Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / July 9, 1981, edition 1 / Page 1
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The Hoke County News - Established 1928 VOLUME LXXIIl NUMBER 1 1 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLIN A Hoke School Board Votes - journal The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 S8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1981 Vocational Teachers To Be Re-instated Around Town BY SAMC. MORRIS The weatherman is back in town after a vacation at the beach. Elsewhere in the paper is an article about how much rainfall that Hoke County received last week. From all reports this was a general rain and it fell in all sections of the county. This was the first rain in over a month in some places. I found a note on my desk last week and it stated that Irvin Hubbard would retire on July 4th from Collins Department Store. Hubbard has been manager of the Aberdeen store for the past few years. He was for many years the manager of the Raeford store before it was closed some years ago. L He and his wife live in Raeford and we hope that Irvin has things planned for many happy days in his retired life. * * * The final vote has not been taken, but it is almost a 100 percent shot that Hoke County will be in the Eighth Congressional District, a Hoke was in this district before it was put in the Seventh district many years ago. The Congressman for the Eighth District is W.G. (Bill) Hefner. The district for Hoke and Scot land Counties for the legislature also looks like a sure bet. We will still be in the same Senatorial district with Sam Noble as Senator. Hoke will be with Robeson County. The baseball strike has caused the television people to come up with replacement shows to take the game's place. They started out running movies, but this will change as the strike is prolonged. Which side is right, I don't know, but both sides must be well . off financially to stay on strike " this long. If people start looking for an o ler pasttime, the baseball busi r ss could be in trouble. * * * The comment in a daily paper lat the state employees should 'ear riding togs to appear before he legislature next year is well f taken. We are in favor of horse shows, but this is going a step too far when the state tax dollar is being used to build a place for horse shows. Don't tell me that special interest groups don't hang around Raleigh! ? * * 9 The publisher and I attended the July 4th celebration in Aberdeen last Saturday. The day was also a day to honor Cliff Blue, publisher and editor of The Sandhill Citizen. Last week in this column I stated that Cliff was a native of Hoke County. Paul Dickson called my attention to the fact that maybe Cliff was born in Cumberland k County before Hoke was formed. This had slipped my mind, because most of my life I have known GifF and before he moved to Aberdeen he lived in Little River township which was a part of Hoke County until the 1960s. I asked Cliff about this last week and he said he was born in 1910 and so he was born in Cumberland and lived there one year before Little River became part of the new county Hoke. He ^ said that Hoke was home to him. The affair at Aberdeen was carried out in a fine manner and a well deserved honor was paid to Cliff Blue, by old and young alike. The Democrats and Republicans took time off from politicing to sit together and honor this man. It was an honor for this paper to i have been invited to attend this fine l affair and we wish for Cliff many I happy years ahead. Also Make Appointments Commissioners Honor Retirees The Hoke County commissioners at their regular July meeting Tues day morning honored three recently retired county employees, accepted a retirement of another "with regret" and made appointments. The people honored were Wen dell Young, for 18 years chairman of the county Agricultural Service, retiring June 30; and Ronald Webb, assistant county ranger, and his wife, Marie, county fire tower operator, for the State Forestry Service, who retired July 1. Mrs. Webb started work December 15, 1956, and her husband on Novem ber 1, 1956. Each was presented a framed resolution of appreciation for ser vice to the county. The resolutions had been adopted by the county commissioners and were presented by John Balfour, chairman of the board of county commissioners. The notice of retirement came from Miss Jean Hodgin, secretary in the Agricultural Extension of fice. She will retire August 31. She started work at the Extension office June 1, I960. The commissioners in other ac tion reappointed Les Simpson county tax supervisor to a term expiring July 5, 1983; appointed Dr. Robert G. Townsend, a Rae ford physician, the county health care provider for the Cardinal Health Agency; and appointed to terms of three years each Robert Taylor. Harless Wright and Harold Brewer to the Board of Directors of the South Hoke Community Cen ter. Townsend's appointment is subject to his acceptance of it. The commissioners also adopted a motion to offer for sale at public auction August 3, starting at noon, cars of the sheriffs department, four used and one that had been wrecked. The auction will be held in the sheriff s department parking lot. The commissioners designated the vehicles as surplus county property before authorizing the sale. The commissioners held a 20 minute executive session on a legal matter during their regular session. ? vtu Ronald and Marie Webb receive resolutions from John Balfour |/e//| ? W'F. John Balfour presents resolution of appreciation to Wendell Young [right]. Raeford Got 3.25 Inches Of Rain Raeford was blessed with 3.25 inches of rain last week, then two-tenths of an inch extra Sunday night. Robert Gatlin. Raeford ob server for the National Weather Service, said Monday his gauge showed. Sunday's rainfall varied in quan tity around Raeford. however, he said, quoting other reports. The north end of town got .8 to .9 inch, and Timberland 1.1 inch. Last week's total came on four days, most of it on Friday. The balance was spread over June 30. July 1. and Thursday. On Hoke County farm lands, the rainfall arrived in time to give crops a needed boost. Rose To 85. 7% -In 1979 Hoke's DUI Conviction Rate Higher The rate of convictions of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and driving with a blood alcohol content of .10 per cent or higher, rose in Hoke County in 1979 from the 1975 total. Hoke is one of 18 counties in the state which experienced increases in convictions for the violations. The county's conviction rate in 1979 was 85.7 per cent, which is 3.3 per cent higher than the 1975 rate. The significance of the years is a new law covering driving under the influence became effective January 1, 1975. The information is contained in a report published in the spring 1981 issue of the magazine "Popular Government" published by the Institute of Government at Chapel Hill. The article was written by Ben F. Loeb, Jr., a member of the institute faculty. His specialties include motor vehicle law. Loeb relates that prior to 1975 the state law said that a driver with a blood alcohol content of .10 or higher was presumed to be "under the influence" of alcohol. But defendants were becoming increas ingly successful in rebutting that assumption, consequently getting acquitted. Loeb writes. So the 1973 General Assembly enacted a new law. This made it unlawful for a person to drive if his or blood-alcohol content was .10 or higher, "regardless of the actual extent of intoxication." This is the law that became effective at the start of 1975. The rate of convictions in the state as a whole dropped to an average of 68.4 per cent of ? total of 25.859 DU1 or ,10-or-over defen dants. in 1979, from the 1975 average of 75.6. Lx>eb, however, in closing his article says, "Nothing is wrong with the DUI law as it is written. ..it is clear and as simple to enforce as the speed-limit law. "The General Assembly has done its part. "Now it's up to the criminal justice system. Earlier in the article. Loeb says that a substantial number of the defendants charged with DUI and .10 violations who were not convict ed of those charges were convicted of the lesser offense of reckless driving. Conviction of reckless driving, however, does not carry the penalty of loss of driver's license, he points out. Among the individual counties. Buncombe, whose county seat is Asheville, had the highest rate of convictions -? 95.3 per cent in 1979. and 95 per cent in 1975. Yancey, also in the mountains, northwest of Buncombe, had the lowest conviction rate -- 41.5 per cent in I979. Yancey's rate for 1975 was b4.3 per cent. For Hoke Public School Students Of 1981-82 September 3 First Day Of Classes The summer vacation ends offi cially on September 3 for Hoke County's school children. That's the date of the first day of class for the 1981-82 school year. The year's calendar was worked up by county teachers in conference with Raz Autry, county schools superintendent. The teachers report for duty August 19 and have workdays August 19-20 at their individual schools. The date for the first day of class is just one day later than the 1980 start and allows two days of class before the Labor Day weekend starts. The last day of class for the students for the year is June 10. Teachers have work days scheduled after that (on June 11 and 14. the latter a half day). The Thanksgiving holiday will be November 26-27 (plus the weekend that follows). The mid-year vaca tion runs from December 21 through January 1, and includes Veterans' Day, two days for Christ mas. New Year's Day and six days April 12-14 is the Easter Vaca ot vacation. tjon (S? Related Story Inside) The Hoke County Board of Education Monday night authoriz ed the repairing of an Upchurch Junior Hign School roof, provided for re-employment of four Hoke County High School vocational education teachers, and adopted a motion to ask the county commis sioners for S5.000 for the Hoke County Reading/Literacy Council. The council program teaches Hoke illiterate and near-illiterate adults to read and write. The board also adopted a motion accepting a recommendation that Jack Burgess, a former Hoke County High School teacher, be appointed assistant principal at J.W. Turlington School. Burgess, who has been teaching at Sandhills Community College, was named to fill the vacancy created by the assignment of Lin wood Huffman as assistant principal at Upchurch Junior High School. The vocational teachers affected by the board's decision and the courses they teach are Lendward Simpson, bricklaying; James W. Baxley, Jr., electricity; Arthur B. Kemp, electronics; and Peter S. Sawyer, carpentry. The positions had been terminated by the board at its emergency meeting of May 7 in an effort to cut the proposed budget to meet the county commis sioners' requirments. Harold Gillis, county vocational education director, however, at the board's June 2 meeting recom mended that Kemp, who has a master's degree is the only one of the four with an undergraduate college degree, be reinstated, and that the three others be offered positions after the funding picture is clearer and where enrollments warrant. All four are certified in their trade areas, and the three non college graduates have had special training for certification and quali fication to teach the specific sub jects. Autry advised that Gillis would be requested to rework the voca tional department with the people he had, including the four re-in stated. The roof scheduled to be repair ed is that on the Upchurch eight-grade building. The board action in effect authorized Autry to have the work done at the low bid of 535,800 submitted by Jones Construction Co. of Fayetteville. Autry said the work had got to be done before school starts (the first day ol class for the new fall term is September 3). No funds for paying for the work have been specified in the school system's 1981-82 budget, but Autry suggested and board members agreed that $19,500 tab bed as the school board's share of the possible S200.000 energy fund and money from the school mainte nance fund, and Sb.bOO set aside for buying new furniture be used to pay the cost. The federal government will put up 90 percent of the total 5200,000 if the federal grant is approved. The notification of whether the grant is approved or denied is expected to be received by the school system administration by about Juiy 15. The money would be used to make adjustments and repairs to make some of the schools as energy-use efficient as possible. One project would be insulation at Upchurch. The board also adopted a motion authorizing acceptance of a bid of 526.000 to buy the house at 705 Harris Ave. formerly reserved as a residence for Hoke County High School principals. Autry informed the board that this was the only bid received and was submitted by Bobby Carter. He said he thinks it's the best bid the board is going to get. He added that the house, in which he and his family lived while he was Hoke High principal, needs about 515,000 worth of work. Autry pointed out that if the federal energy grant isn't approved, then the 519,500 local share won't be needed for the purpose, and if it is, he indicated funds from the sale of the house could be used. Autry said the roof at Upchurch has got to be fixed, or the State Department of Public Instruction authorities will condemn the build ing. He Said the bids ranged from the Jones low to 558,000, the highest. Board member, Mrs. Ruth Mc Nair was unable to attend the meeting.
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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July 9, 1981, edition 1
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