The
ews
J oumal
Hoke County’s newspaper since 1905
IH
No.24VoL112
Raeford & Hoke County n.c.
Wednesday, August 16,2017
Rockfish talks of incorporating
Starts chamber of commerce, eyes annexation into Fayetteville
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Jrownie Brown talks about incorporating. (Catharin Shepard photo)
For the last five years members
of the Rockfish community have
worked to address local issues
through the volunteer Rockfish
Community Board, and now
with the formation of the Rock
fish Chamber of Commerce and
potentially additional groups on the
way, some Rockfish residents are
wondering if incorporation is in the
community’s future.
Members of the volunteer Rock
fish Community Board met last
week for the monthly meeting and
discussed the possibility, among
other concerns.
Rockfish businessman William
“Brownie” Brown, who has twice
run for a seat on the Hoke County
Board of Commissioners, rallied
the Rockfish community in 2014
by forming the community board.
The volunteer organization holds
meetings every second Thursday
night of the month at Brown’s place
of business at 2950 Lindsay Road.
Ever since then, the board has
held public meetings regarding
matters of interest including utili
ties access, road congestion and
other topics affecting the heavily-
populated part of the county.
This year, the group’s work has
extended even farther. Members
of the community have joined
forces to start a Rockfish Chamber
of Commerce and the Rockfish
Review newsletter, and are con
sidering creating a small business
association just for Rockfish. Ad
ditionally, organizers are working
to put together what they hope will
be an annual county fair hosted
in Rockfish. The fair is set for
September 19-24 and its website is
available at http://www.hokecoun-
tyfair.com.
At last week’s meeting, attended
by more than 90 people. Brown
asked the community members to
think about potentially incorporat
ing Rockfish into a town.
“I personally kind of like the
idea that’s come up of incorporat
ing Rockfish. You’ve all heard this
before, I would like Rockfish to
become a town, self-supportive,
and that can happen,” Brown said.
Frustration over being unable to
get county utilities services into the
community is part of the reason
why incorporation is under
{See ROCKFISH, page 9)
Poole announces
bid for commission
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Although filing for
county elections won’t open
until February 2018, a local
resident has announced his
intentions to run for a seat
on the Hoke County Board
of Commissioners.
Local businessman Gra
ham Poole filed his inten
tion to run for office with
the Hoke County Board
of Elections earlier this
month. The intention to run
is a preliminary announce
ment that allows prospec
tive candidates the chance
to start working on their
campaigns. So far Poole is
the only person who has
announced intention to run
in the election next year.
Poole announced his run
publicly on his Facebook
page, stating that county
finances, education, public
safety and the betterment
of all people in Hoke
County are all matters he
would like to address.
“I have NO desire to
be elected commissioner
for any selfish, personal,
financial gain, etc. Others
have already done that, and
some do now. Sorry if the
truth offends the offenders
or their supporters. Again,
I care about ALL citizens
of Hoke County, and I care
that we live in a County
that we can be proud of our
leaders that truly wish that
we all are represented
(See POOLE, page 6)
Partly cloudy
with a chance
of darkness
Monday
NatiM$l Forest woiw^Rock twl**
3
^ Winston-Salem,
Burlifliron
Lai.: 34.9S73’ N
Long: 79.2389* W
Clear Marker
Partial Solar Eclipse
Magnitude: 0.984
Obscuration: 96.17%
‘fSAi 721
Fayetteville
HopaliM*
CMen
Croatan
Natkyial Fore
JecfcsonvHle
By Ken MacDonald
You probably won’t soon forget Monday in
Hoke County. The solar eclipse will arrive here
almost exactly at 2:45 p.m., and though the ef
fects will be drastically different than a roughly
70-mile swatch over South Carolina where the
eclipse will reach totality, you’ll notice them
nonetheless. It’ll be darker and a tad cooler—
even if clouds obscure the event. At press time
the forecast for the area is roughly a 50 percent
chance of rain, typical summer weather here.
Raeford will see just a tad over 96 percent
obscuration of the sun. Partial eclipse will
begin here just after 1:15 p.m. and will continue
until roughly 4 p.m.
Even here, where totality won’t occur, per
haps especially here, eye safety is of paramount
importance. At no time in Hoke County—even
(See ECLIPSE, page 9)
Top:the path of totality—between purple lines (source, NASA); bottom:
what the eclipse will look like here, (source, UC Berkeley)
Raeford police chief retires 5 years after ‘test under fire’
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Raeford Police Chief Kemp
Crumpler retired earlier this
month after serving for more
than 30 years in law enforce-
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ment, including five and a half
years as the leader of the city’s
police force.
The city recognized Crum
pler August 4 with a reception
in his honor.
“We appreciate his years of
service and he did a great job
while he was here,” Raeford
City Manager Dennis Baxley
said.
Maj. Marc Godwin, who
Five years ago, a counter-protest at a soldier’s funeral. With the wagon train.
served as the assistant chief of
police, is currently serving as the
interim chief and has applied for the
open chief’s position.
The city has been advertising the
position for about 10 days. The city
is “excited” to have Godwin serving
as the interim chief, Baxley said.
Godwin described Crumpler as
“very nice, humble” and said he
enjoyed working with him.
(See CRUMPEER, page 9)
Chairs association
The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Asso
ciation recently reappointed Hoke
County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin to
serve a second consecutive term as
chairman of the organization’s board of
directors, the first time in the group’s
history that one person has held the
position two terms in a row. Peterkin
served as president of the Sheriffs’As
sociation in 2015-16.The group elects
its leaders annually. The association
honored Peterkin for “outstanding
leadership and dedication.”
By Ken MacDonald
Here’s something else we ean’t seem to do anything about.
Pandora having opened the jar and all that.
An article in The Atlantie by a professor of Psyehology says
the differences between today’s teenagers and those of the previ
ous generation are so radical she’s never seen anything like it in
all her career, and she lays the blame at the feet of smartphones.
Today’s kids get them early, spend several hours per day on
them, sleep with them, and would rather socialize with their
friends on them than do it in person.
“The roller rink, the basketball eourt, the town pool, the local
necking spot—they’ve all been replaced by virtual
(See OTHER STUEF, page 4)