THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOL UME 46 NUMBER 14 22 PAGES TOD A V
SOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA
OCTOBER 23, 1974
10 CENTS A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDA Y
School Closed
Friday, Monday
Brunswick County students
will not attend school on
Friday and Monday, October
25 and 28, according to School
Supt. Ralph C. King.
“These days are part of the
extended term of em
ployment for teachers,” he
reported, “The extended
term provides teachers with
additional work days which
can be used for such non
instructional responsibilities
as student evaluation, up
dating school records, in
service training, and at
tending professional
meetings.”
On Friday, most Brunswick
County educators will attend
the District 13, North
Carolina Association of
Educators meeting in
Wilmington. Those who do
not attend will report to their
regular duty stations. All
personnel will be at their duty
station on Monday, he
reported.
Town Meeting
Conduct Talked
The Long Beach Town
Council held a 40-mlnute
executive session Tuesday
morning in an attempt to
restore order to town
meetings.
No vote was taken
following the executive
session, but the Nov. 7
meeting agenda will include
discussion of the proper
conduct of board meetings
and public hearings.
The conduct of meetings
reportedly became a serious
issue after the Oct. 10
meeting which ended in a
fight between the mayor's
wife and a member of the
rescue squad.
About ten citizens attended
the open portion of the
Tuesday board meeting,
during which the council took
action on two matters:
The Oak Island VFW was
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A/MB
A NEW FLAG FLYING over Southport is the one designating the city a
“National Bicentennial Community.” The banner was presented during
ceremonies last Thursday at City Hall.
Ceremonies Last Thursday
Southport Is ‘National
Bicentennial Community’
Southport was officially
designated a National
Bicentennial Community
during ceremonies in front of
City Hall last Thursday.
The highlight came when
Col. Robert S. Milner,
executive director of the
Wilmington bicentennial
committee, presented a
special flag designating
Southport a National
Bicentennial Community, to
City Chairman William H.
Crowe. Col. Milner
represented the North
Carolina Bicentennial
Committee at the
ceremonies.
Chairman Crowe then
handed the special flag to
members of the South
Brunswick High School Color
Guard, who placed it under
the American flag on the
pole.
Maj. Harvey C. Barnum,
Jr., who delivered the
featured address, called on
citizens to rededicate
themselves to “this glorious
country of ours and the
principles for which it
stands’’.
“We must look to the future
and take the challenge, and
Charges Pending
Speeding Cars
Wreck, 1 Dies
A Dutch Village woman
waa killed on her birthday
early Sunday morning after
her car sideswiped another
vehicle and crashed, the
Highway Patrol has reported.
Patricia Faircloth Thomas,
20, was killed after her car
crashed at a high rate of
speed on Highway 211 about
1:40 a.m.
Ernie Thomas, 20, of Dutch
Village and Rocky Lane
Hewett, 16, of Rt. 2, Supply,
passengers in the car, suf
fered “serious injuries” and
were taken to the hospital.
Another passenger, Tony
Faircloth of Rt. 2, Supply,
was treated and released.
James Daniel Cochran, Jr.,
18, of Southport, the driver of
the other car, was not injured
in the accident.
Patrolman Jamie Adams of
Leland, who is investigating
the accident, estimated that
both the Thomas and the
Cochran cars were traveling
at speeds up to 120 mph at the
time of the accident.
He said he expected to file
charges after he completes
his investigation of the ac
cident.
Patrolman Adams said
Mrs. Thomas was driving
west on Highway 211 at an
“excessive high rate of
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each of us must dedicate
ourselves to the cause of
freedom and peace,” said
Maj. Barnum, who is
secretary to the chief of staff,
2nd Marine Division, Camp
Lejeune.
“Democracy has never
been nor never will be an
easy form of government,”
he continued. “Because it is a
government of the people, it
makes each of us responsible
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Ex-Husband Charged
Teacher Slain
On NB Campus
A divorced husband has
been charged with murder:
after a North Brunswick:
teacher was killed in the high
school parking lot last
Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff
Harold Willetts said.
Edward Armand
“Peewee” Ganey, 28, of the
Wilmington area was
charged with first-degree
murder after being arrested
near the scene. He has been
placed in jail in Southport.
Ganey is charged with
shooting Mrs. Cynthia Ganey,
26, in the back of her head at
close range, Lt. George Reed
said.
Lt. Reed said Mrs. Ganey
was getting into her car in the
parking lot after school was
dismissed when the shooting
occurred.
Deputy George Ballard,
who was on duty at the school
because of a recent distur
bance, was directing bus
traffic at the time of the
shooting. He said he heard a
lUMWffll
CYNTHIA GANEY
... file photo
shot and saw a car speed
away.
Deputy Ballard said he
jumped into his car, pursued
(Continued On Page 2)
Local Government Advises Against Move
) y : - • ;’j ’ . ■
Hospital Authority Named,
Two Locals Are Selected
By BILL ALLEN
The appointment of
members to the Brunswick
County Memorial Hospital
Authority and the naming of a
personnel - purchasing
director highlighted a
meeting of the Brunswick
County Board of Com
missioners on Monday.
E.A. Britt of Leland, P.R.
Hankins of Bolivia, William
McDougle and Robert
Howard, both of Southport,
Percy Hewett and Albert
Parker, both of Supply,
Mason Anderson and
Thurston Mintz, both of
Shallotte and Clyde Raymond
Babson were appointed to
serve on the newly - created
authority.
Earlier in the meeting the
board voted, with Vice
Chairman J.T. Clemmons in
opposition, to create the
Brunswick County Hospital
Authority after a long
discussion. (See related story
in this edition of The State
Port Pilot).
The action was taken
despite the fact the Local
Government Commission
opposed the creation of the
authority. “I was also ad
vised that the Local
Government Commission
opposed the creation of a
hospital authority at this time
anticipating problems in
connection with the issuance
of bonds,” County Attorney
Thomas Horne told the board
in a memo.
The board adopted a
resolutin ‘ ‘hereby
establishing a hospital
authority ... under authority
of Article 12, Chapter 131 of
the General Statutes of North
Carolina ... which authority
is hereby invested with all the
powers and duties prescribed
by law.”
The authority will replace
the board of trustees which is
“hereby dissolved and ter
minated.”
Members of the authority
were appointed, as required
by law, by Chairman William
Kopp, Jr. He said he received
recommendations from other
commissioners before
making the appointments.
Terms of office will be an
nounced at a later date.
Anderson, Hankins,
Babson, Parker and Hewett
all served on the old board of
trustees. Britt, McDougle,
Howard and Mintz are new
members of the authority.
John J. Childs, Jr. of Leland
and James Scott Eliott of
Holden Beach, members of
the board of trustees, were
not appointed to the
authority. In addition,
Trustee Ward Fuller of
Southport said he did not
want to be appointed after he
resigned.
L. Steven Hughes, who is
serving as assistant tax
supervisor, was unanimously
named to the new position of
personnel and purchasing
director for Brunswick
County.
Hughes was named to the
post after the board held a 14
minute closed executive
session to consider the
matter. The three members
of the press attending the
meeting were dismissed from
the room.
County Manager Neil
Mallory suggested that the
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Willetts Claims Deputy Sober
Drunk Driving Charged
Against On-Duty Deputy f
A veteran Brunswick
County deputy sheriff has
been charged with drunk
driving after a traffic ac
cident in the lower end of the
county Sunday, The Pilot
learned this week.
Highway Patrolman W.A.
Long confirmed that Deputy
J. Herman Osborn, 58, has
been charged with both
driving under the influence
and failing to decrease speed.
Long reported that Deputy
Osborne, who was driving a
Sheriff’s Department car and
wearing his uniform at the
time, ran into the back of a
vehicle operated by Steven
Wayne Henry of Rt. 1,
Shallotte, On Highway 904
near Gause Landing about
12:30 Sunday afternoon. He
estimated damages at about
$200 to each of the two
vehicles.
Patrolman- Long said
Henry came to the
magistrate’s office in
Shallotte about 3 o’clock
Subtract 1 Hour
A bonus hour of sleep is due Sunday morning.
In keeping with the rule of thumb on adjusting
clocks for the beginning and ending of Daylight
Saving Time — “Spring, forward; Fall, back” —
on Saturday night at bedtime the clock should be
set back an hour.
DST officially ends at 2 a.m. Sunday at which
time, if someone is yet awake, the clock should be
run back to 1 a.m.
The Daylight Savings Time Energy Con
servation Act was passed last year when there was
a critical shortage of fuel and Congress extended
daylight for the waking hours of most Americans.
President Ford recently signed into law a new bill
to return the country to Eastern Standard Time
effective Sunday morning. Daylight Savings Time
will resume February 23, 1975.
Sunday afternoon and asked
him to investigate the ac
cident. The patrolman said he
happened to be in the office at
the time.
He reported that Henry told
him Deputy Osborn gave him
(Henry) his name and left the
scene after the accident.
The patrolman said he
investigated the accident and
charged Deputy Osborne with
the two law violations late
Sunday afternoon. He said
the deputy made bond and
was released. He is scheduled
to be tried in District Court on
November 20.
Patrolman Long reported
that Osborne recorded .10 on
the breathalyzer at 7:05 p.m.
Sunday, more than six hours
after the wreck.
Damages to the Sheriff’s
vehicle, Long noted, included
a bent bumper and fender.
Patrolman Long said
Deputy Osborne claimed he
had something to drink after
he returned to his home,
located on US 17 between
Thomas boro and the South
Carolina line, after getting off
duty.
The Pilot contacted Henry,
but he would not discuss the
incident on the telephone. He
did say he was concerned
about the early investigation
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Judgement Remains In Force
County Board Must Pay
Tull Costs’, Says Clerk
By BILL ALLEN
Brunswick County com
missioners have to pay the
full courtcosts involved in the
Open Meetings Law in
junction to remove the
judgment, Clerk of Court
Jack Brown told The Pilot on
Tuesday.
“We will give them (board
members) credit for the
money they pay, but the bill
will not be paid in full until all
the bill of cost is collected,”
Brown declared.
Brown also said he con
sidered it (the bill of cost) a
judgment against the in
dividual commissioners, and
not against the Board of
Commissioners and the
taxpayers.
Brown, veteran Clerk of
Court for Brunswick County,
made his comments after the
Board of Commissioners
voted 3-to-l Monday to use
county funds to pay $1,281.70
of the $1,814.44 bill on the
recommendation of County
Attorney Thomas Horne.
Commission Chairman
William Kopp, Jr., who cast
the negative vote, said he
intended to pay one-fifth of
the bill out of his own pocket.
Kopp went to the office of
the Clerk of Court Monday
morning and paid $362.90,
which court officials said is
one-fifth of the $1,814.44 total
cost.
The Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners was
found guilty of violating the
N.C, Open Meetings Law on
June 7. After rendering the
judgment, Judge E. Maurice
Braswell ordered the board
members to pay the cost of
the action.
A bill of cost totaling
$1,814.44 was presented to the
board October 11. No official
action was taken then, but
Sales Tax Remains High
Collection of the one - percent sales and use tax
in Brunswick County during September totalled
$73,172.45, the third highest amount in the three
years the tax has been levied here.
The September total will be combined with
amounts collected in July and August (a record
$82,998.53), and distributed by the N.C. Depart
ment of Revenue to Brunswick County and
municipal governments. The quarterly
distribution will be the largest in the three years.
Chairman Kopp announced
that he intended to pay one
fifth of the cost.
County Attorney Horne
recommended that the board
pay only $1,644.60 of the
$1,814.44 bill of cost. He
recommended that the board
not pay $163 for reim
bursement for stenographic
costs for answers to the in
terrogatories and $6.60 to the
woman who made the
transcript on appeal cost.
Brown said the county
cannot reduce a bill of cost
once it is submitted. “A bill of
cost can’t be negotiated,” he
declared. “If the board wants
the bill reduced, their at
torney will have to go before
a Superior Court judge in
open court and make a
motion in the case. The judge
has the authority to reduce
the bill if it is shown that
something is wrong.”
, County Manager Neil
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