WAZZIT?
If it happened, it’s news to us
75t
No.27Vol.l04
Raeford & Hoke County n.c.
Wednesday, September 16,2009
Taxes may rise to combat Raeford crime
BY Lenore L. Morales
Raeford Police Chief Mike
Dummett distributed his de
partment’s staffing schedule
for the month, along with a
slick report on crime’s rise in
the city, to each city council
member at their monthly
meeting.
Denise Neal
Assistant
helps avert
tragedy
By Jason Beck
StaffWriter
Denise Neal, a teacher’s
assistant at Don Steed El
ementary School, was in
the middle of her lunchtime
routine Friday - monitoring
two classes of students as
they enjoyed a typical meal
of corndogs and baked beans.
Out of the comer of her eye
she saw one student making
an unusual commotion. Little
did she know she was about
to make a huge difference.
Neal quickly moved to-
(See COMMOTION,
page 5A)
This Week
Woman’s Club
names Wilson
Woman of the Year
page IB
Flu season
arrives early
page4A
Charging vets
is scam
page 5 A
Index
Calendar 2B
Classifieds 5B
Court 3 A
Deaths 3 A
Editorials 2 A
Legals 2-4B
Sports 7A
Worship 4A
VJe’re on the web at
www.thenews-joumtd.com
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Then he began to make
his case.
Armed robbery. Rape.
Kidnapping. Bank robbery.
Assault. Homicide.
These, together with other
felonies, have increased by
74.4 percent since 2004, ac
cording to the chief’s study.
Misdemeanors such as DWI
charges and domestic disputes
have gone up 30.9 percent.
Raeford must have more
police officers to fight the
escalation of crime, Dummett
told the council.
“We’ve reassessed the need
for personnel to address rising
rates,” he said.
It’s not because the present
police force isn’t ready for the
task, Dummett said, as he
rattled off a list of improve
ments to the department since
his arrival in April 2008.
Updated policy, police
cars, weapons, cameras,
crime scene technology and
more educationally and physi-
cally trained officers are
among the upgrades the chief
touted.
Still, more manpower is
needed, he said.
Dummett wants to deploy
four teams of three officers
working 12-hour shifts, with
a sergeant on duty every day.
Now, one team is com
plete, while three teams lack
a member.
Meanwhile, the city pays
overtime to cover for officers
who are off or sick.
“We are spending a gar
gantuan amount of overtime,”
Dummett said.
The chief’s study showed
that $63,923.43 was spent
(See CRIME, page 6A)
Wrestlers bring in the Turkey Festival
Wrestlers and the turkey are among those at the Turkey Festival Throw Down Sunday who helped get this year’s Turkey Festival started.
Skydivers, Congressman, wrestlers kick off festival
For the twenty-fifth year in a row
skydivers dropped onto the field at
Hoke High School to kick off the
Turkey Bowl and the N.C. Turkey
Festival. The 15 skydivers, sponsored
by Raeford Aviation and Paraclete,
met Congressman Larry Kissell,
festival mascot Turkey Turkey, and
News-Journal mascot Screech the
Owl at center field to lead the crowd
in a moment of silence in memory
of victims of September 11, 2001.
Kissell honored medical, fire, rescue
and law enforcement personnel, then
tossed the coin to start the game.
South View defeated the Hoke
High Bucks48-35 to claim the Turkey
Bowl trophy.
On Sunday, seven step teams
from surrounding counties took
part in the festival’s first step com
petition, co-hosted by B Phi B Step
Team of Hoke High School and
(See FESTIVAL, page 5A)
Soldiers accused of making up fireworks story
By Jason Beck
StaffWriter
Two soldiers who reported
an attack by fireworks last
week are now in hot water
with law enforcement.
According to Sheriff Hu
bert Peterkin, the two men
allegedly made up the story
in an attempt to cover up self-
inflicted injuries.
Last week, Alex Christ
man, 23, and Christian Mar
tinez, 19, reported someone
attacked their pickup truck
with an industrial-grade fire
work at the intersection of
Fayetteville Road and Club
Pond Drive.
Martinez was able to get
out of the burning pickup
truck but Christman was not.
He sustained second and third
degree bums and was sent to
the North Carolina Jaycees
Burn Center in Chapel Hill.
However, according to
Captain John Kivett, the lead
investigator on the case, the
soldiers’ story wasn’t adding
up. There were no burn marks
on the ground from the truck
at Club Pond Drive and Fay
etteville Road.
Detectives made an arrest
once they took a closer look
at the damaged 2007 Nissan
Titan pickup truck.
According to the sheriff’s
(See FIREWORKS, page 6A)
New law says you can’t
throw away plastic bottles
You can
Hoke County residents take bikes,
goats, selves to Cumberland Fair
Clockwise from top; Glenn
Balfour rides in competition;
Sherry Beasley and Hannah;
Dixie Acorn prepares a goat.
By Jason Beck
StaffWriter
The rides, the animals
and the fried food - all part
of the fall carnival. Since
Hoke County doesn’t have a
traditional yearly fair, many
natives are running for the
border.
There is a huge Hoke
presence at the Cumberland
County Fair, which opened
last week and will continue
through Sunday evening.
Sherry Beasley, a Raeford
native who owns a frame
shop downtown, brought her
family to the fair last Friday.
While father and son were
(See FAIR, page 8A)
By Jason Beck
StaffWriter
At the end of the
month, hundreds -
maybe thousands
- of Hoke citizens
could be breaking
the law.
Those who want
to obey will have to
go out of their way.
A new state law
will go into effect
October 1 that bans throwing
plastic bottles into regular
trashcans. The new law also
bans throwing away pallets,
oil filters and oyster shells. It’s
already illegal to throw away
aluminum cans and cardboard
boxes.
However, in the short term,
consumers here will have to
handle the recyclable waste
themselves.
Both the City of Raeford
’t throw it away any longer,
and the Hoke County govern
ment have designated areas to
discard recyclable items. The
city has containers for cans,
bottles and cardboard at the
city maintenance garage near
Unilever and the county has
recycle bins at each of its waste
convenience sites.
However, for the citizens
this could result in an extra
trip.
Johnny Melton, Rae-
(See RECYCLE, page 8A)