TAX QUESTION - Members of the Hoke County Commission voted to
review recent tax appraisals issued to a resident during Monday's regular
meeting.
Malcolm Blue Festival
Slated For Saturday
The area which has been known
successively as Bethesda Com
munity. Blue's Crossing and Aber
deen. N.C. was once the domain of
bear, deer and possibly buffalo.
There is an abundance of physi
cal evidence that the land once
supported numerous Indians
though no written records, legends
or traditions exist to identify them.
Artifacts found along springs
and water courses help to identify
exact locations of Indian sites in the
Bethesda Community area. Since
two main trails pass through this
area, it is surmised that it was used
as a temporary camping area.
Soon trappers and hunters and
traders used these roads and the
Indians disappeared leaving room
for early settlers. Some of these left
there names to the rivers and roads.
Scottish Highland Society ex
perienced tremendous upheaval in
the mid-18th century which directly
or indirectly influenced immigra
tion to America, largely to North
Carolina.
These settlers found their way to
Moore County to an abundance of
game and food, virgin timber and
open land.
The present Bethesda Farm or
Malcolm Blue Farm was built by
Malcolm McMillian Blue around
1825.
In 1973, the Malcolm Blue
Historical Society was formed to
preserve the Malcolm Blue Farm.
Around Town
(Continued from page 1)
in the fine fashion of Pinehurst
golf.
Next year the Seniors will come
to play in a tournament and this
should bring more big name golfers
than in the past few years.
This is the second tournament
during my days that has ended at
Pinehurst. During the 20s and 30s
it was the North-South that
brought the golfers to the famous
golf capital.
So maybe another will soon be in
the making.
* * *
Football has come and last
Saturday I attended the North
Carolina-Vanderbilt game at
Chapel Hill. Accompanying me
were Robert Gatlin, Clayton
Buoyer and Frank Teal. Gatlin said
it was the first time he had been in
Kenan Stadium since he was a
student at N.C. State.
I will not tell what I told him. but
if you notice any change in Gatlin
this week you can make up your
own mind what has helped him.
* ? *
Don't forget that the Battery *F'
Reunion will be held at Wrights
ville Beach Oct. 1, 2 A 3. So if you
havent signed up to go, then get in
touch with Graham Clark and he
will fix you for the reunion.
At present they own five lots of the
front acreage of the old farm.
This past spring the farm was
admitted to the Register of Historic
Places. The farm consists of the
house, two bams, tobacco barn,
grist mill, wooden water tower and
corn crib.
The farm site is the host of a
Historical Crafts and Skills Festival
every fall. The dates for this year
are set for September 24. 25. and
2b.
Each year the festival has in
creased in size and interest. People
are visiting from all over North
Carolina and several other states.
Thousands of school children
have seen living history and have
become acquainted with their his
torical inheritance. Many demon
strators have shared history and old
fashion crafts with visitors.
The Malcolm Blue Historical
Society. Malcolm Blue Junior His
torians. The Sandhills Arts Council
are the sponsors for the Historic
Crafts and Skills Festival for 1982.
The 1982 Festival has over 70
demonstrators registered.
They will demonstrate: basketry
- ribbed, reed, vine and split oak;
candlemaking; chair seats; bird
houses; bee-keeping; corn shuck
crafts: dolls; dulcimers; yarn dying;
eggery; bent willow furniture;
stained glass; leather craft: pewter
smithing; a variety of needle crafts ?
crochet, cross stitch, candlewick
ing. pillows, comfort tacking, scul
pture dolls and soft sculpture;
quilting; rug hooking; a variety of
painting - oil water-color, and
sketching: paper making: pine
needle crafts; pottery wheel and
hand; ceramic; silk flowers; spin
ning; a variety of wood crafts -
walking sticks and canes, wood
carving in the round and relief,
whittling, and folk art; and a
silohuette artist cutting silohuettes
at the farm.
County Zoning Mulled
^onunuea irom page I)
maximum of 16 weeks to complete
the restoration plans.
Water Cost Cut
In still further business, commis
sion members gave a green light to
the consulting engineering firm
Koonce, Nobles and Associates to
proceed with plans on the coun
ty wide water system.
Representatives of the firm will
appear before the Raeford City
Council during the October
meeting to iron out a proposal for
purchasing water for part of the
system.
The engineers will also submit a
pre-application for the pared
down project to the federal
Farmers Home Administration
(FmHA) for either grant or low
interest loan funds.
The balance of the funds will be
raised from public bonds approval
by a referendum of the voters.
Earlier the engineers had sub
mitted a plan to construct the
(Continued from page I)
Tommy McEaphern. 35. of Fay
etteville to six years in prison but
recommended McEachern be put
on work-release immediately, and
ordered him to reimburse the,
widow of the man he was accused of
killing the S700 she paid for her
husband's funeral.
McEachern was accused of
shooting Willie Dixon. Jr.. 30. of
the Raeford area during an argu
ment in a Harmony Heights mobile
home early December 22. 1981.
McEachern was charged with
second-degree murder and turned
himself in to law enforcement
officers the following February. He
pleaded guilty to the lesser charge
of voluntary manslaughter, and the
prosecutor accepted the plea.
McEachern testified he fired
after Dixon reached in his right
pocket and backed away and fired
at him. The court was informed
several shots were fired by both
men before Dixon was wounded by
a single bullet. McEachern was not
injured.
Statements from witnesses read
by Miss Powell said McEachern got
in his car and left after Dixon fell.
Testimony was that McEachern
and his wife. Theresa were sepa
rated at the time. McEachern
testified that he received a tele
phone call after he got off work at
Police Eye
Dog Law Rules
Raeford Police Chief Leonard
Wiggins warned Tuesday that the
Police Department was getting
"tough" on dog owners who are
violating the town's leash law.
The law says that a dog must be
either on a leash or under the voice
control of its owner when it is off
the owner's premises.
Wiggins said a violation .can
bring penalties of court costs,
which amount to $31. or of a S10
fee plus S2.50 per day for board
and room if the dog is picked up
while at large.
Wiggins said complaints about
dogs have risen to the point that
policemen are being kept from
their regular business. "They're
keeping us tied up," he said of the
complaints. Wiggins said the num
ber of complaints have risen be
cause people have been taking
advantage of the laxity of the police
in enforcing the leash law.
"I don't want to take anyone to
court." he said, but the police are
going to "get tough" about en
forcing the leash law.
Raeford Playschool
Child Care
FROM 6 WEEKS
Pre-School Program for 3 and 4 year olds
?CERTIFIED TEACHER
?HOT LUNCH ? SNACKS
?DROP-INS WELCOME
FOR INFORMATION CALL
Suzanne HcGougan
875-8038
403 W?it Donaldson
system for $4.2 million, however,
after meeting with FmHA, the
amount projected to be spent was
cut to $3.5 million, project
engineer David Upchurch said.
In the initial phase of the project
about 1,200 reidences could be
served, and Upchurch says that
historically approximatley 80% of
the residents in the service area will
tap on to the system.
The new plan calls for the coun
ty to use a combination of new
wells and tanks along with pur
chases of water to serve the area.
Budget Needle Scotched
An apparent slap at the commis
sion launched by Hoke County
School Superintendent Raz Autry
raised the ire of county board
members.
Autry charged during the last
Board of Education meeting that
he was tempted to submit school
fiscal budget on a form provided
by the state to the commission
because it was difficult to read.
"He was implying that we were
stupid, and I kinda got hot about
it," Balfour said.
Balfour requested a copy of the
state budget from Autry and made
copies for the other members of
the county commission.
"Anybody that knows anything
about budgets can read it," the
county chairman said.
"1 hate the public to think that
we have a commission who
couldn't read the budget," Balfour
added.
"1 want to have good public
relations with the Board of Educa
tion, but this time it is hard to do,"
he said.
"He was just needling us,"
DeVane added.
Other Business Taken
The commission also took ac
tion on these matters during the
three-hour meeting:
?Authorized Martin to negotiate
with nUtriot Social Security
Office and with the state drivers
license bureau to develop a plan
for using county owned office
space in old library building.
DeVane noted that he had been v
told that the license bureau was
considering a plan to increase the
number of days it served Hoke
County from one day a week to
either two or three.
?Voted to pay legal fees of
$582.30 for a period ending
September 14.
?Appointed Charles A. Davis to
the Four-County Community Ser- >
vices Board.
?Agreed to request Acting Tax
Supervisor Larry J. Holt to review
recent appraisals of property own
ed by Willard Page. Page told the
commission that his 1973 Cadillac
had been appraised at $1,800 and
was only worth S300. He agreed to
sell it to commission Vice Chair
man James A. Hunt for $900 dur
ing the meeting.
Rape Dismissed
Burlington Industries at midnight
from a woman whose voice he
didn't recognize saying that he
should come to the trailer his wife
lived in and get his "stuff." He said
that if no one was at home that he
could find his wife at the neighbor
ing trailer.
He testified he put a .38 pistol in
his belt because he thought there
might be trouble and then went to
the trailer in which he had lived
with his wife before they separated.
Not finding anyone there, he went
to the other trailer as he was
instructed and found his wife there
with some other people. He testi
fied he asked her to come out and
talk with him but she told him she
didn't want to come out in the rain.
His testimony was that he entered
and his wife started putting her
shoes on when Dixon told her she
didn't have to go anywhere. She
apparently was preparing to go to
her mobile home so McEachern
could get his clothes.
McEachern testified the argu
ment started when Dixon made the
remark, and ended with the shoot
ing.
McEachern's mother, Mrs,"
Mazola McEachern, testified that
it was she who had McEachern turn
himself in. McEachern, replying to
the judge's questions, said he did
learn that Dixon had died and
knew officers were looking for him
but he stayed away because he
wanted to accumulate money for
bond and to pay a lawyer.
He was defended by Willis
Brown of Fayetteville.
Dixon's widow is Sarah Margaret
Dixon of Rt. 1, Raeford.
Character witnesses in addition
to McEachern's mother testified in
on McEachern's behalf, including
fellow workers at Burlington.
The judge said the maximum
sentence for voluntary manslaught
er is 20 years. He told McEachern
after sentencing him that he could
be free in three years, with two
days' credit for every "good" day of
the six-year sentence he served.
McEachern said in reply to a
question put by the judge that the
only other conviction he had was
one in New York for carrying a
pistol in a car in 1971. He told the
judge a friend had given him the
gun to keep for him.
DRUG SENTENCES
One man was sentenced to 10
weekends in jail and given a
suspended prison sentence but
another was sentenced two three
year terms to run consecutively, in
the same drug case.
James Farmer, 36. after pleading
guilty to conspiracy to sell and
deliver cocaine to an undercover
law enforcement officer, was sen
tenced to three years suspended for
three years and placed on pro- *
bation provided he pay court costs
and a $300 fine. He also was
ordered to serve from 8 a.m.
Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday in the
county jail for 10 consecutive
weekends.
James E. Sterling, 42, of 203
Lamont St.. Raeford, was given the
active sentences after he pleaded no
contest to charges of possession of ^
cocaine with intent to sell and
deliver, and selling and delivering
cocaine. The judge imposed the
sentence after hearing Sterling say
that Farmer called him at home
and later appeared with two men
but that he told Farmer he didn't
want to get involved. Sterling also
told the judge he served 23 years in
the Army and got involved with '
drugs while serving in Vietnam but
that he had never sold drugs.
Wagon Wheel Restaurant
FRIED OYSTERS
with French Fries.
Slaw. Hush Puppies
?4.25
Eat In or Take Out 875-5752
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