* The Hoke County News - Established 1928
VOLUME LXXIV NUMBER 6 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
By Hoke School Board
- journal 25
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
S8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1982
Director Named, Drug Policy Adopted
Around
Town
BY SAM C.MORRIS
The weather for the past few days
has been wet. It has rained off and
on about every few hours.
I left Raleigh Thursday morning
and it has been raining the same
way all through South Carolina,
Georgia and into Northern Florida.
According to the forecast we will
^ have more of the same through the
weekend.
* * *
This column is being written
Friday, May 28 at the Ponce de
Leon Lodge in St. Augustine,
Florida. It is not raining at the
present time and the temperature is
around 93 degrees.
I Thursday morning Mary Alice
" and I along with Harvey and Pearl
Warlick left Raeford for Raleigh
for a tour to Florida. We left home
about nine o'clock and arrived in
Raleigh about 11 a.m. We had
lunch and were awaiting the arrival
of the bus to be picked up at one
p.m. The bus was an hour late and
then they took a lunch break, so we
didn't leave until around three
t o'clock .
We headed out of Raleigh on
U.S. 70 to Smithfield and then on
1-95 headed for 1-26 and our first
night stop was in Charleston, S.C.
About a mile out of St. Pauls the
bus blew a tire and we made it to
the truck stop at the intersection of
1-95 and N.C. 20. It took ap
proximately 45 minutes to change
the tire and then we loaded up and
started out again at six p.m. We
) had been gone from Raeford for
nine hours and we were just 20
miles from home. (You would have
thought Neil Senter was along.)
Anyway we made it to Charleston
by about 9:30 and after eating we
got to bed about midnight. This is
staying up late for this writer.
Friday morning we had a guided
tour of Charleston and then headed
I for Savannah, Ga. We had lunch at
" the Pirate House, one of the top
tourist places in Savannah and
from the prices, it should be tops in
the entire United States. The food
was good and it was buffet style and
you could eat all you wanted. After
being up half the night and then
eating breakfast, something I don't
do often. 1 wasn't too hungry.
After lunch we had a guided tour
of Savannah and it was well worth
P the time. 1 spent many months at
Ft. Scriven during World War II,
but didn't see all the things that
were on this tour.
The Guide was a member of the
Historical Society of Savannah and
it was amazing to see all the old
homes that they have had restored
in the past few ye^rs. Some of the
money came from the government
on grants to preserve historical
sites, but most of them were
restored by individuals that the
society had talked in to making an
investment.
Of course these old places in
both cities mean a lot to me
because I like to see the historical
places kept up for the many people
who can see what this country
started from and the hard work it
took to get it where it is today.
As I write this, the other three
tourists are out checking the
grounds of the lodge. So until next
week when I will be seeing all of
you, it is so long from Flonda.
* * ?
^ Now that the registration books
? have closed for the June 29th
primary, the most important thing
is still ahead. That is to VOTE.
If you are going on vacation or
will be out of town on that date, go
by the election board office and see
the options for you to cast your
vote.
It wasn't worth anything to
anybody to register, if you don't
^ vote.
High Winds , Hail, Rain Sunday
Storm Damages Trees, Crops
Hoke County was hit by high
winds, heavy rains, and hail Sun
day afternoon.
The hail caused considerable
damage to tobacco, corn and other
crops, and gardens in sections of
the county.
The powerful winds knocked
down trees in Raeford and else
where, and several along a stretch
at the Blythe farm in southwestern
Hoke were felled. A boat in that
area was reported severely dam
aged when it was struck by a falling
tree.
The rains left pools of water
standing in fields.
The winds which struck the
southwestern area were described
by some residents as a tornado.
One farmer, Robert Wright of
northern Hoke, reported his to
bacco crops heavily damaged by the
hail. He has crops in his home farm
and elsewhere in the county.
? . ' ? ? -',jf ? ?* ? ' ,?;
WIND BLOWN ?? This tree was one of an unknown number blown down Sunday afternoon by strong winds which
swept Hoke County Sunday afternoon. This tree, a chinaberry. is shown in the back yard of Noah Hendrix s home
at 410 W. Sixth Ave., Raeford. Hendrix says the falling tree knocked out the light bulb at the back entrance and
may have damaged his air conditioner and fuel tank | at right] but it did miss his house, just barely.
Hoke Unemployment Up .1% In
April
Hoke County's rate of unemploy
ment rose .8 tenth of a pex -ent in
April from the March rate but was
1 .2 per cent lower than the rate for
April 1981, State Employment
Security Commission figures show.
The April 1982 rate was 10.4 per
cent of the labor force of 7, 760
people.
The statewide rate for April was
8.2 per cent, down 1.5 per cent
from the March rate. The national
rate for April was 9.2 per cent. .3
lower than the March figure.
Hoke was one of the 1 1 counties
in which the unemployment rate
increased in April from the March
rate.
It also was one of 36 counties
which had double-digit unemploy
ment rates. Swain County in the
Collections Higher
The collections of the state's
three per cent sales tax in Hoke
County from February 1981
through January 1982 totaled S882,
965, the State Department of
Revenue reported.
This was 3.92 per cent -- S33.331
more -- than the total collected in
the previous year.
Hoke Sales Tax
Collections Up
A total S84, 102.81 in Hoke
County's one per cent sales tax was
collected during the quarter ending
March 31, compared with $84,053.
38 in the same quarter of 1981 , the
State Department of Revenue
reports.
The net proceeds are the re
mainders left after the costs of
collections are deducted. The col
lection cost for the 1982 quarter
was S751.81, and for the same
quarter of 1981 it was $691.52.
Of the proceeds collected in the
1982 quarter, $71,378.97 went to
the county government, and $12.
723.21 to the Raeford city govern
ment.
The net for the quarter ending
December 31, 1981. was $85,561.
65 after deduction of $764.85 cost
of collection.
Correction
The caption under a picture of
the 1982-83 Hoke Cour.ty NCAE
officers in last week's The News
Journal should have read
"Jacaueline Gladney" instead of
"Gadney."
southwestern mountains had the
state's highest rate for the third
consecutive month ? 26.1 per cent,
and this is .7 percent higher than
Swain's rate in March.
Orange County, for the sixth
consecutive month, had the state's
lowest rate -- 3.3 per cent. Glenn R.
Jernigan, ESC chairman, credited
the decline in rates in counties
which experienced it to probably
the return to jobs of workers
temporarily unemployed, though
shorter work weeks prevail.
News-Journal Honored by Group
The News-Journal has been given
the 1982 Willard G. Cole Award
"for distinguished coverage of the
Heart Story."
The award certificate is signed by
Dr. R.D. Freeman of Jefferson,
president of the North Carolina
Affiliate of the American Heart
Association, and Edmund I.
Adams of Sparta, chairman of the
affiliate board.
James Street. Jr., associate exe
cutive director of the state affiliate,
in wrote that he was sending the
award at the request of the
affiliate's vice president and presi
dent-elect. Dr. Jerome Ruskin of
Greensboro.
"On behalf of Dr. Ruskin and
the Affiliate." his letter adds,
"please accept our continued grati
tude for the splended support you
have given to our programs.
The letter was addressed to
"Paul Dickson, editor. Raeford
News-Journul."
The Cole Award is named in
honor of Willard G. Cole, the
Eastern North Carolina newspaper
publisher who won a Pulitzer Prize
in the late 1940s for his fight
against the Ku Klux Klan in his
home county.
A statement on the award certifi
cate bv Cole reads: "The public
and its news media should unite
under the banner of 'Education for
Survival' to combat the tragic waste
of human rcsourses resulting from
cardiovascular disease."
Hoke Student Going To West Point
Thomas Curtis Gilchrist, Jr.,
recently had the rare opportunity of
choosing which of five institutions
to attend for his higher education --
appointments to the U.S. Military
Academy, and the U.S. Naval
Academy, and scholarships to
Davidson College, Duke University
and Howard University of Wash
ington, D.C.
He reported his decision Mon
day: he will leave July 1 to start his
plebe year at the Military Academy
at West Point, N.Y.
At West Point he will join
another Hoke County student. Earl
(Bucky) Oxendine, Jr., who is due
to graduate from Hoke High on
Friday. Oxendine was notified in
February of his appointment, in a
letter written by the academy
superintendent, Lt. Gen. Willard
Scott, Jr., who also notified Gil
christ in a letter dated March 31.
Oxendine lives in Raeford.
Gilchrist, whose parents live on
Rt. 1, Raeford, had the choices
mainly because of his high
academic achievement. He will
graduate June 12 from the North
Carolina High School of Science
and Mathematics at Durham. This
school is for exceptional high
school students, and Gilchrist has
been attending it the past two
years. His first two years he spent at
Hoke County High School.
The scholarship to Davidson
carries the name of Lunsford
Richardson, the founder of Vick
Chemical Co. The scholarship to
Howard is an. ROTC award.
Gilchrist, besides studying, also
played basketball at Hoke High
and at the state school. At the latter
he was in the N.C. State Honors
Course. He also was a dormitory
assistant at the state school.
In the summer of 1981, he
i ;
attended another state school for
gifted and talented high school
students -- the Governor's School at
Winston-Salem. There he was vice
president of his class and was on
the staff of the school annual.
Lj
:r:i . v*
Thomas C. Gilchrist. Jr. . with certificates of appointment to the Military
and Naval academies and letters advising him he won scholarships.
The Hoke County Board of
Education Monday night acted on
personnel appointments requests to
transfer students from Hoke to
neighboring counties' schools and
from one school district to another
within the county system, awarded
an auditing contract for 1982-83
and adopted a student drug-abuse
policy for trial for one year.
The board by unanimous vote
accepted County Schools Supt. Raz
Autry's recommendation that Scur
lock School Assistant Principal
Marilyn Semones be appointed
director of instruction for Grades
Kindergarten through Six in the
school system. She will succeed
Florence Cohen, who is leaving the
school job to join her husband in
operating a Fayetteville dinner
theater which they bought.
Board Chairman Bill Cameron
told The News-Journal Tuesday
morning he would change his vote
on the appointment of the new
instruction director to "no", be
cause he does not believe the
position should be filled at this time
(before the school budget is finally
approved). The law allows a board
member to change his vote if the
change is made before the minutes
of the meeting at which he voted
are read at the next meeting. He
said "no personality" is involved in
his feelings about filling the posi
tion.
The board by a 4-1 vote accepted
the superintendent's recommenda
tion to appoint Marion Brock
McNeill music director for West
and South Hoke Schools, succeed
ing Betsy Floyd, who is getting
married and moving to Wilming
ton.
Susan McGougan was named an
interim teacher at McLauchlin
School by unanimous vote to accept
the recommendation of the super
intendent.
The board voted to grant re
quests of several parents to transfer
their children to schools in
neighboring Moore and Robeson
counties principally because of
transportation problems. The
board also granted requests, for
transfers of students primarily for
the same reason to schools districts
other than those in which their
homes are. Board member Ruth
McNair abstained from voting
because, she said, she couldn't
make up her mind.
The board turned down two
student transfer requests on
grounds the medical reason was not
serious enough to warrant the
transfer, and granted a request on
medical grounds for the reason that
they considered the medical situa
tion urgent enough to warrant a
transfer.
In a separate action on transfer
requests, the board voted 4-1 to
grant requests of about a dozen
school system employees to transfer
or allow their children to remain at
the schools where their parents are
employed. The "no" vote was cast
by board member Mina Townsend.
who contended the action on so
large a number of requests from
school employees was unfair to
non-employee parents.
On the appointment of Mrs.
Semones the vote followed a dis
cussion in which board member
Walter Coley supported appoint
ment of a school psychologist
instead of a director of instruction
to succeed Mrs. Cohen. He pointed
to drug problems. Autry, however,
said that in considering the need
for a psychologist and the need for
an elementary grades supervisor he
decided to recommend the latter
because this work would serve for
the good of a greater number of
children. He also said it is possible
that funds might be found for
employment of a school psycholo
gist for the next school year but he
couldn't promise anything.
He said the school system has
one psychologist now, but em
ployed exclusively for exceptional
children in the system.
Coley voted in favor of the
motion, however.
The "no" vote on appointment of
the new music teacher was cast by
board chairman Bill Cameron. He
said he opposed the appointment
because he believed such appoint
ments should be made only after a
school budget is adopted (by the
county commissioners). Autry
argued, however, that a com
mitment to employ a music teacher
should be made by the board
beforehand; otherwise, he indi
See School Board Page 1 9