Year: 2024

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Contracts approved last week by the Hoke County Board of Commissioners showed that Hoke will be able to purchase up to an average of three million gallons a day from Fayetteville Public Works Commission, and an additional amount of up to 432,000 gallons of water a day from the...

The United States Army recently partnered with Three Rivers Land Trust to permanently conserve 407 acres of land in Hoke County, noted as “key parcels,” around the Fort Liberty installation. The sounds of military aircraft operating in and around Fort Liberty are very normal sights to residents of the Sandhills. Units on the installation are...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Over the past months, work crews have been clearing the way for the four-lane expansion of N.C. 211 between Raeford and Aberdeen, but when will the construction start – and when will it end? The good news for people who just want to see it get done: the long-awaited...

Hoke County will ring in the season next Friday, December 6 with Hometown Christmas. The annual free event organized by the Raeford-Hoke Chamber of Commerce will be from 5:30-8 p.m. on Main Street in Raeford. Main Street will be closed off to traffic while downtown businesses keep their doors open into the evening for patrons...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • A mix of incumbents and newcomers won election to local offices in the general election Tuesday, and did so in an election year that broke early voting records. Voters returned incumbent Commissioner James A. Leach to another four-year term on the Hoke County Board of Commissioners. He will be...

UPDATED TO CORRECT DAY: The Hoke County Board of Education will hold a special called meeting Monday, October 28 at 6 p.m. at the Hoke County High School Media Center. (From Alison Jones, Director of Public Relations, Hoke County Schools)

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • A few days after the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office announced that two North Raeford Fire Department firemen had been arrested for allegedly embezzling from the station, the chairman of the fire department’s board of directors told The News-Journal that the situation wasn’t as it first appeared, and the station’s...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • David Hudson has lived in Hoke County for a long time, and he’d never encountered a bear near his home in Timberland until just recently. With clearing going on for the four-lane widening of the road between Raeford and Aberdeen, and the approaching start of construction on the project,...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Residents needing to get a driver’s license will have to go out of the county for the time being, as Hoke County’s Department of Motor Vehicles driver’s license office is currently closed due to staffing issues. A sign posted on the door stated that the office was closed “until...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • A veteran-owned and operated cattle farm in Hoke County is expanding by breaking ground this week on a new on-site butcher shop that will sell locally-sourced meats, along with eggs, honey, bread and more. Briarwood Cattle Farm owner Marvin Frink is one of a growing number of veterans who...

Attorney Hunt clarifies that public input sessions are legally required, but board can enforce order and decorum By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Two weeks after a man criticized the Hoke County Board of Commissioners, then cursed from the audience and walked out of the meeting, Vice Chairman Harry Southerland called for the board to...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • After a weekend of having to boil water due to a reported water main break in the Antioch and Arabia area, Hoke County Utilities announced that testing revealed the water is safe and customers don’t need to boil water anymore. “Based on the laboratory analysis of water samples collected...

(This story originally appeared in The News-Journal’s July 24, 2024 issue) By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Hoke County Board of Education members will not face any criminal charges for accepting $4,000 “staff retention” bonuses in June 2023, according to District Attorney Mike Hardin, though the prosecutor noted the bonuses weren’t lawful and “should have...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Four more people have filed to run for election to two seats on the Hoke County Board of Education, including incumbents Keisha Gill and Rosa McAllister-McRae, and candidates Ashley Brock and News-Journal owner Jessica Hendrix Brown. The new additions to the race brought the total number of candidates to...

(Contributed Article)By Jennifer Hatcher • Sandhill Regional Director of Libraries • The Sandhill Regional Library System, comprised of Anson, Hoke, Moore, Montgomery, and Richmond counties, aims to use funds received from the Digital Champions Grant to help close the digital divide. SRLS hopes to equip its patrons with essential digital literacy skills and resources. Firstly,...

When students attending Hoke County Schools return to class next month for the start of the new school year, they’ll need to have a clear backpack. The school district announced the change in a press release last week. The backpacks or bookbags must be made of clear plastic, vinyl or similar transparent material, according to...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • The News-Journal last week received a response to the public records requests that sparked a lawsuit against Hoke County. The newspaper received three large binders containing 1,872 pages, delivered by courier Wednesday, July 10 from the Charleston Group, the Fayetteville-based attorney firm that commissioners hired to represent the county...

OPINION • By Rahnàwakęw Donnie McDowell • Recent media reports highlight that candidates running for NC Governor, such as Attorney General Josh Stein and Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, expressed their support for the Lumbee Tribe. Like President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden in 2020, Mr. Stein and Mr. Robinson publicly attested to Lumbee’s plight...

The Hoke County Community Foundation, a North Carolina Community Foundation affiliate, has awarded $19,700 in grants to organizations supporting the local community. The board of advisors granted: •$2,000 to American Red Cross Sandhills Region for disaster services – Prepare, Respond and Recover •$2,000 to Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas for Hoke County Childhood Cancer...