TABOR-LORIS TRIBUNE WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012 3

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astCompiled byAl Leonard

Town ManagerTown of Tabor City

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Dec. 1, 1965

Teacher association to hear Mrs.Wright Mrs. Olive B. Wright, mathematics teacher of Wil-liams Township School, will deliver the address at the din-ner meeting of the Columbus County Classroom Teachers Association. Mrs. Wright is currently serving as a secretary of the N.C. Classroom Teachers As-sociation. Miss Anne Brooks McGougan, an outstanding teacher of Tabor City, will introduce Mrs. Wright.

Seniors & youth funDancing, some ball play, bingo with participants from the Tabor City Senior Center went on despite some light drizzle at the Tabor City Sports Complex on Fri-day. See video of some of the dancing at tabor-loris.com. Barbecue and hot dogs helped make the day complete, though all the activity seemed to tire out one young girls. Sponsors included the Tabor City Police Department, Town of Tabor City, Lamont Grate, Will Stanley, the First Bap-tist Church Community Men’s Fellowship, and R.C. Soles Law Firm.

(Deuce Niven photos)

charged with trafficking in a controlled prescription medi-cation. Hewett said it’s a new day for the police department, but there’s much work to be done for an agency that has been ne-glected for more than a decade.

By the numbers “It was a mess,” Hewett said of the department he took over early this month. “Reports just were not there. There was no record keeping in evidence. The Justice Academy has offered to send experts in to help right the evidence room.” Hewett has pulled records for the department from Janu-ary 1, 2000, long before Lewis took charge in 2006. In more than a dozen years, through June 1 of this year, department records show only 39 activity reports filled out by officers, and fewer than 1,000 incident reports. Activity reports generally document work officers do that don’t necessarily require a for-mal incident or arrest report. In contrast, in the two weeks since Hewett took office, he said 14 incident reports and 57 officer activity reports have been generated.

Officers will be busy, they will respond to every call, and those calls will be documented, Hewett said. “We’re here for everyone,” Hewett said.

Help wanted Hewett has limited help right now, with just one other officer on the force. Applicants are being interviewed, and by next month Hewett said he hopes to have two new officers and a compliment of several auxiliary officers. Leading candidates for the full-time jobs are veterans, including one with military law enforcement experience, Hewett said. Auxiliary officer hopefuls, who are not paid, are generally recent Basic Law En-forcement Training graduates. Getting new officers trained and ready to work on their own takes time, typically about three months, Hewett said. In the meantime, the Columbus County Sheriff ’s Office and North Carolina Highway Patrol have continued to supplement the local police presence in Fair Bluff, Hewett said.

Equipment Old police cars are being re-

placed with used, but newer re-tired Highway Patrol vehicles, Hewett said. His department needs equipment, including ammunition for training and other gear. Several agencies, including the Columbus County Sheriff ’s Office and police departments from Shallotte, Holden Beach and Ocean Isle Beach, have all offered used equipment to the Fair Bluff department, Hewett said.

Brunswick link Hewett comes to the Fair Bluff job from the Holden Beach Police Department, where he served as Operations Officer and as a detective. A 2003 graduate of West Brunswick High School, Hewett holds an associate degree in criminal justice from Bruns-wick Community College, and a BS degree in criminal justice administration from Mt. Olive College. He grew up in law enforce-ment, the son of former Sheriff Ronald Hewett, and said he never considered anything else for a career. Becoming a police chief this early in his career “just came about,” Hewett said.

Recently wed to the former Brittany Hinson, a native of the Chadbourn area, Hewett had signed on as an auxiliary of-ficer for the Columbus County Sheriff ’s Office. It was Sheriff Chris Batten who brought the Fair Bluff opening to his atten-tion, Hewett said. “He told me that it had come about and they needed a step in the right direction,” Hewett said of Batten. Mayor Randy Britt said he was impressed with Hewett and his credentials, which include certification in crime scene investigations and dive master. “This position just came about,” Hewett said. “This wasn’t a plan. If I can clean this place up and turn Fair Bluff into a more respectable place, it would be a good place to retire from.”

Citizens have been support-ive, Hewett said, as he has em-barked on a program of more aggressive law enforcement, weekly traffic checkpoints, and a more noticeable police presence. “This are good people in this town,” Hewett said. “Those who cause problems, who deal drugs, won’t be happy.”

Chief Hewett, by the numbers

Chrystal Buffkin

New charges in puppy fraud case

By DEUCE NIVEN Already accused in Colum-bus County of fraudulently obtaining Chihuahua puppies, a Longs woman who allegedly portrayed herself as a Tabor City attorney has been arrested for similar crimes in Horry County. Chrystal Gail Buffkin, 32, was arrested by Horry County Police last Wednesday, charged with obtaining goods by false pretense and giving false in formation to law enforcement, police spokesman Sgt. Robert Kegler said. She was jailed at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center near Conway. Police in Horry County received complaints earlier this year that a wom-an had contacted them in response to ads posted on the Internet involving puppies for sale. “The woman would then show up to buy expensive toy breeds of puppies using a hand-written Moneygram,” Kegler said in a news release. “The Moneygrams would later prove to be fraudulent and the victims were without the money.” Breeds involved in the Horry incidents were the Shihpoo, Toy Poodle, and Miniature Pinscher, Kegler said Thursday. One of the Horry County victims was able to provide de-tailed information that allowed police to identify Buffkin as

their suspect, Kegler said. Of-ficers also learned that Buffkin sold the illicitly purchased dogs at the Little River Flea Market and a similar business in Flor-ence County.

Pattern Buffkin was charged twice last month in Horry County for similar crimes, Kegler and booking reports at J. Reuben Long indicated. She was also charged in Horry County last August on a second offense of driving under the influence. Buffkin was arrested in

Columbus County al-most two weeks ago, accused of obtain-ing four Chihuahua puppies while repre-senting herself as a Tabor City attorney. She was charged with fraud and pos-session of stolen goods, accused of getting the puppies

with fraudulent Moneygrams. Victims in the Columbus County cases were a Fayette-ville woman and a Laurinburg man, who both said Buffkin said she was an attorney, but that she would send an employ-ee to complete the transactions. It was Buffkin who made those transactions, investigators said. Those puppies were located at the Whiteville Flea Market, where Buffkin was arrested, and the animals were returned to their original owners.

TCPD locates FB suspect Sun. An unauthorized trip from Fair Bluff to Tabor City in his parents Ford Expedition earned a Cerro Gordo man criminal charges from two jurisdictions on Sunday, police said. Christopher Pebo Enzor, 37, of Hinson Crossroads, Cerro Gordo, was charged by Fair Bluff Police Chief Justin Hewett with two counts of breaking and entering, two counts of larceny, possession money allegedly stolen from his mother, and unauthorized use of the 1997 vehicle, Hewett said. Lt. Ronnie Carroll of the Tabor City Police Department charged Enzor with possession of a con-trolled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

BOLO As Fair Bluff police looked into the unauthorized use complaint, dispatchers relayed a BOLO (be on the lookout) for the Expedition. Within ten minutes, Officer Kevin Hood located the vehicle, unoccu-pied, in the Food Lion parking lot in Tabor City. “Mr. Enzor came walking up before I arrived, and I told Kevin to detain him,” Carroll said. Police found four Percocet 10 tablets in a Marlboro cigarette box, a small crack pipe on the console, and a “spoon that appeared to have been used for ‘cooking’ narcotics,” Carroll’s report said. Police found money on Enzor, more on Allison Renee Blackmon, 20, of Lettie and Lennox Road in Nakina, Carroll’s report said. Len-nox had been with Enzor, and was still inside the Food Lion as he was taken into custody. Enzor allegedly took the money after breaking into vehicles at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pebo Enzor, the report said. Blackmon was not charged. - DN

Handicap parking violation isn’t all

By DEUCE NIVEN Parking in a handicap park-ing spot led to more serious charges for a local woman who lied about her name Saturday, a Loris Police Department report said. Angela Michell Gause, 39, of Ferrell Road, was charged by Officer Matt Mahon with giving false information to po-lice, driving with a suspended license, operating an uninsured vehicle, and having an open container of alcohol in the Chevrolet minivan she had parked on Meeting Street. Gause had no handicap placard for the vehicle, and when asked who she was re-plied Tracy Gause with a July 1985 birthday. She told police she could not find her driver’s license, but Mahon said she saw her license as she dug through her purse. It noted her real birthday in November of 1972, putting her 13 years older than she initially claimed to police. That license was suspended for allowing insurance to lapse, the report said. James Parker, no age listed, of Suggs Street, arrived and told police Gause had driven the van to town. Parker also told police the vehicle was insured by State Farm, a claim the in-surance company said was not true, the report said. Parker’s vehicle was towed, and Gause was released after receiving the citations.

Elsewhere Other reports on file at the Loris Police Department this week include:• BryanShaneSutherland,37,of Cle Esta Drive, was charged by Officer Eric Stevens last Wednesday with driving under the influence and illegal pos-session of narcotics, five round blue pills found in Sutherland’s pants pocket. A breath test

showed Sutherland with a blood alcohol content of .22, nearly three times the legal limit of .08, the report said.• AdrianneLawandaPhillips,32, of Bay Street in Tabor City, was charged by Officer Ma-hon Saturday with disorderly conduct, trespassing and pos-session of drug paraphernalia after she was seen approaching people in the Hill’s parking lot and asking for money.• David Mitchell Anderson,39, of Loris (no address listed), was charged by Officer Mahon last Monday with disorderly conduct and trespassing at Bojangles.• ElizabethPorter,20,toldOf-ficer Mahon last Monday that someone took her wallet from her GMC Suburban at her Main Street home.• Layla Sherrer, 24, of How-ard Road, told Officer Mahon Saturday that someone threw a rock through the rear window of a silver Kia, owned by Tony Sherrer of Alexander City, Ala., and took an iPod worth $50. The theft occurred on Woodbine Street, the report said.• LuevenaDewitt,63,of CoxRoad, told Officer Mahon Fri-day that someone entered her property and took an Easy Go golf cart.• Wanda Boone Royals, 53,told Officer Alicia Miller last Wednesday that someone took a cement statue of a little boy worth $50 from the front yard of her Walnut Street home.• Citi Trends employee Su-san Lewis told Lt. Richard Kostanek and Officer Stevens Friday that a woman walked out of the store with a hat worth $5. • AconfrontationintheCHFIndustries parking lot last Wednesday involved a former employee who had previously been banned from the property, a report by Officer Miller said.

Arrests reports for no driver’s license Motorists driving with revoked license, or no license at all, were among those who encountered Tabor City Police Department officers during the past week, reports show. Those reports include:• Jamie Sheree Everette, 27,of Dartmouth Avenue in High Pont, was charged by Officer Jeff Grainger last Tuesday with driving with a revoked license and overtaking another

vehicle without slowing down to avoid a collision.• Joel Merlo Ortega, 24, of Swamp Fox Highway East, was charged by Officer Matt Turner last Wednesday with driving without a license.• Lacy Falon Gasque, 20,of Nichols Hwy, Galivants Ferry, was charged by Officer Grainger Saturday with trans-porting an open container of spirituous liquor in his vehicle.

• Dakiera Lashaya Wash-ington, 19, of Jim Jolly Road, Clarendon, was charged by Of-ficer Michael Jamison Sunday with operating an uninsured vehicle.• Anattempttopassastolencheck at Tabor City’s IGA Saturday was thwarted when store manager Joey Stevens called the check’s owner for verification, a report by Officer Jamison said.

Alarm reveals TCES entry An alarm activation at Tabor City Elementary School late Monday brought response from both the po-lice and fire departments, but there was no fire and no obvious damage, Fire Chief Jerry Hodges said. Police heard the alarm,

which is not monitored, and tracked it down to the school, Hodges said.

A door was open to the school, and a fire alarm was pulled just enough to set off the audible alert, Hodges said.

Failing to perform court ordered community service has landed a Tabor City man back in jail, briefly.

Aaron Dixon McCumbee, 31, of Stevens Street, was on probation on a financial card fraud and larceny case

Probation violation earns jail stayfrom September 2011, and had been convicted on an unre-lated misdemeanor charge in Brunswick county in January 2011, court records show. McCumbee was ordered to jail for 60 days, but given 52-days credit for time already served.