A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOL UME 46 NUMBER I 20 PAGES TODAY SOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA JULY 24,1974 10 CENTS A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
Work Should End In November
Appraisal To Put Tax-Paying On An Equal Basis
ALLIED APPRAISAL employees Floyd Ayers, mapping supervisor, and
cartographer, Melba Thompson are busy at work helping complete the
mapping of Brunswick County property for tax purposes. The revaluation is
expected to be finished by the end of 1974, to be applied to county taxes next
fiscal year.
Largest Plant In Carolinas
Making Cool Bundle Here
By BILL ALLEN
Red, white and blue ten
pound clear plastic bags of
“Sparkling Party Ice” have
become familiar items In
households across almost
half of Eastern North
Carolina in recent years.
The individual bags of ice,
produced and distributed by
East Coast Ice and Fisheries
on the Long Beach Road, are
sold by over 400 merchants
within a 100-mile radius of
Brunswick County. Mer
chants sell the individual
bags in locations as far away
from the plant as Goldsboro.
Bobby Willis, vice
president and operations
head of the Long Beach Road
facility, said East Coast Ice
derives more sales from the
ten-pound bags than from any
other method of selling ice.
But he said he could not
reveal the average number of
daily sales because of the
intense competition in the ice
business.
East Coast Ice, which ex
panded its capacity last
month from 30 to 70 tons a
day, is currently the largest
turbo-equipped ice plant in
both North and South
Carolina.
The second largest plant in
the two states is located in
Charleston, S.C. The South
Carolina plant reportedly has
a capacity of only 40 tons a
day.
Despite the large sales, the
familiar ten-pound packages
Multiple Assault Reported
Rape Suspects Nabbed,
Now In Separate Jails
Two Leland area men are
being held in Brunswick
County jails on multiple rape
and other charges, Sheriff
Harold Willetts said Tuesday.
Clarence Lewis, 24, and
James Williams, 22, face
charges of raping a 19-year
old girl four times in Brun
swick County during a three
hour period early Monday
morning.
In addition, the two men
are charged with automobile
larceny, arson and gasoline
larceny.
No bond has been set for the
two men because rape is a
capital crime punishable by
the death penalty. They will
be given a preliminary
hearing in District Court on
August 5.
Williams is being held in
jail in Southport and Lewis in
the jail in Shallotte. The two
men were placed in separate
jails for security purposes,
Willetts reported.
“This is just as bad a crime
as we have ever had in
Brunswick County during the
almost eight years 1 have
been sheriff,” Willetts
declared. “Quick action on
the part of deputies in this
department resulted in the
two men being arrested
shortly after the crime was
committed.”
According to reports the
girl, who Willetts would not
identify, left New Hanover
County after 1 a.m. Monday
morning en route to
Columbia, S.C.
The girl stopped her
automobile at a self-service
gas pump on Highway 17 in
the Supply area about 2 a.m.
Monday morning. While
filling her car with gas, Lewis
and Williams — reportedly
driving a stolen car —
stopped their car at the
pump, the sheriff reported.
The two men forced the girl
into their car and drove to a
wooded section near Supply.
The girl was raped by the two
men while in the car, he said.
The two men drove the girl
back to the self-service
pump. One of the men got out
of the car and started driving
tContinued on page 2)
By BILL ALLEN
Brunswick has more
parcels of land than most
counties, Project Supervisor
Monty Blackmon of Allied
Appraisal said this week.
Blackmon estimated that
the county has between 40,000
and 45,000 individual parcels
or pieces of land. The
average county usually has
from 20,000 to 30,000.
“We have been surprised to
find so many parcels of land
in Brunswick County,”
Blackmon stated. “Old
records had indicated there
were about 25,000 parcels
here.”
Blackmon is heading Allied
Appraisal’s efforts to re
evaluate and map property in
Brunswick County for tax
purposes. The work must be
done every eight years, ac
cording to state law.
‘The purpose of our work is
to put each taxpayer on an
equal basis proportionately to
the value of his property,”
the project supervisor
declared.
After the survey is com
pleted, property will be taxed
at 100-percent value, as
required by state law, in 1975.
But Blackmon said the tax
rate will be adjusted down
ward to take into account the
re-evaluation.
“I don’t think the property
of anyone will be taxed so
high that it will be un
profitable to own the land,”
Blackmon said.
He estimated that about 80
percent of the listing and
measuring has been done. He
hopes to complete the work in
two to three months.
“The beach property, in
cluding the first three rows,
has been completed,” the
project supervisor reported.
Blackmon believes the
mapping is about 50 percent
complete at this time. He
expects the work to be
finished in November.
According to the contract
Allied is working under, the
project must be completed by
December 1. The company
will have until March 1, 1975,
to add new construction and
up-date land transfers.
“We should have no trouble
meeting the deadlines if no
major problems develop,” he
added.
The South Carolina native
took over the Brunswick
County project May 13. He
replaced Robert Girdeman,
who resigned after getting
the project off the ground.
Blackmon, who has been with
Allied about three years, has
a 20-member staff working
with him on the Brunswick
County project.
He said that Allied workers
have found that most
Brunswick County property
owners have cooperated with
the survey teams. The only
complaint heard from
property owners here has
been about the company
using out-of-state appraisers.
“Our appraisers have all
had several years’ ex
perience and are trying to do
a good job,” Blackmon noted.
“Since they don’t know the
people, we feel their ap
praisals will be as accurate
as humanly possible. They
are trying to make sure that
all property will be appraised
fairly.”
A rural land guide, which
will cover about 50 percent of
the county, was approaved at
a meeting of the county board
of commissioners July 1. The
guide is based on four road
locations and five
classifications. Each
classification has prices for
good, average and poor
grades based on the con
(Continued on page 2)
Special Long Beach Meeting
Kivett Stays; Modular
Home Question Arises
By BOBBY HILL
The Long Beach town
council Tuesday gave an 18
month contract to town
manager Frank Kivett. The
group also remanded to
building inspector Boyd
Phillips a decision on
granting a permit for a
modular home in a
residential section.
Kivett's contract was
approved after a half-hour
its “sensitive nature.” The
town was formerly involved
in a half-year legal battle
over issuing a building
permit to a modular home.
Judge Coy Brewer in
(Continued on page 2)
Lee’s Hit In
Monday Theft
The Brunswick County
sheriff’s department and the
Southport police department
are both investigating a
robbery at Lee’s Grocery
outside Southport early
Monday morning.
According to reports from
both departments, a black
represent only one segment
of the ice business at East
Coast Ice, Willis reported.
Another important part of
the business is producing and
providing ice to shrimp boats
that dock at the Yacht Basin
in Southport. The company
has supplied between 225,000
and 900,000 pounds of ice a
day to shrimp boat during the
season.
In addition to the individual
bag and shrimp boat
business, East Coast Ice sells
pre-packaged construction
ice for use in water coolers at
building sites.
Brown and Root, builders
of the Carolina Power and
Light Company’s nuclear
plant here, and Daniels
Construction company, which
is building the Pfizer plant,
also purchase bulk ice to cool
concrete during the pouring
process.
Although the plant just
expanded last month, Willis
said East Coast is already
considering increasing
tonnage in the future to meet
the growing demand for ice.
“We have expansion plans
in mind,” he noted. “We are
watching demand to see how
the situation develops. Any
plans to expand will depend
on how much new industry
moves into the area.”
Generally, Willis said the
company has found that the
weather has a tremendous
influence on ice sales. “The
weather, especially real hot
weather, governs how much
ice you sell,” he explained.
During the hot Fourth of
July week, he pointed out, the
company could not produce
(Continued on page 13)
male, dressed in construction
clothes, pulled out a shotgun
and robbed the proprietor,
W.P. Lee, of about $120. Law
enforcement officers
estimate that the man was
about 50-years old.
Investigating officers said
they believe that the man was
familiar with operations at
the grocery store since he
went straight to the money
box.
Lee, who was alone in the
store at the time, had a pistol
under the counter but made
no effort to use the weapon.
“Lee did the right thing since
the robber had a shotgun,” a
(Continued on page 2)
closed doors. The agreement
lasts from July of 1974 to
December of 1975, and it I
provides for a 9(kiay ter
mination notice by either
party.
Kivett secured a $75
monthly transportation
allotment in the contract. The
agreement also calls for a
five-percent salary increase
this October and for a cost-of
living raise at the end of the
contract. The town manager
will also be allowed to submit ;
vouchers for expenses in
curred on town business.
The council returned the \
modular home building
permit question to the j
building inspector after |
receiving legal advice that
the permit must be issued.
At the outset of the !
meeting, Kivett said he was I
placing the permit issue 1
before the council because of
NO ONE WAS INJURED Monday afternoon Street. The driver was charged with reckless
when a car plowed through the side of the first driving,
dwelling on the left outside Southport on Howe
Petition Deadline
Mrs. Dallas Pigott, in charge of collecting
: signatures on petitions for the establish
ment of a special hospital district in Smith
ville Township, has set August 1 as the date
\ for having these documents returned to her.
Already she has more than 1,000
signatures of persons who are willing to be
taxed extra in order to continue hospital
services in this section of Brunswick
County.
“Please urge everyone who has not
j signed a petition to do so this week,” Mrs.
Pigott said Tuesday. She was calling from
Dosher Memorial Hospital where she has
been a patient since Monday night. “I need
to have this information in hand by August
1,” she added, “so tell those who are cir
culating them to complete their job this
week.”
_