VOLUME 44 NUMBER 26
THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
W PAGES TODAY SOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA JANUARY 17, 1973 10 CENTS A COPY PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
WELCOME ABOARD, Gov. James Holshouser (left) tells
/ilbur Earl Rabon of Winnabow after the Brunswick County
nan was named Highway Commissioner for this district,
(abon, who has been serving as chairman of the Brunswick
:ounty Board of Education, is the first from this county named
to the important-state post. Gov. Holshouser on Thursday
named 23 members of the State Highway Commission to serve
with Bruce A. Lentz, secretary of transportation and highway
safety, who will be chairman of the SHC.
Junior Women
Sponsor Drive
The Junior Woman’s Club
Cnnthr/irt tx/ill cnnncor th«3
Town Creek Precinct Divided;
Chairman Criticizes Involvement
March of Dimes Campaign
beginning January 21 and
continuing through January
28.
Mrs. Janies Kenney,
chairman of the Home Life
Department, will be
responsible for the
organization of the drive.
Again this year, elemen
tary school children will join
in the March of Dimes
Campaign and canisters will
be on display in local
businesses for contributions.
Junior Woman’s Club
[Continued On Page Two)
The Brunswick County
Board of Elections has voted
to divide Town Creek
precinct, where the
registration has grown by
leaps and bounds in recent
years and now totals more
than 1,100.
In the creation of a new
voting precinct, the board
contemplates retaining
Winnabow as the polling
place for that part of the
existing Town Creek precinct
lying west of the railroad to
Sunny Point. The part of the
existing precinct lying east of
the railroad will include the
Belleview area, which will be
about the center.
Also under consideration
are plans to divide the Leland
precinct, where registration
now exceeds 1,500. No
definite plans were discussed
for this division, according to
Chairman Hubert Bellamy.
“The board is concerned
with the work overload that
now falls upon the shoulders
of election officials at Town
Creek and Leland,” Bellamy
said. “If we are able to divide
these two precincts it will
Mrs. Stephenson Named
fClubwoman Of The Year
t The Junior Woman’s CTub
of Southport has named Mrs.
Jackie Stephenson recipient
of the “Clubwoman-of-the
Year” award for 1972.
Since joining the Junior
Woman’s Club, Mrs.
Stephenson has given of her
time in all areas of club work.
Her first year in the club, she
was a member of the
Education Committee, She
has been chairman of the
International Affairs
Department, a member of
District Junior Project
Committee and this past year
served the club as publicity
director.
She compiled, with the help
of Mrs. Jerry Sherrod, a
pressbook that won the
pressbook award for District
11 and is now in state com
petition. Along with other
members, she has
represented the club at
Junior Day in Clinton, the
state convention in Green
sboro and the C.I.P. seminar
in Winston-Salem.
Mrs. Stephenson has been
elected to serve the Junior
Woman’s Club as president
for 1973.
A native North Carolinian,
Mrs. Stephenson was born in
Davidson County. She was
graduate from high school in
High Point and continued her
education at the Mercy
School of Nursing in
Charlotte and Sacred Heart
College in Belmont, and was
graduated first in her class.
She has been active in many
areas of nursing and has
served on the state Com
mittee of Economics and
General Welfare.
She was a North Carolina
delegate to the A.N.A Con
vention in Atlantic City and
served as the District 3
President of the North
Carolina State Nurses
Association. She was an in
structor in the School of
Nursing at North Carolina
Baptist Hospital. While
serving in this capacity, she
was advisor to the medical
and nursing school’s year
book, “Grey and White
Matter”.
As a result of her efforts,
Figures Wrong, Says Cupit
A story about Dosher Memorial Hospital that appeared in an
area newspaper last week stating that a $20,000 to $30,000
monthly subsidy was needed for the facility to continue
operation was erroneous, says hospital administrator W.F.
Cupit
“Between $20,000 and $30,000 is needed to help the financial
dilemma that Dosher Memorial Hospital now faces, caused by
a decrease in the number of patients and the high percentage of
non-paying patients, Cupit said this week. “If the decrease in
the number of patients continues a financial crisis will also
continue, and in order for the hospital to remain operational a
subsidy will be needed. The exact amount cannot be estimated
at this time, however.”
the nurses voted to dedicate
their part of the yearbook to
her. Dr. Timothy Pennell
shared the honors with Mrs.
Stephenson, as the medical
students dedicated their
portion of Ihe yearbook to
him.
Mrs. Stephenson moved
with her family to Oak Island
(Continued On Page Two)
help make it possible for
ballots to be counted and
records completed without
all-night sessions.”
Chairman Bellamy said
that he wishes to express his
appreciation to election of
ficials, both Democrat and
Republican, for their hard
work and cooperation which
made it possible to handle the
largest voter volume in the
history of the county on
November 7. “I was proud of
their efforts to make this a
smooth and honest election,”
he said.
Bellamy reported that at
the hearing before the State
Board of Elections in Raleigh
into the matter of a recount in
the contest for Register of
Deeds, he was pleased that
the state board rendered its
decision on the basis of the
facts in the case and not upon
affidavits which made “wild
and unsubstantiated
charges”.
Bellamy said he still is
unhappy over the fact that
several county officials,
including W.A. Kopp, Jr., and
Harold Willetts, had signed
some of these affidavits. He
singled out Wilmington at
torney George Clark as
another who had helped to
College Fund
Is Augmented
The gift of $1,000 to the
Southeastern Community
College Foundation was
presented recently by the
Brunswick Electric Mem
bership Corporation in brief
ceremonies at the college.
The check was presented
by Robert G. Hubbard,
general manager of the
corporation, on behalf of its
13 directors, headed by C.D.
Branch as president. In
accepting the gift on behalf of
the Foundation, Dr. Tom
Cottingham, president of
Southeastern, paid tribute to
the Corporation’s interest in
higher education and the role
that Southeastern plays.
During the presentation,
Hubbard told Dr. Cottingham
that the directors of BEMC
hope to make a similar
contribution each year. The
gift is unrestricted, and the
SCC Foundation will use it for
financial aid to deserving
students.
The SCC Foundation
currently is conducting a
special drive, hoping to raise
$25,000 to match available
federal support for financial
aid to eligible students. The
drive is under the direction of
J. Herman Leder and Harold
Wells, both of Whiteville.
BEMC, with headquarters
in Shallotte, has a special
interest in Southeastern,
Hubbard told college of
ficials. He said ap
proximately one-third of the
employees at BEMC have
taken some work at
Southeastern, and that about
10 percent are SCC
graduates. Hubbard ex
pressed the hope that SCC
would be offering specific
training programs for staff
members in the future.
Mrs. M.H. Rourk of
Shallotte, a member of the
Southeastern Board of
(Continued On Page Two)
create an atmosphere of
unplesantness in connection
with the close race between
Arthur Knox and Durwood
Clark that resulted in a 10
vote victory for the
Republican candidate.
“I particularly resent the
threat and intimidation which
were made a part of this
matter,” Bellamy said, ‘‘and
some of the actions taken
involving Board of Election
members still are being in
vestigated.”
Island Bridge Bid
Opening Scheduled
The second opening of bids
for construction of a high
level bridge to Oak Island will
be held Tuesday by the State
Highway Commission.
The first bids on the project
were accepted in November,
but at its December meeting
the SHC members agreed
that an honest mistake had
been made in submitting the
apparent low bid. Therefore,
on a motion by then
commissioner for this district
David Parnell of Parkton, it
was order that the bids be
readvertised. SHC officials
have said since then that the
bridge could be open for
travel by May 1 next year as
was previously announced.
Wilbur Rabon of Win
nabow, the first Brunswick
County member on the State
Highway Commission, will
represent this district when
the SHC officially reviews the
bids on February 1.
Announcement of the
opening of bids came in the
final release from Parnell,
who resigned from the high
way commission before
Rabon was named as his
replacement. Also in the
notice from Parnell was word
of a 21.8-mile project that
involves a sand asphalt
surface and bituminous
concrete surface for sur
facing one section of
secondary road and resur
facing three sections of
primary roads and two
sections of secondary roads.
Bids on this project also will
be opened on Tuesday.
Parnell also announced the
allocation of more than $6,000
to Brunswick County for two
secondary road construction
projects approved at the SHC
January meeting. The
projects are the stablization
of one mile of state road 1313
from NC 904 to state road 1315
at a cost of $1,000; and the
grading, draining, basing and
paving of the Leland
Raceway Road to serve the
Leland Volunteer Rescue
Squad building. Cost of this
one-tenth mile project would
be $5,000.
But the major project in
volved in current SHC action
is the highlevel bridge that
will cost an estimated $3.5
million. Included in the 1.439
mile construction are ap
proaches on NC 133 between
Yaupon Beach on the island
and state road 1102.
Final completion date is
supposed to be Oct. 1, 1974,
but the early opening would
be made possible by saving
any finishing touches on the
bridge until last. Work is
expected to begin im
mediately, or only a few
weeks after the Triplett and
Ryan companies of Chester,
S.C., would have commenced
work had it not been for the
“honest mistake”.
The SHC reported that the
company incorrectly figured
the total cost of concrete
because of a preliminary
figure of 90 cents per cubic
yard instead of the accurate
$90. The miscalculation
would have cost the company
an estimated $300,000 —
disasterous for a small
company, the SHC members
agreed.
The Triplett and Ryan bid
was $3,090,936, well below the
State Highway Commission
estimate of the project cost
and easily below the bids of
the only two other con
tractors. Bellamy Brothers of
(Continued On Page Two)
Area Clean-Up
Project Slated
Brunswick County and her
nine municipalities are
preparing for Clean-Up
Month, scheduled here in
February.
County commissioners, in
approving a proclamation
last week, urged all “in
dividuals, churches, civic
organizations, commercial
and industrial institutions,
municipalities, county, state
and federal organizations to
participate” in the program.
Ed Clemmons, manager of
the county’s solid waste
disposal system, has been
named coordinator for the
clean-up campaign.
“It won’t be that difficult if
everyone does his share,”
Clemmons noted. “But we
should not hestitate to begin.
It will take cooperation from
everybody to make the
project successful.”
He said that the six
sanitary landfills in the
county are a good base on
which to build a program:
“We have these sites
available and the people are
becoming more familiar with
them. Perhaps after we
clean-up the county next
month our citizens will take
more pride and it won’t be
difficult to keep Brunswick
County clean.”
He suggested that Boy
Scouts could use the clean-up
program as a project for their
organization.
Primary concern of the
program is the cleaning of
“trash dumps” which have
been created recently,
especially in the immediate
Southport area. Jerry Lewis,
county manager who an
nounced the program earlier
this month, said the county
hopes to involve some firms
that cwn heavy equipment.
“When we get through,” he
added, “we want our sanitary
landfills to be the only sites
used for solid waste disposal.
We want to wipe out these
informal garbage dumps we
find all over Brunswick
County.”
Proposal Would Restrict Access
A recommendation from
the Planning Board for the
Town of Long Beach that the
ends of 22 of the 44 streets
running from the highway to
the ocean be sold has drawn
fire from both residents and
non-resident property
owners.
The stated purpose of this
plan would be to use funds
derived from the sale to pave
the remaining street ends to
provide parking and to erect
steps and walkways to get
SK j
over the dunes and on the
beach.
Jack Hayward, chairman
of the Planning Board,
declared Tuesday that the
purpose of the recom
mendation is “to span access
to the beach. When I was city
manager for the Town of
Long Beach,” he continued,
“I had repeated complaints
that there are only three
places to park and walk
across the dunes to the
beach.”
.■ mm
Hayward listed these as the
ends of 49th and 58th streets
and at Lockwood Folly Inlet.
Hayward said that his
board is without authority to
do more than make its
recommendations tc the
Town Council, which meets
this Thursday night. He
expressed the belief that no
action would be taken by the
council without first holding a
public meeting.
“I understand that Mayor
Nick Coleman has asked the
*ss*«*j, mm
city attorney for a ruling on
the legality of action of this
kind,” he said. A Dunn law
firm, Bryan, Jones, Johnson,
Hunter and Greene, now
serve as legal counsel for the
Town of Long Beach.
A group of citizens, aroused
to action by news of this
proposal by the Planning
Board, has formed the Long
Beach Recreation Cor
poration for which H.A.
(Continued On Page Two)
I
BRUNSWICK ELECTRIC Membership Cor
poration general manager Robert G. Hubbard
(left) of Shallotte presents a $1,000 check to the
Southeastern Community College Foundation.
I
Accepting the check for the Foundation is Dr.
Tom Cottingham, president of fhe college located
near Whiteville.