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The Hoke County News- Established 1928
VOLUME LXI NUMBER 51
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
TBURSDAY. may 4. 194T
SINCLAIR ON TOWN BOARD
a'
Hoke County Commissioners
are In favor of proposed legis
lation which would increase the
North Carolina Sales Tax from
3 to 4 per cent on the sales
dollar.
Discussion on the matter was
held at Monday's monthly meet
ing following a request that the
board go on record as favoring
It. It was pointed out that the
board passed a resolution en
dorsing the question several
'months ago.
The additional! per cent would
be returned to the county and
would be Included In the an
nual budget.
The board opened bids for
additional air conditioning In
county offices and gave the con
tract for five units to Hoke
Electric Co. for $1,139,36.
Those to get the cooling sys
tems for the coming summer
Four Men Charged
With Tire Thefts
True bills of indictment were
returned by aHokeCounty grand
jury last week against four per
sons charged with the embez
zlement and disposal of state-
owned truck tires from the State
Highway Commission sub-shop
here.
The accused quartet Included
a former highway employe, a
local service station operator,
and a Raeford pulpwood worker.
The indictments were filed by
District Solicitor Doran J.
Berry against these four men:
-- John D. Strider, Laurln-
burg, about 45, an employe of
the State Highway Commission
from 1947 until recently, ac
cused of seven counts of em
bezzlement involving a total of
10 truck tires.
-- Calvin Foster McBryde,
37, operator of a service sta
tion at Old 401 and 401 Bypass
Mayor Wins Fourth Term
Mayor H. R. McLean was re
elect^ to a fourth two-year-
term here Tuesday, scoring a
2-1 victory over Dr. Robert
G. Townsend, physician and
president of Raeford-Hoke
Chamber of Commerce.
Mayor McLean collected 210
votes and Dr. Townsend got 118
in a light turnout.
Four incumbent town com
missioners were re-elected,
while the fifth, C. P. Kinlaw,
did not run. They were Frank-
MAYOR H. R. McLEAN
Hoke Board ‘For’
Higher Sales Tax
were the Hoke County Library,
two units, one to be placed in
the front window and one in the
rear; the veterans service of
fice, the clerk of court vault
and the register of deeds office
vault, each of which will get one
unit. Other county offices
already have air conditioning.
Other bidders were, Niven’s
Appliance $L200; Lamont Fur
niture Co. $1,239.85; Simmons
Heating and Flooring, $LM9.
Commlssloners'dfscussed the
possibility of turning the pre
sent Jail Into a fallout shel
ter, but no action was taken
since It will be at least 15 months
before a new jail Is complete
and this one Is vacated.
A resolution was adopted ex
pressing opposition to a state
wide mapping program pro
posed by legislative groups. The
See SALES TAX, Page 4
east of Raeford, two counts of
conspiracy to embezzle • total
of five truck tires.
— Lewis Clayton Cunning
ham of Raeford, 44, five counts
of conspiracy to embezzle one
truck tire in each count. Cun
ningham was listed by officers
as a pulpwood worker.
— Charles Lewis Black-
sheer, 28, of Jacksonville, one
count of larceny of five truck
tires and one count of receiv
ing five stolen truck tires.
Berry said the indictments
were drawn against the four
men after Intensive investiga
tion by SBI Agent Gary Grif
fith of Southern Pines and S. G.
Gibbs ofthe State Highway Com
mission.
The seven incidents Involved
in the indictments occurred be
tween April 26, 1966, and De-
See TIRE THEFTS, Page 4
lln Teal, 316; Palmer Willcox,
299; John K. McNeUl, 274, and
J. D. McMillian, 261.
James Sinclair, Raeford
native and an Instructor at Fay
etteville Institute, won the fith
seat with a third-high total of
295 votes.
C. 0. Bounds Jr., vice presi
dent of Southern National Bank
and manager of the Raeford of
fice, trailed McMillian by 80
votes, collecting a total of 18L
Bobby Cox received one
write-in vote.
There were no major issues
involved In the campaign, which
did not develop into a contest
until the final hours before the
April 17 deadline for filing.
The present board has bew
deeply Involved for the past
year or more in trying to find
a solution to what consulting
engineers term a critical
water-sewer problem.
There was considerable com
ment by voters about the in
convenience of voting in the
municipal election, which offers
only one polling place. That
was on the second floor of town
hall, necessitating a steep climb
up a long flight of steps.
“I don’t see why they didn’t
put the booth on the water tower
and hang a rope ladder from
it,” one disgruntled voter said.
The brisk climb was es
pecially hard on elderly people
and persons with heart condi
tions or other serious ailments.
the complaintants said.
’’They failed to break the
Presbyterian hold on town gov
ernment.” one observer said,
noting that all five town com
missioners and the mayor are
members of Raeford Presby
terian Church.
Dr. Townsend is a Mediodist
and Bounds a Baptist.
There was little pre-election
interest in the balloting and
a minimum of campaigning.
Mayor McLean, a retired
JIMMY SINCLAIR
game warden, solicited c c’.elp
of his friends and ocners or, the
basis of oeing available a.most
full-time to cosiAict the busi
ness of the maver’s office.
Slayer
Given
5 Years
James C. McNair, alias J.
C. McFadyen, was sentenced
here Friday to five years in
prison after being convicted in
Hoke Superior Court of man
slaughter in the death of his
wife's uncle, James Arthur Mc-
Phaul, 44.
McPhaul was slain by a single
blast from a 12-gauge shotgun
which struck him in the upper
legs near the groin on the
morning of December 11. He
apparently died from loss of
blood after the charge severed
the main arteries in both legs.
The state sought no more se
vere penalty than second degree
murder in the case. Judge
Clarence W. Hall of Raleigh
Instructed the fary to find Mq-
guilty o^econd degrte
murder, manslaughter, or find
him not guilty.
After only brief deliberation,
die jury returned its verdict:
guilty of manslaughter.
Sherrill Dave Barrington
testified that McNair came to
his house at about 7:30 on the
morning of the slaying, told him
he had shot a man, and asked
him to investigate.
The sheriff said he foundMc-
Phaul’s body at the home of
Flossie Harris and Annie Pe-
guese, where the shooting took
place.
The shooting followed an ar
gument which took place the
night before and Involved Mc
Nair’s wife, the serlff said
his investigation revealed.
Meanwhile, a 20-year-old
Hoke County driver who alle
gedly forced a state highway
patrolman off the street dur
ing a llghts-off midnight speed
chase was given a six-month
See SLAYER, Page 4
Booster Club
Hoke High Booster Club will
meet Monday 7:30 p. m. toelect
new officers and plan the annual
spring athletic outing.
Heretofore, the awards
dinner has been held at Mc
Donald’s Pond.
Ashwell Harward has asked
that all boosters attend.
Capital Case
Against T rio
Set Monday
SIGN-UP — Gilbert McGregor, left, is shown here with Billy Packer of the Wake Forest College
basketball coaching staff after signing a grant-in-aid wifii the Demon Deacons here Monday.
Gilbert Gets Grant-In-Aid
To Wake Forest College
Gilbert McGregor, Jr. Hoke
High School basketball star, has
signed a basketball grant-in-aid
with Wake Forest College in
Winston-Salem.
The 6-7 center, an all-state
player both years at HokeHIgh,
cast his lot with the Deacons
after more than 100 colleges
and universities bid strongly
for his services.
Hailed as one of the best
college basketball prospects in
the state, and perhaps in the
nation, McGregor as much as
anybody was responsible for the
emergence of basketball as a
major sport at Hoke High.
Before he transferred to the
previously all-white high school
in the fall of 1965, it has been
a long time since the school
had turned out a winning cage
team. In recent years. Buck
squads had won a half-dozen
or so games a year and drew
only a handful of spectators.
In the McGregor era, the
school produced the state 3-A
runnerup in 1966 and the Bucks
were district champions in 1967,
losing in the first round of the
state tournament
Wake Forest’s freshman bas
ketball coach, Billy Packer,
came to Raeford Monday for the
signing ceremony with McGreg
or.
”We‘re happy to get this
boy,” the obviously pleased
Packer said. "We believe he
will be a tremendous asset to
the Deacons. His potential is
great.”
McGregor, a 230-pound
strong man with unbelievable
agility and coordination, scored
1,254 points in 48 games with
the Bucks, averaging just over
26 points a game. It was his
defensive play, however, that
brought college scouts to Rae
ford by the droves.
Accurate records of his re
bounds and blocked shots were
not kept for all 48 games in
which he played, but his average
in rebounds was at least 25 per
game. He very probably
averaged blocking a dozen op
posing shots per game.
In one contest this year, Mc
Gregor collected 36 rebounds --
16 of them in the first quarter.
That was in the Bucks’ second
game against Hamlet, when
Hamlet was rated the number
one 3-A team in Eastern North
Carolina.
”I saw Gilbert paly several
games, the best of which was
5ie game against Clinton in
the conference finals," Packer
said. ”1 kept a chart on him
during the first half and he got
24 rebounds. He must havehad
See MCGREGOR, Page 6
A special term of Hoke Su
perior Court will begin here
Monday for trial of three of
four young Negroes charged
with Ae robbery-slaying Dec
ember 18 of a 77 year-old
Negro man.
The special term was asked
by District Solicitor Doran J.
Berry because the regular April
term, which ended here Friday,
did not permit time to hear
what is expected to be lenghty
paoceedings.
The accused trio includes
Landon Johnson, 17,RobertLee
Hollingsworth, 23, and King
David Purcell, 19, who are ac
cused of murder in the death
of Neill Archie McCormick.
McCormick’s badly battered
body was found with the skull
smashed in the living room of
his home in the Duffle’s Sta
tion community some 24 hours
after the slaying. His son,
F red McCormick, made the dis
covery when he passed the
nouse, saw no lights, and
stopped to investigate.
A fourth defendant, Malcolm
McCoy, 17, entered a plea of
first degree murder last week
in Superior Court and was sen
tenced to life imprisonmenL
Sheriff Dave Barrington
testified in McCoy’s trial that
McCoy made a statement to him
admitting his part in the slay
ing and that the statement im
plicated the other three. The
statement was read in court.
The sheriff said his investi-
gastion indicated McCormick
was hit in the head from be
hind with an axe handle as he
mended the fire in a heater.
He was hit repeatedly with the
length of wood, robbed of $67,
and left to die alone in the
house,
McCoy’s statement led of
ficers to a straw field where
they recovered a blood-spatter
ed axe handle, which McCoy
said was the instrument used
in the slaying.
The four suspects were
rounded up within 24 hours after
McCormick’s body was found.
Cooperation of neighbors of the
slain man was credited with
breaking the case.
Barrington testified that Mc
Coy’s statement revealed that
McCoy frequently had worked
for McCormick, cutting fire
wood. The other three de
fendants are presumed to have
known him also. All four young
men lived in the same neigh
borhood.
TV three defendants will be.
by court-appointed
coons el.
/ Palmer Willcox and Bill Mos
es of Raeford will defend John
son and Hollingsworth, respec
tively. Lacy S. Haire of Fay
etteville wUl be counsel for
Purcell. Joe McLeod of Fay
etteville defended McCoy.
Judge James C. Fardung of
Lenoir will preside. A spe
cial venire was drawn April
12 when the board of county
commissioners sat as a board
of equalization.
There appeared little possi
bility that a manslaughter
charge against John McRae
will be heard, although it is on
the calendar for the special
term.
Susan Howard
Tops In Class
Superlatives at Hoke High
School were announced Wednes
day by Principal D. D. Aber-
nethy.
Susan Howard, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Archie Howard,
Is valedictoriaa Sarah Mor
ris. daughter of Mr. and Mrs,
Sam C. Morris, issalutatorian.
In the junior class, BUI Sen-
ter will serve as head marshal.
Other marshals are Helen
Parks, Paul Currie, Hilda Scull,
Ann Fitzsimmons and Mike
Prince.
Graduation exercises will be
held June 1.
Woman^s Club Horse Show ^Success^ Despite Cool Weather
An estimated 1,500 specta
tors, Including exhibitors, turn
ed out for the third annual Rae
ford Woman’s Club Horse Show
here Friday and Saturday ap
parently assuring financial suc
cess of the event.
Chilly weather curtailed Fri
day night attenaance, but Satur
day afternoon and evening, paid
admissions were equal to last
year, an official of the club
said.
An estimated 900 entries were
made In the four performan
ces, reeled off In two rings.
Prize money totaled $2,400 In
114 Claeses.
Local horses won their share
of ribbons, despite the newness
of Interest In show horses here.
Jimmy Norris, professional
trainer who operates the sta
bles where the show was held,
rode and drove several en
tries to victory In major stakes.
Ann Howell, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Bill Howell, rode the
winning entry. Mystery’s Go
Boy, In the local walking horse
class. Go Boy’s Rebel B, own
ed and ridden by Smoky Mc
Millian, was second, and Little
Abe, owned and ridden by Tom
Howell was third.
All-American Genius, ridden
by Jimmy Norris owned by D.J.
Dudley won the flve-galted stake
Saturday night. It was tops In
prize money, $290.
Norris also showed the win
ning entries In two Other stakes-
Peter Panic, owned by Rosabel
Cowper, In the $190 three-galted
championship; and Little Eddie,
owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. L.
Harrell of Fayetteville, In the
roadster to bike championship.
Super Sport, ridden by Kenny
Price and owned by Mr. and
Mrs. Ed Hubbard, Avalked off
with the championship walking
horse stake, a $190 event.
Miss Bourbon, owned and rid
den by Muff Clark of Fayette
ville, won the English division
of the pleasure horse champ
ionship and took first place In
the pleasure mare class. Miss
Clark also scored first In the
flve-galted pony class with Star
of the Nation.
College Boy, owned and rld-
See HORSE SHOW, Page 11
1 %
ari
Walking Horse Strut Past Spectators In Raeford Woman's Club Horse Show, Held Here Friday And Saturday
if n