This page has errors The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page.
0 / 75
The Hoke County News - Established 1928 Volume LXXV Number 7 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA - journal The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 S10 PER YEAR Thursday, June 9, 1983 The Cessna ISO, apparently piloted by Charles Morgan, wrapped around the trees located in this wooded area near the Raeford airport. The plane appears to be totaled but the pilot allegedly received only minor injuries. Blood was found on the door of the plane (right) as well as on the pilot 's seat. Yellow tape (in right background ) was marked around the crashed plane indicating that some sort of investigation was going on. Mystery Surrounds Crash B> Sherry Matthews Although an area aircraft crash ed near the Raeford Airport Satur day night, Federal Aviation ^ Authorities (FAA) remained " "unclear" aboul the incident on Tuesday. FAA officials in Raleigh, Fayet teville and Atlanta said Monday and Tuesday they were unsure of the details of the mysterious crash, and when or if the incident had been reported. Parachute jump school owner Gene Thacker said the crash ap ^ parently occurred between 9:30 or ? 10:00 Saturday night while the pilot was practicing "night land ings" at the Raeford Airport. According to Thacker, Charles Morgan, 51, of Hope Mills, landed short of the runway and apparent ly "wrapped his Cessna 150 around some trees." Thacker also said that his son found Morgan "wandering ^ around" at about 10 p.m. Around Town by Sam Morris Summertime has not officially arrived, but the temperature Mon day made one think that it had * come early. The rain Sunday after - 9 noon was approximately Vi inch and helped a lot. Of course we need more and the forecast is for thunder showers on into the week. The rainfall report came from Bill Lancaster. It seems the weatherman is on the Outer Banks fishing for a few days. I hope the weather didn't force him indoors during his trip. * * * * When you write a column like this one every week, at times you wonder if people are still reading what you write. I found out that the item last week about Carrie Sturgis was read by many of her former pupils. They stopped me on the street to tell me about it. Some of the former students ) (See AROUND, page 3A) "He (Morgan) was looking for me," Thacker said. The crash occurred about one mile from the runway in a heavily wooded area off of state Highway 1323. There are approximately 30 residences between the crash site and the airport. According to Thacker, his son Tim, apparently reported the non fatal accident to the FAA between 10-10:30 p.m. Saturday. Highway patrolmen were at the scene by 11 p.m., Thacker said. FAA officials in Atlanta remain unsure at this time about the details of the crash. An FAA official from Raleigh told The News-Journal Tuesday that the matter had been turned over to the National Transporta tion Safety Board in Atlanta, "as it should be." Dick Shippman with the Na tional Transportation Safety Board in Atlanta said that they had been unable 10 locate the pilot to get any more details about the acci dent. According to Shippman, Atlan ta officials got their information from state FAA authorities. According to Gilbert Hoffheins, FAA official in Fayetteville, The News-Journal has "more informa tion about the crash" than the federal agencies. Even though officials are ha/v about the facts of the crash, it w as noted that Monday morning yellow tape was barricading the destroyed plane, leading to the belief that some sort of investiga tion was underway. Another missing link in the crash appears to be the alleged time gap between when the acci dent occurred and when Hoke County authorities were notified. According to Hoke Rescue Squad member Mark Posey, the squad was dispatched after an (See CRASH, page 12A) PCB Cleanup Pledged At Toxic Dump Sites Cleanup procedures have begun at one of three recently di covered PCB-laced dump sites in Hoke County, Health Director Lloyd Home said Tuesday. Woody Wilson Jr. of Goldsboro, who operates a transformer salvage business on state Highway 211 near the Ashley Heights area, has agreed to clean up two sites and is currently removing "contaminated" debris from another dumping area located on property owned by his aunt, Delia Wilson, Home said. Low to mid levels of PCB have been found on all three sites, and hazardous levels of lead were discovered by state investigators in two of the dumping areas. Home said. According to Home, the PCB levels are not hazardous by defini tion with only 1 1 parts per million found at the Delia Wilson site and .19 parts per million found on the site where battery casings had been buried. A third location near Mc Cain Hospital also showed low levels of PCB's. Wilson said earlier that he stored salvaged ashes which were remov ed from a warehouse fire in Aber deen on his aunt's property. It was from those ashes that lead levels were found which are 60 times higher than what is con sidered safe by the state, Home said. Witnesses and Delia Wilson have said that Wilson burned at the site late at night on a regular basis. Wilson has admitted burning only wooden pallets. The ashes, not only contain "dangerous levels" of lead and low levels of PCB's, but other "precious" metals. Home said. "He is going to recycle them legally," the health director added. Both sites were well below federal PCB hazardous waste levels of 49 parts per million, Home said. Wilson is already clearing the Delia Wilson site by removing ashes in barrels and having them recycled, "legally", to pull out all the usuable coppers and leads, Home said. Later in the week, Wilson also intends to bring in a crane to aid in the removal of the heavy solid metals that are at the site, the health director said. Once the cleanup is completed, Wilson has agreed to let a private lab take multiple samples to deter mine whether PCB's or lead has "leached" into the soil. If the results of those lab test show "leaching" in the soil, then contaminated soil will have to be removed and taken to an approved hazardous waste dump, Home said. The nearest approved area to (See PCB. page I2A) Raeford Moratorium Still Lingers By Sherry Matthews Although construction of a waste water treatment facility at the House of Raeford turkey plant is completed, a state moratorium placed on the city has not yet been lifted. North Carolina officials said this week. "The moratorium will be lifted when the city can demonstrate the waste water treatment system is at an acceptable limit," state Depart ment of Natural Resources and Community Development (NRCD), Regional Environmental Management Engineer Mick Noland said. According to City Manager, Ron Matthews, getting the turkey plant's system to meet "com pliance" standards will be the final act needed to get the ban on in dustry lifted in the city. At this point, the turkey plant is apparently not quite meeting the city's waste ordinance. The turkey plant is still "work ing the bugs out", Matthews said. "They are working diligently to come into compliance," Matthews said. According to Noland, a great deal of progress has been made and improvements shown, but at this point "they are not consistent ly meeting the effluent limits re quired." Many of the city's sewer woes have been pinned on the House of Raeford, who had been running a 10-year battle with the city over its sewer clean-up. In January, city councilmen socked the plant with some $33,000 in fines for not bringing the plant's discharge into com pliance with the city's ordinance. Those fines have not been levied yet, because of the House of Raeford's efforts to meet com pliance standards, Matthews said. The city is still operating under a warning from NRCD because of the plant's violations, but deadlines have been extended again and again so that the House of Raeford can get in "full opera tion." According to Matthews, the House of Raeford has been work ing "diligently" to come into com pliance. "Everyone is working hand and glove to get this moratorium lifted," Matthews said. If Matthews' calculations are correct, the plant's operation could be in full swing and the moratorium lifted within the next two months. "They should be well on their way in the next two to three weeks," Matthews said. According to Matthews, the plant is planning to do some "in house" work on the facility during the July 4 holiday when all employees will be on vaction. If all these things are done as promised, the moratorium should be lifted soon, Matthews said. Higher City Water Rates Mulled B> Sherry Matthews If a budget now under con sideration by the Raeford City Council is approved, city residents will see a "slight" increase in water and sewer bills beginning July 1, City Manager Ron Matthews said. Matthews told members of the city council at Monday night's meeting, that he was requesting an overall 3 . 5 increase for all customers. This increase will mean a jump of approximately 25 cents for the average customer, Matthews said. ~ 1 Waiting in line for cheese and butter! Many Hoke residents stood In line Wednesday and part of Thursday to gel their share of the cheese and butter the Department of Social Services was giving away to those eligible. The 12,816 pounds of butler and 30,000 pounds of cheese, retailing at over S 100,000, were gone in a little over eight hours. The distribution was suppos ed to take place over a three day period, but demand for the products left an empty \ational Guard Armory by 10 a.m. Thursday. Ch er 40 volunteers aided in the distribution of the products including several boys from the Sandhills Youth Center who helped unlitad the products. At present, the minimum water rate is $5.75. That rate will change to $5.96 if the budget is approved. According to Matthews, the average customer's bill now is $9.22 and will only increase by 30 cents beginning in July. For residents and mainly businesses using 15,000 gallons of water per month, the rate will jump from $24.26 to $25.38; an in crease of less than $2. "The average customer's bill will show about a 25 cent a month increase," Matthews said. United Way Exceeds Goal The Hoke County United Way has gone over the top for the 1983 fund raising effort, campaign of ficials said Tuesday. This year's effort exceeded cam paign goal of $23,631 by more than $3,500, Campaign Chairman Ron Matthews and fund President Ken Witherspoon said. Volunteers raised l^07? of the 1983 goal or $27,175, the cam paign officials said. There is also an outside chance that more money will be raised because businesses and individuals have until June 30 to respond to campaign requests, Witherspoon said. The most important aspect of reaching the goal was the signifi cant increase in the number of businesses and individuals con tributing he said. "This year's positive response to the United Fund is an indication of (See UNITED WAY. page 3A) According to Matthews, the city will only generate $20,000 tor the water-sewer fund from this rate in crease. The increase will rise a little each year in order to get the water-sewer fund on a self-sustaining basis, Matthews said. According to Matthews, the small increases each year were favored over one drastic rate hike. A 50 cent increase for residential garbage pick-up will also be shown (See WATER, page 11 A) Inside Today Graduation The I9R3 graduates from all Hoke County schools, as well as recent college commence ment exercises in wiving coun ty residents are covered in Sec tion C of today's newspaper. Hoke County The county has come a long way since 1911. We review the history of the county on page one of Section B in today's News-Journal.
