Newspapers / The Duplin Times (Warsaw, … / Jan. 10, 1985, edition 1 / Page 1
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PROGRESS SENTINEL VOL. XXXXVIII NO. 2 USPS 162-860 KENANSV1LLE. NC 28349 JANUARY 10, 1985 12 PAGES THIS WEEK 10 CENTS PLUS TAX Progress Continues At Cowan Museum The Cowan Museum begins moving its artifacts this month into the restored historical Kelly-Farrior House ^of Kenansville. Plans for the grounds surrounding the ^Kelly-Farrior House are to be used to house support buildings for the museum. Two of the support features of the museum grounds are in place today and pictured above. Wheels used to help construct the foundation of the Washington Monument have been restored and were placed on the grounds during December. Monday the Duplin County Maintenance Department completed a second support feature on the museum grounds when a log cabin donated by Dallas Herring of Rose Hill was moved. Pictured above are the giant 10-foot wheels and the log cabin as it was being placed on the museum grounds. Duplin Rolls Out Links *To Capital Monument Some of the monumental wheels that hauled stones for the Wash ington Monument have found a home in Kenansville. A set of rebuilt wheels with the original iron ri{ns_and a rebuilt cart stands in the yard of the Kelly ^ Farrior House. The building soon ? will house the Cowan Museum of rural artifacts. The wheels were brought to Duplin County after their labor in Washington was finished. The great obelisk built to honor George Wash ington measures 555 feet, 5'/i inches and weighs about 91,000 tons. It was built between 1848 and 1884 and dedicated in 1885. The path the wheels took to the \ A museum has been traced by George Cowan of Beulaville, who donated the Cowan collection to Duplin County as the Cowan Museum. Cowan said the wheels belonged to Stephen Richard Williams, whose "home-place" was "between Wallace and Harrells Store on N.C. 41." In Washington, Williams had the job of "seeing that materia!:: got to the construction site of the monument." "The monumen? needed huge stones and special carts had to be built to carry these stones," Cowan said. The large stones were tied ? under the axle of the cart, which was pulled by a team of oxen. Williams shipped the metal parts of the wheels of one cart to Wallace, Cowan said. "We have the shipping weight record. The metal weighed 2,500 pounds," he said. Williams eventually gave the iron rims to his daughter, Serene Wil liams Smith. Cowan said Richard Boyce, who lives in the Wallace area, told him about the wheels alter seeing them used tw flower gardens beside t*? drivWvlty the daughter's house. "She gave us the rims," Cowan said. After the museum was given the wheels, donations of wood and labor enabled it to have the 10-foot diameter wheels and the cart rebuilt. Wood for the project was donated by Duplin County Commissioner Calvin Coolidge Turner and the labor came from James Sprunt Technical College. Prentice Smith, a Sprunt instruc tor who supervised the project, estimated that the wheels weigh 4,000 pounds. Faison Seeks Grant For Turkey Processing Plant ? The town board of commissioners met in Faison Jan. 2 "nd approved a grant application that could make funds available to Carroll's Foods, Inc. and Goldsboro Milling Co. in their plans to construct a turkey processing plant. The funds would be available in the form of a low interest loan to the two companies if the Urban Develop ment Action Grant is awarded. Plans to build the turkey process ing plant were made last October by A the two companies. A site for the ' ? 200,000-square-foot plant has not been announced, but a 1986 com pletion date is slated. According to the October announcement, the plant will be one of the world's largest with a 200 million liveweight production capacity per year. That means an average of 12 million turkeys a year. The plant is expected to employ 750 to 1,000 people when it goes into ? operation ? adding about $8 million to the region's industrial payroll. Both companies are major turkey, processors, each processing about 100 million pounds or about 6 million ttirkeys a year. In addition to basic dressed turkeys, the plant is expected to process turkey parts, turkey hams, sausage, cooked turkey breasts, smoked turkey and other J turkey specialties. The two companies now contract with about 350 turkey growers in mostly Duplin, Sampson anu counties. The plant is expected to be constructed on a site convenient to both companies. The UDAG grant application was also approved by town boards in Warsaw and Calypso. Public hear ings will be held in each town; Faison has scheduled Jan. 14 at 5:30 for their public hearing. Public hearings on the UDAG application will be held 7:30 p.m. at the town hall in Warsaw and Calypso on January 14. According to Duplin Development Officer Woody Brinson, who is coordinating the application activi ties, the grant would make SI million available to the companies in the form of a low interest loan for the turkey processing plant project. The plant is expected to cost $18 million. "We want to have every avenue available and ready if the companies decide to locate in Duplin," Brinson said. "And, we feel very optimistic that the companies will locate in Duplin." In addition to application for UDAG assistance, Brinson said Duplin is in the process of holding public hearings for potential com munity development block grant funds. Application for the Commu nity Development grant funds would also be made available to the companies in the turkey processing plant project if the site is slated for Duplin County. ? | 4 Approves Grant Assistance Hn application tor a >1 million Urban Development Action Grant to help finance a major turkey processing plant in northern Duplin County is being prepared by Warsaw. The Town Board voted to apply for the grant, to be lent to the company building the plant, in a special meeting last week. Officials said the A meeting was called on New Year's fP Eve because of the time pressure in getting the necessary information together. The application deadline is Ffeb. 1, board members said. Three commissioners, W.E. Foster, James Herring and John Weatherly, and Mayor Sam Godwin attended the meeting. The turkey processing plant would be a joint venture of Carroll's Foods of Warsaw and Goldsboro Milling Co. of Goldsboro. It will need several hundred workers. If the grant is approved, the town eventually could receive about S2 minion through interest and princi pal paid by the company, officials said. Price Supports Unsure As 1985 Tobacco Season Begins Farmers may be unsure about the price support on the 1985 leaf crop until after the tobacco plants have been transplanted. Expected for the coming season is a drop of about 30 cents in the support price average. The Tobacco Growers Association and North Carolina Grange organizations said the drop in support prices would make the U.S. leaf prices compe titive on the world market, explained Duplin Agricultural Extension Ser vice tobacco agent J.. Michael Moore. "That does not mean the actual selling price will be down," Moore said. "It just lowers the support price companies have to pay so we (U.S. farmers) can replace a pound of foreign tobacco with a pound of our tobacco, dollar for dollar." Last season the average support price was $1.69 while the warehouses averaged $1.77 in Wallace and the entire Eastern Belt averaged $1.81. Moore pointed out the need for growers to make flexible poundage lease plans as they go into a new season. Final plans for the 1985 tobacco program could be as late as May, well after the April 15 lease / transfer deadline, he said. And, he encouraged growers to lease on a profit-sharing basis. "I don't think it can be over emphasized that growers cannot make a firm commitment on lease prices based on last year's prices," Moore said. "And, those with allot ments to lease are going to have to face getting less or nothing at all. The higher the lease price, the more likely the allotment holder will be not to get paid in the fall if price supports are dropped." As an example, Moore used leasing pound age for 25 percent of the warehouse check, which, using last season's averages, figured as 40 cents a pound. Lease prices last season averaged 55 cents to 60 cents per pound. The percentage basis will allow flexibility for farmers which, Moore said, would be the only way many could lease poundage if the price supports are not set until after lease/transfer ends in April. Within Duplin there are approximately 1,155 individuals receiving income from tobacco and only about 300 actual producers, Moore pointed out. The 1984 tobacco quota for Duplin was 18,324,984 pounds. According to Moore, the proposed $1.35 to $1.39 average for the 1985 tobacco program price support is approximately 115 percent of production costs. Production costs per pound are ftgu~ed at $1.10 to $1.20. Current updates on the tobacco program will be part of the infor mation local farmers can expect as Moore holds (he annual growers and non-producers meetings throughout Duplin during January and Febru ary. The first meeting will be held January 17 for non-producers at the Duplin County Extension Service building in Kenansville. Moore said the meeting will feature information on current economics of production and regulations. "1 would like the non-producers to recognize from this meeting that times are tough and not to expect the lease price they got last year," Moore said. "And, most should not expect to get their money until the fall when the crop is sold." Annual tobacco producers meet ings begin January 22 in Warsaw. The dinner meetings will feature guest speakers. Each meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. The topics for the Warsaw meeting are curing, hand ling and energy conservation. The following night a meeting is sche duled in Mount Olive focusing on broad base production, including a look at tobacco varieties, insect/ disease control, fertilization and energy conservation. The next night, January 24 at the Mill Swamp Community building tobacco meeting topics will feature insects and pest control. Tobacco meetings continue Jan. 28 at East Duplin High School with information on plant varieties and fertilization. The following night growers will meet at the Albertson Recreation building and discuss weed control. The final tobacco growers meeting will be Jan. 30 at the Rose Hill Restaurant and fea tures disease control. ' The meeting series concludes with two tobacco grading workshops con ducted by a grader from the United States Department of Agriculture. The grading meetings will be held Feb. 5 and 6. Information or reservation for dinner meetings can be made by mail or phone the Duplin County Agricultural Extension Service in Kenansville at 296-1996. Firm Starts Work On Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction has begun near Kenansville on a S30 million coal fired generating plant to sell steam to a textile factory and electricity to Carolina Power & Light Co. The generating system is being built for Cogentrix of Charlotte. It is next to the Guilford Co. textile factory on N.C. 11 near Kenansville. Similar plants are being built beside the West Point Pepperell plants at Elizabethtown and Lumberton. George T. Lewis Jr., company president, said Friday that the generating system should be in operation in early 1986. The general contractor is All-Crafts Plant Ser vices of Wilmington. About 120 construction workers will be em ployed, he said. The plant will be operated by a permanent crew of 25. "A portion of the steam produced from the coal-fired boilers will be fed to the industrial host," Lewis said. "We can save them about 30 percent of their thermal energy costs and that's important to helping a textile company be competitive," Maximum generating capacity of the facility will be 35 megawatts ? 35 million watts. The boilers will be capable of producing 315,000 pounds of steam per hour. The facility will burn about 120,000 tons of coal a year. The coal will be hauled from the mines to an unloading point somewhere near the plant. Lewis said the coal probably will be unloaded at Warsaw and taken by truck to the plant by a contract hauler. Woody Brinson, Duplin County economic development director, said the plant's need for coal has helped the county in its effort to persuade Seaboard System Railroad to retain rail service between Goldsboro and Wallace. The steam plant must be licensed by the state and meet state pollution standards. Lewis said it will be equipped with bag filters that will trap fly ash from the burning coal. The ashes will be hauled to a landfill. Lewis hopes to find a market for the fly ash. He said the cement industry offers a possibility. "It has been found fly ash added to cement improves its performance," he said. He said co-generating facilities that are qualified to sell to power companies must be able to sell power at the price the power would cost if the utilities generated it themselves. lewis said Cogentri* is a private company which went into business in early 1983, shortly after the courts required utilities to buy power from such producers. The concept stems from the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act, approved by Congress in 1978, he said. Lewis said standardization of plans and parts means construction of co-generating plants can be ac complished at about half the cost of conventional coal-fired central power stations. 520 Students Register Winter Quarter Begins At Sprunt James Sprunt Technical College registered 520 students Wednesday, the opening day of the winter quarter, said Rita Brown, director of admissions and records. Registration for day students con tinued Through Monday and for evening students through Wednes day. Classes for the quarter began Thursday. The quarter will end March 21. Ms. Brown said Thursday that she expects final registration to reach the 736 enrolled during the last year's winter quarter. The school offers 22 programs. Class size is limited in some pro grams such as computer program ming and nursing, she said. Business and nursing programs are among the most popular, she said. The five business programs ? accounting, business administration, general office technology, executive secretary and computer ? have 101 students, Ms. Brown said. She said 56 students are enrolled in the nursing course, a two-year program with each class limited to 30 students. Fifteen students are in the two-year computer program. F.ach computer class can accommodate 12 students. Many students are taking a course in computers, she said, to help their work in other courses. She said 20 students have enrolled in electronic engineering technology, 30 in criminal justice, 45 in cosme tology, 30 in criminal justice, 45 in cosmetology, 20 in welding and 13 in commercial art. While most of the school's stu- i dents come from Duplin County, she ] said, other area counties are repre sented. She said 413 of the students ivho enrolled Wednesday were from Duplin. James Sprunt which began in the 1950s as a branch of Goldsboro Technical Institute and moved to its present campus in the early 1960s, has enrolled more than 40,000 students in one or more courses during its existence. Sprunt College President Denies Allegations Of Suit The leaders of the Technical college are being sued by the former dean of Instruction. The president of James Spruni Technical College at Kenansville has denied that former Dean of Instruc ii n Gene Ballard was fired for his cri icisms of the college, as Ballard alleges in a federal lawsuit. Ballard filed suit in December in U.S. Disirici Court in Wilmingion agains' ihe irusiees of ihe college and iis president. Carl Price. He is seeking $250,000 in damages for "violations of his constitutional rights," reinstatement, full back pay and benefits, and legal fees. The suit says Ballard's contract was not renewed in June for "arbi trary, capricious" reasons, among them Ballard's statements "both publicly and privately, that the College was not serving the needs of the community and that improve ment of the college was needed." Ballard was "cautioned by defen t dan Price againsi expressing his views <>n ihe college's weaknesses and was warned, boih expressly and implicitly, thai his continued expres si ns of opinion would adversely affcc his employment at the col lege," the suit says. "In particular, defendant Price warned Ballard not to recommend the non-renewal of the teaching contract of Dixon Hall, pas' president of the College, be cause this action could jeopardize" Ballard's employment, the suit says. Price denied Monday that Hall's contract had anything to do with his recommendation that Ballard's con tract not be renewed. Price said1 his reasons were outlined in a statement made in June. That statement read: "Over the last two years there has been a deterioration in the relation ship between the dean of instruction. Dr. Ballard, and the president. Dr. Price. The level of trust and confi dence in each has reached the point that in my opinion it is adversely affecting the communication and decision-making processes of the ins imiion," Ballard, began working\ fur the c llcge in 1969 and was named dean ?f ins'ruction in 1977. During that lime. Ballard "consistently received fav Table evaluaiions and commen da'i >ns from his supervisor," Price, the sui' says. Ballard's "reialiatory termination has caused him significant emotional dis ress and anxiety, has diminished his previously unblemished repula i"n as a community college ad ministrator, and has adversely affec ed his ability to secure employ men' in his area of expertise," the sui' says. Ballard's firing has had "a chilling effect" on Duplin County residents who want to express themselves on public issues, the suit says. Ballard is represented by George T. Rogister Jr. and Ann L. Majestic of the Raleigh law firm Tharrington, Smith and Hargrove. The defendants are represented by Thompson and Ludlum of Warsaw.
The Duplin Times (Warsaw, N.C.)
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Jan. 10, 1985, edition 1
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