
Price Creek and that this will
be used as the site for a 140
million plant for the
manufacture of citric acid.
The announcement was
made by Bernard J. Quinn,
vice president of corporate
production and engineering,
before a gathering of area
governmental and business
leaders and representatives
of the news media. The scene
was the lobby of the new
Waccamaw Bank & Trust
building and the an
nouncement ceremony was
timed to take place between
the hours of one o'clock and
County Board
Greets Pfizer
“The Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners
would like to take this op
portunity to welcome the
Pfizer Company as an in
dustrial citizen of Brunswick
County,” Chairman W.A.
Kopp, Jr., said Tuesday. “We
have been aware of their
interest in locating in Brun
swick County for sometime
and are indeed gratified that
they have decided to invest in
our county. Should the Pfizer
Company elect to construct
an industrial facility in this _
area, the Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners will
cooperate to the fullest extent
in making them ..welcome.
The construction of a large
industrial plant in our area
would have a tremendous
impact on the economy of
Brunswick County, in that it
would provide much needed
job opportunities for our
people.”
A factor which will in
fluence their decisions, is the
availability of adequate
water sources necessary for
any future manufacturing
facility. The Brunswick
County Board of Com
missioners on July 26 made
application to the Economic
Development Administration
for a technical feasibility
grant to explore potential
water sources for both in
dustry and municipalities in
Brunswick County. This
request for funds in the
amount of $40,000 has been
approved and the engineering
firm of Daniel, Mann,
Johnson, & Mendenhall of
Washington, D.C., has been
retained to conduct this
survey, and preliminary
work is currently underway.
Should Pfizer, Inc., elect to
construct an industrial
complex in Brunswick
County, it is the opinion of the
Board of Commissioners that
an Economics Development
Administration grant of
approximately $2,000,000 will
be forthcoming for the
construction of a water
supply system to serve this
industry as well as the long
range needs of the various
municipalities in the county.
three o’clock and thus not
interfere with the conduct of
normal banking business.
Presiding over the
ceremonies was Jackie
Stephenson, Director of the
Brunswick County Resources
Development Commission. In
his remarks he acknowledged
the hard work and
cooperation of many in
dividuals and organizations
to help bring the Pfizer
project to a successful con
clusion. He recalled that
negotiations had been un
derway for the past 18
months.
In making his an
nouncement, Quinn said that
building plans probably will
be announced within six or
eight months. He said that it
probably will require two
years to build the plant,
which he estimated will cost
in the neighborhood of $40*
Signing Documents
Bernard J. Quinn/ seated, is shown here as he completes the paper work for
the purchase of the site near Southport where Pfizer will erect a $40-million
plant. Standing in the background are Marshall Shepherd, Department of
Conservation and Development, D.C. Herring, Southport attorney and one of
the property owners selling to Pfizer, and Wallace Murchison, Wilmington
attorney. (Photo by Spencer)
Brunswick GOP Names
Mrs. Smith As Chairman
Brunswick County
Republicans approved by
acclamation Saturday a
proposal to recruit members
of the nation’s newest voting
bloc —18,19 and 20-year olds
—as delegates and alternates
to the GOP district con
vention, to be held Oct. 27 in
Whiteville.
Setting another precedent
at'their county convention in
Bolivia, the GOP delegates
for the first time elected a
lady county chairman, Mrs.
Kenneth E. (Betty) Smith of
Southport. For the past two
years, .she has been Smith
ville Township Republican
chairman.
At the Saturday session,
Mrs. Smith was named by
State Representative Thomas
Harrelson, outgoing county
chairman, as the county’s
“most outstanding township
chairman” and was given a
silver plate engraved with
CP&L Nuclear Training Program Begins
Approximately 20 Carolina
Power & Light Co. employees
have begun the first phase of
a two-year training program
in preparation for operation
of the Brunswick nuclear
plant near Southport.
The Brunswick plant will be
the first nuclear electric
generating unit in North
Carolina. The first 821,000
kilowatt unit is scheduled for
operation in 1974, and the
second in 1975.
Between now and the fuel
loading in 1973, the CP&L
employees who will
eventually operate the plant
will study and train ei$it
hours a day for five days a
week.
The extensive training is
standard procedure for
nuclear generating operations,
according to N.B. Bessac,
manager of nuclear
generation for CP&L.
In addition to preparation
for operation of the nuclear
plant, the men are working
toward obtaining Atomic
Energy Commission (AEC)
operator licenses.
Supervisory personnel will
apply for senior reactor
operator’s licenses and the
remainder will apply for
reactor operator’s licenses.
At the end of the training
period, the students will take
written and oral
examinations.
During the oral exam, each
man will tour the
then-completed first
Brunswick unit with an AEC
official. Hie official may ask
the CP&L employee about
any of the hundreds of
mechanical operations,
procedures and specifications
of the unit. It is not an open
book test.
Tests must be taken and
passed before fuel loading can
begin.
The first 16 weeks of
training are spent in
classroom work at Hartsville,
S.C., which is the location of
a CP&L nuclear generating
unit. Subjects include basic
nuclear physics, reactor
operations, health physics,
instrumentation and control.
Videotape television
instruction, daily and weekly
quizzes and hours of home
study are normal procedure.
Men from NUS, which is a
consulting firm, and John
Connelly, CP&L nuclear
engineer, provide classroom
instruction.
Beginning in the middle of
November the students will
move to North Carolina State
University for four weeks.
TTie emphasis will be ori
receiving experience in
reactor startups using the
NCSU research reactor.
In January, the students
will return to the Hartsville
classroom for five weeks
instruction from General
Electric about various aspects
of the Brunswick units. G.E.
is building the two boiling
water reactors for the
Brunswick plant.
Following the G.E. training,
the group will transfer to
Morris, El., near Chicago, for
20 weeks of training at the
Dresden plant. The plant is
approximately the same size
as one of the Brunswick units
and also has a boiling water
reactor.
The men will learn the
plant’s systems, observe
operations, and operate a
(Continued On Pasre 5V>ur)
that citation.
No stranger to political
service, Mrs. Smith was a
political science major at
Pennsylvania State
University, worked as a
volunteer for Congressman
E.L. Settler of Pennsylvania
and later was Settler’s
executive assistant in
Washington and in his
Uniontown, Pa., office. She is
a member of St. Philips
Episcopal Church in South
port.
The proposal to encourage
participation by young voters
in Republican activities was
made by L.C. Babson of
Freeland, veteran party
leader and a member of the
Brunswick County Board of
Elections, who urged
(Continued On Pape Five)
million and will initially
employ from 200-300 people.
When asked what the
prospect will be for ex
Dansion, he replied that the
plant at Groton was con
structed in 1947 and employed
60-70 people. “Today it em
ploys 2,000 persons,” he said,
“and this is typical of the
growth of most of our Pfizer
plants.”
Don Vines, a personnel
man for Pfizer, said that an
effort will be made to use
local labor and indicated that
some training will be
necessary for these
prospective employees. Cape
Fear Tech may be requested
to help with this training
program, he said.
Also present was John
Nicholson, a Pfizer official
who has been active in this
project from the beginning.
Others from Pfizer were Mr.
and Mrs. Elwood, he being a
vice president of the com
pany; John Daugherty, legal
counsel; and Tony Biesada,
public relations man.
Michael Brown, past
president of the Committee of
100 of Wilmington, said that
he wanted to welcome Pfizer
to this area and pledged the
full support of his
organization.
L.R. Bowers, president of
Waccamaw Bank and Trust
Co., host for the buffet which
followed the announcement,
welcome guests and assured
Pfizer people of the full
cooperation of his
organization. “We know you
will be an excellent corporate
citizen" he said.
The planned operation on
the Cape Fear River, two
miles above Southport, would
represent additional capacity
for citric acid, supplementing
existing manufacturing
facilities at Groton, Conn,
and Brooklyn, N.Y. Quinn
said a new production facility
was required to meet in
creased demands which have
arisen not only from
traditional uses of citric acid
by Pfizer’s present
customers, but also from
entirely new industrial ap
plications. There are a
number of possible new uses
currently under active
evaluation, he added.
Citric acid, often called
“nature’s acidulant” because
of its occurrence in many
fruits and vegetables, is used
increasingly as an acidulant
in foods and beverages and in
pharmaceutical prepara
tions.
The Southport plant would
be Pfizer’s third manufac
(Continued On Page Four)
Helicopter To The Rescue
Town Manager Jack Hayward is shown here observing members of Long
Beach Rescue Squad unloading meats and vegetables from a helicopter
luring the emergency situation caused last week by the threat of Hurricane
Ginger. Ferry services was discontinued for a part of two days because of the
storm. (Photo by Shannon)