— FOUR ROWS AT A TIME — A tobacco setter that can plant four rows at a time was photographed on the L.R. Bowers farm near Brunswick. It was the first four-row rig known to be in use in Columbus County and was owned by Harvey Ward, who was tending 42 acres of tobacco that year. The machine co…
— ‘RESERVED FOR THE BIRDS’ — Five-year-old Rachael McPherson peeks in her family’s newspaper box at a bird’s nest with several eggs to see if they had hatched. With help of her father, Dale, she placed a sign on the box, “Use other box please, reserved for birds.” The newspaper carrier, inci…
— TAKING SHAPE — Richard Cavanaugh lowered a steel beam into place as construction continued on the new classroom building at Whiteville Primary School.
— BOOK SALE — Claire Boone, 3, plays an educational video game on a computer at the Carolyn T. High Memorial Library in Whiteville, where Friends of the Library would hold a book sale to buy books and other media such as educational computer games.
— FROM TREE STUMP TO CHURCH PEW — Eliminating the costly middle man was Eston Hinson’s goal. The 13 men in his cabinet works who built church furniture would soon be working with lumber cut from Hinson’s farm. The cabinet works crew cuts the trees, saws them into lumber, dries them and bring…
— SEED DONATION — Ricky Worley of Ed Worley’s True Value Hardware Store pours part of the extra seeds that the store will donate to the Good Shepherd Home of Lake Waccamaw. At left is Bill Scott, director of the home. Worley’s annually made the donation of leftover seeds to Good Shepherd.
— UP CLOSE — Students at Edgewood Elementary get to see what a fire engine looks like up close. In the background the Carolina Telephone child-sized mobile home sits. A tour of the mobile unit gives the kids a chance to identify safety hazards in the home and escape the unit the correct way …
— PREPARING TO OPEN — Walmart hired more than 200 people to prepare for the opening of its new store in Whiteville, according to store manager Kathy Rice. At top, right, Dreda Stanley checks inventory in the shampoo aisle while, below, Brenda Ward stocks more of the product. At left, Jerry M…
— WATER PARK — Moderate but persistent rains flooded several streets and properties throughout the county, including Felix Smith Park in Whiteville. Danielle Cassidy, 12, and Ashley Nealey, 13, ventured barefoot through the park for a little springtime adventure. Nealey is shown on their way…
— WILLIAM NORMAN JR. — third grade student at Whiteville Primary School, was named the winner of the 4-H Mulligan Stew Poster Contest for the third grade division. He was presented a $25 savings bond by James Blake, manager of Pine State Creamery. William’s homeroom teacher was Elsie Campbell.
— LONG DISTANCE PAINTING — Don Groves of Brunswick attached a roller to a long wooden handle in order to paint the walls of this two-story building. The photo was taken at the law office of Walter H. Powell Jr.
— ADDED BONUS — This man, who did not want to be identified, was picking up cans along U.S. 74-76 bypass when he came across this piece of a car or truck. Apparently, he figured that if a small can could bring a few cents, then this large piece of scrap would being several dollars.
— A REMINDER — Audrey Coleman, who was in the fourth grade at Old Dock Elementary, displayed her memento from Southeastern Community College’s Earth Day. It was a reminder to her to use what she learned at the college to help improve the environment.
— GOT THE BEAT — Kelly Jones, theater arts and dance instructor at West Columbus High School, helps a student learn the “chicken dance” in a dance workshop at the Very Special Arts Festival held at the school. The annual event served to enrich the lives of students with disabilities througho…
— SCC EARTH DAY — Dan McGraw sold pottery made by Southeastern Community College students. It was part of the annual art club craft fair and sale. Almost 800 fourth graders visited SCC’s campus to celebrate Earth Day.
— ALL EQUIPMENT FINALLY ARRIVES — Columbus County Police Officers Herman Price, Alfred Hayes, Clayton Norton, Kenneth Smith and Ted Williams proudly displayed the new decal and blue light on one of the patrol cars. It took over six months, but the staff was fully equipped with uniforms, cars…
— UNCLE! — Jonathan Jenrette, 8, practices a wrestling move on Arthur Moore, 6, at the park off Nolan Avenue in Whiteville. They were both big fans of professional wrestling and said Sting and Hulk Hogan were their favorites.
— WEEKEND GASOLINE PRICES GOING HIGHER — Etna’s Manager Steve Floyd was changing prices as he reported a two-cent increase during the week. Regular self-service gasoline was selling for $1.039/10 and unleaded at $1.089/10 per gallon. The price had been 919/10 cents less than two months earli…
— FIRE SAFETY DAY — Edgewood Elementary students participated in activities that demonstrated fire safety tips and how to escape a smoke-filled house. Carolina Telephone supplied a trailer, designed like a house, that students could enter and practice escaping from - when it was filled with …
— HOPPING FOR HOOPS — No leap was too high for the usual crowd at the Franklin home off Nance Street in Chadbourn as they enjoyed a pickup basketball game in the driveway.
— UPTOWN DRESS SHOP — Mayor Horace Whitley is shown as he cuts the ribbon, officially opening the door to Whiteville’s first uptown dress shop. Pearl’s Dress Shop opened in the Memory Shopping Center. Attending the ribbon cutting were Rev. Gwenn McCormick, pastor of First Baptist Church, A…
— SWEPT AWAY — Marking the end of an era, Kmart store manager Maria Wright sweeps the floor of the Whiteville department store shortly before closing it for the last time. The Kmart store opened in August 1981. The Whiteville store was shut down by the Kmart Corporation along with more than …
— FIRST EMPLOYEE — Theresa Jacobs was on the job at the Audio Devices Inc. plant near Bolton, where she was acquainted with production line equipment used to assemble cartridge tapes and cassettes. Jacobs was the newcomer industry’s first employee. Production began in the vacant Waccamaw Ind…
— SIGNING IN — Julian Baker worked on the new Kentucky Fried Chicken sign on U.S. Highway 701 Bypass. The firm completely remodeled and renovated the building by adding seating and a drive through window.
— ACL TRAIN NO. 54 WRECKED HERE — The Atlantic Coastline Railroad Company’s Train No. 54 came to a sudden stop when its two diesel locomotives left the track at a switch in front of G.V. Singletary & Sons just west of the Lee Street crossing. The train had slowed for the Whiteville stati…
— SHADES OF SPRING — Warm sunshine and short sleeves was the general weather rule over the past weeks as spring approached. Susan Rogers found a windbreaker on a pole and net at the Whiteville High School courts offered her a shield from the sun’s rays so she could catch up on a little reading.
— STOP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS — This feline takes time from his afternoon stroll to sniff the bud of a flowering plant. The warm weather turned many people’s thoughts, as well as this cat’s, toward the warm and sunny days of spring.
— FLOWER POWER — E.L. (Pea) Green, district highway engineer, made certain winning “outside bloom” was properly designated and displayed at the Whiteville Camellia Society Camellia Show. Green won eight ribbons in all and said, “The weather was with us all the way.”
— FLOWER GIRL — Caroline Kirby of Whiteville gathers flowers at the N.C. Boys and Girls Homes.
— OUT FOR A SPIN — Sandy Horne, 5, drives a lawnmower as her brother Matthew, 3, is towed behind in his red wagon in Chadbourn.
— NOT FAR TO GO — The Lumber River has practically come to the doorstep of River Bend Outiftters in Fair Bluff, as the continuing rain brings flooding into the streets.
— A CHANGING SCENE — A boxcar sits parked below the Powell Boulevard overpass in Whiteville. Dozens of boxcars and hopper cars were indefinitely parked on the Carolina Southern Railway.
— NURSING HOME RESIDENT — Emmaline Smith gets help from Craig Graham, son of migrant workers who is enrolled in classes at Whiteville Primary School.
— THE ADMINISTRATIVE AREA — of Whiteville High School, which was severely damaged by fire in October of 1977, was completely torn down by Williams and Frink Construction workers. A new administration office building, which would contain twice the space of the old building, was to be construc…
— EAST COLUMBUS LIBRARY — Evidence of work on the former Delco railroad depot can be seen from foundation to roof at its new location in Riegelwood. The turn-of-the-century building was destined to become the East Columbus Library, a branch of the Columbus County Public Library system, throu…
— STUDY SESSION — Penny Thorpe took advantage of the warm weather to get outside and do her homework. She was a student at Chadbourn Elementary and lived near China Grove Church.
— RAINY WORK — A lone workman operates equipment in a light rain on the new bridge being constructed over the swollen Waccamaw River at Pireway.
— GIFT TO SOUTHEASTERN — The Zenith Corporation, through one of its local dealers, George Warren, center, presented Southeastern Community College with a new Zenith TV chassis. Accepting for the college were George Howard, left, dean of the technical-vocational department, and Clifton Kinlaw…
— PLYWOOD PLANT SITE CLEARED — The site for Georgia-Pacific Corporation’s plywood manufacturing facility west of Whiteville was being prepared. W.W. Baird, construction supervisor for Georgia-Pacific said grading, excavation, filling and laying out had been underway for about a month. The pl…
— HEAD START — A construction worker with Superior Wall Systems of Oxford walks past a 5,000-pound concrete wall section as it is being raised for installation on the new Head Start building in Whiteville. The sections are poured in a factory and delivered ready to piece together, so the sid…
— HIGH BUFF POLISH — Whiteville Firefighter John Cook works on the front of his department’s 1976 American LaFrance pumper. Keeping the fire vehicles shipshape and polished is part of a firefighter’s job.
— LITTLE BOY, BIG RAKE — Chris Conway uses a man-sized rake to fill his boy-sized wheelbarrow with pinestraw. The 5-year-old volunteered to pile the pine needles around the shrubbery surrounding his Lake Waccamaw home. Chris is the son of Debbie and Robert Conway.
— SPECIAL DELIVERY — Danny Rogers makes a small carbon footprint as he rides his bicycle along Franklin Street in Whiteville to bring groceries home.
— NOR RAIN, NOR GLOOM OF ... DAY — stops Postman Harold Waldron as he foots his 22-mile beat in Whiteville through messy weather.
— 60TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATION — Shanita Hampton, left, was presented the 2011 Jiggs Powers Memorial Award by Amelia Lee Sasser. The award goes annually to Columbus County’s Most Outstanding Athlete. Hampton was a four-year standout in five sports at East Columbus High School before graduat…
— SPEEDING LIGHTS — What looks like speeding vehicles in downtown Whiteville are actually headlights in a time-exposure photograph.
— CAREFUL, CAREFUL — A worker gingerly moves power and phone lines across the roof line of this house being moved along Spivey Road. Carolina Telephone and CP&L employees were on hand to assist in the slow-moving operation.
— LADIES, START YOUR ENGINES — These four young girls line up for some heavy backyard racing. Pictured left to right are Katie Gore, 16 months old, Ryan Gore, 6, Carol Gore, 3, and Cherilyn Gore, 6. They were playing behind the home of Chip and Connie Gore, parents of three of the children. …
