The Pamlico News
Vol. 17, No. 39
20* percopy
USPS 782-460
Wednesday, October 3,1984
With Realignment
Pamlico Hurricanes Will Play In New Conference
The N.C. High School Athletic
Association has notified Pamlico
County High School that it will be
placed in an entirely different con
ference for athletic competition,
beginning in August of next year.
The action means that Hur
ricane sports teams will be
heading off in new directions next
year when their conference foes
will be schools located to the west
and northwest of Pamlico County.
For the past several years, PCHS
teams have been meeting league
competition to the south and
southwest.
In a Class 2-A conference yet to
be named, Pamlico will be com
peting with three Pitt County high
schools, Farmville, Ayden-Grifton
and North Pitt; along with South
Lenoir High which is located just
south of Kinston; Greene Central
High at Snow Hill; and Aycock
High which is just north of
Goldsboro.
Pamlico’s first varsity competi
tion in the new conference will be
next September 27 when the foot
* ball team will host Greene Central
in Bayboro. This was determined
last Friday when athletic direc
tors of the seven schools gathered
to compose a league schedule for
next fall.
North Pitt and South Lenoir will
also visit the PCHS stadium in
1985, while the Hurricanes will
travel to Farmville, Ayden
Grifton and Aycock for their three
conference road games.
The placement of Pamlico in the
new league is a part of the
statewide realignment of schools
for purposes of athletic competi
tion. It takes effect at the beginn
ing of the 1985-86 school year.
The NCHSAA, in its realign
ment task, has sought to divide the
state’s 320 public high schools into
four classifications of approx
imately 80 each. In the last few
years, Class 3-A had as many as
126 members, while Class 1-A had
only 29 members.
Pamlico has for the past several
years been in a Class 2-A league
with Dixon, East Carteret, Jones
Sr., Lejeune, Richlands, SW
Onslow, Swansboro and Topsail.
East Carteret, like Pamlico,
will remain classified as 2-A, but
has been assigned to comprise a
conference with Clinton, East
Duplin, Wallace-Rose Hill, White
Oak, and Kenan High of Warsaw.
Under the new realignment for
mat, Dixon, Jones, Lejeune,
Richlands, SW Onslow,
Swansboro and Topsail will drop
to Class 1-A.
All schools with average daily
membership (ADM) figures for
grades 10 through 12 of between
424 and 635 have been delegated
Pamlico’s ADM figure is 447,
higher than 22 other teams which
have now been assigned to 2-A
competition for 1985-86. There will
be a total of 84 Class 2-A teams
across the state, including Avery
County High and West Brunswick
High...two schools which actually
are Class 3-A size but which have
been placed in 2-A leagues
because no other 3-A conference is
located in their geographical
area.
Ten teams across the state will
be playing in Class 2-A although
they are 1-A size. These 10 have
elected to “play up” in classifica
tion. Schools are allowed to elect
to “play up” but cannot elect to
“play down” in a lower classifica
tion. Nearby West Craven, which
is 2-A size at 576 ADM, has elected
to “play up” in a Class 3-A league.
Schools in Class 4-A next year
will be those with ADM figures
ranging from 930 to a high of 2,118.
Schools in Class 3-A will be the
ones with ADM figures from 635 to
930.
Eleven 3-A size schools have
elected to “play up” in 4-A
leagues, and 10 2-A size schools
have chosen to “play up” in 3-A
leagues.
Aurora, with an ADM of 170, will
be playing in basically the same
conference, with the addition of
North Edgecombe.
ADM enrollment figures for the
new Class 2-A Conference into
which Pamlico will move next
summer show the league as
follows:
548 Aycock
548 North Pitt
542 Greene
531 South Lenoir
510 Farmville
447 Pamlico
(SeePCHS, Page 11)
County’s Revenue Sources Show
Change Over Years
Over the years, Pamlico Coun
ty’s sources of revenue for
operating county government
have changed-new sources have
become available, others have
been lost and still others have*
changed, increasing or decreas
ing with the economy.
While most sources of revenues
have seesawed up and down, ad
valorem taxes, since fiscal year
1976-77, have risen steadily :
1976-77, $77,075; 1977-78, $851,280;
1978-79, $922,752; 1979-80,
$991,777; 1980-81, $1,104,232;
1981-82, $1,335,383; 1982-83,
$1,382,061; 1983-84, $1,388,499.
Since 1979-80, revenues from
building permits have risen , an
indication that there has been
more construction in the past
five years since the cost of
building permits had not changed
much as of June 30, 1984.
Building permits in 1979-80 were
$4,089 and for 1983-84, $8,609.
County manager Bill Rice said
that the intangibles tax revenues
are “a direct reflection of the
prosperity of the county.” A look
at the revenue generated by the
intangibles tax shows that it has
had its ups and downs. For fiscal
year 1979-80, $40,327 was col
lected; the next year thattdsop
ped slightly to $39,718 but a< steep
increase occurred in 1961-82, ris
ing to $52,688. It dropped again-in
1982-83 to $48,726 and rose this
past year to $55,129, according* to
the preliminary audit report.
Fines and forfeitures, a source
of revenue that ultimately
benefits the schools, showed an
increase from 1979-80 to 1981-82,
rising from $6,578 to $10,329.
There was a slight drop in 1982-83
with a large increase this past
year to$19,411.
Sales tax revenues, another in
dication, said Rice, of the buying
power of the county’s residents,
have also fluctuated over the
years from a low in 1976-77 of
$113,209 to $202,016 this past
fiscal year for the one-cent local
option tax. The half-cent local op
tion sales tax, collected last year
for the first time, generated
$131,214, forty percent of which
muct go to the schools.
There must have been fewer
marriages in Pamlico County in
1983-84 than in 1982-83 according
to license revenues. Marriage
license revenues were segregated
from other recording fees col
lected by the register of deeds of
fice for the first time in 1982-83.
These licenses generated $1,190
in 1982-83 and $930 last fiscal
year.
With growing programs, the
county has also been receiving
increasing amounts from the
state for social services. With the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1977,
the county received $89,624; this
past year, $143,506 was received.
Revenues listed as “social ser
vices miscellaneous” have risen
Pamlico Commissioners Opt
For Market Issuance Of Bonds
The Pamlico County Board of
Commissioners called an
emergency meeting last week,
their first in a number of years, to
discuss funding for the Goose
Creek Island water tank project.
An emergency meeting was
necessary because of the time fac
tor involved. In the end, the com
missioners decided to sell the
bonds on the open market.
Tom Harwell, chairman of
Carolina Benchmark, the
engineering firm handling the pro
ject, and Bob Pittman, president
of the same firm, were present to
discuss the matter with the com
missioners during the Thursday,
September 27, meeting.
The county had counted on fun
ding the project with a loan from
Farmers Home Administration.
The county has $253,000 left from
the bond authority approved
seven years ago for the original
county water system.
Harwell told the board that
FmHA receives its money in
quarterly allotments and that
Pamlico County’s project was not
included in the past quarter which
ended September 30. FmHA
began a new fiscal year on Oc
tober 1. The problem, he said, was
that the county’s seven-year bond
authority will exprie on November
29, the date of the vote approving
the bond referendum. In discuss
ing the matter with FmHA,
Harwell said that agency officials
indicated that the funds could be
included in the first quarter
allotments. There would be just
enough time, barring any unfore
seen problems, to bid and sell the
bonds by the November deadline,
he added.
County manager Bill Rice ex
plained that the county had three
(See BONDS. Page 11)
Cox Files Suit Against Beaufort School
Board, Superintendent, Principal
A former Chocowinity High
School math teacher, transferred
to Aurora High in August, filed
suit last week against the
Beaufort County Board of Educa
tion, county superintendent and
the principal of Chocowinity High
alleging that his transfer was the
result of his criticism of the prin
cipal, James Henderson, during
an appearance before the school
board and In a letter to the editor
In a local newspaper. The suit was
filed September 28 in i
District of federal courts
In his complaint, Ottis Cox is
reinstatement as a
■ at Chocowinity, $25,000 in
actual damages and legal fees and
expenses.
In February, according to the
complaint, Cox, along with others,
appeared before the school board,
expressing criticism of Hender
son. In April 1984, Cox wrote a let
ter to the editor which appeared in
the Washington Dally News ex
pressing his concern about the
deletion of an 8th grade algebra
course. Cox alleges that the school
board retaliated by transferring
him to Aurora High, an assign
ment, he contends, that is not
desirable and requires his travel
ing a further distance.
The suit maintains that his
rights protected by the First and
Fourteenth Amendments have
been violated.
Cox has taught in the Beaufort
County Schools for eight years;
the complaint, which requests a
jury trial, maintains that his per
formance as a teacher has been
satisfactory. The complaint states
that Cox’s transfer was approved
by the school board on August 14,
one day prior to the date on which
teachers were to report for work;
Cox says he did not request a
transfer nor was he given any
notice that the transfer was being
I
(See SUIT, Pagell)
from $37,748 for 1979-80 to
$121,796 last year. These two
revenues, in looking at the
budgets for the last few years,
were often overestimated in the
initial budget-this past year,
1982-83, by $7,648 for administra
tion and $17,875 for
miscellaneous.
Rice explained that the fluctua
tions and overestimates occurred
for a number of reasons. The
legislature has a substantial ef
fect on the available revenues. In
addition, social services is reim
bursed by various programs at
different rates. If emphasis in
DSS is placed on a program with
a lower reimbursement rate,
revenues, of course, will be
lower. Rice also commented that
in the past the estimates of an
ticipated revenues prepared by
the state had received too much
credibility and generally proved
to be too high.
Since fiscal year 1976-77, the
tax on beer and wine sales has
increased, suggesting that
alcohol consumption may also
be on the rise. For the year en
ding June 30, 1977, revenues were
$17,422; 1978, $18,039; 1979,
$19,943; 1980, $21,206; 1981,
$23,436; 1982, $25,648; 1983,
$26,253; and 1984, $27,019.
Revenues from recreation fees
have also risen and declined
according to participation in the
department’s programs, said
(See MONEY, Page 11)
On Wednesday, September
26, the sewage treatment
plant for Oriental municipal
sewage disposal system was
completed. In another month,
some customers should be
hooked up and using it.
First Phase Of Oriental Sewer
Nearly Operational
Within a month, the first users
should be able to connect to the
Oriental sewer system with the
entire project being completed
and operational by Christmas.
Four sections, 26,000 feet of
sewer pipe, have been completed
since the work began four months
ago, said Frank Byrnes, an in
spector with McDavid and
Associates, the engineering firm
for the project. Pipe is now being
laid along Midgette Street, work
which should be finished within
two weeks, and then installation of
the system in the center of town
willt>egin. By leaving this section
until last, he explained, most sum
mer residents will have left and
businesses will not have been
disrupted and inconvenienced
during their busiest times. About
18,000 feet of pipe, and the ac
companying manholes, remain to
belaid.
The first sections to receive
sewer service will be the Whit
taker Creek area, excluding Skip
per Circle, the marina, and
Seafarer Road, and the Communi
ty Development Block Grant pro
ject area. Byrnes said that within
two weeks the testing of this por
tion of the system will begin. It
first be flushed and cleansed of
mud and other debris and checked
for infiltration. The system must
then be accepted by the town.
After acceptance, homeowners
can arrange for plumbers to con
(See SEWER, Page U)
Voter Registration
Closes Oct. 8
Voter registration for the
November 6 general election
closes on October 8, according to
the Pamlico County Board of
Elections. The elections board
supervisor adds that registration
of new voters has been relatively
heavy in the past month.
Ernestine Mattocks, supervisor
of the Pamlico County Board of
Elections, said that approximate
ly 100 voters have registered
within the past few weeks. Sur
prisingly enough, she added, 20 to
25 percent have been registering
as Republicans.
Locally, there is only one con
tested race, that for county com
missioner for township 3. It pits
1
Republican newcomer Bill Paul
against Vince Sevenski, incum
bent Democrat.
Under the Voters Rights Act
Amendment of 1975, explained
Mattocks, county residents not
registered to vote can cast their
ballots for the presidential and
vice-presidential races. To do so,
a person must request In writing,
by mail or in person, a PR form
from the board of elections office.
A person has until 7:30 pm on
November 6 to submit the com
pleted ballot.
For more information on the PR
form, contact Mattocks at the
board of elections office in
Bayboro.