The
ews
J oumal
The 50th issue of our 83rd year
RAEFORD, NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Wednesday, March 25,1992
Day care head to pay 15 months back rent to County
Dwight Oxcndine, chairman of Hoke K.I.D.S.,
Inc., a South Hoke day care center, owes 15
months back rent to Hoke County. The day care
center is housed in South Hoke Community
Building.
Oxendine has arranged with county officials to
resume payments, he said yesterday; but concerns
over maintenance of the building, on which he
says his non-profit company has spent a large
sum of money, has prompted him to renegotiate
the contract with the county at the next board
meeting April 6. Oxendine would not say exactly
how much he has spent on repairs.
Oxendine made his first two rent payments to
Hoke County in 1990, then stopped paying,
according to county records. But Oxendine says
the county has failed to maintain the building
properly.
The center’s director, Pearlie Brooks, told him
she had reported maintenance problems to the
county, he said, but “she didn’t get any results.’’
The county allots $750 per year per building
for maintenance, Oxendine said — not enough to
keep up a building in bad shape like the South
Hoke Building, he said.
However, the lease agreement signed by
Oxendine and Wyatt Upchurch, chairman of the
(See DAY CARE, page 4)
Regional cargo airport gets push
by officials meeting in Lauiinburg
Local and state officials pushed
the proposed ‘Transpark,’’ a huge
industrial park centered around a
cargo airport, at a meeting Wednes
day afternoon in Laurinburg.
“It is going to happen, I think,”
Ernest Pearson, assistant secretary
for economic development, said
of the project. “It is now a matter of
how big it is and where it is.”
The application deadline is in
April for sites wanting the state to
build the project Area leaders, in
cluding Hoke’s Board of Commis
sioners, have lined up behind a pro
posal to site Transpark at Laurin-
burg-Maxton Airbase.
At a recent meeting, leaders from
Maxton and Laurinburg and the Laur-
inburg-Maxton Airport Commission
voted to donate the airport to the
state if it would put the Transpark
there. The offer includes thousands
of acres of land.
“Laurinburg-Maxton is aggres
sively going after this,” Pearson said,
though he would not say if the state
is favoring any site for the project.
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However, he praised the efforts of
Laurinburg and Maxton to get the
project.
“You’ve got a very effective
team here for a smaller town,” he
said.
Laurinburg has some things go
ing for it from the start, Pearson
said. First, its location.
“The boom area for the state
will be the east,” he said.
“You’ve got the quality work
force,” he said. “You’ve got a sub
stantia] part of your workforce
that’s underemployed.”
The concept is speed
The concept behind Transpark
is speed, Pearson said.
“In the future, business is going
to be driven by speed, speed and
more speed,” he said.
Transpark, first proposed by a
University of North Carolina
professor and popularized by Gov
ernor James Martin, is based on
the way industries now make prod
ucts from parts made around the
world and the way they market
those finished products around the
world, Pearson said.
“This is not a dream, this is
happening right now,” he said.
The idea is for manufacturers to
be able to fill orders “just-in-time,”
Pearson said, cutting time, and thus
cost, for their customers. And the
best way to do that is to build your
plant right next to a major trans
portation hub.
The state is recruiting some
heavy-duty industries, Pearson
said, though he declined to name
(See TRANSPARK, page 14)
Reed: air cargo park
would bring Hoke
thousands of jobs
A huge industrial park centered
around a cargo airport would bring Hoke
County thousands of jobs and large
amounts of industry if it is built at nearby
Laurinburg-Maxton Airbase, the county
manager said last week.
“It would be unbelievable,” Barry
Reed said. Even though the project
would not be built in Hoke County, it
would be so big it could create up to
(See REED, page 14)
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Hoke’s developer
leaving for new job
P atric Zimmer, who has been Raeford and
Hoke County’s director of economic
planning and development for almost
two years, will take a new job starting April 10,
he said yesterday.
Zimmer will become Rockingham County’s
economic developer, where he will shed his role
as planner, he said.
ve enjoyed it here,’’ he said. “It’s been a
good learning experience.’’
Zimmer says he and the Planning Board have
“laid a good foundation” so that a new planner/
developer should be able to pick up where he left
off.
In Zimmer’s tenure, Hoke has seen some big
changes:
• the adoption of a county-wide zoning law.
“That was a major step in the right direction
for the county in terms of the growth that Raeford
and Hoke County will see over the next few
years,” Zimmer said.
The zoning law allows citizens to challenge, or
support, certain proposed uses of land in various
categories or zones.
“Already...we’ve had classic.cases of where
residents would have had no say-so
whatsoever...without zoning being in place,” he
said.
“That alone speaks for the importance for
zoning and what it means for protecting the
landowners’ rights,” he said.
• founding of the Plant Manager’s Association.
Managers from Hoke’s major industries have
begun to get to know each other and work to
gether on projects like “Adopt-a-school” and
improving workplace literacy.
• gaining a Community Block Development
Grant from the state to move Fayetteville Trans
former Co. to a Hoke County site. The money
was given to the county to loan to FTC.
As FTC pays back the loan, the county can use
that money in a revolving loan fund for economic
development projects.
It’s ^1 part of what Zimmer sees as having
been his biggest challenge, “helping the small to
medium-size business that’s in a position to put
itself over its initial start-up hump.”
Public loan money helps entice banks and
other major lenders to take part in such projects,
as they take about half the risk, yet have full
security, Zimmer said.
• cooperation between industry and education.
Under Zimmer’s tenure, Hoke has seen several
liaisons spring up between industry and educa
tion, arising out of the concern he says industry
has for a better educated workforce.
Sandhills Community College’s Hoke Cam
pus, under the direction of Mary Archie McNeill,
has started several workforce training programs
at local industries, he said.
The public schools’ vocational teachers have
been working with Sandhills to create a ‘Tech
Prep” program that will be more academically
rigorous and will train workers better for better
jobs.
Individual industries have recently adopted
most of Hoke’s schools in an effort spearheaded
by House of Raeford and Scurlock Elementary
School.
And school leaders are talking to businesses
about getting help bringing business and econom
ics courses to children at a much earlier age.
“I look for Raeford and Hoke County to keep
moving in a positive direction,” Zinuner said.
Family pushes Habitat project
Youth writes Jimmy Carter, asks for his help
A Hoke youth wants to build a house for his
former babysitter. And he’s looking for a little
help from the people of his home county.
Brad Johnson, 11, a sixth-grader at O’Neal
School in Southern Pines, recendy sent a check
for $25 to Habitat for Humanity, a celebrated
private housing program for the needy.
Brad had won the $25 for his entry in the
Moore County Daughters of the American Revo
lution essay contest. According to a letter he
wrote to former President Jimmy Carter, the
money was to go “towards starting a chapter of
Habitat for Humanity in Hoke County, N.C. to
help my former babysitter get a decent home.”
The former president and his wife, Rosalyn,
are famous for their volunteer work for Habitat
"Her house is just awjul"—Brad Johnson
2 indicted for murders
for Humanity around the world.
“Aunt” Mary Baldwin lives in an old wooden
house on land near West Hoke Middle School.
She is not actually related to Brad.
Aunt Mary took care of Brad between ages of
eight months and three years. “While my mom
and dad were teaching, she was kind of my
babysitter,” he said Friday.
“Her house is just awful.”
Brad is inspired by a chapter of Habitat for
Humanity in Moore County. He and his mother,
Naomi, say that chapter has tried to get Hoke
(See HABITAT, page 4)
AroLiiKJ Town
Two men were indicted by a grand
jury Monday in separate murdercases
wtdle a third man was indicted in a
shooting that left a youth paralyzed.
Lawrence Giarles Hubert McIn
tosh was indicted for the first degree
murder of Jessie Bell McBryde.
McIntosh allegedly turned him
self in after shooting McBryde to
death CX:tober 4 in her Kaynuir Mo
bile Home Park trailer.
Aundrey Cunningham, also
known as Andre, was indicted for
the second degree murder ofFrcdrick
Morrisey Jr September 30.
Cunningham allegedly shot Mor
risey in the face during a fight in the
men’s room of the Zodiac Lounge, a
night club north of Raeford. Mor
risey died two days later in the hospi
tal.
Richard Thomas Cummings was
indicted for conspiracy and aiding
and abetting the shooting of Chris
Nance August 11.
Nance was visiting friends in Rae
ford when he was shot by an as
sailant accompanied by Cummings
and another man, leaving Nance para
lyzed.
The grand jury also handed down
the following indictments Monday:
DanCalvin McDuffie; possession
with intent to sell cocaine within 300
feet of a school.
Richard Cummings; possession
of stolen goods.
Velma Holmes Johnson; forgery
and uttering.
Michael Lide; breaking, entering
and larceny—two counts.
(See INDICTMENTS, page 5)
Wreck victim
Vicki Wiles, 35, of Fayetteville is pulled from her car Friday after she ran into
a car driven by Kristian Marcus Norton, 17 of Raeford. Both drivers were
taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. Wiles was charged with failing
to see before starting at the intersection of Cole Ave. and Palmer St.
By Sam C. Morris
LastFiiday was the first day of spring,
but it looked like winter was hanging
around as the first snow fell in the county.
The temperature was above freezing so
we didn’t have any snow to stick in the
county. Robert Gatlin had predicted
snow on March 6, so he was two weeks
off. The colder weather continued into
the first of the week. We had rain
Sunday afternoon and night, but the rain
fall didn’t reach an inch.
The forecast calls for the thermom
eter to rise during the remainder of the
week. The temperatures on Wednesday
and Thursday will see the highs in the
60s and the lows in the 40s. Friday and
Saturday the mercury could rise into the
70s during the day and the lows at night
will be in the high 40s. We could have
some rain Wednesday night or Thurs
day morning.
* * *
Raz Autry said that the peaches were
hurt by the cold weather last Saturday
night. It wasn’t to the extent that the
crop will be below the normal yield,
because this freeze just thinned the
peaches. He is still holding his breath
because the bare peaches could freeze
during the next two weeks. Let’s hope
for the weather to stay warm so die
peach crop will be ok.
Bill Cameron said that most farmers
in the county are on schedule as far as
most crops are concerned. He said that
they should be planting corn this week
and then it will soon be time to start
planting tobacco.
Bill stated that if the rains don’t come
so heavy that the tractors can’t get in the
fields, then everything should be on
schedule for Hoke farmers.
* * *
Last week I had an item in this col
umn about the China-Burma theatre of
operation during World War II. I stated
(See AROUND, page 8)