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The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
VOLUME LXVIII NO. 9 RAEFORD. HOKE COUNTY. NORTH CAROLINA SS PER YEAR THURSDAY. JULY 3. 1975
Around
Town
BY SAM C. MORRIS
Did you hear aboul the gift to
school Superintendent Raz Autry
from Hoke High Principal Alien
Edwards and his friends? They gave
him a iee-shirt emblazoned with the
pictorial markings of two ducks
depicted in the manner that Autry
had earlier assured a superior court
judge he would have found
objectionable. You'll have to ask Raz
what he did with the shirt.
This old country boy was away
from the office last week touring
Canada. Mary Alice and I left from
tGoldsboro last Sunday morning,
June 22, and returned Monday night,
June 30. The trip was very rewarding
as far as education was concerned,
but 1 need a week now to get rested
for another year of work.
We spent the first night in
Williamsport, Pa., and this brought
back memories of the baseball team
from that town that trained here in
the 1930's. The hotel was not
crowded and no meals are served on
Sunday night, so we had to leave the
hotel and find a place to eat. Most
small restaurants are also closed on
Sunday.
The next day was spent at Niagara
Falls. The hotel where we stayed was
on the Canadian side, but we had to
go to another hotel for breakfast.
Ottawa, the capital of Canada, was
the next stop and many things of
interest were observed. The ride
around the city and seeing the homes
of the ambassador and other foreign
officials were very interesting. The
changing of the guard was very
impressive and was witnessed by a
large crowd. The guide said that lite
ceremony was done just for the
tourist attraction.
Then on to Quebec, where most of
the people speak French. It is the
working language of the people and
is also required in school, by law.
" Many places of interest were
visited including cathedrals, outdoor
ovens where bread is baked and a
large copper business where all types
of designs are made from copper.
' If you have been to the French
Quarters in New Orleans, then you
can picture the old section of Quebec
that is situaied inside the walls.
Then on to Montreal for two days'
stay. This is the largest city in
Canada and the second largest
seaport in North America. Many
bridges span the St. Lawrence River
to reach the city, which is on an
island. The city is very clean and
most vacant lots are lawns with
flowers planted. This is true of most
places in Canada that we visited.
The last night was spent in New
York City. Riding down the streets
made you feel bad seeing the trash
and garbage in the city, after noticing
how the cities of Canada were kept. I
was glad to leave Monday morning
for home.
I met many fine people on the trip
and, after being with them for nine
days, they seem to grow on you.
Some were acquainted with people
you knew and this would give you an
opening for conversation. Two ladies
from Havelock were well acquainted
with Eugene Smith, and a gentleman
from Fremont knew all about J.W
Turlington.
Maty Alice ran into a lady that she
finished East Carolina with. They
didn't know each other's name, but
recognized one another.
Tours are nice, but getting back to
the routine of work will be fine for
Singers
To Perform
The New Heritage Singers from
Midway Methodist Church in
Davidson County will perform for
county youth groups on July 13 at
5:30 p.m. at Raeford United
Methodist Church.
The special appearance by the
group is being sponsored by the
Raeford Methodist youth.
The New Heritage Singers have
performed at Disney World, Six Flags
Over Georgia and many churches
throughout the Southeast. The
singers are high school and college
students.
Dinner for the singers and their
youthful audience will begin at 6:30
p.m., following the performance. All
Hoke County young people are
t invited to attend, but organizations
that plan to attend aa a group are
asked to call Mits Ethlynde Ballance
?t 875-2111 by July 6 for
raaarvationa.
Early History Of
A&R Depot Recalled
News of the closing of the Raeford
depot of the Aberdeen and Rockfish
Railroad brought out old family
records of Mrs. Kate Blue Covington,
whose uncles John Blue and Neill S,
Blue were the owners of the line.
Blue's Railroad became the A & R.
The first depot was the red
building, which stands next to the
tracks behind the present station
facing Main Street.
"It was the winter of 1895", Mrs.
Covington related, "John Blue,
Hector Smith, the surveyor, and Dan
McLauchlin came down on an engine
from Aberdeen. Max Folley, the first
engineer and railroad had, was with
them".
"They laid out Main Street, and I
believe the very same day, they laid
out where the depot was to be".
"The railroad had reached
Raeford, as far as dte J.W. Johnson
lumber plant, and they needed a
depot".
Years later, Mrs. Covington
recalled, she learned the site of the
stationhouse. Central Avenue and
Main Street, was the geometric
center of town, hence the name
Central Avenue.
The first A & R agent for Raeford
was Walter Freeman. He married Miss
Agnes Gatlin.
"Paul Dezerne, and his wife Annie,
they were real well-known, too,
when they were there. She worked
right along with him", Mrs.
Covington said.
Mrs. Covington was unsure of the
date the present depot, facing Main
Street, was erected, but she
remembers well when it was put to
use during World War II.
"I asked Henry Blue, John Blue's
son, if we could use it for a soldiers
center, since it wasn't being used,
they had gone back to the old
building."
"Mrs. J.W. Currie, Miss Flora
Voice, Miss Josephine Hall, and
Louise Blue, I can't think of them
all, but, oh, they ran it so nice. There
was always food for die servicemen,
and magazines and a place to write",
she remembered.
"Miss Rena Smith was the NYA
supervisor, and they made a lot of
furniture for us. Robert Cox did
most of it. he was so good at it".
"We were right in the center of all
the camps, there were trains going
back and forth all the time with
them".
"It was wonderful to have it for
that".
County Okays Ambulance Contract,
Ties Up Loose Ends In Budget
The county commissioners
approved the ambulance service
contract, okayed seven fire district
budgets but nixed an eighth,
recommended a new task for the
recently named county planning
board and and tied up the loose ends
in last year's budget during a special
session Monday morning.
The contract with Danny
Morrison's Ambulance service was
described as essentially the same as
last year, except the county subsidy
paid in quarterly installments was
raised to $20,000 by action of the
board last month.
Terms of the contract provide 24
hour service with two ambulances, a
private telephone number for
ambulance requests only, and a
qualified attendant on call on a 24
hour basis.
The contract also requires
Morrison to answer all ambulance
calls whether fee arrangements are
made in advance or not.
The amount of liability insurance
and the maximum allowable fees for
ambulance runs, both necessary parts
of the contract, are to be filled in
when Morrison signs the contract,
county manager T.B. Lester
informed the board. The fee schedule
remains the same as last year.
The board voted to accept 1975 ?
76 fire department budgets: North
Raeford. $9,625; Puppy Creek.
$20,731; Rockfish. $6,188; Hillcrest.
$44, 556; West Hoke. 54,900;
Stonewall. 515,894; and Pine Hill,
$5,400.
Each fire district will have a ten
cent fire tax levy, with the exception
Drugs Seized
The Associated Press reported this
morning a 65-foot boat bearing the
name 'Miss Aylor' with the marking
'Raeford. N.C.' on the stern was
seized near Dover, Del., carrying
about 12 tons of marijuana estimated
to be worth $8,000,000.
At least 30 persons have been
arreted, authorities said.
No further details were teamed.
of Rockfish Hire District, which is six
cents, Lester reported.
Tylertown. which submitted a
budget based on S1 .600 in
anticipated revenue, was refused
approval after the commissioners
agreed "there's no way they can
operate". Tylertown District was not
appropriated any subsidy Irom
revenue sharing funds by the county.
Lester reported to the board he
urged Tylcrtown's directors to
consider a merge with the Hillcrest
Department, and he expects them to
appear at the next board meeting
July 7.
After determining all eight
members of the recently named
planning board have accepted,
commissioner John Balfour suggested
the planning hoard could be utilized
as the ambulance service study
committee.
The study committee was
approved by motion of the board last
month, with the recommendation
the results could be submitted
sometime early next year.
The members of the planning
board. Charlie Morrison, and Sara
Leach of Racford. Brown Hendrix,
Jr.. of Stonewall, Robert Taylor of
Blue Springs. Henry Dial of Antioch.
Julian Barnes of McLauchlin, Neill
McPhalter of Allendale, and Shelby
Calloway of Quewhiffle, were
appointed to staggered terms based
on the order of township listings.
In other business, the board
See COUNTY, page 15
Youth Hurt In Dive
A Hoke County youth was badly
injured in a swimming accident
Friday at Rockfish Creek near
Prospect Avenue.
Larry Jacobs. 15. of Rt. 1,
Shannon, was listed Tuesday in fair
but stable condition in the intensive
care unit of N.C. Memorial Hospital.
He is the son of Mrs. Nellie Jacobs.
Jacobs, an Upchurch student last
year, was pulled from the water by
two other boys after he failed to
surface following a dive.
Ronald Bealer. who was swimming
with Jacobs and a group of younger
children, located the youth in about
ten feet of water after Jacobs dived
from a tree and did not come to the
surface. Bealer shouted for help and
Tim Frahm, who was at the creek to
pick up his younger brother and
some friends, jumped into the water
and helped pull Jacobs to the
surface.
Frahm. 16. said Jacobs was not
breathing when they got him to the
bank. They began to push on his
chest, Frahm said, and the boy began
to breathe again.
Mark Morgan, who was fishing
with Andy Frahm and Eric McGee,
ran to his house nearby to get his
father and call an ambulance. W.K.
Morgan gave mouth to mouth
resuscitation and Jacobs regained
consciousness. Frahm said. He was
taken by Morrison's ambulance to
Moore Memorial Hospital and was
transferred to Chapel Hill.
According to ambulance
attendants. Jacobs may have had a
neck injury.
Frahm said Jacobs dived from
about 20 feet above the water and
probably struck the bottom. He had
apparently drifted into deeper water
before Bealer found him, Frahm said.
Jacobs was underwater for at least
five or six minutes, Frahm estimated.
The creek is often used by
swimmers
"But it's dangerous," Frahm said.
"People come down there and shoot
at cans on the bottom and at bottles.
The banks are muddy. Mr Morgan
fell into mud to his waist getting to
Larry on the bank.
"And where they dive from the
tree isn't deep enough. You really
have to dive shallow," he said.
"People shouldn't swim there," he
said. "But some people don't have
any other place to swim." Frahm
said he would like to see a public
swimming pool replace the swim
hole.
Off To Russia
Kathy Makes Team
CI.IMB TO VICTOR Y - Kathy McMillan mounts the podium after winning
second in the AAV national senior championship meet in New York last week.
With her is veteran long jumper Martha Watson of California, who won the long
jump, and Ralph Boston, former U.S. Olympic team member in the long jump.
(Photo by Mrs. John Buchholz)
Council Okays Budget
The city council backed off from
any tax rate increase at their final
budget session Thursday night and
approved the 1975-76 budget
totaling SI.212.549.21, with a tax
levy of $.55 per SI00 valuation.
The council rejected including any
cost-of-living raises for city workers
in the final budget, but promised tp
recommend raises of 5% or more Jan.
1. if the routine audit indicates there
will be sufficient funds to do so.
City manager John Gaddy
reported hiking the tax rate to 5.57
would increase revenues by $13,000,
and a $.58 rate would bring $20,000.
The cost of an across the board 5
percent salary increase was put at
about $16,000 by Gaddy
The final budget, carried
unanimously by the council with one
member absent, is comprised of
general fund appropriations of
$633,259.84; water and sewer fund ?
of 5477,121,37; and revenue sharing
funds of $102,168.00, which
includes interest.
The council also voted
unanimously to follow the
recommendations of city engineer
Lacy Koonce and pay most of the
cost overrun to the Crowell
Construction Co. for the paving and
gutter project.
Pointing out the dispute should be
settled by the end of the fiscal year.
Mayor John K. McNeill .old the
council the 515,000 offered to
Crowell Co. as settlement was not
acceptable to Crowell, McNeill said
he was told.
The city already had paid some
57,000 toward the overrun, and
Koonce' recommendation was to pay
all but 53,400.
The motion to pay Crowell Co.
was made by councilman Robert
Weaver, who warned "we better
watch it from here on out" regarding
future contracts.
A letter from the state treasury
department suggesting a plan for
consolidating city and county tax
billings and collections was discussed,
but little interest in the idea was
shown by council members.
The council routinely approved
the fire department roster for the
coming year and approved a city taxi
permit for Willie McNeill before
adjourning.
The next regular meeting of the
council is July 7.
Seve n tee n-year-old Kathy
McMillan left Tuesday for Russia as a
member of the United States
national women's track team.
The Hoke High athlete overcame
jitters that have plagued her in earlier
meets to take second in the long
jump at the AAU national senior
competition last Saturday in White
Plains, N.Y.
Her jump of 20-6)4 was not the
best she has ever done, but by then,
the emphasis was on making a legal
jump. She had disqualified on all
three jumps by overshooting the
mark in the national junior meet on
June 23-24.
"1 think Kathy was psyched out,"
her coach, Billy Colston, said
following her disqualification in the
junior meet. "She's worked so hard,
too hard, maybe, and it's a big meet -
1 think it all got to her."
Kathy scratched (disqualified) in
three of her six jumps for the senior
meet, Colston said. Because there
were only 13 competitors in the long
jump, AAU officials allowed them all
to jump in the finals Saturday.
Kathy missed the mark to
disqualify on her first jump and then
jumped too early on her second to
cut nearly a foot from her distance.
Colston said. Her third jump was
20-6)4 and another jump was 19-6.
She scratched on her last two jumps,
Colston said.
"We have her counting to jump
now, and that's not good." Colston
said, to try to correct her
overshooting the takeoff point.
Colston said Kathy now counts four
and a half steps from a selected spot
ana then jumps.
"That isn't good, because your
mind should be blank going down
the runway," he said. She practiced
Friday, which Colston said may have
tired her for competition on
Saturday.
The winner was veteran Martha
Watson of Lakewood. Calif
International track club with a 21-3
leap. However. Watson turned down
the invitation to compete in the
Russian-American meet and third
place winner, 19-year-old Sharon
Walker of Seattle. Wash., took her
spot on the team.
The national team left New York
for London and then on to Kiev, a
city in the northwestern Ukraine.
Kathy and Walker were left behind
waiting to complete passport
,arrangements and took a later plane.
The meet will be held July 4-5 and is
to be televised later on by CBS.
The team will then go to Prague.
Czechoslovakia for a meet July 7-8.
Kathy will return in time for the
Pan-African meet in Durham on July
18.
Monday. Kathy's family was
delighted with her success and
concerned over her traveling so far.
She is the daughter of Mr and Mrs.
Alexander McMillan. Kathy only
packed clothes for the New York
trip, her mother said.
As a team member, Kathy was
outfitted with a pants suit for
traveling and a track suit and sweat
suit for competition. Colston
reported. She had competed in the
national meet in her Hoke High
uniform.
Sunday, she went shopping for
other essentials in White Plains with
Mrs. John Buchholz. who had
accompanied the Hoke group as
chapeione.
Colston said they slaved with
Kathy until she joined the team
Sunday afternoon, then he and the
Buchholzes drove back lo Raeford.
Kathy will room with the other long
jumper. Sharon Walker, on the trip,
he said.
Making the national team will
almost guarantee her an invitation to
comjiete in the Pan-American tnals
in late August, he explained. Colston
thanked the Hoke Countians who
donated money toward Kathy's
travel expenses to White Plains.
Investigation Continuing
Assistant district attorney Duncan
McFadyen confirmed his
investigation begun last week into
charges of thefts and
misappropriations at the city garage
is continuing, but he declined to
elaborate further.
McFadyen, accompanied by State
Bureau of Investigation agents Ray
Davit and Ken Coats, were at city
hall matt of the day, Friday,
interviewing several persons
City officials generally refused to
discuss any of the allegations made
by ex-city employees which
prompted the probe, and city council
members declined comment at their
meeting Thursday night
The SB1 agents were in Racford
Tuesday still interviewing city
employees