City election nears In case Raeford residents may have forgotten, November 5 is ?' election day for all members of the City Council. '' To say the campaign this year has been a quiet one would be an ?' understatement. It has virtually been non-existent. Perennial city council aspirant Earl McDuffie is taking on incum bent councilmen Vardell Hedgpeth, Graham Clark, Joe Upchurch, . Benny McLeod and Bob Gentry. Mayor John K. McNeill is running unopposed. The top five council votegetters will take office for staggered * terms. This will be the last election when all five of the present coun cil members run together. Although no hot issues have been raised by the candidates during the campaign, the election is still important, and every vote is need ed. Get out and vote on Tuesday, November 5. The candidates need :? your support. Good EAS show needed for better Hoke County In recent memory, there has not been a meeting as vitally impor tant to the future of Hoke County as the one being held next Tues day night at J.W. Turlington School. All seven members of the North Carolina Utilities Commission are scheduled to be in Raeford at 7 p.m. Tuesday to hear testimony _ on extended area telephone service (EAS) between Raeford and Fayetteville. It is a rare occasion that the full board attends a hearing outside . of Raleigh, but the commissioners apparently feel the issue in Hoke ? County is important enough to warrant their presence. Hoke County customers on the 875 exchange need to attend the hearing and should testify before the board about the proposed ex panded service. Those who have lead the fight for EAS until now have not done so to pit neighbor against neighbor, but initiated the move for the extended service in an effort to improve the quality of life in the en tire Hoke County community. The small band of leaders now needs the help of every resident living in the 875 exchange area to complete the job they started. This county is currently in the throws of a declining tax base, which means ad valorem tax dollars are buying less services each year and hikes in rates are inevitable. In the last three years taxes on a $50,000 home have increased more per month than the proposed $4.52 increase for EAS. Hoke County services have not kept up with the higher taxes and will not in the future. Property values are artificfalfy low in Hoke County because of poor real estate market conditions. Hoke residents are also facing the need for at least a $2 million bond issue to bring our schools back to the physical level they en joyed 20 years ago. A new school is needed in the Rockfish area, which could mean more tax increases for the limited number of tax payers living here. EAS will not cure all of our economic woes, but it will make Hoke County more attractive to new residents who now would face : $100 to $200 per month telephone bills from calling the Fayetteville exchanges. New residents mean more new homes, more jobs, more sales for local merchants and more tax dollars. Supporters are not asking for Hoke County customers to pay all the expense of EAS. What is being asked of the commissioners is that the 875 exchange be given Fayetteville service with the same rate as Fayetteville customers. It is also hoped the commissioners will not raise Fayetteville rates and not require the Cumberland customers to vote. Hoke County needs EAS, and neighbors should be joining neighbors to make it a reality. If this county is ever going to pull itself up from being the poorest in the state, then residents must join together and fight for services which will make the job feasible. Carolina Telephone is putting up a strong defense against giving EAS at an affordable price, which we believe is shortsighted on the company's part. Thus far, this county has had only a small group to lobby before the utilities commission on behalf of every resident. On next Tues day, a great many county residents can help themselves. Hoke County needs the help of all customers on the 875 exchange to support EAS and to make this a better and less expensive place to live. Come to Turlington School next Tuesday night and bring a neighbor. Support EAS; it's a bargain. The News-Journal PabUshed Every Tbaraday by _____ DM Dlcksoa Press, lac., Paul Dicksoa, Pres. 119 W. KJwood Aveaue, P.O. Box 550 Raeford , N.C. 2X37* Sabscrtptioa Rales la Advaac* In Coasty Per Year? $10.00 t Moalb?? S5.00 Oat of Coaaty Per Year? S12.M 6 M oaths- M.M LOUIS H. FOGLEMAN, JR Pu bibber WARREN N. JOHNSTON Editor HENRY L. BLUE Production Supervisor SAM C.MORRIS Coa clocK Farm success means change By W.B. Jenkins N.C. Farm Bureau Federation Wally Ban-, Professor Emeritus of Ag Economics at Ohio State University says the success or failure of American agriculture comes from the ability of farmers to adapt production to changing market demands. He says low commodity prices and rising costs are usually blamed for farmers economic woes but changing consumer tastes also are a big part of that problem. It's a fact that since 1967 animal-source food consumption has declined 87* on a per capita basis, while at the same time there has been an 1 1 increase in plant source consumption. This in dicates that health-conscious Americans are changing their diets and consequently, meat producers and grain farmers producing feed for livestock are taking a financial beating. Using the beef industry as an ex ample, Professor Barr says higher costs also have much to do with consumer's choices that have devastated the industry in recent years. It's a fact that 20 years ago beef was three times the price of broilers ... now it's about five times the price of broilers. Professor Barr concludes by say ing that agriculture's inability to react quickly to changes in con sumer preferences is part of the reason for the financial crisis in agriculture. Solution? He says farmers need to raise products that meet these changing market demands and look for new ones for their tradi tional products. Letters To The Editor A good and bad year lop textile? > To the Editor: An annual observance like Tex tile Week provides a natural op portunity to review and highlight the activities of the past year. For textiles, the last 12 months have been a mixture of good news and bad news. First the bad news. Im ports of textiles and apparel reach ed yet another record high in 1984, up a whopping 32?7q for the year and capping a four-year surge that doubled the annual volume from its level in 1980. More plants were closed, more jobs were sacrificed, and more communities suffered from the impact of eroded economic and tax bases. But here's the good news. Peo ple actually started to listen to those of us who have been sound ing alarms all this time. The textile ^nd apparel imports situation at tracted national attention. The Na tional media became interested. The Congress became interested and moved toward some action to correct the serious problems afflicting the industry. The re maining question is, will President Reagan go along with Congress? If he does not, he will have misread an important shift in public opi nion. There is widespread, serious concern about the appalling trade deficit, and a feeling that Americans are being taken for pat sies. Ever since the Olympics, patriotism has been "in." The Statue of Liberty is getting an overhaul, and maybe our sense of what it means to be an American is getting updated too. In our hearts we believe that American workers can lick the world competition when" it comes v6 manufactured goods. But we want a fair game on a level playing field. The national context is in place for a resurgence of pride in American craftsmanship. America's textile workers are ready to make it happen. Sincerely, Harry Williamson Personnel Manager B.M. Raeford Plant Mark Collins Personnel Manager B.M. Raeford Plant Bake sale helps unwanted animals To the Editor: The annual Bake Sale conducted by the Hoke-Raeford Humane Society will be held in front of the Food Lion Supermarket on Satur day, Oct. 26th from 9 a.m. until we are sold out. Every dollar collected is allocated to the care of the un wanted and unloved dogs and cats at the Animal Shelter. For those of you not familiar with the fine work being done by a handful of dedicated members you should know that the Humane Society employs a man to be at the Animal Shelter two hours a day - six days a week . His duties include helping to make the animals lives more bearable and in addition he is there to assist anyone wishing to adopt a pet. The Humane Society also sub sidizes a spaying program in order that the pet population explosion might be controlled. (See LETTERS, page 3B) It's the time of year for oysters In the fall I think about oysters, and 1 find there are few things I enjoy as much on a cool crisp evening as standing around a table in the back yard which has been piled high with the steaming shellfish. Except maybe, cutting them from their shells, dipping the suc culent mollusks in warm drawn butter and popping them into my mouth. 1 always try to have a few friends standing around doing the same thing, otherwise the neighbors might think I'm strange. "What's he doing out there in the back yard, Sarah? He's stand ing around with steaming oysters piled all over that table," the neighbors might say if they saw me alone. Besides, if there is a group dipping and eating the oysters, everyone can tell each other how great they are. When you are by yourself, no one listens to the rave reviews. "This is probably the best oyster I have ever put in my mouth," I said the other evening, and it was nice to have somebody around to hear me. We had brought back a bag of North Inlet oysters from a recent trip to Pawleys Island, and whowed a few uninitiated friends with their sweet fresh flavor. We ate them the night after we got back from the beach. Oysters should not be left hanging around too long, although Capt. Dickie Crayton says they'll last a couple of weeks in a shady place. Crayton probably knows more about oysters than most people. He's been gathering and eating them for about 60 years. This time of year, oyster roasts are a regular outdoor activity along the coast, particularly in the Pawleys Island area, where Crayton is the instigator of most of them. He does not like to eat oysters alone, either. If the wind is right, out of the west, and the moon is full, then the oystering is right. Crayton will call a couple of accomplices, and they will pile in his Jon boat to head for North Inlet, a pristine estuary near the mouth of Winyah Bay. "With the wind out of the east, you're not going to get a damn thinglmt coon oysters. But if there's a nice little west wind, mm..., Warren Johnston The Puppy Papers mm..., mm..., they'll be oysters tonight," Crayton said to me on one trip to the Inlet. As we were culling through the bed of shells, tossing the good ones in the boat, Crayton opened a large, almost select, oyster, rinsed it off in the clear water and held it out for me to eat. "Eat it. You'll never taste anything like it," he said. One could probably say the same thing about chocolate-covered roaches, but I'm sure I could live without eating them. I felt the same way about the raw oyster, quivering on the shell before me. However, I have been around Crayton long enough to know his suggestions are usually worth following. I ate the oyster without chewing. It rolled across my tongue and slid down my throat. "Why have you got your eyes closed and your face screwed up?" Crayton shouted, thinking I might not be enjoying the rare culinary sensation. "I was just savoring the moment," I assured him, not mentioning that the oyster was the finest I had ever tasted, but the small live crab in the shell with it was a bit hard to swallow. Crayton gave us the North Inlet oysters we brought back from Pawleys. Although we were miles from the shore, the oysters were almost as good as ones we had gathered in other years for coastal roasts. "These are a lot better than 'the ones you get at Holden Beach," someone said, as we finished off our second pile. It was a natural observation. There are few oysters better than the ones which come from North Inlet. In no time we finished the bushel. I searched for a little crab, but did not find one. Crayton says they are a delicacy, If they are cooked.