SENC Fall 2016

SE FALL 2016

North Carolina

Chasing THE PARANORMAL BASEBALL’S BACK Pro minor league team to return in 2017

wonders of bladen lakes The beauty, the mystery

fran’s fury Recalling one of SENC’s most destructive storms

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Editor’s Note

The Farthest Outpost

SE North Carolina www.sencmag.com Issue No. 8

Staff / Credits / Contributions PUBLISHER Jim Sills EDITOR Todd Wetherington ASSOCIATE EDITOR Trevor Normile PRODUCTION/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Becky Wetherington Content & Photography L.E. Brown, Jr. Jacqueline Hough Michael Jaenicke Nadya Nataly Trevor Normile Gary Scott Todd Wetherington CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHY/art Jamie Corbett Joseph Dixon FEMA News Kia McMillan Jerry Reynolds

My first childhood home wasn’t here in North Carolina, but in rural Pennsylvania, in Lancaster County.

That’s “Lan-kiss-ter,” not “Lan-cass-ter,” where the creek was also a “crick” or, at times, a “brook,” where the horses and buggies didn’t quite rule the road, but you knew where they had been. It was a place of much sauerkraut and beaucoup potato chips.

Reading Todd Wetherington’s rousing account of the Green Springs waterpark, operated by one George Wetherington (they’re probably related, but we’re not sure how), I was reminded of my childhood hangout in the woods near our family’s old house, in the Conestoga area of Lancaster County.

Past the plum trees and cherry trees, apples and pears, past the yard and down some paths deep into the forest—past the tree with a bend that looked like a pig’s face—was the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, a place of refuge that stood in defiance of all logic and reason.

Gloriously, it sat at the center of that sacred clearing: the rust-covered hood from a Chevrolet pickup, propped up by a tree.

Who dragged it there? Where was the

Advertising Becky Cole Alan Wells Evelyn Riggs Gary Scott CIRCULATION Lauren Guy SUBSCRIBE: Four issues (one year) $19.95 plus tax lguy@ncweeklies.com

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North Carolina rest of the truck? Does this count as a clubhouse and if so, who gets to claim it?

The hood became our own McMurdo Station, our farthest outpost, the final destination, we all believed, before the forest collapsed into a deep ravine. Convinced that certain death lay deeper in the woods, we were too scared to venture past it.

My family moved down South when I was still a boy and I missed my friends at school, but I’ve gotten over that and so have they.

A few of the neighbor kids moved to Florida, and then out West. One died.

One deleted me on Facebook, another never logs on. Another grew up and turned Wiccan; she is as selfless and sweet as when we were children.

Things have changed and that mysterious place in the woods is gone. Someone bought the property and built a house there, with ugly blue siding and a yard that slopes goofily into the lame ravine that so terrified us years ago.

I know someone had to lug that rusty, miserable hood out of the woods, and they probably cursed while they did it.

Good. That’s what they get.

I’d rather see it burn than let the bluesiding people keep it. As an adult, yes, I understand, things change. And yet the irrational, childish things nag at me.

How dare they change the setting of my childhood? How dare they uncover the ravine? I bet they didn’t even save the pig-faced tree.

I bet they even say “Lan-cass-ter.”

CONTACT senc.ads@nccooke.com senc@nccooke.com 1.910.296.0239 ON THE COVER Kindred Spirits Paranormal Investigations team Photo by Trevor Normile 4

SouthEast North Carolina

Trevor Normile, Assoc. Editor Fall 2016

Mystery Photo Where in SENC is this?

Where in SouthEast North Carolina is this?

A quick explanation, in case it’s needed: Every quarter, SE North Carolina includes a cropped-down version of a landmark or scene in one of SENC’s many signature communities.

Try and guess where and what this photo shows.

Hint: Unveiled in May 2012, this colored glass art installation was inspired by an old abandoned millstone.

See page 72 for answer

Where we are this fall!

CUM

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Look for features or mentions of these places in SE North Carolina: ATLANTIC BEACH 70 • BLADEN COUNTY 44 • CAPE HATTERAS 41 • CAROLINA BEACH 41 • CLINTON 33, 72 • CURRIE 66 • DUPLIN COUNTY 30 • ELIZABETHTOWN 45 • FAYETTEVILLE 11, 18, 71 • HAMPSTEAD 67 • HOLDEN BEACH 11, 41 • HOPE MILLS 11 • JACKSONVILLE 11, 22 • JAMES CITY 48 • KENANSVILLE 10, 70 • KINSTON 52 • MOUNT OLIVE 11 • NEW BERN 10, 11 • OCEAN ISLE BEACH 11 • RICHLANDS 70 • ROSE HILL 11 • SNEADS FERRY 31 • ST. JAMES 71 • TOPSAIL BEACH 41 • TURKEY 66 • WALLACE 14, 66 • WARSAW 9 • WHITE LAKE 45, 66 • WILMINGTON 10, 27, 38, 66

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WRECKER SERVICE • AUTO & TRUCK REPAIR 134 Measley Road, Kinston, NC 28504

Car Shop: 252.527.7893 Truck Shop: 252.527.2028

What they said Letters Finger-waggers alive and well I recently moved to N.C. from Maryland and after reading Trevor Normile’s article (summer 2016 issue) felt the urge to write my first letter to an editor. I think people here in N.C. are so friendly and that the finger-waggers are not dead in my neighborhood. I walk everyday and almost everyone actually waves to me and smiles. I love the friendliness of most everyone with whom we have come into contact. Keep up the great work everyone in welcoming newcomers to the area.

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Deb Russell Leland

More music!

Loved the article on Mojo Collins.

This state has so much really great music and people playing music. Hope to see some more interviews with music lovers and bands in the future. Keep rocking.

Tim Lee Kinston

Feedback: LET US HEAR FROM YOU

Southeast North Carolina Magazine is a publication of the Duplin Times and Cooke Communications North Carolina. Contents may not be reproduced without the consent of the publisher.

Send letters to SE North Carolina at senc@nccooke.com, or mail to Editor, SE North Carolina, P.O. Box 69, Kenansville, NC 28349.

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Contents Fall 2016

Features

In Every Issue

Snapshots

Legacy 14

18

Paranormal

9

44

A shot in the dark

Fayetteville Market House

Yonder

22

John Jones

44

A city’s divided history Sound advice

18

Bladen’s blasted basins

48

Aperture 30

Heroin Epidemic

Chasing the dragon

36

Hurricane Fran Remembered

38

Green Springs Water Park Building on a dream

52

Bladen County Meteor Lakes

Kinston Baseball

Minor league miracle

38

27

41

N.C. beaches best on East Coast

10

Playdates

58

Murmurs

70

People

Fall 2016

Sand and surf sensations

EXTRAS

74

Crocodilian damage control

Port of Wilmington Expansion

Cape Fear connection

Alligator Population

96 years strong

20 years after the storm

Warsaw Veterans Day

Upcoming concerts, theater and more in SouthEast N.C. Recording at the Edge: How far should we go?

Contributions and quirks from interesting people in our region

Folk

A Poking we shall Go

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For the love of sewing and embroidery Machines for the beginners & the professionals

2.9

Valiant

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On Any New KYMCO Scooter, ATV or SxS Purchased and Registered.

Destiny II MAR-CEL CO. INC HWY. 24 • CLINTON,NC 910-592-7796

Ann’s Sew N Vac 360 Faison Hwy Clinton, NC 910-592-8071

Among the Nation’s Top 5% Fewer patient safety incidents and better patient safety outcomes.

Recipient of Healthgrades® Patient Safety Excellence Award™ 8

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SE Snapshot

SE PICKS: Future Warfare

North Carolina

Warsaw Veterans Day Parade receives state recognition

Town is home to the official Veterans Day Parade of North Carolina

W

ith its 96th consecutive Veterans Day celebration just around the corner, the town of Warsaw has something new to cheer about — it is now home to the official Veterans Day Parade of North Carolina.

After receiving approval from the state House and Senate, a bill seeking the designation was signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory on June 24.

The bill recognizes the parade as the oldest continuously-held Veterans Day celebration in the United States and “should be recognized as the official State Veterans Day Parade.”

“Duplin County is located in the middle of the major military installations in North Carolina, and throughout its history has provided leaders for America’s military and veterans organizations, the most recent being General Dan K. McNeill, a native of Warsaw, and former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan,” the bill reads.

Warsaw began sponsoring an annual Veterans Day parade in 1921 and is gearing up for its 96th consecutive celebration Saturday, Nov. 5.

The parade includes rolling stock and color guard units from nearby military installations, high school marching bands, county fire, rescue and law enforcement and a host of clowns and stunt cars courtesy of the Sudan Shriners.

“Our Veterans Day parade is more

than just a parade, it’s the heart of Warsaw. To have it declared the official Veterans Day Parade of North Carolina means more honor for our veterans, and also helps put Warsaw on the map, so to speak,” says Dennis Riley, executive director of the Warsaw

F-35 Fighter Jet Despite heavy criticism over its cost, the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet is touted as the most versatile and lethal fighter of all time. The plane features versatile weapons, vertical landing capability and advanced sensors to allow a pack of F-35s to do battle together.

CornerShot Grenade Launcher Soldiers trapped behind cover and in other close-quarters environments no longer need to engage in blind-fire combat. The CornerShot sports a hinged frame that extends a grenade launcher (or other attachment) horizontally at a 60-degree angle, along with a digital camera under the barrel and a video screen for accurate targeting around corners.

MAARS Gunbot

Members of a U.S. Army Airborne unit march in formation during the 2014 Veterans Day Parade in Warsaw.

Chamber of Commerce.

Most importantly, says Riley, the recognition “highlights those who have sacrificed for our country.”

According to Riley, planning has already begun for the town’s 100th consecutive Veterans Day celebration, which will take place in 2020.

“We’re going to try to do something very special,” notes Riley. “We’ve got some things up our sleeves.” SE Fall 2016

The Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System (MAARS) is a remote-controlled gunbot that can be fitted with machine guns and grenade launchers, as well as less lethal weapons like tear gas.

It’s controlled by a person, for now at least. But by the middle of this century, U.S. Army soldiers may well be fighting alongside robotic squadmates.

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Play dates Upcoming things to do in southeastern North Carolina

Starring Cape Fear!

2 p.m. Tues.-Sat. & 1 p.m. Sunday ongoing through Feb. 26, 2017

Cape Fear Museum of History and Science, 814 Market St., Wilmington

Explore a colorful and interactive exhibit that highlights movie and television artifacts from works that were filmed in Wilmington.

Admission: $5-$8 Visit http://www.capefearmuseum.com/exhibits/ starring-cape-fear/ or call 910-798-4370.

Liberty Hall Christmas

by Candlelight tour FRI. & SAT., DEC. 2&3

6-8 p.m. Friday; 5:30-8 p.m. Saturday 409 S. Main St. (N.C. 11), Kenansville

Richard Dobbs Spaight:

Exhibit will focus on the first native-born Governor of North Carolina, his contributions to New Bern, the formation of the United States, and his legacy in serving the revolutionary cause during North Carolina’s early statehood.

Visit tryonpalace.org.

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The Wood Brothers SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9

North Carolina’s famous Kenan family’s ancestral home is dressed up in period holiday decoration.

Guided tours with historic characters telling tales of life in 1800’s eastern North Carolina. Admission $10.

Legacy of a North Carolina Founding Father 9 a.m. ongoing through Jan. 8, 2017 North Carolina History Center Duffy Exhibition Gallery, 529 S. Front St., New Bern. Free.

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Keb’Mo’ SUNDAY, OCT. 16 7:30 p.m.

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Fall 2016

6 p.m. - Brooklyn Arts Center at St. Andrews, 516 N. Front St., Wilmington

Performance by the “masters of soulful folk” and their beautiful collection of music focusing on longing and desire.

Admission $22-$33.

Visit brooklynartsnc.com

The Wilson Center, 703 N. Third St., Wilmington

Keb’Mo’ is one of the most versatile and engaging musical narrators on today’s Roots, Rock and Blues scene.

Admission: $35-$85 Visit cfcc.edu/ capefearstage.

Romeo and JuliLIT

SATURDAY, OCT. 15 • 7:15 p.m.

Dirtbag Ales, 3623 Legion Rd., Hope Mills.

Irreverent celebration of Shakespeare — over drinks while two star-crossed lovers force rival households together.

Admission: $50 Visit sweetteashakespeare.com.

The UMO Christmas

by Candlelight Service 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 & 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27 1:00 p.m.

Downtown Fayetteville. Free.

Horse-drawn carriages rolls down Hay Street carrying shoppers the old-fashioned way, past merchants’ windows adorned with beautiful Victorian holiday decorations, past artisans and vendors with all sorts of delightful treats.

Visit theartscouncil.com/dickensmain.

Hazel Waters Kornegay Assembly Hall, 207 Wooten St., Mount Olive. Free.

Christ-centered service patterned after the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, a traditional English evening service, which began in Cambridge in 1918. The service will include six scripture lessons, tracing salvation history; each reading will be followed by a carol.

Call 919-299-4582.

Fayetteville Comic Con

SAT & SUN, OCTOBER 15 - 16

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festivals celebrate!

10 a.m. - Crown Complex, 1960 Coliseum Dr., Fayetteville.

A celebration of comics, cosplay, gaming, collectible toys, anime, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead and/or Vampires.

Admission $15-$30.

Visit crowncomplexnc.com.

MumFest • 10 a.m. Oct.8-9 at downtown New Bern waterfront. Free.

MumFest includes street performers, ticketed and free music, entertainment for children, crafts, rides and much more; entertainment that everyone will enjoy. Visit mumfest.com.

Poultry Jubilee • TBD Oct. 7-8 at the World’s Largest Frying Pan, 512 East Main St., Rose Hill. Free.

Celebration of the poultry industry in the region wtih carnival rides, contests, live performances of The Castaways, Gary Lowder & Smokin’ Hot Band, The Tams and more.

Visit thenorthcarolinapoultryjubilee.com.

36th annual N.C. Oyster Festival • 9 a.m. Oct. 15 and 10 a.m. Oct. 16 at Ocean Isle Beach, 8 East Second St., Ocean Isle Beach. Admission $5.

Celebration of the Brunswick County and Ocean Isle Beach oyster industry. Email mbishop@ brunswickcountychamber.org.

Onslow Oktoberfest • 10 a.m. Oct. 20-22 at Riverwalk Crossing Park, 421 Court St., Jacksonville. Free.

Performances by German bands, The Foothills Oompah Band and Midnight Allie. Wine and beer tastings, glow run, food and children’s activities.

Visit onslowco.org/oktoberfest.

Dogwood Fall Festival • 6 p.m.

Oct. 27-29 at Festival Park in Fayetteville.

Free.

Three-day festival with two days of live music and refreshing craft and domestic beer. Also includes historic hauntings, haunted house, hayrides, and Fayetteville’s Food Truck Festival. Visit faydogwoodfestival.com.

N.C. Festival by the Sea • 9 a.m.

Oct. 29-30 down the Holden Beach causeway in Holden Beach. Free.

Only day of the year visitors can walk across the Holden Beach bridge and take pictures of the waterway. Hosting a children’s costume contest, sand sculpting contest, street dance, and a womenless beauty pageant with arts and crafts and lots of food.

Visit greaterholdenbeachmerchants.com.

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SE Legacy

North Carolina

BUMP IN THE NIGHT

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Kindred Spirits Paranormal Investigations works to bring science and legitimacy to their hunt for the paranormal. Call them investigators, call them volunteers. Just don’t call them ghost hunters. We spent a night with KSPI at a reportedly haunted farm to learn about their craft.

Market 18 House

The right-now is fickle, but history is not. How do communities rationalize what was, with what should be? Like it or not, Fayetteville’s famous Market House is a historic site that represents both the best and the worst of our state’s history.

John Jones

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The Joneses are musically affixed to southeastern North Carolina, from education to entertainment. John Jones recently brought a new program to Raeford Brown’s Monday slot to give local musicians a shot at the airwaves. Take a peek inside the studio.

Summer Fall 2016 2016

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se • aperture

A signal from

BEYOND

SEARCHING FOR THE REAL PARANORMAL

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STORY AND PHOTOS BY TREVOR NORMILE

ig fish stories aside, there really is nothing more honest than fishing.

Set aside the gadgets, the lures, the stratagems—it comes down to the angler, the water and a chance at a bite.

But fishing doesn’t come with a guarantee. If it did, fishing wouldn’t be much of a sport, would it?

“It is [frustrating], but it’s not.

Do you get frustrated if you go fishing and don’t catch anything, or do you enjoy your day out on the lake?” quipped Justin Elliott, head of Wilmington-based Kindred Spirits Paranormal Investigations (KSPI).

The team just finished a 10-hour overnight investigation at their “home base” at Legacy Farms, in

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KSPI uses video surveillance to record evidence. The goal is to debunk or prove.

Fall 2016

Wallace.

It’s 4:45 a.m. and Elliott, covered in sweat and bug repellent, is packing up the group’s gear. He has to be on a crab boat in four hours (he has some actual fishing to do), and it’s time to call it a night.

That evening, I joined KSPI as they attempted to find evidence of the hereafter—literally, evidence that things remain here after they are supposed to be gone. Ghosts, if you like.

“We use this place to keep ourselves fresh, because we’ve been investigating here steady for over two years now,” explains Joe Ameri, personnel manager for the group.

Ameri’s also charged with caring for the agritourism farm’s grounds, and running its annual Halloween

celebrations. At night though, the Members consist of Ameri, 39, farm is KSPI’s practice range.

Elliott, 30, and two others: Shan“We constantly come up with non Lacombe, a 38-year-old high new stuff, constantly new things school drama teacher and Clark are happening, and a lot of the Coyle, a 25-year-old who works as same [paranormal events]. If we a guard at a nuclear power plant. don’t have anything lined up, we’ll KSPI formed a few years ago go ahead and do an investigation when Elliott’s former investigahere,” he says. tions group visited the farm. He Even KSPI’s training nights have opportunities “Just like anything else, the and Ameri struck up a friendship for excitement. Team members also hone their more repetition you do, the more and later formed their own group. debunking skills. The team recently visited Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Kentucky. you know to look for [explanaThey hoped to legitimize the field, tions]. I stay here three or four which has grown in popularity. days out of the week and I experiThe group says still it struggles farm on field trips. ence new stuff all the time.” against the varnish of popular culAt about 8 p.m., settled into the Located outside Wallace on N.C. ture. farm’s event center building, the team 41, Legacy Farms consists of an old And not without good reason; explained their methods for capturing farmhouse and its outbuildings, television shows like Ghost Hunters what is, most assume, uncaptureable. restored to former grandeur by new have garnered as much criticism from “We’re very open, we don’t want owner Justin Hamilton around 2005. skeptic organizations as acclaim from to hold secrets, and what you see is Despite its reputation for being audiences. what you get—face value. Anything haunted (it even holds annual HalKSPI admits their work — and what that’s done, we have an audience,” loween events), the farm has become they do is hard work — is left field.

Ameri explains, as the team sits a local landmark, with school children But if there is something speaking around a table decompressing from often visiting its two-acre educational to us from the edges of nullity and the work day. existence, KSPI suggests the scientific method is the only way to study it, imperfect a tool as it may seem.

“Everything we use is used for something else. If there was somebody out there who could make a device that finds ghosts, or spirits, or demons, they’d be millionaires. We can’t do that, so we don’t know,” Ameri says.

“We have to use things that are made for other stuff, made for electricians, made to pick up energy fluctuations.”

The team’s toolset consists of the usual items, cameras, tape recorders and the like. They also use the popular K-II detector, a device used to pick up electromagnetic fields, which some believe signify the manifestation of a spirit.

The KSPI investigators also use chilJustin Elliott, Joe Ameri and Clark Coyle (left to right) of KSPI examine a bone found dren’s toys and a device called a “ghost in the woods during an investigation at Legacy Farms. A group of history and nature box” during their inquiries. The team says buffs, the team seems to enjoy walking in the woods as much as they do chasing doodles have appeared on their off-brand haunts. Legacy Farms also capitalizes on its haunted reputation.

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Etch-a-Sketches during investigations, though they seem to think the claims made by users of radio-scanning “ghost boxes” are exaggerated — sometimes the simple ways are the best.

Still, it’s the method that counts most, or else no amount of equipment can prove a thing.

So, the investigators go dark the moment their session begins.

Cell phones and other devices that can produce alternating-current electromagnetic signals are switched off or placed in airplane mode, so as not to trip their EMF sensors.

For the sound recorders, which KSPI runs in hopes to pick up disembodied voices, the team endures a particularly painstaking method, announcing each time a nose is scratched or throat is cleared. Elliott demonstrates his digital recorder’s sensitivity—it easily picks up the sound of team members breathing.

“We want to find the real paranormal, we don’t want to be like the television shows where everything’s a ghost. No, everything’s not a ghost,” Elliott says.

Across the table, Ameri adds the rules are used to prevent, as much as is humanly possible, contamination of the evidence.

“Even as much as we do it, we still forget about stuff like that.

‘Oh, we’re in the middle of the woods, why’s this happening?’

Then it’s like, you hear a ‘ding’ from someone’s phone and it’s, ‘who’s got their cell phone on?’ You have to dismiss everything that happened up until that point. Whether that cell phone caused it or not, you don’t know.”

By 9 p.m., night has finally fallen over Legacy Farms, and work can begin. Cameras are set up in the farm’s buildings.

Lacombe, who is still new to the group but who professes to have experienced the paranormal in her own life, sits down at a computer to log events.

Hers is probably the simplest, though most vital, job of all — staying awake and writing down the times of events as they’re reported via radio, while the others explore. Logs also help rule out EMF sensor readings, which can be caused by radio transmissions.

Lights out The forest in July, at night, is the same at Legacy Farms as anywhere else around here.

It’s hot, sticky and full of things that bite. This is why houses were invented.

But with recurring claims of odd activity in the woods behind Legacy Farms, the KSPI team douses themselves in DEET and begins their investigation outdoors.

“This place is...haunted. There’s definitely activity here. But we can be out here all night and nothing happens,” Ameri says.

“There’s a lot of history in this whole area, history on this land right here at the farm, all the way back to slave plantations, Indians. They’ve dug up so much stuff in this area its amazing.

“I’m sure right now we could go out there with a backhoe, find a random place and dig and we’ll find something.”

It’s not surprising, since the area was inhabited by settlers much earlier than the American Revolution, and by Native

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Americans even earlier.

We tramp around through the underbrush, past a mock graveyard, deep into the woods. With just a faint glow of starlight visible through the treetops, the team stops, kills their lights, and takes a seat in the underbrush. Time to catch an EVP. Short for “electronic voice phenomenon,” EVP are a standard form of evidence touted by investigators of proof of disembodied intelligence.

Above the sound of night critters skittering and chirping in the trees, Justin Elliott asks, “Is there anyone out here in the woods Joe Ameri of KSPI ventures out onto the farm on the evening with us? We’ve been hearing some of the group’s investigation. His sounds out here, we’re wondering if perhaps that’s you, walking along with us?”

“Chitter-chitter-chitter,” the frogs and insects respond.

No ghost, at least on my tape. It could be some time before the team finds out too—it takes up to four hours to listen through each hour of recorded audio, since investigators will spend their time listening, rewinding and listening again.

Combined with a 10-hour investigation, that’s 50 hours total dedicated to searching for something that might not even be there (though the team members do identify as “skeptical believers”).

“If you’re out here with us, we’d like to know,” says Clark Coyle, the flashlight on his forehead doused after searching for the source of movement heard in the trees.

“Touch one of these [EMF meters], that would be one way to let us know that you’re here,” he adds.

No jump on the K-II, nothing on my tape but a critter in the distance chattering.

“I keep feeling like I’ve got eyes on me,” Coyle mutters to Elliott and Ameri a few moments later.

And he probably does. Even though the spirits keep their distance, we stumble upon a doe that has been watching us from afar. We spend an hour or two traipsing before leaving for the farm house, eventually settling in for a coffee break on the back deck.

We walk past pens of miniature horses and cows, a welcome sight after dodging spiderwebs in a forest by starlight. The cowlets and horselets don’t seem to know or care that there is a haunting to investigate.

Midway through a six-cup caffeine injection for me and snacks and e-cigarette vapor for the team, the investigation heats up.

One or two metallic (to my ears) bangs echo over the farm.

Any other night I would have dismiss them. Gunshots, maybe.

But Elliott and Ameri bolt from the porch to an old tobacco barn in the rear of the property.

Clark talks about engines and shows me a photo of his bright orange Hyundai. I gulp down about a pint of drive-thru coffee and check for text messages. The K-II blips as we use our phones.

A minute later, we’re called to join the other two at the barn, their lights fixed on the roof, trying to find the source of two more metallic thuds and a scraping sound, described by Elliott and Ameri as the noise of someone slipping and falling from the roof.

Already in the process of debunkwife, Kim (pictured with him on cover), is the team’s historical ing the noises, the group determines researcher. that the wind, as it blows against a nearby tree, may be causing a limb to strike the top of the barn. But could that account for the volume of the banging we heard, from the porch 200 yards away?

And then comes a noise, a single unattributable word that emerges from the ether.

“Hey,” someone says, from the treeline.

The entire group hears it, but late at night, in the midst of three other people, I would probably have disregarded it except for Elliott and Ameri, who immediately whipped their flashlights around in startled excitement.

No one claims the “hey,” so another EVP session is held, the results of which were pending at the time of this story.

With no further sign of activity, the group makes its way back to the events center, a repurposed farm building.

No whispers There’s an unwritten rule in the paranormal community. If it’s not free, it’s phony.

As they fight for legitimacy, groups like KSPI also must realize that the best possible evidence from an investigation will still be unbelievable.

After all, they’re not mixing pop rocks and Coke, they’re looking for ghosts.

KSPI is a group that does not charge for its services, despite the paperwork, background searches, organization and time spent on each job.

“The reason I do this is, number one, to help people. It used to be just because I was curious, I wanted to go learn. Once I’d gotten into the field, I saw people out there who were terrified. I want to help those people understand that 99.9 percent of the time, you have nothing to be afraid of,” Elliott says.

“Second, I want to understand what it is we’re dealing with, do as much as we can to learn about the paranormal, what it is, where

it is, why it is.

“It’s not a hobby. There’s a difference between a ghost hunter and a paranormal investigator. Ghost hunting is a hobby, this is a profession. It’s not a paid profession. We do it for free...But it is a professional field.”

Joe Ameri himself was one of those people, long before he’d given paranormal investigating a thought. Then, about 19 years ago, he and his wife, Kim (now the team’s researcher) bought a home that had tenants of the paranormal variety.

The freeloading spirits weren’t malevolent, he explains, but were aggravating nonetheless.

“We had nowhere to turn. We couldn’t go to the church, because they look at you like you’re crazy. They say, ‘that stuff isn’t real.’ At the time there was nobody,” Ameri says.

“We didn’t really have the Internet back then, so we had nowhere to turn. We talked to anyone we could find who could help us, any suggestion. I’ve been in that spot of despair, losing my mind, [since] I can’t put my hands on it, I can’t physically protect my family from it, and I don’t know what to do.”

Things are changing for the better though, he explains.

“Now, it’s kind of cool. The Catholic Church is coming back to accept hauntings and demonic entities, possessions and all that. Even the Baptists and Presbyterians are around. It’s making headway in the religious field, which is the hardest field to move forward in,” Ameri says.

He adds that even with added legitimacy from some institutions, KSPI must always be attuned to debunking, since the group deals with investigations into everything from haunts to unidentified flying objects.

“If someone comes to us and says, ‘we have spaceships flying around over our house,’ we’re going to go and help them,” he says.

“A lot of times you do find out these people have mental health issues, and that’s the kind of help they need. There are also times you go and find out there’s some validity to what they’re saying, that some of this can’t be explained.”

And so it becomes obvious — the more pains taken in the collection and debunking of the evidence, the more watertight the precious little that remains becomes: No whispering while the recorders are running.

Now define ‘fishing’ Since Art Bell’s Coast to Coast AM began broadcasting from his Pahrump, Nev. basement in 1988, its listenership has increased to about three million worldwide.

In the last 40 years, television programs from Kolchak: the Night Stalker to The X-Files, to the contemporary programs, Ghost Hunters, Supernatural, television audiences suck it down night after night.

But has this pop culture exposure been a boon to investigators like those in KSPI? “No, not at all, because most of what’s out there in the paraContinued on page 62

Fall 2016

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se • legacy

above, below

Government Market

Fayetteville explores the historic Market House’s divided past Written by Nadya Nataly Photography by Kia McMillan

T

he Market House in Fayetteville is Cumberland County’s only national landmark. Located at the center of the city at the roundabout junction of Green, Person, Gillespie, and Hay streets, the two story brick building with an open ground floor and spacious second floor museum on the second floor has been a controversial topic.

While some may believe the Market House stands for something noble and historic, others are outraged the city officials have allowed it to be a representation of Fayetteville because of its historic connection to the state’s slave trade.

The Market House has been a symbol and focal point of the city. It was built in 1832 on the site of the building that housed the state legislature from 1788 to 1793. It was where North Carolina ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1789, chartered the University of North Carolina, and ceded western lands to form the State of Tennessee. The Market House was built on the site following the destruction of the State House in the Great Fire of 1831. Its construction involved a free African American artisan, Tom Grimes, who served as a principle builder and brick layer. The Market House’s architecture was inspired by the old English town hall-market structures:

market below and government above.

“The Market House is the second building on that site. On that footprint was a building that looked very similar. It was open arched and opened space below with a closed in area which was governmental.

The first building built there was called a ‘statehouse,’ because Fayetteville was one of the temporary capitals before the establishment of Raleigh,” says City of Fayetteville Historian and Director of the Transportation Local History Museum, Bruce Daws.

Historically, meat, produce and other goods were sold on the open ground floor, while city and state officials met upstairs.

According to Daws, one of the first business owners at the market was a free African American butcher, Tom Drake, who ran his butcher shop at the Market House for 50 years.

“He dispensed meat under the market house for 50 years, from 1832, way before the Civil War, through the Civil War and after the Civil War,” says Daws.

During the Antebellum Period, says Daws, slaves were sold at the Market House, often as part of an estate or to pay off debt. He says the Market House was not a typical slave market, which existed in other parts of the city during the era. The upstairs of the Market House was where the government officials met and no slaves were sold there, Daws explains. He points out that the downstairs of the market was where people trafficked in goods, meats, fish, and anything else that could be sold, including slaves.

“There were slaves sold, pursuant to indebtedness and estate liquidation in Market Square (the current traffic circle area) and at that location anybody could bring anything to the square for sale. We were a supplier of the back country of the Cape Fear River. The Cape Fear River was the conduit between the principal port city of Wilmington where European goods would come in and as far as you can navigate a boat year round. The Market House was a hub for this trade. You had people coming to sell goods and get goods,” explains Daws.

Seventy-four years after the rebuilding of the Market House, it officially closed on the last days of 1906 and according to Daws, one of the last merchants in the Market House was an African-American meat merchant. The Market House closed because the structure itself had become outdated and the development

Fayetteville historian, Bruce Daws (right) and Fayetteville Mayor, Nat Roberson discuss the history of the Market House.

of storefronts on Hay Street were well underway.

Since its closing, the Market House has been maintained and preserved by the city.

Now all of the stories of the building and the former State House are told upstairs, as the structure has become an extension of the Transportation Local History Museum, which is open to the public by request.

There is also a brass marker under the Market House paying tribute to slaves sold there. It reads:

“

We need to remember our history and don’t repeat it.

Never repeat it.

– Doris Morgan

worship in the pursuit of the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. - City Council 1989.”

The Market House has become Fayetteville’s trademark, with its image incorporated into the city’s flag and logo.

Since 1940, a replica of the Market House has sat atop the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Ramsey Street. Over the years, the controversy surrounding the Market House has been touched on by several of the city’s residents, politicians, and more recently, African American attorney Allen Rogers, who wrote a letter to the city leaders in July of 2015 asking that the Market House be removed from the city’s logo. “...Fayetteville needs to rebrand itself and remove the Market House from its official logo. The Market House continue to be extremely divisive and offensive to many in our community. While the plaque affixed to it may offer a small measure of honor for the sacrifices of those sold there, this massive piece poorly reflects the heart of this All American City,” wrote Rogers.

City councilman Chalmers McDougald, who is in favor of rebranding the city’s logo, states, “The Market House, while an integral part of our city’s past, does not represent the future of our city,” Though the city’s marketing logo has since been changed to remove the Market House image, some community members believe the building itself should be demolished.

”

“‘We shall come up slowly and painfully but we shall win our way.’ Charles Waddell Chestnutt (1858-1932) In memory and honor of those indomitable people who were stripped of their dignity when sold as slaves at this place. Their courage in that time is a proud heritage of all times.

They endured the past so the future could be won for freedom and justice.

Their suffering and shame afforded the opportunity for future generations to be responsible citizens free to live, work and Fall 2016

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“

“It doesn’t have any value anymore. In my opinion, it’s keeping something that has been dead for 150 years alive and to call it a historical landmark? From different stories that I heard, there were slaves sold there and whether it was one or 100 it still happened; that is nothing to be revered,” says the general manager of H.I.T.S., an apparel and tattoo shop on Hay Street located steps away from the Market House.

“Now, if you want to call it a market place where people gathered and sold goods down by the Cape Fear River that’s one thing, but to have it out there all the time and remind people of what happened a long time ago, it’s not cool. As far as I’m concerned they can take it down.”

Other members of the community vie for preservation of the Market House and emphasize the importance of remembering the history, positive or negative. Walking through the Market House, Doris Morgan of Stedman stops at every brass marker on the building’s walls. Clutching her chest, she pauses and lingers at the marker dedicated to the slaves sold there.

“I’m learning more just by walking through here. I didn’t believe slaves were ever sold here and I had been told that it was a market place for farmers. I just read that (the plaque) and took a photo because I never want to forget that. I love this building and it’s a part of history. The history should be preserved and we should never forget,” says Morgan.

Other residents shared similar sentiment in regards to preserving the Market House.

“I don’t like the idea, the history of it, but we can’t get rid of everything that has negative history. We need to remember our

The Market House has been a national landmark since 1973 and the distinction signifies its national importance as one of only three similar structures left in the nation.

”

history and don’t repeat it. Never repeat it. It’s a landmark here. We can’t just wash things away and say it didn’t happen; we need to remember those things so we don’t walk in those footsteps again. There’s so many people that would like to have it torn down, but I’m just not in favor of that,” said the manager of City Center Gallery and Books (who asked not be named), a business next door to the Market House.

“Leave it there, (the Market House), don’t glorify it, just leave it there. In 2016, Pokémon are captured at that location.

Perception has changed,” says Fayetteville native John Covington, referring to the mobile phone video game.

According to Daws, while slaves were sold at the Market House, it was not considered a slave market. Many designated slave markets have been lost to history.

“There was a rumor that it (Market House) was a slave market. It was never a slave market. Slaves were sold at market square, but predominately the slave sales that took place took place at the Cumberland County Courthouse.

That was the bigger location. There were

other areas, at businesses and on private properties,” adds Daws.

“The thing that corrupts history, rumors get started. For years and years and years, they said the Market House was built in 1838 and that’s because somebody said it and somebody wrote it down and then it became history.

The fact of the matter is, the Fayetteville Observer covered quite well the opening of the Market House in 1832. If the Market House had been a slave market, that’s the history we would tell, because, as a professional historian, whatever it is, it’s what it is,” says Daws.

The Market House has the distinction of being the only site in Cumberland County declared a National Historic Landmark and one of less than 40 in the state. The Market House has been a national landmark since 1973 and the distinction signifies its national importance as one of only three similar structures left in the nation. (Fayetteville has several properties on the National Register of Historic Places, which is separate from the National Historic Landmark designation).

The City of Fayetteville has been working with Daws and other historians to identify the names of the slaves sold at the Market House. The records and information is housed on the second floor of the building.

The Transportation Local History Museum welcomes thousands of visitors to the Market House each year.

Fayetteville Mayor Nat Roberson emphasized the value of the historical events that have taken place at the building.

“Fayetteville would lose identity, but

A drawing (left) and early photograph show the Market House in its early years. It opened in 1832, after the state house burned.

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Fall 2016

we would also be losing a (historical) structure. So is it worth discarding our history to encourage ignorance?” asks Roberson.

“While some slaves may have been sold as a part of other parcels, it wasn’t like it was, ‘Here’s Nat Roberson, how much would you get for him.’ It was part of a ‘We have a 300-acre plot, it has two hundred mules, and a house with 50 slaves.’ It doesn’t lessen the importance of the human tragedy involved with slave trading, but it’s also not as if it was a slave market. More slaves were sold at the courthouse steps so if you want to tear down a building, you need to tear down the courthouse. We have to use that as a symbol to celebrate our diversity.”

Daws agrees that the loss of the Market House would rob Fayetteville of a link to the its sometimes painful past. “One of the things that we would lose if you tore down the Market House — and set aside that it is a national landmark and those events happened there — the principle builder was a free African American who represented a population of African Americans who were artisans. They were masters at what they did.”

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S outhEast North Carolina

21

se • legacy

Sound advice:

ohn ones shares his life in music Story & Photography by Jacqueline Hough

I

t’s early Monday morning in Jacksonville with rush hour traffic headed to Camp Lejeune and other places.

But on a quiet back street, the only sounds are that of a guitar and chatter from an early morning radio show inside the Earl Jones Music School.

John Jones is working to make sure everything is ready for “Music Monday” as his guest, Tiffany Elaine, warms up her voice.

“Music Monday” is heard every Monday at 8:30 a.m. on the Raeford Brown Show on 96.3FM, Thunder Country.

The show is a chance for Jones, who plays various instruments and is an award-winning songwriter, to spotlight North Carolina musicians. Jones also teaches music with his father Earl, at the school.

During the 30-minute show, Elaine plays three songs for listeners. Between songs, there’s lighthearted banter between her, Jones and the radio hosts.

Elaine describes herself as a songwriter who has been singing all of her life.

“I picked up the guitar at 19,” she says.

According to Jones, the primary focus of “Music Monday” is to host North Carolina musicians and give them a chance to present their talents on the FM airwaves.

It is an opportunity that is less than a year old, but has gained a popular following already.

The laid back feel of the show helps to put artists at ease, Jones believes. That’s the mentality behind the school also.

“You can get stressed out a lot in the entertainment business, but I don’t think that stress is very conducive to good musicianship,” says Jones. “So it is pretty laid back and casual.”

Guests for the show have been found through Facebook and some are acquaintances of Jones.

“I always wanted to help them kick start their music pursuits and this is a great opportunity to do that,” he says.

The “Music Monday” concept first came to Jones when he traveled to Nashville a few years ago for work. Jones says Fall 2016

seeing and hearing all of the live music in Nashville was great, but after leaving there, a thought that kept nagging at him — why does that only have to be in Nashville?

“Why can’t we do that anywhere?” he asks. “When I came back home, my purpose was to create a thriving music community wherever I am.”

“Music Monday” has helped him achieve this goal by giving listeners a chance to sample the deep wealth of music talent in the area.

“I have only scratched the surface,” Jones believes.

A musician for most of his life, Jones can be found each day at one of the music school’s three locations — Jacksonville, Back Swamp and Beulaville. He has taught music for 10 years and can play all of ...seeing and the stringed inhearing all of struments along with the piano, the live music some drums in Nashville was and harmonica. great, but after “I just enjoy leaving there he music,” he says.

Music has had a thought that always been an kept nagging at integral part of him — why does Jones’ family; is father can that only have to play a number be in Nashville? of instrument as well, and the duo has worked with everyone from elementary students to adults. In 1975, the school started with just two students and grew from there.

“He started literally from nothing,” Jones says. “My dad has taught thousands of people how to play music.”

In the past, the school has had up to 300 students a week.

Jones says both he and his father impress upon students that there is more than one way to measure success in the music business.

“Just because I don’t have my name on a bus or on a billboard does not mean I’m not a success in the music business,” he says. “There are tons of ways of making your living in the music business and being fulfilled through doing it.”

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Superstardom isn’t always the best career path; working musicians often make their living writing jingles and working in recording studios.

“There is a plethora of ways to make a living out there,” he says.

Before teaching, Jones worked an 8-to-5 job. One day, he says, he had an epiphany, suddenly understanding that his heart wasn’t in what he was doing. He had once been given the opportunity to become a music teacher but passed it up.

It had come to a point, Jones realized, where he needed to give teaching an honest try.

“I have found nothing beats helping somebody else discover the joy of music,” he explains.

Jones says when he worked a regular job, he played music here and there, but didn’t feel very connected to it at the time.

“It would always nag me that I needed to touch the instrument and play some more,” he recalls.

Now a typical day for Jones starts with answering e-mails, returning phone calls and doing sign-ups. He also handles the “Music Monday” scheduling, along with bookings for area bands and artists.

He teaches from 1 o’clock in the afternoon to about nine at night.

Sometimes Jones will also play gigs on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

He plays solo shows or with bands as a fill in, along with doing recording sessions. The schedule allows him to have a little more time for music, says Jones. “Music has become my lifestyle.”

His criteria for teaching music is simple — you must care about the person sitting across from you.

“We have a lot of good achievements in our past,” Jones says. “The main thing we do is we care about teaching people. We care about other people getting joy out of music and finding their own connection with music.”

A musician, he adds, is never more fulfilled than when they realize somebody else is enjoying their relationship with music.

Jones says teaching currently 24

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“

You are struggling to communicate with people around you, but the more you do it, the more you can figure out how to say things. It is the same with music.

Music is a language.

– John Jones

”

takes up most of his time, but that he’s more than willing to drive to any gigs that come along that are worth his while. One of the most meaningful gigs he has played was for the spouses of deployed service men and women.

“I got to play for that and it was a huge honor,” he says.

In addition to providing music lessons, the school is also home to a recording studio, a radio station and TV station. Jones says he and his father have started calling it the Earl Jones Music School and Media Center. “There’s always something hopping in here.”

The main room is being renovated to include a small stage and in-house sound system so small concerts can be held on the weekends.

Right now, Jones’s father is focusing on the music academy. Jones says he believes there are many people who play music, but don’t have a clue about the business side of the industry.

“We’re trying to reinstitute professionalism and business mindedness into the music market here,” Jones says. “It’s just helping young kids get into the music business

John Jones, left, accompanies singer and songwriter Tiffany Elaine, of Beaufort, as she sings during a recent “Music Monday” show on 96.3 Thunder Country.

Fall 2016

without going down a bunch of wrong dead end roads.”

The music academy began in the spring of this year.

Jones advice to upcoming musicians is the more you play, the more fun it gets. To illustrate his point, he compares a beginning musician to a child who has just learned to talk.

“You are struggling to communicate with people around you, but the more you do it, the more you can figure out how to say things,” Jones says.

“It’s the same with music. Music is a language. The more you play, the more you figure out how to help your music connect with other people. I would also say, figure out what success means to you, in the music you are playing.”

For more information about the Earl Jones Music School or “Music Monday,” call 910-353-6633. SE

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SE Snapshot

SE PICKS: Piratical Ports

North Carolina

Port Royal

Wilmington port now serving the big boys of shipping State port can now accommodate container vessels 1,150 feet long and 158 feet wide

L

arge ships entering the “Our ports are an important Port of Wilmington asset for creating jobs and connectnow have a place ing North Carolinians,” McCrory to dock, following said in a prepared statement after a the completion of a ribbon-cutting for the renovation. waterfront renovation in August.

Port officials and N.C. state legislators say the investment will pay off.

The move comes in time for the Port to cash in on ships coming from the newly-expanded Panama Canal, its largest re-do since opening in 1914.

By removing a pier and dredging along the Cape Fear River, the port can accommodate a ship up to 1,150 feet long and 158 feet wide.

It’s a $100 million bet the Port Authority is making — to get a piece A large container vessel makes of the 10 percent increase in ship traf- port of call in Wilmington. fic that will be diverted from western U.S. ports, to eastern ports.

“This important milestone shows our North Carolina has committed commitment to supporting our ports to give the Port $35 million annuand overall keeping North Carolina ally (which started in 2015) from globally competitive.” the state budget outlined in Gov. Pat Port officials, who are coming off McCrory’s legislative priorities. a historically prosperous 2014-15, are The turning base expansion took hoping to double its current volume seven months (Dec. 2015 to Aug. 1, in three to five years.

2016) to complete and cost about The port, which could handle one $16 million.

7,500 twenty/foot equivalent unitPorts in Wilmington and Moresize vessel, can now house two ships head City anchor the sea legs and up to 10,000 TEUs. The largest ships work with inland terminals in using the port are in the 4,500 TEU Charlotte and Greensboro to link range, but with the Panama expanbusinesses, industry and consumers sion in May that will change. to world markets. The Wilmington A TEU is about 20 feet long by port is located 25 miles from the sea eight feet tall or nine to 11 pallets. via the Cape Fear River.

According to Coastal Review OnFurther expansion is planned, line, Wilminton’s ports annually rake which includes purchasing two new in $43.8 million, with the container cranes in two years and replacing a business making up 32 percent of the docking berth next year. port’s revenue.

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twenty/foot equivalent unit

During the “Golden Age of Piracy” in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Port Royal, Jamaica stood as one of the most popular ports of call for thieves, prostitutes and pirates of every stripe. Port Royal prospered on the back of its pirate economy, and by the 1660s its streets were lined with taverns and brothels catering to young buccaneers.

St. Mary’s Island In the 1690s, St. Mary’s served as a vital supply base for pirates like Captain Kidd, Thomas Tew and Henry Every.

As part of an underground shipping arrangement, many St. Mary’s-based buccaneers would attack ships carrying exotic goods from India, and local traders would then sell the booty to crooked merchants in cities like New York and Boston. Some of these raids were among the most lucrative crimes in history.

Barataria Bay The swampy islands surrounding Barataria Bay, Louisiana, once served as a sanctuary and safe harbor for the famed pirate-turned-patriot Jean Laffite. In the early 19th century, Laffite and his brother Pierre led a syndicate of thieves who terrorized shipping in the Gulf of Mexico. Working as privateers for the upstart Republic of Cartagena, Laffite’s buccaneers plundered Spanish merchant vessels and then smuggled stolen goods and slaves into New Orleans.

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SE Aperture

North Carolina

Fran’s Fury

36

On the morning of September 6, 1996, many residents of southeastern N.C. awoke to a changed world. Overnight, one of nature’s most destructive forces had swept through and cut a furious swath through homes, landscapes and lives.

We wade into the flood to take a look back in words and images at the storm that re-wrote the face of our state.

Heroin’s 30 Tracks Opioid abuse has skyrocketed across the U.S. in recent years, North Carolina included. As its cost has fallen, heroin has become the drug of choice for many, clawing its way back into the lives of addicts, families and law enforcement agents alike.

Gator Aid

38

Much about the local alligator population remains a mystery, including their numbers. While sightings of the cold-blooded, prehistoric marsh dwellers have increased, they continue to inspire both fear and sympathy while playing a vital role in our ecosystem.

Fall 2016 2016 Summer

S outhEast S outhEast NorthNorth Carolina Carolina

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se • aperture

Chasing the

dragon

Heroin claws its way into southeastern N.C. communities

Written by S.E. North Carolina staff n what often appears to be a poisonous, self-sustaining cycle of need, illegal drugs with familiar names resurface again and again, decade after decade, to tempt a new generation. It’s a simple matter of supply and demand, of course, but the question remains — why do certain drugs surge in popularity almost overnight, only to fall from favor just as quickly?

Heroin addiction is on the rise across the United States, a problem that has especially impacted southeastern states such as North Carolina. The overall consensus is that the rise in heroin use stems from a larger issue — the abuse of prescription drugs.

According to research organization Castlight Health’s report on the cities in the U.S. experiencing the highest levels of opioid abuse, Wilmington ranks fourth in the 30

SouthEast North Carolina

nation while Fayetteville ranks 15th.

But it’s not only urban cities that are experiencing the scourge of heroin addiction. Both Wilmington and Fayetteville are within 45 minutes to an hour of Duplin County, a rural agriculture community where heroin is also making inroads.

The increased prescription of opiates have slowly changed the drug trade over the last 15-plus years, as prescription drugs have become easily available to patients for pain management. Heroin and prescription opioids such as OxyCotin, Percocet, and Fentantyl are all pharmacologically similar.

The National Institute on Drug abuse reports an estimated 4.2 million Americans aged 12 or older (or 1.6 percent) have used heroin at least once in their lives. It is also estimated that about 23 percent of individuals who use heroin become dependent on it.

In the early 2000s, heroin cost more Fall 2016

than most prescription painkillers. The prescriptions were also acquired legally, making them more appealing for addicts.

Many of today’s heroin users may have been initially prescribed pain killers, become addicted, and then turned to heroin once their prescriptions ran out.

With the rise in demand, heroin has also become cheaper.

In a 2015 interview with the Washington Post, Joseph Moses, a special agent for the DEA, stated that over the last few years the price of heroin has largely been determined by concerted action on the part of Mexican drug cartels, which previously controlled a smaller part of the U.S. heroin market, generally in the west.

Knowing that opiate pills such as OxyContin have become too expensive on the street, the cartels did two things: they dramatically increased heroin production and they developed networks to move it east of the Mississippi, Moses said.

In efforts to combat the problem, North Carolina recently passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) that would provide more treatment options and resources to residents.

President Obama’s administration has also acknowledged the heroin issues in the U.S. — in March he proposed $1.1 billion in funding to help combat heroin addiction.

A substantial portion of the federal funding is directed for rural areas like Duplin County, especially for regions where the overdose rates are high. Geographic statistics show heroin abusers are more likely to live in the rural south than in other regions.

They are also more likely to live in lowincome areas.

An even darker monster is behind it Pill abuse is nothing new to southeastern North Carolina, but some fear that the line between a pill problem and a heroin epidemic is getting thinner by the day. That line is Interstate 40.

Areas like Duplin County, which has a large elderly population (and who in turn have a large amount of prescriptions), are taking countermeasures against the abuse of highly-addictive and widely available opioid drugs. However, the claws of pill addiction belong to an even darker monster behind it.

Heroin is an opioid drug that is synthesized from morphine and extracted from the seed pod of the poppy plant. Marketed by the Bayer company as a less-addictive alternative to pure morphine, heroin was introduced as the 20th Century dawned.

The current problem, according to law enforcement professionals, is that abuse of chemically-similar opioids such as commonly-prescribed painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone are allowing heroin use to burst like an Afghan poppy blossom.

“I would have been totally surprised 14 years ago, not so much now. Illegal drugs seem to have a cyclical life, one is more available or less expensive, or provides a longer high,” says Duplin County Sheriff Blake Wallace.

The Duplin County Department of Public Health (NCPH) states that the county logged one heroin death between 1999 and 2014. That pales in comparison to Brunswick County’s 39 deaths, Cumberland County’s 45 and Pitt county’s 34.

However, the number of deaths doesn’t tell the entire story. With Interstate 40 cutting a wide swath through the county, it’s

likely a large amount of heroin is carried through the area any given day, say sources in drug investigations.

The early symptoms of a heroin problem in Duplin County are there, however. A few years ago, Wallace recalls, investigators busted a man giving away bindles of heroin in a local Food Lion parking lot.

While heroin cases aren’t as common in Duplin County as many other drugs, shocking examples do crop up.

In late July, the Duplin Interstate Criminal Enforcement (DICE) team arrested two men on felony charges after they led deputies on a chase, throwing items out of the car windows as the team pulled in behind them.

“

Many of today’s heroin users may have been initially prescribed pain killers, become addicted, and then turned to heroin once their prescriptions ran out.

”

A Duplin Times report from the time states that they pursued Andrew Jerome Lige and Kevin Simpkins as they charged through Rose Hill, on to Chinquapin and back toward Wallace, exceeding 100 miles per hour until state troopers immobilized their Toyota sedan.

Investigators later found it was heroin — nearly 10,000 bindles of it—that the men were dumping on the road.

In fact, heroin use in the eastern states has a special mention in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2014 National Drug Threat Assessment. According to the report, those who’ve tried the drug increased by a third in just four years following the economic downturn of 2008.

“Heroin abuse and availability are increasing, particularly in the eastern United States. There was a 37 percent increase in heroin initiates between 2008 and 2012,” the report reads, ratifying claims made by Fall 2016

local law enforcement.

Robert Evans, a special agent and public information officer with the DEA’s Atlanta Field Office, said heroin reports are on the uptick.

“Overall in southeast North Carolina, we’ve been getting reports of heroin on the increase in most areas,” Evans explains.

He adds that state and local law enforcement has seen heroin being brought up from the United States’ southern border. Since 2008, when the number of heroin first-time users began to spike, the amount of heroin seized at the southwest U.S. border increased by four times—to about 2,300 kilograms in 2013 alone.

Two members of the law enforcement working with agencies like the DEA are Capt. Mike Stevens and Lt. Chris Smith, also of the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office.

“When I left five years ago, there was not a large quantity of heroin. It was mostly crack, meth and cocaine. But what I’m hearing is we do have a heroin problem. We are currently now trying to address that problem, targeting the different communities, different towns ...” Stevens who was recently reassigned to working drug cases, says.

Lieutenant Smith, a 22-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, is the supervisor of the county’s DICE team, which functions alongside investigators under the office’s Special Operations Division. Smith has been a supervisor with DICE for 23 years.

“We handle all criminal interdictions, but yes, we run across more dope carriers, it’s more prevalent because that’s just the majority of what people are doing out there,” Smith says.

Stevens said that in rural areas, law enforcement relies on tips from the public of possible, or obvious, drug activity.

“I’d love to see more communities participating in community awareness. If you have someone sitting on the shoulder of your road in your community, who doesn’t live there — the majority of [dealers] don’t live in the community they sell in,” he explains.

A similar approach has been used in neighboring Onslow County.

Nearly 10,000 people live in the Sneads Ferry community, and Onslow Sheriff Hans Miller said the residents have been working to fight off drug use in the area.

“It’s a densely populated area that’s not incorporated, so basically the sheriff’s office provides the law enforcement services in [that] area,” he notes.

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group to address the problem, called “Take Back the Ferry.”

The group held a rally in April to protest drug use, and included Miller and other Onslow County officials.

Just one day after his interview, on Aug. 12, Onslow County deputies busted two people, Michael Jacob Rochelle, 27, of Riverside Drive, Sneads Ferry and Charlie Kristina Garten, 27, of North Topsail Beach, at the Jacksonville Triangle Motor Inn for selling heroin out of their room.

The bust resulted in over 200 doses of heroin as well as some marijuana, cash and paraphernalia. The suspects were residents of beach towns, Miller explains, that have been dealing with hard drugs for some time.

“It’s been a longtime plague that’s been happening, in southeastern North Carolina,” Miller says.

“Typically what we see ... we have a lot of heroin opioids, coming from New York and New Jersey, areas they can be bought cheaply and sold for profit in this area.”

Much of the heroin trafficking is done between Wilmington and Goldsboro, and crimes are often committed to support drug habits, he adds.

Capt. Stevens speaks about a young male who was recently turned in for stealing from family members, all to fuel a drug habit.

Blake Wallace, Duplin County sheriff.

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“We had a young man turned over to us by his parents. He was constantly breaking into the house while they were gone, stealing guns, stealing the televisions, and he admitted to having a heroin addiction.

“I know we’ve made a large amount of heroin arrests...But most of it prior to the heroin was the pill addiction.

Now they’ve gone from the pill addiction over to the heroin.”

“

Officials have noticed many who are addicted to pain medications are now turning to heroin because it is more accessible and less expensive.

”

Commitment to recovery According to Dr. Sonya Longest, clinical director at Walter B. Jones Treatment Center in Greenville, recovery from heroin addiction is often a long, difficult process.

“Recovery is about staying involved in treatment and having those supports around the individual in order to maintain the recovery to live a healthy lifestyle free of those negative behaviors associated with their addiction,” she says.

Many don’t realize that they have a problem with heroin dependence until they go into withdrawal, which can include bone pain, muscle pain, restlessness, cold flashes, vomiting and diarrhea. By the time an addict reaches the Walter B. Jones Treatment Center, they have been using for some length of time. The initial step, before treatment and recovery, is detox.

Longest said detox can cause severe flu-like symptoms and be extremely Fall 2016

painful.

“A lot of times they try to avoid it at all costs,” she says.

Officials provide a comprehensive medically managed detox at Walter B. Jones, with physicians and nurses on site 24/7.

Eighty to 85 percent of those admitted are addicted to some type of opioid, whether it is heroin or prescription pain medication.

Officials have noticed many who are addicted to pain medications are now turning to heroin because it is more accessible and less expensive.

Longest said Walter B. Jones Treatment Center is seeing a significant rise in people being admitted for heroin addiction.

Post acute withdrawal symptoms after detox can continue for weeks or even months where a patient may have low energy, anxiety, insomnia and intense cravings. This often leads to relapse.

Longest noted a relapse after a period of detox or abstinence with a loss of tolerance is the leading cause of opioid overdose death.

“So it is essential once a patient completes detox that they go directly into their continued treatment program in their community,” she says.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), heroin addiction treatment success rates for outpatient medication therapy have a 35 percent completion rate. The completion of residential programs is as high as 65 percent.

After leaving Walter B. Jones Treatment Center, some patients will enter into continued in-patient long-term residential treatment. Most patients will either return home or go to a halfway house.

Ben Gregory, clinical director at Walter B. Jones, said recovery is about commitment.

He stressed that no matter how good of a job Longest and her staff did, or how much support a patient has, it is the person in recovery who has to choose to participate.

“They have to commit to the process and invest in the things they need to do for themselves,” he says.

Matt Sessoms is ministry leader of Celebrate Recovery at Mount Olive First Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Sessoms, who has been with Celebrate Recovery for almost 13 years, knows firsthand about addiction and shares his story with others.

“It helps me stay strong,” he says. “I feel like God has brought me through to help others.”

Celebrate Recovery is a 12-step program but also uses the eight recovery principles based on the Beatitudes by Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount.

“We like to focus on the future and not the past,” he explains. “We like to be forward looking.”

Sessoms says confidentiality is integral to Celebrate Recovery.

“Who you see here, stays here,” Sessoms says. “What you hear here, stays here. We are here to support one another and to share our hopes, failures and victories.”

From the brink Gillian Cunningham grew up in a good, solidly middle class home near Rochester, N.Y. Her early years were filled with family vacations and trips to the countryside with friends.

By the time she was 22, those same friends and family members were frantically canvassing the city’s streets, placing missing person’s posters with her face starring out from the center on every storefront and traffic sign.

“I had a good home and I really didn’t realize what I was doing until it was too late,” says Cunningham, calling from her current workplace, a car wash near her home in Wilson.

By the time she went missing, Cunningham was a full blown heroin addict. She would live on the streets, or crash at the homes of fellow addicts, for the next eight years.

“The whole time I was homeless I was trying to get on top of things,” she says. “I was in and out of 10 different detoxes; I tried halfway houses. I knew this wasn’t how I grew up, it wasn’t how I wanted to

live.”

According to Cunningham, her addiction began like it does for many — as a way to self-medicate

“

I have a photo I pull out sometime of me and six other friends. There’s only two people in that photo that are still alive today.

”

– Gillian Cunngingham

and alleviate a lifelong struggle with social phobias and anxiety.

“I met an older man who would give me cocaine. I would sell it sometimes to make some extra money and then me and him would do some together,” she recalls. “Cocaine and alcohol would calm me down, make me feel less awkward. What I didn’t know was he was lacing the

Gillian Cunningham fought back.

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coke with heroin. One day I woke up and I was sick, not even knowing that I was hooked.”

During her years in the drug wilderness, Cunningham says she watched friends succumb one by one to heroin addiction.

“I have a photo I pull out sometimes of me and six other friends,” she says. “There’s only two people in that photo that are still alive today.”

After years of searching, Cunningham finally found a rehab program that worked for her.

“I’ve been clean for the last five years. I had one relapse with prescription pain medication after I was in an accident, but with the Lord’s help I’ve stayed off heroin.”

Cunningham moved to North Carolina shortly after getting clean, with a newborn son in tow. When the time comes, she says she plans to be honest with him about her past.

“I’m going to tell him that, ultimately, it’s his choice whether to do the things I did,” she remarks, her voice growing hoarse with emotion.

“But I’ll share the details about what I went through, and hopefully he’ll decide not to take the same route.

The most important thing is for him to know he can talk to me about anything, without shame.”

Recovering addicts face not only the physical struggles of staying clean, but the disapprobation of a society that often views addiction through a moral, not a medical, microscope, says Cunningham.

“North Carolina needs more detox facilities, more inpatient care, more halfway houses, but I think the most important thing is public perception needs to change. The stigma needs to be removed from addiction; it’s a disease, not a moral failing.”

Cunningham says she still struggles with that perception, from would-be employers and others, every day of her life.

“People need to understand when they see someone in rehab or recovery — that’s not a bad person trying to be good, that’s a sick person trying to be well.”

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FRAN’S se • aperture

Written by Todd Wetherington Photos by FEMA News

FURY

Some anniversaries are hard to forget.

It’s been 20 years since Hurricane Fran slammed into North Carolina on September 5, 1996, spreading destruction across the coastal and inland regions of the state as far west as Raleigh and north into parts of Virginia.

It was the first major hurricane to cross into the North Carolina inland since Emily passed over the Outer Banks in 1993 and the most destructive storm to strike southeastern North Carolina since Hurricane Hazel in 1954.

Hurricane Fran made landfall near the tip of Cape Fear with maximum sustained winds near 115 mph. It produced a 12-foot storm surge along the North Carolina coast from Cape

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Lookout south to the South Carolina state line that, combined with 10foot waves created a 20-foot wall of water that acted as a bulldozer on 50 miles of coastline: Wrightsville Beach was submerged by tides 10 to 12-feet above normal, with most of the town underwater at the height of the storm.

The barrier island communities just north of Wilmington bore the brunt of Fran’s fury, with significant damage and beach erosion in Kure and Carolina Beach. Some sections of Wrightsville Beach and Topsail Island were almost completely destroyed. In a cruel irony, Fran’s storm surge carried away the temporary North Topsail Beach police station and town hall, housed in a double-wide trailer since Hurricane

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Bertha’s rampage across the same area two months earlier.

Fran also dumped torrential rain on the region. Rainfall of six to 15 inches caused extensive flooding, with several rivers and lakes in North Carolina reporting their highest known flows.

Due to Fran’s intensity at landfall, the storm was still near hurricane strength when it hit Raleigh 100-miles inland.

The city’s one-million square foot Crabtree Mall/Sheraton Hotel was flooded up to the second level. Weeks later, merchants reported finding poisonous snakes that had climbed on the upper shelves to escape the rising water. Dozens of road and foot bridges over streams and rivers were also swept away.

Author Jay Barnes, in North Carolina’s Hurricane History, reports wind gusts of 122 mph on Figure Eight Island and 105 mph in New Bern. In Duplin County, the dome of the historic courthouse in Kenansville was blown down. The Raleigh News & Observer stated that nearly every road across Duplin and Sampson counties was impassible due to trees felled by high winds.

According to a report in the Duplin Times, a Rose Hill woman was killed during the hurricane, which “caused major damage to homes, businesses, schools and government buildings.”

County officials reported that damage to agriculture-related businesses and farms was “extensive.”

In Wilmington, 75 percent of homes

sustained damage. The city’s historic First Baptist Church lost its 197-foot steeple, which landed in Market Street.

Galloway Hall at UNC-Wilmington also lost a portion of its roof and suffered significant water damage.

According to the Wilmington StarNews, Fran knocked out electricity for 1.5 million people. Of the 26,000 customers served by Four County Electric Co-op, only 100 still had working electrical service after the storm.

In the end, Hurricane Fran was responsible for 26 deaths and $4.16 billion in damage nationwide, according to a report from the National Hurricane Center. The North Carolina Department of Forestry

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estimated Fran damaged 8.2 million acres of forest, with losses estimated at over $1 billion. While much of this loss was due to strong winds blowing down trees, salt spray near the coast also damaged trees and made them vulnerable to later insect damage.

“There’s more damage than I’ve ever seen,” Gov. Jim Hunt commented after viewing the storm’s aftermath.

After two decades, Fran’s fury is still etched in landscapes and in memories. With the nearcomplete destruction of protective beachfront dunes and wide-spread inland flooding and wind damage, the hurricane re-wrote the face of southeastern North Carolina.

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SE Snapshot

SE PICKS: Top Beaches

North Carolina

Topsail

Two N.C. beaches named top East Coast Beaches Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras earn top spots on USA Today Travel’s list

A

panel of beach and East proximately 3,000-4,000.

Coast experts helped In the summertime, this number USA Today Travel pick skyrockets to 50,000 visitors or more their top Atlantic and every week.

Gulf beaches. When Hatteras Island is part of the readers voted online to Cape Hatteras National Seashore, select the 10 Best East Coast Beaches for 2016 Ocracoke. Island Beach and Cape Hatteras, both in the Outer Banks, were voted No. 3 and No. 6.

A panel of experts picked the initial 20 nominees, with the top 10 winners determined by popular vote.

Ocracoke Island is known for its secluded beaches. The remote beaches have lured visitors there for centuries.

There are 16 miles of pristine Cape Hatteras was number six on shoreline, which are managed by the the USA Today Travel’s list.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Parts of the beach are open to and more than half of the island is off-road vehicles. There is something composed of undeveloped, natural for everyone, from sunbathers and terrain. shell seekers to fishermen and nature To access Hatteras Island, visitors lovers. will need to cross over Oregon Inlet Most of the sound side of Ocravia the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, coke is undeveloped as well. The wet- or via one of two ferries from the lands, marshes, and marine estuaries mainland and a short trip over the make the island a happy and healthy free Ocracoke / Hatteras ferry across home for birds, fish, turtles, shellfish, Hatteras Inlet. and other wildlife. Over 400 speHatteras Island is home to the cies of birds have been spotted on 208’ foot tall Cape Hatteras LightOcracoke . house, the tallest brick lighthouse Hatteras Island is 50 miles long in the world. It is also famous for and about 3.5 miles wide at its widest kiteboarding and windsurfing, with point in Buxton. thousands visitors each year to enjoy The year-round population is ap- the wind and surf.

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Topsail Beach won the readers’ choice award as Best Little Beach Town in the country in a recent survey conducted by TripAdvisor. It was described as the best place to enjoy the beach in its purest, simplest form. Other reasons included free parking, pier and surf fishing and walking over the swing bridge.

Holden Holden Beach was named one of the top 10 best beaches by Condé Nast Traveler. There is nine miles of oceanfront beach.

Located in southern Brunswick County, the bridge that connects the mainland to the beach rises 65 feet above the Intracoastal Waterway, which provides a stunning view of the beach and a sweeping entry to the island.

Carolina The boardwalk was in the top 10 of USA Today Travel’s best beach boardwalks. With shops, restaurants and amusement rides, the boardwalk has something for the whole family. In addition to summer activities, there are seasonal events such as concerts, weekly fireworks in the summer and a Christmas Light Festival. And off the boardwalk, visitors kayak, surf, fish or simply soak up the sun after a dip in the sea at this New Hanover County destination.

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SouthEast North Carolina

Fall 2016

SE Yonder

North Carolina

Green 48 Springs

Sometimes a water park is just a water park, and sometimes it’s the sprawling, ramshackle embodiment of one man’s fight to preserve childhood dreams lost to war and age and indifference. Join us as we sit for a spell with George Wetherington, owner of Green Springs water park, while he spins some tales about the “last of the old-time swimming holes.”

Bladen Lakes

44

Lakes are mysterious entities by their very nature, but even more so when their origins involve the unimaginably violent collision of one celestial body with another.

We head to Bladen Co. to take a gander at its meteorblasted basins.

Kinston 52 B-ball

Summer Fall 2016 2016

The K-Tribe may be long gone, but southeastern N.C. baseball fans haven’t lost their love for the boys of summer. And thanks to Kinston’s new deal with the Texas Rangers, the sights and sounds of minor league baseball will soon be be returning to Grainger Stadium.

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se • yonder

Written by L.E. Brown, Jr. Photography by Jerry Reynolds

Contributed photo by Jamie Corbett

Delving into Bladen County’s

natural wonders

T

o talk about the bays and lakes of Bladen County, in southeastern North Carolina, is to delve into the wonders of nature or, one might say that learning about the Carolina bay ecosystem is an adventure in discovering environmental wonders.

It is almost impossible to escape noticing the beauty of Carolina bays and lakes and their historical mystique.

According to experts like Jerry Reynolds, understanding the difference between bays and lakes, terms that are often used interchangeably, is essential to understanding their singular nature.

Reynolds is head of the Outreach School and Lifelong Education at the North Carolina Natural and Cultural Resources, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Reynolds explains that a bay can be a body of water connected to an ocean or lake, formed by the indentation of the shoreline. A large bay may be called a gulf, sea, a sound, or a bight. Some coves, smaller circular or oval

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coastal inlets with narrow entrances, may be referred to as bays. Chesapeake Bay, he says, is an example of a large cove.

In contrast, says Reynolds, Carolina bays are found in the coastal plains, and are elliptical circular depressions, with their long axis oriented in a northwest to southeast direction. Their waters are fresh, not salty.

“They (Carolina bays) are uniformly oriented in that direction,” Reynolds says, adding that this became evident in the 1930s when aerial photography first documented these features in North Carolina and in other coastal plain areas.

“I have seen an estimated range of 400,000 to 2.5 million bays in the southeastern United States,” says Reynolds, “North Carolina and South Carolina have the most.”

Carolina bays were sometimes called “pocosins,” an Indian word meaning, some say, “swamps on a hill.” Bay swamps were so-called due to an abundance of bay trees.

Simply put, says Reynolds, the Carolina bay lakes in

Bladen County are the water-filled part of Carolina bays.

“These Carolina bays still have a vegetated portion in the elliptical depressions,” Reynolds points out, referring to the shape of the bays.

Even those bays that have been ceded to agricultural or development use retain the basic outline of the original Carolina bay, says Reynolds.

On a cautionary note, Reynolds says that because of their conversion to agriculture or tree production (or real estate development) natural bays are becoming rare themselves.

He adds, “They have a high diversity of plants and animals that live in them, so that native biodiversity is also decreasing.”

It is thought that Carolina bays are potential refuges for numerous wetlands species within a given geographic area.

Often these species may be entirely restricted to local bays.

These species can include rare plants, amphibians, reptiles, wading birds and mammals.

A prevailing view is that “Some of the larger bays are filled, or partially filled, with water. These are the Carolina bay lakes of Bladen County. thousands of years ago With the exception of a few millponds, all the lakes in Bladen County are Carolina bay lakes,” said Reynolds. meteors fell and water from Reynolds says that most Carolina bay lakes have water that is dark in color and somewhat acidic as a result of swamps and rivers flowed into tannic acid released from the decomposition of dead vegetation (peat). the concave depressions.

He ticks off the names of the three largest Carolina bay lakes in Bladen County: Bay Tree Lake, the largest, then White Lake, followed by Singletary Lake. All are located a short distance from Elizabethtown, the seat of Bladen County’s government.

The next five largest Carolina bay lakes in Bladen County, according to Reynolds, are Horseshoe Lake (Suggs Mill Pond), Little Singletary Lake, Salters Lake, Jones Lake and Baker’s Lake.

Reynolds added that Bay Tree Lake, within Bay Tree Lake State Park, is heavily developed. White Lake, he said, has been almost completely developed for residential use. It is part of the incorporated town of White Lake.

Singletary Lake is part of Singletary State Park, which is located within the 35,975-acre Bladen Lakes State Forest . Jones Lake is also within a state park, while Horseshoe Lake is within a state game land.

White Lake, Reynolds says, is unique among Carolina bay lakes because of its clear water. “The lake basin is mostly sand without any significant peat accumulation and a spring pumps fresh water into the lake.” Most of the lakes, he said, have an under layer of peat, not sand.

After mentioning that he has fond memories of family trips from Kenansville to White Lake “to swim in the crystal clear water,” Reynolds says. “Bladen County is fortunate to have several large water-filled, or partially water-filled bay lakes available for recreational uses.”

Speculation on how Carolina bays and lakes were created is mixed, similar to the interchange of the words bays and lakes.

Bladen County’s Singletary Lake (above) and White Lake (opposite page), two of the area’s scenic Carolina bays.

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Jerry Reynolds, in his role as head of the Outreach School and Lifelong Education at the North Carolina Natural and Cultural Resources, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences has a special knowledge of Bladen County’s lakes.

One source says simply that Carolina bays are elliptical or oval depressions of uncertain origin.

A prevailing view is that thousands of years ago meteors fell and water from swamps and rivers flowed into the concave depressions.

Reynolds says that the uniform orientation and elevated sand rim of Carolina bays lend credence to the theory that they were all created by meteorites or other extraterrestrial impacts.

He adds that, generally speaking, all Carolina bays that are lakes are considered younger than Carolina bays that are completely vegetated, “but size and depth of basin also played a role in them remaining as lakes. The theory is that all Carolina bays started out as lakes, but most were encroached by and filled in with plants,� notes Reynolds.

Other common theories on the

origin of bays and lakes are that subsurface limestone deposits gave way to sinkholes or that when the ocean covered the region giant schools of fish, using their tails, excavated depressions on the ocean floor for spawning. It has also been speculated that prevailing winds and waves elongated natural circular depressions.

Lake Waccamaw in Columbus County, a county south of Bladen County, can boast of being the largest of the natural Carolina bay lakes.

And, since the lake is naturally occurring, an argument can be made that it is the second largest natural fresh water lake east of the Mississippi River.

Reynolds points out that some larger lakes in the coastal plain of North Carolina are not Carolina bay lakes, including Lake Mattamuskeet, Phelps Lake and Pungo Lake.

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Bladen County is home to more than a half dozen Carolina bay lakes, such as Horseshoe Lake (pictured). The lakes are thought to have formed after meteors touched down in the area, leaving concave depressions that filled with water.

se • yonder

Story & Photography by Todd Wetherington

Green Springs

water park

The last of the old-time swimming holes

G

eorge Wetherington has some stories to tell. Some are about God, some are about war, and some are about endless struggles against authority. Many are wild and impossible to confirm. But each one, eventually, leads back to one place — Green Springs water park.

The first story Wetherington needs you to hear, the one that explains so much of what came after, is about broken young men left behind on a battlefield in Korea, and one who wasn’t.

“When I was drafted, they sent me to Fort Meade, Maryland. My granddaddy died in March of ’52, so I went back home to the funeral and

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SouthEast North Carolina

then went right straight back, and, while I was home, the feeling got on me so strong that I was being sent to die there in Korea; I was never coming back. And I went to all the little places I played as a kid, I thought I would never see it no more.”

When he returned from the war, Wetherington said the feeling of dislocation returned, only more intensely.

“When I got home just about dark, a guy picked me up at the bus station and took me home. When I left there the feeling come back, that I wasn’t supposed to be back, and I was all to pieces and I asked the Lord what was I supposed to be doing and, ..it took me years to get over that.

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“There was many a person got killed over in Korea. I had a feeling I was with all these guys that got killed... and yet I was home, and they weren’t home.

And I got my face right in the dirt, and people laughing and celebrating and thanking the Lord for being home; it was the other way with me. I knew I won’t supposed to be home and it was the first time I ever heard the Lord talk to me in my life, and he said ‘George, if you get yourself right, I’ll use you.’”

Seated at a weatherbeaten picnic table at his home in James City, Wetherington gazes out from his backyard at the wooden oddity of Green Springs water park that rises above the Neuse River some 50-yards away, a faded Confederate flag blowing

slowly in the late summer breeze from the four-story tower that dominates the surrounding structure. A few teenagers in bathing suits pass by and say hello on their way down to the catwalk-like series of piers, steps and platforms.

At 86, Wetherington appears much like the water park itself, battered but still functioning. Adjusting his red “Make America Great Again” cap, he explains how after returning from the Korean War he moved from his boyhood home some 20 miles away to his current multi-acre spread on the waterfront of James City, an unincorporated community a few miles east of New Bern. He was lost, mentally and spiritually, searching for anything that might show him “who I really was, whether I had a purpose in this world,” he recalls.

According to Wetherington, after several aborted attempts, he began work on Green Springs water park in earnest in 1975 with the help of a local Boy Scout troop.

“There was a Scout mom who asked me to bring the troop down here and clean the area as a Good Turn project. Before that I had a pier for swimming that washed up in 1971. There was nothing out there but an old pole and it’s still sitting out over yonder.

There used to be an old lover’s lane down there and we cleaned it up. When the pier washed up I bought this lot here. I was leasing the first lot and I decided I’d move the pier over here on this one.

“When we first started, we put anchors in the ground, we put cables to the pier trying to hold it, we done a little bit of everything. The cables would rust out, anchors would rust out and the poles would come up. We just sunk more poles and just kept adding to it.”

After four decades of additions, repairs and re-thinkings, the Green Springs of today is a sprawling anomaly that would look more at home in the swamps of Louisiana than just around the corner from some of the most prized waterfront property in Craven County, North Carolina. In addition to four towers connected with levels of walkways, the park also includes ramps, rope swings, zip lines and designated areas for diving.

Looking at it head-on from the pier that connects to Wetherington’s backyard can be disorienting: nothing is exactly level or square; walkways warp underneath your feet and don’t always lead where you might expect. Like a real-world construction by a rustic M.S. Escher, however, Green Springs has its own internal logic.

According to Wetherington, getting approval for the project took an effort almost as fraught with setbacks as its

construction. One of his favorite stories, maybe his very favorite, is how he beat the local and state authorities who tried to thwart his dream

Like a real-world construction by a rustic M.S. Escher, however, Green Springs has its own internal logic.

“We had a pretty hard time getting a permit for it because about three people were bucking us that had a lot of pull on it; it took a long time,” he recalls. “I was facing an automatic $10,000 fine when I built it: they told me I won’t gonna build it and I told them I was gonna build it, that we had a right to have it, and everything they was doing was illegal, but it didn’t make no difference. I ended up taking it to Raleigh, and the U.S. Attorney told me ‘Right or wrong has nothing to do with it, it’s how much money you got.’”

“They was one that was trying to stop me, an old sheriff, and he died in ’74. Even a congressman got involved and tried to have the permit taken away after we got it. That was a long time ago. But there’s no way I could have held on without the Lord’s help, there’s no way I could’ve done it. The things I bucked…”

I

f God was indeed fully behind the Green Springs project, he often had a strange way of showing it. Nature’s catastrophic outbursts, human malice, and

sheer bad luck have almost done the park in on a number of occasions.

In 2011, two-thirds of the structure was submerged thanks to Hurricane Irene.

According to Wetherington, storms and floods routinely tear bits and pieces from the towers and piers, which require almost constant repair.

“About three years ago somebody set it afire out there. I don’t know whether it was an accident but I believe it was on purpose,” he notes dryly.

And despite the numerous signs warning of shallow water and the absence of lifeguards, there have been at least two deaths and a handful of serious injuries since the park opened. In the summer of 2015 a 21-year-old man drowned, as did a teenager in 2010. The following year a 10-year-old girl fell from the third level of the swim deck to the second level and broke her femur. In 2014 a teenager got airlifted out after doing an alley oop into the river.

“Somebody sued me in ’88,” says Wetherington. “A boy had been out here early and he was showing off and did a belly flop up off the fourth floor.

“The lawyer got ahold of it and the county attorney told me ‘George, you’ve got a big nice piece of property and everybody wants it.’ But the boy wasn’t hurt; we backed ’em off.”

The accidents have led some nearby residents to call for the park’s closure, a possibility Wetherington seems wholly unable, or unwilling, to countenance.

“A lot of them want to say it’s dangerous, and the kids are lookin’ to get hurt and this and the other, but the people that got hurt, most of them was in shallow water, they would jump off the shallow stuff into water, it’s not from the high stuff.”

George Wetherington, owner of Green Springs water park in James City.

Fall 2016

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A

s the late afternoon shadows deepen and the swirl of cicada song grows louder in his backyard, Wetherington greets 16-year-old Dennis Suggs, who’s been coming to the park with various uncles, siblings and friends since he was 10.

“Yeah, I’ve been to a buncha other water parks, like the one in Kinston and there’s one in Morehead,” says Suggs, “but I’ll always come back to Green Springs. You don’t run across stuff like this anymore.”

It’s a sentiment heard often from the regulars, out-of- towners and first-timers at Green Springs on any given summer day. It’s the kind of enthusiasm that has led the park to be featured in numerous YouTube videos and on the popular website of the strange and unique, Atlas Obscura. But according to Wetherington, without the help of volunteers, the park may not be around for anyone to enjoy much longer.

“It’s in bad shape, no doubt about it.

The pier is all ragtag, it’s all to pieces, but I can’t fix it. I’m slowing down quite a bit,” he admits. “I would like

to try and repair it but it’s very discouraging, you get out there and you get a whole bunch of kids, ‘Oh. I’ll help you with this, I’ll help you with this’ and all that kinda stuff, and the very time you go with a hammer and nail they’re gone, see. And really, a lot of people are that way.”

“

I’ll always come back to Green Springs. You don’t run across stuff like this anymore.

– Dennis Suggs

”

And although he stopped charging admission years ago, Wetherington said fewer and fewer thrill seekers come to Green Springs each year.

“I bet there’s been close to a million people here since I been here; today there’s not very many here, there’s just

a few,” he says, scanning the pier. “But back in the ’70s and all there was 300 to 400 a day, everyday. In the ’80s, 200 to 300 a day, all summer long. We used to have drink boxes and stuff, but once McDonalds come out there I done away with them and let them walk out there to McDonalds. I couldn’t make no money on them no way,” Despite, or maybe because of, the numerous setbacks, Wetherington seems determined to continue until he’s simply no longer able to rise each morning to greet Green Springs visitors.

“I felt the Lord has let me live for a reason and I look at all these little kids and all, five generations now I’ve seen here. A lot of them come down here and say ‘Do you know so and so? That was my grandmomma or granddaddy.’

There was somebody here the other day who said they were the third generation been coming here.

“People have wanted to put condominiums and stuff down here, but then where would the kids go? They walk in just like it’s home, a lot of them come from Jacksonville, they used to

come from Newport, Greenville, all along, just to see what it is, just to jump off something. I didn’t know what in the world they come for, because it ain’t nothing purty, but that’s the reason they like it. It’s the old timey thing, ya’ know, it’s just fun. I nicknamed it ‘the last of the old-time swimming holes.’”

Wetherington maintains his determination to see Green Springs continue can be traced back to a young man who returned from the war that claimed so many of his friends, and even today, isn’t quite sure why.

“I thought the Lord let me come back from Korea and those over there didn’t come back, they gave everything they had, and I had just as much right to give my life for something as they did over yonder. I wanted to make a place for kids to go swimming when they’re at grandma’s and all, or just a little homecoming and whatever, just the little simple things that kids ain’t got no more.”

And that, it seems, is the final story George Wetherington has to tell, the one he’s still living.

“All these kids down here, they don’t care nothing about tomorrow, it’s all today. But one day they’re going to grow up, some of them will, and some of them will be in a fox hole and a shell will come with their name on it, some of them will jump out of an airplane and the parachute ain’t gonna open.

And when that happens their mind’s going back to the most fun they ever had in all their life, and that’s when I want them to remember me and Green Springs.”

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Baseball’sback!

Texas Rangers to bring High-A minor league club to Kinston in 2017 Story & Photography by Michael Jaenicke & Joseph Dixon The wait — and long drives to the ballpark — are almost over for fans of professional baseball in eastern and southeastern North Carolina.

In August, the City of Kinston and the Texas Rangers announced baseball is returning to Grainger Stadium following a five-year absence.

The announcement came before a crowd of more than 2,000 people, who were invited for free hot dogs, soda and chips.

But it wasn’t the food that brought the fans, it was having baseball that is within a 40-minute drive for residents of seven counties.

The Rangers are bringing a High-A level affiliate to Kinston, which will be the ninth team in the historic Carolina League Fayetteville is also seeking to secure a team in the league.

“This is the best stadium in North Carolina and Kinston is the best place in the state to eat,” N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory told the crowd. “Thanks for not giving up hope that this would come.”

The deal, which is subject to approval by Minor League Baseball, will see a yet-to-benamed team come to Kinston in 2017.

Minor League Baseball Inc. said the Rangers and Kinston have a 12-year agreement to play at Grainger Stadium.

“We’re excited to be the new resident of Kinston and we hope to honor Grainger Stadium with many championships in the future,” said Ray Davis, chairman of the Texas Rangers Ownership Committee.

Cleveland moved its Indians out of Kinston and to Zebulon in 2011.

“It’s going to re-energize not only

52

SouthEast North Carolina

Kinston but all of eastern and southeastern North Carolina,” said Kinston City Manager Tony Sears. “It’s taken a lot of hard work and effort.”

City and Ranger officials will be investing money into Grainger, which was built in 1949. The $1.6 million commitment will include additional lighting, expanded concessions stands, a padded outfield wall, a weight room and new player clubhouses.

“

This means a great deal to me, someone who eats, breathes and sleeps baseball.

And I am not alone in my love for baseball here in Kinston.

– Thomas Arnold

”

The deal ends a two-year period during which both parties tried to land baseball in Kinston.

Kinston will be the smallest market in the Carolina League, although Grainger Stadium has historically drawn consistent crowds for baseball.

Kinston had a Carolina League club in Grainger for all but three seasons over 50 years (1962-2011).

Fayetteville has also signed an agreement package to bring a team to the Carolina

Fall 2016

League with the Houston Astros.

Plans are underway for a $33 million stadium on Hay Street in the downtown section. It’s scheduled to be completed in 2019.

Fayetteville had a Carolina League team from 1950 to 1956 and a South Atlantic League club from 1987 to 2000.

Fayetteville officials say if the team arrives before that date it will make arrangements to play games in a temporary facility, which the city did not name.

The Carolina League is one of the oldest and most respected loops in minor league baseball. The League has two four-team divisions and with the expansion of Kinston and Fayetteville would increase the divisions to five teams each.

Salem, Va. (a Boston Red Sox club), is the northernmost team in the South Division, so moving it to the North Division to make room for two new North Carolina teams would make sense.

Other current league teams include: the Lynchburg Hillcats (Cleveland), Potomac Nationals (Washington), Frederick Keys (Baltimore), Wilmington Delaware Blue Rocks (Kansas City), Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Chicago White Sox), Winston-Salem Dash (Chicago Cubs) and the Carolina Mudcats (Atlanta).

The Carolina League gained notoriety from even non-baseball fans when it was the backdrop for the movie “Bull Durham.”

How excited are residents?

During a 36-hour period more than 800 people suggested names for the new team, which won’t be the Indians as it was in the past.

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Really, with her brown curls and lipstick, she looked quite fetching. Not in this lifetime, Eustice.

“Sorry. That was uncalled for. Cave boy. Back to work. That was a $34 toaster, Eustice. Don’t let it happen again.”

“Yes sir Mr. Wolchak. Won’t happen again, Mr. Wolchak.”

The manager stormed out of the office as quickly as he entered, snapping up a new cigar from the barrel outside.

“Well, I’d never,” Mavis huffed, crossing her arms.

“It’s all right, I’ll check the cables and see if something’s loose. The feed’s getting snowy on camera three, maybe a mouse got into the wiring harness,” Stillwell responded.

“Just fix it,” she answered.

Mavis walked out of the office and shut the door. The room was dark again, the monitors dimly illuminating strips of fly paper hanging from the ceiling. ...

Eustice had no plans on addressing the cameras in the store, not tonight.

He was partially responsible for the security breach in the RelaxRite appliance store (Their motto: “Work is a thing of the past! Relax, in the future!”). Hurting for materials for his own inventions, Stillwell cannibalized part of his camera system.

After all, security was of secondary importance at the store. The problem wasn’t keeping people out, but getting them inside in the first place.

The appliances, sitting under walls lined with chevrons and sunbursts, were becoming dated compared to the Sears that opened across the street, driving the RelaxRite deeper into the red with every post-holiday lull.

The closed-circuit television-type camera system was of Stillwell’s own design — fresh off a stint stringing for a paper up North and now in a deadend job with plenty of time to piddle, the 33-year-old acquired half a truckload of scrap wiring and other bits for his experiments.

High speed rotating multi-plate leaf shutters, vacuum tubes, prototype chargecoupled devices (ruined, now used as coffee table coasters), overpowered magnets — it was a cornucopia of expensive, useless junk commandeered by a man named David Gordon, from a New York radio corporation’s company dumpster.

Gord was a friend of Stillwell’s from

the service—gappy-toothed, balding, mischevious, he got work with the company some years after the two parted ways, after Korea.

They’d met in a southern rice paddy.

Stillwell, a combat photographer and Gordon, a radioman, struck up a friendship in the uneasiness amidst the great weaponization of two entire countries.

Not weaponization in the sense of small arms, in the traditional sense, but the modal, modern use of two powers as great dueling pistols, the highest zenith imaginable of wealth and influence.

In fall 1950, the lanky Southern boy had been given a pistol, a uniform, a rangefinder camera and a warning that if he broke said camera, his pistol would be replaced with a rifle and he’d be on infantry duty.

With no desire to trade a dangerous post for a deadly one, Stillwell never pushed his luck.

“See what you can make of these. I’m not touching them. Your pal, Gord” read the note on the latest box of burgled tricks.

Surely, it must be something good Fall 2016

this time. Stillwell tore into the box and found nine matte black tins. In white print they read: “CAUTION, RADIOACTIVE.” ...

An unforeseen amount of power was there for the taking after the Second World War. So much influence had never existed in the hands of mankind before, and there was no reason to believe it could be fully democratized.

Like the fabulous Lockheed Starfighter streaking into the blinding skies of the future, the fetters of the modern era had been cut: Trouser presses. Vacuum cleaners. Electric mixers. Toasters that cooked four pieces of bread at a time.

Glancing over the appliances (“Futura” this, and “o-Tron” that) Eustice Stillwell marveled at the idea that mankind, the only fraternity to which the lonesome security guard held membership, was endless, unlimited.

What a comforting, monochromatic idea: that despite the tumult of 1965 America, the only direction left is still onward.

But not even the supersonic Starfighters, depicted on the sides of RelaxRite’s flagship color televisions, traveled upward forever. Their stamped aluminum exhaust trails arced gently from out of sight.

This feeling, to be alive in the sunshiny early noontime of humanity, would have been a salve on the souls of Eustice’s grandchildren, had they been born to see it.

It was Sunday. A crisp fall morning on Main Street, the shops were closed and streets empty as Stillwell hauled his toolbag into the store.

It had been an act of good faith to install the camera system, one of the first of its kind, in the RelaxRite. A favorite uncle owned the store and offered to have Stillwell hired, to keep up with the odds and ends Wolchak had been neglecting (he too was a pity hire, a school friend of Uncle, who was a bad gambler and worse divorcée).

Getting the cameras back online wouldn’t be hard, just time-consuming.

Stillwell hurried along as he pulled wires and checked their connections; he’d agreed to meet Gord at the train station in just a few hours.

The two went in on a project: Gord’s S outhEast North Carolina

59

package contained a few hundred rolls of some advanced new kind of photographic film, so light-sensitive it could pickup starlight in total darkness, or freeze the fastest action in broad daylight.

Labeled “ULTRA-HIGH SENSITIVITY. ISO 1.64 MILLION. RADIOACTIVE,” the rolls of six-by-six film had piqued Stillwell’s interest.

A pass with a Geiger counter from Aisle Seven (“Be prepared for the worst by choosing only the best! Detectmo!”) showed the film was mildly radioactive, less than is lethal, but more than, say, food should be.

Still, the film cartridges for his prized wind-up camera got lead-plated encasements for extra safety.

On board, the camera received a wideangle lens, reinforced winding arm and extra lead caps for the waistlevel finder and lens.

Most impressive though was the one-ofa-kind clutch-type multi-rotor shutter, made from electric motors (Aisle Five: Bigsby! The only dentistry-grade electric toothbrush made for children!) and leaf shutters from rather expensive old German cameras.

Running out of phase, some at hundreds of RPM, the rotating shutters made pinholes that could line up for as little as one fivehundred-twelve-thousandth of a second, with slower shutters rotating underneath.

But the system would be little more than a lightspeed carrot slicer if not for the experimental high-sensitivity film Gord had uncovered.

“Wait, a lightspeed carrot slicer? Not a bad idea either,” Gordon laughed as he slammed the door of Stillwell’s sky blue Rambler American.

“For the thinnest carrot slices imaginable, nothing beats Stillwell’s Atomic Slicer!

Aisle Six!” Gord shouted, amused beyond restraint.

“Yeah, you’re a real gas, you know that?

It’s like my grandpa always said, Gord. You milk the cow that gives the most milk first.

And right now, that store’s the only cow giving milk.”

In truth, Gordon made it a point to visit the RelaxRite often on his trips down South. He claimed a new piece of hardware on each visit, always some cheap doo-dad that served no purpose. Of course, the way Mavis called people “Puddin” entertained Gordon endlessly as well.

The two aimed to test the new device at an out-of-the-way state park, a shamefully let-go site of some Civil War confrontation with mounds here and there. It did offer one large benefit — a wide-open space with 60

SouthEast North Carolina

a busted fence halfway down to set a focus point.

“I applaud your grandfather’s, uh, perspicacity,” Gordon replied in thick, tarcoated Manhattanese.

“So. What’s the plan here?”

Stillwell wheeled the battery pack to the viewpoint, shoved his glasses up to his eyes and carefully connected two leads to the camera. With the flick of a switch, the machine threw a spark and whirred to life.

“Well, it seems to work. As long as everything’s lined up right, we should get a picture,” he said, peering over a sheet of notes.

“That’s it. Let’s snap a few.”

The machine ran well for a few minutes.

It wasn’t much more difficult to use than a regular camera; the slow step-down shutters allowed Stillwell enough time to wind the film at each ding! in the cycle, as the rest spun away.

Two rolls in, the machine, with a squeak and puff of ozone, died. ...

“No. No. There has to be some mistake Eustice. Maybe it’s recycled, like a,

d-double exposure or something,” Gordon said, dazzled, as the two peered into the print. Stillwell remained silent as they stood in the doorway of the darkroom.

“C’mon!” Gordon yelled, shoving his friend’s arm. “Say something! You’re the photographer! We were alone out there so what, in the name of all that is holy, are those!”

Mavis covered her mouth with one hand, the other on her hip, as horror tugged at her brows.

He’d noticed it in the negatives, now on the print, it was clearer than ever — forms, human-like, charging across the field toward the two men. They were frozen in place; some could be seen stumbling over the fence in the center, others tripped over figures laying on the ground.

In each frame, the figures came closer. In Fall 2016

the last picture, Gordon stood there smiling like a choir boy as a half-opaque man with nothing but background for eyes charged the camera, rifle and bayonet outstretched.

Stillwell looked back up at Gordon and stared in spine-folding horror as his friend phased out of view, first a shadow, and then nothing.

“Gordon!” Mavis shrieked, as Stillwell pulled her away, hugging her tightly. ...

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Date: 7/19/1967 Field Report #2395820 Special Agent Walter Fritzmeier Badge: 0755946 Addendum [handwritten]: Karen, please send word to have the North Carolina field offices’ formatting practices standardized.

Atrocious. - J.E.H. Missing persons; Special hardware confiscation; Possible un-American activities Narrative begin: 1. Upon special re-assignment from the division and subsequent travel to [REDACTED], North Carolina, the full resources assigned to this agent have not located subjects wanted for questioning by this agency, Eustice Lester Stillwell and David Allan Gordon.

1.1. David Gordon, of New York, was reported missing Oct. 11, 1965 from [REDACTED], N.C. by subject E. Stillwell. One week later, Stillwell provided a detailed statement to agents on Gordon’s disappearance and the machine he claimed caused the disappearance. Interview transcript RAL-WF-10181965-1 attached.

Stillwell did not return for his followup interview.

2. This investigation has exhausted all known leads in locating a known associate of Stillwell’s, one Mavis Cordoba, who is also wanted for questioning.

3.Fewtracesofthematerials,includingone medium format camera of [REDACTED] manufacture, approximately 270 rolls of 120 film of [REDACTED] manufacture, any and all photographic negatives and prints or batteries have been recovered.

3.1. Recovered successfully (radioactivity noted*): remnants from 2 plastic film roll

casings; 2.1 liters* of spent developer, fixer and stop bath; 8 trimming shards* from film negatives; the contents of one darkroom (see evidence locker manifest); one partially burnt wallet containing Photo ID of E.L. Stillwell; one 140’-by-50’ section of concrete, four inches thick, containing 2 [SEE UPDATE] pairs anomalous footprints (quarantined at Site B); various other personal effects of subjects, noted further in manifest.

3.2. One letter was recovered from Cordoba’s personal belongings at Site B, leading us to believe her disappearance is connected to Stillwell. Letter reads, “Mavis, I know where Gordon’s gone.

I’m going to find him. Come with me or stay here in [REDACTED]. Up to you. Meet me at the old warehouse off Highway 74. You know the one. 9 p.m.

We’ll sit for a picture. -ES” 4. Containment overview for warehouse at Site B: I will write this in the clearest terms possible. Dim footprints appear on the warehouse floor all hours of the day, occasionally accompanied by directional human shadows. Two separate sets of prints, with or without the appearance of shoes, appear to move throughout the facility and to the exits.

Footprints end at exits and appear to re-enter at random times later.

Diagrams show almost daily patterns that deviate each time present, indicating intelligence.

No way of communicating with the source of the footprints or otherwise interacting with them has been found.

Only recommendation at this time is to permanently shutter and staff the facility with guards. Building is in foreclosure, so purchase won’t be problematic.

UPDATE: 01/23/1969: One small pair of handprints, followed by what appear to be two lame rear limbs being dragged across the floor, have joined the original footprints.

UPDATE: 10/15/1969: Third subject’s rear limbs have achieved locomotion similar to a small child. Request for reassignment submitted. Denied.

UPDATE: 7/29/1973: After a lull of approximately 1.5 years, footprints returned. Single pair. One foot appeared to be tapping in sentiently. Guard filmed event, determined the tapping to read “HOME. FINE. SAFE. HAPPY. SAFE. COME VISIT. SAFE.” in Morse code.

Nothing further.

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SIGNAL FROM BEYOND Continued from page 17

normal field is being done wrong,” says Elliott, who’s been investigating for eight years.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of ‘orbs.’ It’s dust, or moisture in the air. They say, ‘it’s spirits, it’s my grandfather.’ It’s not.

It’s dust.”

Now far past the Witching Hour and creeping into daylight, the group is packing their gear. The crab boat was calling Elliott’s name.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that people are interested, but it’s like the phrase, ‘practice makes perfect,’” he says.

“That’s wrong. Perfect practice makes perfect. If you practice something the wrong way, it’s going to be wrong.”

It’s a bold statement for someone who just spent the night searching for something that might not be there. Still, for a group that takes such pains to log, test and debunk, they make very few claims.

“Not everyone sees it the way we do...

We’re trying to do this the right way, we’re trying to find real paranormal activity,” Elliott says.

“Everything’s evidence, basically. Evidence doesn’t equal proof necessarily, but it is evidence.”

On the surface, it’s easy to see why some are dismissive of groups like KSPI. Perhaps it’s easier to discard possibilities than entertain them. Testing those possibilities is even harder still.

If you align with the more zealous of those in the skeptic community, perhaps you believe KSPI are playing makebelieve in the woods. And yet, there’s still the methodology, the logs, the testing and hypothesis-forming.

Consider this thought experiment, based on their claim that what they do is akin to fishing: 1.) To find out if there are fish in a pond, the easiest method is to go fishing.

That is fine, because fishing is a good thing to do.

2.) Let’s pretend fish are theoretical, or the thing of legend. To find out if fish exist at all, the easiest method is still to go fishing. That is also fine, because fishing is still a good thing to do.

Now, define “fishing.”

Learn more about Legacy Farms at www. legacyfarmsevents.com. Find Kindred Spirits Paranormal Investigations on Facebook or at kindredspiritspi.wix.com/kspi.

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Throughout the southeastern region of North Carolina, there are dozens of homemade, locally made products ranging from arts and crafts, food, beverages, and home products. Shopping local has seen a massive push by farmers markets and small business owners. Many shops often have an old-fashioned charm and quaintness, with personable, and knowledgeable, staff and owners.

This season, SE North Carolina sought out those very shop owners and their homegrown and homemade products available to consumers in the region.

White Lake Wicks Location: 321 N. Front St., Wilmington Phone number: 910-796-9443 Website: www.facebook.com/whitelake-wicks-llc Owner: Sharon Reynolds

White Lake Wicks is a candle, candle melts, and votive shop of natural eco soy candles made in White Lake, but sold at the Cotton Exchange in Wilmington. Candles are hand poured and made by the owner. Every season, the scents change though year round favorites like Black Sea, Sea Salt Blossom, Lavender, and Coffee are always available. The fall-inspired scents are also 100 percent natural soy with no color. The candles are all white, but come in fun and colorful designed jars. White Lake Wicks unveiled its fall collection in September and features scents like Pumpkin Pickin’, Mulled Cider, Mulberry, Witch’s Brew, Falling Leaves, Harvest Spice, Pumpkin Spice, Harvest Wreath, Harvest Apple Orchard and more. Candle melts are also available in aforementioned scents. White Lake Candles promises candles and melts at optimal level of fragrance and always natural.

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for special orders, Dock mainly focuses creating pieces anyone can enjoy. Karen takes some of the molds he’s made to make pottery of sand dollars, starfish, and seahorses. The husbandand-wife team travels to art shows, festivals, and farmers markets around the country, showcasing and selling their pieces.

Sunny Soap Location: Wallace Phone number: 910-289-1805 Website: http://sunnysoapnc.storenvy. com/ Owner: Rosalind Townsend Sunny Soap makes homemade natural soap with no additives or chemicals. All of the soaps are hand made by the owner and guaranteed to be sulfate, paraben, phthalatae, petrochemical, and GMO free. Known for its Kinsley (vegan) soap designed for people with sensitive skin, eczema, and psoriasis, Sunny Soaps are made with natural essential oils. The Kinsley soap is made of olive oil, coconut milk, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, safflower oil, Tamanu nut oil, sodium hydroxide, vitamine E. Other ingredients used in other soaps includes organic palm oil, sunflower oil, peppermint essential oil, tea tree essential oil and peppermint leaves. During the fall season Autumn Apple scented soaps will be available and during the Christmas and winter seasons other scents will include Holly Jolly, The Gift of Gold, and Frankincense Myrrh.

Sunny Soap also has a line of emollients, acne cream, linen spray, and pet-friendly products.

Offering over 22 varieties in soaps, there’s a little something for anyone interested in using natural products. Cost: $5-$12.

Papa Doc’s Art Location: Currie Phone number: 910-283-0785 Website: www.papadocsart.com Owner: William “Dock” and Karen Lindley

Papa Doc’s Art features a wide-range variety of handmade nautical wood carvings by Dock Lindley and ceramics by his wife Karen. Dock’s fish, sea turtle, crabs, and mermaid carvings appear lifelike. Though he creates custom pieces Fall 2016

Elizabeth’s Pecans Location: 106 Thomson Ave, Turkey Phone number: 910-533-2229 or 1-866-EAT-PECANS Website: www.elizabethspecans.com Owner: Alan Bundy

Pecans are an SENC delicacy. They’re also the main ingredient in Elizabeth’s Pecans’ soft brittle. The Turkey pecan company also has a massive collection of other pecan inspired

cal

“Make The Wise Choice”

Serving all of Duplin County, Randy Wise and his staff offer a great selection of fine jewelry including watches, necklaces, earrings, and diamonds, diamonds, diamonds! Plus a big selection of Southern Gates and John Wind jewelry.

BY NADYA NATALY

artisanal products. From pecans covered in decadent chocolate to a mix of almond pecan with brown sugar mix, Elizabeth’s Pecans has a sweet treat fitting for any occasion. A must try is their jalapeno flavored pecans, a must try for spicy foods connoisseurs. Orange creme covered pecans, mandarin honey covered pecans, milk and dark chocolate cover pecans varieties available prove there is something even for those who don’t like chocolate or brittle. Though the soft brittle is the most popular, Elizabeth’s Pecans’ products all embrace the holiness of the pecan.

Nature’s Way Farm and Seafood Location: 115 Crystal Court, Hampstead Phone number: 910-270-3036 Website: www.natureswayfarmandseafood.com Owner: Bill and Tina Moller

Nature’s Way Farm and Seafood is a small farmstead that makes chevre, blue, feta, mozzarrella, and a few hard cheeses. Twice daily, 10-12 goats are milked and the mik is used to make some of the best cheese in the southeastern region. Flavors include dill and garlic, herbs de provence, southwest chipotle, roasted red pepper, and more. Though their cheese is sold primary at farmers markets, they have been spotted at Tidal Creek Coop, a natural and organic foods market in Wilmington. Local restaurants have also been known to purchase the cheeses for their menus. Aside of making cheese, the couple, Bill and Tina, harvest local oysters October through March and clams year round.

Anyone can give the Mollers a call to head out to their farmsite store to purchase the cheese and seafood products.

Wise Jewelers Fine Jewelry • Watches • Gifts

100 Front St. (On the Corner) Kenansville

910-275-0311 Expert Jewelry Repair • We Buy Gold!

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9:30-5:30 • Sat. 9:30-1:00

Since 1971

Westwater Country Ham

Westwater Country Hams cures hams the old-fashioned way— the way you remember it... like it ought to be. Over 40 years experience and thousands of satisfied customers say we know how to do it right!

The Way 1277 NC 24 Bus. and NC 50 • Warsaw, N.C. It Was WE SHIP UPS DAILY • VISA, MASTERCARD SE

Meant To Be!

910-293-7294 800-868-2055 Fall 2016

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Chr Can istmas dle By ligh t

d n an enso d teph Ban Ed S e Paco Th

Sola s

SEPTEMBER

NOVEMBER

Concert Series Featuring: Ed Stephenson and the Paco Band Thursday September 15 | 7:30 PM Hazel Waters Kornegay Assembly Hall* Contact: Dr. William Ford at wford@umo.edu

Vivian B. Harrison Memorial Lecture featuring Dr. John Philip Newell Monday, November 7 | 7 PM Tuesday, November 8 | 9 AM Southern Bank Auditorium located in Raper Hall Contact: Neal Cox at rcox@umo.edu

UMO Faculty Recital Thursday September 29 | 7:30 PM Hazel Waters Kornegay Assembly Hall * Contact: Dr. William Ford at wford@umo.edu

Meet Columnist, Interviewer, and Humorist Drew Magary Wednesday, November 9 | 4 PM Southern Bank Auditorium in Raper Hall Contact: Jackie Hill at jhill@umo.edu

OCTOBER Concert Series Featuring Solas Thursday October 6 | 7:30 PM Hazel Waters Kornegay Assembly Hall * Contact: Dr. Franklin Gross at wgross@umo.edu

Campus Visitation Day Friday, November 11 | 8:15 AM Registration Holmes and Lois Murphy Center Contact: Tim Woodard at 919-658-7793 or twoodard@umo.edu

Ghost Apparatus Monday, October 10 - Friday, November 4 Teresa Pelt Grubbs Gallery - Laughinghouse Hall Contact: Larry D. Lean at llean@umo.edu

The Songs We Sing Wednesday, November 16 | 9 AM Rodgers Chapel Contact: Dr. Franklin Gross at wgross@umo.edu

Fall Department of Music Prism Concert Thursday, October 13 | 7:30 PM Hazel Waters Kornegay Assembly Hall* Contact: Dr. William Ford at wford@umo.edu

Founders Day Wednesday, November 16 | 11 AM Southern Bank Auditorium

Concert Series Featuring U.S. Air Force Heritage Band of America Monday, October 17 | 7:30 PM Kornegay Arena Contact: Cindi Wellinger at cwellinger@umo.edu

Fall 2016 Senior Art Show Reception Thursday, November 17 | 4 PM Teresa Pelt Grubbs Fine Arts Gallery in Laughinghouse Hall Contact: Bob Murray 919-658-7183 or rmurray@umo.edu

Sing For Another Day Tuesday, October 25 | 7 PM Southern Bank Auditorium in Raper Hall Contact: Emily Jenkins at ejenkins@umo.edu

Homecoming and Pickle Classic Weekend Friday and Saturday, November 18-19 Contact: Hope Fields 919-658-7714 or hfields@umo.edu

51st Annual Pickle Classic Friday and Saturday, November 18-19 George and Annie Dail Kornegay Arena Game times: 5 and 7:30 PM both nights Cost: advance tickets are $15 for both days or $10 per day on game day Contact: Tina Parks at 919-658-7759 Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Saturday, November 19 | 3 PM Holmes & Lois K. Murphy Center Contact: Tina Parks at 919-658-7759 or cparks@umo.edu

DECEMBER The University of Mount Olive Christmas by Candlelight Service Friday and Saturday, December 2-3 Hazel Waters Kornegay Assembly Hall Contact: Melba Ingram for advance tickets at mingram@umo.edu or 919-299-4582 A Twisted Christmas Carol Friday, December 9 | 7:30 PM Hazel Waters Kornegay Assembly Hall Contact: Dr. Tyanna Yonkers at tyonkers@umo.edu * Hazel Waters Kornegay Assembly Hall is located at 207 Wooten Street Mount Olive, NC 28365.

The Fine Arts Circle works to promote the cultural, social, and economic importance of the arts to the community at large by not only participating in fine arts gatherings, but also by helping to support them.

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

634 Henderson Street | Mount Olive, NC 28365

| With locations in Mount Olive, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base,

Jacksonville, New Bern, Research Triangle Park, Washington, Wilmington, and in Smithfield at Johnston Community College

Fall 2016

FOR MORE INFO: 919-658-2502 WWW.UMO.EDU/CALENDAR

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Lung transplant recipient ‘jumps in the lake’ for community’s health

(L-r): Ryan Douglass, T.J. Jenkins, Zack Eley, and Keith “Black Daddy” Black SE North Carolina photo / Kia McMillan

Four friends make networking group work They meet the first Friday of every month to network at the Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill in Fayetteville. However, before the became known as the Fayetteville Urban Professionals, Ryan Douglas, T.J. Jenkins, Zack Eley, and DJ Keith “Black Daddy” Black were were four best friends.

Hanging out at one another’s houses and recognizing the fun they were having together, the guys decided to invite people to join in the fun. They found colleagues and professionals in other fields — there was nowhere to go out to meet like-minded people in Fayetteville.

Bridging the communication gap between professionals who may only go to work and not socialize with other professionals outside of their fields, they launched their once-a-month soiree.

FUP has also have taken the shindig on the road. Celebrity Megan Fox joined the group during a recent trip to Miami, Florida.

The ambiance of the free event is a relaxed atmosphere where a sophisticated crowd enjoys laughter, food and drink, and dancing to the soundtrack of classy and hip music.

Douglas, one of the founders of Fayetteville Urban Professionals, said, “People can connect with each other for new jobs, real estate investments, or even introduction to political campaigns and its politicians. Creating lasting conversations, which potentially can convert to business partnerships or new friendships, is key to the success of the networking event.”

The event draws a diverse group of individuals in eclectic fields ranging from finance, local government, medical, marketing, retail, entrepreneurs, and college students.

Eley said, “We call ourselves ‘local guys’ who just want to meet and collaborate with new people.” FUP also shows community support by volunteering with local nonprofit organizations and hosting benefits.

John Dailey of St. James in Brunswick County counts himself a lucky man.

Just a year ago, the retired University of Illinois pharmacology professor got what he called a “second chance” with a lung transplant after being diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis five years earlier. A lung transplant was the only way Dailey would ever be able to return to an enjoyable retired life.

He and his wife enjoyed the first seven years of their retirement, playing lots of golf and enjoying life in Brunswick County. He also became an active member of the Southport Rotary Club.

The experience and its success made Dailey realize that he was one of the fortunate ones when it comes to health care.

“My co-pay was $30,” he said. But the entire bill from Duke Medical Center where the transplant was successfully performed was about $1.3 million.

His association with the Rotary showed him that many in Brunswick didn’t have the same health care opportunities that he and his wife were fortunate enough to have. The amazing care he received, both at Duke and locally, serve as a stark contrast to the lack of medical care many people face.

Enter New Hope Health Clinic and the “Go Jump in the Lake” fundraiser that the Southport Rotary Club is heavily invested in.

“Go Jump in the Lake” started out as a community event for Boiling Spring Lakes, and Rotary later took it on. The club saw it as a way to serve the youth and meet the healthcare needs of the community. Dailey has been serving on the Rotary Club’s race committee this year. He was an active participant in this year’s Labor Day weekend 1.5 mile fun run.

There were also 5k and 10K runs with the finish line at Spring Lake, where jumping in the lake is encouraged.

New Hope Executive Director Sheila Roberts told the Southport State Port Pilot newspaper that the clinic is staffed by 150 volunteers and serves more than 1,000 uninsured county residents each year. She estimates as many as 11,000 Brunswick residents would qualify for the services at New Hope Clinic.

New Hope Clinic is the prime beneficiary of the Go Jump in the Lake event, but other community organizations also share in the proceeds.

State Port Pilot photo / Renee Spencer

7-Eleven franchise were posted online and Cetoute became aware he was a competition finalist in May after campaigning locally for 2,456 video “likes” that represented online votes, placing him second among top contestants.

The finalists then had a oneon-one interview with DePinto, a

former Army service member.

Cetoute was informed that he won the national competition in June, according to information from the competition. He plans to stay and operate the 7-Eleven franchise in Onslow County where he lives with his wife and two children.

Fall 2016

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FROM PAGE 5: On May 17, 2012, the public art piece “Milling Around,” by artist Heidi Lippmann, was formally dedicated at a ceremony held in downtown Clinton.

Located at the apex of College Street and Main, the seven panes of colored glass were inspired by an old abandoned millstone found about a hundred yards away behind the law office of Andrew Jackson on the East bank of the Cat Tail Branch. Commissioned by the City of Clinton to create the public art piece, Lippmann says she chose the millstone as a “metaphor for how a town evolves.”

Mystery Photo Reveal

SE travel

North Carolina

Our corner of North Carolina offers much more than just scenic beauty... Here are some great places you can appreciate for the good foods, good times, history, and oldfashioned SENC hospitality!

P lanner

BEULAVILLE

Country Store & Restaurant We offer multiple venue locations for everything from family cook-outs to elegant weddings. We have a large covered shelter, a large banquet room, and The Barn.

The Barn is our newest upscale venue for weddings and other events.

BEULAVILLE

No matter how you slice it...

PIZZA VILLAGE Is Still Beulaville’s Favorite Restaurant!

Thursday & Friday 4:30-8 p.m Saturday 4:00-8 p.m.

1600 Haw Branch Rd. Beulaville

Call for Details 910-324-3422 www.mikesfarm.com 72

SouthEast North Carolina

Daily Lunch Buffet, Monday ~ Saturday

811 W. Main Street 910-298-3346

Fall 2016

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75

Life insurance is more than a policy, it’s a promise.

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Teddy Bostic

Agent Matt McNeill Kenansville

LUTCF Agency Manager

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Agent Kenansville

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Duplin County Farm Bureau

308 N. Main Street • Kenansville, NC 28349 151 Crossover Road • Beulaville, NC 28518 THIS ARTWORK CANNOT BE ALTERED, REVISED, RESIZED OR REBUILT BEYOND CHANGING THE AGENT PHOTO OR CONTACT INFO. CONTACT MADGENIUS WITH ANY QUESTIONS AT COOP@MADGENIUSINC.COM

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