911 calls (Continued from pane lA) assistance in 2002 is high because, in his opinion, llie overall crime rale “has increased." However, calls to report se.xual offenses such as rape appear to have signifieanlly dropped by approximately 15 percent; child abuse calls have slightly declined, and reportsof domestic disturbances are decreasing in 2002, according to records. Already, he says. 911 has reeei veil 25.65.3 requests through September 23 tor assistance from the Sheriff's Office, he said. That compares to 27,244 in all of last year. “That figure for last veardoes not even include the volume of calls tor medical or fire emergencies." Fairbanks said. Calls answered in 2001 amounted to S36.91(). includ ing 91 1, administrative and criminal information data, he said, with an average of 1,6 new transactions per minute. 911 employs two full lime telecommunieators on shift at all times. Plus, a few part-limeis fill in for them in case of absence, he said. A1 Sehwarcbher serves in a dual role as the department head of 911 and Hoke fire marshal. Fairbanks super vises the teleeommunicatois and is available as a back-up telecommunicator. Response "The call volume has increased for the Sheriff's Office and that defi nitely puts a higher demand upon the telecommunieators, " Fairbanks said. “Sheriff Jim Davis' staff is fairly new. He is practically ehangingsiaff all the time. We have to assist them frequently with finding the loctition , of where emergency calls originated. “The deputies are not real famil iar with the county." Fairbanks stiid his department is meeting the demand for service. However, he admitted at rare limes the 911 lines have been “jammed up." Crime complaints up Based on 911 statistics available from 2001 through September 23 2002, requests to assist with prop erty crimes have alretidy risen. With three months remaining this yetir, 2002 statistics of 1,302 requests re flect 50 more calls ha\ e .already been received, exceeding last year's total of l,252calls.911 is averaging 144.4 calls per month in 2002 inconirast to 104.3 calls per month in 2001 for reported or suspicion of property crimes. These emergency request aver- Editorial Deadlines Friday 12 Noon Calendar Items Social Items News Items Monday 12 Noon Letters to the Editor Seplemtrer 25, 2002 THE NEWS-JOURNAL Raeford, N.C. Bond claim ages are based upon combined statis tics of breaking and entering, at tempted BiVF', B&f' larceny, B&liof aulomobi les, larceny, automobile theft ;ind larceny of gas incidents. General larceny crime calls, alone, have esca lated from 255 last year to 501 in the first nine months of this year. According to Major Thomas Carlton of the Sheriff's Office, only one homicide has been reported this year, comparing to three murders in 2001. However, the number of vio lent crime calls for incidents such as shootings, stabbings and assaults ap peals to alreaily be higher in 2002, according to Fairbanks, I'here were 198 assaults called in to 911 telecommunications during 2001. comparing to 176 calls already recorded in 2002. I'hal averages to 19.5 assaults per month this yearcom- paied to 16.5 last year. In 2001, 10 reports of stabbings were called in to 911 .The 2002 record has alieady exceeded last year, total ing 11 eases. This averages to a ratio of 1.2 incidents per month so fat in 2002, eompai ing to the lower r;ite of .8 per nronlh last vear. Shoot i ngs or shots fi red i nto dwel I- ings and vehicles is rqr to 29 calls this vear. comparing to 28 calls for all of 2001. Averaging 3.2 calls per month in 2002. last year's lecord was lower at onlv 2.3 calls per month. In 2001. there were 31 complaint calls received for armed robbery, strong-tirmed and other robberies, ■fhosestatistieshavealready increased this vear with a total of 30 calls re- poiteil. Averagitig a higher rate of 4 robberv calls per month this year, only 3.2 per month were called in during 2001. If the trend iti domestic assault calls continues, an increase close to 30 percent is anticipated this year, hr 2001. records reflected 188 domestic assault calls for a.ssistattee. compar ing to 188 already received in 2002. Downward trend Calls for assistance with domestic disturbances ;qipear to be showing a decreaseittfrei|uency for911. In2001, there were 500 domesticemergencies requiritigtissistance from the Sheriff's Office. Iti 2002, 357 domestic inci dents hav’e'been reporte\l. This Sho\vs a slight decrease from 41.6 per month in 2001 to 39.6 so far in 2002. Reports of eh i Id tibuse appear to be slightlydeelitringin9l I calls. Records reneeted 24 reported iticidentsofehild abuse hist vear, tiveraging two eases per month. It contrtisted to 14 cases received this year, tiveraging 1.5 per month. Reports of missing persons con tinues to be significantly high, but is slightly declining so far this year. In 2001.205 people w ere reported miss- iitg, requiring deputies to be dis patched. I his compared to 139 people reported lost in 2002. There were five setirches conducted by deputies last year for missing people and two launched this year. "The first ctills that are transmitted to 9II from eiti/ens may be called in as one type of complaint, but could be chtinged into atiother category upon the deputies'arrivals," Fairbanks said. "For example, an assault might be upgraded to a murder, or a breaking atid enteritig might turti out to be a false report. !Ba(jij 1 axs iliEciaf announce \^our darlings arrival with an ad in The News-Journal call 875-2121 PEST-A-RESTCO. EXTERMINATING OF ALL PESTS since 1979 N.C. PEST CONTROL LIC. 807-PW FREE ESTIMATES Hwldsntlal • Commercial • Institutional Owned & Operated By JIMMIE CONOLY & JAMES STRICKLAND 122 W. Edinborough Rawford, NC Moma 675-8268 (Continued from page I A) of embezzlement and 64 counts of forgery, concerning 76 checks alleg edly written to herself drawn from county funds. The highest check timount allegedly written by her to taled $25,000. At the time the alleged criminal misconduct occurred, MePhatter was distinguished as the only black, fe male county manager in the state, according to a county official. MePhatter was earning more than $80,000 per year in October 2001 when she resigned after being sus pected of embezzlement allegations. Rush was indicted on one felony count of "assessory after the fact.’" l-ven with the administrative ac tion taken to retrieve the bond re funds, Human Resources Director Jean Wade said it has yet to be deter mined ifall the losses will he covered. If necessary, the county may have to deal with litigation to state its posi tion. she added. "1 do feel like we will recoup most of our losses through our various in surance coverages," Wade said. "We still do not know if the bond covered losses per oecurrenee or if it was an annual per year amount that was cov ered, "Our County Attorney Neil Yarborough was very instrumental in compiling all the data that was neces sary for the bond company. The county commissioners requested him to put together the information." According to Wade, the bond firm has had "ample ’ time to respond to the county 's request. She will send a follow-up letter if she is requested to do so by the board or county manager, she said. Wade said other liability insur ance through the Risk Management Pools administered by the N.C. County Commissioners Association could cover "deficiencies" not paid by the bond firm. alleged thefts of money exceeded $136,000 during that one-and-a-half year span. After stepping down as finance- director in July 2000, MePhatter was only bonded for $20,0(K). However, the losses to Hoke from her alleged embezzlement was over $30,000 un til it apparently ended in November 20(K). Over the course of her tenure, MePhatter also allegedly spent more that $23,000 of county funds in unau thorized travel stipends, records showed. Rush, who was promoted from assistant finance director to finance director in July 2000, had a bond placed on her of $20,000. Rush alleg edly accepted a personal cheek from MePhatter and deposited it to cover a $5,000 check MePhatter had alleg edly already forged from county funds on November 7. 2000. "Assuming the county manager woidd have little contact with the county's money when Shirley Rush took over as finance director, Mrs. MePhatter’s coverage remained $20,000,” Wade said. “In August 31, 2001, we increa.sed the coverage for finance officer to $l(K),(M)0, but the (alleged) embezzlements of Mrs. MePhatter occurred before that time." In improving liability coverages, Wade said a $100,000 bond has been placed on assistant finance director Scott Fdwards since he is serving in the role, unofficially, as finance di rector. Other bond coverages on county employees include: $400,000 on Tax Collector Judy Pittman; $25,0(K) on County Manager Mike Wood; $25,000 on SheriffJim Davis; $25,0(X) on Coroner Frank Crumpler; and $25,000 on Register of Deeds Della Maynor-Bowen. Yarborough said the schedule of bonds for MePhatter and the schedule of tire county's losses that were appli cable have been processed. "I am not sure how much the reim bursement will be," Yarborough said. "I feel very confident that we will receive some reimbursement on the bond claim that was filed.” Spancx) building (Continued from page lA) Marine occupied the property for a period of time and left owing $22,500. Fields said Penn Yan, which moved to Virginia, has signed a promissory note with the city and will be paying their debt. Penn Yan’s plans sank when $1()(),0()() in critical funding from the state did not come through; that also resulted in a delay in the release of $55,000 in financial commitment ex pected from Hoke County. "Once the sale iscomplete, the city willelearapproximately$l 15,000 on the purchase taking into account the deal with Penn Yan," Fields said. At the time the city accepted the Spanco building, the city paid approximately $111,000 in back taxes to the county. "Paraclete is anxious to begin op erations immediately,” Fields said. The company’s owner, Tim D'Annunzio, is a resident of Raeford. Losses A pattern of embezzlement began, according to recent audit records, in July 1994 when MePhatter was assis tant finance director. However, sus picion of possible prolonged em- ^ - bezzlement was ilot uncovered until ate" county employee discovered a cheek in October 2001. The first alleged incident - check onJuly 19,1994-wasfor$1,950,but it was unknown what amount of bond would havecovered it. MePhatter was promoted to finance director in 1996. During 1996 and 1997 when her bond was $20,(M)0, the moneys allegedly embezzled totaled over $29,000. In 1997 and 1998, MePhatter still served as finance director, but was promoted in adual capacity as interim county manager. The bond amounts indicated she was covered “$20,0(K) plus $20,000” for the two positions. Wade said some question apparently remains if her status as “interim" was covered by the bond. Losses to the county exceeded $47,0(K) during that period, according to records. In December 1998, MePhatterwas promoted to county manager, but also still served as finance director until June 30,2000. Her bond amounts still totaled $20,000 plus $20,(K)0, but the TIRED OF BEING KICKED AROUND ^ BY NIGH INSURANCE RATES? ^ Amo • Home • llcullh • Life • Bonds L«t Us B« Your Dtfonst. ITf Mill work hard to foul the right cowrage for you artd your family. J.H. Austin Insurance Agency 114 W. Edinborough Ave. lotn AiiMin. \M 875-3667 Kini Sicpiwns. Ageni LIST YOUR BUSINESS IN THE SERVICE DIRECTORY ONLY $8 PER WEEK! 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