The
ews
Journal
The 49th issue of our 84th year
RAEFORD, NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Wednesday, March 17,1993
Evacuation: Jason and Eugene McKinney use a box to evacuate a litter of puppies from heavy smoke as a huge woods fire approached their home. Firemen and forest rangers stopped the
fire before it reached their T.C. Jones Road home.
Bethel Presbyterians found-this wind damage to their church from Saturday's storm. Members said it appears this
column was made from a single tree. Rotten inside, it couldn't withstand 50 m.p.h. winds.
Two years after Tom Cameron’s death
one accused murderer goes to trial
Patricia Jackson, driver of Hoke School Bus number 18, with weary children
after a two-hour wait at Hardin's Store in Rockfish last Wednesday. The bus,
with 30 students, was kept out of a woods fire area by sheriff's deputies.
Wicked
weather
strikes
twice
^ M ain’teverseen nothing like
I that,” Virginia Johnson
I said. She was preparing
dinner Wednesday afternoon when
she looked out her kitchen window
and saw a wall of smoke making its
way to her home.
“1 was scared it *d get my house,”
she said, as she pointed to the
scorched earth mere inches from
the side of her home. “It was a
miracle.”
Miracles occurred in several ar
eas of the county as winds gusting
to nearly 50 miles per hour pushed
unrelated woods fires to within feet
of scores, of homes in Rockfish,
Quewhiffle and North Raeford and
prompting officials to evacuate ar
eas. That no homes burned and no-
one was seriously injured was tes
tament to the dedication of volun
teer firemen, forest rangers and
sheriff’s deputies, residents of the
area said.
The fires were pushed by strong
winds, but the gusts paled in com
parison to what Hoke was in store
for Saturday.
Freak storm
Forecasters called it afreak. storm
and one of the most powerful this
century. Hoke residents .saw it’s
fury not in a great amount of snow
as didsome N.C communities, but
in high winds that broke records
(see related story, page 4) as the
barometer fell to 28.50 — hurri
cane level.
Also toppled were trees and
power lines and even part of one
building.
The Raeford Sears store had
erected a porch on the rear of the
building last week. Saturday, a gust
of wind flipped the entire structure
up over the building, taking down a
power line.
At Bethel Presbyterian Church,
wind blew over one of four col
umns that supported the building’s
roof.
Though Hoke didn’t get much
snow, up to an inch fell Saturday
night.
Dangerous combination
Saturday’s impressive weather
came on the heels of Wednesday’s
series of fires which threatened
homes in three areas of Hoke
County.
Twenty-five Hoke and six
Robeson, Cumberland and Moore
fire units battled the fnes.
Hoke County Forest Ranger
Larry Moser said Wednesday’s
high winds and low humidity
(See STORMS, page 4)
On March 21, 1991 Clyde
Upchurch found his cousin Tom
Cameron murdered and robbed near
his pond in northern Hoke County.
Two years and many tears later,
one of the accused will finally be
brought to trial.
The trial of Tyrone Williams
will begin next Monday, two years
and one day from when Upchurch
found Cameron beaten to death.
“When 1 ’m asked to testify at the
trial, it’ll bring back unpleasant
memories,” Upchurch said. “I was
the one who found him minutes
after he was killed.”
The memory of that fateful
March day haven’t faded for the
first cousin, business partner and
best friend of Cameron.
“You don’t ever forget,” he said.
“Having been with him nearly ev
ery day for 74 years, it would be
difficult to do. It will be a scar,
always.”
The men used to fish at two
ponds on property Cameron co
owned in northern Hoke County.
Cameron drove up to the upper,
smaller pond as Upchurch and a
friend finished fishing at the larger
lake. That was the last time
Upchurch saw his cousin alive.
The two ponds are separated by
a large dam, and once Cameron
drove beyond it, he was out of
sight. Thinking nothing wrong,
Upchurch said he went to speak
with Cameron, who was scheduled
to retire as president of Upchurch
Milling Company on June 30.
What he saw instead burned into
his memory.
“I saw the three blacks running
from the scene of the crime,” he
said in a March 27,1991 interview
with The News-Journal. The trio
reportedly carried fishing poles.
He said Cameron was so recently
dead that minnows of an overturned
bait bucket were still jumping.
“Shock and grief and a feeling of
futility,” were his initial reactions
(See CAMERON, page 14)
Around Town
Tyrone Williams, when first arrested
By Sam C. Morris
The weather has been the topic in the
newspapers and on television. A storm
that hit Florida Friday and came up the
east coast was the worst storm in 1(X)
years. The storm had hurricane force
wind-s on the coast and in tlic inlands it
brought up to five feet of snow. Tfic
roads were closed, as well as airports
and it even stopped the rai 1 service. Over
a hundred people died in this storm. The
estimated costs of the tlamagc could run
into the billions.
We in Hoke County were fortunate
because the snow didn’t cover ilie high
ways, but the wind did leave limbs and
other objects on die ground. The power
lines were- not down and 1 don’t believe
that television went out. The tempera
ture did get into the teens, but it warmed
up during the day.
There arc still patches of snow on the
north side of buildings and in shady
spots in the woods. Let’s hope tltat it
leaves soon, because it has been said that
if snow hangs around it is just waiting
for more snow.
The forecast calls for the icmpiera-
tures to be in the high 50s and low 6()s
during the day Wednesday through Sat
urday.The lows for this period will be in
the 30s. There is a chance of rain on
Wednesday.
Spring comes in on Saturday, March
1 attended the Hoke County Suaiegic
Planning Project Public Forum held last
week at the East Hoke Middle School.
Asstaicdinlast week’spaperthis fomm
was well attended. Those in attendance
represented all the people of die county.
The thing that impressed me about
the forum and the people was that it was
a place and time for the people to blow
(See AROirND. pace 141