The
ews
Journal
The 50th issue of our 84th year
RAEFORD, NORTH CAROLINA
25 CENTS
Wednesday, March 24,1993
McDougald Downs residents complain of poor cable TV service
Some Hoke Cable customers in the McDougald
Downs subdivision say they just want clear T.V. And
with newly replaced transmission line, Hoke Cable
thinks they’ll finally have the reception they want.
Customers reported repeated problems getting clear
reception in cable channels 23 through 26. After what
some claim as endless waiting, those channels should
come in now.
Wayne and Lauren Hall said they’ve had reception
problems since they came to the subdivision last
April.
“We called many times, and they haven’t done
anything about it,” Lauren Hall said. “They refunded
$3.70 (one month for the Disney Channel) instead of
refunding what was paid since last April. The Disney
Channel doesn’t come in and you pay for it. They
won’t rectify the situation.”
Hall said McDougald Downs residents have few
options without Hoke Cable. “If 1 didn’t have service
with them, I couldn’t get any other channels. We’re
locked in.”
She said Cablcvision Industries will not come to an
area already .served by Hoke Cable.
Wayne Hall said he would like another .service
option.
“You’re paying people for service and they mo
nopolize this area and treat you how they want,” he
said. “They take your money and they don’t care. I’m
not willing to not receive what Tm paying for.”
Some residents opted to do without rather than put
up with problems.
Neighbor Dory Straight said she heard of other
homeowners’ cable problems, and decided cable
wa.sn’t for her.
“I don’t want cable,” she said. “After I’d spoken to
(Sec CABLE, page 14)
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Hoke Sheriff’s detective Greg Beard emerges from Rockfish Creek at Twin Bridges with a safe that had been dumped into the creek. Waiting to assist
on the bank is Detective Bob Conerly.
Deputies recover stolen safe from creek
Sheriffs detectives charged a convenience
store clerk after discovering the man allegedly
faked a robbery to make off with an undisclosed
amount of money.
John Anthony Carbon, 19,1918 Harris Ave.,
Raeford worked for the Thrifty Mart on 401
Business for two weeks before allegedly con
spiring to steal the store safe and all the money.
Detective Bob Conerly said Carbon and ac
complice, William Lloyd Sneed, concocted the
plan which involved planning a fictitious rob
bery and dumping the safe in a creek by Twin
Bridges in Arabia. Conerly said Carbon went so
far as to have Sneed hit him to make it appear he
was attacked.
The pair also purchased a car in Raeford and
a .second car in Fayetteville after the incident.
(See CRIME, page 4)
Hoke contingent enconraged after meeting
of state task force on violence in schools
Hoke parents and educators
seemed encouraged following the
final public fomm of the Governor’s
Task Force on School Violence .
The small group from Hoke who
attended the meeting, said they
gleaned many good ideas and posi
tive feelings from the meeting held
Mohdaynig^tatTerry Sanford High
School in Fayetteville.
State Superintendent of Public
Instruction Bob Etheridge, SBI Di
rector Jim Coman and William
Dudley, assistant secretary of crime
control and public safety, earnestly
listened to students, parents, educa
tors and court officials from around
the region.
Coman said the forums served as
a means to draw all community mem
bers together to address the increas
ing problem of violence in North
Carolina’s schools.
“It’ll take more than three agen
cies to solve the problems,” he told
the crowd of more than 100. “Vio
lence is acommunity problem. We’re
here to listen to your concerns and
solutions to the violence problem.”
Solutions from the crowd ranged
from peer mediation boards to sliffer
laws to hanging them.
A group of Cumberland County
students bl amed decaying morals mid
families for many of the behavioral
problems of students. And adults
seemed to agree.
“We’re dealing withdiffcreni chil
dren than we were five years ago,”
Carrie Collins said. Collins, with the
Robc.son County Coun system, said
(Sec VIOLENCE, page 5) .
./■
William Dudley, assistant secretary,
Dept, of Crime Control and Public
Safety hears citizens.
New project: stay at home and help others too
Allergicsprevcntcd PatMcKnight
from participating in voluntccrorga-
nizations. But with a new at-home
volunteer program, she and others
like her can slay home and still help
others.
“I’ve held back and just watched
and observed,” she said of volun
teering. But observing wasn’t
enough, so McKnight look a cue
from a Fayetteville organization to
form Project Quick Stitch in Hoke
County.
“If something’s going to happen,
somebody’s going to have to gel in
there and do it,” she said, A tier find
ing out about a stitch club in
Fayetteville, McKnight spoke to
H.E.L.P. Center director Nora
Cockbum and they formed the Hoke
group.
“1 thought it was a good thing to
bring back to the county for the
county to reach out and help,”
McKnight said.
Volunteers for the fledgling
project arc asked to crochet 17 by 17
squares (preferably granny squares)
and drop them off at the H.E.L.P.
Center on Main Street.
The volunteers plan to piece do
nated squares into lap quills for the
elderly and ill.
County waits
out possible
jail lawsuit
H oke County officials wait in limbo to find out whether
the county will be sued. A month ago Prison Legal
Services inspected the Hoke County Jail and warned
officials to resolve overcrowding and other problems, or face a
lawsuit. A month later, PLS came back and said the overcrowding
is still a problem.
Sheriff Wayne Byrd said he is anxiously waiting for notification
of whether PLS will file a lawsuit.
The most recent inspection occurred last Thursday, and Byrd
said he felt it went fairly well. “They said they’d be back in touch
with us in two weeks and let us know what they’re going to do.”
After approximately three hours of inspecting the jail, Byrd said
the trio said overcrowding and lack of supervision still pose prob
lems for prisoners.
“It was a disappointment for them,” he said of PLS after they
gave the county a month’s warning to rectify problems.
“We’re still in violation and they said something would have to
be done,” Chief Jailer Alex Schwarcbher said. “We’re still in
violation of overcrowding and lack of supervision, but everthing
else that was a discrepancy was corrected.”
Lack of adequate space and short-staffing place prisoners and
facilities in jeopardy, PLS representative .Michael Hamden said a
month ago. Hamden said if the county made a “good faith” effon
to address jail problems, PLS would postpone the lawsuit. He also
said then that Sheriff Byrd’s efforts to meet jail needs delayed PLS
suing Hoke.
“Prisoners reported to me they couldn’t shower or if they did it
was a cold shower,” he said, because the facility lacks adequate
plumbing to meet the heavy use.
Chief Jailer A1 Schwarcbher said he submitted three proposals to
the county for plumbing improvements within the last year. No
improvements were made.
Schwarcbher said the plumbing remains a problem.
“We’re not going to ignore the problem,” County Manager
Barry Reed said in a February interview. “As something occurs,
we fix it.”
“The jail has a rated capacity of 31 and they often have twice
that,” Hamden said. “In terms of what that does to the facility, the
building wears out. That has an impact on the quality of life in the
jail,” he said.
However unpopular, federal and state law mandate basic re
quirements for jails to follow, such as exercise and punishment
policies. A staff shortage also keeps the Jail in violation of federal
mandates.
“It was reported to us that on occasions, the one person (on
duty) was required to leave the jail and escort prisoners. If the
sheriff doesn’t have the staff, something needs to be done to fund
it,” Hamden said in February.
Two of the four jailers are female, but due to shifts and staff
size, only one or the other can work at a time, not both.
“By law, if a female is brought in, we’re supposed to have a
female on duty. We must have a female and male on duty per
shift,” Schwarcbher said.
The jail remains understaffed.
(See JAIL, page 7)
Around Town
McKnight and Cockbum hope the
idea will catch on.
McKnight said she suspects many
people in Hoke crochet and work on
crafts at home and never thought
their hobbies could help someone,
until now.
Five ladies already offered to make
squares, she said.
“I love crafts and I can’t always
(See PROJECT, page 7)
By Sam C. Morris
Last Saturday, March 20, didn’t feel
like the first day of spring with the winds
out of the north. What a difference a day
will make! On Sunday and Monday the
temperatures were around 70 degrees
and the lows at night were in the high
40s. Spring arrived a day late. It was
cold last week and the cold nights set
records over the state. The north wind
made the temperatures feel much colder.
Ttie wind chill was in the teens one
night.
Ihe forecast calls for the tempera
tures to stay above the freezing mark for
the remainder of the week. On Wednes
day, Thursday and Friday the highs
should be in the high 50s and tfie lows in
the 40s. On Saturday tlie high will be in
the 60s and the low will be in the high
40s. There could be rain Wednesday and
Thursday, as a low system stalls over the
state.
Let s hope that this weather will con-
Unue for weeks to come.
♦ * * *
Raz Autry, writer and peach grower,
told me last week that the cold weather
had held back die budding of his peach
trees. Maybe with the late cold snap, the
budding of die trees will not be hit by
cold weather this year. Raz needs a good
year in peaches, because his writing is
not paying enough to fix his Uactors.
* ♦ * *
You know when you have worked at
a newspaper off and on since 1935, you
hate to see mistakes made in a news
story. The article, about the trial of Tom
Cameron’s accused murderers to start
Monday, was in error. The tfial is not on
the docket for this week and we at the
ncwspa(x:r office are sorry about the
mix-up.
The reporter who wrote the article
(Sec AROUND, page 14)