Index
Mi(]h (alls
' m 1/
Books, 2-B; Carthage News, 1-3-D;
Church News, 3-B; Classified Ads, 6-
15-D; Editorials, 1-B; Entertainment,
S-9>C; Obituaries, 12-A; Pinehurst
News, 1-4-C; Sandhills Scene, 2-9-A;
Sports, 10-13-C.
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VOL. 61, NO. 35
70 PAGES
SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA 28387
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24,1981
70 PAGES
PRICE 15 CENTS
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Tax Raise Supported
In Budget Hike Pleas
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LAKE AUMAN DAM — Work is progressing on
the $3 million dam at Seven Lakes West which
will create the 1,000 acre Lake Auman, named
in honor of former Rep. T. Clyde Auman. One of
the largest earth dams in the Eastern U.S., it is
expected to be completed in late 1982. It will be
more than 600 feet thick at its base, 2,100 feet
wide and 92 feet high.—(Photo by Glenn M.
Sides).
Moore Tops State, U.S. In Tests
Moore County students have
shown steady improvement over
test scores on the North Carolina
Annual Tests, results show, and
this year the average scores were
higher than the regional, state
and national averages.
“Our test scores continue to im
prove,” said Superintendent R.E.
Lee.
The tests are given yearly to
students in grades one, two,
three, six and nine during the
seventh month of the school year.
This year’s results exceed last
year’s scores in every area ex
cept reading and math at the
ninth grade level and spelling at
the sixth grade level where the
scores remained the same as last
year’s; still above grade level.
Tests results became available
this week.
Students in grades one and two
took the Prescriptive Reading In
ventory (PRI) and the Diagnostic
Aberdeen 4th Declared
To Be ‘Cliff Blue Day’
July 4 has been declared “Cliff
Blue Day” in Aberdeen.
In addition to the usual celebra
tion in Aberdeen a special tribute
will be given to Cliff Blue.
The day’s activities will kick
off with a one mile fun run at
10:25. At 10:30 the Pinecrest
Band will lead the parade
through the streets of Aberdeen
and end at the Aberdeen Lake. At
11:30 the formal program will
feature a special tribute to Cliff
Blue. Among the speakers will be
former Chancellor of East
Carolina University Leo Jenkins,
former Governor Jim Holshouser
and State Secretary of Cultural
Resources Sarah Hodgkins.
At 1 p.m. blue grass and coun
try and western music begins and
will continue until 9:30 that night.
Featured performers will include
(Continued on Page 14-A|
Math Inventory (DMI). Tests for
the first and second graders were
designed to give teachers and
parents detailed information
about student performance in
skills and knowl^ge emphasized
at that particular grade level.
This infomnation will be used to
pinpoint areas in which the
teacher, parent and student must
concentrate to ingkrove tlie stu
dent’s performance.
By contrast, the tests for
grades, three, six and nine were
designed to' obtain general
measures of performance and to
compare the performance of
various groups of students.
Educators believe that these
tests provide enough detailed in
formation to help the teacher ob
tain indicators of the student’s
strengths and learning dif
ficulties.
Taking the tests this past spr
ing were 571 first graders, 543 se
cond graders, 562 third graders,
589 sixth graders, and 671 ninth
graders.
GradeOne
Reading and mathematics
tests are administered to first
grade students during the
seventh month of the school year.
The average grade equivalent for
first grade students in the nation,
therefore, is 1.7. The gradei
equivalent scores for the average
first grade student in the Moore
County School System were 2.1 in
reading and 2.6 in mathematics.
(Continued on Page 14-A)
Ewing To Continue Push
In Economic Development
Recreation Budget Cut
Slashes Top Personnel
“It was not a very pleasant
thing to have to do. We’re all
volunteers, and we felt bad about
letting anyone go,” said Johnny
Bums, chairman of the Moore
County Recreation Commission.
He was talking about the com
mission’s decision to . terminate
the employment of Recreation
Director Morgan Rodgers, Pro
gram Director Pam Adams, and
one of the three area supervisors,
(Charles Thompson.
“Our decision had nothing to do
with the quality of their work.
They have all done an excellent
job, and Morgan did an excellent
job as director. It’s a sad situa
tion,” Bums said.
Bums said the dismissals are
directly related to the severe cut
back in the recreation budget by
the Moore (bounty Board of Com
missioners. The recreation body
had requested a budget of almost
$192,000 but was funded only
$83,000, of which $30,000 is to
(Continued on Page 13-A)
BY FLORENCE GILKESON
Bob Ewing has not officially
started work yet, but already he
is losing wei^t just walking up
and down two flights of stairs.
His office as county economic
developer is on the third floor of
the old courthouse in Carthage,
but the county manager’s office
is on the ground floor.
Ewing, a well-known
Republican leader and a former
county commissioner, will
become economic development
director on July 1, the same date
on which he becomes acting
county manager.
The economic development
office has been moved from the
trailer office on U.S. 15-501 near
the N.C. 22 intersection. Soil
scientists working on a
county-wide soil sur/ey have
been moved into the tr^er.
Clark Gives Observatory Here
To State Science-Math School
Ewing said he intends to
pursue industry with the same
vigor Moore County has been
applying in the past few years.
“We have to,” he said in a
telephone interview this week.
“Every county, every town,
(Continued on Page 13-A)
Poetry Festival
The second annual North
Carolina Poetry Festival will
be held at Weymouth Center on
Saturday, June 27, beginning at
10 a.m.
The festival will open, with
talks and readings by featui^
poets Ronald Bayes, Maria
Ingram and Thomas N. Walters.
Poets from all over North
Carolina have been invited to
attend and to read from their
works in the all-day festival, and
many other well known poets are
expected to be present.
The public is invited to attend
and participate in the event
which last year drew an
attendance of more than 200
people.
BY FLORENCE GILKESON
Applause, laughter, even
occasional boos punctuated the
budget hearing hosted Monday
night by the Moore County Board
of (Commissioners.
But if the more than 500 per
sons who jammed into the old
courtroom were ejqkecting an
answer to their budget questions,
they went away unsatisfied.
Instead of deciding on the final
budget for 1981-82, the com
missioners recessed at the close
of the hearing and agreed to
reconvene at 11:30 ajn. Thur
sday. The budget must be
adopted by the end of the month.
In about an hour and a half 26
persons addressed the com
missioners, with 19 speaking in
favor of budget increases for
public schools. Sandhills Com
munity (College, youth services
and other county programs.
Some even voiced support for a
tax increase to finance these
programs at desired levels, while
one group presented a petition
calling for adequate funding the
schools and county agencies.
Sui^ort for the public school
system was the most vocal
during the evening. When one
speaker declared that most
members of the audience were
school employes, a group in the
background shouted back “No.
We’re parents!”
Hints that the funding for
Robbins
Leaving
Chamber
J. Ed Robbins, Jr., President
and Chief Executive Officer of
the Sandhills Area (Chamber of
Commerce, has accepted the
position of Executive Vice
President of the Greater
(Clearwater (Florida) Chamber
of Commerce effective July 15.
H. Clifton Blue, (Chairman of
the Board of the Sandhills
chamber, read Robbins’ letter of
resignation to chamber officers
at the monthly board meeting on
June 18.
In his letter, Robbins wrote:
“In less than a month, Ellen and
I will have lived here three
years. During that time we have
come to know many wonderful
people who have made us feel
welcome and very much at
home...Our decision to leave the
Sandhills has been most painful.
When we think of the many
friendships we have developed
through ttie church as well as the
Chamber...we came close to
declining.”
Both Ed and Ellen are
members of the choir of
Bethesda Presbyterian Church.
The Chamber board accepted
Robbins’ resignation with regret.
“Ed has done a fine job and we
hate to see him go,” was the gist
of the sentiment expressed by
Chairman Blue and echoed by
all present.
“Ed brought many fresh, new
ideas and approaches to the
workings of the (Chamber,” as
George Erwin, who will be 1982
Chairman of the Board, put it.
“Some of the programs he
(Continued on Page 14-A)
sdiools will not be changed,
despite the outpouring of sup
port, were expressed by Board
(Chairman (Charles Riillips and
Vice-chairman Tony Parker in
their remarks shortly before the
meeting was closed.
Citizens attending the he9ring
were asked to sign up in advance
if they wished to speak, and were
asked to confine their remarks to
three minutes. Dr. Phillips called
each speaker by name.
Lew Brown, a former Southern
Pines town manager, scolded the
board for not providing the
county with effective leadership
and said he did not believe the
only goal of local government is
saving taxes. Although he
commended the board for taking
steps toward the county manager
form of government, be warned
that this action alone will not
solve their [x-oblems of 3-2 votes
and partisan politics.
(Continued on Page 10-A)
Board To Meet Thursday;
Revenue Over-Estimated
It’s back to the drawing board
this week for the Moore County
Board of (Commissioners, which
has been informed by the North
Caroling Local Government
(Commission that the proposed
1981-82 budget contains revenue
figures over-estimated to the
tune of $140,000.
J.D. Foust, deputy state
treasurer and head of the
commission, told The Pilot that
most of the over-estimated
revenue can be found in the local
sales tax figure.
This revelation apparently
prompted the commissioners to
delay final action Monday night
on adoption of the new budget,
tentatively set at $11,198,580.
At the close of ^e annual
budget hearing Monday night.
Dr. Charles Phillips, chairman of
the board, suggested that the
board recess its meeting and
107 Degrees
Temperatures climbed on up
there to 107 degrees Monday.
This is the high temperature
reported by Warren Baecht, a
volunteer weather observer for
the National Weather Service.
Monday’s low was another
record-breaker, 78 degrees.
The standard weather
measurement equipment is
located in the backyard of the
Baecht home on the Lakeview-
Airport Road, near Whispering
Pines.
Sunday’s high was 101 degrees,
the low 70. Rainfall was
measured at 0.53 inch Friday
and 0.92 inch Thursday.
People along U.S. Route 1 in
Aberdeen and Southern Pines
around 9 a.m. on last Thursday,
June 17 were surprised to see an
enormous flat bed truck
belonging to the State of N.C.
with a load looking for all the
world like a small scale nuclear
reactor being transported north.
What they really saw was the
principal building from Sandhills
Observatory being transported
to the North Carolina School for
Science and Mathematics in
Durham.
The Sandhills Observatory has
operated since 1974 at a site off of
N.C. Rt. 5. Thousands of adults
and young people have viewed
the heavens at this facility which
the owner, Allen Qarke, called a
“privately owned, non
commercial, educational
facility.”
Mr. Clarke has shown great
Allen S. Clarke
interest in the North C!arolina
School for Science and
Mathematics which has been
established in Durham as a
boarding high school for ex
ception^ gifted and talented
hi^ school students interested in
science and math. AU students
are chosen by competitive
examination.
Moore County will have four
students attending the session
this faU. All expenses, room,
board, and tuition are paid by the
state for the two years the
students attend. Eventually the
school will have 900 students.
Many of the larger corporations
in the USA, particularly those in
the technological field, have
made substantial contributions
to the sdiool’s endowment.
Mr. Oarke has made sub
stantial gifts to the school, too,
the largest being the complete
operating observatory with its
attendant support equipment
such as {hotographic laboratory,
(Continued on Page 14-A)
THE
PILOT LIGHT
REPUBLICANS~Jim God
frey, chairman of Eighth District
R^ublicans, has called a district
convention for Saturday, July 11,
at 2 p.m. at the Sheraton (Con
vention Center here.
The Eighth District convention
is being hdd prior to the state
convention which will be held in
Wilmington on July 24-25-26.
Godfrey said Republicans
from Hoke County are being
invited to the convention here
under the assumption that Hoke
will become a part of the Eighth
District under legislative
redistricting.
LEGISLATURE
State
reconvene at 11:30 a.m.
Thursday to continue its budget
considerations. It had been
ejected that the board would
discuss the budget and take a
vote at the close of the hearing,
which is the traditional practice.
The board will actually meet at
10 a.m. Thursday, when an
executive (closed) session will be
held for the purpose of hearing
the preliminary management
report prepared by a team of
volunteer management
consultants headed by Pete
Perkins.
Although the 10 a.m. closed
session was not announced
Monday night, Dr. Phillips did
announce the 11:30 meeting.
Perkins said the meeting would
be closed to the public because
parts of the report refer to
personnel, one of the few
subjects which a local governing
body can legally discuss in the
absence of the public.
(Continued on Page 12-A)
School Board In Limbo
Delays Cameron Project
BY LIZ HUSKEY
With a frustrated shrug of its
collective shoulders, the Moore
County Board of Education
tabled two items on its regular
agenda Monday'tiight because of
what some members called a
state of “limbo,” not knowing
how much the county budget is
going to leave them.
The meeting followed a two-
hour public hearing on the
budget held by the Board of
County (Dommissioners at which
severd hundred school workers
and parents spoke against the
proposed cut of the school
system’s budget.
But the school board remained
cautious Monday night, tabling
an item on the Cameron school
bids and on the schools budget
until after the commissioners
approved the 1981-82 county
budget.
Just in case it is approved this
week, the school board called a
meeting for next Monday at 8
p.m. to accept bids on the
Cameron school project and to
“decide where we’re going from
there.”
Most of the half-hour-long
school board meeting was spent
in frustrated chatter about the
county commissioner’s stand on
the budget and on the comments
heard during the public hearing.
One comment was aimed at
the fact that there appeared to
be only about 25 supporters of
the commissioners’ budget cut.
Board Member Kent Harbour
said, “Where are all Dr.
Phillips’ people who want these
budget cuts?”
Board Member Debbie
Williams said, “People in
Pinehurst and Southern Pines
have proven they support the
schools. From what I’ve heard
from retirees, our tax rate is a
joke to them, it’s so low. People
(Otutinued on Page 13-A)
Chief Chases Man, Kills Him ;
SBI Probing Slaying In Moore
An SBI investigation into the
slaying of a motorist by the
Ellerbe police chief is continuing.
William Bowden, a 48-year old
resident of Candor, Rt. 1, died
almost instantly on a rural Moore
County road Sunday night.
Ellerbe Chief Jack D. Stoner
told investigators that he was
threatened with a knife by
Bowden after a chase from Rich
mond County ended when the
Bowden vehicle became disabled
because of a flat tire.
In a new development in the
case, Emry Little, president of
the Moore Upunty chapter of the
NAACP, announced this morning
(Wednesday) that he is consider
ing asking for an additional in
vestigation by the FBI.
Bowden was black; Stoner is
white.
“The NAACP suspects that
(3iief Stoner has been involved in
other questionable cases similar
to the Bowden case,” Little said.
Little added that the Richmond
and Moore chapters of the
(Continued on Page 14-A)
Senator Russell Walker said
Monday that he believes the
Legislature will wind up its
current session by the ni^t of
July 3.
Legislative leaders are aiming
for an earlier adjournment, but
Walker feels that the number of
bills stiU to be acted upon will
keep them in session until the eve
of the Fourth.
REDISTRICTING - Walker,
who also is State Democratic
diairman, is not pleased with
redistricting efforts thus far in
the Legislature and would prefer
that the task be held over until
the fall session in .October.
(Continued on Page 14-A)
i
INVESTIGATION BEGINS — SBI Agent Ken Snead talks to Henrietta
Simmons, a passenger with William Bowden, who was shot to death after;,
a chase from Richmond County Sunday night. In the background i4
Detective Ronnie Davis of the Moore County Sheriff’s Department. Par4
tially obscured behind Davis is Ellerbe Police Chief Jack D. Stoner, who
shot Bowden after the victim reportedly threatened him with a knife. The
unidentified officer at left is a deputy with the Richmond County Sheriff’sj
Department—(Photo by Glenn M. Sides).