THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOLUME 45 NUMBER 4 16 PAGES TODAY SOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA_AUGUST 15,1973
10 CENTS A COP Y PUBLISHED E VER Y WEDNESDA Y
A WORTHY CAUSE — Chairman of the
Brunswick County Board of Commissioners, Bill
Kopp, (seated) signs a resolution in support of the
Shriners' countywide fish fry next Wednesday.
President at the signing were Shriner
"Sweetheart'-' Diane Walker and, standing,
Shriners Herman Strong, Don Willetts, Bill
Leggett, Albert- Parker, John Goodwin and
Leroy Hollis.
Watered-Doum Zoning
For Southport Okayed
Culminating a year-long
effort to zone Southport’s
extra-territorial area and
re-zone portions within the
city limits, Southport
aldermen voted Thursday to
accept the recommendations
of Planning and Zoning
Commission Chairman W.B.
McDougle to drop plans to
zone to Open Space some of
the waterfront within city
limits; and the newly-approv
ed zoning ordinances will
provide for the controversial
waterfront areas to be zoned
single-family residential.
Thia measure was taken after
waterfront property owners
W.G. Wells and representa
tives of the Stone estate
objected to their property
being zoned Open Space (OS)
and threat?ned lawsuits
against the city.
The State Ports Authority
and Pfizer representatives also
had objected to OS on their
waterfront property;
however, the zone remains in
the new ordinances.
The remaining OS approved
by the aldermen includes
areas around Judah, Price’s,
Bonnet’s, and Dutchman’s
Creeks and the sea pods
around the State Ports
Authority boat harbor.
Other major changes
recommended by the
planning commission
included: splitting the
industrial zone to include
provisions for separate light
and heavy industry areas, an
Non-Payment
Brings Action
The town of Long Beach
will soon take legal action to
force overdue payment on
privilege licenses for
businesses operating within
the city limits, Acting Town
manager Ed Liggett said
Tuesday.
Liggett said he had
compiled a list of those with
payment due to the licenses,
and he said he plans to allow
a 10-day period for the fee to
be paid after the date of
mailing letters sometime next
week to inform the
individuals involved that
payment is required.
(Continued on page 16)
“RA-20” residential-agri
cultural zone for much of the
extra-territorial area,
commercial strip-zoning along
Highways 87 and 211 outside
ciy limits, ordinances that
require mobile home paries to
be buffered from other areas,
a small multi-family
residential zone within the
city, and other ordinances to
limit the size of commercial
signs.
The zoning move began
over a year ago when state
legislation enabled cities to
extend their zoning
jurisdiction in a one-mile
radius outside city limits.
McDougle said the planning
commission will continue
holding meetings the first
Thursday evening of every
month in the town hall.
The planning group went
through several heated
controversies during the
course of developing and
finalizing the zoning plans.
In other business at the
aldermen’s regular Thursday
night meeting, a bid of
$9,878.96 was accepted fora
backhoe from Sampson
Equipment Company. Other
bids included $10,338 by
Shriners’ Fish Dinner
Wednesday, 4 Locations
Terming the Brunswick
Shriners’ fish fry a gesture “in
the interest of all citizens of
Brunswick County,” the
county commissioners have
endorsed the effort and have
called on the public to
support the endeavor.
The fish fry, slated for
August 22, (Wednesday), is
designed to raise funds for
the Shriners’ hospital for
crippled and burned children,
in Greenville, S.C.
The resolution was signed
Monday night at the Shrine
Building near Bolivia by
board chairman William
Kopp. Kopp was “proud to
have the opportunity of
signing,” because
“unfortunate children would
be the sole benefactors of the
fruits and labors” of the
effort.
Also recognized at Monday
night’s meeting was Miss
Diane Walker of Leiand. Miss
Walker has been elected
“Sweetheart” of the local
Shriners and “has been as
inspiration to the
organization,” according to a
spokesman.
Diane was stricken with
polio at age oi.e and was
referred to the Shrine
Hospital unit in Greenville.
She was fitted foi braces, and
by age two had taken her first
steps. At seven, she was
admitted for her first
corrective surgery. By the age
of 15 she had come under
Hie surgeon’s knife 28 timet.
During the fish fry, from 11
a.m. until 10 p.m., area
Shriners will carry out the
most extensive community
project ever attempted in
Brunswick County. Nobles
will be preparing and serving
a fried-flounder dinner
complete with slaw,
hushpuppies, and utensils
only $1.50 per plate, with all
profits going to the Greenville
unit.
There will be cooking sites
at the old Food City lot in
Shallotte, next to the fire
station in Leland, at the
Shrine Building in Bolivia,
and in downtown Southport.
Each site is capable of serving
75 plates every 10 minutes.
Persons wishing to eat at the
site may do so, and those
wishing to pick up plates to
go may receive them without
having to leave their cars.
Traffic aisles will be set up to
eliminate congestion, and all
drivers are asked to heed
posted signs.
The final organizational
meeting before the fry will be
held Monday evening at the
Shrine Building on Midway
(Continued on page 16)
N.C. Equipment Company,
and $10,404.60 by Cottle
Equipment Company.
Town Manager Alvin
Komegay discussed with the
board information he has
received from the N.C.
Department of Recreation
that matching state and
federal funds will possibly be
available for the town to
acquire some waterfront
property for a recreation
area.
Mayor Dorothy Gilbert also
discussed the possibility of
appointing a committee to
study the feasibility of the
city building an auditiorium.
A motion was passed
accepting appointments by
W.H. Crowe, chairman of the
Bi-centennial Commission, to
that group. The new
appointees include Mr. and
Mrs. Paul Sias, Mrs. Cora M.
Davis, Jonathan Hankins,
Eugene Gore, and Edward
(Continued on page 16)
McKeithan Tracks ‘Too Restricted’
Top Pick For Hospital
Site Is West Of Supply
By BOBBY HILL
A site for the new county
hospital about one mile west
of Supply on US 17 was
tentatively approved by the
county commissioners
Thursday night on the
recommendation of the site
committee of the ad hoc
hospital committee, and the
commissioners also appointed
members to a board of
trustees to administer what
will be called the Brunswick
County Memorial Hospital.
The charter members of the
board of trustees include
Albert H. Parker, Percy
Hewett and James Scott
Elliott of Lockwood Folly
Township, Ward E. Fuller of
Smithville Township, Clyde
R. Babson of Waccamaw
Township, Mason H.
Anderson of Shallotte
Township, John J. Child, Jr.,
of Northwest Township, and
Seafood Plant
Plan Revealed
M. Rozell Hewett has
announced plans to establish
a $1 million-plus seafood
processing plant in the
Shallotte area, to be named
Long Bay Seafood, Inc.
Tentative plans call for
pre-inqorporation stock
subscriptions limited to
North Carolina citizens for a
minimum of $250,000 with
plans to obtain government
financing for the balance of
the operation, which is
estimated to cost in the
neighborhood of $1 million,
according to engineering
estimates prepared by Jerry
D. Lewis, engineering
consultant.
Copies of a subscriber
prospectus are available from
Hewett and Waccamaw Bank
& Trust Company in
Shallotte, and the initial
board of directors and terms
of financing are named in the
prospectus.
Herring, Parker, Powell and
Leggett, a Southport law
firm, is listed as attorney for
the proposed incoporators
and corporation.
Hewett owned and
operated five shrimp boats,
was partner in operating a
packing facility for shrimp
boats, and has had experience
with Armour Meat Packing
Company as a refrigeration
engineer in the frozen food
department.
P.R. Hankins of Town Creek
Township.
The commissioners had
called for the Thursday
meeting, requesting that the
site committee present a list
of six possible hospital sites
listed in order of priority for
construction of a hospital.
However, the site committee
presented only two sites to be
considered as priorities: the
Morgan site west of Supply
and the V.J. McKeithan site
east of Supply on US 17.
Roy Swain, chairman of the
site committee, read a
resolution stating that “some
misunderstanding”
apparently caused the
Injunction Status
No new developments are reported in the legal
action sought by two Brunswick County
newspapers against the county Board of
Commissioners to end secret meetings of that
body.
The State Port Pilot and the Brunswick Beacon
of Shallotte filed a complaint against the
commissioners on July 25, alleging that the county
board held a secret meeting the Sunday before to
discuss county business. The board reportedly has
30 days in which to respond (through next
Friday), after which date the injunction
automatically takes effect if no response is made.
If the action is challenged, the case will be heard in
Superior Court.
Through Tuesday afternoon the only official
response from the county board, or any
commissioners, has been a request for
interrogatories by W.A. Kopp, Jr. On the form
prepared by attorney Thomas Horne, Kopp is
listed as “defendant”. The interrogatories seek
elaboration of the charges filed by Pilot Publisher
James M. Harper, Jr., and Beacon Publisher Kelvin
Mackey. The plaintiffs reportedly have 30 days
(from August 1) to cqmplete these forms.
No official statements have been issued by the
commissioners to indicate whether the injunctive
action will be challenged.
commissioners to request a
priority list of six hospital
sites.
Swain said the site
committee April 14 agreed to
restrict the site selection to
an area which, “encompassed
the Morgan site, the
McKeithan site, the
International Paper Company
Ball Park site north of Supply
on NC 211, and the Ruby
Clemmons Osbourne site
south of Supply and on the
north side of US 17.”
Swain continued that the
site committee, “refrains
from placing numbered
priorities on these two
additional locations because
we believe that our
recommendation as to choice
No. 1 and choice No. 2 will
be sufficient for the location
of the new Brunswick County
hospital.”
Although the McKeithan
site was offered to the county
free, the site committee was
unanimous in their choice of
the Morgan property which
must be paid for; and Swain
said restrictions on the use of
the McKeithan site had been
a casual factor in the
decision.
W.A. Kopp, Jr., chairman
of the board of
commissioners, asked Swain
to go into “some
explanation’’ of the
restrictions on the McKeithan
property which caused it not
to be chosen as the site for
the hopsital.
Swain said McKeithan had
stipulated that if the land
(Continued on page 16)
Food Shortage, Prices
Affecting Local Markets
By BOBBY HILL
With food prices rising
across the nation, this area
has been struck with a
vengeance; and, although the
rare commodity of beef is
available in some cuts in most
stores, one store operator said
overall food prices have risen
20 percent in the last three
weeks.
Most frightening of all,
perhaps, is the fact that
severe shortages are beginning
to develop in all lines of
grocery items. Add this to the
coming drop of the last price
freeze on beef September 12,
and the old laws of supply
and demand appear ready to
go beserk.
Items such as bread jumped
two cents for a large loaf last
week to the present price of
45 cents a loaf, and milk also
had another increase of eight
cents per gallon last week.
Tommy Harrelson, operator
of Harrelson, IGA, and
Dennis Grainger, operator of
Southport Thriftway, both
said serious shortages in oil
products and canned
vegetables are being reported
by wholesalers.
These shortages are already
depleting the supplies of
cooking oils, margarine,
tomatoe juice, and
other canned tomatoe
products, salad dressing, and
shortening.
Harrelson said lard is
costing him more than
shortening is sell for now.
Grainger said several
suppliers have been
withholding their products
from the wholesalers. He
reported that one of the
largest vegetable canneries in
the east had withdrawn its
products from the market,
and the absence of several
items from such companies as
(Continued on page 16)
•**■■•*i—1 ' - r"mm..taa ■**» -s u iJ—■Wjiin v -<Wi-■ r--rn rmni w- "
MAKING THE BEST USE of the lastfewdays of his summer
vacation, a Southport youngster waits for a bite in the Cape
Fear River. School begins next Wednesday, and then it's nine
more months of "readin', writin', and 'rithmatic" for this
would-be angler, who'd much rather be "fishin'?