_ " e ^ f lew 6
The Hoke County News - Established 1928
VOLUME LXXIII NUMBER 6 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY. NORTH CAROLINA
s Planni
- journal
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
$8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1981
Council Denies Subsidy
Housing Request
Around
Town
BY SAM C. MORRIS
The weather- over the past
weekend was on the hot part of the
thermometer. The temperature on
Saturday and Sunday reached 90
degrees. There was a little breeze
and that made it somewhat better
than if it had been still and humid.
The forecast this week is for
I some rain and for the temperature
to be in the 80s.
The rain last week was needed
and the crops look a 100 percent
better than the week before. I
don't know how much rain we had
in May, but it should be reported
elsewhere in the paper if the
weatherman is in town.
^ The news article elsewhere in
this paper about the acceptance of
the job for principal of Red Springs
School by W.K. Morgan came as a
surprise. I had heard rumors that
he was upset at not being pro
moted in the local school system,
but this kind of thing comes
through the office every day.
W.K. will be missed in the
schools, but he will also be missed
k by the Hoke County Recreation
* Department. He was chairman of
the commission and had been one
of the main people to drive for the
establishment of this commission
in Hoke County.
Of course our loss is a gain for
Red Springs. Let's hope that we
don't lose any more of our top
educators to other school systems.
Congratulations on your promo
tion, W.K. and we hope the best
for you and your family in the
years to come.
Don't forget the Hoke High
School commencement exercises at
the school stadium on Friday, June
5th, beginning at 8:00 p.m.
The article about the commence
ment is on the front page of the
> graduation section. This section is
^ an annual thing for the paper, so
take time to look at the pictures of
the seniors and the merchants who
sponsored the section.
May the years ahead be bright
for all seniors.
* ? ?
It seems that a battle has
developed over where the
legislature should get money for the
? highway department to keep up
the roads.
If you don't know what 1 am
talking about, then you haven't
been looking at television lately. It
seems almost like the political
season is with us again.
The money must come from
somewhere, but from where, is
what keeps the ads running.
? - ?
The baseball players haven't call
ed their strike as this is being writ
ten. We can't be too much in sym
pathy for the players after seeing
what their salaries are at this time.
We know that they have only a few
years to play, but the high pay and
good pension plans should make
J' *ir jobs as good as other
J' employees of the nation.
I One thing that doesn't look ex
actly kosher to me, is the players
wanting to check the books of
management. This is taking things
a little too tar as tar as 1 am con
cerned. It is bad when manage
ment can not manage. But then
things seem to change every year.
? * ?
In March, 1944 in Gilmer, Texas
1 1 served as best man for my
brother at his wedding. Then on
Saturday, May 23 I served as best
man for my son at his wedding.
There hasn't been a change in
the wedding vows as far as 1 can
remember. The ceremony at both
events was about the same.
The thing that was different was
that at the wedding in 1943. most
everything wa* meeting folks
before and after the wedaing. At
Pthe wedding in 1981 most of the
(Sec AROUND TOWN, page 1 2)
The Raeford City Council by a
3-1 vote Monday night supported
the Planning Board's recommenda
tion that a request for variance in
zoning for construction of four
family apartment units be denied.
The vote was greeted with ap
plause by many of the approxi
mately 60 people, most of whom
were North hulton Street area
property owners opposing the vari
ance.
John Loving of Brown, Loving
Co. of High Point, the developer,
said before the council acted,
however, that the apartments for
low-income people will be built just
the same, in duplexes, allowed
under the zoning of the area, if not
in the four-family two-story build
ings. The buildings will contain 30
units.
The apartments will be in the
rent-subsidy program of the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban
Development. The program, for
low-income families, has federal
funds making up the difference
between what the tenant can afford
to pay and the rent on the
apartment.
Loving informed the council, as
he had the City Planning Board at
the April 30 hearing, that his
company has an option to buy 3.7
acres on U.S. 401 between North
Fulton and North Streets from
Avery Connell.
Referring to one objection re
garding increase in traffic conges
tion and accompanying hazard on
North Fulton Street, he said
Brown, Loving after the hearing
changed the plan to eliminate a
proposed ent^-exit road way on
Fulton and make the second entry
to the property, like the first, on
U.S. 401.
He also said building duplexes
would mean moving the develop
ment into the open area of the
property, where the four-family
units would allow the developer to
screen the buildings from Fulton
behind pine trees which would be
left standing.
At the Planning Board hearing,
Loving said that eight buildings
would be erected on the northern
most end of the property, if the
variance were granted; but that 15
would have to be built if the request
for the variance were denied and
the company had to build two
family duplexes the present zoning
allows.
Loving said Monday night he
and his partner preferred the
four-family units because they
could do a better job with that plan
and spend more on landscaping.
Nevertheless, by a show of hands
the property owners indicated they
still opposed the granting of the
variance. Councilman Bob Gentry
had asked how many still were
opposed.
Ralph Barnhart presented the
council with a petition signed by 32
property owners on North Fulton
asking the council to accept the
Planning Board recommendation.
In reference to the stated advan ~
tages of the four-family units over
the two-family duplexes he said the
property owners are in "bad shape"
either way and were willing to take
their chances.
In reference to the 30-foot-wide
screen of trees Loving had de
scribed, Lauchlin MacDonald said
he could spit 30 feet, that too much
Against 11 Wilkes County People
Marijuana Trafficking
Charges Dropped
Eleven Wilkes County people
were cleared May 26 of trafficking
charges in connection with a Hoke
County marijuana raid because
sheriff's officers burned seized
marijuana.
Assistant District Attorney Jean
Powell of Raeford said last week
she is appealing to the State Court
of Appeals.
Superior Court Judge Anthony
M. Brannon dismissed the charges
in Fayetteville, ruling that the
defendants were deprived of their
right to inspection the marijuana
and form their defense, by the
officers' burning the 2,700 pounds
of material.
The 11 were arrested last Sep
tember after the sheriff's depart
ment was notified that three to five
acres of marijuana was being
harvested in the Bowmore com
munity. Deputies confiscated 2,200
pounds of harvested marijuana on
the site and cut an estimated 500
more pounds growing in a field.
The defendants for whom the
charges were dropped were: Randy
Keith Byrd, 20, Donnie Ray An
derson, 23, Barry Dean Barker, 22,
and William A. Cody Durham, all
of Roaring River; Ronnie Ander
son, 26, of Traphill; and Atha
Louise Bates, 24, Larry Boyd
Crouse, 30, James C. Rhodes, 24,
Edward Smoot, 17, Randell E.
Smoot, 21, and Warren Grady
Wood. 30. all of Elkin.
They were charged with traffick
ing marijuana by possession, con
spiracy to traffic by possession ,
trafficking by manufacture, and
conspiracy to traffic by manufac
ture.
Nine of the defendants were
reported arrested less than half a
mile from the alleged marijuana
field between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
September 13, and the others --
Byrd and Randell S. Smoot -- were
arrested September 23 in Wilkes
County.
Of Hoke School Board
Changes on Vocational Action Asked
The Hoke County Board of
Education Tuesday night received
recommendations earlier in the
meeting from Harold Gillis, county
vocational education supervisor,
that Arthur Kemp be reinstated
and that after the funding picture is
clearer the three other vocational
instructors whose positions were
terminated with the end of the
current school year be offered
positions where enrollments war
rant them.
Kemp is an electronics instructor
but is certified to teach industrial
arts and could teach vocational
education to the socio-economically
and educationally disadvantaged if
state money is provided. Gillis said
Kemp is a college graduate with a
master's degree.
The three other instructors are
Thomas Sawyer in carpentry, Lin
wood Simpson, bricklaying, and
James Baxley, electricity.
Gillis said the latter three could
instruct disadvantaged if the in
structors became certified.
The four positions were termi
nated by the school board at its
emergency meeting of May 7 in a
budget-cutting move. The savings
total about S16.000 in salaries.
Gillis said the recommendations to
terminate these positions were
based on declines in enrollments in
preregistrations for the courses for
the next school year from current
year enrollments: electricity prere
gistration is 29 for 1981-82, and 46
were enrolled this year; electronics,
52 preregistered for the new year,
58 enrolled the past year; carpentry
45 preregistered, and 68 enrolled
the past year; and bricklaying, 31
preregistered. and 53 enrolled the
past year.
(Jillis said 24 people including
him are on the vocational staff,
with two in special areas, 18 at
Hoke County High School and four
at Upchurch Junior High School.
Hoke County Schools Supt. Raz
Autry said in reference to the
termination of the vocational posi
tions that it was hard to justify
spending $20,000 on 28 students.
He referred to salaries and fringe
benefits of the instructors.
The state pays 76 per cent and
the county- school . board 24 per
cent of a vocational teacher's
salary. What state funds will be
available isn't known yet.
The board took no action on
Gillis's recommendations during
the meeting. Board Chairman Bill
Cameron advised Gill is the board
would have to wait for the final
school budget before it could make
a decision on the recommenda
tions.
Autry is to work with County
Manager James Martin to recom
mend cuts of the school budget to
Martin's recommended $773,627 in
current expenses from county tax
revenue. Tne school board at its
May 5 regular meeting approved a
revised current-expense budget of
$799,697; and a federal revenue
sharing budget of $100,000, a
reduction from $242,330. The
(See SCHOOL BOARD, page 1 1 )
For Hoke County^ In 1981-82
$4 Million Budget, No Tax Hike Advised
The Hoke County commissioners
Monday received a proposed 1 981 -
82 budget of $3,4b3,424 for the
general fund, $175,582 greater
than the current fiscal year's fund
but no increases in the present tax
rate of $1.01 per $100 property
evaluation is proposed.
Besides the general fund the total
proposed budget is composed of an
estimated $556,500 the county
expects to receive in federal revenue
- sharing money; and the $60,000
in the armory reserve the com
missioners have set aside the past
three fiscal years at the rate of
$20,000 per year. The armory
reserve is the county's share of the
cost of the new National Guard
Armory scheduled for construction
in the next year. The federal
National Guard Bureau is putting
up the $712,000 balance of the
cost. The county reserve has been
invested till needed. No appro
priation for the reserve is recom
mended in the proposed budget.
A reappraisal reserve fund of
523,000 annually to pay the costs of
the countywide property value re
appraisal required every eight years
by the state is contributed by the
general fund to assure efficient
money to pay for the service,
scheduled to be completed for 1982
and for the reappraisal of 1990.
The budget also recommends
5773,627 for the county school
system's current - expenses, com
pared with 5750,969 for the 1980 -
81 fiscal year, which includes
$49,000 additional appropriated in
April by the commissioners for fuel
expenses. The County Board of
Education had asked originally for
5895,000 in county tax funds. The
schools get 5105,000 more from
court fines and forfeitures.
The school board on the com
missioners' reauest trimmed the
total to 5799,^97 in county tax
funds. This is about 598,000 more
than the schools' 1980-81 current -
expense total.
City Got 5.1 Inches Of Rain
Last week's rainfall in Raeford
ranged from 1.75 to 2,1 inches, in
time to boost the total for May to
5.1 inches, Robert Gatlin, Raetord
Observer for the National Weather
Service, reported this week.
Last heavy r?in of the month fell
Wednesday and Thursday, and .02
inch dropped on Sunday.
The rains came in time to give
Field crops and gardens a badly
needed boost, though too late to do
the first spring crop of grain help.
The week before, the city receiv
ed an inch of rain also.
The rainfall for May 1980 in
Raeford totaled 2.6 inches. 1979,
the total was 4.8; the year before
that 7.7; and in May 1977 it was 6
inches.
County Manager James Martin,
who recommended the proposed
budget to the commissioners,
pointed out that the commissioners
could change the figures before
adopting a budget officially.
liie budget contains a recom
mended cost - of - living raise for
county employees -- 4 per cent if the
raise becomes effective next Oc
tober 1 , and 3 per cent if it starts
July 1.
Martin in a memorandum to the
commissioners in the book of the
proposed budget advises that in
creases in the cost of county
services because of rising costs of
supplies, equipment, fuel, pro
grams and employing and keeping
qualified staff people are reflected
to some degree in the proposed
budget.
"The assessed valuation of prop
erty." he adds, "has increased only
3.5 per cent since last year and one
of the county's greatest needs
continues to be additional eco
nomic and industrial development.
Martin also says, "We believe
the proposed budget is fiscally
sound and that the present level of
services can be maintained with the
present tax rate ... The current
year tax revenue for 1981 ? 82 is
computed on an estimated assessed
value of $204 million and an
estimated 92 per cent collection
rate."
Revenue from the property tax
for the new fiscal year is estimated
at SI. 895. 568. which would be
565,568 more than is estimated for
the entire current year, which runs
through June 30.
The other funds which will make
up the total estimated 53,453,424
general fund income for the new
year will come from fees, the county
sales tax of one per cent, county
taxes on beer and wine, ABC store
net revenues, and state and federal
aid for health, education and
welfare programs.
The commissioners received the
budget recommendations during
their regular monthly first - Mon
day meeting. They scheduled a
ublic hearing on the proposed
udget for revenue - sharing and
other funds for June 15 at 7:30
p.m. in the Courthouse courtroom.
In other business, the com
missioners adopted motions:
?Strongly opposing an Air Force
proposal to lower to 300 feet from
500 feet the minimum altitude for
training flights over Hoke County.
The motion accepts the Raeford -
Hoke County Chamber of Com
merce recommendation opposing
the lowering of the altitude. Agri
culture ? related businesses con
tacted by chamber executive di
rector Earl Fowler said planes
flying at such a low altitude would
be dangerous to crop ? dusting
pilots and damaging to poultry
production. The motion opposes
lowering the altitude for any kind
of flight.
--Granting another year's lease
on the South Hoke Community
was being made over the screening.
Early in the meeting, after
Loving had reported the Fulton
Street entry-exit had been cut out
of the plan, Earl McDuffie of
Covington asked Loving whether
eliminating that entrance would
eliminate the "problem" of public
housing. Thereupon Loving asked
Mayor John K. McNeill, Jr.,
whether it would be proper for him
to answer questions from the
audience. McNeill didn't answer
the question but informed McDuf
fie, "We are not here to discuss
public housing. We are here to
discuss "whether four-family or
two-family buildings should be
built.
Ken Witherspoon was one of the
few supporters of the variance
request who appeared at the meet'
ing. He told the council that more
housing was needed and we would
like the council to act so the project
could be built. Witherspoon is
director of the Hoke County De
partment of Social Services but did
not identify himself by his profes
sional position.
Buddy Blue, chairman of the
countywide Raeford Housing Au
thority, said the Authority sup
ported the Loving, Brown program
because the company had agreed to
Housing Authority participation in
the site development and design of
the buildings, and responsibility for
managing the project after it was
completed. He said the site already
had been selected when the present
Housing Authority was appointed,
but that because of Brown, Loving
agreement on the design and
management points, he supported
the plan.
He also said that the company
had changed its plan on suggestion
of the Authority, to concentrate its
buildings in the northernmost sec
tion of the tract.
Councilman Vardell Hedgpeth,
Jr., cast the dissenting vote and
Councilman Benny McLeod ab
stained from voting on the motion
to accept the Planning Board's
recommendation that the variance
request be denied. The Planning
Board vote to deny the request was
6-0.
The motion was made by Coun
cilman Sam Morris and seconded
by Councilman Bob Gentry.
In another action on zoning, the
council accepted a Planning Board
recommendation that approval be
iven Jack Ellis's request to rezone
is property from R-8 residential to
C-2 commercial, so it can be used
by the U.S. Farmers Home Admin
istration for an office. The property
(Sec COUNCIL, page 12)
Center to Lumbee River Develop
ment Association to continue
operating its day care center there;
arid raised the rent to S300 per
month from S200. the action on the
lease and rent subject to approval
of the South Hoke Community
Center Board of Trustees.
--Accepting the low bid of $7,103
of Raeford Motor Co. to supply a
Eickup truck for Hoke County
lealth Department sanitarian. The
truck approved for purchase is a
1981 Ford Courier. The other
bidder was Hoke Auto Co., whose
bid. $6,913.47, was lower than
Raeford Auto's but whose total bid
rose to $7,138.47 when the ex
tended three - year warranty was
included. Raeford Auto's low bid
includes the extended three - year
warrantly.
AIR FORCE PLAN
Fowler informed the com
missioners he had written a letter to
be mailed later Monday to Maj.
Fred Martin of the 317th Tactical
Air Lift Wing at Pope Air Force
Base, asking that the Air Force
weigh the damages and danger of
the lowered altitude against the
value to training the. Air Force
would derive from the change.
Fowler read the letter, written for
the chamber of commerce on
behalf of the county commis-.
sioners. He also read letters he
received from Tar Heel Turkey
(See COMMISSIONFRS.pa#e 12)