Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / June 4, 2014, edition 1 / Page 1
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The ews I ournal Hoke County’s newspaper since 1905 No.l3VoL109 Raeford & Hoke County n.c. Wednesday, June 4,2014 Ethanol plant rebound promises 79 jobs By Catharin Shepard Staff writer The ethanol plant in Dundarrach will be opening back up under its new ownership, bringing 79 jobs and a reported $36 million investment in the local economy over the next three years, company officials said. Tyton N.C. Biofuels, a partner of Tyton BioEnergy Systems, bought the former Clean Burn Fuels ethanol plant two weeks ago. The company based in Danville, Virginia paid roughly $12.8 million for the facility, based on excise tax figures. Gov. Pat McCrory, Secretary of Com merce Sharon Decker and Tyton officials announced Monday details about the sale. “Companies are establishing operations in North Carolina because our economic environment is strong and our workforce is extremely capable,” McCrory said. “Tyton will generate jobs in green manufacturing and provide new opportunities for farmers while investing millions of dollars in North Carolina’s economy.” Hoke County Economic Development Director Don Porter said that the sale will bring good-paying jobs to the county, as well as bringing in tax money on the facil ity itself “Another of our major industries is back on the tax book and that’s a good thing for our county,” he said. The county took in a roughly $1.1 mil lion payment in back taxes the day the new owner closed on the plant. The plant will start off using corn as the feedstock for making ethanol, but then Tyton BioEnergy will switch the system {See ETHANOL, page 5A) He’s got a long walk ahead of him Just days into his walk across the country, Justin Kuhel approaches East Hoke Middle School and is greeted by students. (Catharin Shepard photos) Veteran walks across U.S. to help soldiers By Catharin Shepard Staff writer All of East Hoke Middle School’s seventh graders lined up along the side of Highway 401 last week, craning their heads down the curve in the road to see who could be the first to spot the flag coming in carried by a special guest. Soon enough, the stars and stripes came trotting into view as 25-year-old Marine Corps veteran Justin Kuhel completed another part of his walk across America to support wounded warriors. “Go, Justin! Go, Jus tin!” some of the students yelled, encouraging him on, and burst into applause when he made it to the campus. Kuhel, a veteran from Ohio who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, stopped by the school on Day Six of his trek across the country from Camp Eejeune to Camp Pend leton in California. The veteran is walking across America to raise $100,000 for two nonprofit organiza tions dedicated to helping soldiers wounded in war. All proceeds go to the Headstrong Project, which provides “no-hassle” men tal health help for veterans, and Help Our Military Heroes, which helps adapt vehicles for amputees. This is Kuhel’s second long walk in support of veterans. Previously, he walked 400 miles from Columbus, Ohio to Ar lington National Cemetery. That trek, which took him 19 days, raised over $13,000 in support of the Wounded Warrior Project. (See WALKER, page 6A) Kuhel hopes to raise $100,000 for veterans’ causes. Deputy shoots, kills man A man died last week after being shot by a Hoke County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was investigat ing a call about a suspicious person. Sandy James McCall, 33, of Raeford was shot about 1 a.m. Saturday, according to the sheriff’s office. Sgt. Samuel Mo- rant, an officer with the office for more than eight years, reportedly opened fire during an altercation with McCall. The shooting took place in the general area of Rockfish Road and U.S. Highway 401 Busi ness, where Morant was investigating the call about a suspicious person. Officials are withholding further details about what happened because the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) is looking into the matter, Hoke County Sher iff Hubert Peterkin said. “It’s unfortunate that this happened but all the an swers that everyone is seek ing about what happened, including myself, will come out when the investigation is completed by the SBI,” he said. Morant is on administra tive duty, which is typical protocol, Peterkin said. Authorities did not say what led to the altercation or the exact circumstances surrounding the shooting. [See DEATH, page 5A) This Week Calendar 2B Classifieds 5B Deaths 3 A Editorials 2A Legals 3-4B Look for this symbol to find stores that sell The News-Journal www.thenews-journal.com www.raefordnj.com Public to speak on proposed gunfire ordinance By Catharin Shepard Staff writer After multiple com plaints about nuisance gunfire in the eastern part of the county, Hoke offi cials have created a firearm safety ordinance and are seeking the public’s input before voting on it. The ordinance basically bans gunfire within 1000 feet of a dwelling, roughly the distance from the court house to the chamber of commerce. The Hoke County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing June 16 about the proposed fire arm safety ordinance. The hearing will take place at the commission’s regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m. For several years, resi dents in the county - pri marily people living in eastern Hoke - have ap proached commissioners over concerns about po tentially unsafe gunfire in different neighborhoods. After hearing the con cerns, a number of county officials including Sheriff Hubert Peterkin, Chief Deputy Gary Hammond, County Manager Tim John son, County Planner Robert Farrell and County Attorney Grady Hunt worked to put together an ordinance to (See GUNEIRE, page 6A) Rockfish residents bring complaints to board about piUar of community Providing comfort Girl Scouts with Troop 1064 collected stuffed animals to donate to the Hoke County Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Center. The troop dropped off the donation last week. Pictured areTuilin Boyd, Rosa Ludewig, Jeanelle Boyd, Victoria Carter, Tiana Hawkins, Heather Hamilton, Joyce Monroe, Daelyn Hawkins andAlisca Robinson. Several residents in the Anderson Creek subdivision off of Rockfish Road (near King Road) appeared before the Hoke Commissioners Monday to seek advice and help in a matter concern ing the local road system. A resident of the subdivision put stone pillars on his prop erty, but the pillars are in the right-of-way and the state Department of Transporta tion refuses to take over maintenance of the private street because the additions violate DOT guidelines. That’s a problem because the VA and FHA won’t make loans to buy houses located on streets that aren’t DOT maintained, residents reported. As a result, about half a dozen houses in the subdivision have gone into foreclosure and others remain up for sale for long periods of time. That means the property values of sur rounding homes have gone down, residents said. The residents said they asked the homeowner to remove the pillars, but they said he refused. After some (See PILLARS, page 5A)
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June 4, 2014, edition 1
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