The News
The Hoke County News - Established 1928
Volume LXXY1 Number 26 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
$10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS
Thursday, October 18, 1984
, County voters increase
by 300 last week
By Ed Miller
About 300 residents registered to
vote last week in Hoke County,
figures released by the county
Board of Elections show.
"What's surprising is that in the
last month, there have been at least
100 people - to register as
Republicans," said Hoke County
) Board of Elections Director Rose
Sturgeon.
Lui week's registration increase
brought the total number of voters
eligible to cast ballots in the
November 6 election to 9,050,
which is up almost 500 since June.
Figures released last week show
that there are now 487 Republicans
registered in the county. In June
there were 387.
Those registered as Democrats
have increased from 8,246 in June
to 8,502.
In recent months, more females
than males have registered. There
are now 4,812 women registered
and 4,238 men registered.
More white voters have signed
up recently than blacks or Indians.
As of this week, there are 4,364
white voters registered, up about
300 since June, 3,831 blacks, up
about 60, and 854 Indians, which
w up 34.
The unaffiliated voters have in
creased from 42 in June to 61.
According to Sturgeon, there are
a number of reasons why the last
week of registration was so suc
cessful.
Some older people have come in
to register who have not been
voting, she said.
There have also been some peo
ple moving into the county who
had to register.
Some of the new voter popula
tion are college students who have
been away from home and came
back to Hoke County, she said.
There was also a push to get peo
ple who just turned 18-years-old to
register, said Sturgeon.
Sturgeon attributes much of the
new voter interest to the media.
"They have put celebrities on
television urging people to register
and telling them it is their duty as
citizens to vote," she said.
Radio has also been a big help,
said the Director.
The Board of Elections is asking
people who cannot be in town on
election day to either applv for an
(See VOTER, page 2A)
The face of the crowd ,
From the varying expressions of the faces of these
fans who attended last Friday's Homecoming game
at Hoke High Stadium it is difficult to tell what is
1 1 . ? 1 ? ? wmtrttt'Jww
happening on the field. We take a look at the game
on page 8 and other of the weekend's activities on
page 10 in today's News- Journal.
City treating more sewage
than water customers buy
By Ed Miller
Over 1 million gallons per day
more of waste is flowing into the
Raeford sewer plant for treatment
than is being sold to water
customers, a recent study of the
system has shown.
City officials expect to treat
about 85% of the 2. 55 million
gallons of water that is sold each
day, but instead, about 3.29
million gallons is being received by
the sewer plant.
City Manager Tom Phillips is
puzzled by the extra effluent and
has been working on the problem
for several months.
Industry standards say that,
under ideal conditions, a city sewer
plant should only be treating about
85% of what is pumped into the
system. .1...""
If that is the case, the local sewer .
plant is treating about 1.5 million
gallons of water per day more than
it should be, Phillips said.
In Raeford, the plant is treating
37% more water than is put into
the system, Phillips said.
These facts in themselves lead
Phillips to believe something to be
wrong with the sewage system in
the city.
The city has already begun to ex
amine some sewage lines in the city
where exterior clues have surfaced,
said Phillips.
Large "sink holes" had begun
forming in spots on the ground
surface above the pipe.
Some of the holes were old
evidenced by moss that had started
growing on their sides.
At the last City Council meeting,
Phillips informed councilmen that
an 18 inch, 800 foot long section of
pipe would have to be closed
because of its condition.
The pipe runs under a brook
that 'empties into Rockfish Creek
and was taking on a tremendous iT
?amount of water from that brook,
Phillips said.
However, water from the brook
was not the only trouble spot in the
line.
There was another pipe, a 24
inch line installed later beside that
pipe, Phillips said, adding that
many problems could have been
caused by that later construction.
The ditch dug to allow the later
pipe to be laid may have weakened
the 18 incher due to the release of
pressure on one side of the pipe.
Bowing in the four foot sections
caused the pipe to break down and
shatter, said Phillips.
Pressure from heavy equipment
could have also caused some
damage to the pipe, he said.
One end of that line has already
been shut off, Phillips said.
The manager had hoped that the
majority of the extra water being
processed at the sewer plant was
coming from that line; however,
there was not as much water eom
ing in as he thought.
There is much more left to do,
he said.
Tax supervisor's slot added to
county's available jobs
By EdMllkr
Members of the Hoke County
Commission unanimously ac
cepted the resignation of Tax
Supervisor Larry Holt Monday
night.
The resignation is to be effective
on October 31, said a letter to
Commission Chairman John
Balfour from Holt.
The short letter gave no reason
other than "the Lord has other
plans for me elsewhere" for his
resignation; however, Balfour said
after the meeting that the resigna
tion was an alternative to Holt's
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The weather for the past week
has been perfect. The days have
had temperatures in the 70s and
80s and the nights have been in the
SOs. So far we haven't had any rain
and I believe that it is becoming
dry once again.
I haven't talked to any farmers
in the past week, but it would seem
that this weather would be right
for cotton. The Oakdale Oin is in
operation and some bales are on
the lot. Trucks have been going to
the Hoke Cotton Warehouse with
bales of cotton. It would seem that
the cotton season is in full swing.
The forecast is for the weather
to continue as it has been for the
next week.
? . ? ?
Every once in awhile someone
will mention to me that a native of
Hoke County has died and that
they didn't see a notice in The
News-Journal. I try to inform the
editor when I see a death of this
kind, but it is hard to know about
all of them.
One death occurred recently in
Sumter, S.C. and I didn't see the
obit in a daily paper and the local
paper didn't receive an obit from
the funeral home. The death was
of Jim Howeil of Sumter who
worked at the Shelley Bronson
Funeral Home there.
Jim was born in Raeford and, I
believe, graduated fit the dass of
(See AROUND, page 2A)
compliance to a ruling saying that
all department heads must live in
the county.
Holt's letter said that he had en
joyed his job in Hoke County.
Holt, 37, now lives in Richmond
County, according to county of
ficials.
In a public meeting before he
was hired, Holt agreed that he
would move to the county when he
accepted the job but, as of last
week, he had not.
Holt had been working for the
county three years in April.
"It's just an unfortunate situa
tion," Holt said Tuesday.
Upon a motion by Commis
sioner Wyatt Upchuch, the
resignation was accepted "with
regrets."
In another matter, the commis
sion voted to replace one of the
"Welcome to Hoke County" signs
that was recently stolen off
Highway 211.
The commission just voted
earlier this year to have the signs
made and erected.
They have been up only about
two months and one of them is
already missing.
The county will have to spend
$175 to have the sign replaced, ac
cording to Balfour.
The commission also heard from
Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) Director William Niven on
matters of uncollected bills.
According to a report made by
Niven and his staff, the service has
$42,357.55 in unpaid bills on their
books.
There is little way to collect these
bills, Niven said.
Some of the patients work at dif
ferent places from time to time and
do not give corrwrt addresses at the
time of transport.
This makes the patients hard to
find when billing time comes, said
Niven.
Patients are usually given 90
days or three billings to pay before
action to collect the fees are taken,
said EMS Secretary Joy McNeill.
If they have received no word
from them at all, attempts are
them made to have wages gar
nisheed or to collect the fees in
some manner, McNeill said.
If the ambulance service were on
the county's computer, there could
be a bill added to the tax bills of
non-payers, said Niven.
Commissioner Upchurch moved
to have Finance Officer Charles
Davis check into the possibility
and economic feasability of hook
ing the EMS into the main line of
the county's computer.
Davis was also instructed to
check into getting a personal com
puter with lines into the county's
storage and memory banks.
Initial estimates by Davis put the
(See AMBULANCE, page 2A)
MlMo by E.W. KHUtr. Ill
Just hanging around
This garden spider, commonly called a "writing spider" was sitting in
the afternoon sun tn its web. Due to the complexity of their webs,
some have often Imagined that they saw a word written in the webs of
these spiders , hence the nickname. The spider in the book Charlotte's
Web could have been a cousin to this fellow. His web Is rather amaz
ing. It was about two feet round and was hanging from the eve of the
Hoke County Annex Building by about three strands of silk. There
were another two or three strands going all the way to the ground
from the bottom of the web.
McCain worker arrested
By Ed Miller
A long-term employee of Mc
Cain Hospital was arrested on
September 28 and charted with
pnmeaaion ot marijuana with in
tent to sdl and deliver, according
to Hoke County Sheriff's reports.
John Henry Love, of Raefocd,
was stopped at the front door of
the prison hospital and searched
upon orders of the Hospital
Superintendent, Nancy C. Lowe
reports say.
Two bags of marijuana, which
were allegedly to be smuggled in
nde the prison hospital to inmates,
were found inside the collar of
(See McCAIN, page 3A)
Goldsboro plant will help
Hoke County job picture
A multi-million dollar turkey
processing plant which is planned
to be constructed in the Goldsboro
area will mean more jobs for Hoke
County residents, a co-owner in
the operation said this week.
The plant, which is being con
structed by Goldsboro Milling
Company, will mean an increase in
local production of turkey chicks
and grown birds, co-owner Wyatt
Upchurch said.
Goldsboro Milling is a partner
ship between Tarheel Turkey Hat
chery, whose home office is in
Raeford, and Carroll's Foods, Inc.
Upchurch is a partner in both
operations.
Although Upchurch said there
will be an increase in Hoke County
employment as a result of the new
Commissioners queried
for 'business' at airport
By Ed Miller
Two members of the Raeford
Hoke Airport Commission were
recently approached and question
ed about their presence on airport
property by jumpers at a
parachuting school operating at
the facility.
Within the last month, Commis
sion Vice-chairman Wayne Byrd
and Commissioner L.E.
McLaughlin were approached, and
asked their business at the public
facility, the members said during a
meeting Thursday.
A jumper approached
McLaughlin and asted him who he
was and what he was doing there,
said the commissioner.
Byrd was making an inspection
of the airport's taxiway when a
jumper walked up and asked:
"What the hell are you doing
here."
In another recent incident, a
visiting pilot landed at the airport
for fuel and, upon entering the ter
minal building where a parachute
ground school was in session, was
told that there was a jump school
going on and that they tid not deal
in gas.
Members of the jump party did
not even direct the pilot to the
hangar housing Furches Aircraft
Service, where Aid could be ob
tained, said the commissioner .
"There aeons to be a feeling that
the jumpers run the place...," said
(See AIRPORT, page 2A)
processing plant, he would not
speculate on the exact number of
new jobs which will be created.
The facility will be built at a site
convenient to both company
operations, said Louis Maxwell,
president of Goldsboro Milling
Company and F.J. Faison Jr.,
President of Carroll's Foods, Inc.
According to Maxwell and
(See TURKEY, page 3A)
Honored
Textile workers in Hoke County
and the nation will be honored
next week. We take a look at the
planned festivities and the In
dustries contribution to the
local economy on page I of Sec -
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