The News -Journal
The Hoke County News - Established 1928 ^ The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
Volume LXXVII Number 17 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS Thursday, August 15, 1985
School remap plan
draws parents' ire
By Ed Miller
About 15 parents attended Tues
day night's meeting of the Hoke
County Board of Education to
protest their children being sent to
another school because of recent
redistricting.
Board of Education members
took no action to change the new
districts.
Most of the parents were from
the Scurlock section of the county
where their children were taken out
of Scurlock School and sent to
South Hoke School.
Parents' main concern is that
their children would have an hour
bus ride each way, to the school
and back.
Robert Blankenship, who lives
in the area, has two daughters aged
six and seven.
The children went to Scurlock
last year, he said.
Blankenship and his wife work,
he said.
Last year, the man took his
children to school and brought
them home in the afternoon, but
that can no longer be possible
because of South Hoke School's
location, he said.
"I cannot see a six-year-old and
a seven-year-old standing out on
the road at 6:50 in the morning
waiting for a school bus,"
Blankenship said.
In an effort to tell parents what
the Board of Education did.
School Superintendent Dr. Robert
Nelson showed the parents maps
of the county, made up for the
redistricting, where pins were
located for every student in the
county in kindergarten through the
fifth grader. *** -??*
"We had to move 75 children
from Scurlock to South Hoke,"
Nelson told the parents.
Conditions were too crowded at
Scurlock, said Nelson.
Parents were also on hand from
the Cameron Heights Community.
Janet Hollingsworth Gibbs com
plained that the school board had
tried to move their children a few
years ago and an appeal to the
board had made them change their
minds.
Gibbs was also co-author of a
letter, along with Gloria Hill, pro
testing the move.
There were 26 names included in
the letter listed as "parents in
terested in their children remaining
at J.W. McLauchlin School."
Some children in that area had
to be moved to West Hoke School
because of the crowded conditions
at the downtown facility.
The children will be bussed
seven miles instead of less than
one, according to the letter.
"It's a whole lot of travelling for
those little kids," Gibbs said in the
meeting.
In an effort to meet the Board of
Education "halfway," parents
suggested that some of the children
from McLauchlin be bussed to
South Hoke and the Scurlock
students be bussed to McLauchlin.
If that method is used both sets
of children will have short bus
rides, but none will have rides up
to 20 miles, which is the case now.
Nelson explained that the
redistricting was done in a manner
that "seemed to be the least
disruptive and most direct" way to
solve the problem.
Nelson also said that this change
in districting would not be the last.
1 'Thel:bmng^n?~w(tt have to be
changed in the future," the
superintendent said.
"1 cannot assure you there will
be no further changes, rather 1 can
assure you that there will be more
changes." said Nelson.
Inside out
Trains passing on the Aberdeen-Rockfish Railroad outside of the
Raeford Depot are a reminder of the history of the building. The
structure is moving towards a future as the offices of the Raeford
Hoke Chamber of Commerce and for Economic Developer John
- Howard:' /footing utrd air romHtioning is being tmattKed, wiring has
been completed and insulations and sheet rock are being nailed into
place to meet a September deadline for completion. The restoration of
the Cicra 1910 train station recently received $13,000 in state " pork
barrer' funds to put collections over a $30,000 goal. Community ef
forts have raised more than $18,000, but additional money is still
needed for furnishings.
Bid for Tylertown
falls short of mark
By Ed Miller
For the third consecutive year,
Hoke County has lost a bid for
Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) funds needed to
rehabilitate housing in the Tyler
town area.
In the scoring processes used to
determine who will get the grants,
Hoke County scored 622 points
out of a possible 1 ,000 and was 1 32
points behind the lowest funded
community.
Members of the Hoke County
Commission voted in May not to
put any local money with the grant
application and lost 100 points in
the process.
The county's application ranked
139 out of the 176 applications
submitted to the North Carolina
Department of Natural Resources
and Community Development
(NRCD), said NRCD spokesper
son Penny Craver.
There are five different areas of
an application that are considered
for scoring, said Craver.
In the first area, "Community
needs," Hoke County scored 102
points out of a possible 200, said
Craver.
The scoring for that part of the
application is based on census
figures, and there is little that
could have been done to raise the
county's score on the section,
Craver said.
In the "Project design" area of
scoring, Hoke received 220 points
out of a possible 400, Craver said.
Craver would not say exactly
what in that part of the application
caused Hoke's low score.
She did say scorers of the ap
plications looked at four particular
criteria for the section.
Scorers considered severity and
treatment of need in the target
area, as well as the economic im
pact of the rehabilitation work on
the area and the entire community,
Craver said.
The county scored a perfect 200
(See GRANT, page 13)
Monument reaching goal
By Ed Miller
Enough money has been raised
to pay for the marble for a propos
ed war memorial to be placed on
the grounds of the Hoke County
Courthouse, but more is needed to
buy additional materials.
Josh and Jay Pate, brothers
working on their Eagle Scout pro
jects, have reached an agreement
with former Hoke resident and
now noted photographer and
sculptor^ Art Gore to construct the
monument'.
Gore has agreed to do the work
for no cost except for materials.
The materials needed to build
the monument are, according to
Gore, rifles or weapons from all of
the major powers participating in
World War II.
Guns from Japan, Germany,
Russia, Italy and the United
States, will be needed said Gore
Tuesday.
Gore himself has already located
a German gun, he said.
The weapons will be placed in
"a heaping pile," partially melted
down and fused together, said
Gore.
The guns will retain their
original shape, he said,
-o-.'lf. can &ad 4he weapons,
I'm going to try to hold the cost to
under $3,000," said Gore.
One of Hoke's neighboring
counties recently spent about
$50,000 for a war memorial.
The concept of the memorial
(See MONUMENT, page 12)
GSX: Few toxic waste trucks would travel through Hoke
By Ed Miller
Although Scotland County of
ficials and opponents disagree, a
spokesman for the GSX Corpora
tion said Tuesday few trucks load
ed with hazardous waste heading
for a proposed treatment plant
near Maxton will be passing
through Hoke County.
"At this point, it's real difficult
to say how much material will be
going through Hoke County,"
GSX spokesman Dan Jones said.
"I don't look for a large amount
to be coming through your
county," he said.
Most of the hazardous waste
that will be going to the plant will
be generated in the Charlotte area
and will be traveling down U.S.
Highway 74, said Jones.
Scotland County Manager, John
Q. Byrd said: "They have implied
that they would be coming in here
with an unreasonable number of
trucks from all directions."
"There's no reason to think they
wouldn't be coming through Hoke
County," Byrd said.
Currently, GSX has made ap
plication to the state for permis
sion to build their facility near the
Laurinburg-Maxton Airbase, Byrd
said.
The company has not applied
locally, he said.
The Scotland manager said the
water treated at the plant will be
placed in the Lumber River.
According to Jones, the water
placed into the river will have been
treated by GSX and, upon ap
proval of officials, sent to the
Laurinburg-Maxton Waste Treat
ment Plant where they will again
treat it.
The waste treatment facility will
actually put the water into the
river, said Jones.
The material going into the plant
will be 85% to 90% water anyway,
said Jones.
Hazadous wastes taken out of
the water at the facility will not
stay in Scotland County, said
Jones.
It will be sent to a storage plant
in Pinewood, South Carolina, he
said.
"I know we've got to have a
place for hazardous waste. ..but,
let's not put it in a place that's not
suited for it," said Byrd.
"We're in the Sandhills section,
there's nothing to stop it (hazar
dous waste) from going right in the
water if there's a spill," he said.
"The type of facility we're talk
ing about is a concrete facility,"
said Jones.
Even materials spilled inside the
facility would be contained fully
and not allowed to contaminate
the ground around the site, said
Jones.
"It's something the majority of
the people don't want. I haven't
found anybody who does want it,"
said Byrd.
The outcomes of two public
hearings in the area about the
(See WASTE, page 12)
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The fall weather has left us and
summer is once again here to stay
for a few weeks. The temperatures
have been in the 90s for the past
few days and it has been around 70
degrees during the nights.
The rain seems to have moved
off for a few days because no
forecast predicts rain this week.
The temperatures will remain in
the 90s for the remainder of the
week.
* * ?
The Turkey Festival Committee
will meet again at the Hoke Coun
ty Library on Thursday night,
August IS at 7:30 o'clock. If yc^u
want to help with the festival or
have some ideas that might help,
then attend the meeting on Thurs
day night.
? ? ?
The PGA Championship turned
into a two-player match last Sun
day afternoon in Colorado. The
players were Lee Trevino and
Hubert Green, both of whom have
been on the tour for a number of
years. Green was the winner.
It is amazing how pro-golfers
don't show any signs of pulling
against, another golfer. They do
(See AROUND, page 13)
Abounding humor
There are a lot of these buttons
running around Raeford and
Hoke County. Raeford Mayor
John K. McNeill could be seen
wearing one at last week 's
meeting of the city council.
Rumors have it that turkey is a
fowl word. Speaking of fowl,
members of the North Carolina
Turkey Festival Committee are
looking for coaches for hopeful
turkey Olympic champions.
Those interested In coaching a
bird may contact the Raeford'
Hoke Chamber of Commerce.
Wounded son recovers
after mother shoots him
A Hoke County woman was in
the Cumberland County Jail Mon
day under $5,000 bond after being
arrested and accused of shooting
her son three times.
Elizabeth Cummings Willis, of
Rt. 2, Box 143C, Raeford, has
been charged with assault with a
deadly weapon with intent to kill
inflicting serious injury, records
say.
According to reports from the
Hoke County Sheriff's Depart
ment, Willis allegedly shot 23-year
old Billy Ray Willis in the right hip
with a .22 calibre pistol.
Warrants for the 38-year-old
woman were signed by Hoke
Magistrate Brian H. Thornberg,
reports say.
Accoiding to records from the
Hoke County Clerk of Court's Of
fice, Elizabeth Willis took out war
rants on Billy Ray Willis on July 20
for assault by pointing a gun and
assault on a female.
Those charges were dropped,
records show.
In an unrelated incident, a
Raeford man, 39-year-old Ray
mond Jones, was in the Hoke
County Jkil Monday under $3,000
secured bond charged with stabb
? ing another t man while he slept,
said Raeford Police Chief Leonard
Wiggins.
Jones allegedly stabbed Mallie
Graham, a 51 -year-old resident of
the Page Bank and Trust Building,
Wiggins said.
Graham was stabbed in the right
leg, said the chief.
Raeford police officers were
contacted by Hoke County
Emergency Services personnel.
According to Wiggins, the stab
bing occurred over a domestic
dispute.
Martine Locklear, a county resi
dent, reported to the Sheriff's
Department that he was assaulted
by an apparent burglar after retur
ning home on August 9.
Locklear came home and
entered his house only to be hit in
the head with some sort of weapon
and knocked back out of the door,
reports say.
The man told deputies that he
then went to his brother's house
nearby and returned to his home
with a .357 magnum pistol.
As he entered his home for a se
cond time, he heard the intruder
?leaving via the back door, say
reports.
(See VICTIMS page 12)
Sgt. Frankie Moody
New sergeant
starts duties
Hoke County State Troopers
have a new line sergeant, the se
cond ever in the county, and
travelers on area roads are now be
ing protected by a fifth highway
patrol officer.
Line Sergeant Frankie Lee
Moody, a former Cumberland
County trooper, was promoted to
line sergeant and transferred to
Hoke County on July 25, accord
ing to a release from the North
Carolina Department of Crime
Control and Public Safety.
Moody recently assumed his
duties in Hoke County and will be
(See NEW, page 12)
Assault of deputy
draws probation
A Raeford man, Alonzo Alford,
was placed on supervised proba
tion for three years as part of his
sentence after being convicted of
hitting a Hoke County Deputy in a
courtroom.
Alford was cited for contempt
of court in February after he began
shouting obscenities in an open
session of court just before Judge
Warren Pate announced a sentence
for the defendant on charges of
carrying a concealed weapon.
Alford and his sister, Rita
Alford, were sentenced to 30 days
in jail for those charges, reports
say.
As Alonzo Alford was being
removed from the courtroom in
February, he apparently hit Hoke
Deputy W.C. Morrison, according
to warrants for his arrest.
Consequently, the man was also
charged with assaulting an officer
and resisting arrest.
In other court action last week,
Curtis White, a 40-year-old
Raeford man was sentenced to six
months in jail suspended for two
years on supervised probation
after being convicted of two counts
of injury to personal property,
records Say.
According to warrants, the man
did over S200 damage each to two
(See ASS AUL I , page 12)