THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190357
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: By MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 39 lines
Police Chief Herman L. Bunch Jr., who won wide community respect after he was a surprise appointee as Elizabeth City's top cop in 1992, will resign Jan. 1 for a private management job.
The 41-year-old veteran said he submitted his resignation to city officials earlier this month. In a Sept. 16 memo to City Manager Steven Harrell, the police chief explained that he wanted to allow plenty of time to select his successor.
``The job I will be going to is a corporate executive position, and it's a position I couldn't sensibly refuse,'' Bunch said.
Although Bunch's resignation becomes effective the first of next year, his accumulated leave will allow him to leave office Nov. 12.
Bunch, who started out as a 15-year-old police cadet in 1971, learned law-enforcement by pounding a beat alone with a holstered nightstick.
He rose steadily through the ranks, holding virtually every job in the department.
By 1989 he was a captain, in charge of a full shift in the police department. He was named chief in May 1992.
He succeeded a living legend: former Chief William Clarence Owens Sr., who had run the department for nearly 50 years.
Owens is still called ``Chief'' when he shows up for downtown coffee-shop conversations.
Several senior police officers were in the running to succeed Owens, each counting on internal police and political connections.
In fact, Bunch's name did not surface publicly until the day of his appointment by City Council.
One councilman said later: ``We talked about a lot of senior officers, but Herman Bunch's name kept coming back into the conversations about who should be chief.
``It finally dawned on us that Bunch had more going for him than anyone else. He had to be our chief.'' by CNB