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The Hoke County News - Established 1928
VOLUME LXXIl NUMBER 41 R AFFORD, HOKF COIM V m r,.,... ,
County Commissioners Told
- journal
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The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
S8 PKR YK,\K THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1981
Hoke F arm Income , Production
Costs Up
Around
Town.
1 BY SAM C. MORRIS
The snow last Friday came as a
surprise to most of us even though
the weatherman had forecast that
we would have some snow. He had
been predicting snow for several
weeks, but it finally arrived.
The roads were kinda dangerous
early Saturday morning, but it
started leaving as the sun warmed
the earth late in the day. The
) temperature got up to around 60
degrees on Sunday and most of the
snow left during the day except on
the north side of trees and build
ings.
The remainder of the snow left
during the night as the rain came,
as was predicted. It stopped raining
up in the day Monday and the sun
was shining as this was being
written Monday afternoon.
. The forecast is for freezing
' weather for the remainder of the
week.
Maybe I will get to play golf once
this month!
* * *
As stated above the sun was
shining Monday, February 2, so
this means that the groundhog saw
his shadow and went back into his
I or her hole for six more weeks of
' winter weather.
Bill Lindau stated that we would
have six more weeks of winter even
if the groundhog didn't see his
shadow. You are right Bill, but it
would make us all feel better if he
hadn't seen his shadow, with the
price of fuel oil this winter.
Anyway, we always look forward
to Groundhog Day and hope for an
early spring.
Last Friday while eating lunch at
a local restaurant, I was joined by
my good friend, Richard Taylor.
The snow had started falling to the
extent that it was hard to see the
highway through the door of the
restaurant. Now Richard retired
several years ago from Burlington
Mills and spends most of his time
down at the Arabia Golf Course.
When I asked him what he had
scored for his round that morning,
he looked at me and stated that it
was too cold for him to play that
day. He did say that four people
were on the course when he left to
come to the restaurant. He then
said. "Do you know who is out on
the course in the snow?"
Now after writing about two
gentlemen that play golf in freezing
? weather and after looking around
the table and seeing the people
seated, I decided not to make any
comment.
Before 1 could say anything.
Richard said. "Four preachers
from Robeson County?" Amen.
Enough said.
I The letter from Clyde Upchurch
" that appeared in this column last
week about the Red Cross and the
United Fund brought forth a
comment from J.L. Holmes, dis
trict commercial manager of Caro
lina Telephone. He called me last
Thursday and said that he had read
the letter and my comments and
did not want to see the local Red
Cross office close down. Holmes
further stated that the telephone
| company has many employees in
Hoke County that receive the first
aid and safety classes that are
taught by the Red Cross.
He continued with what a former
treasurer of the fund always wanted
to hear. Where do you send a
contribution to help keep the office
open and also help get the United
Fund Drive going?
This was one of the fastest things
. to answer. Just send it to me and I
" will see that it gets into the proper
hands.
This is all we need to keep the
agencies financed for people to
give.
In a separate article you will see
that United Way is getting ready to
start a drive and that John Leandro
of the Open Arms Rest Home is the
campaign chairman. He can't do it
by nimself, so when you are
| contacted, give him your support.
- r , r ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ k
Winter's Second Snow Falls On Hoke
Friday's snow carpeted Hoke
County but east of McCain appar
ently caused no serious problems,
though west and north of McCain
the snowfall was heavier and made
driving hazardous.
Saturday's subfreezing weather,
however, made streets and roads
slick in places.
The snowfall in Hoke amounted
to two to three inches and was the
second of the winter.
The snowstorm arrived in Rae
ford in early afternoon but did not
stick on roads. Schools remained
open for the full class day since
driving conditions were not
hazardous.
The snowstorm northward, how
ever, caused postponement of the
Hoke High-Lee County High bas
ketball game scheduled for Friday
night on the Lee court.
Icing caused by Saturday's freeze
of melted snow resulted in at least
one injury.
Mrs. Jean Hodgin suffered a
fracture of her right wrist when she
fell on ice on a step at her home
near Antioch Presbyterian Church.
She had used the steps once that
morning but before the melted
snow had frozen, so she wasn't
expecting ice when she went out
again later.
Mrs. Hodgin's injured wrist will
be in the cast for six weeks. Mrs.
Hodgin is on the office staff of the
Hoke County Agricultural Exten
sion Service.
Drivers heading west from Rae
ford had little trouble early Friday
afternoon till they got to McCain
when the roads were blanketed by
the snowfall, which had arrived
fcxMCV... .J SFASW
West Elwood A venue at the Raeford Post Office and nearby parking lot at mid-af ternoon Friday af ter the snowfall
had lightened. [Staff photo by Pam Frederick],
earlier than it had eastward. The
layer was slushy, however. Rather
than icy, since the temperature at
the time was just a few degrees
below the freezing mark.
In neighboring Moore County
about three inches of snow had
fallen in places before the storm
arrived in Hoke County, and Moore
schools were closed because of the
hazardous driving conditions.
Hoke got its first snowfall of the
winter on December 27, about two
inches, but apparently caused no
serious damage, though it made
driving hazardous ana postponed
shopping for many at the after
Christmas sales in Raeford.
Jordan Leaves School Board
Dr. Riley M. Jordan resigned ef
fective immediately Tuesday from
the Hoke County Board of Educa
tion.
Near the close of the board's
regular meeting for February, Jor
dan, chairman of the board, told
the other board members he was
leaving a matter to County Schools
Supt. Raz Autry, who also is
secretary to the board, then left the
conference room in the school
board building.
Autry read Jordan's letter of
resignation, which was dated Tues
day.
The letter did not give a specific
reason for the action but it was
understood that Jordan felt he was
hurting the school system by his
stand concerning the Hoke County
Alcoholic Beverages Control
Board.
Jordan at a January 19 meeting
of the composite board responsible
for appointing members to the
ABC Board questioned the legality
of the secret-ballot method by
which Alfred K. Leach and Ivery
McNair were appointed December
4, 1979, and sought the election of
J.W. Turlington to the board to
replace James Conoly, a member
for 15 years, whose term expired
January 16. Conoly was reap
pointed by a 9-8 vote to a new
three-year term.
Jordan aiso naa movea mat tne
appointments of Leach and
McNair be declared null and void,
but his motion was defeated.
It also was understood that Jor
dan was upset by the Raeford Zon
ing Board's 4-1 vote January 26 to
deny the request of the board of
education for a variance to the city
zoning ordinance and a condi
tional use permit to use the school
board-owned house at 705 Harris
Avenue for offices for the director
of county school food services
(Clara Pope). McNair and Conoly
are members of the zoning board
with Henry Maxwell, Tommie Teal
and Preston Moore, who cast the
vote favoring the school board re
quest.
The state attorney general's of
fice in response to a query made by
County Attorney Duncan McFad
yen advised in writing last week
that the appointment of the ABC
Board members by secret ballot
was irregular but that the method
was not a basis for nullifying the
appointments that the only remedy
lay in obtaining a court injunction
forbidding the Composite Board
for using the method again.
Jordan wrote a letter to The
News-Journal this week concern
ing his feelings about the ABC
Board members, the appointments
and the efforts to make a change
on the board, and ABC funds. The
letter is published on the editorial
page of today's edition.
Jordan said in his letter also:
"There have recently been events
which lead me to believe that my
serving on the School Board, at
this time, might be a deterrent to
the School Board's getting certain
budget approvals without hassle."
Budget approvals are made by the
county commissioners who also
are members of the Composite
Board and appoint the members of
the County Board of Health, who
also are members of the Composite
Board, as are the members of the
school board. Two of the county
commissioners, however, had sup
ported Jordan's nominee for the
ABC Board, though one, Mabel
Riley, was voting as a member of
the board of health.
Autry told the remaining school
board members that it was up to
them to choose a replacement for
Jordan within 30 days, and that if
they didn't then the State Board of
Education would name a member.
The county school board is ex
pected to meet within the next
three weeks to make the appoint
ment.
It was agreed Mrs. Mina Town
send, the board's vice chairman,
will advise Autry when the board is
to meet to make a choice. Board
Attorney Bill Moses suggested that
the members start considering
someone for the vacancy. Jordan's
four-year term will expire in 1982.
He would have served 22 years on
the board by that year.
Board member Bill Cameron
said that a meeting of the Com
posite Board should be called to let
the public know how each member
stands on the ABC Board matter.
He said he thinks there is concern
See Jordan. Page 10
By City Council
Fund For Industrial Program Voted
The Raeford City Council Mon
day night .voted $500 in city funds
to participate with the Hoke Coun
ty government in the state's new
Highland Plains Marketing Asso
ciation for attracting new industry
to come to the Highland Plains
Industrial area of six counties,
which includes Hoke.
The county commissioners at
their January 19 mid-month meet
ing voted to put up $500 to
participate, if the Raeford City
Council voted the remainder.
Earl Fowler, manager of the
Raeford- Hoke County Chamber of
Commerce and the Highland Plains
Marketing Committee, explained
that regional Metro-Marketing is a
new approach adopted by the State
Department of Commerce to in
dustrial development. The previous
approach was "selling" the state as
a whole. In a talk to the county
commissioners January 19, Fowler
said the statewide approach had
proven ineffective for industrial
development of the Hoke County
area.
The other counties in the High
land Plains area are Scotland,
Robeson, Sampson, Bladen, and
Cumberland.
Mayor John K. McNeill, Jr..
expressed approval of the Highland
Plains plan. A brochure describing
the area for industry prospects
would be produced, he added.
The $1,000 city-county contribu
tion will cover a period of 18
months. .
Fowler, also appearing on behalf
of the Raeford Airport Steering
Committee, informed the council
men a breakfast meeting of the
five-member committee, council
and county commissioners has been
scheduled for 7 a.m. February 9 at
the Wagon Wheel Restaurant.
He said it was hoped that from
the meeting would come a blue
ribbon commission to study the
airport and make recommenda
tions concerning its development
for the future. ft>wler at an earlier
meeting described the airport as a
key in the industrial development
of Hoke County.
The Airport Steering Committee,
he explained Monday night, was
established to work with the city
and county on the role of the
airport for the future.
In other business at the council
meeting. Councilman Bob Gentry
objected to part of a report
published in last week's edition of
The News-Journal about the Jan
uary 26 public hearing of the
Raeford Zoning Board of Adjust
ment.
He was referring to the statement
"members of the City Council" had
expressed objection to changing the
status of the Hoke County Board of
Education house formerly used as a
residence of Hoke High principals.
City Manager Ron Matthews, to
whom the statement was attri
buted, told Gentry he "jumped up
and down" when he read the
quotation. He said what he did say
was "a member" of the City
Council not "members." He said
the member who had objected was
Sam Morris. He also said Mayor
John K. McNeill, Jr., also ex
pressed objection to changing the
status.
The zoning board following the
hearing, at which no property
owner other than the board of
education was represented, denied
the school board request for a
variance to the zoning ordinance to
allow the house, at 705 Harris Ave.,
to be used for offices for the
director of county school food
services.
Under the ordinance this would
be a use not conforming to any use
permitted in that area by the
ordinance. The school board re
quest was in effect an appeal from
Zoning Administrator William Sel
ler's denial of a variance, on
grounds that the zoning ordinance
prohibited operation of offices in
that zone, which is classified as
one-family residential.
Gentry argued that the zoning
See Council, Page 10
The Hoke County commissioners
were told at their monthly meeting
Monday that Hoke County farmers'
gross income for the past year is
estimated at $21,724,598. about
$855,130 higher than the estimated
gross for 1979, but production costs
were 12 to 15 per cent higher.
Wendell Young, county Agri
cultural Extension Service chair
man gave the figures in his regular
report. He said inflation effects on
production costs eliminated the
gains in gross income generally,
and some farmers even lost money
because of it.
He commented on production
costs after John Balfour, chairman
of the board of commissioners, said
after Young and given the gross
income figures that the news media
has neglected to report the increase
in the farmers' operating costs,
leading to the impression that
farmers are doing well.
The Extension staff also gained
an assistant agent, filling the
vacancy created September 19 by
the resignation of Larry Locklear.
Robert Northern was named to
the vacancy by the commissioners.
They adopted a motion inviting
him to join the staff.
Northern is 26, single, a native of
Morganton, W. Va., and a 1979
graduate of Clemson, S.C.. Uni
versity. where his father is serving
as dairy specialist for the South
Carolina Agricultural Extension
Service.
Northern will work in horti
culture and agronomy, his fields of
major study. Young told the com
missioners.
He served in the Marine Corps
till 1974 after graduating from high
school and before going to college.
He has been living in Clemson since
1967.
Northern is working for a com
mercial landscaping firm based at
Easley. S.C., and will join the Hoke
staff March 1, since he is obligated
to give his current employer 30 days
notice that he is leaving.
FARM INCOME
Young reported the following
gross income bv farm enterprise for
1980.
Tobacco -- S5.2 million, cotton --
SI. 3 million; corn ?? $2.4 million;
wheat -- $500,000; soybeans -- $3.9
million.
Vegetables -- $931,313; fruits
and nuts -- $92,848. nursery- and
greenhouse products -- $350,000;
forest products -? $1,540,750.
Livestock -- $2. 687,095; turkeys
and turkey eggs -? $2,363,840; and
barley, rye and other small grains --
SI 3.690. 290.
Government pavments totaled
$68,462.
Young reported more corn was
planted last year than the year
before, and the yield amounted to
an average 60 bushels per acre. The
1979 gross income was an esti
mated $1,353,750.
Tobacco gross income rose, ac
cording to the estimate, from the
1979 production ($4,922,345),
which was less than the 1978 total
($5,792,670).
Young attributed the planting of
more acres of wheat last year to the
increase in gross expected from
that crop, from the 1978 estimate.
The soybean income for last year
is estimated down from the 1979
gross, ($5,655,000): 26,000 acres
were planted in the crop in 1980.
about 3.000 fewer than in the
previous year, and last year's
average yield was 26 bushels per
acre, four under the 1979 yield.
Last year, farmers planted 3,500
acres in cotton, abut 1,500 more
than in 1979, but cotton yields
averaged 498 pounds per acre,
compared with about 525 in 1979.
Last year's estimated income
from vegetables is about $531,000
above the previous year's. Young
reported.
Other 1979 figures, for com
parison with the 1980 estimates:
fruits and nuts -- $35,168; forest
products -? $2,012 million; green
house and nursery products -
S 500, 000; livestock -- S2.738.902;
poultry (nearly all turkeys and
turkey eggs) -- $1,742,457.
* ? *
In response to a request made bv
County Schools Supt. Raz Autry,
the commissioners adopted a mo
tion authorizing $5,000 extra for
the school system budget to pay
half the cost of having a survey of
See Income, Page 10