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#he Hoke County News - Established 1928
OLUME LXXI NUMBER 12 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
?Around I Children Survive With Injuries
- journal
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
$8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1979
Town
BY SAM C. MORRIS
low who said last winter that
ley wanted hot, dry weather? Well
seems that they have received
ieir wishes. About every morning
rhen you drive to work the haze
oks almost like fog.
There are many people that are
P mowing their lawns because of
le dry weather and you can
elude me in the group. I noticed
ine lawn Monday that looked like a
field of hay that had been on the
[round for several days.
VVe in this section need rain and
jp week when I was in the western
art of the state, the people there
aid that the rain in recent weeks
liad either drowned out or rotted
Kheir gardens. I told them to send it
lo Hoke County for it hadn't rained
(for about three weeks and now it is
ir.
m*
is has happened before and we
Ihave survived.
Ed Hasty of De Vanes Store sent
a key to a Ford automobile that
lw;picked up near the Raeford
Presbyterian church last week. It is
on a Raeford Auto Co key ring and
can be picked up by the owners if.
he or she will come by The
News-Journal office.
The president in his speeches
Sunday night and Monday stated
that he wanted to lead the people of
this country in helping solve the
aergy problem. This is as it should
', but for the past several years it
seems that the people don't want to
be led but go their own ways. It will
be to<i late after gasoline becomes
too high to purchase or you drive
up to a station and there is no gas
available.
(fcSo we all must make a decision
as to whether we want to help solve
this problem or let things rock
along until there is no solution to
the problem.
Think about it?
? * *
Being out of the office most of
last week is not what 1 am used to
doing. Two trips were made by my
wife and me, one unexpected and
one that we had planned for several
ninths.
^The first trip was to Chimney
Rock on Sunday. July 8th because
my brother James had to undergo
surgery on Tuesday morning. We
returned to Raeford on Wednesday
and then left for a trip to Charles
ton . S.C. for the Battery 'F'
minion which was Friday, Satur
day and Sunday. This covered
about 1000 miles and this is too
much driving for me.
For those who know James, he
should be out of the hospital by the
tone you read this, but he will have
flrtake it easy for a few weeks. I
thought it would be impossible to
get away from there by last
Wednesday but after staying with
the people of Chimney Rock for
three da'ys my faith in humanity has
been restored. Maybe it is their love
tj? my brother, but Mary Alice and
*were treated like long lost
relatives that had just returned
after many years overseas.
Words cannot express my feel
ings for the folks at Chimney Rock.
If any of my readers are ever
*iough there, please convey these
rds to the people.
The trip to Charleston was once
again a delightful afTair. Again this
year people were there that I hadn't
seen since 1942. The crowd was
smaller than last year, but everyone
seemed to have a big time.
"wrhe reunion will be held again
next year and will be held either in
September or October at Wrights
ville Beach. This is approximately
14 months away and letters will be
sent early so that people can
njepare for next years' reunion.
^The same committee was ap
pointed to handle the reunion next
year so if you have any suggestions,
please get in touch with one of the
members.
The news report of the new
industry coming to the Laurinburg
Maxton area should be good for
this community also. If the gas
situation does get too bad the trip
out there should be about right for
tfv people to get jobs. You know
Iff new industry in this section
helps.
Hoke Crash Kills Man, Wife
Hoke Mental Health Center
Staying Open, Director Says
The Hoke County Mental Health
Center has sufficient funds to
continue operating ' without sig
nificantly changing its programs,
Director George Barbour advised
Monday.
The survival of the center was
assured when the Hoke County
commissioners guaranteed the cen
ter $28,260 for the county's share of
the center's budget for the fiscal
year 1979-80, which started July 1.
Earlier in June, Phillip A. Diehl,
chairman of the center's board,
said the center might have to close
because of insufficient funding.
The commissioners originally had
provided S22.260 for the center for
the new Fiscal year.
Center spokesman told the com
missioners they could work with
S28.260, though they'd have to
make some cuts in expenses.
Barbour said Monday he was
advising that the center would
continue operating, because some
people apparently were still under
the impression that the center
would have to close.
The Hoke center is part of the
Sandhills Regional Mental Health
Center, based in Moore County.
DEATH CAR -- Wreckage of 1976 Ford in which Bobby and Jill Davis of
Rt. 1. Lumber Bridge, were killed in July 13. Their two sons, riding in back
seat, escaped serious injury. | Staff photo by Joe Holt\.
In Civil Preparedness Test
Hoke Reaction
Termed 'Best In State'
WmmmL.
by Joe Holt
"It is one minute past midnight
July 17, 1979. Warning has just
been received that the United
States is under attack by the Soviet
Union. We are in Operationa
Readiness Condition II. Al
members of the EOC staff will
report to the EOC at once.
These were the opening lines in a
scenario given to the Hoke County
EOC staff and Civil Preparedness
Coordinator Bill Niven by state of
ficials who monitored and assisted
with the local action last Wednes
day night in Raeford.
The occasion was a Civil
Preparedness, operational "simula
tion" exercise that presumed a
nuclear attack on Fort Bragg and
entailed a realistic "play like in
evacuation and other emergency
procedures on the part of Hoke
County's government.
While it was "all in fun, so to
speak, many facets of the exercise
were real enough. For one thing,
the key citizens who gathered in
the Raeford City Hall at 8 P-1?
were the self-same "EOC staff
members" who would be there in
case of an actual emergency*
namely, the county commis
sioners, city councilmen, all the
heads of agencies and protective
services -- law enforcement, fire
department, social services,
schools -- other individuals
designated as EOC staff members,
and of course, Bill Niven and the
staff of the Civil Preparedness Of
fice, and fQr another thing, "make
believe" or not, the members of
the EOC staff conducted
themselves so seriously throughout
the drill that the actual reality of
an attack by the Russians was the
only thing missing. ,
In the words of one official at
the scene, the entire exercise was
"so well executed that an objective
observer in the EOC would have
been hard put to tell the difference
between this drill and the real
thing.' "
In the course of the exercise -- in
following the scenario -- all team
members were aware, of course,
that it was not really July 17 but
July 11. and not "0001 hours" but
8 p.m. And they could be
reasonably confident that the
nuclear fireball that was scheduled
to rise to upwards of 50,000 feet
over Fort Bragg sometime during
the next few hours was not really
going to be there. Nevertheless,
throughout the exercise they were
supposed to, and did, follow riR'd
lines of decision-making and
simulated action. ?
Shortly after "midnight, the
alert was sounded throughout the
county by loudspeaker, telephone,
siren, radio, television, any way
possible. Most privately owned
vehicles, loaded to capacity, head
ed for the designated shelters. All
the county's school buses were
used to haul rest home and nurs
ing home residents and others who
had no means of transportation.
Presumably, there were some who
walked or ran, perhaps carrying
armloads of clothing, food, etc.
Hopefully, though, most were
aware that such necessities would
be available at the shelter once it
could be reached, and so traveled
light. .
By 3 a.m., there were 728 people
sheltered in the courthouse. 468 at
WAITING FOR REPORT ?? Shown during the Civil Preparedness exercise of July II are. front. L-R. Raeford
City Manager Ron Matthews. Hoke County Manager James Martin, and Joe Jenkins, radiological defense officer:
and. rear. L-R. Raeford City Councilman Vardell Hedgpeth Jr.. Mabel Riley, a Hoke County commissioner, and
Hoke County Civil Defense Coordinator Bill Niven. ( Staff photo hy Joe Holt\.
the Burlington plant, 174 at
Southern National Bank, 1,025 at
Raeford United Methodist
Church, and 326 at the post office;
there were 879 at First Baptist
Church, 915 at Raeford
Presbyterian Church, 3,148 at
House of Raeford, 143 at the Na
tional Guard Armory, 6,463 at the
sanatorium, and another 2,910 at
the youth center at McCain.
(Coordinator Niven said there is
more room at the shelters named
here, plus plenty of other places
that would be used to accom
modate the additional 22,000
refugees Hoke would get from
Fayetteville-Fort Bragg in the
event of an actual attack.)
With the shelters now
populated, with some people
scared, most of them hungry, some
requiring medical care, any per
sonal and professional abilities of
all the occupants were available to
the respective shelter managers for
dealing with the myriad problems.
Those who knew how to ad
minister emergency medical care,
for example were busied in doing
just that. And those who could
drive were pressed into service for
any transportation needs.
Meanwhile, back at the EOC, at
3:05 a.m. a food and bedding
shortage was reporated at House
of Raeford. With 950 people
sheltered there, it had developed
that there was only enough food
for 24 hours and enough bedding
for only 300 people. Since the
radiation level was expected to rise
to and remain at plus-200 roen
tgens for possibly 14 days or
longer, something had to be done
in advance to alleviate the problem
at House of Raeford. A decision
was made and implemented to
move 650 of the turkey plant
shelter occupants to McCain,
where there was a surplus of
materiel and plenty of room.
An ambulance had transported
an emergency case to Moore
Memorial Hospital just before the
alert began and was now enroute
back to Raeford. The order went
out to stop the vehicle and hold it
at McCain.
At 4 a.m., the sheriff was "fell
ed" by a "heart attack." The
county commissioners immediately
selected a deputy and installed him
as the new sheriff.
There was a report of a fire at 6
a.m. It was first determined to be
too dangerous to send out firemen,
but when it was learned that a large
number of people were sheltered at
the site of the fire, a fire fighting
team was dispatched without
delay.
These were typical actions of the
EOC during the July 1 1 test. All of
the problems encountered during
the 2-Vi hours of the civil defense
exercise were met and solved with
equal professionalism, reported
Coordinator Niven.
"The whole thing was really
very well done," he said. "And
this is certainly not my opinion
alone."
Niven said Paul Sullivan, head
of the State team monitoring the
exercise, remarked to him later
that the teamwork and enthusiasm
he observed in Raeford on the
night of July 11 was the "best he
had seen anywhere in the entire
state."
Richard Morgan of the Raeford
Lions Club was elected deputy
governor of Lions International
District 31 -F at the recent conven
tion of the North Carolina Associa
tion of Lions Clubs. The district
contains about 58 clubs.
Morgan served as president of
the Raeford club the past year.
He is a native of Lexington and
has been living in Raeford the past
seven years. Since joining the
Lion's Club. Morgan also has
served as vice president and as
chairman of committees for the
local club, and was zone chairman
before being elected to the district
position.
Morgan is married to the former
Jane Cook. They have three chil
dren: Steve. Cathy, and Holly.
Morgan also is active in other
civic and in church organizations.
He is with Burlington Mens
wear's Raeford plant.
A single-car accident Friday
night at approximately 8:30
claimed the lives of both parents in
a Hoke County family and hospi
talized their two sons.
Pronounced dead at the scene
were Bobby Jefferson Davis, 33 and
his wife. Jill, 29, of Rt. 1. Lumber
Bridge.
Their sons, Bobby, Jr., 11, and
Jefferson Lee, 9, were taken by
ambulance to Cape Fear Valley
Hospital in Fayetteville, where they
were admitted for treatment and
observation.
Sources said Bobby, Jr., suffered
a broken arm and Jefferson Lee a
bruised leg. Both were released on
Monday.
Investigating officer R.V. Lee of
the N.C. Highway Patrol said the
1976 four-door Ford in which the
family was riding had been heading
east on Rockfish Road (rural paved
road 1406) when it apparently
swerved to the left side of the road,
then crossed to the right, left the
highway, and smashed into a pine
tree.
Lee reported that the parents
were pinned in the wreckage and
could not be removed until the
Hoke County Rescue Squad arrived
with the "Jaws of Life" machine to
open the top of the car.
Hoke medical examiner Dr.
Robert G. Townsend was called to
the scene and pronounced the man
and woman dead after their re
moval from the wreckage.
James C. Clark, the second
person to have arrived at the scene
of the accident, said he and his wife
had attempted to get the Davises
out of the car before the trooper
and rescue squad had arrived, but
that it was impossible to do by
hand. (The first person to arrive at
the scene had left to report the
accident.)
The Clarks said they were suc
cessful, however, in freeing the two
children, who were ambulatory and
vocal .
These deaths brought the num
ber of traffic fatalities to nine in
Hoke thus far for the year.
The most recent victim before
the Davis couple died June 14 of
injuries suffered when he was
struck by a car June 10.
Bloodmobile
Here July 25
The American Red Cross Blood
nobile will be in Raeford July 25
from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at
Raeford United Methodist Church,
Clyde Upchurch, Hoke County
field director for the American Red
Cross, announced Tuesday.
VFW Barbecue
The Veterans of Foreign Wars
will hold a barbecue Sunday
afternoon at the VFW Hall across
from Harmony Heights Trailer
Park.
The barbecue is for all VFW
members and former members and
veterans eligible for membership.
The barbecue will begin about 2.
In Lions ' Organization
Morgan Named
Deputy District Chief
Richard Morgan