THE STATE POUT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOLUME 45■ NUMBER 9
16PAGES TODAY
SOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA
SEPTEMBER 19,1973
10 CENTS A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
Local Action Necessary
Board Will Not Commit
Erosion Control Funds
ByBOBBY HILL
The future of a proposed $15
million beach erosion-control
project for the Yaupon Beach
and Long Beach areas of Oak
Island was left an open
question Monday when
county commissioners told
proponents of the plan that
the commissioners will not
make a decision whether or
not to financially support the
project until the two com
munities decide on the
project and request county
funds.
Another issue to be decided
is whether or not the two
communities will hold a
referendum on the erosion
control and hurricane
protection project, and
Chairman W.A. Kopp, Jr.,
answered a question of a
Fayetteville owner of beach
property by saying he would
“assume” that a referendum
would be held.
At this point, Long Beach
Councilman Lewis Conley
said his council had been
advised by their attorney that
a vote is not legally required.
However, Conley said Mayor
O.G. Colemar was in favor of
a referendum on the subject.
Conley added that he was
not in favor of the referen
dum, “because there is the
possibility that it might be
defeated.’’
Kopp repeated that the
municipalities will “have to
make a decision” before the
commissioners can decide
whether or not to support the
project.
Long Beach Councilman
Virginia Christenbury later
told Kopp that he was
“remiss” in maintaining he
had not been requested to
support the project proposed
by the Corps of Engineers.
Kopp replied that he had
not been “formally”
reguested for aid.
“I’ll personally see that you
get a request — and soon,”
Conley replied.
No representative of
Yaupon Beach spoke at the
meeting.
The beach and dune
restoration fill would be
capped by a 15-foot-high dune
extending the length of the 9
mile project. To slow the
erosion of the sand fill, the
Lockwood Folly Inlet end
would be capped in part by a
900-foot rock seawall and 11
groins. The Yaupon Beach
end would also be stabilized
with a series of 12 groins.
The cost to Yaupon Beach
would be $120,200 for con
struction and $12,200 for
maintenance, and the Long
Beach share would be
$637,400 for construction and
Tour Observes Land Uses
One gal and 40 men took a
tour last week to see some
new uses of land in south
western Brunswick County.
Traveling by bus, the group
viewed the drainage of
Cawcaw Swamp, the
Carolina Shares resort
community, the dunes
protection program at Sunset
Beach, and the Azalea
Nursery near Ocean Isle. The
afternoon tour was concluded
with a fish fry at the Shallotte
Lions Club Park.
Sponsored by the Brun
swick Soil and Water Con
servation District, the tour
was designed by Chairman
James D. Bellamy and
District Conservationist
Maynard Owens to show the
community different ways
that land could be used
profitably. Those taking
advantage of the offer in
cluded local farmers,
businessmen, bankers,
educators, and retirees, as
well as associated county and
state administrators.
At one of the Cawcaw
drainage ditches, W.J.
McLamb, Sr., told the group
how 21,000 acres of land was
being drained by some 17
miles of channels laced
through the swamp. The
system, draining into the
Waccamaw River, is making
it possible to farm more land
and to build homes in the
Cawcaw watershed near
Hickmans Crossroads.
At Carolina Shores, just
west of Calabash, the group
toured through Section 4 of
the almost 2,000-acre private
Town Office
Filing Slow
As of Tuesday afternoon,
only three persons have filed
as candidates for municipal
offices in the upcoming
elections November 6 for the
four incorporated sections in
this area of Southport, Long
Beach, Yaupon Beach, and
Boiling Spring Lakes.
Incumbent Commissioners
of Yaupon Beach Frank
Aman and William E.
Smalley have filed for
election, according to Ernie
Rees, chairman of the Board
of Elections.
Only Glenda L. Jones of
Long Beach has filed to run
for one of the three com
missioner spots and one
mayor position that will be up
for election this fall in Long
Beach.
Neither Southport nor
Boiling Spring Lakes have
reported filing of candidate
fee for the election; however,
the deadline for all such filing
in all the municipalities is
noon, October 12.
Voter registration will also
be allowed for the fall elec
tion until October 8.
resort community now under
construction. It is anticipated
that the golf course and
clubhouse, the swimming
pool, tennis courts and other
recreation facilities will be
ready for use by next June
and the first families will be
building their homes and
moving in.
In planning the develop
ment, Allen W. May said that
the promoters “had three
objectives: not to disturb the
land any more than
necessary; to create a thing
of beauty; and to make a
profit.” In those instances,
for example, when a tree
marked for saving might be
inadvertently damaged by a
bulldozer, a tree “doctor”
was responsible for patching
the scar to preserve the tree.
At Sunset Beach the
problems of erosion and the
need for adequate ocean
front protection was
discussed by Col. James E.
Gordon, Brunswick County
Shorelines Protection Of
ficer, and Ed M. Gore, local
(Continued on page 5)
Record Tax Collection
A record collection of one-cent sales and use tax
in Brunswick County has been reported by the N.C.
Department of Revenue.
According to the state department report
received today, collections in the county during
August totalled $76,762.17 — nearly $10,000 more
than the previous high recorded last September.
That total was $66,771; other monthly totals in
excess of $60,000 were reported last October, and
May and July, 1973.
The August total will be added to the July and
September collections, to be distributed to the
county and nine municipalities on an ad valorem
basis.
$12,200 for maintenance. The
40 percent share of the cost to
the county commissioners
suggested by Co.. Page of the
N.C. Water and Air
Resources would be $334,960,
and the Yaupon Beach and
Long Beach commitments
would be lessened propor
tionately if the county
financially supports the
project.
The project is designed to
abate erosion that has
plagued Yaupon Beach and
Long Beach for the past
several years and furnish
some hurricane protection,
explained Lynn Valianos,
U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers coastal engineer.
But no contract can be let
until the towns of Yaupon
Beach and Long Beach notify
the N.C. Department of
Natural and Economic
Resources of their
willingness to pay their
“local share" of the cost,
explained Col. Albert
-Costanzo, district engineer.
He explained to the com
missioners that the federal
government will pay $9
million, while the state plans
to pay 80 percent of the
remaining 16 million, and it is
up to the local government to
pay the rest.
The current problem. Col.
Costanzo pointed out to the
commissioners, is the lack of
a commitment by the two
beaches to the state to pay
their share of the project.
First authorized as a
federal project by congress in
1966, Vallianos said, the
project was not funded until
two and one-half years ago.
Then $270,000 in planning
money was raised, with the
state contributing 80 percent
and the towns of Yaupon,
Long, Ocean Isle and Sunset
beaches contributing the rest.
A report on erosion
problems in the Yaupon
Beach-Long Beach area was
completed July 1, and
assuming both the report and
the environmental impact
statement go through the
Crops review process with no
problems, he said, the Dec. 1,
1974 date may see work
started.
Kopp and Shallotte com
missioner J.T. Clemmons
repeatedly urged Col.
Costanzo to include the
(Continued on page 11)
CHANCES SEEM BETTER every day that the
high-level bridge to Oak Island will be completed
by June 1, 1974—the opening date set by the State
Highway Commission. On the north side of the
Intracoastal Waterway this construction is un
derway, while on the Oak Island side work is
progressing well on the elevated causeway that'
will serve as the southern approach. The higtK
level span will be fixed and will not open forf
waterway traffic, providing an uninterrupted
flow of traffic on and off the island.
Southport Aldermen Meet
Street Paving, Speeding
Traffic Concerns Board
The paving of streets in
black neighborhoods. Brown
and Root traffic speeding
through residential areas,
and a possible curfew that
would end what Police Chief
Herman Strong termed
“panhandling” - among
teenagers were among
matters of business disussed
Thursday night by the South
CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION — one
citing "meritorious service" and accompanied
by a medal—have been awarded to Dr. Norman
A. Templon, Jr., right, former medical advisor to
Selective Service Board No. 10 of Brunswick
County. His duties ended when the local office
was merged with others In the region and
relocated in Wilmington. William H. Crowe,
chairman of the local Selective Service board,
pins the medical on Dr. Templon.
port Board of Aldermen.
No immediate action was
taken on any of the three
topics; however, the main
tenance of city streets —
particularly Lord Street — is
expected to receive prompt
attention.
Mrs. Cora Davis, serving
as spokesman for a group
that reportedly includes
several church bodies, told
members of the Board of
Aldermen she intended to
register complaints with
several organizations, in
cluding the NAACP, charging
discrimination in street
maintenance by the city — “if
something isn’t started
soon.” She noted that South
port relies heavily on federal,
state and revenue sharing
funds, and that dis
crimination — if shown —
Car Hits, Kills
Lakes Resident
John J. Kane, 58, of Boiling
Spring Lakes and recently
appointed to the board of
commissioners of that
community, was killed
shortly after noon Saturday
when struck.by a vehicle on
South Shore Drive.
According to Police Chief
M.R. Folding, Kane was
riding a bicycle when hit by a
vehicle operated by mail
carrier Archie M. Blohm.
Coroner Lowell Bennett
termed the mishap
unavoidable, and Folding
said Monday that no charges
would be filed.
Kane was not killed in
stantly but was dead on
arrival at Dosher Memorial
Hospital. Gilbert Ambulance
Service of Southport an
swered the call.
Kane’s funeral service was
held Monday morning at
Sacred Heart Catholic
Church, Southport.
would jeopardize these
allotment.
This was her group’s third
request for help, Mrs. Davis
said. According to the
spokesman, all the work done
on curb and gutters in her
neighborhood has been done
by volunteer labor. Curb the
streets, she told the board,
“and we’ll pay for it.”
Mayor Dorothy Gilbert
noted that maintenance was
necessary to “save” streets;
Mrs. Davis replied that Lord
Street needed saving, too.
City Manager Alvin Kor
negay was instructed to work
with residents of that area to
get the streets curbed and
guttered, and the motion
included a “firm com
mitment” that paving of Lord
Street between St. George
and Owens streets receive top
priority. It was noted that
contract work might be
necessary because of a
personnel shortage on city
(Continued on page U) ;
Shooting Takes f
Life Of Woman |
Mrs. Vivian Lewis, 30, of
Supply was shot to death
early Thursday while driving
to work by an assailant in
another car who fired three
shots into her with a .308
caliber rifle.
Within 15 minutes of
shooting, 37-year-old
longshoreman Johnnie
Pickett of Southport
surrendered to Brunswick
County Sheriff’s Department
officers at the Southport jail.
Pickett has been charged
with the first-degree murder
of the victim, according to
Chief Deputy Melton Mc
Cumbee. He is being held
without bond pending a
preliminary hearing on
September 21.
Deputies said Mrs. Lewis
and Pickett, both divorcees,
were acquainted with each
other.
The shooting took place at
approximately 7:45 a.m. on
Lanvale Road in the vicinity
of Leland.
Mrs. Lewis was shot while
driving to Dupont, Inc.,
where she was employed.
Deputies said two passengers
in the victim’s 1971 station
wagon were also en route to
the Dupont plant. Neither of
the passengers were injured.
An investigation by
sheriff’s department officers
revealed that Pickett
followed Mrs. Lewis’ vehicle
from the Bolivia area. On
Lanvale Road, he attempted
to force her vehicle to halt.
The two passengers in the
Lewis vehicle stated the
suspect blinked the lights of
his car and pulled in close
proximity of the victim’s car.
The woman passenger in
the car reported she heard
noises “like a car back
firing.” A man riding in the
rear seat reportedly rolled to
the floor of the car for
protection.
Witnesses told deputies
that the suspect held a rifle
out of the left window of his
vehicle to the side of the road
Pickett is reported to have
stopped behind the halted
vehicle and walked to the car
and fired a third shot into the
victim.
Witnesses report that he
opened the car door and said,
(Continued on page 11)
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