Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Sept. 2, 1992, edition 1 / Page 1
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ews Journal The 21st issue of our 84th year RAEFORD, NORTH CAROLINA 25 CENTS Wednesday, September 2,1992 Cable TV bills, many with errors, surprise Raeford residents Some customers of Cablevision Industries received a jolt when they opened their cable bills this month. Not only did they find a different bill format, but some found a higher total due. To the chagrin of many residents, CVI recently changed its billing system and converted to new computers which mistakenly overcharged many customers this month. CVI general manager Ted Crane said he did not expect the resultant confusion with the changed format. CVI received many inquiries Monday, Crane said, but described Tuesday as “business as usual.” He said he was not quite sure what was caus ing all the concern because the company warned customers of the changes in prior bills. “We switched over to a new billing system and put information about the change into a previous bill insert,” Crane said. “But it must have con fused a lot of people. He said much of the problem stemmed from the printing of the bills before receiving last month’s payments. “There was concern where customers have received credit on the computers but the pay ments were received after the new bills printed up,” he said. But Crane said customers should not worry; the billing confusion is a “one shot deal.” And if you question the accuracy of your bill, just call them. “If Somebody has a late charge that they shouldn’t have because the dates changed, we’ll remove the charge.” Services won’t change. Crane assured; he said (See CABLE, page 6) ) % ‘ [\ Kindergarten students of Kim Tuttle’s McLauchlin School class wanted so badly to help hurricane victims, she helped them organize a donation project. They marched to the H.E.L.P. center on Main Street Tuesday with a wagon load of donated canned goods and other items. Hoke sends hurricane relief Hurricane Alexander left North Carolina physically unscathed, but not untouched as locals organize relief efforts for Florida. One Hoke woman whose parents live in Florida helped organize local relief efforts. Daisy Webber said she called around the area to find out what was being done in Hoke County, and from those calls arranged a few drop off points for donated items. “My parents live in Pensacola and I figured it could have hit them,” she said. But she said it also stemmed from a sense of giving, “People helped me when I first came to North Carolina.” Armed with flyers on paper donated by Kwikprint, Webber said they put the word out that the H.E.L.P. Center, Hotel Barber Shop and Butler Funeral Service agreed to serve as dropoff stations for items. Webber, in conjunction with businesses, arranged for a truckload to be mansported by Ryder Trucks. The first shipment was taken Friday, and the center is still receiving donations. But don’t expect to clean your closet and send it to Florida. “We don’t want clothes,” Nora Cockburn, director of the H.E.L.P. Center, said. “We request people bring bottled water, canned foods, hygiene items, bedding, towels and things of that sort.” “We want miscellaneous household items, baby needs, the basic essentials just to live day to day,” Webber said. “Plastic cups and dishes, nails and hammers, batteries.” Cockburn said their drivers would have no trouble with officials in delivering goods to Florida. But she did say for further shipments, (See RELIEF, page 8) Hefner, Sanford stump here as election nears Bill Hefner, in town last week. Area democrats are preparing for the November elections with visits from U.S. Senator Terry Sanford and Congressman Bill Hefner. Last week the congressman at tended an early morning breakfast meeting at the Wagon Wheel Res taurant to talk to area supporters. Hefner listed education and health care as major concerns, and said he thinks presidential candidate Bill Clinton will implement beneficial programs for North Carolinians. “I think the federal government ought to work closer with the state,” he said. Hefner also said these concerns are much of his campaign focus be cause the people are mandating the address of these problems. This Thursday, Sanford support ers can find the former governor at a breakfast meeting at the Edinborough Family Restaurant on Main Street from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., and the pub lic is in vited to discuss issues and ask questions. The Hoke visit will mark the first round of stops in the area of the senator’s 100-county course during the Senate’s recess. If you miss him in Raeford, Sanford will also stop in Clinton at the Farmhouse Restaurant on High- way42l at 12p.m. and in Wilmington from 5 to 6 p.m. at the meeting ball room at Thalian Hall on Chesnutt Street. Another former governor, Jim Hunt, will ride the campaign trail this fall in the gubernatorial elec tions. And two Raeford supporters are determined to help him regain the office. (See ELECTION, page 4) Festival countdown on; it’s just two weeks away The countdown is on. Only 13 days to the official opening of the 1992 Turkey Festival. Organizers again are expecting 50,000 people to gather in Raeford for the three days of the Festival, beginning Sept. 17. The kickoff event and a Festival highlight is the N.C. Turkey Cook ing Contest. Five finalists will compete for $1,900 in cash prizes. The five are Angela S. Bond of Wilkesboro; Cindy Engel of Monroe; Phyllis HartgroveofWinston-Salem; Patsy Helms of Peachland; and Karen L. Thompson of Charlotte. The Contest begins at noon the 17th, right after opening ceremo nies which again will feature N.C. Commissioner of Agriculture Jim Graham. After an afternoon of music, the annual Festival Parade will travel Main Street. Then, the Stuffin’ and Struttin’ will take place at Hoke High School. Friday is cultural arts day for the Festival. An afternoon of music is sched uled at the Hoke Library. Photo (See FESTIVAL, page 4) Woman’s throat cut outside local church A family dispute turned fatal when an 18-year old woman was mur dered, allegedly by her uncle last Wednesday. According to Police Chief J.E. Murdock, the woman, Andrea Malloy, was found with her throat slit outside of Mt. Sinai Hoi y Church on E. Seventh Street. Malloy and her uncle, Terry Jerome Harvey, had argued earlier in the evening, Murdock said, and when she left the church after ser vices the two again argued. Only this one ended in the young woman’s death. The 37-year old uncle was charged Violent crime rate increases property crimes up too W hile violent criine cases increased statewide by 8.5 percent in one year, Hoke’s rate appears to be growing at a disproportionately fast pace. Violent crimes in Hoke increased 37 percent from 1990 to 1991 according a State Department of Justice report. Sheriff Wayne Byrd, who said he grew accustomed to one murder a year or so in tfie past, said the number of murders this year alone frightens hint. Last year a murder occurred at an average of once a month, while during the first eight months of 1992 nine murders have already occurred. In fact, in August alone there were three mur ders. And Byrd said he expects the problem to become even worse as law enforcement copes with inadequate funding and number of employees. Violent crimes appear to be increasing in Raeford too. Overall, violent crimes decreased by seven percent in the city last year, but the Police Chief J.E. Murdock said that trend does not hold tme for 1992. '‘We had fewer reported robberies,” he said, “but we are increasing in the number of reported violent crimes. I’d be reluctant to say we’re having a decrease in crime. Violent crime seems to be on the increase in Raeford.” Byrd and Murdock both cited drug use as a key factor in violent crimes. And the crime Commission confirmed their fears. Statewide, violent crime directly resulted from drugs in 95.6 percent of all cases, with alcohol use factoring in at 73.6 percent. “Eighty percent is the lowest percentage I’d put to alcohol and drug relations to crime,” Murdock said. Alcohol and dmg abuse provides the pulse of the crime beast, Byrd said. Byrd also cites the degeneration of the family unit as a cause. That coincides with recent findings of the North Carolina Crime Commission. According to a study conducted by the commission, several correlating factors come into play when predicting crime rates. The makeup of the family unit directly corresponds to the incidence and type of crime. The Children’s Information Index for 1992 states that Hoke has a 10 percentage point greater number of single parent households than the state as a whole. According to the Justice Department statistics, counties with large numbers of single-parent homes also have higher violent crime rates. Hoke’s 31 percent tops the state average of 21 percent. The study also indicated that infant mortality rates at the county level correlate with the level of violent crime in the area. The 11.7 percent for Hoke again tops the state average of 10.6, ranking 59 of 1(X) counties. Crime in rural areas of North Carolina increased at double the rate of its larger counterparts and at a two percent higher rate than in 1991 for the first five months of this year.. Who are the victiras In 1991, women comprised over half of all North Carolina robbery victims. Female victims of multiple aggravated assaults and other as saults were more common than male. But in overall violent crime reports, the most common victim and offender would be a black in his early 20s. Around Town with murder. Murdock said the inci dent is still under investigation. Drug charges filed in several busts Three people were arrested on drug charges in the parking lot of Locklear’s Grocery on August 22. According to Sheriffs deputies, Rickie Covington, 19, Sophia Haynes, 20, and Jerome Campbell, 22, were spotted with a group of about six people at 2:30 a.m. in the store parking lot by sheriffs depu ties, who seized 18 rocks of crack (Sec CRIME, page 9) By Sam C. Morris Hurricane Andrew played out, but not until it had caused destruction along the gulf coast in the State of Louisiana. After coming ashore at Morgan City, it worked its way back to the east and the rains moved through northern North Carolina and into Virginia. It is impossible to pre dict the path of a hurricane. The weather has been nice in Raeford and Hoke County for the past week. It did get into the 50s on Saturday night and this helps with the electric bill. The rain has finally stopped, but it probably won’t be long before we will be wanti ng more rain. The forecast calls for the tem peratures during the day to be in the 80s Wednesday through Samrday. The lows at night will be in the 60s and there is a chance of rain for Fnday. Nice weather! * * * I understand that the politicians at the national level are making ap pearances in the county. I haven’t seen any of them, but as I stated last week, I will cast my vote for the candidates, but my pocketbook is out of political money for the year. K * * Patty Webb, first vice-president of tlie Raeford-Hoke Chamber of Commerce, was by the office last week and we talked about how to recruit members for the chamber. As we all know who have been associ ated with thechamberoverthe years, the organization is no stronger than (See AROUND, page 12)
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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Sept. 2, 1992, edition 1
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