RAEFORD & HOKE COUNTY N C Wednesday, February 27, …

1 RAEFORD & hoke COUNTY COUNTY s newspaper since 190575 Calendar ..2B Classifi eds ..5B Deaths ..3A Editorials ..2A Legals ..3-4B Sports ..5A Worship ..2 BWednesday, February 27, 2013No. 51 Vol. 107BY KEN MACDONALDThe mailman seems to arrive later each day, and I wonder if the poor guy has been given a second route as the Postal Service struggles. He was clos-ing in on my house as I pulled from the driveway on my road bicycle for my fi rst real ride of the season. By real, I mean I had dressed for it: long Windstopper britches with suspenders, clip-on shoes, a very bright yellow car-proof Windstopper jacket, and a lining under my helmet of, you-guessed-it, Windstopper fabric.

2 Just before Christmas I had replaced my tires with some fancy tread-less but super-capable and expensive ones that hold 125 pounds of pressure. That s 25 more than before, , I took Main Street like a Comanche 400 takes a made it about 200 feet and Ka-Pow! For a split second I thought a neighbor had shot at me. My yard needs raking, but come on! Then I realized my ride was falling to pieces beneath me. I could barely control the bike. A crash at fi f-teen miles per hour still hurts, you know (speaking from experience during those days I had just gotten those clip-on shoes but forgot my feet were fastened to the pedals). I managed to get off the road and was (See OTHER STUFF, page 6A)Other StuffFirefi ghter of the Year is a womanFrom peacocks to emus, couple loves birds7 arrested in heroin bust, bonds set at $ million This WeekInvestigators with the hoke COUNTY Sheriff s Offi ce and the Fayetteville Police De-partment arrested seven people Friday and seized a large amount of heroin at a home near cers executing a search warrant at 121 Owl Court lo-cated 50 grams of suspected black tar heroin, authorities said.

3 The street value for the drug was estimated at $20, tar heroin is dark brown or black, is less refi ned than other heroin and carries high risks for users. The drug can be snorted, smoked or injected, according to one drug treatment facility. The seven people arrested include:Larry Lowell Dixon, 29, 7500 block of Camden Road in Fayetteville, two counts of traffi cking heroin, $ mil-lion bondAlbert Arron Goode, 38, 500 block of Forest Street in RAEFORD , two counts of traf-fi cking heroin, $ million bondJamel Marcuese Pagan, 21, 100 block of Owl Court in RAEFORD , two counts of traffi cking heroin, $ mil-lion bondAndre Devon McPhaul, 36, 2500 block of Shannon Road in Shannon, two counts of traffi cking heroin, $ million bondKiera Corshana Hobson, 23, 600 block of Roxie Avenue in Fayetteville, two counts of traffi cking heroin, $ mil-(See HEROIN, page 6A)

4 BY CATHARIN SHEPARDS taff writerLike many other volunteers in hoke COUNTY , Monica Toledo knows what it s like to wake up at 3 to the tune of a fi re siren and race out of the house, rushing to the aid of people she s prob-ably never met. If it s a fi re call, the adrenaline kicks in and you re automatically wide awake, she 28-year-old now has a claim to local fame in her own way: she recently became the fi rst woman fi refi ghter in the history of the RAEFORD Fire Department to be named Firefi ghter of the hasn t been in RAEFORD long, but in the two years since joining the department, she s helped with the re-(See FIREFIGHTER, page 6A) RAEFORD police arrested two people this week and planned to arrest a third sus-pect on allegations that they cashed about $6,000 of forged payroll checks reportedly stolen from a local healthcare owner of Carrieing Home Health Care called au-thorities when a bank pointed out a strange discrepancy with a check someone was trying to cash from her busi-ness.

5 Investigators believe an employee at the healthcare business stole payroll checks and conspired with two other people to cash them at mul-tiple banks, Det. Sgt. Jose Garcia of the RAEFORD Police Department arrested Diondra McQueen, 24, of RAEFORD on 10 counts of uttering and forg-ery, 10 counts of obtaining property under false pretense and two counts of conspiracy in connection with the case. Also arrested was Mario Lamar Wilson, no address given, on charges of uttering and forgery, obtaining prop-erty under false pretenses and conspiracy. Police planned to arrest Janie Lee Stephens, 41, (See CHECKS, page 6A)BY CATHARIN SHEPARDS taff writerAfter struggling with low attendance and an aging membership, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7930 lost its charter this month and is offi cially dissolved, a local VFW offi cer Balch, com-mander of VFW Post 10 in RAEFORD , said a member of the chain of command for the organization authorized him to speak about the mat-ter.

6 Post 7930 lost its status on February 11, and the former members of that post who were in good standing have been invited to join the active and still operational Post 10, Balch said. The criteria for that was that Post 7930 had aged out. (See VFW, page 6A)VF W chapter dissolvesPayrolltheftallegedFond of theirfeathered friendsCitizen of the YearMary Archie McNeill was named the Ra-eford Kiwanis Club Citizen of the Year at the club s 89th An-niversary Dinner at Gabriella s February 7. The retired choral teacher and com-munity activist was presented the award by Jeff CATHARIN SHEPARDS taff writerThree years ago, Alford Patterson s wife asked him what he wanted for his birthday and got a surprising answer: since he d seen the jewel-bright plumage of a friend s peacocks, Pat-terson had considered bringing some home to roost.

7 His birthday proved the perfect excuse to take the plunge into peacock ownership. I thought they were so pretty, (they were) blue and had their tails up and (See PEACOCKS, page 6A)Clockwise from top: an emu gets close; a golden pheasant; peacocks. (Catharin Shepard photos)A pied peacock with love on his mind. (Catharin Shepard photo) Toledo2A THE NEWS-JOURNAL RAEFORD , February 27, 2013(See mooneyham, page 3a)ViewpointsThe premise upon which the country was founded seems to have been forgotten over the years. At the beginning, the country was divided. In fact, this was the reason for the break from England, because it was agreed that people are different.

8 This was to be a country where people of different opinions, religions, and customs would be able to live in harmony The idea was that as long as there was respect for each other, there would be no thought was, We shall pass legislation to protect the rights of everyone. This worked well during the early years of the Revolutionary War when the public s main interest was staying alive. There was not too much interest in what others were doing in their lives. There were people of different cultures, rebellions, and races. These different issues were not important to anyone; the only issue was the survival of everyone. This was the glue that forced them to work together.

9 Fast forward to today. We find ourselves in the same type of situ-ation that caused us to flee to this country hundreds of years ago. A quote that I have used before, from an old comic strip of years ago, states that We have met the enemy, and it is us. The major problem in this coun-try is the inability of groups to work together. This is strange, because this country became the greatest country in the world because of our differences. People of different political opinions, cultures, races, and religions were able to work together, in spite of their differ-ences, as long as one group did not infringe upon, dictate to, or inflict their ideas and teaching on others.

10 You have the right to disagree with what I believe, but you do not have the right to impose what you believe upon me or entire situation is strange, because the issues that are divid-ing us are the same issues that brought us together to form this country. There are those who say, We have passed laws to protect against discrimination, crime, illegal actions, etc., so how can these actions cause problems today? The important thing to remember is that you can pass all the laws you want, but it is impossible to legislate people s minds. As long as a person s opinion hasn t changed, laws will not solve the issues that bought this country together are the same ones that are tearing us apart.