4-
The
ews
No. 13 Vol. 94
On vacation?
Hoke’s top stories
are on the web
www.thenews-journa/.com
This week
Wagon train hits
the trail
page 1B
Hoke shaped
prominent Charlotte
attorney
page 3A
Those in military
do us proud
page 6A
Index
Births....
3B
Calendar....
2B
Classifieds....
....9-lOB
Deaths....
7A
Editorials....
2A
Legals....
6-8B
Public Record....
4A
Religion....
2B
Schools....
4B
Social News....
3B
TV Listings....
4-5 B
Weddings....
3B
Around Town
By Sam C. Morris
Contributing Editor
Sunday night we finally got
rain like other sections of the
state have gotten over the past
two weeks. My rain gauge reg
istered almost one and a half
inches of rain Sunday night.
We have been fortunate in not
having power lines down and
trees uprooted. I also haven’t
heard of any hail in Raeford. I
hope that the rain wi 11 not keep
the farmers from getting their
planting done.
The forecast for the remain
der of the week, Wednesday
through Saturday, calls for the
highs to be in the 90s and the
lows in the 70s. There is a
chance for more showers on
Wednesday and Saturday.
*****
Over the many years 1 have
written this column, former
Raeford and Hoke County
natives have sent me articles
and obituaries of people who
have lived, at one time or an
other, here. Last week 1 re
ceived the following letter:
“Dear Sam, I read this no
tice in the N & O Saturday. 1
was so sorry to see William’s
death in the paper. Please could
you put it in the paper. Will
iam was a great friend to me
and my family. Thank you for
doing this for me. Sincerely,
Ellen Currie.
“PS 1 loved the Centen
nial. Thank you for all you
did.”
Thanks Ellen for the notice
and your letter. Ellen was re-
ferring to the death of William
(See AROUND, page lOA)
Journal
appened^ it's ne
50 cents
Wednesday, June 27,2001
City cuts $200,000 from budget
Council passes budget with no tax inaease
By Pat Allen Wilson 2001-2002.
Editor
“He kicked off a bunch of money,” was
Mayor Bob Gentry’s comment about the
less than $3 million final general fund
budget presented by County Manager
Mike McNeill. Shortly afterward, the city
council approved a budget for fiscal year
This coming year’s budget of
$2,965,945 is more than $500,000 less
than the current budget of $3,490,176,
and less than the previous year’s budget
of $3,168,655. It leaves the unappropri
ated balance of the general fund at 33
percent; last year’s balance was at ap
proximately 25 percent.
The ad valorem tax rate of 47 cents per
$100 valuation remains the same, and
there will be no increase in water and
sewer rates.
All city employees will receive a 2.5
percent cost of living allowance raise, and
50 percent of the workforce will receive
merit increases of 2.5 percent. In addition,
following an executive session on June 4,
city councilmen voted in public session to
give McNeill a merit raise of 2.5 percent..
r
h
: » • I
* V
By Pat Allen Wilson
AND
Victoriana Summers
Samuel “Sammy” Sosa, the 19-month-
old boy who lost both his eyes to malig
nant tumors, has been fitted with pros
thetic eyes, thanks to the generosity of
the people of this community.
Sammy, who came to this country
with his parents from Mexico, received
his artificial eyes last Wednesday at Caro-
lina Eye Prosthetics in Graham. He was
back with his caregivers at Children’s
Developmental Centerthe following day.
Caregiver Mary Lou Harris says
Sammy’s new eyes look almost normal.
“He’s a beautiful child,” she says,
“You’ve got to see it to believe it... If I
didn’t know he didn’t have eyes, I would
swear they were his own natural eyes.”
Center director Shelly Daniels says,
“They look beautiful. They’re big brown
eyes that look real. When he looks at you,
it looks like he is looking at you.”
Harris says Sammy is adjusting well to
the prosthetic eyes. “He is playing. He is
his old self.”
Smart Start, a division of the Hoke
bringing his salary to $53,540.
At a previous meeting, held June 4,
McNeill had trimmed almost half a mil
lion dollars from the first budget he pro
posed.
In the final budget presented last night,
McNeill trimmed $200,000 from the bud
get through these cuts:
• $30,000 earmarked for improvements
to the civic center;
(See CITY BUDGET, page 8A)
County tables Smart
Start loan request
Sammy Sosa plays with mom Martha Cantor at the Children’s Developmental Center.
Community comes
through for Sammy
little blind boy receives artificial eyes
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
County commissioners tabled a deci
sion to temporarily fund two Smart Start
programs that will be interrupted due to a
delay in state funding.
Commissioners met in special session
this morning to consider the proposed
budget for fiscal year 2001-2001, and
were asked to include more than $21,000
to keep the mobile preschool unit and the
Parents as Teachers program going for
three months this summer.
After a 2-2 deadlock, commissioners
agreed to put the request on the agenda
for the July 2 meeting.
Jean Brewer, executive director for
Smart Start, a division of Hoke County
Partnership for Children and Families,
said the two programs’ employees could
be told to go home by July 1.
County attorney Neil Yarborough
asked, “Do you know the money is com
ing down (from the state)?” He was as
sured the money would be forthcoming
by County manager Bernice McPhatter.
Commissioner Charles Daniels asked
if Smart Start could make the request of
the state instead of the county. “Not that I
know of,” Brewer answered.
McPhatter said, “I suggest the board
not hinder the children... who would be
future taxpayers.” The county created the
mobile unit called Gus the Bus, and the
Parents as Teachers is a county program,
she reminded commissioners. “You are
asked to simply pay the expenses until the
contract is approved,” she said.
Commissioner Chai rman Cleo Bratcher
said, “I hate to see us not support the
partnership.
However, Daniels and commissioner
James Leach voted against the Smart Start
request. Commissioners Bratcher and
Bobby Wright voted in favor. Commis
sioner Tony Hunt entered the meeting
(See SMART START, page 9A)
Man foun(i shot to death
Death of Maxton man is Hoke’s second murder this year
County Partnership for Children and
Families, arranged for a special account
to be opened in Sammy’s name at BB&T
"People were suggesting agencies and
they were not helping. I said there
was no sense of waiting. The child
needs his eyes and we proved we
could get his eyes."— TomSquieron
the raising of funds to obtain artificial
eyes for little Sammy Sosa.
Bank in Raeford. Hoke County Veterans
Service Officer Tom Squier, who is on the
Partnership board, serves as administra
tor of the fund on behalf of Sammy’s
parents, Ray mundo Sosa and Martha Can
tor.
Squier says $3,000 was raised on
Sammy’s behalf in the first two weeks of
soliciting donations. “I had talked to a lot
of people but was really not surprised
because once people in Hoke find out
somebody needs something, they came
through. It was just a matter of reaching
people and making them aware.”
Squier says Sammy’s parents are
humble and grateful that strangers made it
(See SAMMY, page 9A)
A 21 -year-old Maxton man died from
a gunshot wound to the chest area either
Thursday night or early Friday morning,
becomingthesecond murder victim found
in Hoke County this year.
The body of Quincy “Red” Fulmore, a
resident of West Smith Street, was found
in a ditch Friday morning at Wilson and
Tom McLaughlin roads Friday morning.
He died from a gunshot wound to the
chest area, according to an autopsy re
port, said Neil Godfrey, Special Agent in
Charge of the SBI’s Southeastern Dis
trict.
Fulmore was visiting at a mobile home
at 3636 Wilson Road Thursday night,
Godfrey said. He said it was unsure who
the victim was visiting. “There was a
confrontation,” Godfrey said Monday af
ternoon. “It’s still not resolved exactly
what happened. We’re still looking for
witnesses, people we know were there
that we haven’t been able to find.”
Fulmore’s body was found approxi
mately 100 yards from the trailer he was
visiting, according to the SBI. West Smith
Street is located near the Robeson-Hoke
line as is the location where Fulmore’s
body was found.
Godfrey said shell casings have been re
covered from the scene, and weapons
confiscated. He said, however, it is not
known at this time if the weapons are
related to the shooting.
In another homicide investigation, the
body of Juventino Tobon Garcia, 24, of
Charlotte was spotted in a field by a pass
ing motorist on McPhaul Road May 11.
He had been shot to death.
Godfrey said there is “no apparent rela
tionship between the two killings at this
time.”
Filing for 3 city slots begins July 6
The office of mayor and two seats on
the city council are up for grabs. Filing
for the nonpartisan race begins Friday,
June 6 at noon.
The seats of Benny McLeod and Mayor
Pro Tern Eddie McNeill are open. Bob
Gentry serves as mayor.
Each office term is four years. The
mayor’s salary is $3,460, and city coun
cilmen are paid $1,760 each.
The filing fees, set by the city council,
are $5 for a council seat and $25 for
mayor.
Filing is done at the Hoke Board of
Elections office in the Pratt Building,
located at 227 North Main Street. The
filing period ends at noon, Friday, August
3.
Instructor Brian Miins is outlined by flames 100 feet high|
Roy Jackson II cools off.
Trainees learn by braving the fire
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
“It gets a bit warm,” was the understatement of firefighter
Roy Jackson II at a live training exercise that had teams of
firefighters extinguishing flames 100 feet high.
On a recent Wednesday night, some 20 firefighters took part in a
“live burn” set up in the bus parking lot at West Hoke Middle School.
The class was part of a state certified fire control course that includes
27 hours of classroom and field work.
Each firefighting student is required to operate an attack line at a
live burn in order to complete the course. Previously during this
particular session, students learned firefighting skills by extinguish
ing a car tire near the Hillcrest Fire Station.
Raeford Fire Marshal Terry Tapp said the operation at West Hoke
Middle helped the firefighters, all volunteers, gain confidence in the
ability of the clothing and the hoses to protect them. The training al^
showed how good the water pressure would extinguish a fire as well
(See BRA VING FIRE, page 8A)