PUBLISHED ^ACH THURSDAY ^j?ucU$^ ? THE CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE? Dedicated To The Beet In All Of Ut * i ii i \ mnji i VOLUME 7 NUMBER 15 PEMBROKE, NC THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1979 ROBESON COUNTY 15? PER COPY Lumbee River Legal Services, Inc. Operational Open House Set For April 13, 1979 luWlwOwrUfl tiMwir IwHiliK?iJ In Uw >W fcaaW?r ?nd Son Funmrmi How Building 1 ttw oomr of g?ttfcln SU?t ?UMandStr?< In Pembroke. Pembroke- Most give local attorney. Dexter Brooks, and then LRDA Staffer, Robert Locklear, the lion's share of credit for Lumbee River Legal Services, Inc. They took an idea that seemingly germinated in the board room of the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs and saw it through to the reality of the Open House set for April 13 at the legal services offices in Pembroke The Open House will be Friday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the offices of Lumbee River Legal Services, Inc. at the corner of East Main Street and Second Street in Pem broke. The event is open to the public The office, besides offering free legal ser vices to the poor people of Robeson, Hoke, Scotland, Richmond and Cumberland Counties, also features a Legal Services Component to the Indian populace in the area Julian Pierce is executive director and Dextor Brooks is chairman of the board of the community-based board of directors. The legal services agency also employs three staff attorneys, a community legal education specialist, two para legals, three legal secretaries and a receptionist. The legal services has been operational since last October The hiring of the staff is now complete. Lumbee River Legal Services, Inc. is an adjunct of the Legal Services of North Carolina, a state wide program responsible for providing legal services to the poor people of North Carolina. Legal Services of North Carolina is part of the national Legal Services Movement. Legal Service to poor people first began in the U.S. in 1876. In 196S legal services became federally funded. Each grantee like Lumbee River Legal Services is a private, non-profit cor poration responsible to the laws of the federally enacted 1974 Legal Services Cor poration. See additional photos and biographical sketches of the staff of Lumbee River Legal Services on page 4. Roberts Elected JC President Larry T. htirti The Pembroke Jeyeeee el their annuel electioni on April 4th elected Larry T. Roberta aa Preaideirt of their or sanitation for the coming year. Lorry la currently earring aa Internal Vice-Preeidem and haa aleo held the office of Director. He ?a#yi aooiimj |Lf riinfM?llitltl n of p reel dent on May I, the beginning of lh? Jayeeea' fWeel poor. I Other afneoraoteetodfbr the u>|| SSS r cares about people...she acturally went beyond the call of duty...she was excellent...! hate to see her go and so do the people whose lives she touched each week...more than this she was perform ing a much needed service...one that needs to be continued in some way in the future..." Of course, Ms. Purkey, director of the Robeson County Church and Commun ity Center, was referring to Ms. Barbara McMillan and her implementationof a program developed by the center which provided a Health Coordinator for Senior Citizens in the four county area of Robeson, Bladen, Hoke and Scotland Counties. SOME BACKGROUND The program was funded by a grant from the Methodist Church as part of a special offering from the Methodist Women's "Call to Prayer and Self Denial." The program began in November of 1977 and is scheduled to phase out at the end of April. The proposal, which was eventually put in operation, called for the Nurse Coordinator visiting the 13 Senior Citizen Centers in the four county area and administering blood pressure and urine checks to monitor the two scourge of the Senior Citizens-high blood pressure and diabetes. Ms. McMillan has found that a high percentage of those checked regularly show some evidence of or high blood pressure and diabetes. Some goals of the program are to: (1) Provide outreach health clinics in blood pressure control, and diabetes in cooperation with the county health departments; (2) Provide multiple types of health education, nutrition, cancer, drug, alcohol, hygiene to help inform senior citizens and to possibly effect family health care through the grandparents; (3) Provide events, activities, sessions to improve mental and spiritual health using services of the local mental health departments and the local church; (4) Provide information to raise aware ness so that the health needs of the senior citizen can be met; (5) Be an advocate fnr the senior citizen; and (6) Seek fund* and mean* to establish the programs on a continuing basis. AN health department* have shown ajuma &Aliieeta| Ada *u^|| 4ghAkANhdB 11* *? aaaa seek Iff srfff*l^m fintffl mring phase <4 the program with vsw auidiAt at inn bat mate haw takrn tH? Initiative t* anntiaae the proptam as is. his hoi' *4 l1 gat oat in the communities where people Hve and provide a service that is really needed. I love the elderly...I guess this helped me enjoy it a little bit more than ordinary...sometimes the best thing I was able to do was to share a little bit of scripture and just talk to them...They get so lonely sometimes. They just want someone to care about them." Ms. McMillan, an active member of Island Grove Baptist Church loves to share a comforting thought with them, usually illustrated with a passage of scripture. "I always wanted to be a nurse," says Ms. McMillan. She lives in the Prospect Community. "And I always wanted to help my people in the health field in some positive way." Ms. McMillan has been assisted by Mable Locklear during the life of the program. What will she do now?"I am hoping to latch on with the Pembroke Medical Services facility being developed by Dr. Frank Won ax and his associates. It sounds like an exciting venture and I hope to be part of it." A PERSONAL OBSERVATION This reporter recently accompanied Ms. McMillan on her rounds on an average day. We visited an elderly Black lady who resided on the outskirts of Maxton. Ms. McMillan checked her blood pressure and chatted with her. Before leaving she prayed with her and read to her from the Bible. The lady seemed to be an vw he re from 60 to 90 years of age; it was difficult to tell. If Ms. McMillan was bothered by the unkempt & dirty bed clothing as she sat down beside the lady, she did not show any signs of it. Later we visited the Maxton Housing Authority, the site of one of the 13 i" ? Senior Citizen CenMra. Ms. McMillan was actually greeted with cheers and she spent the not two hours busily checking blood pressure and chatting easily with the senior citizens. Later she led them through some very mild exercises and. talked to them about their diets and tt>? need for exercise and good food. Said the, "You need to take a nap after ea^iktg. Be good to yourself." Whenftoid that the program would be ending soon, groan? were actually heard. "Oh, I hope not." one ** senior citizens. "We Hke Ms. Barbara why. she's been good to us and we hate to lose her." t ' Candlelight Ceremony Scheduled There will be a special candlelight communion service tonight at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Pembroke. Rev. Kelly Sanderson will bring the message. Special music will be provided by the Deep Branch Gospel Singers. The public is cordially invited to attend. School Bond Monies discussed Because of recently moving out of the county. Mrs. Shirley Britt resigned from the board of education on Tuesday. Ralph Hunt was re-elected chairman and Donald A. Bonner. Albert Hunt and J.C. Humphrey, the assistant superin tendents. had their contracts renewed for four years. Supt. Purnell Swett discussed the need of a time frame for construction to be done with the bond issue monies. He reported on public hearings that had been held at Rowland and Fairgrove Schools relative to merger into South Robeson School. He stated that such a merger would increase the curriculum offerings for the students. The board did some priortizing of construction. Additions and renovations will be stated this year. The central office will receive some addition and will be renovated somewhat. Union Chapel will receive a cafeteria and a some additional classrooms. Deep Branch will receive a media center and a cafeteria. Also in line for cafeterias are Long Branch. Orrum and Proctorville. Planned for 1980 are: South Robeson High School, estima ted at $1.5 million, and North Robeson High School, estimated at the same value, and a school in West Robeson, estimated at $2 million. Alao Rowland Primary and Fairgrove are scheduled for a library and other renovations. The schedule for 1981 includes classrooms at Parkton and a primary building at Prospect, and classrooms at Green Grove; and East Robeson Ele mentary. School bond monies for the county totaled $2.860.000. Mrs. Mable Revels was named principal of Ashpole School where she was serving in the absence of the late A.G. Spaulding. And East Robeson Primary School, on motion by Mrs. Lillian Fay Locklear. was so named with the stipulation that it could be changed when Allenton and Smiths Schools ceased to be. You ore cordially invired ro rhe \ Open House ' of lumbee ftiver Legal Services, Int on Friday April 13, 1979 from 11am unnl 5 pm Con .or of tusi Mum und Sofimd Slnvt f rVvrilicnfM* Ktwih 4 >