EXPLAINING PLAN - Florida engineer Royal Jones ( center left) and House of Raeford representative Tom
Greer ( center right ) explain proposed sewage pre-treatment plan as members of the Raeford City Council and
others listen during Monday's meeting.
City OK9 s Treatment Plant
(Continued from page 1)
Grease, feathers and bones
would be filtered out before they
entered the city system and
transported to a rendering facility,
Greer said.
"You will catch what we've been
catching and burying all these
years," Mayor John K. McNeill
said.
By using the new process, that
material which has been dumped
into the city system and wasted will
now be rendered and sold, Greer
said.
The city has had to bury the
material because by the time it
reached the sewage treatment plant
it had mixed with chemicals from
other industries and with domestic
waste and was not recyclable.
Although city Manager Ron
Matthews said municipal taxpayers
have incurred costs for disposing
of the plant's waste which are
equivalent to the surcharge levied
against the firm. Mayor McNeill
assured council members that hav
ing the House of Raeford's
discharge problem corrected would
be worth tfie^ost funds.
?
As long as the provisions of the
agreement were carried out and the
city was provided with the plans
and specifications, the state NRCD
would also probably go along and
would not levy threatened civil
penalities against Raeford, both
Matthews and McNeill said.
"The state doesn't want to
penalize us anymore than we want
to get penalized," Councilman
Bob Gentry said.
"The state don't run us. We run
the state," Gentry said.
Gentry proposed waiving the
fines immediately, but other coun
cil members suggested holding the
decision to see if the House of
Raeford completes work on the
pre-treatment facility as promised.
Some evidence that work has
already been done on the system is
showing up in recent tests taken at
the Raeford treatment plant,
McNeill said, noting that the
turkey plant has been getting low
BOD readings for the last four
days.
"I've been checking it every
day," the mayor said.
Municipal regulations require
that the House of RaefOrti brtng its
discharge to the level of 400
milligrams BOD per liter,
however, until recently the com
pany's effluent has had readings
over the 1,000 milligrams BOD,
Matthews said.
"Some of us on the council have
been working on this for 10
years," Councilman Vardell
Hedgpeth Jr. said.
Monday's meeting was one of
the first responses the city has had
to numerous efforts to get the firm
to correct the problem, Hedgpeth
added.
The response came less than 30
days after the city levied $30,000 in
fines on the turkey plant.
"We should have charged you
that $30,000 back in July, then we
would be through with this thing,"
Hedgpeth said.
Kitchens noted that the House
of Raeford had been aware of the
problem and had been' working on
improving its discharge prior to
July.
"We're as tired of it as you are.
We're ready to get past it," Kit
chens said.
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Battle At Coop Continues
The Lumbee River Electric
Membership Corp. Board of
Directors' expenditures for 1982
were $140,294.10, which was 33^?
higher than the 1981 figure, Carl
Branch, spokesman for the
LREMC Action Group, reported
this week.
The group is seeking the removal
of the 12 members of the board for
allegedly excessive spending of
funds for meetings, travel and
other items. The group originally
was organized, last December 29,
to persuade the directors to explain
why they fired Deri Hinson,
LREMC general manager.
In his statement referring to the
1981 and 1982 expenditures.
Branch said, "High rollers" (for
1982) are J.W. Hunt at
514,475.01, Davis K. Parker at
$13,65 1.51, Marciea Lowery at
$12,637.74, and Alton Dudley at
$11,626.63.
"So far, no representative of the
LREMC board has contacted our
group to explain any benefits to
the members for these outrageous
ly extravagent expenditures.
"Of the top '4' Big Spenders, it
may be noted that each race, and
both sexes are represented ? no
discrimination in spending
abilities."
Earlier, the directors cut the
board's proposed 1983 budget by
$500,000 and issued an explana
tion for the firing of Hinson,
which was termed "an erosion of
confidence" over a period of time
between the general manager and
the board.
The board also announced it
would reduce the members' per
diem expenses to $75 from $100
and regulate the number of
meetings to be attended and the
number of directors who would at
tend.
The board also announced only
six of the 12 members would at
tend this week's national Rural
Electrificaton Administration
meeting in Las Vegas, Nev.
Branch's statement of January 24
criticized planned attendance at
the Las Vegas meeting asking,
"How many of you are going to
Las Vegas knowing that I shall
publicize this action? Can you go
party it up, when there are
members who can't pay their bills,
and a former general manager who
has no job, after having given you
8 years of dedicated service?"
Branch also suggested the direc
tors "can save the expense" of the
March 3 meeting requested by the
Action Group. "Resign, all of
you," Branch said. "Don't wait
for the March 3 meeting. I will ac
cept ONLY 12 resignations with
the ... Action Group naming the
time, date, place and slate of new
directors..."
The Board's answer follows:
"While the 12 members of the
LREMC Board of Directors agree
with Branch's assessment that this
special meeting of members would
be costly; it believes that "a special
meeting of members may be called
... upon written request signed by
not less than 10 percent of the
members and it shall thereupon be
the duty of the Secretary to cause
notice of such meeting../*
"It is also true the costs of such
a meeting would be shared by all
members of the rural electric
cooperative.
"However, the Board of Direc
tors has proven its desire to trim
costs as evidenced by the $500,000
cut in the 1983 budget last week. It
reiterates that the members of the
Board studied the budget from
November until last week's deci
sion was announced.
"These cuts were achieved by
evaluation of the entire operation
of the cooperative ... not just some
areas. The Board now intends to
undertake policy changes which
support their budget work.
"The Board would most certain
ly like to avoid the cost of a special
meeting, bu if the LREMC
membership desires to bring one
about, it will be carried out to the
letter of the Bylaws."
County Mulls Ambulance Service
(Continued from page I)
solution to the Ambulance
Service's financial troubles.
In December, Henley reported
the service has been unable to col
lect $54,000 in unpaid bills from
patients it had served. The county
budget provides the service with
$64,000 for the service's opera
tions.
At a committee meeting Monday
night, the most recent of three,
Henley said that he would need
$32,435 more annually to operate
and that his company would go
bankrupt if the old contract were
not renegotiated within 30 days.
Upchurch in his report to the
commissioners the next day,
quoted Henley as saying the service
wouldn't close its doors and will
operate as long as it could.
Youth Saves
Carolyn Keams and her young
sons lost their home and
everything but the clothes they
were wearing when a fire destroyed
their mobile home in Puppy Creek
community at 2 a.m. January 13.
And if it hadn't been for Mat
thew, they might not have had
their lives, Mrs. Kearns told The
News-Journal Friday.
The new amount Henley has
asked for would be reduced if the
county provided a building and
paid the utilities costs.
Mabel Riley, a former county
commissioner who is a committee
member, suggested at Monday
night's meeting that the committee
consider a reduced service to save
money on equipment and salaries,
and the committed did consider it.
But Henley objected, saying that if
the service were reduced he would
leave Hoke County.
County Manager James Martin
at Tuesday's meeting said Henley
had called that morning asking
that the ambulance service's basic
fee be increased to $55 from $35.
Upchurch said the Rescue Squad
also was considered as a replace
ment for Henley's group but that
the squad. wanted $88,000 per year
and nothing to do with equipment.
He said the Rescue Squad operates
on the basic EMT level, which is a
step under the Ambulance
Service's Intermediate.
Meanwhile, State Rep. Danny
DeVane of Raeford, a former
county commissioner, has advised
he has included Hoke County in a
local bill on the state law requiring
payment for ambulance services
and penalties for failure to pay.
The other members of the Am
bulance Committee besides Mrs.
Riley and Upchurch are Eddie
McNeill, Anthony Oxendine, and
Barbara Buie. Mike Tardiff,
manager of the Scotland County
Ambulance Service, has been serv
ing as an advisor to the committee
and participated in its meetings.
Family From Fire
She said Matthew, 7, was
awakened by fire at the foot of his
bed. He awoke his brother, Loren
zo, 11, and they awoke their
mother, so all got out of the burn
ing trailer uninjured.
Matthew is in the Second Grade
of Scurlock School.
The Puppy Creek Volunteer Fire
Department went to the scene. The
mobile home was in Carolina
Country Mobile Home Park.
Mrs. Kearns said she and the
boys are staying with her mother,
Mrs. Annie B. Ray, until they can
find another home.
Anyone interested in helping
Mrs. Kearns and the children with
donations are advised to telephone
875-8672.
Charges Dropped In Cases Handled By Ex-SBI Agent
Assistant District Attorney Jean
Powell Friday afternoon dropped
charges against four drug defen
dants because a former SBI agent
who was a witness is under indict
ment in Hoke County Superior
Court.
She referred to the following
defendants and charges:
Regina Bullard McMillan, Rt. 1,
Red Springs, possession with in
tent to sell and deliver a controlled
substance, marijuana and
felonious manufacturing of mari
juana with intent to sell and
deliver; Julius Locklear, Rt. 1, Red
Springs, possession with intent to
sell and deliver marijuana;
Clarence Bratcher, 403 Robeson
St., Raeford, possession with in
tent to sell and deliver marijuana;
and Elwood McNair, Rt. 1,
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Raeford, possession with intent to
sell and deliver marijuana.
Each of the statements of
dismissal says the reason is "the
state cannot call A. A. Dove as a
witness because he is under indict
ment..."
Dove, 25, of Elizabeth City, was
arraigned January 20 in Hoke
County District Court on charges
he altered evidence and obstructed
justice in the drug cases.
The cases of Tony White, Bobby
Peterkin, and Ervin Benny Ross in
which Dove also was involved with
were disposed of previously by
pleas. Miss Powell explained Fri
day.
Dove's Superior Court trial date
had not been set before The News
Journal's deadline this week.
Club Owner Charged
For House Shooting
Brady Locklear, 39, of N.C. 71,
Maxton, was charged Saturday
with discharging a firearm (rifle)
into an occupied dwelling early
Friday morning, according to a
warrant filed with the clerk of
Hoke County Superior Court.
The Hoke County Sheriffs
Department reported Locklear's
wife told Deputy Sheriff Lt. J.W.
Jones Locklear fired into her home
on Rt. 2, Red Springs, and broke
in. The report indicated a disagree
ment over a baby grandson was the
cause of the trouble.
Deputy Sheriff Osie Finin
quoted Locklear as denying he
fired the shots.
Jones reported the investigation
found a window shot out, five gun
shot holes in a ceiling of the home
and three spent .22 caliber shell
Enviro-Chem Co.
EXTERMINATORS
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RAEFORD. N.C. EXTERMINATOR HOME
i
casings on the floor under the car
port.
He said a door also was found
apparently kicked in.
The warrant says the home was
occupied by Dennis Locklear, the
Locklears' son, and Susan Dickens
Home, besides Brady Locklear's
wife, Althea.
Locklear is free under S2.000
unsecured bond for appearance for
trial Thursday in District Court.
Locklear owns Brady's, a club
on N.C. 21 1 east near the Robeson
County Line. Another club,
Nashville Music, nearby, was
destroyed last fall by a fire believed
deliberately set. The case is still
under investigation by the Hoke
County Sheriff's Department
assisted by the SB1.
Happy
42nd
J.R.
.