Vol. 58, Number 4
56 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina Wednesday, November 23, 1977
56 Pages
Airport Plan
Announced
At $1 Million
County Administrator W.
Sidney Taylor said this week the
Airport Committee is hoping to
get started this fiscal year on an
improvement program at the
airport costing more than $1
million.
Taylor’s statement foUowed
announcement in Raleigh by
Secretary Thomas W. Bradshaw,
Jr., of the N. C. Department of
Transportation that approval has
been granted for projects which
were previously recommended
by the Aeronautics Council and
approved by the Advisory
Budget Commission.
The sponsor of both projects is
the Moore County Airport
Conunission.
A $785,000 project will include
construction of a parallel
taxiway and stub taxiway;
installation of Medium Intensity
Lights; installation of 21,000 feet
of perimeter fencing; transition
clearing, building removal and
relocation. Costs will be met
from $706,500 in federal funds;
$39,250 in local funds, and $39,250
in State funds.
“The FAA has indicated at
airports with large aircraft
operations and those served by
scheduled commuter airlines,
(Continued on Page 16-A)
Court Term
Scheduled
Next Week
Though Resident Judge John
D. McConnell of Southern Pines
was assigned as Moore County’s
presiding jurist for the current
six-months period, he has again
swapped court assignments with
Special Judge Robert L. Gavin of
F^ehurst, so that it will be Judge
Gavin back on the bench at the
upcoming criminal term,
opening Monday at Carthage.
With only 15 cases, so far, for
grand jury action, 14 cases listed
for trial Monday and 12 on
Tuesday, with the rest of the
week left open, it appears to be
the lightest calend^ seen in
Moore County in a number of
years.
However, the usual heading on
the calendar states that all cases
not reached on the specified day
may be called for frial on any
other day during the term, and
that, “although no cases are set
for Wednesday, November 30,
(Continued on Page 16-A)
K:
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THANKSGIVING — These young Pilgrims and
Indians are preparing to celebrate the first
Thanksgiving Day at Emmanuel Episcopal Day
School. All but two are in kindergarten, and
their faces are both solemn and merry.—(Photo
by Glenn M. Sides).
Sewer System Is Again
Delayed“Now Set Dec. 15
Design And Function Emphasized
In New Moore Court Facility Plan
Delays are still being
encountered in readying the
regional wastewater treatment
system for operation, and the
date of December 15 has now
been set for the opening instead
of December 1, it was reported to
the Moore County
commissioners in special
meeting Tuesday afternoon.
A1 Walpole, director of
construction for the engineering
firm of Henningson, Durham &
Richardson, said work is still
going on to clear the “bugs” put
of the complex wiring system
through which the raw sewage
pumps are operated, via
“pu^-button” controls in the
administrative building, the
essential thing which makes the
whole plant operative, and which
won’t work till the circuitry is
completed.
Otherwise, Walpole said, all
interceptor lines of the couny
system have been completed,
(Continued on Page 13-A)
No Home Here
There WILL be a Whispering
Pines Nursing Home-but it
won’t be in the Moore County
Village, Town officials are
relieved to learn.
The home, announced the
health agency for 15 counties,
the Cardinal Health Agency of
Lumberton, would be in
Whispering Pines in Moore
County. Town officials said
Tuesday they had not approved
such a home.
“You’re talking to a red-faced
official,” said a spokesman for
the Agency in a Pilot interview.
“The home is to be in
Fayetteville.”
Moore County commissioners
were guests Monday night at the
Sheraton Inn of the architectural
firm of Austin Associates of
Southern Pines, at a presentation
of proposed plahs for the Courts
Facility building now under
construction at Carthage.
The firm, which prepared the
plans for the basic contracts, let
last June, had been asked to
develop separate plans for a
“turnkey job” on landscaping
and interior design of the
building, and this was done by
specialist consultants working
with the architects, by means of
color charts, diagrams and
drawings of various sorts.
They answered questions,
indicated problem areas,
discussed alternates and gave
cost estimates for an audience
including all five com
missioners; Mrs. Estelle Wicker,
county finance officer; Charles
McLeod, clerk of court; Sheriff
C.G. Wimberly; W.Lamont
Brown, chariman of the Courts
Facility committee of the Moore
County Bar Association, and
members of the press who have
covered the development of
plans for the building over a
number of years.
They found the proposals in
teresting and exciting, em
bodying many innovative ideas
for efficiency and economy, and
the conunissioners gave general
approval, which, with some
revisions, and further decisions
to be made, will be reduced to
specifics for official approval at
a later meeting.
Geoffrey McLean, landscape
architect of Ralei^, in his
proposal covered not only the
planting of trees and shrubbery
but the paving of parking areas-
the general area at the rear of
the building, bounded by Dowd
and Saunders Streets, and the
Carthage Baptist Church
property; and the Williamson lot
across Dowd St., behind the
dlarolina Bank.
These included a good deal of
“earthwork engineering,” and
design and function were the
main thrust of McLean’s talk,
with the problems generated by
the sloping terrain on both sides
First Moore Memorial Baby
Was Paid For In Gold Coins
“He’s worth his weight in
gold,” said the father of the first
baby bom at Moore Memorial
Hospital in 1929.
Wyndham Lee Clarke was bom
on Thanksgiving Day that year,
weighed nine pounds, and,
according to his mother, Mrs.
John Foster Faulk, (Mrs. Louise
Clarke then), the first baby was
“gor-geous.”
The father, the late Lee Clarke,
paid the hospital bill in gold coin.
Last year, almost 47 years to
the day later, the first mother,
first baby, and the first doctor
met again in Southern Pines.
Wyndham Lee Oarke was
spending Thanksgiving Day with
his mother when they were
(Continued on Page 16-A,
Judge Mills Is Given
Superior Court Post
F. Fetzer Mills, chief District
Court judge, has been appointed
by (Governor Jim Hunt as a
Superior Court judge for the 20th
Judicial District.
It was the first judicial ap
pointment by Governor Hunt.
Judge Mills will join Judge
John D. McConnell of Southern
Pines as resident Superior Court
judges for the district which is
composed of Moore, Anson,
Richmond, Stanly and Union
Counties.
Judge Mills, of Wadesboro,
was first elected a District Court
judge in 1968 and was reelected
in 1972 and 1976. He has served as
Chief District Judge since 1968.
Governor Hunt will also have
the appointment of a judge to
replace Mills on the District
(]ourt. In addition, there will be
another appointment to fill the
vacancy of Judge Edward E.
Crutchfield, who has announced
plans to retire from the District
Court on Jan. 1. Such ap
pointments are usually made
Downtown
Improvement
Plan Offered
of Dowd St., which must be
controlled and put to best use
through a system of retaining
walls. These were subject to
variations and a considerable
portion of the presentation dealt
with the different proposals, with
the number of parking spaces to
be provided-or sacrificed-with
each.
(Continued on Page 16-A)
Hunt Season
The 1977-78 Hunt Season will
get under way Thursday
morning at 10:30 o’clock at the
Hunter Trials Course on Youngs
Road.
The Thanksgiving Day opening
of the season is a tradition with
the Moore County Hounds,
founded here in 1914. Mrs. W.O.
Moss is Master of the Hounds.
Holiday
Observance
Under Way
Thanksgiving is traditionally a
family holiday and that’s the way
most people in Moore County will
observe it on Thursday.
Just about everything will be
closed for the day. All federal,
state and local offices will be
closed on both Thursday and
Friday.
The Post Office will be closed
on Thursday and there will be no
mail deliveries. It will also be a
bank holiday.
Most retail stores in the
Sandhills area will be closed,
with some scheduling after-
Thanksgiving sales on Friday
and Saturday before moving into
the Christmas shopping season.
The Pilot will Im closed on
Thursday, but will be open on
Friday.
Many churches in Moore
County have announced plans for
Thanksgiving services and in
Southern Pines the annual
Community Thanksgiving
Service will be held tonight
(Continued on Page 16-A)
BY VALERIE NICHOLSON
A report on a 10-months study
of the downtown area of Southern
Pines, presented Tuesday night
in the Southern Pines council
chamber, proved stimulating
and provocative to a gathering of
enthusiatic citizens.
Some of the most enthusiastic
were a group of about a dozen
students of the N.C. State
University School of Design, who
had particapated in the “10,000
manhours” which had been
spent on the in-depth study.
As slide after slide was
presented, and interestingly
discussed, many could hardly
. contain their jubilation in the
fact that at last, it had all come
together.
Their leaders, Peter
Batchelor, a professor at the
Urban Design Center, planner
and architect, and Spurgeon
Cameron, assistant director of
the Urban Design Center, as
partners in a brilliant exposition
and analysis of the downtown
problems, also stirred an
infectious enthusiasm.
Winding up the two-and-a-half
hour presentation with a series of
colorful slides created by the
students, in demonstrating how
signs can be coordinated “in the
spirit of the town,” Batchelor
summed it all up in declaring
(Continued on Page 16-A)
Couple, Two Men Given
Cocaine Raid Sentences
A young Moore County couple
and two men from Carthage and
Asheboro have been sentenced to
prison after pleading guilty in
federal court to possessing
cocaine for the purpose of sale.
The four were arrested this
past sununer in a raid on a
house between Vass and
Carthage when more than a
pound of cocaine was seized.
Officers said it was the largest
seizure of cocaine ever made in
North Carolina.
The four pleaded guilty before
U.S. District Court Judge
Eugene A. Gordon in
Greensboro.
Jack Lee Tart, 24, of
Asheboro, received a seven-year
prison sentence; Steve Eugene
Morrison, 24, and Danny Fred
Garner, 21, both of Carthage,
were given sentences of
indefinite length under the Youth
Correction Act; and Garner’s
wife, Deborah Ann Garner, 19,
was sentenced to 36 months in
prison, with all but six months
suspended.
riuring plea bargaining, each
defendant pleaded guilty to one
count of a four-count inictment
(Continued on Page 16-A)
Need For Services Of McCain
Stressed At Tuesday Hearing
Judge F. Fetzer Mills
from recommendations made by
the district bar association.
Judge Mills, a Democrat, is a
graduate of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and the UNC Law School. He
began the practice of law in his
(Continued on Page 16-A)
A special legislative com
mittee which conducted a two-
hour hearing at McCain Hospital
on Tuesday afternoon came
away visibly impressed with the
needs for the hospital’s services
both now and in the future.
In fact, there were proposals
made for expanding the services
offered by the specialty hospital.
The hearing was called after
proposals were made in the 1977
General Assembly to close two of
the specialty hospitals, formerly
for tuberculosis patients, at
Wilson and Black Mountain.
Secretary Sarah Morrow of the
Department of Human
Resources decided, however, to
study the place of all three
hospitals before making any
decisions as to closing any of
them.
More than 15() persons filled
the auditorium at McCain and
there were public and medical
representatives from as far west
as Union County and as far east
as Onslow and New Hanover.
Counties.
Rep. T. Clyde Auman, a
member of the special com
mittee, said that all “gave good
reasons for keeping the facility
open.”
In addition to Rep. Auman,
other legislators present for the
hearing included the Robeson
County delegation. Rep. Tom
Hunter of Richmond County,
Senators Russell Walker, Robert
Jordan and James Garrison.
Auman said the legislators
reacted favorably to keeping the
(Continued on Page 16-A)
THE
PILOT LIGHT
FIRST DOCTOR, FIRST MOTHER, FIRST BABY - Wyndham Lee
Clarke (right) was the first baby born at Moore Memorial Hospital,
having arrived on Thanksgiving Day, 1929. He is the son of Mrs. John
Foster Faulk (Center), who was Mrs. Lee Clarke then. Dr. Clement R
Monroe of Pinehurst was, as he says, the “acting” obstetrician. The
late Lee Clarke paid the bill in gold coin, according to the framed 1929
receipt.
SUCCESSION—^A lot of people
were surprised by the vote on
gubernatorial succession,
especially the areas from which
came the highest percentage of
favorable votes.
Eastern and Western counties
were strongest for the Con
stitutional Amendment to allow a
Governor and Lieutenant
Governor to serve a second term.
The Amendment carried by 52.5
percent of the vote.
Three Eastern and Two
Western counties had the highest
percentage of votes for the
Amendment, with Scotland
County leading the list with 73.3
percent. In second place was
Swain County in the far West
with 68.2 percent and Dare
County in the far East was third
with 67.1 percent. Perquimans in
the East and Polk in the West
tied for fourth place with 64
percent in favor.
SPORTS—Former Governor
James Holshouser said one of the
things he enjoyed about being
Governor was being able to drive
right up to the stadium or
coliseum for football and
basketball games. He was also
always assured of a good seat.
Governor Jim Hunt, a strong
Wolfpack fan at basketball
games, is getting ready to enjoy
the same thing this season. He
will be on hand for the N.C. State
opener this weekend.
The Governor is also expected
to be on hand when State plays in
the Peach Bowl and C^olina is
in the Liberty Bowl.
(Continued on Page 16-A)
DOWNTOWN SOUTHERN PINES — This scale model of downtown
Southern Pines has been on display at the town Library the past week.
It was constructed by N.C. State students in the School of Design, and
the downtown plan was presented to the Town Council this
week.—(Photo by Glenn M. Sides).