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Volume 47 Number 15 . October 29, 1975
Southport, N. C. 24 Pages 10 Cents
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Brown-Knox Land
Okay, Owner Says
| By BILL ALLEN
i Staff Writer
i
$ There is nothing wrong with the
land at the Brown • Knox site
| which has recently been selected
j:j as the home of the Brunswick
County courthouse complex, one
i;i of the owners told The Pilot
Tuesday.
“I sure think it is as good as any
other property in the area,” said
S: C.W. Knox of Bolivia. “It is good
| land.”
$ The Pilot contacted Knox after
j:jj it was charged at a meeting in
|i Shallotte Monday night that the
•S Brown - Knox site “is a wet piece
g of property. ’ ’ (See related story in
£: this edition of The Pilot.)
Knox and his sister, Mrs. Lucy
|j Gunter of Atlanta, Ga., own 69.99
|j acres of the 156 - acre Brown -
S Knox property, which is located
$ about one mile south of Bolivia on
the northwest side of US 17. The
Pilot was unable to contact
Roosevelt Brown for comment
about the other acres in the Brown
tract.
Knox’s statement is backed up
with information The Pilot ob
tained from the Brunswick
County Tax Supervisor’s
department.
Supervisor Robert McHenry of
the Mapping department reported
that the 1975 valuation of the
Brown - Knox site, which contains
about 156 acres, is about $91,140.
Hie figure shows that the land is
valued at about $584.23 per acre
on the county tax books.
On the other hand, the Canal
Wood site, containing 199 acres, is
valued at about $88,000, or only
$442.21 per acre, on the county tax
books, McHenry reported.
During the meeting in Shallotte
(Continued On Page 3)
Hospital Bid Total
Below Expectations
| Highly - competitive bidding
g: Tuesday for . construction of the
*r I planned Brunswick County
; * H Memorial Hospital resulted in bid
•£ totals lower than expected.
S Low bids from the 30 con
| tractors totalled approximately
:§ $2.9 million. A representative of
$ the State Division of Facility
| Services who was present at the
jjij bid opening in Shallotte estimated
jj: the total cost of building and
| equipping the 60 - bed facility at
| $3.6 million. Estimates had
| ranged as higher than $3.8
:£ million.
§ The hospital plan also calls for
construction of a four - doctor
| office complex at a cost of
Sji $250,000. Hospital Authority
Chairman Mason Anderson in
|i dicated Tuesday that Duke En
ijil dowment funds will be sought to
M pay for the doctors’ offices.
The Facility Services
spokesman said the cost • per •
foot figures to be about $58, lower
than the $61 or $62 that was an
ticipated.
Tne Hospital Authority has 45
days to let contracts on the con
struction.
D.R. Allen and Son, Inc., of
Fayetteville was apparent low
bidder for the general contract,
$1,587,000, with an additional
$158,400 for the office complex.
Bolton Electric of Raleigh was
apparent low bidder on the
electrical work, $373,436, plus
$23,450 for the office complex.
J.J. Barnes, Inc., of Fayet
teville was apparent low bidder on
the plumbing work, $496,338, plus
$37,000 for the office complex.
Lorch Plumbing and Heating of
Albemarle was apparent low
bidder on the mechanical work
with a bid of $505,675, plus $29,725
for the office complex.
. ... - ' . . V ... . ■ - • ",
Chosen Firm Cannot
Make Contract Offer
i The architectual - engineering
\ firm that received a hasty, 3-2 nod
\ last month to design the new
)‘ county complex announced this
jj week it would be “unable to
t present an acceptable contract”
. for review by the county com
1 missioners.
i In a letter addressed to the
| Brunswick County Board of
\ Commissioners, LBC&W Senior
3 Vice - President John A. Bor
| deaux said he was “greatly
; disappointed” that his firm “in
i association with Jerry Lewis
Engineers” would be unable to
i present a contract proposal.
“We at LBC&W do remain very
i much interested in serving as
your A-E (architect - engineer)
| and are confident that we have all
of the talent and resources to
1 provide unparalleled quality
services to you.”
Bordeaux pledged his firm’s
“dedication and priority” to the
\ county complex project if LBC&W
\ is “considered favorably to
continue as a member of your
\ team.”
Lewis, who maintains an office
in Southport, could not be con
tacted Tuesday after The Pilot
learned of the letter from LBC&
W.
The Board of Commissioners
voted on a split decision Sep
tember 15 to hire Lewis and
LBC&W, “contingent upon a
satisfactory contractual
agreement being worked out”
between the A-E firm and the
county. Commissioners Willie
Sloan, W.T. Russ, Jr., and Steve
Varnam, Jr., voted to employ the
firm, while Commissioners Ira
Butler, Jr. and Franky Thomas
voted in opposition.
Thomas and Butler objected
strongly at the time that other
architectual - engineering firms
should be considered for the job of
designing the proposed county
complex.
No contract terms have been
brought before the board of
commissioners, but at the Sept. 15
meeting representatives of the
firm quoted a “ball park” figure
of 6.5 percent. It was pointed out
during that period that the
current school architect is doing
work for 5 percent of project cost.
On Shallotte ‘Hot Seat’
Thomas, Butler Asked To
Change Minds About Site
>■: By BILL ALLEN
| Staff Writer
Chairman Franky Thomas
j-j: and Commissioner Ira
Butler, Jr., found themselves
jjt on “the hot seats” when they
were questioned about their
votes to re-locate the county
seat outside Bolivia during a
jj:j meeting in Shallotte Monday
>:• night.
A large number of
;|:j residents, mostly from the
•A western part of the county,
g jammed into the Courthouse
in Shallotte to ask the two
commissioners why they
voted for the Brown-Knox
rather than the Canal Wood
site for the new complex.
Numberous citizens stood
up during the meeting and
asked the two commissioners
to “re-consider” their votes
in order to select a site that
will honor the “Vote Yes”
committee slogan — to “Let’s
Meet Half-Way.”
Chairman Thomas said he
was willing to consider the
“honest opinion” expressed
at the meeting. “If I made a
mistake, I am man enough to
stand in front of everyone and
tell you I made a mistake,”
he declared. “I have never
made a decision that I did not
first consider my God, the
people of Brunswick County
and my family.”
The “Vote Yes” com
mittee, the organization that
headed the campaign to re
locate the county seat this
summer, called the meeting
after the commissioners
voted 3-to-2 last Monday to
select the Brown-Knox site
outside Bolivia for the new
location.
“Vote Yes” Chairman
James Bellamy, who sat in
the judge’s chair in the
courtroom, presided over the
meeting. Members of the
“Vote Yes” committee and
Commissioners Steve Var
nam, Jr., and W.T. Russ, Jr.,
sat at the front of a table
facing the residents. Com
8
g A BICENTENNIAL EXCLUSIVE special
g money exhibit is now on display at the downtown
jij: office of Waccamaw Bank and Trust Company,
% and will be through Nov. 7. Examining part of the
exhibit are bank employee Mary Russ (left) and
customer Sharon Chappell. The display is
courtesy of Capitol National Bank.
.) : if
Dosher District Gets Support
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners
delayed until Monday making
a decision to permit Smith
ville Township to work to
establish a separate hospital
district.
Southport Mayor E.B.
Tomlinson, Jr., made the
request for a separate
hospital district during a
special board meeting
Tuesday night called to
discuss the Dosher Hospital
situation. Hospital trustees,
Southport aldermen, doctors
and interested citizens at
tended the meeting.
Commissioner Ira Butler,
Jr., made a motion that the
board endorse the separate
hospital district, but it died
without a second.
Commissioners Steve
Varnam, Jr., and W.T. Russ,
Jr., urged that action be
delayed until Monday. Both
commissioners said they
were not opposed to the
district, but wanted more
time to consider it.
"We will advise the clerk
(Judy Holden) to put it on the
agenda for our meeting
Monday,” Chairman Franky
Thomas said.
County Manager Don
Flowers, Jr., suggested that
County Attorney James
Prevatte, Jr., make a trip to
Raleigh to discuss the matter
with the Attorney General’s
office from a legal stand
point. Mayor Tomlinson
requested that the attorney
for the city (Carter Lam
berth) )t>e allowed to ac
company Prevatte.
Russ said he believed that
the two attorneys should go
separately since it involved
the attorney-client
relationship because of the
recent litigation. Chairman
Thomas said he agreed.
Mayor Tomlinson asked the
commissioners to endorse
and to support
“wholeheartedly” the
request to establish a hospital
district in Smithville
Township. “We want your
unanimous approval im
mediately,” he stated.
If the district is approved,
the mayor said a two-cent tax
increase per $100 valuation
will raise the needed funds to
make the required im
provements at Dosher
hospital.
Once commissioners ap
prove the request, the final
decision will be made by the
North Carolina Medical Care
Commission after at least
three public hearings are
held, Lambeth told the board.
“Smithville tax dollars will
then support the hospital,” he
explained.
Prevatte pointed out that,
under law, the state com
mission, not the county
commissioners, will make
the final decision about
whether Smithville can have
its own hospital district.
Lambeth told Varnam that
a vote of the people in Smith
ville will not be required
under law to establish the
hospital district. But he said
it could be required if another
Municipal Elections Are Tuesday
Voters in all Brunswick County towns except
Caswell Beach will go to the polls Tuesday to
elect new town officials.
Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.
Polling places in this area are: Long Beach,
town hall; Yaupon Beach, town hall; Boiling
Spring Lakes, town hall; Southport I, fire
station; and Southport II, library.
There will be no election at Caswell Beach
since that town was incorporated this summer
and elections were held in September.
According to reports from the town halls, Long
Beach has 769 registered voters eligible for next
Tuesday’s election, while Yaupon Beach has 369.
Unofficial reports place the Southport total
“around 1,700.”
Following is the list of candidates for office in
the various Brunswick County municipalities:
SOUTHPORT — Mayor Eugene Tomlinson is
unopposed for re - election as mayor. Forma:
mayor Dorothy Gilbert, Clinton Bellamy, and
incumbents Mary McHose and W.P. Horne have
filed for three seats in Ward I. In Ward II, in
cumbent J. Harold Davis, Helen Skipper,
William G. Faulk and William P. Furpless have
filed for the two vacant seats.
LONG BEACH — Harold S. Crain and Warren
Calloway have filed for mayor. Walter Black
burn, W.L. Jones, Jerry Wood, Pauline Morgan,
Carroll Adams, Don Smith and John Gladfelter
have filed for the two vacant seats for town
commissioner.
YAUPON BEACH — Jack Vermillion, Doug
(Continued On Page 10)
missioner Willie Sloan was
absent since he had to attend
a class offered by
Southeastern Community
College in the county.
Bellamy and others ex
pressed concern during the
meeting that the board
selected the Brown-Knox
land without having a soil
survey made to determine
the best use of the land. f
“No attempt was made to
see what was there (on the
Brown-Knox site) or what
they would find,” Bellamy
declared. “They were ready
to spend your money and my
money without knowing
anything about it.”
Bellamy, who has beeh
active in the Soil Cori>
servation'Service on the state
level and served as North
Carolina president, said the
site should not have been
selected without a soil test
being made.
He said the county soil
scientist went to the Brown
Knox site last Thursday to
make the tests, but was asked
to leave. “We could not get
the soil survey, which would
stand on its own,” he stated.
Bellamy said the soil test
was most important since
people he has talked with
about the site have told him it
is “a wet piece of land.”
James Clemmons, who said
he had farmed a joining land,
said it was “pretty wet
property. I don’t feel we
should pay more money for
worst land,” he stated.
Bellamy said he had talked
to Clyde Galloway, who owns
an adjoining property, about
the site. He reported that
Galloway said the complex
could not be built for a
“reasonable amount of
money” because of the “wet
land.”
Bellamy said Galloway told
him the present pasture and
timber on the property is the
(Continued On Page 8)
provision of the law is
followed.
Lambeth told Chairman
Thomas that, in his opinion,
Brunswick County already
has a two-hospital concept
despite what the Department
of Human Resources has
said. He pointed out that
Dosher has a board of
trustees and Brunswick
Memorial has a hospital
authority.
Mayor Tomlinson said the
towns in Smithville Township
support a separate hospital
district.
“I see no reason why you
can’t recommend a hospital
district,” Lambeth told the
commissioners. “The board
is in a good position to
compromise (the consent
order in the hospital lawsuit)
by putting the problem in the
hands of the Medical Care
Commission.” .!
Chairman Thomas saia he
has been trying to find a
solution to the hospital issue
since taking office. “It looks
like every time we take ac
tion, someone wants to sue
us,” he stated. “Is there any
way we can settle this thing to
the satisfaction of everyone?
There must be a common
solution.” vj
Mayor Tomlinson said be
believed that Raleigh would
approve the hospital district
if it has the support of the
board. “We are not playing
games,” he declared. “We
want you to stand shoulder to
shoulder with us on this
matter.”
The mayor told Russ thpt
he might want coyi
(Continued On Page 2)