KEEPING PARROTT HOSPITAL OPEN COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON DOCTORS1 COOPERATION
by Jack Rider
The Lenoir County Board of
Commissioners and the Trustees
of Parrott Memorial Hospital
are making every possible ar
rangement to keep the county’s
oldest hospital open, until the
county’s newest hospital is com
pleted but all involved agree
that keeping the hospital open
is completely dependent on the
cooperation of the medical staff
of Lenoir Memorial Hospital.
All agree that hospitals can
not operate without doctors.
All agree that the 55 beds of
Parrott Hospital are vitally need
ed until the new county hospital
is completed.
, All agree that the new hospit
al will not Be in business until
" late in 1972, despite promises
py construction officials that it
will be ready for occupancy by
the end of this year.
All agree that Dr. Dexter With
erington has been placed in a
position where he had no pro
fessional alternative but to re
sign the post he has held at
Parrott Hospital for the past sev
eral years as chief sturgeon, ad
ministrator ahdemergency room
attending physician.
The death of several veteran
staff members of Parrott Hos
pital, the decision of others to
no longer admit their patients
there and the pressures of mod
ern medicine all combine to
make Witherington’s decision
wise and inevitable. >
Until its medical staff dwindl
ed to its present level of just
Witherington and Dr. Clifton
West the hospital was operating
at a'profit, Respite the fact that
its charges were considerable be
low those of Lenoir Memorial
Hospital.
When the county embarked
upon a program to build a large
new hospital three years ago it
was recommended by the North
Carolina Medical Care Commis
sion and the Duke Endowment
that both existing hospitals be
closed, and as part of that rec
ommendation it was agreed that
the county and the Duke En
dowment would equally share
the purchase of privately owned
Parrott Hospital for $300,000
when the new hospital was open
ed, or at such a time as the
trustees of Parrott Hospital de
cided it was detrimental to the
financial well-being of the hos
pital to keep it opened.
' This latter decision was reach
ed on January 20th of this year
because reduced patient load at
the hospita} had put it in a mon
ey losing posture at the time
of the year when hospitals or
dinarily enjoy their biggest flow
of customers.
And at the same time the pa
tient load of Parrott Hospital
was falling to a money-losing lev
el patients were either being
NUMBER 43
TRENTON, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1971
VOLUME xvm
Two Killed Saturday Night in Headon
Crash Three Miles South of Snow Hill
’ »."? ' : - V
Both drivers were killed in the
headon crash of a car and a
pickup truck 'at 7:05 Saturday
night three miles south of Snow
Hill on State Road 1002.
Robert Creech, 31, of Snow
Hill route 3, was driver of the
car and Thelbert Joe Hines, 53,
of LaGrange route 2, was driv
ing a pickup truck.
The investigating Highway
Patrolman said it was most dif
ficult Saturday night to deter
mine which vehicle was in the
wrong traffic lane at the time
of the crash.
The matter is still under in
vestigation and this twin-tragedy
brought the 1971 traffic death
toll in Greene County to six.
DUNHAM ON NORFOLK
Petty Officer Third Class Jim
my L. Dunham, ^on of Mrs. Lilia
A. Dunham of Route 3, Kinston,
is now serving aboard the am
phibious assault ship USS Guad
alcanal at the Naval Station,
Norfolk, Va.
Kinston Girl Among
Finalists for UNC-G
Reynolds Money
Two finalists and two alter
nates have been name by alum
nae committees in each of the
11 districts in North Carolina in
the 1971 competition for the Ka
tharine Smith Reynolds Schol
arships at the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro.
Finalists in District One are
Margaret Louise Leatherman,
the daughter of Rev. and Mrs.,
Harold Franklin Leatherman of
Kinston, and a senior at Graing
er High School; and Stephanie
Anne Maxon, the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Don Kirby Maxon
of Route 2, Havelock, and a se
noir at Havelock High School.
The first alternate is Emily
Perry Johnson, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs.. Ernest Graham John
son of Ahoskie, and a senior at
HELPING SAND .... An injured skier Is leaded al
Amy helicopter ambulance after being hurt near Ft
Colo. The Amy helicopter is one of several being use<
cities ui ier project MAST (Military Atelstance to Sal
Traffic). The project is designed to determine die feasi
Six Jones Arrests
Jones County Sheriff Brown
Yates reports booking six per
sons in his office during the past
week: Jesse Earl May of Tren
route 2 and Thomas Lee Berry
of Pollocksville were charged
with drunken driving, James Al
len Houston of Dover route 2
was charged with drunken driv
ing and resisting arrest. Leona
Hinton and Baby Ray Julia Jor
dan of Pollocksville were ac
cused of being public drunk and
Charles Roberts of Pollocksville
route 1 was charged with tres
passing and assault with a dead
ly weapon.
Divorce, Eviction,
Two Small Claims in
New Court Cases
Jones County Court Clerk
Rogers Pollock reports receiv
ing four citdl actions in his of
fice during the past week, includ
ing two small claims suits, one
divorce suit and one eviction
effort.
H. L. Malone Insurance Agen
cy of Kinston is suing William
Bryant Haddock of Trenton
route 1 for $340.39 and Phillip
~H. Komegay also of Trenton
route 1 for $264.88 for past due
accounts.
Louise Ward brought action
to evict Harvey Morton and fam
ily from a house at Oliver Cross
roads due to failure to pay ren
tals. ' /
Robert Sieker asks a divorce
from Cynthia Leigh Sieker, al
leging their marriage March 25,
1968 and their separation Feb
ruary 1, 1969.
Ahoskie High School. The sec
ond alternate is Claudia Jean
Hardison, daughter of'Mr. and
Mrs. Frederick Leon Hardison
of Route 1, Williamston, and a
senior at WiUiahMton' High
School , v
turned away or put in hallways
of Lenoir Memorial Hospital; the
latter being a violation of state
laws and good medical practice
as well.
Repeated conferences between
county officials and the trustees
and medical staff of Lenoir Me
morial Hospital have resulted in
no agreement by either the
trustees or the medical staff to
fully cooperate in keeping the
badly needed 55 beds of Parrott
Hospital available to the com
munity until mid or late 1972.
The trustees of Lenoir Mem
orial Hospital have hidden be
hind a thin veil of excuses, large
ly based on either Medical Care
Commission or Health, Educa
tion and Welfare departmental
regulation, pertaining to phy
sical plant, staff or administra
tive procedures at Parrott Hos
pital. They have said Lenoir
Memorial would lose its hospital
accreditation if it attempted to
operate Parrott Hospital as a
wing, or as a branch for particu
lar kinds of hospital care.
The medical staff of Lenoir
Memorial has ranged from total
ly cooperative attitudes by some
doctors, such as the orthopedic
surgeons who are using Parrott
Hospital, up to absolute refusal
by some staff members to even
consider using the facilities of
Parrott Hospital under any cir
cumstances.
This week the Lenoir County
Board of Commissioners received
an opinion of the State Attorney
General that expressed the view
that it would be legal for the
commissioners to spend public
funds to underwrite losses of the
privately owned Parrott Hospital
on an emergency temporary bas
is because of the pressing need
of the community for these 55
hospital beds.
Acting in the light of this
opinion the commissioners met
Monday with the trustees of Par
rott Hospital, who have agreed
to hold a special meeting in the
immediate future to come up
with a plan under which they
will continue to operate the hos
pital.
' The commissioners and the
Parrott Hospital trustees agreed
that it would be impractical to
keep the hospital with a staff
of more than 60 people open for
any great period of time un
less the medical staff of Lenoir
Memorial Hospital would admit
patients to the hospital.
Trustees of Lenoir Memorial
Hospital have also agreed to en
force fules against admitting pa
tients to hallways except on the
most extreme emergencies and
only for a brief period.
The feeling of the commission
ers, as expressed Monday to the
Parrott Hospital trustees, is that
Continued on page 8
Utility Poles Favorite Targets of
North Carolina's Wilder Drivers
When it conies to crashing their
motor vehicles into fixed ob
jects along the streets and high
ways of North Carolina, Tar Heel
Motorists proved again in 1970
that their favorite targets are
utility poles.
During the past year, the state’s
drivers crashed into about 15
utility poles per day. That’s a
total of 5,452 poles and 3,995
trees for the year.
Land Transfers
Jones County Register of Deeds
Bill Parker reports recording
the following land transfers in
his office during the past week:
C. L. Hardee Co., Inc. to Pitt
Greene Fertilizer Company
108.31 acres in Beaver Creek
undivided interest in 200
ville Township and a one-third
undivided interested in 200
acres of the P. J. West lands.
From D. E. Taylor to Ella
and Robert Humphrey one acre
in Chinquapin Towwnship.
From Thelma and Milton Har
ris, Essie McDaniel, Edna Pearl
Hill, Alberta Kornegay and
Joseph Lee Hill to Joseph and
Joyce Hill two acres in Trenton
Township.
From Kathryn and Harry Col
lins to Harry Collins Jr. one lot
in Maysville.
From Elma and John Pollock
Sign posts were the third
most popular target for erring
drivers during 1970. A total of
2,373 posts were shattered for
an average of about 6.5 posts
each day.
Fences were fourth in popu
larity with an average of bet
ter than 4.7 per day and a total
of 1,720.
The figures were drawn from
the 1970 Fixed Object Analysis,
compiled by the Driver Educa
tion and Accident Records Div
ision of the Department of Mo
tor Vehicles.
Other prime targets for North
Carolina drivers were traffic
islands, 1,170; bridges, 1,027;;
guard rails on shoulders, 593;
guard rails on medians, 277; and
underpasses, 62.
There were 13,227 miscellan
eous fixed objects struck in ad
dition to the items listed.
A total of 29,896 objects were
struck during the year for an
average of approximately 82 per
day.
to Joseph Carson Jenkins tracts
of eight and 98.6 acres with
stipulations that the sellers have
right of occupancy of the lands
until January 1, 1972 and have
the right to cut timber from the
lands until January 1, 1973, plus
a right-of-way across these lands
is reserved to other lands re
tained by the sellers.
J?**of 5* 101»t Assault Helicopter
Eg?!1”* AWwnie DWskm, transport troops of the 502nd
I