The Pamlico News
,
Vol. 16, No. 24
20* per^copy
USP 782-460
Wednesday, June 15, 1983
Promotion exercises for the 8th
grade class of Pamlico Junior
High School were held Wednes
day, June 9. The 136 students were
presented their certificates by
PJHS principal Gerald Samders
and Pamlico schools superinten
dent George Brinson.
Class valedictorian was James
Mason and salutatorian was
Alison Jocelyn Frost.
INSIDE
Kitchen Chatter page 14
Classifieds page 10
Sports pages 4& 5
Legals page 13
Fourth graders, at Fred Ander
son School in Bayboro presented a
new North Carolina flag to the
school in a brief ceremony held on
Monday, June 6.
Olinka Burley (left) and Kim
Lupton bad the honor of raising
the new flag while fellow
classmates looked on.
Allocation Of Towns’ Monies Examined
With less than a month to go
before the end of the current fiscal
year, local municipal govern
ments have been hard at work
preparing their budgets for
1983-84. At the time of this writing,
only one town, Arapahoe, had ap
proved its budget for the coming
year although others were
scheduled to take the matter up
this week. It appears that the
budgets, for the most part, will be
similar to those of 1982-83.
However, as many have incor
porated revenue sharing funds in
to their budgets, some changes
will be necessary should the pro
gram not be renewed. Taxes in the
towns will remain the same.
What each town does with its
revenues varies, from minimal
services to those unusual for a
small town. Revenues come from
such sources as ad valorem taxes
(the towns of Alliance and
Arapahoe do not collect any pro
perty taxes), franchise taxes, in
tangibles taxes, beer and wine
taxes, sales taxes, and other
sources. Some, those with town
owned streets, receive Powell Bill
funds which are used for the
maintenance of such roads. Of the
towns of Aurora, Vandemere,
Alliance, Stonewall, Bayboro,
Oriental, Mesic, and Minnesott
Beach, only Alliance and Mesic do
not receive Powell BUI funding.
In preparing their budgets, the
towns receive information, some
of it coming .from the League of
Municipalities, on how much of an
increase or decrease they can ex
pect in the revenues which they
receive from the state. Such
revenues include sales tax, in
tangibles tax, beer and wine taxes
and franchise taxes. These monies
would, for the most part, be
returned to the county should the
towns not be in existance.
AURORA
The town of Aurora, in its
preliminary budget, expects
revenues of $144,255 this year.
Property taxes will bring in,
hopefully, about $34,000, the
Powell Bill funds $15,000 and sales
taxes $21,350. Aurora also
receives revenues from rent of
public buildings: the Community
Center, the Medical Center, the
Dental Center, and Civic Center.
The town had hoped to receive at
least $38,000 in revenues from this
source during the current year but
now estimates that income will on
ly be about $31,600. $30,000 has
been budgeted for the 1983-84
year.
Information on Aurora’s
estimated expenditures for the
coming year was unavailable.
Finance Officer Sandra Bonner
said that she expected the board to
make major changes at the
meeting which was scheduled for
Monday night, June 13.
BAYBORO
Bayboro plans to operate on a
slightly lower budget this year
than in previous years. This
year’s budget expected $109,599 in
revenues, however, it is estimated
that only $100,228 will be received
by June 30, 1983, the end of the
fiscal year. The town will be mak
ing appropriations from the fund
balance and Powell Bill fund
balance in order to be able to meet
expenses for the Coming year.
Over $27,000, or 28 percent of the
expected revenues of $96,813, will
go towards salaries. The main
sources of revenue are ad valorem
taxes, $21,122 anticipated; fran
chise taxes, $12,930; Powell Bill,
$13,307; and investment earnings,
$10,100.
For a recreation complex,
$15,500 has been set aside. The
budget also provides for a part
time police officer although there
is no one currently serving in that
capacity.
By far the largest expenditures
are for sanitation, street lights
and street maintenance which
take 41 percent, or $40,305, of an
ticipated revenues.
MINNESOTT BEACH
The revenues expected this year
for Minnesott Beach are down
slightly from the current year.
Revenues for 1983-84 total $24,460
while expenses are expected to be
$32,490. Minnesott provides gar
bage collection for the residents
and that is one expense which has
risen dramatically in recent
years, from an actual cost of $451
for 1981-82 to $1,630 for 1982-83. The
salaries for public
worksemployees alone constitute
24 percent of the revenues ex
pected.
The town also provides water
with revenues from water sales,
meter installations, etc. expected
to generate $28,600. But expenses
are estimated to be $29,450 for the
coming year.
ORIENTAL
Oriental, during 1983-84. expects
to take in $109,450 in revenues
primarily from property taxes
($43,500), franchise taxes
($11,000), interest income
($11,000) and Powell Bill funds
($16,000). In order to meet the ex
penses, a fund balance appropria
tion of $4,500 has been included.
Salaries for administrative and
public works employees and the
police department total $25,900, 23
percent of the general fund
revenues. Of the $61,450 water
department budget, salaries
($9,000) account for 14 percent of
the total.
(See BUDGETS page 12)
Two Cents’ Tax Hike Planned For Beaufort County
In order to meet the needs for
the coming year, the Beaufort
County Board of Commissioners,
during their meeting on Tuesday,
June 7, approved a tentative
budget for the 1983-84 fiscal year
which includes an increase in the
tax rate from 45 cents per $100 of
property to 47 cents, stating that
they were pleased to be able to
hold the increase down to that
amount and still provide the level
of services the residents of the
county expect.
In presenting a budget incor
porating changes discussed at
earlier budget workshops, County
Manager Jay Hodges told the
board that $4,000 had been deleted
from the amount requested by the
sheriff’s department for training
for deputies and civilian
employees.
For the fire departments, to be
distributed by the fire commis
sion, $137,500 has been included in
the budget.
Solid waste is funded out of
Revenue Sharing funds, Hodges
explained. “If it falls through,” he
said, “we’ll have to use (funds
from) the surplus...but I have a
feeling it will be carried over. ”
Prior to budget discussions, the
board approved capital outlay re
quests, to be paid for with this
year’s funds, for the health
department, stipulating, however,
that the funds for 1983-84 be reduc
ed by a similar amount, $3,000.
Health Department Director Dr.
Boone Mora had told the board at
an earlier meeting, when re
questing funds for a new air condi
tioning system, that he had no
money available in the current
year’s budget with Which to help
with the cost of the new air condi
tioning system. The board felt that
the money the health department
wished to transfer to use for the
purchase of filing system com
ponents could have been used for
the air conditioning system.
The health department also re
quested $32,000 for the purchase of
four im*« was
y.'--.V
reduced to $16,000 for two cars.
$2,400 requested for the purchase
of radios for two cars will have to
be obtained out of the $17,655
allocated for capital outlay.
The board left in $2,500 for a
microcomputer system for the
Beaufort County Extension Ser
vice as the state will purchase the
rest of the system.
Funds for a position now vacant
in the extension office were put in
to the contingency fund.
The schools will be receiving the
capital outlay funds they re
quested plus the board will be put
ting one and a quarter million
dollars into a capital reserve fund
for the future needs of both school
systems. The commissioners em
phasized the fact that the amount
going into this fund may vary
from year to year. Last year,
$500,000 was set aside for it.
Beaufort County Community
College will be receiving $14,000
less than they had requested, ac
cording to the revised budget, and
funding for Tideland Mental
Health was also reduced, from
$77,000 to $70,000.
ANIMAL CONTROL
Beaufort County Animal Control
Officer Buck Andrews appeared
before the board requesting that
an emergency rabies vaccination
clinic be held in August. Less than
forty percent of the county’s dogs
have been vaccinated against
rabies, Andrews said, basing his
estimation on the fact that less
than forty percent of the dogs that
bit someone (of those reported to
him) had been vaccinated. The
state, he added, has said that an
area might be able to effectively
control a rabies outbreak if at
least sixty percent are vac
cinated. In response to a question
from Ledrue Buck, chairman of
the board of commissioners, Buck
replied that he investigated about
15 bite reports each month “and
we don’t know the half of them.’’
Andrews said that he planned, if
the board approved, to set up
several clinic sites in each
township. The cost for vaccination
is tentaviely set at $5. He said that
he hoped the clinics would raise
the percentage of protected
animals at 60.
Andrews commented that it is il
legal, at the present time, for an
unlicensed person to administer
rabies vaccine, adding that it
could be dangerous if ad
ministered incorrectly.
The board approved the clinics
and asked Andrews to present the
details at the July meeting. The
commissioners are also re
questing that all animal owners
cooperate.
Renovations to the county jail,
which originally were to have cost
less than $20,000 will now, because
$100,000 Lawsuit Filed
Against Beaufort Sheriff
A $100,000 lawsuit has been filed
in federal court against Beaufort
County and Sheriff Nelson Shep
pard.
Virgil Moore, states the suit, is
asking for the money for the men
tal and physical pain and suffer
ing he alleges to have been the
victim of following an incident
late last year during which he sus
tained injuries to a foot. Moore
was shot during a break-in into the
Beaufort County jail by two men.
Moore, who was being held in the
jail at that time, was hit in the foot
by a pellet or pellets, treated at
Beaufort County Hospital and
then returned to the jail.
The matter has been turned
over to the county’s insurance
company; the county has thirty
days from the filing of the suit to
respond.
II
No Decision Yet
In Mesic Situation
The Mesic situation has not yet
been resolved, Senator Joseph
Thomas said Monday, although he
hopes that the legislative delega
tion will be able to meet this week
to discuss it.
What has become known locally
as the “Mesic Mess” grew out of a
number of property owners’ con
tention that the town was not pro
perly incorporated and therefore
could not legally collect their
taxes. They maintain that they
were not informed that their pro
perty was to be included within
the town’s boundaries.
The dispute has ended up in
eo'irt once already and recently
the area's legislators were appro
ached by the discontented pro
perty owners, requesting that the
town boundaries be changed to ex
clude the majority of their proper
ties.
The Mesic Board of Commis
sioners has stated that they do not
wish for the town limits to be
changed.
Thomas said that he had hoped
a compromise would have been
reached by now. “It’s not an easy
situation to deal with,” he com
mented. The legislature’s current
session ends around the first week
in July.
of design changes, cost about
$67,000 for the first floor.
Commissioner Mrs. Arthur Lee
Moore said that she believed the
board should set a limit on what
they will spend on the structure
which is being renovated for coun
ty office space. The county board
plans for those involved in the per
(See TAX HIKE page 12)
Blue Mold Spotted
In Pamlico County
Blue mold, being found in tobac
co fields in the state, has also been
spotted in a bed at the Pamlico
County-Oraven County boundary.
As of the end of last week, the
disease had been found only on
tobacco plants which had not been
treated, said Fred May, chairman
of the Pamlico County Extension
Service.
Conditions have been perfect
recently for the development of
blue mold, explained May-cool,
often foggy, mornings, cool nights
and humid, overcast days.
Farmers who have not previous
ly treated their tobacco plants for
blue mold can now apply Ridomil
by layby application, in
corporating the chemical into the
soil on both sides of the row. The
application rate for Ridomil, said
May, is one quart per acre. Other
foliar fungicides are also
available.
May stressed the fact that
Ridomil should not be applied to
the foliage. N. C. State University
plant pathologists have found, he
said, that foliar application can
lead to the development of a resis
tant strain of blue mold.
OTHER PROBLEMS
Those raising beans (green,
lima or soy), potatoes, peppers,
tobacco and tomatoes should also
be on the lookout for Southern
Stem Rot, said May, a soil fungus
which causes the plant stem to rot
at soil level.
If nr.: • I •.•-here 'his
‘i
fungus has been known to exist, he
said, make sure that all plant
residue is buried. Although a
relatively weak fungus, if
southern stem rots gets a start on
old residue, it can quickly spread
to healthy plants. May added.
Black rot and black leg, plant
borne-soil borne diseases which
strike cabbage plants, have also
been found in the county. Once the
soil is infested there is no treat
ment, May said, and the diseases
may remain active as long as crop
residue is available.
Farmers should make sure they
obtain plants certified as disease
free. May said the infested plants
he has seen were non-certified and
were shipped in from Florida.
The diseases reduce the shelf
life of the cabbage, thereby
decreasing its desirability.
Clubfoot can also affect
members 01 the cabbage family
(collards, broccoli, cauliflower
and, of course, cabbage) although
May said he has not yet seen
evidence of it in home gardens,
the most likely places for it to be
found.
The fungus, which causes knots
on the roots of the plants, will
make the area infested useless for
growing any members of the cab
bage family. Clubfoot can remain
in the soil for seven years.
Gardeners wishing to raise
these should get their plants from
a reputable dealer so that the
fungus will not be spread from one
home garden to another