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Giendon
Index
Books, 2-B; Church Calendar, 3-B;
Classified Ads, 10-15-C; Editorials, 1-B;
Entertainment, 4-8-C; Ohituaries, 9-A;
Pinehurst News, 1-3-C; Sandhills Scene,
2-8-A; Sports, 1-3-D.
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Weather
Partly Cloudy, hazy, warm and
humid today, with a chance of
thunderstorms. Chance of rain, 40
percent. Fair tonight, with a low of 62.
Warm and humid Thursday; chance of
rain, 20 percent.
Vol. 58, Number 30
58 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina 28387
Wednesday, May 24, 1978
58 Pages
Price 15 Cents
Sheriff’s Race Tops
Runoff Vote Tuesday
County Budget Requests
Contain Many Pay Hikes
BY ELLEN WELLES
Moore County Commissioners
heard budget proposal requests
this week from a number of
county agencies, many of which
requested an across the board six
or seven percent cost of living
salary increase.
The Public Works
Administration requested a
budget of $58,206 for the 1978-79
year as compared to its $47,821
budget of last year.
Included in the increase is a
request for a six percent salary
increase and a phone and
postage jump from $850 to $1,300
due to increased phone rates and
added use.
The projected budget for the
new regional waste water
treatment plant at Addor is
$485,375 to be added to the
$20,000 carried over from last
year. The system will be funded
from user chargers but it has not
yet been determined what the
rates will be. Some $124,461 will
go for salaries and wages,
$220,000 for utilities (a general
fuel adjustment) and $37,100 for
other supplies and materials
Letters Cost 15'
In Rate Hike
It will cost 15 cents to mail a
letter on Monday.
The new Postal Service rate
increase will go into effect at
12:01 a.m. on Monday, May 29.
That’s a holiday (Memorial
Day) and the Post Office will be
clos^, but Postmaster Robert
Peele of Southern Pines said the
new rate will be in effect
anyway. He suggested that
persons mailing over the
weekend and Holiday buy the new
stamps in advance.
Other postal rates, including
second class for newspapers, will
also go up. It will cost 30 percent
more to send The Pilot through
the mail, for instance.
Third and fourth class (parcel
post) rates are being increased
by about 35 percent.
Postmaster '"“Peele said
Tuesday that the new stamp will
not carry the 15-cent price but
will have the letter “A” on it.
This was because the Postal
(Continued on Page 14-A)
School Repairs Planned;
Get More Teacher Aides
The Moore County Board of
Education met Monday night
with all members present to ap
prove several plans, all without
opposition, including a new roof
for West End cafeteria, renova
tion of the Education Center, and
the shifting of a Robbins primary
grade.
The board allocated $12,000 to
replace the roof on the West End
Elementary cafeteria, which is
in very bad shape.
The fourth grade got an ap-
ix'oved transfer from Robbins
Elementary School, where it now
is placed under crowded con
ditions, to Robbins Middle,
where there is more room.
The board approved plans
from Austin Associates, a
Southern Pines architectural
firm, for restoration of the old
(Continued on Page 13-A)
Pride-Trimble To Expand
To More Space, Workers
Pride-Trimble Corporation, a
manufacturer of juvenile fur
niture, has announced a major
expansion in Southern Pines
Industrial Park.
As a result of revenue bond
financing, Virco Corporation, the
parent company of Pride-
Trimble, has purchased the
existing 150,000 square foot
facility and 36.67 acres which
they had been operating under a
lease agreement.
According to Jim Thompson,
General Manager of Pride-
Trimble, it is the long range
plans of Virco to have the
Southern Pines facility as one of
the largest and most complete in
their organizations.
As progress is made in this
direction, construction will start
immediately on an 80,000 square
foot addition which will enable
expansion in the juvenile line as
well as the addition of new
products in school and contract
furniture.
Pride-Trimble currently
(Continued on Page 13-A)
including the chemicals.
Sheriff Wimberly presented his
budget in three parts, with his
department needing $319,600, up
from last year’s $238,405. This
included an across the board
salary increase from $190,000
last year to $213,524 this year.
Also eight of the 24 vehicles in the
department need to be replaced,
so he asked for a tentative $30,000
for autos.
In the Communications
Department the total budget
Wimberly proposed was $72,333
as compared to last year’s
$52,080. The increase is due to a
salary increase from $38,580 last
year to $39,299 and to increases in
equipment.
The jail budget asked for is
$89,646 as compared to $87,196 for
last year. The food figure jumped
from $12,500 to $15,000.
The Commissioners gave E.J.
Austin the go-ahead on starting
work on the landscaping of the
(Continued on Page 13-A)
Some Closing
Post offices and banks will
close on Monday, May 29, in
observance of Memorial Day but
everything else will be open as
usual.
County and municipal offices
will follow their regular
schedules. Stores and other
business places will be open.
Financial institutions, other
than banks, also plan to be
closed.
Sandhills
Graduation
On Friday
Friday, May 26, will be an
eventful day for Sandhills
Community College students,
faculty, staff and Trustees, as
well as for friends of the college.
The main event will be at 8
o’clock Friday evening when
some 286 students receive
Associate Degrees and diplomas
at the Commencement exercises
in the Fountain Courtyard on the
Sandhills campus.
Congressman W. G. (Bill)
Hefner will be the main speaker.
A highlight of the program will
be the presentation of
distinguished awards to out
standing students in , the
graduating class. They include
tile President’s Award for the
highest academic average in two
years at Sandhills; the two C.
Foster Brown Jr. Awards to
outstanding students; the Gilbert
Moreland Award for a student
(Continued on Page 13-A)
MAY MOON — There’s a special magic in a full moon of May and
Photographer Glenn M. Sides caught this splendid view on Monday
night.
Moore County Democrats will
go back to the polls next
Tuesday, May 30, to select
nominees in three races-sheriff,
county commissioner and the
U.S. Senate.
A lighter vote than the 48
percent which voted in the first
primary on May 2 is expected,
although a hotly contested
sheriff’s race is expected to favor
a heavier turnout than is usual in
a second primary.
In the runoff election for
sheriff are A.B. Parker, who led
in the first primary by 213 votes,
and the incumbent C.G.
Wimberly.
For county commissioner from
District Five the contest is
between H. Clifton Blue Jr., and
W.E. (Bill) Simmons. Blue led
Simmons by 364 votes in the first
primary. The incumbent, W.
Sidney Taylor, was eliminated.
Luther Hodges Jr., and John
Ingram are contesting for the
U.S. Senate nomination. In the
first primary Hodges carried
Moore County by 396 votes over
Ingram, polling 2184 votes to 1782
for Ingram. Hodges was also the
statewide leader, collecting 40
percent of the total vote as
against 26 percent by Ingram.
The polls will open at 6:30 a.m.
and will close at 7:30 p.m. Polling
(Continued on Page 14-A)
Auman Sees
Hike
Issue
Tti'
1^.-
COMPLETION IN FALL - The Moore County
commissioners have officially named it the
Court Facilities Building and it is scheduled for
completion in the fall. The target date for
completion is in October but contractors were
delayed by bad winter weather and are now
trying to make up for the lost time. Designed by
the architectural firm of E.J. Austin of
Southern Pines, the building has 45,000 square
feet on three floors. —(Photo by Glenn M.
Sides).
Town Plan Sees Each Block As Mall
With Several Changes For Parking
Pay
Big
Rep. T. Clyde Auman went to
Raleigh yesterday to begin work
with the full Appropriations
Committe on items that will
come up May 31 when the
legislature re-convenes for a
sununer budgetary session.
Auman thinks the big item both
in terms of money and discussion
will be the proposed pay increase
for teachers and state employes.
The state employes have
requested a 10 percent pay raise,
but the legislature wiU only be
considering a 6 percent raise at
this time.
“I think six percent is all the
budget can stand,” said Auman
Monday. “This will be the big
item in the budget, accounting
for about one-third of all money
spent. For each one percent
raise, $18,000,000 is spent.”
The budget surplus has been
(Continued on Page 14-A)
BY JENNIFER CALDWELL
Many buildings in-downtown
Southern Pines are under
utilized.
The Post Office is the social
and cultiu*al center of the town.
It is difficult to determine
when one enters downtown
Southern Pines.
Common-sense observations?
They are also the observations of
a team of planners from N.C.
State University, who spent one
year studying the future of the
downtown area of Southern
Bonds Sold
A total of $1,300,000 in Town of
Southern Pines sanitary sewer
bonds were sold Tuesday at a net
interest cost of 5.4244 percent.
State Treasurer Harlan E.
Boyles reported today.
'The bonds, authorized in a
referendum, will have a 13.19
years maturity and were bought
by Wachovia Bank and Trust Co.
Town Manager Mildred
McDonald said she was pleased
with the interest rate, which is
below the index of 5.98 percent.
Southern Pines has a Standard
and Poore bond rating of A-.
Music, Picnic On Slate
For Sunday At Weymouth
Popular songs, times from
Broadway shows, and martial
music from the talented
Pinecrest Concert and Stage
Bands will fill the air over
Weymouth this Sunday at a
family frolic which is geared for
the entire community.
It’s a special day sponsored by
the Friends of Weymouth and the
Sandhills Arts Council, two
organizations which are tiying to
let people in the area know about
plans for the home of novelist
James Boyd and its surrounding
214 acres of woodlands.
The 14-member Pinecrest
Stage Band starts the action at 4
p.m. with renditions of popular
music under the direction of
Jeriy Mashburn.
This musical opening, as well
as the later performance by the
Pinecrest (kincert Band, will be
free of charge. So will admission
to the grounds, located along the
southeastern edge of Sou&ern
Pines. The main entrance is at
the intersection of Ridge and
(Continued on Page 14-A)
Pines.
The most powerful recom
mendation advanced towards
downtown redevelopment is
block-by-block revitali^tion. Ac
cording to the study, “None of
the recommendations involves
large expenditures of public
funds, since most of the physical
redevelopment occurs as a result
of the cooperation of businesses
and landowners with each
other.”
The plan further envisions
each block as “a small and in
timate shopping mall with their
Teacher
Drowned
In Lake
Carlton Ray Floyd, 43, a
graphics art teacher at Pinecrest
High School, drowned in a
boating accident at ap
proximately 5:30 Saturday
ternoon in Aberdeen Lake.
Floyd, of Rt. 2, Aberdeen, was
trying out a new boat in the lake.
Eyewitnesses say he made a
circle of the lake once without
difficulty, then veered into a
sharp turn. When he turned, the
boat capsized.
Floyd tried to swim but never
made it to shore. An unidentified
man tried to swim out and help
him, but was stopped by heavy
undergrowth and lily pads.
The Aberdeen Rescue Squad
and Police Department were
contacted and the body was
recovered in six to eight feet of
water, about 100 feet from shore.
Moore County Coroner A.B.
Parker ruled the death an ac
cidental drowning at 6 p.m.
Floyd has taught at Pinecrest
for eight years. A native of
Jackson-Hs^et, he graduated
(Continued on Page 13-A)
own vehicular access, parking
and landscaping.”
The parking problem has been
one of the greatest issues in
downtown Southern Pines.
Within the past year, many of the
parking places in the core area of
Pennsylvania Avenue and Broad
Street have been modified from
diagonal to parallel parking-
advantageous for safety’s sake;
deleterious in terms of available
space.
The lack of adequate parl^
in cities all over the United
States has resulted in the com-
merical phenomenon of the
(Continued on Page 14-A)
Industry Sets Shutdown
To Halt Air Pollution
HOW Industries LTD, a
German-owned textiles plant in
Aberdeen, has been found in
violation of state emissions
standards in their working
operations.
After about 22 families in the
Clolonial Heights neighborhood of
town filed a petition last
November, careful attention
was given and, eventually,
testing was done by the N.C.
Department of Natural
Resources Air Quality section.
On May 2 the commission
found the plant in violation of
standards and gave it 30 days to
bring its stack exhausts to ac
ceptable levels of emission.
Plant manager Bob Whitesell
submitted a letter to the
department May 17 describing
methods it had already started to
take to comply with the ruling.
Whitesell said a week’s shut-
(Continued on Page 13-A)
Veterinary Foimdation
Has Sandhills Leaders
BY GRAHAM JONES
The North Carolina Veterinary
Science Foundation was
organized at North Carolina
State University Thursday “to
encourage teaching, learning
and research in the area of
veterinary science.”
Southport attorney Grover A.
Gore was elected as first
president of the foundation,
which starts operations with a
lu^ly assessed tract of 100 acres
of land in Moore County. That
land was given to NCSU by Mrs.
W. 0. Moss and the late W.O.
(Pappy) Moss.
In addition the new foundation,
the 13th non-profit foundation
operating at NCSU, has received
advance gifts from the Raleigh
and Forsyth County Kennel
Clubs and from other
organizations and individuals.
To work with Gore, a trustee of
NCSU, as officers of the foun
dation, the following were
(Continued on Page 14-A)
THE
PILOT LIGHT
Social Worker Sees Poverty
BY PATSY TUCKER
“So many people don’t believe
there is poverty in Moore County
because they don’t see it,” said
Melinda Hammrick, a social
worker for the Department of
Social Services. “They really
don’t believe Southern Pines,
Pinehurst, Aberdeen and
Carthage have people living as
some of our cases live.”
Melinda Hammrick is
intensely interested in her cases.
'Some she has followed and
helped for over five years. She
doesn’t just drop in and say
“Hi.” She sits down and talte
and visits for as much as an
hour-asking questions, helping
to solve problems that people “on
welfare” run into.
I went with Melinda for several
hours and several visits. I
listened as she asked questions. I
listened to the problems some of
these people have. One person we
visited had recently taken over
the care of her daughter’s baby.
“Let me go in first,” Melinda
said. “This woman is really a
great person but she’s an
alcoholic and I never know when
she’s drinking. I’m worried
about the baby.” Melinda
motioned me in where she found
a neat, but shabby house. As we
sat and talked the woman got the
baby for us to see.
“Did you get your food stamps
straight,” Melinda asked. “No,”
she replied. “Since one of my
girls left they got mixed up and I
ain’t been able to get them. It’s
rough going. I’m telling you.”
“I’ll go with you next week and
we’ll see if we can’t get it
straight.”
This particular case is a
family-husband and wife and
seven children. They have lived
in this same house all of their
family raising years. The mother
' looks young and you wonder why
she couldn’t have worked all of
those years...beyond a
temporary job here and there.
“She’s had to stay home and look
after the children,” Melinda
said. Even if she was drinking
she was always sure to get the
children off to school with a good
breakfast. She has encouraged
the children to better themselves
and all are doing well. There are
still at home. Their father was in
(Continued on Page 13-A)
CAMPAIGN-Both of the
candidates for the Democratic
nomination for the U.S. Senate in
the runoff election next Tuesday
are hustling for votes all across
the state this wek.
Luther Hodges, the front
runner with 40 percent of the
total vote in the May 2 primary,
had his campaign buoyed by an
endorsement Tuesday by PACE,
tile Political Action Committee
for Education.
Ingram, who polled 26 percent
of the vote in the first primary,
has collected more campaign
funds and is taking to television
with appeals for votes between
now and Tuesday.
LOCAL RACES-How heavy
the turnout of voters across the
state will be is difficult to
predict, although runoffs in local
races should swell the voting in
many areas.
In Moore County the most
interest has been in a highly
contested race for sheriff bet
ween the incumbent, C.G.
Wimberly, a veteran law en
forcement officer, and A. B.
Parker, tlie present coroner.
Parker led in the first primary,
but Wimberly has stepped up
his campaign in the runoff and
the outcome is expected to be
close.
The same applies in the contest
for the nomination for county
commissioner. H. CHifton Blue
Jr., was the front^nner in the
first primary and W.E. (Bill)
Simmons was runner-up.
LEGISLATURE-Even though
Governor Jim Hunt has asked for
an $8 million appropriation from
surplus funds for an additional
legislative building, many
legislators are nervous about
(Continued on Page 13-A)