ews
If it happened, it s news to us
Journal
No.43VoL99
Raeford & Hoke County n.c,
Wednesday, January 12,2005
State boani of education holds meeting here
Hoke superintendent Strickland urges board to make good court’s mhng
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
It was history in the making when the
State School Board and staff from the
state Department of Public Instruction
met for the first time in Hoke County on
January 6 - seeing rather than just heari ng
about educational challenges.
Holding their monthly meeting at
Sandy Grove Elementary School, state
school board members were greeted with
songs performed by the school’s fourth
and fifth grade student chorus. Leading
the state delegation were State Board of
Education chairman Howard Lee and
interim State School Superintendent
Tricia Willoughby.
Hoke school superintendent Allen
Strickland, host of the event, warned that
the gap was widening between the top
and bottom counties with fewer financial
resources available. He criticized the
state and federal government for recently
labeling Hoke an “urban” rather than a
“rural” school district. This change in
classification, he maintains, decreased
the potential for Hoke to receive federal
grants for parental involvement in the
schools and some additional teacher
recruitment dollars.
“I can take you on a bus tour of Hoke
County,andyouwillquicklyrealizethatwe
are not an urban county,” Strickland said.
{See BOARD MEETS, page 5A)
Veteran magistrate
Washington fired
Judge appoints councilman instead
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
The first African American
female magistrate to be appointed
in Hoke County has been fired
after a 15-year career, according
to judicial authorities.
The firing happened even
though Hoke Clerk of Superior
Court Vera Hollingsworth nomi
nated former Hoke magistrate
Sherra McGregor Washington
to be reappointed for another
term.
At the request of judicial
officials, Hollingsworth subse
quently swore in Raeford city
councilman Wayne Mills on
Monday, replacing Washington
after a three-week vacancy. A
former Hoke schoolteacher and
semi-retired businessman. Mills
2
Soldier in Iraq
studies online
pi^elB
Tylertown firefighter
pleads guilty
page4A
Leandro is
law of the land
pt^e2A
Day of Service
honors King
page6A
MHTif
Births 3B
Calendar 3B
Classifieds 5-6B
Deaths 4A
Editorials 2A
Legals 4B
Religion 6A
Schools 2B
Socials 3B
We’re on the web at
www.thenews-joumal.com
Sherra Washington
has resigned from his elected city
council position.
“I nominated all five of the
Hoke magistrates to be reap-
poi nted, and she was one of them,”
Hollingsworth, serving a second
term, said. “I have worked with
her. I found Sherra Washington
to be a fair magistrate. I thought
she did a fine job.”
Washington indicated her im
mediate supervisor. Chief District
Court Judge Warren Pate, previ
ously advised her of some prob
lems concerning her actions.
“There were some things that
happened last year and some
accusations,” Washington, a 45-
year-old Hoke native, said of her
judicial service. ‘There was no
proof or foundation to it.
“I feel like this decision was
unjustified and made unfairly. I
do not think I was treated equally
as the other magistrates. It is
impossible to please everyone in
this type of profession when you
are working with the public, but
I took my job seriously.”
Washington was next in se
niority to Hoke magistrate Steve
Hedgpeth when Hoke Superior
Court Judge B. Craig Ellis, offi
cially dismissed her in December.
Ellis is delegated power to “hire
or fire” magistrates. Ellis said
Washington had been aware of
the pending situation.
“After having discussions with
Judge Pate on a number of occa
sions, I thought it was not appro
priate to reappoint her,” Ell is said.
(See MAGISTRATE, page 4A)
Dee Dee Richardson and the two youngest Richardson children. Brennan and Laurel, with some of the stuff toys she is collecting for children
affected by the tsunamis.
Woman is collecting stuffed animals
for children in tsunami-ravaged areas
By Pat Allen Wilson
Editor
Dee Dee Richardson and her three children
recently came across stuffed animals and toys
the children no longer played with when they
cleaned up the children’s playroom. They were
put in sacks for “good will” donations. Later,
watching on TV the news of the tsunami
tragedies, she thought, “I can do something
better with these toys.”
Richardson talked it over with her eight-
year-old daughter, Demi, astudentat Rockfish
Hoke Elementary School. “We could send
these to the kids over there,” Demi said,
referring to the children whose lives were
uprooted by the tsunami.
“Everybody was sending, food, clothes. We
thought it would be nice if they had something
different to give the kids,”.Richardson said.
The military wife and mother began collect
ing stuffed animals to send to the youngsters
of the 12 countries affected by the tsunamis.
“If I were there I’d give them hugs,” she said,
and dubbed her menagerie of stuffed animals
“Hugs for the Children.”
“You see all these children that are or
phaned, some not even orphaned. You don’t
know what the children have lost. The thought
of having something sent that they can hold
on to... Here it’s an everyday thing for our
children,” Richardson said.
Richardson’s project won the approval of
her husband, Ben, and she is waiting to hear
from agencies she has contacted that she hopes
to send the stuffed animals to and who will
distribute them. She will use her baby-sitting
money for postage, she said. “Everybody says
it will be expensive,” she added.
She began collecting stuffed toys from
acquaintances and posted “Hugs for the
Children” online on the Free-Cycle site and
Trhe News-! Journal 1
News Other stuff
"
By Ken MacDonald
Publisher
My sai Iboat has been col lecting moss and
yearning for the good old days. The days
before my crew got their driver’s licenses,
and left Raeford and sailing in their rearview
mirrors. The days when we plied the open
waters of the mighty Atlantic. Okay, well
mostly Mott Lake.
She has been sitting under a tarp for so
long that vines have grabbed the axle of her
trailer as if to hold her back and squeeze out
what little life may be left in her. Parked at
the edge of the backyard, her exposed bows
a nasty green, sbe has been a daily reminder
tliat 1 am no sailor; 1 am a weenie. Or else
I’d be out there, crew or no, riding the winds
and parting the waters.
Then it occurred to me la.st week when
spring arrived: there is a new crew to be
nurtured. Two people who would love the
thrill of screaming across the waters about
(See OTHER STUFF, page 3A)
Lokie - mom's gone, needs home.
on her own site on Free Ads in NC. She also
contacted CNN and local news stations to
get the word out.
Yesterday she had already collected ap
proximately 180 stuffed toys. Included in her
collection are soft animals of all sizes, colors
and species. There is the “Caddy Shack”
groundhog that sings and moves his head
back and forth, a March of Dimes bunny,
a pink elephant, and a talking Elmo and a
talking Barney.
Demi donated Spirit Horse, the .stuffed ani
mal shegotforChristmas. “She said she’d like
to give to the children for ‘spirit,’” Richard.son
said, “I thought that was touching.”
One woman contacted Richardson through
the Free-Cycle site with the promi.se of hand
crafting some animaLs,
Demi and her siblings, Brennan, 4,
and Laurel, 21 months, will decorate
(See HUGS FOR CHILDREN, page 5A)
Woman convicted
of ‘dumping’ dog
Missing dog’s pup needs home
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Hoke District Court Judge Richard T. Brown
sent a stiff message to potential animal abusers
when he recently convicted Rockfish resident
Sharon Harris of cruelty to animals and aban
donment of her female dog, “Sheba.”
A friendly mixed retriever-chow and mother
of a recent litter of puppies, Sheba’s whereabouts
(See DOG ABUSE, page 5A)