t.
The Hoke County News -
Volume LXXVII Number 36
The News-Journal
Established, 1928 ~ -
[Early for New Year's
The News-Journal
I deadline Mon. noon
RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
25 CENTS Thursday, December 26, 1985
January
E AS polling ordered
for Hoke County
By Ron Anderson
Telephone subscribers on the
875-exchange will receive ballots
with their January bills and will be
asked to vote "yes" or "no" on
Extended Area Service (EAS) bet
ween the Raeford and Fayetteville
exchanges, a spokesman for
Carolina Telephone and Telegraph
\ fompany said Friday.
Self-addressed stamped
postcards will be mailed on
January 8 with the bills and must
be received by the phone company
by January 27 in order to be
counted, Vice President-General
Counsel and Secretary Dwight W.
Allen said.
No cards received after January
*Yule closings
bring lime off
Most employees working in local
businesses and government offices
will have two days off during the
Christmas holidays.
All county offices will be closed
^Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurs
day of this week .
County offices include the
Sheriff's Department, the Depart
ment of Social Services, Extension
Scrvice and the courthouse.
The Hoke County Public
Library will also be closed the
three days.
Hoke County Public School
^students arc out until January 6,
Mjut the school administration of
fice will reopen on December 27.
The City of Raeford will close its
offices on Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday.
The N.C. Motor Vehicle licens
ing bureau will be closed Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday.
Offices al The News-Journal
will be closed on Wednesday and
Thursday.
f There will be no garbage pickup
in the City of Raeford on Wednes
day or Thursday of this week and
also on New Year's Day.
The Hoke County landfill will
be closed Christmas Day and New
Year's Day.
l.ocal banks (Southern Na
tional, United Carolina and
Heritage Federal) will all be closed
on Wednesday and Thursdav.
k
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The winter weather has been
with us for over a week and from
| all reports, it will be around on
Christmas Day.
1 haven't heard anything of a
white Christmas!
The following article was clip
ped from the Christmas issue of
The News-Journal of 1929. We
thought it might be of interest to
our readers.
Reminiscences Of Civil War Times
| By Mrs. Frances W. Dickson
Every day you hear the
strenuous times discussed ? and
truly so ? which in a large
measure can be attributed to three
consecutive wet years and the
ravages of the boll weevil. But to
one who can remember anything
of Civil War, and reconst ruction
days, we are not on the edge even
of poverty.
k What would you think if you
'had not had a biscuit, nor a cup of
coffee in several years, nor sugar,
nor salt even to go in your com
pone. This writer, then a small
child, remembers to have seen the
dirt smoke house floor taken up
and a portion boiled each day, to
get a little salty water for season
ing. No child, no matter how
wealthy, could expect a toy and
not even a doll or a bit of candy,
?and to them Christmas was a
disappointment. Neither were
therp any firecrackers or other ex
plosives. For extreme winter
weather your daddy tanned a beef
hide and a shoe cobbler would
come to your home, and in an hour
or two, knocked up a pair of shoes
that would, at least, keep your feet
from (he frost and your mother
would knit your hood from yarn
> (See AROUND, page 3)
27 will be considered in the polling.
"We encourage all customers to
mail the ballots back as soon as
they can," Allen said.
The polling was ordered by the
North Carolina Utilities Commis
sion on December 19.
"We don't have any
disagreements with Raeford being
polled," Allen said. "The commis
sion did what we thought they
ought to do."
"The commission issued the
order requiring a polling of
subscribers in Raeford to see
whether they are willing to have
their rates increased," staff at
torney with the North Carolina
Utilities Commission Carolyn
Johnson said on Thursday.
The increase would amount to a
monthly matrix charge of $4. 25 Tor
residence one-party subscribers
and S 10.78 for business one-party
subscribers.
By paying the matrix rates, the
4,700 customers on the Raeford
exchange would be able to call over
90,000 telephones for local rates.
After the results of the polling
are tabulated by Carolina
Telephone Company, they will be
sent to the public staff and the
utilities commission for review,
Johnson said.
A decision on the fate of EAS
will be made by the utilities com
mission based on fesults of the
polling.
"The polling will tell the com
mission if the people are in fact
willing to pay a rate increase,"
Johnson said.
"This is probably the last time
Raeford people will speak on the
matter," Johnson added.
Polling is a standard commis
sion procedure and was only
ordered because of the number of
residents who expressed approval
of EAS during a public hearing on
the matter before the entire North
Carolina Utilities Commission on
October 29, according to Johnson.
More than 800 residents attend
Happy holidays
The staff of The News- Journal wishes all of our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy \?h- Year.
ed that hearing held at J.W. Turl
ington School.
"If no one had come out to the
meetings there wouldn't be a poll
ing," Johnson said.
"Residents of Raeford seem to
believe that if they were able to call
and be called by Fayetteville
subscribers without paying a toll,
more businesses, industries and
home owners would locate in Hoke
County thus increasing .the tax
base and improving the quality of
life for Raeford citizens," the
utilities commission's order states.
"The commission makes no
decision now as to whether Fayet
teville should also be polled,"
Johnson said.
Also, the commission's order in
no way addresses the question of
whether Fayetteville customers
would be levied a matrix charge of
SI. 22 if the utilities commission
rules in favor of EAS.
"It could go either way with
Fayetteville as to whether they
would pay an increase if Raeford
was given the rate increase,"
Johnson said.
In a brief submitted to the com
mission by Allen on December 11,
the attorney says the "phone com
pany is in favor of implementing
EAS between the two exchanges if
a matrix increase is levied to both
(See EAS, page 10)
Hearing for home
could be moved up
A hearing date for an appeal ot
a slate ruling filed by one of the
two firms fighting to build a nurs
ing home in Hoke County could be
moved forward, a spokesman for
the North Carolina Division of
Facility Services said last week.
The appeal, filed by Brithaven
Inc. after it lost the last round of a
state certificate of need application
process to Autumn Care Corp.. is
scheduled for October 1986.
Until the case is heard, no one
may build a nursing home in the
county.
"It remains to be seen whether it
can be moved up. but we're going
to attempt to move the Hoke
County case." special assistant to
the director of legal affairs for the
slate Division of Facility Services
Jim Siephen^bn said Thursday.
The reason the case could be
moved is because the division is
getting withdrawals of some of the
other contested cases, Stephenson
explained.
"Things are looking a little bet
ter. everyone needs to have their
fingers crossed." Stephenson said.
"We are aware of the problem in
Hoke County and are attempting
to do everything possible."
Most of the problems with
scheduling appeal cases are
because of the large number of
ihcm, Stephenson said.
"We're getting through them
just as fast as we can," Stephenson
said.
Another problem is that only six
or se\en firms handle certificate of
need cases in the state, according
to Stephenson.
Also, the cases take a long time
to be heard.
"The minimum amount of time
it takes to finish an appeals case is
two to three weeks; we have one in
Raleigh now that has been going
on for fixe weeks," Stephenson
said.
"It's an extremely complex pro
cess and we're not happy about the
backlog," Stephenson added.
The state approved 62 beds for
Hoke County over a year ago.
Both Brithaven and Autumn
Care filed for applications for
those beds.
Although Hoke County was
awarded beds earlier than some
other counties, the local case has
been placed towards the end of the
hearing schedule.
If the hearing date remains in
October, and no appeals are filed,
construction would probably begin
on the facility in the spring of
198"\ which is over two years after
the beds were designated as needed
in Hoke County.
Communications study
scheduled for January
A study of Hoke County
emergency communications is
scheduled to begin on January 2,
according to Hoke County
Emergency Services Director
William T. Niven.
The one-day study on the
emergency operations center con
cept and a central dispatch system
will be conducted by Dick Woolen,
an emergency management com
munications engineer for the state.
Wooten will proxide written
recommendations on how to im
prove communications in the
county.
Assistant Director of North
Carolina Emergency Management
Agency Vance Kee suggested the
study be done during a conference
for public officials held at the
Edinborough Restaurant on
November 25.
The Hoke County Board of
Commissioners unanimously
agreed to authorize the study dur
ing a meeting on December 2.
"We need an emergency opera
tions center, and we also need cen
tral dispatch" Niven said.
Teenage pregnancies cause problems for county
Local task force seeks
answers to county's woes
By Ron Anderson
Adolescent pregnancies are be
ing recognized as one of the largest
social problems facing the United
States today.
In Hoke County, an adolesccnt
pregnancy task force has been
formed to study the problem local
ly and to look for solutions.
"We want folks to know that
the problem exists in Hoke Coun
ty, and we all want to work
together to remedy it," Millicent
G. Diehl said.
Diehl co-chairs the task force
with Jodi Willis.
"We're going to be gathering in
formation as to the occurrence of
this problem in the county and see
what can be done about it," Diehl
said.
"Also, we're going 10 be looking
at other counties and see how they
are dealing with the problem,"
Diehl added.
The task force, which has been
meeting twice monthly, is made up
of 12 people representing a broad
spectrum of the community in
cluding educators, health depart
ment and mental health officials
and church leaders.
"The goal of the task force is to
study the problem and develop ef
fective alternatives in dealing with
the problem," Hoke County
Health Department Director and
(See GROUP, page 3)
Hoke teens offer views
on reasons for problem
Surveys ha\e shown thai each
year more lhan a million American
teenagers will become pregnant;
tour out of five will be unmarried.
According to Planned Parent
hood statistics. 40r? of all girls
who are now 14 will get pregnant
before they are 20.
Hoke County has not escaped
the problem.
In 1982, the county had the
fourth highest proportion of births
to teenagers 18 and under in the
state of North Carolina.
In order to better understand the
problem, a survey of local
teenagers was conducted by the
Hoke County health department.
Teens were asked to respond to a
number of questions pertaining to
the problems of adolescent
pregnancies.
When asked why adolescent-girls
get pregnant, the responses ranged
from one teenager saying that girls
don't take the tin\e to take hirth
control to another saying becom
ing pregnant is a method of obtain
ing food stamps and money.
"Many girls don't have a good
home life and feel the need for love
and attention. This may be an easy
way to achieve these needs,"
answered one participant in the
survey.
Often teenage girls face pro
blems they didn't expect after the
baby is born.
(See LOCAL, page 3)