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The Hoke County News - Established 1928
VOLUME LXXD NUMBER 16 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
journal
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
S8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1980
One Plane Destroyed, 4 Others Damaged
,3?
High Winds Hit Airport; Damage Planes
Around
Town
BY SAM C.MORRIS
The weather is the same as it was
six weeks ago: HOT. We have teen
having a few afternoon thunder
showers that help somewhat.
? ? *
?e following letter is self-explanatory:
:ar Sam:
As a private citizen I strongly
object to our Hoke Co. Board of
Commissioners loaning money to
thauoht Wltu ?r without interest. I
SSSTm ^ businessmen
serving on the Board and I was
Jhe ^ion taken to
Service. This ?mo!?e Amhu|ance
' ^h??ingSsoren?nyte^Ut,danhdarse
?f jU? 3 ,ittle more
toSle^?NOTay Sh?Uld ** found
in raise ProPcrty taxes
wiifafr u?Un ty 3nd yct 1 exPect we
Pa^ng more in 1981.
nLhi M D^ember Commissioner
Dann^C^Vter ^ Com?ssioner
:n y DeVane that I do not
approve this action of loanST*
money without interest and S?
?S?nWh legahty of the Board's
action. What is to keep anyone
?^'"8 ^e county from requesting
an interest free loan and expecting
the same treatment?
Agnes Mae J. Campbell
? ? ?
Eugene P. Smith, mayor of
avelock and publisher of The
AW/ocA Progress once worked at
this newspaper office. Over the
t years we have wondered if Smith
nied anything about the paper
smess or did Dickson and mySf
icach him anything. This week my
wondering was ended when I read
dSWer,0aletterfr0m
It seemed the letterwriter was a
P^?ofp da^hTe^n^Sr in
the ^^ding ?hea
fcre^h;;bffihe bri<tes
newspaper;0*'"^ Came from ,he
"PuWi?W. Note. Mrs .
Sffry CAtirt'Ve ?'ob runn'ng the
Station Administration building
her own civil service department
Havelock City Hall. the^avS
Fire Department, the Havelock
Rescue Squad, the Havelock
"'IT? ""J61"' the Havelock
Aatic^?Ue' t5e.Havelock Demo
iW, P? * 30 her residence on
oryan street.
"However neither she nor the
E? ,r *he pohcy rules for the
J vefor Right or wrong
that is the publisher's opinion.
1 ne rule remain as it has been
engagement and wedding photo
graphs will be of the brfde -
(See AROUND TOWN, page 15)
I
L-R. with wind-toppled plane ?? Scotsman Doug Young, AuUrailian Lee Ivanins. Scotsman Deak Wright. [St aJJ photo hy Bill Lindau.\
Man Sentenced
In Tax Case
In U.S. District Court in Greens
boro last week North Carolina men
were given prison sentences on
charges of subscribing to and
conspiring to subscribe to filing
false Federal income tax returns to
obtain refunds.
U.S. District Court Judge Hiram
Ward sentenced William Dallas
Fletcher, a Central Prison inmate,
to seven years in prison, to run
concurrently with the term he is
presently serving.
Fletcher was charged with con
spiring with Theodore Wayne Ed
wards of Raeford to file false tax
returns to claim refunds for 1979 in
the amount of SI 1,064. Edwards
was also charged with actually
filing five false returns and was
sentenced to four years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug
Cannon said that the two men got
the idea of filing false returns from
a "60 Minutes ' segment on tele
vision while serving prison sen
tences together about two years
ago.
The IRS said that Edwards filed
the returns, each claiming a refund
of income tax allegedly withheld
from the wages of inmates of
Central Prison, whose names and
social security numbers were fur
nished by Fletcher. The inmates
had no knowledge of the conspiracy
and none gave permission to use
their names and social security
numbers, Cannon said.
The IRS said that Edwards
rented a house trailer with a rural
address to receive the checks,
which he planned to divide with
Fletcher. He was arrested May 27.
by IRS agents, as he was checking
his mailbox at the trailer.
Golden A mollis windsock lies where it stopped after being driven from its
pule hy Saturday's high winds. \ Staff photo hy BUI Lindau \
Hit-run Accident Kills Man
Elbert Flowers, 58, of Rt. 1.
Raeford, was killed about 10:15
p.m. Friday when he was struck bv
a car on Vass Road north of
Raeford, the State Highway Patrol
reported. The car was not at the
scene when the investigating officer
arrived, the report says.
Anyone having information
about the accident is asked to call
line State Highway Patrol. The
accident occurred about 100 yards
from Flowers's home, the patrol
said.
Flowers, like the three other
pedestrians injured in traffic acci
dents this year, was wearing dark
clothes and on an unlightcd road.
The others were not hurt fatally.
Flowers was one of three pedes
trians killed last weekend in North
Carolina traffic accidents. The
others were Edward Reynolds, 60,
of Supply, struck on N.C. 130 near
Shalotte, on the southeastern coast
below Wilmington; and Edgar
C lark. 54. of Canton, struck on
I'.S. 19 near Asheville. which is
about 20 miles east of Canton.
Winds estimated at up to 70
miles per hour and driving heavy
rain struck Raeford Airport late
Saturday after causing about
$9,000 to four planes.
The storm, though less violent
elsewhere, brought lightning
damage in places, disrupting cable
television for several families in at
least one area of Raeford. A fifth
plane was damaged when it was hit
by a windsock blown off its pole
and driven about 1,000 feet across
the field.
The damage would have been far
higher if nine British and Aus
tralian skydivers hadn't pitched in
and helped grab planes torn loose
from their moorings and retie
them, Gene Paul Thacker, a Fixed -
base operator at the airport, said
Monday.
Eight of the skydivers are
members of the British national
team, and the other is on the
Australian national women's team.
All have been practicing at the
Raeford airport for the 10 - day
international skydiving meet which
will be held in Bulgaria, near
Sophia, the national capital, start
ing Thursday.
One of the planes they saved,
Thacker said, was a six - passenger
craft valued at about 570,000.
Most of the damage to the planes
at the airport, was to a single
aircraft, a small, single - engined
craft owned by Phil Roggi, who
lives at the edge of the airport. The
plane was flipped over on its back
by the powerful wind.
Thacker who provided the in
formation about the damage, said
the plane cost about 55,000 and
was a total loss.
Thacker made the estimate of
the wind velocity. He called it the
worst storm he's seen in 10 years.
Thacker said the windsock looked
as though it were going 50 miles an
hour after it was blown off the pole.
Besides the total destruction of
Roggi's plane, the wind did flap
damage to one and wing damage to
two others, Thacker said. The
damages to these an.ounted to
about $4,000, he said. The damage
to the plane hit by the windsock
amounted to less than 5100, he
estimated. The craft was parked on
a ramp at the time. The windsock is
owned by the Golden Knights, the
U.S. Army Parachute Team, based
at Ft. Bragg. It was fixed to the top
of a pole as a wind - direction
indicator for descending skydivers.
The six - passenger plane had
been secured by chains and strong
nylon rope but the wind was so
strong it tore the craft loose from
these moorings. Thacker and the
others managed to grab it as it was
heading for destruction and res
cured it.
They also restored damaged
moorings to other places
threatened by the wind.
The wind also damaged Thack
er's property at home nearby. He
said a shed was damaged and two
trees were lost.
yilexander McQueen Is 110
Antioch Man Recalls
Days Before Electricity
"I remember when we had to get
a pass from the head woman to
leave the house," said Alexander
McQueen in an excited voice. "If
you went off without her knowing
^id she found out, you'd get the
^vitch."
The white-haired black man is
110 years old, according to his
daughter, McQueen lives with her
and her family on Blue Spring
Road about a mile west of the Hoke
County community of Antioch.
Rosa Lee McKoy, 60, still gets
around well enough to help her
father get outside and meet new
friends.
"Bud will be 111 on Sept. 23,"
said Rosa Lee, referring to her
father by his nickname. Though
there are no birth records, and the
family bible which recorded his
birth date is long lost. Rosa Lee is
positive that Bud has seen more
than a hundred hot summers. "We
found out the old man's age from a
brother before he died," Rosa Lee
said.
"The old man was born the same
year that Laurinburg built its first
Alexander \i< Quern with daughter and grandsons
monument." she added, without
mentioning which monument she
was referring to. "He was born and
raised in Laurinburg.. .hack in
18b9. I mean."
McQueen hears very little of
what is said but responds when
Rosa Lee yells or motions with her
finger. Nevertheless, he is highly
alert and moves quickly toward the
car in the driveway to see the "fine
young men" who came to see him.
"We didn't use to have any
electricity." McQueen said, "or tire
either." "Why. I remember walk
ing three miles to get fire from
another home when ours went
out."
McQueen spoke of lanterns and
of breaking up meat with rocks
before his family ow ned any knives.
"We would take rocks to crack up
wood, too." he said.
McQueen has 10 children and
"more grandchildren than we've
ever tried to count." Rosa Lee
laughed.
She continued with her colorful
account: "Bud broke a leg when he
was younger and it never did heal
He said high wind came to the
airport first from the southwest,
jerked some planes around, but
then died down. Shortly afterward,
about 5:30p.m., he said the much
stronger wind struck, and the
wind-driven rain storm lasted
about an hour.
The Australian woman who
helped is Mrs. Lee Ivanins of
Sidney. The members of the British
team are Doug Young of Glasgow,
Scotland, a soldier; Paul Slaughter,
a London policeman; Bob King,
the team leader. Civilian who is
English; Scotty Milne of F.lgin,
Scotland, a soldier; Deak Wright of
Ayr, Scotland, a soldier; Jim Coffey
and Paddy Byrne, both of Ireland;
and Dave Tylecoat, a civilian and
chief instructor at the Parachute
Center at Headcorn in the south of
England.
Milne is British national all ?
around and accuracy champion,
and runnerup for the style cham
pionship. Young is national style
champion, and Coffey holds third
place in accuracy.
Mrs. Ivanins is New South Wales
(state), women's chamoion.
up just right. Every once in a while,
it goes out on him and he just falls
down. He'll curl up both legs and
say something about 'the old man
tell down again.' Then he gets up
and goes about his business."
Jerry Locklear. collector for
Lumbec River Electric Member
ship Corporation, ran across Mc
Queen and his family in his duties
recently. Through LREMC's Mem
ber Services Office, he found out
more about their situation.
McQueen. Rosa Lee. her hus
band and their three sons were
burned out of a home about 4 years
ago. Since then, they have lived in a
small house owned by Walter
(See MCQUHhN. page 15)
Correction
Last week's front page weather
story was wrong in saying the
Weather Bureau is in the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
There's been no Weather Bureau
?or many years, and it was taken
out of USDA about 1935 or '36.
The equivalent of the Weather
Bureau is the present National
Weather Service, which is in the
U.S. Department of Commerce,
not Agriculture.
The correction comes from a
man who ought to know: Buel
I'evenson of Raeford, who is retired
from the National Weather Service.