Index
Books, 2-B; Church Calendar, 3-B;
Classified Ads, 8-11-C; Editorials, 1-B;
Entertainment, 4-5-C; Obituaries, 12-A;
Pinehurst News, l-Z-C; Social News,
2-6-A; Sports, 10-11-A.
. \ ■;
LOT
Weather
Windy weather will continue in the
Sandhills today, with chance of rain 20
percent tonight and zero Thursday.
Night 20 degree temperature and day 40
degree will continue.
Vol. 56. Number 13
40 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina Wednesday, January 28, 1976
40 Pages
Price 10 Cents
W ork Started
. On 1st House
In Program
A WAP/’y (pROUNPHOO^'^ W all
A new board was placed across
the top rung of the front steps -
or rather, what seemed to luve
been front steps once upon a
time, but now were unstable
pieces of boards worn away by
use. Two shiny nails, one for each
end of the board, were driven in
with two clean drives each by
Councilman Emanuel
Douglass.
It was a moment of celebration
at 911 West New York Avenue.
The Mayor and the Town
Council, the town manager and a
^ half dozen other folks were on
hand to initiate the first phase of
the three-year Community
Improvement Team Program
involving a $248,000 grant
from the Department of
Housing and Urban Development
for the improvement of low and
moderate income. A total of
$71,000 is allotted for the
renovation of 25 homes by August
7. The grant must be requested
each year and the second grant
request already has been sub
mitted.
In addition to home im
provements the Community
Improvement team program
takes five men off the unem
ployed list and provides work
and wages ($2.36 per hour) for
them.
Robert Black, local contractor
recently employed as CIT
supervisor, and his team
including Charles Cole,
George McGregor, Oliver Goode,
James Wallace and Wilbert
(Continued on Page 14-A)
Pinecrest
Dedication
Plan Given
A gala week of activities has
been planned for the Pinecrest
High School Dedication Week,
February 9-15, it was announced
this week by Dr. H. David
Bruton, chairman of the
dedication committee.
Plans call for an Open House to
be held February 9-13 at the
school. Each department will
have student projects on display
and citizens are invited to visit
the school during the school day.
(Continued on Page 15-A)
i:-' i
Sick Boy Found OoR ^AFeiT NAT^AL f/OUDAi^-
A 14-year old diabetic has been
the object of a search today by
Rescue Units county-wide and
Sheriff’s officers, in the Derby
section near Jackson Springs
where he was seen late yesterday
after escaping from Cameron
Morrison Training School.
The boy needs from tlu-ee to
five shots a day for his condition,
and has received no medicine in
two days.
He was found shortly before
noon and returned td school.
NewsomGetsDSA Award;
Edmisten Talks On Crime
Larry Newsom, a former
Jaycee who has recently been
made an associate in the John C.
Muse Co., Inc., CPA firm, was
the recipient of the Distinguished
Service Award of the Southern
Pines Jaycees, made at their
annual Bosses Night banquet
* Wednesday.
Some 60 members, wives and
guests enjoyed the occasion at
the Lobsteer Inn, featuring
awards for outstanding service
and a stirring talk by State’s
Attorney General Rufus Ed
misten as guest speaker, along
with a steak dinner.
Jim Whitlock, club president.
presided, while Bob Pearse
seized as master of ceremonies,
and specially selected members
of the business community made
the award presentations.
Ezra Quesenberry, Southern
Pines office manager for the
Muse firm, which has
headquarters at Sanford, made
the DSA award to Newsom,
citing his “devotion to his family,
his church and his profession,
and keen sense of awareness of
the needs of his fellow men.” He
is a member of the American
Institute of CPA’s, the Sandhills
chapter of the N. C. Association
(Continued On Page 16-A)
Declaring that the “people
don't want excuses,” Lt. Gov.
:Jim Hunt told a gathering of
educators at the Mid Pines Club
here Monday night that “reading
has been made the No. 1
priority” in public school
education in North Carolina.
More than 100 reading
directors and others attended the
dinner session which highlighted
a two-day conference which
ended Tuesday.
Hunt was introduced by Supt.
A. Craig Phillips of the State
Department of Public In
struction who said, “I know of no
one with a better grasp of the
political process and its positive
impact than Jim Hunt.”
Citing the fact that tests show
that North Carolina six graders
are seven months behind the
national average in reading
comprehension and tiiat they are
as much as 10 percent behind
House Li The Horseshoe Drama
Set For Production Next July
BY MILDRED ALLEN
Joe Simmons, playwright for
“The House in the Horseshoe,”
the outdoor drama now com
pleted on paper and approved by
the Moore County Historical
Society for production in July,
has discovered the unique
historical qualities of Moore
County, toe story of a people
thrown into toe throes of difficult
times together and often in
conflict.
“The play has two sides,”
Simmons said while in town over
the weekend meeting with
committees, “It is a battle of the
minds of two men, who are very
much alike and who are battling
each other. Both are cold and
calculating men. This is coun-
terpointed by Temperance
Alston time and again when she
enters toe picture and intimates
that both men are out of line,
fighting each other and getting
people killed, that human beings
simply aren’t meant to be that
way.”
Simmons has the idea that if
women could have been out
spoken as they are today,
(Continued On Page 16-A)
BYANNMYERS
ANDCRAIGLAMB
To the visiting tourist in
Southern Pines, the impression
of toe town is not made by the
bank presidents, city officials or
even Chamber of Conunerce
employes as much as it is made
by waitresses in the community.
The impressions waitresses in
Southern Pines give tourists are
varied, judging from the com
ments of teto waitresses and
Disaster Area
Governor Jim Holshouser
announced today that Moore
County has been declared a
disaster area by officials in the
Farmers Home Administration
of the U. S. Department of
Agriculture.
This means toat farmers in
Moore County may now be
eligible for disaster loans under
toe provisions of Public Law 94-
68. Loan applications will be
handled through the county’s
Farmers Home Administration
office.
Moore County was declared a
disaster area after crops in the
county were severely damaged
by periods of extended drought
and excessive rainfall last year.
Candidate
Gilbert Lee Boger of
Mockeville, Rt. 3,. this week
announced that he is a candidate
for the Republican nomination
for Congress from the Ei^th
District.
Boger, 48, is a native of David
County and a graduate of
Mockeville High School. He
served three terms in the State
House of Reiffesentatives until
his defeat in 1974. He is a former
dairy farmer but now operates a
real estate business.
THE
PILOT LIGHT
OUTDOOR DRAMA PLANS — Playwright Joe Simmons, Mrs. Ernest Ives and
Duane Sedden are shown above discussing plans for "The House in the
Horseshoe,” Moore County’s outdoor drama scheduled for a six week run
beginning July 7.
SANFORD-Terry Sanford is
not bitter about his decision to
take himself out of the
presidential race, but he does
feel he did not get the support
from fellow North Carolinans
which he had expected.
• He is grateful, however, for
those who did support his efforts,
and singled out Sam Poole of
Southern Pines for the work he
did in his campaign.
“If I had ten people like Sam
Poole working for me I would be
on top right now,” he said.
Sanford, always a realist in
politics, talked casually and
amiably with friends foUowing a
Press Institute dinner at Duke
University on Friday night. It
was obvious that once the
decision to withdraw was made
he was ready to go on to other
things.
He planned to be in his office
Monday to resume duties as
president of Duke University, but
in toe near future he will be
taking a few days off for
relaxation, and among the things
he is looking forward to is some
golf in the Sandhills.
CARTER-The first reaction
among newsp{q)er editors and
publishers at Chapel Hill and
Durham when the news came of
Sanford’s withdrawal was that
former Georgia Governor
Jimmy Carter would benefit
most among the candidates in
the north Cwolina prinuuy.
“Carter will pick up most of
the Sanford votes,” was the
declaration of one editor.
Over toe weekend, however, a
(Continued on Page 15-A)
Helms Quits Job;
Title Is Denied
GROUNDHOG DAY — Monday, Feb. 2, is Groundhog Day, and one of the
traditions in Southern Pines is for Artist Glen Rounds to give it proper recognition
in The Pilot. Here is the 1976 presentation by Rounds—without predictions as to
shadows and weather.
Reading Has No. 1 Priority
Hunt Tells Educators Here
After voting on Thursday to
establish toe office of county
manager in order to retain Bob
Helms, the Moore County
commissioners met and
rescinded toe action on Friday
afternoon and reluctantly ac
cepted the resignation of Helms
as county administrator.
Helms will be leaving on
February 29 to accept the
position of county manager of
Stanly County.
It was a matter of both higher
salary and being named county
manager, but Helms had in
dicated he would stay if toe
county manager position was
established for him.
Apparently there was some
overnight adverse reaction,
especially from some county
employes, which made the
county commissioners rescind
the resolution it had adopted in a
brief executive session following
a called meeting on Tliursday
afternoon.
“It’s kind of a ticklish
situation,” Chairman W. S.
Taylor said.
Taylor said that toe board, in
discussion held during another
executive session lasting an
hour and a half Friday afternoon,
decided it could not meet Helms’
request. “That would involve a
change to the county manager
form of government,” Taylor
said, “and there was reluctance
on the part of some of us to make
the change.”
Taylor did say, however, toat
“We are going to move in toat
Bob Helms
direction,” and indicated toat
such a move might come in toe
next fiscal year beginning July 1.
It was understood that Com
missioner Arthur Purvis of High
Falls is “definitely against” toe
county manager form of
(Continued on Page 15-A)
Chamber Meet
The Annual Meeting of toe
Sandhills Area Chamber of
Commerce will be held tonight
(Wednesday) at the Southern
Pines Country Club.
Luther Ho^es Jr., of North
Carolina National Bank in
Charlotte, will be toe banquet
speaker.
A reception will be held at 6:30
p.m., with toe dinner following at
7:30.
students in the rest of the South both political and professional
in vocabulary skills. Hunt called leadership are needed,
for “a total commitment” to toe He said that if such leadership
reading effort and declared toat (Continued On Page 16-A)
Waitress Has Major Role
In Impressing Tomists
managers at four different
establishments picked at ran
dom.
The waitresses at The JFR
Bam agreed toat good service to
toe community is important as
“this is where our business is.”
Robert Garrison, manager of
The Barn, believes his
waitresses are friendly, warm
and helpful to toe customer not
only whm serving their food, but
also when answering questions
about the community and
directing tourists to places of
interest.
The Holiday Inn is also
prepared to promote the com
munity through its waitresses.
(Continued on Page 15-A)
9th Grade Status Kept
In Board’s Split Vote
The Moore County Board of
Education Tuesday night
received a comprehensive report
from a Citizens Committee which
has been studying organizational
problems of toe Area III schools
for toe past three months, then
decided in a split vote to leave
toe pattern of toe schools just as
it is, for now.
This means that toe ninth
grades will remain in toe middle
schools instead of being returned
to Pinecrest High School,
probably for toe next year and
maybe longer.
They were moved from
Pinecrest to the Pinehurst,
Southern Fines and Aberdeen
middle schools about three and a
half years ago, at a time when
Pinecrest was overcrowded and
beset with disciplinary and
learning problems. (The West
End school remained K-8.)
(Continued On Page 14-A)
Economy
Recovery
Is Seen
“A slow but steady recovery”
which is going on now is toe way
Dr. Kenneth Howard, budget
officer for toe State of North
Carolina, summarized the
economic outlook in a talk here
last week to toe Kiwanis Club.
“We went.in faster and we are
going to come out of the
recession faster,” Howard
declared, although he said he
would need another three to four
weeks to be completely confident
in respect to state revenues.
' One of the things which
Howard said was unusual about
North Carolina is that toe people
lare not spending at toe same rate
ias toe rest of the country and this
has accounted for less revenue
from sales tax than anticipated.
Savings accounts are rising,
however, he said, and he does
expect retail sales to start rising
at a faster rate.
Dr. Howard, who was a
member of the faculty at toe
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill prior to his ap
pointment as budget officer in
July of 1973, was firm in saying ,
toat toe State will not end up this
fiscal year with a budget deficit.
(Continued On Page 16-A)
Sales Tax
Sales tax collections, one of toe
best economic indicators in toe
state, continued to run high in
Moore County in December.
Secretary J. Howard Coble of
the State Department of Revenue
reported this week toat toe one
percent sales tax for Moore
County amounted to $85,259.41 in
December.
One percent collections in
neighboring counties for toe
month were as follows: Hoke,
$18,297.33; Lee, $80,863.90;
Montgomery, $28,137.16; Rich
mond, $84,928.48.
Pilot Receives State Top Award
For News Coverage During 1975
The POot has been awarded
first place in News Coverage
among North Carolina weekly
newspapers for 1975.
Presentation of the top award
was made Thursday night at toe
annual Press Institute
of the North Carolina Press
Association in Chapel Hill.
Governor James Holshouser
presented toe plaque for first
place to Sam Ragan, editor and
publisher, and Marjorie Ragan,
associate editor.
In selecting The Pilot for first
place, the judges had this
comment:
“Overall, The Pilot best fulfills
toe criteria set forth in this
category.
“Its news content exhibits a
high degree of professionalism.
Its reporting is detailed backed
(Continued On Page 16-A)
AWARD TO THE PILOT — Governor James Holshouser (left) presents plaque
for first place in News Coverage to Marjorie Ragan, associate editor, and Sam
Ragan, editor and publisher of The Pilot.