1*1 1
SWICK.
Twenty-ninth Year, Number 44
eio?i inf hunswc* siaco*
Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, September 5, 1991
50? Per Copy
32 Pages, 3 Seciions, 1 Insert
PHOTO BY WAYNfc IONG
All In The Family
Joe! Henry ( left rear) honked this 43 .77 -pounder Saturday to win the South H runs wick Islands King
Classic for an all-family crew aboard the "Mr. Magoo He and (hack row, from left ) his wife Hetty
were fishing out of Little River Inlet, S.C., with their son, boat captain llrian Henry, his wife Debbie ,
and (front, from left) grandchildren Ixiuren and Andrew. A story and additional photos are on I'age
n a'
Miscommunication Results In
Super Traffic Jams At Sunset
IIY SUSAN USIIKK
Tenders of the Sunset Beach took
a special order literally over the
Labor Day weekend, resulting in
even longer than the usual holiday
weekend traffic snarls on both the
island and mainland.
The N.C. Dcparuncnt of Trans
portation had agreed to allow addi
tional bridge openings over the
weekend to accommodate traffic as
sociated with the South Brunswick
Islands King Classic Tournament
But the openings didn't work out
as planned.
At hall hour intervals from 5 a.m.
to 10 a.m. and again from 2 p.m. to
4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, the
bridgetender on duty held the bridge
open 15 minutes at a time for boat
traffic ? whether or not any vessels
were wailing or approaching the
span.
Meanwhile, on the island and
mainland, vehicular traffic was
backing up, and backing up some
more. Before all the wailing vehi
cles could cross, the bridge would
close again.
"It wasn't that big of a problem
in the morning, but Saturday and
Sunday afternoons it was horrible,"
said Sunset Beach Police Chief J. B.
Bucll. "It was frustrating for every
bixly.
"Jusl as liartl as you could run ii
through you couldn't see the end of
it."
The beach was lull litis past
weekend, Buell said, something he
hail brought to DOT's attention
since bridge openings were sched
uled lo coincide with jvak alter
ikxhi check-in time. Hven on nor
mal summer weekends or holidays,
traffic backs up at the bridge at cer
tain limes.
Buell said the town tried without
success over the weekend to first
convince the bridgetenders that they
hail misunderstood their orders and
to contact DOT supervisi rs to inter
vene.
Meanwhile town police officers
tried to cope with frustrated mo
torists left waiting on both sides ol
the swing bridge.
"People wanted to get across and
they were angry and impatient.
They ux)k their frustrations out on
the police officers," said Buell. "But
1 do think the police handled it the
best they could. All we could do
was try to run the traffic through as
fast as we could."
Clete Waldmiller, president of the
Sunset Beach Taxpayers Asso
ciation, said the incident brought
unwarranted criticism ol the single -
lane bridge, which the SBTA has
I ought to keep or improve rather
than see a high rise bridge built to
the island.
"The bridge-tenders had to take a
lot ol heat, but they were just fol
lowing orders." he said.
"One ol the busiest weekends ol
the year and they held the bridge
out ol service. I don't know whether
it was stupidity or deliberate harass
ment by IX) I . but it really caused
chaos."
The brouhaha that resulted was
not intended by the town, DOT or
the South Brunswick Islands Cham
ber of Commerce, tourney sponsor.
Doug Bowers. DOT division en
gineer, said that the idea that delays
might have been deliberate to gain
support lor a new high-rise bridge
was "absurd".
"We would never Jo anything
like that," lie said. Bowers said the
problem came about in directives
being passed along through several
layers of employees.
Normally this time of year lite
bridge opens only on the hour to
water traffic other than commercial
vessels.
The chamber of commerce last
week asked DO T lor the bridge to
open periodically Saturday and
Sunday to accommodate tourna
ment Ixnit traffic, as had been done
before lor the Arthur Smith King
Mackerel Tournament in North
Myrtle Beach. S.C., without serious
highway traffic delays.
DOT agreed, and in turn. Bowers
notified Sunset Beach's Bucll of the
arrangements, alter they had been
completed.
But the chamber never intended
lor the bridge to stay open the maxi
mum 15 minutes when there were
no boats wailing, said President
Annette Odom ol Sunset Beach,
whose family real estate business
handles beach home rentals.
"I was there, it was terrible," she
said.
Bovvers, Mis. Odom and Buell all
said the agreement worked out with
the chamber last week called for the
bridge lo open to water traffic dur
ing tlte designated time blocks ev
ery hall hour "until the boats got
through or a maximum ol 15 min
utes," whichever came first.
"Even il there were KM) boats
still waiting, the bridge was sup
posed lo reopen to land traffic after
15 minutes," said Buell.
Gerald Mcsscr, bridge operator
supervisor for the N.C. Department
of Transportation office in Wil
(See TRAFFIC, Page 2-A)
f
90 YEARS PLUS LIFF
Judge Gives Maximum Sentence In Shalloffe Kidn
apping Case
IIY TI.URY l'OIM".
Assistant District Attorney Thomas
llicks called it "the worst nightmare that
could ever happen in any person's life."
A woman at work on telephone cables
outside ol Shallotte was kidnapped, robbed,
??tripped, tied tip and forced to perform a sex
;>i i in April
One ol i wo men accused ol the crimes
was sentenced to 00 years plus life in prison
last week in Brunswick County Superior
Court.
James Wayne Smith, 4S, of Bunting
Drive, Wilmington, was found guilty by a ju
ry of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree
sexual offense, robbery with a firearm and
felonious larceny ol a firearm.
Judge B. Craig Ellis gave Smith the
maximum sentence on each of the
counts?life for the sex offense, -41) years
each for kidnapping and robbery, plus 10
years for larceny ol a firearm. His attorney,
Michael Ramos, said he will appeal the con
victions.
The victim and her husband, from
Washington, N.C., were subcontractors for
Atlantic Telephone Membership Corp. of
Shallotte. On April 22, she was working
alone on cahlcs in from of the Shallotte
Township District Park on I .S. 17 when two
men approached in a car around I p.m. ami
asked lor directions 10 Sunset Beach.
Smith ami a co-defendant, Thomas
Pendleton Carr, 3X. also of Wilmington,
were accused of holding a gun on her as they
drove her to a wooded area near hxum. She
told detectives that Smith put a 'pistol to the
hack of her head and lired u alter forcing her
to perform oral sex during the five-hour or
deal.
In a plea agreement vsiih the district at
torney's ollicc. Carr earlier pleaded guilty to
second-degree kidnapping, larceny of a
1 1 re arm and armed robbery in exchange for
his testimony against Smith.
Carr told jurors that Smith drank two
pints ol lii|uor and talked ol using the victim
as a decoy in a bank robbery that the men
had planned. He said the men had at one
time intended to rape and kill her.
They used electrical tape to bind her
hands to a tree. After leaving her, they drove
to Thomas Drugs in Shallotte and bought a
box ol surgical gloves, Carr said, to be used
in the bank robbery, which never took place.
Instead, they drove the victim's pickup
truck to Navassa and lied. They were ac
cusal of taking a .22-caliber rifle from the
truck.
According to her statement given to
Brunswick County Sheriff's Detective
Nancy Simpson, the woman chewed through
the tape on her mouth, soaked the tape on
her hands in a puddle so she could break free
and swam across the Waccainaw River to a
bail shop to call her husband for help.
The following day, Carr agreed to work
with law officers in setting up an arrest in
Leland. When the two men left Wilmington
in a BMW, Smith thought Carr was driving
them to California, said Hicks.
When Carr stopped to buy gas at the
CioCias store in Leland. officers swarmed the
vehicle and arrested the two men.
"What happened to her that day was the
single-most personal, traumatic thing that's
ever happened to her in her life." Hicks told
die jury in his closing arguments.
Hicks read from a statement Smith gave
to detectives upon his arrest, "Is the girl all
right? 1 know it's not worth much, but if you
see her tell her I'm sorry."
Hicks placed evidence from the
case? rubber gloves, spent bullet casings.
cigarette bulls, strands of electrical tape? on
the rail of the jury box as he asked for guilty
verdicts on all charges.
"I want you to see just how consistent
(her) testimony is," said Hicks. "It is so con
sistent with what (she) told you."
Kanios cleared the evidence from the rail
as lie began his closing oiguincnts. ik toid the
jury that the victim did not mention the sex
ollense until seven days alter the incident.
"That has to raise a reasonable doubt."
he said. "Consider the evidence and the spe
cific elements of each offense, and >uu will i
have a reasonable doubt."
His motions to have the indictments
against Smith dismissed were each denied by
Judge Ellis. Ramos said the alleged sex of
fense occurred in Columbus County and
should not be tried in Brunswick County
Superior Court.
A series of criminal acts can be tried in
the county where they initially began, re
sponded Hicks. The victim also mentioned
the sex offense to the lirst female officer that
questioned her after the initial shock had
passed, he said.
"People are not tape recorders," Hicks |
added.
IN CRITICAL CONDITION
Calabash Man Rescued After 1 0 Days At Sea
BY DOUt; R UTTER
A Calabash man and two other
people were rescued off the New
Jersey coast last week after aban
doning a sloop during Hurricane
Bob and spending 10 days at sea in
a life raft.
Marc Dupauillion of Carolina
Shores Resort was listed in critical
condition in the surgical intensive
care unit of Jamaica Hospital in
New York City Monday. A hospital
spokesperson would not provide
further information about Ins condi
tion.
He was captain of the 3X-loot
sailing boat that led Marsh Harbour
Marina Aug. 16 headed for Rhode
Island, said Jerry Ocello, assistant
dock master at the marina.
Dupauillion. a 26 year-old native
of England, was delivering ihc
sUx)p Moorings 3X to its owner
when it sank under the tropical
storm's 4t)-Ux>t waves off New
River Inlet in Onslow County.
The skipper and two crew mem
bers spent 10 days floating in a life
raft before being spotted by a U.S.
Coast Guard plane. A Navy heli
copter crew rescued lite trio Aug. 2?S
in shark-infested waters about SI)
miles off Cape May. N.J., and trans
ported them to New York.
The Associated Press reported
last week that the three were being
treated lor exposure, dehydration
and salt overload.
The other two people on board
were Edward Provost, 35, of
Haw leys Island, S.C., and Allison
Wilcox, 32, of Austin, Texas, who
was pregnant.
The sailboat was due to arrive in
Rhode Island Aug. 21; the owner
contacted the Coast Guard Aug. 23.
The three reportedly survived by
eating fish and seaweed. They
drank sea water the last three days
of their ordeal because they ran out
of the three gallons of fresh water
they grabbed before abandoning
ship.
Ocello said Dupauillion works
for the England- based company
Compass Yachts, which delivers
sailboats around the world to own
ers and boat shows.
The company rents two slips at
Marsh Harbour Marina in Calabash,
and Dupauillion sails several times
each month up and down the East
Coast and across the Atlantic
Ocean.
"These guys ain't weekend war
riors," Ocello said Monday. "These
guys are professionals."
Hurricane Bob brushed North
Carolina's Outer Banks Aug. IK be
fore turning north and causing more
severe damage in the Northeast.
Ocello speculated that Du
pauillion set sail Aug. 16 based on
predictions that the hurricane would
make landfall near Cape Hatteras.
The boat skipper apparently thought
he would be lar enough east of the
storm to avoid trouble.
"He is an experienced captain
and he knows the waters well. What
happened was just unfortunate
luck," Ocello said. "He knows his
stull. I would be honored to sail
with him anytime."
Whiteville Man Killed When Truck Hits Bridqe
A Whiteville man was killed ear
ly Tuesday when the pickup truck
he was riding in skidded oul or con
trol and struck a bridge near
Regan's Crossroads west of Shalloi
te.
Charles Keith Hardwick. 22, ol
Route 6, was pronounced dead at
the scene, reported Stale Trooper
T.W. Caulder.
lite driver of die truck, Reno
Spencer Williamson Jr., 21, ol
Route 1, Nakina, was seriously in
jured and transported to New Han
over Regional Medical Center in
Wilmington. He was listed in criti
cal condition in the intensive care
unit Tuesday afternoon, Caulder
said
A farmer discovered the accident
around 4:45 a.m., Guilder said, al
though it is believed to have hap
pened around 4 a.m.
According to Caulder, the 19X7
Chevrolet pickup was traveling at a
high rate of speed on Ash-Little
River Road (S R. 1300) near its in
tersection with Etheridge Road
(S.R. BOX) when it slid across the
roadway and struck a bridge abut
ment. The truck came to rest on the
bridge, Caulder said.
Both the driver and the victim
were pinned inside the wreckage,
said Caulder. It took rescue person
nel two hours to remove Hardwick
from the truck, he added.
An investigation is continuing.
Cauklcr saiil.
li had been a safe weekend lor
ihe region, wiih no fatal ilies report
ed during the Labor Day holiday
period, said Ruby Oakley,
spokesjx-rson lor the N.C. Highway
Patrol Station in Wilmington.
Hardwick is the ninth person to
die on Brunswick County's high
ways this year, she said Since the
accident happened early Tuesday,
his death will not be reported as a
holiday accident, she said.
"All across the slate, it had been
reported as one of the safest Labor
Day periods on record," said Ms.
Oakley.
Last year, 1 1 deaths were report
ed in county highway accidents
through ihe end of August, she said.
Vehicle Overturns
A Shallottc woman was charged
with reckless driving last Thursday,
Aug. 29, after the car she was driv
ing ran off the pavement and over
turned about 1.4 miles south of
Shallottc.
According to State Trooper B.C.
Jones' report, Sharon McGce Hurst,
34, was traveling on Old Shallottc
Koad (S.R. 1316) when she drove
past a road closing and into a ditch.
She received minor injuries and
was taken to The Brunswick Hospi
tal in Supply. Damage was estimat
ed at S5,(XX> to her 1989 Ford.
(See WIUTEVILLE, Page 2-A)
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STAFF PHOTO B*- OOUO RUTTEft
Made In The Shade
Justin Rrigman has it made in the shade as plays under an um
brella Saturday afternoon on the llolden Heach strand. The 17
month-old child and his parents were visiting from Seven Springs.