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Raeford & Hoke County n.c,
Wednesday, March 15,2006
Board opts for middle, elementary schools
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Hoke’s Board of Education unani
mously approved dual construction
projects last evening, planning to
build a new elementary school
near Scurlock followed by a middle
school project in Arabia.
With staggering growth predicted
by the influx of students in military
families and the normal growth
pattern climbing in northeast Hoke
by 500 students per year, the school
board will recommend to the county
commissioners this month to invest
$35 million in building the future
schools. An approval must be ob
tained from the board of commis
sioners prior to proceeding with the
proposals.
“This is a giant step for the
youngsters in Hoke County,” Hoke
interim school superintendent Don
Steed told the board. “It will also
alleviate a lot of problems for us in
the future.”
The school board approved hiring
Fayetteville architect Robbie Ferris
of Schuller, Lindstrom & Ferris to
supervise the architectural design
on both projects.
The new elementary school
is proposed for construction on
Philippi Church Road near the cur
rent Scurlock Elementary School on
Feds indict
school board
vice chair
Allege income tax fraud
r
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
A federal grand jury in
Greensboro handed down
criminal indictments on
February 1 against Raeford
accountant William Earvett
Hollingsworth on allega
tions he deliberately filed
Hollingsworth Internal Revenue Ser
vice income tax returns for nine clients, according
to the US. Attorney’s announcement on Friday.
Hollingsworth, current vice chairman of the
Hoke Board of Education, subsequently pleaded
guilty on March 10 in federal court to two of the
nine counts. He has closed his Raeford account
ing firm, Hollingsworth Service. Wagoner
said Hollingsworth was serving as the “tax return
preparer” at his tax firm when the violations were
committed in 2000 and 2001.
“I would ask my family, my church family, the
public and voters
to please forgive
me,” Holling
sworth said to The
News-Journal yes
terday. “My head
is up, and I will
continue to im-
(See INDICTED,
page 8A)
Methodist churches
warm to first
black minister
page2B
QtyOlCs
300-lot subdivision
page 3 A
Fake, stolen
documents found
page 3 A
County condemns
landWanimal
shelter
page4A
Index
Births 3B
Calendar 3B
Classifieds 7,8B
Deaths 8A
Editorials 2A
Engagements 3B
Legals 4-6B
Public Record 3 A
Religion 2B
Schools IB
Socials 3B
Sports 6A
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Because flaming power poles presented an electrical hazard, firemen could only protect nearby mobile
homes as this vacant house burned Monday afternoon on Little Mexico Drive. See story, page 5A.
Rockfish Road. Located on 50 acres,
the land is already cleared. James
“Jim” Hendrix, a prominent Hoke
farmer, donated the tract of land
for school construction last month,
estimating the contribution to Hoke
County school topped almost $1
million.
(See NEW SCHOOLS, page 4A)
Palmer Street
Extension
back on track
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
Plans for the planned
Palmer Street Extension will
not be delayed again, accord
ing to the latest information
from the N.C. Dept, of Trans
portation.
“This is the first really
encouraging news we have
had,” said Robert Nelson, who
was appointed by the Raeford
City Council to serve on the
Transportation Coordinating
Committee. The committee
is a part of the Division 8
Lumber River Rural Trans
portation Planning Organi
zation, which encompasses
Hoke, Robeson, Scotland and
Richmond counties and their
municipalities.
The project would create
a bypass that extends from
Highway211 WestfAberdeen
Road) to Highway 20 (St.
Pauls Road) at the Oakdale
Gin Road intersection. A
two-lane roadway currently
extends from Aberdeen Road,
across U.S. Highway 401
Bypass (Laurinburg Road),
to 211 East (Red Springs
Road). City and county lead
ers are relying on the com
pleted bypass to comple-
(See ROAD, page 7A)
City, House of Raeford go to court over waste
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
House of Raeford owner Marvin
Johnson, founder of one of the nation’s
largest poultry empires, defended the
company in court yesterday after City
of Raeford officials cried fowl and ac
cused his firm of illegal construction.
However, Superior Court Judge B.
Craig Ellis amicably solved the legal
dispute between Johnson and Raeford
City Manager Richard Douglas with
out ruffling any feathers.
At one point, Ellis rose from the
bench to informally question Johnson
on his version of what had transpired.
Executives of the multi-million dollar
company were not represented by legal
counsel at the court hearing.
At the request of the city, Ellis con
verted a temporary restraining order
already in place to a temporary injunc
tion. Ellis ordered the local industry
to halt construction of pretreatment
wastewater tanks at its plant until it
submitted mandatory engineering
plans to Douglas.
House of Raeford officials con
tribute close to $60,000 per month
in sewer bills to the city, according to
Johnson. The city has prev iously 1 i ned
the local plant for noncompliance of
wastewater regulations. In turn, the
city has also been fined by the state in
the past for almost $28,000 because
of the House of Raeford’s noncompli
ance. according to Douglas.
Yet, Douglas said, in recent months.
House of Raeford’s compi iance record
has improved.
Ellis’s verdict transpired after
the city asked the court to prevent
further construction by House of
Raeford in its pretreatment waste-
water division. The poultry plant
officials never said why they had not
(See COURT CASE, page 4A)
‘Circuit rider’ tells leaders Raeford water rates are too low
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
Raeford residents are getting “a
deal” in paying $5.50 a month for
the use of 5,000 gallons of water, ac-
COTding to the North Carolina Rural
Water Association.
There is, however, a down side to
those cheap rates, according to Dean
Byrd, a “circuit rider” for the state
water association. He proposes the
city bill customers $ 15 for 5,000 gal
lons of water.
The state average for the use of
5,000 gallons per month is $29, ac
cording to the rural water associa
tion.
If the city adopts the new rates
proposed by Byrd, the city would
see a revenue increase of $391,316,
according to City Manager Richard
Douglas.
“Please note,” Douglas stated in a
memotocouncilmen, “that $316,540
was appropriated from water/sewer
reserves to balance the 2005-06 water
and sewer budget.”
When the 2005-06 budget was
passed in mid-2005, it was noted
that users of city water would prob-
(Sec WATER RATES, page 5A)
Inie News4 Journal 1
News Oth^stuff
Raeford senior earns Morehead
By Ken MacDonald
Publisher
At the risk of incurring the inevi
table bald jokes, I went for a haircut
the other day. Somehow life has gone
fullcircle,and Mitchell Sports is again
cutting hair. He last cut mine probably
35 years ago, when I still had a full set
of follicles and worshipped them to the
point I was afraid of being caught by
Raz Autry. In those days, if you recall.
Raz, who then was principal at Hoke
High, was a hair nazi (and short skirt
nazi too), and walked around with a
ruler ensuring the former wasn’t too
long and the latter too short. All of
us Hoke High alumni will tell you
to this day those arbitrary measure
ments somehow helped maintain
order and discipline at the school, and
when a student prevailed in a lawsuit
and took away Raz’s ruler, it was the
(See OTHER STUFF, page 7A)
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
Jessica Rae Hanson said she wils
ecstatic when she learned that she had
been awarded the coveted Morehead
Scholarship to attend The University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Hanson, daughter of Mat and
Kerstin Hanson of Raeford, is a
senior at The North Carolina School
of Science and Mathematics, where
three students were awarded the
scholarship.
Hanson, who is a cross country
runner, said
she had just
gottentoher
dorm hall
from a long
run with
her friend
Chris. “He
knew I was
a n X i 0 ii s
because we
find (Hit at ^ p.m. He made me go
to the computer lab adjacent to
the main lobby and check my e-
(See MOREHEAD, page 7A)
J
I •• I
!■
Jessica Hanson
were told we would