TheN
ews
-Journal
Volume LXXX Number 2
RAEFORD, NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Thursday, April 28, 1988
County races may prompt heavy turnout
With less than a week of cam
paigning left and although attention
locally is focused primarily on the
County Commissioner's and the state
House and Senate races, Hoke
County's 8881 registered voters will
also be deciding candidates for other
state offices next Tuesday, including
what has become the hottest race,
that for the Democratic candidate for
Lieutenant Governor. Recent televi
sion ads have created a furor in the
race between the top two candidates,
Tony Rand and Harold Hardison.
Registered Democrats will be
voting for candidates for Governor,
Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of
State, State Auditor, Commissioner
of Labor, Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Judges of the Court of
Appeals, State Senator in the 13th
District, House of Representatives in
the 16th District, and Hoke County
Board of Commission.
Republicans will be voting for
candidates for Lieutenant Governor,
Secretary of State, Commissioner of
Labor, and Superintendent of Public
Instruction.
People who are registered as unaf
filiated voters may vote on the Re
publican Party Primary Ballot, ac
cording to Caroline Shook, Hoke
County Board of Elections supervi
sor.
County Commission Race
In a race many say is too close to
call, four Democratic candidates are
vying for two seats on the Hoke
County Board of Commission. The
current chairman and vice-chairman
of the board Wyatt Upchurch and
Neil MePhatter are being challenged
by L. E. McLaughlin Jr. and
Franklin Teal.
Delbert Minshew, chairman of the
Hoke County Board of Elections,
says, "From what little I hear it is
going to be hard to predict.” Min
shew says he would not be surprised
to see a run-off in the Commis
sioner's race.
Hoke County Democratic Party
Chairman Harold Gillis says, "1 don't
think anyone really has a feel for it."
Minshew says he thinks voter
turn-out will be high, maybe as high
as 50 or 52 percent of the county's
registered voters. He says, "I'm hop
ing for that anyway."
Gillis says, "I have heard it could
be high numbers. I think it would be
wonderful if we had a high number. I
In brief...
Blow the whistle on annoying telephone calls
It has been reported to The News-
Journal that a number of ladies in
the Raeford area have been receiving
obscene phone calls recently; how
ever a check with Police Chief V. L.
Wiggins and with Zan Monroe, Dis
trict Commercial Manager with Car
olina Telephone, indicates that nei
ther of these officials has been noti
fied of the calls.
Monroe says the best procedure to
follow in dealing with harassing calls
is to report the incident to the Police
or to the Sheriffs Department. He
says the telephone company works
with local law enforcement officials
who might recommend having a trace
put on such calls. He also says cus
tomers can contact their service rep
resentative at the telephone company
to report the matter.
Monroe says there arc a couple of
things telephone users who are being
annoyed in this manner can do. They
can keep a whistle handy and blow it
into the phone to discourage such
calls ( a whistle used in this manner
sounds very loud and would probably
make the person on the other end of
the line very uncomfortable), or they
can simply hang the phone up.
By hanging the phone up quickly
the obscene caller is denied the satis
faction of thinking he has disturbed
his victim in any way.
Raeford/Hoke Night Friday in FayetteviUe
The North Carolina Turkey Festi
val Mascot and the Hoke County
High School Band will be on hand
Friday at the Fayetteville Generals
baseball game as Raeford/Hoke
County's night is celebrated.
The event is being promoted by
Raeford radio station WSMR.
According to station manager
Mark Wood the event has been en
dorsed by both Raeford City Council
and the Hoke County Board of
Commissioners as a night to pro
mote Raeford and Hoke County and
all Hoke County citizens will get
free admission to the game.
Gates open at 5 p.m. at the J. P.
Riddle Stadium on Legion Road in
Fayetteville and WSMR's remote
broadcast of the event will begin at
5:30.
At 6 p.m a softball game between
WSMR and WKML/WFAI is sched
uled. Among the players on the
WSMR team will be coaches from
Hoke High School. The Fayetteville
Generals game will start about 7:30
or 8 p.m., says Wood.
He says this is the first time Rae
ford/Hoke County has been featured
in a special night by the Generals.
The night is part of an area promo
tion for the professional baseball
team as it opens its second season.
Around
Town
by Sam C. Morris
The weather over the weekend had temperatures in the
80s and you would have thought that summer had arrived.
The rain Saturday night and early Sunday morning didn't
hamper any outdoor activities in Hoke County.
TTie forecast is for rain Tuesday and maybe Wednesday
with the temperatures in the 60s during the day and with
lows in the 40s. Then the thermometer will begin to rise
and be in the 7{k for the weekend. Perfect weather!
♦ ♦ *
The Constitutional Bicentennial Committee of Hoke
will meet Monday, May 2 at the office of Chairman Glenn
Langdon. The meeting will start at five o'clock so make
your plans to be present. Important upcoming events will
be decided on at the meeting.
» * »
The primary will be held on Tuesday, May 3 for both
the Democratic and Republican parties. The polls will open
at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.
There are state, disuict and county races to be decided at
this primary and your vote could be the winning vote. We,
as citizens, should exercise this privilege that so many
people in the world do not have.
So mark your calendar now and go out and vote
Tuesday.
* * ♦
Some readers of this column play golf, so you will
know what the following golf item is all about.
Now how would you like to shoot rounds of golf in a
tournament as follows: 67-65-69-68 - Total 269. This is
the score that Lanny Watkins had at New Orleans last
week. He lost by 7 strokes to Chip Beck who had scores of
think people need to vote. They need
to exercise their constitutional right
to vote."
Board of Elections Supervisor
Shook says she isn't sure what to
expect in the area of voter turnout.
She said there was a 49 percent turn
out in 1984, the last presidential
election year, but this year there is a
separate presidential primary, so in
terest in local and state elections may
not draw quite that many voters.
She said there have been nearly
350 new registered voters in the
county this year, and almost 200 of
them registered between the
presidential primary and the April 4
deadline for next Tuesday's election.
Shook says if two candidates in
next Tuesday's commissioner's elec
tion do not receive a majority of the
votes cast there will be a run-off
election on May 31. She says the
decision on whether there will be a
run-off will be determined after the
official canvass is declared on May 5.
The formula for determining if a
run-off will lake place is to divide the
total number of votes cast in any one
race by the number of seats open.
That number is then divided by two
to determine the majority.
State House Race
In the State House of Representa
tives' race for the 16th District the
three incumbents, Hoke County Rep.
Danny DeVane, Scotland County
Rep. Pete Hasty and Robeson
County Rep. Sidney Locks are being
challenged by two Robeson County
Indians, Adolph Dial and Garth
Locklear.
Danny DeVane uaditionally leads
the ticket in the 16th District and
political observers believe he will
again, although no one can predict
what impact recent events in Robe
son County will have on the race.
Rumors circulating in Hoke
County that about 10,000 new voters
have registered in Robeson County
since the takeover of the Robesonian
newspaper and the death of Lumbee
Indian activist and candidate for
Robeson County District Attorney
Julian Pierce are not accurate,
according to Robeson Board of Elec
tions Supervisor Ray Revels.
Revels said there were 49,458
registered voters in Robeson County
prior to the March 8 presidential
primary. There are now 51,555 vot
ers who are eligible to vote in next
Tuesday's election. Revels said this
week. ___
Although registered Republicans
in Hoke County will not be voting
in this primary for candidates for the
County Commission or for the State
House or State Senate, Republicans
are running for four state-wide of
fices.
Hoke County Republican Party
Chairman Buddy Blue says, "Even
though Republicans are only voting
in this primary for four offices state
wide, it is still important for Repub
licans to vote and to vote for the best
candidates if they're going to be
elected in November. The Republican
Party expects this to be the test year
we have had in this century."
Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close
at 7:30 p.m. on May 3 for the Pri
mary election. Minshew says he
hopes to have all votes counted by
11:30 p.m. if not much earlier.
School board adopts budget
After two nights of budget meet
ings the Hoke County Board of Edu
cation Tuesday night adopted a
$1,409,599 current expense budget
and a $130,000 capital outlay budget
for the 1988-89 school year. The
current expense budget reflects a
$183,320, or 14.94 percent, increase
in local spending over last year.
The adopted budget was whittled
down by the school board from a
proposed increase of $285,418 in the
current expense fund presented to the
school board Monday night by Su
perintendent Bob Nelson and Finance
Officer Don Steed.
In proposing the whittled-down
version of the budget to board mem
bers Tuesday night. Chairman Bobby
Wright said the budget is "down to a
realistic figure which would satisfy
the needs of the schools and the tax
payers."
Major item in the $130,000
capital outlay budget is a $30,00
school bus which was added to the
budget Tuesday night. Other items in
the capital outlay budget include an
expenditure of $7,900 for football
helmets. The board approved that ex
pense at its last regular meeting.
Other major ticket items in capital
outlay include $13,000 for asbestos
inspection, $10,000 for roofing,
$13,000 for a van for the High
School and $11,000 for school
furniture.
Included in the current expense
budget is $15,000 in teacher supple
ments which would give each teacher
in the system a supplement increase
of $50 for the next school year. This
year for the first time teachers re
ceived a $100 supplement.
In addition to the local money re
quest, the board expects to receive
$11,818,149 in state funds and
$2,187,602 in federal funds to oper-
(see SCHOOL, page 4A)
DSS board makes Travis
permanent director
In what could be considered a vote
of confidence, according to one board
member, Hoke County Department
of Social Services Director Rick
Travis was granted permanent status
by action of the Social Services
Board at its regular monthly meeting
Monday. The board did not need to
act on the matter until June 20 but
decided to take action now.
Travis has been DSS director
since last September but was hired
on a probationary basis with the de
cision to make his status permanent
within nine months.
In making the motion to grant the
permanent status, DSS board mem
ber Buddy Blue said, "The Uansition
has gone extremely well. I think the
staff is very well pleased as are the
board members." The motion was
seconded by Joyce Griffin and ap
proved unanimously by the board
which met briefly in executive ses
sion on the matter.
In other action the board voted to
re-appoint Joyce Griffin for a second
three-year term on the board. Her
present term expires June 30.
The board also authorized Travis
to permanently destroy records of
child support cases in which there
has teen no activity since 1981 and
in which no future activity is ex
pected.
Travis said he will take the records
to the Hoke County landfill to be
buried. He said he is required by law
to witness the boxes of records com
pacted, covered with dirt, and buried,
and to keep a public record of the ac
tion.
Travis said destroying the records
which formerly took up three or four
file cabinet drawers would help ease
the ongoing problem of lack of
record storage space at the DSS of
fices.
In another matter relating to space
problems, Travis discussed new DSS
facilities standards approved recently
by the state Social Services Com
mission. He said Hoke County DSS
(see DSS, page 4A)
69-64-65-64 - Total 262.
Both of these men had under 70 for four rounds. 1 don't
believe this has happened to me in 20 years of golf. I
mean, one round under 70! Some scoring!
* * *
If you keep up with baseball, you will know that a
record has been set by the Baltimore Orioles. They had lost
the opening 18 games for the season on Sunday. Let's hope
that they have won by the time you read this item.
« « *
It seems that the government wanus to get more and
more involved in telling people how they can run their
business. I am thinking about the amendment tacked on the
Trade Bill.
Maybe we need the Trade Bill and most of my friends at
Burlington think so and I will take their views on this, but
to say that a law will be passed to make a private business
pay employees two months pay if the company should
shut down, is going too far.
Now this is just my opinion, but 1 hope that the veto
will not be overridden.
♦ * «
The views of some workers today are different from
what I had over 50 years ago when I started to work here at
this newspaper office. I have worked many a day feeling
bad, not because I like to work, but because I was afraid
someone would get my job. Another thing in my early
days there wasn't any wage and hour law. I worked from
Monday morning until Saturday night and it could have
been 10 hours or more a day.
(see AROUND, page 3A)
t —«
Z* Jr'
Walks away
The driver of this car, Wesley Hollingsworth Jr., 17, of Police, Hollingsworth allegedly pulled from the Hardees
Raeford walks away from this wreck with only minor parking lot into the path of the truck. Two others in the
injuries after his car was struck by a tractor trailer on the car received minor injuries.
401 bypass last Friday morning. According to Raeford