The News
The Hoke County News ? Established 1928
:
Volume LXXVII Number 2 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
$10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS Thursday, May 2, 1985
School board cuts budget to 9.9% increase
By Ed Miller
Following a six-hour special ses
sion last Tuesday night, members
of the Hoke County Board of
Education adopted a "pared
down" local budget of almost $1 .3
million.
The adopted local spending bill,
which will be forwarded to the
Hoke County Commission for fur
ther scrutiny, is up 9.9* or about
$117,000 over last year.
If adopted by the county com
mission, the local increase in the
school budget would be equal to a
4-cent hike in the ad valorem tax
rate. ?
Coming out of the school
board's budget session was a com
bined federal, state and local
budget for operating the Hoke
County schools of $11.6 million
which is an increase of nearly $1.2
.million over the previous year.
According to School Business
Manager Don Steed, a 10ft raise
in all salaries, handed down from
the state, accounts for much of
that increase.
Salaries account for about 92<7o
of the total budget, said Steed.
In an effort to keep costs down
for the Hoke County Commission,
school board members cut about
S 19,000 out of the local portion of
the budget, Steed said.
"They thought it (the requested
budget) was just too high," said
Steed.
Still, the budget adopted by the
Board of Education is 9.9V? higher
than last year's.
The exact increase of this year's
local budget over last year's is
$117,098, said Steed.
Accounting for most of the in
crease are raises in salaries, said
the business manager, adding that
many of the secretaries, assistant
principals and student guidance
personnel were given 1 1 or
12-month salaries.
They were on 10 or 1 1 months to
begin with, said Steed.
According to Steed, the cultural
arts program was given a Sfi in
crease over last year.
That increase represents only
$923 more than last year and lower
than what was requested. *
Vocation education, a line item
that was also cut some, was in
creased 9.5%, for an actual in
crease of $16,582, said Steed.
The exceptional children's pro
gram was increased 5%.
The central office of the Board
of Education was given an increase
of $2,000, said Steed.
That money will be used to buy
computer components and pro
grams, said Steed. The state had
been providing that money.
The funding for computers had
been cut out by the state, he said.
Hoke County and 61 other
counties in North Carolina will
have to come up with similar
amounts to keep computers up to
date, said Steed.
Steed said that if the county
commission asks for "big money"
or about $100,000 to be cut out of
the local budget, some teachers
will suffer.
Teachers in the cultural arts pro
gram, a total of seven positions,
would have to be taken off addi
tional months or cut all together.
According to Steed, if the
teachers resigned, the school
system would not be able to hire
replacements.
There are four teachers now be
ing paid out of local funds that are
at the lowest pay grade, said Steed.
Their salaries represent $69,000,
he said.
(See SCHOOL, Page 9A)
A horse is a horse
Although this hone looks as if he could talk, no one
has ever admitted hearing him. However, he does
seem content to stay in his Rockfish area barn and
wait for cooler weather.
Deputies mulling law suit
against county for overtime
By Ed Miller
Two former and one current
deputy are threatening a law suit
against Hoke County and the
Sheriffs Department in an effort
to recover overtime back pay.
In a letter dated April 25, Fayet
teville attorney Lloyd Cliff Brisson
threatened the county with a suit if
back overtime is not paid to Depu
ty James R. Riley and former
deputies Rodney Craig Hart and
James W. Jones.
County Attorney Duncan McFa
dyen and County Manager
William Cowan were mum about
the overtime pay question and
declined to comment Monday
about the possible suit.
Hart is currently employed with
the -Cumberland County Sheriff's
Department, and Jones works for
the North Carolina License, Theft
and Weight Enforcement bureau.
"On behalf of Messrs. Hart,
Jones and Riley, we would hereby
demand from your office a full ac
counting of all hours worked,
compensation due and overtime
compensation due for the period
of employment for each of the
above during their employment as
employees of Hoke County
through the Hoke County Sheriff
Department," according to the let
ter from Brisson.
"Once this has been completed,
we would demand from Hoke
County full payment as to each in
dividual for compensation due and
any overtime compensation due
for hours worked and not paid, as
well as any interest that would be
due on said amounts," the letter
continues.
No dollar amounts are listed in
the letter.
In the letter, Brisson quoted a
United States Supreme Court rul
ing called "Garcia v. San Antonio
Metropolitan Transit Authority,"
a case in which a precedent was set
saying that "a local agency or
government was not immune from
minijgpyup.,Y(agK
quirements of the FsnMbor Stan
dards Act"i
"It would now seem that local
government workers such as the
above who are law officers, should
have come under federal wage and
hour standards," Brisson's letter
said.
Although a suit has not been
filed yet, Brisson said in the letter,
one will be if no response is given
from Hoke County "within five
business days from the receipt of
this letter."
The letter was hand delivered to
the Hoke County office building
on April 25, sources say.
Brisson said in the letter that the
plaintiffs in the proposed action
would be willing to forget about
asking the county to pay for at
torney fees if the matter is settled
out of court.
Brisson is an associate of Ed
ward T. Brady, according to the
letter.
In a telephone interview Tues
day, Brady refused comment when
confidential sources as to how the
information about the legal action
became public were not revealed.
Although Cowan, McFadyen
and Sheriff Dave Barrington refus
ed comiMaL, -Cowan did confirm
receipt of the letter.
Under a recent North Carolina
Supreme Court ruling, letters
received by a public body are
public information.
One source did say that a deputy
with an annual salary of S17.968
per year stood to make about $386
per month if he worked 48 hours
overtime in that month.
Salaries may have to be
calculated from 1979, a source
said.
Raeford man in Hoke County jail after shoot-out killing
By Ed Miller
A Raeford man was being held
Tuesday in the Hoke County Jail
under no bond after he was charg
ed with the Saturday night murder
of another Hoke County man.
Jonathan Ray, 22, of Rt. 1, Box
590, is accused of the shooting
death of Gary Michael Lomack, of
Rt. 1, Box 380, said Hoke County
Sheriff Dave Barrington.
Both men lived on Airport Road
in the Tylertown area, said Barr
ington.
According to Barrington, last
Saturday night's shooting was the
culmination of an argument that
began over a bag of marijuana.
Both men were at the
Brickhouse, a local nightclub in
that area, when Ray apparently
snatched a bag of marijuana from
a woman with Lomack, Barr
ington said.
Lomack chased Ray back to his
residence where the shooting oc
curred, the sheriff said.
Barrington said that both men
were armed with .22 calibre guns.
Lomack had a pistol and Ray had
a rifle, he said.
Upon Lomack 's arrival at the
residence, Ray came out of the
house and both men began firing
at one another.
Ray was hit in the left thigh and
Lomack ran to the rear of the yard
while Ray was still shooting at
him, said Barrington.
Apparently, a bullet hit the man.
He fell in a garden at the rear of
the yard, said Barrington.
There was a single bullet wound
in Lomack's body, in the chest,
said the sheriff.
Barrington said, Ray was ar
rested on the scene.
"It will be up to the district at
torney to decide what charge of
murder to place on Ray," said
Barrington.
Lomack's body has been sent to
Chapel Hill for an autopsy, said
Barrington.
The dead man would have been
28 on July 21 , said the sheriff.
Hoke County deputies Eddie
Allen, Ronnie Odom, Alex Norton
and Mack High investigated the
case.
In another area incident, Allen
Henning was assaulted by a mask
ed man while he was checking on
the security of Jimmy's Exxon, ac
cording to reports.
Henning was escorting a woman
home but stopped to check on the
station before going to his house,
according to reports.
Henning was investigating some
movement behind a dumpster near
the store when the masked man
jumped out and hit him with what
looked like a blackjack, reports
say.
The assault occurred last Friday,
according to reports.
Also last Friday, Lisa Poe
reported an attempted first degree
breaking and entering.
According to reports, Poe was
asleep in her bed when she heard
someone trying to get into her
trailer.
The woman called the Hoke
County Sheriff's Department and
her landlady, reports show.
Tony Patterson, son of the
landlady, almost caught the crook,
according to reports.
Patterson approached the man,
who had just ridden into the
mobile home park on a bicycle,
and asked him what he was doing,
reports say.
The would-be burglar tried to
run but Patterson would not let
him get away. ?
A fight followed and the in
truder got away in the struggle, but
(See MAN, page 10A)
DSS board OKs proposal
to protect case workers
By Ed Miller
The Hoke County Department
of Social Services (DSS) Board
voted unanimously Monday to
pass a resolution endorsing a pro
posed legislative amendment which
would help protect social service
employees in the future.
The bill. gives DSS workers the
same protection under the law as
school administrators, court of
ficials and law enforcement of
ficers. ?
According to Hoke County DSS
Director Ken Withmpoon, there
are many social workers who must
visit peoples' homes in the course
of duty.
Some of these people are angry
and frustrated, he said, adding
dial a number of such workers
?at attacked, harmed or threaten
ed last year.
The pending legislation would
make threats on DSS employees
trying to perform their duty
punishable by the same standards
as threats or attacks on law en
forcement officers.
According to the resolution,
penalties imposed on persons con
victed of assaulting police officers
or sheriffs deputies or school
teachers or court officers are
"more severe" than those for
private citizens.
DSS employees currently are not
equally protected, said Wither
spoon.
"Protective service workers are
the most vulnerable," the director
said.
In other discussions during the
meeting, Witherspoon informed
board members that another butter
and cheese distribution it planned
for the end of May.
This will be the largest distribu
tion to date, said the director.
A total of S43.0Q0 worth of but
ter, cheese, flower, milk, corn
mod, rice and honey will be given
away, he said.
. (See CARE, page 10A)
Mary Cwen Thomas, (the down on the right), and
Kim McNeill, (the clown on tha left), happily ped
dle baHoens to raise money during Arts In the Park
on Smmhy , while Radford Fire Chief Crawford
Thomas, (the father of one of the downs - rear).
chats with School Board member Eddie McNeill,
(behind the balloon). We take a look at the
weekend's community activities on page one of Sec
tion B in today's News-Journal.
Around Town
By Sua Morris
We got 1/4 inch of rain in
Raeford Sunday night. Of course,
we need plenty more rain, but
every little bit helps. I believe the
grass turned green from this small
amount.
It has been the hottest and dryest
April I can remember. We have
had more 90 degree days than ever
before. Records fell all over the
state during this hot spell.
A cold front moved in after the
rain Sunday, but it still is hot for
this time of year. The forecast calls
for more rain Thursday. Let's
hope so, we need it.
? ? *
Prom all report*, around 30 peo
ple showed up At the depot Satur
day and much work was com
pleted. The powers -to-be said that
they could use the help for ? few
more weekends.
? ? *
There was ? targe crowd at the
(See AROUND, page 9A)