The
ews
I ournal
Si c’est arrive, les nouvelles sont pour nous
No.45Vol.l06
Raeford & Hoke County n.c.
Wednesday, January 18,2012
Teachers, careful with those Facebook pages
School board considers policy forbidding employees to fiiend students online
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Teachers, don’t dick that “Friend”
or “Follow” button on your student’s
Facebook or Twitter account.
The Hoke County Board of
Education discussed last week an
expanded social media policy that
sets boundaries on teachers’ on
line interactions with their current
students, and outlines expectations
for employees’ social networking
behavior. The policy could go into
effect following a vote set for next
month.
The Hoke County Schools staff
handbook already set down expecta
tions for teachers’ online interactions
with their students. The proposed
policy, developed by the North Caro
lina School Boards Association,
expands and updates the existing
expectations, school officials said.
School employees are not al
lowed to knowingly communicate
with their current students through
a personal social network page like
Facebook or through online forums.
Teachers can still use the Internet to
communicate with their students,
but they’ll have to stick to official
staff email. “The policy requires
that all electronic communication
to students be school-related and
accomplished through school-
controlled resources,” according to
the policy briefing.
“There is no good reason for any
staff member to friend a student,”
school board attorney Nick Sojka
said during the board discussion.
The policy does make some
exceptions for teachers and
{See SOCIAL MEDIA, page 5A)
Hundreds gathered Monday night at the Rouse Community Center
to honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commissioner James
Leach (above) and Barbara Buie were among participants in the
program. At right, Hoke natives Tommy and Gail McNeill visited
the King memorial in Washington, D.C. Monday.
King’s legacy celebrated Monday
Members and supporters of the Hoke
County Civic League joined together
Monday to celebrate the life and legacy
of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. at the League’s annual memo
rial banquet.
The Dr. Matthew Rouse Jr. Commu
nity Resource Center was packed with
hundreds of guests who took part in the
banquet dinner on Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Day and heard from guest speak
er the Rev. Dr. Robert B. Clark Jr. of St.
Jude Missionary Baptist Church in Hope
Mills. The banquet shone a spotlight on
King’s work and the work still ahead for
community leaders. Guests also received
literature on how to become more politi
cally active in their community.
Minister Lula Hines read a scripture
from Psalms. Pastor Jenell Morris of
Greater Solid Rock Church presided
over the evening’s events and Pastor Vera
Hollingsworth of Christ Free Will Baptist
Church offered the opening prayer.
Voices lifted in the historic anthem
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” before
(See KING, page 4A)
State official
tipped Butterball
about raid
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
A North Carolina Department of Agriculture
official warned a Butterball veterinarian when she
learned Hoke County investigators planned to raid
the company’s Shannon-area farm seeking evidence
of animal cruelty, according to documents filed in
court last week.
Hoke County Sheriff’s Office Det. Sgt. Donald
Schwab Jr. filed a search warrant January 6 seeking
phone records for several people including Dr. Sarah
Jean Mason, Director of Animal Health Programs/
Poultry Division of the state Department of Agricul
ture, a Butterball official and a company veterinarian.
According to the affidavit. Mason admitted to
Assistant District Attorney Michael Hardin that
she called Butterball-employed veterinarian Dr.
Eric Gonder and told him about the pending raid.
The detailed search warrant and affidavit made
(See BUTTERBALL, page 5A)
Survey will count
Hoke’s homeless
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
A Statewide nonprofit is joining forces with the
Hoke County Coalition Against Homelessness to find
out just how many people in the area are homeless.
The North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness
conducts the survey every year to get a better idea of
the number of people living without shelter, and this
year the local coalition will provide that data for the
Raeford/Hoke County area. The survey helps identify
those in need of services, program advocates said.
(See SURVEY, page 4A)
II
his Week
I
Bikers present
flag to Post Office
page IB
Building permits
down in 2010
page4A
Calendar 2B
Classifieds 5B
Deaths 3A
Editorials 2A
Legals 3-4B
Sports 5 A
Worship 2B
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Batde over districts
continues in court
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Many North Carolina voters, in
cluding Hoke County residents, still
don’t know which candidates will be
running for election to represent them
in state and federal races because the
contested district maps are still under
judicial review.
The Raeford/Hoke Chamber of
Commerce usually invites lawmak
ers to meet with constituents in an
informal breakfast session the week
after Valentine’s Day, but this year
organizers don’t know which officials
to invite because the district boundar
ies are still uncertain.
“We could invite who we have
(See DISTRICTS, page 3A)
Sorta Sumo
Hoke High assistant principals Heri-
berto Corrall (left) and Joel Brew-
ington entertained the Lumberton
and Hoke wrestling match crowd last
week in a for-charity sumo match.
Ultimately, Corrall came out on top
, as in the photo below, but Brew-
ington took a round as well. The
Bucks, meanwhile, beat Lumberton
and are now 2-0 in the conference.
(Hal Nunn photos)
By Ken MacDonald
The sun goes down before supper,
it’s too cold to ride my bike without
layers upon layers of technical fabric,
and now I’m eat up with a cold. In my
house that’s a formula for whining,
and that’s what was happening Sunday
until I chanced upon anews item about
the good (and surely lunatic) folks of
Nome, Alaska, who were awaiting a
Coast Guard ice breaker and a Russian
oil tanker to bring them 1.4 million
gallons of fuel with which to finish
the winter.
After clicking the story, and then
downloading the local newspaper
(The Nome Nugget), I now retract
my whining and wish instead to give
thanks to God that I live in Raeford,
North Carolina.
Let’s begin with the worst first. The
sun in Nome rose on Jan. 12, the date
of the most recent issue, at 11:41 a.m.
Yes, that’s lunchtime. It set at 4:39 p.m.
(See OTHER STUEE, page 4A)