Chamber Sets
First Meeting
* The first membership organizational meeting
of the Southport-Oak Island Chamber of
Commerce will be held Monday night at Oak
Island Club, starting at 8 o’clock.
! Invitations have been sent to as many
businesses and individuals as possible, based on
responses to a questionnaire distributed by
members of the group’s Board of Directors. “But
even if you have not received the written
ivitation you still are invited, and encouraged, to
attend,” said President John Barbee. “Ours has
been a volunteer effort thus far and inevitably
we will have missed someone.”
'* Guest speaker for the Monday night meeting
will be Mrs. Ann Small, executive secretary of
the Greater Whiteville Chamber of Commerce,
who will talk on the need for a chamber of ‘
commerce and what an effective chamber can
mean to the community.
Items on the agenda include distribution of a
proposed constitution and bylaws, formation of a
Membership and Finance Committee, and an
outline of what the chamber hopes to accomplish
during its first year of operation.
Purpose of the Southport-Oak Island chamber,
as stated in the questionnnaire, is “to actively
promote the general welfare and future well
being of the people and businesses of the entire
area.” Specific goals are to be established by the
organization, it was pointed out.
3 High Schools
Are Accredited
The three Brunswick
County high schools were
presented for accreditation at
the annual meeting of the
Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools held
December 7-10 in Atlanta,
Ga.
North, South and West
Brunswick were among the 57
elementary schools and 38
secondary schools presented
as new members of the
association.
“Accreditation by the
Southern Association
represents a measure of
excellence over and above
the minimum standards
required by the state,” ac
cording to Supt. Ralph King.
“It means that the individual
school staffs are constantly
trying to improve and extend
their services to children.”
A voluntary effort on the
part of the school staff, ac
creditation by the Southern
Association requires a self
study using standards and
criteria designed hy the
accrediting agency. Once the
self-study is completed, a
committee of educators visits
the school and files a report
which is reviewed by state
accreditation committees
and the regional agency.
‘‘Southern Association
accreditation is not a gold
star for what a school has
done,” said King, “it
represents a continuous ef
fort by the school staff to
focus on the interests and
needs of students by main
taining quality staff,
materials and facilities.
Raise Offered
Yaupon Clerk
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
Town Clerk Claire Rees is
reconsidering her decision to
resign, Yaupon Beach Mayor
Marvin Watson announced
following a 70 - minute closed
board meeting Monday
morning.
Mrs. Rees, who serves as
clerk and holds numerous
positions with the town, was
expected to announce her
decision at a special meeting
scheduled Wednesday
morning.
Mrs. Rees announced Wed
nesday that she would resign,
effective when a replacement
could be trained. She sug
gested—and the board appro
ved—her employment as part
time financial officer and tax
collector.
The board voted
unanimously Monday to offer
Mrs. Rees a 50 - cent - per -
hour raise to $3.75 an hour
and the authority to hire a full
time assistant if she will
continue her work with the
town.
Mrs. Rees requested and
received 48 hours to consider
Jie offer made by the board
aefore announcing her
iecision. The board decided
;o hold the special meeting
Wednesday morning at 11
o’clock to hear her decision.
Mayor Watson announced
that Mrs. Rees had submitted
her letter of resignation last
month. The resignation was
to have become effective
December 19 prior to the
board’s action Monday.
The board had voted
unanimously to hold a closed
executive session to discuss
personnel under the Open
Meetings law. Mayor Watson
said the board had discussed
“negotiations for continued
employment” during the 70 -
minute closed session, but no
action had been taken.
Commissioner Bill Smalley
said that his wife, Mrs.
Madge Smalley, had
volunteered to assist Mrs.
Rees with her duties at Town
Hall at no charge to the town.
He also suggested using both
volunteer and paid part - time
employees to help Mrs. Rees.
Commissioner Ted Wood
made the motion that Mrs.
Rees be given the 50 - cent -
per - hour raise and an
assistant. The offer will
become effective at once if
Mrs. Rees decides to continue
her work for the town.
Wood said the money could
come from unused funds in
the Water department. Mrs.
(Continued on page 2) '
A BARBECUE BENEFIT for the Southport Fire Department will be held
Thursday, sponsored by the Southport Jaycees. The sign explains it: $2.00 a
plate, barbecue, slaw, sweet potatoes, hushpuppies, eat there or take home.
“There” is the lot adjacent to the ABC Store on Howe Street, and helping
promote the feed are Jaycees John Richards and Bill Coring,and Robert
Howard and Harold Aldridge representing the fire department. The Jaycees
hope to raise $1,000 to fulfill a commitment to the fire deoartment.
CP&L Assures
Plant Is Needed
$
%
*
$
Charges last week by an attorney
opposing Carolina Power and Light
Company’s request for increased
rates, and his declaration that the
Brunswick nuclear plant should not
have been built, were refuted by
Shearon Harris, CP&L president,
during hearings conducted by the
State Utilities Commission.
Attorney David Permar of the
North Carolina Oil Jobbers
Association charged, “If you had
accurately estimated the demand
for 1975, the Brunswick plant
wouldn’t have been needed this
year. The plant wasn’t needed when
it came into operation.”
Harris defended the decision to
put the plant into operation, saying,
■ y*.
“The planning for the Brunswick*:
nuclear plant took shape in 1965 and
all of our studies have continued t<j£;
confirm the judgment that the plant
should be completed as early a&
possible. I appeared before the'
General Assembly committees in
the spring of 1975 and pointed out a|
that time that if we were unable b£f
raise the capital to complete the twd;
Brunswick units as scheduledfl
substitute electricity from other
sources would cost our consumers'
$100 million per year during any
period of delay.”
Permar said that CP&L in 1971
projected that 5,783,000 kilowatt
hours would be needed in 1975. Bu|:
(Continued on page 20) 'M
•V, I
Right-Of-W ay
To Be Bought
The North Carolina Board
of Transportation took
another step to expand High
way 17 in northern Brunswick
County during a meeting in
Raleigh on Friday.
The board approved the
acquisition of right - of - way
land to make the highway
four lanes from the Bell
Swamp section just north of
Winnabow to the new in
tersection just south' of
Leland.
By New Long Beach Mayor
Residents Are Urged
To ‘Forget The Past’
Long Beach should “try to
forget the past and look only
to the future,” Mayor Harold
Crain said after taking his
oath of office at the town
board meeting Thursday
night.
“Let us all get behind this
administration, put our
shoulders to the wheel and
move this town happily
forward,” Mayor Crain
declared. “Let us all adopt
positive, constructive at
titudes instead of negative,
destructive ones.
“And above all, let us
employ a great deal of
Christian forbearance and
understanding toward
others,” he continued. “If we
will all do this, things will get
a great deal better and more
enjoyable here.”
Mayor Crain made his
remarks after he and
Commissioners Carroll
Adams and Bill Jones were
given their oaths of office
individually by District
Judge Louis Sauls of
Whiteville.
Town Attorney James
Prevatte, Jr., who presided
at the installation, said Town
Manager John Berry invited
Judge Sauls to install the new
board members.
The new commissioners
Question For Board:
Is Drug Dog Working?
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
Has the Long Beach drug dog had
any.effect on the “prevalent”
narcotics traffic in the Oak Island
beach town?
Since no one could answer the
question, Long Beach com
missioners postponed action on a
request made by Town Manager
John Berry to sell the dog during the
first regular meeting of the new
board Thursday night.
Berry requested that the board
approve a resolution to allow him to
sell the dog “for a price no less than
H,500.”
Mayor Harold Crain said that the
Long Beach Police Department had
no one to “work” the dog since
Dfficer George Reed resigned in late
November.
“The dog is expensive to keep,”
Commissioner Russell Morrison told
the board. “The number of cases
solved with the dog does not justify
it.”
Morrison pointed out that the
trainer has to receive special
schooling in Michigan to be able to
use the dog. The town has to pay for
the schooling in Michigan to be able
to use the dog. The town has to pay
for the schooling and the salary of
the officer undergoing the special
training.
Commissioner Carroll Adams
asked if the dog was being used to
the “full extent since marijuana is
prevalent at Long Beach.”
Commissioner Nancy Leggett said
the board was told that the drug dog
would help reduce narcotic traffic.
“I don’t understand the situation,”
she stated.
It was, pointed out that the board
spent $1,800 to purchase the drug dog
(Continued on page 5)
\
took over after the old board
approved the minutes of the
last two meetings and con
ducted a public hearing on a
change in the flood zone
ordinance.
Mayor Crain presented
retiring Mayor Ed Joyce a
plaque containing a gavel for
his services to the town
during his years on the board.
“Anytime I can help you,
holler," Joyce said.
Retiring Commissioner
Virginia Christenbury was
presented her identification
name plate. The other
retiring commissioner, Don
McNeill, was absent.
Mayor Crain said the
commissioners “will do our
very best to govern this Town
of Long Beach honestly,
fairly and, just as soon as
some procedural and ad
ministrative matters are
updated and corrected, with
reasonable efficiency. ’ ’
The mayor said the board
members will be serving the
people because “they are
volunteers who are willing to
step forward, become in
volved, stick their necks out
and render this public ser
vice.”
Mayor Crain said the board
plans to “iron-out" problems
involving tax records and
accounting procedures.
He said that he knew that
“a relatively few" tax bills
have been mailed out that
contain errors. Persons
receiving the bills should
contact Berry, he said.
The new mayor pointed out
that the administration is
working to provide board
members with monthly
financial statements showing <
the income and expenditures j
(Continued on page 5) ]
Unemployment
Is 4th Highest
Brunswick County has the
fourth highest unemployment
rate in North Carolina,
reports David Holden of the
Employment Security
Commission office in South
port.
* The “estimates’’; compiled
by the Bureau of
Employment Security
Research, placed the
unemployment rate in
Brunswick County at 12.9
percent in October, the latest
month the informtion is
available.
The preliminary labor
force estimates, which were
released last week, show that
Brunswick County has a total
of 1,510 residents without
jobs. The state agency
estimates that 10,220
residents in the total work
force of 11,730 hold jobs.
The research bureau
estimates showed tha|
Brunswick County had the;
fourth highest unemployment
rate in the state during
October.
Robeson County had the
highest unemployment rate
ht 15.2 percent while Pender
County was second at 14.5
percent and Clay County
third at 14.0. Jones County
had the lowest unem
ployment rate at 3.2 percent.
Brunswick County’s
unemployment rate, which
has dropped some is much
higher than both the national
and state averages.
The national unem
ployment rate dipped to 8.3
percent in November from
the October rate of 8.6 per
cent. However, experts said
' the rate declined because
(Continued on page 2)
PARADE MARSHAL at Saturday’s Shallotte
Christmas Parade was Diane King, Miss Bicen
ennial for Brunswick County. She is a native of the
Bolivia area. -:i
!>V