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The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
VOLUME LXXIV NUMBER 33 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $8 PER YEAR THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1982
No Violations Seen
Health Officials Monitoring PCB Operation Here
by Warren Johnston
State and local health officials
are cautiously monitoring a county
business which is handling "low
level toxic PCB's" The News
Journal learned this week.
The monitoring, however, is
done sporadically and depends
largely on the business operator
not to handle the hazardous
material and to report any spills
that might occur, state Natural
Resources and Community
Development (NRCD) Regional
Supervisor Dennis Ramsey said.
Although the electrical
transformer salvage operation's
Store Robbed
At Gunpoint
On Monday
Crossroads Grocery on U.S. 401
north of Raeford near Tanglewood
Motel was robbed about 5:30 p.m.
Monday of about S350 in cash and
^bout S100 worth of jewelry by an
armed man. Sheriff Dave Barring
ton said.
It was the first armed robbery in
the county in two years.
He said he and some of his
officers got to the scene within
minutes after the robbery was
committed, radioed to officers in
adjoining counties, and searched
areas of Hoke, Robeson and
Cumberland but without success.
He said two men and possibly a
third person were involved. The two
known to be involved were de
scribed as Indian males about 18 to
20 years old, he added.
The sheriff said Jimmy Mc
Quague, owner of the store, re
ported these details.
One of the men came into the
store, bought a sift drink and left.
Then, when McQuague was the
only person in the store, the second
man, showing a .38 caliber pistol
entered, forced McQuague to lie on
the floor behind a shelf of food,
took the money from the cash
register and the rings ?- men's and
women's -- from a sales case, and
left, and both, with possibly an
other person.
McQuague got a look at the car
the armed men got into before it
left and described it to the in
vestigating officers as an iron-gray
or silver Pontiac Firebird, model
1978 to 1980.
The sheriff said this was the first
armed robbery that had been
committed in the county in two
years. He said also that, usually,
several days before Christmas, he
splits his patrols and has the
officers checking rural stores es
pecially from late afternoon until
closing to prevent robbery at
tempts.
This year, he said, "they started
early."
owner Woody Wilson says efforts
are being made to avoid handling
PCB laced oil, low levels of the
substance have been found by
health officials at the business's
North Carolina Highway 211 loca
tion.
State officials checked the Ash
mont Community business recent
ly and discovered PCB's in concen
trations of 22 parts 1,000, a
November 2 letter from Ramsey to
Wilson says.
Federal Environment Protection
Agency (EPA) does not consider
that level of PCB's to be hazar
dous, Ramsey said Monday.
If concentrations are below SO
parts per 1 ,000, the material handl
ing is not overseen by the EPA and
state health authorities have no
jurisdiction unless a spill occurs,
Ramsey said.
"We have to depend on the
operator to report any spills,"
Ramsey said.
State officials make periodic
checks and have found that Wilson
"is doing a good job," Ramsey
said.
The business's grounds are
clean, and there is no evidence of
spills.
Used transformers are received
by the local business from
Carolina Power and Light (CP&L)
and dismantled, Wilson said,
noting that the cores and casings
are salvaged.
The oil from the transformers is
pumped out, taken across
Highway 21 1 to be abandoned ser
vice station site and pumped into
an underground storate tank,
Wilson said Tuesday.
"The tank is checked daily," to
insure that no oil is leaking, he
said.
Efforts to pressure check the
tank have proved impractical, and
a "dip stick" method is used daily,
Wilson added.
Once the 6,000 gallon tank is
full, it will be transferred to tanker
truck and taken, probably, to
Arkansas for recycling, Wilson
said.
Although Wilson lives in
Goldsboro, he said he chose the
Hoke County site for his business
because he owns the land here.
"I'm originally from Hoke
County and went to high school
there," he said.
PCB's have come under fire
recently as being a cancer-causing
material.
Mass arrests were made recently
in Warren County, after residents
protested the state's efforts to
place PCB's in a recently con
structed landfill there.
The material being disposed of
was dumped along roads by a firm
that was reconditioning electrical
transformers. That operation has
no connection with the Hoke
County firm.
Before being discontinued,
PCB's were widely used in the
transformer oil.
Utility firms found, however,
that the toxic material leaked from
the units and was posing a health
hazard.
Around Town
by Sjm MkHj
Monday for the first time in
many months I had to stop a round
of golf because of rain. The
foursome that was playing finished
13 holes before the skies opened
and caused us to call it quits. 1
can't complain because since retire
ment last December 31st the
weather has been good most of the
time and I have missed only a few
weeks during the year from the golf
course.
The forecast for the remainder of
the week doesn't look too good as
rain and cold weather have been
predicted.
Anyway this summer weather the
past few days has been good for the
fuel bills, but I believe that we will
really feel the cold more when it
does turn colder. We do need some
cold weather thought to kill the
insects.
* * ?
The Raeford Kiwanis Club will
sponsor its annual Pancake Supper
Thursday night at the Gibson
Cafeteria. The feeding will start at
five o'clock in the afternoon and
(See AROUND TOWN, page 14)
?' ?" *'
Remains of Nashville Music building left by fire. At right are law enforcement officers and Antioch firemen.
Arsonists T orch Night Club
Three masked men burned down
one of three clubs owned by Brady
Locklear on N.C. 211 east in the
Antioch Community early Decem
ber 1 and were frightened away
after spreading gasoline in a second
building but before they could
ignite the fuel.
This was reported by Sheriff
Dave Barrington from findings of
the investigation being conducted
by his department assisted by the
Arson Division of the State Bureau
of Investigation (SBI). He said the
investigation is continuing.
The sheriff said the three men,
reported wearing ski masks, first
jumped the elderly night watch
man, Freddy Hunt, and bound him
in one building, but did not injure
him.
Then they poured gasoline
around Nashville Music and set it
afire.
The Antioch Volunteer Fire De
partment answered the alarm, and
the firemen prevented the blaze
from spreading, though they could
not save the burning building.
The sheriff said his department
received the call reporting the fire
at 3:06 a.m.
The burned building was about
75 yards south of the Locklear club
that was the scene of a fatal
shooting May 9. Perry Wayne
Locklear, 25, of Pembroke, was
sentenced last month to life for the
killing, which took the life of Terry
Wayne Locklear, also of Pem
broke.
The sheriff said that he saw no
connection between the Lowery
Locklear case and the December 1
fire.
Autry To Quit Thurs.
Effective In March
1 4. M I I
Raz A utry
Parade Starts
2 p.m. Saturday
The Christmas parade starring
Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus wil be
held in downtown Raeford Satur
day, starting at 2 p.m.
John Howard, general chairman
of the Parade Committee for the
Raeford Merchants Association,
said the parade will form at J.W.
Turlington School and proceed
down North Main Street from Pro
spect Avenue to the Edenborough
Center parking lot.
"It looks like an exciting
parade," Howard said Tuesday.
"It looks like we'll have a repeat of
last year's marching bands, floats,
(See PARADE, page 14)
by BUI Lindau
Raz Autry is doing what he said
four years ago he would do -- make
this four-year term his last as
superintendent of Hoke County
schools.
He said Monday afternoon in an
interview with The News-Journal
and earlier to his central office
staff and his principals in separate
meetings that he was resigning ef
fective March 17.
The agenda for Thursday night's
regular December meeting of the
Hoke County Board of Education
lists "Resignation of Superinten
dent" on the meeting's agenda.
Autry said he has choosen the
March date to leave office to give
the new superintendent, who has
not been named yet, time to
establish a good relationship with
the Hoke County commissioners
on the eve of budget-making time.
Autry's conflicts with the com
missioners are public knowledge.
He said that his primary quarrel
with the commissioners was "they
really haven't supported educa
tion."
"No man or woman should be
bigger than the institution he or
she serves," Autry said.
But, he said, he has no animosi
ty toward the commissioners and
isn't leaving "mad" at anybody.
Among his accomplishments as
superintendent for nearly 10 years
he lists frrw school lunches, aboli
tion of all school fees and pushing
of cultural arts. He said he had
recommended the free lunches and
abolition of fees. The school
boards of the various times had
acted favorably on them.
Fees were reinstituted in the
school system the current year to
help compensate for cutbacks in
federal funds.
Autry said his greatest contribu
tion would have been to give every
youngster in the county as good an
opportunity for education as any
in the state.
Regarding the selection of the
new superintendent, Autry said he
will have "absolutely nothing to
do with that." His only input, he
said, would be to report what other
school systems do.
The new superintendent should
work under his or her own budget,
he or she has the right to make his
or her own decisions on personnel,
"not mine," he said.
He said he has been eligible for
retirement since 1978 when he had
30 years' experience in education.
He has 34 actual and two more
technically credited years, but he
said he feels that he has done all he
can do for the county schools.
He added there are a "lot of
physical things the county has got
to face up to," meaning upgrading
buildings.
As for his plans, he said he
hasn't made up his mind what he
will do, but "I've got enough to
(See AUTRY, page 14)
Two Local Industries
Ask Sewer F ee Relief
by Warren Johnston
Members of the Raeford City
Council are considering requests
from two local industries to
"forgive sewer fees" charged
against the firms.
The requests were made Monday
night by Commercial Products
Inc., who has a concrete manufac
turing plant under construction
here, and by Hoke Concrete
Works.
Both firms, although heavy
water users, claim operations place
no effluent into the city sewage
system and are seeking relief from
the sewer charge which is based on
water consumption.
However, if the council ap
proves the requests, the move is
likely to open the door to other in
dustries for similar relief, and
could "severely" damage the
financial stability of the municipal
water and sewer system. City
Manager Ronald Matthews said.
"With Hoke Concrete, its not
that big of a deal. But with other
industries it could cost us $2,000 a
month," Matthews said.
Hoke Concrete owner Clyde Up
church told council members that
he had been charged over $200 per
month for water for several yeaTs.
The bills were apparently
estimated, and when a new meter
was installed in August, the firm's
bills dropped to $70 per month.
"I think that I have been taken
to the cleaners," Upchurch said.
"Bygones should be bygones,"
Upchurch said, but noting that he
would feel satisfied if the council
waved the sewer charge to the con
crete plant.
The city sewer charge is based on
109?7o of water usage for all
municipal customers.
Commercial Products President
(See StWHR, page 13)
Towns Seek Cable Changes
by Bill Lindau
Jones Intercable has corrected
problems and is looking into the
feasibility of adding channels to its
six - city area system, Raeford city
officials and representatives from
other service areas were told Tues
day.
The meeting held here included
officials from St. Pauls, Red
Springs, Pembroke and Elizabeth
town, and was called after Jones
Intercable requested a rate increase
recently.
A representative of a cable
consulting firm. Spectrum Com
munications of Pittsboro, also at
tended the meeting at the request
of the municipalities.
Spectrum has represented Ral
eigh, Fayetteville, Cumberland
County and other North Carolina
cities in disputes with cable com
panies.
The information about the ser
vice was given as answers to the
many questions put by town of
ficials.
Most were answered by Charlie
G. Railey of McDonough. Ga..
division vice president for Jones's
Eastern Division, with other ex
planations given by Jones's Raeford
systems manager, Harrison Dan
iels.
Raeford now has 12 cable TV
channels.
City Manager Ron Matthews
said the additional channels
wanted in Raeford are: a 24-hour
sports (ESPN) channel, a 24-hour
news network (CNN2) channel, and
(See CABLE, page 13)
Mrs. Edmund administering the oaths of office to County Commissioners
( L-R ) John Balfour, Cleo Bratcher, Jr., James A. Hunt, and Wyatt Up
church.
Commissioners Sworn
by Bill Lindau
Four men were sworn into office
Monday morning as Hoke County
commissioners by Juanita Ed
mund, clerk of Hoke County
Superior Court, then joined the
two other commissioners and went
into their board's regular first
Monday-of-the-month meeting for
December.
Taking the oaths were John
Balfour, Cleo Bratcher, Jr., and
James A. Hunt, all winners of
four-yaw terms in the November
general election; and Wyatt Up
church, appointed last month to
serve the unexpired two years of
Commissioner Danny DeVane's
four -year term.
DcVane resigned November 4,
two days after he won a State
House of Representatives seat
from the 16th District of Robeson,
Hoke and Scotland Counties.
He had been reelected to the
Board of County Commissioners
in the 1980 elections, with Com
(Sce COMMISSION, page 14)