THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997            TAG: 9701180502
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:   20 lines

FORMER POLICE CHIEF FACES BIGAMY CHARGES

A former Manteo police chief has been charged with being married to two women at one time.

Rodney Ballance, 35, of Manteo, was charged with one count of felony bigamy Thursday. He was released on $10,000 bond.

According to the warrant, Ballance had not legally divorced his wife, Pamela Ballance, before he married Kim Davenport Smith Ballance last summer.

Ballance, a former Dare County Democratic Party activist, was the police chief in Manteo from Nov. 3, 1988, to Aug. 17, 1989. He resigned for personal reasons, said a Manteo Police Department spokesman.

Prior to his job in Manteo, Ballance was employed as a police officer for the Nags Head Police Department.

KEYWORDS: BIGAMY MANTEO POLICE DAPARTMENT