The
ews
Journal
The 3rd issue of our 84th year
RAEFORD, NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Wednesday, April 29,1992
Representation, not distrieting is important, say Indians
An Indian group that formed late last year says
its push for racial representation on the Hoke
County Board of Coitmiissioners has been misun
derstood as an attempt to cut Hoke County into
districts.
What they want is representation, members
said at a meeting Monday night; their top priority
right now is getting one of their members elected
to the Board of Commissioners, not passage of
the referendum — or of districting.
Representation has been denied to Indians
beyond the Board of Commissioners, Civic Club
members said.
“There’s a lot of boards that there’s no Indians
on,” said Della Maynor-Goude, a member of the
Civic Club and up for re-election as Hoke’s
Register of Deeds.
For instance, members said, there are no
Indians on the Planning and Development Com
mission, which makes recommendations to
commissioners on planning and zoning in the
county.
“With 3,200 Indians in Hoke County, we
ought to be entitled to at least one position on the
board,” said Elias Rogers, another active member
of the Club.
Indians make about 14 percent of Hoke’s
population, but only about 9 percent of the
county’s voters. Only 848 Hoke County Indians
were registered to vote as of April 4, according to
Board of Elections records.
Members say they didn’t bring up the possibil
ity of cutting Hoke into districts in the first place;
they just wanted fair representation when they
first approached commissioners on November 18.
More than 50 Hoke Indians came to the county
board’s meeting that night to ask commissioners
to give them a seat on the board.
The group — led by Della Maynor-Goude,
(See REPRESENTATION, page 14)
m ^
I
*
Marlin speaks to crowd assembled at Hoke Library.
Martin with local Republican, Buddy Blue.
Martin pays Hoke
Bush campaign visit
It’s not often that a North Carolina governor visits Raeford, and
when one does, politics are probably the reason.
That was certainly the case yesterday as Gov. Jim Martin and a
big entourage swept into Raeford about 5 p.m. Martin and fellow
Republicans held a pep rally on the lawn beside the Hoke County
Public Library on Main Street.
The governor is stumping across several counties for George
Bush and Dan Quayle in their presidential re-election bid.
“In two days we’ll hit maybe 15 or 16” counties, he said, after
several notables, including John McCain, GOP senator from Ari
zona, finished brief, upbeat speeches.
McCain recalled years he and Martin spent in the House of
Representatives “doing the Lord’s work in the city of Satan,” just
before he railed against further cuts in the defense budget.
“I don’t want to see Fort Bragg closed,” he said. “1 don’t want
to see Fort Bragg reduced further.”
He cited the military’s work in the Gulf War as the kind of thing
a strong defense is for.
“They went over and they got the job done...with a minimum of
(See MARTIN, page 12)
Three jurors picked in murder trial
After a day and a half of question
ing, lawyers have agreed on three of
the 12 jurors needed for the trial of
Kerry Morston, who is accused in
last year’s murder of Ed Harris, a
Southern Pines police detective.
‘Theoretically, we could get over
this week,” Jean Powell, one of two
prosecutors in the case, said of the
jury-picking process.
Powell (Hoke’s District Attorney),
her assistant William Farrell (head
of the state Attorney General’s spe
cial prosecutions unit), and
Morston’s lawyers, Woodberry
Bowen and Ken Ransom of Lumber-
ton, have questioned 18 possible ju
rors so far, she said.
The two teams of lawyers get 14
automatic “challenges” to prospec
tive jurors who they think might not
judge fairly in the case.
Plus, any potential juror who is
related to either the accused or the
victim, or who expresses an opinion
on the case, can be excused by either
team without penalty.
Jurors who are excused “have
served their jury duty,” Powell said,
and can’t be called again for jury
duty for two years.
The lawyers must pick 12 jurors
and as many alternates as Superior
Court Judge Craig Ellis says are
needed, she said.
Picking a jury for this case is
slower than for most cases because
(See TRIAL, page 10)
^1 f fc
Sheriff Wayne Byrd (right) escorts Morston into the courthouse Monday
morning.
Year-round school on table for discussion
The Chairman of Hoke’s Board
of Education has proposed that the
county’s schools look at changing
the school calendar so school will
run all year long, without a summer
break.
That doesn’t meati more days in
school; under Chairman ShirleyGib-
son’s proposal, students would still
spend 180 days in class.
Gibson thinks year-round school
— run in nine-week quarters with
three-week breaks ^ might work
better for Hoke County than the tra
ditional two-scmestcr system.
The plan could raise test scores,
Gibson said, because students would
be tested on about two months of
material at a time, not four.
"I feel li ke this is ^oi ng to be a real
‘*We have to be willing to take
a risk in order to improve"
—Hank Richards
chance for us to bring up the scores,”
Gibson said Monday.
A key component in Gibson ’ s pro
posal, which one might say is on the
drawing board, is “remediation and
enrichment” programs during each
of the three-week breaks between
quarters.
Students who didn’t do well dur
ing a nine-week quarter would have
one, two or three weeks to catch up,
Gibson said. Meanwhile, gifted stu
dents would have those same three
weeks to get ahead.
Another big part of Gibson’s pro
posal is before- and after-school day
care, so parents could get year-round
care and supervision for their chil
dren.
Gibson cited a number of advan
tages to her proposal: less student
and teacher burnout due to more
frequent breaks, no lost time during
the start of school as students wait
for textbooks (and all the other little
delays that Gibson says accompany
the start of the school year), and less
time spent reviewing old material
because students won’t have spent
two and a half rhonths forgetting
what they learned before summer
vacation.
Gibson said she already sees one
problem that would be created if the
new system were installed; teachers
who spend summer vacation at col
lege pursuing advanced degrees
would be at a loss, she said.
“I’m hoping that our teachers
would be available to volunteer for
this,” she said.
Gibson suggested trying the pro
posal on a pilot school, possibly South
Hoke Elementary, whose test scores
are mostly lower than the rest of the
county, or maybe at the new Rock-
fish Elementary, likely to open next
year.
Hank Richards, principal ofSouth
Hoke School, was open to the possi
bility of year-round school, though
he cautioned the county should not
jump into it without research.
(See SCHOOL, page 12)
County signs
garbage deal
Nets 21-year outlet for trash
H oke County has solved its trash problem for the next 21
years.
That’s how Barry Reed, Hoke’s county manager, looks at
the signing Friday of pacts with Bladen and Cumberland Counties,
and with a Houston-based energy company.
Wyatt Upchurch, chairman of Hoke’s Board of Commissioners,
joined chairmen from the two counties and BCH Energy Corp., in
signing a 21-year deal in which each county will send its trash to a
Fayetteville site where a computerized plant will sort it and recycle
what it can.
The un-recyclable trash will be divided: that which can, will be
burned to make steam to run DuPont’s Fayetteville polymer plant;
trash that can’t be recycled or burned will be buried in
Fayetteville’s Ann Street landfill.
One of the most startling aspects of the deal, Reed said, is how
quickly it developed. “This project has gone from conception of
just the idea to signing of the contract in just a year,” he said.“For
government, that’s breakneck speed.”
Reed said that speed came about because of cooperation be
tween the three county governments, the need to act quickly and
the merits of the multi-million dollar project. “It’s just a super idea,
it just makes a lot of sense,” he said.
Why was trash such a problem for Hoke County?
First, the county landfill is just about filled.
Second, the state has put tough new laws in place that make it
very expensive to dig new landfills, or even to run old ones. They
also require local governments to recycle a certain amount of trash.
“We can’t continue doing what we’ve been doing,” Reed said.
One advantage of the pact, Reed said, is Hoke citizens will not
be forced to change the way they deal with trash.
Citizens “will not have to recycle as part of a mandated pro
gram,” he said, “because recycling will get done.”
“So it’s a convenient solution.”
Reed said it’s also the cheapest solution he’s seen ‘Tor a county
like Hoke.”
The contract calls for Hoke to pay BCH Energy $35.15 a ton for
doing away with the county’s trash. “New Hanover, they have $60
a ton and they have mass burning,” Reed said. “That doesn’t have
any recycling.”
The trash pact will mean higher bills; but they would have been
even two to five times higher than that, though he couldn’t say
exactly what trash bills will look like in the future. “I think it’s a
great deal,” Reed said.
In addition to paying to get rid of the trash, Hoke will also build
a transfer station to collect all of the county’s garbage from its
“convenience centers” — huge trash compactors, two of which
have been opened. BCH will haul the trash by truck from the
transfer station to the separating plant in Fayetteville.
Steam produced in a boiler heated by a new furnace will run
DuPont’s plant and produce electricity in a turbine generator.
BCH claims the deal will save Bladen, Cumberland and Hoke
Counties over $100 million over the life of the 21-year contract,
and produce 500 tons less air pollution than the current oil burner.
Around Town
By Sam C. Morris
I ended my item about weather last
week with the comment, “Maybe all the
cold weather has left for the year.” Well,
I was wrong. The temperatures have
been in the 60s during the day and the
lows have been in the 40s and 30s. We
had one and one-half inches of rain and
it has helped. The storm early Saturday
morning was accompanied by lightning
and it did some damage in the county.
The forecast calls for the weather to
remain cool for the weekend; Wednes
day through Saturday we should have
highs in the 60s and low 70s and the
lows at night wilt be in the ?0s and dOs
Wc could have some rain Thursday.
If the temperatures remain on the
cool side, we could have the first below
normal monthly reading in many months.
* *
Most of the farmers in the county
report that their com crop is up and
doing fine. Most fields that are being
used for tobacco are now filled with
machines and people planting. This
should go on for this week and maybe
next week.
Eddie Baker told me Sunday that it
will be a week or so before he starts
planting cotton.
♦ ♦ ♦
Last week I wrote that Raz Autry
would like for people to check their
attics and basements for old wheelchairs.
Last Friday morning he called and said
that Mrs. Neill McFadycn had twochairs
for him to pick up. One of the chairs is
electrically operated and it was used by
her son. Bill McFayden. Everyone who
knew Bill will know that he would be
pleased to know that his chair will be
used by someone who couldn’t afford a
(See AROUND, page 12)