THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOLUME 44 NUMBER 21
14 PAGES TODAY
SOUTHPORT. NORTH CAROLINA
DECEMBER 13, 1972
10 CENTS A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
THE BRUNSWICK COUNTY HISTORICAL Society has
presented a $200 check to the Frying Pan Lightship Com
mission to help with the restoration of the vessel on the South
port waterfront. Presenting the check on behalf of the society
is Mrs. M. Henderson Ruark, president, and accepting on
behalf of the commission is Southport Mayor Dorothy Gilbert.
Others present at the ceremony were, left to right, Commission
Member Harold Davis; W.P. Horne, chairman of the com
mission; Mrs. R.R. Stone, a benefactor of the project; Miss
Helen Taylor, secretary and treasurer of the society; and
Harold Aldridge, vice-president of the society. (Brunswick
Town photo) ,
School Board
Holds Meeting
The Brunswick County
Board of Education met last
Monday in a regular session
and discussed a brief slate of
hiKinp^t
Lt. Col. Stanley of the U.S.
Army Headquarters briefed
the board on its obligations in
securing personnel for the
ROTC program to be initiated
during the 1973-74 school
year. Salary schedules for
personnel were discussed.
Jack Croft, school ar
chitect, briefly discussed the
status of high school building
program.
The board approved
teaching contracts for the
following teachers: Bolivia -
Nadine Tolar; Shallotte -
Marcus D. Stanland and
Union - Mitchell C. Evans.
The board also accepted a
resignation from Marilyn N.
Smith, teacher at Brunswick
County-Southport Middle
School, and granted Mariea
Carey, teacher at Lincoln
Primary School, a leave of
absence for the remainder of
the 1972-73 school year.
A group of parents from
Lincoln Primary School
appeared before the board to
discuss local school needs.
Edison Moore, chairman of
the Local School Committee,
acted as spokesman. Con
cerns expressed were the
removal of existing
residential road from the
school property, expansion of
the present playground area,
rest room facilities for the
faculty, a faculty conference
room and tiling of the lun
chroom floor.
The board awarded to
Sears-Roebuck and Company
(Continued On Page Fourteen)
In Yaupon Beach Districts
Moratorium Placed On
Multi-Family Dwellings
The Yaupon Beach Board
of Commissioners held its
monthly meeting last
Tuesday night with Mayor
Clarence Murphy presiding
and Commissioners Jack
Allen, Frank Aman, Gibson
Barbee, Jr., William Mc
Dougle and William Smalley
present.
The first order of business
was to bring the Planning
Board up to full strength so
action could be taken on the
application of Mrs. Carolyn
Hornstein to rezone the two
and one-half acre plot on
Elizabeth Drive to “Apart
ments of Multiple
Dwellings”. Commissioner
McDougle reported that he
was advised by the town
attorney that the Planning
Board should have no less
than three members. In view
of this, Commissioner Mc
Dougle made a motion that
since William Smalley had
replaced Jackie Herring on
the Commision due to her
resignation, he should also
replace her on the Planning
board. The Commissioners
were in favor of this ap
pointment.
Planning Board Chairman
Board Ponders
County Recount
The State Board of Elec
tions is expected to announce
today its decision on the
request of Durwood T. Clark
for a recount of ballots cast in
the general election in
Brunswick County for the
office of Register of Deeds.
The official canvass
showed Clark the loser to
Republican Arthur Knox by a
margin of 10 votes.
Clark appealed his case to
the state board after the
Brunswick County Board of
Elections failed to come up
with a ruling. In the local
appeal there was a tie vote,
Early Edition
Next week’s edition of The State Port Pilot will
be printed one day early, on Tuesday, to be
distributed in the mail Wednesday morning.
Advertisers and persons wanting news items in
the paper should have their copy in the office on
Howe Street before 4 p.m. Monday.
The early edition of The State Port Pilot Will be
the last issue published before Christmas.
with one member of the board
not present due to a business
commitment outside the
county.
At the hearing in Raleigh
on Monday, a brief presen
tation was made by Ernest E.
Parker in behalf of Clark, and
Wilmington attorney George
Clark presented affidavits to
support the request of Knox
that a recount be denied. The
only witness called was
Hubert H. Bellamy, chair
man of the Brunswick County
Board of Elections.
A. H. Gainey, Jr., a
member of the board, also
was present. The only other
Brunswick County citizens
attending the hearing in
Raleigh were V.A. Creech,
Jr., of Leland and Durwood
Clark.
The Brunswick County
appeal was one of three heard
by the state board. One was
from Wake County and
continued all day Tuesday. It
was believed that board
members will make a
decision on all three cases
today (Wednesday) and
announce their action.
McDougle then advised Ian
Hornstein of a list of
requirements to be submitted
to the Yaupon Beach Zoning
Board and Region 0 Council
Shrimp Areas
Are Reopened
North Carolina coastal
waters, closed since early in
December to shrimping, are
to be reopened.
Arthur W. Cooper; director
of the Department of Con
servation and Development
of the Division of Commercial
and Sports Fisheries, set the
reopening of the shrimping
(Continued On Page Fourteen) (Continued On Page Fourteen)
4Honest Mistake9
SHC Rejects Bid
For Bridge Work
The State Highway Commission
has rejected the apparent low bid
for construction of the Oak Island
Bridge because of an “honest
mistake” by the contracting firm
in submitting its estimate. An
opening date of May 1,1974 still is
possible, according to a SHC
spokesman.
The Commission voted on
Thursday to reject the low bid of
Triplette and Ryan of Chester,
S.C., for $3,090,936 and read
vertise bids next month. The bid
was $212,170 under the state’s
estimate of construction costs, but
was listed at $299,910 less than it
should have been due to the
contractor’s error in transferring
figures from a work sheet to the
bid sheet. The problem occurred
when a decimal point was
misplaced, making an intended
$90 per cubic yard price for class
“A” concrete 90 cents instead.
“The bidder made an honest
mistake,” said Billy Rose, State
Highway Commission assistant
administrator. He reported that
the bidder discovered the mistake
only hours before the bid opening
November 21 and asked that the
bid be rejected. The Triplett and
Ryan bid was easily the lowest;
other estimates were received
from Bellamy Brothers, Inc., of
Ellenwood, Ga. ($4,199,621) and
McLean Contracting Company of
Baltimore, Md. ($4,386,874).
A contractor will not be selected
until at least February, but the
two-month delay should not result
in any extra delay in constructing
the bridge, said David Parnell,
Highway Commissioner from this
district who introduced the
motion that all three bids be
rejected. The final completion
date is to remain October 1, 1974,
as the successful bidder will be
expected to begin work im
mediately after a contract is
awarded. An opening date of May
1,1974 for bridge travel has been
proposed by State Highway
Commission officials; finishing
touches — such as walkways,
would be
paint, handrails —
added later.
The Triplett and Ryan firm
indicated that their bid should be
rejected because of financial
hardship that might follow. “I feol
the mistake was irreparable as
far as the contactor is con
cerned,” SHC Official Rose said.
“We should not take advantage of
this situation.”
Bruce White, legal advisor to
the State Highway Commission,
said if the state chose to hold the
contractor to the erroneous low
bid it was almost certain to lose
any case brought in court. “The
law allows equitable relief to
bidders or contractors,” he said,
provided the error is brought to
the state’s attention before the bid
is set.
SHC Board Chairman Lauch
Faircloth said he was in favor of
rejecting all three bids and re
advertising the project to avoid
the possibility of a lengthy lawsuit
that could delay completion of the
bridge project even longer. He
added that he understood the
federal Department of Tran
sportation also was in favor of the
rejection because of the in
volvement of federal funds in the
project.
“It appears we don’t have a lot
of choices,” Faircloth said. “We
either award the bid to the low
bidder or reject all the bids.”
The two-lane swingbridge that
was the only link between Oak
Island and the mainland was
demolished Sept. 7, 1971, when a
barge-tug combination hit the
steel structure, collapsing the
span into the Intracoastal
Waterway. A ferry service was
initiated, and continued to be the
only means of travel to the island
until the present one-lane, pon
toon bridge was put into service a
little more than a year ago.
The new high-level span, which
will be of sufficient height to let
waterway traffic move below its
fixed roadway, is to be con
structed a short distance west of
the present crossing.
THE FAMOUS BRIDGE connecting Oak Island with the
mainland was again the center of attention this week as the
State Highway Commission rejected an apparent low bid for
construction of a high-level bridge to replace ".is one-lane
facility. Citing an "honest mistake" by the contractor that was
discovered before the bids were formally received, a
spokesman for the SHC said the final completion date for the
bridge is expected to remain Oct. 1,1974. The new bridge could
be put into service as early as May 1 that year.