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The Hoke County News - Established 1 928
VOLUME LXXIV NUMBER 35 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
- journal
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
$8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1982
V
These Raeford poinsettias pose a seasonal picture for , hose passing them a, their Main Street shop location. , Photo b, Bill Lindau,.
Around Town
by$Ni Nwrif
The weather over the past
weekend "was good old winter
weather. The car windows were
covered with ice and it took longer
to get where you were going.
Most folks will say that they
want a white Christmas, but I
believe deep down they would
rather have it so the kids can get
out and play. The forecast is for it
to warm up this week and maybe it
will be nice Christmas Day.
? ? ?
A bulletin published December
14, 1982 that 1 believe came from
the Board of Education office had
the following item in it:
"Any newspaper articles or
releases to the press in any manner
should be approved by this office
and Glenn Langdon's office before
publication. This will only be a
formality to follow. This has been
requested by The News-Journal."
The first part of the item I will
discuss in some following
paragraphs, but the last sentence in
the item is a falsehood. When 1
read the item I inquired of all
News-Journal staff members if
they had made such a request and
they said NO. One of the members
did say that he made a comment
about it was hard to be at four
places at the same time to make
pictures. This was not a request to
stop articles or releases from being
sent to the paper.
If all releases and articles that
deal with the schools must go
through someone else before they
can be published then this is to im
pose censorship on these articles
and releases.
We don't think that the activities
of our children should have cen
sorship imposed upon them. The
activities of the schools and the
people in them are paid for with
taxpayers' money and should be
open to the public.
This paper last week had an
editorial about too many executive
sessions being held by our commis
sioners'. We certainly wouldn't re
quest that news articles be cen
sored before publication. We also
think that this will cause members
of the schools to cease wanting to
inform the public if they must go
through the central offices.
' We have worked well with the
schools over the past 45 years and
we hope that an open policy will be
kept on both sides.
Enough said!
? * *
I came across the following
while cleaning out a box of old
(See AROUND TOWN, page 10)
Santa Claus, shown with his 'missus, 'starred in Saturday's Christmas parade.
Sun Shines On Yule Parade
Racford's Christmas parade of
1982 was greeted by cool, sunny
weather and about 1,500 people
Saturday afternoon.
The Raeford Police Department
gave the estimate of the size of the
crowd. The men, women, and
children lined both sides of Main
Street through the downtown
business district as the parade, led
by a Color Guard of Camp Le
jeune Marines on horseback, mov
ed south to the Edenborough
Shopping Center.
The last colorful float in the
parade bore Santa Claus and Mrs.
Claus. Santa this week was "in
residence"late afternoon and early
night in the Santa House, occupy
ing the railroad depot at the south
end of the business section.
The title of the parade's Best
Float was won by Raeford Salvage
Co. with its rolling display which
featured the beloved E.T. of movie
fame.
The Nativity scene enacted by
real people, with a choir of living
"angels" entered by Tabernacle
Baptist Church of Rockfish placed
second, and the Boy Scout Troop
404 float was given third place.
Honorable Mention was awarded
to the Raeford Shriners' Hillbilly
float.
The contest was sponsored by
the Raeford Junior Woman's
Club, and the judges, members of
the club, were Jane Britt, Beverly
Pasternak, and Peggy Souther
land. The judges inspected the
floats and made their decisions in
the assembly area, the J.W. Turl
ington School parking lot, before
the parade started.
But the parade contained many
other colorful floats, marching
groups, and queens of local
pageants. Among the entries was
the float of the Raeford Merchants
Association, the sponsor of the
Christmas parade.
The other visitors participating
included the Red Springs High
School band and some autos which
were popular and new about 50 or
more years ago. They were being
driven, as they had been in their
youth, and were entered by Pugh
Funeral Home of Southern Pines.
More Parade On Page 8
The marching bands of Hoke
High and Upchurch Junior High
enriched the procession with their
appearances and their music, with
the Rifles and Flags of the Hoke
High band adding their color.
The parade originally was
scheduled for December 11 but it
was rained out.
Local Farmers Vote With State
Of the Hoke County flue-cured
tobacco growers who cast ballots
in last Thursday's polling, most
agreed with the majority of other
state farmers that marketing
quotas should be continued
through 1985.
Hoke growers also joined the
majorities in the rest of the state in
supporting the Tobacco Associates
program.
Tobacco Associates is a private,
farmer-financed organization
which promotes, develops and ex
pands makrets for U.S. flue-cured
tobacco in foreign markets.
John Currin, manager of the
Hoke County office of the U.S.
Agricultural Stabilization and
Conservation Service, reported
these tallies:
Tobacco Marketing Quotas: for
- 254; against -31. That was a
91 favorable majority.
Tobacco Associates: for -- 247;
against - 31. This was an 89?fo
favorable majority.
Only one ballot was rejected,
Currin said, and the reason was the
person was not eligible to vote.
Anyone -- landlord, tenant or
shareoropper -- who shared in the
production of flue-cured tobacco
in 1982 was eligible to vote.
Willie Featherstone, chairman
of the Hoke County Agricultural
Extension Service, said Friday the
over -all high majorities constituted
a "good message to Congress that
farmers are willing to continue
both programs."
He said the high percentage pro
vided anti-tobacco program con
gressmen "no ammunition to fight
it."
Green Light Given
To 401 Bypass Lane
The State Department of
Transportation is planning to
widen 500 feet of U.S. 401 bypass
to expand the road to three lanes
from the present two in the area of
the new Raeford-Hoke Village
shopping center.
Department Secretary William
R. Roberson, Jr., advised State
Rep. - elect Danny DeVane of
Raeford of this in a letter written
Thursday.
DeVane on receiving the news
commented, "I'm glad to see some
action. I'm glad they recognized
the problem and did something
about it."
*DeVane, with Martha C.
Hollers, a member of the State
Board of Transportation, re
quested the improvement. Mrs.
Hollers represents Highway Divi
sion Eight, which includes Hoke
County, on the state board.
The text of Roberson's letter to
DeVane follows.
Dear Mr. DeVane:
Thank you for your recent in
quiry concerning US 401 Bypass in
Raeford.
Currently, we are planning to
widen US 401 Bypass from the
southern corporate limit of
Raeford north to approximately
500 feet north of SR 1210 to pro
vide for three lanes of travel. The
third lane will be used to provide
storage for left turning vehicles. In
the review of the driveway permit
for the shopping center, our
analysis of the estimated traffic
volumes did not indicate that a
traffic signal would be needed at
this entrance. After the shopping
center has been opened for a time,
we will have traffic counts made to
further verify our initial review.
Because the weather at this time
of year is usually too wet for
highway construction, we plan on
beginning this work in the early
spring of next year. The construc
tion of a left turn storage lane as
proposed will greatly enhance the
traffic operations along the US 401
Bypass in Raeford.
Again, we appreciate your in
terest in this matter and look for
ward to hearing from you
whenever we may be of assistance.
Students' Bad Conduct
Cancels Performance
by Bill Lindau
Failure to improve conduct
following a warning brought the
cancellation of the public
Christmas concert of the Upchurch
Junior High School Chorus
scheduled for the night of
December 15, Upchurch Principal
Allen Edwards said Thursday.
The cancellation following his
warning to the singers to "shape
up" was a last resort after all other
methods to cure behaviour pro
blems which had been occurring
periodically since the start of the
school year failed Edwards said,
adding that the misconduct con
sisted of "horse play" not perfor
ming as well as they could and fail
ing to follow the instructions of the
director, Ellen Heidenreich.
Not all the students of the
120-voice chorus engaged in the
misconduct, but 96 of the students
had to be punished in one way or
another since the school year
started, Edwards said.
Individually, all the students in
the chorus are "good kids" but
some are immature when par
ticipating in a group, he said.
Edwards said the punishment in
cluded: expulsion of seven
students from the chorus; removal
from the chorus for 10 days of 34
others, but giving them the option
of returning after the removal
period; paddling (by him or Assis
tant Principal Linwood Huffman)
of about 25 others; and suspension
from school, until parents came to
discuss the matter with him, of
others.
In reference to the latter, Ed
wards said he talked to about 40
parents, and the suspensions lasted
only until the parents met with
him. Virtually all the suspensions
amounted to just part of the school
day, with students returning to
their classes the following morn
ing, he added.
He said the cancellation, the
first he has ever ordered in his 13
years as a school principal, did not
affect the December 15 morning
concert, which was held for all Up
church students and their parents.
He explained that that concert was
"not as public" as the December
15 night concert, which was
cancelled.
Edwards said he has informed
the singers that if their behaviour
continues to improve, they will
have the January public concert,
which will be held in the latter part
of the month, with the date still to
be set.
Since the time the Christmas
concert was cancelled, "discipline
has improved greatly," he added.
"I felt I needed to follow
through with the members (on his
warning to shape up or else, before
the Christmas concert)," he said.
One of the members of the
chorus, incidentally, is Allen's son
Brad.
?
Edwards said the cancellation
wasn't a popular thing, that he's
gotten angry criticism from many
parents, but that he would do the
same thing if he had it to do over
again, because he felt it was "best
for the kids."
Edwards sent a letter dated
December 14 to all parents of the
members of the chorus notifying
them the concert had been cancell
ed and the reason why.
Edwards said he felt Miss
Heidenreich, in her first year as
chorus director, did all that anyone
could do to maintain order and
discipline.
His action was taken after he
observed personally the behaviour
of students during the daily rehear
sals, he added.
On December 7, he was at
tracted to the chorus room by the
noise. The chorus room is next to
the gym where he had gone with a
service man to see about the wash
and-dry work on school laundry.
He was in the gym when he heard
the noise in the chorus room.
He found Miss Heidenreich had
tried to start the class at 2:18 p.m.
as scheduled. Order was finally
restored 20 minutes later, Edwards
said.
The drama and dance portions
of the December 15 program were
conducted as scheduled.
Changes in the chorus program
were started at the beginning of
this school year, Edwards said.
Fifty students were added to
what had been a chorus of 70 boys
and girls.
The chorus participation was
(See SHOW, page 3)
I
Inside Today
This yeui the payroll at
Faherge will exceed S 4. 7 mil
lion. The plant now only
employes *5% of its workers
front Hoke County, but it
makes sizeable purchases from
local merchants. We take a
look at Faberge on page I of
Section II.