The News-Journal
The Hoke County News - Established 1928 ^ The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
Volume LXXVI Number 35 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS Thursday, December 20, 1984
US 401 back on DOT
construction list
By Ed Miller
The four laning of six miles of
U.S. Highway 401, from Raeford
to the Cumberland County line,
was put back on the state Depart
ment of Transportation's (DOT)
construction schedule, a
spokesman for the department
said.
Aquisition of right-of-way for
the $8 million project will begin in
fiscal year 1987, Highway Ad
ministrator Billy Rose said, adding
that construction is scheduled to
begin in fiscal year 1989.
The fiscal year actually begins in
July; therefore, July of 1986 will
be the starting point for right-of
way aquisition, Rose said.
The project was only funded to
the Cumberland County line, said
Rose.
"I'm sure they stopped there
because funding ran out," he said.
The total costs for all projects
on the 10-year TIP is $3.6 billion.
Funding for the project is to be
taken from federal aid primary
funds previously earmarked for
the construction of Interstate 40
from Benson to Wilmington, ac
cording to a N.C. Department of
Transportation (DOT) press
release.
The 1-40 project is now eligible
for money from interstate
rehabilitation funds, the release
says.
"This project in Hoke County is
part of my goal to upgrade and im
prove our transportation system
throughout the state," said Gover
nor Jim Hunt in the release.
"This four-laning is a much
needed project due to the conges
tion of commuters from Raeford
to Fayetteville and I am delighted
with the board's decision," Hoke
County DOT Board Represen
tative Martha C. Hollers said.
The 401 project was first put on
the 10-year plan more than a
decade ago.
Hoke County offtcals have been
trying to get the road four-laned
for over 20 years.
Some engineering of the project
was done in 1972, but the project
was blackballed and removed from
the 10-year plan in 1981.
As late as last August, members
of the Hoke County Commission,
the Raeford City Council, the
Chamber of Commerce and State
Representative Daniel H. DeVane
met with state DOT officials and
Governor Hunt to discuss the 401
project.
Holiday sunrise
The sun rising through fog gives a special warmth much like that gotten
around Christmas. One feels special but does not know why. With the
warmer weather we have been having, there may be more fog to come.
ttxMo by ?. W. MUltr. Ill
One nice thing about the unseasonal temperature is that it will make early
Christmas church services a bit easier to attend. A number of area chur
ches will be having Christmas services.
Newspaper y others take holiday break
Next week The News-Journal
staff will take Monday and
Tuesday off to celebrate
Christmas.
As a result of the vacation,
next week's newspaper will be
published a day later than usual
and will come out on Thursday
morning.
Display advertising and
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The weather for the last few
days doesn't make you think of the
Christmas season. With Christmas
just a week away and the
temperature in the 70s, it seems
more like summer is starting over
again.
I don't believe that there has
ever been as many foggy mornings
as in the past few days. I can't
recall hearing of schools starting
an hour later because of the fog.
Also the airports at Fayetteville
and Raleigh have stopped flights
for a few hours in the past few
days.
As this is being written on Mon
day the forecast is for cooler air to
move in Tuesday night, and this
should get rid of the fog.
? * ?
A note on my desk last week
from Mary Cameron stated that
Mrs. Maty Lee Christopher had
died in Florida. Mary Lee was the
wife of the late Clyde Christopher
who lived in Raeford for many
summers and did crop dusting with
his airplane.
In fact Clyde was the first to do
(See AROUND, 8A)
editorial deadlines will be
Wednesday at noon.
Classified advertising should
be received by the newspaper no
later than 4 p.m. on this Friday.
The staff of The News
Journal wishes our readers a
Merry Christmas and a HaDnv
New Year.
In addition, the City of
Raeford has rearranged its
sanitation pick-up schedule for
the week of Christmas.
In an effort to get yards clean
for the holidays, sanitation
crews will be working overtime
if needed to make bulk pick-ups
of leaves and limbs the week
before Christmas.
During the holiday week.
Lady and apple
This dancer and the apple are two of the many decorations which adorn
local trees. We take a look at some of the county's Christmas flxlns In a
special section In today's News-Journal. We also glance back at Yule
festivities of old Hoke County on page I of Section B.
there will be no trash pick-up of
any kind on Monday or Tues
day.
Pick-ups will resume on
Wednesday and Thursday with
those homes usually serviced at
the beginning of the week being
picked up first.
Friday, those homes usually
(See CLOSING, 8A)
Accident victim
dies of injuries
A Raeford man injured on
August 30 when the ambulance he
was riding in was broadsided, died
last Wednesday from injuries suf
fered during that wreck.
Robert Jackson Daniels, 69,
never returned home from Moore
Memorial Hospital after the
wreck.
Daniels had been riding in the
ambulance with his wife who was
being taken to the hospital for
heart tests.
Horace Michel) Hayes, 40, the
driver of the ambulance, was
charged with failing to stop for a
red light after the accident.
According to Hoke County At
torney Duncan McFadyen, Hayes
was found not guilty of the charges
by a Moore County District Court
Judge last month.
According to reports, the am
bulance being driven by Hayes was
in route to Moore Memorial
Hospital.
There was apparently some con
struction being done on the road
near the hospital and Hayes was
waved through the red light by a
flagman controlling traffic.
When the ambulance was hit by
(See DEATHS, page 2A)
After that meeting, the local
delegation returned with new op
timism saying that state officials
recognized the danger of the road
and seemed willing to help get the
four-laning project moved onto
the priority list.
Figures gathered earlier this year
indicate that the 15.87 mile stretch
from Raeford to 71st High School
in Fayetteville has an accident rate
higher than the state average.
During the years between
January 1, 1978, and May 31,
1984, there were 809 accidents on
the road.
Last month, a letter from the
Post Commander of Ft. Bragg,
Lieutenant General James J. Lind
say "strongly" endorsed the 401
project.
Lidsay sited safety as the main
reason for his backing of the pro
ject.
"The Ft. Bragg community
places utmost importance on the
safety of its civilian and military
personnel," said Lindsay in a letter
to DOT Secretary William R.
Roberson.
"We feel the same way the peo
ple in Raeford feel," Public Rela
tions officer Lieutenant Colonel
Thomas R. Gravette said.
Hoke nursing home
given green light
By Ed Miller
After a hard fought battle last
Wednesday, Raeford arid Hoke
County officials won approval
from this area's health agency to
allow Britthaven, Inc. to build a
100-bed combination nursing
home facilty in Raeford.
Despite a recommendation from
the staff of Cardinal Health Agen
cy asking that the Rocky Mount
firm Autumn Care Corperation be
allowed to build the facility, the
agency's Board of Directors over
turned that decision and recom
mended Britthaven, according to
Raeford City Manager Tom
Phillips.
Construction is expected to
begin this spring on the $1.59
million project, a company
spokesman said.
The key to overturning the
staffs recommendation was the
public support put behind Brit
thaven, Phillips said.
Britthaven is proposing to build
a 100-bed facility that will include
38 resthome beds as well as nursing
home beds. Autumn Care's pro
posal was for a 77-bed complex
with 10 of those beds to be
resthome beds, Phillips said.
According to the manager, there
is a lower level of care needed for
resthome beds than for nursing
home beds.
A spokesman for Cardinal
Health Agency said their staff
recommended Autumn Care
because there are already 77 rest
home beds in Raeford and the
county did not need as many addi
tional beds of that type as Britt
haven is proposing.
Public officials fought for Brit
thaven because that company has
been working to build public sup
port for some time, County
Manager William Cowan said.
"I, along with everyone else,
had never heard of Autumn Care
until the day before the public ,
hearing," said Cowan. *
Earlier this year, members of the
Hoke County Commission were
taken on a tour of a Britthaven
facility in Raleigh.
Autumn Care had done little to
promote themselves in Hoke
County, both Cowan and Phillips
said.
Both managers said that, during
the public hearing to decide which
company would be allowed to
build in Hoke, Autumn Care
representatives said that city hall
and the county office building had
been contacted about a proposal.
In each case, Autumn represen
tatives were told that the matter
had already been decided in favor
of Britthaven.
That is not true, said Phillips.
Cowan and Phillips also said
that Autumn accused the county
and city of being biased toward
Britthaven because they were pro
posing a larger facility that would
provide more tax dollars.
See (NURSING, 8A)
Zoning plan eyed
By Ed Miller
During the first meeting of 1985,
Hoke County Commissioners will
review a proposed ordinance which
could set the groundwork for
countywide zoning.
Duncan McFadyen, Hoke
County Attorney and County
Manager William Cowan were in
structed by commissioners Mon
day to have a proposed ordinance
setting up the Hoke County Plan
ning Board prepared by the
January 7 meeting.
According to McFadyen, the or
dinance proposal will be basically
the same as one which was passed
in 1967 except for the changing of
Planning Board members.
Fast action on the part of the
County Commission has been
spurred by growing community
concern over the lack of coun
tywide zoning and an offer by this
area's Council of Government
(COG) to educate Planning Board
members along with the members
of a similar board set up recently in
Robeson County.
A number of special sessions
dealing with county zoning and
other planning board matters have
been set up by the COG for
Robeson County, Cowan said he
was told by COG Director Jim
Perry.
If the Planning Board is
established by early January, they
will be able to attend sessions with
Robeson, Cowan said.
In other business at the last 1984
meeting, the commissioners voted
to accept an additional $5,960 in
crisis intervention funds.
The funds will be used to help
people in the county who are out
of heating fuel and cannot buy
any, according to Department of
Social Services (DSS) Director Ken
Witherspoon.
The additional money will in
crease Hoke County's allotment of
money to $30,992, Witherspoon
said.
In a letter from Witherspoon,
the commissioners were told that
the federal money would need no
local matching funds.
After extensive discussion, the
commissioners also voted to allow
the DSS Director to hire an addi
tional staff member to fill in for a
current employee out on maternity
leave.
The temporary employee will
take on the role of an Aid to
Families with Dependant Children
(AFDC) specialist, Witherspoon
said.
The temporary employee is
needed to keep up with the con
stant inflow of AFDC applica
tions, according to Witherspoon.
The action will cost the county
about $866. SO, said the Director.
According to Witherspoon,
there is a certain time period allow
ed for applications into the AFDC
program to be processed.
A $50 penalty fee has to be paid
to all applicants whose applica
tions are not finished within the
alloted time.
"My vulnerability to penalties is
already significant when
everybody is at work," Withers
poon said in a letter to commis
sioners explaining the request.
A temporary employee who has
been used by DSS before and who
knows the AFDC program is
(See COUNTY, page 1A)