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VOL. XXXXVIll NO. 51 USPS 162-860 KENANSVILLE, NC 28349 DECEMBER 19. 1985 20 PAGES THIS WEEK 10 CENTS PLUS TAX
Santa Stops In Kenansville
, Santa Gaus stopped last Saturday evenirt^at the Kenansville Municipal Park
I to be part of the town's Twelve Daysof Christmas Each year the Twelve Days
of Christmas begins with the lighting of the community Christmas tree and
caroling around a bonfire at Grove Presbyterian Church. Santa arrived to
help begin the Twelve Days of Christmas celebration and is pictured above
talking with some of the youth present to help light the town's Christmas
tree and sing carols.
Lifeline Connected In Three
Duplin County Homes
Lifeline, systems have been in
stalled in three Duplin homes during
the past few weeks, said Duplin
Emergency Services Director Hiram
Brinson.
The Lifeline system is operated by
Duplin General Hospital and the
project is a joint effort of Duplin
General Hospital, Duplin County
Home Health Care, Duplin Emer
gency Services, the Duplin Health
Department, Services to the Aged.
Duplin Medical Society Auxiliary
and the Duplin General Hospital
Foundation.
Lifeline, a personal emergency
response system operated by Duplin
General Hospital, can be the essen
tial service which will alio..
elderly or disabled persons living
alone to remain safely in their
homes.
Lifeline uses the subscriber's tele
phone line to make a call of the
emergency to the hospital. The sub
scriber has a portable help button
which he is instructed to keep with
him at all times. The system has a
range of 200 feet from the sub
scriber's phone, allowing for a fair
range of mobility. In case of a
medical emergency, arrangements
will be made to have the subscriber
transported to the hospital. Even if
' the subscriber became unconscious,
Lifeline would place the call for help
through the automatic timing device
Brinson said two systems have
been installed in Kenansville and
one in Warsaw. Additional systems
are available through Duplin Home
Health Care in Kenansvillte. The
systems are installed by Duplin
Emergency Services. The cost of
installation is $40 and subscribers
pay a $20 monthly rental fee.
County Emergency Numbers
In addition to the Lifeline system
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operated by Duplin General Hos
pital, Brinson emphasized the use of
t'he new emergency telephone
numbers by all county citizens. The
new emergency telephone numbers
went into use November 4 at the
Duplin Emergency Services and
County Sheriff's Department.
From Kenansville, Wallace and
Faison, emergency calls will be
madeto911.
The emergency service number for
Beulaville, Warsaw and Rose Hill is
296-t9U.
Stickers with telephone emer
gency numbers for each town are
available at the Duplin Emergency
Services Department in Kenansville.
According to Brinson, local volunteer
and county emergency services per
sonnel will be distributing the 911
stickers to each household in the
near future.
Wallace To Extend Water
Wallace will apply for $57,000
from the state clean water fund for a
project to extend water line, the
Town Board decided last week.
The town would be required to
match any state grant.
In addition, the board decided to
ask the county for an additonal
Sfid.350 for the water line exten
sion
Superior Court Judge Henrv
Stevens 111 swore Mayor Earl
Whitaker into his second term ut
office. New Commissioner J. Frank
Bullard III and returning Commis
sioner David Jordan were also sworn
into office.
The board re-elected Commis
sioner Arnold Duncan mayor pro
tern.
N.H. Carter was named commis
sioner for treasury, library, buildings
and go i. lis lirport; Jordan for
public si.. Bullard, streets and
recreations; and Charlie Blanchard,
sanitation and utilities.
Luther Powell, outgoing commis
sioner, was honored for long service
to the town. Whitaker said Powell
was town clerk from 1956 until 1975.
When Powell was employed as
clerk the town had $86 in the bank
and he faced a payroll of $1,500. The
police chief was directed to try to get
pre-payment of taxes and to collect
any water fees owed the town to
meet the payroll. When Powell
retired as clerk the town had
$650,000 in the bank.
Duplin Issues Filing
Notices Of Candidocv
According to the Duplin County
poard of Eelections, candidates for
1986 elective offices will be required
to file a "notice of candidacy" at the
DCBOE office in Kenansville and
pay a filing fee. The fee is one
percent of the annual salary for the
office sought.
Office holders whose terms expire
in 1986 are as follows: State Repre
V
seniBuvc .vcndell H. Murphy.
Sheriff T. El wood Revelle, Gerk of
Superior Court John A. Anderson,
County Commissioner (second dis
trict) Calvin C. Turner Sr., Courity
Commissioner (third district) Allen
D. Nethercutt, County Commission
er (fourth district) Dovie L. Penney,
Board of Education (second district)
Hilbert (Joe), Swinson, Board of
tauv.?n . .. district) Carl D.
Pate Sr., Board of Education (fourth
district) William W. (Bill) Richards.
District office holders file with the
State Board of Elections (e.g. judicial
and solicitorial).
Filing period for county and dis
trict offices opens Monday, Jan 6 at
12 noon and closes at 12 noon on
Monday, Feb. 3. 1986.
I
Heroic Rescue
Saves Child,
Grandmother
Passersby saved a three -vear-old
girl and her crippled tw-year-old
grandmother from a fire that nearly
trapped them in their mobile home
Friday morning.
Glennie Pearsall, whose legs had
been amputated, and her grand
daughter, Dorrie Pearsall, were
alone in their home on N.C. 11 six
miles north of Kenansville when fire
broke out around 8 a.m., said Hiram
Brinson, the county's emergency
services director.
Edward Graham. 37, was just
getting off work from his job at the
Guilford East textile plant and
noticed the fire as he passed by.
Graham and a neighbor, Ricky
Sutton, raced to the fire and used a
pickax to tear a hole through the side
of the mobile home, Brinson said.
Graham crawled through the hole
and into the burning structure. He
found the three-year-old girl and
handed her through the hole to
Sutton. Graham said he then heard
the moans of Mrs. Pearsall from the
bedroom. The woman had rolled off
the bed in an attempt to escape.
Graham found her and carried her to
safety seconds before fire engulfed
the mobile home, Brinson said. ?
Mrs. Pearsall was taken to the
N.C. Memorial Hospital burn center
in Chapel Hill where she was listed
in critical condition. Dorrie Pearsall
was in in'ensive carc at Duplin
General Hospital in satisfactory
condition. Graham was treated for
smoke inhalation, Brinson said.
Phipp* Hir?d
As Rose
Hill Police Chief
Charles E. Phipps, 48, has been
hired as Rose Hill police chief.
Phipps will fill the vacancy created
when the former chief resigned to
become police chief in Wallace. He
will start at an annual salary of
$16,500 and will report for duty Dec.
24. ,
He was hired by the Town Board
last week.
PhioDS comes to Rose Hill from
the Morehead City, police force.
Before joining the Morehead City
police, he had been police chief in
Cape Carteret for 9'/i years.
Three new board members, Gary
Boney, George S. Murray and
Gregory Miller, and Mayor Ben
Harrell, who was reelected, took
their oaths of office.
Commissioner Clarence Brown
was elected mayor pro tern. Harrell
appointed Brown as public works
commissioner; Boney as community
development commissioner. Murray
as public safety commissioner.
Marsha Whaley as public health
commissioner, and Miller as parks
and recreation commissioner.
In other business, the board left
for study and a future meeting a
question of grandfather clauses and
local streets.
The question came up when
Charlie Hawes wanted the town to
bring 800 feet of Maple Street in
northwestern Rose Hill up to town
standards and pave it.
nawes saia tnat several years ago
he had asked the town to take over
and maintain the street. He has a
mobile home park facing the street.
He was told at that time that
current subdivision plans call for the
developer to bring streets up to town
standards and pave them before
turning them over to the town.
Hawes said he now finds the town
plans to build up and pave Third
Street He asked why that street will
be paved and not his street.
Town attorney Richard Burrows
said Third Street had been turned
over to the town at the turn of the
century and thus came under a
grandfather clause that allows the
town to make street improvements.
Hawes said Maple Street should
fall under a grandfather clause, too,
because it is shown on a March 1%0
town map.
Burrows replied that the map
merely showed where streets should
be. He said some streets on the map
might not have been build and
turned over to the town.
Harrell suggested that the town
take over the short street and use
Powell Bill money to pave it.
Brown asked: "If we do this will
we be opening a keg for other folks
on down the road?"
Burrows replied: ''It's merely a
question of whether it comes under
the grandfather clause. If it doesn't
you simply can't do it."
Oaths Taken For
Board In Magnolia
Three new Magnolia Town Board
members took their oaths of office
last week.
Among them was Shprwood
Ezzell, who, in addition to being a
new town commissioner, is chief of
police. Also sworn in as commis
sioners were Millard Williams and
Clarence Whaley.
The board elected Commissioner
Melvin |Pope mayor pro tern. Mayor
Ruth Quinn appointed Pope streets
and drainage commissioner:
Clarence Whalev. police, fire and
rescue commissioner; Ezzell, water
and sewer commissioner; Wiliiams,
recreation and old depot commis
sioner, and Rudolph Becton, grants,
real estate and library commissioner.
The depot has been demolished
but rubble remains on the site. No ii
use has been determined for the site.
An opinion issued by the state
attorney general's office says Ezzell
may hold the commissioners's and
chiefs jobs simultaneously.
Old Ushers In
New Warsaw Mayor
Outgoing Mayor Sam Godwin
administered the oath of office to
incoming Mayor Ben Eason last
week int he town board's first
meeting in Warsaw since the
November election.
Also sworn into new four-year
terms were W.E. Foster and John
J
Weatherly III, who were re-elected
without opposition.
The board suggested that Duplin
County use $58,000 in clean water
bond money to pay for sewer and
water lines from the Warsaw town
limits to James Kenan High School.
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