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The Hoke County News- Established 1928 The-Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
Around Town
By SAM C. MORRIS
Mri. A. A. Mclnnis, Rockfish
correspondent, called last week in answer
to the comments of Herman Koonce. She
stated that the quote of "I like it like it
is" did not mean that she was against
progress for Rockfish. Mrs. Mclnnis said
she wished ihey had a school, nice stores
and more churches. We believe that Mrs.
Mclnnis would like Rockfish any way
that development would make it.
Anyway, we don't want to get in a fuss
with our friends in Rockfish.
We have a letter that H.R. McLean
brought in to us written by Rufus
Dickson of High Point. It is about the
post office at Vollers. Now Vollers is
located or was located where H.L. Gatlin,
Jr. now lives. The post office was on one
side of his house and the school house
was on the other side. The home was
originally owned by the late Dr. A.P.
Dickson. We think that the letter will be
of interest to many of our readers, so it
follows:
Dear Raymond:
I was pleased to receive your letter a
few days ago. The item about the double
wedding reception for your parents and
Will McLean's parents was most
interesting. It's the kind of story the
State magazine would welcome for its
See AROUND TOWN, Page 9
County Taxes
Will Probably
Be Increased
"It look* like the tax rate will be going
up," county manager T.B. Lester
predicted glumly.
He baaed this on the indications that
the state legislature will not Include the
entire Medicaid coats in the state budget,
leaving the counties to finance its share.
Earlier this spring, it was believed that the
state would pick up the entire Medicaid
tab.
But now the county is waiting, with
the fiscal yea: ending and tax receipts a
month behind, for the state to act in
order for the county to know how to set
its tax rate.
"We usually get tax receipts in the mail
by the last of this month,' Lester said,
"well try to get them out by mid - July
if we can mar shall enough forces."
County tax workers have been making
out some receipts already, using the tax
rate from last year and are about halfway
through the list. These will have to be
corrected if the rate is increased, which
Lester says he expects.
According to Rep. Neill McFadyen, the
legislature may act on the budget
Thursday, Lester said.
The tentative budget that was set by
the county in April still stands, he said,
and nobudget meetings have been held
See COUNTY, Page 9
It Costs More Now To Run A City;
Council Plans 10^ Tax Increase
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21-4- %
Rising Cost Of Everything
Includes Sewer ChargeHike
City sewer charges will go up by 30 per
cent next month, reflecting the rising cost
of "everything," according to city
manager, John Gaddy.
Effective with the August billing on
uses for July the sewer charge will rise
from the present 20 per cent of the water
bill to 50 per cent.
The charge for water will not change.
Gaddy cited rising costs to the city in
all areas, which make the rate increase
necessary.
"Everything has gone up," he said.
"Utilities are a big increase."
The utility bill to operate the sewer
treatment plant has increased S6,800 this
year, he said. Another cost that figures
into the water and sewer fund is that of
the bond issue passed last year to finance
the expansion of city services. The debt
payment, which comes from water and
sewer revenue, is an additional $10,000
over last year, Gaddy said.
Raeford, with less than 4,UOU
residents, has a sewer treatment capacity
equal to a town of 45,000, Gaddy said.
The treatment plant, one of two of its
kind in the state and the first one
constructed, will treat three million
gallons a day, although an additional, and
Blood D rive
Gains Support
Support for the make ? up
Bloodmobile visit June 30 is growing in
the community, blood drive chairman
Clyde Upchurch, Jr. reports.
A soft-ball game was played for blood
June 23, with the loser to supply an
additional ten pints of blood. Carter's
Tire met the House of Raeford for the
unusual stakes.
Knit-Away has joined other industries
in supporting the drive, Upchurch said.
The textile plant will allow employees
time off to contribute blood on a
volunteer basis, but will not solicit
volunteers directly, he said. Bloodmobile
posters have been placed in the plant.
Harold Gillla and Bobby Carter are
soliciting blood donors from the city In
an effort to increase non ? Industry ?
connected participetion.
Upchurch laid he was working on a
time schedule for the various industry
employee* to that a minimum amount of
time would be lost from the job.
The countv, which failed to collect
even a fourth of its quota on the last
Bkx>dmobile visit June 7, Is being given a
make ? up visit In order to remain in the
Red Cross proaram. Only 23 pints were
See BLOOD. Page 9
costly, factor, the biochemical oxygen
demand, must also be considered in the
plant's capacity.
The plant is presently treating about
1.7 million gallons a day and is well
within the allowable BOD level, Chester
Beasley, chief operator, said.
Raeford's sewer treatment plant has
doubled since it was built and the
expansion has now been in operation
about a year, Caddy said.
The facility is located on a nine ? acre
site by Rockfish Creek, outside the city
limits, although the plant is entirely
owned and financed by the city.
At the first point in the treatment
process a grit collector separates sand and
grit from the liquid and then the sewage
is piped through a chopping blade, where
solids are pulverized. Four pumps that
can handle 600 gallons a minute,
although usually only two are used at one
time, pump the liquid to the other side of
the site to two large floatator tanks.
There untreatable materials such as
grease and feathers from the turkey plant
are skimmed off and are carted away to
the land fill each day.
From that point, the sewage is split
into four stablizing tanks where all the
sludge and a large portion of the bacteria
settle out, according to Beasley. The final
step before the liquid is released to
Rockfish Creek is the addition of chlorine
to make it "relatively safe," Beasley said.
He conducts tests at frequent intervals
amd must keep records of the results. The
plant is checked regularly by the state.
"We get above 90 per cent reduction
on waste from the plant," he said, "and
with the addition of chlorine, the water is
relatively safe when it goes to the creek.
The chlorine kills most of the
pathogens."
The state requires the chlorine addition
because Rockfish is used for swimming,
he said.
There is a well ? equipped laboratory at
the plant in which samples are tested.
The semi ? solid waste remaining - the
sludge - is held in a vat until a Urge
quantity is collected and then is pumped
to beds to dry. The dried sludge is used
for fertilizer at the plant.
Dried sludge that has been heated can
b? used for fertilizer on crops, Beasley
said, but the state does not recommend
that unheated sludge be used on edible
crop*. Dried sludge can also be pressed
into building blocks, he said. The Raeford
plant does not process the slu(%e beyond
drying.
Throughout the process, large amounts
of air are pumped through the tanks by
blowers that produce I* million cubic
feet of air a day. The treatment plant is
called an activated sludge process.
Two other employees besides Beasley
See RISING COST, Page 9
Deputies Stop
Theft Attempt
Deputy sheriffs broke up an attempted
theft at Dundarrach Trading Company
last Wednesday night but the three men
spotted there escaped after a 25 ? mile ?
long chase along rain - slick roads.
Deputies Harvey Young and Robert
Graham became suspicious of activity
around the trading company, Young said,
and parked on one side of the barn there.
Before long, he said, three men in a
pickup truck backed up to the barn and
began to load soybeans into the truck
The deputies drove toward them and
the men fled, Young said. The two Hoke
County deputies gave chase and pursued
the truck about twenty miles into
Robeson County before the men escaped.
An attempt to contact Robeson County
deputies for aid failed and the wet roads,
from a rain storm that night, contributed
to the hazards.
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THIS OFFER EXPIRES FRIDA Y, JUL Y30 j
Rate Hiked
To $1.45
If the city council adopts the proposed
budget, the city tax rate will go up a
dime.
The proposed tax rate is SI .45 on each
hundred dollars valuation of taxable
property, compared with SI.35 tax rate
for 1970-71.
The cost of running a city has
increased during the past year, city
manager John Gaddy said, making the
increased rate a necessity.
Expenditures in the general fund this
year are estimated at $260,980 compared
with $229,633.39 last year.
The debt service has increased $10,000
from $109,613 last year to SI 19,150 for
'71-72. The bond issue passed to expand
the waterand sewer lines account for the
rise there.
Expenditures in the water and sewer
fund are estimated at $287,056.61.
With the increased costs, increased
revenue is expected, Gaddy said.
Local taxes, including property and
poll tax, privilege taxes, penalties, interest
and previous years taxes, are expected to
amount to $184,111.24. State revenue,
Powell Bill street funds, and
miscellaneous revenues will add
$76,869.44 to the city treasury. Last year
local taxes amounted to $164,445.56 and
others $65,000.
Water and sewer revenue will increase
from last year also, Gaddy estimated, to
total $287,056.61. Last years water and
sewer charges amounted to $219,000.
However, sewer charges will increase,
effective with the August billing, from
20% to 50% of the water bill.
Gaddy said that everything connected
with operating a city has gone up. The
general administration, which includes
city had opera tf6T&TftaVe increased about
$7,000 this year, he said. This reflects ?
increased utility costs for street lights,
phone cost hikes, increased Social
Security and insurance payments. Salaries
will be increased on an average of five per
cent.
"in the past, the general administration
fund has had some sort of surplus," he
said. "Now, we can't keep up."
The city debt increased X 10,000, and
the entire debt service payment of
SI 19,1 SO will be taken from the water
and sewer revenues of $287,056.61. Costs
in providing water and sewer have
increased also, Caddy said. Here, also,
utility rate increases are felt. Electricity
costs for operating the water pumps have
increased 53,000 this year, from SI 2,000
to 515,000. Electricity at the sewer
treatment plant cost 56,800 more than
was anticipated this year, Caddy said,
rising from a planned expenditure of
516,000 to about 522,000 by the end of
June.
While the bond issue passed by city
voters last October paid the major
portion of the water and sewer
expansion, it didn't pay the entire costs,
Caddy said. For example, the two new
wells developed and placed in service
recently were not included in the bond
financing. Voters approved 560,000 in
water bonds and 580,000 in sewer bonds.
Another factor in the tax rise is the
need to maintain old city equipment and
to make new purchases.
"We have old, dilapidated equipment
and it costs quite a bit just to maintain
it," Caddy said. "In addition, we need to
buy some other things, like a new garbage
truck and a new truck for the sewer
treatment plant, and grass - cutting
equipment.'
See TAX INCREASE, Page 9
$1 Million Needed
For Water, Sewer
An estimated one million dollars is
needed for water and sewerage expansion
in Hoke County in the next five years, a
survey compiled by the State Board of
Health and the Department of Water and
Air Resources estimates.
Using the needs in Raeford alone, the
surv?y estimates that another $225,000 is
needed for the water supply and
5200,000 for sewage collection.
An additional $575,000 for sewage
treatment will be needed for adequate
expansion.
Throughout the state, almost $700
million dollars will be required during the
next five years to meet North Carolina's
water and sewerage needs, the survey
estimated.
Copies of the county ? by ? county
survey, compiled by the Stat* Board of
Health and the Department of Water and
Air Resources, are being circulated among
Tar Heel legislators by Cumberland
Senator Hector McGeachy to strengthen
the case for a SI50 million clean water
bond issue. McGeachey Introduced
legislation .calling for the bond
referendum in early June.
The siMvey shows that $336,769,296
will be needed for water supply systems
by 1976, while 5361,992,500 will be
required during the same period for
pollution control facilities, including,
sewage collection systems and wastewater
treatment works.
McGeachy said he expects both houaaa
of the General Assembly to give
endorsement to the bond issue later this
month. His optimism is grounded in the
fact that more than 40 members of the
upper chamber were listed ai sponaora
when the measure was introduced in thf
Senate. j ' 'fif
Expecting speedy approval of hfti bill,
McGeachy has already begun putting
together a blue ? ribbon committee to
generate support for the bond
referendum, and he has unveiled plana to
name county chairmen to campaign for
passage of the bond election.
McGeachy began prompting the ides of
a sute ? wide bond issue early this yew as
a means of attracting a larger ahua of
federal funda to meet the atata'a
and sewerage needs. Ha aaid that
Carolina faces a health crtale tf i
not taken to secure additional I
water and sewerage prefects.