PROGRESS SENTINEL
1 ? i
USPS 162-860 KENANSV1LLE. N.C. 28349 MARCH 31. 1983 20 PAGES THIS WEEK 10 CENTS PLUS TAX
Hospital Firm To Study
Problems In Duplin County
I
Hospital Corporation of
America will be asked to
study Duplin General Hos
pital's financial situation, the
county commissioners
decided last week.
Recommendations could
include that the county sell
the hospital or contract with
the private firm to run it. A
t meeting was held Monday
night with representatives of
HCA, which manages,
leases, builds and buys hos
pitals nationwide.
The decision to ask the
company for assistance
followed a discussion of the
hospital's current financial
problems and future needs at
the board's regular meeting
last week.
^ The hospital board has
Pasked the county for SI
million to pay outstanding
bills and to replace obsolete
or worn-out equipment. The
hospital had unpaid bills of
$704,000 in January, of
which $200.750 had been un
paid for 7S to 136 days.
Strong opposition to any
tax increase to support the
hospital from two residents,
Gene Col well Sr. and Joe
Batts of Wallace. They pre
sented petitions signed by
231 people opposing any tax
increase.
Commissioners D.J.
Fussell Sr., Allen Nethercutt
and W.J. Costin voiced op
position to selling the hos
pital,. which Costin said
"people of the county
worked so hard to obtain."
All five board members,
including Dovey L. Penney
and Calvin Turner, opposed
closing the hospital.
Board members ques
tioned Ray Sanderson of
Rose Hill, chairman of the
hospital trustees, and
administrator Richard
Harrell extensively on the
financial problems.
The commissioners also
discussed, but rejected, the
idea of hiring a consultant.
"I'm agaiflst hiring a con
sultant tor $10,000 or so to
find out we've got financial
problems which we already
know we have," Nethercutt
said.
Cost in said a property tax
increase of 17 cents per $100
assessed valuation would be
necessary to meet the $1
million budget request in one
year.
The county's present tax
rate is 70 cents per $100 I
valuation. '
Harrell said the hospital's i
unusually high percentage of
Medicaid and Medicare pa
tients, whose payments are
limited by the government to
less than the hospital's costs,
had created much of the
financial strain.
He said ony 36 percent of
Duplin County residents
needing hospitalization use
the county hospital.
"The street talk is people
don't have confidence in the
doctors," petitioner Batts
told the commissioners.
Bob Lee Resigns
1 At James Sprunt
BOB LEE
^ Bob Lee, business
manager at James Sprunt
Technical College, has re
signed effective April 1.
Lee turned in his resig
nation at the college's board
of trustees meeting last
week. Lee. who has been
Sprunt's business manager
for 14 years, said he plans to
go into private business,
k The board named Douglas
' Judge, the school's evening
program director, as interim
business manager.
President Carl Price said
applications for the business
manager's position will be
accepted through April IS.
The board of trustees ap
proved a budget request for
county funds for 1983-84 for
$498,838. This is an increase
. of $128,242 over the present
' 1982-83 budget. In the cur
rent expense budget, the
request is for $212,324. The
main item in this request is
water and electricity, which
is $123,654. Telephone is
$13,600, repairs to facility
S12.300 and contractual ser
vices $17,500. Other items
are $6,000 and under. Cur
rent expense budget for
1982-83 amounts to
$185,272. Maintenance
department salaries for JSTC
are the same as 1982-83
budget, or $109,324. These
employees are on the county
pay plan and salary increases
are judged by the county
policy. Capital outlaw re
quest amounts to $177,190.
Capital outlay for 1982-83
was $76,000.
Alfred Wells reported the
total curriculum enrollment
of 816 for the winter quarter
at JSTC represents a 25
percent increase over the
winter quarter of 1981-82
enrollment of 651. Reasons
for the increase were stated
to be the economy and
recruitment. Wells stated
this far for the spring quar
ter, 485 students have signed
up; this, too, is a record.
James Sprunt officials will
appear before the Board of
County Commissioners on
Tuesday, April 5, to request
an additional allotment from
the college's unbudgeted
cash reserves. The additional
funds are to be used for
supplies and repairs. The
amount to be requested is
$11,300. The college has in
its unbudgeted reserves
$19,247.14 in the current
expense and $25,194.65 in
the capital outlay portion.
J SI will also ask for a
transfer of county capital
funds that are unused,
$3,674.71, to be added to
$1,200 already budgeted for
recreation area storage. The
monies will be used to con
struct a 16x32 building at the
will be two restrooms, a
storage area, and a con
cession stand. Labor for the
project is to be furnished by
JSTC students and faculty.
Another movement of
funds will be requested ?
$5,550.84, which will be used
for construction of a parking
lot and waterproof parapet
walls in the Hall Building.
This money was not used in
an exhaust system; a lower
bid was made.
Kenansville
Public
Notice
Notice is hereby given to
the citizens of Kenansville
that business garbage will
not be picked up on March 30
due to minor paint touch ups
on the truck which is under
warranty. We hope to have it
back so garbage can be
picked up on schedule Fri
day, April 1. April 4 (Easter
Monday) is a holiday for
town employees so no gar
bage will be picked up. The
Clerk's office will be closed
Thursday and Friday, March
31 and April 1, for vacation
and Monday. April 4 for
holiday. If your utility bill has
not been paid for March, you
may pay it on Tuesday, April
5, without service being dis
continued, according to Mary
Anne Jenkins, town clerk.
TEXTILES REHIRE. ? The National Spinning plant in Warsaw has
accepted applications for two days. March 22 and 29. The plant received
189 applications for the first day, personnel director of National Spinning
in Warsaw and Beulaville Ben Ellenberg said. Above, a line begins to
form as the personnel reception hall filled with people applying for jobs
March 22 at the Warsaw National Spinning plant.
Textile Rehiring In Duplin
By Emily Klllette
The Warsaw plant of Na
tional Spinning Co., Inc. has
begun taking applications for
employment fot the first time
in two and a half years. This
is good news to many people
in Duplin County where
textile occupations account
for 25.5 percent of the un
employed labor force,
according to Employment
Security figures.
The conversion of the
Warsaw textile plant from
filament equipment to open
end spinning is still in
progress, Ben Ellenberg,
National Spinning personnel
director, said. The conver
sion of the plant into an
open-end spinning operation
is currently in its second of
three phases of completion,
Ellenberg said. The per
sonnel department at the
Warsaw plant had long lines
of applicants all day
Tuesday, March 22, to fill a
limited number of jobs in this
phase of hiring.
"Open-end spinning busi
ness is excellent." Ellenberg
said. "We are more flexible
w?th open-end equipment
producing products for the
fabric trade, hosiery and
outerwear trade. The
filament operation is a spe
cialty trade that continues to
decline even though we still
do a limited amount of that
product." The cost of con
verting National Spinning
Co. Warsaw and Beulaville
plants reached into the
millions of dollars, Ellenberg
said. The Beulaville plant
conversion was completed
two years ago and employs
four shifts working seven
days a week.
"We will be taking appli
cations on Tuesdays, only,"
Ellenberg said. "After we
receive applications, the
Employment Security Com
mission administers the dex
terity test. From the test
results, we will set up in
terviews and call the first
employees in about two or
three weeks. The dexterity
test is helpful in our hiring
process because it measures
the applicant's hand and eye
coordination. We find appli
cants who lack good hand
eye coordination lytve
trouble maiding the job
skills."
The dexterity test is part of
the General Aptitude Battery
given by the ESC. The
examination measures the
coordination of the fingers,
hands and eyes. Kenansville
ESC supervisor Dennis Kirby
said. Duplin County has a
labor force of 16,700 and ESC
figures show 14.7 percent
were unemployed at the end
of January. During the week
of March 12, the Kenansville
ESC received unemployment
claims from 520 people.
Claims from unemployed
textile workers totaled 138
during the week of March 12.
Kirby said, which is 26.5
percent of the total c v~is
Tiled.
"State and federal unem
ployment extensions have
enabled many unemployed
textile workers to dbntinue
drawing benefits," the |
Kenansville ESC supervisor ,
said. "The extensions have |
made it possible for some ,
people to draw unemploy- ?
ment benefits up to a year, j
But. there are a number of 1
textile workers who have |
exhausted ooth extensions ;
and are no longer eligible for |
unemployment benefits. ?
"Duplin has many people |
in its work force who are t
trained in textiles and when t
the factories laid off. these <
people had no other jobs to r
po-to. The textile worker has
jus' had to wait for the job to
reopen.' Kirby said
The Kenansville office ,f
the ESC paid out S334,7991n
benefits during January of
1983. The textile workers are
the leading category of un
employed in Duplin, followed
by construction and apparel
workers, Kirby said. Layoffs
it Duplin textile plants
ncluding J.P. Stevens in
Wallace, Guilford East in
Kenansville. and National
Spinning in Warsaw contri
buted to unemployment
imong the textile workers,
?fowever, Kirby added. Na
ional Spinning is rehiring in
he Warsaw plant and J.P.
itevens of Wallace is begin
ling to hire again.
Duplin Escapes
Serious Damage
Duplin County excaped
serious damage from the
wind, snow, thunder and
lightning storm of last
Thursday night and Friday
morning.
Duplin's poultry industry
excaped damage such as that
resulting from the snow
storm of March 1980, when
hundreds of poultry houses
collapsed and thousands of
broiler chicks and turkeys
were killed.
Sonny Faison, a spokes
man for Carrol's Foods Co. of
Warsaw, said the 1980 storm
took out the structurally
weak houses and the re
placements were built more
strongly. He said Thursday
night's snow was not as
heavy as that of three years
ago.
Hiram Brinson, emergen
cy services director, said
power failures lasting not
more than an hour occurred
in the Rose Hill and Beula
ville areas.
A tree damaged a bridge
near Corinth Church north
west of Rose Hill, he said,
and another tree fell on N.C.
Ill near Kenansville.
Ambulances made two
emergency runs during the
night without difficulty.
Nurses were transported to
and from Duplin General
Hospital in Kenansville by
sheriff's deputies and four
wheel-drive vehicles during
the night.
SPRING SNOW - Duplin County and most of the state was
covered last Thursday night by a snow storm. The snow
I
added more water to Duplin's already saturated farmlands
and yards, but was a welcomed change from falling rain I
Duplin Appoints
New Tax Collector
Norman Sandlin of Chin
quapin was sworn in as
deputy Duplin County tax
collector last week and as
sumed the tax collector's
position, March 2S, when S.
Lei and Grady retired.
Sandlin was administrator
of Plaiqview Health Center in
Greenevers until federal
budget cuts eliminated the
position. Before joining the
center, he worked, in the
Duplin County,finance office.
Sandlin will start at a s'alary
of Si6,449 a year.
Grady left the post March
25. He plans to work with his
wife in operating Rhodes
Grill in Beulaville. Grady was
appointed tax collector in
1970.
The county Social Services ?
Department is seeking a '
clerk to administer several
assistance programs, in
cluded are the butter and
cheese giveaways, heat and
energy aia. and crises inter
vention programs.
The county Board of Com
missioners authorized a
salary of $13,276 per year to
establish the position, which
was requested by Millie
Brown, social services di
rector.
The commissioners
approved a request from
Duplin's hunting clubs to
change the doe season to a
special doe tag system. Jack
Brinson of Kenansville was
spokesman for the group.
Winfred Mobley of the
Lyman area also spoke in
favor of the concept, as did
Joe Williams of the Rose Hill
area. Hunting club repre
sentatives will present this
new plan to the state Wildlife
A
Commission in New Bern
March 30. Under the new
plan, anyone wishing the doe
deer to be cut down in certain
area must control at least
2,000 acres (about one and
one half miles square) and
have a Wildlife biologist
come and declare an ex
cessive deer herd.
The state biologist must
also state how many does can
be killed and issue that
number of tags, Joe Williams
stated this is not a plan for
wholesale slaughter of deer,
but a plan to upgrade the
quality of the herds.
A community development
block grant public hearing
was held. J.C. Thompson,
Edwin Thompson and James
George of the Burning Bush
area near Faison requested a
water system and housing
rehabilitation program in
their area be in the grant.
Ledell Wallace. Benita
Wallace and Lila Richardson
of the Wallace area
requested a community
building and recreation area
be included in the grant
application for an area in
cluding Rockfish and
Teachey. A second public
bearing will be held April 18
at 11:30 a.m. in <he com
missioners meeting room in
the courthouse in Kenans
ville.
Wallace Manager
To Take
Office April 11
Robert C. Hyatt, assistant
administrator of Elizabeth
City, will take over the
position of city administrator
of Wallace on April 11,
Mayor Me}vin Cording said
last week.
Hyatt. 25, spent the past
year completing his intern
ship at .Elizabeth City. His
starting' salary will be
S18.000 a year. A native of
Randleman, in Randolph
County, Hyatt revived his
bachelor's degree in public
administration from Appa
lachian State University in
Boone in 1980.
"? i
"The budget, of course, is
the big thing upcoming,"
Cording said last week. "It
woyld have been better if he
could have come sooner, but
we can get it together in
time."
Other than the budget.
Cording said, Hyatt will have
to watch over progress of the
town's waste water treat
ment plant. The tflftvn has
been assured the^projoct will
be funded soon, he added.
The former'city .adminis
trator, Steve Routh, led Nov.
20 to become city manager of
Madison, in Rockingham
County.