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PEMBROKE, NC In A Iri-Bacial Jetting" . ROBESON COUN" 31
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THURSDAY, APRIL
Pembroke Town Counci I
Endorses B rooks For J udgeship
by Sam Kern*
Special to The Carolina Indian Voice
Tlie Pembroke Town Council met in chambers on April 11,
1988 at 7 p.m. considering a full agenda. A public hearing was
held on the Community Development Block Grant application
for 1988-1989. Consultant Dale Holland reported that the
council could decide to apply for a total of $600,000 as a
community revitalization grant, $600,000 economic develop
ment grant, and/or $250,000 housing demonstration grant.
The council can have one or a combination of all three of the
above for a total grant of $600,000. A second public hearing
is scheduled for May 16, 1988 at 7 p.m. in the council
chambers.
Holland also report* d on the 1986 Community Development
Grant progress indie?tir g that contracts have been awarded
on 40 dwellings with 28 having been completed for an average
cost of $10,679.33.
Under old business. Town Attorney Ronnie Sutton gave a
report on research concerning an ordinance prohibiting the
blocking of intersections by trains. He reported that a check
with Laura Cranfield, Municipal League and with the Institute
of Government, Chapel Hill reveals no law prohibiting such an
ordinance. He indicated that there may be an enforcement
problem and recommended to the council that they negotiate
with the railroad and try to get them to agree to a policy not to
block as many streets if they must stop the trian in town. He
suggested that the railroad may agree to modify its scheduling
to allow the north-south line to clear before the east-west train
arrives in town.
Councilman J.C. Thomas suggested that the railroad may
agree to stop west of the Chicken Hut thereby not blocking as
many streets.
Under new business. Mayor Milton Hunt stated
that "There js problems over on Gorden Street with transfer
trucks traveling on the road damaging the street and causing
a disruption for the citizens in the area. We need to do
something quick and enforce it." Councilman J.C. Thomas
moved that no large trucks be allowed U> travel the street or
park there and that signs be put up to that effect. Councilman
Henry Oxendine seconded the motion which carried.
Police Chief Iarrv T. Roberts asked the council to disallow
parking in front of the courthouse from West Third Street to
Second. Street, next to the railroad between the hours of 1
p.m.- 11 p.m. on weekends and holidays. He reported that
there have been problems in the area with cars being left
unattended, fights erupting, people drinking beer in public
and trash being scattered in the area. Town Manager
McDuffie Cummings informed the Board that the town rents
that parking space from the railroad. Councilman Henry
Oxendine moved the adoption of the above recommendation
and Councilman J.C. Tomas seconded it. The motion carried
without opposition.
In other items of interest, the Mayor, Milton Hunt, asked
the council to approve a resolution supporting Pembroke
Attorney Dexter Brooks for the proposed second Superior
Court Judgeship for Robeson County and send it to
appropriate persons. Councilman Henry W. Oxendine moved
the adoption of such a resolution and Councilman Vernon
Oxendine seconded the motion. It carried without opposition.
Councilman Vernon Oxendine informed the council that he
has resigned from the Recreation Board and that Rudy
Lucklear representing the Union Chapel area had also verbally
resigned. The council agreed to appoint Councilman Henry W.
Oxendine and Wade Hunt, Principal of Union Chapel School
as replacements.
In a last item considered, Mr. Molon Strickland, President
of West Robeson High Booster Club, asked the council to pass
a resolution authorizing and requesting that the State
Department of Transportation erect signs entering Pembroke
honoring and recognizing the world record in the 100 yard
dash which West Robeson Great lee McRae of the University
of Pittsburg set. He indicated that the Department of
Transportation will furnish the signs and erect them at the
request and approval of the council. Mr. Strickland said, "We
have come a long way in the past three years in developing our
sports program and we need to give encouragement to these
youngsters and recognition where it is due, especially on the
magnitude of Lee McRae's accomplishments." Councilman
Henry Oxendine moved the adoption of a resolution
requesting that the signs be requested and erected.
Councilman Vernon Oxendine seconded the motion which
carried without opposition.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...
** ,-*? w-'5* ? - . ' * .?.? <"***? ^
Clement Bullard
/"' Hurt"mi llm "hmi l i" l:h <11
Sf" , it I /,. t / . t Uff/iiit: h'lliitr X'nii i
Last Easier Monday's warm afternoon caught Prospect
Community sage, Clement Bullard sitting in a chair in the
back yard of his childhood homeplqce. His wife, Ziatta, raked
and burned leaves as her husband, clad in stripe overalls,
watched. After a few minutes the 78-year-old grandfather
decided it. better to leave the spot and move to the frontside of
the house where he could watch the acres of green wheat
growing on the land his father bought in 1906.
"This used to be part of Red Banks. My daddy paid five
dollars an acre for this land," he remembers. "He cleared it
and made it into farmland."
Bullard, the only child of Judge Early and Emma Jane
Bullard. remembers working the land and walking to Prospect
school back then. "There was no other way to get there," he
comments.
In 1924, the Iumbee Indian became the school's first male
seventh grade graduate. Four years later, he graduated from
the Indian Normal School in Pembroke. "Why, it was so long
ago, I remember the only two brick buildings in Pembroke
were the bank and jailhouse," he laughs.
Encouraged by his father, Bullard left home in 1928, and
entered the University of Chattanooga to study "mostly
science." Altera year's study, his-father suggested he apply
for enrollment to Wake Forest University.
He was accepted by the school, but not by the 28 white
students enrolled from Robeson County. Bullard remembers
well three days later when the school's dean asked him to go
for a stroll on the campus grounds.
"The dean told me he had no problem with my staying at the
school, but that the white students had demanded that I leave
or they would," he recalls. Rather than lose the students, the
lone Indian was asked to withdraw.
Not to be outdone, Bullard immediately sent a telegram to
Tenn., where he was welcomed back to the University of
Chattanooga.
With another year of study completed and The Great
Depression coming on, he returned to Robeson County to help
work and rave the family farm. In 1930, with a two-year,
grammar grade certificate, he accepted a teaching position at
Prospect School. There he enjoyed "stretching the minds" of
his fifth grade history students. He taught 11 years at the
school before receiving notice that he'd been drafted into the
U.S. Air Fotee.
After a brief stay in Wisconsin, the serviceman was shipped
to Salt Lake City, Utah. Once there, he worked in
classification.
Being hundreds of miles away from home and family made
the bachelor lonely for loved ones left behind. In June 1943,
during a troop train ride enroute to Atlanta, Bullard was
granted a five day furlough home.
He waated no time in locating the young Lumbee school
teacher he'd earlier met on a blind date and courted for a
pretty good while. When a train left four days later, a married
Bullard waved good-bye to his bride left behind.
She joint-it mill in Sun Iuke City, four months later. The
couple was to spend there Christmases there before returning
home with the firet of their five children. Bullard returned to
the classroom and taught at Oxendine School for 25 years
"steady." His final year teaching was spent at Southaide'
School. During his teaching career, he attended summer
school and earned a full undergraduate degree.
In 1962, he retired and continued to work the earth he so
much loved. Buying land became a pastime for the man Who
had "always tried to work hard." He no longer personally
tends his farms which consists of 800 acres. One thing he does
attend to is the decision-making as to where his farm supplies
are purchased.
He chooses to buy them in adjoining Scotland County,
because of strained race relations in his native Robeson.
"What people ought to do is take their money out of this
county," he laments. "Til buy my fertilizer some place else."
He says he only buys supplies and goods from Robeson's
minority businesses. And that applies to grocery-buying too.
He feels humanly different shopping in Laurinburg. "People
in Robeson County have had animosity against Indian people
since Henry Berry Iiiwrie times. If it weren't for my roots
here. Td go back to Salt lake City and spend the rest of my
days."
Bullard has ties deep-rooted in his community. With
excellent memory, he rolls off memories of his four great
grandparents and both sets of grandparents. Rather than
remove the enrite dead oak tree his late grandfather, W.L
Moore, once set out at the Bullard homeplace; he cut the tree
and left its protruding trunk intact as a standing memorial to
the man he so-much respected.
Always one interested in history, Bullard has kept a journal
for more than 20 years. " I try never to let more than a week go
by without making an entry," he says.
Bullard dislikes some things. Among them are insurance
companies. He has nothing to do with them other than carry
automobile insurance which is required by law.
He likes many things. Among them are Sunday afternoons
spent with family, walks through green wheat fields and
bananas. He loves bananas.
Clement Ballard enjoy* a net in At backyard a{ frit childhood
Someplace.
SPOTLIGHT ONoxendlne s Tire Center
LOCAL BUSINESS PERSONS
by Barbara Bray boyLocklear
Speical to THE CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE
Hie Birtir Oxen dine family has taken its share of life's
hardknocks. But with determination, the members always
sprang back.
In 1968, Oxendine laid down his farm equipment. Mother
Nature had caused one too many crop failures for the tenant
farmer, his wife and five children. His wife took a job in a
textile plant, and he rented a service station in Pembroke.
Things went rather well in the business until the gasoline
shortage came in the early '70's. Independant gas station
operators suffered most when it came time to receive fuel from
suppliers. The hope of hanging on to his business began to
fade during that time for Oxendine.
Oxendine's school-age sons helped at the station, and when
things got real tight, he'd allow them to take stock items such
as cigarettes, gum, crackers and soft drinks to sell outside the
business. This enabled the businessman to move the items
while giving his sons an opportunity to earn money.
One son, Billy Ray "Dollar Bill" drew on the opportunity and
earned enough money to help support his high school
education. He even paid for his senior class ring. "I'd take the
items to school and hide them in my locker," says Dollar Bill.
"Then during break, I'd sell them to iny classmates."
Hie eleventh-grader fully understood he was breaking school
rules, but he needed money. "I did it to take a financial
burden off my parents who were trying to hold on to a failing
business," he adds.
Hie smart enterprising practices and involvement in school
activities caused his classmates to start calling the popular
twelfth-grader "Dollar Bill." The name stuck.
Meanwhile, the father figured since he couldn't get enough
gas to draw customers, he'd' try selling something else
customers needed - tires. Demand for them was strong. A
keen business sense convinced him to re-invest his profits.
In 1975, the retired farmer gambled and planted an acre of
cucumbers. Hoping for a good crop, he set sights on
establishing a business in his own building on property he
owned outside Pembroke. It was a bumper crop. From it was
born Oxendine's Hre Center. Over the past decade, the
family-owned and operated business has flourished.
Hie building, as was the business, was built from the ground
up by family members. "My daddy is a jack of all trades,"
says Dollar Rill. The facility boasts six work bays and can
accommodate 12 automobiles.
During the first couple of years the business offered only
recapped tires and limited service. Today with four full-time
employees, it offers a full line of tires, new, used and
recapped. The operators can fit tires on industrial, passenger,
truck and farm vehicles.
The business specializes in front end alignment and brake
service. It also offers computer balancing and 24-hour road
service. "We decided to offer those services because they go
hand in hand with tires," says Dollar Bill who is office
manager for the business.
He says his father, who founded the business, is the "top
boss" and makes sure things are run right And that
customers' satisfaction is never to be compromised. "Industry
surveys prove that consumers want quality and service at a
competitive price and in that order," he comments. "TTiey
want to buy from an informed source they can trust"
Serving customers and other people comes easily for Dollar
Bill. He loves people and they respond to him. The Lumbee
Indian was bom with deformed legs. Nine surgical operations
and years of encouragement from his parents have enabled
him to walk right alongside other people with a high
self-esteem.
After eight hours on the job at Southeastern General Hospital
as housekeeping supervisor, he returns to the family business
to help out until closing time. He doesn't leave after everyone
else does. Instead, he busies himself doing the bookkeeping in
an adjoining office. Once that's finished, the bachelor usually
has dinner at a local restaurant and returns to sleep overnight
on a bed in the business office.
He is devoted to his beloved Mt. Airy Baptist Church and
would be interested in marriage if the right Christian woman
came along. Until she comes along, the 31-year-old will
continue to take his meals away from home and donate his
time to church, civic organizations, helping to cheer sick
people, and to running the family business.
Oxendine's Tire Center is located in the Whispering Pines
Subdivision off State Road 1616 in Pembroke. Business hours
are Mon-Fri. 8-6 p.m. Saturday 8 - 3 p.m. Telephone:
521 3346 or 521 4590.
Godwin
Memorial
Fund
Established
In response to community
interest, the First Baptist
Church of Pembroke has
established a John L Godwin
Memorial Fund to be used for
the purchase of a piano as a
tribute to his many years of
music ministry throughout
the community and state.
Contributions may be mailed
to P.O. Box 760, Pembroke,
NC 28372. More information
may be obtained by calling
521 4949.
Call 521-2826 and
subscribe to The
Carolina Indian Voice.
Employees of Oxendine's Tire Center left to right: Jeffery
Oxendine, Dollar Bill Oxendine, Birtir Oxendine and Jimmy
Ray Oxendine.
CMLJRCH MEWS
WASHINGTON FOR JESUS APRIL 29
Seven years ago, over 700,000 people from across the nation
gathered together in Washington, DC to humble themselves,
repent of their sins, and seek God's face to heal our land.
Hie next "Washington For Jesus" Prayer is planned on the
Mall on April 29, 1988 in our nation's capital.
It is conservatively estimated that over one million Christians
will be coining in the greatest congregation of people this
nation has ever known to pray.
Plans are being made to take people from this area to
Washington. For further information (cost, departure time,
etc) please contact Cheif Young Bear, State Coordinator, at
the Tuscarora Tribe off ice on 208 Main Street, Pembroke, or
call (919) 521 3231.
COLLINS CHAJEL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Collins Chapel United Methodist Church will host its
week-end revival beginning April 15th thru 17th. Services will
begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday
night's service will begin at 7:00 p.m. Rev. Sidney Locks will
bring the Friday and Sunday night services. Saturday night's
guest speaker will be Rev.( Dalton Brooks.
'The pastor, Rev. TYyon Lowiy, invites you to attend.
\
local happenings
Reynolds Aluminum Recycling Company has
opened a new ^laminum recycling center in Pembroke.
The new Reynolds recycling center in Pembroke is located at
the intersection of Cherokee and 711 North, acroes from Hills
Shopping Center. It is open Wednesday, Thursday and
Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
In addition to aluminum cans, Reynolds purchases used
aluminum such as pie plates, foil, frosen food and dinner
trays, and dip, pudding and meat containers. Reynolds also
purchases Hems such as siding, gutters, storm door and
?riadow frames, and lawn furniture tubing. Such aluminum
must be cut into manageable lengths. Aluminum castings
including pots and pans, power lawn mower housings and
barbecue grills abo are purchased by the company.
LOCAL HAPPENINGS
North Carolina residents denied Social Security disability I
benefits from mid 1981 through mid 1987 could get new
bearings or reviews of their claims.
' tut to benefit, individuals must contact their local Social
?curity Office and ask for a review under the Hyatt v. Bowen I
. iss action lawsuit
v recent Federal court ruling from Charlotte in the Hyatt v.
! owen case ordered the Social Security Administration to
view the cases of North Carolina residents denied Social
curity or Supplemental Security Income disability benefits,
e ruling applies to denials made in most claims during the I
?iod from mid 1981 through mid 1987.
?B "March 10, 1988, Social Security mailed notices to
, >usands of persons who may be eligible to have their claims I
onsidered. However, one need not receive a notice to be
gibie.
' dividual* who meet the requirements of the court order are
?itied to have a new decision made in their cases under new
ability evaluation criteria.
you believe you may be eligible for a new hearing or
.lew, immediately call or visit your local Social Secuirty
I fice and ask for a new review under Hyatt v. Bowen.
i or more information, contact the Disability HOTLINE at the
|N< rth Carolina Disability Information Office ( 1-800
638-6810). Information may also be obtained from local offices
of Legal Services.
SAY VOU READ IX Ifsl
XME CAROLINA
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