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THE STATE PORT PILOT
Volume 48 Number 21
December 8m 1976
Southport, N. C.
22 Pages Today 10 Cents
Early Fighting On
Deeds Office Pay
By BILL ALLEN
Proposed severence and
salaries to be paid in the
Register of Deeds office
came under attack during a
meeting of the Brunswick
County commissioners on
Tuesday afternoon.
Register of Deeds William
(Billy) Gaither requested a
budget amendment of
$3,156,05 to use for severence
pay for discharged em
ployees in the office.
Commissioner Marvin
Watson voiced strong op
position to paying $3,156.05 in
severence pay. “I don’t want
to spend the taxpayers’
money that way,” he
declared.
¥„■ k ■ ' ■ ' ;V.
Watson proposed that the
three employees work out
their two - weeks’ notice in
order for the county to avoid
paying most of the severance.
“The fact remains that the
transition could have been
made without costing the
county a dime,” Watson
declared.
Watson said he would be
glad to explain in private to
Gaither how it can be done
without costing extra tax
money.
Gaither said Emily
McKeithan is due $2,304.96 in
vacation and sick pay while
Shirley Frazier is due $672.24
and Brenda Mercer $178.85.
All were dismissed on
Monday by Gaither.
Commissioners also ex
pressed alarm about some of
the salaries Gaither plans to
pay his new employees in the
office.
Faye Dickerson, who has
worked in the office two years
in the past, would receive
$9,545. Mrs. McKeithan was
making $9,988 after being
with the office almost 16
years.
Gaither said he wanted to
pay Clerk Peggy Clark, who
has worked in the office eight
years in the past, $7,626. Mrs.
Frazier was making $7,282 at
the time after almost four
years on the job.
Marlene Moyer, who has nd
experience in the office, is
proposed to receive $6,642,
the same salary Miss Mercer
was making after more than
two years on the job.
Gaither told the board he
set the salaries on the basis of
qualifications. In addition, he
said they would only have
four years or less to work on
the job.
County Manager Don
Flowers, Jr., questioned why
the new employees were not
starting in step one in their
salary bracket. Mrs.
Dickerson is at step five, Mrs.
Clark at step three and Mrs.
Moyer at step two.
Chairman Cletis Clemmons
pointed out that Mrs.
Dickerson would be making
Continued on page 2
School Fund Balance
; ‘Goodj9 Says Auditor
By ED HARPER
The Board of Education has
been told it should keep a
# sizeable fund balance
because of the way funds are
provided by the county.
Auditor Francis Smith of
Fred A. Turlington and
Associates of Tarboro said a
a? $771,000 balance “may look
good — even excessive — but
the way the county is funding
the Board of Education, it’s
not.”
Smith, pointing out the
large balance at the end of
last fiscal year, said the
county has not been funding
the Board of Education until
November. At the end of
October, he said, “there’s not
a lot of money in the bank.”
Smith, whose audit report
was accepted by the board,
also said the school food
service program is operating
“about as near to break -
even as it can,” taking in only
$300 more than was spent
during the fiscal year that
ended June 30.
In the individual sehool
audit reports, Smith said
bookkeeping “keeps getting
better in general,” but it
depends to a large degree on
the individual keeping the
books. He said the most
common problems is
securing invoices, but said he
made notations of anything
SiuM&s- ,.
that was not exact.
“I’m a little bit picky on the
schools,” Smith told mem
bers of the Board of
Education.
The board did not review in
detail audit reports of nine
federal programs after Smith
said nothing out of the or
dinary had been found.
Chamber Annual Meeting
The annual dinner meeting of the Southport
Oak Island Chamber of Commerce will be held
Tuesday night, starting at 7 o’clock at the Har
bour House Restaurant, Long Beach.
Jackie Stephenson, director of the county
Resources Development Commission, will be
among the speakers at the Dutch dinner, to
which members — and prospective members —
and their families are invited.
Morris Ferrell is the president-elect, replacing
John Barbee, who served during the Chamber’s
first year of operation. Plans and goals for the
coming year will be discussed at the Tuesday
dinner.
The board spent 45 minutes
in executive session with
school board attorney Bud
Powell and attorneys Jimmy
Barnhill and Keith Vaughan
of the Womble, Carlyle,
Sandridge and Rice law firm
of Winston - Salem. The firm
has been retained by the
Board of Education in the
lawsuit to recover the cost of
re-roofing the three high
schools, which have ex
perienced leaks.
After hearing reports of
disruption — “violence” — at
games involving South and
West Brunswick high schools,
Supt. Ralph King said the
board “might need to re - look
at our athletic program.”
Chairman Wilbur Earl Rabon
said he would “rather see
athletics suspended than
have some body killed.”
Rabon said if coaches and
other school officials could
not control their teams the
board would consider
suspending athletic events
Continued on page 2
Question Lingers About
Appeal Of Hospital Tax
The question of whether the deadline has
passed without an appeal being filed in the
hospital tax case has been raised. Clerk of Court
Jack Brown said it has passed; the attorney for
the plaintiff said it has not.
‘ ‘The appeal would have had to be in this office
and filed before 5 p.m. on Monday afternoon,”
Brown declared.
He said he sat and waited until past the 5
o’clock deadline because he wanted to be sure
the plaintiffs had an opportunity to file an ap
peal.
However, Harley Evans of Supply, one of the
six plaintiffs in the case, told The Pilot that an
appeal had been made.
Evans said he was told by his attorney, J.B.
Lee of Whiteville, that he contacted Superior
Court Judge Henry McKinnon in Whiteville on
Monday afternoon to give notice of appeal.
He said that if Lee failed for some reason to
give notice to appeal in the case, he would
$)
strongly consider bringing a lawsuit against his
attorney.
But Lee, contacted Wednesday morning by
The Pilot, said he had indeed discussed the
matter with Judge McKinnon and was satisfied
he still had time to appeal.
“Somebody had better read some law,” he
said.
According to Lee, the ten days allowed for
appeal begins when the judge signs the court
order, which Judge McKinnon reportedly did on
December 2. Lee said Notice of appeal was “in
the mail” to the Clerk of Court’s office.
The Whiteville attorney said he discussed the
matter with Judge McKinnon after his client,
Evans, was “upset” by Brown’s announcement
that the time limit would expire Monday af
ternoon. Lee assured The Pilot that time had not
passed. “You can put that in your book,” Lee
Continued on page 6
SIGNING OATHS OF OFFICE after being
sworn-in Monday morning by Chief District
Judge Frank Grady, newly-elected county
officers assume their new duties. Here, Coroner
Tommy Gilbert fills out the proper form, while
Commissioner Bill Stanley waits at Gilbert’s left
for his turn.
*
Bellamy Leaves Office,
By BILL ALLEN
Brunswick County Tax
Supervisor K.T. Bellamy
resigned under pressure his
position in county govern
ment on Tuesday.
County Attorney John
Hughes read Bellamy’s letter
of resignation during' a
meeting of the Brunswick
County commissioners on
Tuesday afternoon.
Bellamy denied any
wrongdoing in connection
with the value reductions
received by Odell William
son. He said any valuation
reductions granted were done
under the “direction, . ap
proval and instruction” of the
old board.
indue uu v.-i' nilieni
despite the fact he ai.te~deci
two executive sessions with
the commissioners on
Tuesday. After the letter of
resignation was read, at
torney Henry Foy indicated
that Bellamy may make a
statement at a later time.
Chairman Cletis Clemmons
announced that the board
would hold another meeting
on Wednesday morning to
name Bellamy's successor.
Although Bellamy’s
resignation is effective
January 17, Chairman
Clemmons said his last day in
the office was Tuesday. After
the meeting, Bellamy and
associates were seen in his
office packing up his pick - up
truck.
Bellamy, who will not be in
the office, will stay on the
payroll until January 17 to
draw his accumulated
vacation pay and two weeks
severence, and complete
work ont he State Tax
Commission ruling
requirements. He has been
making $15,867 a year.
Bellamy has been a center
of controversy during the 21
months he has held the
position. The latest con
troversy involved valuation
reductions received by Ocean
Isle Beach developer
Williamson.
Bellamy denied in his letter
of resignation that he had
given any “unilateral” tax
reductions to Williamson.
"If Mr. Williamson
received any adjustments to
his property valuations, it
was not done unilaterally by
me, but under the direction of
and with the approval of the
Board of Equalization and
Review,” the statement said.
“In accordance with in
structions given me by the
previous board of county
commissioners, the property
of developer Odell
Williamson received the
same treatment as other
development property.”
Acting Tax Supervisor
Eldridge Hickman of Hickman’s Crossroads
was named acting Tax Supervisor by the county
Board of Commissioners Wednesday
morning.
The vote was unanimous except that Com
missioner Willie Sloan abstained. He said he had
met Hickman for the first time today, and
questioned whether an experienced person
should not be named.
Following the vote, commissioners toured the
tax office and returned for a “personnel”
executive session. They were still meeting at
presstime.
Bellamy said he was
resigning because it was
“obvious” at the meeting on
Monday that the com
missioners wanted a new tax
supervisor.
“My continued em
ployment by Brunswick
County under these cir
cumstances can lead to
strained relations which, in
my opinion, may result in a
situation detrimental to
Brunswick County govern
ment and the county as a
whole,” the letter said. “This
cannot be.”
Bellamy said he needed
until January 17 to complete
work on the order by the State
Tax Commission to revalue
the property owned by
Williamson. Although the
work has been completed, he
said the additional time is
Continued on page 3 -
Matter Of Annexation ]
To Be Heard Monday I
The public hearing to consider
extending the Southport city limits
will be held Monday night at 7:30
p.m. at City Hall.
Mayor E.B. Tomlinson, Jr., has
already announced that the South
port Board of Aldermen will make
no decision on the night of the
hearing.
Under law, Mayor Tomlinson has
said, the town can’t act on an
nexation until seven days after the
hearing. The board then has 60 days
to act on the question.
Officials of both the Brunswick
nuclear plant and Pfizer, Inc., which
would be taken into the city if the
proposal is approved, have
announced opposition to annexation.
They said the city has nothing to
offer the two industrial facilities.
“Thus the result of annexation
would be that Southport, through
taxation, would charge the Brun
swick plant for services the plant
does not need and cannot use,” said
President Shearon Harris of;
Carolina Power & Light Company;
the owner of the nuclear plant. i
Plant manager Stanley En^f:
sminger of Pfizer, Inc., has said the
proposal would saddle the plant with
heavy new taxes while contributing
very little benefit to the company or
to the residents of the area that
would be annexed.
The city had originally planned to
hold the public hearing oij
November 22. But the date has to bd
changed to December 13 because the
city did not meet the legal
requirements to hold the hearing ill
November.
Wilmington attorney John Newton
has been hired to represent the city
in the annexation matter. City at
torney Carter Lambeth said he could
not hold the position due to a possible
conflict of interest since he
represents both the city and Pfizer.
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