THE STATE PORT PILOT
7^6-l9ffe
Volume 47 Number 25
January 7, 1976
Southport, TV. C.
20 Pages
10 Cents
RECOGNIZED FOR YEARS of service to
Southport are Johnson Cumbee (left) and Walter
Aldredge (right), who recently retired from their
city positions. Cumbee, superintendent of public
works, retired after 22 years’ service while
Aldridge has just finished. 24 years’ service as
finance officer. Presenting the two men with
letters of appreciation are City Manager Alvin
Kornegay and Mayor Eugene Tomlinson.
A _A_ A A A_A_A_A_A A_A _ A A A k A
Larger Share Of Tax
Borne By Individuals
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
Brunswick County in
dividual taxpayers are being
forced to shoulder a larger
share of the tax burden this
year than in previous years,
county commissioners were
told at their regular meeting
Monday.
County Finance Director
Regina McKeithan told the
board that revenue collec
tions in the county are down
13 percent because larger
corporations are being
charged less taxes this year.
She said that corporations
in the county arc being
charged less taxes this year
because of the reduced rate
due to revaluation. Cor
porations were helped by the
lower tax rate because they
are revaluated by the state
each year at the current
market value.
Mrs. McKeithan cited the
fact that Carolina Power &
Light Company and Dupont
— the two largest taxpayers
in the county — are paying
$839,124.20 less in taxes this
year than in previous years
due to the reduced rates.
CP&L is being charged
$785,833.68 less in taxes this
year than last year. The
company paid $2,491,196.75
Town Dog Control
Decision Expected |
A decision about what kind
of dog control ordinance the
City of Southport will have is
expected to be made at the
Thursday night meeting of
the Board of Aldermen.
Mayor E.B. Tomlinson, Jr.,
told aldermen at a public
hearing on the ordinance last
month that they should be
prepared to make a decision
“oneway or the other” on the
subject at the January
meeting.
Mayor Tomlinson also
announced that he favored
the proposed ordinance. “If
the vote is 3-3, you know how
the mayor’s going to vote,”
he declared at the public
hearing.
Aldermen Pierce Horne
and Conley Koontz expressed
opposition to the proposed
ordinance at the public
hearing. Alderman William
Furpless told The Pilot this
week that he opposed the
proposed ordinance after
reading it.
About 20 residents attended
the public hearing last
month. They expressed
opinions favoring and op
posing the proposed or
dinance.
The ordinance was drafted
by Former City Attorney E. J.
Prevatte at the request of the
board. Prevatte said the
ordinance provides for the
control of dogs “in a broad
manner.”
The proposed ordinance
follows:
PROPOSED ORDINANCE
AN ORDINANCE REWRITING
ARTICLE III OF THE SOUTH
PORT TOWN CODE PER
TAINING TO DOGS.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE
BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF
THE CITY OF SOUTHPORT:
That Article 3 of the Southport
Town Code, Sections 11.52, 11.53,
11.54, 11.55, 11.56, 11.58 and 11.60,
and subsections thereof, and as
amended, are hereby repealed;
and in lieu thereof, the following
is enacted:
ARTICLE III
Dogs ■ Generally
The following definitions shall
be incorporated in this Dog Or
dinance and shall be referred to
for purposes of interpretation
herein:
At Large: The words "at large"
shall mean off the premises of the
owner, when neither under
control of the owner, nor some
other person accompanying the
dog by means of a leash, nor
within a private vehicle, without
consent of the operator thereof.
Dog: The word "dog" shall
mean any dog, male or female,
over the age of four (4) months.
Vicious Dog: Any dog which has
bitten one or more persons, or has
shown a propensity to attack
humans or other animals, and
such propensity is known, or
should or ought to reasonably be
known to the owner.
Barking or Noisy Dog: Any dog
which barks or makes other
noises loud enough and long
enough to disturb persons off the
premises of the owner.
Owner: The word "owner"
shall mean any person owning,
keeping or harboring a dog, and
for the purposes thereof, the head
of the household shall be deemed
to be the owner in respect to any
dog or dogs owned, kept or har
bored by any person residing in
such household and kept on the
premises.
Pound: The word "pound" shall
mean the place provided and-or
operated by the Town of South
port for the restraint, care and
disposition of animals, and the
Brunswick County Pound if used
as herein set forth.
Section li. License and
Registration Required:
All dogs kept, harbored or
I
maintained by their owners in the
Town of Southport shall be
licensed and registered if over
four (4) months of age and shall
have evidence showing vac
cination by a licensed
veterinarian, or legally auth
orized rabies innoculator. Dog
licenses shall be issued by the
Town Clerk upon payment of the
license tax of $2.00. The owner
shall at the time application is
made for such license and upon
printed forms, provided for such
purpose, put his name and ad
dress, and the name, breed, color
(Continued on page 2)
last year, but only
$1,705,363.07 this year.
DuPont is paying $53,290.52
less in county taxes this year.
The corporation was charged
$819,923.16 last year and only
$766,632.64 this year.
Mrs. McKeithan told the
board than no department
was over-spending its budget
at the present time. In fact,
she said, department spen
ding ran nine percent less
than “normal” during the
first six months of the fiscal
year.
“The nine-percent figure
was arrived at by dividing
each department’s budget
into 12 equal parts covering
the fiscal year,” she pointed
Mrs. McKeithan told the
board th"t the bounty has
$5,368,260.31 in banks, in
cluding $4,274,428.17 in
savings accounts drawing
interest.
In addition, she said the
county has $1,032,386.26 in
revenue sharing funds in the
bank. The total includes
$846,999.99 in certificates of
deposit.
Mrs. McKeithan said that
the purchase order system
and the time clock system
have contributed to the
county’s “good” financial
(Continued on page 2)
Township Will Vote
On Dosher Funding
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners
approved calling for a Smith
ville hospital tax district
referendum on a split
decision during the regular
meeting Monday.
The board approved the
resolution to allow residents
of Smithville Township to
vote on the question of
taxing themselves to support
Dosher Memorial Hospital
with Commissioner W.T.
Russ, Jr., in opposition.
Russ said he wanted the
record to show that he was
“against this thing because of
taxation. I am totally opposed
to it.”
Vice-Chairman Willie
Sloan, presiding in the ab
sence of Chairman Steve
Varnam, Jr., announced that
he was voting in favor of
calling the hospital
referendum.
Sloan and Commissioner
Franky Thomas said they
believed that the residents of
Smithville Township should
be given the chance to vote on
establishing the tax district.
Shallotte Attorney John
Hughes, who said he was
representing 40 to 50 Oak
Island residents, told the
board that “acceptance of the
petition would be in error. ”
Southport Mayor E.B.f
Tomlinson, Jr., and City
Attorney Carter Lambeth
presented the petitions,
which they said were signed
by 806 Smithville residents.
Former Southport
Alderman Robert Howard,
who spoke in favor of the
petitions, said they were
signed by 92 residents of Long .
Beach, 45 residents of
Yaupon Beach and 11
residents of Caswell Beach.
Smithville residents will
vote on the hospital district
referendum during the
regular state and county
primary elections August 17.
If approved, property owners
will be taxed as much as four
cents per $100 valuation to
support Dosher hospital.
The tax to be levied,
beginning in the year 1976-77,
would be used for the
“establishment maintenance
and improvement of a public
hospital to be located in
Southport at the site of the
present Dosher Memorial.”
It will be owned by and serve
Smithville Township.
The tax rate will not exceed
four cents per $100 valuation
for a period of time no longer
than 25 years. The maximum
amount of money proposed to
be spent for purchasing,
building and improving the
hospital will be $2.1 million,
with $84,000 to be expended
annually for maintenance
Chamber Effort Has
Support Of Mayors
Four Southport-Oak Island
mayors have proclaimed next
Wednesday as “Southport-Oak
Island Chamber of Commerce Day”
and have endorsed the
organization’s membership drive.
Mayors Hal Crain of Long Beach,
Marvin Watson of Yaupon Beach,
Robert Jones of Caswell Beach and
Eugene Tomlinson of Southport
have signed the joint resolution that
‘‘fully endorse(s) the principle of a
Southport-Oak Island Chamber of
Commerce.”
“Be it further resolved,” the joint
statement read, “that we declare
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1976 as the
Southport-Oak Island Chamber of
Commerce Day and do endorse the
membership drive to begin on said
day for the establishment and
maintenance of a Chamber of
Commerce to serve our com
munities.”
John Barbee, president of the
recently-formed organization until
an election by members can be held,
said Tuesday that the membership
drive will start with a Dutch
breakfast from 7:30 until 8:30 at the
Fireside Restaurant, Long Beach.
Teams of volunteers will be calling
on merchants throughout the day,
anu the effort will end with a Dutch
dinner, starting at 6:30, at Herman’s
(Continued on page 2)
and operation.
Hughes told the board that
it was up to the North
Carolina Medical Care
Commission, not the county
commissioners, to approve
the petitions calling for the
referendum.
“Here, where we have no
township governments as
such and where we are
seeking to create a district
comprised of a township,”
the wong law is being
followed, Hughes said. “My
position is that the petitions
are in error.”
“That is not true,” stated
Lambeth, who said he had
talked to the Attorney
General and reviewed the
law. “They said the com
missioners are the officers to
act. I know that is a fact.
They are the only governing
body for the county which is
composed of the townships.”
After Lambeth and Hughes
engaged in a “lawyer’s
argument,” Thomas
suggested that the two at
torneys and County Attorney
James Prevatte, Jr., discuss
the matter in another room
and report back.
“This could go on for
days,” Thomas said about the
legal debate. “It looks like a
legal matter and that is why
we have our attorney sitting
at the end of the table.”
Russ said the question
raised by Hughes should be
given “serious con
sideration” since he had been
contacted by Oak Island
(Continued on page 2)
Brown-Knox Results
Are Due On Monday
The results of the soil analysis
tests conducted at the Brown - Knox
site will be made public next week.
The Brunswick County Board of
Commissioners has scheduled a
special meeting Monday afternoon
at 5 p.m. to hear a report on the soil
analysis made by LBC&W, ar
chitects and engineers on the
courthouse - office building complex
project.
After calling LBC&W officials at
the request of the board during the
regular meeting Monday, County
Manager Don Flowers, Jr., said the
report will be ready next week. Vice
- Chariman Willie Sloan, presiding
over the meeting, immediately
called the special meeting next
Monday afternoon.
The board has voted 3-2 to locate
the courthouse complex at the
Brown - Knox site outside Bolivia
despite opposition from citizens in
the western section of the county.
They want the complex on the Canal
Wood property.
Willie Ward of Ash, a member of
the “Vote Yes” committee, urged
the board to reconsider the decision
to have the soil analysis made only
at the Brown - Knox site. He said
tests also should be made on the
Canal Wood land.
“I don’t see any reason we should,
not,” Ward said when asked why by:
Vice - Chairman Sloan.
Ward said he wanted his request
on record — “in the minutes.”
Commissioner W.T. Russ, Jr., who
voted against the Brown - Knox site,
said he concurred with the request
made by Wafd. ~ ... ...
Later in the meeting, Russ asked
if the board were going to act on the
request made by Ward. Com
missioners Franky Thomas and Ira
Butler, Jr., said the board has
already voted to make the tests on
the Canal Wood site if Brown - Knox
cannot be used.
County Attorney James Prevatte,
Jr., announced that the Brown -
Knox site contains 163.5 acres of
land, according to survey maps. The
Brown land has 93.12 acres, one of
the Knox pieces 33.39 acres and the
other Knox piece 36.64.
County Manager Flowers told the
board that grant money can be found
“here and there” for the complex.
He said County Public Service
Director Jerry Harrison will be
working to obtain grant funds for the
project.
Post Office Probably
To Remain Downtown
Officials of the U.S. Postal
Service were in Southport on
Monday to meet with city
officials and a group of in
terested citizens regarding
location of a new post office
building and agreed to
recommend the location of
the old Southport High School
on Nash Street as the site for
a new local headquarters for
postal service.
Wally Nelms of Charlotte,
department real estate of
ficer, and William Julian,
post office problems analyst,
represented the department
and heard a report from the
site committee which had
been working on the problem
of having several proposals to
make and sites to offer the
post office officials when they
agreed to come here for
another look at the local
situation.
The site committee
recommended that con
sideration be given to leaving
the post office in its present
location, subject to
agreement by the owners to
acquire sufficient adjoining
property to alleviate some of
the parking problems and to
make alterations and to
provide expansion of existing
building if necessary.
The second proposal was
for the acquisition of the
school site now owned by the
Brunswick County Board of
Education, from which a
letter of agreement had been
received stipulating that this
property would be sold for
this purpose at its fair market
value, to be determined by
independent appraisal.
When the two post office
representatives expressed
keen interest in this proposal,
a third offering on Moore
Street was withdrawn in
order to avoid any conflict in
thinking. However, a ten
tative offer of a location at
the northeast corner of Dry
and Nash streets was briefly
outlined by W.R. Thorsen,
who explained he would at
tempt to put together a site
comprised of several parcels
if this should be needed.
Following the presentation,
which was made in the board
room at City Hall with a large
number of interested citizens
in attendance, members of
the site committee, the post
office department
representatives and some
others made an on-site in
spection of the school
property, completed some
measurements and as the
group broke up Nelms said:
“It does not lie within our
authority to make a final
determination on this site,
but I think it is a good one and
I shall make a recom
mendation to the Site
Acquisition Authority that
negotiations be implemented
as soon as possible to pur
chase this property for the
location of a new post office.’’
He said post office officials
will get in touch right away
with officials of the Brun
swick County Board of
Education.
Following announcement in
October, 1975 that the Post
Office Service had selected a
site near the city limits of
Southport as the location of a
new office, merchants and
businessmen from the
downtown section met with
city officials to protest
moving the post office from
its central location.
Mayor E.B. Tomlinson, Jr.,
was present and explained
that the Board of Aldermen
had given its approval to the
site near the city limits when
it was represented to them
that this was the only
available site which met the
criteria sjt out by the site
(Continued on page 2)