Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Sept. 14, 1989, edition 1 / Page 13
Part of The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
I 1 | ( 1 f ^ Y" c ^" 1 1 THE BRUNSWICKftMACON U1 IvJtyl 11 1C oUI 1 ?UWM"'"" D ? ? > Professional Crime 'Hunter' Is Sandy Creek Law Officer BY RAHN ADAMS An appropriate business card for the Town of Sandy Creek's new law enforcement officer might read, "Have patrol car. Will travel." Hired in August as the one-year-old town's first and only lawman, Shallotte area resident Tom Hunter's al ways on patroi wncncver he is on duty at Sandy Creek, because the small northwestern Brunswick County community doesn't have a police station yet ? -just a donated squad car that got the new police deparuncnt off and "rolling" last month. "I haven't written anyone up yet," Hunter said in a recent interview. "I figure they need to know I'm there before 1 start giving them tickcts." For the past several weeks, the police chief has been busy setting up the department, which Sandy Creek Town Council formed mainly to enforce some new lo cal ordinances. The town instituted a 20-mph speed limit on its unpaved streets and erected stop signs at intersections. Also, parking isn't allowed along streets. Until its incorporation last September, the commu nity ? which is located along U.S. 74-76 near Maco ? was a private development formed in 1981 as Sandy Creek Acres. The town has approximately 230 residents. Establishing the police department has been a defi nite challenge, said Hunter, even with considerable sup port from other local law enforcement agencies that have donated expertise and equipment. "Actually, I took this for the administrative experience," he said, "and I'm getting more than I bargained for." Being a one-man police force. Hunter hasn't started working a regular shift yet. "For right now, they're liable to see me any time," he said. "I will be there when they least expect me to be there." The "they" he was referring to, of course, arc indi viduals who might try to break Sartdy Creek's town ordinances. Hunter indicated that a particular problem has been that some motorists have gotten used to ignor ing stop signs since no one was there to enforce traffic laws until last month. Hunting down law-breakers is nothing new to the 47 -year-old Maine native, who for the past 3 1/2 years has worked in Brunswick County as a representative for a Pennsylvania detective agency. Hunter said work as a private investigator wasn't glamorous, as portrayed on television. His duties most ly included doing "legwork" for local attorneys ? assist ing them in criminal eases by doing research and inter viewing inmates at correctional institutions across the state. He currently is closing out his private caseload. A dangerous facet of his former job, though, was tracking down criminals as a "bounty hunter." Or. his last assignment of that type, he and his 24-year-old son, Danny Hunter of Charlotte, located an accused drug dealer from Pennsylvania in Detroit, Mich. The Hunters were hired by a Pennsylvania bail bondsman to make sure the suspect showed up in court. "Bounty hunting used to be a good job," Hunter said, explaining that the individuals he hunted in earlier years ordinarily gave themselves up without a fight. "When I found them, they'd play fair and usually just say, 'How'd you find me?' Now when you find them, everybody goes for a gun." Although no one ever actually used their gun on him during a bounty-hunting assignment, he knows how it feels to be shot at In the mid 1960s, Hunter ser ved as a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot in Vietnam and was shot down twice. His background in law enforcement began in 1966 when he left military service and went to work for his hometown police department in Lisbon Falls, Maine. He lived there with his now ex-wife and three children. After two years on the police force, he opted for a high er paying job as a truck driver. Hunter moved to the Myrtle Beach, S.C., area in 1977 and to Brunswick County four years later. In this area, he worked as a construction superintendent for nine years until 1986 when he became a private investi gator. Over the past few years, he has taken several law enforcement training courses, having studied criminal justice at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington and at Brunswick Community College in Supply. In March, he completed the N.C. Department of Justice Education and Training Standards Commission basic law enforcement training program. "Law enforcement has come a long way," Hunter said, in reference to the changes he has noticed from when he was a policeman 20 years ago in Maine. "They've weeded out a lot of the people who were in law enforcement for the authority of it There is a high er degree of professionalism now." Seasonal Visitors & New Patients Welcome! Michael W. Wilkerson, MD BOARD CERTIFIED INTERNAL MEDICINE DIAGNOSTIC UPPER ENDOSCOPY Marcus Rey Williams. MD BOARD CERTIFIED INTERNAL MEDICINE CARDIAC & VASCULAR ULTRASONOGRAPHY M T-W F9-5 THURS. 9-7 SAT. 9-12 MwMcfo* Auoastas BC/BS COSTWISE Village Pines Office Park ? MEDICARE ASSIGNMENT ACCEPTED Suite 5. Shallotte * 754-5880 ? COMPLETE ADULT MEDICAL CARE BY BOARD CERTIFIED INTERNISTS F & R DEVELOPMENT* INC. Ricky Parker - Owner 842-4003 Mon.-Sat. 9-5 ? 754-4502 Nights & Weekends Hwy. 130, Holden Beach Rd.,^7j miles from^haljottej YOUR PROFESSIONAL FULL SERVICE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY CI 989 THE BRUNSWICK BEACON I rm SANDY CREEK POLICE CHIEF Tom Ifuriler sits behind the wheel of the town's "new" patrol car six-year-old surplus vehicle that Brunswick County recently donated to the fledgling police department. WeMake Loans For Thrills. Borrowing money is often an emotional investment as well as a financial one. So when we loan you money for a boat, we see it as putting some wind in your sails. At NCNB, we really make an extra effort to see things your way. Like giving you a payment schedule that suits your terms, not ours. So, stop by NCNB and talk with a loan officer. We'd like to loan you money for things you can't put a price on. A Big Batik Dedicated To Something Even Bigger: The Individual? NCNB NationatBank of North Carolina fujtial Housing!. aider. Member FPIC. 0 1989 NCNB Corporation
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 14, 1989, edition 1
13
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75