Index
Books, 2-B; Church Calendar, 3-B;
Classified Ads, 9-15-C; Editorial, 1-B;
Entertainment, 4-6-C; Obituaries, 8-A;
Pinehurst News, 1-3-C; Sandhills Scene,
2-7-A; Sports, 1-3-D.
W Vol. 58, Number
Uiqhl
Glqntion
Weather
Van
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■LOT
Sunny weather through Thursday is
forecast, with high 90 and low 70. Ten
percent chance of rain tonight, 20
percent Thursday.
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52 Pages
Southern Pines, North Carolina 28387
Wednesday, July 19,1978
52 Pages
PRICE 15 CENTS
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SHOPPING CENTER SOLD — The Town and Country Shopping
Center on U.S. 1 South was sold Tuesday by Storey Corp.,
headed by Voit Gilmore, to Balcor Income Properties, Ltd., of
Skokie, III., for $2,808,000. The center of 17 acres with 46 business
firms was opened in 1964.—(Aerial Photo by Glenn M. Sides
from plane piloted by Kurt Cunningham).
New Convention Center To Be Built Here
A “Showplace Convention
Center” seating 450 persons will
be constructed here immediately
at the south side of the Sheraton
Inn in Southern Pines, Sheraton
Manager Donald Calfee has
announced.
Construction on the Center,
largest of its kind in the area, is
expected to be completed in the
sfX'ing of 1979.
Architects for the building are
Austin Associates, AIA,. of
Southern Pines and general
contractors are Van Thomas
Contractors of Siler Qty.
Already host to numerous
conventions, The Sheraton Motor
Lodge expects next week the
North Carolina Writers Con-
Mrs.Donovan F ound Dead
Near Foxfire Home Pool
ference.
The new center will be at
tached to the present Inn, and
will be of brick masonry con
struction. An L-shaped central
banquet hall will be on the left of
the present building. The hall
will have large folding walls and
will be constructed so that it can
be sub-divided into three parts.
The entrance will be ap
proached from two sides, from
the Motor on the right and
from a 200ar parking lot to the
' left.
Entrance will be by a mez
zanine with a 24-inch sky dome to
the left of the building, as one
enters.
All of the land for the facility
and parking lot is owned by The
Sheraton, which owns the
property as far along the US-1
Mrs. Margaret Virginia
Donovan, 58, wife of Brig. Gen.
(Ret.) Joseph N. Donovan, was
tound dead Monday at 6:30 p.m.
on a pull-out sofa at the
poolhouse of her home on
Shamrock Drive at Foxfire Golf
and Country Gub.
An autopsy was performed at
Moore Memorial Hospital by Dr.
James E. Laningham, but no
cause of death was found. Tests
from the Medical Examiner’s
State office in Chapel Hill have
not been received.
Mrs. Donovan’s body was
found by her husband, on his
return. Death occiuxed about
four hours earlier, sheriff’s
officers reported.
The autopsy was ordered by
Coroner A.B. Parker, whose
ruling was pending.
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Watch Program Success
In Roseland Community
Grant Is Sought To Buy
Law Officers Building
An application is in the works
for a Federal grant of $34,640 to
buy the Moore County Law
Enforcement Activities Building
and convert it into an activity
center for senior citizens, ac
cording to Moore County
Recreation Director Larry
Moubry.
Located off Highway 15-501
near the Moore County School
Administration building, the law
enforcement building will be
bought and then given to the
senior citizens, just as the one at
West End was handled, Moubry
said.
The grant should come from
Title V out of the Older
Americans Act with the county
providing 25 percent and the
grant providing 75 percent,
making a total project sum of
$45,000. Moubry will know
sometime today (Wednesday)
whether the application is ready
to be made. The application
(Continued on Page 12-A)
THE
PILOT LIGHT
LIBERTARIAN - The
Libertarian party has been
certified by the State Board of
Elections following the
submitting of a petition bearing
more than the 10,000 certified
signatures required under law.
Alex K. Brock, executive
director of the state board, said
the Libertarian party is now
eligible to nominate candidates
for U.S. Senate, Congress and
State offices at a convention, but
that the nominees must be
certified to the board no later
than August 1.
Persons registering as voters
may now affiliate wi& the party
or they can change their
registration to Libertarian. As of
Friday there were no registered
Libertarians in Moore Ck>unty.
BREECE-Signs announcing
that George W. Breece is a
candidate for Secretary of State
in 1980 are appearing alongside
North Carolina highways.
Breece, of Fayetteville, who
will be 33 years old on Thursday,
July 20, ran against Thad Eure
for Secretary of State in the
Democratic primary in 1976.
Eure, who has held the office
since 1936, won handily.
The former legislator from
Chimberland County is counting
on Eure’s not being a candidate
for reelection in 1980 and is
getting an early start on his
campaign.
PRESIDENT ~ Former
Governor Robert W. Scott and
Luther Hodges Jr., a recent
(Continued on Page 12-A)
BY ELLEN WELLES
Moore County’s Community
Watch Program is flourishing in
the Roseland area but is lagging
in others. Sheriff C.G. Wimberly
said this week.
Community Watch is, in effect,
neighbors looking out for each
other’s property. If someone
notices a strange car or person
around a neighbor’s home, he is
to get the license number and
report it to his Block Captain,
who in turn reports it to the
Sheriff’s Department if it is
thought the stranger is an
unwanted visitor.
Republican
Candidates
Split Fund
Republican Congressional
candidates met here Sunday and
divided up $16,823 in state check
off funds for their fall cam
paigns.
Moore County Chairman
George W. Little, a member of
the Republican Central Com
mittee, said that the candidates
meeting at the Sheraton Inn
followed a session of the com
mittee in which budget matters
and campaign plans were
discussed.
Jack Lee of Fayetteville,
state chairman, and Todd Reece,
state executive director, were
present.
The Central Committee will
receive another $28,0(K) for the
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Tax Discounts
Newly effective this year,
discounts of 2 percent will be
given to all tax-payers of the
Town of Southern Pines who pay
their property taxes in July or
August.
Tax bills are being sent out
now.
Since he started working on the
project last fall. Sheriff
Wimberly has met with more
than eight communities. Some
have followed up, organized their
people and put up signs to warn
thieves that they are on the alert.
Others have lost interest.
“The crime rate is down and
when it’s down, people are less
apt to want it (the program),”
Wimberly said. “We want it
because it’s a great tool for the
community. It prevents crime.
Once something is stolen, it’s
hard to get it back.”
Wimberly said there is only a
35 to 40 percent recoveiy rate on
items stolen. Thus, crime does
pay.
The Roseland Community
Watch, organized eight months
ago, is doing the best in the
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Rainstorm
Ends Dry
Spell Here
The thunderstorms and
showers that occurred
throughout the weekend brought
1.54 inches of rain to the
Sandhills area, according to the
N.C. forest service tower. This
measurement is for both
Saturday and Sunday.
Heavier rainfalls were
reported in other parts of the
county.
Unofficial reports of hail and
high winds have come in from
throughout the county, but the
county agricultural extension
office was unable to confirm
reports.
Watts Auman said there was
no damage to peach orchards in
tiie West End area despite a
violent cloudburst.
Ed Hitchings, spokesman for
the (Carolina Power and Light
Company, said a power line was
struck by lightning on Saturday
and burned, leaving some 250
(Continued on Page l^-A)
Bypass as Morganton Road.
Two extra meeting rooms for
conventions are provided in the
construction, on the left side on
entering.
Calfee was in West Virginia
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Tobacco
The tobacco harvest is under
way in Moore County.
Among the first farmers to
begin curing tobacco were David
Cummings of Vass and Jimmy
Ross of Carthage, Rt. 3.
Many farmers are leaving the
bottom four leaves, which was
requested by the Department of
Agriculture.
Tobacco auction sales will
begin at Moore markets of
Aberdeen and Carthage on Aug.
1.
The 14-year-old Town and
Country Shopping Center on US 1
South was sold on Tuesday by the
Storey Corp. to Balcor Income
Properties Ltd.-II of Skokie, Ill.
for a reported $2,808,000.
Storey Land Corporation is
headed by Voit Gihnore, who
announced that the company will
now direct its attention to the
new Windsong development in
Southern Pines.
The s,ale, largest in the
Sandhills since the purchase of
Pinehurst by Diamondhead
Corp., early in the 70s, had been
under discussion for some days,
but was not actually made until
lawyers for both the buyer and
seller met in Winston-Salem
Tuesday afternoon.
Management of the Town and
Country Center will be by Balcor
Property Management, Inc., of
Skokie, III., an affiliate company
of the purchaser.
The shopping center is on a
17-acre site on US 1 and as of July
1 was 99 percent leased, with ^
business firms in operation at the
Center.
It consists of six buildings with
147,400 square feet of space and
parking places for 800 cars.
Planned and developed by
Gilmore, Town and Country was
first opened in 1964, with
additional construction in the
period from 1967 to 1969 and
again from 1973 to 1975.
(Continued on Page 12-A)
‘No Strike'
On the eve of a possible U.S.
Postal Service strike. Southern
Pines Postmaster Robert Peele
said local employes “absolutely
will not strike.”
“As far as we’re concerned, I
anticipate no strike action at
all,” Peele said. “We are far
removed from negotiations in
Washington. We are hearing
very little from them in these
critical days leading up to the
contract (which expires
Thursday night).
“This is to keep a tight lid on it
so nunors won’t be started. I am
confident a settlement will be
made by the deadline time and a
new contract can be reached. It
is also possible that the contract
time can be extended a few days
so an agreement can be made.”
The chances that Southern
Pines will make it through this
summer without a major water
shortage seems quite good, with
ample rainfall thus far and
several new water supplies for
the town.
The new water sources follow
recently dry summers when
water has been rationed for some
types of use in the Sandhills.
The Butler well, purchased by
the town some months ago from
Paul Butler heirs on Ridgeview
Road, is of industrial-sized
capacity, and can contribute 125
gallons per minute to the
once-strained town supply.
Bill Wilson, public works
director for Southern Pines, and
Mildred McDonald, the town
manager, report that two other
wells and a whole new water line
can be opened with only minimal
work to do.
The Nicks Creek line, which
will ^ used was a backup line,
can pump 350 gallons per minute
at its peak capacity. The line has
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Final Fund Drive Begun
By Friends Of Weymouth
The Friends of Weymouth is
about to embark on its final drive
to raise the $700,000 needed to
acquire 214 acres of unique
woodlands where plans call for
developing a regional cultural
center for the arts and
humanities.
“We are going to pull out all
the stops now to reach our goal,”
said Admiral I.J. Galantin,
Friends of Weymouth president.
In announcing the plans,
Galantin said the drive will be
managed by the orgainzations’s
finance committee which is
headed by William H. Frantz,
Sr., with Stuart R. Paine and
George W. Little as members.
The Sandhills College
Foundation’s board of directors
agreed to a six-month extension
with no imposition of penalty in
the original one-year option to
buy the property, home of novel
ist James Boyd, for $700,(XK).
The Nature Conservancy
holds the option on behalf of the
Friends of Weymouth. The
(Continued on Page 12-A)
NC Press In Convention
At Pinehmst This Week
The North Carolina Press
Association will hold its 105th
annual convention at the
Pinehurst Hotel this week.
More than 200 editors and
publishers are expected to attend
the convention which opens
Thursday afternoon and ends
Saturday at noon.
The press association met for
the first time in the Sandhills
three years ago and voted at that
time to return to Pinehurst this
year. Normally conventions are
held on the coast and in the
mountains in alternate years.
President Richard Wynne of
the Asheville Citizen-Times will
preside at the meetings.
The convention will open with a
reception hosted by newspapers
of the Sandhills region, followed
by dinner and attendance at the
Pinehurst Dinner Theater
drama, “Pajama Tops.”
Business sessions, at which
new officers will be elected, will
be held Friday morning, and on
Friday afternoon members will
(Continued on Page 12-A)
Four Killed And One Hurt In Crash
Of Plane During Moore Army Exercises
Four persons were killed and
one was injured when a plane
taking part in maneuvers by
Green Beret forces from Fort
Bragg crashed near Eagle
^ings Thursday night.
The crash came at 9:41 p.m.
just off NC Highway 211 near the
intersection with the Samarkand
Road.
Pilot Photographer Glenn M.
Sides, who was on the scene
within an hour, said the four
bodies and the injured man had
been removed from the
wreckage when he arrived.
The injured man, the lone
survivor ol the crash, was flown
by helicopter to Womack Army
hospital at Fort Bragg and later
transferred to Cape Fear Valley
Hospital in Fayetteville. He was
identified as Alexander Mac-
Pherson, 48, a civilian from
Springfield, Va. His condition
this week was listed as stable.
Those killed were identified as
Captain Walter C. McQeskey,
Jr., 29, of Cornelia, Ga.; Staff
Sgt. Louis I. Lebatard, 42, of
Fayetteville; the pilot, Ivan B.
King, 47, a civilian of Fairfax,
Va.; and tiie co-pilot, Dennis J.
Gabriel, 39, a civilian of McLean,
Va.
(Continued on Page 12-A)
PLANE CRASH SCENE—Pilot Photographer
Glenn M. Sides was on the scene shortly after
the plane crash near Eagle Springs Thursday
night and made this picture despite threats
from armed Army men. The tail of the plane
can be seen at right and rescue workers from
West End are at work at the left. Illuminated
corn stalks can be seen in the middle of the
picture.