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The Hoke County News - Established 1928
Volute LXXV1 Number 48
RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
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The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
$10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS Thursday, March 21, 1985
School board
heading out
to California
By Ed Miller
On March 29, the National
School Boards Association will be
holding its annual conference in
Anaheim, California, and three
members of Hoke County's Board
of Education will be there.
Hoke County Board of Educa
tion Chairman Bill Cameron and
board members Bobby Wright and
Walter Coley will attend the con
ference.
Hoke School Superintendent
Dr. Robert Nelson will also be at
tending the meeting.
Registration for the conference
for all four men amounted to
SI ,050, according to Hoke Schools
Business Manager Don Steed.
Plane fares and motel accom
modations are $3,007, Steed said.
It costs the taxpayers of Hoke
County $4,037 for the represen
tatives to go to the conference.
According to Wright, board
members only attend one "out of
state" function per year relating to
the school board.
Trips like this year's to Califor
nia and last year's to Las Vegas,
Nevada, save the school system far
more money than it would ever
cost to send board members and
administrators, said Wright.
While at the conference, Nelson
and board members will attend a
number of meetings including
seminars on school law, educa
tional assemblies and board self
evaluation clinics.
The entire conference will be
entertained by Danny Thomas and
Crystal Gayle on Saturday and
Sunday nights.
Included in the conference agen
da are programs for the spouses of
bo?Yd* members and ad
ministrators.
The conference will be over on
Tuesday, April 2.
The regularly scheduled Board
of Education meeting, originally
set for that night, has been
postponed until April 4, at 7:30
p.m.
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The weather has been cooler for
the past few days and the forecast
is for freezing weather Monday
night. I hope that it doesn't get low
enough to kill the peach crop.
Peaches, according to an expert,
can stand temperatures down to 27
degrees. Maybe it won't get that
low in Hoke County.
We can expect a few cool days
and cold nights until after Easter,
which is April 7 this year.
The rainfall for the month of
March is very low and this is the
reason for all the forest fires in the
county and state.
? ? ?
The Raeford Junior Woman's
Club is sponsoring beach bingo
every Saturday night beginning at
7:30 o'clock at the Civic Center.
Now beach bingo is so that you can
win a prize of only $10 per game.
There were larger prizes in past
years, but the legislature passed a
law prohibiting larger amounts in
North Carolina.
The crowds have been small so
far this year and the ladies want
more people to come out and enjoy
the games and fellowship. They
have several projects in mind to
use the money made from bingo
and they include planting trees on
Main Street and giving a donation
to the restoration of the old depot.
These are worthy projects, so if
you enjoy bingo go out Saturday
night and wh) a few bucks.
? ? ?
The Hoke County Agricultural
Extension Service, in cooperation
with other agencies, is sponsoring
? Family Fun Frolic on Saturday,
March 30 at Gibson Gym, Hoke
County High School.
There will be exhibits by Hoke
County Schools, 4-H Clubs,
Agricultural Extension Service,
Health Dept., Mental Heakh,
Ministerial Association, Recrea
(See AROUND, page HA)
Just after the crash
Members of the Ft. Bragg Fire Department examine the accident,
the rfmalns of a crashed helicopter four hours after
PtoM fry E.W. MMh. Ill
The next day
A full Investigation has been mounted into why a
UH-60A Army Blackhawk helicopter crashed last
Wednesday in the western part of Hoke County In
the Ft. Bragg military reservation. The cause of the
crash had not been determined as of Tuesday morn
ing. Pictured, another Army helicopter takes off to
shoot some aerial photos of the crash site. The
crash killed 12 soldiers.
Hoke Airport gas consumption
under scrutiny by commission
By Ed Miller
A survey will be taken to deter
mine if fuel is needed by pilots
visiting the airport before 1 1 a.m.,
according to a motion passed by
the Raeford-Hoke Airport Com
mission Thursday.
If there is a need, A. J. Furches,
who leases a hangar from the Air
port Commission, will have to pro
vide personnel to pump the fuel or
his lease may be in danger.
According to Furches, who was
present at the meeting, 90ft of the
fuel pumped at the airport is
bought after 4 p.m.
The rest is purchased after 12
p.m., he said.
Furches was requested to appear
before the Airport Commission in
reference to a clause in his present
lease saying that he would provide
fuel "during normal operating
hours."
Since he works late into even- '
ings, Furches usually does not
come into work until after 10 a.m.,
he said.
"It just wouldn't be feasible for
me to hire somebody and to pay
them out of my pocket if they are
not going to pump any gas," Fur
ches said.
"When we get the results from
the survey, and if the need war
rants, we should have somebody
out there," Commissioner L.E.
McLaughlin said.
"If it is not feasible, then I say
no," he said.
"When there is a demand, we
should supply (gas)," Commis
sioner Wayne Byrd said.
Two ways of polling pilots buy
ing fuel at the airport was
discussed at the meeting.
According to Byrd, pilots
already fill -out forms telling the
amount of gas, the amount to be
paid and whether they needed oil
and how much.
"It would not b? any problem to
i
get them to put the time of the pur
chase down there either," he said.
Commissioner McLaughlin
volunteered to make up a tear
sheet to be posted at the airport for
the poll.
The sheets may be filled out by
those pilots who regularly buy fuel
at the facility but will not buy any
during the polling period, said
McLaughlin.
McLaughlin also said that most
small airports in this area do not
start pumping fuel before 11 a.m.
As a result of a motion passed in
the meeting, action to force Fur
ches to pump fuel in the morning
hours was tabled until after the
surveys are back.
In other action taken at the
meeting, Commissioner Byrd was
placed in charge of "doing what is
required" to get the taxi way at the
airport in usable shape.
(See REPAIRS, page 11 A)
Hoke writing scores
2nd highest in area
. By Ed Miller
Hoke County sixth graders
achieved the second highest scores
in the region on statewide writing
tests, recent results show.
About 3.7V# of the local sixth
graders, or IS students, scored 3.3
on a four point scale.
That percentage is higher than
any other school in the region, ex
cept for the same aged children in
Moore County Schools, according
to a report from the Division of
Research of the North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction.
Although only JVt of the
students taking the test in Hoke
scored a perfect four on the test,
Director of Instruction for the
Hoke County Schools Marilyn
Semones is pleased with the results
of this year's test as compared'with
last year's.
"Hoke County was near the bot
tom of the region last year,"
Semones said.
Even though many more
students than last year scored well
on the test, still, 86.4% of the
students in Hoke's sixth grade
scored at or below the mid-point of
the scale, according to the report.
The reports shows that 402
students took the test at grade level
six.
Students in the ninth grade
around the county also took a
form of the same test.
Of the 384 students who took
the test, 3.9% scored the max
imum 4.
About 5.2% scored at the 3.5
level and 20.6% of the students
placed at the 3 mark.
With 12.2% of the ninth graders
placing at the middle mark of 2.5,
58.1% of this county's ninth
graders still write below average on
the scale, the report shows.
In the region, five school
systems had a greater percentage
of ninth graders score at the top of
the scale than Hoke County. They
(See SIXTH, page 3 A)
Nursing home seeking
final state approval
By Ed Miller
A final state decision on the cer
tificate of need which will allow
Britthaven Nursing Home to build
a facility in Hoke County is ex
pected on March 30, a spokesper
son for the company said Tuesday.
Before construction can begin,
the certificate will have to stay at
the state level for another 30 days
- to givt-time for appeals after it has
been approved by Division of
Facility Services of the Department
of Human Resources, Britthaven
Planning and Development
Specialist Kathy Matthews said.
"Our assumption is that there
will be no appeals in Hoke
County," said Matthews.
There will be another wait of
about 30-60 days before people
from Britthaven actually come to
Raeford to start looking over sites
for the construction of the only
nursing home in the county, she
said.
Earlier Matthews said that Britt
haven hoped to have the certificate
of need back from the state by the
end of January.
"Apparently, (the state) had so
many applications that they have
had to spend more time than ex
pected," said Matthews.
The certificate was approved by
the Cardinal Health Board in mid
December.
Getting Britthaven approved as
the company to build the facility
was a battle won through the joint
efforts of Hoke County and
Raeford governmental officials.
Cardinal Health Agency, cover
ing a 15 county area in North
Carolina, gave a staff recommen
dation endorsing an Autumn Care
Corporation.
After a week-long battle during
which representatives of Hoke
County officials appeared at
numerous hearings, the Board of
Directors for Cardinal overturned
that recommendation in favor of
Britthaven.
The key to overturning the
staff's recommendation was the
public support put behind Britt
haven, Raeford City Manager
Tom Phillips has said.
According to a proposal from
the company, Britthaven is plan
ning to build a 100-bed facility that
will include 38 resthome beds and
some nursing home beds.
Britthaven has done much to
build public support for their com
pany.
Last year, members of the Hoke
County Commission were taken on
a tour of a Britthaven facility in
Raleigh.
When the site for construction is
finally chosen, the company is
allowed a year for construction.
However, it may only take from
eight to ten months to build the
facility, Matthews has said.
Community service labor
help ready depot rehab
Community service workers are
serving their time readying the old
Aberdeen Rockfish Depot for the
upcoming restoration effort.
Workers are scraping paint from
windows and removing debris
from the building prior to the
beginning of remodeling, Raeford
Hoke Chamber of Commerce Ex
ecutive Secretary Beverly Paster
nak said.
Planned for the depot, which is
now little more than a shell inside
are offices for the Chamber and
the economic developer, along
with a conference room-public
meeting room.
The Chamber-sponsored
Restoration Committee is attemp
ting to raise $30,000 to restore the
building. Just over $6,000 had
been raised as of Monday.
The building will need new wir
ing, plumbing, heating and air
conditioning, as well as interior
walls, ceilings and floors before it
can be used to house the offices of
the Chamber and the economic
developer.
The depot, which was con
structed around 1900, was once the
hub of the community and was a
key shipping point Hoke County
which led the world in watermelon
production.
Contributions are tax deduc
table and can be made to the
Raeford-Hoke Depot Restoration
Fund. Donations can be mailed to
the Southern National Bank at
P.O. Drawer B, Raeford, N.C.
28.5 76 or dropped by the bank at
(See DEPOT, page 3A)