DURHAM — The heavy metal door slid shut, with an electric-motor hum and a clinking of gear chains, settling into place with a solid thump of finality.

“Not a pleasant sound,” said Matt Yarbrough.

Not at all pleasant, because the thumping door was to the inmates’ side of the Durham County Jail.

Yarbrough, a Durham businessman, was one of about 20 members of the Durham Crime Cabinet who got a tour inside the monolithic white tower on Mangum Street last week.

Past the magistrates’ office and into the area where those arrested are processed, through laundry and kitchen and medical clinic, past classrooms and library, finally to a two-level “pod” where cells surrounded a cavernous day room.

Down cinder-block hallways painted gray and white, over bare concrete floors, into elevators where video cameras read hand signals for what floor to stop on. Functional, utilitarian and, frankly, grim – but, to appearances, a clean, well-lighted, efficient place.

“I’m impressed with what I saw here,” said another tourgoer, Victoria Peterson. “It was an eye-opening from what I’d been hearing about the jail, which has not been very, very positive at all.”

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CHESTER The little boy stood 4 feet 8 inches tall, 95 pounds if you count the brand new heavy hunting camouflage clothes. Beside him stood a man 6 feet 4 inches tall, 275 pounds. The man wore a gun and carried another. The boy wore a smile wide as his face.

They stood in deep woods, about 20 miles south of Chester nowhere near anywhere Monday afternoon. The kid was 600 miles from home after his first-ever plane ride and standing with a guy who looks different and was a stranger until a few hours before.

“Big A,” said the kid named Alex Collins, pointing a finger at the big man. “I’m Little A. We’re going hunting.”

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LAURINBURG — In an emotional speech delivered to a packed courtroom on Monday, Ralph Kersey recalled his “humbling journey” to become Scotland County’s newest sheriff.

“My road has been long and winding,” he said after taking the oath of office over a Bible held by his wife Angie. “Over the last year it has included joy, fear, pain and many setbacks. But we have remained united, strong, faithful and steadfast.”

The swearing-in ceremony, held at 10 a.m. in a standing-room only courtroom, had been delayed by more than a month after Kersey’s election-day win by an election protest filed by incumbent Shep Jones, which alleged vote-buying by Kersey and his campaign workers. Monday’s ceremony was scheduled for after the 10-day period during which Jones’ could appeal the state board’s decision to dismiss his protest.

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The Wake County Well-Check Program is a program coordinated by Sheriff Donnie Harrison and the Wake County Sheriff’s Office in which participating seniors are automatically checked on by phone 365 days a year. If there is no answer, a second call is placed.  If the program participant cannot be reached, the Sheriff’s Office will call the emergency contact numbers on file. If the emergency contacts cannot be reached, the Sheriff’s Office will dispatch a deputy to the participant’s residence to determine if he or she is okay.

Each year at this time, the Sheriff’s Office coordinates the giving of holiday gifts by various organizations to participants in the Well-Check program.  This year, as in year’s past, the staff of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association donated suggested gifts for one of the program participants, a 95 year old Raleigh resident.  The Association staff has been doing so each year since 2007.  For additional information on the Wake County Well-Check Program contact, the program administrator, Deputy Laura Driver, at 919-856-6495.

ASHEBORO — You might be surprised by who’s driving by you in a yellow N.C. Department of Transportation pickup truck.

If you’re texting while driving, another vehicle may suddenly appear — an unmarked N.C. Highway Patrol car with flashing lights.

That’s because there was a trooper in plain clothes in the NCDOT truck and he observed you texting. He immediately contacted another trooper in a nearby unmarked vehicle who initiated the traffic stop to give a citation for texting while driving.

All North Carolina drivers are prohibited from texting while driving.

It’s been difficult for troopers to observe someone texting firsthand, but with the help of the extra eyes, they can.

“We’re thinking outside the box and stepping up our game on the highways,” said 1st Sgt. Brett Snotherly about the texting enforcement campaign which the Randolph County office of the N.C. Highway Patrol conducted during the past week.

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DOBSON — “It’s been a good week,” a tired Sheriff Graham Atkinson said Friday morning.

He should feel good, after an initiative he started raised nearly $70,000 in contributed money to make Christmas more enjoyable for more than 600 county children.

Wednesday morning, between 150 and 160 volunteers ranging from everyday citizens to school board chairmen, school superintendents and even county managers gathered at the Mount Airy Wal-Mart with one goal in mind: To provide clothing and toys to needy children in the county.

Typically each child receives about $100 worth of essential clothing and a couple of gifts based on a list provided by the child’s family. In addition, the sheriff said organizers are planning on providing about 225 food boxes which will be distributed in conjunction with the annual drive.

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STOKES COUNTY — The Stokes County Sheriff’s Office expands its ability to connect with the community in real time.

Sheriff Mike Marshall knows technology is at most people’s finger tips these days.
“Majority of the public have some type of smart phone,” he said.

Now he aims to connect the county and sheriff’s office with it through a smart phone application that launched a few weeks ago.

“If you see a crime taking place you can take a picture of it and it’ll allow you to send it through our app and we get it directly,” Marshall said.

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While many in the nation, from Oakland to New York, rally in protest over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, I keep wondering: What about the good cops? As with our military personnel, we are often quick to hang the allegedly corrupt but slow to honor those who serve honestly to protect.

According to the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, there are more than 900,000 of them who are serving in the United States; about 12 percent are women.

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PLYMOUTH, WASHINGTON COUNTY – Washington County’s sheriff-elect passed away Monday morning, one week before he was scheduled to be sworn into office, his family said.

A family member initially reported that John Sawyer III was not feeling well, said Timothy Copeland, Sawyer’s second cousin. Sawyer’s wife –a county paramedic– later found him not breathing in his recliner at about 6:15 a.m. Monday.

Sawyer’s exact cause of death is unknown. He was 46 years old.

Current Washington County Sheriff James Ross said Sawyer was scheduled to be sworn into office on Monday, Dec. 1. Sawyer had been undergoing training at the Sheriff’s Leadership Institute in Durham in preparation for his new job, said Ross.

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MONROE, N.C. — Hundreds in Union County are expected to attend the memorial service for a fallen sheriff’s sergeant who was killed in a “freak accident” while on the job.

Pastor Steve Jirgal of Lakeview Baptist Church announced funeral arrangements for Sgt. Jeff Greene, who died Wednesday on U.S. 74.

Greene was an active member of the church for nearly a decade, serving as a Sunday school teacher, going on mission trips and helping with Bible studies.

Jirgal said on the morning of his death, Greene’s wife of more than 20 years, April Greene, told him, “Have a good day. I love you. See you tonight.’”

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