PILOT
Vol. 53-No. 48
40 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina Wednesday, October 3, 1973
40 Pages
Price 10 Cents
Girl Dies
In Wreck
S A four-year-old girl was killed
early Saturday morning on US
15-501, about one and a half miles
east of Carthage, when the car
her father was driving was
knocked off the highway in a
three-car collision, overturned
down an embankment into a
swampy area and then caught
fire.
The child, Allison Person,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robbie
Person of Carthage Rt. 1, was
thrown from the car, which fell
on top of her, crushing her to
death.
Nine other persons were in
jured in the wreck, in which the
other two cars involved were
loaded with teen-aged boys.
Their driver, James Arthur
■ Johnson, 17, of Cameron Rt. 1,
^ and Charles Wrencher, 18, of
Carthage Star Route, were
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Pinehurst
Board Head
' Is Brent
Announcement was made this
week of the appointment of Cary
Brent as chairman of the board
of Pinehurst, Inc. Don Collett
continues as president of Pine
hurst, Inc.
William H. Maurer, president
of Diamondhead Corporation,
who relinquishes the board
» chairmanship to Mr. Brent, said
the change was being made at
this time because the many
varied functions of Pinehurst
require more time and local
attention than his executive
duties with the parent company
permit.
“Don Collett is doing a fine job
as president of Pinehurst, but
there is the simple matter of
,1 there being more administrative
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Expansion
At Penick
To Begin
The first phase of a broad
expansion is expected to begin at
Penick Home in November.
Executive Director Philip S.
Brown of the Episcopal Home
said that negotiations are un
derway with W.L. Jewel and Son
of Sanford for the construction of
15 units for the well-aged and
three cottage-type units at a cost
of $1.4 million.
The cottages will contain a
total of 10 apartments.
Jewel was low bidder on the
Iffoject.
A board meeting has been
tentatively set for October 16.
Bishop Thomas Fraser is
Chairman of the Board, Mrs.
f Louise Dana, President, and
William P. Davis, Expansion
Committee chairman.
The cottage type of units will
offer more independent living for
those who desire it. Brown said.
Other phases of the $2 million
expansion plan include a St.
Peter’s Nursing Center with
skilled nursing care; 12 ja-ivate
rooms added to the existing unit,
[' making a total of 33 skilled
nursing beds in the Home;
development of a ix'ivate lounge
and dining area for the nursing
center; revision of the central
bath and nursing station; and
expansion of the kitchen and
dining areas for the entire home.
Mrs.
Sledge Commissioners Endorse
The School Bond Issue
SUNDAY WRECK—Two young people. Bonny and
Darryl McSwain, received injuries (not believed
serious) when this ’69 Mercury driven by Pamela
McSwain was sent careening over a bank as it started
to make a turn on Pennsylvania Ave. at the service
ramp from USl. Angelo Emmanuel Ross driving frorn
the opposite direction hit the car on the side with his
’62 Pontiac, after his brakes failed. He was arrested
for improper equipment and running a stop sign.
Damage to the McSwain’s car was $700; to Ross’ $200.
—(Photo by Glenn M. Sides).
Top Teacher
For County
Mrs. Frances Rogers Sledge, a
Pinecrest High School teacher, is
Moore County’s “Teacher of the
Year.”
Mrs. Sledge won this award
over more than 20 nominees
submitted by the various schools
throughout Moore County.
She is a graduate of
Washington High School in
Raleigh. She attended Hampton
Institute, Hampton, Virginia
where she received a B.S.
Degree in Social Studies. She has
participated in several seminars,
institutes and in-service courses
conducted at various colleges
and universities in North
Carolina.
Mrs. Sledge has been teaching
in North Carolina schools for 18
years. She began her teaching
career in Edgecombe County at
the Willow Grove School of
Whitakers where she taught
grades seven and eight as well as
health and physic^ education.
She was instrumental in the
implimentation of the depart
mentalization of grades seven
and eight. In addition to her
academic duties, she directed
the glee club and dance group.
She came to Moore County in
1%0 and joined the faculty of the
West Southern Pines High
School. In addition to teaching
courses in social studies, she was
director of the chorus and dance
group.
Mrs. Sledge has been a
member of the Pinecrest faculty
since its inception. At Pinecrert
she teaches five classes and
(Continued on Page 12-A)
AT FIRE—The Rev. Martin Caldwell comforts Col. and Mrs. P.L. Alexarider as
fire threatens to consume their residence on Midland Road Sunday. Firemen
were called at 1:30 p.m. and had the fire under control by 3 p.m. There was severe
damage to the roof, attic and kitchen. The fire is believed to have started from a
bulb in the garage. Col. Alexander was grateful to the fire department for being
‘’amazingly careful” of his possessions, covering everything from fire and water
damage. (Photo by Glenn M. Sides).
Leonard Closing Blamed
On Declining Enrollment H.G. Harper
Rites Held
Fast-Growing Arts Council
Elects Garrett As President
A declining enrollment has
brought about the closing, as of
Jan. 1, of the Samuel Leonard
School at McCain.
Dr. John Larkins, Com
missioner of Youth Develop
ment, said this week, however,
that most of the 77 employes now
at the school will be given jobs
elsewhere in the training sdiool
system or will be retained at
Leonard when it is changed to an
honor grade youthful offenders
unit in the Corrections division.
Announcement of the closing of
Leonard training school, which
had been reported in The Pilot as
imminent many months ago, was
made last week by Secretary
David L. Jones of the Depart
ment of Social Rehabilitation and
Control. Jones also said that
possibly another school would be
closed, but Dr. Larkins said this
week that such is not anticipated
at this time.
The Youth Development
Commission is budgeted for 2,000
students. Dr. Larkins said, but as
of Sept. 28 there were only 911
enrolled at the State’s eight in
stitutions.
Leonard school had 139
students as of Friday, although it
is budgeted for 190, Dr. Larkins
said.
Some concern had been ex
pressed about the loss of jobs by
the persons employed at
Leonard, but Ek*. Larkins said
that some would be transferred
to other schools. Some will not be
able to move because of com
mitments to the area, he said. He
expressed the hope that those not
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Reaching Out To Help:
Coimty Rescue Squads
Henry Greene Harper, 77,
retired industrialist who became
a beloved worker for good in the
Sandhills communities, died
Thursday at his home on
Halcyon Drive after a long
illness.
Funeral services were held
Saturday at Brownson Memorial
Presbyterian Church, where he
was an active mcmter and an
elder, with the pastor, the Rev.
Harold E. Hyde, Jr., officiating.
Graveside services followed in
Elmwood Cemetery, Charlotte,
conducted by the Rev. William
Edwards of Monroe.
A native of Charlotte, he
graduated from the University of
North Carolina in 1917. Forty-six
years later, he and his wife
moved to l^uthem Pines from
(Continued on Page 12-A)
The Sandhills Arts Council
Advisory Board met Thursday,
Septemter 27 at 8 p.m. in
Campbell House to elect officers
and to map out areas of interest
to the fast-developing Arts
Council movement here in the
Sandhills.
The Board, chaired by interim
President Jane McPhaid, elected
officers for 1973-74.
These new officers include
George Garrett, president; As-
bury Coward, vice president;
Cecilia Israel, secretary; and
Patsy Tucker, treasurer.
In addition to officers for the
Advisory Board, members of the
Executive Board were nomin
ated and elected. These officers
include: Alice Baxter, Patsy
Bonsai, Howard Broughton, Phil
Brown, John Derr, Mary Evelyn
DeNissoff, Thomas Hayes,
BY MARJORIE RAGAN
Capt. Max R. Edwards and two
rescue squad members from
Lillington were searching in
rain-swollen Little River near
Lobelia last February for the
body of a soldier believed
drowned.
In the churning water^ their
boat in the wake of a larger one
overturned. “It was right cold,”
he said.
Capt. Edwards of the Vass
Rescue Squad says this was one
of the most dangerous situations
he has survived since he has been
with the squad. He and another
man managed to swim to the
shore, but a third rescue worker
hung onto a branch for an hour-
and-a-half before he could be
saved.
Another time, his squad an-
Capt. Max Edwards
swered a call to an accident
where a car had hit a power pole
(Continued on Page 12-A)
REFERENDUM — The North
Carolina Citizens for Choice and
Control are finding money
raising for the referendum on
Nov. 6 to be tougher than the dry
forces are having.
Last week an extensive mail
campaign was underway for
contributions from $10 to $100, or
any amount, the appeals letter
carrying a fact folder with the
title “Will you be denied the right
to vote on the toughest beverage
control plan in the nation?”
The CCC organization, headed
by John Ryan, is trying to get the
message across that the issue is
not whether you favor or oppose
drinking but is instead “a local
self-government issue.”
The ballot will carry that point
of local option on mixed
beverage sales, but the dry
forces have been successful in
drawing the lines for or against
liquor.
It was reported last week that
the dry forces have raised more
than $100,000 of their goal of
$30C while the CCC group
had cu.-. d only about $50,000
for their planned advertising
campaign.
POLL — Meanwhile, several
newspaper editors have reported
receipt of a recent Long poll out
of Greensboro which predicts a
victory for the local option plan.
Don Hall of Roanoke Rapids
said he has seen the poll, and he
believes that it may reflect a
large “silent vote” on the issue.
Long, he recalls, had predicted
(Continued on Page 12-A)
NAMED TWICE—George
Richard Garrett of Clar
endon Gardens has been
named to two new offices
in the County. He succeeds
Pat Jones of the Sandhills
Kiwanis Club as Secretary-
Treasurer, a job which
Jones held for five years,
and is also the new Arts
Council President.
Richard Lewis, Helena Neil,
Donald Pitts, Sam Ragan, Page
Shqw, Nancy Sweezy, William
Watson, and Johnny Williams.
Included in the areas of
interest to the Council are the
coordination of scheduling and
publicity for member groups,
promotion of the arts in the
public schools, provision of
opportunity for drama groups for
children in the community, a
spring arts festival, organized
entertainments for local hospit
als and retirement homes,
cooperation with the Humane
Society, and arts and crafts
workshops.
The Sandhills Arts Council
expects to bring about several
innovations in the cultural life of
the comunity. The new officers
welcome contributions.
Pageant
The Southern Pines Jaycees
are holding the 1974 Miss
Southern Pines Pageant earlier
this year in order to provide the
winner more time to prepare fdr
the Miss North Carolhia pageant
to be held in Charlotte next June.
Any young woman between the
ages of 18 and 26, who is a
resident of Moore County or
attending the Sandhills Com
munity College in Moore County,
is eligible to enter the pageant to
be held December 1, 1973 at
Weaver Auditorium, Southern
Pines, North Carolina. She must
be a high school graduate by
June 1974 and at least 18 years of
age by September 1, 1974.
This is a combined community
effort sponsored by the Southern
Pines Jaycees to provide
scholarships to eligible yoimg
women of the community.
Any one interested in par
ticipating in the pageant can
contact either Phillip Jackson
692-8153 or Robert Hunt 295-6801
after 5:30 p.m. or any Southern
Pines Jaycee.
see Gets
Big Grant
Sandhills Community College
has received a ^ant of $73,000
from the Frederick J. Kennedy
Memorial Foundation of Boston
to provide materials and
equipment for the two-year
medical laboratory technology
program, and to augment
salaries of college instructors.
Announcement of the gift was
made this week by Dr. Raymond
A. Stone, president of Sandhills
College, and Dr. Francis L.
Owens of Pinehurst a member of
the board of directors of the
Kennedy Foundation.
The Foundation was
established by the late Mrs.
Audrey Kennedy, and has con
tinued financial support of the
development of Sandhills College
started by Mrs. Kennedy during
(Continued on Page 12-A)
The Moore County commis
sioners Monday adopted a
resolution endorsing the upcom
ing $300 million state school bond
issue, and urging that all citizens
vote for its passage November 6.
Support for the bond issue,
which would speed school con
struction and capital improve
ment in all areas of the county,
were unanimously voiced on
motion of Lee Williams, with
second by Floyd T. Cole.
With Chairman W.S. Taylor
presiding, they commended
plans presented by Supt. Robert
E. Lee for use of the state bonds
to cut a $5 million school building
“package” in two.
The county’s share of $2,485,702
would provide about half the
current capital outlay needs,
allowing the entire program to be
completed on a “pay-as-you-go”
basis over about the next five
years.
Most important, said Lee, it
would allow the county to meet
its top-priority needs in major
construction projects without
undue delay. Further postpone
ment would allow inflation and
deterioration to pile the backlog
up still further, and Lee
emphasized that “)the children
who are in school need these
buildings now.”
Among the priority needs he
listed were new buildings at
Cameron, Robbins and West
End, to replace obsolete ones
dating back to 1924 or there
abouts; new classrooms for nine
of the 19 schools, at most of which
they would replace mobile units;
remodeling for kindergartens
and other special purposes, and
an auditorium and gymnasium to
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Mrs. Scott
To Head Up
United Fund
With the fall campaign of the
United Fund of Moore County
due to begin this month, the
Fund’s Executive Committee
met on September 25 to accept
with regret the resignation of
President Michael B. Curry and
to elect by acclamation Mrs. Ida
Baker Scott to complete his
term.
Under Mrs. Scott’s presidency
in 1972 the Fund raised a record
$98,000.
CunY’s resignation was ne
cessitated by his transfer from
the post of city executive of First
Union National Bank in Southern
Pines to the same post with First
Union in Burlington-Graham-
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Vance^Aycock
Tickets are available for the
Vance-Aycock Democratic Din
ner in Asheville Oct. 19-20,
Carolyn Blue, Moore County
Democratic chairman has an
nounced, at $50 each.
Georgia Governor James Car
ter will be the speaker. Moore’s
quota is 12 tickets.
Index
Editorials-l-B
Books-2-B
Church News-3-B
Classified Ads-8-ll-C
Entertainment-8-A
Obituaries-7-A
Pinehurst News-l-3-C
Social News-2-4-A
Sports-lO-ll-A
Why Don’t Poor People Have Food Stamps?
BY SARAH GLAZER
Qyde Patrick Campbell brings
home $68 before taxes each week
to support his wife and six
children.
His clerk’s salary at a local
grocery store bought his family
a diet with all the warning signs
Ifp of malnutrition until Mrs.
Campbell found out about food
stamps.
Because of a visit from a
Moore County social worker less
than a year ago, the Campbells
can, for the first time in their
lives, pay the milkman to deliver
three half-gallons twice a week.
And they have been able to buy
meat, a luxury they rarely saw at
their table even before &e days
of inflation.
Mrs. Campbell’s face lights iq>
when she talks about the stamps.
“It has really done a lot.”
Twice a month Mr. Campbell
goes to the bank and pays out $19.
In return he receives $100 worth
of food stamps to last for two
weeks.
Nine thousand people in Moore
County-men, women and
children-could share Mrs.
Campbell’s new-found bounty in
warding off hunger. But only 2500
of these people are receiving the
food stamps to which they are
legally entitled.
“We don’t know who they are,”
is the explanation that the county
Welfare Director, Mrs. Walter B.
Cole, gives for the thousands still
without food support.
The Moore County Welfare
Department knows from 1970
census data that almost a
quarter of the county is poor,
according to the federal poverty
definition of $4400 for a family of
four. But the census does not
reveal by name who these poor
people are.
Moore County falls so far short
of providing the federal
assistance on the books, that the
U.S. Department of Apiculture
calls it a “Failure to Feed”
Coiuity. “Failure to Feed” is the
department’s name for counties
where less than 25 percent of the
population is in the poverty
category and where less than 33
percent of those eligible have
received food assistance. Moore
shares the dubious distinction
with 40 of North Carolina’s 100
counties, a sign that the problem
is widespread.
Even Mrs. Campbell would
probably still be trying to raise
her children on bread and
vegetables, were it not for a
sudden disaster that alerted the
county welfare department to
her plight.
A fire struck the Campbells’
three room house two years ago',
leaving the family with the bare
semblance of a roof over their
heads and no lights or electricity.
But the fire also brought the
family to the attention of a social
worker, who gave the Campbells
emergency relief and found them
a modern four bedroom house in
a housing project.
After the family had moved,
the social worker told Mrs.
Campbell that she was entitled to
receive food stamps regularly.
Although Mrs. Cmnpbell says
she knew that some people got
food stamps-she had seen signs
in the supermarket advertising
the store’s accepting them-she
did not know how to apply for
them.
Mrs. Campbell is not alone in
her ignorance.
For many people who could be
getting food stamps the welfare
system is a frightening labyrinth
of complex requirements and of
humiliating questioning. For
many, simply gathering in
formation is a complicated task
when you have no telephone, no
automobile, little education and
a fear of strange offices.
The welfare department’s
modest publicity efforts made
little impact on Mrs. Campbell
before the social worker visited
her in person. She did not see the
department’s periodic articles on
stamps in the local paper,
because she is not a subscriber.
Nor did she remember their
announcements on television
with any clarity.
Mrs. Lillian Hudson, a widow
on social security, who calls food
stamps a “Ufesaver” explains,
“A lot of people don’t understand
it.” Her 80 year old neighbor,
who also gets the stamps, is often
confused by the changes in the
stamps system or the Medicaid
plan until her friend comes aloi^
to straighten out her miscon
ceptions.
Mrs. Hudson only found out
about the new Medicaid policy
that a prescription costs $1 plus
medicaid stamps, when the
(Continued on Page 12-A)