The News-Journal
Established 1928 ~ - - -
Fatal Crash
This truck driven by a New Bern man collided with a
tractor trailer truck Thursday morning on US
Highway 401 near Wayside. The driver was killed.
New Bern man killed on 401
By Ed Miller
Following a three-vehicle crash
) Thursday, the traffic death toll on
US Highway 401 climbed after a
28-year-old New Bern man was
killed near the Wayside Grocery.
The accident occurred in the ear
ly morning hours of Thursday,
when a 1979 Ford pick-up truck,
driven by Richard Darwin Whit
tington, ran head on into a tractor
trailer truck.
) Whittington's was the third traf
fic death in Hoke County this year.
Around Town
By Sam Morris
) The weather for the remainder
of this week could be bad. Accor
ding to the news, Hurricane Diana
is headed for the North Carolina
coast. We hope that it will turn out
to sea and let us have a nice week.
? ? *
Last week I ran a letter from
Kay Thomas about a meeting of
| the Historical Association of Hoke
County to be held last Thursday
night. The meeting was well at
tended and a committee was form
ed to contact UCB about the old
Bank of Raeford building on Main
Street.
On Monday of this week the
following letter was on my desk
when 1 went to the office. I believe
that it is self-explanatory. The let
ter follows:
I
Dear Sam:
Thank you for your concern for
the preservation of the old Bank of
Raeford building. Even though
UCB has sold it and our hopes for
working on it cannot be carried
through, I hope we can maintain
our enthusiasm for historical
preservation in our downtown.
Our group will meet again on
September 20 at the Library to talk
about establishing a historical
district that should be a goal for
the Hoke Historical Association. I
hope you will come and bring some
friends.
Sincerely,
Kay Thomas
? ? *
Another letter came to me from
an old friend. I will share it with
you readers.
Dear Sam:
I read every word of The News
Journat each week.
I am enclosing a letter to the
editor that I hope you can use.
Ottte is a real inspiration to us in
her patient and helpful way.
(See AROUND, page S)
Investigating officers believe
Whittington drifted off of the right
side of the road, apparently tried
to jerk his vehicle back in the
highway, but may have pulled too
hard and swerved into the left lane
and into the path of the on-coming
vehicle.
The two vehicles collided head
on, State Highway Patrolman
Inliw H -1J ^ ,
JOntl viiNCWCU S8K1. 4V
Whittington was killed in the
6:40 a.m. after his pick-up was
demolished by the impact.
The truck that struck Whit
tington was knocked left of the
center of the road only and hit
another car in the side, Glidewetl
said.
Donald Bruce Neeley, driver of
the truck, was transported to Cape
Fear Valley Medical Center and
was reported in satisfactory condi
tion Friday afternoon.
Neeley- is 59 years old. ?
Gregory Terrance Whitted, 23,
was the driver of the third vehicle,
Glidewell said, adding that he was
not injured in the crash.
New retail space
An offer to purchase the historic Bank of Raeford
Building was accepted by United Carolina Bank Fri
day. Purchaser Bobby Carter, the owner of Hoke
Realty, said the ground floor of the structure would
be used for retail space.
Bid accepted for bank building
By Ed Miller
A contract for the purchase of
the 73-year-old Bank of Raeford
Building was accepted Friday
morning, a spokesman for United
Carolina Bank (UCB) said.
Hoke Realty owner Bobby
Carter's offer for the building was
accepted Friday, UCB Raeford
Manager Robert Conoly said Mon
day.
The purchase price was not
disclosed.
The decision to sell the building
was made last week by UCB of
ficials in Whiteville, Conoly said.
In a Thursday night meeting of
the Hoke County Historic Society,
Carter said he planned a "retail
operation" for the building.
Other than that, Carter would
give no details on the business.
Although local UCB officers
were aware of the Historic Society
attempts to find a civic use for the
building, officials in the Whiteville
office were not, and the sale was
completed, Conoly said.
Since his purchase of the
building, Carter has offered the se
cond and third floors of the old
Bank of Raeford to the society, the
real estate broker said.
The building has been vacant
since the spring of this year when
UCB consolidated a branch office.
Efforts were made by the bank
to give the structure to the county
for use as a college, but an ar
chitectural opinion which noted
that repairs would exceed S 200, 000
made the deal impractical.
About 15 Society member*,
downtown merchants and in
terested residents attended the
meeting Thursday, and a decision
was reached to ask UCB to slow
plans to sell the building until fur
ther civic uses could be explored.
At the meeting Carter said he
was wilting to delay his plans until
the Society had time to determine
the feasibility of the community
project.
However, by 10 a.m. Friday,
Carter had received word that his
contract was accepted.
Mayor's office
The second floor of the building
one* housed the offices of former
Raeford Mayor C.B. Rowland .
We tmke a look at the history of the
Bank of Raeford bulleling on page
II In today's News- Journal
City OK's Chamber plan
By Ed Milter
Members of the Raeford-Hoke
Chamber of Commerce gained
City Council approval Monday of
a concept pooling their resources
with local governing bodies for in
dustrial development.
Last week, members of the
Hoke County Commission ten
tatively approved the plan.
Chamber spokesman Bobby
Conoly said the organization
hoped to gain final approval from
both bodies and to begin searching
for an industrial recruiter.
"If we feel like it (the plan) can
work between the three of us, we
can get down to brass tacks and
start looking around," Conoly
said about working with the city
and county.
"I like it, and 1 think it's the
only way to go," Councilman
Vardell Hedgpeth said.
"If we all go out separately, I
believe we will fail," he added.
With the needed approvals, the
Chamber of Commerce is now free
to go about establishing an In
dustrial Development Commission
that will combine funds from all
three bodies to get industry into
Hoke County.
Two members each on the new
commission will be appointed by
the county, city and Chamber, ac
cording to the proposal.
Funding for the hiring of an in
dustrial developer will come from
the combined efforts of the county
and city, while the Chamber will
hire an executive secretary who will
act as an assistant to the developer
and Chamber Director.
In the proposal, the Chamber of
Commerce will provide both the
developer and the secretary with
offices. The city and county will
jointly provide maintenance and
-.utilities.
Meter approved
In other action, the council ap
proved the recommendation of
City Manager Tom Phillips to
allow Faberge to meter plant
sewage.
Formerly, Faberge, as well as all
the other industries in the city,
have been charged for sewage by
the amount of water used.
Studies by the cosmetics com
pany show they can save about
$4,000 per year if they do not have
to pay for water that is purchased,
but not returned to the sewer
system, Phillips said.
The City Manager also said that
studies made by the city reveal that
Faberge will not save that much
with the metering.
The City Council voted to allow
Faberge to go ahead with installing
the meter because the firm is pay
ing the costs.
The monitoring will be for a one
year trial period, and if the city is
losing too much money, a more
amiable plan will have to be work
ed out, Phillips said.
Last year the council refused to
allow the Hoke Block plant to
meter sewage discharges after a
similar appeal was made by then
owner Clyde Upchurch.
Rezoning OK'd
Following a public hearing the
council agreed to rezone a section
of the city from commercial to
residential.
The section, which lies between
West Donaldson Street and Pro
spect Avenue, should have never
been zoned commercial, said City
Engineer Bill Sellars.
Apparently, the section was
originally zoned commercial, but
then developed into a residential
district, said Phillips.
Robert M. Beaudoin, Gladys B.
Rogers and Lucille Sessoms,
owners of the property in question,
were on hand at the meeting to see
the council approve their petition
for rezoning.
The action was recommended by
Vardell Htdgpeth
...likes the plan
the Raeford Planning Board,
Sellars said.
There were no opponents of the
action present for the public hear
ing.
Sweeper bought
On another matter the council
members agreed to accept a bid
from a Wingate firm for the pur
chase of a new street sweeper.
Twin States Equipment Com
pany had sent a bid of $58,858 for
the sweeper.
The City Council had budgeted
$70,000 for the purchase.
According to Phillips, the city is
getting a good deal on the sweeper
because they will be allowed to
puchase a "demonstrator model"
that has 2,000 miles on the truck
chassis and only 30 hours on the
sweeper.
This sweeper will be guaranteed
just like a new one, and the city
will get the sweeper in about one
third of the time it would take to
get a new one, Phillips said.
(See COUNCIL, page 8)
Escrow being sought
for 401 apron funds
Local officials arc attempting to
have the State Department of
Transportation (DOT) set aside
$187,000 earmarked for apron im
provements on U.S. Highway 401
this year in order to save the funds
for a future four-laning of the
road.
DOT Board member Martha C.
Hollers is checking into the
possibility of saving the money
which is supposed to fund the pav
ing of a two-foot apron strip along
the side of the highway. The
money would be placed in escrow,
until additional funds could be
raised to pay for a major widening.
If those funds can be saved,
state Rep. Daniel H. DeVane will
attempt to garner other state
money to match federal dollars
and pave a portion of the highway.
"Right now we just want to get
enough to pave one mile," DeVane
said.
The one-mile improvements
could give motorists a stretch to
pass and might help make the
highway safer, the state represen
tative said.
DeVane and Hollers met with
local officials and others Friday in
Raeford to map out a plan for
widening the highway between the
city limits and the Cumberland
County line.
An effort will also be made to
get the highway improvements
back on the DOT 10-year Improve
ment Plan. The road has been on
the list before and was scheduled
for funding in 1972.
Being on the 10-year plan is
essential to receiving funds from
the DOT, DeVane said.
Paving one mile of highway will
cost about $1 million. Hollers said,
noting that state funds for projects
like U.S. 401 have been tight and
construction has been funded on a
priority basis.
If the apron funds can be set
aside, local officials will attempt to
line up the needed rights-of-way
for a stretch of the highway to be
widened, and DeVane will try to
get the remainder of the necessary
state money.
Local supporters of the widened
highway believe thcimprovements
would save lives and would pro
vide a transportation link between
Hoke County and Fayetteville
which is vital to future growth.
Hollers is expected to meet with
other DOT board members on Fri
day.
The need to improve Highway
401 will be brought to the board's
attention, she said.
3-year sentence given
for June DWI death
By Ed Miller
A Red Springs man, who was
convicted last week in District
Court of Driving While Impaired
(DWI) and causing the death of
another man, was sentenced to
three years in jail.
Grady Vaughn Locklear, 29,
was charged vehicular homicide on
June 2 after the car he was driving
left the road and crashed in the
Antioch Community.
A passenger in the car, James
Sherman Knight, 34, was killed,
records show.
For the DWI charge, Locklear
was given one year, and he got two
years on the death by vehicle
charge, according to records.
A Raeford woman is now on
probation for 28 counts of
unauthorized use of a telephone.
Claire Jones Bell was in court
last Friday to defend hersdf
against the charges.
After pleading guilty on all
counts, District Court Judge War
ren Pate sentenced the woman to
six months in jail, but suspended
(See MAN, page 9)