A
The
ews
Journal
The 11th issue of our 83rd year
RAEFORD, NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Chief deputy refutes Brown’s testimony; contradicts sheriff
I'he chief deputy of the Hoke County Sheriffs
Department fogged the picture being painted—by
court testimony—of a November shooting at
Cousins Club in Antioch.
Chief Deputy Wayne Gardner’s boss, Sheriff
Alex Norton, is on trial for his job; District
Attorney Jean Powell and County Attorney
Duncan McFadyen accuse Norton, among other
things, of driving away from the scene of the
shooting rather than chasing down a car appar
ently involved in it.
Norton has testified he heard the shooting from
V .
r
Out on a limb
Rescuers lower Jennifer Saleeby from the heights of an
oak tree where she and Fred Smith landed Monday.
The two — strapped together —jumped from a plane
near Raeford Airport, but their main and reserve para
chutes failed and became tangled.
Chutists fall more than a mile
into trees ... and walk away
A Fon Bragg soldier and a North Mynle
Beach resident on her second parachute
jump fell for more than a mile into an
oak tree near the Raeford Municipal Airport
Monday evening. After a two-hour rescue effort
the two walked away unhurt.
Fred Smith, an Army chief warrant officer,
and Jennifer Saleeby had jumped from a plane
strapped together in a tandem jump when their
main chute malfunctioned.
“The first chute went behind us,” Saleeby
said. “He pulled the reserve and it went in front
of us.”
I’he two dropped from about 6,000 feet with
the chutes flapping and creating drag, Smith and
Saleeby said.
Smith said he steered into trees to break their
fall. “We did a good job of keeping things under
control,” he said.
“I heard the tree crack when we went into it,”
Saleeby said. That was her only concern as the
two awaited rescue. During the rescue one limb
broke just after a rescuer left it.
The two said their plane circled until friends
from the airport arrived near the tree. They called
out until they were found.
When the Hoke County Rescue Squad, EMS
(See CHUTISTS, page 3)
Festival brings magic to town
Eddy Wade, one of two magicians to
perform at this year's Festival.
The North Carolina Turkey Festi
val is not that far off, folks. Here it is
the end of J unc; that leaves only aboui
a month and a half before the fun
starts.
But not to worry, the magic elves
who bring you the festival have been
hard at work.
One of them (actually festival board
member Kristi Posey) has already
lined up all the musicians and magi
cians for this year’s festival.
Magicians? That’s right. For tJic
first time, a magic show will add to
the festival’s sparkle. In fact, this
year’s theme is “It’s Magic.”
To be held at Armory Park Friday,
September 20, at 6 p.m., the show
will feature David VanDerveerof the
Fearless Airborne Conjury.
VanDerveer is a walking encyclo
pedia of circus skills. He combines '
comedy,magic,juggling, unicycling,;
trick shooting, knife throwing and !
tlie delicate art of the bullwhip. I
His most famous uick has earned '
him the ttickname ‘The Chainsaw '
Juggler.”‘Nuff said.
VanDerveer will be preceded by ..
magician Eddy Wade, who special
izes in the classics of magic, like
sawing folks in half, eating fire and
levitating. ;
It’s all everyday stuff to Wade.
The magic show will have some-
iliing for all ages; the youngest will;
delight to the show opener, balloon ^
sculptures by Rosie ifte Magic Clown. ■
Tickets for the show will cost $2.
(See FESTIVAL, page 4) |
a nearby driveway where he was parked, then
later drove to investigate after calling in Sgt. Josh
Brown.
Brown has testified Norton didn’t come to
investigate the shooting at all; he said then-
Detective Wayne Gardner showed up, then drove
off to seek the car involved in the shtx)ting.
Gardner said Monday he did not drive to
Cousins Club early November 4 upon hearing
about the shooting over the car radio.
Instead, Gardner said, he responded from
(See SHFRIFF, page 12)
DeVane, Dial asked
to stop district plan
Hoke leaders talce protest to Raleigh
D anny DeVane doesn’t have much to say
to make angry voters feel better about
the new district plan.
DeVane and Adolph Dial, house representa
tives from the 16th District in which Hoke now
lies, sit on a house board whose leaders proposed
a plan which would split Hoke County into three
House districts with one representative each.
Each of those districts covers parts of other
counties. Each of three races—black, Indian and
white—would dominate the population of one
district.
Hoke citizens would make up a minority in
each district; Robeson citizens would make a
- .at'
Rep Pete Hasty
at Raeford meeting.
“I was lold that there was goinji to he
an Indian district cut and I might as well
go home and sell my people on it”—Rep.
Danny DeVane
majority in each.
At a Monday morning meeting at
Edinborough Restaurant on S Main Street,
Raeford, angry voters from Hoke, Scotland and
Robeson Counties accused those who drew the
maps of splitting up tlie races, trying to destroy
the counties and dirty dealing.
“There’s nothing I can say that’s going to ease
your feelings,” DeVane told the crowd.
“There’s no way to put it back together,” he
said later. “They’ve got 26 or 27 solid votes to
take it the way it is right now.”
DeVane blamed the Tri-County Black Caucus
for spoiling hopes for a district with one repre
sentative that would cover only Hoke and Scot
land Counties.
He cited a May 11 meeting of the Black
Caucus in Raeford at which he said he was
“raked over the coals.”
While he was under fire from the blacks, he
said, he didn’t get any support from the rest of
the community for his plan.
“Not one single person stood up and told me
they supported a
single member
district in Hoke and
Scotland County.”
Before the Black
Caucus meeting, both
Hoke and Scotland
County boards of
commissioners had
voted to support a
Hoke-Scotland
district with one
representative.
DeVane says he
has pushed for such a plan since he first ran for a
House seat 10 years ago.
“All that was in the newspaper then,” he said.
“I’m not trying to hide anything.”
At the Black Caucus meeting. DeVane pushed
a plan that would carve a majority Indian district
out of Robeson County and make a Hoke-
Scoiland one-member district.
At Monday morning’s meeting, he revealed
what may have been his motive for pushing the
plan; he said an Indian district had been pre
decided in Raleigh.
“I was told that there was going to be an
Indian district cut and 1 might as well go home
and sell my people on it,” he said.
Not everyone at the meeting agreed with
DeVane.
“I don’t buy your observation that you don’t
have any influence on that committee,”
Lumberton Democrat E. B. Turner said. Turner
ran unsuccessfully for a house seat last year.
“The district is not pleased with what you and
Adolph have done,” he added.
“If you want to push your angle, we’ll know
that. If you want to represent the district, we’ll
know that, too.”
George Paris, mayor of Red Springs, said the
new districts are pan of a secret political deal.
“Yes, again, another under the table deal has
been swung here,” he said.
He added an Institute of Government expen
(See DISTRICT, p.ige 12)
Business to recycle pallets
You’ve seen them. Ttiosc wooden
things underneath slacks of cardboard
boxes in a waretiousc. Tlie tilings the
forklifts grab to move all those boxes
around.
They’re called pallets, and there’s a
new company in Wayside that recycles
them.
Welcome Home
party is Sunday
Organizers of Hoke County’s “Wel
come Home” party are hoping 500 people
will gather at Old Armory Park Sunday
to welcome back the troops from Desert
Storm.
At 2 p.m. free hot dogs, jtopcom and
soft drinks will be served.
At 2:30 a short program including a
parachute drop and music will be held.
Hoke’s ceremony is being held as
part of the statewide “Salute to the
Troops”celebraiion proclaimed for June
29-July 4 by Coventor Jim Martin.
In addition to the fotxl and ceremony,
a clown and the N.C. Turkey Festival
Turkey will apjx-ar and tJiere will be free
balloons.
Participants are urged to bring blan
kets or lawn chairs.
The event will be held rain or shine.
Whee ler’s Pallets moved into a bu ild-
ing on U.S. 401 North just three weeks
ago; Stephen Wheeler, the owner, em
ploys around 15 people.
They take broken pallets from clients
in business and industry eitJier for a fee
or to sell on the open market.
Millions of broken pallets are thrown
away each year; recycling them could
save a lot of space in trash dumps and a
lot of trees in forcsis.
Wheeler was welcomed yesterday by
the Raeford-Hoke Planning and Devel
opment Commission at the old Depot
Building witJi a w ine and cheese recep
tion.
Around Town
By Sam C. Morris
Afteraweekofhotand humid weather
it cooled off Monday. I don’t remember
the humidity any higher than it was last
week. If you did any outdoor work or
exercise, you would be w et from head to
foot. The cooler temperatures Monday
will only spoil us for the long summer
ahead.
There has been rain two or Umee
times and I have heard reports from two
to four inches of rain. We needed the
rain and it will help with the crops and
especially with the gardens.
The forecast calls for the tempera
tures to begin rising Werlnesday. On
Wednesday and Thursday we’ll see the
highs in the 80s and the lows in the 60s.
By Friday and Saturday the highs will be
in tJie mid-90s and the lows in the 70s.
Maybe we will have a thunderstorm in
the latter part of the week.
The leason for peaches, watermel
ons and cantaloujKS has come. The
peaches should be plentiful by the week
end. Usually we have the melons by the
4th of July. If we don’t have any hail the
crops should be super.
♦ * ♦
Since receiving the call about a
Raeford High School football team from
Maurice Fleishman of Fayetteville, I
have come up with 11 names on the
1920 team. They are Bab Austin, Alfred
Cole, Roland Andrews, Doug
McFadyen, Hog McLean, Frank
Culbrelli, C'rawlord Wright, Donald
McQueen, John Wilson, Lewis
Upchurch and Buck Currie.
Some of these names came from a
tom picture given to me by the late
Josephine Hall. She could name all but
two people in the picture. The picture
was tom and some of the players were
(See ARlJUND, page 12)