Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Jan. 31, 1985, edition 1 / Page 1
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The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The News-Journal Established 1928 - - Volnme LXXVI Number 41 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 Thursday, January 31, 1985 Most go free for 1984 county break-ins By Ed Miller If you are a victim of a Hoke County break-in, the odds are good the perpetrator will never be apprehended, according to an an nual report released last week by Sheriff Dave Barrington. Over 77 ?7t of all break -ins reported last year remain in the un solved files of the Hoke County Sheriff's Department, the report says. Out of the 430 break-ins reported last year, 335 are unsolv ed and 95 were solved, according to the report. There were almost 1.2 break-ins per day recorded in the county. The City of Raeford is not includ ed in those statistics. In their efforts to control crime in Hoke County deputy sheriffs traveled a total of over 310,864 miles, the report says. For their miles of travel and the time spent in patroling, there was still $320,609 worth of personal property stolen from Hoke coun tians last year, reports from the Sheriffs Department show. Of that dollar amount, 47.2?7o was recovered, Barrington's reports shows. Over $151,642 in property was recovered; however, that number includes vehicles that were stolen from other places and just recovered in Hoke County. The actual percentage of the amount recovered versus the amount stolen from the county could be lower than 47c7o. Total loss Larry Ray lost about $ 80,000 in machinery and engine parts when his West Hoke shop burned last Thursday afternoon. North Raeford and West Hoke fire departments responded to the blaze apparently caused by a gas heater that caught some surrounding material on fire. (Phi no by nam t rrderick y witnesses said. According to Ray, much of the machinery was bought in the last year or so. "/ had 15 years ' savings in that shop, ' ' Ray said. To add to his personal loss, there were also motors belonging to some friends in the shop, Ray said. Also for their quarter million plus miles traveled, deputy sheriffs served 6,584 warrants and sum mons for court, the reports says. There were 4,491 criminal papers served and 2,093 civil papers distributed, shows the report. Other numbers on the report in clude 1,097 arrests made in the county last year and 642 investiga tions opened. The department also destroyed over 1,556 ounces of marijuana, 12 cases of beer and a pint of rum, ac cording to the report. There were only two homicides and one suicide reported in the county during 1984. Members of the Sheriff's Department also spent a total of 1,445 hours in court, the report shows. School revamp being studied By Ed Miller A possible reorganization and redisricting of the Hoke County School System is being considered by members of the Board of Education. Although no official action was taken during a specially called meeting Tuesday, proposals were made by Superintendent Dr. Robert Nelson to have maps drawn to study redistricting plans. Also under consideration is a plan to reorganize the present system from a junior high structure to a middle school arrange ment. According to Nelson, overcrowding in some schools in the county is forcing the redistricting issue. J.W. McLauchlin Elementary and Scurlock Elementary schools are presently too crowded, said Nelson. "For the 1985-86 school year, we must make a desision by July 1," said Nelson. Exactly how to redistribute children among the county's schools was not decided, but there is room for more students at South Hoke and West Hoke schools, Nelson said. Deciding what children are to be moved from where is the ques tion, Nelson said. According to the superintendent, South Hoke School is already close to being a ir. ..'unity school. Board members will not be able to take children from the borders of school districts nearest South Hoke because of the racial im balance such a move will create at the school, Nelson said. In other discussion, Nelson voiced his preference to a middle school organization over the present junior high school arrange ment. If Hoke County were to go to such an organization, grades K-5 would be placed in elementary schools, grades 6-8 would be in a middle school facility and grades 9-12 would be the high school level, Nelson said. Presently, there are four K-4 facilities in the county. J.W. Turl ington School houses 5-6, Upchurch Jr. High holds 7-8 and Hoke (See SCHOOL, page 11) Literacy group teaching readers despite meager budget By Ed Miller About 20 Hoke County residents each week are learning to read, although the bare bones budget of the local Literacy Coun cil is barely able to meet the salaries of the two staff members, the director of the program said last week. Despite the financial woes, Director Barbara Buie said she is "feeling good about literacy." "We're not down. We feel very, very good; better than we've felt in a long time," said Hoke Literacy Council Director Barbara Buie. About one out of every three residents over age 25 in Hoke County is illiterate or functionally illiterate, said Buie, adding that over 50Vo of the adults in Hoke County over the age of 25 have no high school diplomas. This year, the Literacy Council will operate on $22,743. That figure includes money from donations, the United Way, local churches,, legislative pork barrel funds, the Hoke County Commission and the Raeford City Council. There is another S1,000 under consideration by the City Council, Buie said. Only last week, the Hoke Coun ty Commissioners gave the council $5,000, and the money came none too soon, Buie said. The money has been needed since last July, Buie said. This year, there is a new ap proach being taken by Buie and members of the Literacy Council's Board of Directors. Chore work reducing shut-in costs By Ed Miller Chore services, provided by the Hoke County Department of Social Services (DSS), have kept many older residents out of rest homes, DSS Director Ken Wither spoon said. Chore services arc provided by workers who go into the homes of aged and disabled persons, clean and grocery shop. There are currently over 60 residents in the program from Hoke County, program co ordinator Carolyn McKoy told members of the DSS Advisory Board Monday. According to Witherspoon, the program has grown literally 10-fold since he became the DSS Director. The state and federally funded program classifies people eligible for the services into one of three categories according to how much, or little they are able to provide for themselves. Three categories are for waiting H?t purposes; however, there are no waiting lists, in Hoke County, McKoy said. Persons must meet certain eligibility requirements to get into the program, ^bid McKoy. Although the program costs the taxpayers, the services are less ex pensive than putting people in rest homes, said McKoy. Most ofche persons being served now by the program would be state supported if they were in rest homes, McKoy added. In other information given to DSS Board members, the Hoke County DSS is the only one in this region that has not had to pay a penalty for late processing of Aid to Families with Dependant Children (AFDC) applications. There are 17 counties in the region, Withcrspoon said. According to the director, there is one cast pending at the state level which ^nay result in a penalty. "There is a question of rule in terpretation in the minds of the state people," said Wit her spoon. According to the director, the application was processed on the last day before a penalty could be levied, but there was a question about a doctor bill that arrived after the processing. The late bill made the state ques tion the amount of Medicaid deductable allowed for previous bills, he said. Advisory Board members also learned that a large number of checks will be mailed in early February for low income energy assistance. The 1,062 checks will help about 3,430 children who reside in the households receiving money, Witherspoon said. The checks are for variable amounts, said the director. Some families will get checks for as little as S63 and others will receive amounts up to S349, said Witherspoon. The amount of the check is dependant on what kind of fuel is used to heat the home, he said. (See CHORE, page 11) "Last year was a bad year for us financially," Buie said. "The board stretched and cut where they could," she said. There was such a shortage of money and materials last year that paper clips were hard to come by and old tickets, printed for literacy's annual fish fry, had to be used as index cards. "We feel that we have not wasted any money," said Buie. This year, the Literacy Board and Buie have taken a "do not worry about money" stance, said the director. "We don't believe in padded budgets. When we say we need money, we need it," she said. Buie is the only full time staff member. There is also a part-timer working for the council, she said. All of the tutors are volunteers, said Buie. According to the director, there is no time to worry much about next year either. There is too much work to be Gets on everything Sot even winter dead plants can escape the chill of a blowing snow. As temperatures dipped into the upper 20's Monday night, precipitation turned to snow and most of the area was given a light coating of the white stuff. done with a recruiting drive in the making. At the recent Hoke County Commission meeting. Commis sioner Wyatt Upchurch said money will be budgeted for next year according to priorities. "If the commissioners do that, literacy will be funded," Buie said! In the near future, the Literacy Council will start a recruiting drive to get more students, said the director. (See LITERACY, page 11) Around Town By Sam Morris Winter weather is still with us and according to the forecast it will be around for some time to come. We have been lucky in the past two weeks to not have our roads frozen like in other parts of the state. The schools haven't lost any days and this means getting out of school before the hot weather sets in on us in June. Bill Southern, of the Depart ment of Transportation, was tell ing me Sunday that there were just spots of ice on our roads in Hoke County during the minus 3? temperature recently. He said that they had crews standing by for 24 hours just in case things got worse. The plumbers were busy, along with the fire departments of the county, but so far everyone has survived in Hoke County. Yes, it could have been very bad. * * * The item about the deer atop the (See AROUND, page 11)
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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