The Hoke County News - Established 1928
VOLUME LXXTV NUMBER 18 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
- journal
25
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
$8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1982
Around
Town
BY SAM C.MORRIS
No, fall has not arrived yet, but
these cool nights remind me of that
season. The days are still hot and it
has been foggy so far each morning
this week.
If you were watching the golf
match Sunday on television you
could see that the players were
wearing sweaters. The tournament
was played in Michigan. Also, the
weather report Sunday afternoon
stated that they had frost in the
New England states.
Don't turn off your air condi
tioner yet, because September will
bring some hot days.
? * ?
A subscription renewal envelope
also contained a letter from a
former Raeford resident who now
resides in Virginia. It was from
Betty Burgess and her husband.
Tom, who works in Washington.
Tom was manager of the local
ASCS office for many years and
Betty taught in the local schools.
The letter follows:
Sam Morris:
Just a note to say hello to all our
friends in Raeford. We really miss
everyone and we are really sorry
that we did not get a chance to visit
Raeford this summer.
Tom has been so busy with the
tobacco program this spring and
summer.
I start back to work next week.
( Please tell Mr. Autry we are
starting an interesting program this
school year "Pay for Performance."
Again we enjoy getting The
News-Journal and we wish all our
friends the best.
Sincerely,
Betty Burgess
Thanks Betty for the nice note
and we hope the best for you, Tom
and family.
* * *
I
Another letter we received re
cently contained an article about a
woman cured from cancer and it
seems that from the article it was
because of the "Power of Prayer."
We have the article and will be glad
for anyone to read it, but we don't
believe we can print it at this time.
The letter follows:
Dr. Mr. Morris:
Since you're Presbyterian and I
am too, I am sending you this
testimonial that I have taken from
a magazine I get in the mail,and 1
hope you will reprint it in the
Journal to help build faith in more
of our Hoke County people.
We all need more faith in prayer.
Thank you so very much. I enjoy
your editorial so very much, don't
ever quit writing for the Journal.
Back in 1945 when 1 returned
from the Army after serving five
and a half years in World War II, 1
came back to The News-Journal to
work. The secretary and book
keeper was Mrs. Hazel Niven who
worked in the office until the early
1950s when Mrs. Connie Ellis took
over the job.
As most of you noticed in a small
ad on the society page, Hazel has
come back to work for the paper as
society reporter. Of course. Connie
is still with us and is in charge of
the composing room.
So it is good during my few hours
work each week to have Hazel back
to help us. If you have any social
news be sure to get in touch with
her and it will be fixed up and
placed in the paper.
Welcome back Hazel!
* * ?
Since we are now in the Eighth
Congressional District, the race for
the seat in Congress will be a close
one. The old Seventh was about
7S% Democratic, but this is not the
case in the Eighth.
So from now until November,
you will be pressed to vote for either
Blake or Hefner.
? ? ?
The teachers are back at work
and are getting everything in order
for the opening of school on
September 1.
The kids go back on that day and
they will be walking along the roads
or awaiting buses by the highways.
So please be careful and slow down
when you approach them.
Play Therapy
For Troubled
Children
There is help for troubled
children at the Hoke Unit of Sand
hills Center for Mental Health. Inc.
Inc.
Play therapy, a valuable method
of working with children, is of
fered at the Sandhills Center. In
play therapy, toys and games are
used as the tools through which the
child expresses his feelings, such as
anger, sadness, or jealousy.
The child is given the freedom to
choose the activities in the therapy
session. The therapist accepts the
child as he is and helps the child
understand his feelings. The
therapy is a gradual process. Any
change that occurs is directed by
the child. Play therapy has helped
many children work through pro
blems.
If you know a troubled child
who needs play therapy, contact
the Sandhills Center for Mental
Health, Inc., at 875-8156 or refer
his parents.
Hoke County School Year:
Drums, Problems, Programs
?tAPIHO it roil YOU
Nf* YSAIJ
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Beverly Bowden s eyecatching board in her classroom.
Failure To Observe Regulations Details
Elections Chairman Explains Firing
A Hoke County precinct registrar
was dismissed by the Hoke County
Board of Elections essentially for
failing to observe regulations de
tails, the board chairman indicated
Tuesday.
J. Scott Poole, chairman of the
county elections board, was ex
plaining the reasons for the board's
dismissal of the Rev. Leroy
Horsley, registrar for Blue Springs
Precinct.
He added, however, he hated to
see Horsley leave, because Horsley
had done "a good job of registering
people." He said that in two years
Horsley had registered "at least
1.000." Poole said he felt that
Horsley's difficulty was he had been
unable to spend enought time in
Hoke County to handle the job.
Horsley's fulltime professional job
is as a member of the staff of
Samarkand Manor at Eagles
Springs on the western border of
Moore County. Samarkand is
about 35 miles west of Raeford and
about 30 west of Horsley's home,
on Turnpike Road.
Poole said, however, the reasons
Horsley was dismissed included:
??Poole had to call him to come
to the canvass of the returns of the
June 29 primary. The regulations
require that the registrar appear or
that he send a representative to
each official canvass following each
election. The canvass is the official
review made by the elections board
of the elections returns.
--Horsley had made several
errors in registering people in the
wrong precincts. But Horsley was
not responsible for the 99 per cent
of the errors in registration for the
June 29 primary that was attributed
to him in another publication.
Poole said he was misquoted on
that figure. He said 10 people in all
were not registered properly and
that none who were properly
registered were refused the right to
vote.
--Horsley also had "a couple of
times" locked material other than
ballots in boxes. Only ballots may
be locked in the boxes which are
then sealed, Poole said. He ex
plained that on election night after
all the ballots have been counted,
only the ballots can be placed in
their proper boxes, which are thefi"
sealed. He said Horsley's adding
other material to the box made it
necessary for the entire elections
board to assemble, select an
"innocent bystander" for a witness,
then unseal and unlock the boxes
and remove the unauthorized
material. After that, the boxes are
locked and sealed again. This
procedure is necessary to demon
strate that no irregularity in
handling ballots after the election
can occur.
Poole said others had made the
same mistake in the past, but after
the elections board sent out a notice
instructing the precinct officials to
include nothing but ballots in the
boxes after an election, only
Horsley made the mistakes, which
occurred after the June 29 primary.
Poole said Horsley registered the
people regardless of race.
Of the 10 not properly registered,
he added, about half were white
and the others non-white.
Poole also said a total of 40 cases
were reported in w rong precincts on
June 29. However, he said, they
were directed to the proper pre
cinct.
Most people turned away, he
said, were refused because their
names had been purged from the
books for not having voted for at
least four years and they had not
re-registered, as state law requires.
Essentially. he indicated.
Horsley was dismissed because his
inability to spend sufficient time in
Hoke County was causing errors
which were causing the elections
board too much extra work.
UCB Reply To First Union Offer
Merger Decision Slated In 2 Weeks
Whether United Carolina Banc
shares and First Union Corp. will
merge will be made known in the
next two weeks, a UCB executive
said Monday.
Bancshares is the parent com
pany of United Carolina Bank, of
which the former Bank of Raeford
is a member.
Officials of Bancshares, head
quartered in Whiteville, confirmed
Thursday they had received a $86
million merger offer from First
Union Corp., whose headquarters
is in Charlotte. First Union is the
parent corporation of the statewide
system of First Union National
banks, some of which are operating
in Fayetteville and Southern Pines
among communities in the south
eastern area of the state.
The Bancshares executive,
Richard Chepul, comptroller of the
corporation, was answering a ques
tion asked by a reporter for The
News-Journal when he referred to
the pending response by the Banc
shares Board of Directors to First
Union's merger proposal.
"The directors are doing an
evaluation of the officer," he said,
in saying no new developments in
the situation had occurred since
last week's public announcement
that the proposal had been re
ceived.
The Bank of Raeford merged
officially with United Carolina
Bank last March 1. The local bank
opened for business October b,
1903.
The News-Journal reporter first
asked R.L. Conoly, senior vice
president of Raeford UCB, for
comment on the merger offer. In
his position he is chief executive of
the Raeford bank. Conoly replied
any comment would have to come
from the corporation's headquar
ters in Whiteville and referred the
reporter to Chepul.
The UCB announcement of the
merger office came in a brief note.
The Charlotte Observer, in a
comprehensive report, published
Friday, says "If the purchase is
completed it would be the largest
bank merger in N.C. history."
L.R. Bowers, chairman and chief
executive of Bancshares. is quoted
as saying that the firm's board
would review the offer and response
arrd declined to say whether UCB's
management favored the offer.
First Union is rated the third
largest and UCB is ranked seventh
largest of the state's banking firms.
First Union, whose main subsi
diary is First Union National Bank,
has S5.3 billion in assets. At the
end of 1981 it had 207 branches
(See MHRGFR. page 16)
Construction Nearly 60% Complete
November Moving Time For Shopping Center
Stores committed as tenants to
the Raeford-Hoke Village Shop
ping Center will start moving into
their areas during November and
are expected to be ready for their
customers by Christmas.
This was reported Monday by
Robin Dial, vice president in
charge of development for Edens &
McTeer, Inc., of Columbia, S.C.,
which is building the center on
U.S. 401 south bypass and Cole
Avenue Extension.
Dial gave the information in
replying to questions put by a
reporter for The News-Journal.
He said the projected opening of
the space for Sky City of the chain
of department stores is about the
first of November, and for Food
Town, of the supermarket chain,
and Revco. of the discount drug
store chain, mid-to late November.
Besides the space for these, the
center will provide about 12,400
square feet for local businesses.
The business part of the center
itself is being constructed as one
long, continuous building contain
ing about 60,000 square feet of
floor space.
Dial said the construction is
nearly 60 percent complete and is
expected to be completed by the
end of September.
The parking area for the cus
tomers will be "ample," as one
company executive put it earlier.
A Bulldozer started breaking
ground for the shopping center
shortly after June 1.
The sound of a band member
practicing his drums echoes over
the Hoke High School grounds as
the school year is beginning for the
Hoke County School System. At the
high school, teachers were prepar
ing for the year by attending three
days of seminars. Meanwhile at the
County Board of Education build
ing, the administrative side was
busy preparing all the necessary
lists and placements.
Superintendent Raz Autry, who
has been at the position for nine
years, discussed the coming school
year. The teachers' year began on
August 17 though the school year
begins for the expected 5.000
students on September 1. It is the
preparation by the teachers and
administrative staff that provides
the seven Hoke County schools with
a very thorough educational pro
gram.
Despite cutbacks in aid. the $10
million school budget allowed for
the hire of eight new teachers. Mr.
Autry said that the turnover in
teachers has become less, primarily
due too oversupply of teachers and
aid cutbacks. In ail, 280.5 positions
in the 500 of the school system were
teachers, the rest were custodial,
transportation, and administrative
positions.
Several changes have been intro
duced to this year. The school
system has gone back to the
community school concept in the
kindergarten through fourth grade
levels. Affecting all levels has been
the reintroduction of the fees
program. This program, which is
designed to provide funds for
instructional materials, is placed at
$3 per student in kindergarten
through sixth, while the fee will be
S10 for seventh through twelfth
grades.
With a hint of sadness. Mr.
Autry remembered that the Hoke
County School System had been the
only one in the nation to provide
free meals throughout all levels.
However, the financial situation of
the system can now only provide
meals without cost to the student in
grades K-8. High school students
must pay for their lunch. Cutbacks
and the familiar sound of a
problem national economy were
cited as causes.
On a more hopeful note, a CETA
sponsored job placement depart
ment has been developed this year.
Eleanor Gentry will head the
department that is oriented to
wards helping those students that
may be considering dropping out or
need assistance in finding a job.
Essentially the department will
function as a guidance and per
sonal assistance counseling project.
Mr. Autry was especially con
cerned about the future of the
county schools. Several needed
capital outlay plans are very much
in doubt. The county population is
expected to expand, vet, several
schools arc becoming overcrowded
in the meantime. Particularly the
Scurlock District, Rockfish and
Davis's Bridge classrooms are pro
blem areas. The McLauchlin
School has little land available and
(Sec SCHOOL YEAR, page lh)
This is the way the rising building of the Raeford-Hoke Village shopping center looked Friday. [Staff photo by
Harley Palmer],