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Books Open
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March 30
The Hoke County News- Established 1928
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
VOLUME LXI1 NUMBER 46
RAEFORI). HOKE COUNTY. NORTH CAROLINA
I PER YEAR IOC PER COPY
THURSDAY. MARCH 28. 1968
East Of Raeford
1 jj
A
;Two Young Men Killed.
.In Car -Bus Accident
CBV Television Crew, David Schumacher, Right Front
Sleepy Kids
Figured Out
BY JIM TAYLOR
Upchurch School's sleeping class mystery apparently was
Mieid to rest, ai 'least loinporart :y, when principal ligures irr
the Investigation braves .Hood limits and the questions of na
tional television newsmen at a news conference in Fayettevllle.
International Inters t In the first y.rade class was created
last week when United Press International transmitted a story
and photographs about six or seven youngsters who had been
mysteriously going to sleep and were hard to awaken.
The News-Journal first carried a story about the mystery In
Its March 14 Issue. Another story was carried the following
Thursday, March 21. and I'PI moved the story Friday night.
Tuesdayi Dr. Harry McLean, Dr. Don Schulte, and Donald D.
Abernethy related the entire story of the youngsters before the
cameras of NBC, CBS, ABC. and a North Carolina TV station,
as well as newspapermen.
They had set up the press conference after the national TV
networks asked permission to come to Raeford and film the
story, Including taking movies in the classroom. Permission
to disturb the classroom was denied, but the three principal
investigators .offered full cooperation In any other area.
Di . McLean, regional consultant, North Carolina Board of
Health, acted as spokesman for the three-man panel. Dr.
Schulte, a Plnehurst psychiatrist, was called in as psychiatric
consultant on die case. Abernethy is superintendent of Hoke
County schools.
Dr. McLean's opening statement revealed that the youngsters
first began going to sleep in mld-mornlng on March 7. The
routine started with one or two children, and by March 11, the
number had increased to six or seven.
(See SLEETY, Fage 8)
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BOB oCOTT
Bob Scott
To Visit
Tuesday
Democratic gubernatorial
candiate Bob Scott will be in
Hoke County Tuesday, April 2,
on a campaign swing through
this area.
Hoke County ladies for Bob
Scott will stage an open house
at Hoke Civic Center, giving
people in this area an oppor
tunity to meet and talk with
the son of the late W. Kerr
Scott, former governor of the
state and a U.S. senator. Mrs.
Joan Balfour and Mrs. Mamie
Gatlln are co-chairmen of the
woman's campaign organiza
tion. Prior to the open house, Scott
(See BOB SCOTT, laee 11)
Greyhound
Load Of 27
Uninjured
Two young men were killed
a mile east of Raeford at about
11 p. m. Tuesday when the driver
of their car apparently disre
garded a stop sign at the In
tersection of East i rospect
Avenue and Old US 401 and
plowed directly into the path
of a Greyhound bus.
The dead men were identi
fied as Sherman I. Ereeden,
26, of 215 Sixth Avenue, Red
Springs, and Eockery Jones Jr.,
25, believed to be from Rae
ford. Identification was made by
Hoke County Coroner Frank
Crunipler from papers in the
personal effects of the victims.
Both men were Negro.
State Highway patrolman J.
D. Robinson said the bus driv
er, T. J. Whttaker, 49, of Ral
eigh, told him he was headed
toward Fayettevllle when the
cr entered the lntersect.cn
from the south at a high rate
of speed.
The bus, bound from Colum
bia, S. C, to Raleigh, was
carrying 27 passengers, In
addition to the driver and an
off-duty driver returning to Ra
leigh. None of them appeared
to be seriously injured.
The crash occurred at the In
tersection where East pros
pect Avenue goes from the high
way to Robblns Heights. Long's
Pure Oil Station Is on the south
east corner of the Intersection,
The car was knocked some 25
feet by the Impact, down a slight
embankment, and came to rest
upright. The vehicle was de
molished. The bus traveled a distance
of some 150 to 200 feet, also
going down the slight embank
ment. The front end of the bus
was smashed and its windshield
broken. Whltaker received ap
(See KILLED, I-age 8)
Band Concert
Hoke High School Band and
W.T. Gibson School Elementary
Band will stage a "pop" con
cert tonight (Thursday) at 8
o'clock in the high school gym.
Admission will be 50 cents and
the public Is Invited, said Jim my
James, band director. "Most
of the music will be popular,
musical comedy, and marches,"
he said.
; Finite Ji,wm&5!
Squashed Car In Which Two Young Men Died After Auto-Bus Collision
Upchurch Principal Page Dies
Funeral services were held
here Monday afternoon for
George Arthur Page Jr., 60,
principal of Upchurch High
School, who died March 20 after
an Illness of several months.
Page, a native of Cumberland,
Md was admitted to a Lumber
ton hospital during the Christ
mas holidays. He later was
transferred to Veterans Hos
pital in Durham, where his death
occurred after several weeks of
treatment.
He had only recently returned
to the Hospital after a brief
visit to his home here. He was
a veteran of World War II, and
had been principal at Upchurch
for the past 17 years.
Funeral services were con
ducted at the school at 2 p.m.
and followed requiem mass in
toned at 11 a. m. at St. Eliza
beth of Hungary Catholic Church
here. Last rites were per
formed by the Rev. W. Lynch.
Burial was In Rockfish Memo
rial Park, Fayettevllle.
Page was graduated from
Morgan State College and re
ceived a master's degree In
education from Columbia In
1934.
His first school job was in
Wagram. After returning to
Scotland County after World
War II, he served as a county
school supervisor until he came
to Raeford In 1951.
At the time of his death, he
was chairman of the board of
Page's Mother
Dies In Chicago
Mrs. Iola Page, mother of
G. A. Pagei principal of Up
church High Jchool whose fu
neral was held here Monday,
reportedly died of a heart at
tack upon reachin0 her home in
Chicago after attending funeral
services here.
Mrs. Pae, the principal's
widow, is said to have told
courthouse officials of the
death. Funeral plans were
not revealed, but it was assumed
they would be held in Chicago.
directors of Hoke County Com
munity Action Program (the
local anti-poverty agency). He
also was institutional represen
tative for Boy Scouts of Ameri
ca; past president, NorthCaro
lina Congress of Colored Par
ents and Teachers, and a mem
ber of various teacher, princi
pal, and other professional or
ganizations. A school holiday was declared
at Upchurch School in respect
for the long-time principal.
Members of the faculty served
as flower bearers
Pallbearers wereF. W.Cald
well Jr., J. H. Chalmers, M.&
Hayes, J. D. McAllister, W. R.
Rice, and S. L. Williams.
He is survived by his wife,
Mrs. Addie Page, and a daugh
ter, CarolynFrances Page, both
of the home; his mother, Mrs.
Iola Page of Chicago, 111.; three
sisters. Mrs. Helen Weaver,
Mrs. Marian Adams, and Mrs.
Louise Rhyne, all of Chicago,
Vote Books
Will Open
Saturday
Registrars In Hoke County's
13 precincts gathered Tuesday
night for final instructions from
J. Scott Poole, chairman of
Hoke County Board of Elections,
before opening a county - wide
registration in which every cit
izen must register.
The mass registration was
made necessary by the 1967
General Assembly of North
Carolina. It passed a law re
quiring each of the state's 100
counties to maintain "loose
leaf" registration books.
Briefly, that means that each
voter will have a page in the
registry. When he moves away,
or otherwise becomes ineligible
to vote, his "page" is removed
from the looseleaf registry. Si
milarly, when a person become
of voting age, or moves into
the county, he can be repis-
(See REGISTRAR, Pane 11)
If You Think Upchurch Kids Interesting,
Take A Gander At Neiv York Newsmen
TEACHER AND CHILD
.Mystery Appears To Be Solved
BY JIM TAYLOR
Upchurch School's much
publicized (since last Friday)
classroom was back to normal
this week, with some six or
seven students who had created
the nation-wide stir back at
their desks, bright-eyed and
none the worse for the whole
experience.
The Upchurch story gained
national circulation Friday
when L'nltedPress International
learned of it. used four photos
from The News-Journal, and
transmitted a story and the
photographs on Its national news
wires.
The story, of. course, was
about six or seven Upchurch
first graders in Miss Hazel
Glabreath's room who were
going to sleep, mysteriously
and usually In mid-morning, and
were not easily awakened. After
a thorough physical examination
of the children, plus Investiga
tion of the room and Its en
virons, doctors concluded the
whole thing was psychological.
That, dear reader, was all
that needed to be said on a na
tionwide hookup. Mention "psy
chological phenomenon" and
every newsman, behavior ex
pert, and do-gooder of whatever
stripe perk up their collective
ears.
Thus, when the UPI story hit
New York, telephones began to
ring In Raeford. And if you
think their observation of the
children was Interesting,' you
ought to observe the observers.
Dr. Harry H. McLean of Rae
ford and Donald D. Abernethy,
superintendent of schools, were
the primary targets, in that they
were quoted In the UPI dis
patch. Dr. McLean, who form
erly practiced medicine here.
Is now a regional consultant for
the North Carolina Board of
Health. Ha continues to live In
Raeford, but covers alO-county
area out ot an office in Fay
ettevllle. Among the first outsiders to
call was a writer at The New
York Times. He apparently had
the UPI story before him and
wanted more depth. He quizzed
Dr. McLean.
Then came calls from the
television people NBC, ABC,
CBS who warned to know the
possibility of sending camera
crews to Raeford to gather ln
depth material fo nationwide
television. They were put off
for the time being.
Individual newspapers, radio
stations, and other media from
as far away as California got
In on the act. Dr. McLean
taped a 10-minute interview (by
telephone) for a Los Angeles
radio station. There came an
inquiry from a television op
eration In Atlanta. A Cleve
land, Ohio, newsman talked to
Dr. McLean, apparently wasn't
satisfied with his answers, and
subsequently talked to Aber
nethy and Sam Morris at The
News-Journal.
Meanwhile, reports Indicate
the story was on the Huntley
Brlnkley report (NBC) Friday
night. The New York Times
Is supposed to have had a
thorough story In Its Sunday
edition. Newspaper through
out the nation carried the UPI
dispatch, and it presumably was
broadcast by most radio sta
tions who subscribe to UPI news
service.
And, of course, there were
crank calls, or what amounted
to calls of no real significance.
One woman called Abernethy
from San Francisco, Inform
ing him that her children had
an Identical experience in their
school, and It eventually was
discovered their teacher was
Inadvertently hypnotizing them.
Another woman, t nurse,
called Abernethy from some
where In New Jersey, telling
him she had the whole thing
figured out. The kids were
staying up too late at night,
watching television, and needed
sleep the next day. (As If a
hundred people in Hoke County
hadn't already made that theorl
zation). A man called Dr. McLean
from Los Angeles and told him
the children are slttingtoo close
to the television set and are
picking up radiation. (There
Is no television set In the class
room). After the Initial deluge of in
quiries, the flow trickled down
to only a few organizations
which expressed an interest In
doing "ln-depth" Inquiries Into
the phenomenon.
They Included the Huntley
Brlnkley show on NBC, aid
ABC out of Atlanta.
School officials were unde
cided Monday at noon whether
they would permit the national
(See NEWSMEN, Page 3)