PROGRESS SENTINEL
g VOL. XXXX VII NO. 29 USPS 162-860 KENANSVILLE, NC 28349 JULY 19, 1984 16 PAGES THIS WEEK 10 GENTS PLUS TAX
Portrait Presented
United Carolina Bank of Kenansville presented the
portrait of the late Philip Kretsch Jr. to the public July
13 at the bank. Kretsch, a former UCB executive, came
to Duplin County in 1951 to establish a branch office of
Waccamaw Bank in Kenansville. In recent years the
Waccamaw Bank merged to become United Carolina
Bank. The portrait will be displayed in the bank lobby.
Pictured above, Kretsch's grandchildren, Heatner auu
Philip Roller, complete the unveiling of the portrait as
their grandmother, Juanita Kretsch and UCB executive
Carey Wrenn watch.
Duplin Benefits In
Support For Firefighters
Many rural North Carolina coun
ties appropriate substantial sums
from their general funds for volun
teer fire departments, county offi
cials said Friday
With such assistance, in addition
to the fire departments' or districts'
&md raisiiig*'efifurts, scrmeone -will
respond to a fire call from any part
of those counties, even if the fire is
not in a fire district, the officials
said.
In addition to reducing damage
from fire, the presence of fire fight
ing equipment reduces fire insur
ance premiums in rural areas. The
reductions vary with distance from
fire stations but range from 10 per
cent to about percent, according
to county officials
The Duplin County commission
ers appropriated $103,412 for the 24
volunteer fire departments serving
the county during the 1984-85 fiscal
year, according to County Manager
Ralph Cottle. The county also pro
vides $38,550 in operating expenses
for its rescue squads as well as pro
viding ambulances for most of
them.
The county is purchasing two am
bulances for about $50,000 this
year, Cottle said. The total appro
priation for operations ? just over
$142,000 ? represents just over 2
cents of the county's 75 cents per
$100 assessed valuation tax levy.
Duplin provides $400 a month to
the fire departments in the county
and smaller amounts to four depart(
ments in other counties that serve
portions of Duplin. The county has
about 41,000 people scattered over
819 square miles
Duplin has one fire tax district ?
Oakwood ? in the northern part of
the county, which has a fire tax rate
of six cents per $100 assessed valu
ation. The tax brings it $8,404 a
year in addition to the county's $400
a papnth contribution.
Legislature Passes
Duplin Bills
Southeastern N.C. Legislators
were busy during the short session of
the (general Assembly.
In addition to dealing with a wide
variety of bills of statewide interest,
area lawmakers introduced and
lobbied for local bills that directly
affect their constituents.
Rep. Wendell H. Murphy, J
D-Duplia, introduced three bills that
were ratified. Murphy represents
Duplin and Jones counties. The
legislation:
? Limits hunting from roadsides '
in Jones County.
? Increases from $75,000 to
$300,000 the value of work and i
materials the county's labor pool can j
use in the conversion of a Kenans
ville school to county office space. 1
? Allows Jones County to sell
certain property at private sale. The j
bill validates an agreement between i
the county and Trenton Apparel Co.
Appropriations asked by Murphy,
included $100,000 for the Duplin |
County livestock facility and
$345,000 for the construction of a
treatment clinic at the Duplin
Sampson Area Mental Health
Center. According to legislative staff
members, these appropriations were
not funded.
Rose Hill
Seeks
New Well
The Rose Hill Town Board this
past week directed town attorney
Richard Burrows to seek a 90-day
option on a potential well site on the
northwest edge of town.
The 3.74-acre site lies at Secon
dary Road 110? and Ridge Street.
The owners, Edd Monk and J.W.
Maynor Jr., are asking $11,000 for
the whole site and $5,000 for a
portion of a'ooi't 1V* acres, Burrows
said.
After obtaining the option the
town will have a test well drilled to
determine whether a sufficient
quantity of water can be obtained.
The board declared two police
vehicles surplus and voted to open,
sealed bids on the cars at noon July
23 in Town Hall. Ihe vehicles are
Chevrolet Impalas. One is a 1978
model and the other a 1979 model.
Eugene Fussell, town mainten
ance supervisor, was directed to
begin mosquito spraying imme
diately. The twjoe-weokly spraying
will coi''?i i ihroui >?' r. ,
Chinquapin Church Is Getting New Siding
Donald and David King of Pink Hill are placing vinyl siding on the
Chinquapin Church "from the bottom board to the steeple." The brothers
work with Eastern Exteriors of Warsaw. The church is located at the junction
of Highways 50 and 41 .^esil ' "a ? ? ? -
Warsaw Recreation Director
Awarded Extra Pay
WARSAW ? The Town Board
increased the salary of its new re
creation director by $1,000 a year
for one year during its regular July
meeting this week
George W. Lloyd will assume the
position of town recreation director
July 25 at a regular salary of
$12,729 per year.
The board agreed to increase that
figure by $1,000 the first year to
help him with medical expenses un
til he 19 covered by the town's insur
ance after 12 months.
In other business, the board
awarded fuel contracts
Service Oil Co. of Warsaw was
awarded the contracts for regular
gasoline at 95.8 cents a gallon, un
leaded gasoline at 99.8 cents, pre
mium unleaded gasoline at $1 032,
non-highway diesel oil at 86 2 cents
and No. 2 fuel oil at 85.2 cents a
gallon
Par Gas Co of Warsaw was
awarded the contract to supply the
town sewage plant and fire station
with liquified petroleum gas at 69 9
cents a gallon
Smith Bros Gas Co of Magnolia
received a contract to furnish LP
gas for the town recreation center
and garage for 71 cents a gallon.
The board reappointed town clerk
Alfred Herring as fiscal officer and
tax collector for 1984-85
Wallace Board Discovers
Old Ordinance Declaring
Sidewalk Sales Illegal
WALLACE ? A long discussion
about a little-remembered town or
dinance banning the placement of
merchandise for sale on sidewalks
resulted in the Town Board this
week directing the town attorney to
work up a new ordinance
Some downtown business people
had complained to board members
about baled straw on downtown
sidewalks They complained that it
created a fire hazard
A 1941 town ordinance bans plac
ing any merchandise on sidewalks
At the time it was approved, virtu
ally all local businesses were down
town and many of them displayed
merchandise on the sidewalks, the
merchandise forced people to walk
in the streets to get around the dis
plays.
Enforcement touched off further
complaints. If fully enforced, the or
dinance would ban sidewalk sales
promotions
"When you tell a man to remove
the straw, you also have to tell ev
erybody else to remove merchandise
from the sidewalks." said Town Ad- C
ministrator Robert Hyatt "If you p
enforce it for one you have 10 en
force it for all You must be consis- &
tent" r
Merchants have expressed d? c
pleasure with the enforcement
They said they want a workable so- a
lution so sidewalk sales can be v
staged ti
A definition of what constitutes a t
public sidewalk is also needed. ofTi- a
cials said f<
"It looks like downtown Wallace s
is dying and if a sidewalk sale will u
help bring it back to life, then I'm
all for it," said Joe Blanton. a mer- w
chant.
Police Chief Roscoe Rich said, tl
"You mean that these farmers who s
come in and set up in back of pick
ups can't do it." r
The town's attorney. .Richard f
Burrows, was directed to contact v
merchants and attempt to draw up a c
practical ordinance r
During a public hearing the 1
boahd annexed the area near Tin li
"ity on which a town well is being
iroposed
David Criser of Henry von Oesen
i Associates of Wilmington was di
ected to prepare an engineering
ontract for drilling the well.
Criser said that if the contract is
pproved at the next meeting, it
wuld take about one year to have
he well ready for pumping He said
he state has approved the site, but
pproval for well house plans and
ir connecting the well to the water
ystm must be obtained Approvals
nil take about 90 days, he said
A public hearing on drilling the
rell will be held Aug 23
A test well must be drilled before
he main well can be started. Criser
aid
In other business, the board ap
?01 nted Webb TurUnrtPA to the
anningrBoard, to leplr.teTom Da
idson who resigned Turlington to
omplete term expiring in 1986 It
eappointed Joe Bryant and Francis
'ownsend to six-year terms on the
ibrary board
Lightning Blamed For
Several Fires In Duplin
Severe lightning
from thunderstorms was blamed for
a series of fires in Duplin County 1
Friday night
Storms swept through the Wal
lace-Rose Hill area around 8 p.m
Lightning struck the house of
Elmer James on Secondary Road
1101 and set it on fire An outbuild
ing at another house nearby was
also set on fire from a lightning
strike, the Duplin County Sheriffs
Department reported
At Teachey, on S R 1172. a house
owned by Necie Murray caught fire,
also from an apparent lightning
strike
At Fountaintown. near Chinqua
pin, firemen fought a fire in an out
building, owned bv Ralph Hunter,
on S.R 1715
In the Re * Hill-Lake Tut area,
high water covered some roads
Missing Man
Found Dead
A man missing since July 5 was
found dead in a Duplin County to
bacco field Saturday morning He
apparently died of natural causes
Johnny Morrisey. 58, of Manas
sas, Va . was visiting relatives near
Warsaw when he went for a walk
and disappeared
Duplin County Sheriffs Depart
ment and rescue workers conducted
a search of the area off Secondary
Road 1105, where he was last seen,
but called it off July 7 when they
failed to find Morrisey
Workers in a tobacco field ofTS.R
1105, not far from the area that was
searched, found Morrisey's body
shortly before 11 a m. Saturday, ac
cording to Duplin County Sheriffs
Department reports
The cause of death was not imme-.
diately known, but there were no
apparent suspicious circumstances
Bloodmobile
In Albertson
The Albertson area churches will
host a community-wide Red Cross
Bloodmobile on Saturday, July 21 at
th? Albertson Morm'.in Church from
10 am to 2 pm.
South of Kenansville, there were
reports of heavy hail, but no word
on damage, according to sheriff s de
partment dispatcher Addie Cham
bers
- v' ? * .
Fire departments from Wallace,
Teachey and Rose Hill fought the
fires There were no reports of injur
ies and no damage estimates avail
able
Herb Garden Dedicated
The O.P. Johnson Memorial Herb Garden was dedicated July 13 at Liberty
Hall in Kenansville. Johnson served 35 years as superintendent of Duplin
County Schools and played an active role in the restoration of Liberty Hall
and the presentation of the 1949 and 1950 pageant. THE DUPLIN STORY.
Tom Kenan 111 presented the garden to the public on behalf of the Duplin
Board of Education and the Liberty Hall Restoration Committee. Pictured
above. T?t" Kr?-.n anrf Mrs. O.p. "Minnie'' Johnson pose for photos in the
center walk of the round herb garden.