The
ews
If it happened, it’s news to us
No. 7Vol. 105
Raeford & Hoke County n.c.
Wednesday, April 28,2010
High school mourns death of two seniors
Just weeks from graduating, friends lolled in wreck on way to band practice
By Jason Beck
StaffWriter
Students at Hoke High
School are in shock and
mourning this week, days
after a pair of fellow students
died in a car crash in Fay
etteville.
Thadius Ian Markle and
Kaleb Lee Valliant, both
18-year-old seniors with
Hoke County addresses, suc
cumbed to injuries received in
the Saturday afternoon wreck
at the intersection of Camden
and Cumberland roads. Za-
riah Rebecca Campbell, 16,
of Fayetteville, also sustained
injuries in the wreck.
Now, less than a month
before prom and graduation,
seniors at Hoke High have
replaced their youthful exu
berance with mourning.
Close friends said Markle
and Campbell had been asked
Markle
Valliant
to perform with a group
of musicians in the Dogwood
Festival, and the three teens
were on their way to a band
practice when the wreck oc
curred.
“I just can’t find the words
to explain the way it makes me
feel to know such great lives
have been cut short,” one of
the teens’ friends posted on
a Facebook page dedicated
to the their memory. Hoke
High Principal Steve Hagen
said he met with the senior
class yesterday morning - a
class that has
seen hundreds
seek counsel
ing over the
last two days.
“The whole
senior class
was impacted
by this, the
whole school
has been im
a Lincoln passenger car and
rolled over several times. At
least one of the teens was
ejected from the flipping
vehicle.
The two occupants of the
Lincoln, Mary Evan Mc
Cormick, 71, and Teresa A.
Powell, 52, of Fayetteville
suffered non-life threatening
injuries.
The two students were
known to be close friends, but
both were involved in many
activities at the school that put
them in contact with much of
the student body, Hagen said.
“They were both in the
band and they had established
relationships with students
from grades 9-12andbothhad
different types of curriculums
and had relationships with
(See MOURNING, page 4A)
pacted by what happened,”
Hagen said. “And there were
genuine moments of grief by
them.”
The teens died Saturday
evening, a few hours after
they were transported from
the scene of the crash.
According to police re
ports, Valliant was behind the
wheel of a 1995 Isuzu SUV on
Camden Road at about 2:30
Saturday when he ran the stop
sign at the intersection.
The SUV was struck by
THAD K KALEB
2010
OREVER WITH US
From left: Art by student Darnell Scott; Kaleb (left) and
Thadius were often together; Hoke High’s campus sign; from
a banner signed by students on MacDonald Gym.
Chicken house destroyed
An early-morning fire destroyed a chicken house at 160 Gladhill Acres Farm Road off
NC 21 I in west Hoke Monday.The house was being prepared for new hatchlings from
Perdue Farms.The fire caused approximately $250,000 damage and is under investigation,
according to Freddy Johnson, Hoke fire marshal.
Raeford attorney retires
By Jason Beck
StaffWriter
A Raeford attorney who
served the area for more than
50 years has retired and has
been inducted into the North
Carolina Bar Association’s
general practice hall of fame.
Bobby McNeill, who start
ed practicing law in 1958,
closed his office in Raeford
earlier this year. He later be
came one of only about 115
lawyers honored with a hall
of fame induction.
McNeill, who is modest,
said he always just tried to
help people’s legal situations.
“I get a big enjoyment out
of helping people by knowing
McNeill
what the
rule is,”
McNeill
said.
M e -
Neill
e a m e
baek to
his home
town of
Raeford
after a tour in Korea and
graduating from the UNC
Law Sehool, where he worked
with three of the four lawyers
in town. McNeill practiced all
sorts of law and became the
area’s first publie defender
when that position was es
tablished.
“I was on several eapital
defenses and I never lost
anyone,” he said. “If you ever
sat next to a man in a eourt of
law and his life is dependent
on your legal knowledge, it is
quite nerve-raeking.”
After several years of crim
inal law, McNeill deeided to
focus on other aspeets of the
law profession. Several defen
dants he represented ended up
re-offending, putting a sour
taste in the lawyer’s mouth.
“I said I’m better at this
than I thought I was,” he said.
“I never eonsidered myself a
criminal lawyer.”
It was in the field of real
(See RETIRES, page 6A)
ThisVtfeek
h
Kids grow
their own lunch
page IB
Drug trafficker
sought
page6A
Woman fights
for property
page7A
Calendar 2B
Classifieds 7B
Court 3 A
Deaths 3 A
Editorials 2 A
Legals 4-6B
Sports 8-9A
Worship 2B
We’re on the web at
www.thenews-joumal.com
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West Hoke wreck kills Rockingham men
By Jason Beck
StaffWriter
Two men were killed in
a erash Monday night in the
western reaches of Hoke
County.
Thecrashoccurredafterthe
victims’ car ran a stop sign, ac
cording to the North Carolina
Highway Patrol.
Wiley J. Ratliff, 59 and
William Henry Liles, 62, both
of Rockingham, died in the
crash, which occurred at the
intersection of Calloway and
Army roads.
Ratliff was driving an ‘80s
model Chevrolet Capriee
and Liles was his passenger.
According to Tina Moore, a
spokesperson for the Highway
Patrol, the Chevrolet was trav
eling west onArmy Road when
it failed to stop for the stop sign
at the interseetion.
The ear was struek in the
door by an oncoming Honda
Accord and rolled over onto
its roof
“The car got hit in the door,
right below the mirror, and
that’s what eaused it to flip,”
Moore said. “(The ear) flipped
and eame to rest upside down
on the left side of the road.”
The driver of the sec
ond vehicle, Larry Mc-
Swain, 24, of Raeford, suf
fered non life-threatening
injuries in the crash and was
transported to FirstHealth
Moore Regional Hospital.
Two Rockingham men died when their car (background) ran a
stop sign and was struck by the Honda in the foreground.
High school sends group to Egypt for first-hand study
t’s not hard to tell where these students are.Their trip to Egypt was a dream, said one student.
By Jason Beck
StaffWriter
A group from Raeford,
ineluding nine Hoke High
Sehool students, are still
excited even weeks after re
turning from the most exotic
trip the sehool system has ever
sponsored.
Everyone in the group,
whieh also ineluded three
school chaperones and several
parents, is still talking about
having gone to Egypt.
“This is the first time Hoke
County students have ever
gone to Afriea,” said Kristie
DeLuna, who, along with
fellow teaeher Raehel Helms,
organized the trip. “When we
first wanted to go, everyone
said we’d never get permis
sion. Dr. Williamson stepped
up and said he was proud of
us for even attempting it and
was very supportive.”
DeLuna and Helms head
up the school’s history club, in
which the nine students from
the trip are members.
The students sold eandy
bars and participated in other
fundraisers to generate money
for the guided tour.
DeLuna said taking the
students to historic sites was
more effeetive than teaching
about them.
“It wasn’t anything like
we expected,” the teacher
said. “To actually go to
(See EGYPT, page 5A)