The
ews
Journal
it happened, if s news to
75t
No.44VoLl01
Raeforo & Hok^ County n.c,
Wednesday, January 17,2007
Ethanol plant clears last major hurdle
Owner says $60 million loan commitment received, project is at ‘ 1-yard line'
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
The company planning to build an ethanol
plant in Hoke County says it has cleared its last
major hurdle when it secured a $60 million
loan commitment.
“We are down to the one-yard line,” said
Jack Carl isle, owner of the multi-million dollar
Joe stirs
crowd at
King event
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Faces from different cultures across
Hoke County joined in the 20th annual
Martin Luther King Jr. celebration on
Monday evening, sharing a chord of
inspiration from guest speaker. District
Court Judge Regina Joe.
She was preceded by Dr. Samuel Nor
man, pastor of Center Grove Missionary
Baptist Church who discussed the span
of King’s life from the Montgomery,
Alabama bus boycott of 1955, to his “I
have a dream” famous speech of August
8, 1%3, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s
signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
and King’s assassination in 1968.
“Marlin Luther King Jr. gave the ulti
mate sacrifice,” Norman said. “He gave
his life so we would have our civil rights
and freedom.”
Hoke Clerk of Court Vera Holling
sworth introduced Joe to guests and
Clean Bum Fuels of Cary.
“Clean Bum, itself, has put up aone percent
escrow of $250,000 toward financing the
project,” Carlisle said.
The company is nearing its goal to create
100 jobs in Hoke County as it builds one of
the first ethanol-producing plants on the East
Coast.
Carlisle said the $60 million loan commit
ment is from Cape Fear Farm Credit, with
offices in Raeford and Clinton. That loan,
along with an additional $35 million already
generated by private investors will take Clean
Bum over the final hurdle to begin construc
tion, he said.
Carl isle said his number one location choice
has always been Hoke.
“It was an excellent decision for us to
select Hoke County as the site for our plant,”
Carlisle said.
“The county commissioners have been just
great, and everyone wants to see this plant
in Hoke.
(See ETHANOL, page 4A)
itLw
Guests at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. banquet enjoy camaraderie on Monday evening.
dignitaries. She also read greetings from N.C.
Representative Garland Pierce, who attended
the dinner gala. Pierce praised the Hoke County
Civic League, sponsor of the King event. Pierce
said the organization’s mission was achieving
outstanding goals to encourage leadership in
the Hoke community.
Joe indicated she was speaking from her
heart and recounted some of the triumphs and
tragedies in the life of King whom she said was
assassinated after bringing unity to African
Americans during the stmggle for integration.
She urged people of all races to not just rely on
God for His blessings, but to also make every
effort to improve their lives to make them bel
ter people.
“White or black,” Joe said, people ha\e
(See KING EVENT, page 5A)
Hoke teen
releases first CD
page IB
Lady Bucks win
page 7A
Grants sought
for $1 million forest
pageSA
Police arrest
two for dn^ brealdn
page 8 A
Index
Births
2B
Calendar
3B
Classifieds
....7-8B
Deaths
3A
Editorials
2A
Legals
4-6B
Socials
2B
Sports
6-7A
Weddings
2B
We’re on the web at
www.thenews-joumal.com
Read by 3,000 each week
Ground broken for Steed Elementary School
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Sharing shovels of dirt and re
sponsibilities for future growth,
Hoke’s Board of Education and
Hoke’s commissioners celebrated the
groundbreaking of the future Don D.
Steed Elementary School on Philippi
Church Road.
“Bless the kids who will walk these
halls,” Dr. Freddie Williamson, Hoke
school superintendent said during an
invocation.
Named after retired school super
intendent Don Steed, the elementary
school construction began last Thurs
day, coinciding with the groundbreak
ing. The new facility will house 34
classrooms and accommodate 700
students from grades kindergarten
through 5.
Brown Hendrix, Hoke schools di
rector of facilities management, said
th^ school would also feature a multi
purpose room and stage, a resource
center, computer lab, music room, con
ference and meeting rooms. There will
also be a gymnasium, administration
offices and other audiovisual rooms.
Hendrix anticipates completion of the
project by June 2008.
“This is quite a star-studded
event,” Russell C. Smith, chairman
of the Hoke board of education,
said. “This is a good thing for
(See STEED, page 8A)
Steed (left to right), Smith, Powell
Dial: ghostly image of angel a sign of better times
Dial with a pine knot, or an angel?
By Victorian \ Summi:rs
Staff writer
Antioch widower Elisha Dial says
on Christmas Day he was touched by
an angel — an apparition that never
disappeared.
“It has become a permanent
presence that ha«: illuminated my
iife forever,” Dial, a member of the
Lumbee Tribe residing off Balfour
Road, said. “1 was walking through
my large social hall near my home
that 1 lease out for weddings and
other family events.
“But, 1 was in a low state of mind
on Christmas morning, getting ready
for our annual family dinner.”
An emotional Dial said he was
sobbing, with his head downcast.
“1 was thinking of my loved ones
who had died,” Dial said. “My wife,
Nancy, mother Essie Mae Dial and
my mother-in-law, Pauline, died
almost at the same time several
years ago.
“1 cried out, ‘Oh Lord, why must
1 be so much alone?’ he said.
“1 heard this voice say, ‘You are
not alone; look up.’”
Dial said no sooner than he raised
his head that he saw a cameo-shaped
face had appeared on the wall alrout
waist high, with two large wings
framing it. The depiction of the angel
is underneath the grain of the wo^,
when examined up close.
“1 was amazed,” Dial said.
In the impression, which was dis
covered on a rough-hewn pi ne panel,
the imprint of the face was the size
of a large hand, he said.
Surrounded by swirls formed in
a large pine knot, the sloe-eyed face
with a sturdy nose, faint delicate lips
and traces of hair resemble his wi fe
when she was younger, according
to Dial.
(See ANGEL, page 8A)
Irhe News-! Journal
News
By Ki n MacDonai.1)
Publisher
At Earl’s Fine Dining (the Edinborougfi)
Saturday morning 1 ran into Chad, a fellow
who used to work in our Fivertes ih'' ' -
mercial printing office several years ago. We
were seated so our eyes met, and eventually
we recognized each other. Then it hit me. This
was the fellow with whom 1 committed the
best practical joke of my career.
It was a sunny day in April, 1999. April
Mom warns about bus safety
Other stuff
^ !::n
1 in fact. By some good fortune it had been
my turn to provide a program for the Raeford
Kiwanis Club. Yes, it fell my lot to provide a
speaker for the club on April Fool’s Day.
1 took this as a sign and began working
iidiu and uuiy on me project.
1 thought it might be good to have someone
the club didn’t know pretend to be something
he or she wasn’t, but who and what?
All this time later, I don’t remember
how we settled on some of the details, but
(See OTHER STL IT, page 8A)
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
A single parent residing in
McDougald Downs subdivi
sion wants other parents to
watch out for their chi Idren to
ensure they are safely picked
up at their bus slops.
Cynthia Walker com
plained of two incidents that
happened on a Hoke school
bus of her daughter being
left behind and then later
(See BLS, page 4A)
Dinner theatre in Raeford?
It’s a mystery - how does
Raeford get a dinner theater
production? The play itself is
a mystery too. Entitled ‘The
Elvis Show,” the play, writ
ten by Hoke High students
Brittany Winters and Chantii
Denson, keeps Elvis' fate a
mystery until the end.
(See ELVIS, page 4A)