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"Journal
School board is sued
Holiday lights
C hristmas lighn glon at (he midence »f Rettv and
Keith Jih't --•» on the comer o- Magnolia Street and
HHood Avenue In Haeford. The Jacktom have
joined man\ Ic-al rerideniy in decorating their
homes for the holiday season. > isitors from other
(oumies are coming to Hoke ( dunt; this season to
look at the i hristmas displays.
B> Sail) Jamir
■ Jaammi . H r --
A Si n ord Industr - ■ -inipany i'
_ rying t.. ' ic: ni :o bu\
JRA Ind ■":rs. mcn'ihcrv m the
Hoke C ounty LC: ; J .. omme
-L-r.c; were !■' ■ Vlondav j; thei
regulaf mtv-' j
Spancf' lnd^:!riri, Iru ; • s«.i
ford began nTHPiiation' D«>pmt>cr
9 =of the purciav JRA In
duslries, according to ^ ompanv
»pok 'man Coak I May.
Freaturcf
May ^plkc to 'he Lotnr; rvii.inf
in order to obtain app ii>al and
author.*ation for of
JRA Indu3tr:r‘, Inc , ind it'^
parent 'ompany Jung Oupora
tion, from obligi^iion*; relating to
an indu''.trial re\e.".‘.' bond and the
assumption of th :r* rrspon
sibililies b‘ jpanco.
Originally, the bond S3 03
million.
Roast fires
local pride
Community pride *as on
everyone’s mind as businessmen,
politicians, local leaders and
residents gathered around a glow
ing, circular fire outside the Civic
Center Tuesday evening,
December 9
The occasion ssa.s The Third An
nual Mullet Roast, an affair co
sponsored by the Kaeford-Hoke
Economic Development Commis
sion and the local Chamber of
Commerce. The yearly roast offers
the community a chance to reflrct
on Its accomplishments and to
discusi plans tor the future.
Although an appreciation fur
roasi mullet was nut shared b>
everyone, (chicken was offered as
an alternate dish this year) all those
in attendance did agree that Hoke
County can be proud of if- recent
accomplishments
“We’re ical proud ol what's
been going on the last couple of
years,’’ Chambei of Commerce
president Terry Houston said as he
opened up the informal after
dinner discussion
Houston Cited the newly
renovated Chamber of Commerce
and Economic Development of
fices at the depot, the success of
this year’s Turkey Kestiva! and the
The ommissioncis granted ap
pfosaJ for this transact ion sub;'^-t
10 the approval of the Branch
Banking and Trust Company
May said Spanco planned to
complete negof'ition: for the pur
chase by December 23
Early on Monday, a JRA
spokesman released a .tatement to
The Sew^ Journal saying that
-panco had mtered into an agree
meni o principle with .IRA In
dustrie- to purchase the Raeford
plant
Ai-.ording to the spokesman
JRA Plant Manager Horace
Siogner ha^ said that he sees the
pur* t'a-se a positive move for the
Raeford plant
Spanco operates two pirints m
Noiih Carolina with 200
cmploy«T" at each plant, according
to May He said both cofTipcitnes
produce the same product, a
covered elastic yarn, as the
Raeford plant.
Mas said Spanco has no plan' to
change the Raeford plant other
than 10 make improcemcnts, such
as the addition ot equipment
Accc'rding to May ihcte were no
plan* for any * hanges in ernplov-
mcni He stated that in the lb years
ol the .ompany’s existence, there
has never been a layoff and they
have experienced only one -hut-
down
In other business, commis
sioners gtanted permission to
Economic I^vclopmeru ornmis-
sion Director John Howaid to pro
ceed with plan' to apph lot a
Development Planning (irani with
the North Carolina Deparliiierit of
Natural Resource* and Commuiii-
ly DcveUvpmtnt. C omnns-ioners
also set a public hearing for the
gram tor .lanuary 5 at a.ni.
The decision followed an initial
(Sec SANI-ORD, page 10)
Mullet roast
Steve Parker rakes the yoiils of a fire used to roust mullets last lueuiay.
The ctMiniy's Third Annual Sluilel Roast was held at the Civic ( enter.
( -ininiaTiiiy i ight I'p program as
esampirs of positive stc)vs taken bv
the corniiuinity in l*fHb,
Ihe passage of Extended Area
Telephone Service (EAS) between
Raeford and Tayctirville tins yeai
I' another of the community’s im
fvirfant w* •. rsmplisbmrnlc ncconl
ing to Houston When EAS goes
into effect this July, it will “help
the tax base and help u* make new
friends,’’ Houston said.
“Wc" . always looking foi ways
to imptovi* tin. cortiiminitv,’’
Houston sjid. “Now wc’vc .not to
wotk '*51 the widening ot Highway
401”
Tconomic I3eveli'pcr lohn
Howard iiild thow gathered that
bu.int-vTiicn outside of the area
are beginning hear of the posidvr
ctiangcs occurring in Hoke t jun-
ty
Howard said once laM year’s
rn.vit was held, the count; has
(See ROAST , page 8)
H) Sail) Jamir
V»»l w«y/ Urtirr
fhe Hoke County Board of
Education is among 22 North
C arolina vchcK»l boards being sued
by lilt U S [)epariment of Justice
for failing to comply with the
Voting Rights Act of l%S, accor
ding to county school officials
County Schools Superimendent
Dr. Bob Nelson said Thursday that
the suit was filed last week by the
Justice Department against the
State of North Carolina, the Stale
Board of Elections, the State
Board ot Education, und 22 local
boards of education, charging
them yvith failure to seek the per-
mission required before changing
the voting procedures for election
of the hoards of education.
Nelson said news ot the lawsuit
made it to the hands of the media
before it reached the defendants.
The day after news of the
lawsuit appeared in new^paper.s,
Nelson reported that no papers
had been .served to the education
board.
Nelson explained last week that
his exchange with a Fayetteville
Times reporter revealed that the
Justice Department had been sent
a press release about the lawsuit
before they informed the defen
dants of their intentions.
Both Nelson and Caroline
Shook, Supervisor of Elections for
the Hoke County Board of Elec
tions, said that this week they
received legal dtxunienis pertain
ing to the case
Tfoke County Election Board
Chairman Delbert Minshew, after
receiving the documents from the
Justice Deparirncni '.iio i-c
be ’’lurning n n r -o i* *,,. .mr:.;-
attorney for c 'csp:Ei-r x. uhe
depari.T.eni ”
Ncivon vonvuh-'^d r ddic
ipe«-'aiiy| in school law «t :he .is”
Attorney fieneraJ’i *ffi'.c and Bill
,Mo*cs, county cducaiton bojtfd at
torncy, in re»e£: h'rig 'ht maiter
Nelson ’.=arncd that tn ttir iaic
I9bt)’s the election
board memberr. was esiat^livhed by
a change Icgislaied in ihc Omnibus
Bill by the Cieneral A*v?-mbi,
According lo Nclvo:;. ;hr •pre
clearance” for the change
obtained from the fc-ieral g.;v.'rri
rnent is was required by the Vr*t;'’|
Rights Act
Nelson said hr '-r-ifned that
another change in the voting pro
cedures was made in v*hich
did not receive the appropriate
clearance from the feder.*! c m
mem.
This change concv. .rcd the stag
gering ol the four-yr'wr le-rn-s (of
which iKiard member', are elected
All the full background on the
changes m question are not yet
known, Nelson said, and more
research may be needed at the sJaie
rccoids in Ruleigh befo'e th'.v c"
curs.
“A.' far as we know, there wa*.
an administrative detail that
yvasn’t taken care of. Nelson
said. “The requirement came
about from the Voting Righi.s Act
People hadn’t been used lo dealing
with It and didn't know how ’’
The education board, may t-.
able to obtain « “retroactive pre-
clearance’* in order to comply with
federal requtrcmenir.. Nelson said
Spanco to buy JRA Industries
[Negotiations
Coak J. May of Spanco Industries, fnc. speaks to the Hoke f tturits Hoard
of Commissioners Mondas night.
Share Your Christmas
is tremendous success
Share Vour Chn-tmas has been
a tieniendous success,stated Mma
Townsend, Woman’s Club Chair
man of the project. Ken Wither*
pc>on, Social Services Director says
he has been thoroughly over
whelmed at the community’s re
spouse at helping others.
One hundred and fourty-foui
taimhes that include WN children
and adults will receive assistance in
a variety of ways Our $3,001) has
been contributed bv the commum
ty to provide both gifts and food.
Many volunteers assisted with
the trees and literally hundreds
purchased gifts for the tamilies.
Volunteer groups adopted many
fainilicv.
Anv'Wie who ha* a gift but failed
to bring it to a tree -hould take the
gift to the Department of w- .^l
Service' b> mvon ssn Thuf'Jiy,
TTecember 18th
The Foster Children*'. Irc'* will
remain at United v arolina Bank
through Friday, Dccembct |h
Stars tor the fo/er children will rc
main on the lice until Friday, Dec
19, at (>p ni. Those aift* vhi ‘ *'e
returned to U U 13 bv Friday,
Dec. 19 or to the Department id
Social Services first thing Monday
morning, December 2J
Families tccetving a -sn^c
from Share Youi ( hristma.' will be
notified by mail the i
rangements to pick up their 'It-.
Depot to hold open house
Teriy Houston, president of the
Raeford-Hoke Chamber of Com
merce and Tom Howell, chairman
of the Raeford-Hoke Iconoinic
Development Commission, an
noitni’e “Open Hnuir •)' Ihe
Dcptil" lot Friday, ITccemhcr
19ih, from 3 5; >0 p.m.
“This community has worked so
hard over the fsasl year to help us
finish the Depot icnovation, fui
nish It, und help its move tn," said
Housioji. “We want to ;how
everyone how proud we are of
these new offices for the Chamber
of t I’nimcrce nd Ecv'i oinK
TV'--'-r-Ti-p' '■ ' P
lorn Howell remarked how tfir
renovulion. headed by iendy
Johriiton, is probably valued
(See T)EPOI. page 8)
Hr ,a,.l t ' ,;tijr 'i 'hmk the* the
na'ui*? -'f irif '.f-.f.-uniVtrattvcover-
ogfii ■ in 'he fi.” Iwho's was in en*
w.iy J, sioliiion wr*i..h wouldsff«:t
'he ..urrjnl board ify-r caient tpjit
r ".fs**!”! ticc'.ion would need ‘r* be
held
Kcgi.dtng the up*.sa,u".5 cr'cn
pr-e-ce?din,“, ’ I Nive
iKt :d" r bo li iieffud us
in the Oicxe I -tes't krurw ;f we will
fake an act; r p.art -.5 i; or if ■? 5
be in fhe backii^scud. We'll Ju?!
have to watt and i«e.'
It tx not appfireni wht the
Jusi.ee Dep-^ifiment h:ix brought
a**—to the fwe**ef after ap-
proximmc-fy I? years ha*; laps^
'.m- e the alleged ■.:ol&iion o: ihv
the Justice Department has choien
the of a '±w,uit to rectify
the situation
"W they afe bringing n up
n.'w, i don’t know,” Nelson said.
‘'I don': know why they didn’t
;uxt vend a lener and the matter
could have been cleared up m 24
hours,” he said. **Bm they’ve
chc-icn to go this way ’’
in an executive .ves'7ion dunng
the regular meeting of the Hoke
County B'sard of rom'rt?uioners.
Counts Attorney Duncan
McFayden informed the commis
sioners of the lawsuit. Commis
sioners approved McFayden’$ in-
lentions to work with the Board of
Elections, the Board of Education
and the education board attorney,
Bill Moaes. m preparing a response
10 the Justice Department
The legal documenu issued sute
that response to the department
must be within 20 days
Around Town
By Siro Mott”
The ram came in Friday and
itayed most of the day. Then the
cold weather hit u* on Saturday
and Sund.. The low Sunday mor
ning w.^ 20 ' and the temperature
wa: in Che 30s most of the day
.Monday the thermometer got up
into the high 50s and the c^jiny
skies made it feel warmer The
forecast for 40s and 50s the re
mainder of the week
• • •
-vvk I . oie m this column
about W illiam Covington Jr. of
■ harlotie Al o m the paper wa^ a
feature on hf father When I
wr‘M> about William 1 didn’t know
about the feature Thi.'; week the
itllowing letter ^ nved at the of-
» 1.
Eadies and gentlemen:
Plcif ^*id me two copies of
vou: f” --inb’r II, I'98b issue.
Your article on mv father in sec
tion D and Sam Morns’x mention
of the i.nicle about Kennedy, Cov
ington. lodlull A Hickman in the
Sorth Carolina magazine arc very
gratifying
Please include your statement of
charges
With best wishes, 1 am
Suicereh your.s
W T Covington Jr
Arm reading the article last
w.-ek about W T. Covington and
hti sculpturing, 11 brought back to
mind an incident that happened
many yeais *igo with Mr. Cov
ington’* wyirk. 1 Will try lo relate
the incident an best av I can.
My father came home one after-
ntion Slid Told niy brother Spec
and me that Mt Covington
wanted U' use our bird dog as a
model Now the dt.^ wa.s a family
1*01 and wasn’t any gtwdi for hun
ting bird*, because he was gun shy,
We went up to the Covington
buiTte on W esi Donald.son Avenue
one day after school, just before
Chrivtnus We wou'id take turns
holding ihe uog wtnJc Mr. Cov-
intyton would do his work to
prepare for his mold or wbatever
he did to aeaic a figure of the dog.
Once while I w’r. holding the
.y.'-ff -rn Kr.-»ryi.«r pnl)^ r'nt r*r hiv
po^ke^ a small Ittccracker, (they
were legal then) and lit the
firecracker and tossed it on the
ground When it exploded the dog
(See ARDUND, page ¥)