BEAUFORT COUNTY WRAPS UP ITS FIRST TERM OF DRUG CASES

BEAUFORT -- The Beaufort County Solicitor's Office finished up its first
court term dedicated to drug cases Friday and geared up for one of its next
battles -- securing county funds to hire more attorneys.

During the two-week term and roster meetings that preceded it, 68
defendants were sentenced for 111 offenses, deputy solicitor Duffie Stone said.

"I think it's unusual to move that many cases," Stone said. "We had one
trial in two weeks. Everybody else ended up pleading guilty."

The lone trial was for Walter Jenkins, 61, of Beaufort, who was arrested
last September. He received a 10-year-sentence Tuesday after a jury found
him guilty of distribution of crack cocaine and distribution of crack
cocaine within a half-mile of a school, Stone said.

Several other cases stemmed from arrests on Hilton Head Island. Brian Keith
Freeman, 35, received 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to sale and
distribution of crack cocaine and several other drug charges. He had been
arrested at the Fairfield Inn, 9 Marina Side Drive, in December and again
in October on a warrant charging him with a crack cocaine sale at the
Treetop Apartments in August.

Three other men received 10-year sentences for cocaine and crack sales on
the island.

Stone said he plans to continue trying drug cases during quarterly terms,
with the next one in June.

Sheriff P.J. Tanner, who ran the county drug-enforcement team from 1986 to
1992, said he hadn't seen so many drug defendants sentenced -- or such
lengthy sentences -- in several years.

Only time will tell whether that puts a dent in the local drug trade, he said.

Next month, the Solicitor's Office will taken on a different challenge:
presenting a $529,779 proposal to Beaufort County for the 2006 fiscal year
budget. That would more than double the county's current contribution of
about $223,000. County Council has turned down significant increases in the
past two years, and the prosecutors' budget has remained stagnant.

Though it is not clear what will emerge from this year's budget process,
the request comes at a time as Stone, who was appointed to head the office
in January, is embarking on a series of ambitious changes.

"I do not consider that to be an outlandish request," Stone said.