From the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office: The Hoke County Sheriff Office announces on Friday March 24, 2023 Hoke County Sheriff’s Office Deputies were conducting a high-risk search warrant in the 100 Block of Hickory Drive in Raeford, NC. Upon arrival at the location Hoke County Deputies knocked and announced their presence at the residence. As Hoke County Deputies entered the residence, continuing to announce...
Governor visits Scurlock Elementary
[Photo: Gov. Roy Cooper looks at students’ classwork in a kindergarten classroom at Scurlock Elementary during a visit to the school Thursday morning.] North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper visited Scurlock Elementary School to talk about education funding. He toured classrooms and held a press conference in the school media center with local elected officials. See next week’s issue of The...
Commissioners appoint Wright to board
By Catharin Shepard • Editor • A man with decades of experience serving as a county commissioner will return to the board next week. The Hoke County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously last Wednesday morning to appoint Robert “Bobby” Wright to serve out the remainder of the late Commissioner Lonnie Baldwin’s term in office. Wright and his wife, Shirley Wright,...
Commissioners appoint Bobby Wright as fifth board member
[Photo: Bobby Wright will return to the board this month with a swearing-in set for March 20. He and his wife were present Wednesday morning when Commission Vice Chairman James Leach (back row, from left), Commission Chairman Allen Thomas and Commissioner Harry Southerland, along with Commissioner Tony Hunt (not pictured) made the unanimous vote. (Catharin Shepard photo)] The Hoke County...
Meet helicopter crash survivor at The News-Journal March 16
Military veteran Elmer Adams was one of four people who survived a helicopter crash in Hoke County in October 1973, thanks in no small part to the quick action of bystanders who rushed to help. The News-Journal will host an informal gathering for Adams and those who helped that day. The gathering is set for Thursday, March 16 from 10...
Rising Stars program expands to include four schools
By Catharin Shepard • Editor • What started a few years ago as a grassroots effort to help prepare young children for kindergarten will expand into four elementary schools in Hoke County this summer. Rising Stars is a local effort launched by Citizens for Early Childhood Education, a group of people concerned with seeing Hoke County children achieve their potential....
Fundraiser collects $2,100 for soup kitchen
[Photo: The winners of the Bowl of Abundance soup cook-off were Brian Henderson in first place, Betty Perkins in second place and Becky Jones in third place. (Contributed photo)] The annual Bowl of Abundance fundraiser for the Open Door Soup Kitchen raised $2,100 to support the nonprofit’s mission of feeding the hungry in Hoke County. The Raeford-Hoke Christian Ministerial Alliance...
School board halts Hoke High project
By Catharin Shepard • Editor • After hitting the brakes on a plan for a replacement building on the Hoke High campus, the school board voted last week to consider building a second high school at a cost of $110 million – but it’s not clear yet whether the district can use its $50 million in state grant funds for...
Veteran hopes to reunite with life-savers from ’73
[Photo: This black and white image from October 1973 shows the twisted, burned section of a U.S. Air Force helicopter’s fuselage in Hoke County woods following the crash. One of the survivors is hoping to thank the people who came to the rescue that day. (File photo)] By Catharin Shepard • Editor • A veteran walked into the News-Journal office...
Hoke County Commissioner Lonnie Baldwin dies
[Photo: Commissioner Lonnie Baldwin (File photo)] By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Hoke County Commissioner Lonnie Baldwin died Monday, January 30 at the age of 70. The county board announced his passing Tuesday morning, “with profound sadness and heavy heart.” “We are all deeply saddened by the passing of Commissioner Baldwin. This is a tremendous loss for all of us....
CTE Nurse Aide I program helps build futures in healthcare
[Photo: The first cohort of Nurse Aide I students at Hoke High School include (left to right) Olivia Wallace, Veronica Cunningham, Leydi Hernandez, Aniyah Shaw, Aziza Matos, McKinley Lowery and Baylee White. (Submitted photo)] By Catharin Shepard • Editor • February is Career and Technical Education Month, and we’re sharing some of the stories of just a few of the...
Commissioners to talk courthouse, school, other items Monday
The Hoke County Board of Commissioners will meet Monday, January 30 in a special called session to talk about a number of important projects. See the meeting notice below: NOTICE OF A SPECIAL CALLED MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR THE COUNTY OF HOKE Notice is hereby given that a special called meeting of the BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR...
Sheriff: “People are dying,” community fights violence
[Photo: Participants at the meeting gathered to address the rise in shootings and other violence in Raeford and Hoke County. (Catharin Shepard photo)] By Catharin Shepard • Editor • A community meeting held last Thursday night gave citizens a chance to voice their concerns and their ideas for how to make Hoke County a safer place. About 100 people turned...
Service celebrates MLK Day with song, prayer
[Photo: A Unity March through downtown Raeford this Monday also honored the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Catharin Shepard photo) By Catharin Shepard • Editor • The Rev. Stackhouse of Lewis Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Hoke County had one word to sum up what the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day service was all about. “We’re here...
County chairman talks 2023 priorities
By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Education, construction projects and future development are some of the priorities for the Hoke County Board of Commissioners going into 2023, Commission Chairman Allen Thomas said. Thomas sat down with the News-Journal last week to talk about what’s going on in Hoke, what commissioners discussed at a recent retreat and what the elected leaders...
Recent shootings may related to gang rivalries, sheriff says
The Hoke County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Roderick Virgil issued a statement this week in the wake of multiple shootings, saying that the increased violence appears to be because of gang activity. The agency is working with other law enforcement entities to investigate the crimes and prevent future acts of violence, Virgil’s office said. “The Sheriff’s Office is acutely aware...
Space, budget tight for new courthouse plans
By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Both the available space to build a new Hoke County Courthouse in downtown Raeford, and the state-funded grant money available to build it are going to be tight as commissioners work out details of the project. Commissioners will have to decide how to proceed after two board members heard concerns from stakeholders at...
Raeford police shoot, kill armed man
Two Raeford police officers shot and killed an armed man Monday night when he drew a handgun and pointed it at them, the Raeford Police Department announced. Tavares Harrington, 34, of the 300 block of East Sixth in Raeford was fatally shot in what Raeford Police Chief Marc Godwin said was an act of self-defense by the officers. “The assailant...
Virgil sworn in as Hoke County sheriff
By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Just a few days after his 43rd birthday, Hoke County Sheriff Roderick Virgil raised his right hand and took the oath during a ceremony that marked the start of his first full four-year term in office. The service held Monday at the Mt. Pisgah Community Resource Center saw Virgil and his staff sworn...
Hometown Christmas is this Friday on Main Street
By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Santa Claus is coming to Raeford this Friday for the seventh annual Hometown Christmas, and so is the Grinch. Santa will arrive in town at 5:30 p.m. December 2 to help with lighting the Christmas tree at Freedom Park, located at the corner of Main Street and East Central Avenue. Afterward, he’ll stick...
Woman gets new home through ReBuild N.C.
[Photo: Karen McLean celebrates getting the keys to her new home from contractor Eric Pender of Shepherd Response.] By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Karen McLean’s home on Cumberland Avenue was so badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew that come winter time, she had to put flannel sheets and thick plastic on the cinder block walls to keep out the...
Shooting range could go by treatment plant
By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • After rescinding original plans to put a law enforcement gun range near the Hoke County animal shelter, county commissioners will instead consider putting it at the back of wooded property at the county’s wastewater treatment plant. First, they’ll hold a public hearing to get feedback from any citizens who might have concerns about...
Recreation center, swimming pool construction still underway
By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Construction crews are still hard at work building the James Leach Hoke County Aquatic Center and will probably be working until the end of December to complete the project, according to county officials. Commissioner James Leach, the building’s namesake, said he visited the building site last week and got an update on where...
Local emergency planning committee holds kickoff meeting
By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • When Alfred K. “Dooie” Leach got word that one of FCI Inc.’s facilities was on fire on New Year’s Eve, at first he thought it might be the company’s office headquarters, not one of the buildings that works with farm chemicals. When he arrived at the scene on St. Pauls Road and saw...
Sandhills-born playwright, New York cast bring Gospel play ‘Yesterday is Here’ to Seabrook Auditorium
By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • A playwright who grew up in the area is returning home this month and bringing with her an original Gospel stage play, “Yesterday is Here.” Arlean Wells founded her own production company, A.N. Wells Enterprise. She writes, directs and produces her own plays, directs productions for other playwrights and also teaches acting and...