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THE STATE PORT PILOT
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Volume 47 Number 26 January 14, 1976
Southport, N. C.
18 Pages
10 Cents
| THE MAN WHO STARTED the ball rolling for moving the county seat
from Southport, Rep. Allen Ward of Longwood, was present Monday evening
when county commissioners heard that the Brown-Knox site was suitable for
location of the proposed county office complex. Ward argued that the Canal
Wood site near Supply should be compared with the Bolivia area site that the
county commissioners have selected.
Higher Tobacco Prices
Predicted By Manager
' By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
Tobacco prices should be
higher this year because the
Brunswick County allotment
has been reduced, Manager
Ralph Price of the
Agriculture Stablization and
Conservation Service (ASCS)
office in Shallotte has
predicted.
/The number of pounds of
tobacco to be planted this
year has been reduced about
1,196,000 while the average
support level has been in
creased 13.5 percent.
I “I think our farmers are
well-pleased with the change
since they hope it will in
crease both the market prices
apd their profit margins,”
Price stated. “The change
Will guarantee that good
tobacco will sell for higher
tfcan the average 1975
prices.”
SThe federal government
has set the 1976 effective
quota in Brunswick County in
1976 at 6,715,230 pounds. “Our
farmers will be growing a lot
lOss tobacco by a long shot,”
he pointed out.
Last year, the effective
tobacco quota in the county
was 8,058,481 pounds. County
farmers sold a total of
7,124,085 pounds in 1975,
according to marketing
report cards.
“The county quota has been
reduced for two reasons,”
Price stated. “The national
tobacco allotment was
reduced 15 percent by the
government. In addition, the
pounds farmers sold in ex
cess of their quota in 1975
were reduced from the
1 •
allotment.
Under law, farmers can
sell 10 percent over their
quota and have it substracted
from next year’s allotment.
“It is a borrowing process,”
Price explained.
But the ASCS manager said
the 13.5-percent increase in
the average support level will
make it higher than the 1975
market average. It is
estimated that the ap
proximate 12-cent increase
will make the support rate
$1.05.5 this year.
Price said the federal
government took the two
actions — reducing the
allotments and increasing the
support prices — because a
combination of a larger
carryover and weaker buyer
demand held the grower
price average to $1.00 per
pound in 1975. The average
was five cents below the 1974
record high. ’
“You could not say that
1975 was a bad year for
county tobacco farmers, but
it certainly was not as good as
they expected,” Price
pointed out. “Farmers had to
sell more tobacco for about
the same amount of money or
(Continued on page 12)
‘Audition’ Set
Sunday, 2 To 4
An Open House Backers’ Audition for the
outdoor musical drama ‘Revolution’ will be held
Sunday from 2 until 4 p.m. at the Southport
Community Building.
Music, songs and readings from the drama,
entitled “The Essence of “Revolution!”, will be
performed during the afternoon. Ethan Ayre and
Lewis Hardee, Jr., co-authors of the production,
along with actor Vince Knue and former Miss
North Carolina Susan Griffin will perform.
The Sunday afternoon program is co
sponsored by the Southport Woman’s Club and
the Junior Woman’s Club of Southport, which has
undertaken ‘Revolution!’ its Community Im
provement Project. Refershments will be ser
ved.
Payment Made For V
County Complex Site
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners
voted to finalize the purchase
of the Brown - Knox site for
the new county courthouse -
office complex on a split
decision during a special
meeting Monday evening.
The action was taken after
Project Manager John
Boudreaux of LBC&W, the
architectural and
engineerings firm, gave the
land a clean bill of health
following tests made at the
site.
“In summary, our research
classified the building site in
three categories: ‘moderate,’
68 percent or 111 acres;
‘possible,’ 15 percent of 24
acres; and ‘poor’, 17 percent
of 28 . acres,” Boudreaux
reported to the board.
“We find that more than
sufficient land is available
within the tract which is
suitable for construction
using conventional means,”
he stated.
During the question - and -
answer session following the
report, both Rep. Allen Ward
and Brunswick County
Memorial Hospital Authority
Chairman Mason Anderson
urged the board to have tests
made at the Canal Wood site.
Commissioner W.T. Russ,
Jr., made a motion to
authorize LBC&W to make
tests on other sites that have
been considered for the
location of the courthouse -
office building complex. The
motion appeared to dbe before
Chairman Steve Varnam, Jr.,
seconded it.
Commissioner Franky
Thomas asked for a roll - call
vote and the motion was
defeated 3; to 2, the same
majority that selected the
Brown - Knox site in the first
place about two months ago.
1t ■ #1
Commissioners Willie
Sloan, Ira Butler, Jr., and
Thomas voted in opposition to
having tests made at other
sites, while Russ and
Chairman Varnam were in
favor.
Butler made the motion to
complete the purchase of the
Brown - Knox site and
Thomas seconded it.
However, no one called for a
vote on the motion until
County Attorney James
Prevatte, Jr., spoke up later
in the meeting.
Prevatte said the board
should vote on the motion
especially since he said he
needed “instructions” to
determine his course of ac
tion. A voice vote was taken,
and it was approved 3 to 2
with Chairman Varnam and
Russ still in opposition.
Boudreaux said in his
report that the purpose of the
study made by LBC&W who
to evaluate the suitability of
the 163.2 - acre Brown - Knox
site as it relates to structures,
utilities and site im
provements required for the
long - range needs of county
citizens. (See related story in
this edition of The Pilot).
Boudreaux said no soil
borings, topographic survey,
test wells and percolation
tests were made during the
study because they are not
typically done prior to pur
chase and would be of
“inordinate expense” to the
county in testing the site.
Willie Ward of Ash, Capt.
Durbar Larson of Long Beach
and others questioned
Boudreaux in detail about
why the soil borings and
percolation tests were not
made. He said the tests will
be made after purchase
because of the “inordinate
expense’ ’ to the county.
Several county residents
questioned the price the
county was paying for the
■i ....
HEARING ABOUT THE BROWN-KNOX site from LBC&W
Project Engineer John Boudreaux are members of the county
Board of Commissioners and a packed roomful of interested
spectators. Boudreaux told commissioners the Brown-Knox
site would be suitable for construction of a “dynamic county
complex.”
land. They said the county
was paying $195,780 for the
163.2 - acre Brown - Knox site
while the 199 - acre Canal
Wood tract has been offered
for $149,250. The two sites are
located about four miles
apart on Highway 17.
Others at the meeting said
the price for the Brown -
Knox site was not high
considering the fact that the
county paid $110,318.75 for the
33 - acre Brunswick County
Memorial Hospital property
about two years ago before
inflation sent land values,
based on the recent
revaluation, sky high.
Rep. Ward urged the board
to have the Canal Wood site
tested. "I would like to make
this request that you do
compare the site with the
Canal Wood site,” Rep. Ward
told the board. “That way you
can tell which is the best site
and buy the cheapest and best
(Continued on page 2) ;
Delay Effort
Unsuccessful:
An attempt to delay the
“mandate of the people” to
relocate the courthouse
county office complex to
centra] Brunswick County
failed Tuesday.
A group of western
Brunswick County residents
was unable to find a judge
who would sign a motion for a
temporarily restraining
order to stop the county from
using the Brown-Knox site
near Bolivia.
“I think this is the end of
it,” answered Shallotte
Attorney John Hughes who
had been retained by the
residents, when asked if other
attempts would be made to
have a judge sign the order.
“I think this is the end of
it,” answered Shallotte
Attorney John Hughes who
had been retained by the
residents, when asked if other
attempts would be made to
have a judge sign the order.
Chief District Court Jud^e
Frank Grady of
Elizabethtown, who is
(Continued on page 12)
Speed Limits
Are Changed
New speed limits have been
posted in the Town of Boiling
Spring Lakes.
The segments of streets
that are affected are:
(1) SR 1539 (Boiling Spring
Road) from Alton Lennon
Drive to the eastern cor
porate limit at SR 1521
(Belgrange Road) — 45 mph;
(2) Highway 87 from Fifty
Lakes Drive to a point 0.3
miles , north of the in
tersection with Boiling Spring
Road — 45 mph.
Refunds For
Gas Received
Brunswick County is ex
pecting a check for $2,474.84
in gasoline tax refund money,
County Purchasing Director
David Swain reported this
week.
Swain said the refund from
the N.C. Department of
Revenue will cover gasoline
purchases during the fourth
quarter of 1975. The county
purchased 30,935 gallons of
gas during the last three
months of the year.
Swain said that a gover
nment unit can receive an
(Continued on page 12)
-By California Psychic
Doomsday Quake Is
Predicted For Area
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
Will a psychic’s prediction
that a major earthquake will
occur in the Southport
Calabash-Wilmington area on
Saturday come true?
Mrs. Clarissa Bernhardt,
who has reportedly predicted
earthquakes in the past, said
the major tremor —
registering eight on the ten
point Richter scale — will
occur “definitely within the
next 365 days, probably
during the week of January
14-20 and most likely on
Saturday, January 17,1976.”
Mrs. Bernhardt, who
claims to be “a psychic and
an earth prediction
specialist,” told the annual
convention of the
Southeastern Regional
Parapsychological Assoc
ciation at Davidson Col
lege last Saturday that the
date of the quake “that comes
to me is Saturday, January
17, 1976, plus or minus three
days before and after that
date.”
Many state officials have
been openly skeptical since
Mrs. Bernhardt’s prediction
was made public. A
spokesman for Carolina
Power & Light Company said
earthquake monitoring
equipment at the Brunswick
nuclear plant outside South
port have produced no
evidence “which would
support the idea of an ear
thquake being imminent.”
Mrs. Bernhardt has
predicted that five ear
thquakes would occur in the
Carolinas and Georgia. But
she said the Southport -
Calabash - Wilmington quake
would be the first and the
largest of all.
Her predictions were ap
plauded by the group of about
80 persons gathered at the
convention.
However, Dr. David
Stewart, a seismologist and
director of the MacCarthy
Geophysics Laboratory at the
University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill who has
warned about earthquakes in
the Southport area, said the
public should take Mrs.
Bernhardt’s prediction
seriously.
Dr. Stewart said the
predicted earthquake
registering 8.0 on the Richter
scale would be felt “from
Cuba to Canada with scat
tered damage for several
hundred miles.”
“As a scientist, I had to do
some soul-searching about
whether to involve myself in
this prediction,” Dr. Stewart
said. “I wasn’t sure whether
to make it public. But I
thought if I lived in the
Wilmington are, would I want
to know. The answer was
yes.”
Dr. Stewart said that Mrs.
Bernhardt has accurately
predicted three other ear
thquakes that have been
documented during the past
14 months although the odds
against such positive guesses ,
are at least 20 to 1.
“As a scientists, I can only
look at the facts,” Di'.
Stewart stated. “Her record,
as it now stands, is three out
of three.”
State, geology, civil
(Continued on page 12)