SHERIFF PROPOSES MILITARY-STYLE PROGRAM FOR YOUTH

The Davidson County sheriff's office wants to start a military-style
program to help youngsters missing school, disobeying teachers and parents,
abusing drugs or alcohol, or committing other minor crimes.

The county commissioners Tuesday night rejected a request for $33,400 in
matching funds so the sheriff's office could seek a $100,200 grant from the
Governor's Crime Commission to start the program.

But Sgt. Timothy W. Sells, who presented the request, said Wednesday he
will seek startup funds from private sources.

The program has been dubbed Operation SPYDER, an apparent reference to
Sheriff Gerald Hege's Spider car but standing for "Stopping Progressing
Youth Delinquency through Enhanced Regiment."

According to the grant proposal, juvenile offenses have continued to
increase, locally and nationally, over the past eight years even as the
overall crime rate has gone down.

Operation SPYDER would place about 30 youngsters identified as "at risk" in
a military barracks-style building containing military surplus bedding on
100 acres adjoining the county landfill for 10 to 30 days of discipline,
physical exercise and instruction about anger management, conflict
resolution and avoiding substance abuse from three deputies trained in
drill instruction at a military facility.

After completing the program, the youngsters would receive adult mentors
and would be evaluated to assess the program's success.

"Is it a boot camp?" Sells asked during his presentation to the board of
commissioners. "No."

However, board members were skeptical. Even Priscilla Hege, whose husband
works for the sheriff's office, said, "All that sounds military to me. Can
you clear that up?"

Commissioner Fred Sink, a former sheriff, asked, "Why is the military
injected into this thing?"

Sheriff Gerald Hege has received both praise and criticism recently for
turning his courthouse office into a military-style bunker.

"We need to have this kind of discipline so they (youngsters in the
program) will understand what they can't do," Sells said. He doesn't think
suitable instructors for the program's deputies can be found outside the
military, he said.

The commissioners raised lots of other questions.

Sells said the sheriff's office would need to add three deputies to operate
the program. But board Chairman Larry Potts asked how three deputies could
monitor 30 youngsters 24 hours a day.

Sells said he would help as director of the program and other deputies
could be called in if needed. Potts, however, said that might pull deputies
away from regular law enforcement duties in the county.

In answer to a query from Fred McClure, Sells said hiring and equipping
personnel for the program would cost about $120,000. McClure then pointed
out that less than $15,000 from the grant and the proposed county match
would remain for other program expenses.

Sells said Operation SPYDER is similar to a successful program that he and
the sheriff traveled to see in Oklahoma. Sells said only three comparable
programs exist in North Carolina - one state program in eastern North
Carolina, another state program in western North Carolina and a private
program in Hickory. Operation SPYDER could be offered for use by
neighboring counties on a cooperative basis, the grant proposal said.

But board Vice Chairman Cindy Akins, who represents the commissioners on
the county Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, said other county agencies
operate or are starting programs for juveniles. County Manager Robert Hyatt
suggested the sheriff's office work through the council, which receives
about $250,000 in state funding annually, he said.

Sells presented the request for matching funds just two weeks after the
commissioners cut more than $1.1 million from this year's county budget,
including $95,000 from the sheriff's office and jail. A motion by Akins,
seconded by Sink, to deny the request until the county's finances improve
passed by a 5-2 vote, with Hege and Potts voting against.

After the board voted down a request from Commissioner Billy Joe Kepley for
$28,000 to hire a firm to develop a master plan for Boone's Cave park, some
commissioners tried to resurrect the Operation SPYDER request.

Priscilla Hege made a motion, seconded by Potts, to vote again on the
request, but her motion failed by a 4-3 vote, with Hege, Potts and McClure
voting in favor.

Since the 4-3 vote was different from the earlier 5-2 vote, however, Potts
said parliamentary procedure allowed a re-vote on the Operation SPYDER
request. But the request failed again - this time by a 4-3 vote, with Hege,
Potts and McClure supporting the request.