The News-Journal
The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
Volume LXXVI Number 51 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS Thursday, April 11, 1985
Board of Education OK's
school structure change
By Ed Miller
After more than an hour's
discussion, members of the Hoke
County Board of Education voted
' unanimously Tuesday to approve a
middle school structure for the
county schools.
The rescheduled regular meeting
of the board lasted past 1 a.m.
During discussion of the move,
Hoke Superintendent Dr. Robert
Nelson withdrew his recommenda
tion, made over three months ago
in support of the change, because
. one board member had "many,
' many unanswered questions."
Board member Shirley Gibson,
who voted for a motion to go to
the new organization in the end,
said she felt there is not enough in
formation on paper about the
changes the switch will cause for
the schools.
Gibson did not want to lock the
school board into an organization
that may prove hard to cope with
) later, she said.
"(The change) simply cannot be
made overnight or over a summer
time," Dr. Nelson said. -
According to Nelson, the actual
change will not be made in the
school organization for at least a
year.
The vote was needed from the
Board of Education because the
schools have to have a direction to
organize toward, said Nelson.
There were also questions from
board members about how existing
facilities will be used to fit the new
program.
The program comes first.
Facilities can be tailored to the
program, Nelson said.
"The building should never
determine the program," he said.
Currently, the Hoke County
Schools are operating under no
widely accepted organizational
structure, said Nelson.
For the last two months, board
members have been travelling to
different school systems around
the state in an effort to see the ad
vantages and disadvantages of
middle school systems and junior
high school systems.
Monday night, board members
were given a choice between the
two types.
According to Nelson, either
choice will entail the "retraining"
of some teachers who currently
teach in grades five through eight.
Nelson stressed that the ad
ministration needed a direction
from the board as to where to go
with organizing the school system.
One principal in the system has
had to be restrained from making
administrative decisions because
Nelson did not know how the
board would vote, the Superinten
dent said.
The middle school organization
will benefit the children of Hoke
County more than other types,
said Nelson.
Children who will be attending
the middle school, or those in
grades six through eight, need a
special transition period between
elementary school and high school,
Nelson has said.
In a previous meeting, Nelson
told board members there are
children currently changing classes
in the fourth and fifth grades just
like high school students.
"That's much too early," said
Nelson.
In the middle school system,
students will change classes less
often, he said.
School days will be divided into
three 110 to 120 minutes blocks.
Students will stay with teachers
long enough to develop a relation
ship with them. The same is true
for teachers, Nelson said.
A child will be more than just
someone who forgot his
homework yesterday to the
teacher. Nelson said.
Up on the roof
Local roofing contractor Richard Odom expertly
covers a portion of the old Aberdeen-Rockfish
Depot roof with dark green paint. Odom repaired
and painted half the roof before running out of
paint Saturday. The job, which is part of the
restoration of the Raeford building, is expected to
be finished this weekend.
Shannon man given life for slaying,
offers apology
By Ed Miller
A Shannon man, convicted last
week in Hoke County Superior
Court of slaying his estranged
wife, apologized for his crime,
before being sentenced to life in
k prison.
Don Michael Woods, 34, who
never took the stand said he was
sorry to the court and to family
members, before being sentenced
to life by Superior Court Judge
Edwin S. Preston of Raleigh.
It took an eight woman-four
man Hoke County Superior Court
jury two hours and 40 minutes of
deliberation to find Woods guilty
. of the September 3 felony murder
' and first degree kidnapping of
Isabell Henderson Woods.
Although Woods never took the
stand in his defense, he made a
statement reflected in the court
minutes.
The statement was too low to be
heard throughout the courtroom;
however, the convicted man said
there were circumstances that did
not come out in the trial, according
to defense attorney Phil Diehl.
Woods apologized for the
shooting in general and especially
to one sister of the victim, Diehl
said.
According to sources in the
Sheriff's Department, Woods ask
ed to be taken by the cemetery
where his wife is buried before he
was transported to Central Prison
in Raleigh.
Although Assistant District At
torney Jean Powell was seeking the
death penalty, Woods was found
guilty of murder under the
"felony-murder" rule which car
ries a maximum sentence of life,
said Powell.
A person can be convicted of
felony-murder when a murder is
committed while a felony is in pro
gress, in this case, kidnapping,
Powell said.
"Life under this sentence is a
minimum of 20 years," said Diehl.
Although it took attorneys two
full days to choose a jury,
testimony in the case lasted only
another two day's.
Called to the stand first in the
case was the oldest son of the
defendant, Don Michael Woods
Jr.
Michael, as he was called during
the trial, was in the family home
just before the fatal shooting oc
curred.
Although he had been living
with his mother in the months after
his parents separated, he had been
invited to spend Labor Day
weekend with his father.
On Friday afternoon after
school, Michael rode the bus to his
father's home, he testified.
According to Michael, the plan
was to spend the weekend with his
father and join his mother in
church on Sunday.
That is exactly what happened,
the 16-year-old testified.
It was on Sunday that Michael
realized he had left his running suit
and shoes at his father's house, he
said.
Although Michael wanted to
retrieve his equipment that day, his
mother wanted to wait until Mon
day for fear that Woods may have
been drinking.
At least three times during his
testimony, Michael said that when
his father drank, he became like a
different person.
During his father's periods of
sobriety, Michael referred to
Woods as "the regular old father 1
know."
That was how Woods appeared
Monday afternoon when he arriv
ed home to find Michael and his
mother at his house, said Michael.
According to Michael, Woods
arrived home with a neighbor
minutes after he and his mother
went into the house.
Although Michael left the house
three times that day, his mother
was allowed to leave only once, to
get some lunch, and then only at
gunpoint, Michael said.
On two other occasions, Isabeli
tried to leave the house and each
time Woods would say: "Go ahead
and leave and see what I do,"
Michael said.
The boy could not see the gun
while in the car, but he said during
testimony that his father had the
weapon in his hand when he got in
to the car and when he got out.
Before lunch, Michael had left
the house once before to get his
father some beer and had taken the
gun with him, he said.
The boy left the gun in the car
when he re-entered the house, but
Woods made him go get it, he said.
Two other times, Michael tried
to keep the gun away from his
father, he said.
Before he left the home for
church on Sunday, the boy had
hidden the gun, he said.
Michael gave the gun back at
Woods' request, the boy said.
Just before Michael left the
house for the last time before his
mother's death, he unloaded the
gun and hid the bullets under a
pillow in the den of the house.
As Monday wore on, Woods
steadily became more violent, said
Michael.
Whenever Michael left the
house. Woods would lock the
doors.
At one point during the after
noon, Woods told Michael to get a
pencil and some paper.
He dictated this note to his son:
"Love is something a person
can't explain. I love you pop and
mom. I couldn't help it."
(See LIFE, page 11 A)
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The weather has been perfect
but according to the forecast Mon
day it will be below freezing Mon
day and Tuesday nights. I don't
believe it will get cold enough to
1 hurt the peaches and other plants
or any of the garden crops.
We need rain very badly, but
there isn't any predicted any time
soon.
Easter was a nice day and except
for the wind, it was almost perfect.
There were large crowds at chur
ches and according to reports the
beaches were crowded also. When
many people go to the beach on
Easter, it seems that visitors take
up this empty pews at the local
churdKes.
* * *
Don't forget that the Franzen
Brother* Circus will be in town
next Tuesday. There will be perfor
mances under the big top at the old
National Guard Armory. The time
for the events are 3:30 and 8 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased from any
i Kiwanian or at local stores. Ad
vance tickets are cheaper than the
ones you purchase at the door.
The circus parade down Main
Street will start at 12:30 p.m. and
besides the circus performers,
there will be the Upchurch Junior
High Band. So see the parade and
the circus next Tuesday.
? ? ?
Jeff McNeill, the McNeill with
. the perfect child, was in the city
(See AROUND, page 9A)
www ilf tm tmtuuk
Welcoming visitors to spring
Spring would not be the same without a tour of the azalea gardens of
Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Barbour on the edge of Hoke County. The
carefully manicured flowers are in full bloom and local residents are
invited to tour the gardens which are located between Rockflth and
Hop* MUls, Mrs. Barbour says.
Mobile home law is approved
An ordinance which would
strictly control the development of
mobile home parks in Hoke Coun
ty was approved Tuesday night by
the newly formed Hoke County
Planning Board.
Under the new law, which is
slated to be presented to the Hoke
County Commission on Monday,
existing mobile home parks would
be required to obtain an operating
license and to meet all health and
safety standards.
The ordinance will be required
to be aired at least once publicly
before it can be adopted by the
commission and made law, board
Chairman Brown Hendrix Jr. said
during the meeting.
Although the new board has
only met four times, the mobile
home ordinance was given
"speedy" attention because of the
recent growth of parks in the coun
ty.
At least six new mobile home
park developments are reported to
be attempting to begin operating in
the county prior to passage of the
new ordinance, county officials
have said privately.
During the past two years, the
Hoke County Department of
Health and the Hoke County
Commissioners have received com
plaints of substandard mobile
home parks operating in the coun
ty.
Other than state health regula
tions, Hoke County has no laws on
the books which would govern the
housing developments.
One complaint, which has been
received, is that some parks are be
ing built in areas where septic
tanks cannot percolate or drain
properly.
Sewage is reported to seep out of
the tanks on the ground and to
back up in the units in these parks,
officials have said.
The new law is an updated and
revised version of one which was
drawn for Hoke County in 1976 by
the Lumber River Council of
Governments (COG).
(See PARK, page 10A)
Hoke ranks 4th in teen pregnancies
By Ed Miller
Hoke County is maintaining a
I fourth place state ranking in per
capita teenage pregnancies,
according to recent figures released
by the North Carolina Department
of Human Resources.
That figure is down from
previous reports which said Hoke
County was number two in the
state.
In a book entitled "Indicators
for Health Care," published by the
state, and according to the latest
data which is from 1982, the only
counties with mora pregnant
teenagers than Hoke ate Mecklen
burg, Cumberland and Graham.
Teen pregnancy is the number
one cause of infant mortality, not
only in Hoke County, but around
the state and country, according to
Mary Sappenfield of the Hoke
County Health Department.
Sappenfield said that 6.3 out of
every 1,000 babies born in Hoke
County die.
That figure is down from the
1979 rate of 14 per 1 ,000, she said,
adding that the rate of death for
non-white babies is much higher
than that for white ones.
Hoke ranks IS out of 100 coun
ties in infant mortality, she said.
Teen pregnancy rates are usually
measured on a per 1 ,000 basis with
no regard for the number of people
in the county, said Sappenfield.
Since Hoke is a small county,
having just over 21 ,000 people, the
state ranking is 34th on a number
of pregnancies per 1 ,000 basis, she
said.
However, when comparisons are
drawn on a per capita basis, Hoke
County has more pregnant teenag
ed girls than % counties in the
state, according to Sappenfield.
In North Carolina in 1983, 1,109
babies died at birth, said Sappen
field.
Girls too young to have
children, or girls in their teens, are
more likely to have babies with low
birth weights, Sappenfield said.
In Hoke County, in 1983, 95. 3
out of every 1,000 girts aged 15-19
become pregnant, statistics say,
(See TEEN, page 9 A,)