Robesonian (Newspaper) - February 14, 1993, Lumberton, North Carolina THE ROBESONIAN Serving Robeson County Since 1870 1993 Park Newspapers of Lumberton Inc Lumberton NC Sunday February 141993 Vol No 300 62 pages 50 cents D A See Weather Page 2 SCOREBOARD BOYS HIGH SCHOOL West Brunswick 58 South Robeson 55 Tar Heel 65 Red Springs 47 Hoke County 61 Lumberton 58 GIRLS West Brunswick 51 South Robeson 47 Red Springs 51 Tar Heel 42 St Pauls 58 Bladenboro 44 Lee County 41 Purnell Swett 27 COLLEGE BASKETBALL ACC Wake Forest 98 Duke 86 Florida State 84 Maryland 80 Virginia 83 Clemson 78 Democratic Party to meet Thursday The executive committee of the Robeson County Democratic Party will meet Thursday at 7 pm in Courtroom of the Robeson County Courthouse All executive committee members precinct chairs precinct officers elected officials and Democrats are urged to attend All precinct chairs are strongly urged to attend in order to pick up their packets and instructions for upcoming precinct meetings set for March 4 Precinct leaders un able to attend the meeting are asked to send a representative Library group sponsoring trip to Brandywine The Friends of the Robeson Coun ty Public Library are sponsoring a special trip to the Brandywine area of Delaware the weekend of The Springtime hi Brandywine Valley trip will include visits to the Winterthur Museum and Garden and the Brandywine River Museum which houses one of the largest collections of Andrew Wyeth paintings in North America Also included hi the trip will be a night at the theatre featuring din ner and a performance of West Side Time will also be allowed for shopping and sightsee ing The cost of the trip is per person double occupancy Includ ed in the cost is three nights of ac at a firstclass hotel breakfast each day and all sary transportation The deadline for reservations and for a required deposit is Feb 22 Final payment is due by March 12 INDEX Whats TO SUBSCRIBE CALL 7394322 Proposed motel tax hike raises doubts ELLEN CHURCH Staff writer City Council can ex strong opposition from the Robeson County Hotel and Restau rant Association concerning a re cent approval of a resolution to raise motel taxes Council passed a resolution in January seeking enactment by the NC General Assembly for a local act which would increase the allow able motel tax rate from three to six percent The resolution will be in to local state representat ives Monday morning They are twisting the law to it full advantage and yes its legal But is it really going along with the orig inal intent of the statute Paul Francisco motel manager Money received through the ex isting motel tax must be used specifically for tourist related ac according to a local motel tax law implemented in 1986 Funds generated by the tax are divided among the Chamber of Commerce the Carolina Civic Center and the Lumberton Police Department for travelers protection services Revenues from the tax increase would be used for the renovation of the Bill Sapp Recreation Center However a spokesperson for the association says he questions the councils motives Theoretically a new building will only bring in around 28 new events a year here said Paul Francisco manager of Holiday Inn Is that really going to bring in enough new people here to justify spending all that money and put a whole hotel industry in jeopardy I dont think itis Francisco claims that council is stretching the law in order to renovate the Bill Sapp Center while appeasing the community by not raising city taxes The law is vague and there are no increments of measurement on how much tourism can be ed he said They are twisting the law to its full advantage and yes RCC trustees offer profile Commissioners hosted for report From staff reports The Robeson Community College Board of Trustees hosted the Robeson County Commissioners to the campus last week and delivered a state of the college report Joining RCC trustees and ad were Commissioners Bobby Dean Locklear Campbell Bill Herndon EB Turner Noah Woods Johnny Hunt and Marion Rice County Manager James Martin and County Clerk Linda Hedgpeth RCC Trustee Chairman John Staton welcomed the group and Commissioner Johnny Hunt who also serves on the RCC board introduced his fellow com missioners RCC President Fred Williams recognized RCC trustees and administrators After the meal Bill Mauney assistant vice president of student services gave the group a profile of the typical RCC student He began by stating that RCC served 12946 students during the 199192 academ ic year Of these 2105 students were enrolled in certificate diploma and associate degree programs with the remainder enrolled in continuing education offerings Mauney focused his profile on the Youth violence studied Research seeks to curb problems DURHAM AP If you want to curb violence among the nations youth you need to find them jobs and direct them away from alcohol researchers say Programs targeting social skills and competencies show promise in reducing violence said Chris Ringwalt a Research Triangle In researcher directing a million youth violence study that will be launched in Durham next 2105 curriculum students During the fall quarter of 1992 688 percent of these students were female and 312 percent male Ninety percent of the students live in Robeson County with 34 percent hailing from Cumberland and 25 percent from Bladen County Additionally 683 percent of the students attend day classes and 317 percent attend evening classes The students racial breakdown closely mirrors that of Robeson County black 223 percent Indian 376 percent and white 401 percent Over onehalf of RCC students work 335 percent fulltime 112 percent 2130 hours per week and 78 percent 1120 hours per week Inter another 171 percent of the students are unemployed but are currently seeking a job Gaining skills necessary to enter a new occupation was the short term goal of 528 percent of the students while 134 percent want to gain skills necessary to retrain remain cur rent or advance in their current job Other student goals are to improve basic skills in reading writing math skills to satisfy a per sonal objective or to further general Please see RCC page Scott photo Sweetheart stroll Frank Bullock and take a stroll through the card section in the Hallmark store at Biggs Park Mall Saturday Bullock wont have to mail his valentine card this year to Martin who is visiting from Kentucky He is from Fairmont its legal But is it really going along with the original intent of the stat ute Francisco further contends the design of the building is inadequate and that council is not following recommendations given in a study done in 1987 concerning the con struction of a convention center The study shows that such a build ing would be used primarily by the community and not potential tourists The recommendation for the renovation of the Bill Sapp Center Please see TAX page Robeson threesome indicted Multiple federal drug charges made NORM MORTON Staff writer Three Robeson County people were charged this week in indict ments handed down by a federal The three Jerry Scott Simon Kent RanSom and Valeria Swett face multiple federal charges hi the indictments Jerry Scott 36 was charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine distribution of cocaine and using a firearm during and in connection with a drug trafficking crime ac cording to court documents Scott appeared before United States Judge Alexander Denson and was placed in the custody of the U S Marshals service and jailed with no bond Simon Kent Ransom 33 was charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine distribution of cocaine maintaining a dwelling for the purpose of distributing cocaine and using a firearm during and in connection with a drug trafficking Please see CHARGES page year Please see 3 die in fiery crash Saturday on 195 Associated Workers look over the remains of a tanker truck Saturday in Dunn Three people were killed when a car hit a gasoline tanker headon on Interstate 95 early Saturday morning causing the tanker to explode and burn The crash forced the closure of the northbound lanes for several hours Workers look over remains of the tanker it was removed from the scene DUNN AP Three people were killed Saturday when a car hit a gasoline tanker headon on In 95 and the tanker exploded and burned officials said Capt Richard Holden of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said the accident occurred around am when a car crossed the median into the southbound lane and hit a tanker loaded with 8000 gallons of gasoline It went into median flipped over the northbound lanes exploded and caught fire Holden said The crash forced the closing of northbound lanes for several hours as traffic was detoured to US 301 to the next 195 exit at Dunn Holden said Southbound traffic was limited to one lane he said Traffic was backed up as much as five miles at one point Holden said The driver of the truck and two people in the car were killed Holden said Another person in the car was injured Identities were behind withheld pending notification of relatives The fire was put out around 1 pm and officials were preparing to reopen one northbound lane at pm Holden said Efforts to the wreckage were slowed by the extent of dam age from the fire he said It burned so much of the tractor when they went to move it it was bending he said Clinton plan calls for longterm pain WASHINGTON AP The economic package President Clinton unveils this week will seek to achieve two usually competing goals boosting the economy and trimming the deficit His tion an odd mix of shortterm prizes and longterm grief And beyond the grief if all works right economic growth and prosperity At least thats the theory Clinton has been preaching for the past 13 months Although the president says tune in Wednesday for details of bis package many major features have already emerged For the short run he will propose a package of new spending and in vestment tax breaks to boost the economy about billion worth Thats the sweetener before the sour medicine to follow tax in creases across the spectrum and cuts in many popular government services and programs Clinton has vowed to cut the an deficit soaring to an ex record billion this year by billion after four years although he told a group of business leaders several days ago that the range might be closer to billion to billion Either way its a big assignment Big corporations and wealthy in can expect to see their in come tax rates going up significant ly And middleclass taxpayers will proportionately bear the brunt of a new energy tax Even elderly and Americans are not to be spared from what Clinton calls contributing to the campaign to ease decades of government overspending His plan will include curbs on many gov services and automatic benefit entitlement programs Social Security benefits will not be trimmed or frozen directly But retired individuals who have earn Please see CLINTON page President Clinton meets with Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown right Saturday in the White House Clinton consulted with top ad visors about his economic stimulus package as he prepares for Wed address to the nation Gore decries deficit WASHINGTON AP Vice President Al Gore on Saturday at tacked the Reagan ad ministrations phony federal def projections saying a higher estimated shortfall has forced dramatic changes in the economic package previously outlined by President Clinton We found that the deficit estimates that they had talked about during the campaign were com wrong Gore said during an interview on Newsmaker Saturday After Clintons election Gore said federal deficit estimates grew by an additional billion annually over the next four years As a result Gore said many of the new administrations economic assumptions completely changed because the American people had not been given a true look at what our situation is
