The N
ews
-Journal
Volume LXXIX Number 45
RAEFORD. NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Thursday, February 25, 1988
Unusually unlucky
Besides losing control of a fire started Monday to
burn off his yard, and having it catch this house on
fire, Calvin Corey McBryde faces possible charges
after some 30 marijuana plants were found growing
in pots under lights in the attic and the Hoke County
Sheriff's Department and the SBl were called in to
investigate. McBryde, 17, was charged with misde
meanor larceny after an allegedly stolen scanner was
found, but charges regarding the pot discovery are
pending.
County’s bout with flu drags on
Though the situation has eased in some schools and
businesses, Hoke County is still firmly in the grip of
various viruses and the flu. A check of public schools
shows the number of absent students down in five out
of seven, but Scurlock and South Hoke absentees were
higher than a week ago. Overall, absentees were down
Monday about 27 percent from last week.
The county’s three largest industries reported
absentees above normal, but all three also said the
situation hasn’t appeared to be as serious as in the
schools, and none reported cutbacks in
production. Kent Vesser, personnel director of Burl
ington Industries, Raeford Plant, said more employees
have been out than usual, but the situation there hasn’t
been that serious. He said many parents have been
staying home with sick children.
CriTItG • • • Assaults reported
Barns catch fire;
damage is $20,000
An estimated $20,000 in damage
was done when two barns at the
Joseph Tyler farm on Rt. 1,
Raeford caught fire Saturday at
about 2:30 a.m., according to a
Hoke County Sheriff’s Depart
ment report.
in addition to the damage to the
barns, a car, a tractor, a lawn
mower and other farm equipment
were damaged in the fire.
West Hoke and North Raeford
Fire Departments responded to the
blaze which is under investigation
by the State Bureau of Investiga
tion.
A warrant for assault with a
deadly weapon inflicting serious
injury was issued Monday against
47 year-old Postell Wall of Rt. 1,
Shannon. Wall is charged with
assaulting 23 year-old Patricia
McLeon of 425 Keith Avenue,
Raeford on Sunday.
In another assault case, Bobby
Lewis Green of Beaver Creek
Mobile Home Park was attacked
last Wednesday about 7:15 p.m. as
he was walking in front of
Scurlock School.
Green was attacked by two
males who allegedly hit him in the
back with a baseball bat and kick
ed him.
After the attack. Deputy Wayne
Gardner took Green home but
Green was unable to get out of the
car when they arrived. Green was
then taken to the hospital by the
Rescue Squad.
Utility pole
taken from home
A 25-foot utility pole and 220
amp. electrical box were stolen
from the mobile home of Eddie
Hollingsworth on Doc Brown
Road sometime between 11 p.m.
on February 16 and 7:10 a.m. on
February 17.
Wires in the ground between the
house and the pole were cut and
the pole and box removed. The
pole and box were valued at $340.
A 12 guage Remington shotgun
was stolen from the home of
Calvin Beatty, 1516 Carpenter
(see CRIME, page 16)
Phone service meeting scheduled
Zan Monroe, district commer
cial manager for Carolina
Telephone and Telegraph, will be
in Raeford on Thursday, March 3,
to meet with Hoke County citizens
concerned about phone service.
The meeting was requested by
County Commission Chairman
Wyatt Upchurch in response to
those concerns.
The meeting was originally
scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on March
3 in the Commissioner’s meeting
room in iht Pratt Building on
Main Street but Monroe has told
The News-Journai the phone com
pany has decided to “extend our
availibility that day’’ in order to
accommodate more people.
As well as the 7:30 p.m. meeting
which will be moderated by Alice
Glisson, president of the Raeford-
Hoke Chamber of Commerce,
Monroe and other phone company
representatives will be in Raeford
from noon until 6 p.m. that same
day, also in the Commissioner’s
meeting room.
In addition, telephone lines will
be available for use by people who
cannot come in person. Residents
can call 875-6005 between noon
and 6 p.m. to speak with a phone
company representative to “raise
any concerns or questions” they
might have regarding the phone
service, including matters relating
to the telephone directory, Monroe
said.
Glisson, who was asked by Up
church to chair the evening
meeting because the Chamber of
Commerce played such an active
role in getting extended area
telephone service in the county,
said “I think it’s good we will have
an opportunity to talk with the
company about our concerns.”
Salvage company owners win
against county in court
Chief District Court Judge Sol Cherry has ruled the
owners of L&S Salvage, Highway 211 S., were not
guilty of a criminal offence when they allegedly
violated the recently adopted Hoke County ordinance
regulating junkyards.
Cherry’s ruling in District Court last Friday follow
ed arguments by County Attorney Duncan McFadyen,
who prosecuted the county’s case, and Greg Weeks,
attorney for Larry and Sharon Livingston and Vesty
Jr. and Barbara Sasser, owners of L&S.
The Sassers and the Livingstons were charged with
violating Section Four, Subsection B, of the Junkyard
Ordinance, adopted by the County last October 19,
after a mobile home was moved on to the property.
The ordinance states it is illegal to operate a
junkyard within 300 feet of a housing unit.
The Livingstons and the Sassers purchased the pro
perty on Highway 211 S. on September 21 and applied
for a permit to put in a septic tank on September 29.
On October 16 the septic tank was inspected and found
to be in compliance.
On October 19, Sasser applied for a permit to move
a mobile home onto the property. The permit was
issued.
That night, at the County Commissioner’s meeting.
the Junkyard Ordinance was adopted with an effective
date of October 20.
On October 31, the mobile home was moved onto
the property.
Weeks argued that the Junkyard Ordinance was un
constitutional because it is more restrictive than state
laws. He also argued that it was unfairly applied in this
case, since permits were issued both before and after
the date of ordinance adoption.
The warrant charging the Sas.sers and Livingstons
with a violation, specifically mentioned that the
mobile home had been placed on the property follow
ing adoption of the ordinance.
Weeks said the county had not shown the stated ob
jectives of the ordinance “To protect the citizens and
residents of Hoke County from inherently dangerous
automobile graveyards, junkyards and repair shops
and to promote the health, safety and welfare of the
citizens and residents of Hoke County,” had been
violated in this case.
Judge Cherry, in finding the Sassers and Livingstons
not guilty, said he was not ruling on the constitu
tionality question. He said he was ruling only on the
reasonableness of the application of the law in this
case.
Hoke man murdered over weekend
At Faberge, Personnel Director Lowell Larson said
there has been “a fairly lengthy list of absentees,” but
missing employees haven’t reduced production, only
“made life more difficult.”
Molene Russell of the House of Raeford said until
Friday, the situation there wasn’t bad, but this week
more workers than usual were out. Still, she says there
have been no serious problems with production.
A spokesperson for the Hoke County Health Center
said because no-one reports cases of the flu to the
center, there aren’t statistics available to reflect the
severity of the situation. She said the Health Center no
longer has a supply of flu vaccine, but added this isn’t
the time of the year to be vaccinating against the flu
anyway, because there is a six-week delay before the
vaccine builds immunity.
A Hoke County man was shot to
death on Saturday night while
visiting his sister and her husband
in the northeastern part of the
county. His brother-in-law has
been charged with the murder.
bead is 31 year-old Bruce Allen
Moncrief of Raeford. His brother-
in-law, James Earl Cottle, 33, of
Shamrock Isle Mobile Home Park
in the Rockfish community was ar
rested about midnight and charged
with murder.
Moncrief died of a 12 guage
shotgun wound to the right side of
his neck, according to a Hoke
County Sheriff’s Department
report. His body was taken to the
State Medical Examiner’s Office in
Chapel Hill.
According to the report, Carol
Ann Moncrief Cottle and her
brother Bruce apparently got in
volved in an argument Saturday
night at Cottle’s home. When
Hoke County Deputies responded
to a call about 11:30, they found
Moncrief dead.
The report said Deputy Danny
Hardin was met in the yard by
James Cottle who told him he had
shot Moncrief. Hardin found
Moncrief’s body on the living
room floor. He then placed Cottle
in custody and took him to the
Hoke County Jail.
Cottle is being held in the Hoke
County lail without bond. He will
base his tir-,! appearance in
District Co. U ’his vstek.
Y oulh charged with sex offense
A 16 year-old Hoke County
youth has been arrested and charg
ed with First Degree Sexual Of
fense as the result of an incident
Monday afternoon involving an
eight year-old boy.
Detective Ed Harris of the Hoke
County Sheriff’s Department ar
rested Maurice Patterson of Rt.l,
Red Springs on Tuesday after
noon.
Patterson is being held in Hoke
County jail under $75,000 bond.
He is scheduled to have his first ap
pearance in District Court this
week.
Cooling it down
Pine Hill fireman keep a mist of water trained on a 55
gallon drum of a solven that nearly exploded in a
woods fire Monday afternoon. Hoke County
Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Niven says
an Environmental Protection Agency representative
from Fayetteville was called in, but determined there
was no danger as long as a spill was prevented. The
drum was located on the Highway 15-501 property of
a family which was storing the drum until a use could
be found for it. Niven says had a spill occurred, a full
cleanup would have been performed.
Around Town
By Sam Morris
The weather over the past weekend had most folks outside for activities.
It rained last Friday, but it stopped long enough for most golfers to get in
18 holes of golf. It was cold Sunday night, but warmed up to about 60®
Monday.
The forecast calls for the temperature to reach into the high 60s Tuesday
and then cool off with highs in the 50s for the remainder of the week.
Maybe the real cold weather is gone for this winter.
« * *
When I rode by the lot that has just been cleared on Main Street between
the courthouse and Raeford Cleaners, it brought back memories of my
childhood.
1 first remembered a tennis court on that lot and that was in the early
1920s. After the tennis court lost out to the depression it was just a vacant
lot. The building now occupied by Raeford Cleaners housed the Raeford
Post Office.
Most of the boys going to Raeford High School and grade school used
the lot to play tag football. The number of players on each team was deter
mined by how many were at the lot when sides were chosen. In talking to
Jaybird McLeod he said that when seeing the lot cleared, he had the same
thoughts.
Football was stopped when Mitch Epstein and D.C. Cox put up a tent
and put in a bowling alley next to the courthouse. This was in the late
1930s.
Then came World War 11. After the war Cooper’s Food Store opened in
the building just torn down. Just some history for the younger folks!
* * •
Harold Gillis, chairman of the Hoke County Democratic Executive
Committee, asked me to remind all Democrats that precinct meetings will
be held at all polling places on March 3 starting at 8:00 p.m. Make-up
meetings will be held on March 10.
The business that will be conducted at these meetings will be the election
of delegates to the county convention.
On Saturday, March 5 the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner will be held at the
State Fairgrounds in the W. Kerr Scott Building. The affair will start at
6:00 p.m. If you would like to have a ticket, contact Gillis and for $50 he
will supply you with one.
The Hoke County Convention will be held April 9 at 1 p.m. in the Hoke
County Courthouse. Delegation will be elected to the district convention
and the state convention.
« * «
I received a letter last week from a native of Hoke County, now living in
Florida. I thought that it would be of interest to many people in the county
and also hoped that someone could supply the information this lady is ask
ing for from me. If you can help and don’t want to write, then get in touch
with me and I will record your information and send it to Florida.
The letter follows:
Dear Sam:
In reading The News-Journal 1 noticed that committees are starting
work on the 1988 N.C. Turkey Festival. I thought you might be interested
in seeing a story 1 wrote for our paper, Florida Today. It is one of the first
of Gannett newspapers and where USA Today was started. I write a
regular column for this paper, some features and regular columns for each
(see AROUND, page 16)