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The Hoke County News- Established 1928
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
VOLUME LXIV NUMBER 10
RAEFORD. HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
14 PER YEAR 10 PER COPY
THURSDAY, JULY 18, 1968
To Stem Flood Of Emigration
Hoke Will Share $1.3 Million Grant
rM working to curb migration
The federal government has allocated
$ 1 .3 million to finance a project in four
North Carolina counties, including Hoke,
to stem the emigration of low-income
families from the area.
The North Carolina project, one of two
in the nation, includes Hoke, Robeson,
Bladen and Columbus counties - where
an estimated 40,000 persons have moved
away since 1960 because of a lack of job
opportunities.
The grant was provided through a
special impact program of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture and will be
administered under direction of Farmers
Home Administration by Advancement.
Inc., a non profit corporation based at
Lumberton.
The four-county area is said to be one
of the heaviest emigration areas in the
nation. The other pilot project is in a
four-county area in Kentucky. The two
pilot projects areas were selected from
among 1 1 in the nation.
Seriousness of the problem of
emigration is reflected in statistics from
the Economic Research Service, which
shows an estimated 44,582 persons
moved out of the four-county area here
from 1960 through 1967.
County - by county, the emigration
figures, with total population based on
1967 estimates, are:
Hoke 2,640 or 13.9 per cent of
17,493 total.
Robeson 21,703 or 19.6 per cent of
91,772 total.
Columbus 12,823 or 20.8 per cent
of 50,046 total.
Bladen 7,416 or 20.4 per cent of
28,627 total.
Office of Economic Opportunity
community profiles show Robeson
County with 7,022 families in the
poverty classification in 1966. The
county's median family income was
$3,590, more than $1,000 under the
national norm.
With 39.2 per cent of its families
classified as poverty stricken, Robeson
accounted for 2.5 per cent of all poor
families in the state. However, the county
had improved its economic situation over
1960 figures, which showed 58 per cent
of its families received poverty incomes.
Hoke County showed 1,230 poverty
families - about a third of the population
two years ago. The median family
income was $3,910.
In Bladen County, 2,096 or 36.2 per
cent of families were in the poverty
bracket. The median family income for
the county was $3,534.
In Columbus County 3,558 families, or
33.3 per cent of the total, were listed as
poverty stricken. The median family
income was $3,734.
The migration problem in the
four-county area 'is caused by the
lessening of day jobs available for farm
workers. All four counties are largely
agricultural, and mechanization has put
virtually thousands of former day
laborers and tenant farmers out of work.
"We are very optimistic about
bettering conditions and keeping at least
some of these people at home," said J. A.
Singleton of Red Springs, chairman of
RobVson Board of County Commissioners
and president of Advancement, Inc.
Hjke County's representatives on the
12-ian board of directors are Ralph
Bamhart, W. T. Altman and lvery
McNair.
Although there have been no meetings
of the board, Singleton indicated a
number of projects are in the "talking or
planning stage."
The money can be used to establish
industrial sites, provide training, erect
low-iricome housing, and provide other
inducements to families which otherwise
might move away.
The 12-man board of directors alsc
includes:
Robeson Singleton, David Townscnd
of Rowland and Benford Lowery of
Pembroke.
Bladen W. G. Fussell of
Elizabethtown, D. M. Campbell of
Elizabethtown, and Bryon McNeill of
Clarkton.
Columbus B. T. Elliott of Mt. Olive,
Roland Core and B. L. Nesmith of Tabor
City.
Three of the directors are Negro, one
Indian, and the rest white.
The program was hastily prepared in
June in time to get the appropriation
before June 30, the end of the recent
fiscal year.
The program presentation was worked
up by Marion Holland of Farmers Home
Administration and FHA directors in the
four-county area will play an important
part in working out further details.
Present plans call for employment of i
director in the near future
,K'X";-xtt;-:;';.;
wXx-xxx-xx-:X':
Hoke Gets $17,000 e?
R
For Hungry Families M
Hoke County has received a
$17,000 supplement to the
surplus food program for
low-income families here and
the money will be used to
provide food vouchers for
persons most desperately in
need, according to W.T.
Altman, director of Hoke
Community 'Wtron Program,
the local anti-poverty office.
Several hundred families in
the county already receive
monthly allocations of some
13 surplus commodity items.
The food is distributed to
families whose need has been
certified by the welfare
department and amounts to
about $7 worth of food per
person per month.
The supplementary money
will be used to provide food
for persons termed to be
"hungry or suffering from
malnutrition," Altman said.
. "We will not hand out
money or food to anyone not
checked out by the welfare
department or by people in the
client's neighborhood,"
Altman said.
- The money will be used first
to help families whose needs
are desperate, but who do not
qualify for one of the four
categories Of welfare assistance,
Altman said. It also will be
used to provide food for
families who have qualified for
welfare assistance, but have not
received their first check.
Altman said the program to
not designed for long-range
support of impoverished
people, but is a stopgap
measure initiated by the
Department of Agriculture
when surveys indicated hunger
and malnutrition were rampant
on almost 300 VS. counties,
including Hoke.
Altman said his office will
check on prospective recipients
after leads have been provided
by the welfare department or
other dependable citizens.
Prospective recipients should
not apply at the anti-poverty
office, he said.
w
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BANGED UP - Sheriff Dave Barrington's patrol car, shown here in the "junk" lot of a local auto
company, doesn't appear to be seriously damaged. However, mechanics say the frame was badly
bent when the vehicle was rammed at its parking place in front of the county courthouse last
week.
Sheriffs Car Hit Parked On Street
Sheriff Dave Barrington
declares he was not driving a
1967 Ford belonging to the
Hoke County Sheriff's
Department when it was badly
damaged last Thursday.
Trooper J.D. Robinson
vouched for him. He located
and arrested James Edwards
and charged him with leaving
the scene of an accident and
with driving without an
operator's license.
The car being driven when a
collision took place as the
sheriffs car was parked on
Main Street belonged to
Murdock Clifton (Pete) Brown,
a friend of Edwards. Brown,
however, was driving the
automobile when it was taken
away from Jackson's Pool
Room, according to Robinson,
where he was arrested and
charged with driving drunk.
Edwards reportedly ran in
another direction and was
picked up at his home the next
day.
Bond for Brown was set at
$ 1 50 and for Edwards at $500.
The sheriffs car, struck
from the rear, was damaged an
estimated $1,000 when the
two-way radio equipment was
damaged, the chasis and frame
were bent. The other car's
damage was estimated to be
$450.
Meanwhile, a 1958 Ford
driven by Richard Lee Chavis
was termed a total loss Sunday
when it overturned several
times at the intersection of
Sunset Park Road and
Dundarrach-Davis Bridge Road.
Robinson said that Chavis,
Lonnie H. Stewart and Dick
McEachin of Fayetteville Rt. 4,
all were injured and that Chavis
was admitted at Veterans
Hospital at Fayetteville with a
back injury.
He was charged with
exceeding a safe speed.
Wednesday afternoon, a
stationwagon driven by E.G.
Inman left the pavement of
Cole Avenue Extension and
crashed into a utility pole,
injuring the driver, according
to Patrolman E.W. Coen.
He said the vehicle was
moving toward US 401 Bypass
when it left the pavement on
the left side of a curve, skidded
back across the street, then
crossed the pavement once
more before crashing head-on
into a utility pole.
See WRECKS, Page 1 1
Private ScJiool
Plans Delayed
McMillan
Rites Held
Funeral services were held
here Saturday afternoon for L.
Starr McMillan, retired
superintendent of the Raeford
water department, who died
Thursday at Duke Medical
Center.
McMillan, 77, had entered
the medical center four days
previously for an eye
operation. He reportedly died
of a heart attack.
A native of Hoke County, he
was employed by the town for
more than 30 years. After his
retirement, a street in i new
Raeford subdivision was named
in his honor.
Funeral services were held at
4 p.m. Saturday at Raeford
Presbyterian Church by the
Rev. Cortez A. Cooper, pastor.
Burial with Masonic grsveside
See McMILLAN, Page II
Planners of a private school
for Hoke County this week
abandoned efforts to get the
school opened by September
. and said they probably will
. renew efforts to organize the
school after January -1 .
Hoke Day School was to
have opened at the beginning
of the fall school term at
Rockfish in the former public
school plant there. The
facilities, now owned by a
community corporation, would
have been leased to the private
school.
Lack of students was the
most obvious reason plans to
open the school were
abandoned, or at least delayed.
Younger Snead Jr., chairman
of the planning committee,
said recruitment turned up
only 85 to 90 pupils. It was
estimated at the beginning of
the campaign that 200 students
would be required to open and
operate the school for the first
year.
"We were seriously
hampered by a lack of time,"
Snead said. "If we had gone
about recruiting differently
like working outside the
county earlier we might have
signed enough students. But, of
course, we didn't know. We
felt the necessary enrolment
could be recruited in Hoke
County, and we wanted to give
our people first chance at it."
Monday night, advocates of
the school held i "deadline"
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XX
DRIVER HURT - E. G. Inman of Raeford was painfully injured when the above station wagon
skidded off wet pavement in the Sunset Hills section last Thursday and struck a utility pole. Inman
was thrown into the windshield and was hospitalized with facial cuts and other injuries.
Vacation bonuses totaling
more than $4 million are.
being paid to wage employes of
Burlington Industries during
the vacation season this
summer.
Charles A. McLendon,
Burlington vice president for
personnel, said vacation pay is
given to employes in July and
August to coincide with
manufacturing plant vacations.
The summer payments are in
addition to some $3)4 million
paid last December.
About 50.000 Burlington
employes at plants in 15 staff
including two plants here, are
to receive the payments, with
individual amounts based on
length of service, McLendon
laid.
Bonuses are paid in addition
to benefits provided by
Burlington's profit sharing
retirement plan for
non-salaried employes. In
1967, members of the profit
sharing plan had approximately
$6)4 million credited to their
accounts, which was equivalent
to about 4 per cent of the
member employe's wages.
meeting at Hoke Civic Centet,
Announced purpose of the
meeting was to determine if
. enough students had been
i&r.t4, and if not, to evil oft,
the project.
When it appeared obvious
that further sign-ups Monday
night would still leave the
project short of the student
goal, down payments were
refunded to parents who had
entered their children on the
roU. ! , -
Indications were that the
group will miantain an inactive
committee, secure a post office
See PRIVATE, Page II
Dollar Days
Raeford merchants will
bring to a close their July trade
promotion, "Auction Dollar
Days," at 7:30 p. m. Saturday
when they stage the climactic
auction of prizes on the
parking lot behind Western
Auto.
Also on tap is a free show
"of mystery and illusion,"
featuring "The Amazing Mr.
Bradbury and Company,'
For some three weeks,
merchants have been passing
out "play" money with each
purchase in their
establishments. Customers have
hoarded the script and will use
it instead of real cash to pay
for auctioned prize items
Saturday night.
Nineteen merchants
participated in the promotion.
They include Belk's, Collins,
Western Auto, Johnson Stores,
Theresa's, Raeford Hardware,
Niven's Appliance and
Furniture, Wood Furniture,
Griffin's Fabric Shop, Mark's
Food Store, Pope's 5 & 10, R.
L. Long Grocery, City
Cleaners, Raeford Super
Market, Home Furniture, Mack
5 & 10, Allen's Ltd., Raeford
Cleaners, and Hoke Discount
House.
Jim Fout, manager of
Raeford-Hoke Chamber of
Commerce, reminded shoppers
today they still have three days
in which to accumulate auction
dollars through purchases
downtown.
"If a person is planning to
buy any of the goods or
services offered by the
participating merchants
anytime soon, it would make
good sense to go ahead and
buy before Saturday night and
get in on the free prizes," he
said.
Prize items arc on display at
Niven's Appliance and
Furniture Store, Main Street.
Burlington Pays Bonus
JWr -i - 7 j-.. ,' I
WILL HAVE TO WAIT - The former Rockfish School, currently owned by a community
corporation and leased as storage space, will have to wait at least another year for renovation. It
was to be used by the private school which this week announced the project was being sidetracked
for the time being.