^1^^ PUBLISHED EACH THURSDAY \ $
^tltCME: <CAR<?>GXaMA. Z?4?>ZAN i?orcl I'
"Building Communicative Bridges ' r F
Pembroke, n.c. In A Cri-Racial getting" robeson county
Pembroke Town Counci I
Report
BY SAM KERNS
In its council meeting Monday
ight, Pembroke Town officials gave
onsideraiion to a proposed 9400
>quare foot municipal complex. The
architectural firm of Snowdon and
Associates presented tentative plans
that would include a courtroom,
municipal offices, conference rooms,
space for a library or for expanded
offices, as well as space for the police
department and jail holding cells.
Two public hearings were also held
in which the town gave a conditional
use permit to Mr. G.W. Warriax to
add eight more trailers to a trailer
park located in Lumbee Terrace off
ihe Deep Branch Road southeast of
Pembroke approximately one mile.
Ihe second public hearing was held
on the cloie-out of the Community
Development Block Grant for the
Fifth Street Project area. Out of 53
original homes designated for repair
work, only two were not repaired.
This was due to the owners electing
to not participate. Approximately
$500,000 has already been spent in
the area. Upon motions by Council
man Henry Ward Oxendine and
seconds by new Councilman Harry
Oxendine, the conditional use permit
was granted and the Community
Development Project authorized to
spend the balance of monies to close
out the project on Fifth Street.
In old business the town was
informed that the town has received
an award of $115,000 for work on 25
homes to improve their use of
energy. The grant is a state grant for
households with low to very low
incomes to provide such things as
insulation and storm windows and
doors. The average expenditure per
house after deductions for adminis
trative costs would be approximately
$4100-$4200. The town will make
application for consideration for the
next grant cycle which will be in 3-5
months.
Hie Town Council also approved a
gameroom permit for the building
located next to The Golden Comb in
Cummings Plaza on the Union
Chapel Road. It will cater to children
and will not have any pool tables.
The business will be operated and
supervised by Mrs. Sheila Locklear,
the wife of Lt. Jeff Locklear of the
Pembroke Police Department. Hours
of operation will be Monday-Thurs
day 12 noon to 9 p.m. and closing at
10 p.m. on weekends. There will be
fulltime supervision by Mrs. Sheila
Locklear.
Under additional new business,
the council, upon request by council
man Henry W. Oxendine and second
by councilman Larry Brooks, awar
ded a contract to Twin State Equip
ment in the amount of $74,558 for a
new street sweeper for the Public
Works Department. The bids ranged
from $94,00 to the low bid. It is
estimated that the new sweeper
should last between 10-15 years. It
operates with a minimum of dust and
has a feature to clean out storm
drains. Delivery will take place in ?
60-90 days with councilman Henry
Oxendine encouraging delivery be
fore Christmas which the contractor
thought would be well within their
capabilities to deliver.
After the council elected Mr.
Henry W. Oxendine to be the town's
representative to Lumber ltiver
Council of Governments, the council
went into Executive Session to
consider personnel matters and
contracts.
ROBESON ETTTEE THEATRE
TO ERESENT
"THE EORETGNER" OOT - 21-23
K
Cast of Robe ton Little Theatre't
production of "The Foreigner" by
Larry Shue: front row, Jay Sellers,
Mary Leuis; second row, Robert
Robeson Little Theatre's produc
ion of The Foreigner is a suitable
lppetizer for the opening of their
1988-89 season. Lariy Shue's com
Berdeau, Hugh Rogers, Helen Scur
lock; back row, Ed Nicholson,
Charles Kroeger. The play is direc
ted by Enoch Morris.
edy, directed by*Enoch Morris, will
be presented at the Carolina Civic
Center in Lumberton on October
21-23. Norma Hoffman is the produ
cer.
Enoch Morris is Director oJ
Theatre Arts and Director of the
Performing Arts Center at Pembroke
State University. Some of his most
recent directing successes are
Crimes of the Heart, Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof, and Lion in Winter.
The contrast of characters in The
Foreigner produces one hilarious
situation after another. Imagine what
might happen when two English
gentlemen (one of whom is believed
to speak no English) visits a fishing
lodge in rural Georgia. The author's
version of what really happened has
won numerous awards and has
delighted audiences everywhere his
play has been seen.
Most of the cast have been in
numerous RLT productions and some
surprising new talents are making
theirTfehut. Included in the cast are:
Charles Kroeger, Jay Sellers. Helen
Scurlock, Robert Berdeau, Mary
Lewis, Ed Nicholson, and Hugh
Rogers.
Mr. Morris is so pleased with the
play and the exceptional cast he has
assembled that he has entered to the
play in the North Carolina Theatre
Conference's Community Theatre
Play Contest. The contest is being
hosted by Lenoir-Rhyne College in
Hickory October 27-29. The best play
will represent North Carolina at the
Southeastern Theatre Conference in
Louisville, Kentucky. t *
The Foreigner will be presented
October21-22 at8 p.m. and a Sunday
matinee at 2:30 p.m. October 23.
Admissions will be: Adults $4.00,
Senior Citizens $3.00, Students,
$2.00. Reservations are not required
and tickets will be available at the
door.
Dxr - Mel en Scl-ieIjrbeoJ*.
^psaicex- At: Youilzln 2 O O O Day
A t Wee tz Robeson.
On Wednesday, Sept. 28, a
number of West Robeson social
studies students were privileged to
hear Dr. Helen Scheirbeck, Director
of the North Carolina Indian Cultural
Center. Dr. Scheirbeck was invited
to speak as West Robeson celebrated
Youth 2000 Day.
Dr. Scheirbeck gave the students
a brief summary of local Indian
1 history and explained how it wfll
relate to the exhibits at the Cultural
Center. Her talk gave particular
emphasis to the development of
public education among the Lumbee
Indians.
8he also explained how the
passage of the Lumbee Recognition
Bill will help individuals and the
community as a whole.Dr. Scheie
beck said that she expects the bill to
pass Congress in the next three to
five years.
Regarding the Cultural Center, Dr.
Scheirbeck expects it to be completed
by the year 2000. She said that when
completed the center will employ
about 600 people full time and about
1600 part time as it attracts tourists
from throughout the country.
Mr. Ray Oxendine, principal at
West Robeson said, "We are fortu
nate to have Dr. Scheirbeck as our
speaker because of her vast array of
knowledge at the state, local and
national level."
President Reagan recently appoin
ted Dr. Scheirbeck to the NAC1E
(National Advisory Council on Indian
Education) Board.
? e
St. Pauls
m
Student Named
T each I ng
Fel low
Donald Ray Williams of St. Pauls
has been named a North Carolina
Teaching Fellow at the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro, where
he is a first year student.
N.C. Teaching Fellows receive
$5000 scholarships. The scholarships
are renewable for three more years
and so are worth $20,000 over four
years, provided recipients teach in
the state's public schools for at least
that many years.
Williams is a son of Mr. and Mrs.
LJ. Williams of Route 4, 9L. Pauls,
and la a graduate of 8L Paula High
School. He plans to specialise in
math education at UNC-G.
. 4
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO. . -
Katy Lowetry Oxendine
KATY LOWERY OXENDINE
special To The Carolina hidian Voice
By Barbara Braveboy-Locklear
The spirit to survive has followed Katy Lowery
Oxendine all the 80 years of her life. Just four years ago
she lay fighting for her life in a hospital when blood clots
developed in her lungs. She says during the hospital stay
she experienced temporary death.
"I drifted into death and remember seeing the Garden
of Eden through a beautiful light," the great
grandmother says. "The Spirit of God told me I must
return to my natural life because there remained work for
me to do on earth." She says her spirit returned through a
dark cloud. Oxendine, who resides in the Green Pines
Church community returned home from the hospital and
fought her way back to measurable good health.
The native Robesonian was born in a two-room log
house near Pembroke State University. She was one of
three daughters born to Mollie Lowery. She remembers
vividly the day she professed Christ as her Savior. "I was
attending Chavis School outside Pembroke and my
teacher Mr. Wilbert Lowery gathered all the students
together and marched us to a daytime revival at First
Baptist Church in Pembroke." She was 12 years old.
"I've been serving Christ ever since," she adds. Three
years later she began teaching "primaries" at her
childhood church at St. Anna. It was a position she was to
hold for 20 years.
Oxendine's early life was spent on a farm. And it was
during a day of picking cotton that she first saw her future
husband, Willie Kern Oxendine. She was a bashful
five-year-old and couldn't muster up enough courage to
introduce herself to him. For sixteen years thereafter, she
wondered where the "little boy" was. Then one Sunday
during worship service at Sandy Plains Methodist Church
she met him and a "noticing," non-courting relationship
developed. She says they were able to worship together
because St. Anna Church and Sandy Plains Church
neither had enough enrollment to have separate worship
services. Three months later when she returned to her
church, the young Lumbee Indian boy followed her and
attended her church on a permanent basis. There he was
appointed Sunday School secretary. He took to passing
her love letters in hymnals during worship services. The
couple courted for about a year, often times stealing
private moments arouhd the olthhand water pump on the
church grounds.
Oxendine says during a year of courtship the idea ot
marriage frightened her, and the courtship ended. Then
when she turned 23 years of age, she realized she had no
family to call her own. Dreams turned to having children
and a home. When Oxendine. an only child, proposed
marriage to her in 1930, she accepted and was married in ,
Dillon, SC the same year.
The couple look up housekeeping with his parents and
began a life of farming outside Pembroke. Seven years
later they moved into a house that Mr. Oxendine had
assisted in building three years earlier. They bought the
house and lived there until his death in 1977.
Activity filled the Oxendine home with the coming of
each child. There were to be 13 children born to the
couple. All but two were bom at home. She was attended
by a physician with them. Oxendine says she look a
"baby" course as a young student at Indian Normal
School.
taxing care 01 a large lamuy consumed uxendine s
lime during Ihe 1930's and 40's. "If I hadn't taken home
economics in high school, I would have been hurting.'
she laughs. She says it was not uncommon for her to sew
15 shirts each fall for her sons and husband. Then then
were the many dresses to handmake for her daughters
Hog killings for food consumption became a job for the
extended family. Twelve hogs were butchered annually
to feed the family. Hie task usually lasted three days.
Mealtime in the home was always a time for giving
thanks. "Hie blessing was always asked." Oxendine
comments. Good behavior and proper attire at the dining
table were the rule of the house. No male was allowed at
the table unless he wore a shirt. "It would just kill me
when one had to take his plate and leave the kitchen to eal
alone," she adds. Hie Oxendines produced the wheat
used in preparing the 50 biscuits served three times a day
to the family. "I had to cook biscuits because my husband
would not eat cornbread," she chuckles.
Oxendine saw two sons go to war in Korea and
Vietnam. Drawing on her strong spiritual faith, she
advised them to go on and serve their country and do the
right things. "I didn't shed a tear the entire time they
were away," she says. "I put them in the hands of the
Lord." She saw the safe return home of both sons.
Today the widow lives with a daughter and son-in law a
short distance from the Oxendine homeplace. She slays
physically and socially active. Every chance she gets, she
travels to the beach to do some pier fishing. She has taken
numerous long distant tours throughout the U.S. and
visits longtime friends and neighbors. Close touch is kept
with others by telephone. She attends her beloved Green
Pines Church where she recently retired from teaching
Sunday School. She meets weekly with a senior citizens
club at the church. Oxendine enjoys reading and watching
quiz shows and programs with a mystery theme on
television.
Hiis sOmmer the Oxendine children gathered at their
childhood home to honor their mother on her eightieth
birthday. On the lovely day in late August, they wandered
on the grounds which held so many memories of years
past. Flower beds established years ago spoke of
Oxendine's love for flowers. "I have no favorite flower.
My favorite becomes the one which each season brings,"
comments the matriarch.
Visiting her homeplace evokes memories for Oxendine
too. For it is there she experienced first-hand the joys and
hardships of raising a large family off the earth. She has
seen all 13 children grow into adulthood. Xnd for all the
goodness afforded her in life she gives Christ the credit.
"See how the Lord works? He's always been in my life."
ROBESON COUNTY SCHOOTS
NEWS & BRTEES
BY WALTER Q. OXENDINE
SUPERINTENDENTS ANNUAL REPORT
This year for the first time in the history of the
Robeson County School System, some 9,000 copies of the
Superintendent's Annual Report for 1987-88 was
distributed throughout the county schools, local Cham
bers of Commerce and other businesses across the state
to all the school superintendents and to the State
Department of Public Instruction Office and officials.
Ioretta Hunt Beasley, former Coordinator of Public
Information for the Robeson County System, was
responsible for working up and seeing that the Report was
printed. She chose the theme for the Annual Report as
"A Year of Achievements."
FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNITY SCHOOLS PROGRAM
Die purpose of this article is to better inform the
general public, parents, stents and school staff of the
many functions and activities that are part of the
Commpnity Schools Program.
Coordinating the Community Schools Program is
Walter G. Oxendine who also coordinates the Public
Information Program, because both programs go hand in
hand and deal directly with the public, the community and
the schools in the Robeson County System. The
coordinator of these two areas is assisted greatly by the
secretarial work of Linda Jones and the Local School
Coordinators. J
Some of the many functions and activities provided are
as follows:
School Volunteer Program. Hie purpose is to encourage
parents, concerned citisens and resource people to
volunteer their time, efforts and energies to assist and
enhance the total educational process in the schools,
which in turn provides better learning opportunities for
students.
Use at School FVOltiee-A number of school faeilties
have been or are being used for Adult Basic and Adult
High School classes sponsored by Robeson Community
CoUegJ^hysirai and recreational programs for youths
group meetings, special programs in arts and crafts and
other such activities that benefit both the community and
the schools.
? There is a fee charged for the use of the facilties unless
the function or activity directly benefits the students or
school. One may find out the cost of the various facilities
by contacting the school in their area or by calling the
Community Schools office at 738-4841, Ext. 244.
Community Relations- working to provide good working
relationships for a better educational process for the '
school system and for all those in the community who are
interested in seeing the communty and county prosper.
Coordination between schools and community-The
suggested procedure is for communities to work directly
with the schools and their principals and when a
particular situation arises, or when there is a need for a
community or county wide project, the Community
Schools office is called upon to make the necessary .
arrangements. \
Archie Oxendine, retired, is responsible for organizing x
and beginning the Community Schools Program. He
devoted ten years in developing the program and
watching it grow and prosper each year under his
leadership. The present coordinator, Walter G. Oxendine,
is seeking and asking for that same support from tlx
community and the schools in order to continue to grow
and make progress.
COORDINATOR ATTENDS WORKSHOP
Walter G. Oxendine, Coordinator of the Community
Schools and Public Information Programs, attended the
Eleventh Annual School-Community Relations Wosfeshap
held at the Radisson Plana Hotel in Raleigh. Oct 44.
The theme of the workshop waa "On to the Basks of
Community Schools." & was sponsored by the State
Department of Publk Instruction.
A number of concurrent workshops were offesed in
sueh areas as Before and After School Cue
Communication and Building 8upport for 8chools, J
Parents Involved in Helping Their Children Achieve in
School, School Volunteers. Sehods of Merit and many