The
ews
J oumal
Serving Hoke County for 88 years
No. 34 Vol. 89
Jenny Walters
fighting for life
with fail
6A
Business
of the week
7A
B
'Lucky' tom turkey
from Hoke gone
to Washington
IB
Business/Farm 7A
Calendar 2B
Church 6A
Classifieds 9B
Deaths 8A
Editorials 2A
Legals 8B
Public Record 8A
School 4 A
Socials 3B
TV Listings 6B
Weather 3A
Around Town
50 cents
Wednesday, November 26, 1997
A Jury to decide on life or death
By Sam Morris
Contributing Editor
The rain has finally stopped,
but it left leaves all over my
yard. It was cleaned last Fri
day, but it doesn’t look like it
today. There was a big frost
Monday morning and if the
wind ceases to blow there
should be another frost Tues
day morning. The tempera
ture could get down into the
20s Monday night.
The forecast calls for
warmer weather for the re
mainder of the week, Wednes
day through Saturday. The
highs will be in the 60s and the
lows in the 40s. There isn’t
any rain in the forecast.
* ♦ * * *
I was talking to some cot
ton farmers Sunday at church
and I was telling them about
seeing many fields where cot
ton hadn’t been picked. They
said that the rains had caused
the picking of cotton to be
way behind schedule. I can
remember many years ago
when I was a boy that wagons
were lined up on the
Laurinburg highway near the
Edenborough Shopping Cen
ter in September and October
(See AROUND, page IIA)
Feiguson convicted
Knight Chamberlain
Interim editor
ELIZABETHTOWN — De
spite considerable eyewitness
testimony and a signed confes
sion, it took a Bladen County
jury six-and-a-half hours over
two days to find Rodriguez
Ferguson guilty of first-degree
murder last Thursday in the
shooting deaths of five Hoke
County residents, and the wound
ing of a sixth almost three years
ago.
Seated between his attorneys
Henderson Hill and Lisa Dubs,
Ferguson, 20, appeared unaf
fected as the verdicts were read.
Dubs grimaced at one point and
patted Ferguson’s arm.
The same Jury is now decid-
ingwhethertosentence Ferguson
either to death or to life without
parole.
Family members and friends The nine-woman, three-man
of the victims maintained their panel found that Ferguson caused
'7 know this sounds terrible, but I
want them to 'let loose the juice' and
kill that man for what he did to this
family." Kevin Hunter, Jamie Hunter’s brother, refer
ring to lethal injection if Ferguson is given a death sentence.
* .S'
composure as the verdicts were
read, after being cautioned to do
so by Judge D. Jack Hooks. Some
dabbed their eyes with tissue.
Others raised their eyes upward
and mouthed the words “thank
you.”
An unidentified woman sit
ting with Ferguson’s family hur
ried out of the courtroom with
her hand to her mouth.
Davis to challenge
Byrd for sheriff
By Pat Allen Wilson
Staff Writer
James “Jim” Davis announced
Saturday that he will file Jan. 5 to
run for Hoke County sheriff.
“1 was approached by a num
ber of citizens in the county who
knew of my background and ex
perience but did not decide to run
until recently,” Davis said when
he made his announcement at a
community-wide benefit bazaar
held on the grounds of WMFA
radio station in Raeford. His de
cision to run was prompted by an
Aug. 29 incident in which 31-
year-old Michael Sivak was shot
in the back by Deputy Frank
Hicks following a chase. The
deputy said Sivak was trying to
run him down with a van. On
Oct. 21 a Hoke County grand
Jury found probable cause to be
lieve the deputy committed vol
untary manslaughter. The action,
called a presentment, asks the
district attorney to investigate the
casefurtherandtosubmitbillsof
indictment if investigators find
them appropriate.
“After the Sivak shooting in
cident I became more concerned
and alarmed that the sheriff’s
dept, was not concerned with the
residents of Hoke County. The
‘Roundup’ nets big catch
By Pat Allen Wilson
Staff Writer
When Hoke County Sheriff’s
Dept. Chief of Deputies David
Newton briefed deputies on Op
eration Round-up, he referred to
“prisoners 1 hope you get.”
Before the night was over,
there were enough prisoners to
fill the Hoke County Jail plus
some had to be transported to
Robeson County Jail.
The operation is held about
twice annually to “round up”
t hose persons t he department has
outstanding warrants on who
have proven hard to catch up
with.
But last Friday was a “day of
reckoning” for 21 people who
had 38 felony and misdemeanor
charges filed against them.
At the briefing at the public
library, Newton told officers to
do things by the book. “Be nice
to the people at the door. Tell
them the law says we can (make
the arrests). If they get belliger
ent they can visit us down here.”
He reminded officers to “look
around for drugs” once they were
inside an arrestee’s house. Be
“extra careful with chapter 9()s”
(drug involvement), he said. He
also said priority or “hot” calls
were to supersede Round-Up
activities.
Newton advised deputies to
“stop and introduce yourselves
the deaths of Jamie Hunter, 38,
his wife, Debbie, 37, Tim Powell,
20, and Steve Locklear, 18, at the
Puppy Creek Family Fun Center
in Hoke County on New Year’s
Eve 1994, and that several hours
later he shot and killed James
Morrison Jr., 31, at the now-
closed Zodiac Lounge Just north
of Raeford.
Ferguson was also found
iiv-
Knight Chamberlain/News-Journal
Rodriguez Ferguson, seated between his attorneys Henderson Hill
and Lisa Dubs, appears unaffected as the verdicts are read.
guilty of assault with a deadly
weapon with intent to kill inflict
ing serious injury on their Hunt
ers’ daughter, Mary Ann Hunter,
now 18,whowasparalyzedfrom
the chest down by a bullet that
struck her neck as her mother
attempted to shield her from gun
fire.
Outside the courtroom fam
ily members and friends hugged
and cheered.
Jamie Hunter’s brother,
(See FERGUSON, page 11 A)
RPD fires McNeiU
James “Jim” Davis
shooting itself demonstrated a
lack of training on behalf of the
officer and a lack of sensitivity
by the way it was handled by the
department,” Davis said.
“I had a conversation with the
sheriff (Wayne Byrd) unrelated
(See DAVIS, page lOA)
By Kristin Guthrie
Staff writer
After 17 years with the
Raeford Police Department,
Raeford native J.R. “Dick”
McNeill said his final goodbyes
to co-workers as City Manager
Mike McNeill approved Police
Chief Mack High’s recommen
dation that McNeill be fired.
Mike McNeill said he re
viewed the paperwork from
Thursday until Monday before
supporting High’s decision. Dick
McNeill learned of the decision
on Tuesday.
Manager McNeill and Chief
High made no comment on the
decision, citing state privacy
laws.
“1 don’t want to make any
comment. It’s a personnel mat
ter,” High said Tuesday morn
ing.
While serving on the police
force, McNeill
worked as in
terim chief, ma
jor, captain, pa-
trol officer and,
most recently,
sergeant, after
being demoted
from interim
McNeill
chief in April this year.
When asked to comment about
leaving the police force aftersuch
a long time, Dick McNeill said,
“No comment.”
McNeill said he plans to look
for work elsewhere. “I’m Just
looking around....Anything right
now. We’ll see what comes up.”
to people hanging out” when they
were in high drug areas. This
paid off later that night with co
caine confiscation and two ar
rests.
“We got all night. Take your
time,” said Newton, and the last
bit of advice came from Chief
Deputy Wayne Gardner, “Make
sure everybody comes back safe
tonight.”
Divided into teams, 21 offic
ers began the round-up shortly
after 5 p.m. A team consisting of
team leader Sgt. Chris Fee and
deputies Micheal Corcoran,
Berney Duron and Robert
Caughey hit two houses east of
town on Rockfish Rd. under a
pouring rain. No luck, it seemed.
Then on to west of town and
down a muddy John Russell Rd.
Again, no luck. Harris Ln. was
the next unsuccessful stop and
officers were getting discour
aged.
At a trailer behind South Hoke
Convenience Store,officers were
greeted by barking dogs and they,
like the 27-year-old woman who
was charged with possession with
intent tosell and delivercocaine,
offered no resistance.
The mother of two, wearing a
T-shirt which read, “I may be a
crude, heartless b but I’m
good at it,” was taken away in
handcuffs.
There was another stop on
Lantern Ln. before heading to
♦ s
.4-
Pal Wilson/Ncws-Joumal
Deputy Robert Caughey reads a warrant for arrest to one of 21 people
picked up during Operation Round-Up.
the sheriff’s dept, where the of
ficers found that their first stop
on Rockfish Rd. had netted them
a catch. The mom there had told
her daughter officers were look
ing for her so she was driven to
the sheriff’s office to be served a
warrant for three misdemeanor
charges.
The blotter showed about a
half a dozen people brought in.
Three of those were Juveniles
with some serious charges: as
sault w ith a deadly weapon with
intent to kill inllicting serious
injury, robbery with a dangerous
weapon and shooting into an oc
cupied vehicle and conspiracy.
That trio would go to a Juvenile
detention center.
The woman from Rockfish Rd.
complained to the woman who
was facing drug charges, “This
is Just messin’ up my time.”
“Excuse me,” she called to a
deputy, “Could 1 get a note to go
back to work?”
“Just show your pink slip,” he
said, but wrote out the note, while
the reporter wondered if she’d
still have a Job after she turned in
an excuse that she was late be
cause she’d been arrested on three
charges.
The team headed out again
but was detoured by a “hot” call
when a woman wanted some
(See ROUNDUP, page HA)
By Pat Allen Wilson
Staff Writer
A gas line belonging to North
Carolina Natural Gas was rup
tured Thursday morning, and
authorities evacuated Raeford
residents within a surrounding
block area until emergency re
pairs could be made.
The gas leak was reported at
8:18 a.m. at 101 Reaves St. at the
intersection of Highway 20. A 4-
inch line was damaged by a back-
hoe while a workman was dig
ging to replace a sewer line.
A resident of the home said
she heard the accident. Another
described it as the “sound of gas
spewing.”
The smell of gas was strong as
Raeford police detoured traffic
from the area. Firefighters and
emergency medical service per
sonnel also responded.
It took personnel an hour and
45 minutes to cut off the gas,
according to Raeford Fire Mar
shal Terry Tapp. NCNG employ
ees repaired the damage.
Call first
“If they had located the lines,
the problem would have been
alleviated,” Tapp said, remind
ing residents that there is a toll-
(See GAS LINE, page lOA)