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Volume 87 25<'"Per Copy Warrenton. County Of Warren, North Carolina Wednesday, February 1. 1984 Numbers
For Warren County, Crime Pays
By KAY HORNER
Staff Writer
Crime doesn't pay, but those who commit
crimes often do in the form of general court of
justice fees. The term may sound ominous, but it
translates into dollars and cents for Warren
County.
The fees include court costs, fines and for
feitures, and for the fiscal year ending last June,
they brought a total of $86,839 into Warren Coun
ty's coffers, according to Richard E. Hunter,
county clerk of court.
State statute mandates how the fees are
distributed.
A portion is designated- as a facility fee for
housing and furnishing the clerk of court's office.
Another portion is allocated for the county jail,
and still another for the county or municipality
whose law enforcement officer was involved in
the case.
Fines and forfeitures also go to the county, but
are earmarked for the public school system.
During fiscal 1982-83, the county received
$16,903 in facility fees and the schools received
$55,027 in fines and forfeitures.
A total of $1,341 was allocated to the Warren
County jail, and $13,116 went to the Sheriff's
Department for officers involved in court cases.
Municipalities received $452 for the participa
tion of their officers in court cases.
According to Hunter, another $68,583 in fees
went to the N. C. Administrative Office of the
Courts in Raleigh.
Hunter said collection of court fees sometimes
requires two or three trips back to court, and that
mitigating circumstances can lead the judge to
rule that payment can be made in installments.
But the county's overall collection rate, Hunter
said, is probably 90 percent or better.
"Of course, there are always a few who just
skip town," he commented. "They're the ones
you see in the court record under failure to
comply.'"
No Leads
Found In
Shooting
Norlina police have no
leads in the Sunday
shooting of a Warrenton
man at the intersection
of Division Street and
Warren Plains Road.
Norlina Police Chief
Romie Williams said
Jimmy Hargrove, 35,
had polled his car to the
side of the road at the in
tersection about 2:45 a.
m. and was making
repairs when he was
shot from a passing
vehicle.
Hargrove, a resident
of Franklin Street in
Warrenton, told police
that his car had over
heated and he had stop
(Continued on page 6)
Two Charged
With Thefts
Two Warren County
youths were arrested
Monday morning and
charged with breaking,
entering and larceny in
connection with the theft
on Thursday of two tires
from Tar Heel Tire Ser
vice on Macon Street in
Warrenton.
According to Warren
ton Police Chief Freddie
Robinson, Robert Lee
Pitchford, Jr., 16, of Rt.
3, and Scott Anthony
Tharrington, 19, of
Madison Street were
arrested on State Road
1001 at a friend's home.
Pitchford was also
charged with forgery
and uttering, and ut
tering a check with a
forged endorsement.
Tharrington was also
charged with aiding and
abetting in forgery and
uttering, and aiding and
abetting in uttering a
check with a forged en
dorsement.
Both youths are being
held in Warren County
jail on a $2,000 bond
pending a preliminary
hearing.
Chief Robinson also
reported that 12 letter
boxes at the Warrenton
Post Office were broken
into sometime Friday
night. According to a
report by Officer James
A. McGowan, who in
vestigated the break
ins, the door providing
access to the letter
boxes was opened and
only the boxes them
selves were broken into.
Chief Robinson said
no suspects have been
arrested, but that the
investigation is continu
ing.
Leigh Traylor of Norlina, chairman of the Board of Directors of Peoples
Rank, uses a small sledgehammer to rip through a fabricated vault door at the
entrance to the Gardner Building on South Main Street in Warrenton on Friday
as a branch of Peoples Bank was formally opened. Dubbed a bank break-in, the
ceremony attracted a number of visitors from Norlina and Warrenton. Peoples
Bank officials, civic officials and guests attended the ceremony and open
house. Various officials took part in the good natured effort to smash their way
into the branch office, where refreshments were served throughout Friday
morning. (Staff Photo)
Warren ASCS, SCS Offices
Have Found New Location
The Warren County
Agricultural Stabiliza
tion and Conservation
Service (ASCS) and Soil
Conservation Service
(SCS) will soon be
moving to new quarters.
Thomas E. Watson,
ASCS executive direc
tor, said Tuesday that
arrangements have
been made to lease the
building on Main Street
in Warrenton that until
recently was occupied
by The Carriage House
restaurant.
The move will be
made as soon as the
building, owned by
Warrenton businessman
Monroe Gardner, is
renovated for office use.
ASCS and SCS are
currently located in the
Agricultural Building
adjacent to the Warren
County courthouse.
Although ASCS and
SCS are federal agen
cies, the county has fur
nished the local staff
Murder Case Scheduled
Among the cases on the docket when Warren
County Superior Court convenes next Monday is the
murder trial of Hattie Mae Kersey of Ridgeway,
charged with the shooting death of her husband last
October,
Also on the docket are 19 charges of breaking and
entering, larceny and possession against Richard
Douglas Griffin of Middlesex in connection with
property stolen during a rash of break-ins at Lake
Gaston summer homes last April.
Judge Giles R. Clark of Eliiabethtown will
preside over the* session.
I
with office space free of
charge for about 25
years. Watson said this
had been done in several
counties becausc of the
service the agencies
render the local farmer
which in turn generates
money for the county.
The search for new
quarters was
necessitated by the
general deterioration of
the building.
It is up to the Warren
County Board of Com
missioners to determine
how the vacated space
will be used.
Russell King, chair
man of the Warren
County Agricultural Ex
tension Service, ap
peared before the com
missioners recently to
request that his agency
be given consideration
in the commissioners'
deliberations on the
matter.
Warren Leaf Farmers
Expect Small Decline
Despite Cut
For Season
Warren County tobac
co growers have an ef
fective 100 percent
quota of 6,166,518 pounds
for 1984, according to
Warren County ASCS
executive director
Thomas E. Watson.
Although the figure
represents a cut of 11.6
percent from 1983, un
dermarketings of
425,495 pounds will
make the effective
quota almost the same
as that of last year,
Watson said.
In 1983, 562 farms in
Warren County market
ed 5,355,202 pounds. This
figure is-25 percent less
than marketed for 1982.
Based on an average
price of $165.48 paid per
hundred pounds for
tobacco sold on the War
renton market this past
year, sales totaled
$8,561,784. This is
$3,658,533 less than the
crop brought in 1982
when the county's
producers sold 7,109,777
pounds at an average of
$176.10 per pound for
$12,520,317.
Farmers are allowed
each year to market up
to 110 percent of their ef
fective quota without
penalty. When farmers
sell over 100 percent of
(Continued on page 6)
Unemployment
Rate Lower
Warren County's
unemployment rate fell
a fraction of a percent
between November and
December of last year,
from 10.8 percent to 10.4
percent, according to
figures recently
released from the Em
ployment Security
Commission of North
Carolina.
Warren was one of 35
counties experiencing
double-digit unemploy
ment rates, with the
highest rate posted in
Tyrell County, which
had 24.1 percent unem
(Continued on page 6)
Warren County's 1983
Tobacco Sales Report
Pounds Pounds
Effective Pounds Under Over
Community Quota Sold Marketed Marketed
Fishing Creek 373,663 284,848 30,861 6,234
Fork 103,176 82,268 3,676 2,071
Hawtree 863,852 838,977 60,625 46,248
Judkins 488,635 393,689 58,398 6,191
Nutbush.. 785,186 701,513 91,038 15,735
River 119,986 69,983 11,072 585
Sandy Creek 1,284,438 1,109,813 124,666 33,779
Sixpound 539,898 437,819 41,339 11,570
Smith Creek 778,834 684,384 83,612 20,014
Warrenton 728,041 551,007 66,820 16,166
Shocco 220,968 200,901 16,691 4,710
Total....: 6,286,677 5,355,202 588,798 163,303
Harris Ruling Out Race
For Board; Skinner Files
Only one of the two in
cumbents on the Warren
County Board of Com
missioners whose terms
expire this year will be
seeking re-election.
Warren County Com
missioner William T.
Skinner of Littleton filed
for re-election to the
District 5 seat on the
board Monday morning,
but W. J. (Jack) Harris
told The Warren Record
Monday afternoon that
he would not seek re
election to the District 1
seat.
Harris, a Warrenton
businessman who has
represented voters in
Warrenton and the
Check Theft Results
In Arrest Of Youth
A Littleton man was
released on his own
recognizance Monday
after his arrest in con
nection with the theft of
checks from the office of
Lindsay Harris Chip
Company, Inc. of Little
ton.
Bruce D. Thomas, 18,
of Littleton was arrested
by Warren County
Sheriff Theo Williams
Monday and charged
with breaking and enter
ing and larceny.
According to police
reports, a check for
$929.82 made out to Ber
nard Harris was stolen
from the company office
sometime between last
Wednesday night and
Thursday morning.
Reports indicate that
a wooden two-by-four
was used to knock out a
window at the office.
Damage was
estimated at $100 to the
window.
Deputy Harold Sea
man assisted Sheriff
Williams with the inves
tigation.
Thomas is scheduled
to appear in Warren
District Court on
February 15 for a
preliminary hearing.
eastern portion of
Norlina for nine years,
said he had "been en
couraged to look at
something else." He
declined to comment
further, except to say it
involved an elected of
fice.
J. T. Fleming, also a
Warrenton business
man, filed early last
month for the District S
seat.
Skinner, a farmer, has
represented his district,
composed of Fishing
Creek and Judkins
townships, for 12 years.
The deadline for filing
for the May 8 primary is
Monday, Feb. 6 at noon.
Henderson Ends
Officer Course
Second Lt. Kelvin L.
Henderson, son of Jessie
and Martha Hargrove of
Rt. 1, Manson, has com
pleted an infantry of
ficer basic course at the
U. S. Army Infantry
School, Fort Benning,
Ga.
He is a 1983 graduate
of St. Augustint 's
College, Raleigh.
Construction continued this week on a new 3,000
square-foot maintenance and office facility for the
N. C. Department of Transportation. The building.
located m Stale Read MM oa the western eatokftrts
•f Warren ton, Is aa rrpa—tna to the department'*
present maintenance yard. (Staff Pfcate)
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