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Wednesday, June 6,2007
Ethanol plant inches closer to fiuition
Final hearing set, bioelectric plant also a possible neighbor in industrial park
By VicTORiANA Summers
Staff writer
Clean Burn Fuels LLC of Raleigh meets
with Hoke commissioners June 18 for a second
round of public hearings as plans for an ethanol
plant in Hoke come closer to fruition.
Meanwhile, another energy-related plant
may locate next door.
Ethanol production equals extra prosperity
for Hoke County, according to Hoke commis
sion chairman James A. Leach.
“The board will discuss inducements
offered to the multi-million dollar firm for
building at the Hoke Regional Industrial Park,”
Leach said. “Clean Bum has cleared all the
hurdles for state building and environmental
permits for its $ 100 million ethanol, altemate-
fiiel producing plant.”
Clean Bum has also secured 100 percent
of its financing for the 500-acre tract between
Raeford and Interstate-95, according to Jack
Carlisle, Clean Bum executive officer in
Cary.
In a separate negotiation, a bioelectric plant,
could also re-locate in Hoke. F*roducing green
power for other counties in the region, the
plant could be established on the remaining
100 acres of the land already “in possession”
by the county. The electrical plant would also
attract 50 new jobs for Hoke citizeas.
Carlisle said sharing the mega site with
another environmentally sound firm would
be good.
“1 still think we will be the first ethanol
plant to be built in the state,” Carlisle said.
“We have not encountered obstacles like some
other sites in North Carolina.
“Hoke citizens and commis-
(See ETHANOL, page 6A)
Victim: rapist
hurt her, Raeford
Woman stmggles to recover
Summer’s here
Scootering just before dark Asheville visitor Holton Brown (right), grandson of Harris Avenue resident Marilyn Brown, and
Raeford resident Nick Smith, home schooled by his mom. Kin, Smith.
Wind tunnel
takes shape
p;ige4B
H.E.LP. Store
reopens larger
page IB
Carolina Force
goes to nationals
page7A
Qty copes
withbrealdns
page 5AA
Index
Calendar 2B
Classifieds 5B
Deaths 3 A
Editorials 2A
Legals 3-4B
Religion IB
Schools 4A
Sports 7A
We’re on the web at
www.thenews-joumal.com
Read by 4,000 each week
Raeford passes budget
No tax increase, more annexation proposed
By Lenore L. Morales
Raeford City Council approved its 2007-
2008 budget Monday night without much
discussion.
Councilmen quickly voted in unison to
adopt the budget, satisfied after having care
fully reviewed the plan that was presented to
them in May.
The new budget of $3,740,821.67 is just
over six percent higher than the one for the
current year.
City residents will not pay more property
taxes or utility charges, as the tax rate will
remain at 48 cents per $100.
According to City Manager Richard Doug
las, modest growth in Raeford is responsible
for keeping the current tax and utility rates. He
has said the expected increase in expenditures
will be offset by corresponding increased
revenues.
Under the new budget the city will add no new
staff positions, but current employees are set to
(See cm BUDGET, page 6A)
By VicroRiANA Summers
Staff writer
The hands of Embarq
Communication’s only fe
male employee in Raeford
gesture nervously as she
describes her ordeal and ul
timate escape from a Silver
City rapist.
A young grandmother and
mother of two daughters, the
victim’s tears stream down
her cheeks as she speaks of
her gradual recovery and the victim in happier times.
“violent rape” she says she will never forget. Her attention span
is short, as she still experiences severe pain from a cracked rib
and other injuries. She declined to use her name, but said she
wanted people to see her photograph in a happier moment.
“I loved my job,” she said. “I love all the people in Raeford.
Those who know me know my name.
“I was out performing a service for them when Grady
Cunningham violently, deliberately attacked me.”
She wants to thank Raeford citizens who have sympathized
with her plight, offered her prayers and support.
•The rape victim also expressed gratitude to the Raeford
Police Department, the Hoke Sheriffs Office, FirstHealth of
the Carolinas medics and medical staff at Cape Fear Valley
Medical Center.
Cunningham allegedly severely beat and molested her on
May 21 in a vacant house in Silver City where he had been
squatting on St. James Street. He is charged with first-degree
forcible rape and first-degree kidnapping after he allegedly
dragged her into the dilapidated structure while she was re
pairing a line during the early morning.
With a history of sexual assault, assault of a government of
ficials and a sundry of other crimes, Cunningham was released
and walking the streets of Raeford and Silver City when he ac
costed the victim. She says she understands he is being detai ned
in Dorothea Dix mental hospital. He was placed on a $50,(XX)
(See VICTIM, page 8A)
Hoke to get more sessions of superior court
Now larger than Scotland County, Hoke needs greater share of court time
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Scotland County used to
be bigger and therefore was
allocated more sessions of
superior court than Hoke. But
that’s about to change.
Hoke-Scotland district
attorney Kristy M. Newton
says Hoke Scotland District
16A will change its schedul
ing next year, with Hoke’s
sessions increasing. Scotland
is switching some of its su-
f)erior scheduling to accom
modate the heavier caseload
in Hoke.
“It was my recommenda
tion,” Newton said. “1 met
with Judge Brown, the clerks
of court in Hoke and Scotland
and courtroom personnel,”
Newton said. ‘The group dis
cussed the need to reallocate
some of the weeks shared by
the two counties for Hoke
superior court.
“It was something we mu
tually agreed on doing.”
Judicial officials will be
welcoming Hoke-Scotland
resident SuperiorCourt Judge
Richard Brown to the Hoke
Courthouse frequently next
year.
“He will actually be in
Hoke County more than in
superior court in Scotland,”
Newton said of the shift.
According to Newton,
during her 12-year tenure as
senior assistant DA and since
her second term as DA, there
has never been an increase in
Hoke’s allotment for superior
court time. Newton said she
had been monitoring the num
ber of cases in each county
over the past year.
“It is supposed to be divid
ed between the two counties
by the Administrative Office
of the Court,” Newton said. “I
(See COURT, page 4A)
Trhe
e I'HCWS
Nevvs
By Ken Macix)nai o
Publisher
1 don’t think I have ever purchased a sheet
in my life. Well, that’s not true. 1 bought one
to use as a projector screen. But other than
that, sheets occupy the same space on my
radar as, say, coconut milk. 1 don’t think I’ve
ever even noticed them, though that’s goinu
chdi’.gv afLi iiij la.n iujp u> Mexico, when
my head slipped out of the sleeping bag in
the middle of each night, made contact with
a very worn mattress and brought home a
Tjoumal
Other stuff
Criminal complaint filed
against House of Raeford
special rash that could be cleared only by an
anti-fungal cream. Yes, to me, sheets are like
air, except that you lie on them.
So when the females told my son that he
should bring clean sheets with him upon his
return to the lake where we were vacationing
1 barely listened.
But then he asked. “What si7e‘>”
That set off a conversation that drew me in.
Because if you think about it, and 1 accidentally
did, sheet sizing doesn’t make a bit of sense.
(See OTHER STUFF, page 8A)'
By Victoriana Summers
Staff writer
Mercy for Animals based
in Ohio filed a criminal com
plaint on May 18 in connec
tion with allegations against
of Ritf..>id iUld
of its employees on animal
cruelty.
None of the slaughterhouse
workers implicated remain at
'. ■ r
the national poultry produc
tion plant. But at least one of
them was fired, according to
a House of Raeford company
executive.
A video was publicized
nationally through news
iiieuid anu on the internet
video site YouTube last week,
exposing alleged inhumane
treatment of turkeys over a
(See COMPLAINT, page 5A)
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