<~V[ewA - journal
The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
VOLUME LXXIV NUMBER 12 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, JULY 1 5, 1982
And Denies Bratcher's Recount Request
Board Asks More On Peterkin Challenge
| a | | A A A A A A A ^ ^|iAAAAA _A A A * * * ? '
I"1 X ^ * * *
Around
Town
BY SAM C.MORRIS
The weather in Hoke County has
been the same for the past several
weeks. The days have been in the
high 80s and the low 90s and the
nights in the low 70s. The after
noon or evening thundershowers
seem to show up every 24 hours.
We don't think that we have had
enough rain to hurt any of the crops
so far. I believe that the corn crop is
the best I have ever seen.
The forecast is the same for the
remainder of the week.
? * *
The second primary will be held
on Tuesday, July 27. The ballot will
have races for judges, house of
representatives and county com
missioners. All of these races are
important and you should make
every effort to go to the polls that
day and vote.
If you are going to be out of town
on that date, then go by the Board
of Elections office in the old county
office building and secure your
ballot to vote ahead of time. The
office will be open every weekday
until the election and the Super
visor or her helper will be glad to
assist you in securing your ballot.
They want you to vote!
It has been easy for everyone to
vote, so be sure to exercise your
right and cast your ballot.
If you don't vote, then don't
complain about the job elected
officials are doing.
? ? ?
Did you receive your tax notice
from the city last week? I did and it
almost made me lose my breath
when I noticed the increase. It was
somewhat more than 1 expected.
Of course the valuation went up,
but it seems that the tax rate was
increased too. I could be wrong and
it could have just been the shock.
Now for you people that play
golf, this item may be of interest to
you. I am playing more golf now
that I am retired and instead of one
regular foursome, I have started
with another foursome during the
weekdays.
The new foursome is composed
of Frank McFadyen, Neill Mc
Fadyen, Dr. John Ropp and yours
truly. We play every Monday
morning and it is different than
being on the course on the week
ends when it is crowded.
We all came to the conclusion
that the preacher should keep score
because he wouldn't do anything
wrong with the pencil. It did amaze
us when he told us after a hole that
he would put our grade down.
We couldn't decide what method
he was going to use, so we asked
him if it would be Poor, Bad, Good
or Excellent, also we were wonder
ing if he was grading us on our golf
game.
After the game Monday 1
wouldn't advise any of you readers
to ask Dr. Ropp what his score was
for the day. You might have to
spend the afternoon or night with
him.
He certainly didn't grade his
score on the card with poor or bad .
? ? ?
The following letter was left on
my desk Monday and I thought it
would be of interest to most of the
readers of this column. I have
heard so much bad publicity about
the World's Fair that it is good to
bring this to you.
The letter follows:
Dear Sam:
Forty-four persons have just
returned from a delightful bus trip
to the 1982 World's Fair in
Knoxville, Tennessee. Each one of
us reacted positively to everything
about the fair and we would
encourage anyone to take the time
and spend the money to attend.
Would you believe that about
(See AROUND TOWN, page 15)
LEARNING CPR - Hoke County 4-H'ers are shown with Jim Henley, head
of the Hoke County Ambulance Service. Monday morning in the Hoke
County Public Library as Henley was starting his class in emergency
cardi-pulmonary resuscitation (CP/?].
Study Committees Named
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
For Hoke Water System
i Grant Awarded
Hoke County has been awarded a
5255,495 in a state grant to help
pay for the construction of a
water-supply system.
It is included in the $14 million
in grants Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr.,
and Dr. Sarah T. Morrow, secre
tary of the State Department of
Human Resources, announced last
week.
This funding was allocated under
the provisions of the North Caro
lina Clean Water Bond Act which
authorizes grants of up to 25
percent of the total allowable costs
to assist in financing approved local
water projects.
Grants are based on priority
ratings, and on the total funds
available each quarter during the
fiscal year. To date, state grants of
approximately $175 million have
been awarded for water projects
totaling more than S825 million.
Funds for grants set aside under
the Clean Water Bond Act are
expected to run out at the end of
September. There are no funds
remaining in the allocations that
were allotted for exclusive use by
local governments. Applications
are now undergoing processing for
the final quarterly review period
under the present act. The next
announcement for grant awards
will be made in early October.
Council Considers Parking, Sidewalks
Raeford committees were set up
Monday night to work out ar
rangements for improved parking
for handicapped drivers and priori
ties for repairing sidewalks and
building others.
This was done at the City
Council's regular meeting for July.
The council also agreed to have
marking of cars downtown for
overtime parking eliminated if the
Raeford Merchants Association
expressed favor for eliminating it.
Councilman Joe Upchurch
moved that if the association
members acted before the next
meeting of the council that the
Police Department should discon
tinue the practice.
An association member at
tending the meeting in connection
For Hoke County
with handicapped driver parking
suggested the elimination to the
council in view of the coming of the
new shopping center on U.S. 401
south bypass and Cole Avenue
Extension. The other councilmen
agreed.
Councilmen indicated downtown
parking with no time limit would be
for shoppers. They said employees
and owners of downtown businesses
were to park on back streets.
During the discussion. Council
man Vardell Hedgpeth, Jr.. said,
"somebody is going to abuse it
anyway," but favored elimination
of police marking.
Police Chief Leonard Wiggins,
replying to a question from the
council, said the police practice of
marking tires of vehicles parked
over two hours downtown was
started in 1967 because store
owners and employees were using
downtown parking places all day.
indicating this prevented some
prospective downtown shoppers
from parking conveniently close to
the businesses they wanted to go to.
Specifically, the council action
provides that the merchants are to
come up with a recommemdation
that the Police Department dis
continue marking cars parked over
time downtown.
During the discussion of special
parking areas for vehicles of handi
capped persons, the council was
informed two more are needed -
one on each side of Main Street.
Several merchants and Lawrence
Bounds, who uses a wheelchair.
$81,669 Road Fund Approved
The North Caorlina Board of
Transportation at its monthly
meeting last week approved county
by-county secondary roads con
struction improvements allocations
including $81,669 for Hoke Coun
ty
The appropriations, totaling $40
million, were allocated by the 1982
General Assembly.
In February the Board approved
S10 million from 1977 bond funds
for secondary road improvements.
That allocation represented the last
of the bond monies designated for
secondary roads. Total funding for
improvements to secondary roads
statewide for this calendar year
(1982) is approximately $50 mil
lion.
According to State Transporta
tion Secretary William R. Rober
son, Jr., "Without the 1981 Gen
eral Assembly's passage of Gover
Teacher
Appointments
Approved
The Hoke County Board of
Education last week voted to accept
the recommendations of teacher
appointments submitted by County
Schools Supt. Raz Autry.
They are: Robert Steven Hagan
to Upchurch Junior High School;
Parnell Miles, to West Hoke School
from Upchurch; Margaret Ellen
Heidenreich to Upchurch as the
new music and chorus teacher;
Vickey M. Elliott to J.W. Turling
ton School; and Lou Ann Moore,
special education teacher.
Heidenreich succeeds Anne
Freeze, who has been named
chorus director of Hoke County
High School, succeeding Linda
Huff, who has been appointed a
teacher in the J.W. McLAUCHLIN
School Fourth Grade.
nor Jim Hunt's 'Good Roads'
program, the S40 million in fund
ing to improve our secondary roads
system would not have been avail
able. We are, indeed, appreciative
of the General Assembly's decision,
enabling us to improve and main
tain an all-weather secondary road
network."
The amount of funding for each
county is determined by a formula
established by the state legislature.
According to the formula, every
county receives a percentage of the
total funds based on the unpaved
secondary roads in the state. Hoke
has 38.08 miles of unpaved second
ary roads.
Board members have been meet
ing with the 100 county boards of
commissioners in public meetings
across the state to review and
approve projects to utilize these
funds.
participated in the discussions. The
council was informed that a ramp
or some other sloping pavement
from the street to the sidewalk, and
two feet of free space next to the
driver's side of the car are necessary
for a parking space for the handi
capped.
A committee which includes
Bounds, representing the handi
capped, and representatives of the
city and merchants was appointed
to work on the matter.
In other business, a motion to
refund to First Baptist Church the
$400 city building permit fee
charged in connection with con
struction of the church's new
sanctuary was dropped on motion
of Councilman Bob Gentry, who
had made it at the council's June 7
meeting. The action was taken
after City Attorney Palmer Willcox
advised the council that refunding
would open the way for dropping
the fees on future construction of
buildings for churches and chari
table institutions. This, he said,
would be cutting funds available to
the City Building Inspection De
partment. He also brought up the
question: what should be done
about churches' and charitable
(See COUNCIL, page 15)
CETA Surveying
Employment Opportunities
CETA personnel from Hoke
High's Extended Day program are
conducting a survey of employment
opportunities in Hoke County.
Information will be gathered by
phone, mail, and personal inter
view.
This survey is a required part of
the summer program and has the
approval of the local school, the
Chamber of Commerce, and The
Raeford Merchant's Association'.
Cooperation with this survey will be
greatly appreciated.
Man And Dog Companions On Runs
Bobby Cunningham of Fuller
Street has company when he goes
for a run, which is just about every
day of the week and for four to Five
miles a day.
His company is his dog, Boss, an
18-month-old Boxer.
Cunningham, just back from his
morning run with Boss, Tuesday,
said his dog has been running with
him for nearly a year now, since he
was about old enough to run any
great distance.
He said their daily runs together
started when he allowed Boss to
follow him when Boss was a puppy.
Cunningham and Boss run in the
morning before Cunningham goes
to work with his father in his
father's heavy-hauling business.
Boss acted eager to start running
again after Cunningham Finished
giving the reporter the information.
So they took off again down El wood
Avenue.
Bobby Cunningham and Boss, ready to run some more.
The Hoke County Board of
Elections last week decided to write
James Peterkin, Jr., defeated
candidate for the Democratic
nomination for sheriff, for clari
fication and more information
about the points in his challenge of
the results of the June 29 primary.
The letter was written and
mailed later in the week.
When Peterkin provides the
information, the board will hold
another meeting to decide whether
his challenge is justified.
The board in other action at the
special meeting, held July 7 in the
board office, adopted a motion
denying the request of Cleo
Bratcher, Jr., for a recount of votes
in the Democratic primary to
nominate three county commis
sioners. The denial was made
because, the board found, there
were no grounds for the request.
J. Scott Poole, chairman of the
board, reported that at the special
meeting of July 6 no discrepancy
was found in comparison of the
vote counts on the tally sheets and
those on the abstracts of the returns
from the primary. The motion to
deny the request was made by
Poole, and the vote to adopt the
motion was unanimous, with all
three members of the board voting
? Poole, Tom W. Jones, and Betty
Hogan.
Poole pointed out that the law
says a recount can be called only
when an error or a malfunction is
pointed out.
Bratcher came within two votes
of receiving a majority in the
contests for the nominations for the
three seats on the commissioners'
board up for election this year. He
received 2,032 votes. Since only
Commissioners' Chairman John
Balfour received a clear majority,
runoffs for the two other nomina
tions were called for July 27 by
Commissioner Mabel Riley and
candidate Tom Howell, who
finished fourth and fifth in that
order behind Bratcher, who ran
second to Balfour, and Commis
sioner James A. Hunt.
Peterkin was defeated tor the
nomination by Sheriff Dave Bar
rington, who received 2.601 votes to
Peterkin's 1,717.
The points of Peterkin's chal
lenge, and Poole's report to the
other members of the board on
each are:
--About 1,200 black and Indian
voters were turned away from the
polls, refused the right to vote.
Poole said no names of voters
allegedly turned away were given
and that Peterkin should be re
quested to deliver to the board the
names of the people who allegedly
were refused the right to vote.
--A precinct worker told a voter
not to vote for a given candidate.
The board should request Peterkin
to give the name of the precinct
worker and the voter.
-Voters were required to vote
outside their home precincts. Poole
said, "We acknowledge this is
possible." However, he added, the
law requires that the voter find out
and establish in which precinct he
or she is to vote.
-Precinct workers did not let
voters come into a voting place all
at the same time, but just one at a
time. Poole said he didn't under
stand the way this was put. He said
Peterkin should be asked to clarify
this point.
-The names of poll watchers for
Peterkin could not be turned in to
Harold Gillis, county Democratic
chairman, because Gillis was out of
town at the time; and the names
were not accepted at the board of
elections office. Poole said the law
allows only political parties, not
individual candidates, to have poll
watchers. He said that, conse
quently, Peterkin was "out of
order" on this point.
County Attorney Duncan Mc
Fadyen attended the meeting at the
board's request since, as Poole put
it, it was expected Peterkin's case
will go to the federal government
since it comes under Federal
Voting Rights Act.
Also attending the meeting were
Sam Morris, Gayton Bouyer and
Danny DeVane, but merely as
interested citizens, Morris said.
t