25 The Hoke County News - Established 1928 VOLUME LX1X NUMBER 17 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA - journal The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 S8 PER YEAR THl RSDAY. M GUST 25, 1977 Around Town BY SAM C. MORRIS Mrs. Joyce Jameson, local beauty shop operator, was by the office last week and discussed the Hoke County Music Booster Club with me for some time. She is very interested in the music program at all the schools in the county. The Music Booster Club is headed by Gerald Sappenfield and aids the Chorus, Chorale and bands at both Hoke High and Upchurch Junior High. According to Mrs. Jameson they are doing a wonderful job, but since the Chorus and Chorale are smaller in mem bers, it seems they receive more notice and are talked about more than the bands. Of course, the singers perform for many clubs and organizations which can't accom modate the bands and it is hard to et people to attend concerts at ight to see what the band mem bers are doing. Mrs. jameson said that she is heading the band division of the club and discussed a few things with me concerning a way to aid the bands to get more recognition. Some individuals and firms have started a project to provide T-shirts for the band that will have Hoke High Band on the front of the shirt. This shirt will be displayed each time the bands march, play or in concert. At the present time enough money is not available to purchase shirts for both bands, but donations will be accepted, Mrs. Jameson said. Other projects to raise money are in the making and will be brought to the attention of the public as they are finalized. Last year the Hoke High Music Booster Club had a membership of pO. They want to increase that number this year. The programs for all divisions of music at the schools are excellent and with your support they can be better. So if you have any suggestions or can aid in any way, be sure to contact an officer of this group. ? ? * Now the weather seems to have settled down to about normal. The heavy rains are over and the hot, humid weather has been replaced by hot days and cool nights. Of course, we can look forward to some more hot weather, especially during September. As Mark Twain once said, anyone can talk about the weather, but the one I heard the other day seems to take top place when it comes to dry weather. A man from Quewhiffle Township said that it had been so dry in that part of the county, that the cattish he caught ? had a tick on it. All right men, top that one! Tommie Upchurch, the oldest ?? living member of the Haeford i$ Kiwanis Club, spoke to the club jlast Thursday night at its meeting ^iTt the civic center. Gene Carter was *in charge of the program. The speaker started off by telling ie club why one of its members yas now living in Raeford and then got on to the subject of his speech which was on oil deposits and |natural gas. He was well versed on the [subject, but as he said at the ' conclusion of his speech, who knew if he was right of wrong. Everyone enjoyed the talk and all were glad to have Tommie back with them again. Last Friday afternoon Lucy Gray I Peebles of Raleigh came by the [ office and visited for awhile. She said she had read where I had been | in the hospital and wanted to stop | by to see how 1 was getting along. Lucy Gray was a reporter for the paper for many years and made many friends for the paper and herself while working here. ? She was in the best of health and seems to get younger rather than grow older. She said she is now retired and hadn't written a news story or taken a picture in a number of years. This is hard to believe, because when the ink gets ion your fingers it is hard to wash I off. Anyway it was good to see Lucy IGray, and we hope she won't stay Sway so long in the future. ' ? ? ? 19 HHF ??? ?? ' ? - !*? IHHHHHHbuMMN rvr IHHV CHAIRMAN ?? Attorney Duncan McFadyen \on left ] was named Raeford chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation fund-raising campaign. With McFadyen is Harold Stone. |See story elsewhere in this issue ) Sewer Project Contract Signed The Raeford City Council met Friday at 5 p.m. and awarded the contract for the new sewer lines inside the city to Crowell Constructors of Fayetteville. The Crowell bid was for S266.876. The sewer lines will extend west from N.C. 211 at the Knit-Away plant to the inter section of Cole Ave. and College Drive just west of U.S. 401 -bypass. The area includes the site of a 40-unit apartment complex now under construc tion which was recently annexed by the city. The project will not include a pump station so no electrical contract was awarded. The system will be a gravity fall system, City Manager Robert Drumwright said. Engineering work is being done by Moore Gardner & Associates of Asheboro. Fees will be in the $28,000 - $30,000 range, Drumwright said. The city manager estimated that the final cost of the project will run about $50,000 less than projected last year. $350,000 (See SEWER, Page 15) City Orders $250,000 Ceiling On Remodeling The Raeford City Council voted to put a $250,000 ceiling on the planned remodeling and expansion project at city hall and vowed they would do without any landscaping, if necessary, during a special meeting last Friday. Bids opened last month on the project totaled $317,000. The city had budgeted onlv $160,000 and a 30-day ex tension to Aug. 29 was obtained from the bidders. Architects for the project, E.J. Austin & Associates of Southern Pines, are drawing up revised plans which hopefully will trim the overall costs. City Manager Robert Drumwright said. If enough of the planned work can be changed it will not be necessary to re-advertise for new bids, he said. Expected to be cut back are the landscaping plans and some (See CITY, Page 15) School T o Open One Week Later i ne Hoke County Board made it official Monday night ? schoolchildren will get an extra week of summer vacation and classes will not start until Sept. 6. Following a 45-minute special meeting, the five board members unanimously voted to follow the lead of three other Cape Fear region counties to allow tobacco farmers to get the crop in. County extension chairman Wendell Young, along with about 15 spectators, largely tobacco farmers from all sections of the county, appeared before the school board and appealed for the week's delay. Schools were to reopen this Friday with the full first day of classes starting next Monday. School Supt. G. Raz Autry said that Young estimated that about 1,600 school-age youths are being utilized on over 250 farms, and it would create a hardship on producers to lose their primary source of labor. The Teachers Committee, however, voted against the plan to delay school opening. Autry reported that the committee recommended opening school on time and suggested excusing pupils who were needed to work for 10 days. The superintendent said that there was "some question of legality" in excusing students. "Anytime you start before Labor Day, you're going to run into this problem. The farmers now depend almost exclusively on young adults and students, it's not like it was years ago," Autrv said. The superintendent said that the school calendar will be revised to make up the lost days for teachers. Teachers are required to work ten full months so the extra days off will have to be taken out of other holiday days later in the year. Already. Moore. Harnett and Person counties have announced one week postponements of school opening and the Cumberland County Board of Education was scheduled to meet Tuesday night to decide. Several other counties around the state are considering a delay. Orientation day for all schools will be Friday. Sept. 2 and regular classes will start Tuesday, Sepg. 6. Athletics Athletic coaches at the schools announced that regular sports practice already scheduled will not be re-set. High school freshmen football practice will start next Monday, Aug. 29. at 3 p.m. at the school. Boys football at Upchurch Junior High will start next Monday at 4 p.m. and girls volleyball will start at 4 p.m. in the school gymnasium. Red Cross Blood Drive Is Aug. 31 The Red Cross Bloodmobile will visit Raeford next Wednesday, Aug 31 , from noon to 5:30 p.m. in the basement of the Raeford United Methodist Church, County Red Cross Chairman Clyde Up church announced. The chairman said a good turnout is needed for the drive, the last visit for this fiscal year. "We are, unfortunately, running well behind our quota for the year. We need to obtain at least 100 pints." he said. Upchurch also announced that the Red Cross has established a new county quota of 560 pints for the coming year. The number of yearly visits has been raised from four to five with the next scheduled in October. Governor Appoints City Woman To Slot On Volunteer Council Kay Thomas, a city resident, was appointed by Gov. James B. Hunt to the Council on Volunteers for the Criminal Justice System. Mrs. Thomas, JU. will serve a two-year term on the 21 -member Council. The wife of a Raeford City Council member, she has been very active in volunteer activities, having served as president of the Raeford Woman's Club and chairman of the Hoke County Citizens United for the Improvement of Reading. She is a member of the Hoke County Parks and Recreation Commission and current president of the Civic Center Association. The newly-formed Council on Volunteers for the Criminal Justice System was created as a result of recommendations made by the Legislative Commission on Cor rectional Programs. Its purpose is to coordinate all volunteer activities working with prisons, paroles, probation and youth services throughout the state. The Council also acts as advisor to the director of criminal justice volunteer services. Mrs. Thomas was named chairman of the survey committee of the Council. The survey com mittee will study present volunteer efforts to determine needs and improve communication between groups. Mrs. Thomas said the work of the Allston Wilkes Society of South Carolina will be studied as a model. (See GOVERNOR. Page 15) Hoke Mental Health Clinic Opens Mental health services in Hoke County have found a "home" for the first time with the recent opening of the new Hoke County Mental Health Clinic at 116 Campus Ave. Operated under the Sandhills Mental Health Clinic, the new facility is open on a full-time basis, consolidating all of the services previously available only at the public health center on Central Ave. or through the Moore County clinic in Pinehurst. Director of the Raeford center is George Barbour, 34, a clinical psychologist. Also on the professional staff are Kathy Riddick, school psychologist, Ed McCarthy, alcoholism coun selor. Virginia Highsmith, drug abuse counselor, and Bill Alderson, mental retardation services coordinator. The latter two visit one day a week. A full-time social worker will join the staff in September. Receptionist-secretary is Mrs. Hazel Niven. Fees are based on a sliding scale according to income with a $1 minimum charge. No one, however, is refused treatment for financial reasons. The demand for mental health services has increased so much that the already-cramped public health center could not provide adequate space. Barbour pointed out that the caseload rose from four patients a week to 45 just over the past three years. Outpatient admissions repre senting Hoke County persons more than doubled at the Pinehurst facility from 1972 to 1973. The new clinic, which is 100 per cent locally funded, also affords greater privacy, with an off-street private entrance at the rear of the building. There is a waiting room, secretary's office and four interview offices. "One reason a lot of people go to the Pinehurst clinic is for confidentiality. A lot of others just didn't want to go to the health department, it made them uncomfortable. The nice thing about this place is the private entrance." Barbour said. The clinic is located in the rear of the medical arts building occupied by physicians Riley M. Jordan and Ramnik Zota. who have both volunteered their services without enumeration for emergencies. "That's another big advantage of being in this location. They've been a big help," Barbour said. Besides the usual range of mental health treatment for such problems as drug abuse, or alcoholism, the center also offers marriage counseling, testing for brain damage, and vocational assessments on disabilities. Sex counseling is also available for couples. With its larger staff and office space, the clinic could serve up to 150 patients weekly. The center receives most of its referrals from private doctors and the Department of Social Services, but Barbour noted a rise in "self referrals." "There is a stigma about coming to a mental health center. A lot of people who could benefit don't want to come, or feel that coming here makes them feel less independent. But one thing that has changed over the past few years is the number of self referrals. And the second thing is people who are referred by other patients. Someone may be talking to their neighbor or their cousin and they were told 'Hey, I've been there and it's okay' so the word is getting around," Barbour said. "I'm glad to see these changes, it's a very positive thing. As we get more visible, people will find out that it's not going to cost them $50 an hour. People may still go to the Pinehurst clinic if they wish, but people who call there for an appointment are being encouraged to come here. The only service which Pinehurst has which we don't is the group psograms." he said. Barbour, a Pennsylvania native who did his post-graduate studies at Duke University and has been a Sandhills staffer on a full-time basis for the past six years, said the support he has received has been very gratifying. "Phil Diehl, who is the chairman of the mental health board, has been very strong about establishing a separate clinic and Mr. Lester (County manager) has been super. We've had a SOW OPEN -? The new mental health clinic located in the rear of the medical arts building at 1 1 6 Campus Ave. is open for business. The clinic has a private entrance facing on the east side of the building. lot of support from people in Hoke County," he said. "It's very frustrating when you don't have a base for a coherent program. We all had been working separately, we didn't have any coordi nated service in the real sense. So it is vei7 satisfying to have our own plate and things will become a lot more coherent. 1 think."

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