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THE STATE PORT PILOT
7^6-l9l6
Volume 47 Number 41
April 28, 1976
Southport, N. C.
24 Pages
10 Cents
A NEW MICROSCOPE has been presented to
the Dosher Memorial Hospital laboratory by the
Dosher Volunteers, who raised the necessary
$1,500 through Flea Market sales and the gift shop
Present for the giving were (left to right)
volunteers Gertha Ward and Ressie Whatley,
Hospital Administrator Lorraine Eichorn, Chief
Medical Technologist Dee Thomas and lab
technician Kathy Holth.
Beach Council Discusses
Dogs, Erosion And Water
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The county dog ordinance
will be enforced in Long
Beach, town board members
agreed during their regular
monthly meeting last Wed
nesday night.
Town Manager John Berry
presented town com
missioners with copies of the
county dog ordinance, which
he said was “adequate” for
the town to use.
County Dog Control
Director Ed Clemmons was
on the agenda to discuss dog
control with the board, but he
did not attend the meeting.
Berry said he and Police
Chief James Hamlett had
discussed the Long Beach dog
problem with Clemmons.
“He has assured us that he
wants to work with the town,”
the manager stated.
Berry said he told Clem
mons about the packs of wild
dogs running at - large on the
island. “Some of the dog
packs are in their second and
third generation,” he added.
If the pet dog of a resident
is picked up, it can be
claimed at the county dog
pound at Supply for a
minimum fee, Berry told the
board.
In other business, Mrs.
Libby Hussey, a cottage
owner from Virginia, told the
board that some property
Parade Will
Close NC 87
A section of NC 87 will be
closed approximately two
hours Saturday for the
Loyalty Day Parade at
Boiling Spring Lakes.
The parade, part of the
day’s activities sponsored by
Post 10400 of Veterans of
Foreign Wars (VFW), will
use a portion of the highway
beginning at 11a.m.
The highway will be closed
to all but emergency traffic
from the Sunny Point in
tersection (NC 133 and 87) to
the turn - off to Bolivia (SR
1513) north of the community.
Upstate traffic using NC 87
should use US 17 to Bolivia,
then cut through to NC 211 on
to the beaches.
owners in the eastern section
of the beach were making
plans to act in the battle
against erosion.
She said her group was
gathering signatures from
property owners who want to
spend their own money to
construct walls to stop
erosion on the beach.
Mayor Harold Crain said it
was a “hopeful sign” that
people were willing to finance
the project themselves rather
than waiting for the federal
or state government to act.
Oratory Event
Slated Sunday
The fifth annual Odell and
Virginia Williamson
Declamation Scholarship
contest will be held at West
Brunswick High School on
Sunday at 3 p.m.
The Williamsons, of Ocean
Isle Beach, sponsor the
competition in an effort to
“rekindle interest in com
position and public speaking
in Brunswick County
schools.”
This year the scholarship
fund is providing ap
proximately $5,000, most of
which will be awarded in the
competition. All senior boys
and girls who have been
enrolled in county schools for
the preceding two years are
eligible to enter the contest.
Cash awards of $100 each
will be provided for the boy
and girl winner in each of the
three county high schools.
School winners will be the
finalists in Sunday’s county
competition, which provides
$1,800 scholarships for the
boy and girl winners.
Over the past four years the
Williamson scholarship fund
has provided $13,200 in
scholarships and cash
awards totaling $3,750.
The public is invited to
attend the county com
petition.
Commissioner Russell
Morrison, who heads the
Erosion Control Committee,
said the town has a project
ready to go but was unable to
obtain state funds for the
work.
He reviewed the work the
board has been doing since
voters defeated an erosion
control project in January of
1974. After the town did the
work to obtain state funds for
an erosion control project, he
said it was learned that the
money had been withdrawn.
“We have been told that the
state does not have one thin
dime to spend on beach
erosion at this time,’’
Morrison stated. “We will
continue to apply for aid and
hope the state may find funds
for this project.”
Mrs. Hussey said citizens
decided to act “because each
Easter we find erosion worse.
We need help, but no one
cares if our cottages wash
away.”
Morrison said he would be
glad to work with Mrs.
Hussey's group. Mayor Crain
said the town would provide
any cooperation it could to
help the group solve the
problem.
The board set in motion the
(Continued on page 2)
3.
Speed-Up Sought In
t; I
Water9 Sewer Work
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The Southport Board of
Aldermen, meeting in special
session Monday afternoon,
took action to speed up the
long - delayed Water, Sewer
and Storm Drainage project.
The board voted
unanimously to notify the two
contractors and their sureties
of the intent to terminate
their contracts under Section
23 of the General Conditions.
Hilco, Inc., and Pierce
Ditching Company of
Florence, S.C., will have ten
days from Monday to work
out a satisfactory agreement
with the city to complete the
project.
If the agreement can’t be
worked out within ten days,
another registered letter will
be sent to the surety, with a
copy to the bonding company,
that the contract has been
terminated and that the
surety is required.
Charles Davis of Henry Von
Oesen and Associates, Inc.,
the engineers on the project,
recommended the course of
action in a letter to the board.
“After reviewing the work
progress to this date, we now
think it is advisable for the
town to proceed with
notifying the contractors and
their sureties of intent to
terminate,” he said in the
letter.
Davis pointed out that he
recommended at the
November and March
meetings that the board not
‘Revolution!’
Audition Set
Auditions and preliminary
interviews for the outdoor
musical drama
“Revolution!” will be held in
the Fellowship Hall of Trinity
United Methodist Church in
Southport this Thursday and
Friday.
“Should it be necessary,
due to conflicts, some
auditions will be held
Saturday,” said casting
director Mrs. Dallas Pigott.
Mrs. Pigott said anyone
interested should contact her
at 457-5466 or 457-6806, or Mrs.
Connie Ledgett at 457-6333.
Lewis Hardee, Jr., will be
here to hold the auditions.
"Please be prepared to give a
five - minute performance.
Bring your own music, in
struments, readings, etc.
Also, a recent black - and -
white glossy photograph if
possible,” Mrs. Pigott said.
Auditions will begin at 12
o’clock and continue
throughout Thursday af
ternoon. They will begin
again Friday morning at 10
a.m.
take the action to call in the
contractors’ bonding com
panies to take over the work.
The contractors and surety
companies are being called
on to correct listed violations
and to make satisfactory
arrangements for completion
of the work within the ten
days or the contracts will
cease and terminate.
Davis said it is hoped that
the bonding company, U.S.
Fidelity and Guaranty
Company, will involve itself
within the ten days. If it does
not happen, the surety will be
served notice to take over the
work and complete the
contract upon termination.
Hospital Bond
Vote Is Called
The Brunswick County Board of Com
missioners has filed the required legal notice for
Smithville Township residents to vote in the
August primary on establishing a hospital tax
district.
Residents will vote for or against having an
annual tax levy, beginning in 1976, for the
establishment, maintenance and improvement
of a public hospital for Smithville Township at
the site of the present Dosher Memorial
Hospital.
If approved in the referendum, the annual tax
to be levied only in Smithville Township shall not
exceed four cents per $100 valuation for a period
of time not exceeding 25 years.
The maximum amount of money proposed to
be spent from the tax levy in purchasing,
building and improving the hospital will be $2.1
million. A total of $84,000 will be spent annually
for the maintenance and operation of the
hospital.
Under the contracts, the
completion date for the city
project was December 14. It
was 128 days over contract on
April 21.
Davis estimated that it will
take Hilco 90 days to com
plete the work and Pierce
Ditching 60 days at the
current rates.
Reasons for sending the
notice to Hilco include:
“1. For the past three
months progress has
gradually slowed almost to a
standstill at the present with
only one crew on the job;
2. Repeated requests for
months to repair pavement
and driveway cuts have gone
uncorrected;
3. No work has been started
on installing house service
laterals and connection to
new mains. This is the
system’s means of collecting
revenue and the town is
losing revenue with this
(Continued on page 2)
Ship For 4th ’
The USS Fortify, a Navy
minesweeper, will be fea
tured in this year’s Fourth
of July Festival, July 2-5.
The announcement was
made by C.D. Pickerrell, a
member of the Festival’s
Special Events Committee,
who was notified Wednes
day morning by the office
of Sen. Jesse Helms that the
ship would be here for the
July 4 th celebration.
Charges Filed After
Brutal Church Death
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
A Lumberton construction
worker has confessed to
stabbing a Holden Beach
woman to death in a church
last Wednesday afternoon,
Sheriff Herman Strong
reported.
Howard Dowlass McNeil,
20, was charged with murder
in the brutal death of Mrs.
Jackie Lou Sullivan Webb, 25,
of Rt. 2, Supply in the Sabbath
Home Baptist Church
building. She was stabbed
eight times with a six - inch
pocket knife.
“This is the most senseless
murder I have ever in
vestigated,” said Sheriff
Strong, who reported that no
motive for the crime has
surfaced. “It was the first
time in 22 years of law en
forcement work that I have
investigated a murder in a
church.”
McNeil has been sent to the
state hospital in Raleigh for
School Budget Request Jumps
The Brunswick County
Board of Education will need
$6,981,531 in local funds to
balance their proposed
$9,5%,367 budget for 1976 - 77.
The budget, proposed by
Supt. Ralph King and his
staff, was presented to the
board during a special
meeting Monday night.
The proposed budget is
$2,9%,000 more than the
board received last year,
King told Member William
Sue. Last year, the school
board requested $5,645,000
and received only $3,985,000.
King said the board should
consider the new budget in
light of the request made last
year rather than the amount
received. He said the new
budget is only $1,336,000 more
than last year’s request.
The board spent most of the
meeting Monday night
reviewing the request for
$3,259,963 in current expenses
in the proposed budget. Since
the board will receive
$976,622 in available funds,
the local balance needed will
be $2,283,341.
The board will review the
request for 16,336,404 in the
capital outlay section at the
regular meeting Monday
night. A total of $4,698,190 will
be required in local funds
since the board has $1,638,214
in available funds.
Sue noted that the capital
outlay section includes about
$1.5 million to complete the
Leland Middle School project
and start funding the
proposed new Shallotte
Middle School.
The proposed budget in
cludes a five - percent salary
increase for employees paid
with local funds. But King
said it may have to be in
creased another five percent
if the state grants teachers a
ten - percent pay increase.
Supplements paid in the
county will increase ten
percent in the budget.
King and Associate Supt.
Robert Elkin said they had
been informed that County
Manager Don Flowers, Jr.,
wants the budget May 1 to
begin the review May 15.
Since board members said
they could not complete their
work by May 1, they said they
would have the school budget
to the county by May 15.
Chairman Wilbur Earl
Rabon said it seems like the
board receives new
“demands” from the county
manager and county com
missioners at every meeting.
“I am getting damned tired
of all these demands,” he
declared. "We will meet the
schedule according to law.”
Elkin pointed out that the
new budget includes 13 new
positions in the middle
schools to bring the student -
teacher ratio in line to meet
accrediation requirements of
the Southern Association.
Member Barbara Yount
questioned whether hiring
special teachers — art,
music, etc. — will work to
reduce the regular teacher's
classroom size.
Elkin said it was the
“logical approach to reduce
class size” since the special
teachers will be in charge of
classes. “It will work, I swear
it,” Elkin stated.
The budget includes
$113,000 for instructional
supplies and services for the
13 new teachers.
Per diem for members to
atteiid meetings and con
ventions were being in
creased from $7,000 to $12,000
because the two are being
combined, King told Mrs.
Yount. He said no increase
was involved.
Sue expressed alarm that
(Continued on page 2)
mental observation after
receiving a pre - trial hearing
in District Court in Shallotte
on Friday with Judge Lewis
Sauls presiding. He is being
represented by court - ap
pointed Attorney Ray Walton.
Sheriff Strong said McNeil
confessed after he and
another unidentified con
struction worker had gone to
Greenville to take polygraph
tests. He confessed about 30
hours after the murder was
committed.
Mrs. Webb had gone to the
church Wednesday morning
to feed the kittens of Rev.
Douglas Worley, church
pastor, who was on vacation.
Her body was discovered by
her mother, Mrs. Mercer
Sullivan, about 1:30 Wed
nesday afternoon.
Sheriff Strong said he
“understood that McNeil has
a past juvenile record and
was on probation at the time
of the crime.”
McNeil was employed by
Benton Construction Com
pany of Lumberton, which
was building a parsonage
next to the church. The eight -
man crew had been working
since Monday.
Mrs. Webb, who is a native
of the Supply section of
Brunswick County, was
married to County Sanitation
Inspector Jerry Webb. They
had no children.
According to reports, Mrs.
Webb borrowed her mother’s
car to drive to the church,
which is located only about a
block from her home near the
Tri - Beach Volunteer Fire
Department. She left the key
in the car when she parked it
in front of the church.
She entered the kitchen of
the church and reportedly
found McNeil opening the
refrigerator. When she asked
him what he was doing, he
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