The
ews
No. 21 Vol. 94
On vacation?
Hoke’s top stories
are on the web
www.tbenews-journal.com
This week
L.E. McLaughlin
is remembered
page 1B
Hoke High School
posts athletic
schedule
page 9A
Gentry elected
LRCOG officer
page 5A
Index ■
Calendar
2B
Classifieds
....8-9B
Deaths
6A
Editorials
... 2-3A
Engagements
3B
Legals
....6-7B
Public Record
......r4A
Religion
6B
Schools
4B
Social News
3B
Sports
9A
TV Listings
....4-5B
Weddings
3B
AtouikJ Town
Contributing Editor
The much needed rain fi
nally came to Raeford over
the weekend. Saturday and
Sunday we received from one
and three-quarters to two
inchesofrain. Maybe wewere
lucky but we didn’t have high
winds and hail with the storm.
Many places had power out
because of downed trees or
tree limbs. The temperature
also dropped from the 90s to
the 80s. There were smiles on
many faces on Sunday morn
ing at church because of the
rain.
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. As I write this
column Monday morning
there isn’t any rain in the fore
cast for the period.
*****
Last week 1 wrote about the
upcoming revival or lay re
vival at The Raeford Presby
terian Church in September.
The date and time for these
services are September 16
through 19. There will be a
service each evening begin
ning at 7 p.m. Dr. Cortez Coo
per, a former pastor of the
church, will be the speaker for
these services. Everyone is
inv ited to attend, so mark your
calendar for these dates.
In this column of June 20,1
wrote about the closing of the
recycling place at the shop
ping center. This recycling
(See AROUND, page 6A)
J our nal
' If it happened, it's news to us^*
50 cents
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
Commissioners ask for outside audit
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
Two commissioners chose not to vote
after Commissioner Charles Daniels
motioned to request an outside
agency audit of Hoke County’s financial
records. The lack of votes by Tony Hunt
and James Leach were recorded as “yeas”
after Commissioner Bobby Wright
seconded Daniels’ motion and they and
Chairman Cleo Bratcher voted in favor.
Daniels’ motion was not on the agenda
and came at the end of a lengthy meeting,
part of which was a closed session to
discuss “personnel and legal matters.” He
said he made the motion in a written form
so there would be “no misunderstanding.”
Daniels’ motion directed County
Attorney Neil Yarborough request District
Attorney or the N.C. Local Government
Commission perform an outside audit of
the financial records. “1 am requesting
that a full and complete audit be performed
of Hoke County’s financial records,”
Daniels statement read.
Daniels referred to “criticism” in the
news media. “It’s time to get everything
out in the open. Let the chips fall where
they may,” he said yesterday.
Commenting that “everybody is
unhappy,” Wright stated, “We need to
bring the county back together. I think
this is the way to do it.”
Hunt pointed out that the county books
(See AUDIT, page 9A)
T
\ Sheriff writes President
about Hoke ‘corruption’
Ti
.r
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
Sheriff Jim Davis has written President
George W. Bush asking for federal
intervention regarding what he calls public
corruption by county management
officials in Hoke County.
Davis began his
correspondence
"As
three-page
the chief law enforcement
official for this jurisdiction, I am also
at my wits end, with having local
officials undermined the criminal
justice sytem and subvert our local
government structures."
Bike safety day
Raeford Police Officer Shelly King gives Tabitha Tyler, 3, an assist after she won a new
bike at the 3rd annual helmet safety fun day sponsored by the Hoke Health Center and
Raeford police Saturday. Participants learned about bike safety, took part in a bike rodeo
and were treated to games and food; six bikes and 18 helmets were given away. Tabitha’s
sister Donna won a helmet. They are the daughters of Maria Wilson and Don Tyler.
to the White
House, dated
August 14, “It is
with great
trepidation that I
write you today.”
Davis referred
to an “inspiring
message” the
President delivered in Washington D.C.
to a conference of the National
Organization of Black Law Enforcement
Executives. He noted the President
recognized the New Orleans police chief
and that officer’s efforts in successfully
addressing “the corruption and criminal
activities imbedded Jn that city’s law
enforcement operations and other
governmental structures.”
The sheriff wrote, “Like the former
city of New Orleans, Louisiana; Hoke
County, North Carolina abounds with
public corruption and other criminal
activity; mostly drug related.”
Davis referred to his election in 1998 as
a “very violent, volatile and tumultuous
campaign.” He said he secured federal
grants for law enforcement operations
that would have established a drug task
force consisting of four new deputies, the
upgrade of computer technology for the
sheriff’s office and a rural collaboration
project between the sheriff’s office and
community-based organizations.
“However, the grants were
compromised by Hoke County officials
in an effort to suppress the law enforcement
operations of the Hoke County Sheriff’s
Office and prevent the investigations of
illegal narcotic
activity as well
asothercriminal
enterprises,” the
sheriff wrote.
“A conspiracy
was launched to
misuse and mis
manage federal
grant money,
undermined my agency and remove me
from the office of sheriff in the process.”
The sheriff said he had sought help
from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Community Relations
Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for
the Middle District of N.C. and the Office
of the Inspector General for the Dept, of
Justice.
With the exception of the Inspector
General’s Office, “no one will assist this
sheriff in addressing the root cause of this
criminal conduct,” Davis said.
The Inspector General’s Office assisted
with the audit of two federal grants for the
sheriff’s office, found the county had
misused and mismanaged the money and
required the county to repay more than
$9^000 in grant money plus interest. “No
evidence of intentional fraud” was found,
(See SHERIFF'S LETTER, page 7A)
lightning strikes Antioch shelter, injures farm workers
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
“It actually picked us up like we were
rag dolls,” Danny Walters says about the
lightning strike that sent him and two
other employees to area hospitals.
The lightning hit occurred shortly
before 3 p.m. Monday as Walters and
about ten others were putting tobacco in
boxes in a packing shed just off the Old
Wire Road side of Walter Gibson Road in
the Antioch community.
A thunderstorm moved through the
area, and it had stopped raining, Walters
said, when the lightning hit in the vicinity
of the shelter. Those who came in contact
with the lightning were thrown about 15
feet by the electricity, he said.
Walters, who is 51, was taken by
ambulance to Cape Fear Valley Medical
Center, where he was treated and released.
Complaining that he was “still sore,”
Walters, who has farmed in Hoke County
all his life, was back at work Tuesday.
However, Steve Locklear, 30, who was
also taken to Cape Fear Valley, and Glenn
Hunt, 57, who was taken to FirstHealth
Moore Regional Hospital, had not.
returned to work yesterday. Neither was
admitted to the hospital.
Walters said the lightning strike split
an 8" X 8" pole. He said he felt very lucky.
(See LIGHTNING, page 9A)
Workers were under this shelter when lightning struck. The bolt cracked an 8 X 8
timber (left) supporting the roof of the shelter in its upper left corner (right).
Basketball’s Gil McGregor
urges students on to excellence
Michelle Nolte looks on as daughter Michelle
prepares to sign the Gear Up pledge.
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
“Here are the roots that I came from
and I tell it everywhere 1 go,” Hoke
County native Gilbert McGregor told
parents, teachers and students at a Gear
Up NC kickoff meeting at West Hoke
Middle School last week. He said Gear
Up might help other students achieve
goals that will take them, too, around the
world.
A former Wake Forest Demon Deacon
basketball star who played professionally
in the U.S. and Europe. McGregor was at
WHMS toencourage students to achieve
academic excellence. McGregor is
currently a NBA broadcaster with the
Charlotte Hornets and is known as the
“stay in school” ambassador, speaking
at schools and addressing the importance
of students’ completing their education
and staying away from drugs and
violence.
It was standing room only in the
WHMS gym when McGregor made his
pitch. He said the top 10 percent and the
bottom 10 percent of students in
classrooms get attention, and Gear Up
will reach the remaining 80 percent.
“Gear Up will not let students be left
behind,” he said.
Under Gear Up, students sign pledges
to stay on a track of scholastic
achievements that will qualify them for
college. The program also requires
parental involvement.
McGregor urged parents to support
theirchildren. “You support yourchildren
(See GEAR UP, page 7A)
Contract’s aim is
3-year economic
action plan
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
The Raeford-Hoke Economic
Development Commission has
entered into an agreement with a
Raleigh economic development
group to develop a three-year action
plan.
The economic development
commission voted at their July
meeting to sign an agreement with
the Sanford Holshouser Business
Development Group.
The action plan will build on the
Hoke County Strategic Plan report
released in 1994 that was drawn up
(See CONTRACT, page 9A)