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VOL. XXXX1V NO. 37 USPS 162-860 KENANSV1LLE, NC 28349 SEPTEMBER 13. 1979 12 PAGES THIS WEEK 10 CENTS PLUS TAX
BRINSON SIGNS DOCUMENT - Amos Q. Brinso n of Kenansviiie sij,.is
oalli of office as newest member of the James Spiiint Institute Board of
Trustees. County and school officials witness the signing. (Left to right)
Ac
John Anderson Johnson. Clerk of Superior Court of Duplin County; James
F. S'.'ickland. Chairman of Board of Trustees of James Sprunt Institute;
Dr. Carl D. Price, President; and Mrs. Judy Davis. Secretary.
Hunt Names Brinson To
; - ' ...??? * .?* ,*t ? ?-? ?? ? ? ?' ? ? . ?
James Sprunt Trustee Board
Amos Q. Brinson was
sworn in as James Sprunt
institute's newest trustee by
John Anderson Johnson,
Clerk of Superior Court, on
Thursday, August 30, 1979.
Brinson. a retired drugstore
operator, was appointed by
Governor James B. Junt. Jr.
fill an 8-year term on the
Aboard of trustees. The board
is composed of four members
appointed by the Governor,
four appointed by the Board
of Education, four appointed
by the county commis
sioners; and one cx-officio
#?n -voting member, presi
dent of the Studei it Govern
ment Association.
Brinson lives in Kenans
ville, where he h.ns been a
life-long resident. He is mar
ried to the former Edna E.
Edgerton of Wal lace, and
they have one son, Amos Q.
Brinson, Jr. (Doc ), who is
married to the former Beth
West. They have two sons,
Russell Amos, 6, a pd Daniel
Milton, 3.
Brinson attended both
Wake Forest University and
the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Mill. He is
a member of the K< :nansville
Baptist Church and has
served as a deacon, choir
member, and superintendent
of the Sunday School. He is a
member of the Kenansville
Masonic Lodge and past
master; a member of the
Woodmen of the World, the
Duplin County Development
Board; and has been named
chairman for the Duplin
County Cancer Crusade and
the Good Neighbor Council
of Duplin County.
Brinson "erved as mayor of
Kenansvillt from 1949 until
1953, and was a town com
missioner from 1947-48. He
was treasurer for 20 years of
the Eastern Baptist Asso
ciation, and has coached
Little League baseball in
Kenansville. He is an hono
rary member of the Guilford
College Alumni Board in
Greensboro.
Sheriff's Report
The Duplin County Sher
iff's Department has investi
gated seven cases of break
ing, entering and larceny
during the past two weeks.
Artless Robertson was in
volved in an accident on NC
11 on August 26 and! reported
breaking, entering and
iarceny of two guns from his
truck. The guns were valued
at S210, and Dalton Jones
was the deputy in charge of
the investigation.
The Sycamore Center
Number TVo, a truck stop in
^aison, reported a BE&L of a
gas pump control, credit card
machine, 14 packs of as
sorted cigarettes, and 15
quarts of assorted oil. The
value of the missing items
was estimated at $507. and
^11 but $7 worth of the items
iere recovered. No one was
charged. Glenn Jernigan was
the officer in charge of the
investigation.
Rembert Foley of Route I,
Wallace, reported B&L and
larceny of three guns and one
Mkox of bullets from his resi
dence on September 3rd.
Officer E.W. Whitaker
investigated, and the
missing items were valued at
$500.
Evelene's Diner in Chain
^uapin reported a BE&L of
^6 in change on September.
Damage to the diner was
$10. Deputy E. G. Baker
investigated.
Steve's Food Center in
Chinquapin reported a
breaking, entering and lar
ceny on September 3. $15 in
cigarettes, valued at S30.62
were missing. Offiicer E.G.
Baker was in charge of the
investigation. ,
Louis Carlton of Route 2.
Rose Hill, reported a BE&L.
An assortment of clothes was
reported missing on Sep;
tember 4th. The missing
clothes were va lucd at
$163.97. and E. G. B aker was
the officer in charg;e of the
investigation.
The Sheriffs Department
also investigated I hree lar
cenies and one cas e of van
dalism. Mary Lee Tann of
Route 1. Faison. reported the
larceny of a green ?nnd white
10-speed bicycle during the
night of August 24. The bike
was valued at $3 00. and
Officer Kenneth Sti.vage in
vestigated.
Delmar Minchev Buick
Oldsmobile of Wa llace re
ported the larceny of a
wheel, tire and rim valued at
$135 during the night of
August 25. Officer E. G.
Baker investigated.
Eunice McGowan reported
the larceny of her au tomobile
battery on August 26th.
McGowan was working at
The Country Squire when
she said someone took the
battery from her car . This is
the second one taken from
the McGowan car during
August while it wan parked '
at The Country Squire.
A vandalism was reported
by James Henry Kea of
Route 2, Rose Hill , on Sep- 1
tember 1st. Kea sif.id some- 1
one shot the passe nger car
window from his fat I icr's car.
a
Duplin County Board
Seeks Old School Property
The Duplin County Board
of Commissioners formally
asked the Board of Education
for the property on which the
present Kenansville Ele
mentary School stands. A
new school, scheduled to
open early next year, is being
built on the opposite side of
town from the old school.
Commissioner D.J. Fussell
told Superintendent C. H.
Yelverton, "We were told
you needed a school here.
The county now wants the
property. The county has no
other property available to it
in Kenansville."
Commissioner Allen
Nethercutt said, "In the
future, all land purchased for
school buildings should be
titled to Duplin County, and
then there'll be no question
of who will get the land when
or if it is no longer used for a
school."
Yelverton did not say what
the school board plans for the
site. He said the old building
should be condemned.
County Manager Ralph
Cottle told the Board he has
been notified CETA positions
are frozen so that when a
worker quits, he cannot be
replaced. On September 30,
48 CETA positions, including
16 in the county government,
will be abolished due to the
end of one CETA program,
Cottle said. The school,
county, library and towns
employ more than 100 CETA
workers
The Board also required
department heads to ask
employees not to take 240
hours (or six weeks) in one
vacation. Employees are not
I
allowed to accumulate vaca
tion time over three years.
The Board wants employees
to take their two weeks of
vacation each year.
Charlotte architect Charles
Greer presented preliminary
plans for the new county
library to be located on the
corner of Seminary and
Bowden Street, facing the
social services building. The
plans call for a building of
colonial design costing an
estimated $251,560. Greer
will return November 5 for
final approval. He said he
could have bids ready to
open at the December
meeting.
SCHOLARSHIP PRESENTED - Carolyn
Murphy presents scholarship check in the
amount of J150 to Dr. Carl D. Price,
President, James Sprunt Institute. Mrs.
Murphy, supervisor of elections, said the
new scholarship is to be awarded to a North
Carolina resident who will be attending
James Sprunt Institute and ^ill be based on
need. Murphy stated that the scholarship is
funded through the News Election Services
and made possible through the cooperation
of the registrars and judges reporting
election returns to NES. For each call that is
made to NES. S2 is designated toward the
scholarship.
Kenansville Water
Bond Issue Fails
Voters in Kenansville de
feated a proposed SI70,000
water bond issue by the
one-vote margin of 62 to 61
Tuesday.
"The turnout was around
30 percent," Woody Brin
son, town administrator, re
ported. "Ordinarily, the
turnout runs about 60-6S% of
the estimated 450 registered
voters of the city."
If the bond issue had been
approved. Kenansville would
have been eligible for grants
totaling $700,000 for water
system improvements.
Brinson said the state local
government commission had
told him the 78% of the total
financial package coming
from grants would have been
the highest in the state.
The town board met Mon
day night to determine its
future course.
Brinson said the bond
issue may have failed
because the public didn't
understand the issue.
The funds would have
been used for enlarging and
improving the water system
by replacing 40-year-old pipe
lines, improving the design
of the pipe system to create
loops rather than dead ends
in the lines, adding an ele
vated water storage tank and
drilling a new wel1
James Sprunt Instutite
Graduation Sunday
The seventeenth annual
graduation exercises for
James Sprunt Institute will
be held Sunday, September
16 at 6 p.m. in the William
Rand Kenan, Jr. Amphi
theatre in Kenansville.
Over 200 graduates will
receive degrees, diplomas,
and certificates in general
education, technical, voca
tional, and adult diploma
programs offered on campus.
This is the largest number of
graduates in the school's
history.
The public is invited to the
exercises and to hear Dr.
Blyden Jackson, this year's
speaker. Dr. Jackson is a
nationally recognized
educator and professor of
?English. He was born in
Paducah, Kentucky in 1910,
and is married to the former
Roberta Bowles. Dr. Jackson
received an A.B. degree
from Wilberforce in 1930; the
A.M. degree from the Uni- .
versity of Michigan in 1938,
and the Ph.D. in 1952. He
was a Rosenwald fellow from
1947-49.
Dr. Jackson's experience
includes teacher of English
in public schools in Louisville
(1934-45); associate profes
sor of English, Fisk Uni
versity (1945-54); professor
of English and department
head. Southern University
(1954-62); Dean of Graduate
School, Southern University
(1962-69); professor of En
glish. UNC-CH (1969
present); Associate Dean of
graduate school (1973
present); and Assistant to
Dean of Graudate School and
Professor of English, UNC
Chapel Hill (1979-).
Dr. Jackson holds
membership in the following
organizations: College Lan
guage Association (served as
president from 1957-59);
Modern Language Associa
tion; College Language Asso
ciation (president from
1956-58); National Council of
Technical English; American
Speech Association; N.C.
Teachers of English; and
Alpha Phi Alpha Society.
He is also the author of
"'Operation Burn;ig
Candle," a novel written in
1974; "The Waiting Years:
Essays on American Negro
Literature;" and co-author
with Louis Rubin of "Black
Poetry in America: 2 Essays
in Historical Interpreta
tions."
Following the graduation
exercises Sunday, the public
is cordially invited to attend a
reception on the grounds of
the amphitheatre In the
event of inclement weather,
the graduation and reception
will be held in the Kenan
School Board
Unsure On Fate Of
School Property
The only sure thing about
the fate of the old Kenans
villc Elementary School
property, after students
move into the new building,
appears to be that it will no
longer be used for a school.
This past week, the Duplin
Board of Commissioners sent
a letter to the Board of
Education asking for transfer
of the property to the county
government from the school
administration.
Wednesday, Dr. E. L.
Boyette, chairman of the
school board, said he had
received the letter, but that
no decision on disposing of
the property has been
reached. He said the school
board will determine the
disposition of the property
after the opening of the new
Ketiansville Elementary
School, currently scheduled *
for late winter. He noted the
school board has cooperated
with the county and towns on
disposal of surplus property.
"Certain procedures need
to be followed," he said.
"We are not dragging our
feet (on future plans for the
property), but the new school
is already 90 days behind
schedule, and we just don't
know when we're going to
get into it."
Board member Patricia
Broadrick said she favors
giving the property to the
county when the school is
abandoned. She noted the
50-year-old building is in bad
physical condition, and said
she would not approve of any
use that would bring many
people into it.
Neither the commissioners
nor the school board will
commit itself to any specific
plans for using the building
after it is abandoned as a
school.
Boyette said the county s
request for the land does not
include the site of the
amphitheater built behind
Kenan Memorial Audi
torium. Disposition of the
elementary school property
will have no effect on either i
the auditorium or the amphi
theater, nor will it have any
effect on the pproved trans
fer of a 100-F v-400-toot tract
of land from lie -< hool
system to Duplin .. ficral
Hospital. Formal transfer
this property will be com
pleted after a survey of tin
property lines has been com
pleted.
Supporting his statement
of cooperation between the
school board and the county
and towns, Boyettc pointed
out previous school land
transfers. When the former
Wallace primary and ele
mentary schools were aban
doned, the property was
urned over to the city to be
developed into the Clcifient
Street Park. The former
C.W. Dobbins school
property went to the Duplin
area mental health depart
ment.
After the Rose Hill school
burned and the new Rose
Hill-Magnolia school was
built, the property was
turned over to the city. The
remaining portions of the
structure were turned into a
community building and the
land into a park.
Much of the former Mag
nolia school complex has
been torn down. It was
donated to the town which
has refurbished the audi
torium for public use. The
town is now renovating the
gymnasium for use by the
community. A ballpark fence
is now being constructed on
the site.
Another former school site
near Rose Hill has been
converted in the Archway
East, an alcoholic treatment
center, and the Omega
Workshop for the mentally .
retarded, both under juris
diction of the mental health
department.
The former Warsaw school
site is now being turned into
a .ccreational park and the
former Faison school site .is
now a recreational park.
The Calypso school site
was partly donated and
partly sold to the town. The
town sold the portion it
purchased in order to raise
money to develop the other
portion into a park.