THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOLUME 44 NUMBER 25 12 PAGES TODAY SOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA JANUARY 10, 1973 10 CENTS A COPY PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
SLEET THAT FELL in Brunswick County Sunday night
and Monday morning and stayed because of sub-freezing
weather cast a shiny coat over the countryside. Schools were
closed through Wednesday, allowing children an extra
vacation to enjoy the white — if not soft — covering. The break
also gave hurried residents a chance to pause and watch the
beauty that an unusual winter wonder adds to the scenery.
School Asked ~
For Southport
Representatives of the
' Brunswick County Board of
Education met with the
Board of County
Commissioners recently to
discuss the need for an
elementary school facility in
the Southport area.
Board of Education
members Mrs. Mae Barbee
and W.T. Bowen,
accompanied by
Superintendent Ralph C.
King and Associate
Superintendent Robert
Elkins, met with the
commissioners and cited the
urgency of an elementary
school facility in the
Southport area to replace the
present sub standard trailer
classroom units and the other
Continued On Page 2
Bad Accounts Create
‘Cash Only’ Situation
Effective last Friday, all
out-patient services at
Dosher Memorial Hospital
received in the emergency
room, laboratory, X-ray and
respiratory therapy sections
are on a cash basis only,
unless the patient presents an
insurance policy that covers
the out-patient service.
“Insurance that covers 80
Farm Bureau
Names Officers
The Brunswick County
Farm Bureau recently in
stalled six new board
members and one young
farmer - rancher board
member at large to bring the
present member status to 13.
Each member serves a two
year staggered term.
“There are two members
from each township with each
year being an alternate
election year. Thus, we have
new board members and
fresh farm ideas all the
time,” stated Ira L. Chad
wick, Farm Bureau
president.
Roger Z. Suggs of Supply is
the “young farmer’’ for
Brunswick County. “He has
done an outstanding job of
farming in his area and will
be an asset to the Farm
Bureau,” said Chadwick, “he
makes his home in Supply
Continued On Page 2
Ice Storm Brings Area
Activity To A Standstill
Southport and Brunswick
County had its third straight
Monday holiday this week,
this one to be charged to ice
and sleet.
Residents of this area
awoke Monday morning to
assess the severity of an
overnight sleet storm that
had covered the ground,
glazed the streets and high
ways and lefi the trees bowed
down with the weight of icy
branches.
Schools were closed
throughout the county, most
of the Brown and Root em
ployees were unable to report
for work, and about the
middle of the morning a
decision was reached to close
down operations at Sunny
Point for the day.
The county offices called it
quits before noon and most
of the law offices followed
suit. The two banks and
Security Savings and Loan
made a day, but several of
the stores were closed.
For the first time in
memory the mail failed to
arrive, and although the local
post office remained open
during regular business
hours all that has handled
was local mail.
Everyone kept his eye on
the thermometer at the
Waccamaw Bank, saw the
percent of out-patient service
will be accepted,” said
Dosher Hospital Ad
ministrator W.F. Cupit, “but
the remaining 20 percent will
be paid before service is
given. Other authority to
receive any of the above
mentioned out-patient ser
vices must be services who
owe old accounts, whether for
in-patient or out-patient
service) must settle that
account before receiving any
further treatment,” he ad
ded.
The strict policy is a result
of an economic crisis at the
hospital that Cupit said is
getting worse. More than
$100,000 is owed the hospital
by individuals who either
cannot or will not pay their
hospital bills.
“The hospital ad
ministration is in the process
of preparing a list of the non
paving patients (who have
received either in-patient or
out-patient service) for
publication in the local
newspapers who throughout
the years have made no effort
to settle their hospital ac
counts,” Cupit said. “I feel
the public has a right to know
the individuals in this area
who refuse to meet their
obligation in supporting
Dosher Memorial Hospital
for services given without
question.
“Ironically, most criticism
of services at the hospital
comes from the ron-paying
patient,” the administrator
noted.
“On the other hand,” Cupit
continued, “I would like to
publicly thank the citizens
who have paid their hospital
bills each time upon
receiving service, and those
patients who come in each
week or month without fail
and pay on their accounts
although it might be a small
amount.
“These are the people who
are truly supporting the
hospital,” Cupit said.
needle hit the 32-degree
mark, then dip to just below
30 and stay. A fine mist
which quickly turned to ice
fell much of the day.
It wasn’t much comfort to
ARC Chapter
lasts Officers
J. Hobson Bryant of Supply
has been elected president of
the Brunswick Chapter of the
Association for Retarded
Children.
Bryant serves as president
of the Union and West
Brunswick PTA’s, along with
serving in many other
community activities.
Mrs. Shirley Simmons of
Supply is the new vice
president. Mrs. Esta Mae
Gore of Shallotte was elected
secretary and Mrs. Betty
Mintz of Leland, treasurer.
The Brunswick chapter
meets each third Tuesday
night of the month at the
Agricultural Extension
Building in Supply, unless
members are otherwise
notified.
They recently sponsored a
Christmas Party with the
help of the Shallotte school
children. Special programs
will be presented throughout
the year by the trainable
class for the ARC with the aid
of Mrs. Simmons, teachers
aide, and Mrs. Wilson,
teacher.
local residents that radio and
television reports indicated
that the weather here was
typical of conditions
prevailing over the state,
with the depth of snow being
greater in most other places.
There were repeated war
nings to stay off the high
ways.
The quiet of a cold winter
morning was pierced before
day by the sound of the fire
siren, and the Southport
Volunteer Department an
swered that call quickly
enough to prevent destruction
of the Robert Jackson
residence on Caswell Avenue.
Just before noon there came
another call, this one to the
Sea Pines community on the
Beach Road, where a trailer
was destroyed before the
local firemen could reach the
scene.
It was cold again Tuesday,
but the sun came oat and
people had had one day’s
experience of how to deal
with winter. Things were not
back to normal, but at least
they were moving again.
AWARDS CEREMONY
A Campfire Girls awards
ceremony will be held
Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the
Jaycee Building. Winners in
the recent candy sales
competition will be honored.
Proceeds from this venture
will be used to send the local
Campfire Girls to camp next
summer. There are 96 girls
involved in this program.
Island Developers Avoid
Conflict, Build Platform
Developers of Bald Head
Island have avoided a direct
confrontation with the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers by
removing a small pier that
was built without a proper
permit being issued.
The Corps had directed
that the peir on Bald Head
Creek to be removed by
Jan.l, which was done. But
Carolina Cape Fear Cor
poration, developer of the
island across the Cape Fear
River from Southport, is
getting along very well
without it.
Jack Lockhart, spokesman
for Carolina Cape Fear, said
“We’ve entered into the
action with full cooperation
and our solution is now better
than the one utilized before.”
The “solution” is a landing
platform extending from the
shore of the creek, with no
pilings below the high-water
mark. The new landing,
Lockhart added, is
aestetically and ecologically
more desirable than the pier
built on the site last year.
That structure replaced a
delapidated pier that had
served the island for several
decades was considered
unsafe by the but Bald Head
developers. They repaired
the existing pier and added
materials to make it more
secure-but without the permit
required by the Corps of
Engineers.
After several months
deliberation, the Secretary of
the Army in November issued
the order to remove the new
pier and also gave his reasons
why a resort community
should not be created on the
Brunswick County island.
I.<ockhart indicated at that
time a court battle was im
minent concerning the pier,
but the cooperation on the
part of Carolina Cape Fear
eliminates that action at least
temporarily.
The Bald Head develop
Continued On Page 2
Clean-Up Project
Set For February
Members of the Board of
Commissioners for Brun
swick County have
proclaimed Feburary to be
Clean-up Month and are
calling for an all-out effort to
get trash and rubbish which
now clutters the country-side
out of sight.
“We hope to involve the
cooperation of various
businesses and
organizations,” County
Manager Jerry Lewis said
this week. “We think that
with all of our sanitary
landfill sites now in
operation, people will be
more inclined to help with the
clean-up job. And once we get
the countryside clean, we
think the people will like it
enough to want to keep it that
way.”
Lewis said that he also
hopes some of the business
firms owning heavy equip
ment will become involved in
this clean-up effort. “When
we get through,” he said, “we
want to be using only our
landfill locations for trash
disposal. We want to wipe out
all of these informal garbage
dumps you find all over
Brunswick County now.”
Following is the text of the
proclamation, signed by W.A.
Kopp, Jr., chairman of the
Board of Commissioners.
“Whereas, the Brunswick
County Board of Com
-missioners recognizes the
bountiful and beautiful
resources of Brunswick
County, and
‘‘Whereas, adequate
sanitary landfills have been
established in Brunswick
County to serve all the
Artists Group
Holds Meeting
Thomas Hughes, instructor
at Cape Fear Technical
Institute, was guest speaker at
the winter meeting of the
Associated Artists of
Southport.
Hughes presented a talk and
demonstration on the silk
screen process for making ink
prints, and also spoke on the
process for making wood
block prints. Following his
presentation, he showed
examples of his own prints
made with these techniques.
Hughes studied at the
Continued On Page 2
citizens of Brunswick County
for the dispoasl of refuse and
waste, and
“Whereas, recognizing that
many unsightly conditions
exist in Brunswick County
due to the previous lack of
adequate refuse disposal
facilities, and
“Whereas, the elimination
of these unsightly and
unhealthy conditions w'ould
contribute towards making
Brunswick County a better
place to live, work and play,
“It is hereby proclaimed
that the month of February,
1973, is designated "Clean-up
Month in Brunswick County”
and all individuals, churches,
civic organizations, com
mercial and industrial in
stitutions, municipalities,
and county, state and federal
organizations are urged to
participate in this program to
enhance the beauty of our
county.
"Further, the sanitary
landfill director is hereby
directed to coordinate this
activity, and to work with any
and all groups to implement
this clean-up program.”
Water System
Loan Received
Farmers Home Ad
ministration has approved a
loan of $2.5 million to
Brunswick County for the
first phase of development of
a county-wide water supply
system, James T. Johnson,
FHA State Director, has
announced.
The loan will account for
half the cost of installing a
combination system of deep
wells and surface water as
the basic source of raw
water, and a water reservoir,
a water treatment plant with
a capacity to process five
million gallons of water daily,
a one-million gallon water
storage tank, pumping
equipment and some 31 miles
of water distribution line.
The budget for the project
contemplates $2 million of
assistance for which ap
plication has been made to
the Economic Development
Administration of the
Department of Commerce,
and $500,000 applied for to the
Department of Housing and
Urban Development.
Under direction of the
Board of County Com
missioners, Brunswick
County is planning the
project to assure that central
water service can be made
available to all communities
and rural areas of the county
with the completion of the
entire countywide system.
The loan, repayable in 40
years at an interest rate of
five percent, will be made
under the Rural Community
Facilities program ad
ministration by the Farmers
Home Administration, a
Department of Agriculture
rural credit service.
Resources realized from the
sale of water will be used to
repay this loan. Benefits of
the program are made
available without regard to
race, creed, color or national
origin, Johnson explained.
Bridge Bids
Readvertised
One of the last actions of
the outgoing State Highway
Commission was to schedule
the readvertisement of bids
for the Oak Island bridge
over the Intracoastal
Waterway at Southport.
Those bids will be opened at
the January 23 meeting of the
commission and will be
reviewed at the meeting on
February 1. Since the winter
months are considered to be
lost time in most major
construction projects of this
kind, State Highway officials
are predicting that traffic
will be able to use the new
bridge in May, 1974, although
the date for final acceptance
of the project has been set at
October, 1974.
The State Highway Com
mission voted on December 7
to reject the apparent low bid
for this project because of an
“honest mistake’’ made by
Continued On Page 2
Appointment Is Expected
Reliable reports from
Raleigh this week are that
Wilbur Earl Rabon of Win
nabow will be appointed by
Governor Jim Holshouser as
a member of the State High
way Commission,
representing Brunswick,
Columbus, Robeson and
Scotland counties.
Currently Rabon is serving
as chairman of the Brun
swick County Board of
Education, a position he has
held since May, 1970. If he is
named a member of the
Highway Commission by
Governor Holshouser, he will
oe the first Brunswick County
citizen to serve as a member
of that body.
Rabon is employed by
Federal Paperboard Inc., of
Riegelwood as purchasing
agent. His home is at Win
nabow, where he has been
active in community, church
and civic affairs. He and his
family are members of Zion
United Methodist Church.
Rabon was graduated from
Bolivia High School,
Wilmington College and N.C.
State University, with a
degree in Agricultural
Education. He is married to
the former Doris Anderson of
Winnabow and they have four
children.
It is expected that his
appointment will be an
nounced in Raleigh on
Thursday, at which time he
and other appointees to the
Highway Commission will be
sworn in.
WILBUR EARL RABON