Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Nov. 7, 1985, edition 1 / Page 1
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TKe News-Journal The Hoke County News - Established 1928 The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 Volume LXXV11 Number 29 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA $10 PER YEAR 25 CENTS Thursday, November 7, 1985 Splashing through This motorist sloshes through water collected Sunday on E. Prospect Avenue extension near Peddler's Branch. Raeford was hit with more than 4.5 inches of (Photo b) Stepbe* tJlHi rain in a two-hour period Sunday evening and many residents experienced flooded yards and streets. City to study storm drainage Sunday night's flood of some Raeford residential areas promp ted a vote by members of the City Council Monday night to speed up the timetable on a planned storm runoff study. The study, which is expected to cost more than $12,000, is design ed to identify Hw jw obteiiis amlto "hopefully" identify the solutions, City Manager Tom Phillips said. "We've had a problem for the last four years. Sunday night we had a flood. You couldn't stand in the water coming through my yard. It would knock you down," Mrs. John Leandro said. Waist-deep water flowed over Patterson Street and through the E. Donaldson Avenue area, Mrs. Leandro said. "It has become a problem we can't live with," she added. Sunday's rain, which was ap proximately 4.5 inches in about two hours, caused serious flooding in five areas of the city, Phillips said. Oakwood Avenue at Peddler's Branch was damaged when the street caved in around a drainage culvert, Phillips said. The street has been closcd until repairs can be made. Although the council had gotten two bids on the study, the work was being delayed to get a price from a third firm. Prior to the council's October meeting, bids were taken from two engineering firms. Engineering firm McKim and Cread had the low bid^of ?13,400 for the work. Another company, Finkbeiner, Pettis and Strout, Limited, turned in a bid for $15,900. The Southern Pines firm, Hobbs, Upchurch & Associates, has also requested an opportunity (See CITY, page 2 A) Clark loses council seat Veteran Raeford City Councilman Graham M. Clark fell seven votes short of a ninth term in office, and newcomer Earl McDuffie Jr. Finished third to cap ture a seat on the Raeford board during Tuesday's balloting. After the totals from all precincts were counted, Clark was six votes behind fellow incumbent Coun cilman T. Joseph Upchurch, who garnered 243 votes to gain the fifth seat. The 69-year-old Clark has served on the city council since 1969. Under this year's new city election law, the top two vote getters will serve for four-year terms. The remaining three seats are for two-years, so that future elections will be staggered. Councilmen Bob Gentry and James B. McLeod won the four-year terms by finishing first and second in the voting. McDuffie and Councilmen Vardell Hedgpeth and Upchurch will serve for only two years before having to seek re-election. Mayor John K. McNeill, who has served for 16 years, captured 286 votes, running unopposed for his ninth term in office. Collectively write-in candidates received 25 votes. Evelyn Manning got 14 of those write-ins for mayor. McNeill will serve for four years. Only 367 ballots were cast by the more 2,000 voters registered in the city for an approximate 18% turnout. Although he did not win any of the three precincts. Gentry led the total balloting with 283 votes. McLeod was a close second with 282 votes, and led the balloting in Raeford 2 precinct. McDuffie was nine votes behind with 273. He cap tured the vote in Raeford 1. Hedgpeth had 269, and Upchurch had 243. Manning got one vote for council. In addition to Manning, Kay Thomas and Neil Senter each received three write-in votes. Junior Blue got two votes for mayor. Stanley Koonce, Frank Baker and Doc Campbell each received one vote for mayor. In the balloting in Blue Springs and Allendale to establish the Lilly's Fire District, the vote was 30 to one in favor of the measure. Ad valorem tax rates in the new district will be in creased by 10 cents to pay for the protection. More Election Results Page 9A Son in critical condition after father wounds him A 23-year-old Montrose man was recovering in Moore Memorial Hospital Tuesday from gunshot wounds, after being shot through the arm and side by his father. Andrew Richardson Parks, 23, of Rt. 3 was in "critical condition" following surgery to repair the damage he sustained when a blast of triple-aught buckshot ripped through his upper arm and into his side, Hoke County Sheriff Dave Barrington said. Julian Parks, S9, .who is the father of the wounded man, was arrested at the scene and charged with the shooting, the sheriff said. The elder Parks was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to commit serious injury and was released from jail after posting a $5,000 bond, Barr ington said. The shooting apparently occur red in the kitchen of the Parks' Montrose home. The older Parks had apparently been drinking, and the son was at tempting to stop him from going deer hunting, Barrington said. In an unrelated incident, a Hoke County convenience store operator was hit in the face and robbed last Monday. John Downey told investigating sheriff's deputies he was about to get into his car at B&B Cash Mart when a black man grabbed him by the hair and demanded money. Downey was hit in the face and robbed of his wallet. The man fled when warned by another man that a car was com ing, Downey said in his report. According to the report, the suspect is described as being 18 to 20 years old, five foot seven inches to five foot nine inches tall and weighed about ISO pounds. The door to the store was lock ed, and Downey was in the process of moving his car from the side of the building to the front when the attack occurred. A 17-year-old youth was ar rested last Tuesday on the grounds of Scurlock School and charged with possession of liquor and car rying weapons, reports show. Robert Agus Pittmao was found to be carrying a "throwing star," a stalletto knife and a BB gun, Det. Ed Harris said in a report. Pittman was found guilty in Hoke County District Court on Friday and sentenced to six to 12 months in jail, suspended with two years probation for the offenses. (See ROBBERY, page 9A) Board of Ed, county work on school woes The Hoke county school system is facing a major building pro gram, and members of the County Commission and the Board of Education pledged Monday to work together to make the con struction as smooth as possible. Growth in the county's popula tion and new state minimum class sizes are forcing Hoke school of ficials to look at updating the cur rently approved building program and to search for Financial solu tions to a mounting facility prob lem, members of the County Com mission were told Monday during a special joint session. Hoke County could be facing the need to construct a new elementary school in the Rockfish Around Town By San Morris It felt like winter Tuesday morn ing. After all the rain for the past few days, a change was needed. The forecast is for cooler weather for the remainder of the week. Some forecasters are predicting snow in the mountains and for the temperatures to be in the 30s for Hoke County during the night. So check your fuel supply, for this is going to see winter come in with a blast. ? ? ? .Battery "F," the National Guard outfit that was called into service in 1940, had its 8th Annual Reunion at Myrtle Beach last weekend. The affair was well at tended and everyone seemed to have a good time. There were 33 at the banquet Saturday night and this included wives and guests. There was one member who was at the event tor the first time and (See AROUND, page 2A) area in addition to resolving deterioration problems at Up church Junior High School and Turlington School. A plan, developed by a Citizen Blue Ribbon Study Committee and endorsed by the school board, is obsolete because of mandated reductions in class sizes and the county's recent population growth in the Rockfish area. Superintend ent Dr. Robert Nelson said. "The influx in the eastern part of the county probably was not an ticipated by the committee," Nelson said, adding that the growth is coupled with the physical problems at Upchurch and Tur lington will force a "substantial deviation" from the Blue Ribbon Committee's plan. That plan called for S2.5 million in bonds to be issued to expand Upchurch and Scurlock schools. Those funds were to be repaid from revenues generated by the present one-half cent sales tax. "If we go ahead with the Blue Ribbon plan, then we will be right back to the place we are now. We need to look down the road," School Board member Eddie McNeill said. McNeill was a member of the study committee prior to being elected to the school board. The plan for school construction is further complicated by the coun ty's pending loss of federal Revenue Sharing Funds. Listening to testimony More than 800 residents listen to testimony last Tuesday night at a public hearing on EAS between the Raeford and FayetteviUe telephone exchanges before the entire North Carolina Utilities Commission. Testimony from expert witnesses concluded last Wednesday in Raleigh . Following the hear ing, commission members said the Raeford crowd was the largest In recent memory to appear before the group. A first decision of several may be Issued by the Commission on the question this month, attorneys say. Hoke County currently receives over $430,000 annually from Revenue Sharing, County Manager William Cowan said. A plan, which has been endorsed by Governor James G. Martin, to replace the federal funds with a one-half cent sales tax, would be a windfall for Hoke County, Cowan said. The new sales tax would generate an additional 5120,000 for Hoke, Cowan said. "There are only two ways to replace Revenue Sharing in Hoke County, either with a half-cent sales tax or by raising property taxes," the county manager said. The new sales tax would be the (See SCHOOL, page 9A) Working together County Commission Chairman John Balfour ( center ) listens as school board member Eddie McNeill (left center) makes a point, and others look on during Monday's joint session of the two Hoke County elected bodies. EAS decision may come in November A first decision from the North Carolina Utilities Commission on the fate of Extended Area Telephone Service (EAS) between the Raeford and Fayetteville ex changes could come during November, an attorney for the commission's Public Staff said last week. Transcripts of public hearings held in Raeford and Raleigh last Tuesday and Wednesday should be completed by next week, public staff attorney Jimmy Little said. Little and other members of the public staff's Communication's Division are representing sup porters of extending the local ser vice between the two exchanges. Once the transcripts are finish ed, attorneys for both Carolina Telephone Company and the public staff will have 20 days to file briefs in the case. A first decision could come prior to the filing of briefs, Little said. "I think they will make a deci sion very quickly," he said. The commissioners are aware of the "pressing" public need in Hoke County for EAS, the public staff attorney said, adding that the "crowd that appeared in Raeford was the largest the commission had ever seen at a public hearing." Hoke County has the strongest case for EAS, any member of the communication division can remember, Little said. No evidence was presented dur ing Wednesday's hearing which would detract from the testimony which was given to the commis sioners on Tuesday in Raeford, Little said. "The only thing that could torpedo it is if they decide to poll Fayetteville. That will kill EAS in Raeford," he added, Carolina Telephone attorney Dwight W. Allen does not believe a vote of Fayetteville's 90,000 telephone subscribers would kill the EAS question. If the turnout was low in Fayet teville, it would indicate to the commissioners there was little op position to the issue, Allen said. In Wednesday's testimony before the commission, Carolina Telephone experts argued the SI. 22 charge for the Fayetteville subscribers was justified under a commission approved "matrix" system. Although the charge on the Fayetteville phones would generate an additional $1.2 million for the company, those funds would be averaged out to make up for less profitable EAS situations, Allen said. "It balances out across the system. All we are saying is don't give us all the losers and take away the winners," Allen said. Carolina Telephone is in favor of EAS in Raeford, as long as the matrix charges of $1.22 in Fayet teville and $4.52 in Hoke County are levied, Allen laid. . On Wednesday, public staff witnesses testified that all costs for (See EAS, pige 2A)
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