The Hoke County News - Established 1928
The News-Journal
Established 1928 "
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
Volume LXXV Number 21 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS Thursday, September 15, 198:
Ambulance Business Immerses Commission
Service Level
Is Maintained
By Warren Johnston
Noting that Hoke County needs
to stay in step with the future,
members of the county Commis
sion voted unanimously Monday
night to maintain the new publical
ly operated ambulance service at
its present level of expertise.
Commission members had con
sidered dropping the service, which
will be taken over by the county
prior to January 1, back to a basic
Emergency Medical Technician
(EMT) level, but rejected the idea
following recommendations from
local doctors and others.
"I believe we have to concen
trate on bettering our
community," Commissioner
Wyatt Upchurch said, noting that
it would be a move backwards to
drop the current EMT
Intermediate level of training.
Following a sometimes heated
public question-and-answer ses
sion Monday, the commission
voted to approve the EMT-1 ser
vice, but decided to reduce the
number of working ambulance
crews.
Under the present contract with
private owner Jim Henley, Hoke
Ambulance Service must maintain
(See SERVICE, page 2A)
Turkey
By Sherry Matthews
Final enforcement teeth were ap
proved Monday night and added
to Raeford's sewer use ordinance
during the regular monthly City
Council meeting.
The new regulations will allow
city officials to collect surcharges
from any industry that is discharg
ing into the municipal sewer
system, and that is not meeting
state clean water standards.
Surcharges will be levied on in
dustries which are not meeting the
new standards as of October 1 , ac
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The hot weather is still with us
and records are being broken
across the nation and the state. It
was 100 degrees in Fayetteville
Sunday and it was very near that
figure Monday. I was at the UNC
Memphis State football game in
Chapel Hill Saturday and it was
only 97 degrees there. Isn't this
fine football weather?
The figures for Hoke County
kept by Robert Gatlin appear
elsewhere in the paper. Be sure to
read them because you will be
amazed at how hot it has been this
summer.
The forecast is for rain Tuesday
night and for the temperatures to
be in the 80's for the remainder of
the week.
The 1st Annual Raeford
Woman's Club Golf Tournament
will be held at the Arabia Golf
Course Saturday and Sunday,
September 24 and 25. The format
will be individual scores and will be
flighted after Saturday's round.
The entry fee is $30 for both days'
play including golf cart.
Trophies will be awarded for 3
places in each flight. Other prizes
will also be given.
If you wish to play, send check
to Raeford Woman's Club P.O.
Box 582, Raeford, N.C. 28376 or
contact Mrs. Mary Cameron or
Frank Baker.
? * *
A call came last week from Bud
Wilson, who has recently moved to
Hoke County from Brownsville,
Texas. Mr. Wilson said that he was
a veteran and was somewhat disap
pointed that the only flag flying at
(See AROUND, page 2A)
!
Intent listeners
Hoke County Commissioners listen intently to statistical information presented to them by lloke County Am
bulance Service Emergency Medical Technician Lee Sudia. Sudia and other ambulance service personnel, rescue
squad members and physicians were on hand at Monday night 's special commission meeting to discuss the quali
ty and type of ambulance service the county will run when they rake over the business.
Immediate Takeover Considered
By Sherry Matthews
Hoke County Commissioners
may have to take over the am
bulance service business sooner
than expected if the present con
tractor does not pay his insurance
bills, County Manager James Mar
tin told board members Tuesday.
The commissioners were back in
session for a specially called
meeting Tuesday to discuss the
possibility of taking over the am
bulance service before January 1 as
originally planned.
During an executive session at
Monday night's specially called
meeting, ambulance service
operator Jim Henley asked the
commissioners to increase his sub
sidy by another $3,690.
Henley, who recently filed a re
organizational bankruptcy on
behalf of the service, apparently
told the board he needed that
money to cover the cost of his vehi
cle insurance.
Presently, the collision in
surance on Henley's ambulances
has run out and his liability in
surance is expected to be ter
minated September 15 if he does
not provide the needed funds.
At Tuesday's meeting, the com
missioners declined to fork over
any more funds to Henley and the
ambulance service.
"If we keep dumping money in
to his service, we will continue to
do so until January," Commis
sioner James A. Hunt said.
"If we give him more money, we
just won't know when we will be
faced with this problem again. It
could be next week, it could be
next month," Commissioner
Wyatt Upchurch said.
If Henley does not come up with
the insurance money, the banks
might repossess his ambulances,
Commission Chairman John
Balfour said.
The repossession would con
stitute a breech of contract, and
the county would then have to take
over the ambulance service,
Balfour said.
"We may be forced into the am
bulance service within the next
three or four days," Hunt said.
If the county is forced to go into
"quick service", members of the
Hoke Rescue Squad have offered
to help as "much as possible."
The rescue squad has already
agreed to turn the county-owned
ambulance back over to the com
missioners and has offered
assistance in an emergency situa
tion, "if we are needed."
"We will not leave you strand
(See TAKEOVER, page 2A)
Plant's 'Final'
Deadline Set By Law
cording to City Manager Ron Mat
thews.
As of this week. The House of
Raeford was the only industry still
not meeting the city's sewer stan
dards, Matthews said.
The firm had promised to fur
nish the city with a time-table in
dicating when revisions would be
completed to the plant's pretreat
ment system.
As of Monday night the time
table had not been delivered to the
city.
Under the ordinance, which was
amended by councilmen in
r
August, any industry not meeting
the city's sewer standards will now
have to pay $47 per 1,000 pounds
in excess Biochemical Oxygen De
mand (BOD) charges, $18 per
1,000 pounds in Chemical Oxygen
Demand (COD) charges, $37 per
1,000 pounds in excess Total
Suspended Solid (TSS) charges,
and $12.90 per 1,000 pounds of
Total Kjeldhal Nitrogen (TKN).
According to Matthews, the
higher of the BOD or COD charges
will be assessed against the in
dustry along with additional
charges for excess TSS or TKN.
Flying in memory
The U.S. flag in front of the Raeford Post Office flew at half mast last
neek in memory of the 269 passengers and crew that were killed when a
Russian jet shot down a commercial airliner on its way to Seoul, Korea.
The lowered flag represented Hoke County's only public tribute.
Councilmen were split in their
decision over the amount of excess
BOD charges, to be levied.
"For over 15 years, the city has
been charging S30 per l.lXX)
pounds for excess BOD, but the
$47 is what it is actually costing the
city to handle the excess waste,"
Matthews said.
"I think we should start collec
ting the S30 before we try and col
lect more," Councilman Joe Up
church said.
"We should not place an addi
tional cost on them (the House of
Raeford) when they are trying to
come into compliance," Coun
cilman Bob Gentry said.
The House of Raeford has
repeatedly promised to get its
system into compliance, but has
apparently failed to do so.
At the August council meeting,
turkey plant engineer Jerry
Donaldson told Matthews and
councilmen that the new pre
treatment unit would "soon" be
ready to meet the city's discharge
standards.
Donaldson also said he would
forward a letter indicating when
the plant would be in compliance.
Matthews said Monday night that
he had received no "cor
respondence" from Donaldson or
any other turkey plant officials.
"We have made several calls to
Donaldson and the plant, but no
one has replied," Matthews said.
"We should not charge them
anymore when they are doing all
they can do," Gentry said.
"We have given them about five
years to get this thing worked out,
and they still aren't in
compliance," Councilman Vardell
Hedgpeth said.
(See PLANT, page 13A)
PCB, Lead Laced Soil Destined
For South Carolina Landfill
By Sherr> Matthews
Contaminated soil, which has
been ordered removed from a por
tion of three dump sites in the
Ashley Heights area, will ap
parently be carried to a South
Carolina hazardous ssaste landfill,
a state health officials said Tues
day.
Recent lab test conducted by the
North Carolina Department of
Human Resources (NC'DHR) Solid
and Hazardous Waste Branch in
dicated that the sites, which were
used as dumping grounds for old
batteries and transformers, were
"very, very low" in lead con
tamination, NCDHR eastern area
supervisor Terry Dover said Tues
day.
According to Dover, slate of
ficials tested four "hot spots" on
the site, used by Cioldsboro
businessman Woody Wilson, and
took three different level samples.
"There was some lead con
tamination in the soil, but the good
news is that it is limited to the up
per six inches," Dover said.
"Those concentrations were
way, way below the hazardous
waste limit," Dover added.
At this point, Wilson will have
to clean the sites and remove the
top six inches of soil, according to
Dover.
"As of Monday, he (Wilson) has
indicated to us that he will
cooperate wiih our decision,"
Dover said.
The state has given Wilson 60
days to get the sites cleaned up.
"That is a general date. It really
depends on a lot of factors,"
Dover said.
"It depends on the degree of dif
Still, Weeds Busted
B> Sherr> Matthews
A Hoke County man was ar
rested Monday after officers un
covered a patch of marijuana and
a liquor still in the vicinity of his
home, sheriff's records show.
Elmore Campbell, 60, of Rt. 3,
Raeford was arrested around 3
p.m. Monday by Hoke County
Sheriff's Detective C.E. Harris
and ABC officer Jim Madden.
According to the report, Harris
and Madden were "working the
woods" off the l.atfe Elizabeth
Road just west of Raeford when
they spotted a patch of mariiuana.
The two officers followed the
path from the marijuana patch to
the home of Campbell, who was
apparently cleaning a object for a
liquor still.
The report also indicates that the
officers found a 55 gallon ?'drum
type" liquor still on a separate
path leading from Campbell's
home back into the woods.
The still was destroyed on the
scene, the sheriff's report shows.
Ten stalks of marijuana, ap
proximately six feet tall, were con
fiscated and Campbell was ar
rested.
According to the records,
Campbell was charged with the
felonious manufacturing of mari
juana, possession of a non-tax
paid liquor, and possession of
equipment used for the purpose of
manufacturing a non-tax paid li
quor.
Campbell was in the Hoke
County Jail Tuesday under a
S3, 000 secured bond.
ficulty in removing the soil and
what expense this will entail,"
Dover added
"We are really only interested in
getting the site cleaned up. That is
all we want," he added.
Dover also indicated that W ilson
would have to move the soil to a
hazardous waste dumping site and
ruled out the possibility of using an
incinerator to get rid of the con
taminated debris.
"l.and disposal is the cheapest
method, and the only altenative in
this case," Dover said.
Once the sites are cleaned to the
state's satisfaction, we will pro
bably be through, Dover said,
noting that he would not rule out
the possibility of levying fines
against Wilson.
"If he cleans the site up com
(See SOIL, page 2A)
Inside Today
Old records and court files
that probably date back to the
formation of Hoke County lie
in the damp concrete
" dungeon " beneath the Hoke
Courthouse. We take a look at
the dungeon and the fading
conditions of the county 's
oldest public building in this
week *j R-seaion o/The News
Journal.