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I* PROGRESS SENTINEL
I /OL. XXXXIV NO. 45 USPS 162-860 KENANSVILLE, NC 28349 NOVEMBERS 1979 < 14 PAGES THIS WEEK 10 CENTS PLUS TAX
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I SONAR TILE INSTALLATION - The Duplin Soil and
Waler Conservation tour stopped at the Charlie Thomas
farm near Magnolia for a demonstration of the tile
Photo by Emily Killatto
installation by the use of sonar waves to control the depth
of the tile in the field.
L^uplin Soil And Water Tour
[Conservation Farm Family
Of The Year Named
By Emily Klllette
t
The ninth annual Duplin
soil and water conservation
tour was held last Tuesday
and th^Jtichard Boyce family
**5r"*WalIace was named'
Conservation Farm Family of
the Year.
h The purpose of the tour
^vas to present projects
within the county which
demonstrate soil and water
conservation in action, said
Otho Lee Holland, vice
chairman of the Duplin Soil
^nd Water Conservation
^District.
The first stop on the tour
was the Richard Scott farm
near James Kenan High
School, showing coastal ber
muda grass planting. Scott
^explained he had been
Ainable to produce crops on
the land, but the dry soil
made good pasture land.
The Charlie Thomas farm
on Highway 117, north of
Magnolia, was the second
^stop for the tour group,
Qkhere tile installation was
underway. The tile demon
stration used sonar waves to
control the depth the tile was
being laid, explained
William F. Pickett, a
member of the Duplin Con
servation District. According
to Pickett, about one mile of
tile for field drainage could
be laid in a day at a cost of 95
cents a foot.
The tour continued with a
Jook at a farm pond on the
Qforace Ward farm near
Magnolia. Next, the tour
visited a land-clearing
project on the Charles Hawes
farm outside of Rose Hill.
Hawes said he was clearing
21S acres of wet land, and he
^ad to construct more than
^hree miles of ditches to
drain the land. Upon com
pletion, Hawes said he would
have 185 acres for cultiva
tion. The land-clearing
project began in 1976 and is
An the process of clearing the
roots from the fields. The
tour group watches as a
Rotoveyer sifted the top 12 to
15 inches of earth for roots
which the machine picked
up.
The tour continued t? the
Richard Boyce farm near
Wallace where erosion con
trol measures were explained
by Ken Futreal. Dunlin soil
conservationist. Boyce con
structed about three acres of
waterways and about 4,000
feet of terraces which slow
the rush of excessive water
down slopes and prevents
soil erosion. Boyce was
named conservation Farmer
of the Year due to his efforts
in controlling erosion on his
farm.
The limestone mine,
owned by Billy Fussell, was
the next stop on the tour.
Fussell led the group into the
60-foot limestone pit and ex
plained the mining proce
dures. From the limestone
mine outside of Rose Hill,
the tour continued to the
Duplin Wine Cellars where
the group was guided
through the winery and
tasted samples of the dif
ferent wines.
The last* stop on the tonr
was the Rose Hill Restaurant
for dinner and the presen
tation of the conservation
poster contest awards and
the conservation Farm
Family of the Year award
Mrs. Betty Williams pre
sented trophies to the poster
winners on behalf of the
ladies auxiliary of the Duplin
Soil and Water Conservation
District. The poster contest
was for sixth grade students
in all county schools, and
three posters from each
school went to the final round
of competition, said Mrs.
Williams. This year the
theme of the posters was
conservation of soil and
water, and the winners were:
first place - Sabrina Grady of
the B.F. Grady School;
second, Kristie Rhodes of
B.F. Grady; and third place,
Raymond Stroud of Kenans
ville Elementary.
Joseph L. Williams, a
member of the Duplin. Soil
and Water Conservation
District, presented tire
Richard Boyce family with
the Conservation farm
Family of the Year award.
Boyce accepted the award on
behalf of his family and
commented that he believed
in conservation and has
spent the last 25 years im
proving his farm. Through
the installation of waterways
and terraces on his farm,
Boyce said he could leave the
land in better condition than
he had found.
The tour was sponsored by
the members of the Duplin
Soil and Water Conservation
District, the Duplin Soil Con
servation Service, and the
United Carolina Bank
(formerly Waccamaw).
CONSERVATION FARMER OF THE YEAR
- Richard Boyce, Conservation Farmer of the
Year, was presented a plaque by Joseph
Williams on behalf of the Duplin Soil and
Water Conservation District members.
' . mam
Bovce. pictured on the left, has been
working with the conservation service to
control erosion in recently cleared fields on
his farm.
Chancellor Thomas To Speak In Duplin
Chancellor Joab Thomas,
Wiinth chief executive of
North Carolina State Uni
versity, is coming to Duplin
? County. Dr. Thomas will be
the featured speaker at the
annual meeting of Duplin
County alumni of NCSU on
-Thursday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m.
^The evening will begin with a
social hour at the Duplin
Wine Cellars at six o'clock.
A real "down home"
dinner will be served at the
Rose Hill Restaurant. Dr.
Thomas will bring those in
attendance up-to-date on the
state of the University and its
operations. There will be
good fellowship for every
one.
All NCSU alumni and
friends of the University are
urged to attend this special
event. Put your name in the
pot by calling J. Michael
Moore, program chairman at
296-19%.
Dr. Joab L. Thomas be
came the ninth chief exe
cutive of NCSU, the youngest
in its 89-year history, on
January 1. 1976.
i
Survey Shows Positive
Attitude About Duplin Schools
A majority of students,
parents and educators in the
county are positive about the
work the schools are doing,
but blacks and people from
small schools tend to be more
positive than whites and
people associated with large
schools, a recent survey
shows.
The survey, conducted by
Dr. Austin Carter, assistant
principal at North Duplin.
School, as part of his doctoral
dissertation, was presented
to the School Board.
Carter sent the 26
question survey to 459 stu
dents in grades 7-12, 485
parents of students in the
system, and 478 educators
serving the 18 schools and
central office. All students
receiving the survey
responded, while 93.1% of
educators and 66.8% of the
parents returned the sur
veys. Questions were in the
form of statements, with
which respondents were
asked to agree or disagree.
Carter found black stu
dents had significantly more
positive attitudes about their
schools than did white stu
dents. Sixty-six percent of
black students were positive
in their responses, while only
63.9% of white students
were. Black educators and
parents were only slightly
more positive than white
educators and parents,
Carter found.
Although a majority of
each group agreed the curri
culum in the school system Is
sufficient, a majority of each
group also agreed more
imaginative learning
programs are needed. In
response to this. Carter
recommended development
of new curriculums to im
prove attitudes.
Other findings showed
that parents, students and
educators agreed teachers
show concern about indivi
dual students and teachers,
and students have close
working relationships with
each other. All groups
agreed county schools have
problems with student ab
senteeism and that the
schools need to place more
emphasis on discipline.
Seventy percent of edu
cators, 80 percent of students
and 65 percent of parents
agreed the schools are doing
an adequate job of teaching
the basic skills of math,
reading and science. While a
majority of students and
educators agreed the schools
are adequately teaching
moral and ethical responsi
bilities, only 45 percent of
parents held this belief.
The widest variance of
opinion came on the question
of how well students like
school. A majority of parents
and educators expressed the
belief students look forward
to going to school everv day,
but only 25 percent of stu
dents agreed with them.
Overall, 61.65 percent of
students. 54 percent of edu
cators and 52 percent of i
parents responding to the
survey said they believe most
people in the county are
satisfied with the educational
programs of the schools.
Less than half of each
group agreed the quality of
educational programs in
Duplin is high when com
pared to other school
systems in North Carolina.
On this question, however, at
least 40 percent of respon
dents in each category ex
pressed no opinion, indicat
ing they had no knowledge of
the quality of schools in other
counties. Carter said.
The survey also showed
each group believes students
are being taught to get along
with each other and to
respect the rights of their
fellow students. It also indi
cated parents, students and
educators believe students
are being adequately in
structed in responsible citi
zenship.
All groups strongly agreed
the rules and regulations
affecting students while they
are in school are reasonable.
Four Duplin Towns
Receive Award
Rose Hill. Magnolia.
Beulaville and Kenansville
will be recognized by
Governor Jim Hunt as reci
pients of the Governor's
Community of Excellence
Award Nov. 15 during the
first annual Governor's Con
ference on Economic De- ,
velopment in Raleigh.
A representative of each
town has been invited to
receive the award during
special ceremonies in
Raleigh. These four Duplin
County towns were the four
of 77 North Carolina towns
which earned the coveted
award this, according to
Larry Cohick. executive
'director of the auwiiif ate
velopment divisions of the
N.C. Department of Com
merce.
"I am proud of the pro
gress which has been made
by these towns and com
munities all across North
Carolina." Gov. Jim Hunt
said.
To qualify for the awards,
the towns had to meet the
basic criteria required by
' new industry. These in
cluded: an organization for
putting together and pre
senting the town's story,
adequate*labor, industrial
sites, financing and access to
markets.
The awards will be pre
sented during an evening
banquet at the Jane S.
McKimmon Center. During
an sesstow
?),.i t-i nationally rc.ogt.tzed
speakers are scheduled to
appear.
SYMBOL OF EXCELLENCE AWARD Reeves Brothers
of Kenansville received a five-year Symbol of Excellence
Award from the Sears and Roebuck Co. Presenting the
award were buyers from the Chicago office of Sears who
said the award stood for outstanding performance and
Photo By fcmny hinone
quality products. Pictured, left to right. Byron Zimmer
mann. national Sears buyer; Sy Haber, vice-president 01
Reeves Brothers, and president of the Consumer Products
Divisions; Dennie Bell. Reeves Kenansville plant
manager: and Wayne Doyel, senior Sears buyer.
Reeves Bros. Receive Five
Year Award From Sears
By Emily KiUette
Reeves Brothers of
Kenansville received their
5th "Symbol of Excellence
Award" from Sears and
Roebuck this past week for
the Comfy home products
manufactured by the plant.
Wayne Doyel. senior
buyer, and Byron Zimmer
man, national buyer for the
Sears Roebuck Company in
Chicago, presented the
award to Sy Haber, president
of the Consumer Products
Division, and vice-president
of Reeves Brothers. Kenans
ville's Reeves plant manager
was on hand to participate in
the event along with plant
executives and special
guests.
The award was not a
one-year award as presented
the previous four years, but a
five-year award including
this year. According to Zim
mermann, in order to receive
the award, the company
must meet the standards
which Sears sets in per
formance, such as shipping
on time, good communica- I
tion. and producing a quality i
product. However, the retail i
stores do the voting for the
award winners, Zimmer
mann said, and only 450 of
1.200 companies receive
such an award.
Haber said the Comfy line
of products is part of the
Consumer Products Division
of Reeves. The Consumer
Product Division consists of
Comfy, home furnishings;
Cinderella Knitting, men and
boy's briefs; and West
Knitting thermal under
wear. Haber said Recces has
increased its business with
* I
Sears by 100% over the past
year in the comfy line of
products. According to
Doyel, Sears buyer, the
reason for the increased
business with Reeves is that
the Comfy products are the
best value and quality mer
chandise Sears can provide
at a reasonable price.
At the conclusion, Haber
m ? ?
expressed his thanks to the
employees of Reeves for
their effort and dedication to
a job well done. Haber added
that he would start working
on efforts to receive the
award another five years
with the help of all the people
who work to produce the
Contfv line of home furnish
ings.
Bridge Closing
In Duplin
ph. liu i win close tne
bridge on Secondary Road
1812 to through traffic for
approximately two weeks.
The bridge is located
approximately one mile
southwest of Cedar Fork, and
will be closed from Nov.
5-19. This will allow main
lenance crews 10 replace tne
bridge by in-,tailing drainage
pipe to carry water under the
road. The pipe will be
covered with dirt fill extend
ing (he road across the crock.
Traffic will be detoured over
local roads.
I
Veterans'
Week
.... .
Celebration
In Warsaw
Parade
Saturday
11 a.m.
If