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THE STATE PORT PILOT
^6-191^
Volume 47 Number 36 March 24, 1976
Southport, TV. C.
22 Pages
10 Cents
SSWSSft!
PRECINCT
Hood Creek
Leiand
Woodburo
Belville
Town Creek
Bolivia
Southport I
Southport II
Oak Island
Mosquito ■
Supply
Secession
Shallotte
Jurying Pan
Grissettown
Shingletree
Longwood
Ash
Waccamaw
Exum
Absentee
TOTAL
REPUBLICAN
FORD REAGAN
DEMOCRATS
CARTER WALLACE
10
12
12
20
46
92
50
22
97
12
33
17
23
23
35
21
9
48
40
9
2
633
23
27
7
19
21
63
77
27
92
14
29
30
32
27
34
7
8
39
21
14
3
614
91
103
64
64
109
126
171
196
257
56
160
203
126
204
142
147
99
44
40
23
12
2437
38
136
81
50
86
90
159
75
179
24
42
127
108
86
75
62
17
88
32
43
1
1599
County Voters Favor Carter, Ford
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
Brunswick County voters supported one
winner and one loser in the North Carolina
presidential primary held Tuesday.
Former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter won
his fifth state primary in six tries when he scored
an easy victory over Alabama Governor George
Wallace in the Democrat primary in both
Brunswick County and North Carolina.
But President Gerald Ford, who lost to former
California Governor Ronald Reagan in North
Carolina, squeaked to victory in Brunswick
County. He edged Reagan by only 19 votes in the
county. A total of 25 GOP voters marked “no
preference” on their ballots.
Brunswick County voters also opposed both
Constitutional amendments on the ballots, but
supported the higher education bond issue. All
three were approved by voters across the state.
Brunswick County Board of Elections
Executive Secretary Linda Babson reported that
an estimated 37.6 percent of the registered
voters in the county went to the polls Tuesday to
cast ballots.
She said she considered it a “good” turnout
since no local issues were on the ballot except at
Oak Island, where consolidation was defeated.
“It is a much higher voter turnout percentage
than had been predicted for the state,” Mrs.
Babson pointed out.
Only about a dozen people gathered at the
Board of Elections headquarters at Bolivia
Tuesday night to see the county voting returns
posted. The final tallies were received shortly
before 11 p.m. Tuesday night.
Reagan scored a major victory in North
Carolina when he upset President Ford 52 per
cent to 46 percent with 99 percent of the votes
counted. A total of two percent of the voters in
the state marked “no preference.”
However, President Ford did defeat Reagan
633 to 614 votes in Brunswick County in the.GOP
primary. The President won 11 precincts in the
county and Reagan nine in the close voting which
was not decided until the last ballots were.
(Continued on page 2)
RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONIES for the
new Ocean Trail Convalescent Center were held
Sunday afternoon with Southport Mayor E.B.
Tomlinson (second from left), having the ribbon
U%\.■ ■ ■ . ' ", >. . ■■ ... - • . :
honors. Others left to right are Mrs. Mildred
Whylidke, administrator of the facility; Doug
Hans, president of Ocean Trail and Philip King,
Jr., vice - president.
Beach Water Plan
^Waiting For Coun
%
| By ED HARPER
| News Editor
Long Beach is ready to
move on improvements to its
water system but can do
nothing until information is
received from the county,
town board members agreed
last Wednesday night.
“We need these answers
yesterday,” emphasized
Mayor H.S. Crain, urging the
town to “pursue vigorously”
information that would define
the county’s role in the beach
water project. Town com
missioners remembered that
the county was to have some
fnswers by March 15 and
Would inform th town. But in
ain informal conversation on
Friday, County Com
missioner Franky Thomas
Mid the county still didn’t
have the information'Long
Beach wants.
f The primary hang - up, as
doted in a report to com
missioners by Towv. Manager
John Berry, is that no one
knows when the Phase I
Water line will be put across
.-T- or under — the
Intracoastal Waterway. “I
don’t think it is any of our
business ‘how’ they put the
Hne across the waterway,”
Said the mayor, “but ‘when.’
That’s the problem.”
I The discussion followed
Berry’s report about steps to
take prior to a water bond
referendum, which involves
steps that would take about 75
days. The vote could be held
“ten days after but not closer
j>
f
than 30 days before” other
elections. The next vote is
slated for August 17, date of
the Democratic and
Republican primaries.
Commissioner Ellis Dudley
said he hoped the town would
go no further with its plans
for a water system until the
information was received
from the county com
missioners. He said the town
was promised answers by the
15th of the month about rates
to be charged, status of the
planned elevated tank and
the laying of water lines in
Long Beach.
Beach Census
Starts Monday
Final plans for the Special Federal Census of
Long Beach, being taken at the expense of the
town, were told this week by Census Supervisor
Mary F. Garris of the Census Bureau’s Charlotte
Regional Office.
Mrs. Garris said she plans to arrive in Long
Beach just prior to March 29, and will set up
temporary headquarters in the Long Beach
Town Hall. Her first activity on Monday will be
the testing and interviewing of Census ap
plicants, who have previously filed an ap
plication at Town Hall.
From this group she will select three
Enumerators, more commonly known as Census
Takers, who will be intensively trained by her
Census techniques and rules that afternoon.
Immediately following the training, the Census
Takers will fan out over the town to begin their
■door-to-door canvass.
All Census Takers will carry an official red,
white and blue identification card which will
make them known as official but temporary
(Continued on page 12)
Crain, who has a
background in engineering,
said he thought it “would be
better for us” for the town to
put in the tank and main
lines. “But we’ll have to wait
and see what they (county
officials) come up with.”
“We’re in a bottle right
now,” Commissioner Russell
Morrison noted. He said the
town had hoped for a May 29
vote on the project.
Board member Nancy
Leggett said the com
missioners needed to
elaborate further on the
answer to an earlier question
from spectator Woody Vennel
about what areas the
proposed water system would
serve.
The engineers “are not
sure what is Phase I,” it was
noted. Town Manager Berry
said that until a preliminary
report is made the town can’t
give the answer. He said a
“draft” of the report does
show there is no way to serve
all the beach community.
“But not just the beach
property would be served,”
Mrs. Leggett made clear.
Mayor Crain, who pointed
out that he lives in an area
that definitely will not be
served by Phase I, said it
looks like a complete system
might be installed from the
eastern town limits to the
vicinity of 62nd Street. It is
“obviously impossible,” he
said, “with $2 million to cover
this whole island.
"There is no way to serve
(Continued on page 12)
History Comes Alive
In Weekend Activities
Brunswick County will
come alive this weekend with
a local Bicentennial festival,
with a variety of activities
planned to take place
Saturday and Sunday in
Southport.
The celebration will begin
at 10 a.m. with the opening of
the Armed Services Bicen
tennial Caravan on South
Howe Street, featuring four
large vans which present the
history and contributions of
each branch of service, and
the opening of the Bicen
tennial Art Show at the public
library.
$1,000 in purchase awards
will be made in the art show
by the county Bicentennial
Committee. Judge for the
event will be Miss Hester
Donnelly of Wilmington, with
the deadline for entering
Friday at3p.m.
A demonstration, display
and sale of local crafts will
begin at 10:30 a.m. in the
Daughters of America
Building. Participating will
be the Senior Citizens Group
from the Leland Center of
SENCland Community
Action, Miss Sally Cole of Ash
and her sand art, and Charles
Keller of Southport and his
woodcarving.
The U.S. Savings Bond
awards in student essay
contest will be presented at 2
p.m. on Howe Street, or in the
library in case of bad
weather.
A special aspect of the
Town Meeting
To Be Tonight
The final meeting of the
Bicentennial Forum series of
town meetings will be held at
7:30 tonight (Wednesday) at
the Brunswick County
Courthouse.
The program had been
scheduled for Monday night
but was postponed due to a
death in the family of the
featured speaker.
celebration will be the first
public appearance in
Brunswick County of the
American Heritage Mobile
Museum. This museum
displays the collection of
antique guns and edged
weapons of R.G. Hobbs and
his son, R.G. Hobbs, Jr., of
Leland.
Included in the display are
Kentucky Rifles and Plains
Rifles; Civil War muskets,
carbines and swords; local
battlefield - dug rtifacts and
relics; and a coin and old
paper money collection.
There will be food con
■ No Consolidation 5
Yaupon Beach residents overwhelmingly
voted against consolidation of Oak Island in
Tuesday’s referendum, although the tally of
votes from the two communities showed the
majority favoring merger.
The Yaupon Beach vote was 82 in favor of
consolidation but 192 opposed, while Long Beach
voters endorsed the plan 321 to 78. Overall, the
proposal was approved 403 to 270 but it had been
made clear that a negative vote in either Oak
Island town would void the issue.
Yaupon Beach Board of Elections Chairman
Ernie Rees said the turnout was “pretty good”
considering it was “only a referendum.” Long
Beach Chairman Troy Davis reported just under
a 50 - percent turnout there.
cessions located on Howe
Street near the Caravan,
whose profits will support
county Bicentennial projects
such as a new library for the
West Brunswick area and
"Revolution!” An in
formation booth will also be.
set up, with tickets and in
formation available for both
“Revolution!” and the North
Carolina Fourth of July
Festival.
Saturday's activities will •
end with a presentation of “I
Love America” at 8 p.m. at
Hatch Auditorium, Fort
Caswell. Two choral groups,
one in Southport and one in
Shallotte, have been prac
ticing since the first of
January for this per
formance.
“This is the one Bicen
tennial festival the county
Bicentennial committee is
planning, and it is hoped that
all county citizens will come
enjoy it,” stated Mary
Gornto, executive director of
the Bicentennial Committee.
She also announced that
admission for all of the events
is free.
Rescue Volunteers To
Meet Thursday Night
All volunteers who are
interested in joining the
Southport Rescue Squad have
been asked to attend an
organizational meeting
Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
at the Fire Department
“People have told us that
they are interested in joining
the squad,” Chief Ormond
Leggett stated. “We are
holding this meeting to find
out how interested they are
and what qualifications they
have.”
Chief Leggett said that all
volunteers who would like to
serve as drivers or at
tendants on one of the squad’s
ambulances should attend the
meeting.
"We will be getting down to
brass tacks at this meeting,’’
the chief'declared “We will
have to be ready to provide
ambulance service April 1 or
Southport will be without
ambulance service at that
time.”
Gilbert Ambulance Ser
vice, Inc., which took over
ambulance service in the city
in late December, has in
formed city officials that it
Woman Badly Hurt
In House Fire Here
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
An elderly Southport
woman is in “critical con
dition” in a Wilmington
hospital after being removed
from her burning home here
early Sunday morning.
Mrs. Jeannette V. Driscoll,
who is about 76 and lives
alone, was unconscious when
she was removed from the
flaming house on North Frink
Drive, Southport Fire Chief
Drmond Leggett reported.
Mrs. Driscoll, who suffered
“severe burns” on her arms,
shoulders and back, was
taken to Dos her Memorial
Hospital by Gilbert
Ambulance Service. She was
later transported to the
Wilmington hospital.
The hospital listed her in
“critical condition” at press
time. She is suffering second
and third degree burns from
the fire.
Mrs. Driscoll was found on
the floor in her bedroom after
firemen, using air packs, had
spent about 30 minutes inside
the house looking for her
after the department arrived
at the scene around 2 a.m.
Sunday morning. Firemen
Tommy Gilbert and A1
Trunnell, Jr., found her in the
house.
“This was not the worst
fire we have had in South
port," Chief Leggett said.
“But the thing that makes it
horrible was the fact we knew
someone was in the house and
we could not find her because
(Continued on page 2)
will answer its last call on
March 31.
“We have got to start
providing ambulance service
on April 1 at 12:01 a.m.f”
Chief Leggett stated. “There
are no and’s, hut’s or or’s
about that.”
“We are having to do a lot
of work in a short period of
time since we were only in
formed that we would take
over ambulance service here
last week,” he pointed out.
Gilbert Ambulance of
ficials told the Southport
Board of Aldermen that the
company would have to
obtain a $20,000 donation each
year to provide the service.
Aldermen decided that it
would be cheaper in the long
run to put the Rescue Squad
in the ambulance business.
Chief Leggett said the
Rescue Squad will take over
the two ambulances Gilbert
Ambulance has been using on
April 1. The bank, which owns
the ambulances, let Gilbert
use the two vehicles when
Care Ambulance went out erf
business.
The Southport Rescue
Squad will continue to use the
fire station until a new
headquarters can be built in
the future. Residents needing
an ambulance will call the
Police Department for ser
vice.
“One of the biggest
problems we will be facing is
(Continued on page 2)