TheN
ews
Journal
Volume LXXIX Number 19
RAEFORD. NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Thursday, August 27,1987
Hoke County recipient of half-million $ grant
By June Lancaster
News-Journal Staff Writer
Economic developer John Howard
feels pride at Hoke County's pro
curement of a Community
Development Block Grant.
Hoke County has been awarded
a $542,800 Community Develop
ment Block Grant. Hoke County
Board of Commissioners’ Chair
man Wyatt Upchurch was notified
of the grant award last week in a
letter from Governor James G.
Martin.
The grant includes $472,000 for
rehabilitation of 40 residences in
the Tylertown community and
$70,800 in local option money
which has been earmarked for two
solid waste compactor stations.
The county applied for the block
grant in mid-May after a county
wide survey was conducted and a
citizens advisory group selected
Tylertown as its target area.
This was the third time Hoke
County had applied for a block
grant to rehabilitate Tylertown.
Because the county had been un
successful twice before, the
groundwork for this year’s grant
application was laid very solidly
several months ago.
Under the direction of the Hoke
County Economic Development
Commission, a planning grant of
$4,323 was applied for and receiv
ed last March.
The planning grant made it
possible to employ two part-time
staff people, Barbara Rogers and
Major (Ret.) Ronald Scurry, to
gather information used in the
grant application.
The work done by Rogers and
Scurry and the citizens advisory
group made it possible for all areas
of the county to be analyzed so
that the best application possible
could be filed, says John Howard,
director of the EDC.
Howard says his feeling on
learning of the grant was “one of
great pride in the ability of our
local team and government to have
worked effectively with Jim Perry,
chief planner of the Lumber River
Council of Governments, in put
ting this together.”
Rogers said, “I’m just happy
that the state awarded us the grant.
I’m also pleased the county com
missioners gave as much money
($50,000 in matching funds) as
Theft a problem
Pine straw farming is big industry
By June Lancaster
News-Journal Staff Writer
Pine straw. “It’s always been
there but it has now become big
business,” says Julian Johnson,
one of the major producers of
pine straw in Hoke County.
According to Willie
Featherstone, agricultural ex
tension agent for Hoke County,
pine straw harvesting has
become profitable and not only
for those in the business.
It has also become profitable
for those people who are taking
pine straw without permission.
Theft of pine straw has become
an increasing problem in the
county, as sheriff’s department
and court records show.
Some landowners and
farmers have been in the pine
straw business for years. Now
the increasing demand for pine
straw in the last few years has
encouraged more people to go
into the business.
The newcomers are primarily
people who lease land from
others and then rake and bale
the straw for sale to nurseries
and landscapers all over the
state.
In addition to the increased
demand for pine straw, the
depressed agricultural economy
of recent years has made it im
portant for farmers to look for
alternative sources of income.
(See PINE, page II)
9
f
TCQtnWOrkSam McNair Sr. (right) loads straw
into a 1949 baler while Jimmy McLean Oeft) ties
bales. Frank “Joe" Bryant (center) inserts a divider
and, receives the bales.
Raeford turkey to soar with the eagle
By Pat Allen Wilson
The Raeford symbolic turkey
will be struttin’ her stuffin’ in red,
white and blue this year, thanks to
the Constitutional Bicentennial
Committee of Hoke County, head
ed by Glenn Langdon.
The opening of the third annual
North Carolina Turkey Festival
coincides with the 200th birthday
of the signing of the Constitution
of the United States. In recogni
tion of this, various activities will
have a patriotic theme.
Anna Jordan, program chair
man for the bicentennial commit
tee, says programs are planned to
help understand the constitution
and how it was formed. “It’s not
just a patriotic display. We want
the citizens to reread the constitu
tion and stop and think about it,”
she says.
Former Chief Justice Warren
Burger, national chairman of the
Commission on the Bicentennial of
the U.S. Constitution, reminds
Americans that it takes only 23
minutes to read aloud the docu
ment that begins, “We the
people....”
“Twelve minutes if you read
fast,” Burger adds.
The document that marked the
birth of the United States we know
today is considered one of the most
remarkable in history. It has en
dured for 200 years.
Urging renewed awareness of
the Constitution, Chuck Timanus,
publicist for the national bicenten
nial group, states, “This is an in
tellectual endeavor as much as a
bells and whistles event. Other na
tional celebrations have to do with
symbols, whereas this is a living
reality.”
Events planned on Thusday,
September 17, will be highlighted
by 200 seconds of bicentennial bell
ringing in which Raeford church
bells will join other church bells
across the nation in celebration. At
the same time 200 red, white and
blue balloons containing
Founders’ quotes will be released
from the library. This 4 p.m. event
will be followed by 200 seconds of
silence.
Other patriotic events planned
they did. That helped our applica
tion.”
“I’m extremely excited about
the grant. It’s the culmination of a
great deal of work,” Scurry said.
The competition for CDB grants
is intense. This year 112 com
munities applied for grants in
North Carolina.
The fact that Hoke County was
ranked 15 out of the 56 com
munities in the state to receive such
a grant this year is significant,
Howard thinks.
He said, “We didn’t just get
lucky the third time around. Being
ranked 15 out of 112 applications
certainly puts us in the ‘outstand
ing’ category. We in Hoke County
can take great pride in that rank
ing.”
The CDB grants are awarded on
the basis of a competitive scoring
system. The system assesses ap
plications on severity of needs,
treatment of needs, local commit
ment, appropriateness and
feasibility and benefit to persons
of low and moderate income.
In the local commitment
category, Hoke County received
300 points, the maximum number
possible.
The local commitment, Howard
believes, was demonstrated by the
input of the citizens advisory com
mittee. Their dedication as they
participated in work sessions on
(See GRANT, page 18)
In search of the
Gingerbread Man
By June Lancaster
News-Journal Staff Writer
If you’re the parent of a
kindergartner who is going off to
school for the first time on Mon
day, you may be wondering how
your little one will find his or her
way around a big place like West
Hoke Elementary School.
If your child’s teacher is
anything like Sandra Horne you
need not worry. Horne has
developed a creative way of in
troducing her kindergarten
students to their new environment.
Horne says, “Everything I teach
is inter-related.” She proves that
with her treatment of the Ginger
bread Boy story.
The first week of school Horne
reads the story to her students.
Then the children hear the story on
a record in the listening center of
their room during rest hour.
In an art activity the children cut
out a paper gingerbread boy. Next,
in a tell and draw lesson, the
teacher introduces a lesson on the
parts of the body as the students
draw and decorate their own
gingerbread boy.
Horne combines a health and
math lesson as she teaches the
children the importance of
washing their hands before
measuring the ingredients to make
a very special gingerbread boy in a
cooking lesson.
The cooking lesson is an oppor
tunity for the children to learn
about the senses as they taste and
smell the ingredients.
They learn about shapes, colors
and counting in the shaping and
decorating of the gingerbread
cookie.
The gingerbread boy cookie is so
long, 24 inches Horne estimates,
that he has to be baked in the big
(See SCHOOL, page 7)
for September 17 are:
• 10 a.m. - Opening ceremonies
with North Carolina Governor
James Martin. Included will be the
Pledge of Allegiance, singing of
the National Anthem and the
reading of the Preamble to the
Constitution.
• 3-4 p.m. - Fort Bragg Concert
Band performance to be concluded
by an explanation of the impend
ing bell ringing and silent period by
a speaker of the Constitutional
Bicentennial Committee of Hoke
County.
• 12 noon - Patriotic program
by Ray and Lee Harris.
• 4-4:30 p.m. - Performance by
(See CONSTITUTION, page 14)
7
\
Sandra Horne (on ladder) and Eloise Furr prepare their classroom.
Around Town
Sam Morris
It was a surprise to me to find that it had rained early Monday
morning. There was a puddle in my driveway and to my good for
tune the paper had missed it. I hadn’t heard of any rain forecast in
the weather report.
The cold front that followed the rain made Monday a nice day to
be outdoors. The temperature was in the low 80s and the sun was
under a cloud cover. According to the forecast we si.ould have the
same type of weather for the remainder of the week. There is a
chance of rain on Wednesday and Friday.
« * •
Don’t forget that school will be opening soon for the students
and they will be on the streets and beside the highways twice a day.
Also remember that the school buses will be running and they will
be stopping and starting. So drive with care. The child that could
get hit could be your own.
» t •
The Constitutional Bicentennial Committee of Hoke will meet
on the second Monday in September. The first Monday in
(See AROUND TOWN, page 11)
Raeford native begins duties
as News-Journal editor
News-Journal editor Ken
Donald
Mac-
Ken MacDonald is the new
associate editor of The News-
Journal, replacing Ron Ander
son, associate editor since April
1986, who has resigned to
become news editor of The Nat
chez Democrat a daily
newspaper in Natchez,
Mississippi.
MacDonald grew up in
Raeford and is a graduate of
Hoke County High School. He
has a bachelor’s degree from
Western Carolina University
and has considerable experience
in radio news.
MacDonald was news direc
tor of WWNC, Asheville, the
top radio station in the country
and most recently has been
news anchor/reporter for
WFNC Radio in Fayetteville.
After several years in the
western part of the state Mac
Donald and his wife Holly, a
nurse at Moore County
Regional Hospital, returned to
Raeford in February so they
could raise their family in a
small town environment. The
MacDonalds have two children,
Benjamin, 5, and Leighanne, 2.
MacDonald, who was a dark
room technician at The News-
Journal while in high school,
says, “I am looking forward to
the challenge of changing from
broadcasting to print. 1 am also
looking forward to working
with people I have known all
my life.”
Pat Wilson, former editor of
The Spring Lake News has been
serving as interim editor during
the transition. Wilson has eight
years experience in reporting
and editing.