Happy Holiday
Meny
LOT
Christmas
Vol. 54-No. 7
42 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina Wednesday, December 19, 1973
42 Pages
Price 10 Cents
Closings Set
By Stations
At Christmas
Service stations throughout the
Sandhills area generally will be
^ closed either December 24 or 26,
as well as on Christmas Day and
on the Sunday before Christmas,
a survey of station operators
indicates.
Purpose of the closings is to
stretch curtailed supplies of
gasoline and prevent lengthy
shutdowns that would be
necessary should a station’s
pumps run dry.
1^ As one operator said, “I expect
to be closed either Monday the
24th or Wednesday the 26th,
depending on my gasoline supply
situation. If I don’t have gasoline
to sell, I might just as well shut
up shop.”
Indications were that stations
planning an extra day’s closing,
in addition to the scheduled
December 23 and 25 closings,
favor shutting down on
December 26. A December 24
shutdown, they point out, ac
tually would close a station from
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Priorities
To be Set
By Board
Official adoption of the priority
list of capital outlay projects to
be paid for with State bond
money, plus county funds antici
pated over the next five years, is
expected to be made at a meeting
of the Moore County Board of
Education at 2 p.m. Thursday.
This will be the board’s regular
December meeting, held early
because of Christmas, and
already postponed once because
of weather conditiqns.
At their November 27 meeting,
the board sent over their
“package” of school construc
tion and major renovation
projects, checking details with
their architect and trying to
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Group to Study
Traffic Changes
A modification of the proposed
traffic control plan for downtown
Southern Pines would be accept
able to the State Highway
Department, which would be
receptive to recommendations of
the Town, Mayor E. Earl
Hubbard told a crowd of
merchants attending a public
hearing on the plan at last week’s
council meeting.
But, he said, before the council
could make recommendations,
on the subject, they would have
to know the reactions of the
people most concerned-those
Aberdeen Annexes Area;
Zoning Change Rejected
There were no objections and
no questions, so the Aberdeen
Board of Commissioners on
Monday afternoon voted to adopt
an ordinance extending the
town’s limits to include a new
shopping center and other land
f areas on US 1 and 15-501.
It was a called meeting for a
public hearing on the annexation.
Mayor J.M. Taylor presided.
Commissioners present were
Cliff Blue Jr., Lloyd Harris,
Cruce, Hugh M. Styers, and
Vivian W. Green.
Mayor Taylor stated that the
Board should make a decision on
^ rezoning a portion of property
Index
Books, 2-B; Church Calendar,
3-B; Classified Ads, 4-7-D;
Editorials, 1-B; Entertainment,
6-A; Obituaries, 8-A; Pinehurst
News, 1-2-C; Social News, 2-5-A;
Sports, 1-D,
r
making their living in the
downtown district.
In the hour-long discussion, it
appeared the merchants were
going to agree on just about one
thing-that they didn’t like the
plan, the modification didn’t help
things much and, despite pro
blems of traffic congestion,
parking and safety at the
railroad crossings, they’d rather
keep things as they are than
change.
Since-in view of the traffic
engineers’ projection of a doubl-
(Continued on Page 9-A)
MESSAGE FOR SANTA—Three-year-old Gwendolyn Gehweiler of Southern
Pines has a message for Santa Claus to look out for her and all good boys and
girls when he comes calling next Monday night. Santa Claus was taking such
messgaes last week at the Town and Country Shopping Center.—(Photo by Glenn
M. Sides).
Special Christmas Programs
Slated by Sandhills Churches
located on U.S. 15-501, south of
the city limits, from Residential
to B-2, General Business District,
it was advertised and hearing
held at the August 13 meeting.
Those present for this matter
were Ed Graham, chairman of
the Planning Board, Fentress
Phillips, Jere McKeithen and
S.R. Ransdell. After this was
discussed, a motion was made by
Commissioner Blue, seconded by
-Commissioner Harris, that this
change be approved, as recom
mended by the Planning Board.
The vote was taken and Commis
sioners Blue and Harris voted for
this change and Commissioners
Green, Cruce and Styers voted
against this change, so this
proposal was defeated.
Mayor Taylor presented a
resolution to ammend the Land
Use Policy Act, the General
Assembly of North Carolina,
Senate Bill No. 857 and House Bill
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Churches in Southern Pines,
Pinehurst and Aberdeen have
announced special Christmas
programs to be held for the
remaining part of the Christinas
season.
The Emmanuel Episcopal
Shoppers
Warned
Three thefts of women’s
pocketbooks from supermarket
shopping carts over the past
weekend prompted Southern
Pines Police Chief Earl Seawell
to warn shoppers to be more
vigilant.
Losses in the three thefts
totaled approximately $125 plus
credit cards, keys, gloves and
other personal items. In each
case the victim had placed her
purse in the shopping cart rather
than keeping it in her possession.
Chief Seawell also advised
shoppers to lock their cars at all
times and place packages in
their car trunks where they
cannot be seen by thieves on the
prowl.
Church will have a half hour
service of Christmas carols on
Christmas Eve beginning at 5
p.m. Also on Christmas Eve
Midnight Mass, communion, will
be given, with the service
beginning at 11 p.m. On Christ
mas day a worship service will
be conducted at 11 a.m.
The Church of Wide Fellowship
in Southern Pines had a
covered-dish supper on Tuesday,
December 18. The Pinecrest
Two Sandhills Teachers
On Distinguished List
'
The honors most coveted by
members of the faculty of
Sandhills Community College,
two Distinguished Professor
ships, were presented Thursday
by Dr. Raymond A. Stone,
president of the college, to
Dawson V. Carr, chairman of the
department of mathematics, and
Marion J. Rogers, coordinator of
the department of music.
The C. Foster Brown
Distinguished Professor Award
presented to Carr, was
established by Mrs. Brown and
THE
PILOT LIGHT
OPEN HOUSE — Visitors from a wide area were present for the Open House held
by the Horticulture department at Sandhills Community College. Here a group
admires some of the many flowers on display.
LEGISLATURE—Because of
the energy crisis a cloud of
uncertainty will hang over the
General Assembly for several
weeks until a better picture is
obtained of what the future will
be under the energy crisis.
The Legislature will reconvene
on January 16 and will be
presented a record high budget,
along with a tax reduction
package which was approved
overwhelmingly by a House
Finance Committee a few days
ago.
Neither one, however, is likely
to get speedy approval. Several
legislators already are speaking
out against any tax cuts, which
might cut into anticipated state
revenues, and there’s a good
chance the budget which comes
from Governor Holshouser’s
Closings Varied
For Christmas
Choir provided the music and Va
Xiong, a Vietnamese, spoke. On
Thursday, December 20, the
Church’s Cub Scout Pack will
have a Christmas Party. And, on
Sunday the Church’s Christmas
Pageant, “In the Same Country”
will be presented at 7 :30. At this
program the white Christmas
gifts for the needy will be given
and Santa Claus will pay a visit.
The Church will have a Candle
(Continued on Page 10-A)
friends of her late husband who
was keenly interested in the
development of the institution.
The citation of Carr read in part
“Dawson V. Carr, instructor in
mathematics and chairman of
the department, has well earned
a reputation as an able, con
cerned and excellent college
teacher...has tirelessly and
creatively worked at developing
courses, programs and teaching
methods which hold promise of
greater student success in
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Snow Hits Area;
Schools Closed
The second snow of the season
-some two inches-came to the
Sandhills on Sunday night, but
except for the closing of schools
for two days there was little
disruption of pre-Christmas act
ivity.
The first snow came one week
earlier, and was really only
enough to barely cover the
ground in early morning.
This week’s snow, however,
came on the heels of a cold rain,
measuring almost an inch on
Sunday, and it did not stick to the
ground for several hours. Flur
ries continued sporadically until
after noon on Monday, snow
sometimes falling while the sun
was shining.
Roads and streets were quickly
cleared as the sun melted the
snow, but Supt. Robert E. Lee of
the Moore County schools still
felt that travel was too hazardous
for school buses and the schools
were closed Monday and Tues
day.
Temperatures skidded to a low
for the season-dropping to 26
degrees at 5 a.m. on Monday and
down to 16 degrees Monday
night, according to weather
observers at the Pinehurst
station.
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Record Mail Set
At Local Office
A record 153,000 pieces of
incoming mail were handled by
the Southern Pines post office last
week, peak period of the annual
Christmas rush. Postmaster
Robert E. Peele announced
Monday.
This is better than 30 per cent
more than the 118,000 pieces
handled in the comparable week
of 1972, he reported
Outgoing mail last week was
approximately the same as the
incoming volume, he estimated.
Because much of the mail
leaving Southern Pines goes to
Fayetteville for cancellation and
distribution, outgoing volume
can only be estimated, Peele
explained.
“But I feel safe in saying that
this postoffice handled approxi
mately 300,000 pieces of mail in
that one week,” he asserted.
“Because the public responded
so well to the Postal Service’s
plea for early mailing of cards
and packages, we now are past
the peak in mail volume. We
should have no difficulty in
staying current with both incom
ing and outgoing mail.”
Incoming mail has been so
heavy that the postoffice has
been receiving an extra truck-
load from Fayetteville each day,
he said.
Of last week’s incoming
volume of 153,000 pieces, 120,000
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Sanford S&L to Open
Branch Office in Area
The First Federal Savings and
Loan Association of Sanford will
open a branch office in the Town
and Country Shopping Center on
Jan. 2.
W.M. Womble, president,
announced Tuesday that he has
been advised by the Federal
Home Loan Bank of Atlanta that
the Federal Home Loan Bank
School Days
The public schools in Moore
County will be closed for the
Christmas Holidays, December
24 through January 1, 1974, ac
cording to R.E. Lee, superin
tendent.
Schools are in the fourth month
of operation of the 1973-74 school
year. Regular school hours will
be observed Friday, December
21, with classes resuming
January 2,1974, which is the last
day of the fourth school month.
Most retail stores in the
Sandhills area will be closed on
both Christmas Day and the day
after, a spot check by the
Sandhills Area Chamber of
Commerce has disclosed.
On the other hand, there is
little uniformity in the working
schedules of town, county, state
and federal offices over the
Christmas-through-New Year’s
holiday period, according to
queries made to those agencies.
Supermarkets and a few retail
stores will be open as usual on
December 26, it was indicated.
But even these will close at or
around 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve,
in most instances.
As for the various government
offices, about the only certainty
is that all will be closed on
Christmas Day and New Year’s
Day. Here, for example, is the
situation at the municipal level:
Southern Pines and Aberdeen
town offices will be closed
Wednesday, December 26, in
addition to the two holidays.
They will be open on December
24. This schedule is being
followed to provide a business
day break between the normal
weekend closing December 22
and 23 and the Christmas
holiday. They will be open as
usual January 2.
Carthage town offices will
close on December 24. No
decision has been made on the
working schedule for the New
Year’s holiday, but it is expected
the offices will be closed only on
January 1.
Pinehurst, Inc., general offices
will be closed December 24 and
31, in addition to the two
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Pilot Holiday
The Pilot will be closed for two
days—Monday and Tuesday—for
the Christmas holidays, but will
publish on its regular day,
Wednesday, next week.
Advertising copy is requested
on Thursday and Friday of this
week, as well as columns from
correspondents, and other news
features and items.
The Pilot will also be closed on
New Year’s Day—Jan. 1.
Board, Washington, D.C., has
approved their application for j \VT 1
permission to establish a branch OrlC
office in the Town and Country
Shopping Center.
Womble said plans are to open
the branch office in a mobile unit
until such time as an office -* /r
facility, to be constructed by
Storey Corporation, is complet- -1-1* C/
ed, which should be in approxi
mately 120 days.
Approved
First Federal Savings and
Loan Association of Sanford has
served the Moore County area
since its organization in 1950,
which today is represented by a
loan volume of approximately $7
million.
The Aberdeen Branch office is
to be staffed by local personnel
upon completion of a training
program.
By 1960, the association opened
a branch office in Pittsboro and a
(Continued on Page 7-A)
Approval for secondary road
construction in a number of
coimties was given in Raleigh
last Wednesday by the Second
ary Roads Council as that body
met in a regular monthly session.
Council members said that the
projects had been discussed
previously with Boards of Com
missioners in the counties affect
ed, and that the work will be done
with allocations made for the
fiscal year 1973-74.
Work approved for Moore
(Continued on Page 9-A)
office may be reduced itself.
There’s no way, or course, to
give revenue estimates at an
early stage of the session in view
of the uncertainties of the
economic situation.
That’s why the session might
go longer than first thought.
Legislators will be delaying
decisions on taxes and budget
until well into spring.
PERSONNEL—There doesn’t
seem much doubt but that the
Democratic Legislature will pass
some laws in 1974 which will give
more job security to career state
employes.
At the ’73 session the Hosue did
pass a bill which would, in the
words of Rep. Willis Whichard of
Durham, set up a “due process”
(Continued on Page 10-A)
WINTER WONDERLAND — Winter doesn’t officially come until 7:05 p.m.
Saturday but Monday morning's snowfall here made most of Southern Pines look
like a winter wonderland. Photographer Glenn Sides caught this dogwood on
Dogwood Lane shortly after the snow had stopped falling.