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The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
VOLUME LXXII NUMBER 44 RAF.FORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA S8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26. 1981
Specifics Uncertain Till Action Taken
Reagan Proposals Would Affect Hoke
Around
Town
BY SAM C. MORRIS
It was perfect weather for golfers
and tennis players the past week
end. As this is being written
Monday morning, the forecast is
for rain and this will be perfect
weather for the farmers. We could
use a week of slow, steady rain.
Don't turn oft the heater yet
because it will be cold around
I Easter which this year is Sunday.
April 19.
? * *
From the comments of most
people in the County, the Board of
Education made a fine choice in the
selection of Robert Wright as a
member. As a father of three
children in school, he should
certainly have an interest in the day
f to day affairs in our school system.
Of course it won't be long before
someone will disagree with his
voting, but this conies when you
become a public servant.
Congratulations Bobby on your
appointment.
? ? ?
I met John Howard last Tuesday
night at the joint meeting of the
fc Men of the Churches. John, as you
can read elsewhere in this paper,
has just purchased DeVane's Men's
Store on Main Street and will take
over March 1 .
He accepted my invitation to
come by the office and engage in
conversation for a few minutes last
week. John is the son of the late
Charlie Howard and a nephew of
the late Archie Howard of this
county. He has purchased the old
^ homeplace between Antioch and
Dundarrach and will make his
home there. It is a pleasure to
welcome him to this city.
? * *
While on the subject of the Men
of the Churches, we attended and
made our way to a seat at the table
next to the kitchen. In a few
minutes a certain preacher in this
city and his son-in-law came and
sat down with me. The reason 1
chose the seat was to get into the
chow line first.
After a few minutes of conversa
tion, the preacher excused himself
to go and speak to someone on the
other side of the hall.
After the blessing, the president
of the Methodist men said the line
would form on the opposite side
from where I was sitting and go
around the halls and back through
the kitchen to get chow. Before the
people at our table started lining
up. lo and behold, the preacher was
back at his seat with his steak
plate.
Now what is the moral to this
story? Stay with your preacher and
be first in line!
* ? *
A letter was received by yours
truly from his son. John, last week
who lives in Greenville. S.C.. All
that was in the envelope was a
clipping from the Sunday edition of
The Greenville News with this note
written on the edge of the sheet.
"Daddy, thought you might like to
see this, John."
The clipping was a page of
pictures and writings and was
entitled "Who's Eligible?" It was a
feature for Valentine's Day.
The reason it was sent to me was
because in the article was a picture
of Jeff McNeill along with a
write-up about him being eligible. I
believe it will be of interest to most
people of the county because he is
the son of Mayor and Mrs. John K.
McNeill. Jr. of Raeford.
The article follows:
Occupation: director of alumni
relations, Clemson University.
Nominator's Remark: "Full of
fun and lots of personality. ..a
bright, sunshiney kind of person."
"Happiness," says Jeff, who lives
on Pendleton Road in Clemson,
"would be having a wife who wants
to discuss books with him. The
ultimate would be to read a book
and have her tell me what she
thinks about it."
"Most important, the girl would
\ (See AROUND TOWN, page 13)
Comprehensive Program In Hoke Planned
Health Agency Plans Hospice Service
The nonprofit Home Health
Agency of St. Joseph-in-the-Pines
Hospital of Southern Pines is
planning to provide a comprehen
sive program of hospice care in
Hoke County for terminally ill
patients.
This was announced Monday
morning by George Kecatos, ad
ministrator of the agency. The
Hoke County branch, whose offices
are at 529 Harris Ave., Raeford was
established in December 1977.
He said the Home Health Agency
is providing the hospice service
informally.
The St. Joseph's Hospital agency
also has a branch in Lee County, as
well as in Moore. Kecatos said
Monday also the agency's services
will expand into Anson County
within the next few months, and
the agency is studying the possi
bility of adding a nurse coordi
nator to maintain better continuity
of care from hospital to home in all
four counties the agency will be
serving after the Anson branch is
added.
Kecatos also said the plans for
the comprehensive hospice pro
gram also include Lee County.
Home Health is now providing
these services in Moore County,
working closely with Sandhills
Hospice. Inc., Kecatos added.
The agency in each county
provides nursing, physical and
speech therapy, and nursing assis
tance to homebound patients, re
gardless of their ability to pay,
Kecatos said. Last year, $41. (XX) in
charitable assistance was provided
to patients of the three counties,
some by the United Fund in each
county and the rest by other private
donations made by individuals and
organizations. The Hoke County
branch will get SI. 000 from the
Hoke County United Fund during
1982. if the fund-raising drive,
which will start March 1, reaches
its goal of SI 9.850.
Patients are charged according
to their ability to pay. The charge
may be met by Medicare or
Medicaid for patients eligible for
these coverages, and some private
insurance plans may cover part or
all of the costs of home health
L-R. Julian Wright. George Kecalos. Helen Fields, Judy Ferguson, und Rondo Pickler. [Staff photo.]
visits. The private donations,
through United Way and other
sources, help the agency meet
deficits.
One of President Reagan's pro
posals to cut federal government
spending if Congress approves is
the elimination of $41 .34 million in
Medicaid. Kecatos, replying to a
question, said, however, that "pa
tients still will be served" by Home
Health, regardless of whether or
not the Medicaid proposal is
approved.
Last year. Home Health start
people made about 10,000 visits to
patients in the three counties,
Kecatos said, adding the visits were
made under direction of the attend
ing physicians.
The Home Health Agency's ser
vices among other benefits cut the
time patients must spend in hospi
tals or nursing homes. Federal.
state, and local governments en
courage the use of home health
services such as those provided by
the St. Joseph's and similar organi
zations. Patients in all but two of
the state's 100 counties are served
in their homes by home health care
organizations.
The Moore County branch of St.
Joseph's Hospital Home Health was
established in 1969. the first of the
present branches. Two years later,
the Lee County branch was opened.
The success of these two resulted in
the opening of the Hoke County
branch.
Kccatos said Home Health's
work has been well received by
physicians in the three counties,
with physicians making favorable
comments about the services pro
vided by the people of the staff to
the patients.
Judy Ferguson, a Registered
Nurse, was the entire staff of the
Hoke agency when it opened. Then
Ronda Pickler. another RN, joined
her the following April. Now the
staff also has Nursing Assistant
Helen Fields, Physical Therapist
Charles "Chuck" Hardesty. and
Speech Therapist Virginia
Christiansen.
An Advisory Council of 15
members evaluates and helps pro
mote the agency's services in the
three counties.
The council is made up of
professional health care providers,
consumers, and business people.
The Hoke County representatives
on the council are Julian Wright,
and Wyatt Upchurch. business
men.
Wright is the present second vice
president of the council. The
president is Mrs. Ida Baker Scott of
Southern Pines.
Goal. Is $19,850
Hoke County United
Way Starts March 1
The Hoke County United
Way of 1981 will be launched
March 1 to raise at least $19,850
to help support the agencies in
the United Fund next year.
The agencies are the Girl
Scouts, Boy Scouts, American
Red Cross, White Cane (the
Lions Club program to help the
blind), 4-H clubs, the Rescue
Squad, Senior Citizens, De
velopmentally disabled, Home
Health Agency, and Carolina
United of Charlotte. United
Way is the fund-raising cam
John Leandro
paign for the United Fund.
Kay Thomas, chairman of the
United Way Board of Directors,
said last week: "The board. ..is
asking Hoke Countians to renew
the interest in the United Way
and the agencies it supports.
The board itself pledges to be
more aware of our community
and its changing needs.
"Within the past month, the
board has acted to avert a crisis
of the local Red Cross chapter
and voted to help initiate a
county effort to stop child
abuse. The board also heard a
report/appeal from the chair
man of the Hoke County Asso
ciation for the Advancement of
the Developmentally Disabled."
The major points in this
year's campaign, she said are:
--United Way money sup
ports nine Hoke County agen
cies. Money donated in Hoke
County is used here.
-A real effort is being made
this year to emphasize payroll
deduction and year-round giv
ing. The United Way is not like
otner money-raising efforts. It is
not: "Come to Hoke County,
organize, collect the money, go
away for a year." It is: an effort
to support Hoke County agen
cies that do good work year
round.
This year's budget she called
"more realistic" than budgets of
recent years, which United Way
fell short of reaching.
John Leandro, United Way
chairman, said Tuesday, "We
really want to meet the goal
because it is an ongoing pro
ject." For examples, he said,
the Red Cross doesn't know
when disaster will strike, and
pointed to the tornado that hit
the Rockfish area early in the
morning of February 11. The
Red Cross. Leandro said, was
alive to help victims because of
the help it had received from the
United Funds.
The Rescue Squad is on call
24 hours a day. 365 days a year.
Like the Red Cross chapter, the
squad doesn't know when an
emergency demanding its ser
vices will happen.
The Hoke County Home
Health Agency provides nursing
care and physical and speech
therapy to patients in their own
homes. It charges but only
according to the patient's ability
to pay. It is a private, nonprofit
health care organization. No
one is denied its services. The
United Fund helps make up the
deficit Home Health experi
ences from its work with finan
cially needy patients.
Four-H, Leandro also pointed
out. helps youngsters get
started. A good example, he
said, is Allen Sandy, who
earned national recognition for
his photography work in 4-H
while he was a Hoke County
High School student.
"We hope to work closely
with local and county govern
ment," Leandro said of the
(See UNITED FUND, page 13)
President Reagan's federal
budget proposals would affect
Hoke County federally assisted
programs but the effects can't be
determined till the specific cuts are
approved by Congress.
County Manager James Martin
said when questioned last week that
for example he doesn't see what the
cap on Medicaid costs would mean
to the county.
"I hope." he said, "it doesn't
mean a larger share of the costs will
be born by the states and coun
ties." The talking may be about
restructuring eligibility require
ments, he added.
The president has proposed a cut
in Medicaid, a program which
combines federal, state and county
money to provide payments for
health services of the poverty - level
people. For North Carolina, ac
cording to last week's reports, this
would amount to $41 .34 million cut
from this program.
Transportation in North Caro
lina would lose S32.8 million in
federal assistance. Martin said cuts
in airport grants would hurt the
county indirectly, related to the
county airport. An industrial sites
study sought for Hoke County
would include the airport, and the
county has applied for a $24,000
grant to help finance the study.
Hoke has no local bus or passenger
- train service, so it would not be
directly affected.
However, the status of the grant
would be in question if approved,
since Reagan has proposed termi
nation of the federal Economic
Development Administration, the
funding agency.
Another proposal would have the
federal Comprehensive Employ
ment Training Act administered by
the states phased out by next
September. This would affect a
number of public - service jobs,
some of them parttime, in Hoke
County.
The county government employs
three fulltime CETA - paid people;
the County Parks and Recreation
Department eight to 10 parttime to
help with youth activities; the
library one fulltime CETA worker:
and the county school system
others.
A 20 per cent cut is proposed in
elementary and secondary edu
cation block grants. This would
amount to $30.8 million statewide
and reportedly would affect pro
grams for disadvantaged and
migrant children, education for the
handicapped, and adult basic edu
cation. A total of 45 elementary
and secondary programs now fi
nanced by grants would be consoli
dated into two block grants. In
effect, Reagan would have the
states spend the money on educa
tion as they wished.
Under the president's proposals
the number of people who receive
food stamps would be reduced, in
line with Reagan's announced in
tention to restrict public assistance
to the "truly needed."
But will food stamp cuts transfer
recipients from federal food stamps
to county - funded public wel
fare"? asks Bernard F. Hillen
brand, editor of "County News. "
the publication of the National
Association of Counties, in an
article in the February 23 edition.
"Well Medicaid caps." he also
asks, "overwhelm our county -
funded health facilities with new
clients?"
What the proposed cuts would
mean to other Hoke public -
assistance programs couldn't be
determined this week, as Ken
Witherspoon. director of the
County Department of Social
Services, the course for this in
formation. was out of his office
after late Monday morning and will
not return till Thursday afternoon.
Free Tax Form
Filing Help Here
Free tax assistance is available to
Hoke County residents who are
confused about filling out a federal
tax return or cannot afford to pay
for assistance.
It's called Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance (VITA) and is offered by
Four-County Community Services,
Inc. Volunteers are trained in tax
law and return preparation by the
Internal Revenue Service and will
assist taxpayers with Forms 1040A
and 1040. Many taxpayers are
unaware of the exemptions, deduc
tions, and credits to which they
may be entitled.
Four-County Community Ser
vices, Inc. will offer VITA help
Monday-Friday, 9 a m. -5 p.m. at
Cameron Heights Neighborhood
Service Center, County Road 1 149,
Raeford, until April 30.
Taxpayers interested in free tax
assistance should bring their tax
forms packets, W-2 forms, and
other pertinent tax documents to
the VITA Center.