The
m
ews-Joumal
No. 40 Vol. 96
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Qiristmas gift
returns Guard
County pays for bus to make
return possible for troops
B'l Pat Ai li-n Wii son
Editor
Thankstothccreativity of local lead
ers and a little county funding, the local
National Guard will be home for Christ
mas after all. Hoke commissioners au
thorized County Manager Mike Wood
to sign a contract providing local citizen
soldiers with a free return ride to resume
training at Fort Stewart, Georgia after
spending the holidays with families here.
From Louisiana they will be no longer
be in training and deployment will be
gin. “The bottom line is they will be
gone for more than a year, and they
cannot leave their vehicles at Fort
Stewart for safety and logistic reasons,”
he said.
“That’s the primary reason they
needed to return to Fort Stewart by bus.
The timing was right that they could
have four-day holidays with their fami
lies and bring their cars back if they
r/
A soldier asked how much it would cost to ride
the bus. “It was gratifying to say it would not cost
them anything, the county was going to take care
of it.” — Tom Squier
Some 440 troops of Headquarters
and Headquarters Company, 105th En
gineer Battalion out of Raeford were
activated in early October and sent to
Georgia for training. The battalion is
expected to be dephryed to Iraq early
next year.
The troops weren’t going to be able
to come home before their deployment
because of transportation problems.
While the local troops were allowed
to drive their vehicles to and from Fort
Stewart, Hoke Veterans Service Office
Tom Squier explained, they will be there
for a only a short time before they are
sent to Louisiana, also for a brief period.
want.”
Wood said buses carrying members
of HHC, 105th Eng. Bn. will leave the
National Guard Armory between noon
and 1 p.m. Saturday. He said authorities
at Fort Bragg recommended some com
panies the installation uses for troop
transfers, and Lancaster Tours was cho
sen for the trip, which will take approxi
mately five hours. A contract was being
drawn up yesterday, and it will cost the
county around $2,000.
“I’m proud of the commissioners for
making that commitment and I’m sure
the soldiers are — and their families,”
(See NATIONAL GUARD, page 6A)
Sign of the season
Santa (Mike Lucas) got visits from lots of children recently at a fundraising event for
the Children’s Development Center held at Raeford Presbyterian Church. One
visitor was Thomas McGirr, son of Mike and Linda McGirr.
School board
re-elects Smith
chairman
Pilkinton elected vice chair
B> Vic'ioRiANA Summers
Staff writer
Raeford attorney Russell Charles
Smith has been unanimously re-elected
as chairman by the Hoke County Board
of Education. In another uncontested
vote, the board elected Tom Pilkington,
a retired N.C. Wildlife Resources of
ficer, to serve for .the first time as vice
chairman.
Both educational leaders are serving
a second term. They credited Hoke
School Superintendent Allen Strickland
for positively guiding the local board
through an exceptional academic year.
A former teacher and coach for 13
years at Hoke High. Smith has consis
tently retained his popularity in leading
the school board. This was the third
time Smith was elected as chair, a posi
tion selected on an annual basis. His
philo.sophy is “once a teacher, always a
teacher.”
Pilkington, a veteran of the U.S. Navy,
says his philosophy is to improve the
school system. "Without quality educa
tion, we do not have quality citizens,”
he says.
Formerly vice chairman, Harry
Southerland nominated Pilkington.
Pilkington subsequently nominated
Smith to serve again as chairman. The
school board without further nomina
tions acted upon both recommendations.
“I feel honored and humbled to be
selected by our leadership,” Smith said.
“I hope^jo continue enjoying a good
working relationship with our board
and the school administration.”
(See SCHOOL BOARD, page 7A)
/./i
Morris House
basks in Christmas
compromise reached
on budget control
papa BA
A man looks back at
a boy and Christmas
Bi>
Births 3B
Business/Farm 5A
Calendar 4B
Classifieds 7B
Deaths 3A
Editorials 2A
Legals 5-6B
Public Record 3A
Religion 6A
Socials 3B
Sports 4A
Hoke’s top stories
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www.thenews-journal.com
Sheriff announces promotions, pronounces 2003 good
By Victorian a Summers
Staff writer
When Hoke Sheriff Hubert Peterkin
was elected, he promised to meet numer
ous goals to improve Hoke County duri ng
his four-year term. The Sheriff’s Office
has already achieved almost 50 percent of
those objectives in only one year, Peterkin
announced on Monday.
Since Peterkin took office in Decem
ber 2002, the Sheriff’s Office has closed
cases with up to almost 2,000 arrests. The
Sheriff’s Office has also conducted 16
successful drug raids in the county, he
added.
“We have arrested 96 people on drug
charges,” Peterkin said. "This has paid off
because of our team effort."
Peterkin said five of the suspects ar
rested on felony drug charges have also
“gone” to federal prisons on additional
drug trafficking allegations.
“We feel good about our accomplish
ments,” Peterkin said. “Morale is up —
very high — among our deputies. We
have made a tremendous impact on pre
venting crime this year.
“We could not have done this v\ ithout
the support of our community and the
backing of the Hoke County Board of
Commissioners.”
Peterkin said his administration is con-
(See SHF RIFT, page 8A)
■Cr
N
\
EV
Shown from left are Major Freddy Johnson, Sheriff Hubert Peterkin, Chief Deputy Troy
McDuffie, Captain Gary Hammond, and Captain John Pierce.
Dmg smuggling ring cracked
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Law enforcement officers arrested
three out-of-county men on drug charges
after a stakeout last Tuesday.
Officers also seized one-half kilo of
cocaine and weapons in the undercover
drug raid, according to Sheriff Hubert
Peterkin.
“This was a joint task force operation,
and we are very pleased with the out
come,” Peterkin said. “We are going to
continue to rid the county of these serious
drug problems.
“These illegal drug operations are what
is contributing to our major crime in the
(See DRUGS, page 8A)
ne i^ews
News
H Journal
Other stuff
:
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Mims remembers death march
$2,000 needed for trip to take part in documentary
By Ken MacDonald
General Manager
I can be made to feel guilty for my part in
global warming, filled-up landfills and
world hunger.
I do not always shop in Raeford or al
ways stay off the sidewalks with my bi
cycle. 1 have ridden in an SUV. All of that
can bring a tinge of guilt too.
1 have told blonde jokes, Yankee jokes
and lawyer jokes. (Okay, maybe I’m not
sorry about those.)
I confess to having less than pleasant
thoughts on several (x:casions recently when
V''
\
I went to the mailbox and none of the stuff
mailed to me over a week ago had arrived.
But then 1 felt guilty because I realized the
poor postal system folks have been
swamped, they’ve been contending with
the flu like the rest of us, and $2 is still pretty
good to get 45 5X7 photographs from Aus
tin, Texas.
I confess to thinking it is past time to
paint over the mural on the old hotel build
ing and that sometimes art does not appre
ciate with age. But now I feel guilty be
cause, come on, it was Boy Scouts who
pitched in and painted it, and I don’t want to
(See OTHER STUFF, page 5A)
For John Mims, it’s all about remem
bering.
Not the almost four years of forced
labor and torture he endured while he
was a captive of the Japanese during
World War II, but he wants to keep alive
the memory of those who died at
Corrigidor and in other battles, on the
Bataan Death March and in the POW
camps.
Now, at age 81, Mims and other sur
vivors who fought in The Philippines,
have the opportunity to make a return
trip to visit the sites where battles were
fought and to once again follow the
death march route.
A documentary is to be made of the
visit and will be aired on the Discovery
Channel this spring.
The cost of the three-week trip, to
begin January II, is approximately
$2,000 — that is from LAX airport; a
fellow member of Roman Eagle Lodge
in Aberdeen has donated Frequent Flyer
miles to pay for Mims’ fare to Los
Angeles.
Less than half the prisoners of war of
the Japanese lived to see freedom. Now
only a handful is left to make the return
trip.
John Mims
“There were James Snyder and John
Freeman — both in the furniture busi
ness, I think, and a captain from Tennes
see — 1 don’t remember his last name
— but he gave me a couple of drops of
water on the march,” Mims says. “I
passed out. I didn’t fall but I passed out.
The good Lord kept me up, and they
(See MIMS, page 6A)