InrrentonMem.Library X
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tarrenton, M.C. 27589 '
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Volume 85 25c Per Copy Warrenton. County Of Warren. i>iorth Carolina Wednesday, July 14, 1982 Number 27
Officials In Warren Hopeful Of Landing Block Grant
By HOWARD JONES
Warren County officials are putting the final
touches on an application for a state grant of
between $500,000 and $600,000 to upgrade services
and provide better bousing in a predominantly
black neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of
Warrenton.
County Manager Glen Newsome said yesterday
that a survey of the Red Hill neighborhood is being
completed and that public input will be sought
during a public hearing to be held Monday at 7:30 p.
m. in the Warren County Court House.
The community development block grant which
Warren officials are hopeful of receiving would
provide better water and sewer facilities in Red
Hill, upgrade property and provide for a senior
citizens center. All are contingent upon approval by
the North Carolina Department of Natural
Resources and Community Development (NRCD).
Last year the state turned down an application for
a block grant for Warren County improvements, but
this year Newsome hopes the chances are better.
"A point system is used, and we will be competing
with counties from throughout North Carolina," he
noted. Last year no grant application from any
agency within the five-county Region K was
approved.
Workmen at the new $5 million sewage treatment
plant south of Warrenton are shown working on an
agitator which was flooded when the water level
rose at the plant. The agitator, used to collect grit
passing through sewer lines, is one of numerous
items which are submerged periodically at the
plant Inspecting the agitator are, left to right,
Harry Rawls, construction superintendent with
Dickerson Construction Company, general
contractor for the plant; Macon Robertson, sewer
plant operator; and Bill Neal, superintendent of the
Warrenton Water Department (Staff Photo)
Marijuana Haul Is Made,
Deputies Arrest Suspect
A Warren County
native now living in
Raleigh turned himself in
to the Warren County
Sheriff's Department
Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in
connection with an
estimated $100,000
marijuana find in Liberia
on Wednesday.
Kearny Williams
Davis, 26, arrived at the
courthouse with A1
Thompson, an attorney
for the firm of Banzet,
Banzet & Thompson of
Warrantor.
Davis was charged with
manufacturing a
controlled substance,
maintaining a vehicle for
the purpose of
transporting marijuana
and intent to sell or
deliver marijuana.
Davis, who posted bail
of $1,000, is scheduled to
appear in court on July
28.
The marijuana was
discovered Wednesday by
Warren County deputies
Theodore Williams and
B. D. Bolton after a tip
from an unnamed source.
According to reports,
Bolton and Williams had
been at the site, a
secluded, wooded area
five miles southeast of
Warrenton on N. C. 58
near Liberia, only a few
minutes when a man
carrying bags of fertilizer
appeared.
Wl".xams said they
recognized the man as a
Warren County native
and identified him as
Davis.
The deputies yelled for
him to halt, but he fled
into the woods, and they
were unable to catch him.
The deputies seized
Davis's car, which was
left near the site and
contained another bag of
fertilizer.
Warren County law
officers spent over four
hours clearing the seven
patches of the marijuana
crop late Wednesday.
Officers said the stalks,
which were ready for
harvest, reached as high
as 11 feet.
Sheriff Clarence Davis
said the crop was enough
to fill a half-ton truck and
was burned and buried
eight feet down in the
county landfill.
A small pond near the
site had apparently been
used to irrigate the crop.
Several hoses ran from
the pond's dam to the
crop area. Buckets,
shovels, chopping knives,
and bags of fertilizer
were also found by
officers.
Deadline Given
For 2nd Primary
Thursday, July 22, is
the deadline for applying
for an absentee ballot and
for one-stop voting, ac
cording to Mrs. Ruby
Jones, supervisor of
elections for Warren
County.
Mrs. Jones said that
she has on hand now
ballots for one-«top
voting, and expects the
(Continued an page 7B)
A key feature of the block grant program being
sought this year is the ei >nsion of sewer services to
a neighborhood not now being served by municipal
sewer.
"We want to construct a new eight-inch line to the
area," Newsome said. The anticipated cost of the
water and sewer improvements would be $260,000,
he noted.
Another proposal contained in the grant applica
tion is the upgrading of water mains. Newsome said
it is hoped that the existing two-inch lines can be
replaced with six-inch lines, bringing about
increased fire protection as well as better service.
Contained in the proposal is a recommendation
that two delapidated houses in the neighborhood be
torn down, and another eight to ten rehabilitated.
"They will require substantial work," Newsome
said, "and we will be placing emphasis on indoor
plumbing throughout the area."
Plans for a senior citizen center have been talked
for months, and Monday night the Warren County
Board of Education joined in the effort to help bring
the facility about when it approved a letter of intent
containing its willingness to let a building on the
Hawkins School property, located across town from
Red Hill, be used for this purpose.
Warren Sewage Plant
Problems Are Caused
Friday's electrical
storm played havoc with
the county's regional
sewer system, still under
construction near War
renton and three months
after beginning
operation.
This was called to the
attention of the Warren
ton Town Commission
ers on Monday night by
W. A. Miles, Jr., chair
man of the Sewer
Committee, and
elaborated upon at some
length by Bill Neal,
Superintendent of the
Warrenton Water
Company, with several
commissioners making
indignant comments.,
Remarks of Neal and
the commissioners were
taped by a local reporter,
and used in part in report
ing the story. Early Tues
day afternoon Neal ex
plained to the reporter
what is the true cause at
the sewer plant which has
delayed its acceptance by
several months.
Actually the trouble,
Neal said, is failure of an
automatic system to
come back on after being
knocked off by an electric
storm, as was the case
last Friday. It is of not too
much consequence in the
daytime when switches
may be pulled manually,
but a different story at
night when no one is
present at the plant,
which is designed to work
automatically.
Some time during
Friday night, Neal told
the commissioners, a
second storm knocked out
three motors designed to
pump water from a pit
into a secondary treat
ment department. Water
and sewage quickly
backed into an adjoining
basin covering electric
motors, and junctions.
Neal said that early
Saturday morning he
brought Jack Harris,
chairman of the Warren
County Board of
Commissioners, to the
scene and that Harris was
both surprised and
dismayed at what he saw,
and promised to give it
his attention as soon as he
returned from a meeting
in Baltimore where he
and Commissioner
George Shearin were to
represent the Warren
County Commissioners.
He said that he would be
back in his office on the
following Thursday
morning.
Mayor White told the
commissioners that he
would contact Chairman
Harris in order to set up a
called meeting attended
by Harris, Glen Newsom,
County Manager, Town
Engineers and members
of the Town Commis
sioners within the next
few days to see what
further action should be
taken.
Neal had previously
told the commissioners
that the three pumps used
to pump sewage from the
pit to the second stage
filter system, were
designed as indoor
motors, but were being
used as out-door motors,
covered with galvanized
iron which did not allow
room for cooking. As a
consequence, the motors
are running at unsafe
temperature. Not only
will this cause the motors
to burn out, but causes
the manufacturer to
refuse to give the county
a warranty on the motor.
He points out if the county
should deed the plant to
the town as contemplat
ed, before the trouble is
corrected, that it would
be the town's responsi
bility to replace the
(Continued on page 7B)
Missed Flight
A delay in wedding plans was responsible
for a Warren County native not being aboard a
Pan American jetliner that crashed Friday
shortly after takeoff from N»w Orleans
International Airport, killing all 145
passengers and several people on the ground.
James C. Stegall of Miami, Fla., son of Mr.
and Mrs. Cliff Stegall of Rt. 2, Warrenton, had
been scheduled to board the ill-fated 727 jet
which left Miami en route to the West Coast.
Stegall was to attend the wedding of a friend
in San Diego, Calif, and had made plans to
take the Pan Am jet which went down in the
second worst air crash in the nation's history.
However, Stegall cancelled his plans to take
the jet when he received word that the
wedding had been postponed until August.
Pair Is Charged
After Still Raid
Two Warren County
men have been charged
with the operation of a
whiskey still raided by
sheriff's deputies and
Alcohol Beverage Control
officials earlier this
month in neighboring
Mecklenburg County, Va.
The two—Richard
Lewis Games, 49, of Wise
and Allen Baskerville, 52,
of Norlina-were charged
with the manufacture of
illicit liquor at a copper
tubed still raided July 1.
The still was located in a
wooded area off Virginia
State Route 771 near
Palmer Springs, Va.
Also arrested in the
raid was William Hairy
Howell, 55, of Palmer
Springs.
The three were
released from the
Mecklenburg County Jail
on $1,000 bond. A
preliminary hearing date
was set for August 13.
Law enforcement
officers reported thai
Baskerville sustained af
slight injury to his ankle
when he tripped over a
root running from police
officers.
Loss In Federal Funds
Means Job Loss For 12
A cutback in federal funding will mean
immediate Job losses for 12 tutors and teacher's
aides in the Warren Countv school svstem,
members of the Warren County Board of Education
were advised during their July meeting held here
Monday nighl
Assistant Supt. James Jordan told board
members that a 15 percent reduction in funding for
the lttMS school year will faring about the Job
losses.
Jordan saki school officials had expected J82M56
in federal funds to carry on a program known as
BOA, Chapter I. Instead, he said, local officials
have Just learned that they may not aspect but
ISa^MS to carry oat ths program.
Unaffected, because of a restructuring of the
EOA program, wffl be fl teachers expected to
report to wortc under the ECIA program this
August