| August 31, 1994
| VOLUME 64/ NUMBER 1SOUTHPORT, N.C. 50 CENTS 1
The Cougars look for their
first win of the season
against East Duplin - 11B
yIJJJ J ' '"'.I HIM J . .....
Our Town
6i*..r,,-.—
Southport must first
‘consider’ annexation, part
of lengthy process — page 2
j Neighbors
Foster parents provide a
worthwhile service, and gain
^ satisfaction as well — IB
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for cooler
weather for the Labor Day weekend.
Thursday, expect highs in the 80s under
cloudy skies. The Friday and Saturday
forecast anticipates partly cloudy skies
with highs near 80 degrees and lows in the
60s.
The Stcrt© Port Pilot
&Pilot Line
THE TALKING NEWSPAPER
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
4:46 a.m. 11:01a.m.
5:19 p.m. 11:45 p.m.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
5:42 a.m. 11:55 a.m.
6:10 p.m. -p.m.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3
6:34 a.m. 12:34 a.m.
6:58 p.m. 12:46 p.m.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4
7:23 a.m. 1:20 a.m.
7:44 p.m. 1:35 p.m.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5
8:11a.m. 2:04 a.m.
8:29 p.m. 2:23 p.m.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6
8:58 a.m. 2:47 a.m.
9:14p.m. 3:10p.m.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
9:46 a.m. 3:31a.m.
10:01p.m. 3:59 p.m.
The following adjustments should be made:
Bald Head Island, high -10, low -7; Caswell
Beach, high -5, low -1; Southport, high +7,
low +15; Yaupon Beach, high -32, low -45;
Lockwood Folly Inlet, high -22, low -8.
Schools
hearing
delayed
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
A hearing that will determine whether
the Brunswick County school system re
ceives a $ 14-million jury award has been
postponed until Thursday, September 1.
County attorney Mike Ramos requested
the delay Monday, and told SuperiorCourt
judge Jack Thompson he had reached a
mutual agreement to postpone the hearing
with school board attorney Glen Peterson.
The request came as a result of the death
of Peterson's father on Friday.
Autopsy reports indicate Henry Oscar
Peterson, 78, died of a heart attack. Three
days prior to his death, Henry Peterson
was tied up in his home on Mt. Misery
Road by two men wearing ski masks,
beaten severely and robbed, according to
a Brunswick County Sheriffs Department
report. No arrests have yet been made in
the case.
Capt. Phil Perry said he did not believe
the robbery led to or hastened Henry
See Schools, page 6
PRESSING MATTERS
Photo by Jim Harper
After 38 years of service to their customers, Lorenzo and ment. The business was started in the late 1930s by Lorenzo’s '
Margie Clemmons closed HiWay Cleaners for their retire- father, one of the best-met men in Brunswick County.
HiWay Cleaners is a part
of the fabric of our history
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Southport loses one of its institutions this week.
It's a place as comfortable as a freshly pressed pair of pants, as
crisp as a newly starched shirt.
After 38 years of warm smiles, easy and familiar conversation
and a quality of service neighbors came to take for granted.
Lorenzo and Margie Clemmons closed
HiWay Cleaners for their retirement. The
business and its owners will be missed.
"It's kind of sad in a way," Lorenzo
Clemmons said Thursday as he and Margie
stood by, waiting for the last plastic
wrapped and neatly hung parcels of laun
dry to be picked up. "Your customers are
your business. Without your customers
you have no business. I've had some real
good customers over the years. That's one
of the reasons I hate to close up."
"We were like family," Margie said,
describing the Clemmons'relationship with
their customers.
Closing the family business which has sustained three genera
tions of Clemmonses is an emotional experience for Lorenzo and
Margie, but the time is right in their lives.
"I'm going fishing," Lorenzo, 65, said. "All this water around
here and I know God intended for somebody to fish in it."
This landmark business on Howe Street has a venerable history,
the roots of which were formed in 1932 by Lorenzo's father, the late
Dexter Clemmons, as popular a man as any Southport has ever
known.
Bom in 1907 to Alan and Sarah Clemmons in a home on West
11th Street, Dexter Clemmons spent his entire life in the laundry
business. In 1932, at the age of 25, Dexter Clemmons opened his
tirst laundry at the comer ot Howe ana
Brown streets. Fire destroyed that build
ing some three years later.
For the next several years, Dexter
Clemmons worked for others in South
port laundry businesses, first for Carrey
Reece and Harold St. George in a Moore
Street building next door to what is now
the Pharmacy restaurant.
When that business closed, Dexter
Clemmons went to work for Pierce
Cramner at a laundry on West West Street,
behind the lot on which First Citizens
Bank now sits.
Ana, wnen inai ousiness enaea in me
early 1940s, Dexter Clemmons set out on his own again, starting his
laundry business in a small wooden building on a lot between the
Southport Motel and the present-day HiWay Cleaners building. He
See Cleaners, page 8
'‘It’s- been a wonderful
experience. It’s had its
ups and downs, but I’ve
enjoyed it. I figure it
must have been my call
ing.’
Brunswick
SAT scores
fall sharply
'Obviously we're missing
the mark somewhere'
Jan Calhoun
Assistant superintendent
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Brunswick County school officials blame a
30-point drop in this year's Scholastic Aptitude
Test (SAT) scores on the low priorities given
education and rigorous academic study by both
students and parents.
"This is another indicator that there must be
an increased emphasis on academ ics." declared
superintendent of schools Ralph Johnston.
"Moreof our students must take more academic
courses that are rigorous, challenging and
tougher."
Graduating Brunswick County seniors who
took the SAT this year scored an average of 776
points, compared to last year's average score of
806. The highest total score possible is 1,600
points, while students who merely sign their
names on the test earn 400 points.
North Carolina ranked 48th among the 50
states and the District of Columbia with an
average score of 860. The national averuuc was
902.
Although SAT scores are widely used to
measure, the success of educational systems
across the country, Johnston said he does not
believe SAT scores alone provide a complete
picture of the quality of education.
"Staff and administrators continue to believe
that our students are getting a better education
than the SAT scores indicate," he said.
The keys to improving SAT scores are com
plex and the changes required must begin at the
kindergarten level, said Jan Calhoun, assistant
superintendent for instructional services.
Right from the beginning, he said, it must be
made clear to students that their goal should be
to pursue a higher education.
"I'm not sure we know why our kids score so
low,” Calhoun said. "Part of it is that higher
education is not a primary goal of a lot of our
students, and that has to change. It's going to be
a matter of changing attitudes and beliefs."
Calhoun noted that school districts in which
parents have higher levels of education tend to
have higher average SAT scores among the
students. For example. Chapel Hill had the
highest scores in the state, with an average of
1,026 points.
And, he said, 89 percent of the graduating
seniors in Chapel Hill took the test, compared
to 39 percent in Brunswick County.
"We need to begin with the parents, and teach
them to emphasize education and academic
learning," Calhoun said. "It's going to take
years and years of work."
Calhoun conceded that the school system
See SAT scores, page 6
Comparisons
by schools, race;
sex - page 6
Pogey policy will be left to towns, fishermen
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Without even discussing the petitions of six Brunswick County beach
towns, the N. C. Marine Fisheries Commission Saturday ordered the forma
tion of a committee to hammer-out an agreement between the municipalities
and three menhaden Ashing companies which work local waters.
Spurred on by the Town of Long Beach, municipal spokesmen have said
they are tired of seeing their beaches littered with menhaden spills as the
Ashing companies deny culpability. The Ashing companies say if they are
forced beyond the breaker line of the oceanfront their industry will be ruined.
The committee is to have its Arst meeting September 21 at Brunswick
Community College. Long Beach mayor Joan Altman says the agreement
may be all the towns can hope for now, but it's not quite good enough.
"I feel it's probably the most reasonable outcome," Altman said Monday.
"However, no, I am not satisfied with it because I don't think the Marine
Fisheries Commission had time to study (proposed menhaden restrictions)
and think about it as much as they should have. I think they do understand the
problem. I think they do take it seriously. I'm a little distressed that this is just
a continuation of the gentlemen's agreement of the past"
The gentlemen's agreement of the past held that when a spill littered area
beaches with pogey carcasses, the company responsible for the spill would
pay for the clean-up. Clean-ups at Long Beach alone have cost $20,000 since
1984, Altman estimates.
But, meeting with state Rep. E. David Redwine at Brunswick Community
College August 17, representatives of the three menhaden fishing companies
working locally and the municipalities reached accord on several key sources
of irritation to the towns.
The new agreement ordered by the Marine Fisheries Commission is likely
to contain these elements agreed upon tentatively then:
•Fish spills. The menhaden companies will pay for clean-up of any fish
spill that occurs when their boats are in Brunswick County waters, regardless
of whether or not they feel responsible. Ranking representatives of the fishing
companies said they would fly to the site of a spill immediately.
•Notification. By facsimile passed through N. C. Fisheries Association
executive director Jerry Schill, the companies will notify county towns when
they are working local waters.
•Foaming. If the product is permitted by state environmental officials, the
companies will begin deploying a petroleum-eating foam when working near
shore. Oil slicks are blamed on equipment used to pump menhaden from
purse seines to fishing vessels.
•Piers. Menhaden fishermen are not to operate vessels within 750 feet of
a recreational fishing pier, if pier owners mark the boundaries on shore.
Formation of the committee to formalize these and other agreements
See Fogey, page 6
tow information or customer