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7-- The ews J oumal Nal7VoL102 Raeford & Hoke County n.c. Wednesday, July 11,2007 Option on Hoke land is for Wal-Mart By Victoriana Summers Staff writer A regional development company has en tered a sales-option agreement to explore open ing the first Wal-Mart store in Hoke County, according to property owners Duncan Lacy McNeill and brother William McNeill. Their land is in the 4000 block of Fayette ville Road roughly across from East Hoke Middle School. Because of confidentiality and preliminary discussions, the McNeill brothers declined to name the development firm involved in the venture. “We have not received any rnoneys yet,” Duncan McNeill said. “It is not a firm thing at all, but it would be a boon for Hoke County. “I am satisfied - if the deal goes through - that it would put a lot of people to work in Hoke County. “It would also be a great tax base for our county,” he said. “A Wal-Mart would bring more retail revenue that would help with our school system.” Some county officials are cautiously op timistic that the potential transaction with Wal-Mart will be completed. The county has already approved enlarging some of the sewer lines currently serving Hoke Landing shop ping plaza and East Hoke Middle School. “We have a four-inch line for sewer right now,” the county official, who asked not to be named, said. “We have enough capacity for a Wal-Mart to be constructed, but the larger line would give us more capacity for other businesses that might accompany a Wal-Mart center or some other stores.” The McNeills indicated a contract was signed with the development firm in Febru ary. Feasibility studies, soil samples and site surveying remain if a store is to be built. {See WAL-MART, page 4A) After striking a truck in its path, this car hit a tree off US401. Wreck kills two By Victoriana Summers Staff writer A young Raeford mother died when her vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer on July 5, and one of her four children - in a Chapel Hill hospital since the wreck - died Monday. Relay For Life tops $80,000 p^e4A Proposed paridng plan rankles most merchants page4A TVvo more arrested in Freeman murder page 8A Index " Cialendar IB Classifieds 5B Court 3 A Deaths 3A Editorials 2A Eng^ements 7A Legals 4B Schools 2B Sports 6A Social News 7A Weddings 7A We're on the web at www.thenews-joumaLconi Read by 4,000 each week Twenty-one-year-old Ebo ny Starr Brown, of 107 Yadkin Trail, died at the scene after lapsing into unconsciousness in spite of a cooperative effort to save her, Pender said. She had been driving to ward Fayetteville on U.S. 401 with her four children when she struck a tractor-trailer. Charges are pending against the truck’s driver, Larry Francis Pitts erf Sa- lemburg, according to N.C. Trooper Eric Pender, investi gating patrolman. “He was at fault,” Pender said. “She had the right-of- way. “She tried to miss his ve hicle as he crossed over her path.” “She was a good mother, and she was a very hard worker,” an overwrought Cornelia Brown, mother of Ebony, said yesterday. “I am sorry. (See WRECK, page 5A) I4i ~i~~ Welcone^ ’Su«ess /I Freshman Success It’s almost back- to-school time for students at Hoke County High School, and freshmen are on campus this week get ting ready.The orien tation program gives them a taste of the real thing, lets them explore the campus and meet teachers, and introduces them to older students who can show them the ropes. Don Steed School on target for ‘08 completion By Victoriana Summers Staff writer The roofis on. As the multi million dollar Don Steed El ementary School edges closer to completion, teachers and administrators are passing by to see the progress, according to Hoke schools project man ager Brown Hendrix Jr. Not even a rain shower on Monday stopped the flow of construction currently un derway on Philippi Church Road. “This school will repre sent a facility where we have installed a water sprinkler system for fire safety for the very first time,” Hendrix said. “Parents will be proud that this facility will also furnish state-of-the art technology for our students. "We want them to have the best for helping with their educations. Our administra tion will provide the latest and greatest, with computer systems as up to date as pos sible. “If our projections are ac curate, we should be able to handle future student enroll ment. But,alotwilldepend on the BRAC influx of military families into our areas and how many homes are being sold.” Since the groundbreak ing on a bitterly cold day in January in a fallow cornfield, coastruction on the project has continued undaunted (See SCHOOL, page 5A) Three file for council Brown Hendrix says Steed Elementary will be a state-of-the art school. le ifews-l Journal News Othrr stuff B\ Ken MacDonald Publisher Spencer is a rising high school senior from Raleigh, and you can tell it’s him, because after last Thursday he has a giant “S” on his arm, branded there by a friend who u.sed a piece of red-hot rebar heated on a charcoal grill. taug^'t mo Tlui divic are youth groups out there whose collective IQ is much lower even than the one 1 work with. I had gone back to Mexico so that Monica, ourchurch’s 15-year old bilingual shining star, could help translate for a group that was so large it haid to be divided into four, a problem since there weren’t enough translators on staff at the hosting organization to handle them all. Rounding out our party was Glenda “Grandma” Lcstei. wa» 111 Uic gioup oi ju youUi Ins age with whom we lived for a week. They shared with us their food, transportation (See OTHER STUFF, page 8A) By Victoriana Summers Staff writer Three incumbents and one newcomer filed for four available city council seats Friday. Incumbents Mary Neal King, the first female to serve on the council, Robert L. (Bobby) Conoly and John Jordan filed for one of the three seats they currently hold. With their seats at large, the trio would automatically be nominee-elects if no one else files for the three seats. 1 luvvcvci, 11 uiey lace com petition in the upcoming November election, winners will be chosen according to the highest number of votes. Filing for the unexpired, four-year term of the late Buddy Blue, which continues for two more years, is new comer Shelley Wilburn. Blue’s seat is currently held by veteran councilman Benny McLeod, who returned to fulfill Blue’s term after he died one day prior to taking office. Had Blue joined the city council, he would have been distingui.shed as the first Republican to serve on the local council. Wilburn does not compete against King, Conoly or Jor dan for the four-year terms they hold. Wilburn, if unchal- (See COUNCIL, page 8A)
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