The
ews
J oumal
Hoke County’s newspaper since 1905
IH
No.23VoL112
Raeford & Hoke County n.c.
Wednesday, August 9,2017
Manager: county didn’t eliminate job
But it did, says worker, department head, and text message
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
County Manager Letitia Edens
said at Monday night’s Hoke
Commission meeting the board
was not responsible for the elimi
nation of Emergency Management
clerk Alvita Graham’s position
and added Tuesday that the situa
tion may be the result of a “mis-
communication.’ ’
Documentation including a re
cording of a conversation between
Commissioner Harry Southerland
and the former clerk’s mother,
comments from the former emer
gency management director and
a statement from Commissioner
Allen Thomas presented conflict
ing information.
Graham, a now-former employ
ee of the Hoke County Emergency
Management Department, origi
nally spoke with the News-Journal
on the condition that her name not
be published. She came forward
last month with a statement that
it was her belief that the com
missioners may have eliminated
funding for her job in retaliation
for her public support of Hoke
County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin.
This week, Graham gave permis
sion for The News-Journal to
identify her as the person in ques
tion. Graham provided documents
to the News-Journal including
screenshots of text messages be
tween herself and Thomas, digital
communications from Edens and
an audio recording of Souther
land discussing the situation with
County Tax Collector
(See JOB CUT, page 4)
Summer evening
This week began with rain, punctuated by a rainbow Monday night, photographed facing south along Main Street. (Ken
MacDonald photo)
City Council takes a look at the figures. (Ken MacDonald photo)
Electronic water
meters coming
to Raeford
Hoke soldier hurt in blast that killed 2
A soldier from Hoke
County was injured in an
attack that killed two 82nd
Airborne infantrymen
August 2 near Kandahar,
Afghanistan.
Specialist Christopher M.
Harris of Jackson Springs
and Sergeant Jonathon
M. Hunter of Columbus,
Indiana, both infantrymen
assigned to 2nd Battalion,
504th Parachute Infantry
Regiment, 1st Brigade
Combat Team, 82nd Air
borne Division were killed
when a vehicle-mounted
improvised explosive device
struck their convoy, accord
ing to an Army statement.
The suicide bombing
also injured four American
troops, including, reported
ly, Brandon Butler of Hoke
County. The four soldiers
who survived the attack
were said to be in stable
condition.
Butler is a Hoke County
High School Class of 2015
graduate, according to his
Facebook page. He is mar
ried to wife Chyna Butler
and is originally from
Philadelphia, his social
media account said.
Butler’s brother Trell
Bronson posted August 3,
“Just got off the phone with
my little brother Brandon
Butler. Everyone please
keep my little brother in
your prayers. He lost two of
his battle buddies and was
injured pretty bad.”
Col. Toby Magsig,
commander of 1st Brigade
Combat Team, said that
Harris and Hunter, who
lost their lives in the attack,
“lived and died as war-
A meter like Raeford’s new
ones.
By Ken MacDonald
nors.
“They will always be
a part of the legacy of the
Devil Brigade and their
memory lives on in the
hearts and minds of their
fellow paratroopers. Our
thoughts and prayers are
(See HURT, page 9)
Over the coming months
Raeford will be switching to
high-tech water meters. It’s
the first step in an infra
structure upgrade program
Raeford City Council is
considering. Monday night
the board approved spending
roughly $1.1 million for a
system of Sensus electronic
meter readers from the Fer
guson company. Consultant
Andy Honeycutt told council
the meters would self-report
readings to a central server
and make near-instanta
neous reports available to
the city—and to customers
themselves if the system is
so configured.
“You’ve got infrastructure
that’s been in the ground in
excess of 20 years and the
useful life of that equipment
that has been surpassed,”
he said. The current manual
system under-reports by an
estimated four percent over
all, he said, and he told the
(See METERS, page 4)
County hiring for emergencies, preparing for storms
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
The Hoke County Board of
Commissioners will seek to
fill open positions at the Hoke
County Emergency Manage
ment Department, the board
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members decided Monday night.
Former director Maj. Freddy
Johnson and assistant Capt.
Benny Nichols resigned from the
department after the commis
sioners transferred oversight of
emergency management from the
Hoke County Sheriff’s Office to
the Hoke County Manager Letitia
Edens. It remains unclear exactly
what happened to clerk Alvita
Graham’s position.
The county named emergency
management assistant Robin
Lorenzen, the last remaining
employee of the department, as
the interim director. Lorenzen’s
qualifications include certification
as a North Carolina Executive
Emergency Manager, certifica
tion as a code enforcement officer
level three and she will soon earn
an advanced Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
Emergency Management Certifi
cate.
Lorenzen updated the commis
sioners on the many responsibili
ties that the department handles,
which includes everything from
handling fire inspections for
businesses to assisting with arson
investigations and preparing the
county for natural disasters among
other tasks.
Commissioner Tony Hunt sug
gested that with the transfer of the
department to the county man
ager’s oversight, the board will be
better able to prevent any future
confusion over the running of any
emergency shelters that the county
may open in the event of a natural
disaster. In the fallout of Hurricane
Matthew last autumn, there was
misunderstanding about how a
shelter operated by the Red
(See EMERGENCIES, page 9)
Murder suspect
returned to Hoke
Splash
Matthew Turlington drops like a cannonball into
his pool in this photo by his mother Gale. She
entered the photo into the OhSnap Photo Contest.
A man wanted in connection
with the shooting death of Deldrina
Chambers returned to Hoke County
last week after West Virginia law
enforcement arrested him during a
traffic stop.
Deputies with the Hoke County
Sheriff’s Office transported D’Angelo
Cox, 21, of Red Springs back to Ra
eford August 3. Officers charged Cox
with first-degree murder, assault with
a deadly weapon with intent to kill
inflicting serious injury and
(See SUSPECT, page 9)
By Ken MacDonald
This time last week I was seated barefoot on a rock in
a mountain stream, sunlight filtering through rhododen
dron on the banks. Ramon, on his last youth trip with us
now that he’s graduated and about to head off to the army,
was inspired. He had my camera with its $800 lens strung
around his neck, and he’d set about to recreate an artistic
photo he’d seen, with the creek tumbling gently in the
background, slightly out of the depth of field, framed by a
stack of rocks resembling a cairn.
Barefoot in the water he would dip his hands in to
(See OTHER STUEE, page 9)