THE STATE PORT PILOT
7^6-l9le
Volume 48 Number 22
December 15, 1976
Southport, N. C.
20 Pages Today
10 Cents
WORK IS PROGRESSING, but slowly, on a playground for children a
Southport Primary School because volunteer labor has been in short supply
But two faithful workers, Faith Birkhead and Bob Phillips, were on han<
Saturday morning to lend their help to the project. Ms. Birkhead said anyone
interested in helping should be at the site behind the primary schoo
Saturday morning at 10 o’clock.
ByEDHARPER
There was a variety of
opinion expressed during a
Monday night public hearing
about Southport annexation,
but the most forceful was
from Pfizer, Inc., which said
it would oppose the city plan
“to the full extent available.”
Plant Manager Stanley
Ensminger said that if South
port attempts to annex
Pfizer, corporation lawyers
“will file the necessary
petitions in court to set it
aside.”
While Pfizer’s objection
was the most strongly wor
ded, most other individuals
and businesses outside the
city limits made it clear they
did not want to be a part of
Southport property. The ex
ceptions were Wilson’s
Supermarket and Waccamaw
Bank, Sawdust Trail
businesses that indicated
they would benefit from
annexation.
Several residents from
t inside the present city limits
favored expansion of South
j port boundaries, but not all
supported the annexation of
! the CP&L and Pfizer plants.
1 Mayor Eugene B.
Tomlinson, Jr., who
Stephenson Tells Chamber
Cooperation By Groups
Would Increase Tourism
A working relationship
between the Southport-Oak
Island and Western Brun
swick County areas was the
keynote of an address
Tuesday nigh to the Southport
- Oak Island Chamber of
Commerce.
Jackie Stephenson,
exeuctive director of the
Rescources Development
Commission for Brunswick
County, noted that “com
petition is great, but
cooperation is better.”
Stephenson, guest speaker
at the Southport-Oak Island
chamber’s first annual
dinner meeting, urged that
the chambers “investigate
the possibility of periodic
joint meetings” of the two
groups. Tony McGowan,
executive director of the
South Brunswick Islands
Chamber of Commerce, was
a special guest at the
Tuesday night meeting, held
at the Harbour House
Restaurant in Long Beach.
Morris Ferrell, a Long
Beach realtor, was
recognized as new president,
replacing John Barbee, who
Power Off
Electric power to the City
of Southport will be off
Sunday from 6:30 a.m. until
approximately 9 a.m.
“This interruption is
necessary due to main
tenance required at the CP&L
and city sub-station,” a
notice from City Manager
Alvin Kornegay, Jr., read.
served in the chamber’s first
year of operation. Named to
the board of directors were
James Broadway, Inez
Shannon and Troy Davis
from Oak Island; and Ben
Blake and Mike Page from
Southport.
Stephenson, in his speech to
approximately 50 persons at
the dinner, said he is pleaded
thus far with cooperation
‘Miss Brunswick County’
Paseant Slated Feb. 5
The Miss Brunswick County Pageant, spon
sored by the Shallotte Jaycees, will be held
February 5 in the auditorium of Shallotte Middle
School.
An added attraction this year will be a “Little
Miss” pageant for young ladies 6,7 and 8 years of
age. For further information concerning this
feature of the program, parents should contact
Pageant Chairman Malcolm Long at 287-6360,
Shallotte.
Applications now are being received, and this
week Chairman Long has visited the high schools
of Brunswick County to issue an invitation for
eligible girls to enter this year’s event.
Entrants must comply with the following
regulations of eligibility:
Each entrant must be single and never
married, divorced or had a marriage annulled.
The entrant must be a high school graduate by
September, 1977. The entrant’s age on Sep
tember 1 shall not be less than 18 nor more than
28 years.
The entrant must be of good character and
possess poise, personality, intelligence, charm
and beauty of face and figure. The entrant must
perform a three-minute talent routine. This
talent may be singing, dancing, playing a
musical instrument, dramatic reading, art
display, dress designing, etc., or she may give a
three-minute talk on the career she wishes to
pursue.
between the two chambers.
One major project is
recommending use for $10,000
in advertising money ($5,000
from the state in the form of
a grant, $5,000 in local
matching funds paid by the
county Resources
Development Commission).
The RDC director said
billboards are favored,
probably along US 17 to at
tract the north-south traffic.
The two greatest “needs”
of the area to attract tourists,
Stephenson said, are a major
clean-up effort involving
roadside debris, junkyards
and unattractive billboards
or signs; and a major im
provement in ac
commodations, including
restaurants.
He outlined development of
Brunswick County tourism
into a $7.5 million a year
business, but said he was
disappointed that the county
only spent $5,000 last year in
advertising.
“We should have spent
$50,000,” he said, even as
much as one percent, which
would have been $75,000.
In his speech, Stephenson
said travel has remained
basically the same through
history, the major change
being “mobility ” of the
traveler. He said travel had
always been “accepted
rather nonchalantly,” and
only in recent years has it
been looked on as a business.
He said North Carolina
shows a net gain in tourism
(more coming to the state
than leaving), but there is
net lose in business and
convention trade because
these tourists are attracted
Continued on page 2
moderated the public heaing,
told the packed Aldermen
meeting room audience and
others in the hallway that
annexation has been con
sidered by city ad
ministrations since 1968. He
said a committee was ap
pointed in early 1975 and their
work “has not been kept a
secret.” The committee gave
its report in October,
recommending the an
nexation of about 4,000 acres
of land that would include the
two plants, values of which
total approximately
$600,000,000.
“At this state, all the Bo
ard of Aldermen has done is
call a public hearing,” said
Mayor Tomlinson, explaining
that the city could annex less
area than proposed, but not
more. He said a decision
would be made in early
January and he was sure
board members would
display “a high degree of
personal integrity” in the
matter.
“This is not a public debate
session,” the mayor said of
the hearing. “It is for input,
and input only.”
Tomlinson was the first to
speak, outlining cost benefits
to residents who would be
annexed. A resident with
$25,000 property and $20,000
insurance coverage on that
property would pay $293.80
outside town for the same
services that would cost
$259.40 inside the city limits,
even if the tax rate stayed at
its present 50-cent level.
Businesses would benefit
Long Beach System
Receives State Okay
The proposed Long Beach water
system has been approved by the
state.
Chief L.P. Benton, Jr., of the
Water Quality Section of the
Department of Natural and
Economic Resources made the
announcement in a letter sent to
Long Beach Town Manager John
Berry.
• Benton said he could provide the
required “certification of com
pliance since the Quarter Quality
Section has been provided with
adequate assurance that the
proposed project will not result in
the addition of significant quantities
of pollution to the surface waters of
the area.
“The Water Quality Section,
therefore, certifies to any ap
propriate federal agency that the
project will not result in the
discharge of pollution to the surface
waters of the state in such quantities
as to violate water quality standards
provided that the ordinance, entitled
‘An Ordinance to Establish
Preventive Measures of the
Pollution of Surface Waters by
Septic Tank Systems in the Town of
Long Beach,’ remains in full force
and effect and so long as the town
continues to pursue the construction
of wastewater collection and
disposal facilities through the 201 or
other planning processes,” Benton
stated.
The Long Beach Board of Com
missioners was expected to discuss
the next step to construct the water
system, which was approved by
voters last summer, during the
regular monthly meeting Wed
Continued on page 2
from lower insurance rates,
the mayor noted.
Ensminger, who pointed
out that the Pfizer plant was
located “near Southport,”
said the property contains
1,300 acres but only 134 is
used for industrial purposes.
He said “the courts have
held” that land must be used
Continued on page 10
Youth Bitten
By Rabid Bat
A confirmed case of rabies
has been reported at South
port Primary School.
Col Marion Burn, the
principal, told The Pilot that
a five-year-old youngster was
playing near a wooded area
and was “scratched all over
his arm” by a bat. Other
children killed the bat, and
the injured boy was taken to
the emergency room of
Dosher Memorial Hospital.
Burn said the bat was sent
to the Brunswick County Dog
Pound, and from there to
Raleigh for examination.
Monday, the results were
returned and indicated
rabies. The child must un
dergo a 14-shot treatment to
combat the effect of the
disease.
Burn said he has been
unable to determine exactly
how the child was bitten, but
said the bat apparently was
on the ground and was easily
approached.
The principal said animals
carrying rabies act “just like
a man when he’s drunk” —
doing things it would not
ordinarily do.
Burn said employees of the
county animal control section
are at the school and will
remain for ten days to inspect
the area.
Court Will Decide If
Appeal 6Timely Made9
By ED HARPER
Brunswick County apd
other defendants will ask the
court to dismiss the appeal of
Judge Henry McKinnon’s
decision in the Smithville
Township hospital tax
lawsuit.
The defendants claim that
time expired before notice of
appeal was filed, but one man
in apparent disagreement is
Judge McKinnon himself,
who signed a statement on
the bottom of the appeal that
it was "timely made.”
James R. Prevatte, Jr.,
since replaced as county
attorney but retained to
defend this lawsuit, said the
plaintiffs’ appeal was not
filed according to the
requirements of Rule 3 of the
North Carolina Rules of
Appellate Procedure. He said
Judge McKinnon entered
judgment on November 24
and since the plaintiffs did
not give an oral notice of
appeal they had only ten days
to file an appeal with the
Clerk of Superior Court of
Brunswick County.
The time expired at 5 p.m.
on Monday, Dec. 6, Prevatte
said.
According to the motion to
dismiss the appeal filed
Thursday by Prevatte,
arguments by the plaintiffs
and defendants were heard
November 22, and Judge
McKinnon announced he
would render a decision on
Wednesday, Nov. 24.
On November 24 in open
Bank Robber
Is At-Large
Sheriff Strong called The
Pilot just before presstime
and identified the suspect
as Curt Galloway of South
port. Positive identification
has been made, he said,
and officers are searching for
Galloway and an un-named
accomplice.
Law enforcement officers
are busy following leads after
a 9:40 a.m. Tuesday robbery
of the Waccamaw Bank office
in Bolivia.
Sheriff Herman Strong said
officers are searching for a
black male with light com
plexion, about 26 years of
age, six-feet, four-inches tall
and weighing 200 poinds. The
suspect was wearing a denim
material jacket designed in
squares, green fatigue-type
trousers and dirty, gold
colored basketball shoes.
"He’s an athlete,” Strong
said after describing how the
suspect leaped over the
tellers’ counter, and the
lengthy strides he took while
fleeing the scene.
The suspect was carrying
an automatic pistol in the
hold-up, the sheriff noted.
Strong said law officers
reviewed films of the masked
robber Tuesday afternoon
during a staff conference in
Southport, then left to trace
Continued on page 2
court, Judge McKinnon
granted the defendants’
(Brunswick County) and the
intervenor defendants’
(Dosher trustees, the City of
Southport and individuals)
motion for summary
judgment and denied all the
plaintiffs’ claims for relief.
Pursuant to Rule 58 of the
North Carolina Rules of Civil
Procedure, Prevatte said.
Judge McKinnon directed the
defense attorney to prepare
the judgement for submission
to him for approval of its
form. “Pursuant to Rule 58 of
the North Carolina Rules of
Civil Procedure, entry of
judgement took place on
November 24, 1976, in open
court, ... plaintiffs did not
give oral notice of appeal as
allowed by Rule 3(a) (1) of
the North Carolina Rules of
Appellate Procedure. ’ ’
According to Prevatte’s
motion, “as plaintiffs did not
give oral notice of appeal at
trial as allowed by Rule
3(a)(1), plaintiffs, according
to Rule 3(a)(2) of the North
Carolina Rules of Appellate
Procedure, then only had ten
days from the entry of
judgement on November 24,
1976, to file an appeal herein
Continued on page 2