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The Hoke County News - Established 1928
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VOLUME LXXI NUMBER 19 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
- journal
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
S8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6. 1979
Around
Town
BY SAMC. MORRIS
The weather for the past week
has been a follow through of last
teek's report. Hot and humid
uring the days and the mornings
have been foggy. From the long
range forecast it seems as if the
weather will be cooler for the next
few days.
if
Labor Day has come and gone
and there were more businesses
open than 1 thought would be open.
All the stores at the shopping
center were open except for the
Jrug store.
The News-Journal was open and
the telephone was ringing most of
the day. We had right much news
turned into the office and besides
that the ad department was at work
and received the regular Monday
advertisement as usual.
I| Of course it is always quiet when
the government offices are closed
and especially the post office.
So to those who hate to come to
work on Monday morning now you
had to say the same thing about
Tuesday. Holidays are fine and are
^eeded, but when you work in a
time schedule such as getting out a
newspaper, holidays require many
hard hours ahead.
H Last Wednesday Lt. General
Thomas Tackaberry, post com
mander at Fort Bragg, was in town
for a few hours. He came by the
newspaper office along with Mayor
John K. McNeill, Chairman of the
Board of Commissioners John
rfjalfour, Clyde Upchurch and
Publisher Paul Dickson. Lt.
Colonel Ron David, PAO officer
for Fort Bragg, was also with the
group.
The Paraglide, the post news
paper, was being readied for
printing and the General took a
?k'our of the plant.
He had also visited other points
of interest in the county and city
and seemed to be impressed by
what he had seen.
From the indication of his ap
pearance here last week everyone
Ifehould be ready for a fine two years
of working with the Army at Ft.
Bragg. He was a fine gentleman.
Last week the lead story by Joe
^olt in the paper has brought forth
many telephone calls and it seems
that funds will be raised to help the
family mentioned in the story.
The telephones also were ringing
wanting to know what the words
"grass widow" meant. 1 didn't
*hink anything about the words
because they had been used around
me all my life.
The words "grass widow"; a
woman who is separated, divorced
or lives apart from her husband.
The comment that takes the top
~ipot was the lady that said "she
thought it was a woman whose
husband smoked marijuana."
Of course with divorce something
that is as regular today as "Cokes"
or "apple pie" the expression could
be lost from usage today. It
certainly wasn't in my younger
^?ays. Anyway, the longer we live,
the more we learn.
? * *
Last Thursday night Jim Attaway
was in charge of the program for
?he Raeford Kiwanis Club. He
Introduced Willie Featherston, Jr.
from the Extension office who
spoke on the subject: Insulation.
Willie gave an interesting talk
backed up with a film strip and
charts. But to have to talk really be
^ops, is when you are in a building
^Ihat hasn't any insulation and the
air conditioner doesn't work.
Yes Willie made his point.
? * *
A Don't forget the Bake and Yard
^Sale to be held Saturday beginning
at nine a.m. at the Edenboroueh
Shopping Center sponsored by the
Lung Association. If you don't have
anything to sell maybe you have
something you would like to donate
^or them to sell.
* * ?
Don't forget that school started
Wednesday and the youngsters will
be walking to school. So drive
carefully when passing these school
Children.
At Commissioners' Meeting
Board Approves Alternate
Truck Route, Juvenile Program
State Revenue Department Figures Show
Hoke Retail Sales Gross Up In 1978-79
Gross retail sales in Hoke County
were nearly $2 million greater in
the past fiscal year than they were
in fiscal 1977-78, State Department
of Revenue figures show.
The Revenue Department report
received here this week shows Hoke
retail sales totaled $35,675,439
between July 1, 1978, and June 30,
1979.
In the same period a year ago,
the department report for that year
shows $33,477,14/.
This brought gross collections of
the state' 3 percent sales tax in
Hoke to $733, 743.06 in the past
fiscal year, and $706,993.57 in
1977-78.
Of last year's gross sales, food
accounted tor the largest single
amount -- S13, 327.412, followed by
58,064,719 for automotive products
and $5,592,958 for general mer
chandise.
In the previous year, food ac
counted for $12,644,197. the lar
gest single group, of the total sales,
followed by $7.669.86 3 for automo
tive products, and $5. 266, 135 for
general merchandise.
Gross retail sales in Hoke in July
were $3,186,073. and in the pre
vious month, S3. 455.602. a com
parison of figures contained in
department monthly reports shows.
Gross collections of the state
sales tax were S64.542.09 in July
and $67,029.60 in June.
CITY-COUNTY DINNER ?? Hoke County and Raeford city government leaders and guests are shown at the
second of the series of periodic dinners started this year for discussion of subjects the city and county have in
common. The Hoke County commissioners were hosts for this meeting, held August 28 at the Hoke County Civic
Center. The Raeford City Council was host for the first, held March 27 in the same place. At the head of the table
are John Balfour \left\, chairman of the board of county commissioners, and Raeford Mayor John K. McNeill. Jr.
August Was Dry Furnace Here
Only 1 .8 inches of rain fell and
the average highest temperature
was 95 degrees daily in Raeford
during August, official records
kept by Robert Gatlin show.
These figures make August one
of the hottest and driest months
Raeford has ever had. High levels
of humidity increased the discom
fort created by the high temper
atures.
In August last year, Raeford had
5.5-mches. A total of 9.5 inches fell
TOTAL RAINFALL
1.8 INCHES
SHOWN IN SQUARES
in August 1977, and 3.6 inches in
the same month in 1976.
No rejrords for temperatures for
August in past years are available.
Last month, the high tempera
tures were below 90 on only four
days -- 84 on the 12th, and 86 each
on the 13th, 16th, and 17th.
On four days, the temperature
reached 100 and over before start
ing to decline. The highest was the
103 degrees recorded August 20.
The other days which had highs of
AUGUST 1979
RAEFORD, N. C.
100 or more were: August 8 -
101; August 9 -- 102; and August
10 -- 100.
Rain fell on five days during the
month and ranged down one-tenth
inch on August 23 to eight-tenths
inch on August 21 . The amounts of
rain that fell on the other days were
.15 inch each on August 1 1 and 26,
and .6 inch on August 27.
August 1979 faded into history
Friday after the temperature reach
ed a high of 97 degrees for the day.
HIGH TEMPERATURES
AVERAGE HIGH, 95
SHOWN IN CIRCLES
State
Awards
Hoke
$5,000
Gov. Jim Hunt announced last
week the awarding of $5,000 in
state matching funds to Hoke
County to improve the county's
land records system.
Hunt said the grant was one of 10
being made this year to counties for
a total of $75,000.
"The state funds are being
matched on a 50-50 basis with local
dollars as a part of the state Land
Records Management Program,"
Hunt explained.
"Hoke County has demonstrated
a real interest in improving its
system of land records manage
ment and these state funds will help
the county in its effort." the
governor added. Hunt said the
county will receive the state funds
at the completion of the project.
The county received $15,100 in
state matching funds in 1978 for
the preparation of large scale maps
for the town of Raeford. This year's
project includes purchase of cadas
tral maps and parcel identifier
numbers for Raeford.
Other counties receiving grants
this year include: Ashe. Bladen,
Chatham, Cleveland, Haywood.
Iredell. Jackson, Nash and Surry.
The state Land Records Man
agement Program was begun by the
North Carolina General Assembly
in 1977 when enabling legislation
created a small staff. The 1978
session fo the General Assembly
allocated $75,000 for grants to
counties for improvements in re
cords systems. An additional
$75,000 for matching grants was
budgeted by the legislature for the
1979-80 fiscal year.
The North Carolina Land Re
cords Program is a part of the state
Department of Administration.
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Chart prepared by Robert Gatlin shows the highest temperatures in circle above each August
measure in square.
date and rainfall
Benefit
Successful
The benefit performance by the
Glorybound Gospel Singers and the
Gospelaires at Oxendine Elemen
tary School near Red Springs
Saturday night was a "grand
success," it was reported.
The event was held to raise funds
for medical costs and other ex
penses faced by the family of Betty
Joyce Oxendine in Betty's illness
and hospitalization at Washing
ton's Walter Reed Hospital.
Betty is suffering from bone
cancer, and her mother. Missouri
Oxendine. is staving bv her side at
the hospital. With help from
generous friends in the community.
Betty will be fitted with an artificial
leg to replace one she lost to
amputation in August.
Russell Locklear, who is co
ordinating special fund-raising ef
forts to help the Oxendines, re
ported that contributions thus far
have totaled $714.
In addition to the offering taken
(See BENEFIT, page 15)
The Board of Hoke County
Commissioners Tuesday approved
a State Department of Transporta
tion proposed alternate route to
eliminate some of the through
truck traffic in downtown Raeford.
The approval was contingent on
approval of the proposal by the
Raeford City Council. The commis
sioners adopted a related motion
requesting the DOT to hold a
public hearing on the proposal.
The action on the proposed
alternate was taken after Commis
sioner Danny DeVane's motion to
table the subject died for lack of a
second.
Commissioner Mable Riley was
unable to attend the meeting, a
regular session for September.
The motion on the public hear
ing was advanced by John Balfour,
chairman of the commissioners'
board, who said the people con
cerned ought to have an op
portunity to express themselves.
The City Council was included in
the motion on the alternate be
cause, Balfour pointed out, the
roads would form the proposed
alternate lie within the city's one
mile zoning area adjoining the city
limits.
The DOT proposes use of SR
1149 and SR 1244 as the alternate
for truck traffic using N.C. 211.
DeVane objected because, he
said, the state agency made it
appear that the alternate was the
work of the county commissioners,
and that people opposing the
alternate would blame the county
commissioners rather than DOT.
DeVane suggested that the reso
lution of the commissioners "ap
prove the request of DOT" to
change the truck route.
He also said the proposed altern
nate would not affect the petro
leum-tanker truck traffic passing
through downtown Raeford in us
ing N.C. 20, the main concern of
the Raeford-Hoke Chamber of
Commerce, which first proposed
last spring a truck route to bypass
the Raeford business district.
HIGHVIEW DRIVE
In connection with roads also,
the commissioners adopted a mo
tion asking the state to consider
putting into the state highway
system Highview Drive, off SR
1425. Property owners have peti
tioned inclusion of the road, which
is about eight-tenths mile long.
The commissioners also adopted
a motion requesting action to
improve roads on which improve
ments had been requested pre
viously. The request was directed to
Henry Jordan. Highway Division
Eight engineer, and Tom Brad
shaw. DOT secretary.
JUVENILES
The commissioners in other busi
ness approved a recommendation
of the County Youth Task Force
that an in-school suspension pro
gram be established for application
to status offenders (runaways, tru
ants. and other juveniles with
behavior problems.)
The program approved Tuesday
will be financed by the state
Community Based Alternatives
program. A similar program to be
used at Hoke High starting this
year was applied for and will be
financed bv the Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention program.
The program approved this week
is a replacement for the minibike
program, which was eliminated by
the Task Force last spring
Mrs. Chris Guy, chairman of the
Task Force, told the commissioners
at Tuesday's meeting the county
lost about 1,000 in its sfate
expansion fund because no pro
gram was being operated in p'ace
ol the minibike program, but said
that it was better to have no
program going than one of no
value, even if the county did lose
some funding.
In a previous meeting, the
commissioners were told by County
Juvenile Court Counselor David
Kellum that because of the lack of
an alternative to the minibike
program the county was not in
compliance with the state's 1975
Community-based Alternatives
program act. He added, however,
that the in-school suspension pro
gram did have public support,
(See BOARD, page 15)