Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Sept. 13, 1984, edition 1 / Page 2
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New plan has merit, hut Chamber is key Good things seem to be happening in Hoke County. A new spirit of leadership is emerging, and efforts are being made to im prove the quality of life. A proposal, which was unveiled by the Board of Directors of the Hoke-Raeford Chamber of Commerce last week, given tentative approval by Hoke County Commission and OK'd by the City of Raeford, appears to be a major step toward getting a competitive industrial recruitment effort underway. According to the plan, appointees from the Chamber, the county and Raeford will form an industrial development board and will hire a professional recruiter to spearhead the local effort. Funding for the project will be provided by city and county. The Chamber will hire a secretary, who will assist the developer and "handle normal Chamber of Commerce affairs." The concept of the plan is sound. The Chamber is separated from direct responsibility for industrial recruiting and theoretically would be able to address other pressing community needs, but still would have a voice in bringing new firms to the county. However, we have reservations about the proposal. This community needs a strong Chamber of Commerce to coor dinate and lead programs which are as critical to future growth as industry recruiting. If such projects as downtown revitalization, a satellite college, widening US 401, direct telephone lines with Cumberland County, lobbying for grant money and state funds and a community festival, are not given aggressive attention by the Chamber, then all of Hoke County will suffer. * I FEEL LIKE DOING SOMETHING UTTERLY ABSURD -LETS GO PRCE KXISES" Letters To The Editor Society helping spinal injuries To The Editor: Since November 26, 1980, my husband has been paralyzed from the waist down, faced other obstacles, and confined to a wheelchair with a spinal cord in jury as a result of a fall from a lad der. In July 1982, we joined the Spinal Cord Society. It is a non profit International Society for cure research and treatment of spinal cord injury and related pro blems. Several cure research con ferences have been held and the most recent was August 23-25, at an International Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when 21 researchers reported to the public the progress of their research pro jects. An instant cure for the chronically injured has not been found, however, much is known about electrical stimulation, nerve grafts, late anterior decompression operations and other procedures that alleviate the suffering. Also, a SCS Center is to open in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in November, 1984, and is the first and only one specializing in ad vanced treatments for chronic spinal cord injuries and related neural problems. I feel we have many people in North Carolina who are spinal cord injury victims or suffer from some type of severe neural disorder that may not be aware of this very worthwhile organization. I believe the paralyzed need to know of the advances being made in cure research. If you are injured or know of someone with a spinal cord injury, please write Spinal Cord Society, P.O. Box 69, Minneapolis, Min nesota 55445. Also, they have a toll free number, 1-800-328-8253. Sincerely, Mrs. Calvin W. Howard Editorials This county needs a fulltime professional industrial recruiter, whose duty it is to worry about creating new jobs, but we also need a fulltime aggressive Chamber of Commerce, which inspires its members to participate in solving the other problems of the com munity. The Chamber must have a strong director, not just a clerical per son who can type letters, answer the telephone and give out brochures. If the new proposal calls for a person who takes orders, rather than one who gives orders to head the Chamber, then the plan is a weak one and promises little for the community. We believe the Chamber should be a separate, but equal partner, to the industrial development effort. This community needs an assertive effort to improve living condi tions in the county and to smooth the way for new industry. Home's leaving is county's loss After five and a half years, members of the Hoke County Com mission decided that it was time for Health Director Lloyd Home to move his residence inside the county borders. Home had not agreed to live in Hoke County when he accepted the position over five years ago, and when the recent mandate came down, he decided to move his job rather than his home. As a result, Hoke County is the loser. Under Home's direction, the health department has increased its staff and has more than tripled the number of patients using the ser vice. In the last five years, the department has made great strides to im prove the quality of life for all of the county's residents. Health Department efforts have paid off in a reduction in the number of teen pregnancies, in a decline in venereal disease and in a drop in the rate of infant mortality. Children in this county, who may have once suffered from malnutrition, are now receiving well-balanced meals because of a strong cooperation between the Department of Social Services and the Health Department. Home did a good job as director of the Health Department. His service here was an asset to Hoke County, and his leaving is a case of mismanagement by members of the county commission. Department heads and other public employees should live in Hoke County, but unless the residency requirement is part of the job contract, enforcement of the rule is ludicrous. There is little question that Lloyd Home would have been a good resident of Hoke County, and the community would have benefited by his participation, as we did by his leadership in the health depart ment. We believe this county would have been better served if the com missioners had devoted more time to improving the community and making it a more desirable place to live, rather than harassing a department head with an unenforcable after-the-fact residency rule. With Home's resignation, Hoke County now has three top management positions to fill. It is hoped that the commissioners have learned from their mistakes and will make residency a clear condition of employment, not an afterthought. Reflecting over 23 years of education When one has consistently made public education an integral part of their life, it is almost frightening to think about such a drastic change as either retirement or resignation. However, after 28 years in the field of public education, 23 of which have been spent in the Hoke County Public Schools, 1 find it necessary to tender my resignation due to medical reasons effective October 1. 1 am taking this opportunity to reminisce about my experiences in Hoke County in an attempt to in form the many students, teachers and staff, parents and community leaders about how highly I value their confidence in my ability to contribute to a better education and improved educational oppor tunities in Hoke County Schools. I am especially proud of the many fine accomplishments which Hoke County has made in the past 20 years. When I joined the Hoke County Public Schools in 1962 as Principal at Hawkeye Indian School, I was charged with the responsibility of moving forward with a 1-12 school with ten teachers and a total student enroll ment of 300 to 33 teachers and a total student enrollment of over 700 students in 1968, some 200 of whom were high school students. We were confronted with the limited curriculum due to the small number of students. We en countered a large number of students who did not enroll in school until the second or third month of school, and student achievement and progress was tremendously affected by this an nual record of poor school atten dance and late school enrollment. I remember well the many long hours which the teachers spent in visiting the tobacco and cotton fields to encourage parents to enroll their children in school, and how we worked to plan and pro vide for a broad-based extra curricular program to involve students in school activities, to motivate and increase the awareness of parents for the need for education, and to develop a high level of community support and school pride. I am also reminded of the in itiatives undertaken during the late 60s as Chairman of the Board D.R. Huff and Board members Dr. Riley Jordan, Bobby Gibson, Bill Howell and Wilton Wood led the school district in meeting one of the greatest challenges to ensure a sound future and a quality education for all students in the Hoke County Schools. In the* spring of 1968, these men voted for districtwide school consolidation in order to meet federal re quirements for school desegrega tion. While their decision was un popular at the time, their decision was founded on the best interest of the students, the parents, the teachers and the communities as evidenced by the successful desegregation of the Hoke County Schools without incident. Their courage, wisdom and vision for the future contributed to the greatness of the Hoke County Schools to day. In 1973, I was called upon to serve the Hoke County Schools as principal of Upchurch Junior High School, and in 1977, to fill the principalship at Hoke High School. These two appointments were followed in 1979 with my ap pointment to the central ad ministrative staff to assist with the administration of federal educa tional programs including Chapter I, Migrant Education and Title IV Indian Education. Upon the occasion of each of these appointments, I always responded that I was willing to serve the Hoke County Schools in whatever capacity the Superinten dent and the Board of Education Looking On Earl H. Oxendine deemed that I could be most effec tive. While many of these appoint ments may not have been in my personal best interest, at all times I reaffirmed my committment to the best interests of students and the Hoke County Schools. These varied experiences allowed me the opportunity to serve some of my students in the principalship for as many as eight Qf their twelve years in school, and the greatest reward that I have received has been the satisfaction, the pride, and the sharing of success as many of the youngsters went on to greater achievement in colleges and universities, in successful jobs, and into productive roles in the com munity. For eight years I served as a member of the North Carolina State Board of Education. While visiting public schools across the state, at no time did I visit any school district with which I did not feel that Hoke County Schools could favorably compare. Today, Hoke County Schools can boast of forward leadership in keeping first and foremost in the decision-making process the best interests of the students. The school district employs many fine teachers, aides, maintenance workers, custodians, cafeteria and food service staff, educational sup port personnel and outstanding central office personnel and ad ministrators. I am convinced that Hoke County can hold its own with other school districts across the state. 1 have had the opportunity and privilefe to serve with five outstan ding school superintendents: W.T. Gibson, Don Abernathy, Raz Autry, John D. McAllister and the current superintendent Dr. Bob Nelson. Each of these individuals are to be commended for their fine leadership of the Hoke County Schools, and I am certainly in debted to each of them for the many considerations and kind nesses extended to me as a member of the Hoke County educational team. On several occasions I have been afforded an opportunity to serve in the field of public education in other school districts, but at no time have I had any desire to serve anywhere other than in the Hoke County Schools. I sincerely ap preciate the confidence, the sup port, the respect and the fine cooperation extended to me over the years by the students, the parents, the teachers and staff, and the administration and larger Hoke County Community. Hoke County has . been both good for me and to me, and I sincerely and honestly hope that in some way I have contributed some good and something worthwhile to Hoke County and to the future generations of Hoke County. The News-Journal % ETIDlMa, fcy Mctm Prat, lac . , r.?l Dtetoa, Pre.. 1I? W. D*oo4 Axw, P.O. Box 550 *????*. N.C. 11374 I" Cwmkt Pn Ymt? tlt.M ? Moatfa-SS.M 0?t of Coaaty Pit V?r-SI2.M 4 Moa(k_li m LOtlSH. FOCLEMAN.JR WARREN N. JOHNSTON HENRY L. ILUE .. . .Pra4actloa SapvHaor MRS. PAUL DICKSON SodMy UNor SAM C. MORRIS ANN M Omi PMtat* M Rarfortf, N.C. OAPSm-M*) A first hurricane is always the toughest It was the first hurricane of our marriage. They called it David, and it was killing people all over the Caribbean. The storm was headed our way. "Oh. This is your first hurricane? Well, the first one is always the toughest," they said, heading for the hills. David wasn't expected for three days, but most of the permanent residents on Pawleys Island had moved shortly after the first gray cloud appeared. "Hey. We remember Hazel," they said, as the moving vans roll ed out of sight. That was the storm that cleaned the coastline of houses and killed 19 people in the Carolines. My wife wasn't even born on October 15, 1954, and the only Hazel I remembered was Hazel Leftavitch, who used to live next door when I was six. Hazel was always trying to pot doll dresses on my cat Harold. She kept inviting me and Harold to tea parties, but we wouldn't go. Harold couldn't stand the pink chiffon she wanted him to wear. .Hazel grew up and became a costume designer for a small Lithua nian circus, which was noted for its wett-dresaed elephants. Hazel-the-T error were memories. David was roaring up the Florida coast, and promising to be the "Hurricane of the Centarv." ^ I Warren Johnston Puppy Papers There was no one to ask what to do. We were alone, except for one lame pelican and a handful of riotous tourists, who vowed to "drink" the storm out in their ocean front condo. We had to rely on the radio for instructions. ~-.r . "Fill your bathtub with water.-(Do not get in it.) Put tape all over your windows. (Forget about leaving the windows on the east side open. You'll drown.) Turn off the power, and spend the next 30 days in Butte, Montana," the radio announcer said/ We did as instructed, although my job dictated that I stay within reporting distance of the storm, and since it was our first hurricane, my wife decided to remain along for the ride. After 14 rolls of masking tape were applied to the windows, we loaded three cats and the family photographs into the car and drove to the mainland. The storm approached. The wind picked up and became cons tant. Just like in the newsreels, the trees bent and almost touched the ground. The first few hours were exciting. Everyone was hurrying to board up windows and to move boats to safer harbor up the inland rivers. Ships were taken offshore and moored. Things were secure. No more preparations could be made. Whatever happened would be up to David. The storm stalled. We waited. The wind howled. I began to understand why hurricane parties were so popular. In the sixth hour, I checked with the Civil Defense. There was no word. The storm was stalled off the Georgia coast. About midnight, it turned and came ashore. It followed the Savannah River for a while and cut across mid-South and North Carolina. Before heading back out to sea to die, David wreaked havoc on New Jersey. We were spared, except for damage caused by a few waterspouts which came off the tail of the storm. "Well. That was nothing," my wife said, as we picked up several hundred pine branches from our yard and scraped the tape off our windows. "It was nothing like Hazel," a resident yetted to us from the cab of hi* returning moving van. He was probably right, but we didn't remember Hazel. My wife wasn't bora, and the Hazel I knew was spending her life trying to squeeae an overweight tiger into a girdle. I
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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Sept. 13, 1984, edition 1
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