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THE STATE PORT PILOT
Volume 48 Number 15
October 27, 1976
Southport, N. C.
24 Pages Today
10 Cents
*■7 Vhirt.
THE TWISTED WRECKAGE of a small - engine plane lies in the trees
where it came to rest after engine trouble forced the plane down in Columbus
County near Nakina Sunday afternoon. Two Shallotte residents, Glen
Williamson and Gordon Gore, were killed in the crash. A third passenger,
Steve Gbt*e, is hospitalised, reportedly in critical condition. (Kioto by Danny
Sears).
Two Die From
\ V-;-" ' -,»r^ ■ ; ’
Plane Tragedy
By CLARA CARTRETTE
Special To Pilot
Two Shallotte men are dead
and a third is reported in
critical condition as a result
of a small-engine plane crash
near Nakina Sunday af
ternoon.
The three men, who at
tended the American 500 car
races in Rockingham Sun
day, were flying back to
Ocean Isle Beach when the
engine of the Viking Bellanca
Model 17-30A apparently
malfunctioned. The four
passenger plane crashed into
ia wooded area approximately
15 feet from a cut cornfield
just off RPR 1925, two and a
half miles southeast of N.C.
305.
J' Gordon Gore, 36-year-old
Shallotte man, was prounced
'dead on arrival at Columbus
County Hospital.
; Glen Norwood Williamson,
47-year-old pilot and owner of
the plane, was transferred
from the local hospital to New
Hanover Memorial, but was
pronounced dead on arrival.
Steve Gore, 34-year-old
brother of Gordon Gore, was
listed in critical condition
Monday at Columbus County
Hospital.
Coroner Buell Lanier
stated this morning that
results of an autopsy per
formed on Gordon Gore in
Lumberton showed that he
died of multiple injuries,
primarily lacerations of the
liver.
Lanier is not handling
results of Williamson’s in
juries since he was
pronounced dead in New
Hanover County.
Gordon Gore was employed
as a serviceman for Brun
swick Electric Membership
Corporation in Shallotte. He
was an outstanding baseball
pitcher during his high school
days at Shallotte, later
played at Catawba College
and signed a professional
baseball contract.
His brother Steve was also
an outstanding athlete in high
school. He is associated with
Shallotte Ice and Fuel Co. in
Shallotte.
Williamson was a younger
brother of Odell Williamson
of Ocean Isle Beach. It has
been reported that he is a real
estate agent.
A fourth companion, Alton
Milligan of Shallotte, flew to
Rockingham Sunday mor
ning in Williamson’s plane,
but rode home with someone
else after the races ended.
The plane crash is now
under investigation by the
Federal Aviation Ad
ministration. Members of
the County Police, State
(Continued on page 4)
V oters Go To Polls
For Major Election
Brunswick County voters
will go to the polls on Tuesday
to cast ballots for candidates
seeking offices from the
courthouse to the White
House.
The 20 precincts will be open
from 6:30a.m. until 7:30p.m.
to allow voters to cast their
votes for Democrats,
Republicans or other party
candidates seeking public
office.
Voters will mark their
ballots for candidates run
ning for president of the
United States and governor of
North Carolina, as well as
other state, district and
county offices.
The highlight of the election
* in Brunswick County is ex
pected to be the battle bet
ween the Democratic and
Republican parties for
control of the Board of
Commissioners.
Voting tabulators, in
troduced to the voters in the
August primary, will con
tinue to be used. Voters will
mark their selections on
paper ballots, which will be
placed in the tabulator in
their precinct for counting
purposes.
Each voter will be given
four ballots, for presidential,
county and district, state and
judicial races. A total of 34
Individual races will be at
stake on the four ballots.
Executive Secretary Linda
Babson said the vote total for
each of the candidates should
be known within two hours
after the polls close, or
around 9:30 p.m.
“Four, rather than one,
adding machines will be used
to give us the totals much
quicker,” she explained.
Mrs. Babson said she was
hoping more than 60 percent
of the 16,368 registered voters
in the county cast ballots in
the election. She said she was
basing her hope on the fact
that more than 50 percent of
the voters cast ballots in the
August primary.
She said a record number
of absentee ballots will be
cast in the election because
the presidency is being
contested. More than 150
absentee ballots had been
cast a week before the
deadline. Normally, only 50 to
75 absentee ballots are cast.
All five seats on the
Brunswick County Board of
Commissioners will be at
stake for the last time since
staggered terms will go into
effect this election year.
The two candidates
receiving the highest number
of votes in the General
Election will win four-year
terms. The next three highest
will win two-year terms.
Incumbent Willie Sloan, the
only member of the present
board to win re-nomination,
will face Republican William
Kopp, Jr., for the Town Creek
seat. Kopp is a two-term
chairman of the board who
lost to Sloan in 1974.
Yaupon Beach Mayor
Marvin Watson, the
Democrat, and Southport
Alderman J. Harold Davis,
the Republican, are running
for the Smithville seat.
Incumbent Ira Butler, Jr.,
did not seek re-nomination.
Democrat Cletis Clemmons
and Republican Jack Hewett,
who are both seeking election
to public office for the first
time, are running from Lock
wood Folly. Clemmons pulled
a major upset when he
defeated incumbent Chair
man Steve Vamam, Jr., in
the second primary in Sep
tember. Hewett had no op
position for his party
nomination.
In Shallotte Township,
William A. Stanley, Jr., /ho
finished fifth in the Democrat
primary, faces Republican
Larry Andrews. Andrews
was nominated without op
position. Incumbent W.T.
Russ, Jr. did not seek re
nomination.
Democrat Pearly Vereen,
who topped the ticket in the
August party primary, and
Republican Vardell Hughes,
a former four-year board
member who lost his seat in
1974, will battle to represent
Waccamaw Township.
Waccamaw has not had
representation on the board
for the past two years.
Two county offices —
Register of Deeds and
Coroner — also will be at
stake in the General Election.
Incumbent Arthur Knox,
the only Republican office
holder in the county, will face
Democrat William Gaither
for Register of Deeds. Knox
has served four years as
Register of Deeds while
Gaither is employed n the
county Tax Supervisor's
office.
Coroner Thomas E,,
(Continued on page 2) >
Hamlett Has Support;
* 5s
■
Town Silent On Firing
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
After numerous emotional
appeals, no official action
was taken concerning the
recent firing of Police Chief
James Hamlett during the
regular monthly meeting of
the Long Beach of Com
missioners last Wednesday
night.
Five citizens, who had then
names placed on the agenda
of the meeting, requested
that they be told why Hamlett
was fired by Town Manager
John Berry. Their statements
All Tax Bills Except
Smithville Are Mailed 5
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
All tax bills — with the
exception of Smithville
Township — have finally been
mailed to Brunswick County
property owners.
County Tax Supervisor
K.T. Bellamy said the tax
bills for the last township,
Shallotte, were placed in the
mail on Tuesday. “We were
ready to mail the Shallotte
bills on Monday, but the post
office was closed because of
the federal (Veteran’s Day)
holiday,” he added.
Bellamy said it has not
been determined when the
Smithville tax bills will be
mailed. He said he was
waiting on County Manager
Don Flowers, Jr., to provide
the information.
Flowers said the hold - up
with the Smithville tax
notices involves the hospital
referendum and the court
case. He expressed the
opinion that the bills would be
mailed ‘soon.”
“We are checking with the
Institute of Government and
various county officials to
determine the exact status of
billing the extra four cents
(hospital tax),” Flowers
stated.
Bellamy said he had hoped
that the tax bills could have
been sent out much earlier
this year.
"They could have been sent
out in August if they had been
printed,” he declared. “But I
don’t know why they were not
printed on time. You will
have to ask someone else
about that.”
County Finance Officer
Regina McKeithan, who is in
charge of the Computer
Department where the tax
notices are printed, refused
to take the blame.
“They were not ready in
August, but I will not debate
the point or blame anyone
about whose fault it is,” Mrs.
McKeithan stated. “Anytime
you point one finger, there
are always three fingers on
your hand pointing back at
you.”
Bellamy said it was true
that the Lockwood Folly tax
notices were printed twice.
They had to be reprinted
because the hospital tax was
(Continued on page 5)
in support of Hamlett were
greeted by loud applause by
the overflow crowd gathered
at the meeting.
Town Attorney James
Prevatte, Jr., told com
missioners and citizens that
personnel information, in
cluding the reasons Hamlett
was discharged, could not be
made public under law.
Hamlett, who was at the
meeting, made a statement
at the end of the discussion.
“I will be leaving the island
next week if you fellows don’t
do something, and try to
pursue a career in law en
forcement,” Hamlett stated.
“I want you to know, deep
down in my heart, that all I
tried to give you was a good
Police Department.”
Attorney Carter Lambeth,
representing Hamlett, said
that under the Long Beach
charter the town manager
had the authority to fire
Hamlett without board ap
proval.
He said that the only appeal
Hamlett had was to the town
board since it has been ruled
that courts can’t hear such
cases.
Lambeth requested that the
board either take action to
have Hamlett rehired or
replace Berry with a town
manager who will rehire the
former police chief.
But the board took no ac
tion and did not discuss the
matter during the meeting. In
fact, Mayor Harold Crain was
the only board member who
made a public statement on
the subject during the
meeting.
In his statement, Mayor
Crain made an appeal that
citizens stop fighting among
themselves “and pull
together to make our town a
better place in which to live, a
town to which people will
want to make their per
manent residence upon their
retirement, a town in which
all of us may take pride, and
a town in which our in
vestments will flourish and
not wither away.”
“I urge you,” Mayor Crain
continued, “not to go back to
the old ways, but to continue
to go forward in a manner
that will be productive and
not counter-productive, in a
manner that will make us all
feel a justifiable pride in our
community.”
Mayor Crain expressed
concern in his statement
about the emotions raised
over the firing of Hamlett.
Most of the citizens left the
meeting room after making
the appeals to rehire
Hamlett. The board was
conducting other business
when Mrs. John Dorsett, wife
of the SBI agent assigned to
Brunswick County, returned
to the meeting with a sign
reading “Re-Instate Our
Police Chief.”
When he saw it, Mayor
Crain ordered the sign
removed from the room. He
(Continued on page 2) ;
jrgl " ' ' * ' - v: • *
I Long Beach Water Plan Foiled By State Agency !
I.
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The proposed new Long
Beach water system faces a
long delay because it has
been turned down by a state
reviewing agency.
Mayor Harold Crain, who
made the announcement
during the regular monthly
meeting of the Long Beach
town board Wednesday night,
called the denial “a
staggering blow.”
“This disapproval is a
staggering blow because it
would take from 18 months to
two years to have such a
sewerage plan ready with
public hearing held, bond
issue approved and all the
other many things to be done
put in the shape the depar
tment is asking for,” Mayor
Crain declared.
While the planning work is
being done, Mayor Crain said
the “cost of the water system
would undoubtedly soar,
probably necessitating new
hearings and new bond issue
approval. Besides the delay
involved, the cost of water to
each user would be greatly
increased.”
The Water Quality Section
of the Division of Environ
mental Management of
DNER, one of the reviewing
agencies, issued the “denial
of certification of compliance
with water quality stands. ”
“The agency withholds
certification of the proposed
project until the Town of
Long Beach has an approved
201 Plan for sewerage
facilities and has arranged
the financing of the local
share of the sewerage
facilities project cost,” L.P.
Benton, Jr., chief, Water
Quality section, told Long
Beach Town Manager John
Berty in a letter. “Upon
meeting these conditions, the
town may re-apply for cer
tification for the proposed
project.”
Benton said in the letter
that his section reveiwed the
water system project and
determined that “the in
stallation of additional water
lines in Long Beach will
encourage additional
development in an area
sensitive to inadequately
constructed and located
waste-water disposal
systems.”
“This increased
development will result in
violations of the water quality
standards applicable to the
surface waters of North
Carolina in the Long Beach
area,” he stated.
Benton said it would be
impossible for his section to
certify that the new water
system will not violate water
quality standards.
‘‘On the contrary, this
agency would have to certify
that the proposed im
provements would result in
future violations of water
quality standards unless
adequate preventive
measures were initiated by
the town,” he declared.
After reviewing the denial,
the board instructed Mayor
Crain, Berry and Town
Attorney James Prevatte,
Jr., to make a trip to Raleigh
to see what can be done.
Berry told the board he had
already held discussions with
County Manager Don
Flowers, Jr., the county
Planning Department and
Pierson-Whitman, the
engineering firm working on
the project. He said there has
been some talk of extending
the western Brunswick area
201 Study to Long Beach.
Commissioner Ellis Dudley
called the state agency
rejection “a political football
and we are the victims of it.”
He pointed out that the
Long Beach board approved
a resolution at a meeting held
in September, 1974 to be the
lead agency on a 201 Study on
Oak Island. Earlier this year,
Dudley said the board ap
proved another resolution to
have Southport to the lead
agency for a 201 Study to
Long Beach.
Commissioner Ellis Dudley
called the state agency
rejection “a political football
and we are the victims of it."
He pointed out that the
Long Beach board approved
a resolution at a meeting held
in September, 1974 to be the
lead agency on a 201 Study on
Oak Island. Earlier this year)
Dudley said the board ap
proved another resolution to
have Southport be the lead
agency for a 201 Study in
Smithville Township.
Mayor Crain said he found
it strange that the need for a
sewage program never came
up when the board spent
hours this summer reviewing
the proposed water system
with Pierson-Whitman and
FHA officials. Berry said it
appeared during the meeting
that everything was on
(Continued on page 2)