Weather
After a week of well-nigh perfect
weather, the Sandhills area is due to get
some rain. Likelihood is 20 percent
tonight, 70 percent Thursday. Temper
atures will range from a low of abont
58 tonight to the mid-70s on Thursday.
LOT
rctaui
Index
Books, 2-B; Church Calendar, 3-B;
Classified Ads, 8-11-C; Editorials, 1-B;
Entertainment, 4-5-C; Obituaries, 6-A;
Pinehurst News, 1-2-C; Social News,
2-5-A; Southern Pines Shopping, 16-B;
Sports, 8-9-A.
Vol. 55-No. 28
38 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina Wednesday, May 14, 1975
38 Pages
Price 10 Cents
Annexation
Steps Taken
Council
Moore F ederal F unds
Go Over Half Million
■ ^ ^
The Southern Pines Town
Council, in special session
Saturday morning, took another
step toward annexation of three
peripheral areas, while still
remaining uncommitted to
eventual annexation.
Then, following the 30-minute
session in the Conference Room,
they moved over to" the council
chamber for the public meeting
with Rep. Clyde Auman, to
discuss legislation he has in
troduced in the General As
sembly on behalf of the Town.
Annexation came in for some
discussion at that meeting also.
In the Conference Room, the
council approved the Annexation
Report submitted April 8 by
Town Planner Jim Kier, insofar
as it pertained to three areas, out
of five in the report.
Formally approved was the
report on a portion of the
Pinedene area south of town;
adjoining tracts comprising both
sides of about two blocks of South
Ridge St. and the south side of
Morganton Road, between Ridge
and May; and the single family
homes on the Knollwood Fair
ways development, at the inter
section of the Midland and Pee
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Danieley
Is Finals
Speaker
Dr. J. Earl Danieley, former
president of Elon College, and
now professor of chemistry
there, will be speaker for the
Sandhills Community College
commencement ceremony at 8
o’clock Friday evening. May 23,
on the Sandhills campus. The
public is invited to attend.
The graduation exercises, the
19th in the history of the college,
will include the traditional pro
cession of graduates and mem
bers of the Board of Trustees,
faculty and staff in academic
(Continued on Page 10-A)
rfT.
If Pine Trees Are Brown
Don’t Rush To Cut Down
BICENTENNIAL FLAG ■— The Bicentennial Flag
denoting Moore County’s designation as a “Bicen
tennial County” was raised last we,ek in ceremonies at
Carthage. — (Photo by Glenn M. Sides).
Mystery Plane Fire
Still Being Probed
In several places in the
Sandhills recently pine trees
have become infested with
“brown needle cast" and some
people are confusing it with
Southern pine beetles.
Fred Whitfield, Extension
forestry specialist at N.C. State
University, said last week that
many pine trees are being
needlessly cut because people
are confusing the two diseases.
Recent weather conditions
have caused a heavy infestation
of “brown needle cast,” which
people are confusing with the
deadly Southern pine beetle,
Whitfield said.
Needle cast is not a serious
disease, he said, and affected
trees almost always recover. It is
caused by a fungus, which turns
a portion of some needles brown,
thereby giving the entire tree a
brownish cast.
Whitfield said needle cast at
tacks all species of pine in all
parts of the state. It is especially
prevalent along river bottoms
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Investigation was continuing
this week into a mystery blaze
which, early last Thursday
tnorning, seriously damaged a
large private plane parked in a
remote comer of the Southern
Pines-Pinehurst airport.
The initial mystery involved
another mystery-why the six-
passenger twin-engine Hawker-
Siddeley jet, a 1965 model valued
at between $600,000 and $700,000,
with replacement value well over
$1 million, had been left parked
on the airport, without any
security, for about three weeks.
It was learned that the owners
were National Aero Associates,
Joy Johnson Winner of Crown
As Moore County Jimior Miss
BY VALERIE NICHOLSON
Joy Lynn Johnson, 16, a
student at Pinecrest High School,
and daughter of Mrs. Virginia
Johnson of Southern Pines, was
crowned Moore County’s first
“Junior Miss” at a gala pageant
held Saturday night in the
auditorium of the Pinehurst
Middle School.
Two other Pinecrest students,
also from Southern Pines, won
second and third place honors-
Dawn Daughtridge as first
runner-up and Kathi Metcalfe as
second.
All won silver trophies, savings
bonds and special prizes of
merchandise and services do
nated by local business firms,
* f
0 -»
MISS JUNIOR MISS — Joy Johnson, 16, was crowned
Moore County’s first “Junior Miss” Saturday night at
the Pinehurst Middle School. With her, above, are
Dawn Daughtridge (left), first runner-up, and Kathi
Metcalfe, second runner-up. — (Photo by V.
Nicholson).
while Joy will in addition be
given the trip to the State
pageant next spring, to compete
for national honors to be
awarded later.
Kathi Metcalfe won an ad
ditional trophy, the “Spirit of
Junior Miss,” by vote of her
fellow contestants for the most
friendly and helpful-the “Junior
Miss” equivalent of the “Miss
Congeniality” award.
Others of the 10 contestants-all
juniors at their respective high
schools-were Betsy Thomas and
Kathy Winfield, Pinecrest; Pat
ricia Davis, Judy Parker, Hattie
Person and Karen Thrailkill,
North Moore, and Julie Metcalf ,
Union Pines.
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Rescue
Effort
Still On
Mrs. Kathy C. Overton and Dr.
John Tierney, formerly of the
Southern Pines Fire Dept.
Committee on Emergency Res
cue, now defunct, have an
nounced the formation of a
Citizens Committee on Rescue.
This committee other than
Mrs. Overton and Dr. Tierney, is
comprised of Mrs. Delores
Flynn, Mark Garrison, Larry
Newsome and David Crockett.
In a meeting last week with the
Sandhills Area Rescue Squad
based in Aberdeen, it was
decided that instead of actual
merger of a Southern Pines unit
with their organization, they
would accept applications from
Southern Pines for membership.
The residents accepted by the
Sandhills Area squad would
receive training, and experience
in making actual squad calls in
addition to the Emergency
Medical Technician training, up
until the time a Southern Pines
(Continued on Page 10-A)
aircraft brokers, of the
Washington (D.C.) National
Airport, who gave the value
estimate, stating also that the
plane had been flown from
Washington to the Sandhills on a
“demonstration flight.” They
said they knew nothing of the fire
until called by a news reporter
Thursday afternoon.
The Moore County sheriff’s
department and county fire
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Arts Grant
The Sandhills Arts Council has
been awarded a $2,000 grant
from the North Carolina Arts
Council for a summer drama
program.
Julian Long, director of the
Sandhills Council, said that the
program will be directed by Rick
Barnes of Union Pines High
School and will include two
major dramatic productions.
There will also be a series of
workshops in the dramatic arts.
The grant to the Sandhills
Council was one of 110 amounting
to $307,130 made by the Arts
Council at a recent meeting.
Moore County will receive
$566,877 in federal revenue
sharing funds for the next fiscal
year-some $63,000 more than the
county received last year.
Mrs. Estelle Wicker, county
budget officer, said that notice of
the projected figures had been
received from the Office of
Revenue Sharing, U.S. Depart
ment of the Treasury.
Just how the revenue sharing
funds will be spent has not been
decided by the Moore County
commissioners. Last year most
of it went into the school
buildings fund.
The commissioners usually
allocate the funds for a “one time
shot,” or special projects. It has
considerable flexibility in how
the funds can be spent, although
they cannot be used for current
expenses.
Moore County felt fortunate in
getting an increase in the funds,
because several counties in
North Carolina, including Cum
berland, are reporting sizeable
decreases in the projected
amounts they will receive.
In regards to the general
revenue picture for the county,
Mrs. Wicker says that tax
collections so far tois year have
been good, comparing favorably
with last year. There will be
some increase in total property
valuations, she says, and “we
hope to pick up as much as we
are increasing our budget.”
The 1975-76 Moore County
budget is being based on a total
property valuation of $410 mil
lion.
Aberdeen
Tax Rate
Set at $1
A tentative tax rate for
Aberdeen of $1 per $100 valuation
was approved Monday night by
its town board, which also named
former Commissioner William J.
Bayliff to fill the vacancy
created by the April 12 death of
Commissioner A1 Cruce.
The motion to,hold the tax rate
at $1 per $100, the same as for the
current year, was made by
Commissioner Lloyd Harris
after a tentative budget for the
fiscal year beginning July 1 was
discussed and approved Har
ris’s motion was seconded by
Commissioner Vivian W. Green
and carried by the board.
The proposed budget will be
open for inspection from about
May 21 to July 9, when public
hearing on it will be held.
Bayliff will serve on the town
board until the November town
election.
In other actions, the board:
Approved a letter to Rep. T.
Clyde Auman thanking him for
his consideration and fortitude in
deciding to introduce a bill to
extend the Aberdeen city limits,
and authorized letters to State
Senators Charles Vickery and
Russell Walker, urging them to
(Continued on Page 7-A)
College, School Budgets
Seek Increase in Fimds
The Moore County commis
sioners, holding a series of
special meetings during budget
making time, got a good look at
progress in education in the
county, along with its increasing
costs, on two successive Tuesday
nights.
On Tuesday of this week Dr.
Raymond A. Stone, president of
Sandhills Community College,
accompanied by H. Clifton Blue,
chairman of the college board of
trustees, and Jim Halstead,
assistant to the President,
submitted a budget estimate of
$288,339 for 1975-76.
Some $46,923 greater than last
year, the budget total could go up
by $491,000, Dr. Stone said, if
their application for a federal
grant, to help build a new $2.5
million building, is not awarded
as anticipated.
Tuesday night of last week, the
Moore County schools offered the
county’s largest single budget
request, with a group of about 15
persons speaking on different
aspects of their needs during the
(Continued on Page 7-A)
CHURCH UNDER WAY — This striking photograph
by Glenn M. Sides shows the St. Anthony’s Catholic
Church under construction here. The unique design of
the church will be constructed so that all worshippers
will be equi-distant from the altar.
Samarkand Staffer Says
He Was Fired Unjustly
Charles Lamonds of Eagle
Springs who was fired from his
j(% on the maintenance staff at
Samarkand Manor without any
reason being given would like to
get his job back but he can get no
one to listen to him at either the
local or state level.
Lamonds said that the school’s
director, J.F. Leathers, would
not give a reason for the dis
charge.
“The only thing he said was he
was shaking up maintenance and
he looked at me and said, ‘There
ain’t no job for you,’ ” Lamonds,
who lives less than a quarter-
mile from the Samarkand Manor
campus, said this week.
He said he had asked for help
from the State Employes Asso
ciation, of which he was a mem
ber, but the organization had
done nothing in his behalf. He has
also talked with three other
people and nothing has been
heard from them.
Lamonds said that Leathers
has surrounded himself with a
(Continued on Page 10-A)
‘Open House’ Sunday To Stress
Available Mental Service Help
Unique Elbow Operation
Is Being Performed Here
Man-made hip joints, knee-
joints, fingers, and other
prostheses are restoring in
creasing numbers of Americans
to active lives.
The most recent addition to a
growing inventory of artificial
joints is the “Coonrad Total
Elbow,” named for its inventor.
Dr. Ralph W. Coonrad, an orth
opedic surgeon who practices in
riurham.
Two patients at Moore Memor
ial Hospital have received im
plantations of the Coonrad
Elbow, out of only fifteen such
procedures done thus far in
North Carolina. Only ninety such
operations have been done in the
United States.
Orthopedic surgeons at Moore
Memorial routinely do bone and
joint restoration and rehabilita
tion work, but the “total elbow”
is something new. The new
“elbow” is formed from a silvery
gray, strong metallic element
called titanium, and polyethy
lene. The polyethylene com-
(Continued on Page 10-A)
THE
PILOT LIGHT
VOTE TODAY — The bill to
establish a new commission for
youth development and to
transfer the training schools
from the Department of
Corrections to the Department of
Human Resources will come to a
vote in the House of Represen
tatives early this afternoon.
When the measure, introduced
by Rep. Claude DeBruhl, came to
a first vote last Thursday night it
was defeated by a four-vote
margin. On Friday morning,
however. Rep. T. Qyde Auman
moved that it be reconsidered
and this carried by a vote of 58 to
38.
Rep. Auman, who is a strong
backer of the bill, ^d that he
believed it would be approved. It
will be near the top of the
calendar for action this af
ternoon.
JONES — Meanwhile, in
tensive lobbying against the bill
has been carried on by Secretary
David Jones of the Department
of Corrections.
He has transported teachers
and staff members from several
of the training schools to
Raleigh, put them up at the
Hilton Inn, and told them to work
against the bill.
Strong backing for the bill has
come, however, from several
teachers and staff members at
both Samarkand Manor in Moore
County and Morrison School at
Hoffman.
PETERSON — Among the
supporters of the bill is Elijah
Peterson, principal of the school
at Samarkand Manor, who has
(Continued on Page 10-A)
BY JIM BUIE
If you or your children are
suffering from a mental or
emotional problem, there is
convenient, low-cost professional
help just a short distance away.
The Sandhills Mental Health
Center, which is funded by
federal, state, and local
government grants, offers the
people of Moore, Hoke, Rich
mond, Anson, and Montgomery
counties a comprehensive
program of in and out patient
facilities for adult and children
counseling, alcohol and drug
abuse treatment, and sheltered
workshops and day-care centers
for the mentally retarded.
As part of National Mental
Sailing
Program
Approved
Resumption of a sailing
program after a lapse of several
years, to be established by the
town recreation department on
the town reservoir, was proposed
Tuesday night by Johnny
Williams, recreation director, to
the Town Council in regiUar
meeting.
Williams said he had no way of
knowing how well such a
program would go but felt it
would be well worth trying, as
the sport was popular in other
places in the state, and he had
found good help already
available here.
This consisted of David Drexel,
local sailing enthusiast and
leader of a program which went
on for a short while about eight
years ago, who was present in
support of the proposal, along
(Continued on Page 7-A)
Health Month, the center is
sponsoring an “Open House” on
Sunday, May 18, from 2 to 4 p.m.
The public is invited to come look
over the complex on the grounds
of Moore Memorial Hospital and
ask any questions concerning
mental health.
John Gardner, Administrative
director of the center, urges
people not to be ashamed to seek
professional help. “As society
becomes more and more com
plex, especially with inflation
and unemployment so high,
people are confronted with a
tremendous amount of stress...
they feel ashamed and guUty
when they can’t control it
themselves. Actually, it may due
to a physical problem beyond
their control.”
The center, which has an ac
tive caseload of between 1600-
1800 patients, is part of a national
(Continued on Page 10-A)
For Good of Department
Sheriff Says of Firing
Petitions were being circulated
in Moore County this week
calling for the reinstatement of
Charles Watkins as a deputy
sheriff.
Watkins, a sergeant in the
investigation division, was dis
charged by Sheriff C.G. Wimber
ly last week.
At the time Sheriff Wimberly
issued no public statement. This
week, however, he said, “It was
done for the good of the Moore
County sheriff’s department. I
felt it was my duty to discharge
him.”
Watkins said that Sheriff
Wimberly had told him he was
being discharged because of
“inefficiency and misuse of a
county vehicle.”
Watkins had been asssigned a
car from the sheriff’s depart
ment on a 24-hour basis because
of the nature of his work. He has
been a highly popular law en
forcement officer and has drawn
considerable praise for his ed
ucational programs on drug
abuse with young people. He has
attended several national law en
forcement schools for further
study in drug abuse and invest
igatory work.
The former deputy said he had
no knowledge of the petitions
until he was informed of them by
the newspaper. He said, how
ever, that he has received many
calls of encouragement from
various citizens in the county. “I
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Charles Watkins