SCHOOLS FIGHT FOR SEIZED MONEY

JACKSONVILLE - Onslow County school leaders say they think they may be
entitled to a share of nearly $850,000 in suspected drug money seized by
the sheriff's department.

Law-enforcement officials say they plan to use much of the money to combat
drug dealing. Onslow County Board of Education members say state law
requires fines and forfeitures to go to the public schools.

"This is a very unusual situation," said Don Horne, finance officer for
Onslow County Schools. "That [money] would be very beneficial to the
schools if those dollars were made available to us."

Three law-enforcement agencies, including the Onslow County Sheriff's
Department and the Jacksonville police, arrested five people May 12 on drug
charges.

Twelve grams of cocaine and a safe containing $225,225 were found at a
house in Maysville.

Investigators found information at the house about another safe at a
storage center in New Bern. Craven County authorities found $621,990 there.

Authorities at the time said the money would probably be divided among the
three law-enforcement agencies as part of the Asset Forfeiture Program
usually administered through the U.S. Attorney's Office.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said 80 percent of the money
will be shared with the local law enforcement agencies involved in the seizure.

Onslow County Schools Superintendent Ron Singletary said he contacted the
school board attorney after he read about the drug raid.

"Any time we see cases with significant fines and forfeitures involved, we
always refer those to our attorney," Singletary said.

Local law-enforcement agencies aren't obligated to share seized money with
schools when federal charges are filed, said school board attorney Alex Erwin.

"And that's the dilemma that always faces Onslow County school boards and
everywhere else," Erwin said.

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said the federal government would handle
this case.

The department received a federal grant in 1991 to pay for the salaries of
two deputies, equipment and two vehicles for the sole purpose of fighting
drug crime.

Since receiving the grant, the sheriffs department has "referred all
seizures that meet the federal guidelines to the appropriate federal
agency," Brown said.

"There are lot of drug dealers still in prison through the federal program
that would be back out on the street in the state program," Brown said.
"That's why law-enforcement agencies like to go federal. They have a real
stiff law when it comes to drug dealers."