The News-Journal
The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
Volume LXXV Number 52 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS Thursday, April 19, 1984
School
hearing
slated
By Sherry Matthews
A 20-member committee, ap
pointed to study the condition of
the seven Hoke County schools,
will hold a public hearing April 30
to announce recommendations for
upgrading and improving the
facilities.
The public hearing, scheduled
for 7:30 p.m. in the Hoke County
Courthouse, will cap nearly four
months of work by the committee.
"They have done a super job,"
Hoke School Superintendent Bob
Nelson said.
Nelson serves in an ex-officio
capacity on the committee and has
attended each of the group's
meetings.
"They have worked diligently. I
think they have come up with a
very realistic and workable pro
posal." he added.
Preliminary plans call for the
eventual re-grouping of students
and the elimination of one facility.
Under the proposal, Upchurch
Junior High School would be
gradually replaced with new
buildings while the J.W. Turl
ington school would be eliminated.
Cost estimates show that the
proposed construction would run
between $3 and $5 million.
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The way the weather has been
the past few weeks it makes you
wondeT if you should sit by the
television to see when we will have
a storm warning in the area. It
seems a warning comes across the
bottom of the screen every time it
gets cloudy these days. Then the
next day you will read where winds
have caused damage in the state.
This area is becoming almost as
bad as the midwest for high winds
and tornadoes.
The forecast is for the Easter
weekend to have temperatures in
the 70s. Now this should fill the
churches or the beaches this up
coming weekend.
? ? ?
It seems that people don't attend
church on Easter Sunday like they
did several years ago. Some folks
would be at church on Easter that
didn't attend at any other time
during the year. In most churches
extra chairs had to be brought in to
accommodate the crowd. This has
not been true in recent years.
The thrill of new dresses and
corsages has been taken over by
taking a trip during the long Easter
holidays. Of course the Easter rab
bit still brings the Easter baskets
and eggs to the youngsters but we
don't hear about Easter egg hunts
like we had in the "good old
days." Did you ever win a prize for
finding the most eggs or for find
ing the prize egg?
Yes, those were the days when
few people had the cars or the
money to take trips. Time marches
on!
? ? ?
The Democratic county conven
tion was well attended last Satur
day at the courthouse. AH
precincts were in attendance and
many candidates were on hand to
meet with the voters. Very little
business was taken up at the
meeting.
State Senator David Pamell of
Parkton was the speaker for the
convention. He spoke on why we
should always vote the Democratic
ticket. This is something that is
becoming more and more unlikely,
aa most people now don't follow
the party lines at the general elec
tion. Maybe they will this year, but
I doubt itl
? * ?
Last week Editor Warren
Johnston aiked me to inquire from
Sherry Matthews about an article
(See AROUNlD, page II A)
Local aut
By Ed Miller
Alertness and quick reactions by
area law enforcement officers
resulted in three unrelated Hoke
County arrests during the past
weekend.
Following the arrests, a Robeson
County man was in jail on drug
charges and two Fayetteville men
were charged with driving a stolen
car.
According to county sheriff's
reports, Stephen Donald Stone, a
Robeson County resident, was ar
rested Saturday night and charged
with possession of marijuana,
possession of illegal paraphernalia
and possession of cocaine with in
tent to distribute.
Hoke County Deputy Sheriff J.
W. Jones was on routine patrol
when he spotted two cars at the en
trance of Greenbriar Pond on the
horities sn
Duffie-Red Springs Road, an in
vestigation report shows.
According to Jones, as he ap
proached the car, he observed
Stone allegedly putting a plastic
bag in his pants.
After Stone revealed the bag, the
arresting officer determined that it
contained a "suspicious"
substance which was suspected of
being marijuana, sheriff's reports
say.
A further search revealed
another plastic bag, which was
suspected of containing cocaine.
The suspect also had $242 in
cash at the time of arrest, reports
say.
Stone was arrested and placed
under XI0,000 bond.
Sheriff's records show that the
defendant paid his bond and he
was released Sunday.
Minor injuries ?
No one was seriously Injured In the crash of this Cessna ISO. The plane,
piloted by Tim Thacker, was apparently caught In the turbulence left by a
Chinook helicopter that took off shortly before. The $14,000 plane was a
total loss, sheriffs reports show.
(Drawing by Circg Hatha?a>)
are cocain
Investigation reports show that
Stone allegedly had in his posses
sion marijuana (amount
unknown), three grams of cocaine,
a pipe, a pack of rolling papers, a
plastic straw and $242 in cash.
In an unrelated matter Friday
night, Raeford Police arrested two
Fayetteville men and charged them
with being in possession of a
"stolen" car.
The car, a white 1982
Oldsmobile, which was allegedly
driven by Gregory Davis, 17, and
Johnny Pridgen, 19, was spotted
on Main Street in Raeford, Police
Chief Leonard Wiggins said.
A routine check of the car's
license plate revealed that the car
was stolen from a Joseph W.
Thomas of Fayetteville.
The two men were taken into
County nears
airport pact
By Ed Miller
After more than six months,
members of the Hoke County
Commission tentatively OK'd a
resolution Monday night which of
ficially creates a joint airport com
mission and should clear the way
for improved operation of the
facility.
However, the county officials
did not appoint members to the
newly created commission, but are
expected to do so once the resolu
tion agreement is approved by the
Raeford City Council.
Other members to the commis
sion have been appointed by the
Chamber of Commerce and the
city council.
Under the agreement approved
Monday, a five member commis
sion would oversee the operation
of the facility. Two members of
the commission would be ap
pointed by both the city and the
county and one member by
Chamber.
To assure that the members of
the board will be rotated evenly,
the resolution says that one ap
pointee from the City Council and
one from the Board of Commis
sioners will serve a term of three
years. The other appointees from
these two sources are to serve two
years. The appointee from the
Chamber of Commerce will serve
an initial term of one year.
This provision assures that the
airport commission will never be
memberless and that all the
members will not rotate at the
same time.
After their initial term, all air
port commissioners will serve
terms of three years.
According to the resolution, if
there is a vacancy on the commis
sion, the entity that originally
made the appointment will fill it.
Members will not be paid and
must be residents of Hoke County,
the resolution adds.
(See AIRPORT, page 2A)
Troy man is hired
as Raeford manager
A 39-year-old West Virginia
native, who has been serving as the
manager of Troy, has been hired to
assume the helm in Raeford by
mid-May.
Thomas A. Phillips, who has
been the, jnanager. ip Tx?y for the
last three years, will take over the
reins in Raeford on May 14.
Phillips will fill the position
which was vacated in January
when Ron Matthews left to
become the city manager in
Elizabeth City.
Although he hails from West
Virginia, Phillips has spent the last
nine years in municipal administra
tion in North Carolina and several
years here in the military.
Prior to going to Troy, Phillips
served as the Administrator in
Wallace and as the Finance Officer
in Spring Lake.
He an accounting degree
from Fayetteville Technical In
stitute. He has also taken extensive
courses in public administration,
government and computers from
the University of Maryland,
Gardner-Webb, North Carolina
State and the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"We're excited about coming to
(See CITY, page 2A)
e, stolen car
custody and held under $10,000
bond, Wiggins said.
In a further unrelated incident,
Archie Carroll Davis, of Raeford,
was the apparent victim of a theft
that has left him waterless.
Davis reported that he returned
from work last Thursday morning
to find that his water tank had
been stolen.
The tank was reportedly worth
about $140.
There have been no arrests in the
case.
In addition Lucille's Beauty
Salon was the victim of breaking,
entering and larceny last Tuesday.
Lucille McLean reported that
she went to open her shop and
found that someone had broken
into it.
A 19-inch color television worth
Wind turbulence eyed
as plane crash cause
by Ed Miller
The pilot of a plane that crashed
last Wednesday at the Hoke
County-Raeford Airport was back
in the air Thursday with only a
sore arm.
Tim Thacker was on duty Thurs
day taking parachutists aloft
following Wednesday evening's
mishap.
Thacker and three sky divers
were apparently only shaken up
after the plane they were in flipped
over just after takeoff.
The three jumpers, Jerome
Branch and Whit Garrison of Ft.
Bragg and Alian Grotzer of
Switzerland reportedly escaped the
crash with only a few bruises.
"One guy had the wind knocked
out of him," said parachute jump
school owner and father of the
pilot Gene P. Thacker.
According to Gene Thacker, the
Cessna 180 flipped on take-off due
to the turbulence caused by a Ft.
Bragg helicoptcr that had just left
the airport,
"A big Chinook (a two bladed
chopper) had been out here doing
some touch and goes," said
Thacker.
"It is nothing unusual,"he said.
The air was so calm that the
blades of the helicopter had left a
turbulence pocket in its wake, ac
cording to Thacker.
"They were going up to 3,000
feet to do an accuracy jump,"
Thacker said.
He explained that these jumps
are to practice landing on a specific
target.
Although no official estimates
of the damage to the plane have
been made yet, Thacker guessed
that there was between $7,000 and
S8.000 worth.
"We'll have to turn it over and
see what's left," he said.
"We'll do that sometime
today," Thacker concluded.
about $400 was apparently miss
ing.
The case was still under in
vestigation.
Sheriff's reports also noted that
$400 in coins were apparently
stolen from Marvin Johnson of
Raeford.
Johnson said he returned home
from work, found that his house
had been broken into and
discovered the theft of about $100
in Eisenhower silver dollars as well
as about $300 in old pennies,
nickels and quarters.
A blue tote bag was also taken.
On another matter, a Raeford
man apparently prevented a
neighbor's mobile home from bur
ning last Thursday after he ex
tinguished a fire in the rear of the
dwelling.
(See LOCAL, page 2A)
Inside Today
Both the public library and the
school libraries are filled with
the real and Imaginary world
of books that help educate
both young and old. We take a
look at the county's library
system and Its advantages In
this week's B-section of The
News-Journal.