Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / June 29, 1978, edition 1 / Page 1
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The Hoke County News - Established 1928 VOLUME LXX NUMBER 9 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA - journal The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 S8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1978 Around . Town BY SAM C. MORRIS Summer was officially here last week and the hot weather is still with us. Of course we are having the usual afternoon and evening thundershowers and last week brough forth some of the heaviest ' thunder and lightening I have ever experienced. Thunderstorms or the fire siren usually don't bother me and 1 sleep through both of them but the storm tat week had me tossing and for a few minutes. The forecast for the remainder of the week is hot weather and very ; little chance of rain. \ I The gardens of the county are putting on since the rains last week and fresh vegetables are now showing up in the local stores. This is one time of the year that I like to be at the table when the meal is put on for eating. * * * As mentioned in this column a couple of weeks ago The News Journal office will be open on the 4th of July. The banks, savings and | loan, state and local government offices will be closed. There are ads in this issue for some businesses that will be closed July 3, 4 & 5, So if you have business for the first of next week in Raeford it might save you a second trip if you would inquire about who will be closed and when. ? * ? Don't forget the reception for J.W. Turlington at the Raeford Elementary school or now known as the J.W. Turlington School, Friday June 30 between the hours of 5 to 7 Everyone is invited by the board of Education, the Raeford - Hoke Chamber of Commerce and the Raeford Kiwanis Club, who are sponsoring this affair. There has been much talk "a round town" this past week about the list of teachers' supplements that was published last week. Some say they should not have been printed and others say just the opposite. This paper thinks that they should have been printed after some teachers raised the question "are the.supplements fair? ' Some of the teachers drawing the higher supplements have been kid ded and this includes some of the coaches at all schools. This was not thepurpose of this being printed. This paper printed what was given to them at the Board of Education office and we feel this is going to the "horse's mouth" for the information. If a mistake is in the list it came from that office. This writer told the chairman of the Board of Education that the paper was not agreeing with or disagreeing with the supplements, was listing them and that the pie could decide if they were dministered justly. The board and the board alone is sponsible for this distribution of Bjmoney and the place for the people Iho say if it is right or wrong is at the ballot boxes and they will have a chance November 7, 1978. 1 Several days ago I received a telephone call from Dick Byrd. .public relations manager of Bur Jfington Industries and he invited ?me to attend a meeting in Clarks ijville. Va. on June 23. 1 told him if it ?was possible I would be there. Later a letter arrived and gave he detailed information about the leeting. It said in part "the turpose of this session is to help r people better understand the 'king of the press, and hopefully erate some feel among the press our operations." It also said representations from papers in :h Boston, Va.. Oarksville, Va. Oxford would be present along :h Woody Durham of TV station RDU in Durham. ?urham. This was a session that will be remembered by this writer, plant manaeers and personnel i of all the Burlington ir division were present they had prepared themselves this meeting. Of course the press ' s were as always-prepared . listening and asking anoth stion. will say that after everyone AROUND TOWN, Page 15) County Eliminates T ax Hike KWWWW*ft*t* ???I Baxley Is Lion Of The Year The Raeford Lions Club held its annual Ladies Night banquet Mon day, and Ronald Baxley was named Lion of the Year at the meeting, the highest honor given by the service club. A new slate of officers was installed, and a number of special awards were presented. Bill Bryant was given a trophy for his work as eye will chairman. He personally collected 59 eye wills for the club, which led the district in eye wills. The Lions Club is widely known for its work in helping the blind. The eye wills allow people to stipulate that their eyes be given after death to an eye bank, where they are used in transplants to help those who have visual disabilities. A plaque was given to Tracy Bullock for work with the club finances. Certificates of apprecia tion for service rendered during the year were presented to: David Smith, Jack Kolb, George King, Neill McNeill, Ashwell Harward, Don Steed, Richard Morgan (who will be the next zone chairman), Raz Autry, and Dale Ward. Attendance pins were given to: Bullock and Ward (1 year); Smith and McNeill ( four years); and Eric Vann and Kolb (6 years). Receiving pins for 23 years in the Lions Club were Raz Autrv and Shuford Pennell. Ashwell Harward received a 24-year pin. Installed as new officers were: David Smith, president; Jack Kolb, frist vice president; Bill Archer, second vice president; Dale Ward, third vice president; Neill McNeill, treasurer; Hank Richards, secre UON OF THE YEAR - Ronald Baxley was named Lion of the Year by the Raeford Lions Club at its annual Ladies Night banquet, which included awards ceremonies and the installation of new officers. During the evening, Baxley passed the gavel to David Smith, the new Lion president. tary; Raz Autry, tail twister; Don Steed, assistant tail twister; Charles Stone, lion tamer; and Dan Howie, assistant lion tamer. Directors named at the banquet were: Bill Bryant, Don Steed. Riley Jordan, Ashwell Harward, Richard Morgan, and George King. Club president Ronald Baxley presided over the ceremonies until the gavel was passed to Smith. Ken Dobbin, zone chairman from Laurinburg installed the new officers. Baxely reviewed the highlights of club activities during the year. which included: donating $390 to the Civic Center, $440 to the White Cane Drive, $130 to the Boys Home, $375 in presents for the blind at Christmas, $300 for the Clyde Knox Scholarship Award, sponsoring a Little League baseball team, assisting Archie McDiarmid in obtaining information on leader dog school and contributing $100 toward his plane ticket, assisting a blind lady with the remodeling of her home, contributing to Camp Dogwood and the Special Olym pics. collecting 164 eye wills, and participating in the state conven tion in Fayetteville. Council Approves Budget No Increase In City Taxes In approving the new budget for the coming year last Monday, the Raeford City Council held the line on property taxes with the rate set at 57 cents per $100 valuation, the same rate that was used last vear. Councilmen also approved a six percent pay increase for all city workers with the exception of the mayor, attorneys and councilmen. The total budget approved for the coming year will be in excess of S2.1 million. This figure is some what misleading, according to He len Huffman, city finance officer, who explains that 5179,000 will be paid into the debt service fund from the water and sewer fund. Debt service, the fund that repays out standing bonds, is budgeted for 595,625. Bonds outstanding in clude the fire station bond, water and sewer bonds. Water and sewer was budgeted for S534.882. Unspent money from last year is included in the general fund, bringing the total for the fund to $944.1/8. Last year's general fund, before unspent money was added, totaled $653,900. Revenue sharing expenditures, set at SI 06,000. will be used for the following expenditures: home visi tor. $8,800; rescue squad, ambu lance module, $5,000; replacement of a police car, $7,000; a hydraulic sewer cleaner. $9,000; a car for the city manager. $7,500; a one-half ton truck and a one ton truck for the street department, $14,000; a lawnmower for the treatment plant. $3,000; a 35-yard garbage truck. $35,000; a pick up truck for the treatment plant. $5,000; and a miscellaneous fund of 51 1 ,700. Mrs. Huffman explained that the miscellaneous fund came from a lack of requests for the money available when a public hearing was held to determine proposed uses for the money. The capital reserve fund shows a decrease from $5 1 2.000 last year to $292,500 this year because of the construction of the new city hall. The fund was sufficient to cover the cost of the new construction with out an additional bond referen dum. An addition to this year's budget is $36,500 in anti-recessionary funds. The money is alotted by the federal government to pay the salaries of jobs already existing. The amount awarded the city is based on the unemployment rate. The funds were budgeted only through October. Mrs. Huffman said, because of the possibility that the federal funding might end. According to Mrs. Huffman, the budget is in line with city budgets from past years. "We usually run somewhere around two million." she said. Accident F atal T o Three Here A car overturned last Thursday night on a rural Hoke County road*, killing a father and his two infant daughters and injuring their mo ther. according to the Highway Patrol. Killed instantly were Shanna Harris, 2, and her 7-month old sister, Christopher. Lennon Harris, 22, of Rt. I, Raeford, died during In Superior Court emergency surge|7 at Cape Fear Valley Hospital in Fayetteville, a hospital spokesman said. The mother, Annie Ruth Harris, 25, was listed in guarded condition. According to Trooper Louis B. Rector, who investigated the acci dent, Harris and his family were riding on rural paved road 1003 about a mile and a half from the Cumberland County line at 8:35 when he lost control and ran off the right shoulder of the road on a left-hand curve and hit a 15-foot ditch, causing the car to flip over. One girl was thrown from the car and the other was pinned in. Rector said it took about 25 minutes to remove the infant from the twisted wreck . The Hoke County Board of Commissioners was expected to approve a county budget Wednesday morning that will not require an increase in the property tax rate. Commissioners met last Thursday to trim the 1978-79 budget down to size, eliminating the need for a 5 cent per $100 valuation tax hike that had been proposed earlier. Hoke County residents let the board know last week at a budget hearing that they did not favor a tax increase. Over 600 signed a petition opposing the 5 cent hike, and many spoke against it. Before the cuts were made, the proposed budget called for general fund expenditures in excess of $3.49 million, or $256,691 more than last year. To cover the increase, a hike in the property tax rate from 92 cents per $100 to 97 cents was proposed. The county tax rate has gone up 17 cents since 1973. A 7 percent cost of living increase for county employees was included in the proposed budget. In the revised budget, employees will still get a cost of living increase, but it won't be a blanket 7 percent raise. According to Hoke County Manager James Martin, those who make over $10,000 will get a 6 percent increase, and those who make under $10,000 will get 7 percent. Anyone hired by the county after April 1 won't get an increase in July, according to the wishes of the board. Martin said all of the sheriff s deputies will get the 7 percent raise. The budget sets the starting salary for a deputy at a minimum of $8,000. "It should be emphasized that we only cut 4 cents from the tax base," the county manager said. "We shifted revenue sharing funds to cover the other penny. I won't say that we couldn't have cut the other penny from local taxes, but it would have hurt us if we had." The revised budget substitutes federal revenue sharing dollars for local tax dollars in the purchase of two fully equipped sheriff s cars. It's estimated that the two cars, with the equipment, will cost about $16,200, Martin said. At Thursday's meeting, the board instructed the county manager to set aside $15,000 to repair the roof and pay for other improvements to the old county office building on Elwood Avenue, now used by the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Employment Security Commisssion. and the Hoke Reading/ Literacy Council. Martin said Tuesday money for the project will come from revenue sharing funds. Toward the end of Thursday's budget cutting session, the county manager told the commissioners that hard times could be ahead. "Problems are coming down the road that are going to be hard to deal with," Martin said. "Unless the tax base jumps, we'll have to increase the tax rate in the future." The county manager said $75,000 in local tax money was involved in the $256,691 budget increase this year, with the rest coming from state and federal funds. Cuts from the general fund made by the board include: $6,000 for Health Department radios; $9,700 from the Sheriffs Department, which includes a new clerk's position, desk and chair, and $2,500 in salary adjustments; $14,000 from the capital outlay budget of the Hoke County Schools; $2,000 from the Rescue Squad budget (also a request for $17,500 in revenue sharing funds for a new ambulance was cut to $15,000); $1,169 allocated for the State Forestry Service; $7,548 from the Mental Health budget; $3,000 for physician extenders at the Health Department; $3,044 from the library budget, requested to make a part-time position full-time (another $1,000 was cut from the books and periodicals fund); $4,783 requested by the Hoke Reading/Literacy Council (representing its entire request for county funds); $1,000 from the Association for the (See COUNTY. Page 15) TP' RECEIVES PLAQUE -- 7.//. Blvrhe ( center ) receives a plaque from Social Services Director Ben Nibhck in appreciation for his years of service on the Social Sen-ices board. Mrs. Blythe (left) attended the reception in her husband's honor at the Social Services Department on Monday. Blythe sen>ed on the board from IV 72 to IV 78. Lumber Bridge Man Sentenced To 20 Years a Lumber Bridge man was sentenced to 20 years after being found guilty of voluntary man slaughter in last week's session of Superior Court. Nathaniel Watkins, 24, of Rt. 1, Lumber Bridge, was charged with second-degree murder in the slay ing of his brother, Edward Lee Watkins, last December. He plea ded guilty to the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter. Judge William T. Graham was presiding. The defendant was sentenced to not less than 10 years nor more than 20 years in the state depart ment of corrections. He was given credit for 177 days of pre-trial confinement. Robert Lee McNeill, Rt. 1 Box 179, Aberdeen, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. He pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 90 days. Sentence was suspended upon payment of S250 restitution for Malcolm B. Pleasants, and the defendant was placed on probation for five years. Cost of court was remitted and he was ordered to cooperate with the probation offic er, to remain in the state and not change his residence without per mission from his probation officer. Larry McCain, Shaw Town. Raeford, was found not guilty of assault with a deadly weapon. Howard Simon Adams, S10 West Sixth Ave., Raeford. was found guilty of larceny and sentenced to two years as a committed youthful offender. The defendant was on probation in four earlier cases and those were activated. He was ordered to serve a total of seven years. William Earl Howell, 121 N. Wright St., Raeford, pleaded no contest to a charge of misdemeanor communicating threats by tele phone. He was ordered to be incarcerated in the Hoke County Jail from 7 p.m. Friday, June 23, until 5 a.m. Monday, June 26. Curtis Locklear, Rt. 2 Box 69A, Raeford, was found not guilty of speeding 55 in a 45 m.p.h. zone. Donald Ray Butler, Rt. 2 Box 123, Raeford, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving under the influence (D.U.I.). Breathalyzer test was refused. He was sentenced to 90 days, suspended and placed on probation upon payment of a S500 fine and costs. He was ordered to violate no federal or state law during the period on probation and to pay costs. Robert Curnell Virgil. Rt. 2 Box 498, Raeford, pleaded guilty to a charge of D.U.I. He was sentenced to 179 days and sentence was suspended. The defendant was placed on probation for five years upon payment of a SI ,000 fine and costs. Cost was to include counsel fees. He was ordered to report to the probation officer as directed, to remain within the state and not change his address without the permission of the probation officer, to violate no state or federal penal law, to remain gainfully employed or in school full time and support his dependants. Breathalyzer test was refused. Archie Chalmers Davis, Rt. 1 Box 144. Lumber Bridge, withdrew a plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty to two counts of D.U.I., fouth offense. In the first case, he was sentenced to 179 days and sentence was suspended and the defendant placed on probation for five years. On the second count, the defendant was sentenced to 179 days, suspended and placed on probation for five years. The second sentence was ordered to begin at the expiration of the first. He was ordered to pay jail fees of $1 .790 for 358 days of jail time and (Sec SUPERIOR COURT. Page 15)
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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June 29, 1978, edition 1
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