THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
JULY 19,1972
5 CENTS A COPY PUBLISHED E VER Y WEDNESDA Y
Quick Action Contains
Oil Spill On Waterway
HEAVY OIL and fish residue line the north bank of the Intracoastal
Waterway near the Oak Island bridge following an explosion last week at the
North Carolina Menhaden Company. A boom has been set near the bank to
contain the oil slick while crews worked round-the-clock to retrieve the’
odoriferous mixture.
No Jail Terms:
Local Judges
Ahead Of Tir
“It’s what we’ve been doing
* all along down here”, Judge
Ray Walton said last week of
a state court official’s
recommendation that jail
terms for lesser crimes be
eliminated.
“It’s just common sense —
you don’t send someone to jail
for speeding unless there’s a
far more serious violation
Inman Serves
3-Year Term
James T. Johnson, state
director of Farmers Home
Administration, has an
nounced the appointment of
Frank Inman of Rt. 1 Ash to
the Brunswick County
Farmers Home Ad
ministration county com
mittee for a three-year term.
Inman succeeds Dalton B.
Simmons whose term has
expired.
Inman’s term of office
began on July 1. He will wrve
on the three-member com
mittee with James W. Smith
and Charlie W. Knox.
The Farmers Home Ad
ministration county com
mittee certifies eligibility of
applicants for Farmers
Home Administration loans
and recommends action in
making and servicing loans
to the FHA county super
visor. The committee also
advises on other activities
connected with the varied
programs offered by Far
mers Home Administration.
Inman is a semi-retired
farmer, having been an
active farmer for the past 50
years, and has served for 14
years on the board of
directors of Brunswick
County Rural Electric
Membership Corporation
from 1958 to 1971.
involved”, the chief district
judge for this area said,
echoing an earlier statement
by visiting Judge James H.
Pou Biley (“You know
beforehand whether you
might sentence someone to
jail if they’re proved
guilty”.)
The judicial comments
came after a recent U.S.
Supreme Court decision
extended the right of free
legal counsel to all indigents
(those who cannot afford to
pay) facing possible jail
terms, rather than simply a
jail term of six months or
more.
Bert Montague, the state
director of the Ad
ministrative Office of the
Courts, quickly offered a
recommendation to all state
court officials (Superior and
District courts) that active
prison sentences for four
types of offenses should be
discarded as a means of
punishment, eliminating the
necessity of hiring lawyers
for indigent defendants in
many minor cases which
carry possible jail sentences.
“The recommendation is a
sound one,” said Walton,
“but it really means nothing
new to Brunswick county
since it’s what we’ve doing
down here for a long time
already. We don’t send people
to jail for things like that
anymore”, referring to
Montague’s list of offenses,
which include littering,
speeding up to 80 miles an
hour, driving with an expired
license, public drunkenness
(first offense) and passing
a worthless check.
The state courts office has
sought emergency funds
from the General Assembly
to pay for the spiraling costs
of court-appointed lawyers
under the new ruling, and is
(Continued on Page 7)
JIM HUNT
Hunt Thanks
Local Voters
Jim Hunt, Democratic
nominee for lieutenant
governor, visited in Brun
swick County Tuesday and
spoke to a group of
Democratic voters at an
evening session in the
courtroom at Shallotte.
This was an informal
gathering and included
several candidates for county
office. Hunt said he came to
Brunswick County to thank
this supporters for their help
in the May primary which
gave him victory over four
other opponents.
The young Wilson attorney
has embarked upon a 100
county tour of the sate with
similar meetings scheduled
during the next six weeks.
The meeting was presided
over by Odell Williamson,
chairman of the Brunswick
County democratic
Executive Committee, who
called for an all-out effort by
party members between now
and November. “If we will
work we can win,” he stated
flatly.
Candidates present in
cluded Durwood Clark,
Register of Deeds; E.J.
Prevatte, House of
Representatives; and Ernest
McGee, county com
missioner.
A smelly mixture of oil
and fish residue that spilled
into the Intracoastal
Waterway last Wednesday
has coated the marshlands
near Southport and created a
nasty job for the Coast Guard
and others.
The spill followed an ex
plosion at the North Carolina
Menhaden Company, Inc.,
located westof the Oak Island
bridge on the waterway.
About 10,000 gallons of
Bunker C-type oil and stick
water have been recovered
and a Wilmington oil and
asphalt firm has loaded more
than 6,000 gallons of the fuel
for reprocessing.
Considerably more of the
oil would have poured into the
waterway had it not been for
quick action by Winnabow
construction company,
whose heavy equipment
formed a dike to prevent
further draina|e of the
mixture into the marshlands.
A county employee who was
on the scene in minutes said
that nearly all the oil and fish
residue escaped through a 48
inch drain that could not be
closed.
The area surrounding the
N.C. Menhaden Company is
spattered with the mixture,
which emits an odor well
known to residents of the
Southport area. But the
concentration of the liquid
makes working in the vicinity
of the plant almost un
bearable.
The oil, spread eastward
towards Southport by a
falling tide, coated the north
bank of the Intracoastal
Waterway and the hulls of
boats traveling the inland
route. Reports this morning
indicate traces of the oily
substance reached the South
port Boart Harbor.
Almost 1,000 bales of hay
were spread on the waters,
and a 3,500-foot stretch of
booms was set near the
(Continued on Page 7)
AN EXPLOSION last Wednesday at N.C.
Menhaden Company caused heavy damage and
•allowed about 15,000 gallons of oil and fish
residue to escape into the Intracoasial Waterway
near Southport. Quick action by Winnabow
Construction Company, including the building of
dikes, prevented further loss of the mixture.
Standard Products, which operates a nearby
menhaden plant, had leased the tanks for storage
Yaupon Taxes Would Increase
The Yaupon Beach Board
of Commissioners held its
regular monthly meeting on
July 3 when Mayor Clarence
Murphy announced that the
State Highway Commission
had applied to the U.S. Coast
Guard for a permit to build
the bridge over the In
tracoastal Waterway and it
e And Tide
Thirty-five years ago this week two young federal foresters
spent two nights in the Green Swamp before being rescued by a
search party led by Frank Rabon.
A mention was made of a report on a story about the Stuart
House that appeared in the Wilmington Messenger in 1897. It
said that the Stua., "-'use may have been the oldest hotel in
North Carolina, having been opened in 1830.
Entries were coming i 1 for the sailing regatta to be held in
August; case workers were ready to begin social security; and
the Waccamaw Lumber Company had sold all of its tim
ber land.
Thirty years ago this week shrimping was well underway in
Southport. Good catches were reported and there were four
shrimp houses here to accept the loads of shrimp. The
menhaden boats were given permission by the Board of Con
servation and Development to catch mullets. They were not to
take any within 300 yards of shore.
Capt. I.B. Bussells, H.T. Bowmer and Crawford Ruark had
caught 130 sea trout i-id 20 bluefish while fishing off one of the
wrecks. Sports fishing near Southport had been prohibited
during the past several months and reason for this ruling was
that the area has been classified in the defensive area of the
port of Wilmington.
(Continued On Page Pour)
was approved.
Commissioner McDougle
announced that the Airport
Commission had requested
all municipalities in the
county to unite and develop
funding for the airport. The
annual maintenance would be
$2,000 and Yaupon Beach’s
share would be $175, and the
amount must be collected
before the FAA will approve
the Master Plan for the
Brunswick County Airport.
The Board voted to approve
.the $175 expenditure.
The 1972-73 budget was
tentatively approved and will
be available for inspection at
the town hall. The tax rate
will be increased by 30 per
cent to $1.30 if the budget is
approved.
William J. Scott gave a
report on progress in the
formation of the Civil
Defense organization for
Yaupon Beach.
Mayor Murphy announced
that the town is able to reduce
the water rates for the
residents who have hooked
onto the town water system.
There are now 316 meters,
and since the rates were
based on 250 meters, the rate
schedule can be reduced and
still meet obligations.
The new rate schedule,
which was approved by the
board of commissioners, was
effective on July 1:
first 3,000 gallons, $5
minimum; next 7,000 gallons,
50 cents per 100 gallons; next
15,000 gallons, 40 cents per 100
gallons; next 75,000 gallons,
30 cents per 100 gallons; all
over 100,000 gallons, 20 cents
per 100 gallons.
The board of com
missioners met July 14 at a
(Continued on Page 7)
Board Adopts
City Tax Rate
The Southport Board of
Aldermen has officially
adopted the 1972-73 fiscal
year budget calling for a $1.75
levy per hundred-dollar
valuation.
The action was taken at the
board’s regular meeting last
Thursday night. The tax levy,
which was tentatively ap
proved in June, includes $1.60
for the general fund and 15
cents for debt service.
In other business handled
by the board, Edward
Clemmons was appointed to
the local ABC board after a
tie-breaking vote by Mayor
Dorothy Gilbert. Clemmons
and Robert A. Jones received
three votes each from the
other board members.
Jones was up for reap
pointment for a three-year 1
term.
Also, H.A. Schmidt, Joe
Walton and Bill McDougle,
Jr., were appointed to three
year terms on the Planning
and Zoning Committee by a
unanimous vote of the
aldermen.
A motion was made and
carried that the city
guarantee payment of a fire
truck beginning next fiscal '
year. Amount of the payment
would be between three and
Four thousand dollars a year.
The board was notified of
an urgent need for some
place to dispose of limbs and
the board promised all efforts
n locating a site. The city
attorney offered an out-of
own location, and insisted
hat only the city use the site.
^ The Frying Pan Lightship
Commission was authorized
(Continued on Page 7)
A TOUR OF THE SOUTHPORT AREA was arranged last
week for members of the North Carolina Press Association,
which held its annual meeting at Wrightsville Beach. Included
on the itinerary were stops at the Blockade Runner and Fort
Fisher museums, the CP&L visitor center (where this photo
was made), Orton Plantation and Brunswick Town. The group
made good use of the Southport-Fort Fisher ferry, cutting 40
miles off the overland trip.