ews
I ournal
Hoke County’s newspaper since 1905
No.28Vol.l07
Raeford & Hoke County n.c.
Wednesday, September 19,2012
Clockwise from top:The Mighty Marching Bucks band; the Sudan Shriners; ReMax real
estate in the Turkey Festival parade Thursday. (Catharin Shepard photos)
‘Just to enjoy flie food and fellowship’
N.c. Turkey Festival draws possibly largest erowd ever
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Some people went for the fried fun
nel cakes. Others doled out cash for cold
lemonade or freshly made gyros. But for
many North Carolina Turkey Festival
fans, the boiling pot of collard greens at
Ruth Mackie’s booth in McLauchlin Park
Saturday was what it was all about.
What’s the secret to a good collard green
sandwich?
“I’ll tell you like my chef told me,’’
Mackie said. “It’s not the person, it’s the
pan.”
Collard green sandwiches and other fair
foods, handmade crafts, live music and
much more wrapped up the 2012 Turkey
Festival at the “Super Saturday” event that
organizers said drew larger crowds than in
recent years.
House of Raeford representative Stepha
nie Drotar worked at the poultry producer’s
booth selling turkey legs, another festival
favorite food.
“This is my second year coming and do
ing it. We sold out last year and we couldn’t
keep up with it, so we’re hoping it’s going
to be like that again this year. It’s starting
to pick up,” Drotar said.
The company specially prepares the
turkey legs for the festival with a recipe
the House of Raeford tries to keep quiet,
she said.
“It’s all in the flavor, and I don’t know
what they put on it. It’s a secret. But I know
it’s good,” Drotar said.
At another booth, David Bishop of
Manning, South Carolina sold his specialty
hushpuppy mix and dispensed free cook
ing tips along with samples of fresh-made
hushpuppies.
“I tried to make some the other night
and put it in my deep fryer but they never
would get done. By the time I thought
they were done, they were hard as a rock,”
customer Keith Jackson said.
{See FOOD, FELLOWSHIP, page 5A)
This Week
Behind the scenes
at the turkey dinner
pageSA
Dehate team
starts season
page6B
Calendar 2B
Classifieds 5B
Deaths 3 A
Editorials 2A
Legals 3-4B
Sports 6A
Worship 2B
School enrollment up by 260-plus
Other reports show no assaults, bomb threats, arson
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Another 261 students enrolled in Hoke County
Schools in the first 10 days of the 2012-13 school
year, bringing the total county public school popula
tion to 8,369.
The school system has enrolled more than 700
additional students over the lastfouryears, according
to numbers presented at the Hoke County Board of
Education’s September 11 scheduled meeting.
Data presented to the board showed that while
the school population is increasing, the number of
reportable acts among students has decreased. In the
2011-12 school year, there were no reportable acts of
assault, bomb threats, burning of a school building,
sexual offense or possession of firearms, according
to preliminary data gathered by the school system.
Schools in North Carolina are required to report
such incidents to the state.
Beginning teachers
The Beginning Teacher Program team headed
(See SCHOOLS, page 8A)
1 killed,
3 injured
in wreck
A man from Red Springs died and three pas
sengers were seriously injured Friday night in a
car wreck on Old Wire Road.
Alan Bell, 24, of the 100 block of Letha’s
Drive in Red Springs was killed when he ran
a stop sign, ran off the road and struck several
trees at the intersection of Old Wire Road and
Mount Zion Church Road, according to a report
from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
The accident happened shortly before 10 p.m.
Elisha Callahan, 18, of Red Springs, Samantha
(See WRECK, page 6A)
s-„, “T-‘ w
Authorities attend to Asia Galberth,at right, after
she was hit by a car (left).
Pedestrian hit
on Main Street
A pedestrian was taken to the hospital last
week after being hit by a car on Main Street in
downtown Raeford.
Asia Victoria Galberth, 18, of the 500 block
of College Drive was injured Tuesday night
when she was struck by a 1996 Saturn driven
by Miguel Rayon Perez, 32, of Red Springs. The
accident happened on South Main Street in front
of Bo’s Food Store around 10 p.m., according to
a police report.
Galberth was crossing the street when she
was struck, police said. Perez “failed to reduce
speed” and hit Galberth, according to the report.
Reports did not suggest alcohol was a factor in the
accident. Galberth was taken to Cape Fear Valley
Medical Center for treatment and later released..
Perez was cited for driving without an opera
tor’s license and failure to reduce speed.
Woman charged
in fatal accident
Law enforcement officers have charged a
Raeford woman with killing a man in a vehicle
accident.
Cierra Lenisha Ellison, 19, of the 200 block of
Sandspur Court in Raeford was charged August
22 with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle in
the June 11 wreck that led to the death of David
Spell, 88, of Hope Mills.
(See CHARGED, page 6A)
In the 2011-12 school year, there were 29 report-
able incidents of possession of a controlled substance
that occurred on a Hoke County Schools campus.
That figure includes prescription drugs brought from
home, as students are not allowed to carry prescrip
tion medications with them on campus, as well as
any incidents of illegal drugs.
The school system reported 21 instances of a
student bringing a weapon onto campus during the
2011-12 school year. None of those instances involved
firearms or explosives, which are designated in a
separate category of reportable offenses, officials
said. There was also one reportable incident of pos
session of alcoholic beverage on a school campus in
the 2011-12 school year, according to the reported
data.
Board sets meeting
to pick attorney
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
The Hoke County Board of Commis
sioners will meet next week to discuss
hiring a new county attorney.
The county is seeking to replace former
County Attorney William Fields who
resigned from the position in July. Fields
said then that he stepped down in order to
prepare for taking on a larger role in his
work with Raeford-based law firm Willcox,
McFadyen, Fields and Sutherland.
The county advertised for the open posi
tion and has been receiving proposals from
various applicants, board members said at a
meeting Monday night. The board recessed
at the end of the meeting until Thursday,
(See ATTORNEY, page 8A}