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A. 56, Number 20
44 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina Wednesday, March 17, 1976
44 Pages
Price 10 Cents
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Picking Of President
Slated Next Tuesday
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THE HOUSE IN THE HORSESHOE — This is an
aerial view of The House in the Horseshoe, the site of a
Revolutionary War skirmish and where Moore
County’s Bicentennial drama, “The House in the
Horseshoe,” will be presented beginning on July 7. It
was the home of Phillip Alston and gets its name from
its location in a bend in the Deep River.—(Photo by
Mildred Allen).
Separate Drug Squad Is Opposed;
Sheriff Has Challenge To Charges
Voters in Moore County and
the rest of North Carolina will go
to the polls next Tuesday to
express their preference on who
they want to be President of the
United States.
Election officials say they have
no way of knowing what sort of
turnout there will be, but if the
heavy interest in registration in
the closing days before the books
were closed is an indication it
could be heavy.
There has not been much in
terest in absentee ballots,
however, as on Monday
something over 30 applications
has been received, mostly from
college students home on a
school break. Today (Wed
nesday) is the last day for ap
plication for absentee ballots.
There is a total of 19,689
registered voters in Moore
Freeze Warning
A freeze warning has been
issued for tonight, with clear and
cold weather forecast.
Temperatures reached 31
degrees today at 5:30 a.m.
Readings are expected to be in
the forties today and the twenties
tonight. On Thursday, the
mercury is to read in the fifties.
Prospect of rain is near zero.
This comes after a long spell of
spring weather in the Sandhills,
with temperatures in the high
eighties much of the time and
peach trees, Banksia roses and
azaleas in bloom.
County—12,240 Democratic, 6,579
Republican, 615 Independent, 3
American party, and 252 “no
party.”
Only Democrats and
Republicans can vote in the
presidential party preference
primary. Those ballote will carry
the names of Gerald R. Ford and
(Continued On Page 16-A)
Samarkand
Reopening
This Week
Samarkand Manor near Eagle
Springs is being reopened for
operations this week after being
closed for three weeks while staff
members and teachers un
derwent an intensive training
session.
Ray Shurling, the new director
of the State Division of Youth
Services, said Monday that he is
“very, very pleased” with the
results of the training period and
he looks for considerable im
provement of operations, which
had come under criticism.
“I am very optimistic,”
Shurling said.
Children, who had been moved
to other facilities while the
training period was under way,
are being moved back this week
and the regular complement of
some 120 students will be back on
(Continued On Page 16-A)
Official Democratic Primary BaUot for
President of the United States
a.
b.
INSTRUCTIONS
ite for a candidate on the ballot make a
•k in the square at the left of his
lot.
iti
lark this bal
let wiDther.
FOR’PftB^EN']
(Vou May Vote for
□ LLOYD BENTSEN
□ JIMMY CARTER
□ FRED R. HARRIS
□ HENRY M. JACKSON
n MORRIS K. UDALL
□ GEORGE C. WALLACE
n NO PREFERENCE
state of North Carolina
Primary election March 23, 1976
Controversy developed this
week over a proposal to establish
a special anti-drug law en
forcement agency separate from
the Sheriff’s Department, with
Sheriff C. G. Wimberly strongly
challenging statements made at
a meeting last week of the
Carthage Town Board.
The separate agency proposal
was endorsed by Mayor Billy
Carter of Carthage last week,
and drew support this week from
Charles E. Watkins, special
investigator with the office of the
District Attorney and a former
deputy sheriff who headed up
drug abuse work at one time.
GOP Head
Will Visit
On Mar. 24
Bob Shaw, State chairman of
the North Carolina Republican
Party, will be in Southern Pines
on Wednesday, March 24, at 7:30
a.m., at the Holiday Inn to
discuss GOP plans and strategy
for the upcoming 1976 campaign.
Shaw said, “The Republican
State headquarters has been
reorganized so that we can
provide direction and support for
our local and legislative can
didates. This year there are
qualified and experienced
candidates running on the
statewide Republican ticket and
these state-wide candidates will
be developing their own cam
paign organizations. Our goal at
this time is to begin making sure
we have a strong slate of can
didates on the local and
legislative tickets. As soon as the
August 17 statewide primary is
over. Republican state
(Continued On Page 16-A)
Sheriff Wimberly said that
neither Mayor Carter nor Car
thage Police Chief Allan Benner
had ever mentioned drug traffic
to him or his staff.
Obviously strongly opposed to
the creation of a separate agency
to deal with drug matters, Sheriff
Wimberly said that two of his
deputies are this week taking
special courses in drug traffic
law enforcement.
“I am a believer in all the
training we can get our people
Town Seeking Jury Trial
In Duncraig Case Appeal
and I have people going to
various types of schools teing
sponsored by the Justice
Department all the time. In fact,
during March, April and May we
are sending people to four dif
ferent schools, including drug
schools,” Sheriff Wimberly said.
The sheriff said he knows
“there is drug traffic in the
schools but it has beoi no greater
(Continued on Page 15-A)
Robbins Man Now Facing
Insurance Fraud Charges
^ Chairman, State Board of Elections
Official Republican Primary Ballot for
^ent of the United States
IS!
Arnold Rosser Gamer, 46, a
leading citizen and longtime
prominent businessman of
Robbins, was arrested Monday
on 19 warrants charging forgery
and fraud in his insurance
business.
The warrants were taken out
by Fred R. Clemons of Green-
Attorneys for the Town of
Southern Pines last Thursday
afternoon argued before the
State Court of Appeals at Raleigh
that the court should reverse an
order by Superior Court Judge
James M. Long of Yanceyville,
in which he dismissed the town’s
suit against Duncraig Manor.
William D. Sabiston,
presenting the principal
argument for the Town, and W.
Lamont Brown, in a brief
rebuttal, contended that Long
had been wrong in acceding to
the defendant’s petition for
summary judgment in the case.
They said summary judgment
was appropriate only when there
were no issues to be tried, and
they argued that their case was
replete with triable issues, which
should go before a jury.
The Town holds that Duncraig
Manor, a treatment center for
emotionally disturbed children,
violates the town zoning law in
continuing operation in
Weymouth Heights, a resi
dential-agricultural (single
family) district.
Osborne Lee, Jr., of
Lumberton, representing the
Southeastern Regional Mental
Health Center there, which
operates Duncraig Manor,
repeated his argument for the
(Continued On Page 16-A)
John Reeves Dies at 88;
A Benefactor For Many
Parade And Other Events
Slated For Bicentennial
An expansive Bicentennial
Parade for Moore County is
scheduled April 24 in Carthage,
climaxing the three-day Village
of Yesteryear to be held at the
Moore County Fairgrounds April
22-24.
“The parade will be open to all
schools, groups and
organizations in the county
wishing to participate in any
way. I hope the schools will each
prepare a float or some
demonstration in celebration of
the Bicentennial Year. All
schools have beat contacted,
many organizations and horse
groups already have responded
to the invitation, and it looks like
a long and colorful parade,” Mrs.
Faye Sadler, chairman of the
committee, said.
Six Bicentennial flags wiU
head up the parade. The course
will begin at ^e fairgrounds, site
of the Village of Yesteryear,
down Monroe Street, around the
courthouse and down by the
Carthage Post Office and to the
(Continued on Page 15-A)
John Mercer Reeves, 88,
retired industrialist, educator,
friend of education and bene
factor of youth, died Tuesday at
his home on McCaskill Road
after a long illness.
He served as chairman of the
North Carolina State Ports
Authority from 1957 to 1966,
during the administrations of
Governors Hodges, Sanford and
Moore.
Funeral services will be held at
4 p.m. Wednesday at the
Southern Pines United Methodist
Church, conducted by the Rev.
John Paschal and the Rev.
Charles Hubbard, with burial in
Mt. Hope Cemetery, Southern
Pines.
He was a past president and
board chairman, and since 1967
was honorary chairman, of the
board of Reeves Bros., Inc., a
textile firm with headquarters in
New York City, comprising
several mills, finishing plants
John M. Reeves
and allied marketing facilities in
several states.
Bom at Siloam, in Surry
County, he grew up in Mt. Airy,
attended Oak Ridge Military
(Continued On Page 16-A)
THE
PILOT LIGHT
Pine Beetle Problem Is Major
In Large Part Of North Moore
The southern pine beetle is on
the attack again.
“It is a major problem in the
upper end of the county and in
large areas over the state, but
the Southern Pines area which
has escaped a widespread
infestation the past three years is
not involved at this time,” N.C.
Forest Ranger Robert Edwards
said yesterday.
An aerial reconnaisance and
mapping crew spotted 350
locations of infestation last
month in Moore County in areas
around the communities of
Robbins, High Falls, Westmoore,
Glendon, and Carthage. Working
with a crew subsidized by
Federal monies, Edwards said
that 97 small spots, ranging in
size from 10 to 20 trees per spot,
were cut out last month and they
are at work contacting land-
owners with known infestation
spotted by the aerial
reconnaisanbe workers.
Moore County is located in an
eight-county forestry district
including Richmond, Scotland,
Anson, Stanly, Montgomery,
Chatham and Lee. Two of these
counties, Richmond and
Scotland, do not have any
problem, but the others have
serious problems and Chatham
County is “eaten up” by the
infestation, having somewhere
around 800 infected spots.
The procedure for killing out
the southern pine beeUe is slow
and arduous. “We cut one tree
down, peel the bark off of it, then
spray that tree with benzene
(Continued On Page 16-A)
COUNCIL-All members of the
Southern Pines Town Council
were in Washington early this
week for the National League of
Cities Congressional-City
Conference.
Staying at the Washington
Hilton were Mayor E.J. Austin
and CouncU Members Emanuel
Douglass, Earl Hubbard, Sara
Hodgkins and Michael Smithson.
One of the purposes of the
conference was for municipal
officials to lobby Congressmen
for an extension of federal
revenue sharing.
HEFNER-The featured
speaker at the Bill Hefner
Appreciation Dinner at Pfeiffer
College in Misenheimer on
Friday night is former Senator
Sam Ervin, Jr.
The appreciation dinner for
Congressman Hefner was
organized by a group of civic
leaders from throu^out the
Eighth Congressional District.
Joe White, a Concord
businessman, is chairman.
Tickets for the 7 p.m. dinner
are $25 per couple. Several from
Moore County plan to attend.
CARTER-Former Governor
Jimmy Carter made a lot of
friends among Democrats of the
Eighth Congressional District
when he came here in 1974 to
campaign for Rep. Hefner. He
spoke on Hefner’s behalf and for
the Democratic ticket at several
places in the district.
Among other things when he
was here for a talk Carter took
(Continued On Page 16-A)
sboro an insurance investigator,
after several weeks of probing
into Gamer’s conduct of his
business, the Arnold Gamer
Insurance Agency.
While many in the community
knew the investigation was under
way, they found it hard to
believe, and were distressed at
word of the arrest.
Police Chief Coy Warf said that
serving the warrants was “one of
the hardest things I ever had to
do” in his years of law en
forcement work. He said, “I
think everyone in Robbins looks
on Arnold Gamer as a friend.
When there’s anything that needs
to be done in this community, you
could count on him. He’s always
the first to pitch in and help.”
This has been trae in school,
church and civic matters, said
the chief, noting also that “he has
always cooperated with me 100
percent.”
The charges against Gamer
are all felonies, and Magistrate
R. G. Fity, Jr., set bond at $5,000,
which was made, pending
preliminary hearing to be held
March 25 in Moore District Court
at Carthage.
Gamer was also summoned by
a “non-testimonial identification
order” issued Monday by
District Judge A. A. Webb, to
appear Tuesday morning at the
sheriff’s office, for a “hand
writing procedure” estimated to
take three hours, giving samples
of his handwriting for com
parison purposes. It was
stipulated that he would not be
asked questions or made to speak
other than for voice samples (in
cases where this was needed).
The warrants contained
allegations that Garner had
(Continued on Page 15-A)
a.
b.
)NS
yiot
cross
name.
If you tear or deface or'^fS^gly
lot, return it to the registrar a:
Ift
make a
his
iK
FOR PRESIDENT
(Voii May Vote for One)
RONALD REAGAN
GERALD R. FORD
NO PREFERENCE
I'riiiiary election March 23, 1970
Li£^—_
Chairman State Board of Electiom.
Vista Workers At Tasks
At Sandhills Youth Unit
Time out for life - and work - Youth Center has opened their
has brought six enthusiastic eyes - and their lives - to what
Vista workers for residence in relationships with youth working
Southern Pines and Aberdeen through problems can mean, for
while working at Sandhills Youth themselves and for those who
Center on a one year assignment would volunteer their services,
from the Department of
Corrections at a salary of $2400.
The team of workers repre
sents cross-sections of the
country and the dynamic of their
assignment is working in two
ways. The discovery of North
Carolina and especially the
Sandhills is told in terms such as
“unbelievable, just the
countryside itself-but especially,
the people, they’re so friendly
and helpful.” As for the work, a
month of orientation with the
State Department of Correction
and three weeks on the open
campus at the Sandhills.
Jamie Fox is a graduate
student in Archeology, taking
time out from working with
“dead bones and documentaries
from the past” to working with
people and the present day. Dana
Winikates comes from Chicago
as graduate in theatre, with a
minor in French. Mary Gambon,
a graduate in sociology, left law
school behind for a year to join
the VISTA crew, and looks at the
months ahead as a catalyst in her
life, the part that’s going to
(Continued On Page 16-A)
Commission To Rescind Action
On Rezoning Of Midland Road
The Moore County com
missioners are expected to take
action this week which would
rescind their controversial
rezoning action on Midland Road
of some weeks ago.
Chairman W. S. Taylor said
that he would issue a statement
in cooperation with the county
attorney within a few days.
The action is reported to follow
a determination that the second
zoning ordinance was not legally
adopted by the commissioners
because no putdic hearing was
held prior to adoption.
Two meetings of the Moore
County commissioners are
scheduled this week—this
(Wednesday) afternoon and
again on Thursday afternoon.
The meeting today will be with
Architect E. J. Austin who is
drawing the plans for the new
Hall of Justice. When the plans
and total cost estimates were
presented at the regular meeting
of the commissioners early this
month the board decided the
costs were too hi^, exceeding
expectations by several hundred
thousand dollars. The architect
was asked to re-study the new
Churts Facilities project and
present alternatives. This Austin
is expected to do this afternoon.
The Thursday meeting will be
for the purpose of reviewing a
proposal from Pinehurst for a
tax district and area fire
protection. Seven Lakes is also
scheduled to present a proposal
for a fire dis^ict.
Public hearings have been set
(Continued on Page 15-A)