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THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOLUME 45 NUMBER 27 16 PAGES TODAY SOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA_JANUARY 23, 1974_IQ CENTS A COPY PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDA Y
Unanimous Vote To Support
Beach Show-Of-Hands
Favors Dosher Facility
By BOBBY HILL
As the audience applauded,
the Long Beach town council
Thursday voted unanimously to
join the move to keep Dosher
Memorial Hospital open.
Mrs. Rosetta Short and
Harold Crane were appointed to
a Dosher Renovation and
Retention Committee. The
council also passed a resolution
favoring continued medical
facilities at Dosher “at least
equal to those presently
operating.”
Prior to the vote, Councilman
Ellis Dudley reported on a
Dosher meeting held January 8
in Southport. He said the
Dosher move is “not against
the new hospital. “We all feel
we need more than 60 beds in
Brunswick County,” he said of
the state limit on hospital beds
in this county.
Southport Mayor Eugene
BSL Votes ‘No’
Won’t Use Taxes
Boiling Spring Lakes
commissioners Monday
turned thumbs down on the
Dosher Retention and
Renovation Committee
proposal.
However, an addition to the
resolution termed the non
support of the movement due
to an unwillingness to in
crease city taxes.
The resolution reads: “The
city of Boiling Spring Lakes
goes on record opposing
actions of the Dosher
Renovation and Retention
Committee unless the support
of this committee would not
entail obtaining funds from
the city of Boiling Spring
Lakes through increased
taxes.”
Commissioner Arthur
Greene asked for a “show of
hands” from the audience,
and over half of about 40‘
persons persent indicated a
position against the Dosher
plan.
Only one member of the
audience protested the
position, saying the tax
question was an attempt to
“scare people” and was
“holding a club over your
head.” However, Greene
said, “That’s (the tax issue)
the only question.”
Southport Mayor Eugene
(Continued on page 16)
Tomlinson asked for the Dosher
committee and resolution of
support in a meeting with
representatives of incorporated
areas in Smithville Township.
Tomlinson proposed that the
committee meet with the
county commissioners before
February 1 about the hospital
situation.
The county hospital was
denied state approval to begin
construction until assurances
are received that Dosher will
close. “We are going to settle
for nothing less than our 30
beds, or we will hold firm and
preclude construction of the
new hospital,” Tomlinson told
the town’s representatives.
The Long Beach meeting was
attended by more than -60
persons, an unusually large
turn - out. Mayor E.W. Morgan "
polled the audience on the
hospital situation, and an
overwhelming majority of the
hands were raised in favor of
Dosher.
Morgan called Dosher an
“asset to the Smithville area.”
After Dudley’s report, he said,
“We are about to lose Dosher.”
The next step proposed by
Tomli ison is a trip to Raleigh
by a Brunswick County
delegation, composed of county
commissioners and the Dosher
committee. They would meet
with the N.C. Division of Health •
(Continued on page 16)
Yaupon Supports
Dosher Retention
Yaupon Beach com
missioners Monday voted to
support the Dosher Renovation
and Retention Committee.
Passing a resolution identical
to one approved Thursday by
Long Beach, the Yaupon group
called for medical facilities at
Dosher Memorial Hospital to
remain at least equal to those
now operating.
Mo delegates to the Dosher
committee have yet been ap
pointed, commissioners said.'
However, the Dosher com
mittee is scheduled to meet
with the county commissioners
on or before February 1, South
port Mayor Eugene Tomlinson
repeated Tuesday.
County Commissioners Meet
Board Seeks Delay For
One-Site Landfill System
The county will ask the
State Board of Health for a
one-year delay on the July 1
^deadline for a one-site landfill
system, the county com
missioners decided Monday.
i The commissioners
proposed to start the one-site
operation in October, 1975.
This move would allow the
present five landfill sites to
be completely utilized,
commissioners said.
Bids on collection equip
ment will be readvertised and
the equipment delivered
within 90 days from February
4, county manager Neil
Mallory said. Mallory
reported county attorney
Thomas Horne had ruled,
illegal previous landfill
equipment bids accepted
November 8 by the com
missioners.
The next bids will require
more specified bidding on a
garbage truck and only 100
four-cubic-yard refuse
containers, Mallory said.
The commissioners lauded
the delay as an opportunity
for a “gradual transition”
into the new landfill system
by towns in the county.
Chairman W.A. Kopp, Jr.,
termed Horne’s changes in
the timetable “solid
recommendations.”
Kodd also said that the
refuse collection should be
instituted as soon as possible
to “meet the crying needs” of
rural residents not being
served by door-to-door
garbage collection.
In other business, the
commissioners again delayed
action on an education board
request for a $5 million bond
issue to improve county
school facilities.
Mallory has been in
structed to investigate the
financial feasibility of the
issue, and he reported he is
checking with the Institute of
Government.
Mallory also recommended
that the commissioners
accept free assistance in
capital improvement budget
planning from the Cape Fear
Council of Governments. He
said this would be an aid in
situations like the school bond
decision. The commissioners
agreed for COG executive
director Beverly Paul to
present the assistance plan to
them at their next meeting.
Three executive sessions
were held during ihe course
of the day, with no action
being announced at the end of
any session. All the sessions
were called for the reported
discussion of “personnel”
matters. Sheriff Harold
Willetts conferred privately
with the board for over half
an hour. Mrs. Lula
(Continued on page 16)
30-Bed Figure For *Negotiating’
- : -
County Makes Dosher Payment,
Asks City To Pay ‘Fair Share’
By BOBBY HILL
After dispensing $15,000 to
Dosher Memorial Hospital,
the county commissioners
Monday indicated their
willingness for the state to
. settle the Dosher-county
hospital impasse.
The Brunswick County
Memorial Hospital was
denied state approval last
month to begin construction
until assurances are received
that Dosher will close.
Dosher advocates have said
the hospital will not close.
Chairman W.A. Kopp, Jr.,
said during Monday’s session
he is willing to submit the
issue to the N.C. Division of
Health Planning. “Whatever
their decision is, it’ll just
have to be abided by this
board,” he said.
These comments came
during a discussion of
whether or not to dispense the
final $15,000 of $40,000
allocated for Dosher in the
commissioners’ fiscal 1973-74
budget. Dosher trustee
chairman W.B. McDougle,
Jr., had come before the
board earlier to request the
funds to pay off debts.
McDougle also answered
some commissioner
questions on the hospital
impasse.
Commissioner J.T.
Clemmons asked McDougle if
the trustees had any plans to
“phase out" Dosher in the
face of the county hospital,
and McDougle replied, “No."
“I think it (Dosher) belongs
to the owners," McDougle
replied, saying his board has
sv * ‘ ... ■ vW:- <■
no plans to close the hospital.
Southport and the countv are
joint owners of the hospital.
Clemmons also asked
McDougle of any plans by his
board for additions to the
hospital. He said a “14-room
addition” was “publicized in
the paper.” McDougle an
swered the trustees have “no
plans, none whatsoever.”
The commissioners also
called on the city of Southport
to pay its “fair share” of the
hospital operations.
W.B. McDougle answered
<; r -V
a* . .4, ;
AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR the Southport
area appears on US 17 at the intersection with NC
211 at Supply. The sign points toward Southport,
telling travelers from the south there is another
way to get past Wilmington. The ride across the
Cape Fear River on the ferry is a pleasant one,
and well worth the time it takes.
commissioners’ questions by
saying the city has paid $1,200
so far this year to the
hospital.
McDougle said this money
comes from $200 a month
regularly donated to the
hospital by the city. He added
that he understood “finances
are being worked up” by
Southport for Dosher.
Kopp said Dosher’s charter
calls for Southport and the
county to “share and share
alike” in financial support of
the medical facility.
While instructing that the
funds be dispensed later in
the day, Kopp further said, “I
think it is incumbent on the
(Continued on page 16)
Dosher Hires
OB Physician
Dr. Paul Leslie Stuck will
begin an obstetric
gynecology (OB-GYN)
practice at Dosher Memorial
Hospital by February 1.
Dr. Stuck has moved to
Southport with his wife and
two children — Leslie and
Sally. His wife, the former
Attie Page, is from Acme
Delco.
Dr. Stuck practicled OB
GYN at Fairbanks, Alaska
since 1965. He was also a
general practioner at New
Hanover Memorial Hospital
from 1947 to 1954.
“I’m ready,” Dr. Stuck
said, pointing out that he is
now opening an office in two
rooms on the upper floor of
Dosher.
When asked by Dosher
trustee L.T. Yaskell if the
hospital’s physical facilities
are “OK,” Dr. Stuck replied,
“I think you can do good OB
there, if you set your mind to
it.”
No child has been born in
Brunswick County under
medical care for the past
three and one-half years.
Queried on the future of
Dosher as an acture-care
hospital, the doctor said, “I
would like to see an addition
built onto Dosher hospital. I
can’t see throwing away the
hospital.”
Board Denies Violating Meeting
Law, Claims It’s ‘Unconstitutional’
County commissioners
Thursday filed their answer
to the Open Meetings lawsuit
brought by two county
newspapers, claiming the
newspapers had failed to
show sufficient evidence to
warrant action by the court.
In response to the lawsuit
that was commenced July 25,
1973, by publishers James M.
Harper, Jr., of The State Port
Pilot and Kelvin B. Mackey of
the Brunswick Beacon, the
commissioners denied “each
and every allegation” in the
complaint.
The commissioners asked
the Superior Court to
recognize their claim of
constitutional “right” to
meet privately other than in
regular or special called
sessions, and t meet privately
Williamson Resigns
Odell Williamson, chairman of the Brunswick
County Democratic Party, has announced his
resignation from that post. A meeting of the
Democratic executive committee has been
called for Friday, 7:30 p.m., at the Shallotte
courthouse for the purpose of electing a new
chairman.
Williamson said he felt the chairman who
would be heading the party in the fall should
have the opportunity to work with the candidates
in the primary. He urged that the chairman to be
named Friday would be re - appointed after the
primary “so that he can lead the party to victory
in November.
with their attorney — not
withstanding the statute to
the contrary.
The commissioners have
asked for a trial by jury.
Harper and Mackey con
tend that after a warning to
board of commissioners
chairman William A. Kopp,
Jr., on April 10,1973 the board
repeatedly violated the N.C.
Open Meetings Law and
abused the privilege of
executive session. The law in
question states that any
meeting of a majority of
board members at which
county business is discussed
shall be an open meeting. The
privilege of executive session
is noted.
The plaintiffs contend that
on July 22,1973 four members
of the county board of
commissioners met at the
office of the county attorney
to discuss aspects of locating
a new county hospital. The
meeting was secret, they
allege, and the public was
thereby denied the right of
access.
Following a series of
requests for interrogatories,
depositions were commenced
in October, resumed in
December and concluded
earlier this month. Each of
the key witnesses — including
the five commissioners, five
newspapermen and the
former clerk to the county
board — have testified under
oath.
The case reportedly now is
set for review by the Superior
Court.
Editorials Are
iK
Contest Winner J
Editorials that appeared
last summer in The State
Port Pilot have won for the
writer first place in the an
nual North Carolina Press
Association weekly division
contest.
The three editorials,
written by Ed Harper, were
“Of All The People — Not
Just The Commissioners”,
“Sectionalism Is Not Dead”,
and “Where The Buck
Stops”.
According to the judge’s
evaluation, “It is apparent
that the editorials are written
without fear or favor,
regardless of the effect on
special interests in the
community.
“In addition, the
newspaper has taken a very
strong stand in favor of open
conduct of public business, a
principle which desperately
needs attention during these
critical times.’’
Second place was awarded
to Tim McDowell of the
Mebane Enterprise-Journal,
third place to Sam Ragan of
(Continued on page 16)