Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Jan. 13, 1983, edition 1 / Page 1
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25" The Hoke County News - Established 1928 Volume LXXIV Number 38 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA City Slaps Firm With $30,000 Fine <7 I 25c - journal The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 S10 PER YEAR Thursday, January 13, 1983 Turkey Plant Shoots For March Compliance Charles Railey of Jones Intertable speaking to the City Council Mon day. He succeeded in getting a 60-cent raise. By Warren Johnston Efforts arc being made by the House of Raeford turkey process ing plant to bring sewer discharges in compliance with city regulations by a March 31 deadline, a com pany spokesman said Tuesday. The firm is working as rapidly as possible to correct its discharge problem and has spent "a great deal of money" trying to remove undesireable effluent going into the Raeford sewer system, com pany Controller George Kitchens said. The turkey plant was socked Monday night by the Raeford City Council with heavy fines for the firm's failure to meet the discharge requirements. "We know there is a problem, but we don't believe it as serious as it has been made out to be," Kit chens said, adding that he had not been officially notified of the fines by the city. Pre-treatment improvements have been delayed because of the current econonilc recession, Kit chens said. "We are in the middle of a reces sion, and our main goal has been to keep 950 employees working," he said. "We haven't ignored the pro blem," Kitchens said. A committee has been set up to work on the discharge, and it is that group's task to see that the plant does its best to comply with the city ordinance, Kitchens said. "We're not in a battle with the city. We're working with them," he added. Members of the Raeford City Council voted unanimously Mon day night to levy fines against the House of Raeford for past viola tions of the city's sewer ordinance. Fines of more than $30,000 will be charged to the firm for failure to bring the plant's discharge into compliance with the city's or dinance. The action comes after a year of warnings from the council, and members hope this "first step" will encourage the House of Raeford to complete work on the plant's pre-treatment facility. "I don't see where we have any choice. If we don't do what we said we were going to do, we might as well forget it," Councilman Joe Upchurch said. The move also comes on the heels of a December evaluation let ter to the city from state Depart ment of Natural Resources and Community Development (NRCD) Environmental Management Chief Robert Helms. In the letter, Helms said the city would be given a 90-day grace period to complete a clean up of its sewer system, and that one of the suggested conditions of the period would be that enforcement action be taken against the House of Raeford. Until discharges of grease, oil and feathers are stopped from go ing into the municipal system, the city will not be able to satisfy state standards, City Manager Ronald Matthews said. If the discharges are not cleaned up, Raeford will be subject to state fines of up to $10,000 per day from the state, and a moratorium on future industry here will be con tinued, Matthews said. "I just want all of the council members to know that levying these fines is just the first step," Matthews said. Other industries here have been required to clean up discharges and to install costly pre-treatment facilities. If the council failed to levy the fines on the House of Raeford, it would hot be fair to the other in dustries, Councilman Vardell Hedgpeth said. The fines of $30,229.41 will be levied for non-complying discharges during a period from July 1,1982 to December 31,1982. Further charges will also be levied until the plant is in com pliancc, Matthews said. "We have given them exten sions. We've given them a chance. Now, we need to take action," Up church said. Sewer Fees In other action during the regular monthly meeting, the council decided to follow the recommendation of its study com mittee and not to grant relief from sewer charges levied against two ci ty firms. By not taking any action, the council left in place fees for sewer service charged to the Hoke Con crete Works and Commercial Pro ducts Inc. Both firms had sought relief from the fees, because they do not use the sewer system, but are charged 109% of their water bills for the service. A committee was appointed dur ing the December meeting to in vestigate the matter, and members of that group found to grant relief to the two smaller firms might establish a precedent for other in dustries who also do not put as much water into the sewer system as they use. Hoke Concrete Works President Clyde Upchurch said after the meeting that he would continue paying the charges, but would bring the matter up again when there was a "new administration" in office. Councilman Benny McLeod, who served on the committee, said the group looked into the method by which sewer fees are charged here and found the city was using the best method. "There is no better system," McLeod said. It is the same method that is us ed in 12 other surrounding municipalities, Matthews said. Cable Hike OK'd In still further action, the coun cil approved a 60 cents increase in the monthly fees charged by Jones lntercable for cable television ser vice here. When the increase takes effect on April 1, it will be the first hike in rates in more than two years, company spokesman Charles G. Railey said. Jones has improved the system by adding the all-sports network (ESPN) and the Cable News Net work (CNN) within the last two weeks, Railey said. Cable news charges Jones 15 cents per subscriber per month for the programs, he added. With the increase, monthly (Sec CITY, page 9) ? Ambulance Service In Hole By Warren Johnston During the first U months of 1982, the Hoke Ambulance Service lost over $20,000, a recent audit of the company's, books-shows. ~ The audit was ordered by the Hoke County Commission in early December after the service's owner | James Henley told members his * firm needed additional county funds to meet its financial obliga tions. Despite a contribution from the county of over $55,000 during the first 11 months, the service lost money, the audit shows. Although efforts were made by one member in 1979 to establish a regular procedure for checking the finances of county subsidized am ) bulance services, the recent audit, conducted by the Fairmont ac counting firm Lovin and Lewis, is the first ordered by the commis sion. During the period from January 1 to November 30, last year, Hoke Ambulance service had an income of just over $90,000 and expenses of more $110,000. Part of the problem facing the | service is collecting fees from customers who have used the am bulance. The audit shows that firm was unable to collect charges from almost 42^o of those billed last year. In the first 1 1 months, the am bulance service collected $34,751, * Around Town bySNiMwrb The weather was nice Saturday and many people were on the golf course. Sunday was a day that most folks had rather stay indoors. It was foggy Monday morning and it made driving difficult. ? We haven't seen the long-range forecast as this is being written, but it is about time for some cold weather. ? t * I didn't get a chance to see Representative Danny DeVane over the weekend so I don't know how his first week in the legislature suited him. It is good to have a j Hoke County man back in Raleigh and we hope that we can keep one there. Danny will have many problems in his first term and especially with the economic conditions like they are at the present time. Everyone will be wanting more money and the other folks will insist that taxes not be raised. Most folks didn't think DeVane } (See AROUND TOWN, page 9) but was unable to collect another $24,871.58. During 1980, the firm wrote off as uncollectable, accounts of over S17.000- and during 1981 - over $14,200. Both state House members representing Hoke County have said they would back legislation to bring the county under the North Carolina law which makes it a misdemeanor not to pay am bulance fees. Rep. Daniel H. DeVane and Rep. Sidney A. Locks both said this week that they are working on the legislation to get Hoke County included under the law. Although the uncollectable ac counts increased over the service's previous two years of operation, the problem is not new to Henley. Prior to starting the Hoke Am bulance Service in 1979, Henley told commission members that his predecessor, the Spring Lake Am bulance Service, had uncollectable accounts of 46.8%. Henley had served as manager of the Spring Lake firm. At the same meeting, held on April 23, 1979, then Commissioner Mable Riley attempted without success to get the body to audit the books of ambulance services. If the county is going to make up the difference between the service's income and expenses, then the commission has a right to audit the Inside Today Loader with cargo of dirt ready to spread on dumped garbage at the Raeford/Hoke County Landfill. We take a look at the landfill operation on page / of section B in today's News Journal. books, Mrs. Riley said. "By auditing, wc know whether they are making or losing money," she said. A motion to conduct an audit failed to get a second from other commission members at that meeting. Similar motions brought up at earlier meetings, also failed to gain the support of Mrs. Riley's fellow commissioners. "I don't know why we continue raising the subsidy every year without checking the books;" Mrs. Riley said before voting against the Henley contract in 1979. In addition to the increased un collectable charges, the audit shows salaries paid by the com pany increased from $17,414 dur ing 1981 to over $42,400 in the first 1 1 months of 1982. Part of the increase is a $12,397 officer's salary which was not reported in the same manner dur ing previous years, auditor Jeffrey G. Lewis said. Although the county is paying Hoke Ambulance Service over $64,000 per year, the annual sub sidy is less than would have been paid to other services bidding for the business in 1979. Commission members had bids from the Spring Lake firm of $70,000 per year with 5% increases every year for three years. (See COUNTY, page 10) HOUSEBREAKER -- This 1975 Chevrolet Vega stationwagon wound up partly in a side front of this unoc cupied block house near Upchurch Junior High School about I a.m. Tuesday. No one was around when the photographer and Hoke County sheriff's deputies arrived about 9:45 a.m. moments after being notified. Later Tuesday morning, Henry McNeill of Rt. 3, Raeford, was reported charged with driving left of center and with driving without a license by the State Highway Patrol. McNeill was reported taken into custody when he return ed to the scene. The sheriff's officers turned the investigation over to the Patrol after learning the vehicle had been traveling on the highway (SR 1310) when it left the road and struck the house. Trooper R. V. Lee in vestigated. The front end was smashed by the collision and by the impact of the cinder blocks from the house when they fell on the hood of the car after being knocked down by the accident. The windshield was cracked all over, also. April Deadline Set To Fill Superintendent Slot It will be at least April 1 before members of the Hoke County Board of Education name a replacement for retiring Superintendent Raz Autry, the board chairman said Thursday. Applications for the job will be accepted until February 25, and a limited number of prospects will be interviewed during March, Chair man Bill Cameron said. Board members met Wednesday night with North Carolina School Board Association Executive Director Gene Causby and were briefed on the appropriate ap proach to hiring a new superinten dent. Although Autry is retiring on March 17, Cameron said if a replacement is not found by that date, then an interim superinten dent could be named to serve while the search continues. "If we don't find anyone in this first group, then we will start the entire process again," Cameron said. The board will begin advertising next we?k through the state School Board Association. Probably no more than five ap plicants will be interviewed for the job which pays around $30,000 a year, Cameron said. An announcement of who has been selected will not be made until a contract is signed, he added. "We tentatively hope to an nounce it by April 1," Cameron said. On Tuesday, the board, meeting in regular session, decided not to change the current leave of absence policy, and to deny a request from two West Hoke teachers for an ex tended leave. The decision was made after a 30-minute closed door session, which took up more than half of the regular monthly meeting. Under the present rules, teachers are allowed to take leave for up to one semester, and Autry had sug gested in the open meeting that the board not change its leave policy until after a new superintendent is in office. The West Hoke teachers had asked to extend that leave for the balance of the year. Although the closed meeting was called to discuss the two teachers. board members confirmed follow ing the session that the employees were mentioned only briefly and most of the time was spent discuss ing the leave of absence policy. Board members also told Tht ftews-Journal that some members of the body feel it is easier to talk in private rather than in public. Board Attorney Bill Moses was present at the closed meeting. According to the state's 1979 Open Meetings Law, the board may hold an executive session and exclude the public in order to "consult with an attorney, to the extent that confidentiality is re quired in order for an attorney to exercise his ethical duties as a lawyer." 1982 Raeford Fire Damage, Lowest In Recent Memory The year 1982 was a very good year for property owners of Raeford as far as fire is concerned, the annual report of Fire Chief Robert E. "Buster" Jackson shows. Jackson thanked the citizens of Raeford for the record. At the same time, he advised people to put hot ashes from stoves in containers separate from gar bage, to avoid fire danger. In 1982, the report shows, no one - fireman or nonfireman -- was killed or injured by a fire. Property losses caused by fires amounted to $7,400, which was S3 i, 600 less than the fire damage of 1981, Jackson said. The report for last year also shows the following. The firemen answered 30 alarms and spent a total of 184 hours in fighting fires. They also took 1,671 hours of training and participated in 33 fire drills. A total of 65 burning permits were issued and 180 buildings in spected by the departments. In reference to disposing of hot ashes, Jackson said there is a law prohibiting the dumping of ashes into garbage. He said the ashes are collected separately.
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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Jan. 13, 1983, edition 1
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