Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / March 14, 1968, edition 1 / Page 1
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urnal The Hoke County News- Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 VOLUME LXII NUMBER 44 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $4 PER YEAR 10 PER COPY THURSDAY, MARCH 14. 1968 Meeting Tonight RESULT: Death This car, borrowed from a friend, went out of control and collided with another on a knoll on High way 211 west. Both drivers were killed and one passenger was Injured. Two Men Die, Another Hurt In Wreck Near Moose Lodge BY LUCY GRAY PEEBLES Two men were killed and a third Injured last Wednesday afternoon when their cars col lided three miles west of Rae ford on N. C 211. They were the third and fourth highway fatalities of the year In Hoke County. Merle Richard Thompson, 22, who lived at the Oscar Barefoot residence on College Drive, was .driving Barefoot's car in the di rection of Raeford when he ap parently lost control on a knoll and crashed into the other car. Thompson died soon after being admitted to Moore Memorial Hospital. David Gilchrist, 52, of Fay etteviUe RL 4, driver of the second car. was killed instant ly. Zack Locklear of Raeford Rt. 2, a passenger in the Gil christ car, was Injured and is in Moore Memorial Hospital. State Trooper E. W. Coen said Thompson's 1967 model car was traveling toward Rae ford when It went out of control on the crest of a knoll. The car slid broadside Into Gil christ's 1964 model vehicle, knocking the Fayette ville car off the side of the road. Thomp son's car stopped crosswise on the highway center line. Friends said Thompson was due in Raeford to keep an ap pointment five minutes after the time of the accident. Gilchrist, who died on impact, was pinned In the car until patrolmen and members of the H oke County Rescue Squad could pry him free. The accident occurred in the same vicinity atwhich AnnTad lock of Raeford was killed when her car collided with a truck In January. Thompson is a veteran of the Vietnam war. having returned from overseas about six months ago. He was honorably dis charged from the Army soon afterward. Funeral services were con ducted at 11 a. m. Friday at Ci-umplar Funeral Chapel. Burial was at his former home, Pompano Beach, Fla. in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Has Meningitis A seventh grade teacher at Gibson School was hospitalized Thursday with a malady that later was diagnosed as spinal a meningitis. Mr. Gladys Colson, about 45, 1 confined to Hlgharolth Ralney Hospital In Fayettevllle, where her condition was re portedly Improved but still ser 1 lous this week. Members of her class were liven sufa and other precaution ary and preventive measures Immediately. Within hours after the diagnosis was made, local doctors had made arrangements for mass distribution of sulfa. Open house will be held Mon day night at recently completed Gibson School, across Bethel Road from Hoke High School, Lonnle Bledsoe, principal, has announced. Parents of students and friends of the school have been invited to tour the new facili ties between 7 and 9:30 p.m. The entire faculty will be on hand to serve as guides. There will be Instructional and informative activities In connection with the tour, Bled soe explained, but Its primary purpose la to display the phy sical plant for parents' Inspec tion. Refreshments will be served In the school cafeteria at the end of the tour. Raeford-Hoke Parent-Teacher Association will meet at the school at 7:45 and will take the tour In lieu of another program. The new school, named in honor of former superintendent W.T. Gibson Jr., who died In December, has 19 classrooms, a cafeteria, gymnasium, li brary, and administrative of fices. It Is the most modern school In the county and the most Integrated, The complete sixth grade ol Upchurch School Is being trans ferred to Gibson School. In fact, ail out one section of the class already has been moved, along with all class records, and the remaining SO students will join the other 60 transfers aa soon as their classroom Is completed. Tne transfer was ordered by the county board of education in compliance with suggestions of federal officials, woo came here last year to review Hoke's compliance with Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1984. The transfer was then scheduled to occur upon completion of the school and the county's accept ing the Job as being completed by the contractor and architect. .Negroes To Revamp Registration Drive Hoke Teacher New School Is Opened To Public Precinct 5 Made Move Essential A sweeping reorganization of Negro forces planning a voter registration drive here will be made tonight at a meeting for Raeford precincts 1 and 2, and particularly the county's new precinct, Raeford No. 5. The Rev. Thomas Walker, one of the drive's leaders, said the meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the masonic hall off Vass Road and U.S. 401 Bypass In the "Hill" section north of Raeford. "This will be mostly a re organization! meeting," the Rev. Mr. Walker declared. "We had progressed rather satisfac torily with our plans when the new precinct was created about a week ago. Since the new pre cinct contains a large percen tage of Negro voters, our groundwork had to be discard ed and we will now have to con centrate on Instructing voters In the area how and where they can register." Registration books will open March 31 In Hoke County, and all prospective voters will have n register again this year. The new registration was or dered by the last General As sembly, which provided that every county In the state must have the "looseleaf" system of registration. Old registration books will be replaced by reg istration records which provide a looseleaf page for each vo ter. Pages can be added one at a time, and when a voter dies, moves away, or otherwise becomes Ineligible to vote In the precinct In which he Is reg istered, his "page" can be re moved from the book Im mediately. Under the present system, voters long dead sometimes re mained registered until there was a generalpurge of the books. The new registration will be gin March 31, the first of four consecutive Saturdays on which registrars will be at polling places throughout the county. The fifth Saturday la set aside as challenge day. Aa usual, prospective voters can register any day of the week -'.""V '"J MIDNIGHT FIRE Volunteer firemen of the North Raeford and Raeford departments were routed out of bed between 1 and 1:30 a.m. Monday to fight the above fire at Richard McPhat ter's residence at Vass Road and U.S. 401 Bypass. Pumpers from both departments streamed several loads of water on the blaze, but the house was beyond salvaging before they started. Their action did prevent the blaze from spreading. It was reported unofficially that McPhatter lost another house by fire at the same spot some 15 years ago. Medical Authorities Scott Names Investigating Class Managers C7 & Lt. Gov. Bob Scott has See PRECINCT, Page t Medical authorities Wednes day morning were continuing an Investigation begun the pre vious afternoon Into the mys terious sleepy - headlness of several youngsters In an Up church School first grade class room. Dr. Harry H. McLean, re gional consultant, N.C. Board of Health, rushed to Raeford yes terday afternoon after being called Into the case by a state health Inspector from Raleigh who examined the classroom for possible carbon monoxide or other dangerous fumes. When he found nothing in amounts suf ficient to affect a child, he turned the Investigation over to medical authorities. Dr. McLean was not available for comment Wednesday at noon, but school officials said Dr. McLean spent Tuesday af ternoon examining the physical circumstances, double - check ing for carbon monoxide and other atmospheric conditions. They said nothing significant was reported. Donald Abemethy, superin tendent of schools, said Dr. McLean Indicated to him he would study the behavior of the children In an Isolated environ ment Wednesday morning be fore planning further action. The children part of a See INVESTIGATION, Page 9 Lt. Gov. Bob Scott has named Palmer Wlllcox, James B. (Ben ny) McLeod, and John Balfour to manage his campaign for gov ernor in Hoke County. Willcox is a partner in the law firm, Hosteller, McNeill and Willcox. He is a member of the Raeford town board of commissioners and Is presi dent of Hoke County YDC. McLeod is manager of the Hoke Cotton Warehouse and Storage Co. in Raeford. Balfour, a farmer, is a for mer recipient of the DSA and Outstanding Young Farmer a wards in Hoke County. He serves on the board of direc tors of Southern National Bank, I .V.V I r j p7"; : l 'JU ' ' ' I I ' J U v . School Officials Baffled By First Graders Who Fall Asleep And Are Hard To Awaken Puzzled Teacher, Mrs. Hazel Galbreath, Holds Up Sleeping Child BY JIM TAYLOR School authorities took Im mediate steps earlier this week to Isolate for investigation a first grade class at Upchurch School In which as many as i dozen youngsters are myster iously going to sleep dally In the classroom and cannot be easily awakened. Donald D. Abemethy, su perintendent, learned of the mysterious circumstances Monday afternoon. He imme diately ordered that the chil dren be removed from the classroom, and that lt be sealed off for Inspection by N. C De partment of Health. A health official arrived from Raleigh early Tuesday morning, inspected the room for possible carbon monoxide or other gases caused by improper ventilation and the furnace, but found noth ing which would explain the mystery. The youngsters were moved Into an adjoining classroom while their room was awaiting Inspection. Children in the ad joining room had experienced no drowsiness, school officials said. When children from the neighboring room were moved In with them for short time Tuesday morning, they still did not experience sleepiness, but the visiting first graders went to sleep, as usual. Teachers and other school of ficials at Upchurch In closest touch with the situation said Tuesday a male student in the classroom last autumn went to sleep, as the other children are now doing, each third day. The child was removed from school by his parents, they said, and eventually sent to N. C Mem orial Hospital at Chapel H11L They did not know Tuesday what diagnosis was made at Chapel Hill, nor did they know the child's present condition. They could only say that the student has not returned to the classroom. When the state health Inspec tor found no evidence of gases In amounts sufficient to affect a young student. Abernethy im mediately directed that the class be Isolated in a vacant mobile classroom and kept there until medical authorities can take charge of the situa tion. It was assumed that the re gional office ot the State Board of Health would be notified Im mediately. The regional office was established recently In Fayette vllle and Is under the direction of Dr. Harry H. Mc Lean of Raeford, who quit private practice here to take over the newly created regional health directorship. Meanwhile, school officials were seeking answers to sev eral baffling questions. Why are some students In the group affected, but not all? If the physical envlornmem of the one classroom Is to blame, why did the same students go to sleep when moved Into a classroom which had never before experi enced the mass drowsiness, and the same physical surroundings as the sleepy children, re mained bright-eyed and respon sive while some of the others drifted Into sleep? Teachers said that several of the children who are falling to sleep daily have been taken by their parents to their family doctors, but no alarming or un usual condition was reports. Tuesday morning, as school officials, teachers, health de partment investigators, nurses. and several other persons watched, three or four of the children drifted into sleep and could hardly be awakened. Although the classroom win dows were partially open, and the door wide open, one by one the children nodded and went to sleep. In most cases, the chil dren closest to the sleepyheads remained wide awake. Once they went to sleep, teachers and nurses took the children outside the classroom Into the open air and there at tempted to revive them. They awakened reluctantly, were not responsive, and lapsed back Into sleep, even while being walked around to keep them awake. The children appeared per fectly normal at the beginning of the school day, their teacher said. After a certain period of sleepiness they appear normal again. One parent whose young son is among the children who have been going to sleep said the child appears normal while at home. He goes to bed around nine o'clock at nljht and sleeps soundly until between six and seven the following morning. There was no answer im mediately available to the lay man, Abernethy said, and the situation calls for an immediate answer. "We aren't about to experi ment, even for a day," Aber nethy said. "The health and welfare of not only this class, but the entire school, is a con cern which transcends our ob ligation to instruct them. We insist that whatever needs to be done medically In the way of Investigation, diagnosis, and safeguards for other students be begun immediately. If no medical problem is involved and certainly medical authori ties will be able to determine this then the situation can be explored from whatever angle that might lead to a so lution." Aside from being asleep or sleepy much as if drugged the children showed no visible Jtgns, discernible by a layman of being ill. Their complexion did not pale, nor did thev -er-n to have above-norma: ten ture. Only one child t. that her head ached and o;.e u her legs hurt. .w.v.-.
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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March 14, 1968, edition 1
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