ews
Journal
If it happened, it’s news to us
75t
No.46VoLl00
Raeford & Hoke County n.c,
Wednesday, February 1,2006
Hoke skydiver receives Wiley Post award
INALCUPi
Stearns after winning interna
tional championship.
By VicTORiANA Summers
Staff writer
World championship sky-
diver Cheryl Steams, a Puppy
Creek resident, was recently
honored with the highest of
skydiver/aviator awards, the
Wiley Post Spirit Award for
2005. Presented annually
to an individual who best
exemplifies the “innovative
and pioneering spirit” of the
late, world-class aviator Wiley
Post, the award was presented
to Steams on January 27 in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The Governor of Oklahoma
also issued a proclamation in
her honor, declaring January
27 as Cheryl Steams Day in
the state.
Post, the first pilot to fly
around the ^orld in only eight
days, is famous for discover
ing the jet stream and building
the first pressurization suit for
pilots. Dying young. Post was
flying w'ith popular humorist
Will Rogers when they fatally
crashed into a mountain peak
in Alaska.
In the three-dimensional
frame presented to Steams,
a crystal sphere of the world
is displayed on a crystal
column. Fascinated by the
design, Stearns twirls the
crystal ball on display in her
Hoke home. The 50-year-old
Steams said she is humbled by
the recognition, won over 10
experienced, champion sky-
diver-aviators. Inscribed in the
crystal are the words, “Citizen
(See STEARNS, page 9A)
Attorney seeks
millions in fees
Wants state to repay Hoke,
others for education battle
Nit-
By VicTORiANA Summers
Staff writer
After nearly 12 years and
16,000 hours waging a court
battle over insufficient edu
cational funding for Hoke’s
school district, Raleigh at
torney Robert Spearman is
seeking to recoup millions
of dollars in legal expenses
from the state.
Spearman submitted a
This Week
d
Black churches here
before county formed
page IB
Raeford PD initiaf es
car theft prevention
page4A
WHMS puts Title 1
to work
page4B
DSS moves
into Health Building
page7A
Index
Births 3B
Calendar 3B
Classifieds 7B
Deaths lOA
Editorials 2-3A
Legals 5-6B
Public Record 4A
Religion 2B
Schools 4B
Socials 3B
Sports 6A
Weddings 3B
We’re on the web at
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Read by 3,000 each week
47-page memorandum to
the Wake Superior Court in
late December on behalf of
Hoke’s Board of Education.
He urged the court to award
$ 10.7 million in legal fees and
$322,258.91 in costs to Hoke
schools and five other school
districts. After serving as the
lead plaintiff in the winning
lawsuit against the state,
Hoke’s school board would
potentially recover $2.5 mil
lion of the total settlement.
The remaining $8.2 million
of the settlement would be
divided among co-plain
tiffs Robeson, Cumberiand,
Vance and Halifax counties.
The Asheville City Board of
Education, an intervener in
the litigation, would also share
in the reimbursement
“Such an award is sup
ported by the facts and the
law,” Spearman said of Hoke’s
victory. “Such an award is
appropriate to encourage
the vindication of consti-
(See ATTORNEY, page 8A)
T
tv
Above: Steve Wilburn on upper floor of Belk Building below: Shelley at window front.
Renovating old
Belk Building
By VICTORIANA Summers
Staff writer
Steve and Shelley Wilburn
are sold on Main Street USA
right in Raeford.
“We are hoping to revive
a nostalgic time when shops
were thriving,” Mrs. Wilburn
said. “ We want to bring some
new grandeur downtown.”
All week after school and
on weekends Shelley Wilburn,
ateacher at West Hoke Middle
School, and Steve Wilburn,
an insurance adjuster at N.C.
Stale Farm, spend a\\ their
spare time restoring the old
Belk Building on North Main
Street. Opening for business
in May, the historic structure
will house a classic coffee
house and old-fashioned
ice cream parlor called The
Chatterbox Caff. Reminis
cent of the past, 14-foot high
ceilings in the former Belk
building remain intact with
decorative, stamped tin. An
old, hand-painted emblem
remains on the elevator in
scribed with the name of
the Moffatt Machine Manu
facturing Co. of Charlotte.
The Wilburns say they are
salvaging as much of the his
(See BELK, page 7A)
West Hoke gym named after long-time teacher, coach
By Hal Nunn
Sports writer
The Hoke County school system
recognized a long-time teacher and
coach by naming West Hoke Middle
School’s gymnasium The Robert A.
Blue Gym.
Blue, who coached and taught at
West Hoke Middle sine ^ its beginning
in 1990, has been with Hoke schools
27 years.
Blue retired in the middle of the
season due to health-related problems.
His overall record in basketball at the
school was 198 wins and 38 losses.
Assistant Coach Rodney Fairley
continued with the remainder of the
season as head coach of the Tigers.
Blue’s most recent accomplishment
was winning the Southeastern Middle
School Conference Championship
last year with an 11-3 record. That
championship was his eighth since
taking over the team in 1990.
Fairley invited special guest Sgt.
Slam, the National Basketball As
sociation D-League Fayetteville
Patriots Mascot to excite the crowd
at the MacDonald Gymnasium. Sgt.
Slam is Blue’s favorite mascot and has
also been invited to the N BA All-Star
Game in the past. Accompanying Sgt.
Slam was T’nesha Shaw, a former
Hoke County High School graduate,
and now a member of the Patriots
dance team.
School Board Chairman RussellC.
Smith presented Blue with a plaque
commemorating the event and certify
ing the naming of the gym after him.
The entire Blue family was present and
the gym was packed for the annual
West Hoke vs. East Hoke game.
East Hoke Athletic Director Brenda
Ramsey honored Blue with a stuffed
Tiger, a display of sportsmanship,
considering East Hoke is West Hoke’s
number one rival.
In the future there will be a re-
(See BLUE, page 6A)
'r.
u
/ ^
Blue accepts award.
Embrace growth, group says, but ensure the Sandhills survive
By VICTORIANA Summers
Staff writer
Encouraging economic prosperity
while fending for future generations
were goals voiced at a local Sandhills
Sustainable outreach meeting.
Jon Parsons, executive director of
the non-profit organization, informed
Hoke leaders the county’s population
might soar by 91.5 percent in 25, and
pu^ed for proactive planning that
would accommodate the growth but
ensure the needs of future generations
are met.
“One of our major challenges
is to engage the business sector in
our initiative,” Parson said. “If we
can recruit eight to ten businesses
to enter at the partnership level, the
N.C. Department of Environmental
and Natural Re.sources will bring the
Environmental Stewardship program
to the Sandhills.
‘This would be invaluable to our
initiative.”
More than 50 busine.ss, city, mili
tary, county and state leaders attended
“Population increasing can turn out well if you are
doing lots of creative things to move ahead or it can turn
out bad if you are not planning ” - Bill Ross, Secretary,
N.C Dept. Environmental and Natural Resources
the event, held recently at the Raeford
Civic Center, Parsons emphasized the
importance of preserving the Sand
hills region’s way of life for future
generations.
‘This is truly the only way that we
as a community can go forward to
grow in the future,” said introductory
speaker Walter White, vice president
of the Lumbee Electric Membership
Cooperative’s community relations
and a volunteer with Sustainable
Sandhills.
(See SUSTAINABILITY, page 9A)