unde
i ~
New Com
By Nickna
BY SuSAN uSHLh
I Jim Poole moved from the front edge of the data
processing movement in the 1960s to state employment,
then re tiled early for medical reason. New he's com
Imitted himself to a four-year stint in a demanding
public service job.
In December the former Carolina Power & light
Co. mailboy was elected vice-chairman of the recentlyseated
Brunswick County Board of Commissioners.
Like the other winners. Poole took the year-long campaign
for commissioner seriously, yet still allowed his
own personal brand of humor and warmth to come
across clearly at forums and rallies. Tne work paid off
with results of which any candidate could be proud?not
only a comparatively new resident like Poole. He
garnered 8,618 votes, trailing behind leaders Herman
l-ove and Frankie Rabon, who collected over 8,700 votes
each.
Since taking office, he's probably best known for
the apothecary' jar of candy that rests in front of him at
board meetings with the label, "Help yourself."
"I thought it was a nice little personal touch," Poole
explained, grinning all the while. "Ronald Reagan had
had a lot of success with his jelly beans..."
It's led to the nickname "Candy Man" among
regular audience members at the board's meetings
I The Wake County native gained his first campaigning
experience in 1983, when he ran for a seat on the Yaupon
Beach town board. Voters didn't like his advocating
consolidation of the island's three municipalities, Poole
said with refreshing candor, and therefore he was
defeated.
In 1984, the campaigns of all county commissioner
candidates sounded a common conservative theme by
Nov. 6, the result of meeting with voters on a day-to-day
basis. Enough so that the sole Republican member,
Frankie Re ben, quipped later that the other members
< 1 1:4 n i?
7,*":;
fooic saio county commissioners are trying to act
on what they interpret as the voters' desires in electing
them. That message, he added, was that voters felt
county govormnxml wu "out of control" In U-rucn of
operations and spending.
8 That was the basis for several policy changes the
board enacted earlier this month with a promise of
5 more to come.
"We're not trying to get into the day-to-day operation
of the county," Poole explained, but added board
members will stay visible in regard to operations initially
while thev try to find out how the svstcm presently
operates.
, a' _VV
Hun*
HBHHBSSlSIB93?iS5i8S8S39S??BiBfiSfS9S?
AT BOARD MEETINGS, be'? earned th
,h
1" i l/'A /\ t
i li IP "
missioner Kn<
me, 'Candy A/
'Wc na.it to get into 3 position where we can
establish the policies we need to run it like we want it to
ran: efficiently and at the least cost to the taxpayers,"
he concluded.
Poole, 50, moved to Brunswick County in 1982 after
early retirement for rn?d'C*l reasons from his nosition
as a systems analyst within the N.C. Department of
Corrections. Yaupon Beach, which he had visited
regularly for years, looked like a good place to get away
from the Raleigh rat race.
That was also the year he underwent the first o' two
operations for arteriosclerosis, a chronic condition in
which hardening of the arteries restricts blood circulaftAn
iKn/MiiiK tli.>
UVII unuugli HIV WUT.
He and his wife of about 10 years, Barbara, moved
into what had been the retirement home of his parents,
James and Alma Poole, before their deaths. It's a
small, comfortable heme with lemon yellow siding,
tucked into a side street off Sherrill Street and
decorated with Barbara's needlework and lamps filled
with shells Poole collected in long walks on the beach
he's since given up. There's a fenced-in yard for
Strudels, their one-year-old German schnauzer.
They aren't too far from family. An aunt, who lias
since moved away, was once mayor pro-iem at Yaupon
Beach. An uncle lives nearby, nlnng with other
relatives.
As a state employee he wps never involved in
politics, though he was always interested in the community
where he lived. Given the opportunity upon
rotiromant Kn monto/l fn ?? *!
.VM. V..K..O, (iv nullVVVI Hi IIUIIXC it U)llll unill .lt: ? ?I1U
have a say.
"Being able to have an opinion that gets results"
lias been the best thing about being a commissioner so
far, he added.
So far making that opinion count is taking up about
50 percent of his time, a time committment he hopes
will decrease after the first year. "And it's the kind of
thing you could spend all your time on if you allowed
yourself to," he added. For commissioners with regular
jobs as well, the county post creates even greater
demands.
Poole represents the commissioners on the
Southeastern Economic Development Commission, the
1-ower Cape Fear Council of Governments (COG) and
the COG aging advisory council. After his meeting with
The Beacon laot Wednesday morning, for instance, he
nao afternoon and evening meetings to attend on county
business.
Sitting at his desk, he pointed to the two-drawer file
cabinet Barbara presented him for Christmas, saying it
was nearly full of county materials already.
I It 1
_ it lit
**""' '? -r-..^yg^
c olrknamc "Candy Man" for obvious reasons.
irst I changed my body,
n I changed my mind".
? fw? A^wmiI oatinn At*?i>T wti#?n I f03lty
bo :i and when i d..",- i ! used !c !hinV drehng
itsou* Urr,its Now ! set* it's about opening up
wOriuS
eat good healthy food lose weight and not
'tungry on the Diet Center program With
counseling and good personal loSnwup. I
I can do what I set out to do I m more
lent more m contro< I staned out to change
hape ot my body
w now l m changing the shape o< my whole
ijmngtom rs?3\?a!jflsi
XJTNPO?T 447-f F77 \|j ^
L&m ??igM arrtftout Sottruj you* rr*n<3
THE BRUNS
5un
own
lan'
Pnnlo hn? n track record of seeing results from hard
work. Just out of high school he went to work for
Carolina Power & Ught as a mailboy and soon became
an engineering aide. He stayed with CP&I/s engineering
department while completing an international Correspondence
School course in electrical engineering. He
returned to the company after a two-year stint?19551957?on
radar duty, spent "seasick" aboard a
destroyer stationed along the DEW (Distant Early Warning)
line along the 70th parallel near Newfoundland.
He was in the reserves six years.
When he did well on a computer aptitude test.
i.ran, cnose rooie 10 neip gel lis new oaUl processing
department off the ground. He spent two to three years
in training and helping program the utility's accounts.
A growing, and financially rewarding demand for
trained computer progranuners drew him to Blue Bell,
a Greensboro clothing manufacturing firm, for three
years as programming manager, and then to Control
Data as a salesman of equipment compatible with
IBM's large systems.
When Control Data backed off in the front of a
stiuiig IBM expansion, he turned to Haleigh and t^e
then-small corrections department, which he had
earlier sold Control Data equipment.
Now, out of the "rat race" of the state capital and
0:i the firing line in Brunswick County, Poole tends to be
forthright in his vin*v of onijnty government ?s n snmnling
of liis thoughts indicates. The water system, followed
by helping eitizcas understand the upcoming
revaluation, and fire and rescue funding are his top
priorities for the next several years.
What does he have to say about these and other
areas?
In reference to pressures on the board of commissioners
to fire County Manager Billy Carter?"We're
not out to get Billy or anybody else." Board members
are giving themselves time to observe and learn how
county government functions.
On the decision to promote Kenneth Hewctt to
water system director: "I think the water deportment
is soon going to be the largest in county government. We
needed a allude ocraon on ton of it all. uivlnu us infor
"
Now your
can bring you
new conv
Your prosent tolephone can become much
modern tnlnnhnne tr?rhnnlr^iu hirw ?//-? . r??
custom calling features dosigned to make i
are services wo install at our central office,
telephone, without ever entering your homi
You can have
Three-way calling. It lets you turn a teleph
by simply touching the cradle switch and du
When the third party answers, another touc
parties in the same conversation
Call waiting. It lets you know that another (
already engaged in a telephone conversatir
without having to end the conversation with
alternate between conversations
Call forwarding. II lets von leave your horn
you re waiting for Any call coming to your t?
forwarded to another telephone
Speed dialing. It lots you store frequently c
place a cat! by dialing a one- or two-digit rxx
emsrosncv numbers like police and lire dap
r(j\j Ulfl UViivf aii Oi (Iicroo w viCoi ?? a?? uv.
you can select only those services that you
advance Tne srnaii additional charges will I
FREE INSTALLATION
To learn moro about addi
k II ... vot
iCicpiiUIID, |U3I I.UII U3 UT f'JH'HO I
(Not Available In The Lonnv
ATLANTIC 1
MEMBERSHIP (
Highway 130 W
5WICK R FA CON. Thursday. January 17. 1985-PaRc 5-A
A -V (
\j?
za
,^S?w // 'jbWBBBBy
JjjJBH
HpTr'
?*><*^BH8BBSa35kk3Mfii^^M^MCkw
St All PHOTOS BY SUSAN USHt R
DISTRICT 3 COMMISSIONER Jim Poole, shown here
with the (amily dog, "Strudels," loves to play golf.
He's also the youthful grandfather of three girls.
motion. He was the mast familiar with it; we're going to
see how it works."
Property Revaluation: "it's a matter ot educating
me punuc.
On fire and rescue: "Maybe we need to establish
an It-member fire and rescue commission that includes
*? rountv commissioner, o fire or rescue representative
from each (electoral) district and a business representative
from each district." He'd like to see fire and
rescue volunteers develop and agree among themselves
on any funding plan devised.
On relationships witli the board of education:''The
most important thing is will we be honest witli each
other? I think these two boards will be. 1 don't think this
(school) board would do that," referring to the start-up
of several recent school programs without a source of
fundinK for their second year.
On himself: "I take my business seriously but not
myself. Each person's kind of insignificant in the
overall scheme of things."
Whef; cs" four years ?rain mm, iic'ii iike iiie
people of Brunswick Countv to be ablo tosav. "He wn? e
unof) commissioner, it wus < good Ixwird of commissioners,"?
whatever those statements might encompass.
telephone
new services,
eniences.
moro uboIuI to you through (ho magic ol
n subsenbo to a whole now list of
rour tolephono servo you bettor These
wnnoui cnanging your prosont
} or office
one conversation into a conlerenco call
ilinq tho number ol the third party
h of the cradle switch connocts all three
jarty is trying to call you when you're
)n You can answer tho incoming call
the original call You can even
e without missing that important call
jlophor-o can be automatically
ailed numbers and enables you to
Jo This feature is particularly useful for
ladments
i
/i mt i via* >'.u ilO'* C.';! '">J p.i.*, ' *i,'j , 'j'
want right now You pay nothing in
oe added to you- c-gjiar telephone bill
THROUGH JANUARY
ng a touch of magic to your
1 or come by the office.
wood 5 Bolivia Exchongo*)
rELEPHONE
'ORPORATiON
' it, Sfwllotte