ews
I ournal
Hoke County’s newspaper since 1905
No.15Vol.107
Raeford & Hoke County n.c.
Wednesday, June 20,2012
Groundbreaking set for middle school
Paperwork nearly ready for solar-powered facility at Sandy Grove
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
County and school officials will break
ground July 19 on Hoke’s third middle
school, the school system announced last
week.
Plans for Sandy Grove Middle School
are now in the hands of several attorneys
working as go-betweens for the county,
school system and developer. The Hoke
County Board of Education voted at its
meeting last week to sign off on some
of the last paperwork between the devel
oper and the school system. The Board of
Education and the Board of Commissioners
will likely sign the final agreement with the
developer later this week, officials said.
Brenton Jeffcoat, attorney with the
Pope Zeigler law firm in Charlotte, told
the county commissioners at their meeting
Monday that the qualified school construc
tion bonds to fund the project will go up for
sale Thursday. The bond sale will close a
week later, and the proceedings should be
on schedule for construction to begin later
this summer, Jeffcoat said.
The bond sale process has been long
and complicated, with a 146-item checklist
before the bond issue could happen, but the
way it has worked out has been “the best
anybody could hope for at the outset,” Jef
fcoat said.
Technically, the county will not own the
building itself until after the full amount is
(See MIDDLE SCHOOL, page 3A)
f ^
Brown Campbell Graham Hobson Virgil
Officers charge
8 with break-in
Authorities arrested eight
people last week including
five adults and three juveniles
on charges related to a break
ing and entering investigation
at the 200block of Proclama
tion Drive.
A witness called for help
June 14 after spotting sev
eral individuals entering a
residence and leaving with
items from the home in the
McDougal Downs area.
Deputies responded to the
scene and encountered three
people matching the descrip
tion provided by the witness.
Two of the individuals were
found with property in their
possession later determined
to be stolen. Following up on
information, officers arrived
at a house on the 2400 block
of O’ Hara Drive and arrested
five additional suspects on
various charges.
Shiheem O. Brown, 17, of
the 100 block of Robin Place
in Raeford, Robert J. Camp
bell, 18, of the 100 block of
Robin Place in Raeford, and
(See BREAK-IN, page 4A)
Summer fun
Kids at the Gang Resistance Education And Training summer camp play in a sprinkler at Hoke County High School.The
program, funded by donations and sponsored by the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office, offered free activities, food and an anti
gang message for dozens of children. (Catharin Shepard photos)
Balloon sent nearly to space, crash-lands in Hoke
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
The team with a similar balloon
two years ago.
A photo from the balloon as it flew toward Raeford from
Raleigh shows the curvature of the earth.
A weather balloon that crash-landed Satur
day in Hoke County traveled a long way to get
here and brought back some impressive photos
of space on its return trip to Earth.
North Carolina Near Space Research re
leased the homemade weather balloon setup
at the 2012 Maker Faire in Raleigh to perform
science experiments in “near space,” the sub
orbital part of Earth’s atmosphere that’s about
75,000 feet to 62.5 miles up. This marked the
seventh time the six-person amateur space
exploration team and its group of about 20
online supporters was able to launch one of
the balloons, all in the name of discovery.
It’s also a lot of fun, team member Rodney
Radford said.
“This is our way of getting up and seeing
space on a reasonable budget,” he said.
North Carolina Near Space Research
formed when Triangle-based TechShop RDU
competed in a 2010 Hackerspaces in Space
competition that challenged amateurs to design
and build inexpensive devices to take photos
of space. The team members were so intrigued
by the possibilities that they continued their
work even after the competition was over.
Not counting the recoverable equipment, each
balloon setup costs only about $ 150 but is still
(See BALLOON, page 3A)
This Week
Groups to give away
12,000 pounds
of food
page4A
Howell lunch counter
closing
page4A
Pizza Hut coming here
page6A
3 arrested on drug
charges
page4A
Calendar 2B
Classifieds 5B
Deaths 3 A
Editorials 2-3A
Legals 3-4B
Sports 5 A
Worship 2B
County plans for workers to get 2.5 percent raise
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Hoke County employees will get a 2.5 percent
cost of living pay increase this year if the commis
sioners sign off on the final proposed budget ordi
nance, the board discussed at its meeting Monday.
“We have balanced the budget. It reflects a cost
of living according to what the board had recom
mended, and at the present time like I said, barring
any unforeseen changes, we are balanced in all
funds,” County Finance Officer Conrad Ferguson
said.
The final version of the proposed budget ordi
nance does not have any tax increase for residents.
he said. However, the county will receive about
$700,000 in lottery funds this year, about $300,000
less than the state originally promised, Ferguson
said.
“Not what they promised to begin with, is it?”
Commissioner Bobby Wright said.
“The state is taking funds from that,” Commis
sioner Jean Powell said.
Ferguson confirmed the state initially promised
the county a minimum of $ 1 million in lottery funds
each year but said the state has never actually paid
out that much to Hoke.
The commissioners planned a budget workshop
for Tuesday morning but changed the date to June
26 at 9 a.m. The board may approve the final budget
ordinance at that meeting.
The commission held public hearings on the
budget and the Hoke Area Transit System 2012-13
grant application for assisting elderly and disabled
citizens in rural areas. No citizens spoke at either
of the hearings.
In other financial developments for the county,
the credit rating company Moody’s recently gave
Hoke County an A1 rating, while Standard & Poor’s
listed the county at A rating status. County Manager
Tim Johnson said. The A1 rating is an “excellent
rating for a county our size,” Johnson said.
“That should save us a significant amount of
money on the bonds we’re about to sell for the new
(See COMMISSION, page 3A)
litter bugging Hoke residents
By Ken MacDonald
Sitting around the table at my friend’s lake house, I let
it slip to a group of guys that I was thinking about buy
ing a scooter to ride around town. Gas is high; electric
vehicles are too expensive; I live only a mile from the job.
One of the men had the decency to ask exactly what sort
of vehicle I was referring to when I used the term “scoot
er” before deriding me. The others just went straight to
derision. You see, I pictured riding an Italian bike, one
(See OTHER STUEE, page 4A)
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Burger wrappers on the
roadsides. Bottles in the
drainage ditches. Stephanie
York got fed up with it one
day, grabbed a garbage bag
and went to work picking
up outside of a Hoke County
subdivision where she owns a
rental property.
“I stopped my car to clean
up the trash at the entrance
of a subdivision that I have a
rental property in,” she said in
an email. ‘ A neighbor actually
got an attitude because she had
to wait at the entrance for a
minute. I stopped my car and
had a garbage bag. She saw
me picking up trash. Instead
of getting out and helping to
speed up the process she threw
her hands up, shakingherhead
and swearing at me!”
The litter situation doesn’t
seem to have improved since
February of this year when
Adopt-A-Highway volunteer
Jackie Hargrove reported
picking up more trash than she
(See LITTER, page 6A)