Morrisville and Praston Prograss, Thursday, March 27,1997 > 3
Bruce versus Devastation
Morrisville’s police chief finds himself on the ropes, for fun
By Mary Bath Phillips
Monisville Police Chief Bruce
Newnam was attacked March 15 by
a man who calls himself "Devasta
tion" and almost strangled with a
chain.
The act was witnessed by about
100 shouting people, including
Newnam’s wife, daughter and
mother, and two Monisville police
officers.
It was Five-Star Wrestling at the
Bethesda Community Center, and
Newnam was eventually declared
the winner of his match.
He has been involved in profes
sional wrestling off and on since
the late ’70s, when Don Kanottle, a
fellow police officer in the town of
Elon College, helped train him to
be part of the Central Carolina
Wresding Alliance.
"I wanted to supplement my in
come. A police officer in those
days did not make a lot of money,
and at the time I had two sm^l
children," Newnam recalletl recent
ly as he reflected on his early wres
tling days.
He grew to love the sport, which
requires more grandstanding than
physical prowess. But besides put
ting on a show, he also uses some
"real" wrestling moves he learned
on the wrestling team at Bartletl-
Yancey High School.
"It’s just a hobby," he said.
"Everybody has hobbies. I don’t
look at chasing a golf ball as very
productive."
At first the Elon College Police
Department required him to wear a
mask to conceal his identity. But
later, he was able to convince them,
"It’s a spCHt, like any other sport.
not an embarrassment to the
municipality."
Some Monisville officials have
taken a similar view of Newnam’s
"hobby." In 1994, when the town
had its first Day at the Park,
Newnam invited Jerry "Kahn the
Warlord" Kennett, mayor of Burai,
to have a professional wrestling
spectacle.
The event drew about 500 people,
but elected officials did not ask him
to set up a repeat performance.
"It was my intention to help the
Parks and Recreation Department,
to make the event mote successful,
and give it a larger turnout,"
Newnam said.
Today he only wrestles two or
three times a year. He has had
trouble with his knees in the past
few years, including several
surgeries. But he looks forward to
an event slated for June at Dorton
Arena titled "Wrestling Legends."
"It’s for people like me who were
in it previously but just do it now
occasionally because of age,"
Newnam explained. Wrestlers from
all over the country will be invited
to the event.
Newnam says you have to be in
good physical shape to be a profes
sional wrestler. "It’s very tiring,
very physical," he said.
Although there are professional
wrestling schools, Newnam picked
up whm he knows from Kanottle
and from "trial and error.”
Some of his favorite moves are
the leg take-down, where you put
your legs around the opponent’s
and pull the opponent to the
ground: the clothesline, where you
Continued from page 1
voted "nay" to tabling the motion.
"At least we had an option to do
something," he said. "Now the
situation is just as bad."
In other action at the board meet
ing, Ms. Broadwell reported that
officials of the Department of
Transportation had agreed to put in
a guard rail at the comer of Avia
tion Parkway and N.C. 54 at Billy
and Dot Harmess’ property line.
The Hartnesses have requested
the guard rail since the beginning
of the project realigning Aviation
Parkway. The town was prepared to
spend $3,703 to have the project
completed if 1X)T did not come
through with the funding.
Ms. Broadwell said she had as
surances over the telephone that
DOT would fund the project, but
there was nothing in writing.
David Allsbrook of DOT told her
the project would need extra
engineering work because of the
radius of the intersection, but that
he hoped the project would become
completed by the time the road is
opened.
The motion passed by the board
included a fail-back proposal that if
the state did not come through, the
town would go ahead and fund it
Moore also asked Hodgkins to
update the board at every meeting
of the progress of the project at
DOT.
The board also awarded a con
tract for painting and stucco repair
at the town hall to Bridgets Paint
ing Co. for $6,837.
The board also agreed to sponsor
a town clean-up day during "The
Great Trash Bash” April 12 through
April 25. Commissioner Phyllis
Newnam made the motion to hold
the event on Ajail 19 at 9 a.m. and
to invite members of the Chamber
of Commerce and citizens of the
town to come and help out
Barbee and Sauls balked at the
idea, and Barbee suggested inviting
inmates to come do the woik.
"My little service station pays
$5,000 a year in taxes, and the state
can’t figure a way to pick up the
trash," Sauls said.
Finally, after Ms. Newnam called
them lazy, they voted yes and said
they woidd come help.
arneel Wood
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push the opponent against the ropes
and then catch him with your arm
across his neck as he bounces back.
The suplex requires pulling the op
ponent over your head, and drop
ping him down on his back. Then
there are the ever-popular body
slams.
"You have to have experience to
do this," Newnam added. "They
would not let a lay person come
into the ring. You can get hurt. I’ve
seen people get maimed and put an
end to their careers. The adrenalin
gets to flowing, and mistakes can
be made."
Another misconception is that the
match is always rehearsed.
"You just use your expertise, put
it in place. Everything is supposed
to work out, but it doesn’t always
woik out...
"There’s risks in anything.
There’s just as much risk in wres
tling as in any other sport," he said.
Newnam ^s not accepted any
money for his wrestling since bec
oming police chief. He just does it
for enjoyment
"I like it when you come out, and
you’ve got all those kids around
you, looking at you,” he said.
Each matches pits a "good guy"
against a "bad guy." Of course,
Newnam takes the good guy role.
On March 15, he was dressed in his
smokey bear hat and accompanied
by his daughter, Leslie, 17, who
was dressed in a police uniform.
As he paraded in to the match, he
handed out candy to the group of
youngsters in the audience.
"It’s doing something to make
people happy, something a lot of
other people don’t have the ability
to do. While I sdU have the ability,
why not still do it?" he said.
"Devastation," who had black cir
cles under his eyes, was walked to
the ring with a chain around his
neck. During the match, he jumped
out of the ring, grabbed the chain
and went for Newnam’s throat. It
took several minutes for two
referees to separate the wrestlers. It
FOR THE COUNT-Newnam’s opponent grips
him in a headlock during the actbn in a March
15 bout at Bethesda Community Center. But the
police chief wins when Devastation attempts to
choke him with a chain outside the ring.
can be argued that Newnam might
have lost the match if Devastation
had not been disqualified for that
rash act.
In his spare time, Newnam is also
a memb» of the Mayberry Fan
Club, and has fixed up an old Ford
Galaxy to be an exact replica of the
Mayberry Police Car on the Andy
Griffith show. He has driven the
car in parades, especially in Mt.
Airy, the town where the series was
filmed.
Newnam came to the Morrisville
Police Department in 1984 as the
town’s only police officer, and also
served as part-time water meter
reader, grass cutter and sewer plant
operator. (The town had four em
ployees at the lime).
He was promoted to chief about
11 years ago, and brought the de
partment from a one-man operation
to a department of 21 employees.
The budget in 1984-85 was
$22,000 for the whole department.
This year, it is $597,594.
"This town has been good to me
and my family," Newnam said. His
wife, Phyllis, who is one of his big
gest fans, is a MorrisvUle town
ccHnmissioner.
THE GOOD GUY WITH GOODIES-Bruce Newnam hands out
candy to children in the audience prior to the match.
Financing posed for sewer hookups
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Before coming to Morrisville, he
worked five years for the Gibson-
ville Police Department and five
years for the Elon College Police
Department.
Before that he served in the U.S.
Marine Corps Military Police at
Parris Island and Camp Lejeune.
He was bom and raised on a tobac
co farm in Caswell County, and
might go back to his bomeplace
there when he retires.
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