The
ews
J oumal
»ened, it’s news to us
No.34VoLl00
Raeford & Hoke County n.c.
50t
Wednesday, November 9,2005
McNeill is mayor, Conoly, Kang win council
Voter turnout approaches 30 percent
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Mayor John K. McNeill III, incumbent Raeford
city councilman Robert L. (Bobby) Conoly and
councilwoman challenger Mary Neil King saw
sweeping victories in the Raeford city election last
night.
From the get-go when it was apparent they had
carried the majority of the one-stop and absentee
votes, the three winners kept up the momentum
for all three precincts in Raeford after 766 p)eople
had cast their ballots. This represented almost a
30 percent turnout -15 percent more than the last
municipal election.
McNeill follows in the footsteps of the late
Raeford mayor Bob Gentry and McNeill’s father,
the late John K. McNeill Jr., who served as mayor
of Raeford for 20 years. King is distinguished as
the first female city councilwoman to be elected.
Conoly, who had been appointed to his position,
will now serve his first elected term of office as
city councilman.
McNeill garnered 485 votes, winning over chal
lengers Tim D’Annunzio, who received 116 votes,
and Evelyn C. Price, the first female African
American mayoral candidate in Raeford. She won
159 votes.
Incumbent city councilman Eddie McNeill and
newcomer Buddy Blue were shoo-ins, running
unopposed for their two four-year term council
(See ELECTION, page 5A)
County to appeal tower ruling
Maintains 499-foot tower endangers aircraft
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Hoke’s Board of Commissioners is going to
appeal a judge’s ruling forcing the board to allow
construction of a 499-foot radio tower within five
miles of the Raeford Airport.
Superior Court Judge B. Craig Ellis had over
turned the county’s decision and said the county
must grant a conditional use permit for Cumulus
Broadcasting to build the tower, which would be
located less than five miles from P.K. Airpark, also
known as the Raeford Airport.
The judge said commissioners erred in denying
Cumulus’s request.
The proposed tower would be located off Ranch
Road, expanding the listening audience of a South
ern Pines FM radio station owned by Cumulus.
Most commissioners think the tower would
endanger pilots flying or parachutists jumping at
Marianne Baker addresses the board.
the county’s only public airport. The board is also
concerned a tower less than five miles from the
airport would prevent the potential of expansion
at the local airport in the future.
(See TOWER APPEAL, page 8A)
Victors: Bobby Conoly (Clockwise from top left); Mary Neil King congratulated by Bobby Strother; John
K. McNeill III with Eleanor Gentry, the late Mayor Bob Gentry’s wife.
This Week
Pickup rams house
page7A
Officer cleared
in fatal shooting
page3A
G)ach Pecora
filled right niche
page2A
Drug ring
suspects charged
page5A
Love of horses
funilyafi^
page IB
Index
Business/Farm 6A
Calendar 4B
Classifieds 7-8B
Deaths 8A
Editorials 2-3A
Engagements 3B
Legals 5-6B
Religion 2,5B
Socials 3B
Sports 4A
We’re on the web at
www.thenews-journal.com
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Beatty ran for city council despite delinquent taxes
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
City of Raeford and Hoke
County tax records revealed last
week that defeated Raeford city
council candidate Martha M. Be
atty owes $922.47 in delinquent
city taxes, dating back as far as
19%. Past due county property
taxes for three years, totaling
$282.05, had also not been paid
by Beatty as of last week, accord
ing to Judy Pittman, Hoke Tax
Collector.
Since filing
for a council
seat in July,
Beatty never
publicly dis
closed she was
behind on her
Beatty property taxes.
She also refused to offer an ex
planation why she has not paid
her taxes when contacted by The
News-Journal on Monday.
“I will comment maybe next
week after the election is over,”
Beatty said the day before Elec
tion Day.
Aware that the newspaper
would not go to press until the
day after the election, Beatty
acknowledged that many voters
may not have known she was tardy
in paying her taxes.
“Some do,” she said.
“May God bless my friends
and foes,” Beatty said.
According to the county and
city tax records, Beatty was the
only city candidate among nine
with overdue tax bills. Beattysaid
she is unemployed. She is a vol
unteer as a community advocate
of youth and senior citizens.
Prior to this week, the last time
Beatty paid on her city taxes was
in April, 2002 when she made a
payment of $83.10. Beatty paid
offher2001 city tax bill. She paid
$40 toward her county tax bill in
May 2003.
This week Beatty paid $50
more toward her county tax bill.
lowering the balance to $232.05,
according to Pittman on Monday
afternoon.
Pittman and Smith said Be
atty has promised she would
make payments until her taxes
are paid in full, which is why
no foreclosure proceedings have
been implemented thus far. No
preferential treatment was shown
toward Beatty, according to
them, because city and county
property tax collection policies
(See BEATTY, page 7A)
Audit of Clerk of Court’s office finds ‘serious’ deficiencies
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
State Treasury auditors detect
ed “significant deficiencies” and
noncompliance with regulations
during a routine audit conducted
this year in the Hoke County
Clerk of Superior Court office.
Improper accounting procedures
of cash collected were noted, ac
cording to Leslie W. Merritt Jr.,
state auditor who released the
report last week.
“The results of our audit dis
closed deficiencies in internal
control that are considered report-
able under government auditing
standards,” Merritt said.
Out of six counties in the
region, Hoke was the only one
found not to be in compliance,
according to the report. Superior
Court Clerk’s offices in the sur
rounding area that passed most
recent audits with clear records
included those in Cumberland,
Scotland, Robeson, Richmond
and Moore counties.
State auditors recommended
Vera Hollingsworth, Hoke Clerk
of Superior Court, improve
internal control procedures in
cash procedures, improve cash-
receipting methods, and separate
duties so one person does not
handle cash, write receipts for
it, reconcile and deposit it at the
bank.
Hollingsworth defended her
office, saying “extenuating”
circum.stances of increased ca-se
loads and a “grossly” understaffed
office during a transitional pe
riod caused weaknesses in cash
receipts and cash disbursements.
She told auditors that their book-
keeperof more than 25 yearsdied,
another employee was out due
to pregnancy complications and
another had to undergo surgery.
There was not much time for
cross training during that period,
she added.
“The recommendations of the
audit staff are well taken and are
now being and will be put into ac
tion immediately,” Hollingsworth
said in her response to the state.
“Let me add, the employees in
the clerk’s office are to be com
mended for their hard work and
the long hours of some to keep
this office functioning.”
Hollingsworth said it was
disappointing to receive such a
report when she had previously
requested additional funding
from the state to hire more per-
(See CLERK AUDIT, page 3A)
Former Hoke High student killed while serving in Iraq
S'
•
Private First Class Dillon Jutras
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Private First Class Dillon
Miles Jutras was a bom soldier
destined to march on the trail
blazed by his father. Army Major
Pierre D. Jutras, according to his
family.
Dressing up in his father’s
military uniform, he used to
play army games when he was a
kid, according to the Jutras fam
ily, but he became more serious
about a military career when he
participated in the Junior ROTC
program at Hoke County High
School.
Dillon did more than defend
his country and participate in the
Operation Iraqi peace-keeping
mission in the Middle Ea.st. On
October 28, he died for it. While
on a combat mission in Iraq’s
Anbar province, he was killed,
just two weeks from when he was
scheduled to return home, accord
ing to a TV station in Virginia.
Details
of his
death
have still
not been
released
by the
military,
accord
ing to
his father Loved soccer, music
At the time of his death, the
20-year-old was serving in the
U.S. Army’s elite 3rd Battalion,
75th Ranger Regiment based out
of Fort Benning, Georgia. He
joined the Army in December
and was assigned to Iraq shortly
afterward.
“Dillon idolized his father and
wanted to follow in his footsteps,”
Randy Abner, a civil service em
ployee and friend of the family
siiid. “I was always impressed
by Dillon. I never recall anyone
who had an unkind word to say
about him.
(See JUTRAS, page 3A)