PROGRESS SENTINEL
VOL. XXXXVH NO. 38 USPS 162-860 KENANSVILLE ? NC 28349 SEPTEMBER 20. 1984 lb PAGES THIS WEEK 10 CENTS PLUS TAX
I
,Duplin Jurors To Hear
Bladen Triple Slaying Trial
The trial of Elton Ozell Mc
Laughlin on murder charges opened
Monday in Bladen County Superior
Court in Elizabethtown.
| A Duplin County jury was to hear
" the case. It was chosen because of
publicity about the case in Bladen
County.
Mclaughlin is one of two men
charged with killing James Worley,
50; his wife, Shelia, 21; and his step
daughter, Psoma Wine Washington,
5. Eddie Carson Robinson, also
charged with the murders, will be
tried separately.
Mrs. Worley and her daughter
f were found dead April 30 in a car in
White's Creek in central Bladen
County. They had been beaten to
death. A month earlier, Worley's
body had been found in his burning
car on Secondary Road 1718 near
Lisbon, also in central Bladen
County. He had been shot to death.
McLaughlin and Robinson were
charged with first-degree murder
May 9.
The jury was selected in Duplin
County Superior Court in Kenans
ville and were to leave by bus from
the courthouse at 7:45 a.m. Monday
of this week.
As the jury selection closed
Thursday, Judge Hamilton Hobgood
rejected a defense eleim that the inrv
is racially imbalanced.
The defense argued that only six
blacks appeared in the 40-member
jury panel on the second day of
selection. The defense also con
tended that only 24 percent of the
first day's panel was black, while
Duplin County's population is 34
percent black.
The jury has two white men, nine
white women and one black woman.
Alternate jurors are one white man
and two white women. Both defen
dants are black.
The judge also rejected a motion to
dismiss the jury because a court
clerk had excused a potential juror.
So Far, Region's Crops
Have Survived Winds
^ Most of Southeastern North Caro
lina's agricultural land has so far
escaped the full force of Hurricane
Diana, although heavy rain has
pelted the entire region. Fields are
soggy and dirt roads barely
passable.
Corn crops last Wednesday ap
peared little hurt by their brush with
the storm's winds and rains.
D.J. Fussell of Rose Hill said the
wind in that area had not been
| severe enough to damage the nearly
ripe grape crop or the corn crop.
"Farmers have been mighty un
easy," he said.
Volunteer firefighters were man
ning fire stations throughout the
area as they waited to see what the
hurricane would do. Typical of these
was the Turkey Creek Department
near Stump Sound in squthern
OtiKkw ?ounty.
Paul Parker, who manned the
radio at the station Wednesday
afternoon, said squad members had
been on duty 26 hours.
"It's just wait and see and it looks
like some more wait and see,"
Parker said. "But we'll be here until
it goes away."
He said some of the people on the
inland side of the Atlantic Intra
coastal Waterway moved out Tues
day night, but moved back Wed
nesday morning after nothing had
happened.
Some firefighters drove rural
roads to be sure these people would
be able to leave again if the storm
turned inland and threatened to
flood low-lying areas.
Parker said the water level in
Turkey Creek was about six to eight
feet above normal,
David Paul, owner of Paul's Place
on U S. IP in Pender County, said
the corn in that area was not badly
hurt. A few trees had been blown
over and branches torn off trees, he
said.
J. Michael Moore, Duplin County
tobacco extension agent, said the
storm had not caused much crop
damage in Duplin.
Many stores in southern Onslow
County and eastern Duplin County
were closed all day Wednesday. The
Holly Ridge Town Hall sported a
brand new set of boards for windows
and doors.
The State Highway Patrol was
using the Holly Ridge Fire ana
Rescue Squad building as its head
quarters for the Topsail Island area.
A detail of 25 troopers was keeping
people from returning to the island
Wednesday, said Lt. George Russ,
normally assigned to the patrol's
Fayetteville headquarters. ^ \
??Coastal Expo And Field Day?^
Displays And Demonstrations For Soil Conservation
The first Coastal Expo and Field Day was held Sept. 13
in Kenansville. The event was sponsored by the N.C.
Department of Natural Resources and Community
Development at the Kenan Auditorium. The Expo
featured displays and demonstrations of equipment for
drainage, water run-off, soil conservation and channel
maintenance. Also, featured on a field trip, was the
local Fernie L. Boyette farm, just north of Kenansville.
Boyette received national recognition early this year for
soil conservation techniques on his farm. Pictured
tabove are Expo exhibits in Kenansville Autidoriii'*' >\d
sor- coding grounds. ^
1 I
Emergency Teams Wait To Be Called To Hurricane Scene
Soon after Hurricane Diane moved inland near
Wilmington, fire and rescue teams began arriving in
Kenansville. Kenansville was designated as a staging
area and some of the first emergency teams arrived at 4
a.m. from Duplin and surrounding counties. The teams
gathered until early Thursday morning when they were
called to assist hurricane victims and relief officials.
The emergency personnel moved from Duplin to
Wilmington at 10:30 a.m. Pictured above are members
of area fire and rescue teams.
Dr. Betty L. Siegel To
Address JSTC Graduates
Over 200 graduates will be pre
sented degrees, diplomas and certi
ficates from 20 different curriculum
areas, or high school equivalency
certificates at James Sprunt Tech
nical College's annual graduation
Sunday, Sept. 23. The ceremonies
will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the William
Rand Kenan Memorial Amphi
theatre in Kenansville. Parents,
family members and friends are
invited to attend.
The keynote speaker will be Dr.
Betty L. Siegel, president of Kenne
saw College in Marietta, Ga. Dr.
Siegel, named president in 1981, is
the first woman president in the
University of Georgia system.
Before her appointment, she was
dean of the school of education and
psychology at Western Carolina
University from 1976 to 1981, and
dean of academic affairs for con
tinuing education at the University of
Florida from 1972 to 1976. She has
also taught at Indiana University and
at Lenoir Rhyne College.
Dr. Siegel received the PhD
degree from Florida State Univer
sity, the master's degree in educa
tion from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the B.A.
degree from Wake Forest Univer
Dr. Bettv L. Siegel
sity.
As an educator. Dr. Siegel has
received several awards for teaching
excellence. She was the first reci
pient of the Woman of the Year
award at the University of Florida in
1979. received a Distinguished
Service citation from Wake Forest
University in 1982. and was named
Educator of the Year for 1983 by
Mortar Board, Georgia State Uni
versitv chapter.
In case of inclement weather,
ceremonies will be moved to the
Kenan Memorial Auditorium adja
cent to the amphitheatre.
Fall Registration For JSTC Is
S' ptember 26
Student registration tor Jaii.es
Sprunt Technical College's fall
quarter classes will be held Wed
nesday, Sept. 26 in the student
lounge of the McGowen Building on
the JSTC campus.
New students and returning stu
dents who have not pre-registered
and Dreoaid fees should register at
this time. Registration house will be
9-11:30 a.m. and 1:15-3:30 p.m. for
day students and 6-8 p.m. for
evening students.
Pre-entrance testing for new stu
dents will be administered on regis
tration day at 1-6 p.m. in Room 107
of the McGowen Building.
Combined tuition and activity fees
for full-time in-state students are $59
payable at registration. Classes will
begin Thursday, Sept, 27.
A Second Administrator
Leaves Goshen This Year
Goshen Medical Center in Faison
is to begin its second search this year
for an administrator after the dis
missal of Bob Hauck September 3 by
the Board of Directors.
Hauck was hired six months ago
after the resignation of former
administrator, Jane Silver, in March.
The dismissal came at the end at
Hauck's six-month probational
period as administrator of Goshen
Medical Center. The dismissal was
unanimous among the nine Goshen
directors present at the Sept. 3
meeting. The board consists of 12
directors.
Reasons for the dismissal are said
to be conflicts between Hauck and
the Goshen Medical Center staff
members. Appointed by the direc
tors, from the staff, to act as
administrator is Elinor Ezzell, health
educator at Goshen Medical Center.
N.C. Supreme Court To Review
Mount Olive Lawyer's Case
The N.C. Supreme Court will
review the conviction of a former
president-elect of the N.C. State Bar
Association, who was disbarred and
sentenced to four years in prison for
embezzlement and false pretense.
Donald Stephens, a special duputy
m
attorney general, requested tne
hearing by the high court because
Mount Olive lawyer George M.
Kornegay has continued to practice
pending his appeal.
The N.C. Supreme Court hearing
bypasses the N.C. Court of Appeals.
Kornecav, who resigned as presi
dent-elect of the N.C. State Bar
/
after he was indicted, was found
guilty Oct. 3 of obtaining money by
false pretense and two counts of
corporate malfeasance. The state
said Komegay has misused money in
his client's trust accounts and placed
legal fees earned by his law firm into
his personal account.
Wallace Discusses Traffic Lights
Traffic lights were in the spotlight
at last week's Town Board meeting
in Wallace.
The board decided Thursday to
ask the state Department of Trans
portation to install a traffic light at
U.S. 117 and the old Teachey Road
near the north edge ot town.
The honrd ?"">k ???? notion on a
request to have the town's present
traffic lights continue stop and go
1 signals through the night. Now, the
traffic lights are switched to blinking
at 10:30 p.m. Police Chief Roscoe
Rich said the number of accidents at
night was no worse than during the
day.
A public hearing on rezoning land
next to the Jiffy Foods store on U.S.
117 from residential to commercial
was to be held Monday in the town
hall.
Major Pearsall, Yottie Teachey
and David Ingram asked for help in
getting rid of water standing on the
back portion of their property. Board
members said the town cannot do
such work on private property.
Rain Dampens '84 Coastal Expo
Equipment to keep tillage to a
minimum was featured in the '84
Coastal Expo and Field Day in
Kenansvilie Thursday.
The display also included an
extensive array of irrigation equip
ment and farm livestock waste
.1
handling equipment.
The weather limited attendance to
a few hundred people.
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