- journal
The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
VOLUME LXX1V NUMBER 28 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA S8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1982
'Democrats, Incumbents Take Races Here
Hefner Captures
Hoke, District
Democratic U.S. Rep. W.G;
(Bill) Hefner of Kannapolis won
. reelection in Tuesday's voting in
' the Eighth District.
Hoke County, returned to the
district last winter, handed him a
heavy majority.
Complete, unofficial returns
from the county's 13 precincts
show Hefner with 3,561 votes to
Republican Harris Blake's 648.
The nearly complete, unofficial,
returns from the district's 12 coun
ties show Hefner with 59,503 and
fBlake 39,477.
The only counties which gave
Blake majorities and only narrow
ones at that, were Moore ~ Blake
5,079 and Hefner 4,943, with three
of the county's 15 precincts
unreported; Davie - Blake 4,078
and Hefner 3,853; and Yadkin
-Blake 2,910 and Hefner 2,765.
Moore is Blake's home county.
Blake is a Pinehurst businessman
) and was making his first try for an
elective public office.
Hefner had trouble in his heavily
Republican home county of
Rowan. There he received 11,803
votes to Blake's 11,136.
Hefner got a fat majority in
(See CONGRESS, page 2)
V'
CASTING BALLOTS - Voters turned out at Raeford Precinct No. 2 polling place in the Old County Office
Building about 9 a.m. Tuesday. Here. ABC Officer Sam Motley [right center) places his marked ballots about to
drop them in the right boxes, while another voter exits the booth \left\.
Over 50% Cast Ballots To Return
School Board , Commission Members
Just over 50% of the registered
voters in Hoke County turned out
to the polls Tuesday and gave
incumbent Democrats the nod to
return to office.
In both the Hoke County Com
mission and Board of Education
races, incumbents were returned to
office for another term and one
Democratic newcomer was elected.
In the commission race, political
newcomer Cleo Bratcher lead the
voting, garnering 2,931 votes.
Bratcher will replace incumbent
Mabel Riley, who he defeated in
the primary runoff election in July.
Democratic Party incumbents
John Balfour and James A. Hunt
also staved off a challenge for
Republican Evelyn Manning to
retain their seats on the commis
sion.
In the school board race, incum
bent Chairman Bill Cameron lead
the balloting with almost 400 votes
more than incumbent member
Bobby Wright who finished second
in the contest.
Board member Walter Coley
held off a challenge from newcomer
Charlotte Kelly, and was able to
retain his seat by a 193-vote
margin.
Stonewall Precinct was the last
vote to be counted and those
returns came in just after midnight.
Out of 8,807 registered voters
here, 4,447 cast ballots.
The turnout in Stonewall was
fairly typical of the vote in the rest
of the county. There about 48% of
the registered voters cast ballots.
Despite poor economic condi
tions and high unemployment here,
Hoke County also did not see
unusually strong turnouts in the
predominantly black and Indian
precincts as did the rest of the state
and nation.
The vote in Raeford Precinct 5
also was about 48%, with the
commission vote going to Bratcher,
who received over 300 ballots more
than any other candidate.
Bratcher also captured the tally
in Buchan and Raeford Precinct 3.
Balfour won the largest number
of precincts and Finished only 48
votes behind the leader. The in
cumbent commission chairman
won McCain, Puppy Creek, Rae
ford number 1, Raeford number 2,
Raeford number 4, Rockfish,
Stonewall and the absentee ballot
ing.
(See COUNTY, page 2)
Commissioners Take Steps Toward
Building New Pound
by BUI Lindau
Members of the Hoke County
Commission voted Monday to cor
rect inhumane conditions at the
county Dog Pound and took steps
toward building a new facility.
Also during the regular meeting,
members accepted the resignation
I of Commissioner Daniel H. De
" Vane and appointed tax mapper
Larry J. Holt as Hoke County Tax
Supervisor.
DeVane in a letter addressed to
the chairman and members of the
Board of County Commissioners
said that "With mixed emotions, I
hereby resign as a Hoke County
commissioner effective November
4, in order to devote my full time in
) preparing for the North Carolina
House of Representatives."
DeVane won a Democratic nomi
nation to a House seat of the 16th
District, which includes Hoke,
Robeson and Scotland counties, in
the runoff primary of July 27.
He and the two other Democratic
nominees were assured of election
when the lone Republican candi
date dropped out.
"I have enjoyed serving Hoke
> County for the past six years, as a
commissioner and look forward to
serving this District in Raleigh."
On the dog pound, the commis
sioners adopted a motion request
Around Town
by Um Merrts
;
Last weekend was certainly dif
ferent from the weekend of October
23 and 24. The temperatures were
in the 70s and I believe that they
could have reached the 80s Mon
day. It was cloudy, but as of late
Monday afternoon, no rain had
fallen.
The forecast is for rain during
the week, but the weatherman has
been wrong many times during the
past several weeks.
? * *
The election Tuesday will be
history by the time this column is in
the hands of the readers. The
weather forecast was for a sunny
day and the temperature in the 80s.
If that held true, then we should
have a good turnout for the
election.
Usually the voting is light on an
off-year election, but with the
school board election being con
tested, this should have made more
people come out than would usually
be the case.
The first primary election
brought out 5,009 voters in Hoke
County Out of 8,733 registered, so
this was 57% of the voters.
In the second primary it was for
(See AROUND TOWN, pig* 2)
ing the County Health Department
to winterize the pound now at
county expense, and authorized
John Balfour, chairman of the
brad of commissioners, to Appoint
a committee to study the matter of
establishing a new pound in con
juncton with building a shelter for
the landfill equipment. Balfour
said he would seek the input of the
Health Department before making
the committee appointments.
The winterizing will solve the
problem of the animals' water
freezing during winter when the
temperature drops to or below the
freezing point.
The dog pound itself, operated
by the city and county and financed
principally by county funds has
been termed among other things
overcrowded at certain times and
lacking facilities to segregate ani
mals.
More space has been cited by
Health Department Director Lloyd
Home as one of the pressing needs
of the pound.
Parking Ordinance
In other business related to the
Health Department, the commis
sioners adopted an ordinance au
thorizing the County Health Board
to establish rules and regulations
controlling parking in the Health
Center area and to erect parking
signs on the lands now used for
parking around the building.
A motion adopted authorizes
County Manager James Martin to _
submit bids for resurfacing the *
parking area and for defining and
marking each parking space so that
it will be clear which parking
spaces are reserved for the depart
ment.
Spaces for the County Parks and
Recreation Department will also be
reserved for participants and spec
tators at games on the nearby
playing field.
Home told the commissioners
the department has put up with the
parking conditions in which princi
pally some employees of the House
of Raeford, which is across the road
from the health department, de
prive department people, including
patients, of space intended for
them.
He said that some spaces are
occupied all day.
Spaces reserved for handicapped
people with Health Department
business are occupied by people not
on department business. Home
said.
Some of the people at the games
nearby also use Health Center
parking, he added.
The commissioners in other busi
ness discussed possible Christmas
TALK IS SHEEP ? These two wooly friends seem to be chatting, though
sheepishly, during a break on a farm near Aberdeen. The photographer
never found out what the break was from. Anyway, it is nice to see a couple
of sheep getting their heads together over something without bleating about
it.
September Sales Highest Of Y ear
Gross retail sales were up in
Hoke County during September, a
recent North Carolina Department
of Revenue report showed.
During September retail sales
increase more than S 300, 000 over
August figures and were up almost
1500,000 over the same period in
1981, ^
September figures showed that
sales were S4.2 million with tax
collections of more than $88,000.
Sales in September were highest
for the year, topping the July mark
of $4.1 million and the largest
volumn since April, 1981 when the
county's retailers grossed more
than $4.3 million.
The local 1% sales and use tax
collections for September were
$32,968.90.
Those funds will be returned to
the county by the state.
bonuses for the county's 107 full
time and parttime salaried em
ployees but decided to postpone till
the November 15 board meeting
making a decision on the subject.
The commissioners were given a
suggested list of bonuses ranging
from one-half of 1% to 2% of the
employees' pay.
Including county contributions
to F1CA and the employees' retire
ment fund, the total costs of the
bonuses would run from $6,762.62
for the smallest percentage to
$27,046.13 to the two per cent
level.
The commissioners, however,
also could divide the bonus money
equally among permanent em
ployees. and each fulltime-equiva
ient employee would receive $57.72
if the half per cent plan is adopted
and $230.89 if the 2% suggestion is
adopted.
The employee would receive
$115.45 on a 1% basis, and
$173.17 on a l'/j% basis.
The bonus payments on the
percentage of pay plan would
be for all employees working for a
year up to October 31 ; an employee
working less than 12 months by
that date would receive a pro-rate
bonus on the basis of one-12th per
month for each month of contin
uous employment.
Tax Supervisor
Larry Holt, who is 35, had been
named June I to fill the vacancy
created by the resignation of former
Tax Supervisor L?r Simpson.
Before joining the county tax
office as a mapper Holt had been
with Allen & Associates, a property
appraisal firm which did work for
Hoke County.
Before joining Allen, he had
worked five years with the Scotland
County tax office as a tax mapper.
Holt was born and raised in
Biscoe, Montgomery County, and
is a graduate of Central Piedmont
Community College in Charlotte.
He and his wife have two
children, both girls, ages 12 and
14. The family is living in Hamlet
and will move to Hoke County, as
the county rule requires, within the
next 12 months.
Officially, Holt was appointed to
serve the unexpired portion of
Simpson's term, which runs to July
1.
The commissioners turned down
a motion by DeVane to allow Holt
till July 1, 1984, the date which
would be the end of Holt's first full
term in the position, to allow him
more time to find a home for his
family. Balfour, however, told Holt
that if he ran into a problem in
finding a home before the allowed
period ended that Holt could come
back to the commissioners to get
more time.
Technically, the rejection of
DeVane's motion came in the
form of the motion to get a
"second."
De Vane's Position
The commissioners accepted De
Vane's resignation and adopted a
motion asking the Hoke County
Democratic Party Executive Com
mittee Chairman Harold Gillis to
present a slate of candidates for
election by the commissioners to
serve the remainder of DeVane's
term.
The term will expire in Novem
ber 1984, when a new commis
sioner will be elected.
The commissioners, however, are
not obligated to choose any of the
candidates offered by the Demo
cratic Party, but are free to go
outside the list to choose DeVane's
successor.
DeVane was reelected to a new
four-year term in November 1980.
Work Session
The commissioners also agreed
on November 8 as a tentative date
(See DF.VANE, page 3)
I I
State Eases Deadline
For Raeford , Plant
State health officials will ?ase off
a November 1 deadline to allow
Raeford engineers to "fine tune"
the city's newly renovated sewage
treatment plant, a spokesman said.
The city must bring the plant
into compliance during November,
however, or face fines up to $10,000
per day. Department of Natural
Resources And Community De
velopment (NRCD) Regional
Supervisor Dennis Ramsey said.
State officials are also working
with the House of Raeford turkey
processing plant to develop its
pre-treatment facilities, Ramsey
said, noting that plant owner
Marvin Johnson is apparently
making an effort to clean up the
facilities sewage discharge.
City and state officials have
placed the blame for much of
Raeford's sewage treatment woes
on the discharge from the turkey
plant.
Some efforts are being made to
correct the pre-treatment problems
at the plant, "but there is still a lot
of room for improvement," Ramsey
said.
House of Raeford is working with
an Engineering firm from Charlotte
to develop a pre-treatment plan.
"We're going to let them have a
shake down during the next couple
of weeks and get the treatment
plant working like it is supposed
to," Ramsey said.
If the Raeford plant can meet the
discharge requirements, then some
of the problems with the turkey
plant might be eased, Ramsey said.
The state health department has
declared an unofficial moratorium
on industrial development in Hoke
County until the sewer treatment
problems are corrected.
As a result of the ban, at least
one industry has been lost to the
county, development officials have
said.
City engineers attributed a recent
blowout in one of the plant's
pumping stations to a blockage
caused by nine turkey necks.
Frequent truck loads of grease
and feathers that have to be
removed from the treatment facility
are also attributed to the turkey
plant.
Raeford has been cited for
dumping polluted effluent into
Rockfish Creek, and has been
warned that the city will be fined if
the levels of non -complying dis
charges are not cut in half.
This spectator seemed a little
bored while watting for the
homecoming parade to begin
Friday. The parade kicked off
the weekend's Halloween
events. Please turn to page 1
Section II for complete cov
erage of the activities.