THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 21, 1994 TAG: 9406210387
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940621 LENGTH: MANTEO
The officer will carry a gun. But his message will be for students to leave their weapons at home.
{REST} ``Dare County has the highest delinquent complaint rate concerning weapons on campus in all seven counties of the First Judicial District - including Pasquotank,'' Juvenile Court Counselor Linda Watts told the Dare County Board of Commissioners at their Monday meeting.
``Guns at school, teachers being assaulted, drug-related incidents and a variety of other problems are on the upswing,'' she said in a seven-page grant proposal.
During the 1993-94 school year, for example, dozens of students brought pocket knives, sling shots and other weapons to Outer Banks school campuses. One student had a hunting rifle mounted on a rack in his pick-up truck. Another youth carried a fish scaling knife in his backpack. Ten weapons violations at Dare County schools went to court. The previous year, three weapons charges resulted in court hearings.
``We're not immune from some situations in the urban areas surrounding us,'' Dare County School Superintendent H. Leon Holleman said. ``We're not experiencing difficulties to the degree they are. But we have to maintain a position to have positive discipline and prevent everything we can from getting to that point.''
This month, the school board agreed to fund 30 percent of a program which will allow Manteo High School and Manteo Middle School to share the services of one full-time deputy during the 1994-95 school year. The state's Community-Based Alternatives program, which attempts to keep youthful offenders out of court, will fund the remainder of the cost. On Monday, county commissioners unanimously approved that program.
``Most of the shootings in this country now are done by 13- to 15-year-olds anyway,'' Board of Commissioners Robert V. Owens Jr. said. ``This is a start at stopping that trend.''
Called a ``Youth Resources Officer,'' stationing an officer in the schools is expected to decrease school violence by up to 75 percent. The officer will initiate in-depth criminal investigations at schools; set up conferences with administrators, parents and students; arrange security for special school events; assist other officers with outside investigations involving students; and - most importantly - serve as a positive role model for teenagers.
``The officer won't swagger through the halls with a night stick swinging off his belt. His goal will be to open up a voice and a way to talk to a police officer without being intimidated,'' Dare County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Rodney Midgett said. ``Cases of neglect, sexual abuse, abuse from other students at school and other incidents often get reported when there's an officer at the school.''
State funds will pay $23,829 for the one-year program. The school board will pay $8,194. No county funds are required.
Although commissioners supported the program, some worried about the trends such a position might foreshadow.
``There's a risk of having law enforcement officers in our school: Where does it stop?'' Commissioner Clarence Skinner said. ``I can envision a school of nothing but armed guards teaching our children.''
Midgett disagreed with such a notion.
``What we want to do is steer these children in the right direction rather than having to make an arrest,'' Midgett explained. ``When a juvenile under age 16 breaks the law, the first step should be to divert them from the court system.''
In other business Monday, the Board of Commissioners:
Heard a plan to develop Roanoke Island as a destination for Inter-Coastal Waterway traffic.
Sent commissioners Clarence Skinner and Sammy Smith to Washington, D.C. to discuss plans to move the Dare County Airport from Roanoke Island to the mainland.
Announced plans to hold a public hearing on the county's updated land use plan at 9 a.m. Wednesday in commissioners' meeting rooms, Manteo.
Announced that the county's new shooting range on the mainland will open Friday, July 1.
Appointed Polly Bernd, Martha Hohmann and Ray Gray Jr. to the Dare County Library Board.
by CNB