THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060379
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CAMDEN, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
A commissioner whose family has lived in sparsely populated Camden County for generations warned Monday that the menace of crack cocaine has spread its choking fingers into rural life.
Larry Lamb, chairman of the Board of Commissioners who for years has operated a popular country store in the county, opened a regular commissioners' meeting by reading from a typed statement announcing his 29-year-old son's addiction to the drug.
``Believe me, crack cocaine is the worst thing to ever happen to this country,'' read a trembling Lamb, who added that his family knows several people in this county of 5,900 who have fallen victim to crack.
``It's not in New York. It's not in Raleigh,'' he said during a recess. ``It's here. It's right here in Camden County.''
``If you have never had a crack addict in your family nor have ever been around one,'' his statement said, ``you don't know the meaning of hell.''
Lamb's son, Larry Gilbert Lamb Jr., was arrested last week on charges of robbing a jewelry store of $52,000 worth of rings.
The younger Lamb, who family and police say has confessed to the Halloween night robbery of the Elizabeth City store, is free on bail and undergoing rehabilitation. He is accused of pointing a handgun at three store employees and taking the rings from a display case.
He was arrested in Kill Devil Hills on Wednesday after Elizabeth City police received an anonymous telephone tip. A court date had not been set by Monday afternoon.
``This tragedy didn't start with the robbery on Halloween night,'' Lamb said, choking back tears. ``It started somewhere around the middle of May 1989 when he became hooked. . .
``He was a time bomb ready to explode. Was I surprised? Yes, but to tell you the truth, it was kind of a relief to know it wasn't what I expected. . . called from the morgue - wanting us to identify his body.''
Lamb said his first impulse after the arrest was to step down as a county commissioner. But colleagues and friends urged him to hold the job. He was elected to his third year as chairman minutes after finishing his statement.
``I am a fighter, not a quitter. I will continue on as a commissioner,'' Lamb said.
``Through my faith in God and with your support, I am determined to get on with my life.''
Lamb's family has been in Camden for more than seven generations, he said. He and his wife, Georgia, have run a well-known convenience and seafood store and marina on Route 158 for nearly 20 years.
They also have two daughters, 23 and 18.
Lamb said making the public statement about his family troubles was ``the proper thing to do.''
``He felt like he had to acknowledge this happened out loud and in public,'' Georgia Lamb said at their store, adding that her husband had stayed up ``almost all night'' working on the statement.
``He spoke from the heart.''
Lamb said last Saturday after the son's arrest that he and his wife loved him and would try to help him.
``What I meant to say,'' he added Monday, ``is that we are going to try to save his life - not try to get him off the hook. He has done a terrible thing and he must be punished for it.
``This is not the end of his life, but maybe a new beginning in that, if he chooses, he can help other people to avoid his mistakes. He will have to make the ultimate decision on which way his life moves.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Photo of Larry Lamb]
by CNB