THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100374
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
MOYOCK
MARKET ROBBED: Currituck County Sheriff Glenn Brinkley is seeking information about two men who robbed Eagle's Supermarket on U.S. Route 168 in Moyock between 8:30 and 9 p.m. Saturday.
According to witnesses, the men shopped and put their groceries on the checkout counter, then one of them pulled a small handgun on the clerk as she rang up their items.
The men bound all of the store employees and shoved them into a back room after taking an undisclosed amount of money from the register. One store employee opened the safe - at gunpoint - and the men stole a large amount of cash from there as well.
``They weren't wearing any masks. I don't think they were local people,'' Brinkley said Tuesday. One man was described as black, between 26 and 32 years old, about 175 pounds and 5 feet 8 inches. His accomplice is black, between 18 and 22 years old, about 190 pounds and 6 feet.
Armed robberies are unusual in this rural county, where an average of one or two such crimes occur each year.
If you have any information about the robbery - or the suspects - call the Sheriff's Department tip line, 232-3981, any time. You don't have to leave your name. A reward is offered for any information leading to an arrest.
- Lane DeGregory, staff writer
NAGS HEAD
MOREHEAD CITY
HAWKINS' PAY BOOSTED: Jess Hawkins, acting chief of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries' Fisheries Management Section, received a pay raise of more than $9,000 last week - but still has not been named to the post permanently.
``When he became acting chief, we told him we'd try to get him a higher salary,'' said state Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources spokeswoman Debbie Crane, whose department oversees the fisheries division. ``The person in that post before him earned $58,500. And this raise will give Jess $51,353 a year.''
Two weeks ago, Hawkins turned down the deputy director position in the fisheries division after learning that state officials had never approved the $23,729 raise his boss - Fisheries Director Bruce Freeman - had promised as part of the promotion.
Hawkins earned $39,502 annually until January, when Freeman elevated him from district manager for the Pamlico area to acting chief of fisheries management. With that temporary promotion, Hawkins' salary increased to $42,295. Although he still does not have the permanent title of fisheries management chief, Crane said, Hawkins' recent raise is permanent.
``These two incidents - the deputy director's wage dispute and this salary increase - really aren't linked together, although they did happen within a short time frame,'' Crane said.
Freeman is continuing to seek a new deputy director, Crane said, and will decide this week whether to re-advertise or hire one of the two dozen professionals who already have applied for the job.
- Lane DeGregory, staff writer
PLYMOUTH
GOVERNOR VISITS TODAY: Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., an off-duty farmer from nearby Wilson County, comes to Plymouth at noon today to tell the folks that after three terms he's settled into his work and ought to be re-elected one more time.
Hunt announced months ago that if he wins this campaign it will be his last hurrah. And indeed it must be, because of a state law that now prohibits more than two consecutive gubernatorial terms.
But that won't diminish an expected hand-crunching welcome for the governor at a fund-raiser in the Washington County Shriner's Club on N.C. 32 South at Plymouth.
Eating lunch with Hunt will cost $50 a plate.
Washington County is in the heart of North Carolina's northeastern ``Hunt Country,'' and Hunt himself raises cattle on his Wilson County spread not far down the pike from Plymouth.
Today the governor will cite half a dozen major economic and educational benefits that his administration has brought to Washington County since he took office for his third term in 1993.
Four Republican candidates for governor are battling for nomination in next month's GOP primary. The winner will face Hunt in November.
- Mason Peters, staff writer
COROLLA
DOG SNIFFS FIRE EVIDENCE: A chemical-sniffing dog owned by the State Bureau of Investigation identified some evidence Monday that may help detectives and fire officials determine what caused an oceanfront home in this upscale Outer Banks community to burn to the ground March 31.
Flames destroyed the $300,000 house and severely damaged a home just south of it. Corolla Volunteer Fire Department Chief Marshall Cherry said the blaze has been ruled ``suspicious.'' Currituck County Sheriff Glenn Brinkley said investigators have sent several cement pieces that the dog identified as having chemicals on them to a Raleigh laboratory.
``It'll be a couple of weeks before we get any lab results,'' Brinkley said Tuesday. ``Until then, this fire remains under investigation and the case is still open.''
No one was hurt in the blaze. But firefighters from as far south as Nags Head battled three-story flames for four hours.
If you have any information about the fire, call Brinkley's tip line at 232-3981.
- Lane DeGregory, staff writer by CNB