TheN
ews
-Journal
Volume LXXX Number 12
RAEFOm. NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Thursday, July 7, 1988
'4
Hit and run
Highway Patrol Trooper C.D. Cain is framed by the inside walls (top) of the
J &L Clover Farm store in Scurlock as Cain investigates an incident in
which a car rammed the store's wall early Wednesday and left the scene.
The car damaged a beer cooler and left a hole in the wall (bottom). At press
time no arrest had been made.
House of Raeford has plan;
wants to keep waste permit
House of Raeford officials have made public a three-phase plan of improve
ments which are termed "very realistic" by City Manager Tom Phillips and
which are designed to lower the amount of blood in the wastewater the com
pany discharges to the city’s wastewater treaunent plant.
As he revealed the plans during a 20-minute show cause hearing last
Wednesday afternoon, House of Raeford official Harold Brock asked City Man
ager Tom Phillips not to revoke the company’s permit to discharge wastewater
to the city treatment plant and to give the company time to make its improve
ments, the first phase of which is underway this week.
Brock unveiled a three-phase redesign plan which he said will bring the plant
back in compliance with its wastewater permit In a written outline, Brock said
the company is committed to the plan and believes the actions will provide a
long term solution to the violations for which the company has been fined in
excess of $50,000 by the city.
Phillips said Wednesday he would study the blueprints and written data pro
vided by Brock and make his decision within 10 days. This week Phillips says
he has decided to offer the company a consent agreement which, if signed by
the House of Raeford, will permit it to continue discharging wastewater to the
city but requires them to meet the target dates they specified in their im
provement plan.
Phillips says the city will want the right of inspection after the im
provements are complete but says he will withhold his decision on fines im
posed against the company until after Phase II improvements are complete. He
says the fines will not be less than the costs the city has incurred because of
the violations at the treatment plant, violations which a state official says oc
curred primarily because of indusuial effluent
The written part of Brock’s presentation last week included a brief descrip
tion of the redesign plans along with charts and tables prepared by a study team
from N. C. State University. Brock said one of the company's aims in having
the study done was to find out what the biggest problem was at the plant and
"what we should concenuate our efforts on."
The team studied water volume and strength levels of the wastewater at sev
eral points in the production process, according to Brock. The study revealed "a
higher concentration of soluble material (blood) than would normally be found
at a poultry plant."
Brock said the company is "spending a lot of money" on equipment and
process changes. The first phase of improvements involves a redesign of the
killing and evisceration areas in the plant. In the killing area, the improve
ments are designed to get a faster kill and capture the blood before it gets into
the wastewater, according to Brock’s presentation. The company has purchased
an automatic killer which officials say does a better job of bleeding the birds
faster. The plans also include lengthening the tunnel through which the blood
flows.
(See HOUSE, page 13)
Rezoning plan angers residents
More than a dozen residents of
Pine Forest subdivision arc expected
to attend next Monday’s Raeford City
Council meeting to speak in opposi
tion to a controversial request to re
zone a 2.05-acre parcel of land at the
comer of Prospect and 401 Business,
and property owner Frank Crumpler
says he knows of just as many who
support his request.
Frank and Dayne Crumpler, own
ers of the land, first took their request
to the then Raeford Planning Board
to have the land rezoned from R-12
residential to highway commercial in
May 1987. The Planning Board voted
to not recommend the rezoning and
that recommendation was upheld by
Raeford City Council at its June
1987 meeting.
Since the planning board was dis
solved earlier this year to make way
for the combined Raeford/Hoke
County Planning and Development
Commission which has not yet gone
into effect, the request goes suaight
to City Council for its decision.
Neighborhood residents say they're
afraid the rezoning will change the
nature of their neighborhood from
residential to commercial. Residents
who spoke in opposition to the re
zoning last year plan to appear again
next week. "We're trying to protect
our neighborhood for our children,"
says Barbara Lupo whose property
adjoins the Crumplers.
Lupo says another concern her
neighbors have is of increased traffic
at an already busy and dangerous in
tersection which she says is
"jokingly known in Hoke County as
the wrecking comer." Just last Fri
day, County Commissioner Mabel
Riley was involved in a minor wreck
at the intersection.
Of the neighbors Lupo has talked
to she says "they feel we need to
keep this neighborhood a quiet fam
ily neighborhood." Lupo says a lot
of young children live in the neigh
borhood.
Although Crumpler had said last
year he was planning to move
Click's Nursery from an adjacent lot
(See REZONING, Page 12)
Council formed to address needs of Hoke County youth
Teenagers in Hoke County are
probably like teenagers everywhere.
They all have a great deal of energy
and curiosity—a combination that
can cause trouble if it leads to exper
imentation with drugs and sex. The
summer can be a particular tempta
tion for youngsters with time to
spare and not much readily available
entertainment.
But a group of local citizens, in
cluding some teenagers themselves,
have formed the Hoke County Youth
Advocacy Council to uy to deal with
some of the concerns and problems
teenagers experience.
The community-based task force
which had its first meeting in April
is an outgrowth of the Federal Drug-
free Schools and Communities Act;
however, the issues being considered
by the group go beyond drugs.
Youth Advocacy Council (YAC)
members want to make the commu
nity aware of their goals. To that
end, a speaker's bureau manned by
people who will speak before com
munity groups and civic clubs on the
particular concerns of teenagers, in
cluding substance abuse, teen preg
nancy, school drop-outs and teen
suicide is being developed.
Members of the task force hope
that as more people in the commu
nity become aware of the problems
facing today's teens, they will come
forward to sponsor wholesome
activities.
YAC will also have a booth at
this year's Turkey Festival to help
make the public aware of the goals.
Another goal of the task force
members is peer counseling-training
teenagers to talk to their peers. As
Kathi Ellis, one of the motivating
forces behind the advocacy group
says, the idea is "to steer their peer in
the right direction."
As Hoke County’s School Nurse,
Ellis emphazises that peer counseling
would not take the place of profes
sional counseling if that was needed,
but would provide someone a
teenager could talk to who might
have a suggestion to which the trou
bled teen would listen.
Officers of the Youth Advocacy
Council are Glenn Green, chairman;
Marilyn Brown, vice-chairman; and
Tywanda Ellison, secretary. Other
members include parents, school of
ficials, teenagers, law enforcement
and court officials and others inter
ested in the needs of Hoke County
teenagers.
Young Rockfish girl is granted her wish
Jessica Bascomb's wish is to be
well. The 11 year old Rockfish child
has lymphocystic Leukemia. Know
ing that her wish can't be granted by
any mortal, when asked by the Sun
shine Foundation to name anything
she wanted she chose an above
ground pool.
Last Wednesday her wish was
granted.
As the Bascomb family watched.
Hallmark Spa and Pools employ
ees—donating their time—erected a
four-foot pool in the side yard. The
$2,200 pool was donated by the
company after Ernie Bates, the
Fayetteville Sunshine Foundation
representative called with Jessica’s
story.
By Wednesday afternoon the pool
was in place but lacked that essential
amenity—water. Not to worry.
Again, as the family looked on,
first one fire truck, then another, and
another until there were six, pulled
into the driveway.
"Look at this," Debbie Bascomb,
Jessica's mother said. "When anyone
is bad-mouthing the world—let them
sec something like this. Let them
feel this."
The trucks—from Hillcrest,
Rockfish, North Raeford, West
Hoke, Stonewall and Pine Hill fire
"When anyone is bad-mouthing
the world—let them see some
thing like this. Let them feel
this." —Debbie Bascomb
departments—lined up to dump water
into a central reservoir from which
the water was pumped into the pool.
Twenty minutes later the water level
rose to the three and a half foot level.
Mrs. Bascomb says her supervisor
at the Fayetteville Purolator Plant
told Jessica's story to the Sunshine
Foundation, which exists to grant the
wishes of terminally ill children.
■ ■.
The youngster was diagnosed at
Duke University as having Leukemia
October 22 after originally going to
the doctor for what her family
thought was an appendicitis. She is
currently undergoing a three year
treatment plan. If she relapses, a new
plan will be devised. "Each day we
pray for the best," Mrs. Bascomb
says. Jessica, a J.W. Turlington
School student last year, missed 57
days, but made them up and passed.
Jessica's wish for a pool is easy to
explain. She had asked her physical
therapist if, given her debilitating
illness, she could swim. When the
(See WISH, page 13)
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Excited
Jessica Bascomb is excited at the
prospect of swimming in her very
own pool and watches as it is filled
with water. The pool was her wish
to the Sunshine Foundation, an
organization that arranges to grant
wishes of terminally ill children.
V ^ —T I
Operation swim
Volunteers from six Hoke County fire departments fill a reservoir first, and then Jessica's pool, with water. The
operation took 20 minutes.
Raeford Hotel is sold;
buyer plans changes
The Fayetteville pharmacist who
bought the Raeford Hotel at Main
and Central about a month ago has
big plans for remodeling and rededi
cating the historic old building but is
not yet ready to reveal those plans
publicly.
Reginald Dawson, a Revco phar
macist, says he is definitely inter
ested in downtown Raeford and be
lieves the renovation of the old hotel
building is important for more than
one reason. Not only docs Dawson
want to see the hotel take on a new
image, he believes the renovation
will have a positive impact on other
downtown property.
Dawson, who owns other property
in Fayetteville, says he's talked to
designers about his plans and has got
some estimates for the building but
hasn't hired an architect yet. They all
seem to be busy on school projects
right now, he says.
Even though Dawson is still
evaluating his plans for the building
he says he does want to bring back
some of its historical significance.
"The building has some very in
teresting architectural features which
I hope will be used" as the building
is renovated, says Kay Thomas,
chairman of the Downtown Revital
ization Commission.
"I think the building and that cor
ner are so vital to the health of
downtown that the purchase is more
significant than people realize. It is
very important and the Downtown
Revitalization Commission is very
pleased that someone is investing in
downtown Raeford," she says.
Around Town
by Sam C. Morris
The weather over the 4th of July
holiday was super. The temperaUires
were in the 80s and the lows at night
were in the 60s. We could still use .
some rain, but we still are better off
than other areas of the state and na
tion.
The forecast for the remainder of
the week is for the temperatures to be
in the 80s for the high and the lows
in the 60s through Thursday. Friday
and Saturday has a forecast for highs
to get back into the 90s. There isn't
any rain in the forecast.
* * *
Most of the folks who turned out
for the July 4th events sponsored by
the Constitutional Bicentennial
Committee of Hoke were dressed in
red, white and blue. They were served
free lemonade by the committee, be
fore and after the contesL
Most folks had a picnic basket and
enjoyed eating together on the lawn.
After the picnic they assembled in
the sanctuary of the First Baptist
Church. The Handbell Choir of that
church presented a program entitled
"We the People."
This is the second annual event
sponsored by this committee and
since the celebration of the
Constitution has one more year,
maybe we will have the third annual
event. Hope to see you next year!
(See AROIWD. page 13)