North Carolina Newspapers

w(te <~Vlew4 - journal The Hoke County News- Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 VOL. LXVI NO. 43 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA *4 PER YEAR 10c PER COPY THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1971 Around T own By SAM MORRIS We would like to remind all muiic lovers of the concert tomorrow night (Friday) at the Raeford Elementary School auditorium at eight o'clock. The North Carolina State University symphonic band will present the concert. The program is being sponsored by the Chaminade Music Club and the price of admission is $1.00. The 76 - piece symphonic band is conducted by Donald B. Adcox. So if you like good music go to the auditorium Friday night. A real Buck finally found its way out to Hoke High School Sunday. You can read the article in another place in the paper about the deer that jumped ?through a window at the school. We didn't know that they would get this far from the reservation. We suspect that dogs must have run the deer this far away from home. The fine weather over the weekend had most golfers out on a course. We even observed some ladies that don't play the game walking around the course with their husbands or other relatives. Of course as usual the nice weather didn't hold up and by Monday the rains were with us again. Raz Autry, principal at Hoke High School is finding out, the hard way, just how much work his two secretaries do. Mrs. WiHiam Lamont and Mrs. Larry Upchurch are both out with ailments so Raz is not only the principal but also secretary at the two buildings. We hope that the ladies will have a speedy recovery and be back on the job before too long. The long argument about letting 18 - year ? olds vote was passed by Congress, but here in Hoke County if they doift i register they won't be -able to vote. According to Mrs. John Scott Poole, registrar, very few have registered. Maybe they will be like the older voters; even if they register they can't find time to go to the polls and vote. With the condition of this country today; wars, bombings, drugs, etc. maybe all of us should start taking the issues of the country serious. The place to begin is at the ballot boxes The leaders we elect are the policy makers of the future. Commander Bill Parker of the Hoke Rescue Squad said Tuesday that the contributions in hand toward the S2800 needed to start the new building were $1440. 21. The supper raised $361.25 and the other $1078.96 has been contributed by local citizens. If you haven't donated do so today. The money will be tax exempt and will be for a worthy cause. Send your contributions to Hoke County Rescue Building fund, P.O. Box 337, Raeford, N.C. Hoke Group Named To Region Committee The Rev. Jack Mansfield has been named chairman of the Hoke County delegation on the Region N advisory committee to the regional council on aging. Also named to the committee are W.S. Young, Mrs. Ellen Willis and Miss Mabel McDonald. The committee is made up of members from the four counties in the regional planning group: Bladen, Hoke, Robeson and Scotland counties. Mrs. Luther J. Britt has accepted the chairmanship of the Region N Conference Committee of the North Carolina Governor's Coordinating Council on Aging. Region N is one of 17 such areas organized in North Carolina by the Governor's Council on Aging for the purpose of considering the needs and the principal issues in the field of older citizens. The meeting of Region N will be held March 27 at Pembroke Senior High School in Pembroke. Local commurtity forums have previously been held in several areas of each of the 17 regions in the state as a preliminary step in the voicing of the needs of older Americans. The Regional conferences will make the first formulations of the 1971 policies on aging, which will form the basis for deliberations of participants at the Governor's Conference scheduled to be held in Raleigh oh May 21, 22. State policy formulations, resulting from this conference and similar conferences held in other states, will be considered by President Nixon's White House Conference on Aging to be held in Truck Kills Horse, Rider Ronnie Locklear, IS, was killed last Thursday on N.C. 211 when the horse on which he was riding was hit by a truck. The accident happened, about 4:30 p.m. at the crossroads of RP1457, the firetQwer road, and N.C. 211, about one and a half miles east of Raeford. Ronnie, a ninth grade student at Hoke High School, appeared to be running his horse along the shoulder of the road beside a school bus, Highway Patrol Sgt. D.L. Minshew said. He failed to stop the horse at N.C. 211 and dashed into the path of a Carolina Turf Company truck driven by John Ed McRae of Raeford. The horse was killed also. McRae was not injured. Damage to the truck was estimated at S600. Funeral services were held Sunday at Hoke County Church of God by the Rev. Claudie Dial and the Rev. Elbert Chavis. Burial was in Old Prospect Church Cemetery. Ronnie is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alton Locklear of Rt. 2, Raeford, six brothers, Henry, Dannie, William Earl, Roy, Jeny Glenn, and Wallace Locklear and one sister, Mary Lucille Locklear, all of the home. This was the first county traffic fatality this year. Washington, D.C. in November. The goal of this national conference is to establish a national policy on the aging which will serve as a guide for further program planning and action at the community, state and national levels by both the public and private sectors of society. Several areas of emphasis in relation to the needs of the aging will be covered at the Region N Conference at Pembroke, among which will be income, health and mental health, housing and environment, education and training, employment and retirement roles, spiritual well ? being, services, programs, and facilities and government and non ? government organizations. City Applies For Grant For Airport City authorities have submitted an application for federal and state aid to finance improvements at the Raeford airport. The project will cost an estimated 5119,139, city manager John Caddy said. The city has requested a grant of 559,819.59 from the Federal Aviation Agency and the State Department of Conservation and Development for a grant of 529,909.75. The remaining S 29,909.75 must be raised by the city. The improvements include paving and liehtine the/ield. Submitted to FAA last week were an environmental statement, a statement of displacement and relocation of persons in the area, an airport layout plan, notification to the state clearing house and an application for state funds. The application is now being studied by FAA, Caddy said. Body Taken From River An unidentified body was found Saturday in the Lumber River on the Hoke County side of the Hoke - Scotland county line about sixty feet below the bridge, Sheriff D.M. Barrington said. No identification was found on the body, which is believed by the sheriff to be that of a white male. The body has been sent to the University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital for an autoDsv. it was discovered about 2:30 p.m. Saturday by Joseph A. Caulder of Rt. 4, Laurinburg and was recovered by the sheriffs department and the Hoke County Rescue Squad. The man was wearing a blue polo shirt, green slacks and black shoes and socks, the sheriff said. An investigation by the coroner and by the sheriffs department is continuing. Murder Charge Dismissed Against Marshall Parks A murder charge was dismissed Friday against Marshall Lloyd Parks when a ruling of no probable cause was returned in District Court by Judge Joseph Dupree. Parks, a service station operator from McCain, had been charged with murder following the shooting Feb. 20 of Martin Luther Wearins of Greensboro? He appeared in District Court late Friday afternoon without an attorney after waiting all day for the case to be called. Wearins widow, Mrs. Shirley Wearins, and friends who were with the couple when Wearins was killed, were also' present in the courtroom during the long day before the case was called by the solicitor about 4 p.m. Judge Dupree had the four witnesses for the state taken from the courtroom and secluded before being called to testify one at a time. Governor Jackson, who said he lives near Five Points, testified first. He said he was sitting in his car in the parking lot of Park's Texaco station when the shootng occurred. Jackson testified that he saw the car drive up with two couples in it; the women left the car and walked around to the rear of the station. Then they went inside. Parks came to the car, Jackson said, and raised the car hood. He then went back inside the station and later returned to the car. Jackson said he saw Parks come to the driver's side of the auto. "It looked like he grabbed something in the car," Jackson said. "He looked through the glass of the front door and put his hand on the man in the back seat. I saw Mr. Parks jump back and the fellow in front sot out. It looked like the man in front swiped at him first. I heard maybe two shots and the man in front fell down. Then I walked over to the car door. It was open and the man was laying between the door and the car. Parks was at the front of the car off to the left. I was a knife on the ground about a foot from the man's hand. U was a pocket knife." Jackson said he did not know that Parks had hit the other man until he saw the man's cheek bleeding. "I figured Superior Civil Court Holds One Hour Term Superior civil court held a one hour session Monday, in which the jurors were swom in, all the cases calendared for this term continued and the jurors were dismissed. Sheriff D.M. Barrington, appearing later before the county commissioners to present his year ? end report, complained about " the waste of tax money when jurors are called and not used. This was the first time it has happened in Superior Court that he remembers, Barrington said, but it is common in DisKict Civil to use the jurors for perhaps as little as a half day. Jurors are paid S8 a day. The 27 jurors who were present for the March 1 term of Superior Court cost the state S216. Barrington told the commissioners that while a jury was not needed for the last City Will Check Speed With Radar City police plan a crackdown on speeding with a new radar unit provided for the city two weeks ago by the Governor's Highway Safety Program. The instrument, which can be mounted on any vehicle, has a range of 4,000 feet, city policeman Leonard Wiggins said. "Our patrol car will be visable at all times," he said, "But the range is such that speeders can be clocked before they can spot the patrol car." The machine has a double system of calibrating and is checked before and after a citation is issued, Wiggins said. The unit will be used throughout the city but will be concentrated on streets on which speeding has been a problem, he said. Wiggins and J.C. Barrington attended a six hour course taught by the Highway Patrol in Fayetteville before operating the radar. The unit was used to conduct a survey for three days, Feb. 1618 and citations have been issued beginning Feb. 19. term of District Civil court, which also lasted an hour, his office was not notified until notices had been prepared and stamped ready for mailing. "This is county money wasted, and it comes from my budget," he said. Barrington asked the commissioners to consider writing a letter of concern to the chief district court judge, Derb Carter. He suggested that jury cases could be scheduled for one term and non ? jury cases scheduled for another term or perhaps the frequency of terms could be altered. While Commissioner John Balfour said he shared the concern over the waste of tax money at any level, the board agreed that the matter was beyond the responsibility of the county officers. Barrington pointed out that in addition to wasting money, the use of juries in district court for one or two days was a serious drain on potential jurors for the county. "After a person has served on the jury once, he isn't called for at least two years," he said. "This can use up your jury pool fast when you just use them for a day or so." Barrington also said that the public was aware of the lack of importance attached to serving on the civil court jury because of the brief use made of jurors and that this lowered the prestige of the courts. "This is not my responsibility, (See COURT, Page <f) Swim Group Elects Die hi Phil Diehl was elected president at the annual meeting of the Hoke Swimming Association Tuesday night at the Civic Center. Younger Snead, Jr. was elected vice - president. Re - elected were Mrs. Alfred K. Leach, secretary and Jim Bowles, treasurer. Two new directors were elected to replace Mrs. Ed Church and Dewey Inman. Elected were Mrs. John Pecora and W.L. Lancaster. that's what he must have done when he leaned into the car." Jackson said. Mrs Marie Frances Locklear, of Greensboro who was, according to the sheriff, the driver of the car, testified next. She said the two couples had come to Fayetteville to visit her mother ? in ? law and had then gone by St. Pauls and next to Lumberton to pick up Wearins' pistol at a gunshop. They were returning to Greensboro when they stopped at Park's to have the oil checked. She told the court that everyone had been drinking at least a small amount that day and that her husband, Tommy Locklear, was drunk. Wearins, she said, was not auite as drunk as Locklear, and Mrs. Wearins was high. She and Mrs. Wearins went into the restroom, Mrs. Locklear testified, and while they were in there, they heard gunshots. "We thought it was a hold ? up. We heard screaming and then when we came out of the bathroom, a man said for us to go back in. I went in and tried to push the door open because 1 had seen my husband at the door of the car and his face was bleeding. The two women went to the car, Mrs. Locklear said, and she said she asked Parks why he had hurt her husband. "He said he ought to have shot him in the heart too," Mrs. Locklear said. Mrs. Locklear also said that they had stopped at another service station in Hoke County and had trouble there. She did not describe the incident. Mrs. Wearins' testimony was much the same as Mrs. Locklear's. She was crying as she took the stand and broke into tears occasionally during the solicitor's questions, but for the most part, her voice remained steady. Judge Dupree cautioned the solicitor that she was under great stress but told Mrs. Wearins she would have to testify. "We were ?y??g horn*," she tr?ld the court. "He (Wearins) was in the back seat, barefooted. Everybody had been drinking that day. I did not ever see my husband get out of the car. I was in the bathroom three or four minutes and when 1 came out, he was dead." Tommy Locklear told the court that he remembered very little of the events that night. "I had been drinking heavy," he said. "1 don't remember pulling into the station, 1 don't remember when he (Parks) hit me or why he hit me. When 1 came back to my right mind Pete, Martin Luther, had already been shot. 1 don't remember anything until after the shot." Deputy Harvey Young testified that he arrived at the station about 7 p.m. Saturday night. Parks had him pick up the knife, a "regular razor blade type pocket knife. S'/4 inch blade," Young said. Parks gun had three empty shells and three loaded ones. Parks asked Young during cross examination if he had heard anyone threaten him that night and Young replied that Mrs. Wearins said she had a gun too, and would kill him. Sheriff D.M. Barrington read a statement made by Parks at the Hoke County jail: "The fellow that got shot was driving, the other man was in the back. The ladies got out and asked me to check the oil. As 1 checked the oil, I saw them drinking beer so I asked them not to. They said what the hell you trying to do? Go get smart? The driver, he reached down on the floor board, I drew my pistol and walked over to see what he (See PARKS, Page 9) Commissioners Approve $2500 For Recreation The county commissioners approved $2500 for a summer recreation program at the monthly meeting of the board Monday. According to the motion, the money wilt be paid in July out of the next fiscal budget. Benny McLeod, chairman of the United Fund recreation committee and also newly appointed chairman of the Raeford recreation advisory committee, and Sam C. Morris, treasurer of the United Fund, appeared before the commissioners on behalf of the recreation request. The commissioners, although sympathetic to the program, questioned the advisability of the county paying a larger share than the.city. Morris replied that city residents were also residents of Hoke County and paid both city and county taxes. McLeod estimated that as many as 50 per cent of the children participating in the summer baseball program were from outside the city. Commissioner J.A. Webb said he thought efforts should be concentrated 4 on providing a park in the county, but he Week Injures Pedestrian ? ? A pedestrian and nine other persons were injured Feb. 21 when a car hit a stopped vehicle ant then caromed into a tree beside RPI218 hear Five Points. Mrs. Mary Armstrong, of Rt. 3, Raeford was injured by the fading tree. Nine occupants of tbe two cars received < minor injuries. later submitted the motion to allot the funds to the recreation program. The commissioners also approved the transfer of some social services funds into the Medicaid fund. Miss Mabel McDonald appeared before the board to request the transfer. A total of $3,423.89 remained in the Medicaid fund on the first of the year, she told the board. She estimated that $2,563 in public assistance funds and $7,000 in county ? provided funds could be diverted to the medical program. Miss McDonald estimated that this would pay for bills incurred through April and since payments are about two months behind treatment, the funds should last until the next fiscal year, she said. A total of $28,287.11 was appropriated this year for the medical program, however two months of the previous fiscal year have been paid from this year's appropriation. Miss McDonald said. She told the commissioners that 995 persons had been certified for Medicaid. This included 127 who received aid to the aged; 12 who received aid to the blind; 99 who were disabled; 121 who received medical assistance only and 536 who received aid to dependent children. Of the AFDC recipients, 418 are children. This totals an average medical bill of $28.85 per person, she told the commissioners. Included in this are doctors fees, hospital bills, nursing home care, drugs and other medical expenses. The current case load included 106 who receive aid to the aged; 30 who receive AFDC, medical assistance, and 29 disabled who receive medical assistance. The commissioners adopted a state - prepaied survey for disposal of solid waste in the county as part of the requirement for obtaining a 55,500 grant from Advancement, Inc. to purchase a landfill site. The county will provide $6,500 in addition to the grant to buy a 62 - acre site. T.B. Lester, Tom McBryde and Ralph Barnhart were appointed to a committee to establish an agreement with the city for joint operation of the landfill. Budget hearings were set for March 23 and April 5 was set as the meeting of the board of equalization. T.B. Lester suggested that the personnel committee (See $2500, Page 9) Jaycees Plan Teen Dance A dance for teenagers only will be held March 13 from 8 to 12 at the National Guard Armory by the Raeford Jaycees. Music will be provided by "The Soul Purpose," playing top 40 hits. The Jaycees are sponsoring the dance to raise money for a club house and as an experiment to see if dances are needed this summer. Paul Solomon said the club is considering sponsoring more dances if this one works out well. Advance tickets are on sale at Sugar's Men Store and Heilig ? Meyer Furniture Store. Prices are S2 couple and Si single. Prices at the door are $2.50 couple and S1.50 for singles. Council Appoints McLeod To Recreation Committee In a special meeting Friday morning, the city council appointed Benny McLeod chairman of a Raeford recreation advisory committee. Other members were named in the regular council meeting Monday night. Named to the committee were Charlie Hottel, Don Abernethy, George Wood, Shuford Pennell, Palmer Willcox, Cornell McLauren and Mrs. Pam Pursley. Although the committee is a first step toward a city ? county recreation commission, city manager John Caddy said, it will not meet requirements to obtain state and federal recreation funds. A commission will have to be formed before outside funds can be obtained. At the called meeting Friday, the council also approved the purchase of a well site from JJi. Wright for SISOO and a site from Benny and Joe McLeod for SI,000. J.D. McMUlian, Franklin Teal and John Caddy were appointed to work with the county in establishing a joint lam1 fill operation. The council Monday night appointed Neil) Senter registrar for city elections scheduled May 4. Mrs. Ruth Scarborough and Miss Ila Graham were appointed as judges. The council approved a resolution calling for the regular election of mayor and five councilmen. The filing deadline is April 16. Registration books are to be open from April 16 through April 23 and challenge day will be April 24. The board also held public hearings Monday night on zoning requests. An application by Jettie Smith to be allowed to operate a store on his property in a residential zone was referred to the zoning board. The council approved the rezoning from residential to commercial of a lot on 401 and Cole Street owned by J.H. Wright. The lot is to be used as a used car lot, but Wright agreed not to place any junk cars on the property. Another request was approved to rezone from residential to commercial a lot on 401 and Vass Road owned by Walter Parks. The board established a distinction between house trailers, whicl^ are not allowed inside the city except in mobile home parks, and travel trailers. A house trailer is at least 8 feet by 32 feet while a travel trailer is less than eight feet and (See COUNCIL. Page 9) Man Dies In Wreck One man was killed and five were injured in two serious one - car accidents in the county over the weekend. Kenneth Oxendine, 23, of Rt. I, Raeford, was killed about I 45 Saturday morning near the Arabia Golf Courae when he lost control of his car on a curve.. The car, apparently traveling at high speed, overturned, Trooper Joe Stanley said. Four other passengers were taken to Cape Fear Valley Hospital. Charles bdward hisher of Raeford was injured about 4 a.m. Sunday between Arabia and Raeford when he failed to make a tum and continued straight across the road, striking a tree whiih cut the car into two pieces. Fisher, who was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, was taken to Cape Fear Valley Hospital with a concussion. He was charged with careless and reckless driving.