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Vol. 57, Number 9
32 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina Wednesday, December 29, 1976
32 Pages
Price 15 Cents
\W
WHISPERING PINES SUNSET — The setting sun casts a golden jmth across
Spring Valley Lake at Whispering Pines, and the late evening scene is captured
by Photographer Glenn M. Sides.
Restaurant Denied Rezoning
But Plans, Appeal Go Ahead
As his attorney soit off an
appeal from the Planning Board
to the County Conunissioners
today, Jinuny Melton of Pine
Bay l^afood continued plans for
a new fishhouse in Ea^wood.
The zoning board had voted not
to change the intersection of US
15-501 and Highway 73 from
residential and agricultural to
commercial on December 22, but
Melton says even if the action is
upheld, he will move the
restaurant back 500 feet from the
highway and build it anyway. He
says this is legal.
There are visions of a 7,000
square foot restaurant em
ploying 40 people by Pine Bay,
which includes Melton and Mack
$5.9 Million State Funds
Spent On Moore Schools
Expenditures from the State
Public School Fund totaled over
$736 million during the 1975-76
school year, according to figures
compiled for the annual audit
report of the State Public School
Fund.
The total represented a 2.7
percent increase in spending
over the 1974-75 school year.
Total State funds spent in
Moore County schools were
$5,899,736.23.
The largest expenditure from
the State Public School Fund, a
total of $523,407,433.00, paid for
instructional services, which
included salaries of teachers,
principals, supervisors and
clerical assistants in schools as
well as instructional supplies.
Moore County Schools spent
$4,178,232.48 from the State
Public School Fund for in
structional services.
An additional $88,811,561.00
was spent for employe benefits,
the second largest expenditure
from the Fund.
Moore Schools spend
$700,223.05 for employe benefits,
which included hospitalization
insurance, social security,
retirement and pupil reim
bursement for injuries.
Retirement and social security
costs amounted to over $79
million of the total State ex
penditure.
The cost of transporting
children to and from school
amounted to $40,128,809.00
statewide.
(Continued on Page 12A)
Little Sees Park Lands
Tops In Accomplishment
BYBILLNOBLITT
North Carolina more than
doubled the size of the State
Parks System during the past
four years, entering on the
biggest expansion program ever.
Nearly 50,000 acres of land
were acquired-much of it
through direct purchase from
state funds rather than the
historical practice of waiting for
somebody to donate property.
The result will be 12 new state
parks, or recreation areas, and
expansions at several existing
parks.
The need now is to develop the
property for use. “Acquisition
was the emphasis in the area of
parks and recreation the
previous four years.
Development should be for the
next four,” says (leorge W. Little
of Southern ^es. Secretary of
the State Department of Natural
and Economic Resources.
Within Reach
“Many more North Carolin
ians now have state parks within
easy reach of their homes. But
many of those parks have hardly
any facilities or they have
worn-out facilities.
“A major commitment to the
continued development of the
state zoo will also be needed
during the next four years,”
Little said in a recap of the
activities in his department
during the administration of
Republican Gov. James E.
Holshouser, Jr.
Dismal Swamp and Jockey’s
(Continued on Page 12A)
Finalist
Demand Is Good
For Real Estate
MiUs, who has been in the
restaurant business for twenty
years. Pine Bay already has a
restaurant and bakery in
Southern Pines.
The appeal was made by at
torney James Van Camp for Pine
Bay to the County Com
missioners.
Melton said the new
restaurant, accessible from
every part of the county, would
feature a steak and lobster room
as well as a Sunday buffet. He
added that land is availalde for
moving the site of the restaurant.
At the zoning meeting, Phillip
Nardo asked that six acres he
owns be changed to take care of
group housing near Sandhills
(^onununity College and south
west of the airport, but the board
wished to hear from his real
(Continued on Page 12A)
Sales Set
New Record
At Center
Retail sales in 1976 exceeded
$13,100,000 at Town & Country
Shopping Center, a new record
for the Sandhills area trading
center.
Among the major stores
setting business volume records
at Town & Country were
Winn-Dixie, Collins, Sears,
Macks and Mann Drugs.
“Town & Country now has 50
places of business, with a total of
376 persons employed and a
payroll in excess of $2,500,000,”
reports John Jordan, president of
the Town & Country Merchants
Association.
New businesses opened at the
center during 1976 included
Morrell’s Collector Gallery,
Piedmont Printing and Office
(Continued on Page 12A)
It looks like 1977 will be a
banner year for the real estate
industry in the Sandhills.
So says Mark C. Liddell,
newly-elected president of the
Moore County Board of Realtors.
“Moore County properties are
always in demand,” he said
yesterday, “but there is an
increasing demand for housing of
all kinds - single and multiple.”
The brighter economic picture
with more prosperity is
generating more investment, the
new president says.
Much of the investment is
going into conunercial building.
Many investors have become
disenchanted with the stock
market and will turn to real
estate as a safer place to put
their dollars and a better he^e
against inflation, Liddell says.
The decline in new housing
which started during the
recession of the past two years
has resulted in the lowering of
the overall supply of available
housing, accorc^g to the new
head the Realtors.
“More prosperity, resulting
from overall better business in
the year ahead, will generate
more investment dollars,” he
feels. New prosperity is already
being seen.
Liddell says that most
properties in this area have
appreciated from 10 to 14 percent
per year over the last few years.
Liddell was recently installed
president of the local Realtors by
William A. Seawell, President of
the North Carolina Association of
Realtors. Robert Calhoun of
(]aulk, Calhoun and Bertrand of
Pinehurst is the new
Secretary-Treasurer and Walker
(Continued on Page 12A)
Ford Tells Local Girl
Where Dreams Come True
There’s a treasured letter
framed and hanging on the wall
at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.
Edgar Lillard of 310 Becl^
Branch Road in Southern Pines.
It’s a letter signed by
President Gerald R. Ford to
young Leslie Lillard, who will be
nine in January, and it’s the
latest in a correspondence with
the President going back to the
time she was in the first grade.
Her mother, Anita M. Lillard,
wrote The Pilot, saying, “It is so
thought-provoking and youth-
inspiring that I thought you
might like to print it for all the
young people of Southern Pines.”
Mrs. lillard continues:
“It all started with an essay on
the President written and
illustrated by my daughter when
she was in the first grade. It was
so charming that I mailed it to
the White House. She received a
warm and gracious response.
The next year she had a question
about the flag and I suggested
she write to the President again
and clear up the matter. Once
again she received an interesting
and persqnal response. Leslie
developed quite an admiration
for the Ford Administration
since they always had time to
answer the letters of a young
person.
“When the election was over
and Leslie heard that President
Ford had lost, she decided to
write once again and convey her
disappointment. The enclosed
Court Facility Plans
Are Nearly Complete
The new Hall of Justice
building to house Moore County
courts is expected to get under
construction early in the new
year.
Architect E. J. Austin said this
week that his firm is nearly
finished with all drawings and
specifications.
The county commissioners are
expected to seek bids on the new
building at an early date.
Application for a federal public
works grant to help finance the
cost of the building, estimated at
approximately $1.5 million, has
not been successful. The com
missioners, however, have been
con^dering alternative ways of
financing, and are expected to
proceed with plans.
The demand for new court
facilities goes back some years
and the Moore County Bar
Association has been actively
pushing for the new courthouse.
Architect Austin said that he
has been working closely with
Moore County attorneys in
drawing up the plans and
specifications.
THE
PILOT LIGHT
Diana Moon of Aberdeen is one
of 18 finalists in the 1977 Maid of
Cotton pageant in Mem[4iis,
Tenn., and the winner of the title
will be chosen tonight (Wed
nesday).
Miss Moon is a former Miss
Aberdeen and was first runner-
up for the Miss North Carolina
crown in 1975.
HODGKINS - Sara Hodgkins,
whose appointment by Governor-
elect Jim Hunt as l^cretary of
the Department of Cultural
Resources was announced last
week, could continue to serve on
the Southern Pines Town
Council.
However, she does plan to
resign from the council and may
submit her resignation at the
next regular meeting of the
council on Tuesday, Jan. 11.
The council itsefi will select
her replacement and supporters
of Mrs. Hodgkins, who was the
top vote-getter in last year’s
town election, are of the strong
opinion that another woman
should be appointed.
HUNT - Governor-elect Hunt
already is at work on his “State
of the State” message even
though his days, and some
nights, still are filled with talking
with people about other Cabinet
positions to be filled.
The General Assembly will
convene on January 12, four days
after Hunt is inaugurated as
Governor, and Hunt plans to
present not only his overall goals
but many specifics in his adless
to the legislators.
In other words, he will hit the
ground running when he takes
office and has no intention of
waiting for several months for
legislative action on his
program.
LIQUOR - Some members of
(Continued on Page 12A)
WT*
letter was received. I only wish
every young person in the Nation
could have the opportunity of
reading it.”
The letter from President Ford
is as follows:
“Thank you for your thoughtful
letter following the election. I
will always remember the
generous encouragement and
goodwill which were extended to
me and my entire family by our
fellow Americans. It has been a
tremendous honor to serve the
(Continaed on Page 12A),
Saunders
Is Killed
By Truck
Robert Lee Saunders Jr., 55,
former managing editor of Golf
World here and more recently
editor of tte Pinehurst Outlook,
was killed instantly early
Monday evening when he was
struck by a tractor-trailer truck
on Interstate 95,19 miles north of
Fayetteville.
State Highway Patrolman
C.W. Conkling said in Fayette
ville that Saunders may have
been struck by two other vehicles
after being hit by the truck
driven by Patrick George
Gleason, 26.
The patrolman said that
Saunders was apparently
walking for help after parking
his car in a median about a haU
mile away. The car had a flat
tire.
The patrolman said that
Saunders was attempting to
cross from the median to the
southbound shoulder of the
highway and apparently stepped
in front of the big truck.
Saunders had been editor of the
Pinehurst Outlook until two or
three weeks ago. Prior to that he
had worked on Golf World and as
assistant news editor of the
Charlotte News. —
Saunders attended
Rockin^am High School and
was a graduate of the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He was a fighter pilot and gun
nery instructor with the Navy
during World War H, and began
his newspaper career with the
Concord Tribune in 1947.
He was married to the former
Dorothy Oates of Kannapolis.
He was with the Charlotte
News for 19 years, serving as
sports and politicM writer in
addition to duties on the state and
news desks.
He came to Golf World in 1970
and resigned in 1972, and during
that time was also at work on a
history of golf at Pinehurst.
His hobbies were golf and
music "and for a period following
(Continued on Page 12A)
Bloodmobile
The American Red Cross
Bloodmobile will be at the
Pinehurst Community Building
on Wednesday, Jan. 5, from 11
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The visit is sponsored by the
Pinehurst Fire Department, and
Red Cross officials have urged
persons in the area to come and
donate the much needed blood.
CLAUS AND TOT — Santa Claus (represented by
Voigt Proctor) holds a Christmas stocking containing
Lonnie Joe Lassiter, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
Danny Lassiter of Troy. Santa visited all Moore
Memorial patients on Christmas morning.—(Photo by
Derry Walker).
New Year Observances
Planned In Sandhills
The celebration of the New
Year this weekend will include
the cloidng ol many offices and
business establishments, giving
employes a long weekend to
celebrate and-or recover.
Local office closings for the
holiday include:
The area banks will close on
Monday, Jan. 3, in observance of
the hoUday, as will the County
offices and the Southern Pines
Town Offices.
The Post Office will close only
on Saturday, Jan. 1.
The Pilot offices will observe
Friday, Dec. 31, for the New
Year’s Eve holiday, as will the
Driver’s License office in
Aberdeen.
Many businesses and stores in
the Sandhills will close on New
Year’s Day, but most grocery
stores and convenient food stores
have indicated they will remain
open.
Many churches in the Sandhills
area are planning special Watch
Ni^t or other New Year ser
vices. Many parties are planned
for New Year’s Eve.
Informal Talk Session
Held By Town Council
The Town Council of Southern
Pines had an unofficial meeting
last week, with the public and the
press not present, and talked
about a number of things, but
with no action being taken.
It was a late supper meeting at
the Sheraton Inn and was for the
purpose of informal discussion.
Mayor E.J. Austin said.
As the mayor explained it, “We
come together for meetings but
there is little time to discuss
matters which may be on our
minds, whether or not they ever
come up for action,” and,
“As a matter of fact,” “we
haven’t had too much chance this
year even to get acquainted.”
So, relaxing over a good meal
and coffee cups, the five council
members “let down their hair.”
Whenever they reached the point
of proposing some action,
though, Austin would head it off
for “some other time.”
They plunged into the area of
“downtown”-the two traffic
studies the councU has had “on
the table” for over two years,
filled with proposals which now
appear controversial but which,
the members agreed, they might
have to resort to, as time goes by
and traffic problems in the
business district mount.
The whole matter of
redevelopment of the district
was discussed, with the
possibility of bringing some new
business there rather than let it
all go to outlying shopping
centers; the problem posed by
the fact that, where other towns
can develop a “mall,” Southern
Pines has to cope with a railroad
track; angle vs. parallel parking,
(Continued on Page 12A)
Annexation
Mayor E. J. Austin said this
week that legal problems still
exist in respect to withdrawal of
the appeal against annexation by
the town by a group of “Con
cerned Citizens.”
Those involved in the court
action are being asked to vote by
mail on whether or not to drop
the appeal to the North Carolina
Court of Appeals.
Austin said that Town Attorney
W. Lament Brown and Attorney
James Van Camp, representing
the citizens group, have con
ferred, but until the legal
problems are resolved he said
the town would not be able to
begin services to the area in
question.
Here's What Made Headlines In Moore County In 1976
BY VALERIE NICHOLSON
While this hasn’t been one of
Moore County’s most eventful
years, there has been a steady
run ^ happenings large and
small, and constant increase in
the kind of things-the arts,
drama, music, planned
• recreation for old and
* young-which have steadily
enhanced the quality of life.
Much of this has been due to
the Sandhills Arts CoimcU, also
to the Bicentennial year,
providing a constant run of
interesting and colorful events,
by themselves and in cooperation
with many local agencies.
As a correlation-and we
wouldn’t deny there is some
connection-violent crime seems
to have greatly diminished,
though this may be due to the
belated beefing up of law
enforcement in the sheriff’s
department, and police
departments in the towns.
Whereas a couple of years ago
our headlines too often
concerned armed robberies,
murder and rape, these have
lessened-though d^ investiga
tions and arrests have picked up,
and teen-agers arrested for
breaking, entering and larceny,
and lesser offenses, have loaded
the court dockets.
Town and county governments
have increased their scope, their
meetings and their state-federal
relationships, with growing
complexity, and with improved
service to the people as the
elected officials have had to
buckle down and really learn
their jobs.
Below are headline highlights,
week by week and month by
month, of the year 1976:
JANUARY
Ck>unty commissioners by 3-2
vote approve Leaveme Maness’
petition for Midland Road re
zoning to enlarge Neighborhood
Shoi^ing district, despite strong
protest of Midland Road
residents at public hearing held
October 16...Teleidioned bomb
threats, which turned out to be
hoaxes, cause evacuation and
closing of several Aberdeen
stores...West End office, of
Carolina Bank held up in armed
robbery by three white
males...Sheriff C.G. Wimberly
calls for citizen cooperation in
curbing crime wave which made
headlines during 1975...Bynum
George Patterson, killed in bomb
explosion at New York’s
LaGuardia Airport, buried in Mt.
Hope Cemetery.
Large crowd protesting action
of commissioners in Midland
Road re-zoning organizes at
Moore (bounty Qtizens for Better
Zoning, employ attomey...l^len
car used by West End bank
robbers found in Jackson Springs
area...Southern Pines mobile
home park owners protest zoning
ordinance affecting them,
declaring it would put them out
of business...Supporters of Jim
Hunt for Governor, in campaign
as yet unannounced, hold fi^
meeting at home of Ifr. H. David
Bruton.
Moore County Citizens for
Better Zoning authorize attorney
to file suit in Midland Road re-
zoning controversy...W.E.
Parfitt re-elected president of
Pinehurst Village Council...Town
of Robles will receive $301,250
grant for water sui^ly im
provement, under N.C. Clean
Water Bond Act of 1971...&iow
flurries in Sandhills, tem
perature hits seven
degrees...Earl Hubbard, Taft
Williams head Moore County
Ford for President conunittee.
Southern Pines Town Council
starts housing renovation
program, under Community
Development block grant of
$248,500 approved last year...Bob
Helms, Moore County ad
ministrator, resigns effective
March 1 when commissioners,
after offering promotion to
county manager one day, rescind
this action the next...Dr. Vida
McLeod, still practicing
medicine at nearly 80, honored
by ADK sorority of women
educators...Southem Pines PUot
receives N.C. Press association’s
top award for news coverage
among weeklies.
FEBRUARY
D. Parker Lynch employed as
Moore County’s first director of
public works, to handle fiscal
affairs relating to regional water
system now under con
struction...Eddie Gaines, 77, of
Jackson Hamlet charged in fatal
shooting of Clayton Walters, 31,
of Midway...Cpmmissioners
honor Dr. (Element R. Monroe
and W.P. Saunders for services
to county, including long service
(Continaed on Page 16A)