EVERY
SQUARE MILE OF COLUMBUS COUNTY
Andy Anderson: Leadership That Changes Lives
Fair Bluff River Walk Wows Visitors, Locals
Test Pilot is Testament That Innovation Cannot Be Paralyzed
Things in the Wood 954.indd 1
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National-quality care that’s centered around you. Your local Southeastern Health clinic is backed by the world-class resources of Southeastern Regional Medical Center and over 200 Southeastern Health providers. Making healthcare convenient and more personal is just one of the many ways Southeastern Health is working to improve the lives of those who live in our communities. We call it UCare; you’ll call it healthcare the way it should be. All clinics are accepting new patients, so call for an appointment today. Southeastern Regional Medical Center — winner of the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence in 2013 and ranked by HealthGrades in the Top 5% in the Nation for Overall Pulmonary Services in 2013. To learn more about Southeastern Health Awards and Recognitions, go to srmc.org/main/awardsrecognition.
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Dr. Arthur J. Robinson Medical Clinic 800 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., Lumberton, NC (910) 738-3957
Diabetes Community Center 2934 North Elm St., Suite G, Lumberton, NC (910) 618-0655
Lumberton Medical Clinic 395 W. 27th St., Lumberton, NC (910) 739-7551
Duke Cardiology/Duke Cardiovascular of Lumberton 2936 N. Elm St., Suites 102 & 103, Lumberton, NC (910) 671-6619
Southeastern Health Center Clarkton 9948 North WR Latham St., Clarkton, NC (910) 647-1503 Southeastern Medical Clinic Bladenboro 302 S. Main St., Bladenboro, NC (910) 863-2400 Southeastern Medical Clinic Fairmont 101 N. Walnut St., Fairmont, NC (910) 628-0655 Southeastern Medical Clinic Gray’s Creek 1249 Chicken Foot Rd., Hope Mills, NC (910) 423-1278 Southeastern Medical Clinic N. Lumberton 725 Oakridge Blvd., Suite B2, Lumberton, NC (910) 671-0052 Southeastern Medical Clinic Maxton 22401 Andrew Jackson Hwy., Maxton, NC (910) 844-2004 Southeastern Medical Clinic Red Springs 302 Mt. Tabor Rd., Red Springs, NC (910) 843-9991 Southeastern Medical Clinic Rowland 102 N. Bond St., Rowland, NC (910) 422-3350 Southeastern Medical Clinic St. Pauls 128 E. Broad St., St. Pauls, NC (910) 865-5955 Southeastern Medical Clinic White Lake 1921 White Lake Dr., Elizabethtown, NC (910) 862-6491
Gibson Cancer Center 1200 Pine Run Dr., Lumberton, NC (910) 671-5730
Southeastern Pharmacy Health Mall 2934 North Elm St., Suite A, Lumberton, NC (910) 735-8858 Southeastern Pulmonary and Sleep Clinic 401 W. 27th St., Lumberton, NC (910) 738-9414 Southeastern Sleep Center (910) 272-1440 Three locations: 300 W. 27th St., Lumberton, NC 290-A Corporate Dr., Lumberton, NC 812 Candy Park Rd., Pembroke, NC
Lumberton Urology Clinic 815 Oakridge Blvd., Lumberton, NC (910) 738-7166 Southeastern Arthritis Center 106 Farmbrook Dr., Lumberton, NC (910) 671-8556
Southeastern Surgical Center 2934 North Elm St., Suite E, Lumberton, NC (910) 739-0022
Southeastern Center for Audiology 584 Farringdom St., Lumberton, NC (910) 671-5014
Southeastern Urgent Care Lumberton 2934 North Elm St., Suite B Lumberton, NC (910) 272-1175
Southeastern Digestive Health Center 725 Oakridge Blvd., Suite C-1, Lumberton, NC (910) 738-3103
Southeastern Urgent Care Pembroke 923 West 3rd St., Pembroke, NC (910) 521-0564
Southeastern Eye Clinic 4311 Ludgate St., Lumberton, NC (910) 671-1981 Southeastern Neuromuscular Rehabilitation Center 725 Oakridge Blvd., Suite A-1, Lumberton, NC (910) 735-2831 Southeastern Occupational Health W.O.R.K.S 725 Oakridge Blvd., Suite A-3, Lumberton, NC (910) 272-9675 Southeastern Orthopedics 730 Oakridge Blvd., Suites B & C, Lumberton, NC (910) 738-1065
Southeastern Weight Loss Center 2934 North Elm St., Suite F, Lumberton, NC (910) 608-0307 Southeastern Women’s Healthcare 4300 Fayetteville Rd., Lumberton, NC (910) 608-3078 Southeastern Wound Healing Center 103 W. 27th St., Lumberton, NC (910) 738-3836
The Clinic at Walmart 5070 Fayetteville Rd., Lumberton, NC (910) 739-0133
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contents
12_
A Guitar, A Motorcycle & A Tattoo
16_
Whiteville Artist Finds Inspiration In Nature
19_
Things In The Wood
22_
Test Pilot Is Testament That Innovation Cannot Be Paralyzed
24
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Andy Anderson: Leadership That Changes Lives
28_
Grant Egley: The Resolve Of A Long-Distance Runner
30_
No More Excuses...Exercise While At Work
32_
Ward’s Grill
36_
Fair Bluff River Walk Wows Visitors, Locals
46_ 16
Milton McLean: Bear Cubs, Beavers, Night hunters and Cottonmouths
52_
Kay Horne Is Big Part Of County’s Girl Scouting
55_
Kenwood Royal: Pushing 80, This Educator Is Still On The Job
60_
Randolph Keaton: Something To Hope For
66_
Enjoying Wine With Friends
70_
Make Lifestyle Changes That Are Forever
36 #954mag @954_Magazine
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Entertaining & Events
80_
Visitors To Columbus
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on the cover... Justin Evans & Summer Ezzell on the Fair Bluff River Walk Cover photography by Doug Sasser
EVERY
SQUARE MILE OF COLUMBUS COUNTY
Andy Anderson: Leadership That Changes Lives
Fair Bluff River Walk, Wows Visitors, Locals
Test Pilot is Testament That Innovation Cannot Be Paralyzed
Things in the Wood
Spring 2014 | 954 | 1
Spring 2014 Volume II Issue I The News Reporter Company, Inc. 910.642.4104 EDITOR Les High CREATIVE DIRECTOR Abigail Spach ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dean Lewis ADVERTISING Amelia Sasser . TJ Enzor Hanne Richards CONTRIBUTING EDITORIAL Dan Biser . Briana Cahn . Clara Cartette . Nicole Cartrette Cynthia Hansen . Bob High . Stuart High . Gary Kramer . Fuller Royal Wallyce Todd . Jefferson Weaver CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Fuller Royal . Mary Kindschuh Parker Hannifin Corporation . Doug Sasser
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Lumber River Visitors Center
The Lumber River Visitors Center, opened January 3, 2011 as a place where locals as well as visitors can get information about Fair Bluff and the Lumber River. Information and brochures are found in the Visitors Center telling about great places to visit in Fair Bluff, like our River Walk and our Depot Museum. Established through a grant from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Commission, operated under the Guidelines of the N.C. Department of Transportation, aided by the Town of Fair Bluff and the Greater Fair Bluff Chamber of Commerce, the Visitors Center is located at 1140 Main Street, right in the middle of town. Two main Highways pass by the Center making up Fair Bluff's Main Street, N.C. 904 and US Hwy 76. The Visitors Center is set up for meetings and special events. Tours of the River Walk are featured and history of the City and the Lumber River. Please stop and visit us as you come through our beautiful town at 1140 Main St., Fair Bluff, N.C. Call us at 910-649-7202, or email us at visitfairbluff@tds.net . Join us on Facebook at Facebook/Fair Bluff N.C.
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Arts& Culture
A Guitar, A Motorcycle & A Tattoo by nicole cartrette Photography by Fuller royal
At 6 years old, Peter Yurgel wanted just three things: a guitar, a motorcycle and a tattoo. The singer, songwriter and guitarist who grew up in Pennsylvania has called Delco home for decades. The college-educated chemist is a plant manager at Silar LLC in Riegelwood (formally Wright Chemical and Oakbark), but when he is not overseeing the mixing of chemicals he is mixing tunes and writing music. Few topics are off limits. Yurgel is not shy. “I’m not afraid to talk religion or politics even though you’re not supposed to,” Yurgel said. Faith, family, country living, politics and love are just some of the themes he has explored in his music. Sometimes he writes about personal experiences. His song, “Country Air,” is all about life on a farm in Delco. After hearing that a big box store had banned its greeters from telling shoppers ‘Merry Christmas’, he wrote a song titled “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Yurgel is not afraid to write and sing about hardship and heartbreak – even if it has not been his own to experience. “The hardest thing to write about are things I have not experienced,” he said. “I wrote a song about a guy wasting his life away, who loses his wife and kids but meets Jesus.” Yurgel pointed out, “I’ve never been divorced and not a drunk. I was tilling my garden when that song came together.” His first CD was sold to raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. Yurgel’s sense of humor takes center stage in a song he called “Yankee Redneck.”
His sound is influenced by rock, country, and bluegrass. Country singers Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash are among his favorites. The Allman Brothers and rock and roll bands like Lynard Skynyrd are also musical inspirations. He was listening to the radio one day when he came to a realization. “This boy wrote a song and they brought the boy on,” Yurgel said. After much prodding he finally “played the most God awful thing” Yurgel ever heard. “They have this joker on the air. Why not me? I called them up in 2005,” Yurgel said. That was the beginning of several appearances on Double Q radio. Yurgel has been in several bands, including one when he was just 9 years old, but today he plays with Blue Rock. “We play everything from Bill Monroe to the Moody Blues,” he said. “The set list is very eclectic. We play some Neil Young, Buck Owens and Johnny Cash. It’s kind of unique – a blue country rock bluegrass band,” Yurgel laughs. “That’s why we said let’s call it Blue Rock.” Band members include singer Patty Williams, who also plays tambourine, Larry Ray Rogers on guitar, and John Privette on banjo, base mandolin and fiddle. The band was growing at the time of this interview. Yurgel resides in Delco with Marie, his wife of “23 years, two months and nine days”. They have two daughters: Amber, 17, and Rose Marie, 11. In an interview with 954, Yurgel offers a glimpse into his life and his music.
How long have you been performing? Since 6 years old. I was in a band at 9. When I graduated from college, I set music aside. I’d write songs now and again, but in 2005, I got on this kick. I got the bug or something. My friend, Al Slager, and I came up with Al’s Place and we played together with different people over the years, but a lot of times it was just me and Al.
What instruments do you play? I play guitar and sing. I really haven’t messed around with anything else. I’ve tried a little mandolin, piano and bass but wouldn’t claim to play them. Did family encourage you? Somewhat. At 6 I wanted three things: a guitar, motorcycle and a tattoo. After my first job out of college I got a motorcycle and
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His sound is influenced by rock, country, and bluegrass the tattoo. It was all because of Snoopy. You know, those one-hour snoopy cartoons. In one, Snoopy was riding a motorcycle. That was cool and I decided that’s what I wanted to be. I was 9 in my first band but you know your parents did not want to cart you around everywhere all the time so that did not last too long. Anyone else musical in your family? I have a brother who played drums. My mother played piano though I never heard her (she quit), and she tried to get my sister playing the piano. My dad took up guitar but quit in three months. I was getting it and he wasn’t. My wife plays recorder and piano and my girls play music. Musical inspirations? It’s so hard to pick a few. Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash. Out of the rock and roll side, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers. Southern rock was always my favorite genre and my favorite guitar player was probably Alvin Lee. What kind of music do you listen to? Classic rock and nonpop country. I prefer the older country like Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. There is some of the new stuff I like (Zac Brown Band, Montgomery Gentry). There are some better ladies. I like Miranda Lambert’s stuff. Bluegrass and the Old Hank Williams one, two and three. I still like jazz. I don’t care for opera and I don’t like pop or rap music. I was never big on heavy metal. Where would most like to perform? That’s a good question. Hmm.. I guess just to do it at the Grand Ole Opry or Ryman Auditorium for the simple fact I have written more country than anything. Who would you most like to open for?
That’s a real good question. Just to be able to meet him, I would have to say Hank Williams, Jr. A lot of people tell me I resemble him –just in looks; not in the way he lived. What are you doing when you are not playing music? I ride my motorcycle. I have horses. I hunt. I fish. I work (I’m a chemist by degree). I’m involved in the Columbus County Republican Party, executive boards in the district and state. I’m an elder and sing in the choir at Acme Presbyterian Church in Riegelwood. Do you enjoy writing music? I write what I feel. I feel what I write. The hardest was to write things I had not experienced. Favorite song written? Tough to say but probably “Family, Friends and Beer.” That could actually be a hit. It has a real good country sound. Another is a song I wrote about a friend who passed away, “You Gotta Make Time.” It sounds like something Kenny Chesney would have done. It actually made people cry when I played that song for them.
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Most embarrassing moment? When you have a bad gig it is just awful. How does performing make you feel? I enjoy it. When you have a good gig, there is nothing like it. I enjoy making people happy. Who is your biggest fan? I’d better say my wife and girls. When I first made that one CD with acoustic guitar, my girls would go to sleep listening to it, and that really made me feel good. Something people don’t know about you? I don’t hide anything. I am not afraid to talk religion or politics even though you are not supposed to. I really have nothing to hide.
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Columbus Community Health Center
Call 910-207-6440
CALL TODAY 910-521-2816 or call 15 Hill1-855-305-6987 Plaza, Suite A, Whiteville
CALL TODAY TODAY 910-521-2816 CALL 910-521-2816 or call 1-855-305-6987 or 1-855-305-6987 CALL TODAY 910-521-2816
Columbus County Community 15 Hill Plaza Suite A Whiteville, NC 28472 Phone: 910-207-6440 Office Hours Monday-Wednesday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Thursday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM
307 East Wardell Drive Pembroke, NC 28372 Phone: 910-521-2816 Office Hours Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM
Lumberton Health Center 402 N Pine Street Suite C Lumberton, NC 28358 Phone: 910-739-1666 Office Hours Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM
Maxton Medical Center 610 E Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Maxton, NC 28364 Phone: 910-844-5253 Office Hours Monday, Wednesday & Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Tuesday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM
or call 1-855-305-6987
Montgomery County 107 Professional Drive
Scotland Community 1709 Berwick Drive Suite B
South Robeson Medical 1212 South Walnut Street
Columbus County Community 307 Wardell Drive NC 28352 Lumberton Health Fairmont, NC 28340 Center Biscoe, NC 27209 Laurinburg, MaxtonMaxton Medical Medical Center Center Lumberton Health Center Columbus County Community 307 East East Wardell Drive Phone: 910-628-6711 910-428-9020 Phone: 910-506-4682 610 ELuther Martin Luther King J N Pine Street C 610 E Martin King Jr. Drive Pembroke, NC28372 28372 15 Hill Plaza Suite A A Phone: 402402 N Pine Street Suite Suite C 15 Hill Plaza Suite Pembroke, NC Office Hours Office Hours Office Hours Maxton, NC 28364 Lumberton, NC 28358 Monday-Wednesday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Maxton, NC 28364 8:00AM to 7:00PM Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Lumberton, NC 28358 Phone: 910-521-2816 Whiteville, NCNC 28472 Whiteville, 28472 Monday: Phone: 910-521-2816 Phone: 910-844-5253 Thursday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Phone: 910-844-5253 Phone: 910-739-1666 Phone: 910-739-1666 Phone: 910-207-6440 Office Hours Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Phone: 910-207-6440 Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Office Hours Office Hours Office Hours Office Hours Office Hours Office Hours Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Office Hours Wednesday & Thu Monday,Monday, Wednesday & Thursday: Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Monday-Wednesday: 8:00AM toto 5:00PM 8:00AM 5:00PM to 5:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to to 5:00PM Monday-Wednesday: 8:00AM 5:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM8:00AM to 5:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM 8:00AM Thursday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Friday: 8:00AMtoto2:00PM 2:00PM Tuesday:Tuesday: 8:00AM to 7:00PMto 7:00PM Thursday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Friday: Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Maxton8:00AM Medical8:00AM 307 East8:00AM Wardell Drive Lumberton Health Center Columbus County Community Friday: Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Friday: toCenter 2:00PMto 2:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM
Interested 1st time this 610 E Martin Luther King Jr. Drive 402 N Pine Street Suite C 15 HillAll Plaza Suite A Pembroke, NC 28372 clients clip Maxton, NC 28364 Lumberton, NC 28358 Phone: 910-521-2816 Whiteville, NC 28472 coupon out and bring in to receive a Phone: 910-844-5253 Phone: 910-739-1666 Phone: 910-207-6440 Office Hours Office Hours nice gift from any of our locations. Office Hours Robeson Medical Scotland Community Montgomery CountyMonday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Office Hours SouthSouth Robeson Medical Montgomery County Scotland Community Monday, Wednesday & Thursday: 1212 South Walnut Street 107 Professional Drive 1709 Berwick Drive Suite B8:00AM to 7:00PM Monday: 1212 South Walnut Street 107 Professional DriveTuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM 1709 Berwick Drive Suite B to 5:00PM Monday-Wednesday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM 8:00AM to 5:00PM Fairmont, NC 28340 Laurinburg, NC 28352 Biscoe, NC 27209 Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Fairmont, NC 28340 Tuesday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM NC 27209 Laurinburg, NC 28352 Thursday: 8:00AM Phone: to Biscoe, 7:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Phone: 910-628-6711 910-428-9020 Phone: 910-506-4682 Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM out our website for910-506-4682 more information. www.rhcc1.com Phone: 910-628-6711 Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Phone:check 910-428-9020 Phone: Friday: 8:00AMPlease to 2:00PM Office Hours Office Hours Office Hours Office Hours Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM
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Montgomery County 107 Professional Drive
Office Hours Office Hours Monday-Wednesday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Spring 2014 |to954 | 15 Monday-Wednesday: 8:00AM 5:00PM Monday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Thursday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Thursday: 8:00AM to 7:00PM Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM Friday: 8:00AM to 2:00PM
Scotland Community 1709 Berwick Drive Suite B
South Robeson Medical 1212 South Walnut Street
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Arts& Culture
Whiteville Artist Finds Inspiration In Nature by nicole cartrette Photography by Fuller royal
Artist Sally Jo Medford is inspired by nature in a big way. An 18 by 24 inch canvass is just about the right size for bringing the beauty of nature indoors in the 32-year-old’s eyes. “I draw things big,” Medford said. “I zoom in close.” She loves to magnify the most delicate subjects of nature. What one might overlook, Medford draws undivided attention to in pieces that are dramatic
and larger than life. “I like the organic shapes –the blue and greens,” Medford admits. Medford’s pieces do more than draw upon the beauty of nature – they seemingly tell the story of an idea becoming a painting. One of her favorites, Magnolias, is no exception. At the top of the piece, one’s eye is drawn to faded pencil sketches that as the eye travels down the canvas, turn to bolder, colorful acrylic impressions
of magnolias. “Pencil and acrylic – I like to mix the two together,” Medford said. “I like to show the progress,” she said of running paint elements and exposed sketches married together in her work. Just one of those takes on a three-dimensional appeal as shaped and formed paper is used to give the center of the magnolia a popping effect. “I like to experiment with mak-
ing things pop out,” Medford said. She enjoys the freedom of adding to and changing paintings – sometimes long after one might think her work was finished on the canvas. “I take things down (from the walls), add to them or change them,” Medford said. Her pieces maintain a certain realistic flair. “I like to keep elements in that seem real,” Medford said.
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It’s no surprise that Medford enjoys Georgia O’Keefe’s work. Before she begins with a blank canvas, she looks to nature for inspiration. “I will go outside and pick a leaf. I like to have the object and materials in front of me when I am drawing,” she said. Despite her obvious love for nature, Medford, who graduated in 2003 from East Carolina University with a degree in art education, has proof she can tackle other subject matter as well. In a piece she called “The Boeing,” Medford explores every facet of a B-29, inside and out. Intricate sketches of the airplane are extremely detailed and full of carefully drawn sharp and complex lines. The Whiteville City Schools art teacher fell in love with art at an early age. Her Whiteville childhood home was filled with landscapes her grandfather painted of the Shelby countryside. Though
Charles Patterson Logan died when his granddaughter was roughly 2 years old, he left behind a love for the arts and Medford enjoyed looking at his sketchbooks as she was growing up. Her parents, Nick and Shirley Logan of Whiteville, encouraged her to take private art lessons with Mary Louise Bannerman, and in high school, Medford’s talents grew. “In high school I got into seriously painting,” she said. “I was more of one who drew things at first. I stuck with acrylic paints.” She was drawn to their flexibility. “You can make them [the paints] thick or thin with water,” Medford said. “I like the ease of it.” For Medford, creating, painting and drawing are very freeing. “It makes me relaxed and happy,” she said. After graduating from WhiteSpring 2014 | 954 | 17
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ville High School in 1999, she pursued a degree in art education at East Carolina University. There she found yet another mentor, Professor Ray Elmore, who greatly influenced her as an artist. “He was very tough,” Medford recalled. “In high school I felt like I was at the very top but in college he made sure to knock you down in order to build you back up,” Medford said. “When he gave you a compliment it was a well deserved compliment and not something said to just make you feel good.” As an art teacher of students at Whiteville Primary and Edgewood schools, Medford can find joy in watching her pupils learn, grow and discover new things. “I like watching the kids discover they can do something,” Medford said. “It’s about the process.” She never grows bored with the excitement that is written all over the faces of new students mixing colors for the first time. “Yellow and blue making green is fascinating for them to see. The little kids get so excited,” she explained. Medford judges art by its meaning. “If it has meaning, it’s art, but that’s the neat thing about art –it’s such an open subject that anything goes,” Medford said. “I’m personally drawn to color, and I like landscapes, but maybe that’s from growing up with Grandpa’s artwork.” Medford and her husband Jonathan reside in Whiteville with their two children, Carrie, 6, and Riley, who will be turning 2 years old soon. Medford’s work has been displayed at the N.C. Azalea Festival and in a show at the Southern Kitchen in Whiteville, and is available on postcards, and can be viewed online at her website, sallyjoart.com.
Summer Ezzell H ai r & M a ke u p 910.234.1094 summerezzell@hotmail.com
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Things In The Wood
Lester Jacobs uses old-style skills to make modern art furniture. by jefferson weaver
Arts& Culture
Photography by mary kindschuh When Lester “Tony” Jacobs walks in the forest, he doesn’t just see trees. “I pick up a piece of wood,” the 62-year-old Chaunceytown Road resident said, “and I see things in the wood.” The soft-spoken Jacobs started dabbling in woodwork “five or six years ago,” he said. Today, his one-of-a-kind furniture and decorative pieces are highly sought after for their originality, sturdy construction and creativity. “I could always sketch things out and make them,” he said. “When I was working, people would ask me if I could make something, and if they gave me a good description, I’d draw it out. Most of the time it was just what they wanted. It’s just a skill, I guess.” Jacobs graduated from Hallsboro High School in 1969, and served two years in the U.S. Army. Coming home he went to work for
a chemical company in Wilmington before becoming a general contractor. Today, his workplace is in an open but neat shop behind his garage. His love of heritage and nature are obvious, in more than just his woodcraft.
“i could always sketch things out and make them...” A traditional bottle tree, decorated with blue jars, glasses and bottles, is just a few yards from the two sheds where he air dries some of the wood he gathers for his projects. An antique
cane mill once turned by mule power is framed by flowers. A massive garden — “I grow enough for our family, and I guess the community” — is just a few feet from his shop. He’s in the process of restoring an antique sink with ornate legs, and it will be used for washing the produce he readily gives to his friends and family. “I got it at an auction,” he said, pointing out the original leather fittings in the drain. “I couldn’t see something like this going to the scrapyard.” When Jacobs isn’t gardening, hunting or fishing, he is usually at work in his shop, or hunting sources for oversized pine, cypress, black walnut, cherry, tupelo gum and other wood. When he finds the pieces he likes, logs are rough-sawn and stacked to dry. Small pieces — tree trunks, saplings, branches and limbs he calls “sticks” — are stacked in another shed
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for use as walking sticks, spindles on his trademark benches, and stools and other projects. Jacobs’ trademark is the decorative and functional use of vineembedded saplings. “Wisteria, lilac, anything like that is going to leave an interesting twist in the wood,” he said, tracing the path of a vine in a sassafras trunk. “That’s one of the things I look for.” Jacobs paused when asked what his favorite wood to work with. He ran his fingers down the natural edge of a cypress bench, and shrugged. “I love them all,” he said. “I can’t truly say I have a favorite.” Another trademark of Jacobs’ work is the use of wide planking. “You can’t buy 20- or 24-inch wide wood very easily anymore,” he said. “It’s easier to put two pieces together to get any width you want, but I like using the single pieces, the old-fashioned way.” Each joint on a Jacobs piece is “through-bored,” meaning the wooden pegs go completely through the surface of the wood for a better fit. The pegs are then sawn and sanded even with the surface, and the whole product glued together with industrial carpenter glue. Any residual adhesive is wiped away before the finishing process, so as not to distract from the wood. While his bowls and walking sticks are popular, Jacobs also (with the help of his wife Mazie, an eldercare nurse) creates gourd faces. Gourd faces are a traditional American folk art. A whimsical face is created around the stem end of a gourd, with the stem acting as a nose. Feathers are used to create details like hair and eyebrows. Gourd faces are similar in appearance to Toby jugs, and are sometimes incorrectly called tribal masks. “I use feathers I pick up in the woods, along the roads, or just find,” Jacobs said. “My wife helps with the painting. I use a hole saw to cut pieces for the cheekbones, and just kind of make them up as I go along. I just started them this winter, but I think people like them.” He has one gourd face made with feathers from a trophy wild turkey, while others feature chicken, duck and wild bird feathers. 20 | 954 | Spring 2014
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The signature pieces in the Jacobs line are his benches and tables. His latest project involves a 22-plus inch wide seat of a single piece of pine, along with black walnut trim and vine-scarred maple for the spindles and cross brace. “I plan on doing a free-form one next,” he said, breaking out a weathered, well-filled notebook of sketches, notes and plans. The new project will also feature a natural edge to the wood, incorporating the natural bark along the edges. He uses a sealant to stop borers, termites and other pests from destroying the wood, but outside of sanding and a simple oil finish, the colors of the wood are left to naturally stand. Jacobs finds many of his pieces while wandering the forests near his home, while others are obtained from friends or associates who know what he’s looking for. The type of wood is not important. He even uses crepe myrtle for some of his projects, as well as making “upside-down” walking sticks from sassafras, turning the many-tined root into a sturdy handgrip, then painting the head and shaft. Egrets, blue herons and even a two-headed pig make up the business end of some of his walking sticks, all of which are different. Jacobs said he loves his handwork, and it’s a carryover from his days in school. “We had carpentry class, brick class, things like that,” he said. “You learned a skill, but you were taught to think. When you can solve a problem and work it out on your own, there’s a sense of accomplishment, and doing a good job is always something you can be proud of.”
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special
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Test Pilot Is Testament That Innovation Cannot Be Paralyzed
by nicole cartrette Photography courtesy of Parker Hannifin Corporation Michael Gore doesn’t remember the February day in 2002, when, at age 32, he fell 12 feet, head first from a mezzanine at Kroy Building Products in Fair Bluff. “I don’t remember that,” Gore said. “There was hole cut in the floor for a tank. I knew the hole was there but we are assuming I tripped or stumbled. When I fell, I fell headfirst,” he said. “One of the guys said I was talking and that I said ‘I can’t move my legs’,” Gore said. What Gore does remember is waking up in a hospital thinking it was a nightmare. “I remember I looked around and I was at a hospital,” Gore said. “I closed my eyes hard and opened them back up and I was still in the hospital.” His older brother Raymond broke the news to him. The head-first fall left him with a broken back, pinched spinal cord; he would likely never walk again. “I tried to move my legs and I couldn’t,” Gore said. Surgery and weeks of therapy only con-
firmed that Gore’s paralysis was not temporary. “The first three to six months there was all the if, if, if ’s and after that I thought, well, doctors had been wrong before, and I just kept hoping they were wrong about that diagnosis (that I’d never walk) but for 12 years now they have been right,” Gore said. Years after Gore mastered driving and learning to be self sufficient through therapy at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia, he had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something he never thought possible – walk. After being confined to a wheelchair for years, he is one of only a few people in the United States to serve as a “test pilot” for a powered exoskeleton that makes it possible for the paralyzed to walk. Dubbed Indego –short for “independence on the go”, the wearable, portable device was originally developed by a team of engineers and graduate students at Vanderbilt University.
It was further advanced by the Parker Hannifin Corporation, which hopes to soon earn FDA approval of the robotic exoskeleton that gives people like Gore the ability to walk under medical supervision in clinical settings. The 27 pound wearable, powered exoskeleton automatically adjusts the amount of robotic assistance users need to stand up, walk or tackle stairs. Slight movements of the hip signal the device to stand, sit or take steps in as little as half a second, if desired. The Indego sends small electronic pulses to muscles, helping to improve circulation, prevent a loss of bone density and reduce muscle atrophy, developers say. An even lighter version of the prototype is expected this spring as developers advance the capabilities and improve its portability. Gore landed the duty of test pilot in 2010 when Dr. Michael Goldfarb, a Vanderbilt University engineering professor, along with two of his graduate students
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looked for participants for clinical trials at the Shepherd Center, (one of the leading hospitals for spinal cord and brain injuries in the country). “His mindset was that he could be the greatest engineer and the design not work for the person we are designing it for if we don’t get their feedback,” Gore said. That’s where Gore and a few other wheelchair-confined patients got the rare opportunity to be part of a medical breakthrough. Scientists began with 50 potential candidates and Gore was one of five that made it to assessments and interviews. “They needed someone in decent physical shape,” Gore said, adding that they also needed someone strong mentally. “This would take time,” he said. “They needed someone who was not going to quit.” Gore said he was told from the begin-
featured video clips of Gore demonstrating how to use the Indego. On behalf of Parker Hannifin, Gore found himself really going places. Gore was a popular demonstrator at medical shows and conferences around the country and abroad. “We made jokes that we were on a world tour,” Gore said. Luckily, the 1989 Nakina High School grad had never been shy. “It became a job,” Gore said. But it has been a job he has loved that gave him a new perspective and a different kind of hope – an obtainable objective really. “There are two ways to look at walking. I could get up and just walk, God willing – you keep that at the back of your mind but there is the other way of looking at it too. I am still optimistic I will walk again but it
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Gore’s patience, determination and never-give-up attitude made him an even more attractive candidate. ning that development of such cuttingedge technology can take three to five years or longer. Bone density and range of motion were all factors considered, Gore said. “Even though I cannot move my legs, if you were to pick them up and move them, I have range of motion,” he explained. Gore’s patience, determination and never-give-up attitude made him an even more attractive candidate. “One of the therapists remembered me,” said Gore, who admits he spent years hoping to prove doctors wrong. The first day with the Indego on his legs ,Gore did something he had not done in years. “I stood up,” Gore said of the original prototype designed for him and measured to fit his legs and torso perfectly. By the second day, Gore had taken a step with crutches and the assistance of others. In time (a matter of years), the device progressed and Gore could walk greater distances and even tackle stairs. By 2013, the Indego was named a Popular Mechanics breakthrough and Goldfarb and graduate student Ryan Ferris, who worked on the design, were named one of top 10 “innovators who are changing the world.” Gore was thrust into the spotlight –becoming the face behind one of the most innovative medical devices in the world. Forbes Magazine, ABC news, Fox News, the New York Daily News, and CNN all
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will probably be with some type of device like the Indego. You have to be honest with yourself,” Gore said. “I’ve met a lot of people with the same injury as me that are in denial. To just get up and walk like a normal person, that’s what I want to do but you still have to keep in the back of your mind that this may be as good as it gets,” Gore said. “Long into the future, the engineers at Parker could possibly make a device that goes far beyond what the Indego is today,” Gore said. “Twenty years from now, you never know what might happen.” Testing for FDA approval of the Indego is the next step, but Gore won’t be part of those trials. The FDA sees Gore as someone with a vested interest. In reality, he was more than just a test subject. He is part of the team that helped bring what was once just an idea to life and improve it. “It’s a great feeling and very rewarding,” Gore said. Gore, the son of the late Lloyd and Dot Gore, has three brothers, Raymond, Tommy and Fred (Florence, S.C.) and one sister, Teresa Stanley. Michael Gore resides on Antioch Church Road in Whiteville with his “significant other, better-half, and one that keeps him straight” as he describes her, Rhonda Thompson. The couple have been together for more than two decades. “She has been there. She has been very positive through it all – my shoulder to lean on – my everything,” Gore said.
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special
954
Andy Anderson: Leadership That Changes Lives One life can make a difference by wallyce todd
Dark blue suit. White shirt. Red and White striped bow tie. Dress shoes. He was dressed for formality, yet his warm personality and loquaciousness radiate authenticity to the people with whom he speaks. As the guest speaker for the Loris High School’s National Honor Society induction this spring, Columbus County resident Andy Anderson put aside his manila folder with notes for his speech in it to ensure he had gone around and talked to as many people as possible. Anderson welcomed them, included them, and encouraged them. It’s what he does, both as a pastor and as an entrepreneur. He connects with people and then connects them with something they need or are blessed to receive. Even after his speech where he had given students a list of 20-25 items to consider for their own lives, there was still inspiration to be had. He took a somewhat unusual move, yet one that was consistent for the man who is an ordained Baptist pastor and used to giving benedictions. Though it wasn’t “on the program,” Anderson came back to the microphone at the end of the ceremony and said: “I’ve dealt with depression and had nightmares. I’ve sewed my own clothes and I stuttered all the way through 5th grade. My grandfather was an alcoholic; I was abused, and (for most of my childhood, I) thought my real name was ‘Bastard’.” The energy of the room shifted. Those attending - who had settled into a sense of “same ol’, same ol’” with a dash or two of added sparkle and sentiment - seemed to sit up and listen differently when Anderson spoke again. He went
on to say that he could empathize with students who felt they wouldn’t be able to make it into National Honor Society. He, too, had been discouraged as a youth and despaired of things getting better. But they did. And he was and is able to be a living example of potential becoming possibility becoming reality. One life can make a difference in the lives of many. Anderson’s life has shown that. In the Cedar Branch area of Loris, SC, Andy has been the pastor of the Missionary Baptist Church named for the community in which he’s served for the last decade. He recollects about how he answered the call to this specific community – one that has been historically challenged by poverty, teenage pregnancy, drugs, and dreams that may have died. “I prayed about it, of course,” Anderson states. “I talked to the leadership about what their aims were, and then for a period of time, several months, I went down as interim. I think after six-eight months, they decided to make me pastor.” Slowly but for surely, many of the community’s residents have connected the fierce spirit found within Cedar Branch to a vine of life and love from which to grow. That vine is Christ and His Love that has been exemplified in many ways through Anderson. He remembers his first impressions in 2004. “What I saw when I got there was a very tightly-knitted community with a lot of pride and lot of strong family ties, but I saw also a community with a lot of needs, especially economic needs. And I saw in walking around and talking to some of the Sunday School
Columbus County resident, Rev. Andy Anderson teachers and talking with the children, that there needed to be a renewed and stronger emphasis on education.” Anderson continues: “A lot of children were underperforming at school; a lot of children were presenting behavioral challenges at school. We started an afterschool program to supplement the education they were receiving at school… and also to address some of the behavioral challenges that the children were presenting.” The entrepreneurial pas-
tor knows from experience that the best success doesn’t happen in isolation. He notes the integral importance of those people who come alongside. “Thanks to wonderful volunteers and a community that has really decided to embrace the importance of education as a way up for achievement for their children and themselves, Cedar Branch has made amazing progress. “We now see children embracing the importance of education for themselves, which has led
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Cedar Branch Missionary Baptist Church and the neighboring Cedar Branch Community Empowerment Center provide a myriad of opportunities for community youth, including: singing, recording, summer programs, tutoring, youth day sponsorship, golf involvement, swimming and sports.
“We include civic opportunities that teach and enhance the connection to the things our children learn in history and civics. We want everyone to continue to the explore things and become life long learners.” to higher self-esteem and then to higher test scores and better overall performance at the various schools that served the community.” The results are notable. There’s a reason why folks in Loris know and appreciate Anderson’s integration into their community. When asked about some of the specific outcomes of programs
Cedar Branch has initiated or been involved in, Anderson’s eyes light up from inside. “We’ve seen a significant drop of teenage pregnancies, especially in the young ladies who stay engaged with our Royalty Ministry, which is our ministry directed at our teens. We have seen a decrease in the dropout rates in high school. “We’ve even experienced an in-
crease in college degrees and advanced degrees for adults who are returning to school for the first or second degrees.” An avid golfer, Anderson also notes: “After we started the First Tee program, we have had no instances of vandalism at the local golf course.” Anderson is married to Ophelia. The couple has two children. The whole Anderson family has
been involved with Cedar Branch’s ministry through the years. Spousal and parental appreciation is evident in Anderson’s words: “My family has been partners in the ministry at various levels. “Ophelia has helped tremendously with the children and with the young ladies in the ministry. She’s also been a mentor to young mothers in the ministry. My chilSpring 2014 | 954 | 25
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dren have gained some of their best friends while growing up in the church. My children have also benefited by participating at the children’s center and through the educational trips that we’ve taken.” The understandably proud father notes: “At this point, both Ashlee and Anthony have provided leadership. Anthony works in the technology ministry, making sure we’re online and have a webcast, as well as the audio and video technology. Ashlee is a praise and worship leader and also provides leadership in the teen ministry.” Any caring leader thinks of the future, makes plans and pursues them for those he or she leads. Andy is such a leader. He speaks of these plans: “We want to continue to expose the young people 26 | 954 | Spring 2014
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and everyone in the community to greater travel opportunities. “We have, so far, taken our young people and our adults to the nation’s capital. Our kids have had the opportunity to see our President live and in person. Some of our senior adults have visited Washington for the first time, and gone to the White House. We want to continue that exploration and exposure to various cultural activities.” He concludes: “We include civic opportunities that teach and enhance the connection to the things our children learn in history and civics. We want everyone to continue to explore things and become life-long learners.” In order to model learning, Anderson has willingly become a
learner. He’s passionate about the value of the education he’s gained in the years he’s been a servant leader in Loris. “I’ve learned so much from the people of Cedar Branch about resilience in the face of adversity. “These folks have been strengthened by their history and their personal challenges. They have always looked forward and have continued to want better for themselves and their community. They have proven their willingness to make the sacrifices to have good things happen for the next generation.” There are some who eschew those who walk a different walk and talk a different talk than they. They are unwilling to spend time and energy with people who do
not reflect their own values, beliefs, education or socio-economic levels. Anderson is not one of those people. He embraces with love the mosaic of folks found in God’s world. He believes the Good News is for everyone, and he lives a life that endeavors to reflect the One he believes came to save us all.
Editor’s Note: For more information about Andy Anderson’s entrepreneurial leadership, visit: www. communityinnovations.com/leadership.html. There’s a great need for volunteers within the programs targeted toward children in Cedar Branch. If interested, contact Anderson at: www.cbministries.org.
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Sport& Leisure
Grant Egley The resolve of a long-distance runner by dan biser
G
rant Egley is an individual who is probably more comfortable running than he is walking. That can be attested by the more than 70,000 miles (nearly three times around the equator) he has logged in various ultra-marathons, marathons, half-marathons and other distance runs. For well over 40 years, he has competed in events across the Southeastern United States, up and down the Atlantic Seaboard, his native Ohio and other areas. The Lake Waccamaw resident, now 82 and retired from his career as a researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, still runs 20 to 30 miles a week. He fondly looks back over the years when his enthusiasm for distance running had him covering more than 100 miles in a single event. He has run in all types of terrain and all types of weather. His training, diet and preparation have been precise as well as calculated. Ultra-marathons have been his specialty and he has competed in well over a hundred events of 50 miles and more. In more recent years, he has supervised and founded some major running events. “It’s my lifestyle,” said Egley, while sorting through a mass of plaques, medals, trophies, photos and newspaper articles and other memorabilia at his Bella Coola home, across the road from the entrance of Lake Waccamaw State Park. “I started out biking and taking part in several of those events, but eventually I switched over to running.” While growing up near Massillon, Ohio, Egley became a hurdler on his high school track team. He later went out for the track team when
he enrolled at Bowling Green State University … but found things to be a little more difficult at the next level. “The college high hurdles were three inches higher than in high school, and that became a tough transition,” he said. “My career as a hurdler didn’t last much longer.” After graduating from Bowling Green, he went on to Purdue University, where he received his Ph.D. He and his wife Donna, whom he met at Bowling Green, moved to Columbus County in 1959 when he was hired to work for the Witchweed Laboratory. In 1970, they moved to Leland, Miss., where he took a USDA position and also worked through agricultural research departments of Mississippi State University. His enthusiasm for running peaked while in Mississippi, and he was soon making a routine of running several miles to work each day. Of the many runs he entered while living in Mississippi, he remembers recording his personal best time in a marathon (26.2 miles) in New Orleans as he clocked a time of 3 hours and 3 minutes. ‘”We ran across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge and had a big tail wind that really helped enable me to run a good time,” he said. “I ran that same marathon the next year, and we had a big head wind. “My time that year was pretty slow.” Along with running in the many events he entered, Egley also became involved in directing these runs. “There were several times that I served as a director and also ran,” he said. “It takes a lot of supervision and a lot of volunteers to make things go smoothly,” he said. “There’s always a lot of planning … and of course a
Grant Egley and his wife Donna following his completion of a 1985 ultra-marathon in Mississippi.
Photograph contributed by Egleys
Grant Egley displays one of his earliest running shoes as well as the “protective” headgear he wore when he first started biking.
Photograph by Dan Biser
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lot of runner safety to be aware of.” Following his retirement from the USDA in 1995, the Egleys decided to move back to Lake Waccamaw. “We had always enjoyed the times we had living at the Lake,” he said. “And while we had several options of places to live when we retired, we decided to come back here.” While Grant Egley was involved in distance running, Donna Egley had a lot of involvement in tennis, and both were able to pursue their interests a great deal once they moved back to Columbus County. “I don’t even try to keep up
good size cut on my knee, “ Egley said. “There was an M.D. running behind me, and he made sure that I didn’t get up and try to keep running. “A rescue vehicle took me to the hospital, but except for the cuts and being a little shaken up, I was okay,” he added. “I was back running a couple of months later.” In 2002, Egley organized an informal walk/run around the Lake as an alternative Labor Day event that coincided with the long-established Labor Day Swim. About 50 people participated. The event was held again in 2007 with much larger participation.
For well over 40 years he has competed in events across the Southeastern United States, up and down the Atlantic Seaboard, his native Ohio and other areas. with her on the tennis court,” Egley said, “She played in some women’s tennis leagues and programs in Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, and I was able to spend more time with my running.” Not long after returning to Lake Waccamaw, Egley established the Gator Gallop, a 50-kilometer (31.5 miles) run on the roads surrounding the historic lake. A few years after, with the establishment of roads and trails in Lake Waccamaw State Park, the name of the event was switched to the Gator Trail Gallop with the entire event being run within the boundaries of the state park. Runners ran a six-mile loop of roads and trails. In 2005, Egley had the only serious mishap of his running career. While participating in the Battleship Half-Marathon in Wilmington, he fell during the early stages of the run while crossing the Isabel Holmes Bridge. He came down hard on the metal gridwork in the middle of the bridge. “I did a face-plant that caused a small puncture and I got a
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The establishment of the Labor Day “Take the Lake” extravaganza, under the development and direction of Mark Gilchrist, brought an astounding enthusiasm to Columbus County residents who were intent on improving their physical fitness. The Labor Day weekend “Take the Lake” activities provide distance participation in walking/ running, biking, kayaking and swimming. Gilchrist went directly to Egley to be the main coordinator in the 15-mile run/walk event and he has been a member of the Take the Lake board ever since. “I don’t know of a more beautiful place than Lake Waccamaw and its state park to go out and get good exercise,” he said. “It’s never too late to start working toward better health,” added Egley, who like many local residents is alarmed that Columbus County is rated the least healthy of all of North Carolina’s 100 counties. “Getting started and taking things gradually are important.”
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Health& Beauty
No More Excuses… Exercise While at Work! by cynthia hansen
Did you know that according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, about half of Americans do not get the needed 30 minutes, five days a week of moderate physical activity or the 20 minutes, three times a week of vigorous activity? Meaning…. about half of Americans don’t get the physical exercise they need to stay healthy. It seems like everyone is working more hours and unable to find the time to exercise. As a personal fitness trainer, I hear the excuse all the time, “I don’t have time to exercise because I work all day and rush home to spend time with the family.” I realize that it is very difficult to squeeze in time during a day for a workout at the gym, but did you think about the fact that… ALL MOVEMENT… is considered exercise? Realizing this can help accomplish this difficult task by making a commitment to yourself that you are not going to use that excuse again. You can feel so much better during your work day and even go home to your family with more energy to spare once you begin to take the steps to improve your health by exercising more in your regular routines each day. Our bodies are made to move, and since movement is exercise… we can do exercise even at work. Below are suggestions and tips of how to get exercise into your daily routine while you are on the job. Trying to fit in a little exercise at work is really quite simple because all you are going to do is move the body more and try to get the heart rate to jump from resting to “pumped”. Just remember to check with your doctor before starting any exercise regimen. First, if you have a job where
you are sitting all day, make sure that you sit correctly at your desk. The height of the chair should be a 90-90-90 position; feet flat on the floor or on a foot rest and your knees and hips bent at 90-degree angles. Keep your lower spine flat against the back of the chair, which will help maintain proper curvature. Stretching your body throughout the day will help diminish neck and back pains. To stretch the neck, try touching your ear to your shoulder and hold for a few seconds. You can look down at the ground; look up at the ceiling; and look side to side for extra stretches for the neck. To stretch the back, while standing place your hands on your hips and gently extend your back by bending backward and hold for a few seconds. Here are a few aerobic tricks to try during a break using a minute timer, cell phone timer, or the clock on the wall at your job site: - Jumping Jacks for a minute (just look at the wall clock or use your cell phone timer). For low impact raise your arms up and step to one side and when arms raise again step out to the other side. - Run in place for a minute! For a beginner you can just march in place trying to get your knees up as high as you can. - Walk around the room pumping your arms back and forth as you walk. - Walk lunges in the hall way or around the room. - While you are seated, pump your arms up above your head as fast as you can for a minute… WOW! It really gets that heart pumping! - When you have a break… take to the stairs and climb them as
fast as you can. To make it a little harder, climb with your hands above your head, even holding an object (maybe a water bottle?) to challenge your core to work to help balance you and it gets that blood pumping harder through your heart. - Hop on your toes for 4 counts and then squat for extra toning to the lower body. Start all over and repeat for a minute. For upper body toning and strengthening exercises on your job site take a look at the following ideas: *Using any object at your desk that has a little weight, such as a water bottle: - Try flys to the side by holding the water bottle in right hand and raise it out to your side. Repeat 15 times. Change arms and repeat. - You can use your water bottle to do hammer curl press ups as illustrated in the picture 1 to tone the biceps and shoulders. - Wall press is a simple way to work the shoulders, chest, core and lower back as illustrated in the picture 2. While sitting at your desk you can do these lower body toning and strengthening exercises: - Try lifting the table to work your biceps and forearms. Place your hand or hands under the table and press up against the table for a count of five; relax and try again until your muscles are tired. You can do this one hand at a time or both together. - Try pushing the table into the floor! While standing put your hand on the table palm down and press down as strongly as you can for a count of five and then relax to work your shoul-
ders and triceps. Repeat until your muscles are tired. You can do this one hand at a time or both together. - The desk tricep dip can be done anywhere there is a ledge and is great for working the triceps as illustrated in the picture 3. - Leg extensions are an awesome way to tone the quads. Start with your feet flat on the floor and sit tall at your desk. Hold your abdominal muscles tight and extend one leg out straight until it is level with your hip and hold for ten seconds. Slowly lower the leg. Repeat 15 times on each leg. -Chair squats are also good body strengthening exercises so sneak in a few every time you get up or down out of your chair. First stand tall; keep your back straight; lower your body to about an inch off the chair pretending you are sitting down; hold it in that position for ten seconds; and then lift your body up to the standing position. - You don’t have to have a machine to do this leg extensions as illustrated in the picture 4 for great leg toning. - It’s simple! You move… you burn calories! You get that heart pumping… you burn calories! So take advantage of every moment you can at work to move that body. - Instead of emailing or using the phone to communicate with a co-worker, get up and walk to their desk! - Stand while you are chatting on the phone! Set a timer and try to stand up every ten minutes, which will help eliminate tenseness in the body from sit-
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ting for so long too as well as burn calories. Just stand whenever you can. - Take the stairs when you can! - When you go for lunch, park far away from the restaurant and take a short walk. - Take a brisk walk during break or make a light lunch and make time for a walk right after you eat. - If your job involves walking already, then begin walking faster. The quicker your pace the greater the benefits and the more calories you burn. - Try laughing more because it tightens the core and will help build abdominal strength as well as working your heart. - When using the restrooms, dance a little; no one is looking The key to having a healthier lifestyle at work is to move all day as much as you can. Everyday exercising incorporated into your job site will give you more energy and therefore you will be more productive at work! Illustration pic 1 Hammer Curl Press Ups Grasp water bottle in palm of hand and hold by your side. Raise the bottle to your shoulders keeping elbows close to your side then lift to shoulders and press up in air. Return to beginning position by reversing each move‌ back to shoulders‌back to sides.
Illustration pic 2 Wall Press Standing one to two feet from the wall lean forward until palms are flush against the wall, with arms straight and parallel to the ground at shoulder height and width. Next, bend elbows to bring the body towards the wall, hold for two seconds, then push back to the starting position. Repeat 12-15 reps or for a minute. Illustration pic 3 Desk Tricep Dip Using a sturdy desk or table, sit at the very edge and place hands on either side of the body while gripping the edge of the desk. With the feet planted on the floor a step or two away from the desk, straighten up the arms to lift up the body. Then bend the arms to reach a 90 degree angle so that the body dips down; hold and re-straighten while keeping the body raised above the desk. Complete 10 reps.
Hammer Curl Press Ups
Illustration pic 4 Leg Extensions Sit tall in chair and hold ab muscles tight. Cross one leg on top of the other at the ankle. Raise the legs off the floor to hip height. Press top leg down as you are resisting the press with the bottom leg doing its best not to give into the pressure of the top leg pressing down. Do this until muscles are tired. Then repeat with the opposite legs top and bottom.
Desk Tricep Dip
Wall Press
Leg Extension Spring 2014 | 954 | 31
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Wine &Food
Ward’s Grill It’s passed the taste test for nearly 70 years by bob high Photography by Fuller royal
The customers file in quietly, and are usually greeted by name by Kandle Rogers. The small waiting area on South Madison Street comfortably holds about 12 to 15 people. Some days, the line is on the street. They’ve come to get the best known – and many swear the best – hamburger or hot dog available, not just in Whiteville but anywhere. Ward’s Grill, housed in the narrow niche between a former bank and retail shops just south of the railroad, is open for business. “Two hog dogs all the way, a cheeseburger, and a Sun Drop.” “Two hamburgers, three hot dogs, one without onions, and a Diet Coke.” “Is it too late for an egg burger?” “Who’s next?” Kandle asks. “Let me have two hot dogs, no onions, three all the way, and four hamburgers, two without ketchup.” Junior McKeel quietly and swiftly forks a hotdog, slips it into a Sunbeam bun fresh from the steamer, coats it with a splash of mustard, sprinkles a few onions on the top, puts a daub of ketchup on the steaming hot dog, and finally dumps a spoonful of the famed Ward’s Grill chili on it, then passes it to his daughter Kandle to be packaged. Junior uses a large fork to roll the hot dogs on the grill, and repeats his motions. He uses a worn
metal spatula to get a glob of lard from a nearby can, and dumps it on the grill. His grandson Shay Rogers moves to the rear, gets some fresh hamburgers from the cooler, and brings them to the small side-byside grills. They’re first stacked on the warming grill, where they stay until Junior transfers them for his last touches before they’re placed in a bun and bagged to exit the building. This procedure is repeated hundreds of times a day from 7 a.m. Monday thru Saturday. Closing time is at 2 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday. Ward’s closes at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays. There are stories about customers arriving at 1:30 p.m. on a 2 p.m. closing day, and the door is locked. “They sold the allotted number of burgers and ‘dogs early, and closed,” one person said. That’s probably how the untrue report got started. There’s no allotted daily number. Sometimes, a doctor’s appointment may cause Ward’s to shut down an hour or so earlier than normal. If that’s the case, an appropriate sign is posted on the door. When it’s cold or raining, customers pack themselves inside the less than 70 square feet of waiting area like they’ve being trained to be sardines. “We’ve had 25 people inside at one time. It was either a
The late Kermit Ward holds a bowl of chopped onions.
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These hotdogs, covered with Ward’s famed chili, are considered “works of art” by most customers.
From the left, Kandle Rogers, her father Junior McKeel, and Kandle’s son Shay work in the grill. real cold day, or raining very hard,” Kandle explained. Junior, now 66, has worked for 47 years at Ward’s Grill, opened in the mid-1940s about a half a block away by namesake Kermit Ward. Junior and Buddy Horne purchased the business from Kermit in September 1972. Ward’s Grill was a part of the Ice Cream Shoppe along East Main Street when it opened in 1946. The site was where two former banks and Simmons’ Drug had downtown locations in the 1950s and 1960s. Ward’s competes with Ed’s and Jerry’s eateries downtown. “We used to use nothing but the Swift Premium hotdog, but they’re not available any more. We use the Kent brand now. It’s available only by wholesale. Ed’s, Jerry’s and us trade hotdogs when one of us runs short,” Junior stated. The present location – surely missed by most visitors unless they have their vehicle windows down
as they drive through the downtown business area and perhaps notice the savory smells coming from the little business – once housed the Vineland Post Office in 1925. The post office was forced to move from the tiny quarters after just a few years to a larger space because of its bustling business by the late 1920s. Junior believes part of the “secret” of Ward’s success is its trademark chili. “Ten pounds of hamburger will make 12 quarts of chili, and we use about 24 quarts of chili per day,” he pointed out. Ward, in a 1972 interview, said the chili recipe came from Paul Caldis of the old New York Café. He noted that Ward’s is now one of the few hamburger locations in Whiteville to remain in business for many years, because it’s become a hand-me-down business to the operators’ family. Junior said What-A-Burger, 701 Drive-In, Penn’s Grill, and Warner’s Grill all ceased to exist
or changed ownership except for the 701 Drive-In, which is still operated “in the family.” Warner’s Grill became today’s Donut Shop; Penn’s Grill closed a few years ago. “There’s too much selling of your soul to the business for most family members. You have to give up holidays, and a lot of other things. I’ve started taking some Saturdays off in the last couple of years,” the veteran hamburger vendor said. Friday is the busiest day at Ward’s. The door opens at 7 a.m., and customers begin to trickle in. Soon, it’s a flood with brown paper bags leaving by the dozen. Junior relates a couple of stories about people eating a great number of Ward’s hotdogs. “Ray Summersett of Lee’s Lake ate 16 hotdogs and drank three Pepsis in here one afternoon years ago. He brought his tobacco to Crutchfield’s Warehouse, and was waiting for it to be unloaded and weighed. It took him about three hours to eat all those hotdogs,” Junior noted. That was when there were five bar stools at the little counter. They
were removed in 1965 to make more room for customers seeking the warmth of the grill on a cold day, or a dry place in a spring or summer monsoon. “Boyce Pittman worked at Belk here. He came in and ate 12 one day, all of ‘em all the way,” McKeel added. When Kermit Ward opened his business, hotdogs were a nickel or six for a quarter. Hamburgers were a dime, and drinks were also five cents each. Today, hotdogs are $2, a chilidog is $2.45, a hamburger $2.60 and a cheeseburger is $2.95. Drinks are $1.80. Kandle’s voice is like a calculator as she tells each customer the total price for his or her multiple orders. She’s been working with and for her father for 28 years, and now her son Shay, 16, is getting his feet wet behind the counter. The other employee is Kim Jones. Junior and most of the employees get to work at 4 a.m. By the time 2 p.m. arrives, they’re ready to sit down and relax. Another day of cooking and wrapping the tempting fare of Ward’s Grill is history. Kandle says she usually uses 500
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brown bags a day, including the two-, four- and six-pound sizes. “I usually put drinks in the largest bag, so that adds to the total.” The taste of Ward’s Grill is known all over this nation, and in some foreign countries. There’s a military family with ties to Whiteville based at the Pentagon. “Once a year, they’ll call and we get 200 hotdogs and hamburgers ready for them. We pack them in dry ice, and they take ‘em back to Washington,” Kandle related. The stories about happenstance meetings between people with ties to Whiteville are legend. “When one of us is wearing a Ward’s tee shirt, there’s almost always a meeting with someone in an airport, in Atlanta, Dallas or wherever. It’s just a ‘Ward’s thing,’ Kandle quipped with pride. Pride is great, particularly when it’s deserved. Walk in, order and take your brown paper bag out and enjoy the taste that’s kept ‘em coming back for nearly 70 years. You’re probably hooked. Ward’s doesn’t like to get orders by phone, although they have a published number. “Some people don’t like to come in and wait, par-
The narrow Ward’s Grill is the mainstay of all Whiteville’s hamburger and hotdog vendors. ticularly on a busy day, so they’ll call,” Junior stated. “We don’t believe it’s fair to those waiting to stop everything and do the phone orders.”
Some natives of Whiteville, back for a weekend or holiday visit, often head for Ward’s Grill the first morning they’re here. If it’s closed for some unusual reason,
there have been tears in the eyes of those just dying for a reminder of their younger years.
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special
by nicole cartrette Photography courtesy of Doug Sasser
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Fair Bluff River Walk Wows Visitors, Locals
It took them more than a decade, roughly $350,000 in grants, and maybe thousands of hours of volunteer labor, but for visionaries, the project was a labor of love, patience and perseverance. Say hello to the Fair Bluff Riverwalk: a 1.25-mile, elevated stretch that takes visitors on a tranquil journey along the bank of the Lumber River. The winding path that dances with the rivers edge and weaves through shady trees is a hidden gem in the picturesque town that boasts of its Southern charm. The inviting river walk does more than enhance one’s enjoyment of the river and offer glimpses of the wildlife that call the area home. Visionaries and town leaders saw the river walk as something more. They saw it as an attraction that would draw
visitors to the town’s business district and invite them to indulge in an old-fashioned hand-dipped ice cream sundae at Elvington’s drug store, shop in local businesses and give them a reason to stop. “It began as an idea,” said Gene Martin, director of the Lumber River Visitors Center. “It had been a dream of our former mayor, Randy Britt, along with other town commissioners for a long time.” The popular venue for events like the Fair Bluff Watermelon Festival and Barbeque on the Bluff was born of determination, countless hours of donated labor and a number of grants
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sought during a period of more than a decade. Grant funds helped pay for the lumber while volunteers, Columbus County Parks and Recreation and town employees, provided the labor on the major undertaking that was completed in four phases over a number of years. Randy Britt was a Columbus County commissioner when the first real seeds for the project were planted and later was mayor of the town. Ideas for the project were unfunded dreams decades before. “When I came back to Fair Bluff in the early 70s after college, there was talk of taking advantage of this wonderful natural resource we have,” Britt said. “Nothing ever got done but that dream started in late 60s and early 70s. It never came true until I and a couple of other guys said let’s look and see what we could do. It was a thought that a lot of people had but the opportunity did not arise until a few things fell into place.” Roughly 14 years ago, a $5,000 grant from the Columbus County Department of Aging under then director Ed Worley, $400 in local donations from folks like the late Stacy King, and a $5,000 state trails grant were a long way from building the walk but just enough to cover the match needed for more grants. Worley saw the river walk as a huge benefit to seniors in the area who attended the Fair Bluff Senior Center just steps from the pro-
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posed site of the river walk. The late J.B. Evans, long time mayor of the town, was a big supporter for the riverwalk but Britt was named project manager early in the process so he could communicate with grant officials. “I had cooperation from the whole town board,” Britt said. “Willard Small, Carl Meares Jr., Jack Meares Jr. and Billy Hammond were among the first board members to pursue the project at the very beginning,” Britt said. Part time Town Manager Al Leonnard was also part of the effort. A federal trails grant at $38,948 and a rural enterprise grant at $35,000 were just the beginning, Britt said. “The Columbus County Recreation Department probably provided 800 hours,” Britt said of the initial phases of the riverwalk. Darren Currie was the Parks and Recreation director at the time. Ervin Oliver Jr., Fair Bluff ’s Citizen of the Year this year, is credited with setting all of the posts for the walk, Britt said. The Waddell family that had long left Fair Bluff donated three to four acres of land to the cause, the Meares family via a long-term lease helped in the effort, and additional land was purchased. The first two phases were complete at that point, Britt said. Additional grants from the Tobacco Trust Fund for $77,000, $115,000 and $75,000 in additional grants to the project made expansions possible. In all, Britt estimates that the river walk price tag at $351,348 that is far less than its real value. Britt said he would love to have officials with the state give an estimate of its value. “I can’t place a value on it but I would dare say they would place a value way, way above the price of what we have in it,” Britt said. The project was a labor of love for Britt and many others. In working on the walk, Britt recalls bringing some unwanted visitors home with him on a few occasions from the site that runs into the swamp. “I got a bunch of red bugs,” Britt said. “They tore me up and I was miserable for a week and a half,” Britt recalled. Not everyone was thrilled about the effort either.
“I had people tell me that we couldn’t afford to keep it up and that it was a waste of time and money,” Britt said. Discouragement did not overcome him or others who persevered to see the project through. “After 14 years and millions of volunteer hours it’s really beautiful down there,” Britt said. “A lot of people enjoy it.” Britt admits people are sometimes quite surprised once they see the river walk for the first time. “We haven’t done the proper publicity on it and I am hoping with what is taking place now, events like BBQ on the Bluff, that will change,” Britt said. “The town has become a stop-off destination for a lot of beach traffic and many will walk the river walk.” It’s enjoyed by locals as well. At 67, Britt, who walks the wooden pathway five days a week, doesn’t regret the hours spent seeing it come to fruition. “Willard Small, who just turned 89, walks it every day he is in town and he can probably outwalk me on it,” Britt said. Britt is thinking of how to preserve the river walk for generations to come and exploring the possibility of forming a committee to oversee routine maintenance and repair. In Martin’s eyes, the river walk was an investment made without costing the town. “It has not cost the town of Fair Bluff anything,” Martin said. The serene walkway that offers shaded stints, observation of wildlife and amazing views of the calming waters of the Lumber River also gives visitors a relaxing place to enjoy a picnic lunch at tables positioned along the inviting walkway. “We enjoy the walk and it offers a different feel with seasonal changes,” Martin said. “There is always some type of wildlife to be seen –squirrels, deer, birds and things like that. We hear people say often it is ‘awfully beautiful out there’.” “It’s so peaceful and quiet,” Martin said, adding that some folks even camp at areas where the walk offers an escape onto the land. “There are several places along the walk where you can walk down and fish from the bank
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or camp there,” Martin said. “It is close enough to say you are in civilization but you are far enough in the swamp to say you are in a swamp,” Martin joked. “I think it has been a great thing for the town. We are in the process of installing signs
that will bring more attention to the river walk. We have relied on word of mouth and it has really spread,” Martin said. Still, he and others in town would love to see more enjoy the river walk. “We are in a small town. Our
bank left and there are not a lot of businesses here but we are a major route for Charlotte travelers and beach traffic,” Martin said. The town has been rather clever about how it gets passersby to spend a little time in the charming, quiet town.
Martin pointed out that folks stopping for a restroom break often wander into Elvington Drugstore looking for a restroom. “They send those folks to the Visitor Center,” Martin said. “It gives me a chance to say ‘Have you been to our riverwalk?’”
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3D
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What should I expect during the 3D mammography exam? 3D mammography complements standard 2D mammography and is performed at the same time with the same system.
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Sport& Leisure
Milton McLean Bear Cubs, Beavers, Night Hunters and Cottonmouths by jefferson weaver
Milton McLean once shared his bed with a bear cub. It wasn’t, however, the strangest experience in his 37-plus years in wildlife conservation. The Hallsboro resident was a wildlife enforcement officer for 271/2 years, and a U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife specialist for another decade before retiring for good. Today, McLean and his wife Brenda travel, hunt, fish, trap furbearers and spend time with their grandchildren. The bear cub, however, is ingrained in his memory. “That was different,” McLean laughed. Brenda was pregnant with their first child when McLean was called out to assist with three orphaned cubs. The babies’ mother was struck and killed by an automobile, and the youngsters were still nursing. “This was before we had a lot of wildlife rehabilitators,” McLean said. “We’d get calls all the time, and we were the ones who had to respond, and sometimes adopt the critters.” Barney, as the bear cub became known (“Of course we named him,” McLean laughed) immediately bonded with Brenda. The cub was five pounds when he came to the McLean home, but that didn’t last very long. “We let him sleep in the bed with us, since he was a baby,” McLean said. “It made it easier when it was time to feed him, and Brenda was enjoying it. Not everybody gets to raise a baby bear.” Bears are known for being overly protective of their young, 46 | 954 | Spring 2014
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but what isn’t commonly talked about is how defensive growing cubs can be of their mother. Barney loved to play, McLean said, but there was no question where his loyalties lay. “He’d pop his teeth at me, scratch and nip at me but he loved
Shelter gamelands in Pender County. McLean said delivering the then-60 pound cub was hard, but when they went back for a visit, “That was a mistake. “The manager there said Barney was the meanest, nastiest bear they had,” McLean said, shaking
The cub was five pounds when he came to the McLean home, but that didn’t last very long. Brenda. He ran me out of the bed before it was over with.” Barney eventually transitioned to the bear sanctuary at Holly
his head and smiling. “Brenda walked up to the fence and called him, and he whipped his head around, then just started crying
out to her like he did when he was a baby. He missed her—he just ran to her and tried his best to get to her. He cried while we were there, and we cried all the way home.” The couple raised another orphaned bear, but it never made the connection that Barney did. The second cub was seized from an individual who was raising the cub on a mother dog. “He had just killed the puppies, then they chained the dog so it couldn’t move,” McLean said. “You just can’t understand some people. That cub was never as friendly as the other one, but he was eventually released, too.” Wildlife officers today are more likely to transport young orphans to licensed rehabilitators rather than raise them in their homes, but McLean said in his days with the Wildlife Commission, “It wasn’t uncommon. “We moved a lot of orphaned deer back then,” he said. “The state had a facility at Butner where the deer were slowly eased back into the wild. The smaller animals we just did what we could with them, and turned them loose in the area.” The rise of the whitetail McLean loves telling stories about his grandchildren, all of whom he has tried to instill with a set of outdoor ethics. “I will never forget how one of the boys fussed at me when I shot a really nice nine-point buck,” McLean said. “He was sitting in my lap in the ground blind, and the shot was perfect. It was a good deer, big for around here, and you
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couldn’t ask for anything better. When I shot, he turned to me and asked why I’d shot it, since it only had nine points, and I’d said we wouldn’t shoot anything smaller than a 10-point that day.” Like many families growing up in the rural South, Mclean and his seven siblings ate a lot of game growing up, but not much venison. Deer were nearly wiped out in the first quarter of the 20th century in North Carolina. In the late 1940s, the state began intensive management and protection efforts—especially regarding the deer population. McLean and his siblings could deer hunt, but the chances of success in those days were not like today. When McLean went to work with the Wildlife Commission, deer were still heavily protected, and basic training for game wardens lasted three weeks. Today officers are required to have basic law enforcement training before beginning months of specialized training at the Wildlife Academy, which has the highest washout rate of any law enforcement school in the state. “Things have sure changed,” McLean chuckled. McLean was freshly home from Vietnam in 1970 when he ran into Sgt. Bill Crowley, a well-known wildlife officer in McLean’s home county of Bladen. McLean had been offered a job at International Paper right about the time he got his draft notice, he said, “but of course that went out the window when I went in the Army.” Crowley encouraged McLean to consider joining the commission as an enforcement officer. The lifelong outdoorsman admitted he hadn’t even considered such a career path, “but I thought it might be fun.” After three weeks of basic training, and a year of on-thejob training with a senior officer, McLean was sent to Columbus County and District Four. In an unusual turn for officers with the Wildlife Commission, he never left. “Except for 30 days in Onslow County,” McLean said, “I’ve been blessed with being able to be here my whole career. They offered me promotions, but I turned them down. This was home, and I didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk. I 48 | 954 | Spring 2014
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wanted to be in the woods where I belonged.” The early years of his career were spent “chasing night deer hunters. That was our number one problem at the time,” he said. During one season, Wildlife officers netted and convicted 56 violators.“Night deer hunting was our bread and butter,” McLean said. The state’s deer population had almost recovered from overhunting in the 1970s when McLean began work, and state officials were serious about protecting and growing the herd. Aside from a few places such as the Green Swamp where deer populations had always been strong, “there were only a few pockets of deer in the county — maybe four or five. You didn’t see them everywhere like you do now.” Penalties were stiff for poachers in the 1970s and 1980s. The suspect faced the loss of his hunting license, seizure of his vehicle and guns, plus paying the replacement cost for the animal. Court costs were $13 at the time, plus fines, which judges were prone to levy with a vengeance. Killing a doe was considered a worse crime than shooting at night. “We may have managed them too well,” McLean laughed. The modern deer population has actually reached unhealthy levels, according to the Wildlife Resources Commission. Roadkilled deer now require minimal paperwork from law enforcement officers, doe management is
encouraged, and deer are everywhere. Night deer hunting is still a major problem, McLean said, but the courts don’t see it the same way that they did in the1970s. “Today,” he laughed, “it’s no worse than a traffic citation, if it’s not thrown out.” Night-hunters often led to some dangerous adventures, McLean said. Officers would set up in a discreet place where poaching had been reported, and wait for someone to drive slowly by and shine a light across a field. At one point, the laws were so strict that even having a loaded gun in a vehicle with a spotlight was considered poaching, but most officers would wait until they saw a firearm, or heard a shot. “There were a lot of long, cold nights,” McLean said. Usually the suspect would pull over as soon as he saw headlights and blue lights, McLean said, but some would run. One particular vehicle of poachers had good reason to flee the law, but they likely weren’t worried about the game wardens on their tail. “We pulled out and lit them up,” McLean remembered, “and they took off. We had a highspeed chase all the way into South Carolina. There were a few guys who ran like them, but most people just pulled over and waited. These guys weren’t stopping.” After the suspects wrecked their car and fought officers, the vehicle was towed back to Whiteville to be held as evidence. Someone attempted to break into the impound lot and the vehicle, McLean said. “We went out there to process it for evidence,” he explained, “and we were wondering what had them so interested they would try to break in. Then we found out why.” Stashed under the floor mats was a cache of cocaine and $3,700 in cash. McLean said the officers were surprised, but called detectives to report the find. The suspects were eventually charged with narcotics charges as well. “If they hadn’t decided to try to poach a deer,” McLean said, “we’d have never noticed them.” Another night deer hunter had
no choice but to stop. He disabled his own vehicle while officers were attempting to pull him over. “The poor fellow had a doublebarrel shotgun,” McLean laughed, “and he hit a bump when we stopped him. The shotgun went off, and both barrels went through the floorboard and blew the exhaust manifold off.” Most people wildlife officers come in contact with are reasonable, good people, McLean said. “They have a love of the outdoors, the same as we do,” he said. “Most people respect the game and the game laws, and want to do things right. They might grumble a little sometimes if you interrupt their hunt, but we always tried to make it as easy as possible. We had a job to do, and the hunters and fishermen knew they benefit from having good game laws. “You used to be able to get somebody with an expired license, and tell them, ‘Go get it updated, and I’ll speak to the district attorney for you. He’ll probably dismiss it.’ Now people want to fight about it, hire a lawyer, everything else, when the whole thing could be solved with $25 and checking the date on your license.” New kids in town A lifelong furtrapper, McLean had never heard of nor seen a coyote or a nutria rat until his last years with the commission. Beaver were stringently protected, having been reintroduced to help create wetlands for waterfowl. “Things have sure changed there,” he said. Upon his retirement from the Wildlife Commission, McLean was hired to capture the very animals he was once called upon to vigorously protect. A drop in the fur market, as well as manmade habitat changes, led to an explosion in the beaver population. “I always loved to trap,” he said. “Since I was a little kid, I’ve loved it. If I could have, I might have gone into trapping before I did the Wildlife Commission, but we didn’t have beaver trappers back then.” McLean started out against a steep learning curve, but soon he was not only beating it, he was creating the curve. McLean trapped more than 4,000 beavers across the region during his time
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his chickens, and that turned out to be a male coyote.” That was in 1990, a decade before biologists declared coyotes to be in every county of the state. “People say they were brought in here for the fox pens,” McLean said, “and we know some were, but I feel like a lot of it was a natural migration after our deer herd. Nature provided the predator we needed.” McLean said he is thankful the state never put a prohibition on killing coyotes as it did on beaver. “We’re eat up with coyotes now,” he said. “Can you imagine what it would have been like if they were protected? There wouldn’t be a deer or a cat left in the state.” Attaching a wood duck box to a tree. with the USDA, and blew or tore out more than 1,400 beaver dams. He still traps nuisance beavers for recreation, the furs and as a service. “There’s nothing like trapping,” he said. “It’s hard to explain to someone who’s never done it, but there’s just nothing like trapping.” As beavers overpopulated the region, nutria rats followed close behind. An invasive species from South America, nutria grow to as much as 30 pounds, and can breed two to three times per year. They burrow into ditchbanks, bridge foundations and causeways, weakening the earthworks underground. Since they often cohabit beaver ponds, nutria are frequently caught by beaver trappers, to the point that the critters are considered a worthless nuisance. “Their hides can be pretty, but there’s no real market for them,” McLean said. “They’ll plug every beaver trap you set, too.” He remembers well the first coyote he ever saw. The commission had been receiving reports of “wolves” in the area, and McLean was home one day when a man called him to report one being killed on a highway. “He brought it over here, and sure enough, it was a coyote, a female, the first one we saw around here,” McLean said. “A few days later, a fellow over at the lake shot a big dog that was getting
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Chickens and coons McLean and fellow trapper Dale Dixon were among the local USDA men sent to California on an unusual and somewhat secretive mission in 2008. Equipped with specialized, silenced .22 rifles, the men were assigned the task of finding and rooting out a dangerous problem that was rapidly becoming an epidemic in the Golden State — diseased chickens. Exotic Newcastle Disease (END), a virulent poultry disease, had been confirmed by California health officials. If left uncontrolled, END could have spread throughout the country, devastating the poultry industry and endangering human lives as well. While some farmers reluctantly cooperated with officials in quarantining and destroying their flocks, private flocks in the cities and towns were a different matter, especially since many bird owners didn’t speak English. In one town,” McLean said, “people denied having any chickens. Nobody had chickens, but you could hear and smell them everywhere. We went back in on a Sunday morning, when everyone was at church, and there were chickens everywhere. “It was strange as all get out; while everybody else was in church, we were out there in the street shooting chickens with silenced .22s. You never even heard the shot go off.” The public health has always been a big part of the USDA trap-
ping office, and during his years with the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service branch, McLean trapped and hunted feral hogs to be tested for brucellosis and pseudorabies, as well as other species that can carry diseases that affect humans and domestic animals. A big part of his last year with the USDA was spent trapping raccoons in the North Carolina mountains and drawing blood samples before releasing them back into the wild. The specialists were testing the coons to see how an air-dropped rabies preventative had worked. “The coons didn’t like it very much at all,” McLean said after returning from the trip. McLean bears a handful of scars from his years helping and removing wildlife; one particularly nasty critter, however, never managed to break the skin, although it tried. “I was working on a beaver dam under a culvert at East Columbus High School,” he said. “The weather was warming up, but it was still cool enough that I had a coat on. “I had to go down into the wa-
ter — it was about chest deep — and wade into the culvert. When I was reaching over the dam to set a trap, something came up off the dam and knocked the heck out of my arm.” It was a cottonmouth moccasin. Standing in chest deep water in a drainage culvert was not a safe place to discharge a firearm, and McLean found himself “in a bit of a jam. “I finally hit it with my shovel,” he said, “and killed it, but that snake wasn’t letting me near the dam.” The snake’s hide is tanned and hangs with the skins of other venomous snakes that were unreasonable when McLean needed to get past them on a beaver job or other task. He laughed when he noted that the snakes were taken before the state outlawed killing of venomous snakes unless a person’s life is threatened. “People used to call wildlife officers to come kill snakes for them,” he laughed again. “Now killing a snake can get you in trouble. Ain’t it funny how things change?”
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Kay Horne Is Big Part Of County’s Girl Scouting by fuller royal Photography courtesy of Fuller Royal
Kay Horne has Girl Scouting in her blood. For 40 years, she has had a hand in guiding more than 70 girls into young adulthood, helping to shape their lives by giving them the tools to overcome obstacles and discover all they could about the world and themselves. Her Scouting career began when she and husband Bill, both freshly graduated from East Carolina University, arrived in Whiteville in 1974. Bill had landed a job with the Columbus County Health Department. She began work with the original Waccamaw
Bank (later United Carolina Bank). “We moved in June,” Kay said. “In September, there was a small article in The News Reporter that said ‘We need Girl Scout leaders.’ I was still trying to meet people in the community and I was working in the bank’s purchasing department. I called the number.” Kay recalled Girl Scout leader Esther (Leder) Scott taking her to the Girl Scout shack on Burkhead Street for a leaders meeting. She said she immediately inherited a group of teenage girls who were students at Central
Junior High School (Central Middle School today). “They didn’t have a leader and they needed a leader and they said ‘Oh, you will get along so well with these girls,’” Kay said. “Of course, they were only like 10 years younger than I was. That sounded like a big difference back then, but now, it’s nothing.” Among those girls were Celia Lynch, Martha DesVergers, Paige Prevatte, Belinda Knight and Linda Sellers. “That became a learning situation,” she said. “And not just learning about Scouts – I had been a Girl Scout for four
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years as a child and it really left an impression on me. I really enjoyed it. I would have done more, but I had a hard time with transportation. My parents worked at night. Getting to anything was difficult. When I saw that opportunity as a grownup, I just kinda jumped for it.” She said her first troop provided her with a learning curve. “I tell people that they ran over the top of me and I mean that in a nice kind of way,” she said. “I was a little bit in over my head and didn’t know it. They were really nice but they sucked me into their politics and drama,” she said with a laugh. “I wasn’t aware of it until it was too late. “We earned a few badges and went camping at Myrtle Beach,” she said. “I went camping at Myrtle Beach with a 3-month-old baby. I had just had Susie (her first daughter).” By then, a friend and co-worker at the bank, Viola Baldwin, was helping with the troop. “Viola and I took them to Busch Gardens,” she said. “It had just been open a couple of years when we went. The girls were in eighth grade by then and that’s back when you could take a group to Busch Gardens and let them go. That was nice.” She said one benefit of having a troop of girls was never having a shortage of babysitters for her family, which would include later, on William and daughter Beth. “I had built-in babysitters,” she said. “I had a whole list I could go down.” When the troop got to high school, and the girls began driving, Kay said it became more difficult to run the troop. “The troop got harder and harder and I was involved with child-rearing,” she said. For about three years, she didn’t have a troop. In the meantime, Kay began working as a probation/parole officer with the state. When Susie turned 5, a colleague mentioned how she wanted her daughter to become involved in Girl Scouting. Kay told the friend she would help, and when their daughters became first-graders, she would be their leader. She started with a new troop the year before Susie was old
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enough to join. “I had a lot of girls in that troop, including a lot of girls from Chadbourn,” she said. The troop started small, but then grew. “At one time, I had as many as 24 Scouts in that troop,” she said. “They would come and go. I had a lot of fun with that troop.” She also inherited girls from troops that had dissolved, including one that was mostly teenagers. The group she inherited was chosen by the council, after an elaborate selection process, to travel to London and Paris. “I really wanted them to go on this,” she said. “I didn’t get to go. I was an alternate chaperone and I kept hoping someone would
Kay was made a lifetime member several years ago. break a leg. I was very excited for this group.” “None of these had ever been on an airplane before,” Kay said. One of the girls who went was Regina Brown, the daughter of the late Whiteville Police Department Detective Clarence Brown. “She made a speech at one of our award ceremonies,” Kay said. “She teaches English and she talked about her trip to London and visiting Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace) and how that made Shakespeare come alive for her and how much that trip meant to her.” She said the girls got a lot out of being Scouts. Among the troop’s many service projects was the annual cleanup day at Lake Waccamaw “That’s where we learned to have a real aversion to litter,” she said. “They would take us to the dam. I don’t know about it now, but back then, it had to be the nastiest place in Columbus County.” Among other places, Kay took her Scouts to Washington, D.C.
for the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouting. “The biggest trip we ever went on was the one Viola and I did where we took 10 girls and five adults to the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996,” she said. “I loved it. I don’t think all the moms would agree with me.” They saw Australia’s baseball team play South Korea’s team. “One of the big games we did get to see was Nigeria play Brazil in soccer,” she said. “That was the year Nigeria won the gold medal in soccer, but that was not the gold medal game.” Kay said the troop’s trip was just days after the July 27 terrorist bombing at the Atlanta Olympics that killed two people. Kay, Viola and the parents ultimately decided it would be safe to go. “They said the excitement was over and probably would not happen again,” she said. The troop donated a brick to commemorate the Olympics, which still sits in Centennial Olympic Park. Many girls have been part of Kay’s troops. “A lot of those girls that I had also had younger sisters who became Scouts,” she said, adding that she rarely sees a family in town that she hasn’t worked with at least one of their daughters in Scouting. Today, Kay’s older daughter Susie is a Girl Scout leader. “Both of my granddaughters are Girl Scouts, so we are three generations of Girl Scouts,” she said. “ Kay said the only real frustration for her has always been the difficulty in finding volunteers to help with Scouting. “There is always a shortage of leaders,” she said, adding that too many girls are not able to take advantage of Girl Scouting because there are not enough volunteers. She recalled some of the “movers and shakers” of Girl Scouting – Saralyn Maultsby, Carolyn Lynch, Carolyn High, Esther Scott, Grace Palmer, Diane Scott and Julia Bowers. “My pride and joy is a thank you note from Julia Bowers,” Kay said. “She was very close to Viola, too.” “I’m hooked, I’m addicted to
Girl Scouting,” she said. “It’s so much fun watching the girls interact. I tried to expose them to things they had never done before.” She took her first troop to Thalian Hall in Wilmington to see a real musical, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” “They loved it,” she said. “They thought that was grand.” “I enjoyed working with the girls and I enjoyed working with my daughters,” she said. “I wanted to make sure this was an opportunity my daughters had.” Her younger daughter, Beth, worked in Washington, D.C. after college. She volunteered at the National Portrait Gallery and gave tours to visiting Girl Scouts. “So, she has worked with Girl Scouts as well,” Kay said. “The big thing for me was this last troop,” she said. “I didn’t have a daughter in this one and in some ways, no disrespect to my daughters, this was my favorite, because I could just spend my time and energy thinking about all of the girls as a whole. I didn’t have to watch over a particular girl and then worry about what my daughter was doing. I got to worry about all of them ... or enjoy all of them.” Kay is on hiatus now, but plans to get involved again. She would like to help start new troops and then turn them over to new leaders. She said the secret of being a good leader is “to find out what you like and get the girls to do that to begin with. I like to camp so we went camping I like to cook so we did cooking things.” “With this last troop, the first thing I did when we met was to go over the Girl Scout Promise and the Girl Scout Law,” she said. “One part of the Law is that you are a sister to every Girl Scout. The one downside of working with a bunch of girls is that you always have ‘sniping’ and the drama. “I don’t care what you do to each other in school, I don’t care what you do to each other in church, when you walk in that door of the Girl Scout Shack, you will love everybody in this room,” Kay told the girls. “Even if you hate them you will love them.” “That last troop was just like a present,” she said.
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Historical
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Pushing 80, This Educator Is Still On The Job Kenwood Royal started his career in education at Nakina High School teaching and coaching six athletic teams — girl’s and boy’s varsity and junior varsity basketball and varsity and junior varsity baseball. Nearly 57 years later he’s still in education, but instead of coaching, teaching and serving as a principal, he manages a nearly $5 million budget as director of the Columbus County Schools Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA), now known as No Child Left Behind. “I was the only coach they had,” Royal said of his two-year stint at Nakina High. “Clyde Blackmon, a math teacher, was my mentor. He guided me and kept me out of trouble,” he said with a chuckle. “They dedicated the annual to him that year. “I stayed there two years and the varsity boys basketball team had a 53-3 record, including two state playoffs. The girls were a break-even team. Those were two
by clara cartrette Photography courtesy of Fuller Royal & Kenwood Royal
of my best years in education. I developed a very close relationship with those students and they still invite me to their class reunions. I just got an invitation to one yesterday.” A Farm Boy Royal graduated from East Carolina, the first member of his family on both sides to go to college. He grew up on a small farm in the Supply area of Brunswick County, the son of Herbert and Lillie Holden Royal. He grew up around a lot of family members, living in a house/store combination surrounded by 28 cousins and 22 aunts and uncles within a three-mile radius. Everybody in his community farmed and he knew all about milking a cow and other farm chores. “Pulling roots to clear new ground made me go to college,” he said. Royal had an older sister, Loretta, who was a paralytic polio victim but graduated with the highest average of anyone at Shallotte High
School. His mother’s niece, Marie Fulbright Holden, also lived with them. “She took care of me when I was a baby and I thought of her as my sister,” he said. Growing up near the Brunswick and Horry County beaches provided entertainment, and Royal admits he was one of the oldtime shaggers. He said he and his friends learned to shag at The Pad at Ocean Drive, “sometimes riding in the back of an old green pickup truck to get there,” and took their talents back to the Holden Beach area. “We weren’t quite as good as the OD crowd, but we held our own.” Royal developed a good work ethic on the farm and was cropping tobacco during high school days when a man from the ASC office came to the farm and asked if he was interested in measuring tobacco, that he had been recommended for the job. Royal accepted and the $42 he made the first day seemed like a fortune compared to $6 he was making crop-
ping tobacco. “I thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” he said. “One of the happiest days of my life was when I was in 10th grade and came home from school to find a brand new red tractor with all of the equipment,” Royal said. Me and Daddy had been farming with two mules and Daddy said, ‘Son, if I’d known it would do all this work I would have got it a long time ago, even if I had to mortgage Lillie (his wife).’ We worked that tractor day and night.” Royal joined the U.S. Coast Guard active reserve at age 17 and was discharged at age 25. He measured tobacco for eight years, continuing after graduating from Shallotte High School and all through college, which helped with college expenses. College Businessman “I was making twice as much money in college as the starting salary for a teacher when I started teaching,” he reflected. “Daddy Spring 2014 | 954 | 55
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helped me, but basically I paid my own way through college.” But it wasn’t the tobacco measuring money that made Royal financially independent. He and his East Carolina roommate, Marvin Baugh, started an on-campus business. That came about when Royal would get to feeling down and out and would say he was going home. “I’d put a sweater in a bag packing to go home and he’d take it out,” Royal said of his roommate. “He wouldn’t let me quit.” Finally, Marvin suggested they go in business picking up dry cleaning on campus and make a deal with the dry cleaners. It turned out to be a lot of work but a good idea and Marvin later turned the business over to him. Royal said he would pick up clothes from 5 to 5:30 a.m., take them to the dry cleaners and later that day he would deliver the clean clothes back to seven dorms. He got a percentage of what the dry cleaner charged, and he was also making $35 a week delivering the Raleigh News and Observer newspaper. “I was as much a businessman as I was a college student,” Royal said. “I had never been used to
money like that. My first year in college, I hitchhiked. My second year I told Daddy if he would help me get a car he wouldn’t have to give me any more money for college. When I graduated I was making twice as much as my starting salary as a teacher — $6,000 compared to $2,690.” He recalls buying his mother a 19-inch Philco TV and she kept it for 22 years. “Daddy said it was the work of the devil and wouldn’t have anything to do with it,” he said. “About the third night he came in, he sat down and said, ‘What kind of mess are you watching anyway?’ Later on, when the corn crop was about knee high, I asked Mama how Daddy was getting along with the TV. She said he comes in thirsty every day and sits down just about time for The Edge of Night to come on TV. I asked Daddy how he was getting along with the TV and he said, ‘Son, The Edge of Night is about to cause me to lose my corn crop.’ “After Hurricane Hazel, Daddy said God sent the hurricane through Brunswick County because people were mean. I told him I didn’t think God worked like that; if He did he would go to
Las Vegas. He said, ‘Son, he’s already lost that crowd; he’s still got a chance in Brunswick County.’ Daddy farmed until he was 77 years old.” The dry cleaning job was not only good for Royal, it was good for the dry cleaner who was about to go bankrupt. He told Royal that the added business had pulled him over the hump and business grew so much he provided Royal with a truck to make pick-ups and deliveries and Royal had seven people working for him. Royal got a double degree in health and physical education and social studies and biology. He later earned his masters in school administration and biology, a subject he taught for five years. Cute Little Blonde During his coaching career at Nakina, his team played Whiteville “and a cute little blonde named Louise scored 29 points and they beat us,” Royal said. “After the game I congratulated her, we talked and things started developing. The Whiteville principal called her mother and said he didn’t think that coach ought to be dating her daughter. I went to see him; I told him I knew he was
concerned about his students but what we were doing was legal, and besides, I didn’t think it was any of his damn business.” That “cute little blonde” was Louise Fuller and her enrolling at Queen’s College in Charlotte might have been a deciding factor in Royal accepting a teaching/ coaching position in Mt. Holly, not too far from Charlotte. He fell in love with Mt. Holly and that cute little blonde. He married Louise and left Mt. Holly after three years to work with Whiteville City Schools as principal of Edgewood Elementary. George Arnold was superintendent and had approached him one weekend when he and Louise were visiting her family in Whiteville. The Mt. Holly school annual was dedicated to Royal the second year he was there. “I was like a breath of fresh air,” he said with a laugh. “They had a lot of old teachers and I was young.” He noted that Mt. Holly’s principal was a mountaineer “and one of the toughest I’ve ever seen. He came after the school fired the football coach and the school went on strike.” First to Integrate
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He was everyone’s friend because he talked everyone’s language and was interested in and understood their situations.
After C.W. Duggins became Whiteville superintendent and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court ruled that several schools had to come up with an integration plan, Royal and Duggins started working on a plan. The first year, one black teacher integrated each school.
Later, Edgewood became the first fully integrated public school in southeastern North Carolina, and second only to the federal schools at Camp Lejeune. Royal said 11 black teachers and more than 200 black students came to Edgewood during the 1966-67 school year.
Instead of an elementary school, Edgewood had become a primary school as fourth, fifth and sixth graders moved to the old school attached to the auditorium on Whiteville High’s campus. “We didn’t have a school to pattern our integration plan after,” Royal said. “We had to blaze our own trail.” Apparently the right decisions were made because integration came to Whiteville City Schools with little or no problems. “We worked day and night designing a curriculum that would fit the situation, and it was extremely successful,” Royal recalled. “We
became the pattern; everybody came to see what we were doing and we had so many school people coming to look at our plan we had to schedule and limit visitations.” Some years later Royal learned that blacks were as skeptical about integration as whites. When he was running for city council he visited Frances Jones at her home to ask for her support. She was one of the initial 11 integrating teachers and she told him: “You didn’t hate to see us come nearly as bad as we hated to go. Eleven of us met in this very room and prayed that God would protect us through the next day; then we met back here the next night and thanked God for getting us through that first day.” “She was highly respected,” Royal said of Jones. “You have to be color blind to be an effective school leader.” Popular Principal Royal was a popular principal with his staff, students, their parents and the community. He had a way of communicating with everyone and they responded in kind. He was everyone’s friend because
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he talked everyone’s language and was interested in and understood their situations. Students were delighted when he sometimes rode his mini-bike down the hallways and waved to them. They pushed and shoved to be on the front row to peep through the glass into his office during recess and lunch break. They enjoyed him on the playground and were thrilled to be greeted by “Mr. Royal” in the hallway. There were students who cried when the fourth, fifth and sixth graders had to leave “Mr. Royal’s School” to attend school on the high school campus. Much to the disappointment of many, Royal left his Edgewood principalship after eight years to become director of the Columbus County Schools Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) federal program. “Superintendent John Hicks and I were in Rotary together and he kept after me to move to the county schools,” he said. “I was very happy at Edgewood but I took the ESEA job.” $5 Million Budget And a job it is. He manages a multi-million dollar budget and distributes federal funding for several sections of the ESEA, including low income and disadvantaged, training teachers and principals and recruiting and employing additional teachers, English as a Second Language, migrant education, homeless education, the Indian program and a Title II program that aids in recruiting principals and teachers and monitoring beginning teachers. Royal had his first audit in seven years in midApril and passed with flying colors, with compliments from the auditors. ESEA Title I (No Child Left Behind) is the largest federal aid to education, Royal said. “Columbus County Schools use these funds to employ additional teachers to help reduce class size, add many in-house reading and math programs, develop comprehensive parent activities that are required, purchase programs such as Success Maker and Waterford, update computer labs in each school with trained lab managers and professional development for everyone. It supports the county technology program, purchases supplies and materials, and the list goes on.
With all of the state cuts and the fact that we receive such low funding from our county commissioners, these funds are so important. Brunswick County commissioners provide $2,400 per student, Bladen gets about $1,000 and Columbus gets $640, less than any county in southeastern North Carolina.” Last of the Originals ESEA began in 1966 and Royal said he is the only person in the nation who started then and is still working with the program. During his career he has worked with 11 superintendents. ESEA Title I started the kindergarten program and the state finally took it over, Royal said. It also started the nursing program, trainable classes and social workers program. “I had seven nurses and seven social workers,” he said. “We were beginning a lot of things.” Royal said being able to assist those who need help is rewarding and he appreciates the positive feedback he gets. A college student, classified as “homeless” while in high school, once wrote to tell him how much he had helped her get through high school. The county system now has about 30 students qualified as “homeless.” Some of the programs under ESEA require a parent committee and Royal said he enjoys working with them. He’s especially fond of the Title VII (Indian program) committee. Title I equipped and staffed Success Maker labs, purchasing most of the schools’ computers and providing lab managers. Students go to the labs three times a week to work on supplementary reading or math, or both, and the program pays for all of the information technology people. Migrant education is a big part of the program, with roughly 800 Hispanics in the system and 250 classified as migrants entitled to all kinds of special services. “We have a migrant parent meeting every month and we have to have an interpreter,” he said. “I told them to pinch me when I need to stop talking and sometimes I’m red where they pinch me,” he said with a laugh. “I’m probably the last person in the state who goes into a classroom and sits on the floor when they read to me.”
Enjoys Parent Committees Royal said there are 454 Siouan Indian students, with most living in the eastern end of the county. “There are three full time Indian tutors and they have made tremendous progress,” he said. “Our Indian students have the highest standardized test scores of any of the 17 programs in the state, and I contribute that to our Indian parent committee. Closest to us are Cumberland and Wake counties.” The Indian parent committee is the only one that has legal power and Royal recalls that the late Roscoe Jacobs was its first chairman. “We became lifelong friends and I depended on him a lot when we were developing the Native American student program,” he said. School population has changed drastically during the past few years. “In 1976 there were 9,000 students in the county system; now there are 6,200 and Whiteville has 2,400. Now there are 600 in charter schools, 100 in private schools and 425 are home-schooled.” Why did Royal choose education as a profession and why has he stayed in it until he’s facing his 80th birthday? “I can’t imagine doing anything else,” he said. “I like to motivate children. My goal is to try to get families and children on the right track, and that is a real challenge. I have worked with thousands of children in these programs and tried everything that’s come on the market to help them. They’re mostly good if properly monitored.” Triple Surprise Royal said when he was 59 he considered retiring within a couple of years to spend time on the farm in Brunswick County. However, a surprise announcement that he was about to become grandfather to triplet girls changed not only his plans but also the way of life for the entire family. “I tell people I was BT and now I’m AT — before triplets and after triplets.” Their oldest son Fuller and his wife Janet are parents of the triplets, now rising college seniors. Lillie is an education major at Meredith, Allison is majoring in art illustration and Sarah is majoring in social work, both at East Carolina University. Their sister Natalie is a rising Whiteville High
freshman. “Fortunately for the girls, Fuller and Janet are superb parents, but it’s a real challenge. It’s made me more conscious of what goes on in school,” he said. Education Family “Our family is education oriented,” Royal said. “Louise is one of the best classroom teachers and I have benefited greatly by the many things she shares. She has made me a stronger person, more knowledgeable and a better educator. When I have to make a talk I have the ideas and she puts it together for me. She had a private kindergarten for many years. “We were married when she was 19 but she went back to college,” he continued. “She had big kindergarten classes but she went to Southeastern Community College at night, then earned her undergraduate and masters degrees at UNC Pembroke. She was a public school teacher for several years and was assistant principal at Whiteville Primary when she retired.” He noted that Louise’s sisters Virginia and Helen are also retired teachers and his son Fuller taught for several years. Helen’s husband Jerry Holden, who is Royal’s cousin and brother-in-law, is a retired teacher and principal, and granddaughter Lillie is pursuing an elementary education degree, so the family is steeped in education careers. He also pointed out that Louise is one of the best people he knows at motivating underprivileged children. He told a story about a child who badly needed a bath and change of clothes. Louise was taking him home and suggested he hang his coat out the window to air it out. However, the child failed to hold on to the coat it blew away. “She took him to a store and totally outfitted him in new clothes, shoes, jacket — the works — and he was so proud.” The Royal Boys The Royals’ sons, Fuller and Sam, inherited their parents’ creativity, adventuresome spirit, personable characteristics and work ethic. There was never a dull moment in their home, which is the Fuller house where Louise grew up. Built in 1905, it is a large, rambling two-story house with a wrap-around porch located on a
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sizeable lot. Their lives have been filled with interesting “projects.” “From the very day that they were born, two years apart, our sons have been a complete joy to us,” Louise said. “Growing up, they were constantly ‘Intuit.’ Our house was filled with their friends from everywhere, any time of the day or night. They had their own cookie cabinet and another area designated for them and their friends in my refrigerator. The standing order was fill the ice trays when you use the ice!” Louise noted that they used the riding lawn mower, tractor Army jeep and wore out about six bikes each. The Royals’ yard was a museum of specimens of various living things, old bottles, coins, pieces of broken china, magazine articles, uniforms, and the list goes on. They had an aviary that housed birds, rabbit hutches and a pond that was home for a large land turtle that deposited her eggs under the same log for a number of years. The boys had dogs, cats, kittens, puppies, gerbils, hamsters, canaries, parakeets, finches, rabbits, fish, lizards and more. Their bulldog Hobo, who had a habit of bringing
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his pregnant girlfriends home, was once the topic of a feature story that won a N.C. Press Association award. The Madison Street Times, a newspaper edited by Fuller and printed on a mimeograph machine in Louise’s kindergarten, was created and sold door to door for a nickel. The Royal boys and their friends made home movies for about four years, using an old hearse to haul their equipment. One notable film was “Grand Hotel,” filmed at Southeastern Community College. Another was “Gums,” filmed at Lake Waccamaw complete with a gigantic dorsal fin in a spoof of “Jaws.” Academy Awards were held each spring in the church fellowship hall. The boys participated in Scout activities, and learned how to crop; hang tobacco and their granddaddy showed them how to burn off farm land, kill hogs, make sausage and fire rifles and shotguns. They learned to fish, bog, shell, explore the woods and more while staying at the beach house at Windy Point. Fuller graduated from UNC Wilmington and became a teacher, serving Boys and Girls
Home, Whiteville High School and Columbus County Alternative School. He was an active member of Whiteville Rescue for many years and was Scoutmaster for nearly 100 active scouts. His photography has been recognized nationally and he is a staff reporter, photographer and page layout designer at The News Reporter. Sam was a student at Piedmont Community College and studied culinary arts at UNC Charlotte. While in school he worked with Eli’s in Charlotte and did catering events, including a 1,500-person spread honoring the King Tut opening at the Mint Museum. He continued working in Charlotte, then in Atlanta, Washington and Linville. Sam came home, and for 15 years he ran his own catering service here, The Epicurean Butler. He catered events from Wilmington to Charleston and from Columbus, Robeson, and Bladen counties. After a brief time in Florida, Sam came back to North Carolina. He remodeled his grandparents’ farmhouse and lives there on the farm. He works with a Myrtle Beach family as their house manager, planner and caretaker. In addition, he designs and redesigns homes for people all over the United States, designing rooms and houses with a specific purpose in mind and drawing new plans for the architect to follow. He is the greatest “Uncle Sam” in the world to his four nieces, and his mom says she loves holidays when he shows her what fine food looks and tastes like. Good Road to Travel “It’s been a good road to travel,” Royal said of his long and successful career, and he speaks fondly of being a Rotarian for 50 years, come June. In 1998 he was awarded the N.C. Association of Educators Support Administrator of the Year award. Royal was a founding member of the N.C. Association of Compensatory Educators that assists the N.C. Department of Public Instruction in coordinating the school federal program. He served on the Columbus County Arts Council for several years and was on the two-man committee that met with UCB officials and acquired the Columbus County Arts Center for $1. He also served on Whiteville’s City Council.
Twice he was a member of First Presbyterian Church where he taught the senior high class for several years, served as Sunday school superintendent and was on the board of deacons and board of elders. He has also been a First Baptist member twice, where he is currently. Royal says his parents were his biggest inspiration and recalls that his daddy once told him that the worst thing a person could do was become greedy over money, and added that within two or three days you could always find someone who had more money or a bigger house. His daddy also threw in that the American way of life was to buy something you don’t need with money you don’t have to impress someone you don’t like. In addition to his parents, Royal said his wife Louise has also been a big inspiration to him, along with his 11th grade English teacher, Katie McKeithan, his roommate Marvin, who would not let him drop out of college, and the late Sol Mann. “Sol never knew he inspired me,” he said. “He was a person who put his money where his mouth is when a person needed help.” Others who have inspired Royal are Susie Sumpter, his secretary for nearly 40 years, and Shirley Freeman, an Indian parent committee member and tutor. “She has kept me on schedule and kept me out of a lot of trouble,” he said of Sumpter. Retire? Maybe, Maybe Not “I am fortunate that my health is still good and I have a lot of energy,” said Royal. “I was the first to move into the new board of education building in 1972. I really enjoy working with the young people, and with Superintendent Alan Faulk. He is very energetic and innovative. One thing I like is, he won’t make a major decision without calling us all together to discuss it. “I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked,” he continued. “The groups I work with are so energetic and creative.” Royal says he’s somewhat a workaholic, and has worked every day of his almost 80-year life. And when that milestone birthday rolls around, he’ll decide if he will retire or keep working.
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special
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Something To Hope For Randolph Keaton understands the challenges faced by young people, and wants to see them succeed. by jefferson weaver
When Randolph Keaton left Ransom Township and his family’s home, he felt incomplete. Randolph grew up in the tightknit communities of East Arcadia and Sandyfield, with 11 siblings and his devoted parents, Willie “Buck” and Mildred “Wallie” Keaton. Like his siblings, he worked in the tobacco fields and farms of eastern Columbus. He went to school and church with people he’d known all his life. He looked forward to the day when he would follow his siblings and neighbors by moving away, getting an education and having his own career and family. Like many young African Americans in the rural South, he hated to leave home, but he saw it as his only chance. “Working what jobs we could find, I realized I wanted something more,” Keaton said. “I wanted to do well for myself and my family, but I wanted to help others as well.” Keaton has a son about to enter college; he and his wife Tiffany have a young daughter. “I do not want them to feel they have to leave home to be successful,” he said. He half-jokingly traces his desire to help others to his mother. When an older sibling, Jerome, was struck by a car on Halloween, Randolph was still in his mother’s womb. “She always taught us to help people,” he said, “and it’s proven that helping others helps you grieve. I think she put that in me while I was in her.” Keaton said that while he was somewhat aware of prejudice growing up, “it wasn’t like you might think. “We had white and black friends who were in the same boat that we were,” he said. “Everybody worked and did their best. We weren’t very aware of the struggle for civil rights, not like people were in other 60 | 954 | Spring 2014
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places. We were all taught to work, and work hard for what we wanted, not to complain. We didn’t know what so many other people had to go through to get what we had.” Keaton said his eyes were opened when he got a job with a water plant construction company. “In those days,” he said, “you could walk up on a job with a hardhat, your boots and your lunch, and go to work. It’s not like that anymore.” As he worked with blacks and whites from communities even more impoverished than his own, Keaton said he realized he needed an education. “There were no black supervisors,” he said. “This was as far as most of the workers would ever go.” “When you have to build a fire in a 55-gallon drum to stay warm,” he said, “it’s a tough job. And everyone
was happy to have the work.” Keaton joined the Air Force, for a number of reasons. “I wanted to build my skills,” he said. “I wanted to see some different places, and it was a good way to serve my country and pay for an education. There weren’t a lot of options available for young black men, and the military was a good one.” Opening eyes After a four-year stint in the service, much of which was spent at Pope Air Force Base near Fort Bragg, Keaton enrolled at N.C. A&T University, the state’s largest traditionally black school. “It was there my eyes got opened somewhat,” he said. “I learned about the struggles of Dr. Martin Luther King, and the work of Gandhi, and others. Until then I wasn’t
sure what I felt, but I knew I was incomplete. I had grown up, but I hadn’t matured.” Keaton was a student at A&T during the Greensboro Massacre, when Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi party members gunned down several people at a Communist Workers Party rally. “I was home for the weekend, as we all did when we could,” he said, “and saw it on the TV. I was shocked — we all knew those people, had seen them recruiting on campus. I couldn’t understand why someone would hate someone so viciously over their political views, or the color of their skin. This was the modern age — stuff like that wasn’t supposed to happen anymore. “Things were changing — there was still bigotry, of course. There always will be. But things were
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changing from what my siblings and parents had seen, and it was a new world. I wanted to be a part of that, and help other people the way people had helped me.” Path with a purpose Keaton said his life is evidence there is a reason for everything that happens. After graduation, Keaton went to work in human services. “There weren’t a lot of options available for political science majors,” he said. He worked in mental health, social services, and housing. He helped evaluate foster homes and parents. He worked as a Food Stamp clerk. He had a different perspective on many social issues than his urban co-workers. “People would help each other when they were down in the country,” he said. “If you needed something, a lot of times you didn’t have to ask — it would be handed over, no questions asked. “Everywhere a child went, there were people, white or black, to remind you who you were. ‘I know your momma and daddy,’ or ‘You better behave, or I’ll tell your parents,’ or ‘I know his family better
than that.’ There was accountability and caring at the same time.” By the time Keaton entered the social services field, he said, things were changing in the inner cities. “Crack cocaine had come into the picture,” he said. “There’s no single root to all the problems people face, but crack had a major effect. Where before there were occasionally children born with fetal alcohol syndrome, now we had lots of babies being born with drug addictions. Families were broken apart, and you need a family to help you grow and mature, to learn, to rely on in times of trouble. You learn as much by helping others as when they help you, but we were two and three generations in with some of these folks who didn’t know how to break through the barriers society had built —drugs, poverty and a lack of hope. “Now those children—the crack babies—are having children. There are different drugs now, but many of the problems are still the same or worse.” Keaton helped spearhead a financial independence program while he was with the Wilmington Housing Authority, helping wel-
fare families work their way into being homeowners and productive citizens. The key, he said, was family. “Let’s say you set up a plan, with reasonable goals,” he said. “Mom stays clean, and gets a good job. Well, if she’s having to get out of work to bail Junior out of jail, or because daughter got in trouble at school, it’s never going to work. The entire family has to help each other, and the entire family has to work toward that goal of independence.” Independence Independence is one of the driving goals of the Men and Women United for Youth and Families (MWUYF), a non-profit human service agency founded by Keaton at the suggestion of his sister Devoria. Keaton had returned home to Ransom Township and found the same thing he had seen in the inner cities — people with no hope, no jobs, no opportunities, and no idea how to make things better for themselves. “I’d see these guys standing on the porch drinking a beer in the middle of a weekday,” Keaton said
in an interview right after founding MWUYF, “and say ‘What’s going on?’ They’d say, ‘nothing’, and that’s about what it was. They had nothing, and didn’t know how to find anything.” What started as a two-person operation on a unfunded, faithbased non-profit established by his sister has grown. When MWUYF outgrew a borrowed office in Acme, Keaton and Company opened the Tri County Job Center on US 74-76 in Delco. The office grew from Keaton and two part-time employees helping people navigate the social services system and unemployment to a full-scale human services agency. A computer lab using donated machines helps clients search for jobs and take online classes, but without the distractions of social media and gaming sites. “When someone comes in here looking for work,” Keaton said, “they have to want to work, not pretend.” Today, the center has seven employees, a strong core of volunteers, and associations with numerous charitable and governmental organizations. Each caseworker has
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Quality is not just our name, it’s our commitment From small beginnings in 1949, away from Automobile Row in downtown Whiteville, Quality Motor Company was created by Carey Fleming, Jr. and Graham Walton. For 65 years it has been the local dealer for Ford Motor Company. When current owner Hamp Avant came on board as a salesman, the operation had been at its current location 20 years. Hamp literally had the auto business in his blood—his grandfather Homer Gause Avant started the first dealership in the county in Cerro Gordo in 1916, sold the first Ford and the first gallon of gas before filling stations arrived.
Hamp is pictured second from left on top row. Hamp grew up on Calhoun Street in Whiteville. He played Little League baseball and high school athletics. His Little League team was sponsored by Kramer’s Clothing Store; these days Quality Ford sponsors both baseball and soccer teams. When he graduated Whiteville High School in 1968, he went to Southeastern Community College, where the paint was barely dry on the new buildings. Not surprising because “community” is a word he takes to heart. Hamp married his high school sweetheart and developed an interest in sales. By 1976 he was at Quality Ford. With encouragement and mentoring by then owners Fleming and Walton, Hamp moved into management and was a principal in the dealership by 1985. “The employees—my people—are responsible for making the operation a success,” Avant said. “But the individual customer is the keystone in the local economy. Choices in purchasing directly affect local jobs and families.” For nearly seven decades, with the strong Ford brand and sincere customer loyalty, Quality Ford has provided the finest cars, trucks and service to the local market. Owner Hamp Avant says: “It’s local commerce to support local jobs to invigorate a local economy that matters and everyone needs to understand the significance. Spend at home and it stays at home.” We invite you to stop by for a test drive or auto service. We would appreciate it.
1242 South Madison Street • Whiteville, NC 910-642-7121 • www.qualityford.com 62 | 954 | Spring 2014
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around 50 clients, most of whom are in the 16-21 year old range. The center is about to launch a parenting program to complement the children’s summer camps, as well as job training, re-training and other assistance. “We have a lot of in-kind partners,” Keaton smiled. “In-kind means no money, but assistance and support. That network is as important sometimes as funding.” Once again, Keaton’s theory about all things happening for a reason came true. The Job Center opened as the recession kicked into high gear; more and more clients came through the doors looking for help, and while the emphasis was still on helping young people break the cycle of poverty, there were skilled, experienced workers who had seen their careers vanish with plant closings who also needed assistance. “It has never mattered to me how old someone was — if they needed help, I needed to help them,” Keaton said. “That’s what we do.” The center has grown far beyond helping people learn about available benefits. MWUYF works with the Food Bank to provide groceries to needy families, and Keaton and his staff are constantly trying to find new corporate partners that are willing to offer internships, on-the-job training and job skills retraining. They work closely with the community college system, and recently founded a round table organization that brings law enforcement, the justice system, educators, and social workers together to discuss ways to “break down the barriers we sometimes build with our mistakes.” Having a solid support network solves many problems, Keaton said. “The individual needs family, church, his or her community, and friends. He needs to be able to work, so he has something to take pride in, a sense of accomplishment. Without these things, failure is a serious possibility.” “If a young man or woman sees no future,” Keaton said, “they’ll have no future. They’ll have no vision of anything beyond right now. Say he gets angry — his girlfriend’s using a baby against him. He has no skills. He gets angry and pushes her — she calls the cops, now he has a record. As many people as are out of work right now, can you imagine
how hard it will be for him to find a job? It’s not impossible, but it’s going to be hard.” Keaton said the center works to identify problems and barriers, then remove them. “A lot of it comes from the breakdown of the family, or a lack of a strong church background,” Keaton said. “If you don’t have those things, that’s a strike against you. If there is someone you can turn to for advice, you’re less likely to make a bad mistake.” Everyone welcome Unlike some human service agencies, Keaton said the center and MWUYF welcome clients who are making their way through the justice system. “That’s one reason for the new roundtable,” he said. “We can sit down with these young people and start working on the root of the problem. Is it drugs? We’ll get you some treatment. Is it anger management? We’ll work on that. Is it a lack of resources? We’ll help with that. And at the same time, we’ll work on finding someone who can be there for the person in need. “It won’t make the court problems or any other problems go away, but if you walk up in front of a judge with a drug charge and show no remorse and show no proof you’ve done anything about it, no indication that you truly don’t want it to happen again — he’s going to throw the book at you. We can’t make the consequences of your actions go away, but we can work toward making it somewhat easier to recover from them, and have a productive life.” Keaton can rattle off success stories that came from the center, with one of the most significant being a former volunteer who became a part-time worker, was hired for a better job, and now owns her own business. Others have come from broken homes, criminal cases, multi-generational families on public assistance, and other sad stories to find new jobs, establish families, and even help others in need. “My family taught me that for every problem, there is a solution,” Keaton said. “A lot of times, that solution is someone willing to reach out and give someone a hand — to give them something to hope for.”
5/7/14 3:50 PM
t 2 Short Term Rehab 1 2 Long Term Care 1
Now Offering Outpatient Therapy Services and Lymphedema Therapy
M Premier By the Lake
QR
Living and Rehab Center 106 Cameron Street Lake Waccamaw, NC (910) 646-3132
Medicare Supplements Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plans ACA Health Plans Let Us Assist You
Phil Collier, President 910.770.4151 Gina Collier, V.P. 910.770.4152
More Than a Pharmacy 24 HR. SERVICE
We Accept All Medicare
PART D DRUG PLANS 910-649-7721 路 649-6126 Fair Bluff, NC
Emily Lundy Thompson, R-Ph Spring 2014 | 954 | 63
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Whiteville Urgent Care & Family Practice, PA Lifetime Medical Weight Loss
THEN 11/16/13
NOW 04/17/2014
THEN 01/02/14
NOW 04/20/2014
370 lbs
321 lbs
270 lbs
221 lbs
Considering lap band or gastric bypass? TRY US FIRST
Most Insurances Accepted! Medical Weight Loss Physician supervised weight loss program! Contact: 910-538-6702 or 910-640-2009 64 | 954 | Spring 2014
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www.whitevilleurgentcare.com 5/7/14 3:51 PM
Taking New Patients Daily On Site Services Digital X-Ray Complete Physical Exam Minor Emergencies Job Injuries Hypertension Ultrasounds Echocardiogram IV Therapy Minor Lacerations Labs Drug Screening EKG Preventative Medicine Allergy Testing
“Let Us Help You Enjoy the Good Life”
We are a Primary Care Provider! 8am - 7pm - Open 7 Days a Week
Phone: 910.640.2009 • Fax: 910.640.3036
614 N JK Powell Blvd Whiteville, NC 28472 Spring 2014 | 954 | 65 www.whitevilleurgentcare.com 954.indd 65
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Enjoying Wine With Friends by Gary Kramer
Our wine club was conceived over breakfast at the cafeteria at Columbus Regional Hospital 15 years ago. My wife, Robin, was having a procedure done, and while she was in the OR, I went to get a bite to eat. As fate would have it, I was dining with a couple of my Doc friends. After some discussion, since we all enjoy wine, we decided to form a wine club. If you enjoy drinking wine and want to have some fun, why not organize your own wine tasting group? The main advantage of tasting wine with friends goes beyond the obvious social and educational experience. If you have decided that this is something that you want to try, here are a few suggestions. While there are no right or wrong answers, there are things that will make your grouptasting experience more enjoyable., Friends work best; however, you can use this as an opportunity to make new friends as long as everyone is on the same page. Keep the group small, as when you have too many, you can run into a seating and scheduling problem. Select individuals who have time to do this and are serious about wine. Meet only once a month and plan your meetings well in advance. It is best to schedule regularly rather than decide at the end of each session when and where the next one will take place. Schedule an organizational meeting to establish the “rules” for your tastings. It is best to assign one person or couple to host the event at their home and alternate among the group. It has been my experience that the host prepares any food accompaniments as well as being in charge of the wine. Select a theme for your tasting. Keep the theme simple, as the possibilities are endless. Some of the themes can be wines from certain regions. You can have comparisons of the same grape varietal from different wineries. You can also have blind tastings. Some type of food should be served. Food is used both to cleanse the palate and enhance the flavors of the wines. When the theme for the wine is determined, the host should start thinking about the food. Food flavors should be subtle, both in taste and bouquet. If the object is to also demonstrate proper food pairings, some research is warranted. Members should agree on the information that is to be presented at each tasting . My suggestion is not to go overboard with statistics as no one will remember them anyway after the tasting. I find it always helpful to have a handout of the wines tasted so members can have a reference and make their own tasting notes. My wine club is a great source of wine exploration and education for me. I hope you have as much fun with yours.
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Cheers!! Gary Kramer
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Now Accepting New Patients Dr. Thomas R. Kirby, Dr. J. Michael Geiger and Visionmasters welcome
Dr. Bobby Brownlow Specializing in Retina and Retinal Surgery
Dr. Bobby Brownlow
Dr. Thomas R. Kirby 910-641-0011
Ask about our early morning, evening, and Saturday hours
34A McNeill Plaza Whiteville, NC
Dr. J. Michael Geiger 910-642-3333
Dr. Bobby Brownlow 1-877-465-8346
Visionmasters 910-642-8688
If you like donuts, you’ll LOVE our fresh croissants
Sweet Glazed & Filled
Chocolate Apple Cinnamon
Lemon Cream Cheese White Cream Blueberry Strawberry Bavarian Cream
603 Jefferson St. Whiteville, NC
910-640-2626 Hours: Mon. - Fri. 6 am to 6 pm Sat. 7 am to 4 pm Spring 2014 | 954 | 67
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Medicine Mart
Pharmacies • Home Medical Equipment
Better Service • Better Selection • Better Prices • Better Health
Discount Prescriptions usually ready in 15 minutes or less Free Home Delivery Drive-thru Pharmacies Phone Bill Payment Station Home Medical Equipment Beds, Oxygen, Diabetic Supplies We gladly accept Medicare Part D plans, Medicaid, and most Insurance Plans! Tabor City Medicine Mart
220 S. Main Street Tabor City, NC 28463 (910) 653-4800
Koonce Medicine Mart 112 E. 7th Ave. Chadbourn, NC 284311 (910) 654-4194
Medicine Mart Home Health
218 S. Main Street Tabor City, NC 28463 (910) 653-3136
Medicine Mart Long Term Care 214 S. Main Street Tabor City, N.C. 28463 (910) 653 6802
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“Family owned and operated for 10 years”
3 GB of data
1 GB of data
CERTIFIED On-Site Phone Repairs
Page Plus Premium Agent Sheila B. Wright Owner-Manager
1619-B2 JK Powell Blvd. Whiteville 910-640-5565
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Health& Beauty Make Lifestyle Changes That are Forever by briana cahn
Spring has sprung and you are feeling more motivated than ever to exercise, eat better and live a healthier lifestyle. You are willing to give up the soda and tea and drink more water. You are also willing to eat less. You are looking forward to feeling more energetic and vibrant. You are really ready! Your mind is made up! You are willing to change your lifestyle to feel happy and be healthy. Lifestyle changes take patience and commitment. You can do it! In January 2014, I created the Mission SLIMpossible Weight Loss Challenge. Each week, for a total of 12 weeks, the participants would weigh-in and listen to a mini nutrition education session. Each participant also received a personalized meal plan to help them achieve their goal. It has been a huge success! The largest amount of weight lost by one individual was 40.4 pounds. Another participant
came in first place with 20.2 percent of her body weight lost. Participants have learned that in order to be successful at weight loss, you must have a plan. Set your goals. Write them down. Ask yourself why you want to reach these goals. You will have to work in order to achieve your goals. Take action, eat well, exercise more, drink plenty of water and decrease the sugar and alcohol in your diet. Take baby steps and you will succeed. Be patient and pat yourself on the back every step of the way for the positive changes you make. It is very important to be thankful and glad for what you can do. Appreciate what you have and love what you have. Help others achieve their goals. Believe in yourself. Be your biggest fan. Put your mind to it, and you will do it! (Cahn operates the Good Apple Weight Loss Center in Whiteville.)
ifts & Specia lty I G e u q i tems Un
Lee Lee’s
B O U T I Q U E 910.640.1784 April Malpass • Owner C 269 N , e l West O itevil l269 iveW.r OLIVER St., W STh WHITEVILLE, NC | 910.640.1784
ALEX AND ANI MADE IN AMERICA WITH LOVE®
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After your doctor, who should you trust . . . your pharmacist! When filling prescriptions and taking care of customers’ health needs is all you do, you’d better do it better than anyone else. And we think we have done it better than anyone since 1980! 607 Jefferson Street, Whiteville • 642-8141
C. Martin Scott II, C. Greg Williamson, Benton H. Walton, III and Carlton F. Williamson, Edward L. Williamson (1923 - 2013)
Serving Columbus County since 1953 • Personal Injury • Corporations/Business • Automobile Accidents • Traffic/DWI • Social Security Disability • Deeds & Real Estate • Wills & Estates
Williamson, Walton & Scott, L.L.P. ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Shop our new lighting website...
136 Washington St., Whiteville • 642-7151 attorneys@wwsfirm.com
LightsYourWay.com Spring 2014 | 954 | 71
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WHITEVILLE CITY SCHOOLS Everyone Committed to the Success of ALL Students
Tax Matters, Inc. Bookkeeping · Payroll · Tax Individuals All States Small Business Corporate Filings Sales Tax Reporting Open Year Round Bonnie M. Etheridge, Accountant
711 N Madison St, Whiteville 910-640-0946 Drop-Ins Welcome!
“Doctor’s offices for your family”
Empowering all students to reach their maximum potential for lifelong learning and productive citizenship. www.whiteville.k12.nc.us
&G G Healthcare, PC Saturday and Evening Hours are Available
805 South Madison St. Whiteville Phone: 910.642.2050 Fax: 910.642.0770
7490 Andrew Jackson Hwy Sw Cerro Gordo Phone: 910.654.2050 Fax: 910.654.1258
1112 Main St Fair Bluff
Phone: 910.649.7571 Fax: 910.649.6256
www.gandghealthcarepc.com
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Stay Calm. There’s A Century 21® Agent In The House.
Cheryl George, Amy Bailey, Frankie George, Mary Ann Allgood, Ann Brown, and David Carter *Not pictured: Darian Ransom
Amy B. Bailey Century 21 Pro Realty 1009 North J.K. Powell Blvd Whiteville 910.642.6137 910.642.0135 amy@c21prorealty.com Spring 2014 | 954 | 73
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JOE’S BBQ 50
celebrating years serving the very best bbq to columbus county and the surrounding area Daily Buffet 11-2 Friday and Saturday Nights 4:30-8:30 Sundasy 11-2 BBQ to order Mon-Sat
910-642-3511 910-642-2025
500 Greenhill Drive Whiteville (Behind Lowe’s)
Mon. - Fri. 9 am - 7 pm • Sat. 9 am - 6 pm 1134 S. Madison St., Whiteville • 640-3344
Cheschking Ca ervice S Save on . . . • Electronics • Jewelry Tools • Musical Instruments • Guns • Ammo TV’s · Small Appliances • Bicycles See Our Large Discount Jewelry Showroom Plus Much, Much More!
We B Scrap uy Gold
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Aaron Herring
Show
CAR WASH & DETAILING 910•640•1559 510 South Madison St., Whiteville, NC 28472
Before
After
The brands that you want. Locally.
New Arrival of SAS Shoes Men’s and Ladies Styles Available
703 South Madison Street · Whiteville · 910.642.5029 Spring 2014 | 954 | 75
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&
Entertaining
Cotillion Ball
Events
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1 - The Cotillion Club President, Butch Pope, and his wife Beverly 2 - Members Dennis and Sara Jones 3 - The 2014 Sons of Cotillion and Debutantes (left to right) Adam Bastug, Jesse Pridgen, Evan Priest, Madison Hege, Madelyn McCullen, Morgan Rooks, Meagan Rooks, Lauren Lynn and Molly High 4 - The band, Soul Play 5 - The presentation of the 2014 Debutantes by their fathers and the Sons of Cotillion 6 - Morgan Rooks and Madison Hege 7 - Father-daughter dance Molly and Alan High
to submit an entertaining feature for the next 954 magazine: Call 910.642.4104
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Department of Aging Senior Prom 2014
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Entertaining
Events 3
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1 - Amanda Harrelson and Margie Suggs shag to beach music favorites. 2 - Pat Roby (black stripe) and Lucy Frink (pink dress) lead line dancing. 3 - Patsy Parker 4 - James Dew and Rachel Bernard 5 - Bishop Harvey and Letha Williams 6 - Karen Gore, base guitarist for Woodrow and The Dockers, performed for guests at the Senior Prom.
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Shriner’s Golf
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1 - Robb Conway hits a tee shot. 2 - Matt Wilson putts for his team which includes his brother, T.J. Wilson and Kiley Hinson. 3 - (left to right) Junior Nance, Kayla Thompson, Rob Conway and Kenny Stanley 4 - (left to right) David Stevens, Eddie Hammonds, Stanley Carter and Jason Young 5 - Tom Stanley
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&
Entertaining
Events
Whiteville Junior Woman’s Club Diamond Ball
1 2
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1 - Whiteville Junior Woman’s Club members attending the 4th Annual Diamond Ball 2 - WJWC members April Tedder, Stephanie Miller, and Crystal Duncan on the dance floor with Natalie Frazier, Tori Wilson and April Malpass. 3- (Left to Right) Amanda Teddar, Stephanie Miller and Crystal Duncan 4 - (Left to Right) Crystal Duncan and Rachel Smith greet guests.
May Saturday, May 31, 2014 Tenth Annual Bass Tournament at Lake Tabor Starts at 6:00 a.m. and weigh-in at 2:00 p.m. Sponsored by the Greater Tabor City Chamber of Commerce June Friday, June 13 WCHS Graduation Ceremony begins at 6:00 p.m. in WCHS auditorium WHS Graduation Ceremony begins at 9:00 a.m. in WHS gym 78 | 954 | Spring 2014
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Calendar of Events
Saturday, June 14 ECHS Graduation Ceremony begins at 11:00 a.m. in ECHS auditorium SCHS Graduation Ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m. in SCHS auditorium
Saturday, June 14 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Summer Vegetable Day at Columbus County Farmer’s Market Cooking demonstrations, free recipes and samples of grilled summer vegetables
July Thursday, July 3 Columbus County Fireworks Celebration at SCHS Admission is free and gates open at 6:00 p.m. Enjoy food, entertainment and fireworks. Friday, July 4 – Independence Day Saturday, July 12 Watermelon Day at Columbus County Farmer’s Market Free recipes and sample
5/7/14 3:51 PM
Launch of Dreams – DREAM Center 2
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Entertaining
Events 3
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1 – Ophelia Anderson, Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley, Andy Anderson and Carol Caldwell 2 – Mitchell Tyler 3 – County Commissioner Amon McKenzie 4 – Mitchell Tyler, Sherry Prince, Beasley, Anderson, Caldwell and Representative Kenneth Waddell 5 – Suzanne King recognizes DREAM Center participants
Sunday, July 13 Watermelon Festival Events: North Carolina Watermelon Festival Scholarship Pageant in Fair Bluff Sponsored by: Fair Bluff Watermelon Growers Association, Inc. Friday, July 18 – Sunday, July 20, 2014 North Carolina Watermelon Festival Events Southern Watermelon Delight Dinner, entertainment and watermelon delights July 18 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Fair Bluff Baptist Church Christian Life Center
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Calendar of Events
Watermelon Street Dance in Downtown Fair Bluff following the Delight dinner on July 18 at 9:00 p.m. North Carolina Watermelon Festival and Parade July 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Watermelon challenges, food, entertainment, arts & crafts vendors in downtown Fair Bluff. Take The Lake Events at Lake Waccamaw Saturday, August 23 Take The Lake X-TREME Starts at 6:00 a.m. at Dale’s Seafood 48 miles of cycling, running,
biking and swimming around Lake Waccamaw in one day. Saturday, August 30 – Monday, September 1 Take The Lake Personal Endurance Challenges Free events held over Labor Day weekend at Lake Waccamaw Saturday – 15-mile walk/run around Lake Waccamaw Sunday – 14-mile kayak and 12-mile bike around Lake Waccamaw Monday – 4-mile swim across Lake Waccamaw Monday, September 1 - Labor Day Spring 2014 | 954 | 79
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to Columbus
visitors
by robb cross
1—Bishop Francis Asbury, Methodist missionary, preached at Lake Waccamaw in 1785. 2—Notorious outlaw Henry Berry Lowrie was secreted a hacksaw blade by his wife and managed to escape the jail in Whiteville in 1866.
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3—Gutzon Borglum stopped for visit in 1925. He would abandon the Confederate Memorial Carving at Stone Mountain, Ga., that year. 4—The Philadelphia Bobbies all-girl baseball team came to Whiteville for an exhibition game in 1926.
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5—Baseball great Ty Cobb was longtime friend of local tobacconist Harry Lea and arranged summer work for his son in Lea’s Warehouse at Whiteville in the 1930s. 6—Aunt Jemima in the form of actress Anna Robinson came to Evans grocery in Whiteville on a promotional tour in 1950. 7—Oprah Winfrey is a regular visitor to the St. James community, having fellowship with the friends and family of partner Stedman Graham.
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8—Feminist Gloria Steinem came to speak at Southeastern Community College in 1989.
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Come see our new store and growing boat yard. Over 100 boats in stock!
Sales • Service Brokerage
Eastern Carolinas Largest Stocking Dealer
910-755-7900 • Hwy. 17 Supply, NC Spring 2014 | 954 | 81
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Largest Selection in the Area of Ford Trucks and SUVs
Your Columbus County Connection at Lumberton Ford AMON MCKENZIE
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JUNIOR DEW
Exit 22 off I-95
866-318-8621 5/7/14 3:51 PM
Over 225 Combined Years Of Experience Serving Your Legal Needs Since 1932 Auto Accidents Medical Malpractice Business Law Nursing Home Abuse Criminal Defense Real Estate Civil Litigation Social Security Domestic Law Wills and Estates DWI & Traffic Workers’ Compensation Estate Planning Wrongful Death Major Felonies Banking/Collection/Creditor Bankruptcy
Tabor City, NC
Whiteville, NC
Supply, NC
(910) 640-0876 706 N. Madison Street
(910) 653-HELP Corner 4th & Lewis Streets O. Richard Wright, Jr. Dennis T. Worley Paul J. Ekster Boyd T. Worley
Napoleon B. Barefoot, Jr. Preston B. Hilton Rick S. Parrotte
North Myrtle Beach, SC
Wilmington, NC
Surfside Beach, SC
Harold "Butch" Pope Dennis T. Worley Paul J. Ekster Kenneth R. Moss
(843) 281-9901 628A Sea Mountain Highway Kenneth R. Moss Melanie C. Nicholson
(910) 200-2677
228 North Front Street, Suite 101-B Elizabeth Wright Embrey
(910) 754-2816 52 Physicians Drive
(843) 281-9901 825 5th Ave N
Michael T. Smith Kelly Sansone-Galley
We are your full service LOCAL legal team, where the tradition and experience of yesterday meet the insight of today
www.wwpemlaw.com
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At Southeastern Health, we believe excellent healthcare is a partnership — a partnership between us and you. We’re here not only to take care of you when you are sick, but also to help you maintain and take control of your own health so you can continue your path to a happier, more fulfilling life. Throughout Southeastern Health — from over 40 primary and specialty-care clinics to the nationally recognized services of Southeastern
Regional
Medical
Center — we’ve
developed
programs and processes that make healthcare more convenient, more personal and better tuned to fit your life. We call it UCare; you’ll call it healthcare the way it should be.
www.southeasternhealth.org
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