Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / July 23, 1953, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
News -J i lie omraial voice or flUEDOM VOICE Of V.CT CUAWIAK miooM kJti ortiBmrT The Hoke County News The Hoke County Journal VOLUME XL VIII; NUMBER 8 THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1953 RAEFORD, N. C. TEN CENTS PER COPY $3.00 PER YEAR WGUMDIAM Of UBIMV ggjftf f NVjwj I By the Editor Add to the comments on the Fayettevllle-Fort Bragg situation . . . The Fayetteville paper fig ures that if they don't get land to allow them to fire the longer range weapons the Army will move the training elsewhere, and possibly moving with It training in shorter range weapons. I don't believe this is true. The Army told us last winter they wanted the land so they could fire these longer range weapons at Bragg, and that they could not fire them there without it. They have not got the land, and according to the same paper, they have been suc cessfully firing the 280 millimetre cannon and the 90mm tank gun there for some time. So they can do it. As to the shorter range ones going if the long range ones do, that isn't so, because anyone who has ever been in the Army knows that different units fire different weapons, and that artillery units are even named by the size of their weapon. It doesn't follow at all that they need to be in the same place with another size wea pon to train. Time eventually works on all .of us, and Doctors Murray, O' Briant and Matheson are no ex ceptions. They have all been in practice for over a quarter of a century, and they will inevitably begin to slow down some in the years to come. I know that they and the community will welcome , the news that Dr. Riley Jordan is going to practice here. The com munity has grown in population in recent years, and there is need for another doctor anyway. Peo ple are also glad to have that doctor to be a local boy, one that they know to be of a fine, re spected Hoke County family. We are all glad that he is going to stay here, and know that as the years pass and he grows in ex perience and wisdom he will take his place with the other three a mong the most respected citizens of our community. A letter I received this week from Hoke County Auditor J. A. McGoogan speaks for itself and reads as follows: "The statement in The News-Journal about the 'Elation over the decision of the County Commissioners to make the road to the swimming hole a public road and eligible for State Maintenance' is very misleading for the reason that the commis sioners have no authority to es tablish a public road. All that they can do is to request the Highway Coijimission to make it a public road. About 50 of the requests that the commissioners make are granted and the others turned down. Even after a road is grant ed, it may be a year or more be fore it is ever worked. At present, we have some roads that have been approved about a year that have never been touched. "Based on the general average of roads requested by the com missioners, the swimming hole road stands a 50-50 chance of be ing approved and of being work ed about the last of next summer." There is so much all of us would like to say in the way of sympathy to the families of the five Blue Springs boys who were killed Friday night, but there are no words which will satisfactorily say how greatly the whole county feels the loss and shares their grief. I feel that we must do something to be sure that nothing similar happens again. If in going they keep some other mother's son from being killed the same way, their dying will not have been entirely in vain. We must search for and strive to perfect a way of teaching young and old alike that the high-powered auto mobiles of today are just as dan gerous as loaded guns, and often more so. Murdock McDuffie spent last week at Carolina Beach. Plans Are Made For Little League District Playoffs With regular season play in the Aberdeen-Raeford Little Baseball League ending this week, players and managers began getting rea dy for the District 2 playoffs, which start August 3, and lead to the State tournament and the National Little World Series. The first playoff game will be in Aberdeen on Monday, August 3, with South Wilmington opposing the Aberdeen-Raeford allstars. The allstar team to represent the Aberdeen-Raeford Little Lea gue is to be selected this week from the players of the four teams by the managers, and workouts will take place next week in pre paration for the district playoff games. District 2 includes four leagues, Aberdeen-Raeford, North Wil mington, South Wilmington and Jacksonville. Also on Monday North .Wilmington and Jackson ville allstar teams will tangle in Wilmington for the right to meet the winner of the game between South Wilmington and Aberdeen Raeford for the district cham pionship and the right to repre sent the district in the State Tour nament which will be in Greens boro starting August 10. Dean C. White, who has been named district tournament direc tor for District 2, said that the teams had agreed to a plan of de ciding where the second round game of the district playoff would be played. This agreement is that if Jacksonville and either South Wilmington or Aberdeen-Raeford are winners the second game will be played in Jacksonville on Wed nesday, August S. If Aberdeen Raeford and North Wilmington are winners" the second game , will be played here in Raeford' on August 5. If both Wilmington teams win the playoff will be in Wilmington. All games will be at 5:00 p. m. 0 : Mrs. E. B. Campbell Resigns As County Public Health Nurse Mrs. E. B. Campbell, who has been Hoke County Public Health Nurse for the past nine years, I has resigned the position to ac cept a position as nurse for the , Fort Bragg schools. Her resigna- tion is to be effective on July 31, I and she is to begin her new work on August 12. No successor has been named, although Mrs. John Lentz will be the senior nurse in the county health department after Mrs. Campbell leaves. Mrs. Chalmers Parks is the other nurse In the health department. Mrs. Campbell, a native of Hartsville, S. C, was trained as a nurse at McLeod's Infirmary in Florence, S. C. She entered pub lic health work here nine years ago, and is a qualified Senior Public Health Nurse. She attend ed the School of Public Health of the University of North Carolina for one year to obtain this certl ficate. i ' In Fort Bragg she will be the nurse for four schools with a total of about 4,000 pupils. I o Dr. Riley Jordan Plans Practice Here Dr. Riley M. Jordan, who last week had plans to go to Hope Mills in the near future to prac tice medicine, said this week that these plans had not materialized and that he expected to continue to live here, and that he expected to open an office here for the practice of medicine in the near future. Dr. Jordan ,a son of Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Jordan of the Pine For est community and a brother of Dr. Julius Jordan, Raeford dentist, had terminated a one-year asso ciation with Dr. R. A. Matheson here July first with the intention of taking over the old Reeves Clinic in Hope Mills with a partner. 0l iff r N A rm JOHN ARCHIE BLUE Farm Agent Says Boll Weevil Bad ' By J. H. Prevette The boll weevil infestation is higher than it has ever been. Farmers are urged to check their fields and spray or dust at 3 to 5 day intervals. It ap pears that the boll weevils are worse on the young cotton ra ther than the older. The Hoke County check fields for this week are as follows: Treated fields - 26 to 47; Untreated fields - 88 to 97. If you want a high yield on your cotton, you must spray! Charles F. Davis Dies Early Tuesday; Funeral Wednesday Charles Franklin Davis, citi zen of this community for many years, died at his home here Tues day morning at about 3:15 o'clock after an illness of about two weeks. He had been in poor health for about a year, and his condition worsened and became critical about two weeks ago. Mr. Davis was a native of Cum berland County, and was 71 years of age. He was born about 10 miles east of Raeford November 20, 1881, son of the late George Davis and Annie McLeod Davis. He was employed here by the Hoke Oil and Fertilizer Company for many years, and worked at Fort Bragg for over 10 years, un til poor health forced his retire ment about a year ago. Funeral was conducted at the Raeford Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member, Wednes day afternoon at 4:00 o'clock by the pastor, the Rev. W. B. Hey ward. Burial followed in the Rae ford cemetery. He is survived by his wife, the former Beulah Campbell; one son, Charles E. Davis of Raeford; a brother, ' Marshall A. Datis of Fayetteville; and one grandchild. FAYETTEVILLE FRANKLY DESIRES ARMY TAKING OF COUNTY LAND An editorial in Saturday Fay etteville paper openly advocated the taking of the miscalled "cor ridor" of Hoke County by x the Army, unashamedly made capital of the death of Senator Willis Smith in throwing a veiled threat at his successor, and clearly indi cated that the matter should be decided on a dollar-value basis to Fayetteville business and jot on any question of right or wrong to anyone else. The paper was also very generous in offering Robeson County land as compen sation to Hoke County for land it' wants the Army to take, al though Robeson has not been heard from on the matter. The editorial is reprinted farther down in this article. Some background for the Fay etteville paper's editorial position can be obtained from a letter to members of the Fayetteville TY SMOKE t -I, A j.,-m . - BILLY JOE CLARK ROBERT NEILL CURRIE JAMES WILLIAM Lions To Sponsor Traffic Safety Lecture Program About two weeks ago the Rae ford Lions Club began negotia tions with Mayor Alfred Cole, Judge T. O. Moses and State Ve hicles Commissioner Edward Scheldt with a view to imple menting an idea the club thinks will serve to promote traffic safe ty and a better knowledge of traf fic hazards in this community. The program the club plans to use is one of periodic traffic lec tures being delivered by experts, and attended by people the mayor and judge think would benefit. The lecture programs would pos sibly be supplemented by appro priate films and would be given about once each quarter. Patrol men, Judges and other experts would be featured on the pro grams, and information would be practical, common sense ap proaches to the problem of stay-! ing alive on the highways and getting where you want to go as well. They will be informative, and not simply point up the ways in which laws can be violated, but will rather draw attention to the reasons for the existence of the laws. The proposition as put to the judges of the recorder's court and the mayor's court is that in their discretion they would require at tendance at a lecture by traffic violators, with judgment being suspended or not. Example of the approach to be used. is a comparison of a trip to Fayetteville at 70 miles an hour with the same trip at 55 miles an hour. The lecturer points out that there is a possible saving in time of from five to seven minutes. He then points out how the odds rise, first on having an accident, and second on being killed it you do have an accident. The conclusion as to whether the few minutes saved is worth the extra risk is then left to the common sense of the listener. Chamber of Commerce from the secretary, which was written on June 23. This letter stated that 90 percent of the chamber's mem bers want the Army to take the land, and urges them to write various people, whose names and addresses are given, urging that it be taken. This letter is also re printed below. People in this county were generally angry about the matter this week, taking the view that the whole policy in Fayetteville is being dictated by nothing but an insatiable greed for a dollar. Talk was general among farmers that they would take their tobacco elsewhere to sell it and do their trading elsewhere as well. Local women were talking of organiz ing themselves into groups to agree not to shop in Fayetteville, and business r;ien were talking of (See FAYETTEVILLE, Page 8) o 1- 4 f . & i j . ' it THOUSANDS ATTEND SERVICES FOR BOYS AT BETHEL SUNDAY A throng of sorrowing friends and relatives of the five boys and their families went to Bethel Presbyterian Church at three o'clock Sunday afternoon for funeral services. The crowd is estimated to have been as high as three thousand, as the church and churchyard were filled, and cars were parked up to a quarter-mile from the church in all directions. Hoke High Needs 3 Teachers Still; Elementary 0. K. The teacher situation in the Raeford schools for the coming year, according to W. T. Gibson, is rather good, with replacements already made for all but three of the ten teachers who resigned last spring, and for the additional teacher at Raeford Elementary School. All teachers in the graded school have been acquired with the new teachers being Mrs. W. C. Hodgin of Antioch teaching the fifth grade; Miss Caroline Parker of Route 2, Raeford teach ing the fourth grade; Miss May Lucille McKenzie of Laurinburg, teaching the third grade; ' Miss Dorothy Brewer McNeill, of Ab erdeen the second grade. Also teaching a section of the second grade will be Miss Marie Essey of Maxton. Misses McKenize, Mc Neill and Essey are 1953 graduates of Flora Macdonald College. Mrs. B. B. Cole, Sr. of Raeford will teach one section of the seventh grade. New teachers in the high school this year will be Miss Peggy Jane Stanton of Henderson, a graduate of Greensboro College; Miss Paula Ann Pegg, also a gradaute of Greensboro College, from Ashe ville. Miss Stanton will teach English and Miss Pegg will teach the eighth grade. Three high school teachers are still needed. Mr. Gibson reminded all the mothers of children of pre-school age of the new ruling passed by the state Board of Education ad vancing the age date from Octo ber 1 to October 16. Any child that will be six years of age on or before October 16 will be eli gible to enter school this year and mothers of such children are urged to get in contact with Mr. Gibson at telephone 411 or 419. ATTEND 4-H CLUB WEEK The following Hoke County 4 H Club members are spending this week at State College in Raleigh where they are attending 4-H Club Week: Ellen Kate Koonce, Jo Anne King, Linda McBryde, Ruby Wilkerson, George Dees, Jr., Lacy Koonce, James Potter, Clyde Alvin Leach and Hugh Wright. J. H. Prevette, County Agent, is also attending the annual meeting. Linda Phillips . and Josephine Hall, Home Agent, are spending Thursday in Raleigh where Linda, as District winner ,is taking part in the State Public Speaking con test. SEAT V n BLUE ROBERT EASTERLING All 5 were members of the Sunday School at Bethel and had attended a gathering there the evening before they were killed only about a half-mile from the church. The Rev. S. A. Ewart, pastor of the church, was unable to take part in the funeral rites because of illness. The three ministers who conducted the services were the Rev. W. B. Heyward, pastor of the Raeford Presbyterian Church, the Rev. P. O. Lee, pastor of the Raeford Methodist Church, and the Rev. E. D. Johnson, pastor of the Spring Hill Baptist Church in Wagram. Pallbearers were mostly mem bers of the Key Club of Hoke County High School. Robert Neill Currie, Robert Easterling and Billy Joe Clark were all buried together in the cemetery at Bethel Church. James William and John Archie Blue were buried in the old Currie family cemetery in Blue Springs township. The boys were all residents of the Blue Springs community and lived within a three-mile radius. They attended Bethel Presbyter ian Church and had all attended Hoke County High School last year. James William Blue and John Archie Blue were the only chil dren of Mr. and Mrs. Arch Blue, who survive them. Billy Joe Clark was the son of Mrs. Maude V. Clark and the late Luther Clark. In addition to his mother he is survived by six sis ters, Mrs. Alton Bounds, Red Springs, RFD, Mrs. H. G. West, Salisbury, Mrs. Harold Beach, Lenoir, Mrs. Carl LoDolce, Ro chester, N. Y., Mrs. Odell Ash burn, Red Springs, RFD, Mrs. Robert Huff, Salisbury; five bro thers, Archie and Luther W. of Raeford, Route 1, John P. of Mor ganton, Douglas of Wagram and Glenn of the home. Robert Neill Currie is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Currie; two sisters, Mrs. Dan iel Odom and Mrs. Sarah Currie Blue, four brothers, Irving of Raeford, Frank of Fayetteville, Eugene of Red Springs and Davis of the home. Robert Easterling is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Easterling; one brother, James Easterling of Raeford; one sister, Mrs. E. B. Hart of Jacksonville, Fla. The James C. Lentz Mortuary of Raeford was in charge of fun eral arrangements, with addition al hearses being furnished by funeral homes of neighboring towns. 0 - Misses Janle and Jean Blue of Raleigh are visiting their sister, Mrs. William McFadyen. F7 WW Five Blue Springs Youths Killed In Wreck Friday p.m. TWO OTHERS DIE ALSO The worst tragedy of any sort ever to hit this county in the memory of living resi dents struck suddenly at about 11:45 Friday night when a car carrying five Blue Springs lads collided with a truck carrying two Smithfield men and caused the death of all seven. The wreck took place on the Laurinburg road three and one half miles south of Raeford about 30 steps from the home of Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Easterling, and their son, Robert, 15, was one of those who lost his life. The boy's father was among the first to reach the scene of the crash, and his mother, who worked at Para Thread Co. until midnight, ar rived soon after. Those who died were Robert Neill Currie, 16, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Currie; James William Blue, 17, and his brother, John A. Blue, 14, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Archie Blue; Billy Joe Clark, 14, son of Mrs. Luther Clark; and Robert Easterling, 15, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Easterling. F. Al fonso Olive, about 30, of Smith field, died in Scotland Memorial Hospital about an hour after the wreck and W. Elmon Lassiter, 56, of Smithfield, driver of the truck, died there Sunday morning. Patrolman W. T. Herbin, Sher iff D. H. Hodgin and ' Coroner James C. Lentz investigated the accident. Patrolman Herbin in terviewed other drivers on the road at the time. He said one told him that the car carrying the youths had passed him at high rate of speed a few moments before it crashed into the truck driven by Lassiter, who was on the way home after carrying a load of tobacco to a Georgia market. A bus driver, who was behind the truck, said the vehicle was pro ceeding north at a nominal rate of speed, according to the patrol man. Reports are that the car was apparently being driven by Wil liam Blue, oldest in the group and the only one having a driver's license. The car belonged to his father. He was reported to have been driving it when the boys left an ice cream party at Bethel church earlier. At this time they had taken Clyde Leach, other lad of the same community, to his home. The others are said to have then attended a movie in Raeford and to have been on the way home when the accident took place. The officers concluded that the car had Veered off the pavement on the right side, and then swerv ed across the road out of control, apparently turning over directly into the front of the truck on the shoulder on the other, or east, side of the highway. The impact was so great that the motor from the 1950 Ford was thrown almost 50 feet. The wreckage was so bad ly tangled that it took rescuers several hours with acetylene tor ches to free three of the bodies. Four of the boys were appar ently killed instantlyj A fifth died in an ambulance en route to Scotland Memorial Hospital. The oldest Blue boy, whose body was removed from behind the wheel of the wrecked car, was living then but was dead on ar rival at the Laurinburg hospital. Coroner James C. Lentz said yesterday that there would be no inquest, in view of the fact that no one involved in the tragedy had survived it. 0 r Mrs. Harry Greene and France! Ward are visiting Mrs. Greene's parents, Mr. and Mrs. M. K. Hat sell at Swansboro. Mr. Greene took them to Swansboro on Fri day and returned home on Monday. III
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 23, 1953, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75