4-
No. 18 Vol. 93
Visit us at
our new web location
www.thenews~journal.com
This week
Smokey the
Indestructible
always has smile
page 1B
Students improve
reading with
unique 'phones'
page 3A
Index
Births 3B
Calendar 2B
Classifieds 10-12B
Deaths 5A
Editorials 2A
Engagements 3B
Legals 5B
Public Record 4A
Religion 4B
Socials 3B
TV Listings 8-9B
Weddings 3B
Around Town
Contributing Editor
The weather continues to
remain on the cool side. Many
days last week the thermom
eter would get up to 90 de
grees, but it wouldn’t stay there
long. We have had rain about
every day, but not as heavy as
many parts of the state. I was
talking with my son, John, of
New Bern, and he said that it
was reported that Jacksonville
had 21 inches of rain in a few
days. Most of the rainfall in
Raeford has been an inch or
under.
The forecast for the remain
der of the week, Wednesday
through Saturday, cal Is for the
temperatures to be in the 9()s
and the lows in the 70s. The
forecast doesn’t call for as
much rain as we have been
having.
Lets hope that we can keep
the hurricanes away from our
seashores this year!
t** * *
Last week I read in a daily
paper that the unemployment
rate for Hoke County was 7.9
percent.
In this area only Robeson
County was higher with a rate
of 9.4 percent. Vance County
had the highest rate at 11.2
percent. Orange County was
the lowest at 1.4 percent.
These figures for I lokc were
a surprise to me. It is almost
impossible toget anyone to do
any work for you. Let’s hope
thisisonly for a short time and
that the rate will drop later.
*****
Every day someone asks
(See AROUND, page 5A)
ews
Journal
happened, it's news t
50 cents
Wednesday, August 2, 2000
Two-year-old dies trapped in hot car
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
MajorThomas Carlton ofthe Hoke County working on his computer,” Carlton said, the house, and they said they started a
Sheriff’s Department. “This is the first experience in Hoke
The child’s parents are Ryan Lee know ofthat a child has succumbed to the
Two-year-old Zachary McKinley died McKinley, 28, a soldier stationed at Fort excessive heat in a vehicle and died,” he
onSaturdayafterbeingreportedly trapped Bragg, and Karen McKinley, 33. said.
in his parent’s hot car for 3-1/2 hours at “The mother said she was taking a nap “The child’s mother said when she
their Heritage Village home, according to upstairs, and the father said he was busy woke up she realized the boy was not in
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A pretty girl on a summer’s day
Hannah Johnson, 6, granddaughter of Anton D. and Diane Johnson, feeds the goldfish in her grandparents’ front yard on Turnpike
Road. (Photo by Pat Allen Wilson)
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Ivery and Ruth McNair in a photo taken three years ago at the cleaning
business they operated in Raeford since 1936.
McNairs to be honored
by Masons, community
By Jamie Harris
Special to The News-Journal
The Masonic D)dge #328 is honoring Ivery and Ruth
McNair at a banquet that will be held at West Hoke Middle
School Saturday at 6 p.m.
“We arc honoring Brother McNair for what he has done
for this community,” .said Willie McCaskill Jr., newly
elected Worshipful Master of the LtKige. “(The McNairs)
have given their whole life to this community.”
The McNairs were the owners and operators of McNairs
Cleaners in downtown Raeford, which closed following the
“big snow” earlier this year.
Thcbusincssopcncditsdoorsin 1936after Ivery McNair
and his late brother David McNair got together and decided
running a cleaning operation was what they wanted to do.
“If it wasn’t cleaners, it would have been baseball lor
him,” said Ruth McNair, recalling her husband’s passion
for baseball as a youth.
(See MCNAIRS, page 7A)
Five Points Horse Park just keeps getting bigger
By Pat Ai.len Wii.son
Editor
The dream is not only coming true; it is
getting bigger.
The Five Points Horse Park was the
dream of some Moore County horse en
thusiasts whocrcatcd the Sandhills Eques
trian Conservancy and bought 230 acres
in nearby western Hoke County on which
to build a world-class horse competition
facility.
Step-by-step, the facility is emerging
from what was once woods and fields,
and plans are to hold two world-class
events there this coming spring.
Friday, when some of the conservancy’s
planners came to Raeford to accept a
$25,000 grant from the Hoke County-
Raeford Economic Development Board,
they showed plans for the finished park
and announced that an 20 additional acres
is under contract. The land deal will be
finalized “as soon as the crops come off,”
according to Roger Sccrist, one of the
founders of the conservancy.
The Southern Pines Horse Trials arc
set for March 16-18 and the 50th running
of the famed Stoncybrook Steeplechase
m
1
! 1 .
0 j
Dooie Leach, chairman of the Hoke County-Raeford Economic Development Board,
presents a check for $25,000 to Roger Secrist for the Five Points Horse Park. Also pictured
are, from left, Don Porter, executive director of the Economic Development Board; Lefreda
Williams, of the Sandhills Equestrian Conservancy (SEC): Hoke County Commissioner
Chairman James Leach; and Sue Buckley, also of the SEC. (Photo by Pat Allen Wilson)
will take place April 7 at Five Points.
Last year’s horse trials in M(M)re County
drew 4(M) horses, according to Sccrist. It is
an Olympic qualifying event, he said.
Stoncybrook attracted as many as
2(),()()() spectators when it was held in
Moore County on the farm of Mickey and
Kitty Walsh. The land was subdivided in
1996 after the Walshcs died and the event
has not had a home since.
“It’s amazing how many people from
(See HORSE HARK, page lOA)
search until they discovered him in the
car, where the door was ajar.”
According to Carlton, Hoke Deputy
Manuel Diaz rushed to the scene, imme
diately administering CPR to the child
(See TRAPPED, page lOA)
Agency
correcting
audit issues
Partnership for Children
also gets additional funds
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
The State Auditor’soffice recently pre
sented results of its annual audit of the
Hoke County Partnership for Children
and Families’ financial status, negatively
citing one instance of reportable “non-
compliance,” and another “significant
deficiency” detected in contract manage
ment and monitoring. The local
Partnership’s major source of revenue is
generated by the Smart Start Program,
.serving children zero to five years old.
In the budget year that ended June 30,
1999, State Auditor Ralph Campbell Jr.
detailed the financial discrepancies in
internal control which could “adversely
affect” Hoke Partnership’s abilities to
operate effectively. Campbell offered rec
ommendations to resolve the problems.
Hoke Partnership’s Chairman Jean
Brewer said the organization has a cor
rection plan already approved by the state
auditor.
“We were not made to repay any mon
ies, and not made to pay any (surplus)
money back — no funds were misappro
priated,” Brewer said. “Some of these
things were technicalities I attributed to
so much growth last year.”
Although unrelated, Campbell’s audit
findings coincided with the recent posi
tive announcement Hoke’s Partnership
will benefit from $220,800 in additional
funds for Smart Start programs and ex
panded services. This brings Hoke’s total
to $1.3 million in Smart Start fund.s, as
sisting children and families in the com
munity.
“We’ve tried to impprove our organi
zation, because we only had three on staff
la.st year to monitor our programs,” Brewer
said. “We’ve put into place a program
coordinator position to touch base with
all the 30 funded programs, and the per
son will keep tabs and trouble shoot.”
In his report, Campbell said the audit
(See AUDIT, page 9A)
Hoke Partnership
withdraws from
after-school program
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
After the annual 1999 audit for Hoke
County Partnership for Children and
Families was released by the State
Auditor’s office last week, Hoke
Partnership’s officials announced the lo
cal organization is improving policies
and procedures to correct some deficien
cies.
“The .state audit findings do not specify
the namesof service providers, or organi
zations that might be involved in any
reportable deficiency,” said state auditor
Hannah Sullivan.”Our reports only gen
eralize on the conditions and results of
our audit on the financial statement. It is
up to the liK’al Hoke Partnership to take
steps to ensure the.se material weakne.sses
are remedied.”
Chairman Jean Brewer of Hoke’s Part
nership .said theorganization experienced
some problems with Golden Gate C'om-
munity Development Corporation in
Raeford. She alleged Golden Gate was
“going over budget on a couple of line
(.S'tr PARTNERSHIP, page 9A)