I, Established January 16. 1973, Published Each Thursday
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21 ^.C. "Building Conwwnicattue Bridges In A Tri-Racial Setting" Robtson County
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Ho Locklear pleads
charges' mis<tem<*nor
In a plea agreement reached before trial on Tuesday,
Lumberton attorney Horace Locklear pleaded guilty to
two misdemeanor counts of obstruction of justice in the
highly visible case. The local attorney had been indicted
on tire separate occasions by a Robeson County Grand
Jury on felony charges of obtaining property by false
pretense and obstruction of justice.
Judge Sam Currin, as part of the agreement, placed
Locklear on three years unsupervised probation, required
him to perform 200 hours of community service and
ordered that he pay $1500 restitution to Leroy Locklear,
convicted drug dealer who was used by the SBI to tape
record conversations with attorney Locklear.
Attorney Locklear was prosecuted by Linda Moms at
the Attorney General's office. Some questions had been
raised as to her jurisdiction in calling for new indictments
on Locklear. Many questions had been raised in previous
motion hearings on the ease relative to the administrative
assitant to the district attorney, Martin McCall, having
business dealings and connections with Leroy Locklear.
Locklear's attorney, Woodbury Bo wen, defended
Locklear as the victim of selective prosecution by the
judicial system in Robeson County. Hie Locklear case has
presented much evidence of wrong doing by the judicial
system into the public records of the Robeson County
Courts.
Loddear's plea agreement brings that case to a close,
but it leaves much attention on the "key" witness for the
prosecution, Leroy Locklear who has pleaded guilty to
trafficking marijuana and conspiracy to trafficking. Leroy
Locklear had paid Horace Locklear $1500 to represent him
in the sentencing phase of his court case, although Leroy
Locklear had already retained John Wis hart Campbell to
represent him.
Richard Town send, Robeson County District Attorney,
has said that Leroy Locklear has not been sentenced
because his case was closely tied to Horace Locklear's
case. Leroy Locklear's guilty plea carries a mandatory jail
sentence of five years. This sentence can be avoided if the
court determines that the defendant has provided
"substantial assistance" to law enforcement in other
drug cases. Judge Currin made no comment as to when or
if Leroy Locklear would be sentenced. No date for
sentencing has been set.
Jones completes Intensive
Rural .Development Course
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Ravioli Jonet [rip**!. aitukmt to the general manager at
Lumbee River EMC, it congratulated by NKEACA
General Manager Bob Bergland. upon graduation from
the Rural Utditie i Economic Development Academy.
Randall Jones of Pembroke with Lumbee River Electric
Membership Corporation, has completed an intensive
60-hour course in rural economic development held over a
five-day period on the campus of the University of
Oklahoma at Norman.
Jones beads economic development programs being
carried out by Lumbee River EMC and was a member of
the first class graduating from the Rural Utilities
Economic Development Academy. The Academy is
designed to assist rural electric and telephone
cooperatives which have staff working part time on local
development programs.
Itevetopment Institute, a nationally known center which
trains and certifies industrial development paraetitioners.
Jones studied 18 subject areas important to successful
development programs.
The Academy was sponsored by the National Rural
Electric Developers Association, which represents 1,000
nasi electric cooperatives across the nation. "This is the
first professional development program specifically
available to persons in a rural environment," said
NREACA President Ernie Faucett.
"Those attending have been given instruction in
creating strategic plans, obtaining grants, the methods to
use in packaging financial resources from several sources,
how to select the best industrial prospects for an area,
and how to support existing businesses to help them
expand; also how to develop and operate a successful
marketing plan," he added.
The Rural Utilities Academy is part of a multi faceted
commitment by rural electric cooperatives across America
to actively assit communities and counties in reversing a
loss of population and jobs which has been occurring in
rural areas during the 1980s.
rShoST PUnned at SamP?"'s I
Open House will be held at
Sampson's Rest Home #3 on Satur
day, March 3 from 2-4 p.m. Hie new
facility will accommodate 12 patients
and is the third facility of its kind
owned and operated by Clifton
Sampson, Jr. The rest home is
located on State Road 1580 in the
Prospect Community. Hie public is
cordially invited to attend.
Indian Burial grounds
continue to be desecrated
KnoxvilLe, Tan.- Hie state is powerless to force a'
resolution with private landowners in preserving an
Indian burial mound and 14th century villaae in Sevier
County, state archaeological officials said Thursday.
"There is not a darn things that anybody can do about It
expect exert social pressure," said Jeff Chapman,
chairman of the state's archaeology board and curator at
the University of Tennessee's McCluns Museum.
"We don't have any power all all. other than when they
so in there and start plundering the burials," he said.
"Then you are into something that is a felony."
Digging for artifacts has already occurred at the Sevier
County site along Highway M, about 30 miles east of
KnoxvilJe, although no charges have been filed.
TbpeoO on the burial mount, thought to contain up to
1,000 Indian graves, has been bull dosed. And three men
driving a truck with Sequatchie County license plates
were spotted digging there in early January.
The excavation prompted a demonstration by the
Nashville-based Alliance of Native American Indian
Rights in Sevierville three weeks ago, and a stinging
statement from the Tennessee Commission of Indian
Affairs decrying "a spirit of greed and avarice Ithat) has
appeared in the form of grave desecration."
At the same timeTChapman and state archaeologist
Nick Fielder met with the property owners. John Parker
and Kevin Pipes, who officially plan to build a subdivision
on a 800-acre tract that includes the burial mound but also
are known to trade in Indian artifacts
As a result of the meeting, Paker and Pipes agreed to
post signs at the site to keep artifact hunters away. There
has bean no evidence of digging since then. Chapman and
Fielder said.
Parker was asked in a telephone interview recently
whether he and Pipes have decided what they will
ultimately do with the site. "No we haven't, sir," Parker
said. "I don't want to comment on that at all."
Fielder said he waa disappointed at the delay in
resolving the situation.
But he said, "In some ways it works to our advantage.
The longer they have to think about it, the better the
chance that they will do the right thing in terms of
preservation rather than just bulldocing ahead."
Fielder said it's unlikely the state would buy the site,
but it's been suggested to Parker and Pipes that they
could claim a tax writeoff if they donated the five- to
10-acre Indian site to the state or the local historical
society.
Although the state has purchased historical sites
before, "we don't have a contingency fund that we can
just step in on short notice," Fielder said.
"With the administration, lands that are not going to
produce revenue are not very high on the priority list," he
added.
Flflder called the site "one of the moet valuable that we
know about in East Tennessee." primarily because of its
age--1900 to 1000 A.D.
It is believed to be the site of the pre-Cherokee Indian
village of Tanasqui, one of the villages where Spanish,
explorers firet encountered Native Americana in
"In terms of being able to answer questions on how the
firet Europeans affected Indian life. It would be a key
piece in that puxale," Fielder said.
I Mr. ha /fete Lcrwry ? tahctad at
Lay Ptrton of the Yam. Hobby Lotcry
pratante tka award at Mr. Lowry't
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pmttor, Jerry hmmy, md Jkckmp
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MM LM9VnCl JB/M P MICNUC Ml, AWOfn
I Ethel Johnson of Smdy Pkmu
United Methodist Church receive* ?
plaque from Robby Luxury and a
handshake from Z*?6ict aijuwwfcw
IPVI P? tlY n-|J?'?* Air JUmji
Oc?W iWtWTT XJWUnOyt, /v>
selected rummtr m> to tto Lay Person
of the Yemr. behind Ms. Johnson is
her pester, Defrsne Cnmmsngs.
I District Lay Leader Hobby Ltnory
presents a plaque to Jem Ckavis of
Collins Chapel UMC, who was
selected eecemi rumor up to the Lap
/Vncm of tks Ytar Band* Ms.
Ckavu standi k*r pastor, Tryon
Lmerp. |/ftoto? bp WiMmm Lnmpi
/Vwp*(1 UMC roeoivoi tko a%aard
Jot the mo it mombon pro i int.
Robbjf lawry, Rochngkam Diltnct
Ptrnpact Chare k'$ Lay laadar Gar
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