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w The Hoke County News- Established 1928
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
VOLUME LXII NUMBER 14
RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
SI PER YEAR 10# PER COPY THl RSI)4Y, 4LGL.ST 17. 1967
Federal Team
Integration
Immediate
Most Hoke Schools
★★★★★★★★
Court
To Open
Monday
A mixed term of Hoke Su
perior Court will get underway
here Monday with Judge Edward
B. Clark of Elizabethtown pre
siding.
Scheduled for trial the first
day of court are a variety of
charges against four men ac
cused of taking and disposing
of tires from the State High
way Commission garage here.
The defendants are John D.
Strlder, a former employe of
the garage, charged with seven
counts of embezzlement; Cal
vin Foster McBryde Jr.,
charged along with Strlder in
two counts of embezzling and
converting; Louis C. Cunning
ham, charged along with Strlder
in six counts of embezzling
and converting, and Charles
Lewis Blacksheer, charged with
one count of larceny and re
ceiving.
The quartet was arrested last
fall after an intensive investi
gation by State Bureau of In
vestigation agents and officials
of the highway department, Tlie
tires allegedly were passed
. from the garage through an in
termediary to pulpwood opera
tors.
A first degree burglary
charge against Larry Donnell
Peterkin, 19, of Raeford will
go to the grand jury when it
convenes Monday.
Peterkin is accused of break
ing and entering in the night
time at the home of Odessa
McKinnon in Tylertown on June
\
>v
fV
Urn '
Bethel Road School, Under Construction, May Become Integrated Junior High
The woman told officers she
was asleep with her tliree chil
dren when the oflense occurred.
Break-In
Is Foiled
Two out-of-state men were
charged Friday night with
breaking and entering after of
ficers allegedly caught them
in the act of breaking into
Howell Drug Company.
Raeford Police Chief L. W,
Stanton identified the pair as
Henry Samuel Bivens, 32, and
Frederick Joseph Roberts, 36,
both of Lewisville, Ky.
Chief Stanton said Officers
Jim West and Leonard Wiggins
were checking back alleys when
they saw a man at work on the
back door of the drug store
with a crowbar. When they
drove up, he dropped the crow
bar and his hat and fled.
The officers pursued in their
patrol car across the taxi stand
lot and saw the man duck into
the recessed doorway of Rae
ford Barber Shop. Both men
were found lurking In the door
way
McKeithan
Drowning
Victim
Funeral services for Daniel
Martin McKeithan. 10, who
drowned Friday near Leland,
were conducted Sunday at 3
p, m. at Raeford Presbyterian
Church by the Rev. Douglas
Kelly. Burial was In Raeford
Cemetery.
The youth, according to a
member of the family, was
playing with a boat In a small
lake near their home when it
capsized. He and a seven-
year-old playmate could not be
rescued by a 14-year-old who
ran to the site and tried to pull
them out.
The McKeithan family, who
have a home here on Jackson
Street, have been living near
Leland this summer while their
father was at work in the area.
Surviving are his parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Julian B. Mc
Keithan, four brothers, Milton,
Lee, Johnny and Michael Mc
Keithan, all of the home: one
sister, Kay of the home: his
paternal grandmother, Mrs.
John B. McKeithan of Raeford,
and his maternal grandparents,
Mr. and Mrs. Charlie McLamb
of Clinton.
Patrolmen Probe Rash Of Wrecks
A tractor-trailer loaded with
about 20 tons of cured tobacco
was spilled down an embank
ment when the rig overturned
Friday afternoon on Highway
401 Bypass as it attempted to
turn off the road at Webb’s
Tire Service.
State Trooper E. M. Roberts
Identified the driver as James
Alton Womack of Selma, who
was transporting the tobacco
from South Carolina markets to
a redrying plant at Rocky Mount.
Roberts said Womack told
him he attempted to turn into
a steep downhill driveway and
a rear wheel of the rig dropped
into a ditch. He left rhe scene
to call for a wrecker. While
gone, the load apparently shifted
and upended the truck.
Roberts investigated five
more wrecks during the week
end. They included these mis
haps:
On Thursday afternoon, a car
driven by Iris B. Jackson of
Carthage skidded on rain-slick
pavement at McCain, left the
road, and hit a utility pole.
There were no injuries. .\o
charges were filed. Damage
to the car was approximately
$200.
Friday afternoon, vehicles
operated by Flossie Phillips
Stone of McCain and James
Oscar Coe, Sanford Rt. 3, col
lided on N. C. 211 at Ashley
Heights.
Roberts said his investiga
tion revealed the Stone woman
See WRECKS, Page U
*
Shifting Load Blamed For This Spilled Tobacco
Bethel Rd. Plant
May Be Jr. High
Federal officials have recommended major mtergratlon
of Hoke County schools if the county is to continue satisfactory
compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Their suggestions Include “elimination of racUl Identl-
fiablllty" of the new school under construction on Bethel
Road by making it an Integrated junior high school and
total desegregation of several other schools.
The recommendations followed an inspection tour of Hoke
County schools and a day-long conference with Hoxe school
officials, made several weeks ago by a sU-man federal
team.
The team came here from Washington at the invitation of
the local school board when it appeared Hoke County might
not qualify for continued federal aid to education.
The recommendations regarding the Bethel Road School are
to move at least one junior high school grade from Upchurch
High School (predominantly Negro) and perhaps one Junior
high grade from Hawk Eye (Indian), along with the junior
high school grades from Hoke County School (predomuiantly
white).
“Further efforts to eliminate the. racUl IdentltUbiUty of
the new Bethel Road School should Include the significant
desegregation of faculty,” Hope wrote to W. T, Gibson Jr.,
superintendent of schools.
Regarding the integration of Hoke Schools to date, Hope
wrote:
“The staff found that while the number of students in a
desegregated situation Increased a degree over the 1966-67
school year, the total number of Indian and Negro students in
the district Increased, meaning little actual progress in the
area of student desegregation was made.
“. , . Members of my staff also learned that a new school
was being constructed and would be ready for occigiancy by
December, 1967. Current plans call for housing grades 6,
7, and 8 from the Raeford School (predominantly white)
in this new structure.”
Fortunately, the Bethel Road school was planned so it
could be used at some future date as a junior high school
if the need arose.
' Gibson was away on vacatic^ his we v and not available
for comment, Hope indicated his office mist be notified wiftia
15 days of “your district’s intention with regard to this
matter so that our recommendations to the commissioner
on final action might be made.”
The team also made these recommendations:
—“Students in all grades or in the high school or ele
mentary grades alone might be assigned to school on the basis
of residence.
—“The grade organization of the J, W, McLauchlin (pre
dominantly white 1-4), Raeford (predominantly white 5-8),
Upchurch (Negro 1-12) and new Bethel School might be
changed, that is, all children in the same grade would be
assigned to the same school.
—“If school officials contemplate eventually makmg the new
Bethel School a consolidated high school for all students in
the district, plans for this action and the necessary re
organization which will follow should be submitted with a
probable date for accompllshmenL”
Hope indicated that further integration should be accomplished
through the school board’s own initiative.
“It is our sincere hope that your district will And it possible
to take additional steps in order to accomplish progress
adequate to meet the requirements of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, ’’ he wrote.
The recommendations, if put into operation, would toully
integrate all the schools in Raeford, leaving only West Hoke,
Scurlock, Burlington and Hawk Eye as predominantly non
white schools,
Hoke County schools, all of which are in a single, county-
wide district, have been operated on a “freedom of choice”
plan for the past two years and studen's have been assigned
on that basis for the upcoming school year.
The result has been tcken integration of all schO'Ols which
previously were all-white, with the largest number of transfers
to Hoke High School.
The team indicated that “discussions with various members
of the community would suggest that free choice procedures
might have been a more effective means of desegregating
students if school officials had made greater efforts and
provided more direct leadership.
“Officials of school systems which have not yet eliminated
their dual school structure have the responsibility for adopting
and carrying out a desegregation plan which will change
their school district into a single non-raclal system as
expeditiously as possible,” Hope said.
. KvXC-XS
Judge Swears In
Jury Commission
Alligator Incident Closed; Sheriff Absolved
There no longer will be stand
ard exemptions from jury duty
in North Carolina, Judge Mau
rice Braswell told three per
sons who make up the Hoke
County Jury Commission before
he swore them in Friday after
noon.
“Nobody’s profession or job
will automatically relieve him
of this civic duty as has form
erly been the case,” he ex
plained.
Three persons sworn in dur
ing a brief ceremony in the
office of E. E. Smith, Clerk of
Superior Court, were Former
Sheriff Dave Hodgln, chairman;
William Lamont, vice chairman,
and Bonzle Dobbin, secretary.
Election of officers was held
immediately after the cere
mony.
The three were appointed last
week by Judge Braswell, Twelfth
Judicial District judge, the clerk
of Superior Court, and county
commissioners.
In explaining the newly.creat
ed commission to the three.
Judge Braswell said its duty
will be to compile a list of
every person over the age of
21 who is mentally and phy
sically competent and has not
been convicted of a felony. The
commissioners will do this by
going through the tax books
and other rosters which may
expedite the work.
Up to the present, there have
been legal exemptions which
automatically relieved doctors,
lawyers, preachers, firemen,
and many others. As of Jan
uary 1, 1968, any person whose
name is pulled from the jury
box will be expected to serve
unless, because of an emer
gency, he is allowed by the
judge to serve during a later
court session. Judge Braswell
pointed out.
The three persons on the
commission will begin duties
in January of next year. Their
rate of pay will be set by the
board of county commissioners.
BY JIM TAYLOR
The Hoke alligator incident
apparently is closed as far as
state wildlife officials are con
cerned, and nobody appears
likely to be prosecuted for kill
ing the creature.
Leon Llneberry of Eliza
bethtown, district supervisor,
protection division, N. C. Wild
life Commission, last week ab
solved Hoke Sheriff Dave Bar
rington of blame in the death
of the seven-foot, 80-pound
crdature.
Earlier, reports Indicated
Sheriff Barrington would be
called into court to explain
why he shot the ’gator as it
writhed and popped its 80-odd
teeth on the J. W. McLauchlin
School grounds here,
“W’e have investigated the
matter, and after talking with
Sheriff Barrington, have con
cluded that Sheriff Barrington
acted in good faith,” Llne
berry said. “It is our opinion
that Sheriff Barrington felt that
't‘. ■
-Ac
the > ligator was dangerous and
a menace to the citizens who
were immediately present when
the alligator was released from
the automobile. So far as we
are concerned, the matter is
over,’
The case began several weeks
ago when Willie McPhaul of the
Antioch community saw the alli
gator alongside a dirt road
near Antioch, He and Lerow
Henderson, a neighbor, caught
the alligator, put it in the trunk
of McPhaul’s car, and brought
it to Raeford,
After reporting the capture
to Barrington, they drove the
car onto the school grounds
adjacent to the courthouse.
When the trunk was opened,
the alligator was dislodged,
A bystander reportedly stuck
a two-by-four into the alli
gator’s jaws and It chewed up the
wood. At about that point,
Barrington shot the reptile with
his pistol.
It was not until later that
Barrington learned it is against
the law to kill an alligator' in
North Caroliia. The 1965 Gen
eral Assembly made It an of
fense punishable by a minimum
fine of $150 to “take” an alli
gator or its eggs.
Volght Sutton, author of
“Sportsman’s Nook,” and out
door column which appears on
Sundays in The Fayetteville Ob
server, raised a howl and sug
gested that ’■proper authorities
should take a hand,”
The protest eventually found
its way to the N, C. Wildlife
Commission in Raleigh after
the matter already had been
probed at lower levels. Jerry
Rudd, local wildlife protector,
first investigated the uicident
and later was joined by Line-
berry.
Barrington, who does not hunt
even small game, said his big
gest regret about the whole af
fair IS the embarrassment it
may have caused the people of
Hole County.
He was kidded by friends
and fellow ofllcerj at lirst,
but whep the inckieet gained
notoriety and charges became
somewhat serious. tbe> rallied
to his defense,
‘•Sheriff B^rruigtivi Jid ftat
any ••.inslble U* enforvement
officer would have di-'ie," ooe
supporter said. “H thei had
brought him to trial m Hoke
County, he wosild have bee»!
acquitted in a ntnuie.’