Wear Your
TmiTFiOTim
T-Shlrt Day
Sept. 16
The Hoke County News - Established 1928
The News-Journal
into Tka u?l. 1
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
Volume LXXVII Number 21
RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROUNA
$10 PER YEAR
25 CENTS
Thursday, September 12, 1985
Parents speak
A large group of parents from the Jones Hill area of
Raeford gather at Tuesday night's meeting of the
Hoke County Board of Education to protest school
bus service being taken out of the community.
Parents lobby successfully
for Jones Hill bus service
By Ed Miller
About two dozen parents, some
of them angry, appeared before
the Hoke County Board of Educa
tion Tuesday night in an effoct to
have bus service restored to the
Jones Hill area of Raeford.
According to Dorothy McKoy,
buses have been taken out of the
Raeford area and children are hav
ing to walk to J.W. McLauchlin
School.
Most parents expressed concern
for later months in the school year
when it is cold.
"We made a decision last sum
mer to serve all of the area or none
of it," said Hoke County School
Superintendent Dr. Robert
Nelson.
While there had been bus service
to the Jones Hill area, that was the
only area in the school district that
was being served by buses, said
Nelson.
One parent, who would not give
her name, demanded the bus ser
vice be restored and accused Board
of Education members of
transporting white children while
black children were left to walk.
She was removed from the
meeting by friends who told her to
calm down and that her accusa
tions were unfounded.
Steps are^ being taken now to
work out a plan to provide service
to alt students in the McLauchlin
district who live a mile or a mile
and one half away, said Nelson.
"We have reason to believe that
we should know by the end of the
week if it is possible to provide the
service," Nelson said.
Bus schedules are being rear
ranged now to allow some buses to
drop off students at Upchurch Jr.
High School, then the High School
and then return to the McLauchlin
district to pick up those children,
said School Business Manager Don
Steed, who is working on the pro
blem with some of the area prin
cipals.
In an effort to help Board of
Education members understand
part of the problem, Ann Griffin
said that children would not accept
rides that would get them to school
quicker.
"Their parents have taught them
not to take a ride from a
stranger," she said. "They're
scared."
There also appears to be some
problems in communications at the
schools themselves, Brenda
McRae, a parent, said.
Her child was not allowed to use
a telephone in one of the school of
fices, she said.
Board member Walter Coley ad
vised the woman to have the child
ask a secretary to make the phone
call home for her.
In a presentation at the meeting,
Terrell Carpenter, Hoke County
High School student and State
Champion long jumper, met and
received a certificate from Board
of Education members and
Nelson.
Carpenter was recognized
because of his outstanding athletic
accomplishments which include
gold medals in the 100 meter dash
and the long jump in this year's
Junior Olympics.
"This man is hard to watch
w.hen he's running," said Nelson.
?Board members set a special
meeting on September 30, at 7:30
p.m. to discuss school facilities.
Stinging problem
These sandbars thrive on the Main Street vacant lot next to the old
Raeford Auto Co. and the new county office building.
Festival cleanup urged
Raeford and Hoke County
residents are being encouraged to
"clean up" for the upcoming
North Carolina Turkey Festival in
order to enhance the community's
appearance.
"Not in a long time have we had
an opportunity like this to show
off our county," Hoke County
Economic Developer , John
Howard sjdd.
Raeford municipal workers and
county personnel have done a good
job improving much of the public
property, but the community still
needs a "spruce up" in order to
make a good impression on the
thousands of visitors who are ex
pected to come here during the
September 18-21 festival.
Festival promoter; are planning
for crowds which could reach
30,000 on Saturday when recor
ding stars Nantucket, Touchstone
and the Steel Bandits perform on
Main Street in Raeford.
Over S5.000 has been spent by
the festival committee in pro
moting the statewide event to draw
(See CLEANUP, paiie 2A)
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The weather for the past week
has been about as hot as I can
remember for September. The
temperature has been over 90? in
the daytime and in the 70s at night.
The rain has left us for the time be
ing.
Most farmers have taken advan
tage of the weather, and tobacco
and corn has been harvested.
The forecast is for cooler
weather by the weekend with the
temperature being in the low 80s.
The report is for showers, maybe
Wednesday. We will welcome the
cooler weather.
* ? ?
The Turkey Festival will start
next week and most of the plans
have been finalized. The city has
done an excellent job of cleaning
the city up for the occasion. Now if
each person would be sure to clean
their yard and mow the grass, it
will make Raeford look good for
the event.
Monday, September 16 has been
designated as T-Shirt Day.
Everyone should wear a Turkey
Festival T-Shirt on that day. They
can be purchased at many loca
tions in the city.
(See AROUND, page 2A)
Raeford Council OK's plan
for downtown commission
By Ed Miller
Members of the Raeford City
Council gave City Manager Tom
Phillips permission to go ahead
with plans to establish a
Downtown Revitalization Com
mission.
The commission would function
"as a policy-making body to
modify, redevelop and move to im
plementation for the revitalization
of downtown Raeford," said
Phillips.
Efforts to form the commission
are the results of discussion be
tween Phillips, Raeford-Hoke
Economic Development Director
John Howard, a group of local
citizens and Jim Dougherty, of the
North Carolina Department of
Natural Resources and Communi
ty Development (NRCD), said
Phillips.
Phillips had hoped to have a list
of prospective commission
members for the councilmen's con
sideration, but many of the people
on the list had not been contacted
prior to the Monday night's
meeting, said the manager.
The list will be ready for coun
cilmen by their next meeting,
Phillips said.
According to the manager, the
group will represent a "pretty
good cross section from the com
munity,"
The commission needs to be
established now so they can form a
set of bi-laws and set out their pur
pose and objectives, said Phillips.
In other discussion at the
meeting, councilmen were inform
ed of the need for a storm water
management plan.
Currently, there is no plan, said
Phillips.
"Somebody is complaining after
every heavy rain about how much
water is standing in their back
yard," said Phillips.
"Every time a building or a
parking lot is built, the water pro
blem gets worse," said Phillips.
' City Council members decided
to allow Phillips to bring in two
construction companies, at their
next meeting, to give their opinions
on how the storm water can be
disposed of without flooding in
certain areas.
Phillips has recommended that
councilmen at least allow one of
the firms to make up a plan for the
water disposal.
"At least that way we will have a
good plan of action when the time
comes to spend the big bucks,"
said Phillips referring to a time
when money for construction
might need to be spent.
McKim and Creed Engineers, of
Wilmington, and Finkbeiner, Pet
tis and Stout, Limited, a
Greensboro firm, have already
submitted proposals for making up
a. plan and doing construction if
the need arises, said Phillips.
One firm has submitted a higher
estimated price than the other, said
Phillips.
"Why have the guy with the
higher price waste our time?"
Councilman Bob Gentry asked.
Both plans are different and
may call for different solutions
and the cheaper company may not
be the best, said Phillips.
McKim and Creed just finished
construction to remedy a similar
problem at Pope Airbase, said the
manager.
Councilmen agreed also to buy a
truck for hauling leaves to the
landfill.
The truck will be a used garbage
truck and will sell for $4,500, said
Phillips.
According to a study done by
Phillips and other city employees,
the "rear packer" truck will re
quire sanitation workers to make
two trips to the landfill per day
where they have been making five
per day using a flatbed truck.
The amount of travel can be
more than cut in half, he said.
In the final tally, the new truck
will cost 54,500 but will save the ci
ty $4,650 in the first year.
"It will pay for itself in a year,"
said the manager. "Man hour sav
ings alone will basically pay for
it."
Councilmen also:
?Passed a new travel policy for
city employees.
Couple convicted of DSS fraud
By Ed Miller
A Lumber Bridge couple was
conviciedlast week in Hoke Coun
ty District Court of welfare fraud
for illegally appropriating food
stamp and Aid to Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC)
funds.
Carla C. Ransom and James J.
Ransom, both of Rt. 1, Box 98B,
in Lumber Bridge, were fined a
total of $750 and ordered to repay
to the Hoke County Department
of Social Services (DSS) a total of
a sum of $2,277, according to
district court records.
Although both defendants were
charged with "welfare fraud,"
Carla Ransom was tried for viola
tions in the food stamp program,
records say.
The woman obtained food
stamps for which she was not en
titled, according to a warrant for
her arrest.
She did not report her husband's
income, warrants say.
At the time of the violations,
James Ransom was working for
James J. Jacobs Logging Com
pany, warrants say.
Warrants were issued on the
couple on August 14.
Carla Ransom was found guilty
of not reporting that income and
sentenced to a year in jail,
suspended for five years on super
vised probation, fined S2S0 and
ordered to repay $939 in restitution
to the DSS, records say.
Also included in the order from
District Court Judge Warren Pate
was a clause saying the defendant
cannot receive food stamps for the
next six months.
James Ransom was prosecuted
on charges of defrauding the
AFDC program, according to war
rants.
The man did not report income
he was earning from October 1984
to March of 1985, warrants show.
He was also given one year in
prison suspended for five years on
supervised probation, records
show.
James Ransom was ordered to
pay a $500 fine and $1,338 in
restitution to the Hoke County
DSS, records say.
The couple's fraudulent actions
were uncovered by a "wage
match" in cooperation with the
North Carolina Employment
Security Commission (ESC), Hoke
County DSS Director Ken
Witherspoon said.
The wage match is a process by
which wages reported to DSS case
workers are matched against those
reported to the ESC.
The matches are run on a
quarterly basis.
Eventually, unreported wages
will turn up, said Witherspoon.
Unreported wages may not be
found the first quarter a match is
run, but they will turn up the next
time, said Witherspoon.
It is very hard for a person to lie
about wages earned and not get
caught, said the director, adding
that new computers at the DSS, the
ESC and in the offices of Hoke
County aid in the uncovering of
fraud.
"The advantage is with us, 1
believe," said Witherspoon.
With some of the county com
puter capabilities, crossmatches
can even be run with other states to
keep people honest, said Wither
spoon.
Official shirt
Mrs. Evelyn Manning (right), who was in Raleigh
recently for the North Carolina Poultry Federation
banquet, presents Governor James C. Martin with a
Strut Your Stu/fln " T-shirt, while Federation
President Oren Starnes of Monroe looks on. Mrs.
Manning invited the gathering of abomt 1,200 to at
tend the Jestival scheduled for Raeford next week.
The governor is being Encouraged to wear his shirt on
Monday for Festival T-shirt Day. The T-shirts were
donated by Faberge Inc. to help raise funds for the
event. We take a look at the festival and the pkuis In
a special section in today's News- Journal.