Ornamental Birds and Game Stock.
Story Page 4-A
Hobucken Bridge Closing
10-3 Again
Weekday closings are once
again scheduled (or the Hobucken
bridge, this time for painting.
The 10 am to 3 pm closings will
begin on Wednesday, November
12, and will continue until the job
is completed. A spokeperson (or
the Army Corps of Engineers, said
he did not know how long the pain
ting would take but that the bridge
over the Intracoastal Waterway
should reopen on a full-time basis
within a month.
Area Meetings
Thursday, Nov. IS
Arapahoe Town Board - 7:30
pm, town hall.
Monday, Nov. 17
Pamlico County Board of Com
missioners - 7:30 pm, courthouse,
Bayboro.
Aurora Harvest Festival.Story Page 5-B
Group Home Planned For Pamlico County
It’s taken several years, but the
goal of a Pamlico County woman
will soon be realized.
Last month, word was received
that the federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) had approved funding for
the construction of a group home
to be located in Pamlico County to
house six mentally retarded men.
The residents for whom the
home is being built “need a degree
of supervision in their lives,’’ said
Gary Johnson, a psychologist who
. »~4be coordinator —of
residential services for the Neuse
Center.
“The home is an exciting ven
ture,” commented Dan Jones,
director of the Neuse Center’s
mental retardation division. He
added that the support of the com
munity has enabled Pamlico
County’s home to be further along
in the process than the other thir
teen sites selected.
In some locations, residents
have protested the placement in
their neighborhoods of a group
home for the mentally retarded.
“It’s unusual to have a communi
ty provide this much support,’’
said Jones. Support has come in
the forms of a petition and letters
of endorsement, including one
from the county commissioners.
“Dot Andrews deserves a big
pat on the back,’’ Jones stated.
Andrews has been working for
several years to secure some type
of non-institutionalized living ar
rangement for the county
residents.
The New Bern ARC (Associa
tion for Retarded Citizens), which
also serves Pamlico County, ac
tually made application for the
home, Jones explained, and will
be putting up a $2,500 deposit.
HUD finances the construction
and the house is run by ARC
Housing Development Services in
Greensboro. The group home will
be licensed by the state’s Division
of Facility Services and overseen
by the Neuse Center staff.
Regarding maintenance of the
house, HUD has strict guidelines
and will inspect it at least once a
year, said Johnson.
To keep the home operating, the
clients will pay for their room and
board. Most receive social securi
ty or supplemental security in
come, said Johnson. Client
payments usually provide about
half the needed operating funds
with the remainder coming from
the state.
Johnson commented that five
clients can be served in a group
home for less than it costs to keep
two in an institutional setting.
Three of the residents chosen will
come from those now living in an
institution.
The house itself will cost around
two hundred thousand dollars to
construct and will be located on a
site on Highway 306 between
Grantsboro and Arapahoe.
It will have six bedrooms, one
for each resident, and an attached
apartment for the live-in staff.
The house will be barrier-free
with hallways wide enough to ac
comodate wheelchairs. Special
safety features include a struc
tural fire wall between the
bedroom wing and the rest of the
house and doors with a one-hour
fire rating. In addition, the home
will be wired throughout with a
smoke and heat detection system.
According to Johnson, the state
will provide start-up money for
the purchase of a vehicle and
household furnishings. In the past,
that figure has been $35,000.
And since some of the clients
may be living there for the rest of
their lives, Johnson said
everything possible is done to en
sure that the house has a homey
feeling, from the choice of fur
nishing to the clients who will
make up the new “family”.
Other residents may use the
home only as a transition, going
on later to some other, perhaps
(See HOME, Page 6-A)
Working To Get Permits
: Farming Shrimp In Pamlico County
A Pamlico County man in
terested in constructing a shrimp
{fond met with representatives of
the Division of Environmental
Management (DEM) Monday
morning to continue working out
some of the details, a process
which he hopes will lead eventual
ly to a permit.
According to Roger Thorpe, a
water quality technician with
DEM, and Bill Moore, a DEM en
vironmental technician, the major
hurdle presently facing Montier
Potter’s aquaculture project is the
quality of the discharge from the
shrimp pond.
At Monday’s meeting, Potter
asked Thorpe and Moore if they
had any information on the quality
of the water pumped from shrimp
ponds.
Moore replied that he had some
reports from similar projects
located in South Carolina and “our
initial concerns are based
somewhat on what is contained in
those reports.” He added that
most of his information was based
on the culture of crayfish, a
freshwater species.
Fred May, chairman of the
Pamlico County Extension Ser
vice, pointed out that the water
quality could not be too bad or the
shrimp would not survive.
Thorpe commented that the
division’s major concerns
centered about the coliform
bacteria that would be discharged
with the pond water. “The in
formation we’ve gotten is that it is
present, ” he stated.
(See SHBIMP, Page 6-A)
Rendering of the group borne planned for Pamlico County.
Family Dollar To Open New
Store In Alliance Nov. 20
The 206th Family Dollar store in
North Carolina and the 1143rd in
the fast-growing North Carolina
based discount store chain will
open in Alliance Thursday,
November 20.
The new store, located at 1853
Main Street next to Lee’s Western
Auto, will open at 10 am.
Local officials and Family
Dollar executives will take part in
a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony at
the main entrance to the store im
mediately before the opening. The
company expects a large crowd to
attend the ribbon-cutting and take
advantage of special GrandFOgpn
ing sale prices afterward. Prices
will also be honored at the New
Bern store.
Jim Seagraves, Senior Vice
president of Store Operations,
said, “Family Dollar looks for
ward to locating in Alliance and
being part of a fine business
market.” John Marks, the firm’s
District Manager for the area
said, “Family Dollar offers ex
cellent employment opportunities
in this area and throughout the 23
states in which our stores are
located. As many local people as
possible will be employed at the
new store.” Marks added that
(See STORE, Page 6-A)
Landfill, Space Problems On
Beaufort Commissioners’ Agenda
The Beaufort County Commis
sioners began and ended their
monthly meeting on November 3
by discussing the problems in the
computer that have delayed the
mailing of tax notices to Beaufort
County property owners.
Tax supervisor Buddy Stowe
and computer programmer Cary
Carbone stated that notices will
not be mailed until they are totally
accurate, which could be any time
before the end of the year.
The commissioners rejected all
bids to renovate the Leggett
building adjacent to the cour
thouse. They had considered mov
ing the sheriff’s ofices and the
county communications center in
to the building. Chairman Ledrue
Buck said that the cost of renova
tion was “too much.”
Commissioner Frank Bonner
pointed out that the property was
purchased with the plan in mind to
remove the bulding and use the
land as a parking lot. He sug
gested that the county proceed
with the original plan and solicit
bids to remove the building.
Buck said that the entire
building needs of the county are
currently being studied.
To meet the expansion req
quirements of the sheriff’s ofice,
the commissioners discussed the
possibility of purchasig the
Oakland building on Market
Street. They authorized a study on
the condition of the building and
set a meeting for November 18 at 7
pm to discuss the findings of the
engineers. They hope to reach a
(See BEAUFORT, Page 6-A)
I
Hobucken Man Arrested
On Drug Charges
A little more marijuana was
taken out of circulation last
Wednesday night when a
Hobucken man was arrest on drug
t
charges.
Acting on information supplied
(See DRUGS, Page 6-A)