The Robesonian from Lumberton, North Carolina • Page 9

Page 9 The Robesonian, Lumberton, N.C, Friday, January 3. itJj Robeson Kept Moving In '74 And Usually It Was Forward THE o. P. OWENS Agriculture building was completed as part of the new county office complex. and suddenly the political midnight oils began burning with renewed vigor.

Another $684,000 in CD money for each of the next three years is what Lumberton stands to gain and, in the fall, efforts were begun to comply with CD requirements. The big question was simple: who would administer the money, the Lumberton Redevelopment Commission or a new city department? Everybody had a plan of his own but as the year came to an end the decision, which rests with city council, still had not been made. It is expected that one will be made shortly. The Human Rights Commission which city council revitalized in 1974 but failed to provide with a paid director as the commission members asked, was thrown the task of gaining citizens input on how the funds should be spent, an effort guided by the powers that be. The commission floundered until finally it held a series of precinct meetings with largely moderate attendance.

It remains the group's challenge of 1975 to see that CD funds are well spent. 1974 was also the year that the city went computer and by August it was announced that the billing operation was considerably behind schedule. Residents sat scratching their heads as they tried to determine which month's utility bill they were paying but council action toward the end of the: year rendered it just as well that they couldn't figure it out. Because in December it was announced that a 73 per cent utility rate hike would be passed on to consumers to compensate for a rise in Carolina Power and Light rates. The year passed with a minimum incident of flooding, a strong contradicition to 1973 when Mother Nature seemed to have it in for Robeson County, but on August 8 city council did move to evacuate 59 residents to Turner Terrace as the Lumber River reached 13.95 feet.

Drainage projects made a lot of news as Meadow Branch improvements were completed amidst injunction and subsequent lawsuit. Thomas Kale and Hector McLean, property owners, affected by the project, sued Robeson County Drainage uismci no. damages, a matter yet to come to court. In March, an injunction temporarily halted the work but it was resumed when a tentative agreement was reached. The Jacob Swamp dike project finally reached a conclusion in '74.

Two days of public hearings were held in May and Clerk of the Court Ben Floyd Jr. put the final stamp of approval on the project in October. Though the federal government made available flood insurance for communities willing to comply with building restrictions and other guidelines, city council had not applied as the year closed. A public hearing is to be held on Jan. 20.

Tobacco made the news as always, but this year there were some changes made. Congressman Charlie Rose met with locals on the proposed 10 per cent increase in tobacco allotments and predicted in January that at least a 5 per cent hike would be in effect during the 1974 season. When all was said and done a 15 per cent hike was operative. It was also the year for a new designated market system whereby farmers would designate in advance the place vhere they would sell their tobacco. On April 10 a hearing was held here on the proposal and local growers opposed the matter, calling for greater controls on buyers.

The market opened on July 15 and not long after farmers began burning their tobacco rather than market it at the low prices being offered. Prices gradually began to rise and on Sept. 12 hit $100 per 100 pounds. end of May saw a flurry of uu ition in Pembroke when Jim McVickers, a white man, was appointed postmaster ahead of two Indian applicants of longer service. Despite protests, the appointment stood.

A roller coaster ride was slated for the Lumbee Bill. An original hearing on the bill, introduced to the U. S. House of Representatives by Rep. Charles Rose, was held in Washington in April.

Tuscarora Chief Howard Brooks said locally that he didn't want the bill fixed but dropped entirely. In Robeson County the Board of Commissioners refused to endorse the bill when asked on April 15 to do so by inissioners Herman Dial and Bobby Dean Locklear. By early October the Lumbee Bill had cleared the House and was ready for Senate action. Hopes ran high until it finally became apparent ihat the measure would go unattended despite a last minute trip to Washington by Lumbee leaders. The bill will have to be introduced during the next session of Congress.

Double voting, long an issue in the county, made it to the courts in June when U. S. District Judge Algernon Butler dismissed the suit of Janie Maynor Locklear, et. al. versus the Robeson County Board of Commissioners.

An appeal was immediately filed by attorney Barry Nekell who charged that Judge Butler had not addressed himself to the issue. Undecided by the end of '74, the appeal has now been set for hearing on January 9, in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. Robeson County lost a liealth director in '74 when Dr. Marion B. Pate announced his intention to resign on March 15 to enter private practice.

Pate had held the post since 1969. Dr. S. K. Willis Jr.

was hired on March but left shortly thereafter. In June, Dr. A. J. Robinson was temporarily appointed until a replacement could be found.

Dr. Thad Beathea took over in August. A drive to raise funds for a Methodist Retirement Home in Lumberton reached a successful conclusion in March when it was announded that more than $400,000 had been collected. The home will begin with about 100 beds. For much of the year it was a guessing game as to when construction would begin and in December it was annnounced that February, 1975, would be the earliest starting date.

In many respects the Methodist retirement Home typified much of what happened in Robeson County in 1974. A lot of groundwork was laid in many directions; a lot of work was left to be done. 1974 was not a stand still year, nor was it a year of major fullfillments. It was rather a year of doing, frequently accompanied by frustrations and headaches, but always moving in a forward direction. The office remained open until Detective H.

C. Britt was formally appointed new chief on Augast 1. While the city wrestled with its problems, the Redevelopment Commission had monumental headaches of its own. A former employe, Mrs. Grey Storms, was charged with embezzling $20,000 from the commission and housing authority and all hell broke loose at the copper roofed staff offices on Chestnut Street.

The first hint of trouble came on August 24 when city council held an emergency executive session to discuss a matter relative to the commission. The next day, the agency announced that "irregularities" had been discovered by audit. It was not until Sept. 9 that' Mrs. Storms name was officially mentioned.

Civil suits were later instituted against her in an attempt to reclaim some of the money allegedly embezzled and Mrs. Storms in turn lodged a countersuit against the agency for false incarceration. When the news first broke, Mrs. Storms was in the psychiatric ward at Southeastern General Hospital and subsequently claimed that her stay was involuntary. Both the criminal and civil actions were likely to get an airing in 1975 and the next year's efforts will be the test of the agency's continued effectiveness.

But the commission's legal troubles did not end with Mrs. Storms. S. F. Caldwell hauled the agency into court, contesting its plans for downtown urban renewal, and lost.

Another appeal will be heard this month. Meanwhile, demolition of the first block of the downtown project, a pedestrian mall, has begun. Redevelopment made the news in other ways, too, the U. S. Congress earlier in the year passed the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 BRYAN MEMORIAL DAY CARE CENTER and the Sheltered Workshop will share a new facility provided through Revenue Sharing funds.

Occupancy has been postponed from September '74 until sometime early this year. By TOM GOODYEAR and KAREN VELA In January they walked, in March they streaked and in May they ran and if all that adds up to faction then Robeson County had 'plenty of it in its year a.d. The year actually hobbled to a fstart as motorists atrophied and Mhe Sunday drive was replaced Ny a Sunday stroll. Fuel shortages locked duitids anrl ninwri jas stations until in February at Jlleast one Robeson town reported was entirely out of gasoline. As national situation amiost a hullabaloo of "price the local scene bloomed "again.

Gas was availahlp at prices greatly inflated. The strain of winter pocked by deprivation was unleased in a collegiate spring as Pembroke State University students joined the rest of the country in a glorious "streak" for freedom, unheedful of such warnings as "repent, your end is in sight." When the weather warmed and the streakers cooled and while the Robeson County Board of Commissioners sat wondering if their new county ambulances would ever arrive, an Indian fellow who wanted to be sheriff gave the incumbent forces a run for their money. O. Tom Blanks forced a runoff election against Sheriff Malcolm McLeod after the May Democratic primary and many Indians counted it a victory though Mcleod won, by 1,202 votes. For the first time a minority coalition active in the election, gained a face and name, the Committee for Survival, Human Rights and Dignity.

The non white majority of the Robeson County Board of Education was reversed as the Rev. Robert Mangum unseated Harry West I ocklear and a tobacco spitting tradition in the N. C. House of Representatives was ended when Rep. Gus Speros lost his race to David Parnell.

The first woman to file for the inh nf Mrs. Mary Brown Northam of Maxton, lost to Chalmers Biggs. Democrats could do no wrong in November. Landslide after landslide made for jubilation in the victors' camp and very little excitement. In Robeson, the only real opposition came from Republicans McDuffie Cum mings and Glenn Maynor who bid for positions on the Board of Commissioners and N.

C. House of Representatives respectively. In each case, however, the Republicans managed to pull less than 15 per cent of the vote in their contests. Robeson County continued to wait until the wee hours of the morning to learn complete election results while precinct workers hand tallied handwritten ballots. Ray Revels, chairman of the Board of Elections, pleaded with county commissioners for $34,900 for an initial investment in voting machines, but to no avail.

Commissioners agreed "we'll have to sometime," but 1974 was not the year. Following the primaries three elections officials, saw fit to bring some precinct irregularities to light. I ater, before the November general elections, problems cropped up BOISE CASCADE'S arrival in Robeson County has helped brighten the economic forecast. Throughout the next months efforts were made to locate sites for the large containers and by December the result was a lot of grumbling, discontent, and none in service. County Manager Paul Graham hit upon a temporary experimental plan late in December; the plan was implemented within a couple of days and before the 1975 rolled around Robeson County had one 40 yard container in service in the Barker Ten Mile area.

The others just sit. Though revenue sharing helped save the county's soul in '74 the board in July handed county residents a 42 cent per $100 valuation tax rate increase and a $17.1 million total county budget. But the biggest, or at least the most visible step the commissioners took in 1974, was to seal the fate of the 1918 Robeson County courthouse and opt for a new one. In January, the board took a look at Architects Lee and Thompson's ideas for a five floor, modern structure of about 76,000 square feet and decided, for the most part, that it liked what it saw. On Feb.

4 it voted unanimously to do away with the old and. bring in the new. Rumblings followed from some areas of the community, including Historic Robeson, and in April the Robeson County Board of Education called for the commissioners to give the anticipated $2.6 million to the schools instead. The commissioners formally committed $3.5 million in revenue sharing funds to the schools on May 6. During August and September the courthouse found out who its friends were.

The total bid for demolition and general construction came in at $2.4 million and a cry of joyous relief went up from the county commissioners. D. H. Griffith, a Greensboro firm, won the demolition contract with a bid of $16,849 and with it sole ownership of the courthouse and all its pieces and parts. Another cry went up; this time, to save the tower, bell, and clock for posterity and frantic efforts were made to that end.

The county commissioners, Historic Robeson, and Lum berton's Redevelopment Commission were prime movers. Ultimately, the county won the right to buy back the treasures for $5,200, and present it to Historic Robeson. The courthouse bell was rung for the last time at high noon on Sept. 6 and the clocktower was laterward moved to the point of the in front of the Cancer Institute where it has remained since. Vandals set fire to it in November causing an undetermined amount of damage and its future remains uncertain as the year closes.

County offices, like the clock and tower, remain in limbo. One day all county offices were neatly tucked into the courthouse, the next day they had been scattered in all four directions. Finding temporary quarters for. the offices until the new courthouse is completed in 1976 proved to be a dilemma. Once found, however, the problem was passed along to the public who is still trying to sort out who and what is where.

While the county was hassling with courthouse problems, lumberton city councilmen were walking on eggshells of their own. The Glenn Street Bridge stayed an issue as city council faced a right of way decision which would have permitted bridge construction to proceed. On Jan. 24, an unofficial vote of council indicated the bridge would get a go ahead but action was repeatedly delayed until finally the matter was indefinitely tabled. It remains so as 1974 closed, an action which pleases the many vocal opponents of the project.

The ramifications of the bridge issue were alleged to extend to the Lumberton Police Department. On April 23, Chief Wilbur Lovette announced his resignation and before the year was out each of the two factions on city council accused the other of vote trading on the police and bridge issues. One side reportedly wanted the bridge out, the other wanted the chief out. Beginning in January, the Personnel Board of the city was in again, out again as an investigatory body looking into police matters until, in April, it was announced that it concurred with the city manager in finding no malfeasance by the chief. DEMOLITION OF THE COURTHOUSE took place in September.

The site is currently being readied for the new structure which should be completed in 1976. with one of the ballots when it was learned one name had been ommiited and the wording on the county commissioner's contest was unclear. The ballot had to be reprinted, not only costing the county additional tax money, but complicating the color coding system used for the first time in '74. Roving registrars were a sometime thing. Deposed in March, the cry went out for reinstatement during the late summer.

By the middle of August the Board of Elections agreed to use roving registration commissioners again and began the process of selecting them. The procedure, however, was a slow one and the registrars were not commissioned until after the November elections. An effort to put a vote on beer and wine sales before the public failed in 1974 as it had in previous attempts. Spearheaded by Dr. R.

J. Rundus, the effort plugged along with a series of Savings insured to $40,000 at Home Federal! Your savings are now protected to a total of $40,000 at Home Federal. The Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, an agency of the Federal Government, has increased the total amount of individual savings which it will insure to twice the previous limit. And Home Federal will continue to pay the highest interest rates allowed on savings protected by the FSL1C as much as 7Vz, depending on size and type of account. Federal regulations require a substantial interest penalty for early withdrawal of certificate accounts.

Funds withdrawn prior to maturity will earn the passbook rate less 90 days interest. HOME FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN FayettevilleLumberton open meetings, well placed petitions, and an eleventh hour door to door drive. It was close, but not close enough. The U. S.

Department of Justice pointed an accusing finger at Robeson County during the summer. Various county agencies such as the Board of Elections had apparently failed to file reports of changes in voting practices, reapportionment, and such. County attorney Joe (Pete) Ward informed the Board of Commissioners the first week in September that he had completed the necessary filings, dating back to Civil Rights legislation of 1964, the week before. But non election politics proved to be the most interesting in Robeson County 1974. On Jan.

7, the Robeson County Board of Commissioners voted 4 2 1 to establish a countywide system of ambulance service. The two Lumberton commissioners held out for a centralized dispatching location and Rowland abstained from the decision. A May starting date quickly went by the boards when the ambulance failed to arrive on schedule and it was not until September that the system got its initiation. A proud beginning was quickly defeated when it became apparent that the costs and problems associated with the new service be gargantuan. More than $200,000 is the anticipated cost for the first 12 months of operation.

Garbage problems spanned the year. Inherited from 1973, the county's garbage business took a giant step forward and two little steps backward in February when the first of new garbage containers arrived, were found defective, and had to be sent back to the manufacturers for correction. Small containers arrived during the following weeks. By May the small ones were in place and pick up service begun. The 40 yard bins just sat.

By the end of July the tally for the first three months of service was $32,359.80, a hefty sum for a service not yet fully We Keep Wheels Tu Member FSLIC CUSTOM FABRICATIONREPAIRS OF ALL KINDS raiMmi7MiAt wnpamu 401 Fairly St. 0 Laurlnburg, N.C.