
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994                    TAG: 9406280302 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B1    EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA  
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940628                                 LENGTH: HERTFORD

NEW JUDGE STILL LEAVES AREA SHORT-HANDED \

{LEAD} James Carlton Cole, a 45-year-old Perquimans County lawyer and prominent Albemarle community leader, will be sworn in as a District Court judge on July 8.

Cole's oath-taking in the Perquimans County courthouse at 2 p.m. a week from Friday will bring to three the number of lower court judges now sitting in the seven-county 1st Judicial District. The area covers northeastern North Carolina where District Court dockets are traditionally crowded.

{REST} But Cole's elevation to the District Court bench will only partially relieve the load in the lower courts, said senior resident District Judge Grafton G. Beaman of Elizabeth City. Cole was appointed to the District Court by Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. on April 27 to fill a vacancy created when Cole's wife, former District Judge Janice McKenzie Cole, was named chief federal prosecutor for eastern North Carolina.

A few days after his appointment to the bench, ``JayCee'' Cole won the Democratic primary election for the judgeship when he defeated William T. Davis, an Elizabeth City lawyer. He still must face Republican James A. Beales Jr., another Elizabeth City lawyer, in the November general election.

``We'll be delighted to have Judge Cole join us,'' Beaman said Monday, ``but we'll still be short-handed on the bench.''

The U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division is holding up General Assembly legislation that created another District Court vacancy in the 1st Judicial District.

``There may be no appointment to the position until the Justice Department preclears the judgeship,'' said Dallas A. Cameron, assistant director of the Administrative Office of the Courts in Raleigh.

``No such preclearance has come from Washington, and there is a feeling now that the General Assembly will have to change the legislation before it will win approval,'' Cameron added.

Sitting at present with Beaman on the District Court bench is Judge C. Christopher Bean, of Edenton.

While awaiting the swearing-in of Cole, Beaman has had to request the services of District Court judges from other jurisdictions to handle the heavy caseload.

``JayCee'' Cole has practiced law in Hertford, the county seat of Perquimans County, since 1983. He had intensive criminal-law experience as a U.S. postal inspector working with the Secret Service and the New York City Police Department. He holds a law degree from N.C. Central University and a degree in mathematics from Livingstone College. by CNB