Two men were arrested Wednesday for carrying a concealed weapon.
Lieutenant Chuck of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office said the narcotics unit was patrolling the Wallace Fork Road area when he stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation. During the search a gun was found and Bryant Antonio Harrison, 22, of Roanoke Rapids, and Larry Nathaniel Jenkins Jr., 22, of Weldon were charged for carrying a concealed gun. Jenkins was also cited for not wearing his seat belt.
Harrison’s bond was $500 and Jenkins’ bond was $1,500. Their court date is May 5.
Roanoke Rapids police are booking several people following a drug bust this morning in the 100 block of Hamilton Street.
“Word’s y’all slingin’ dope like crazy,” one man taken into custody on an unrelated warrant said to a group of people handcuffed on the porch of 135 Hamilton Street.
Chief Jeff Hinton, carrying a G-man like Tommy gun, said the arrests resulted from a lengthy investigation including officer observations and citizen complaints. “It’s been a lot of activity around both these houses.”
One man arrested told officers he was trying to sleep before the 10 a.m. bust. “Y’all weren’t yesterday,” the officer replied.
Several of those handcuffed were eventually let go although it wasn’t immediately clear why.
Officers searched both houses and then carried several men off for booking. Their names or charges were not immediately available.
One thing council will immediately begin to look at is exploring new health insurance for its employees.
The city’s premium for the past fiscal year with Blue Cross and Blue Shield was more than $1 million, Human Resources Manager Kathy Kearney told council during its retreat today.
Finance Director MeLinda Hite said that figure is expected to be same at the end of this fiscal year.
Its premium in 2006 with a different provider was $440,000 with a 80-20 split. The current plan is a 70-30 split.
“We need to take a look at that,” Council member Greg Lawson said. “There has to be a competitive process.”
Said Kearney: “We need to look at it for our employees and taxpayers.”
City Manager Paul Sabiston said the city could see savings of a couple $100,000 a year by going elsewhere.
• Laws and courtrooms continually change. “It’s very important for officers and liability to be kept up to date, to solve crimes that come up.”
• Officers encouraged to get out of patrol cars and interact with community.
• “I can’t say everything is rosy. We have issues on pay and working conditions. Overall morale is positive. We want to be part of the solution, not the problem.”
Councilman Ed Liverman to Hinton: “In our district we have a lot of businesses. It seems to be the consensus that business owners don’t know the officers.”
Hinton: “We’re striving to change that. Our officers are aware people in town are subject to sit on a jury.”
Fire Chief Gary Corbet
• Planning a fire Explorer post.
• More activity during Fire Prevention Month. “We plan to expand involvement in the community for installation of home smoke detectors.”
• Need to think seriously about replacing ladder truck. “Our ladder truck is 12 years old. It’s starting to show wear and tear. It costs $8,000 to $10,000 a year to maintain.”
Public Works Director Richard Parnell
• “We get it done. We refer to ourselves as custodians of city. We clean up, repair, we’re in the background of everything that’s done.”
• Lost nine employees in 2008-2009 and 13 part-time employees. “That was 25 percent of our workforce. We didn’t drop 25 percent of our services.”
• Explore possibilities of contracting street maintenance. “We’ve not resurfaced a street in Roanoke Rapids since 1999. In 1999 the cost per mile was $4,027. In 2009 it was $16,496 for materials.”
Parks and Recreation Director John Simeon
• The inmate program moved the department from being reactive to proactive.
• Improve conditions of athletic fields. “We probably haven’t replaced soccer goals in eight to 10 years. I’m not sure we could do a soccer tournament if we wanted to.”
• Complete plans for a fitness center at T.J. Davis.
Planning and Development Director Amanda Jarratt
• Capitalize on momentum from Opportunity Clean Sweep.
• “Now is the time to take a good, hard look at where we want Roanoke Rapids to be in 20 years.”
• Need to update land use ordinance, storm water management ordinance, water quality plans, sign ordinance and lanscape ordinance.
• Training for board of adjustments and planning board.
• Need for administrative help.
Finance Director MeLinda Hite
• Establish fund balance policy.
• Restore bond rating.
• Continue to build a reserve fund.
• Aggressively collect all delinquent taxes and receivables.
• Redesign city’s website.
Human Resources Manager Kathy Kearney
• Employee wellness.
• Lunch and learn sessions.
• Redesign HR section of website.
• Revise employee benefits book.
• Redesign Channel 15.
City Clerk Lisa Vincent
• Post minutes to website.
• More attractive and user friendly website.
• Review codes.
• Work to have codes on website.
City Manager Paul Sabiston
• Reestablish basic city service and performance minimums.
Two men were arrested Wednesday for carrying a concealed weapon.
