Sheriff's Dept.
Response Team
Trains For
Special Operations
BY ERIC CARLSON
Last June, when an 18-year-old
Ck?IL,?... ? u::_ i ? . .
wJnunvMtw mail mjdiivtu d idXI dl gU!l
point and fired more than 80 bullets
during a three-hour standoff.
Brunswick County Sheriff John Carr
Davis had to call on a Wilmington
Police SWAT team to help end the
confrontation.
Last (all, sheriff's deputies helped
apprehend a heavily armed escaped
murderer who was cornered in the
woods along the state line. But it
was a specially trained and equipped
team of South Carolina officers that
stopped the night of Ciarland
Thomas Tedder.
Frustrated with the idea of having
to call in outside help, a group of
sheriff's detectives approached
Davis with the idea of forming their
own special unit to handle such situ
ations. With ihe sheriff's approval,
they began meeting and training and
undergoing physical conditioning?
much of it on their own time?to
form what has come to be called the
Emergency Response Team.
While drafting the unit's operat
ing procedures, ERT leader De
tective Mike Speck quickly realized
that one of the most potentially dan
gerous situations county law en
forcement personnel could face
would be a hostile incident at the
Brunswick Nuclear Plant. So he
contacted plant security manager
Phil Leslie, who immediately en
dorsed the ERF concept and agreed
to let the team train at the plant.
Last week, the company went a
step further in their support of the
team and presented the sheriff with a
$f>,(MH) check for the purchase of
new, more powerful, 40-caliber se
mi-automatic handguns and ammu
nition for ERT training.
"I am very excited about our rela
tionship with the team," Leslie told
ERT members during a luncheon
meeting at Ilu ^lunt last week. "We
are obligated under lederal law to
defend the plant against acts of vio
lence and terrorism. The sheriff's
department will be the primary re
sponded to any problems we have
at Brunswick. So it's extremely im
portant to have a team that is famil
iar with the plant layout and opera
tions.
"We don't want radiation spewing
out all over the countryside," he
said.
Besides augmenting nuclear plant
security, the ERT unit would also
provide assistance to county and
municipal law enforcement officers
in situations that require special tac
tics and equipment. Speck said those
might include the "high-risk appre
hension of wanted felons and fugi
tives, hostage situations, surveil
lance, civil disturbances and drug
operations."
The sheriff has funded member
ships at the Oak Island Fitness Cen
ter to provide the team with addi
tional physical conditioning. Mem
bers have undergone rigorous train
ing it firearms use, building searches
Six Certified As
Literacy Tutors
The Brunswick County Literacy
Council certified six new literacy tu
tors at a workshop held March 18
19 at Soldier Bay Baptist Church in
Ash.
They are Patricia Brown, Kevin
Brown and Wayne Long, all of Ash;
Roselyn Sullivan of Supply; Os
borne FitzGeraid of Grissettown;
and Peggie York of Shallotte.
The tutors are now certified in the
phonics-based Laubach method of
teaching reading and will be able to
tutor adults and teenagers who wish
to improve their literacy skills.
IN SOUTHPORT
BRING HOME
THEMEACON
On Sale At
E-Z WAY GROCERY
FOOD LION
GENERAL STORE
NEW YORK DELI
POST OFFICE
REVCO
WILSON S SUPERMARKET
Coastal Wheeled
and tD&dew
(bitufueA, fwuutwte,
civtfiuiq, knich-finacfi>.
We h(wc Muncthina
fei wen/one!
?<rce?lait piice.a.
S:3C am.-4 pjn. ? Alon.-Sat.
Jiwtf. 179 <? 3{it*e(l St.
Seaside
579-7311 at 579-2353
and room clearing. Speck also plans
to arrange special liRT training with
experts in hostage negotiations and
other police tactics.
'I"he ERT unit has already proven
its effectiveness in touchy law en
forcement operations
One night in late February, a
Shallotte Point man kidnapped his
21-month-old daughter from his es
tranged wife and refused to come
out of the woods near her home.
While liRT hostage negotiator Lt.
David Crocker tried to talk the man
into surrendering, other team mem
bers made their way through the
trees and stationed themselves with
in striking distance of the pair.
"We were in position and waiting
for a signal to jump him. But we
wanted to make sure the little girl
didn't get hurt." Speck said after the
man filially dgictu to giVC Up.
Less than a month later, the ERT
team had to fire tear gas into a
Iceland mobile home where a man
armed with a shotgun was holding
his wife and daughter hostage. Team
members stormed into the trailer and
forced their way into a closet where
the man was holding the child No
one was injured in the incident.
"I'm very proud of these guys,"
Sheriff Davis said last week.
"They've done a lot of this on their
own time. They have put in count
less hours. I didn't realize how ad
vanced they were until those two
hostage situations. They did a won
derful job."
o 3, tA.
CP&
o iLntiLimiL & ??/tOO
STAFF PHOTO BY ERIC CARISON
SHERIFF JOHN DAVIS (left) accepts u gift of $6,000 from the Carolina Power ami Light Co. from
Phil Leslie, security manager at the Brunswick Nuclear I'lant last week to help train and equip the
sheriff's department Emergency Response Team. The newly formed unit will he called upon to aid in
hostage negotiations, fugitive apprehensions, drug searches and security problems at the nuclear plant.
We Are The #1 Buick Dealer
For Customer Service in the Southeast Region
In Whiteville, NC
the prices are lower!
LOWER
*95 Dodgc^-^
n
Motortrend Cor Of The Year!
IN YOUR TOWN $233 SZ.
At Rick Kclxv?.-cls'ONLY<g/96^ iZi
94 Chrysler
IN YOUR TOWN $30^000*^
At Kick ? ?lwar?:lsQNLV$26,995g<
IN VOUR TOWN $15,995 ?
At Rick Edwards' SAVE $300 Rj(
94 Chevy
IN YOUR TOWN $1Q,5Q0?Z%
At Kick Edwards'QNIiy55>.999Ki<'
94 Pontiac
IN YOUR TOWN
$500.
At Rick Edwards' $300 Pi
B?icJc LE SABRE
IN YOUR TOWN $19.995 'W*
At Rick Edwards ONLY $18,999 q|
'86 GIVIC
S-15
S3 295
'90 Pontiac
Grand Prix
4 door $ 7895
f91 Chevy
Blazer 4x4
MUS I DRIVE!
*92 Nissan
Stanza
$9700
*90 V.W.
Convertible
$9700
*90 Pontiac
Grand A.M
$^99 5
*89 Pontiac
l^ire bird
$5995
T93 CIVIC
Sonoma S - 15
$8995
f91 Ceo
IVIetro Convert.
$5995
*88 Chrysler
New Yorker
$5995
'93 Chevrolet
S-IO 4x4
$'13,700
*90 Chevrolet
454 SS
COI XKCTORS ITEM!
'91 Ceo
IVIetro Convert.
Jfi 1 33?<?3 |>cr mo.
$5995 |>rlcct$495 cusli or irado,
55(H) to I'laniHHi 42 n?o,7,75 A.I'.K.
'90 Pontiac
Grand /XIV1
$1 77.2(1 ??..r iihi.
$6995 soiling |>rtcHN$495 cnsli or trade,
6500 (?? Iniuncv 42 mo,7.75 A.P.K.
'89 Pontiac
Firehircl
1 C> 1. ,#? I IKT llio.
$5995 svIiIiik prlce,$4V5 cath or trade,
5SOO I o Hnaiicc 4<> iih?,9.75 A.l'.K.
'90 Pontiac
O rand Prix. 4 ciooi
$ X93.75 por ino.
$7KV5 hoIMhk |>rici,,$495 cttsli or trnde,
74(M) l<? niiuucv 4-1 ino,7.75 A.P.k.
kAll priccH plus tux. tag He. title. Willi approved crcdit. NliON: Whiteville: SI2.369 selling price. 20% down, cush or trade. S9895.20 to finance. 60 payments of $196.00 at 9.5% A.P.R."V^>ur
Town**: SI2.369 helling price. 20% down, casli or trade, S9895.20 to finance. 60 payments of $233.00 at 9.591 A.P.R. Payment* include credit, lifts, accident, and liealilt insurance, and
? extended warranty.
?Chevrol6t*ijieo>Ponuac"UuicK?t;nrys?er?rByii
Mon-Fri 8am-6pm 642-3153 HWY130 E.
Sat 9 am-1 pin - ^ across from Lowe's
SPECIAk?nZ\*N,?ENTS X -o(yt/-2o(/-KiCA Whiteville, NC