The
ews
J ournal
Serving Hoke County for 88 years
No. 31 Vol. 89
50 cents
Wednesday, November 5,1997
County adds
steel mill
to ordinance
3A
Schools receive
grants
3A
fc.
Lessons
from abroad
IB
Index
Accent
IB
Calendar
2B
Classifieds
7B
Editorials
2A
Legals
6B
Socials
3B
TV Listings
4B
Weather
3A
Around Town
Saturday night or early Sun
day morning a thunderstorm
came through the county. We
don’t have many of these in
the fall of the year. The tem
peratures have been about
normal for this time of year,
with the highs in the 60s and
the lows in the 40s. It has been
windy and it doesn’t do much
good to rake leaves. Some trees
are almost bare of leaves.
The forecast calls for the
same type of weather for the
remainder of the week,
Wednesday through Saturday.
The highs will be in the high
50s or low 60s and the lows
will be in the 40s. There is a
chance of rain on Friday.
^ ♦
I had a call from Morgan
Jackson, who is administra
tive assistant in the
Rockingham office for Con
gressman Bill Hefner. He said
that he would be in Raeford
and Hoke County on Wednes
day, Nov. 12. He will meet
people at City Hall on that
day. If you have some busi
ness that you need the con
gressman to help you with,
Morgan will be glad to assist
you.
1 know that he can be of
(See AROUND, page 8A)
Expert says county voting districts not feasible
By Nicole Gabriel
Staff writer
Drawing county commissioner
districts in Hoke County that will
pass the U.S. Justice Department’s
racial diversity test remains a dif
ficult or even impossible task, a
demographer from the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte told
the Board of Commissioners Mon
day.
Dr. Gerald Ingalls, ageography
professor who developed three
districting plans for the state and
two other counties, said Hoke
County fails to meet at least two of
the three federally mandated legal
preconditions required to prove
the need for districting.
The county opted for Ingalls to
look into the legal viability of a
districtingplanafterthe Concerned
Citizens for Effective Government,
a group that wants to restructure
the commission from at-large to
district representation, presented
its plan and a petition to the com
missioners last month.
Ingalls focused on the Native
American community, studying
previous elections and voter regis
tration population. Based on his
initial investigation, he said the
county should use districts “as a
last resort.
“Basically, it doesn’t look like
districting is a feasible option,”
Ingalls said. “Particularly if the
minority group you’re looking at
is Native Americans.”
Ingalls said the county would
have to draw eight to 10 d istricts to
meet the federal legal conditions.
Even then, Ingalls said, the dis
tricts might not give the Native
American population the vote they
want.
Drawing a district that will give
the Native Americans a safe 60
percent majority vote will be diffi
cult because of Hoke County’s
Native American voting popula
tion, Ingalls said.
Most of Hoke Native American
voters live in three precincts —
Blue Springs, Antioch and
Doing what he does best
■- A
Nicole Gabriel/Ncws-Joumal
Newly re-elected mayor Bob Gentry talks about his victory Tuesday night at The News-Journal office with
granddaughter Katie Robeson and James Guy. Several of the candidates were on hand for the posting of
results.
Teen curfew passes for county
By Nicole Gabriel
Staff writer
Hoke County’s youth and their
parents could face court time and
$100 fines for violating a county
curfew ordinance that goes into
effect Jan. 1. The Board of Com-
missioners unanimously ap
proved the youth protection or
dinance for a 6-month trial basis.
As of the first of the year, the
county will restrict juveniles 15
and under from public places
between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., seven
days a week. It also restricts ju-
Detective takes
stand in
Ferguson trial
By Nicole Gabriel
Staff writer
Former Hoke sheriff’s detec
tive Bob Conerly will take the
stand again today, continuing his
testimony of a controversial state
ment he says Rodriguez Ferguson
made the day after the New
Year’s Eve shootings at the
Puppy Creek Family Fun Center
and Zodiac Lounge three years
ago.
Defense attorneys Henderson
B. Hill and Lisa Dubs moved to
(See TRIAL, page 8A)
veniles not attending school from
public places and establishments
between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
on school days.
The ordinance holds parents,
guardians and establishment
owners responsible for viola
tions. Juveniles who violate the
ordinance could face time in ju
venile court. Any person other
than a juvenile found guilty of
violating the ordinance is sub
ject to a fine for as much as $ 100.
The curfew does not include
the Raeford city limits.
Commissioner Thomas
Howell offered the motion to
adopt the curfew for six months
rather than one year, as the
county’scurfew committee origi
nally suggested to the commis
sioners in August.
Despite Howell’s reservations
about how the county will en
force the ordinance and how
much money it will require to
restrict juveniles 15 and under
during daylight and nighttime
hours, he said, six months will
give the county sufficient time to
determine whether or not the
(See CURFEW, page lOA)
1
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Allendale — but those numbers
aren’t enough to meet the Justice
Department’s “sufficiently large
and significantly compact” rule to
justify a district, Ingalls said.
“In my opinion the Indian popu
lation is not large enough,” Ingalls
said. “I think the issue here isa lack
of candidates.”
Ingalls said in order to create a
district with a Native American
majority, the county would be
forced to draw a skewed district
that included all the county’s Na
tive Americans. That’s a tough
sell to the federal Justice Depart
ment, he said.
“You can draw districts,” Ingalls
said, “but will they stand up in
court? That’s the question —
whether or not the (U.S.) Justice
Department will accept it.”
Another factor that makes
districting difficult to justify in
Hoke county is the county’s his
tory of electing minorities, Ingalls
said.
Black candidates in the previ
ous commissioners and Board of
Education races showed the stron
gest rates of election, Ingalls said.
Of the black candidates that ran
between 1990 and 1996, Ingalls
said, the voters elected 81 percent
of black candidates, compared to
only 31 percent of the white candi*
dates and 25 percent of the Native
American candidates.
Gentry
V’'
Jordan
McNeill
Kristin Gulhrie/Ncws-Joumal
Shooting victim Mary Ann Hunter talks with former sheriff s detec
tives Bob Conerly (left) and Randy Howell as accused shooter
Rodriguez Ferguson confers with his attorneys in a Bladen courtroom.
Gentry wins again
McNeill and McLeod return
with newcomer Jordan to Council
By Nicole Gabriel
Staff writer
Bob Gentry returns for another four years as
Raeford’s mayor ufter winning yesterday’s election
by 175 votes.
Also returning to Council for four more years are
Eddie McNeill and James “Benny” McLeod with
732 and 661 votes respectively. Newcomer John
Jordan beat out the competition for Joe Upchurch’s
unexpired seat with 533 votes.
“I’m just thankful the votersof the City of Raeford
have came forth and said who they wanted to spend
their tax dollars,” Gentry said last night, “and who
they wanted to lead us into the next century. I’m
grateful they gave me back two great council mem
bers and one new one.”
Mayor candidate Milton Williams said he re
spected the voters’ decision.
“I wanted it to be a decision by the people and the
people have decided,” Williams said.
An excited John Jordan shook hands with by
standers after watching the results go up on The
News-Journal board last night.
“It was a good learning experience and 1 enjoyed
getting out and talking with people and learning
what their views are on certain issues,” Jordan said.
Approximately 40 percent of Raeford’s 2,410
registered voters turned out yesterday to cast their
ballots, with 1,85b in Raeford No. 1,1,380 in Raeford
No. 2,363 in Raeford No. 4 and 101 absentee ballots
cast.
Gentry carried Raeford No. 2 and 4 and the
absentee votes while Williams carried Raeford No.
1 in the mayor’^ race. Jordan carried in absentee
votes and all three precincts for the unexpired
Upchurch seat. Charles Daniels came in second McLeod
with 232 total votes. Mark Jernigan, the third contender for the 2-
year term, garnered 197 votes total. McNeill was the top vote getter
for the 4-year te»tn seat carrying across the board with 732, while
McLeod ranked second in all three prencincts and absentee votes
with 661, beating Martha Beatty by 300 votes total.
Council adopts DOT’s
thoroughfare plan
By Kristin Guthrie
Staff vvriter
After an uneventful public
hearing, the Raeford City Coun
cil voted Monday night to adopt
the 1997 thoroughfare plan rec
ommendations from the N.C.
Department of Transportation
(D.O.T.)
Disagreeing with a small por
tion of the plan. Council member
Clyde Thomas voted against
adoptingthe resolution while the
rest of Council voted in favor.
Thomas said one of the recom
mendations fror^ D.O.T. seemed
to indicate that a Raeford house
would have to be torn down in
order for the plans to proceed as
recommended.
The plans propose the realign
ing of U.S. 401 Business to inter
sect Harris Avenue at Magnolia
Street. According to Thomas, this
plan would mean road construc
tion where Frank Crumpler’s
home currently stands. “I don’t
agree with this,” Thomas said.
Council member Eddie
McNeill reminded Thomas that
this thoroughfare plan isjust that,
j ust a plan, but Thomas still voted
against the resolution.
D.O.T. associate Chad Edge
reiterated that this plan is simply
a proposal that Council would
have to agree upon before any
construction would begin.
“These plans are subject to
how hard local officials want to
push it,” Edge said, and it also
depends on state funding as well
(See PLAN, page lOA)