PROGRESS SENTINEL
VOL. XXXXVI1 NO. 21 USPS 162-860 KENANSVILLE, NC 28349 MAY 24. 1984 16 PAGES THIS WEEK 10 CENTS PLUS TAX
CamlUe Grady
&-&m. .im?i mmmmmn turn, m&mmm
Thomas Faison
Beverly Bryant
Three Duplin High Schools
' Announce Valedictorians
Three Duplin County high schools
announced the 1984 senior class
valedictorians last week. Camille
Grady of East Duplin, Thomas
Faison of James Kenan and Beverly
Bryant of Wallace-Rose Hill were
^ named.
Camille is the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Ted Grady of Albertson and
was selected as a Morehead Scholar
and National Merit scholar. As a
Morehead Scholar, Camille plans to
attend the University of North Caro
lina at Chapel Hill and graduate with
a major in religion and then enter
Union Theological Seminary in Rich
mond, Va. to prepare for a career in
the ministry.
_ "As a student at East Duplin High
P School," Camille said, "and espe
cially in my senior year, I have grown
tremendously proud of my county,
especially due to participation in the
folk arts program.
"One of the areas which has been
the greatest help in learning respom
sibility has been my 1<~b as a bus
driver," Camille said. 'And, it has
been the motivation and concern of
-my. taachers, parents and friends,
which has helped me in my job as a
A bus driver and as a student."
Camille was presented a safe bus
driver award last week along with
the senior math award.
During high school Camille has
been a member of the National
Honor Society, Spanish Club.
National Spanish Honor Society, Phi
Theta Pi, Science Club, Future
Teachers of America, band, the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes,
Historical Society and the Bus Driver
Association.
Thomas Faison is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Mark Faison of Warsaw.
He plans to attend North Carolina
A&T State University and major in
engineering.
"Being part of a team and
learning how to work together helps
an individual become a better
person," Thomas said. "In high
school I have enjoyed being active in
sports and being part of a school with
a competitive winning tradition in
both athletics and scholarship."
Thomas is a four-year high school
participant on the football, basket
ball and track teams at James
Kenan.
Thomas has received awards in
English I and II, Algebra I, CP World
History, biology and was a Rotary
Student of the Month. He was a
Morehejd Scholarship nominee and
is currently a Kenan Scholarship
nominee. During high school,
Thomas has been a member of the
Mongram Gub, HOSA, and served
as a member and president of the
National Honor Society.
Beverly Sue Bryant is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clayton J.
Bryant Sr. of Rose Hill. She plans to
attend the University of North Caro
lina at Wilmington and major in
business.
In preparing the valedictorian
address, Beverly plans to include a
special thanks to her parents and
recall class memories and friend
ships as well as focus on some future
goals for the 1984 graduates.
"Friendships are the most im
portant part of life," Beverly said.
"No matter where an individual goes
or what they do, they never forget
the support of special friendships ."
Beverly has been recognized as a
DAR Good Citizen, Who's Who
Among American High School Stu
dents, Outstanding Senior and Chief
Marshal while attending Wallace
Rose Hill High School. She has been
active in junior varsity cheerleading,
math club, Spanish Club, Spanish
Honor Society, National Honor So
ciety, Future Business Leaders of
America. DECA, Bus Drivers Asso
ciation, and the annual staff.
Salutatori&ns are Vicky Keiley vt,
Wallace-Rose Hill, Mitchell Kern
stine of James Kenan and Terri
Toomis of East Duplin high schools.
North Duplin High School will
announce the 1984 valedictorian and
salutatorian late this week.
District Farm Credit Service
Merger Should Cut Costs
P Area Federal Land Bank and
production credit associations will
merge into one organization with
Aug. 31 the target date, according to
John Smith, president of Coastal
PCA and Federal Land Bank of
Kenansville.
The planned merger stems from
consolidation of these organizations
throughout the four-state area
covered by the Columbia. S.C.,
Federal Land Bank and Federal
^Intermediate Credit Bank district.
^The district includes North and
South Carolina. Georgia and Florida.
The consolidations should lead to
greater efficiency and lower cost
operation'. Smith said.
The Land Banks supply Jong-term
farm credit and the PCAs, shon
term loans, for farmers.
Four PCAs - Coastal, headquar
tered in Kenansville; Southeastern,
headquartered in Lumberton; Cape
hear of FayettevUle and Dunn ? will
be included in the consolidation. Two
Federal Land Bank associations ?
Kenansville and Lumberton ? will
be included.
The organization will serve
Harnett, Robeson, Cumberland,
Scotland, Hoke, Bladen. Sampson,
Duplin, Pender, New Hanover,
Brunswick and Columbus counties.
Smith said the public will notice
little change.
Harvey Beckham, president of the
Federal Land Bank Association of
Lumberton, will become president of
the consolidated organization. Smith
said. It will be based in Lumberton.
Smith noted that the consolidated
organization will include four of the
state's largest agricultural counties.
Duplin has been the top agricultural
county of the state for more than two
decades. Sampson, Robeson and
Columbus normally rank among the
top 10 agricultural counties in the
state.
Duplin is the leading poultry
producing county in the United
States. Duplin and Sampson are the
leading swine-producing counties in
the state, closely followed by Colum
bus. Robeson is normally the third
and Columbus the fourth-ranking
tobacco county of the state.
The service offices in Kenansville,
Wallace, Burgaw, Shallotte, White
ville, Lumberton, Raeford, Laurin
burg, Fayetteville, Lillington, Dunn.
Clinton, Newton Grove and Eliza
bethtown will remain open.
Smith said present personnel will
be retained. The consolidation may
result in a reduced staff eventually.
"A farmer can service both his
long-term (Land Bank) and short
term (PCA) credit needs with one
stop," Smith said. Under the con
solidation each office will have a
branch office manager and staff.
'Completion Of 1-40 And Widening Of
NC 24 And 11 Top Highway Officials List
Aside from urgent requests to
complete 1-40, local officials put the
widening of N.C. 24 and N.C. 11 at
the top of the list of need for Duplin
and Onslow counties.
Pender County put in an informal
^request for patching or repaving
roads and cleaning Iditches.
About 40 officials from South
eastern North Carolina met in
Kenansville Thursday with state
highway Administrator Billy Rose
and Louis W. Sewell, who represents
Brunswick, Duplin, New Hanover,
Onslow, Pender and Sampson
counties on the state transportation
board.
Widening N.C. 24, which runs
east-west through Duplin and On
P slow counties, was the first priority
request from Jacksonville Planner
Horace Mann; Ginton Smith. On
slow County economic developer;
Warsaw Mayor Sam Godwin; and Lt.
Col. C.J. Barone. who spoke on
behalf of the Marine Corps. N.C. 24
in Jacksonville is Lejevne Boulevard
the main access route to Camp
Lejeune. and links the base with the
state port at Morehead City.
Several officials said that Onslow
County is the ninth most populated
county in the state and has no
four-lane roads connecting it with
other counties or highways.
Duplin County Manager Ralph M.
Cottle urged the transportation
representatives to add lanes to N.C.
11 south of Kinston to connect with
1-40.
Young people in eastern North
Carolina usually have to leave nome
to find jobs, Cottle said. He said
eastern counties are jealous of
rampant industrial growth in the
central part of North Carolina and
need highways to lure more industry
to the east.
Most officials who spoke Thursday
said the completion of 1-40 is eastern
North Carolina's top transportation
need.
Camp Lejeune relies heavily on
local highways to get equipment and
personnel to ports at Morehead City
and Wilmington, Barone said. He
estimated that 40,000 vehicles enter
and leave the Marine base daily.
He urged the state to upgrade
roads immediately around the base
in the Jacksonville area as well as
highways leading to the ports.
?
Few Vote For Machines At Meeting
In a show-of-hands vote in Rose
Hill last Thursday, members of the
Duplin County Municipal Associa
tion showed little interest in having
the county purchase voting ma
P chines.
Ruth Quinn, mayor of Magnolia,
and the associations president,
asked the 40 to 5u people at the
dinner meeting to raise their hands it
they wanted the county to purchase
voting machines. Only 10 people
raised their hands. Her request
followed some discussion on the
matter.
Melvin Cording, former Wallace
mayor, said, 'We're still counting
ballots into the next morning after an
election. If you figure the time you're
paying all the workers you'd come
out about as cheap" with machines
as with paper ballots.
The last returns from the May 8
primary election came into the board
of elections in Kenansville between 2
and .1 a.m. Mav 9.
Kindergarten And First
Grade Program Approved
Kindergarten and first-grade
pupils of three Duplin County
schools will be taught under a new
program this fall.
The Board of Education last week
approved the Open Court Co.'s
Headway Reading Program. The
program will cost between $10,000
and $11,000, amounting to $8.50 per
pupil, for North Duplin, Rose Hill
Magnolia and Chinquapin kinder
garten and first-grade pupils.
The program is not funded by the
state. Supt. L.S. Guy told the board
he expects the program to become
state-funded within two years be
cause of the demand from local
school systems.
To explain the difference between
the new reading program and the
system's present programs, Guy
called on Thelma Allen, a school
administrative supervisor and
Duplin school teacher and staff
member for 26 years. She described
five major differences between the
i^w and the present systems:
? The new reading program em
,-hizes reading, writing, spelling,
listening and language while the
present program emphasizes only
reading.
? Wh'le the present program
emphasizes 14 consonants, the new
program stresses letter names and
sounds from A through Z.
? The new program emphasizes
working with small and large groups,
while the present program empha
sizes working with small groups. The
new program will permit fast
students to progress and give slow
students a better opportunity. Chil
dren sound out letters and words.
"They see, hear, say and write."
? While the present program
analyzes phonics, the new method
takes each letter and "hooks" it to
the next letter so children sound
each letter and blend the sounds.
? The new program eliminates
"Dick Jane, Mac and Buffy." It
uses Aesop's Fables as reading text.
Guy said the staff has studied the
program for some time. "If you just
saw the material you'd say it'll never
work. You have to see it in action."
Ms. Allen told the board the
present program has no spelling
book for first-graders, while the new
program does.
In other business, the board
decided to hold a special meeting at
8 p.m. May 24 in the O.P. Johnson
Education Building in Kenansville to
review results of a survey on the
open classroom concept.
Questionnaires have been sent to
business people, parents, students
and teachers. The results are ex
pected by May 24, Guy said.
The open classroom system has
been used in schools built since 1972
? the Wallace, Rose Hill-Magnolia,
Warsaw and North Duplin primary
and elementary schools. The Chin
quapin. Beulaville and B.F. Grady
schools remain on the conventional
classroom system.
In Duplin County, the open class
room concept consists of suites of
large open spaces in which two to
four classes are sometimes gathered
with two to four teachers and their
aides. The teachers can teach in
teams, with each teacher working in
his or her strongest areas. That
theoretically provides students with
the best available teaching,
New Winery To Open In 1985
Grapes Make Good Business
A Carolinas native may be on its
way to an industrial revival.
The muscadine type grape,
characterized bv a distinct flavor,
provides the raw material for an
8-year-old winery in Rose Hill. A
new winery is expected to open there
this fall.
Jackson Builders of Goldsboro was
hired last week to build the Carolina
Wineries Corp. winery north of Rose
Hill.
David Fussell, secretary-treasurer
the winery, said construction will
Begin within two weeks.
A chain link fence and 12 huge
fermentation tanks, bought from a
closed Milwaukee brewery, mark the
site.
The new winery is to produce
250,000 gallons of wine the first
year.
Duplin Wine Cellars, a producer
owned cooperative, produced its first
wine in 1976. Last year it produced
120,000 gallons, all from an assort
ment of muscadine varieties, in
cluding scuppernong, carlos, noble
and magnolia.
Fussell has received word from
Arsenio Pardo Rodriguez, president
of a Spanish trade publishing group,
that Duplin Wine Cellars has been
awarded the group's international
gold medal for quality of wine and
spirits. The awards program will be
conducted June 12 during a dinner at
the Hotel Melia Castilla in Madrid.
Fussell said he does not plan to
attend the dinner.
Duplin Wine Cellars received a
bronze medal from Wineries Un
limited. a trade association, for its
1981 Magnolia wine.
Fussell said Duplin Wine Cellars
and Carolina Wineries will not
compete with each other. They will
appeal to different market segmev t:.
The resurgence of North Caro
lina's wine industry comes at a time
when farmers are desperately seek
ing additional income sources. The
traditional tobacco crop faces an un
certain future. Production has been
severely curtailed because of weak
ened demand.
In the last century North Carolina
was a major wine producer. Several
wineries were in operation, including
Sol Bear Co. of Wilmington. Its
winery at Front and Marsteller
streets had a capacity of 200,000
gallons a year. One of the nations
largest wineries was at Aberdeen in
Moore County.
An Edgecome County vintner,
Paul Garrett, produced the best
selling wine in the country. It was a
blend of scuppernong, concord and
California wines that he named
Virginia Dare.
Statewide prohibition in 190')
ended the state's wine production.
With little market opportunity
during the national prohibition
period of the 1920s and early 1930s,
North Carolina grape production
declined rapidly
North Carolina vineyards now
cover about 1,700 acres, according to
the horticultural ? arketing section of
tv N.C Depi.r#ient of Agr ulture.
In a normal year growers can expect
production of 5,000 to 6,000 tons of
grapes.
Because of limited markets, the
price of muscadine-type grapes has
dropped from more than $300 a ton
10 years ago to around $200 a ton last
year.
If the two local wine ventures
succeed, expansion will increase the
demand for grapes. A New York
wine producer with a winery in South
Carolina is the only other major
buyer available to state grape
growers.
The fresh fruit market can absorb
only about 10 to 15 percent of a
normal harvest.
Apartment Building Complex
Warsaw Says No To Project
The Warsaw Town Board last
week denied a developer's request
that the town lay water and sewer
lines on private property.
P&R Associates asked the board to
install the pipes on land where the
company plans to build 28 apart
ments. The development firm of
fered to pay $11,200 in tap-on fees.
The Town Board rejected the
request when they met on Monday
night.
Board members said they were
concerned that the amount offered
would not cover installation costs.
I
Generally, the town installs water
and sewer pipes up to property lines.
Property owners have pipes installed
from the city lines into their build
ings.
P&R Associates also petitioned
the city to annex the project's
10-acre site, which faces Warsaw
Elementary School. The company
plans to build seven structures, each
containing four apartments, s.
The board will hold a public
hearing on the annexation request at
7:30 p.m. June 11 in Town Hall.
Another public hearing will be
?
held at 7:45 p.m. June 11 on
rezoning property along U.S. 117 on
the northern edge of town from
business to R-6 to permit mobile
homes. Mobile homes may not be
located on property zoned for busi
ness.
The board voted to sell a 1968 van
with 7.000 miles on the odometer,
owned by the Fire Department, to
the Duplin Countv Arts Council for
$500.
Bryan Mclver and Leandros Mat
this were appointed to the Warsaw
Board of Adjustment.
I
Local Jaycees Receive State Awards
Woody Brinson
The Linn D. Garibaldi Award
was presented 1983-84 Kcnans
ville President Woody Brinson
this past weekend at the North
Carolina State Jaycee Conven
tion. The Garibaldi Award is
?presented by the Charlotte
Jaycee chapter to the year's
most outstanding Jaycee
president in the state. The
Kenansville chapter was recog
nized as the number one chapter
in the state at midyear and
received second place for the
last half of the 1983-84 year
during the weekend convention.
Ray Rhlnehart
The top regional Jaycee
director award was presented to
Ray Rhinehart of the Warsaw
Jaycees at the annual state
convention in Raleigh this past
weekend. Rhinehart worked as
director of the southeastern
Jaycee region during 1983-84.
The selection was made on the
basis of new memberships
within regional chapters and the
number of new chapters ex
tended.
Dennis Kirby
The North Carolina Jaycee of
the Month of April award was
presented to Dennis Kirby of
the Kenansville Jaycees during
the annual state convention in
Raleigh last weekend. Kirby is
the 1984-85 president of the
Kenansville Jaycees and was
instrumental in helping extend a
Jaycee chapter in the town of
Beulaville during April.
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