The News-Journal
The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
Volume LXXVI Number 31 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA S10 PER VFAO 25 CENTS Thursday, November 22, 1984
Long-term
renovations eyed for courthouse
By Ed Miller
The Hoke County Courthouse
will cost almost $600,000 to
renovate, but the work can be done
over the next five years, members
of the county commission were
told Monday night.
Three recent estimates have pin
pointed the costs at about $393,000
to put the courthouse in "top con
dition," William W. Dodge of the
Raleigh architectural firm Dodge
and Associates told the commis
sioners.
A second bid of $358,761 is a
recap of a bid already submitted to
the county and does not include
such options as painting, basement
Community service
scheduled for Wed.
Again this year the Raeford
Minister's Association" will sponsor
a Community-Wide Thanksgiving
Worship Service.
The service this year will be held
at the Raeford Presbyterian
Church on Edinborough Avenue
Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
The entire community is invited
to participate in this time of offer
ing thanks for the many blessings
which are ours.
It is hoped the combined
memberships of the Raeford Chur
ches will see this as an opportunity
dJfcjMjjBL, together in fellowship -
ana worship. 1
President of the Minister's
Association this year is the Rev.
Fred Sharrai, Pastor of the
Raeford Four Square Church.
The Thanksgiving message this
year will be offered by the Rev.
Robert B. Craig,. Pastor of the
Ephesus Baptist Church located at
Arabia near Raeford.
Rev. Craig's sermon is titled
"What We Would Miss If It Was
Gone."
Special music will be presented
by the combined choirs of Sandy
Grove and Parker's United
Methodist Churches.
The choirs will be accompanied
by Mrs. Lee Simpson and Directed
by Mrs. Jaxie Knowles.
Participating also will be Ashley
Burell, Director of Music of the
Raeford Presbyterian Church, and
that church's choir.
The public is most cordially in
vited to participate in this service.
air conditioning and some elec
trical renovation.
A third and final bid of $452,723
is an adjusted estimate of the total
renovation costs leaving out cer
tain things that are not vital to
building codes and federal han
dicapped regulations, Dodge said.
Presently, the county has
$192,000 set aside for the renova
tions; said County Finance Officer
Charles Davis.
"We think our estimates are
good," Dodge said.
A motion passed during the
meeting will put the County
Building and Grounds Committee,
County Manager William Cowan
and Dodge studying together to
come up with a plan or a racom
mendation for a construction
schedule and funding, said Com
mission Chairman John Balfour.
Dodge and Associates did the
renovations on the State Capitol
buildings in Raleigh.
The original suggestion to phase
the work came from Dodge
himself; however, he also sug
gested the first phase be a large one
because it may be easier for the
county to get state and federal
grants if a large amount is needed.
If the first phase is high, more
bids from larger companies will
possibly be submitted, Balfour
said.
"We'll save money in the long
run," Balfour said.
"It (the courthouse) is a really
solid building. It's in good shape
structurally," said Dodge adding
that the plan to be used under the
proposed renovation schedule will
leave the 73-year-old structure
much as it originally stood.
One major obsticle that will
have to be overcome if an elevator
is to be put into the building from
the basement to the third floor is
the leveling of the basement foun
dation and the excavation of one
corner of the courthouse that is
filled with dirt, said Dodge.
The basement opens to the back
On top of the situation
The North Raeford Fire Department responded to
two fires in the same building last Thursday. The
building lies at the intersection of Main Street and
Highway 401 at the caution light. In the morning.
North Raeford was called in to extinguish a small
fire that had caught after fuel leaked from a
kerosene heater. The same afternoon, North
Photo by Pam tredemk
Raeford and Raeford Fire Departments were called
when the building caught afire again. " The fire ap
pears to have started in the same area, " North
Raeford Chief Johnny Baker said. Here, a wet
North Raeford fireman Jimmy Stewart surveys
damage.
at ground level, but there is a con
crete section that rises in the mid
dle that will either have to be taken
out or the rest of the floor will
have to be raised to meet it. Dodge
said.
The Building and Grounds
Committee, along with Cowan and
Dodge, is to report back to the
commission in January with a
recommendation .
In other action during the
meeting, the commission ap
pointed John Balfour and Connell
McColl as members of a newly
formed Industrial Development
Commission.
The two new members join those
already appointed by the City
Council and the Chamber of Com
merce.
According to Balfour, a meeting
time has not yet been decided
upon.
During discussion about the ap
pointments, Balfour, Commis
sioner Wyatt Upchurch and Com
missioner Cleo Bratcher expressed
that they favor someone who lives
out in the county to be on the new
commission to look out for the
county's interests.
"We need control on the
board," Commission Vice
Chairman James Albert Hunt said.
"We're putting more money in
(See GROUP, page 7 A)
Four years given
for incest charge
By Ed Miller
Hoke County resident Stanley
Elijah James was sentenced in
Superior Court to four years in
prison last week after he pleaded
"no contest" to charges of incest.
Superior Court Judge E. Lynn
Johnson handed down the
sentence after hearing evidence
that James had been having
regular sexual relations with his
12-year-old step-daughter, accor
ding to court records.
-James. 39, was legallyjiepar^te^
from his wife, the mother o? the
child, on September 6, according
to testimony given in a divorce
hearing three weeks ago.
During that hearing, it was
found as a fact in the case that
James "sexually abused his step
child," according to District Court
Judge Warren Pate.
When Mrs. James was asked
during the hearing why she left her
husband, she said: "Because there
was an incest charge against him."
According to the wife, James
had a history of touching the child
years before the couple moved to
Hoke County.
He also received psychiatric
treatments for prior incidents
while living in Georgetown, South
Carolina, court testimony and a
Hoke County Sheriff's report
show.
The infraction came to light
when the daughter told her mother
that she had been raped, according
to testimony.
Things had been quiet in the
family residence until mid- 1981,
according to statements given to
investigating officer, Hoke County
Detective Weaver Patterson.
At about that time, James
allegedly started taking the little
girl, then 1 1 , to the store with him .
On these trips, James would
fondle the girl, according to the
statement.
. The, victim would push histhand
away, and he would then stop.
Finally, the victim refused to
travel alone with him and all was
peaceful for another year and a
half, the statement says.
In April of 1983, she again rode
with him to Raeford and on the
way home, James pulled off the
main road onto a dirt road and had
intercourse with her, statements
say.
During this period, James would
allegedly go into the victim's
room, usually on a Friday or
Saturday night, and sexually abuse
the child, according to statements.
The wife and victim made the
report to the Hoke County
Sheriff's Department on
September 7.
On September 9, a call to the
Sheriff's Department told of
James' return to his home and
(See MAN, page 11 A)
16-year-old county youth sentenced for
break-ins , thefts
By Ed Miller
A 16-year-old Raeford boy was
sentenced to three years in prison
last week after pleading guilty to
three counts of breaking and enter
ing and four counts of larceny.
Because of his size, the mother
of Bruce Harris had to bring in his
birth certificate before Superior
Court Judge E. Lynn Johnson
would hear the case.
According to arrest warrants
issued for Harris, he broke into a
house owned and occupied by
Joseph Roy Acorn and took a .22
calibre pistol, a black and white
television set and $30 in cash, on
September 30.
On that same day, Harris also
took Acorn's car, a 1979 Chevrolet
El Camino.
Warrants issued for Harris on
October 3 say that Harris broke in
to the home of Selester Bridges and
took a stereo and a portable radio.
On that same day, Harris
allegedly broke into Willie Bridges'
home and took a pellet gun, a .410
shotgun, a . 12-gauge shotgun and
another semi-automaic shotgun.
Harris was jailed on October 12
and stayed in the Hoke County Jail
until his trial last Thursday, court
records say.
Harris was given credit for the
time he spent in jail, records say.
In other court action, a 53-year
old Hoke County man was given
probation and a heavy fine for
manufacturing and possession of
marijuana.
Robert Turbeville pleaded guilty
to the charges, court records say.
He was sentenced to four years
suspended for five years supervised
probation and fined $3,000,
records say.
Turbeville was arrested on
August 2 after 161 pounds, 9
ounces of marijuana were found in
a barn on his property.
According to a previous report
by Hoke County Detective Weaver
Patterson, Turbeville admitted to
growing, harvesting, curing and
packaging the marijuana at the
time of arrest.
Turbeville got the marijuana
seeds from a black man who is now
dead, according to a brief prepared
by Fayetteville Attorney James B.
Wheles.
The brief also says that
Turbeville never sold any of the il
legal substance.
According to the brief, the fact
that the pot had been sitting in the
barn for a long while was evidenc
ed by spider webs and dust all over
the tops of the packaged mari
juana and mouse holes in some of
the bags.
Turbeville has worked hard all
his life and has never done
anything illegal, the brief says.
Another Raeford man, 23-year
old Daniel Eric Jones, was sentenc
(See PROBATION, page 11 A)
Health director hunt continues
By E4 Miller
Members of the Hoke County
Board of Health are hoping that a
meeting Tuesday night will end a
two-month search for a health
director.
A special executive session has
been called for Tuesday to con
sider an applicant in a second in
terview, Board Chairman Mike
Wood said Monday.
The board has been meeting
weekly trying to find a replacement
for former Director Lloyd Home,
who resigned September 14 to ac
ccpt a job in Cumberland County.
According to Wood, the Health
Board has had its share of trouble
finding a qualified applicant to fill
the position.
The board was on the verge of
hiring a replacement about a
month ago; however, that appli
cant accepted a job with North
Carolina Memorial Hospital in
Chapel Hill the day before he was
to be hired in Hoke County, Wood
said.
Another applicant was not
recommended by Dr. Ronald H.
Levine, of the state Health Services
and Human Resourses Depart
ment.
Although Levine does not have
the final say on who is or is not
hired to the position, that appli
cant did not have a Masters Degree
of any sort which is a part of the
requirements for a person to be
considered for the position, Wood
said.
Levine said that applicant "is
not qualified to be a Health Direc
tor," Wood said.
(See HEALTH, page 7 A)
Questions surround IE A position
By Ed Miller
There is a "high probability"
that the Hoke County Board of
Education will get a recommenda
tion for a new Indian Education
Act (IEA) Director at their next
meeting, according to county
School Superintendent Dr. Robert
Nelson.
Applications have been received
and interviews are scheduled for
next week, Nelson said Monday.
Nelson has met with the Indian
Education Advisory Committee
and has gotten their recommenda
tion.
That committee has named Jerry
Oxendine as their choice for the
job, said Nelson.
Oxendine has submitted an ap
plication for consideration, Nelson
confirmed, but would not com
ment further.
According to County Commis
sioner James Albert Hunt and
others in the Indian community,
(See 1EA, page 7A)
Time for turkeys
As the day traditionally known as " Turkey Day" draws near, the
question " where do they all come from?" is asked frequently. On
page / of the B Section of today's News- Journal, we examine the
operation of Hoke County's Tarheel Hatcheries in an attempt to
answer the question.
Around Town
By Sam Morris
This column is being written ear
ly because of the Thanksgiving
holiday, so no weather report. 1
will write about the resignation of
Robert Gatlin as the observer for
the National Weather Service.
Gatlin became the observer on
January 15, 1979 and continued
reporting until his stroke on
September 23, 1984. He reported
the temperature and rainfall for
the county to Washington every
day at 12 noon. He said that he
must have made approximately
1800 calls during his tenure. He
still has all the records that he kept
during the approximately six years
of reporting. Robert said that they
were available for anyone to check
if they needed to know about the
temperatures or rainfall for the
past six years.
According to his records the
lowest temperature was 6 degrees
on Christmas 1983. The highest
(See AROUND, page 7A)