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The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
VOLUME LXVII NO. 29 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY. NORTH CAROLINA S5 PER YEAR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1975
Around
Town
BY SAM C MORRIS
The United Fund drive is still
going on and since the third week
has slowed down to a snail's pace.
The budget for this year is bigger
than in recent years and with
inflation more money is needed by
all agencies participating in the
fund. A new agency was added
which makes the need greater.
The United Fund has paid 100%
to agencies every year but one since
it was formed approximately 20
years ago. This does not mean that
Oie goal was met every year, but
when it was not met a surplus from
another vear left the directors with
enough money to pay off. This will
not be the case this year as all
'surpluses have just about been used
up.
The United Fund is operated in
Hoke County by volunteer or free
workers. The operating expenses
for the county run less than 1 % and
this is for supplies that are needed
for the campaign.
So if you haven't donated to the
fund or you feel that you could give
a little extra, it would certainly help
to reach the goal.
Send contributions to Eugene
Carter at The Bank of Raeford or
to this writer at The News-Journal.
Thanks.
The bowl selections for the
holiday football games are just
about complete and N.C. State will
be in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. So
all you State men get ready for a
trip to Georgia in late December.
The following letter was received
last weekend and I believe that it is
self - explanatory to football fans.
Dear Sam:
I need your help in locating an
old friend that I haven't heard from
recently. The last time 1 heard from
him was after the State-Wake
Forest game which is a pattern he
has developed through the years I
have known him--he always called
, after State had lost or Carolina had
won. Since it has been a long time
since either of these has happened,
I guess he hasn't had a sufficient
good reason to call. He used to
respond when called Ashwell, but
since the State-Carolina game he
may have changed that too.
If you happen to see Ashwell
Harward, give him my regards and
ask him to give me a call before
basketball season.
Sincerely,
Graham A. Pope
Ashwell, I will not let Graham
know what you had to say at Chapel
Hill before the Wake Forest - Caro
lina game.
The Raeford Merchants As
sociation are selling tickets on the
Playhouse or Santa House that was
used a couple of years during
Christmas. The house will make a
fine Playhouse for children, so buy
a ticket and help the merchants
with the Christmas lighting. I
believe you can find a ticket with
about any local merchant.
This office will be closed
Thanksgiving Day along with most
local businesses. So get your news
in early for next week's paper.
Put Leaves
Behind Curb
City Says
Pickup of leaves in the city will
be made on a daily schedule but
residents are asked to place their
leaves behind the curb instead of in
the gutter, street superintendent
Dewey Inman said.
Leaves left in the gutter have
created problems if they are washed
or blown into the drain pipes and
may cause the drains to become
blocked. For this reason, everyone
is asked to leave leaves behind the
curb.
Leaves may be bagged, but h is
iot required.
Inman urged more cooperation
t of leaves.
{
to keep the streets free i
COUNCIL SESSION ? Extra chairs had to be brought into the small meeting room when the city council heard views
pro and con on re - hiring ex ? city manager John Gaddy.
Gaddy Supporters Heard
Council Vows New Manager
About fifteen spectators crowded
into the city council meeting Thurs
day night as the full council
rejected a move to rehire ex-city
manager John Gaddy and vowed to
continue a search for a new
manager.
M.K. (Mac) Sessoms, Jr., an
organizer of a petition drive which
began after Gaddy pleaded no
contest to misappropriation of
funds last month and resigned his
post, argued that Gaddy should be
given a job with the city.
"To put the bare facts on the
table, due to some mistakes. I'll
put it that way, he resigned. But if
he could work until this new
manager comes in, it would help
his ability to go out and get a job",
Sessoms told the council.
Sessoms said he had collected
over 300 names on his petitions but
that he had more out that hadn't
been turned in yet.
Several city employees, including
Graham Niven, Harvey Young,
Police Chief Leonard Wiggins,
Thomas Carpenter, and Lacy Mor
risey were present, with Carpenter
and Morrisey saying Gaddy had
done a good job and ought to be
considered for some position.
Defeated candidate for city
council Danny Morrison urged
abandonment of the city manager
form of rule and assign Gaddy a
new position with no responsibility
for handling funds.
"If you shake up one. you ought
to shake up all these department
heads", Morrison said. "Looks to
me, he'd be willing to take a cut in
pay, he wouldn't have to handle no
money".
Newly-elected city councilman
David Lovette, who will replace
councilman Robert Weaver in De
cember, discouraged the bid to hire
Gaddy.
"Why not have some private
citizen hire him to work. That
might help the man, they could
write him a good recommenda
tion", Lovette suggested.
"Are there any jobs open now?",
Sessoms asked the council. "Isn't
there a city garage foreman job
open?"
The council, along with Mayor
John K. McNeill, generally agreed
it would not be appropriate to
eliminate the city manager job and
create any new jobs now.
J.H. (Buddy) Blue, Jr.. Chamber
of Commerce manager, suggested
any decision on hiring Gaddy for
some other city job should be left
up to the new city manager when he
is hired.
"Leave that problem to the city
manager". Blue said.
On a motion from councilman
Sam Morris and seconded by
councilman Benny McLeod. the
vote was unanimous to continue
with Bill Sellars as interim city
manager while the council continue
to find a new city manager.
Mayor McNeill promised he
would place advertisements in the
Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh
News and Observer this week.
The council agreed to go over all
applications at their next meeting
in December. The mayor said he
has received some applications
already which have been shown to
the council members.
Housing Agent Says:
'Public Housing Is Great Need'
"I'm here to work and I'd like to
help as-many people as I can," said
Willie Featherstone Jr., new assistant
agricultural extension agent.
"My job is to improve sub ?
standard housing in Hoke County,"
he said.
Featherstone, a native of Heath,
Arkansas and a 1972 graduate of the
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff,
where he was an agricultural
economics major and obtained a
minor in mathematics, started work
Nov. I.
He said that he had three main
goals he'd like to accomplish. These
goals involved the rehabilitating of
some houses within the county that
do not have proper facilities, assist
persons who would like to buy or
build a new house, and to try to
establish a public housing area in
Hoke County.
"This office is totally educational.
We will try to help people to acquire
new housing and buildings," he said.
Featherstone said he would like to
work with the county planner and
others who could aid him.
"I can't do anything by myself. It
will have to be a joint effort in
Raeford," he said.
Featherstone said he has been
trying to get himself acquainted with
the county.
"I've attended orientation
meetings and tried to familiarize
myself with the county and learn
some of the people within the
county," he said.
Featherstone explained why he
went into extension work.
"One of the main reasons I
majored in agriculture was to get into
extension work. I like being able to
help people and that's the main
reason I'm in extension work," he
said.
Featherstone said he specialized in
agricultural economics and thought it
would help him with his work here.
"Hoke County, like any other
rural county, has problems in
NEW AGENT - Willie Featherstone, new housing assistance agent who will
work under the county extension senice, discusses his objectives and plans for
the next two years.
housing and there is a lot gf work
that I can do to improve sub -
standard housing," he said.
"Public housing is a great need of
the county. A lot of people that
deserve good housing and don't have
the ability to rehabilitate them need
the service. These people arc the
financially deprived and the elderly,"
he added.
"I don't see how people can sit
aside and forget about these people.
It should be a joint effort by the
county,"he said.
"The housing program is new and
a lot of people don't know about it.
II there are some people who have
questions or ideas about public
housing, I'd like lo talk to them," he
concluded.
Featherstone joined the Army in
August of 1972 and was stationed at
Ft. Bragg until his discharge last
August.
Featherstone and his wife, Willie
Josephine live in Fayettcville. She is
a 1973 graduate of the University of
Arkansas at Pine Bluff and teaches
kindergarten in Hope Mills. They
plan to relocate in Raeford soon.
N-J Offices Close Early
The News-Journal offices
will bo closed Thursday, Nov.
27 for the Thanksgiving Holi
day.
The paper will be published
one day earlier next week.
News items of club meetings,
church events, and community
interests must be received by
The News-Journal no later than
Friday, Nov. 21 for publication
in the next week's edition.
$600,000 From HUD
Plans Argued
Trio Caught
A trio of Sandhills Youth Center
escapees is being held on charges of
armed robbery of a motor vehicle
after the allegedly took a young
Hoke woman's car at knife-point
Saturday morning outside a church
near Five Points and fled to South
Carolina where they were appre
hended Sunday afternoon.
Lester Mitchell Hawkins,
Edward Nealy, and Carl Thomas
Hipp, Jr., all 17, escaped from
Sandhills Youth Center in McCain
about 6:30 P.M. last Friday and
apparently spent the night in the
Community United Methodist
Church at Five Points before they
were discovered by Mary Eileen
Strickland, 20, and her seven
year-old sister Lisa Rebecca
Walters, according to Sheriff D.M.
Barrington.
The group told officials of the
Darlington County Sheriff"s De
partment where the car was left
when they were caught. Barrington
said.
He said prison officials brought
the suspects back to the Hoke
County jail Sunday.
Barrington said the three did
$400 in damages to choir robes
while they were in the church.
News of the escape was transmit
ted over the police information
network following the escape Fri
day, he said.
Hawkins, Nealy, and Hipp have
been charged with malicious injury
to personal property, misdemeanor
breaking and entering, and escape,
along with the armed robbery
charge.
Hawkins was serving two years
for breaking and entering and
larceny, Nealy was serving two
years for three counts of larceny,
and Hipp was serving two years for
breaking and entering.
State Opens
Employment
Branch Office
The Employment Security Com
mission has opened a new office on
West Elwood Ave. to assist job
seekers that will remain open five
days a week, interviewer-in-charge
S.W. Benkosky announced.
The new branch, located in the
old county office building next to
the public library, will offer full job
listings and full training facilities.
The office will not take claims for
unemployment benefits, these will
continue to be filed at the office in
the National Guard Armory on
Tuesdays.
Hours at the Elwood Ave. office
arc 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Mondays
through Fridays. Current job list
ings, which include clerical and
production line workers, may be
seen.
Benkosky said a larger staff is
planned after the office gets or
ganized and full time job counsel
ing will be available.
Youth Nabbed
One Fayetteville youth has been
jailed here and another is being
sought after SBI agents and
members of the organized crime
unit of the Fayetteville Police
Department reportedly tracked
stolen drugs taken from Hoke Drug
in Raeford in a break-in earlier this
month.
James Timonty Corum, 19, of
908 Hay St., was arrested at his
apartment about 10 A.M. Monday
and charged with the Nov. 4 drug
store break-in and larceny. He is
being held in lieu of $5,000 bail.
About $716 worth of drugs &
syringes, including narcotics, was
reported stolen by Hoke Drug
manager, Mike Wood.
Maj. J.C. Barrington and Officer
C.E. Campbell accompanied the
agents to Corum's home, police
chief Leonard Wiggins said. An
other man in the apartment at the
time of arrest was not charged.
Details were sketchy, but
Wiggins said it appeared all of the
drugs have been recovered.
The street value of the drugs
would be in the thousands, he said.
Tuesday night's public hearing
to gain citizen suggestions on
existing needs that could be met
through a share of community
development funds produced a list
of ten possible projects but left
some dissatisfaction with
unanswered questions.
The nearly one and one-half hour
long hearing, beginning at 8 P.M.
in the courtroom of the courthouse,
was the first of two required to be
held in order for the city and county
to apply for funds from the
Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) agency under the Com
munity Development Act.
"All communities selected for a
final application are pretty much
assured of getting some money",
Jim Doughtery, Department of
Natural and Economic Resources
land use survey planner, told the
group in outlining the step by step
process involved.$600,000 could be
applied for, Doughtery said.
"What we want are suggestions
on what is needed in the com
munity", Doughtery said. A 20
member advisory committee of city
and county representatives has
already been named to spearhead
the joint effort to land funds.
Tlie first suggestion, for a
multi-purpose community
center, came from a seven-member
group of Upchurch school stu
dents, who complained of a lack of
a movie theater and restaurants.
"People are taking money out of
Raeford and going to other places
for entertainment' , Renee Sessoms
said.
The multi-purpose idea was
added after Doughtery explained
that theaters, bowling alleys, and
stadiums are not eligible projects
for the funds.
"What about building a center
for retarded, disabled, and handi
capped persons", Catharin Brown,
president of the Hoke Association
for Developmentally Disabled
urged.
"I'd like to request an emergency
receiving home for children, about
$60,000 at today's prices."
Benjamin Niblock, director of the
county social services office said.
"1 want to request funds for the
purchase of, and rehabilitation of
(substandard) housing", Dayna
Pate. Raeford Housing Authority
member suggested.
"It could be spent on im
provements to the county's com
munity centers, and getting one for
the Rockfish community which is
without one, and expansion of
recreational sites", Dick Lovette,
parks and recreation commission
chairman said.
"We keep talking about build
ing. I wonder if we ought to look to
needs that would be a one-time
expenditure, requiring no upkeep.
What about water and sewage. ..
See PLANS, page 11
An Armory
Slated Here
Charlie Morrison, planning board
chairman, told a citizen's meeting
Tuesday night that Raeford was one
of five cities picked to get a new
National Guard Armory constructed
within four to five years.
Morrison said Jessie Jones. Guard
administrative assistant, told him the
project would require five acres of
land, city water and sewer lines, and
would cost about S300,000
The present Guard Armory on
Central Avenue would be turned over
to the community under the plan.
Shots Hit
FM Tower
Radio station WSTS-FM is back on
the air under temporary repairs
following a shooting incident at the
station's tower last week which
caused over $10,000 damage and
first was viewed as sabotage.
Station personnel notified the
Hoke County Sheriffs Office last
Thursday afternoon after the
100,000 watt station went off the air
shortly after I a.m. and workers
checked the transmitter site later
that day.
WSTS general manager Don Curtis
said two bullets, whidh appeared to
have been fired from a .22 rifle, were
See TOWER, page 11