ews
J oumal
ned, it’s news to US ^
No.50Vol.100
75^
Wednesday, March 1,2006
Sheriff, DA announce arson task force
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Sheriff Hubert Peterkin
and Hoke District Attorney
Kristy M. Newton announced
this morning they have estab
lished a special arson task
force to address the “severe
problem” associated with
40 fires that have destroyed
dwellings during the past two
years across the county.
Major Freddy Johnson,
Hoke fire marshal and chief
of operations at the Sheriffs
Office, first addressed the
problem at the Hoke comm is-
sioners’ retreat last month.
A special reward fund is
also being set up with moneys
donated by the state and other
agencies for information from
witnesses leading to the cap
ture the arsonists, accoording
to Peterkin.
“Somebody is going to
jail,” Peterkin warned. “One
of the arsons involved the
church. Helping Hand Min
istries, which was burned to
the ground on Highway 211
West.
“I am concerned that
sooner or later we will have
an arson crime committed
that will cost the lives of ho
meowners or our firemen who
are overstrained fighti ng these
fires deliberately set.”
Informing the arson task
force, Peterkin and Johnson
are joined by two other ar
son investigators at the Hoke
Sheriffs office, special agents
from the State Bureau of
Investigation and the Hoke
district attorney’s office.
Johnson, echoing Peterkin,
said specific arsonists are
already suspected in “at least
12” of the fires determined to
be arson-related.
“We are organized to re
spond at a moment’s notice
so the entire task force can
respond; depending on the
severity of the arson.” Peter
kin said. “We will investigate
residential and commercial
arson incidents.
“We have seen a significant
increase of arson fires overthe
past 12 months.”
Some of the fires involved
occupied dwellings, “but
one family was at home
at the time the fires were
set,” Peterkin added. Many
of the fires were set in the
Puppy Creek Fire District.
(see ARSON, page 5A)
Soldier
strangled
Man charged in bride's death
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
The brief marriage of two soldiers who met
while stationed in Iraq, but were recently sta
tioned in separate states, ended with the slaying
last week of 26-year-old Sgt. Dahlia S. Newman
in her home in the Wayside community.
Newman was assigned to the U.S. Army’s
18th Support Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg.
Newman was allegedly killed by her husband,
a U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Stew
art, Georgia, according to the Hoke Sheriffs
(See SOLDIER, page 5A)
(
The Newmans. Right, Nancy Hare and Pup-Pup stroll down a street in quiet Windward Oaks where Sgt. Dahlia Newman was strangled.
County doubles efforts
to build more schools
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Plans to buy acreage at Sandy Grove
to keep up with the student en
rollment escalation, accord
ing to Commission Chai rman
Bobby Wright.
To move forward with the
most recent request from the
school board, commissioners
Thomas preaches
50 years
page IB
Hoke commissioners and
the Hoke Board of Educa
tion have doubled up efforts
to accommodate growth in
the county.
By acquiring donated land
for at least one future elemen
tary school near Scurlock and
extra land purchased for an-
oiherschool building adjacent
to Sandy Grove Elementary
School, the two boards hope
voted unanimously yesterday
in a recessed meeting to ac
quire 30 acres that adjoins
Sandy Grove Elementary
School in Arabia. The board
approved purchasing the land
for $350,000, which will
(see COUNTY, page 6A)
DSS finds partial solution
to subsidize more childcare
Manna breaks ground
for new church
page 7 A
Republicans
regroup
I'UgeM
Births 3B
Calendar 2B
(Jassifieds 7,8B
Deaths 8A
I'ditorials 2A
legals 5-6B
Ucligum 2B
Sch(X)l ...3B,4A
StKials 3B
IVeVe on the web at
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Read by 3,000 each week
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
For the first time in Hoke
County government, the local
Department of Social Ser
vices will request the county
to subsidize the state’s child
care program where working
families and single parent
students are given priority to
utilize daycare providers.
This request was driven by
achildcarecrisis in Hoke dur
ing the 2005-06 fiscal budget
when cutbacks occurred in
childcare subsidies on the
state level. Hoke’s Depart
ment of Social Services was
forced to cut 180 children
who were enrolled in daycare
services from the program in
mid-January,
Hoke currently does not
contribute any portion to
the state’s childcare subsidy
allocation of $1.7 million,
which is received by Hoke’s
DSS, according to Hoke DSS
interim director Barbara
Brooks and Commissioner
Charles V. Daniels, a DSS
board member.
“We are going to request
that the county contribute
$100,000 in our next year’s
budget to help fund child
care,” Brooks said. ‘That is
our objective.
“The county would not
be adding any money. They
only allocate $45,000 for our
Work First program annually,
but that is not for daycare
subsidies,” she said.
“A group of our childcare
providers recently came to
the commissioners to ask for
money for the program.”
Daniels said he thinks the
board might look favorably
on the DSS’s request for ad
ditional childcare funding for
2005-06.
Brooks said childcare
services are being restored
this month to some childien,
bringing relief to 40 more
families in need of childcare.
She is contacting families
who may enroll in the pro
file CHILD, page 6A)
4 for sheriff, 10 for commissioner
Filing for county offices ended at noon yesterday; the race is on
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
In a local election filing
period packed with challeng
ers, the Hoke Board of Elec
tions tallied four candidates,
including incumbent Sheriff
Hubert Peterkin, who filed
for Hoke sheriff by the noon
deadline yesterday.
Stacking up to seek three
commissioners’ seats avail
able for the Hoke Board of
Commissioners were 10
contenders.
Among the com m issioners
candidates are incumbents
Jean Powel 1, vicechairwoman
of the board, and Bill Cam-
eronare seeking second terms.
Charles V. Daniels currently
fills the third available seat,
but he filed on Monday to run
for sheriff
Daryl Simmons also filed
for sheriff Simmons did not
list a business affiliation or
any phone numbers when
he filed yesterday. A Red
Springs resident, Simmons
listed Cope Road as his ad
dress.
“The filing period went
fine. It was smooth.'.’
— Board of Elections
Director Caroline
Shook
Filing for -commissioner
this week were Tony Hunt,
a former commissioner, an
ordainedminister and school
teacher, and west Hoke resi
dent Charles Patterson, a local
businessman and mobile
home park owner.
Frank Grumpier, co-owner
of Crumpler’s Funeral Home
in Raeford and Red Springs,
also filed unopposed on the
Democrat ticket as the incum
bent coroner. Grumpier has
served as coroner of Hoke for
46 years, according to Caro
line Shook, Hoke’s board of
elections director. He will be
the Democrat-nominee elect
on the November ballot.
“The filing period went
fine,” Shook said. “It was
smooth.”
Deciding the outcome of
the May primary and Novem
ber election will be 21,250
registered Hoke voters with
more expected to register.
All candidates running
in the race are Democrats
with the exception of Tim
D’Annunzio. He is the sole
Republican seeking a com
missioners’ seat. Without
Republican Party opposition,
D’Annunzio becomes the
Republican nomineeelect, ap
pearing automatically on the
November election ballot.
Jockeying for the posi
tion as sheriff of Hoke at a
time when the population is
exploding is Peterkin, who
is seeking his second term
of office; Daniels, a former
Raeford constable; Si mmons,
and retired Raeford assistant
(see FILING, page 8A)
Ititi
Jl
Fat Tuesday
Sandy Grove pupils held their own Mardi Gras as they learned the New Orleans holiday
originated in France where people begged on this day.