PROGRESS SENTINEL
[ VOL. XXXXVI1I NO. 19 USPS 162-860 KENANSVILLE. NC 28349 MAY 9, 1985 16 PAGES THIS WEEK 1C CENTS PLUS TAX
Break Ground For Carolina Turkeys
The ground-breaking ceremony for the Carolina Turkeys plant to be
. constructed in rural Duplin County was held Mondav. Present for the
' ceremony was a host of state and local dignitaries including North Carolina
Governor James Martin and the Duplin County Commissioners. The plant
will be built on a 700-acre tract of land on Secondary Road 1501 near Scotts
Store, north of Kenansville. The construction of the plant is expected to cost
$18 milKori'and wti; pr?*ess tu'fisey^ F.ora 800 to 1 000 peonl^ .will be
employed when the plant goes into operation. Construction is expected to
take about 14 months and begin later this month. Pictured above, left to
right, Joyce Matthews, chairman of Carroll's Foods, Inc.; Governor James
Martin, and President of Goldsboro Milling Co., Louis Maxwell. The plant is
a joint project of Carroll's Foods of Warsaw and Goldsboro Milling Co. of
Goldsboro.
S > .
Ground Broken Monday For
i Duplin's Turkey Processing Plant
Construction ot the world s
largest turkey processing plant will
begin in a few days, Louis Maxwell,
president of Goldsboro Milling Co.,
said Monday following ground
breaking for the Carolina Turkeys
plant about IS miles north of
Kenansville.
Goldsboro Milling Co. and
I Carroll's Foods of Warsaw jointly
formeH Carolina Turkeys to build
and operate the $18 million facility.
Gov. Jim Martin, who spoke at the
ceremony, said, "This can be the
model to help farmers all across the
state. It':, a homegrown company."
"Yes, the old turkey has come a
long way," the governor said.
"Homemakers have discovered
turkey is one of the best buys in the
supermarket."
I The governor noted that North
Carolina is the No. 1 turkey produc
ing state, with 30 million birds last
year totaling 550 million pounds of
meat that brought S287 million in
farm receipts. He noted the state
now will have the No. 1 turkey
processing plant.
This plant will employ 500 contract
turkey producing farmers in 10
counties and will employ more than
1,000 people in processing the birds,
Martin said.
Martin used the occasion to pro
mote his tax package, saying more
must be done to make North Carolina
competitive. "I propose elimination
of the inventory tax," he said. The
state can replace the money local
governments will lose, Martin
added.
He said it will require only one
fourth of the anticipated growth in
the state's revenue over the next few
years to replace the inventory and
intangibles taxes and the state's
three-cent sales tax on food. The
other three-fourths can be used for
education or roads or other services.
In interviews later, the governor
blamed the inventory tax, in parti
cular, for losing industrial prospects
to other states.
"We lost Brockway of Pennsyl
vania to Florida because of this tax,"
he said. Xerox and Kroger built in
South Carolina instead of North
Carolina because of the tax, Martin
added.
North Carolina has the highest
intangibles tax of any state, he
added: "This discourages companies
moving executives into the state."
Only four states have inventory
taxes and two of those are elimi
nating them, he said.
Martin said he opposes a state
lottery and legalization of parimutuel
betting.
The governor joined officials of the
companies and state legislators and
other state officials in turning
shovelfuls of dusty earth in the
official groundbreaking on the edge
of what has been a corn field.
About 300 Sampson, Duplin and
Wayne County residents and offi
cials and a large delegation of state
officials joined in the ceremonies and
a luncheon starring turkey dishes.
State Sen. Harold Hardison intro
duced the speakers.
State Rep. Wendell Murphy par
ticipated. S. Thomas Rhodes, secre
tary of natural resources and com
munity development; Howard
Haworth, secretary of commerce;
and Jim Graham, commissioner of
agriculture, headed the state dele
gation.
Haworth said there is a tremen
dous opportunity for a food process
ing industry in the state.
William Sullivan, a Duplin County
farmer and official of the Oak Ridge
Community Club, where the
luncheon was held, observed. "This
is the greatest thing to happen to
northern Duplin Cougty.
Maxwell said construction time
has been shortened: "We're think
ing about a year now." Earlier
estimates were that the plant would
take nearly two years to build.
Faison Citizens Respond In
Town Revitalization Efforts
A group of about 30 citizens
appeared before the Faison Town
Board May 1 in an effort to join the
Faison Revitalization Committee in a
complete facelift for the city.
The citizens voiced complaints
about oot holes, untended vacant
lots, rodents inthe downtown area,
unauthorized parking and unleashed
dogs. The majority of the group
came in response to the Downtown
property owners' and merchants'
efforts to revitalize the business
section of the town. Citizens re
quested the board's cooperation in
giving the entire town a facelift
through the enforcement of ordi
nances which would clean up Faison
both downtown and in residential
sections.
"The town board should be sup
portive of this group of people and
what they want to do," former
Faison Commissioner Bill Hennes
see of Cates Company said. He
continued to encourage board mem
bers to request strict enforcement of
ordinances which would help meet
the requests of the citizens present.
And, Hennessee pointed out Cates
support of the revitalization efforts.
"We are concerned with the
problems in our town," Ted Bailey, a
local paint contractor told the board.
"And, we would like to have our
town known as a nice, clean place to
live."
Board members agreed to begin
immediate work on the complaints of
the group. Commissioners empha
sized the cost factor involved in some
requests, such as street repair, and
pointed out items like road re
surfacing and grading would have to
ut ouUgcitu anu completed in the
upcoming fiscal year. '
The annexation of Winnafred St.
was approved by the board to
become effective January 1, 1986.
The annexation of the 500 ft. length
of Winnafred St. includes four
residential homes and lots.
Board members also voted to give
town employees the option of de
ciding changes in health insurance
policies which could result in cost
increase. The town provides health/
hospitalization insurance on five
employees and if the group goes with
a change to require a pre-adminis
sion review of hospital services, no
cost increase will be charged. An
eight percent increase will be
charged if the pre-admission option
is not adopted by the town em
ployees.
Rose Hill Couple Held
On Theft Charges
With the help of an Elizabethtown
businessman, the Bladen County
Sheriffs Department arrested three
people last week and charged them
with conspiracy to commit felonious
larceny, Bladen County detectives
reported.
Hulon McCrummon, 29, of Oco
nee, Fla., was arrested on charges of
felonious larceny and conspiracy to
commit felonious larceny. Also ar
rested were Jimmy Register, 61, and
his wife, Ruby Register, 63, both of
Blanctard Road, Rose Hill, on
charges of conspiracy to commit
felonious larceny. All three were
being held Tuesday night last week
, in the Bladen County Jail. Mc
Crummon was being held under a
$45,CCD bond. The Registers were
being held under $10,000 bond each,
deputies said.
Detective Steve Bunn of the
Bladen County Sheriff's Depart
ment said, "The only way we can get
the job done is if people help us
out."
The businessman told detectives
he was contacted Mitrdav aftfernnon
about purchasing a 19T3 Dodge three
-axle diesel semi-tractor and car
carrier loaded with two 1985 Ford
Tempos, three 1984 Ford Escorts, a
1982 Ford Escort and 1983 Ford
Clubwagon Van for $4,000. The
buienssman notified authorities, who
had him set up a time and place to
buy the cars. After the deal was
completed, the three were arrested
later in Elizabethtown, Bunn said.
The vehicles were recovered. They
belong to Andy Anderson, a used car
dealer in Delray Beach, Fla., detec
tives said.
45 New U.S.
Citizens Take
Oath In Ceremony
Forty-five people from foreign
shores, who didn't look the least bit
tired, poor or homeless, huddled
in the county courthouse in Kenans
ville Thursday. When they left two
hours later, they breathed free as
Americans.
Margaret Baxter, clerk of U.S.
District Court in New Bern, led the
group in swearing allegiance to the
United States of America and
promising to renounce obedience to
foreign potentates.
Their accents spoke of their native
countries: Vietnam, India, Guate
mala, Uruguay, Afghanistan,
Greece, Israel, Thailand, Haiti,
Ghana and others.
Thursday they traveled to the
heart of Duplin County from their
new homes throughout the eastern
half of North Carolina. A few dressed
in native clothing ? an Indian sari
was seen here and there ? but most
wore suits, ties, sport shirts, dresses
or pant suits.
They entered the courtroom as
resident aliens but left carrying
certificates of citizenship and clutch
ing the Stars and Stripes. They left
smiling. They left as Americans.
"I'm really proud of being a
citizen," Staff Sgt. Erroll Watson of
Camp Lejeune said after taking the
oath. "It's like being reborn. I've
never felt anything like it."
His Marine Corps uniform,
Watson said, "is kind of stiff on me
right now."
The naturalize ;on ser icc was the
first time fede al coutf mi North
Carolina had been convened outside
a designated federal district court
house, according to court officials.
Part of Duplin County's Law Day
observance, the ceremony was
moved to Kenansville in honor of two
doctors and their families, said
organizer Charles Ingram. The four
members of the family of Dr.
Mohamed "Moody" Ammar and
Pramila Ramon, the wife of Dr. E.J.
Raman, took the oath of alegiance.
Ammar, from Egypt, is Duplin's
first obstetrician-gynecologist.
Ammar. his wife, Magda. and their
daughters, Gigi, 14, and Nadie, 10,
moved to Kenansville three years
ago from Mullins, S.C.
The Ramans moved to Kenansville
14 years ago. He is area director of
the Duplin-Sampson Mental Health
and Mental Retardation Services.
The Ramans are from India, and
Raman was naturalized previously.
Asked how it feels to take the oath,
Mrs. Ammar said, "Great. It's like a
heavy load's been taken off our
shoulders. It's nice to be part of the
society you live in."
She said the family was not really
losing Egypt as home. "People
never cease to be what they were
born," she said.
"I'm sure that all new citizens
here today join me in saying 'I'm
proud to be an American citizen,' "
Mrs. Ammar said during the natu
ralization ceremony.
' 'I just want you folks to know that
we are just as proud to have you as
citizens as you are to become citizens
of the United States," said U.S.
Senior District Judge John D. Lar
kins Jr. of Trenton. Larkins and S.
Gerald Arnold associate justice of
the N.C. Coi rt of Appeals, spoke at
the ceremony.
"Everyone tn there has gone
through a ton of paper work," said
Warren Hepler, research assistant to
U.S. Rep. Charles O. Whitley. "It's
a long, tedious process." Whitley's
office assisted some of the immi
grants in getting help from the
immigration service, said Hepler, a
Wallace native.
Tho Van Nguyen, 35 of Washing
ton, N.C., faced more than paper
work in becoming a citizen.
Nguyen fled his village of Xa
Phuoc Ha- Tinh Phuoc Tuy aboard a
fishing boat when the country fell to
the comrftitMHsts 10 yean ago. H4
reached Singapore, went to the
Philippines and then to Guam and
Arkansas. The Jarvis Memorial
United Methodist Church in Green
ville paid for his trip to North
Carolina.
The congregation found the
former radar technician a job as a
television repairman in Ayden,
Nguyen said.
"At first I don't speak English
very well, so they pay me little," he
said. He learned the language by
"listening to '.he people talk. I hear
and remember." He now has an auto
body shop in Washington.
"1 feel very good to be an
American. I work hard, and I am
always welcome," the new citizen
said.
Maggie Ammar Receives American Citizenship
Oath Of American Citizenship Taken'During Naturalization Service