The
ews
J ourn al
The 21st issue of our 83rd year
RAEFORD, NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Wednesday, September 4,1991
Mercer: JOBS program could lower social services costs
Hoke County is about to start a new state
program aimed at getting people off welfare and
into the work place.
JOBS—Job Opportunities and Basic Skills—
is the most comprehensive job training program
yet, said Bob Mercer, director of Hoke’s De
partment of Social Services.
JOBS makes all parents (except those with a
valid excuse) who get money from the state to
raise their families go through the program until
they have been taught and trained enough to get a
Job and support the families themselves.
Those who decline to participate or drop out
part way through lose their welfare money.
Mercer believes the program can work, but it
will take sweat and cooperation from business
V
# f
Rejection
A Hoke lineman rejects a pass by Charlotte Garinger's High Bucks and the Southwest Conference champions,
quarterback early in a scrimmage between the Hoke The Bucks emerged victorious. Story page 8.
SAT scores jump 23 points
Hoke County students who took the
Scholastic Aptitude Test last semester
did better, on average, than any group of
test-takers in the county for the last
seven years.
“We’re pleased that we’ve had a 23-
point gain,” said Lavetla Horton, associ
ate superintendent for Hoke County
Schools.
“We arc real excited about this. It
indicates some degree of improvement,”
she said.
In fact, Hoke’s SATs, lliough still
below state average, have risen at a
much faster rate than that of cither the
state or the nation.
“Nationally, the trend has been drop
ping,” Horton said.
Nationwide, the SAT is generally
uken by juniors or seniors seeking entry
into college. The test is intended to pre
dict the performance of a student in
college. The SAT is divided into two
parts, math and verbal. The minimum
score is 400, the maximum 1600.
Hoke’s averageSATscores rose from
(See SCORES, page 6)
Turkey Festival to get
taste of Desert Storm
North Carolina Turkey Festival
goers will gel to see some of the
heroes of Operation Desert Storm
in person as the Army’s 82nd Air
borne Division brings its Desert
Storm Homecoming Events Mo
bile Exhibit Team to the Turkey
Festival.
They’ll see some of the men and
machines that made the Persian Gulf
war so short; exhibits include an
Ml tank, an M3 Bradley, a M109
self-propelled howitzer, a Humvee
with tow and a MICLIC mine field
clearing vehicle. *
Plus, the 82nd Airborne will bring
in two helicopters, an AH-64
Apache, and an OH-58 Delta, an
infantry display, and a working dog
team.
The display will be set up in
the parking lot behind Southern
National Bank all day Saturday,
Sept. 21.
Festival gets more sponsors
Additional companies have become
sponsors of the N.C. Turkey Festival.
With the Festival only two weeks
away, organizers arc trying to finalize
tlieir funtlraising efforts.
Any business wishing to become a
spttnsor should call Diana Pressley at
the Raeford-Hoke Chamber of Com
merce at 875-5929 or Marvin Lynne
Maxwell at home at 875-3818.
So far, the following businesses and
industries have become sponsors (up
dated lists will be printed in upcoming
editions of The News-Journal, the most
recent additions in boldj:
Aberdeen Bottling Co.
Associated Posters
Auto Parts and Equipment
Barbee Pharmacy
Bird in Hand
Cape Fear Farm Credit
Carolina Power and Light
Carolina Telphonc and Telegraph
Carolina Turf
City of Raeford
Clayton Brooks
County of Hoke
Dickson Press, Inc.
Donald R. Johnson, DDS, PA
Dr. Charles Inman
Dr. R.G. Townsend
Dr. Ramnik Zota
Edinborough Restaurant
Enviro-Chem Company
Farm Chemicals, Inc.
Fast Shop Food Mart
First Citizens Bank
Hcilig-Mcycrs Furniture
Hodges Associates, Inc.
Hoke Cable, Inc.
(See SPONSORS, page 6)
men, from social workers, from county officials.
“The more involvement we get the more
success we’re going to have,” he said.
Success will take “all of the business and
governmental agencies in the county pulling
together.”
“The JOBS thing is going to permeate so
many areas in the county that it’s going to have to
be very carefully coordinated,” he said.
“It’s just programmed into a much larger,
more progressive program,” he said.
“We’re going to have to go to zero and start
over.”
Mercer has been in social services long
enough to see job programs come and go—does
(See JOBS, page 6)
Board sets interviews
for sheriff candidates
H oke County commissioners announced
yesterday they will begin interviewing
candidates for the job of sheriff of Hoke
County 7 p.m. Thursday.
Around Raeford, many people had expected
commissioners to pick a new sheriff at yester
day’s meeting.
Fifteen men and one woman have applied for
the job; the closing date for applications was
August 23.
Eddie Allen, Debbie Brewer, Daniel D.
Brock, Wayne Byrd, Frank Crumpler, Larry
Godbold, James Holt, Jim Knott, William Gary
Lowe, Jim Madden, John McNeill, Weaver
Patterson, Jimmy Riley, John Robertson, Thomas
Rugg and David A. Stewart applied for the job.
Three do not live in Hoke County: Godbold,
Holt and Stewan. Because they have not lived in
the county for a year, they cannot hold the office.
Four are now members of the Sheriff’s
Department; Eddie Allen, Debbie Brewer,
Weaver Patterson (assigned to the Hoke-Robeson
Drug Task Force) and Jimmy Riley.
Frank Cnimpler is the interim sheriff; as
county coroner, he automatically took the sher
iff’s job when former Sheriff Alex Norton was
removed from the job by a Superior Court judge
August 3.
Hoke praised by study leaders
for accommodating Fort Bragg
Leaders of a study of land uses for Fort
Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Camp Mackall and
surrounding counties and communities praised
Hoke County commissioners for being the first to
include special provisions in its zoning law
regarding land near the military bases.
The Joint Land Use Compatibility Study,
finished in April, identified noise problems
caused by low-level flights and artillery bombing
on the bases; showed how many jobs and how
much money were pumped into the economies of
Hoke and other counties next to the bases; and
made suggestions to the Army, the Air Force and
to surrounding towns and counties on things they
could do to “work together as good neighbors,”
Dougherty said.
Calling Hoke’s zoning provisions “a bold step
forward,” Jim Dougherty, a state planner, told
commissioners, “you have gone way beyond
most of the other local governments.”
The study commission recommended that
counties adopt laws that new construction in
noisy areas be soundproofed and that land owners
and developers warn prospective buyers of the
noise.
The study also recommended the Army and
Air Force pay land ow ners a fee for land near the
bases because the propeny values are lower. Both
the Army and Air Force steadfastly refused to
take such measures.
The Department of Defense paid most of the
$275,000 tab for the study, because. Army
representative Glen Prillaman said, “Fon Bragg
and Pope Air Force Base are national assets...and
should rightly be protected.”
The bases also provide “a certain economic
stability to this area.” said Omega Weeks, a chief
of environmental planning at Pope AFB.
But Commission Chairman Wyatt Upchurch
said Hoke County—a third of which is Fort
Bragg Reservation—isn’t getting its fair share.
Fayetteville, he noted, gets $18 million
pumped annually into its economy; Spring Lake
gets $17 million.
Raeford gets only S57,(X)0, he said.
“1 have a problem with that,’’ he said.
“It’s not equally distributed at all,” Dougherty
admitted.
He recommended Hoke look for industries
which can supply Fon Bragg’s needs; one of the
products of the study was a full understanding of
what supplies the bases buy locally and what they
(See CANDIDATES, page 10)
Man gets 50 years
in shooting death
An Antioch man was sentenced to 50
years in prison for the murder of a Coun
cil man in February.
Abel Hernandez w'as convicted of
second degree murder for shooting
Gumaro Coronado Lopez, 24.
He shot Lopez in die head seven
limes as he lay in bed at the home of
Hernandez’ estranged wife.
Hoke County Sheriff’s Lt. Debbie
Brewer and Raeford Police Officer
Jackie Jordan responded to a report of a
multiple shooting at 3:30 a.m. February
10 in Kaynuir .Mobile Home Park off
Highway 401 Business.
They arrested Hernandez and con
fiscated a .22 caliber pistol used in the
shooting. Hernandez had broken into
the trailer, where he reportedly used to
(Sec SENTENCED, page 10)
Around Town
By Sam C. Morris
TTie weather has been nice for the
first four days of this week. The tem
peratures have been in the 80s during the
day and the lows at night have been in
the 60s. It was dry Monday and this was
the f i rs t day i n some li me iha t w e ha v cn ’ t
had some rain.
According to the forecast, the re
mainder of the week will sec the tem
peratures rise to the high 80s during the
day and w ill be in the high 60s at night.
After getting soaking wet on the golf
course last Friday 1 wouldn’t rule out
rain for any day of the upcoming week.
* * * * *
Labor Day fun
Crystal Malloy, 5, enjoys a ride on a pony at House of Raeford's annual Labor
Day Employee Appreciation Day, held Monday at Armory Park.
In talking with Julian Butlerand John
Balfour during the week, it seems that
the cotton crops have been hurt by the
wet weather. The rain has caused the
bolls to rot on the plants. Also some of
the tobacco in the fields liaven’i been
harvested because of the shortage of
bamsiocure the tobacco Since the leaf
IS wet it takes longer to cure the tobacco.
Manv of the cotton farmers w ill start
to di'fohage their fields next week. The
cotton picking should begin in about
three weeks. It could continue on into
October.
* * * * *
Since writing in this column last week
about the opening of schools and the
children being beside the highways in
tlie early morning hours, 1 read where
parents are protesting about the early
pickup in a neighboring county.
So let’s all of us who arc going to
work early in the morning be exua care
ful as we drive along the highways. The
school children must be up and out by
the roads about daylight to reach school
in time for their classes. Please watch
out for them!
* t * * *
Last Wednesday Congressman Bill
Hefner was in the county. He had lunch
(Sec AROUND, page 6)