0
Art Museum
See what the new State Art Museum
will look like on Page 11>A.
iGlendon
ILOT
Index
Books, 2-B; Church Calendar, 3-B;
Classified Ads, 5-11-D; Editorials, 1-B;
Entertainment, 4-5-C; Obituaries, 7-A;
Pinehurst News, 1-3-C; Public
Speaking, 3-3; Social News, 2-6-A;
Sports, 1-4-D.
6
Vol. 57, Number 48
50 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina Wednesday, September 28, 1977
50 Pages
Price 15 Cents
'0
Council Seeks Grant
For New Water Plans
a
Womans Death Mystery,
Although Accident Ruled
'S5
The long-delayed SBI
laboratory reports on the
autopsy and other evidence in the
death of Miss Nova Frances
Richardson, 49, on July 22, at her
home in Jackson Springs were
received Monday by the medical
examiner and coroner in Moore
County, but added little to what
had been already known.
Based on the autopsy report
and opinion of a state medical
examiner, and a report
authenticating a note found in the
house as in the handwriting of the
deceased, Coroner A. B. Parker
gave his opinion that there had
been a suicide attempt, but that
had not been responsible for her
death.
He concurred in the fin
ding that the death had been due
to carbon monoxide poisoning,
from the fire which had burned in
two rooms and filled the whole
house with smoke before it was
detected by neighbors. However,
Parker said there was no
evidence Miss Richardson was in
any way to blame for the setting
of the fire, that the local in
vestigation and SBI had turned
up no way to determine its origin,
and he believed it had been due to
Armed, Masked Men
Rob Women At Home
3>
Two armed men wearing ski
masks held up two women in a
home near Vass Saturday and
stole $5,032 in cash and
valuables, Moore County Sheriff
Wimberly reported Monday.
Ruby Durbin Parker, 44, of Rt.
2, Vass and a visitor, Marsha
Talent, were in Mrs. Parker’s
home at 9:30 Saturday night
when two young white males
kicked the door open, held a knife
and a gun on them, tied their
feet, legs and arms with heat
duct tape and put tape over their
mouths and then robbed them.
the sheriff said.
From Mrs. Parker they stole
$450 in cash, 10 diamond rings
worth $4,337, $125 in war bonds
and $120 in travelers checks, he
said. Also, they stole $1.75 from
Ms. Talent, which was not in
cluded in the $5,032 total, he said.
Ms. Parker said the robbers
called her bynlfti'e but ^e di^
not know them, Wimberly said.
The two women got loose after
the men left and called the
sheriff from a neighbor’s phone.
The had to walk to the neighbor’s
(Continued on Page 12-A)
some accidental cause, possible
after the victim became un
conscious.
He said also there was no in
dication any other person, or any
foul play, was involved.
He ruled the death accidental,
saying this ruling would stand
unless and until some evidence is
found to the contrary, and that
the case would remain open
indefinitely for the receipt of any
such evidence, which would help
clear up mysteries still
remaining.
Well known and loved in her
conununity, with brothers and
sisters, several living close by
with their families, she also had
hundreds of friends made in the
course of her work as a
registered nurse, who had served
29 years as office nurse for Dr. J.
C. Grier, Jr., of Pinehurst
without missing a day, or even
being late to work a single time.
Her outgoing nature,
(Continued on Page 12-A)
The Southern Pines Town
Council in special meeting
Th’.u-sday morning attacked the
town’s water problems head-on,
taking o three-pronged approach
toward a practical solution,
hoped to be financed in large
part by an FHA grant.
Les Hall, the town’s consulting
engineer, had raced a deadline
the week before to file a pre
application at the FHA office at
Raleigh, and the council met
another deadline Thursday with
its official commitment to paying
$172,500, its ai^roximately 51
percent share of the $344,900
grant, made available under the
Drou^t Emergency Act.
Deadlines were inuninent, the
whole process speeded up
because of the nature of the
legislation which had zipped its
way through Congress, designed
to offer help as rapidly as
possible to conununities suf
fering under the impact of the
summer’s heat and drought.
W. B. Hill, Moore County FHA
supervisor, had gone to Raleigh
with Hall, and both were at the
special meeting, with forms to be
fiiled out, marking some 59 steps
to be taken in a series of
deadlines, through the final
target date of November 15.
, V^e Hill acted as guide
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Special Reading Grant
Awarded Moore Schools
Travel Ads Funds Cut
Despite Good Response
0
Advertising funds for the Par
Travel Council of the Sandhills
Area Chamber of Commerce
have been cut to $20,000, half of
what Par received from Moore
County in the 1976-77 fiscal year,
according to Mrs. Betsy Lindau,
Director and Secretary of Par
Travel Council.
“The $20,000 is just not enough
for national advertising,” Mrs.
Lindau said. “We intend to ask
the county commissioners for
more later in the year.”
Mrs. Lindau said the councU
expects to have $5,000 in
matching funds from the state
soon for promotion.
Last year Par advertised the
Sandhills as a vacation resort in
the New York Times, the
Montreal Star, the Toronto Star,
Southern Living, Travel and
Leisure, Golf Magazine, Golf
Digest, and Golf World. Mrs.
Lindau said with the funds
alloted for the 1977-78 fiscal year,
(Continued on Page 12-A)
School Enrollment Rise
Means Two New Teachers
The 9,647 pupils attending
Moore County Schools on the 10th
day after opening-90 more than
on the same day last year-netted
the schools two more teachers.
Associate Supt. C. E. Powers told
the county board of education
Monday night.
The board approved contracts
with the two teachers gained
through the increased ADM
(average daily membership)
allotment-Adria L. Cooper at
West End school, and Alexander
Grant at Elise Middle, in
Robbins. Actually, Grant’s
employment was due to a
half-teacher gain at both Elise
and Robbins Elementary-
adding up to one full-time
teacher for a combination
fourth-fifth grade.
Ms. Cooper also has a new
combination grade, a
second-third grade at West End,
where new families moving in to
the Seven Lakes - West End area
have already pushed the school,
new last year, just about beyond
(Continued on Page 12-A)
News of a $66,608 federal grant
for a Reading Improvement
Project, funded for one year but
renewable from year to year, has
been awarded to the Moore
County Schools against heavy
competition, according to
information received by the
county board of education in
regular meeting Monday night.
Mrs. Lorna Livengood,
director of instruction (K-3) and
reading (K-12) said that she and
Gilmore
On Awards
Committee
Voit Gilmore, Southern Pines
businessman and civic leader,
has been named by Governor
James B. Hunt Jr. to serve on a
five-member citizens’ committee
to nominate persons for the
annual North Carolina Awards.
He will be in charge of Public
Service Awards. Others on the
committee are Mrs. James H.
Semans of Durtiam, chairman;
Mrs. William A.V.Cecil of
Asheville, Arts; Dr. Guy Owen of
Raleigh, Literature, and Dr.
Louise Nixon Sutton of Elizabeth
City, Science.
The committee will make
recommendations to the
Governor and to Sara W.
Hodgkins, secretary of the
Department of Cultural
Resources.
The banquet, open to the
public, will be held at a Nov. 28
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Charles McKinley, then director
of the ESAA program (since
discontinued) had started work
last February on the application,
despite advance warning that
only 25 such grants were to be
made in the entire nation.
With so much emphasis now
being placed on Early Childhood
Education programs, Mrs.
Livengood said they decided to
try for something for the middle
schools, where they felt the
competition might not be so
keen.
The application, submitted to
the “Right to Read” program of
the U. S. Office of Education,
Department of Health,
Education and Welfare, was
funded for eight classes, four
in the Southern Pines Middle
School and four in the Aberdeen
Middle School. Preparation is
now under way for classwork to
begin about the middle of
October in one fifth grade class
one sixth, one seventh and one
eighth in each school.
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Blue Festival
Congressman Bill Hefner is
expected to attend the Malcolm
Blue Historical Society’s fourth
annual Traditional Crafts and
Skills Festival at the Blue Farm
near Aberdeen on Friday.
> A roast pig plate supper, with
music and dancing, will begin at
5 p.m.
The Festival will be held from
5 to 11 p.m. on Friday, and from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday,
with a variety of events
scheduled.
SUNDAY FOOTBALL — The Campbell House football on Sunday afternoon.—(Photo by Glenn
grounds was the scene of this spirited play at M. Sides).
« 'Stsf**;.''--.
,
- S»C 4^
" ;'
■ •****’. ac' *
IN OPERATION DEC. 1 — This is one view of
the giant processing plant near Adder for the
Moore County regional sewer system which is
scheduled to go into operation on Dec. 1. The
waste disposal treatment plant will serve
Southern Pines, Pinehurst and Aberdeen.
—(Photo by Glenn M. Sides)
Sewer System To Start Up Dec. 1;
Bid Opening On New Line Thursday
The $17 million Moore County
regional sewer system is
scheduled to go into operation on
Dec. 1.
Parker ILynch of the county
administrator’s office said this
week that the principal task now
is getting the electronic
equipment synchronized.
Construction work is in its
final stages, and unless there are
some unforeseen hitches the
giant waste treatment plant will
be ready by Dec. 1 to start
receiving waste from three
Sandhills conununities.
They are Southern Pines,
Pinehurst and Aberdeen.
A bid opening wili be held in
Carthage on Thursday at 2 p.m.
for the construction of an
interceptor sewer line to serve
south i^uthem Pines, including
recentiy annexed areas off
Indiana Avenue Extension.
This interceptor line which will
tie in with the main sewer line
near Aberdeen is expected to
cost in the neighborhood of
three-quarter million dollars.
Lynch said.
Following the bid opening the
Moore County conunissioners
will visit the waste treatment
plant near Addor where the
process of operations will be
explained.
“This is a very sophisticated
plant-much above any other
system in our area,” Lynch said.
The plant visit by the
commissioners an^l other
officials will be between 3 and 4
p.m.
Lynch said that when the
plant, described as looking like a
small city by one observer, will
begin receiving waste from the
present Southern Pines
treatment plant off U.S. 1 and
NC 2, from two points in
Pinehurst, and the Town of
Aberdeen. The clubhouse at the
Country Qub of North Carolina
will al^ be tied into the system,
although residences at CCNC
will not be a part of the system
at this time.
It is expected that work on the
interceptor line in south
Southern Pines will get under
way soon and will be completed
within a year.
Crossing Signals Help
Is Requested By Town
Drug Problem No Worse
Moore Sheriff Asserts
The Town of Southern Pines is
waiting to hear from the State
Department of Transportation
and the Seaboard Coastline
Railroad to see what help it can
get in installing signals at
downtown crossings.
Marvin E. Collins, town
development director, said he
understands there are federal
funds available for such projects.
Immediately following two
accidents in which automobiles
were struck by trains at un
marked crossings here Chllins
wrote the railroad company and
Henry Jordan, division
engineeer for the Department of
Transportation, asking for help.
In his letter to H. P. Harris of
the Seaboard dhastline, (Collins
said:
“During the past week two
accidents have occurred on the
Seaboard Coastline Railroad at
its intersection with Illinois
Avenue and New York Avenue.
As a result, interest has arisen
again in having crossing signals
placed at these intersections. My
purpose in writing is to deter
mine what the railroad’s policy is
concerning the installation of
signals at intersections with
public roads. Someone indicated
(Continued on Page 12-A)
The drug problem in Moore
Ck)unty is “no worse than it has
been,” Sheriff C.G. Wimberly
said this week.
His comment came after of
ficers last week had raided a
rural home near Vass on Car
thage, Rt. 3, and seized a pound
of cocaine, with a street v^ue of
$35,000.
In the sheriff’s opinion this
cocaine cache was not designed
for distribution in Moore County
but for other areas, possibly
Guilford Ck>unty.
“This was just a middle
distribution point,” he said.
Four persons were arrested in
connection with the raid on the
house and are now awaiting trial
in federal district court.
Most of the drug arrests in
Moore County in recent months
have been in connection wifti
marijuna growing and
possession. Sheriff Wimberly
said.
There have been “no real
problems” with drugs, the
(Continued on Page 12-A)
THE
PILOT LIGHT
New Mobile Home Village
To Be Built By Gilmore
First i^ase construction of a
million-dollar mobiie home
village in Southern Pines will
begin this fall.
Landscape and engineering
plans for the first 50 units of the
major development were ap
proved at the September 13
meeting of the Southern Pines
Town Ck)uncil. Construction of
roads, underground utilities and
residential sites wiil require six
months.
To be called Windsong, the
extensive village is a project of
Storey Corporation which
operates Town & Country
Shopping Center.
The 85-acre tract to be oc
cupied by Windsong is part of a
tree farm owned by Voit GUmore
between Morganton Road and
Midland Road at the western
(Continued on Page 12-A)
SMITH—State Senator
MacNeill Smith brought his
campaign for the Democratic
nomination for the U.S. Senate to
Moore County this past week and
seemed to like the response he
received.
Smith spoke to the Kiwanis
Club of the Sandhills about some
of the issues in government today
and later visited in Aberdeen,
Southern Pines and Carthage.
A reception and dinner was
held for him at the Sheraton
Motor Inn on Wednesday night
and more than 50 persons turned
out to meet him.
The meeting had been
arranged by Dr. H. David
Bruton, chairman of the State
Board of Education, and among
those attending were Dr. and
Mrs. Raymond Stone; Bob and
Wanda Hunt, of Pinehurst; Ed
Cteusey, chairman of the Moore
County Democratic Executive
Conunittee; Mr. and Mrs. Harold
Sadler of Whispering Pines;
Wiley Purvis of High Falls; Jack
Reid, John Sledge and
Emanuel Douglass of Southern
Pines; Linda McFadyen and
Mildred (Carpenter of Pinebluff;
Watts Auman of West End; and
others.
CAMPAIGN-Senator Smith
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Officers Oppose Making Pot Legal
What would happen if
marijuana were decriminalized?
Most Moore County law en
forcers feel it would encourage
the use of the weed and lead to
harder drugs, a poll taken by The
Pilot indicates.
President Jinuny Carter has
cited figures which show that
more than 45 million Americans
have experimented with
marijuana and 11 million are
regular users.
In view of its widespread use
and the ineffectiveness of laws to
discourage its use. Carter said,
“I believe it is time” to im
plement the five-year-old
recommendation of the National
Commission on Marijuana and
Drug Abuse that possession of
small amounts of the weed be
decriminalized.
“That’s about like giving a kid
a fifth of liquor and saying don’t
get drunk,” was the reaction of
Chief Earl Seawell of the
Southern Pines Police. “I’m
definitely against it. I’ve been
dealing with kids and drugs for
years and I don’t think anybody
in his right mind would legalize
it.
“No one ever takes some liquor
or pot and thinks he’s going to
become addicted. They start off
on marijuana and then go to the
hard stuff like heroin.
I’d rather anything than have a
kid addicted to di^s,” Seawell
said.
Vass Police Chief James
Grissom felt strongly about it,
too.
“I’m 100 percent agin’
marijuana. I think everybody
that uses it should be prosecuted.
If you legalize it more of them
will use it.”
He said it is a problem even in
the elementary schools.
“We had it in the schools
several times last year, even the
elementary grades. And it’s
getting worse.”
(Thief James Wise of Pinehurst
had mixed feelings about
legalizing small amounts of
marijuana.
“It’s kind of hard to make a
decision about how you feel. It’s
illegal and we enforce the law,
but in courts it seems like they
just give them a slap on the
wrist; they do very iittle to of
fenders. . ,
“I know we had prohibition and
(Continued on Page 12-A)