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Established 1928 ? - -
The Hoke County News ? Established 1928 ~ The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
Volume LXXVI Number 52 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS Thursday, April 18, 1985
Grand entrance
The Upchurch Jr. High School marching band join
ed the Franzen Bros. Circus parade Tuesday while
Jeffrey Strother rides on Orka the elephant. Other
youngsters who were not stuck in school, watched
with longing. Thankfully, the circus shows did not
conflict with school hours.
NC cooking contest scheduled
for Turkey Festival opening
Racford was selected last week
as the site for the 198S North
Carolina Turkey Cooking Contest.
The contest, which is a statewide
event sponsored by the North
Carolina Turkey Federation in
conjunction with the North
Carolina Department of
Agriculture, is scheduled for the
opening day of the North Carolina
Turkey Festival.
Tentative plans are to hold the
contest on Main Street on
September 18, a festival
spokesman said.
A cooking seminar with a well
known chef is also being planned
to be held prior to the judging of
the state's best turkey recipe.
"The cooking contest is held in
order to further promote turkey
and turkey products," Department
of Agriculture Marketing
Specialist Teresa Parker said.
"It's designed to expand the
creative side of turkey cooking and
to improve consumer awareness,"
she added.
The contest is expected to draw
over 1,000 visitors to watch the
competition between the five
finalists and to attend the seminar.
It is also hoped that the contest
will draw state officials for the
opening of the turkey festival.
The contest is open to all
residents of North Carolina, ex
cept those connected with the con
test.
The best recipe will be awarded
$500. Second place is $250 and
third, fourth and fifth are $100
each, Parker said.
Deadline for entering is July 15.
Entry blanks are available at the
Hoke County Extension Service
office or at the office of the
Raeford-Hoke Chamber of Com
merce.
Airport commission approves budget
By Ed Miller
The Raeford-Hoke Airport
Commission passed a motion to
present a Si 3,000 budget to the
Hoke County Commission and the
Raeford City Council for approval
in a meeting last Thursday.
Members of the Airport Com
mission are also asking both local
governments to keep a previously
budgeted $37,500 each in an ac
count for capital outlay.
That money can be used to build
"T-hangars" at the airport and
generate some revenue for the
county and city, Commission
Chairman Frank Baker said.
According to the charter for the
commission, Raeford pays half the
costs for running the airport and
Hoke County pays the other half.
Baker said.
"That's a cheap airport," Com
missioner John Plummer said at
the meeting.
According to the budget pro
posal prepared by Baker, the air
port made 522,800 last year in fuel
sales, rent and tie-down fees.
The commission also paid out
$20,000 for the fuel, according to
the budget request.
Until last year, the airport t^ad
never made money.
According to the proposal, the
largest request for any one line
item is $3,000 to be used for air
port departmental supplies.
This" line item includes bulbs for
the runway and beacons and small
lights that must be replaced from
time to time, Commissioner
Wayne Byrd said.
According to Byrd, until last
year, City Engineer Bill Sellars had
been stockpiling such equipment
for the facility.
That stockpile is nearly gone and
must be replaced, said Byrd.
A request has also been made
for $2,000 for airport ground
maintenance.
Last year, the city cut grass on
the landing Held and around
planes, but that will not be the case
this year, Byrd said.
Byrd, who was instrumental in
determining the amounts to be
placed in each line item, also called
for $1,500 to be placed in a
building repair line item.
According to the commissioner,
the "fixed base operations"
building is in need of repair.
In other line items, $1,500 was
budgeted for professional services,
$300 was placed for a telephone
just installed at the airport, $1,000
is needed for airport insurance and
$1,000 was budgeted for equip
ment repair.
When broken in half, Hoke
County and the City of Raeford
will only have to budget $6,500
each to run the airport.
In discussion during the
meeting, commissioners were in
formed that a zoning ordinance for
the area around the airport is
forthcoming.
Commissioner Plummer will
have a rough draft of an ordinance
ready for the next meeting, he said.
In other action, commissioners
approved a survey questionnaire
drawn up by Commissioner L.E.
McLaughlin.
The questionnaire was designed
by the commission to determine if
personnel are needed to pump fuel
at the facility before 11 a.m.
McLaughlin told other commis
sioners that the question form is
finished and should be at the air*
port for pilots this week.
Democrats elect new party officers
A Rock fish woman was elected
Chairman of the Hoke County
Democratic Party Saturday.
Norma Campbell garnered the
approval from about 70 party
members who gathered at the
Hoke County Courthouse Satur
day afternoon for the annual con
vention.
Campbell, who is a native of
Newark, New Jersey, and the
mother of a teenage son and
daughter, has lived in the county
for seven yean. She is married to
Marion Campbell and employed
by Carolina Telephone and
Telegraph.
Campbell will take over the post
from Harold Gillis, who served as
chairman for the past two terms.
In addition to Campbell, Tom
Howell was elected first vice chair
man, Carolyn Page was named se
cond vice chairman and Wendell
Young, third vice chairman.
Gregory Burke was elected party
secretary, and Charlotte Kelly was
named treasurer.
Campbell was also elected to the
state executive committee.
County rejects gamble
to improve CD chances
By Ed Miller
Members of the Hoke County
Commission passed on an oppor
tunity to improve their chances of
getting $725,000 in federal Com
munity Block Grant funds by not
committing less than S10.000 in
local money to help with the im
provements.
Commission members were ad
vised by Lumber River Council of
Government (COG) Director Jim
Perry that if any local money,
"even a token amount" were
placed in the budget for road im
provements in the area, it would be
viewed favorably by those who
score the applications.
If approved, the grant money
would make improvements to
minority housing in the Tylertown
area, Perry said.
There will be 56 houses up for
renovation if the grant is funded,
said the director.
"We did work very hard to
make this a competitive applica
tion," Perry said.
Commissioner Cleo Bratcher
made the motion to send the ap
plication in as it is, and the motion
passed unanimously.
Perry recommended a small
N.C.
TURKEY
FESTIVAL
amount of money, $1,000 or
$2,000, be budgeted for the im
provements.
"Far less than $10,000," would
be needed, Perry said.
According to the COG Director,
Hoke County's application last
year lost out on being funded by
about 100 points in the scoring
process.
Those needed points may have
been obtained if the road im
provements were funded, he said.
According to Perry, competition
for the grants is very competitive.
Last year, Hoke County's ap
plication finished 121 out of 169
applications, a spokesperson for
the state Department of Natural
Resources and Community
Development has said, adding that
the application would have to have
finished in the top 39 to be funded.
Trailer law aired
About 15 people appeared at the
Monday night meeting to hear
what was said about a proposed
ordinance setting guidelines for
mobile home parks in the county.
Commissioners gave up their
copies of the ordinance to eager
residents who attended the
meeting.
According to Planning Board
member and former Hoke County
Commissioner Mable Riley, most
of the people present are owners of
mobile home parks in the county.
Commissioner Bratcher asked
about one section of the ordinance
stating that a developer must have
five acres of land to begin a trailer
park on.
Brown Hendrix Jr., Planning
Board Chairman, said that the five
acre minimum is "a good average
between (what is required) in
Moore County, Bladen County ...
and what (the planning board) was
working with in 1970".
According to Hendrix, a
developer can get about five
mobile homes on an acre of land if
streets are not put in.
"We're not saying that an owner
has to fill up five acres. He must
just start with that," said Hendrix.
In a motion, the commissioners
set May 20 at 7:30 p.m. as the time
and date for a public hearing on
the ordinance.
(See COLLEGE, page 11 A)
Moore project delays
Raeford motel opening
By Ed Miller
A condominium project in
Moore County has delayed the
beginning of motel construction
slated to begin in Raeford on April
1, but the developer of the project
said there is no question that the
project will be completed.
"Yes, the motel will be built,"
Developer Gene Ballard said Mon
day.
To demonstrate his good faith,
Ballard said he has moved office
furniture and equipment into a
building across Highway 401 from
the construction site, he said.
Ballard has also purchased the
land where the building has been
proposed, he said, adding that he
has also invested "quite a bit of
money" in architect's drawings.
Currently, Ballard is reviewing
bids from contractors on the motel
project, he said.
Although an updated timetable
had not been completed as of
Monday, Ballard said: "something
should be concrete next week."
The 30-unit motor inn will be
called "The Colonial Motel,"
Ballard told the Raeford City
Council last month.
The proposed motel will be
located on the corner of Palmer
Street and Highway 401, said
Ballard.
At that meeting, the city council
gave Ballard assurance that he
would have water and sewer hook
ups on site when needed.
The Hoke County Commission
(See MOTEL, page 12A)
Maybe rain
As the clouds roEed In heavily Tuesday over the Rae/ord First United
Methodist Church, many residents, perhaps all the residents wished
foe rein. It has been so dry lately that a ban has been placed on all out
side burning bi this arm of the state. The dry weather is also hurting
some of the area farmers. However, little relief came for Hoke County
from these clouds.
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The weather for the past week
has been nice as far as the
temperature is concerned. The
nights have been cool and then it
warms up during the day. The only
drawback is that we need rain. We
had a trace of rain Saturday night
and Sunday afternoon, but it
wasn't enough to do anything but
settle the dust.
The forecast calls for rain Tues
day and the temperature will go up
to the high 80s by the end of the
week.
Last year at this time it was
almost too wet to get into the
fields. Not so this year!
* # *
As most of your readers of this
column know, 1 enjoy playing
golf. I try not to let a bad shot or a
bad round of golf upset me. It is
fun to play and when you are hav
ing fun, you shouldn't let your
temper take this away from you at
any time.
I also enjoy watching golf
matches on TV. Last Saturday and
Sunday while watching the Masters
tournament, 1 realized that the
pros don't hit every shot perfectly.
Many players on the par 3, 13th
hole, had high scores. One player
took a nine on the hole, but even
when he was upset, he didn't throw
his club, or stop playing in the
tournament. This is their bread
and butter and they must control
their temper to uucceed.
So now when I take the eight
and nines on a hole, I will just
remember the pro that took a nine
' (See AROUND, page 11 A) '