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PROGRESS SENTINEL
VOL. XXXXVHI NO. 13 USPS 162-860 KENANSV1LLE, NC 28349 MARCH 1985 16 PAGES THIS WEEK 10 CENTS PLUS TAX
Murphy Greeted
Representative Wendell H. Murphy of Rose Hill was greeted by Governor
Martin at a legislative breakfast held recently at the Raleigh Farmers
Market.
New Class Walls
Get An A'
Grade From Teachers
w Some open classrooms in four
Duplin County schools are no longer
open, thanks to a pilot program that
drew praise at a Board of Education
meeting last week.
Open classrooms have been parti
tioned into three-classroom suites by
removable, soundproof walls. In the
program, administrators will study
conventional classrooms versus the
open classrooms.
A The open classroom concept in
primary grades has not been aban
doned. officials said Wednesday.
The project is being carried out in
North Duplin, Wallace, Rose Hill
Magnolia and Warsaw schools.
Teachers said they liked the
individual responsibility for their
classes. This was something teach
ers had brought up earlier. They also
liked the reduced noise level.
"We have some very happy
? teachers," sard Ben Mathews, prin
cipal of Rose Hill-Magnolia Elemen
tary. "These walls are wonderful.
They have cut down sound. The
walls are beautiful, super quality,"
Cecil Beaman, principal of Wal
lace Elementary, said the walls are
an improvement. One problem is
that students have to go through
neighboring classrooms to get to rest
rooms, which were installed for the
open classroom.
Peggy Mangum, a North Duplin
A teacher, said, '"it's so much fun to
? teach" in her own classroom. "We
can make better use of audio
visuals. Children settle down to work
with less distraction."
Open Gxift was another pilot
program discussed by the board. It is
a reading project costing $7,000 for
kindergarten and first-grade classes
in the Chinquapin Primary, Rose
Hill-Magnolia and North Duplin
schools. The system emphasizes
phonics and brings all phases of
learning together, officials said.
The initial cost for kindergarten is
about $16 per student and renewal
for a second year is $6.50 per
student, Assistant Superintendent
Gary Sanderson said. The cost in the
first grade is about $25 per student
for the first year and $9 per student
in the second year.
Sanderson said plans call for '
establishing the system in the
second grade next year. The cost is
estimated at $34 per second grader
for the first year and $14 for the
second year.
Sanderson said state education
officials are observing the system in
Duplin County and some other
school systems. He said he hopes the
state will pay for it in future years.
Supt. L.S. Guy said the county has
received $39,000 from the state for
computer education. It plans to start
its program in the fall. The money
will be used to purchase 51 computer
systems. That will provide one
system for every 123 students.
Brewer Motor Files
In Bankruptcy Court
Brewer Motor & Equipment Co.,
which went out of buisness last
A month, has filed for protection under
Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy
In a case filed Feb. 26 in federal
bankruptcy court in Wilson, the
company lists $2,962,874 in debt to
more than 50 creditors, according to
a deputy clerk at the bankruptcy
court. 1
Under Chapter 11, the company
will be free from the threat of
creditors' lawsuits for 120 days,
giving the former car and farm
equipment company until June 26 to
0 develop a plan to put its finances in
order and file financial disclosure
statements.
After the financial plan and dis
closure statements have been filed,
the bankruptcy court will hold a
hearing to review the company's
finances.
In a second hearing, creditors will
be allowed to vote on the company's
plan for reorganization. The court
must approve activities of managers
A as company reorganization proceeds.
Brewer Motor Co.. ooerated bv
Craven Brewer of Warsaw, went out
of business Feb. 11 after nine years.
ArrnrHtno to a romnanv press re
i tfe
lease, Brewer Motor Co. closed "due
to continuing losses" and because
the company's major farm equip
ment supplier. International Har
vester's Agricultural Division, was
recently sold.
On March 4, an early morning fire
spread through the metal building on
U.S. 117 in Wallace, rupturing some
pipes and warping part of the
structure.
The amount of damage to the
building is still being assessed, said
Jerry Webster, a special agent for
the State Bureau of Investigation
office in Wilmington.
Insurance on the ls-year-oid
< building was held by Branch
Banking and Trust Co. in Wallace,
and N.Carl Wolfe Jr. of Burgaw,
according to Bill Branch, city execu
tive for BB&T in Wallace. Most of
the company's equipment had been
moved out of the building at the time
of the fire.
BB&T and Wolfe got insurance for
the building in late February, the
same day Brewer Motor Co.'s in
surance lapsed, Branch said.
Webster said that the SBI was
waiting for laboratory results that
could point to the cause of the p-e?
?. 1
? . 11
Aid Program Opens Branch Offices
In Wallace For Better Service
An estimated 20,000 poor people
in New Hanover and Duplin counties
now have another source of help.
The Region P Human Develop
ment Agency Inc. of Jacksonville has
established satellite centers in Wil
mington and Wallace to aid low-in
come residents. Emergency assis
tance, nutrition, education and com
munity awareness programs will be
offered to eligible people, and are
designed to promote self-sufficiency.
The Rev. W.A. Greene, executive
director of the agency, said there are
15,941 poor people in New Hanover
County and about 9,000 in Duplin
County.
"It will make a vast amount of dif
ference, because it will serve a very
large number of people who have
never had these services before,"
Greene said.
The services have been available
in Onslow County since 1967 when
the human services organization was
established through the Community
Action Agency. The program gets
money from state and local govern
ments.
New Hanover County contracted
with the Region P agency after
deciding against doing business with
Sencland Community Action of
Whiteville. That agency proviues
similar services in Columbus, Bruns
wick and Pender counties.
New Hanover and Duplin counties
have been in the program since
March 1, the beginning of the
agency's fiscal year. The counties
will share with Onslow a $426,000
Community Services Block Grant.
The Wilmington center is at 614
Red Cross St., the office of the New
Hanover County branch of the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
The Wallace center operates in the
old C.W. Dobbins School building.
People interested in getting their
graduate equivalency degrees of
high school diplomas can receive
assistance. Region P will provide
transportation for students and their
children who attend day care cen
ters. It will also pay day care
expenses for three days a week.
Completing high school enables
clients to get better jobs, Greene
said.
Hot lunch-time meals are available
three days a week to people 55 and
over and to the handicapped in the
two counties.
Lunches are provided to 80 people
in New Hanover County at St.
Stephens A.M.E. Church and the
Myrtle Grove Community Center.
Officials hope to add a third feeding
site in Castle Hayne for 40 more
people.
In Duplin County, meals are
available to 70 people at the New
Christian Chapel Church in Green
evers, and the St. Louis Baptist
Church in Chinquapin.
The program also helps people
grow their own food. Garden seeds
and fertilizer will be given to 220
families in each of the two counties.
Gardening information will also be
provided, Greene said.
Garden supplies will be bought
from local businesses, Greene
added.
Emergency assistance will provide
a first-lime maximum of S300 in aid*
for families or individuals in crisis
situations.
The community affairs program is
designed to unite neighborhoods and
make them self-reliant.
For information, call the Duplin
center at 285-2158 or the main office
in Jacksonville at 347-2151.
Duplin Students Tested Last Week
The California Achievement Test
and the second round of the Compe
tency Test in the 1984-85 school year
were given last week in Duplin.
The California Achievement Test
was taken by all ninth and tenth
grade students in Duplin public
schools last week. The Competency
Test was offered a second time this
year to junior and seniors who
previously failed one or both parts of
the exam, said Duplin County
Assistant Superintendent Gary San
derson. According to Sanderson,
Competency Testing only involved a
total of 55 to 60 students. Each year*
student has three chances to pass the
Test. A third Competency Te*? will
be given in mid-May for seniors who''
still have not passed one or both
paris of the exam. The first test is
given in the fall of each new school
year.
The Competency Test is made up
of two sections, reading and math.
Sanderson pointed out students need
to score 87 correct answers of the
possible 120 questions in reading,
and 77 of 120 in math. The Com
petency Test has been used in North
Carolina since 1978 and is required
along with a specific number of high
school course credits to receive a
diploma. Meeting the high school
course credits, but failing one or
?both parts of the Competency Test
results in the student receiving, a
certificate of graduation rather than
a diploma.
Results of the 1984 fall tests show
Duplin County public school
students passing percentage com
parable to levels for the overall state.
And, the fall passing percentage is
an increase over the first year results
for the county schools. State passing
percentages jumped from 90 percent
in reading and 85 percent in tnath for
1978 to 95.2 in reading and 93.8 in
math during 1984. Duplin's passing
percentage for 1984 was 94.5 in
reading and 93.4 in tnath.
The Competency Tests are given
by the high scho-'-i teachers and
students tailing either or both parts
the tftta-n atfifrfffcrtd afra'tli and
reading assistance. Sanderson said.
The remedial program in math and
reading also offers assistance to
students before taking the Compe
tency Test, Sanderson pointed out.
Taking the Competency Test for
the second time last week, Sander
son said, were approximately 40 of
the original 550 junior students
tested in the fall of 1984. And, taking
iht exam as seniors were approxi
mately 35 students of the 550
students tested in the fall of 1983.
Sandersm emphasized the fact that
students may have-ncsed a portion
of the Competency Test prior to last
week's testing. After passing one
sjctton of the e\*n, students are
only tested on the portion whicfi has
been failed.
Brinkley Wants $10.1 Million
In Lawsuit Against Hanes Heir
An heir to the Hanes hosiery
company fortune is involved in a
multi-million-dollar lawsuit, with
claims and counterclaims alleging
deceptive buisness practices,
wrongful firing and corporate mis
management.
Barbara Brinkley of Duplin County
has filed a S10.1 million suit in
Duplin County Superior Court
against James G. Hanes III of
Winston-Salem, alleging that she
was wrongfully fired from her job as
a bookkeeper at Riverside Sand
Company Inc. in Wallace.
Mrs. Brinkley contends Hanes told
her "she would have a job as long as
she wanted" if she and her husband,
Bobby D. Brinkley, signed an agree
ment to lease 27 acres of land to
Hanes for a sand-mining operation.
The 15-year lease was signed in
October 1984 and provided for
annual payments of $1,200 and pay
ment of property taxes, the suit says.
Mrs. Brinkley received a letter
Nov. 30, 1984, saying her job was
terminated "due to unsatisfactory
job performance," the suit says.
Mrs. Brinkley's suit asks for
$10,000 for "loss of work, embar
rassment, emotional stress, humilia
tion and loss of use of her property."
She also is seeking $10 million in
punitive damages from Hanes be
cause his conduct "was so malicious,
oppressive, deceitful and willfully
corrupt." The suit says that because
Hanes is worth in excess of $30
million, he should be "forced to pay
in an amount that would punish him.
. .and prevent him from engaging in
similar conduct with other persons in
the future."
Hanes' answer to the lawsuit says
he entered a "limited partnership
agreement" in June 1980 with
Brinkley. The agreement said
Brinkley was to furnish land and
management services for Riverside
Sand and Gravel Co., predecessor to
Riverside Sand Co. Inc., as Brink
ley's contribution to the partnership.
"Any negotiations . . .in the fall of
1984 were an attempt to fulfill the
obligations" made by Brinkiey, the
answer says.
Hanes filed a cross-action earlier
this month against Brinkley, saying
Brinkley instructed his wife to take
"improper actions" with company
funds. Those actions involved "un
authorized execution of corporate
checks, unauthorized advances to
employees. . .the preparation of
multiple checks in payment of single
corporate bills to circumvent the
corporate requirement of dual signa
tures ft* large expenditures and to
conceal said payments from Hanes;
misappropriation of corporate
assets; and misuse of corporate
funds to pay personal debts and to
obtain benefits" for the Brinkleys,
Hanes alleges.
Those acts required Hanes to
make advances to the company
totaling $300,000, Hanes alleges.
Warsaw National Spinning
Honfored For Safety
Mike Lawter, Warsaw National Spinning plant manager, is pictured above
adding the newest award to the company's trophy case. The Warsaw plant of
National Spinning received a Safety Award earlier this month for operating ,
five years without the loss of man-hours due to an accident. The award was
presented at the annual Safety Conference of the American Yarn Spinners
Association.
7
Old School Building
Gets New Roof
Goodbye flat, roof, hello "A" roof.
The former Kenan^Ville Elemen
tary School building is getting a new
top.
"Should have had this kind of roof
all along," said Elton Blizzard, crew
foreman of the new sloped roof.
"Flat roofs are no good. They leak."
Blizzard and two other county
maintenance crew members, Dennis
Stroud and James Williams, were
busy this past week putting plywood
sheathing on the roof frame. The
preformed frames were hoisted into
place earlier. A forest of beams now
decorates the top of the building.
When the roof is completed, it
should do a better job of keeping the
building's interior dry than the old
flat roof and should need repairing
less often, Blizzard said.
The Duplin County school board
turned the former school building
over to the county government in
February 1984. Several departments
have requested space in the struc
ture, but the county commissioners
have not decided how the building
will be used. The interior needs
extensive renovation.
The twt>-story structure was built
in 1926. it was used as a school until
the new Kenansville Elementary
School opened in the 1979-80 school
year.
Other flat-roofed governmental
buildings in Duplin County have
leaked and allowed water to damage
interiors.
The county recently had a new
"A" roof added on the Health
Department building. The former
flat roof leaked despite numberous
repair jobs.
A flat roof also has been replaced
by an "A" roof on the landfill
building.
The county owns a few other flat
roofed buildings that may be re
roofed in the future. \
Whitley's Mobile Office
Congressman Charlie Whitley's
Third District mobile office will visit
Duplin County on Tuesday, April 2.
L.J. Outlaw, field representative will
be manning the office and available
to persons having matters that they
wish brought to the Congressman's
attention
Locations and times are as follow
Chinquapin, 9:30-10:30 a.m.. Post
Office; Rose Hill, 11-12 noon. Post
Office; and Warsaw, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Post Office. The schedule is subject
to prevailing weather conditons
affecting travel.