THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOLUME 45 NUMBER 20 16PAGES TODAY
SOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA
DECEMBER 5,1973
10 CENTS A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDA Y
CP&L Advance Crew
Running A ‘Tight Ship’
& The “advance party” of approximately
100 full - time, permanent employees at
>:■ Carolina Power & Light Company’s
jij: Brunswick nuclear generating plant is the
jij: subject of a feature story in the November
issue of “Spotlight,” the monthly CP&L
ij! employee magazine.
The Brunswick facility near Southport
•ji will be the second nuclear generating plant
ij: on the CP&L system when it is put in service
:j: late next year, and the “Spotlight” story
iji likens the activity at the plant to that on a
iji huge, ocean - going ship preparing for a
iji grand launching. According to the story, a
iji first - class crew has been selected and
■j: trained especially and intensively for the
iji mission.
iji While nobody refers to the plant as “She,”
iji and visitors are not piped aboard, there is
iji an unmistakably nautical atmosphere
iji created perhaps by its proximity to the
iji ocean or by the preponderance of Navy
iji trained nuclear operators already on board.
Announcements on the public address
ij: system are not, however, preceded by
•j: “Now hear this ...”
The skipper of the Brunswick is Edwin G.
Hollowell, a 21 - year veteran employee of
CP&L, a mechanical engineering graduate £
of North Carolina State University, and,
interestingly, one of the few Army veterans
on the crew. Hollowell’s generating plant S
experience began with CP&L in 1952 when
he reported to the H.F. Lee plant in Gold
sboro as a cadet engineer. Later, he was the
plant manager for a three - year period that
ended in 1968 when he was transferred to the
H.B. Robinson nuclear plant in Hartsville,
S.C. That same year he completed the S
Senior Reactor Operators course at Com
monwealth Edison’s Dresden plant near
Chicago. iv
Hollowell is filled with praise for the crew
that is being assembled, noting that “Most
of them are self - motivated. Almost all of
the operators were trained by the Navy for
nuclear submarine duty, and the
requirements there are quite similar to
those of the Atomic Energy Commission.”
“We’ve been challenged,” Hollowell >:•
admitted, “to remain highly motivated at
times due to the nature of the business. jij
There’s a tremendous amount of training to £
(Continued on page 16) jij
Murphy Again Yaupon Mayor
The Yaupon Beach com
missioners met in special
session Monday morning for
their annual reorganizational
procedure, and Mayor
Clarence E. Murphy and
Mayor Pro - tem G.V.
(“Gib”) Barbee were
renamed to their positions.
John Barbee was named to
replace Commissioner - elect
Marvin Watson on the
Planning Board and to
represent the extra
territorial zoning district.
Watson filled the slot of
former Commissioner Frank
Aman on the Street Com
mittee with Mayor Murphy
and Commissioner Jack
Allen.
The Finance Committee
remained the same with
Chairman Barbee, Mrs.
Madge Smalley and Com
missioners William Smalley
and William McDougle.
In their regular Monday
evening meeting, the com
missioners passed a motion
amending the wording of the
application for flood in
surance to the Department of
Housing and Urban
Development.
A motion was passed ac
cepting Smalley’s
nominations to the Board of
Adjustments of Ralph
Public Hearing
A public hearing to discuss
a proposed Emergency
School Assistance Act project
for Brunswick County schools
has been scheduled for
Friday, Dec. 14, at the
Educational Media Center in
Bolivia.
Cammack and Clyde Gilbert.
They will join Ernest Rees on
the board.
A motion was passed
allowing the commissioners
to proceed with collection of
discovered unpaid taxes, and
this motion will also absolve
the commissioners of
responsibility for these un
paid taxes.
Gerald M. Whitehurst,
chairman of the planning
board, announced that his
organization has finalized
zoning plans and ordinances.
The commissioners agreed to
consider this subject at their
next monthly meeting, giving
them and new member John
Barbee time to study the
proposals.
Commissioner Watson
reported difficulty in con
tacting a police officer,
particularly at night.
Murphy answered this by
saying the police protection is
good, but that the problem is
a “dispatching” deficiency.
He said the numbers are
available for 24-hour contact
with the police: 278-5230
during the day, and 457-5101
during the night. He said
persons at this number will
contact the police by radio.
Election Board Chairman
Ernest Rees reported that 49
names have been reported to
the county election agency
and asked that they be
purged from the books.
The commissioners passed
a resolution naming as the
town’s official financial in
stitutions Waccamaw Bank
and Trust and Security
Savings and Loan
Association.
Kopp: *Small Subsidy For Hospital*
Board Tentatively Okays
Rent-Free Doctor Offices
By BOBBY HILL
After tentatively approving
plans to include doctors’
offices on the new hospital
site, as proposed by the
Brunswick County Memorial
Hospital Board of Trustees,
the county commissioners
Monday also passed a motion
to cease all further funding to
Dosher Memorial Hospital
after the new hospital opens.
Chairman of the new
hospital trustees, Mason H.
Anderson of Shallotte, said
the Duke Endowment and
other medical funding
agencies “will not participate
in funding two acute-care
hospital for Brunswick
County. This matter needs to
be taken care of to prevent
interfering with potential
grants (for the new
hospital).,” he added.
Chairman W.A. Kopp, Jr.,
supported the motion and
said he wanted to make it
“abundantly clear” that the
county would only support the
new hospital for an acute
care operation. Kopp also
said the physical facilities at
Dosher are too outdated to
allow licensing for future
operation to. be financially
feasible, and he called for a
day emergency center to be
established at this place with
two new modular buildings
belonging to the hospital.
The commissioners called
for a joint meeting with the
Dosher trustees and the new
county hospital trustees “to
open the lines of com
munication.”
Anderson said his group
will attempt to encourage the
Smithville Township area to
develop a rescue squad
oriented to the county
hospital.
Ward Fuller, chairman of
the building committee for
the county hospital,
presented the commissioners
with a time schedule for the
new hospital, projecting a
completion date of July 1,
1975.
Fuller said of the com
pletion date, “This is all
realistic to me, but that again
this has never been fully
accepted by many people.”
However, he said he hopes
the architects and
engineering consultants will
be able to comply with the
schedule.
Fuller’s time table would
have underway within the
next month subsurface
examination of the hospital
site to determine if con
struction will be possible.
The plans to build a four
unit doctors’ office building
on the hospital site will cost
about $180,000, Fuller said.
He also said the trustees hope
this construction can be
accomplished within the $2.5
million hospital bond passed
by referendum this June.
A memo from Fuller to the
commissioners states, “The
board of trustees realizes that
we have the authority to
proceed with plans for these
additional facilities but
realize that we must request
additional funds for the ac
tual construction, so we are
formally asking you now for
your blessing to proceed
immediately to incorporate a
four-unit medical office
building into our overall
design.”
The memo lists three
benefits the office building
would bring to the hospital:
(1) “To get the number and
type of doctors required to
staff the hospital in this
remote location,” (2)
maximize the use of the
hospital’s diagnostic
facilities (X-ray, laboratory,
etc.), and (3) to lower the cost
by having the same con
tractors built the hospital and
the offices.
Fuller and Anderson both
said the trustees plan to offer
free use of the offices to
physicians in an attempt to
induce them to work at the
hospital.
Before the motion passed
tentatively approving the
office plans, Kopp said, “In
my opinion, free rent would
be a small subsidy for a
hospital.”
Anderson reported to the
(Continued on page 16)
Depositions To Continue,
Commissioners Are Told
Prospects for an early
court ruling in the injunction
suit involving two Brunswick
County newspapers and the
board of commissioners were
enhanced Thursday when
Superior Court Judge Coy
Brewer ordered the taking of
depositions from the com
missioners to continue, and
said that any member of the
news media could attend the
taking of depositions and
publish information from
what is public record.
Brewer rejected a motion
by County Attorney Thomas
Home to dismiss the action
on the grounds the
newspapers’ complaint was
Holiday House
This Weekend
AQ is in readiness for the
Christmas Holiday House to
be held Saturday and Sunday,
December 8 and 9, from noon
to 6 p.m. at the Southport
Community Building on East
Moore Street
There will be something for
every (Hie to enjoy, things
from yesteryear and many
ideas for Christmas
decorations in the homes of
today.
Everyone is invited to join
this community ' effort.
Christmas displays and
decoration ideas may be
brought to the Community
Building Friday from 2 to 6
p.m.
Music will be provided at
intervals each day by the
Trinity Bell Choir, composed
of primary school students,
and by the Trinity United
Methodist Church choir at 5
p.m. Sunday.
A Holiday House feature
will be a display of antique
Christmas cards, toys,
decorations and other items.
Island Develop:
II
ent Plan
Outlined In Application
The state biologist’s report
on a Bald Head Island con
struction application was
delivered last Wednesday to
the Wilmington Corps of
Engineers, and the report
lists several stipulations to be
followed by developer
Carolina Cape Fear Cor
poration if the permit is
issued, according to Charles
Hollis of the permit branch.
Cape Fear Corporation has
applied for a permit to ex
cavate a marina and access
channel on the island’s
peninsula, Bald Head Spit;
and the Corps of Engineers
will issue their public notice
on the application within a
week.
According to the biologist’s
report, which is issued by the
Department of Commercial
and Sports Fisheries, the
marina location on the
pennisula is the least en
vironmentally disturbing of
six alternate sites inspected.
On application approval,
the biologist made the
following recommendations:
(1) all spoil should be
adequately contained by dike
or dunes to prevent spillover;
(2) adequate spillways
located on the Cape Fear
River side of the disposal
area must be provided and
disposal area effluent must
be contained in pipes or
similar devices below mean
low water line of the river to
prevent gully erosion; (3) all
dikes must be seeded within
four weeks of construction to
prevent eroded material
entering adjacent marsh or
water and (4) dredge effluent
pipes must be placed at or
greater than 50 feet away
from any part of the dikes
and a sufficient distance from
spillways to allow settlement
of solids.
According to the report, the
boat basin and access
channel will cover 10 acres
with the channel measuring
150 feet by 100 feet at 8 • foot
depth and the basin
measuring 1,100 feet by 320
feet at the same depth.
An approximate 223,000
cubic yards of dredging spoil
from the basin and channel
excavation are to be placed in
(Continued on page 10)
NC 211 Bid Noted
An apparent low bid of $1,439,976 for im
provements to NC 211 between Midway and Supply
has been received from Dickerson, Inc., of
Monroe.
The bid for 9.056 miles of road work was an
nounced this week by the N.C. Department of
Transportation, Division of Highways. None of the
bids for 18 state projects can be approved officially
until the Board of Transportation meets in Raleigh
Dec i2
Estimated date of completion for the Midway - to
- Supply construction is July 1, 1975.
not specific enough in
describing what portions of
the N.C. Open Meetings Law
the commissioners allegedly
violated; and, he rejected a
motion by the plaintiffs that
the commissioners in
dividually pay the cost of the
delay caused by the in
teruption from the taking of
depositions on October 26.
Commissioners W.A. Kopp, *
Jr., Robert Simmons and
Vardell Hughes refused to
participate in the taking of
depositions that day on the
grounds that plaintiff James
M. Harper, Jr., publisher of
The State Port Pilot, was
present and was taking notes
from which he would write
news and editorial reports
based on the deposition of
Mrs. Judith Cowan, former
clerk to the board of com
missioners. Complete text of
that deposition, over 60 pages
in length, has been available
as public record for several
weeks but has not been
reported or commented on in
The Pilot; neither has any
report of her deposition been
made in the Brunswick
Beacon, published by Kelvin
B. Mackey, co-plaintiff with
Harper in the suit.
The commissioners had
asked that Harper be either
(1) excluded from the taking
of depositions, or (2) ordered
by the court to not use the
material for news reports or
editorial comment. The first
alternative, attorney for the
plaintiffs, Thomas Gall,
(Continued on page 16)
Beasley Home,
No Arrest Yet
Retired Col. William 0.
Beasley of Caswell Beach,
who received serious hand
and foot injuries when he was
bound and gagged in his bath
tub July 15, returned home
recently after spending four
months at Womack Army
Hospital, Fort Bragg.
He reportedly has no
feeling in his two hands and
one foot, though some feeling
has returned to the other foot.
He is able to “hobble
around,” he said, but must
undergo therapy on a regular
basis at the Fort Bragg
medical facility. The cir
culation to his hands and feet
reportedly was cut off by
tightly-fastened ropes that
bound his limbs behind his
back. He was found lying face
down in the bath tub after a
lengthy period.
Col. Beasley reported that
no arrests have been made in
the case by the Brunswick
County Sheriff’s Department.
His assailants, he added,
were masked and wore
gloves.