The Daily Times-News from Burlington, North Carolina • Page 14

Official Reports Sex, Drugs, Drink Spur Local Prison Breaks By RICHARD BIERCK Times News Writer GRAHAM Sex, drugs and alcohol are the chief reasons inmates escape from minimum security prison units knowing their chances of sustained flight are slim if any, according to Larry Tingen, superintends of the Alamance County Prison Unit. Although some might go fishing for significance in the fact that escapes at the Alamance Unit are up over 200 per cent from last month, Tingen said there's no seasonal "reason for this. According to Tingen, such cravings are among the best means correctional personnel have of predicting escapes: "About 75 per cent of the lime, alcohol, drugs or sex are the reasons they leave," said Tingen. A lot of times they'll come into the unit under the influence of something, and after they sober up in a few days, they want to get out and get more." Tingen said that many Inmates convicted of armed robbery escape to seek out drugs because they robbed stores for money to buy them in the first place. "If you haven't got a job and you have a $50 to $75 a day heroin habit, you end up stealing to support it," he said.

"I've tried to study figures from month to month to see what patterns there are, but there's just no logic to it." Tingen said that an excuse many prisoners give for jumping the fence is that they were having family problems. "They say that something was going on with their wife, and that this made them run," he said. In one instance, a prisoner left the unit for a day and then returned voluntarily, saying only that he had learned that his wife was being unfaithful to him and that he went home to "take care of things." "I think one thing that has led to escapes is the presence of phone booths here at the unit," Tingen said. "We have four of them, and sometimes after a prisoner talks to his family on the phone, he just wants to be with them, and so he escapes." Tingen Said sometimes a prisoner's wife will call prison officials and tell them of her husband's plans for escape because she simply does not want to see "She hasn't got thebackbone sometimes to tell him to imz off, so she'll tell us he's planning an escape, said Tingen. Tingen said a prisoner who has charges pending against him hi other counties that local officials have not yet received notice of is often likely to escape fearing a longer stretch once tried and convicted again.

A prisoner who lias just been moved from a medium security prison, where gates are guarded by armed guards, to a minimum security unit, where guards carry no guns, is another likely candidate for escape. "Sometimes they'll plan to. escape for a long lime and do, when they finally make it to a minimum security prison through good behavior," Tingen said. "Other times, an inmate will run because his request for parole has been denied." Another factor is pressure: "A lot of times an inmate will talk one or two others into going with him," Tingen said. Another result of such pressure is what is called an "escape collection," which is money collected by inmates to help one of their fellows once he makes it to the outside.

"One time they (the inmates) took up a collection for a guy we knew he was going to run because we knew about the collection but when he got tn the fence, he didn't jump," Tingen said. "I don't think he knew we were watching, he just didn't run. "Well, anyway, once he didn't run, when he went back to the yard the inmates See Page ZB Alamance County Prison Unit and "the Fence. Jury Splits 2 10; Acquits Stanfield 1st Black Commissioner Doesn't Like to Talk By GEORGE STEIN Times News Writer GRAHAM A hung jury leaning 10 2 for acquittal ended the two day trial of William H. "Cookie" Stanfield, charged with armed robbery.

Superior Court Judge Harry Canaday from Benson declared a mistrial in the case Friday after the jury foreman reported a verdict 1 could not be reached. The announcement came after two and a half hours of deliberations. District Attorney Herb Pierce said the case would be re tried in four to six weeks. He declined further comment Stanfield said, "Herb Pierce tried to railroad me again, but it didn't work out," Jury foreman Virgil King said the jury had been split 9 3 in the beginning. King said the group had favored acquittal 10 2 when the Judge declared a mistrial.

Another juror looking on nodded at King's account. King refused further comment. At issue in the trial are events on the night of Feb. 28 in the courthouse square in Graham. According to undisputed testimony at the trial, arguments in the Hideaway, a beer parlor on the square, boiled over into a general punchout in the square among guests leaving the Hideaway at 2 a.m.

Guns were fired. Involved in the melee, according to unchallenged testimony, were Stanfield and two brothers, Dan and Allen Wood. The prosecution contended that Stanfield stole 1320 from Dan Wood after he shot him. The defense claimed that Dan Wood had pulied a gun on Stanfield and tried to shoot him. Dan Wood was the only witness to testify about being, robbed.

His brother, Allen Wood, said he did not sec a robbery. In closing arguments, defense attorney Donnell Kelly hammered away at Dan Wood's credibility; calling the jury's attention to a long list of discrepancies and contradictions in his testimony, as well as Wood's general demeanor on the stand. "IE this trial had stopped with Dan Wood's evidence with his three and four minute pauses, with his outright lies," Kelly said, "I would not convict a mangy hound dag on that evidence." Pierce called Kelly's summation "bombast;" and read the dictionary definition of the term. Urging the jury to convict for armed robbery, Pierce said, "The public is getting sick and tired of it. You got a chance to do something about It.

Unless you people in the box do something about it, it won't be stopped." also said that Dan Wood was "a man worthy of being believed" since he had been a sheriff's deputy in Dade County, Fla. As Pierce finished his summation, several of the jurors' gazed off into the courtroom. In contrast, Kelly held the jury's attention when he presented his final arguments. The maximum sentence for armed robbery is a 30 year prison term. years ago.

This year, the Board of Education, struggling for more county support, got more county funds than ever before, but far less than they hoped for. School officials questioned whether or not they could complete the school year with their allocation. Wiley thinks the increased support, however, is an accomplishment. He supported a $1 million school bond issue in 1073, but wasn't quite as sure about it when it grew to between 53 and $4 million. The bond issue was narrowly defeated.

Today, he wouldn't support a school bond at all. It would be inflationary, he said. His answer to other possf bie board action or opinion was usually, "I really can't say." He didn't comment nn whether the county would actively seek new industry. Caswell County has hit hard with unemployment due to textile failure, one of its few industries. Yes, he was satisfied with the board's budgetary Attorney Kelly, left and By KAREN BACHMANN Times News Writer YANCEYVILLEHK's been about two years since Robert V.

Wiley became the first black man to win a county commissioners race in Caswell County. White not being the first commissioner who doesn't like to talk none of the commissioners will say much outside of regular hoard meetings Wiley doesn't commit homself more than when he ran, vowing "not to say anything against anybody." So an interview to see what he thinks about the Board of Commissioners and their policies came up a bit short. Approached for an interview, Wiley shys away. "You're putting me on the spot," he said, "I really don't Want to say anything." He speaks of accomplishments as one of five board members who do the job together. And he says he feels respected in that group.

Efforts to help the black community, he said, have also come from the entire board, although helping blacks was one reason he ran for office. Wiley also ran to help Caswell County schools come up to standard, he said two a Ford Downtown Sellars Is Adding Boutique Plans for a new front on the building, compatible with the Company Shops Mall con cep.t, are delayed, Vice President and General Manager Frank McCabe said, until the two block mall is complete. Alamance Notebook Robert V. Wiley how to distribute up to $500, 000 to upgrade substandard housing. He mentioned it twice at a commissioners meeting Monday A third time he brought it up was to clear up any misunderstanding, he said.

Wiley said he just wanted more black representation the next time citizen input was involved. As for other county government priorities, Wiley said he didn't want to speak for the hoard. "I don't want to say anything," the quiet commissioner said. Train cylinder gasoline engine. It even has a Fordomatic transmission which drives the eight wheels via heavy gears.

It has air brakes, an air whistle, a swinging bell, track sanders, brass trim, electric lights, a full instrument panel and just to add to the authentic look of the Huntington, it has a smoke maker. The engine is water cooled. The little iocomotive is a powerful one. It can pull up to 10 coaches and a passenger load' of 140 adults or 210 children at one time. The Huntington model replaces the diesel type train which has been running in Ihe park for over 20 years.

It's a new look lor the park, and people are a bit shocked when they hear the shrill whistle from an era (hat long since has past. Early indications from the park patrons is that it is a good addition to the facilities there. "Cookie" Stanfield Addition Mrs. Dorothy Brawley Burlington." Jt is the first major renovation to be announced in connection with Company Shops Mall. The bed, bath and linen boutique will compliment the Company Shops concept, he said, noting thai it will attract smaller speciality shops and boutiques.

The smaller, specialized shops is the trend of the future, Marshall said. "People go to speciality because they have a service to offer and many times are locally owned and offer a personal atmosphere." The expansion shows a "definite commitment" in the city's downtown area," commission Executive Director Allen Jones said. Architects and Urban Planners Jim Patterson of Muldawer and Patterson, Atlanta Ga Company Shops designers, sees the Sellars's addition and the whole downtown redevelopment as a step into the future. "Long range planning for energy conservation will accentuate the downtown," he said, "Mass transit and long range planning for future development will both be geared toward the downtown and central city." The consolidation into one department of areas of a department store traditionally devoted to offer bedroom, bathroom and linen items seperately is a unique concept to Burlington, Mrs. Brawley said.

"Today, more time is spent in the bedroom and the bath than In any two rooms in the home," she said. "Therefore, emphasis has been placed on purchasing for these two rooms with special emphasis being given to the selection of different and unusual items. "The bath used to be a place that wasn't talked about," she added! "hut now it's one of the most exotic rooms in the home." In utilizing the concepts of company officers in the design of the boutique, the 103 year old firm with its fourth generation of family management is manUining a family tradition. Sellars' Cum Park Plaza branch was designed by the firm's Officers of Sellars Depart ment Store, of Burlington announced this week the expansion of its downtown store with the opening later thjs year of a "Bed, Bath and Linen The boutique will be located in the 3,000, square foot building formerly occupied by Phil's Shoe Salon en Main Street adjacent to Sellars main store. Formal opening of the boutique is scheduled for October.

The expansion is being coordinated with the Burlington Redevelopment Commission and is being done in conjunction with trie development of the Company Shops Mall tenatively set to open next spring. Company Shops will be an open theme mall capturing and capitalizing the city's historic origin when in the late 1880's it was actually called "Company Shops" because of the location of the North Carolina Railroad shops and maintenance facilities here. The town's name was changed to Burlington in 1BS7. "We believe in downtown Burlington," Sellars' President Mrs. Dorothy S.

Brawley said. "We believe it has a future, and we are going to do everything possible to help it." Commission Chairman E. fiordon Marshall views (he Sellars' expansion as "a shot in the arm for downtown As with any renovation of an older building, the expansion has presented a few unanticipated surprises. The building is one of the oldest on Burlington's Main Street, and when the interior walls of what was formerly Phil's Shoe Salon were removed; workers found that a trowel may not have been used in laying the original bricks. "The mortar looked as if it 'oozed out' when one brick was placed atop another," Mrs.

Brawley said. "It gave an interesting primitive look to the wall." "But, since this is going to be a very feminine boutique, 'the old order gave way to the new' and new interior walls were built," she said. When completed, shoppers wilt be able, to enter the boutique from either Main Street or through Sellars' present gift department. The removal of the back wall to provide entrance to the gift shop presented another surprise. Workers found a large six by five foot square window with individual window panes.

Sellars' Vice President Claiborne S. Young, great grand son of Sellars' founder Dr. Benjamin Abel Sellars, speculated that the massive window once looked out on an aiiey that ran between Main and Spring streets decades ago when the building was occupied by Freeman Drue Store. 5 Bolder! He does speak up when he disagrees with the board, he said. "The majority always wins." Wiley thought more blacks should have been included on a committee that will decide in This escaped the scrapers, and in 1904 a shop man by the name of Joel Osgood Wilder repaired and repainted the little engine.

He sat it on the platform at the end of his shop where it stood until 1914. At that time, it was ordered taken to the World's Fair in San Francisco. It later was used in a movie, and then was exhibited at various major events over the nation, including the opening of bridges and other new facilities. Later, the Huntington was taken back to Sacramento and placed in a park in front of the Southern Pacific headquarters. It remains a permanent monument there to railroading in the past.

The old Huntington was a woodburner, but the little train at City Park is a bit different. While it looks for all. the world like the real thing, (he park train is powered by a 62 horsepower, Kord four There's There is a new train at City Park, and if it looks like you have seen one like it before. just think back to the last time you saw a western movie. Remember when the bank robbers hit a train, or when the Indians raided the Southern Pacific? That's where you saw a train like the one at City Park.

The new train is a one third scale model of the C. P. Huntington the No. 1 engine of the Southern Pacific, which was built in early 1863. The person who had it built in New Jersey could not pay for it, and Huntington saw it.

He bought it. At the time he was with Central Pacific which became Southern Pacific. Tlie engine was dismantled and placed on a sailing ship. It was then sent around Cape Horn and arrived in San Francisco in March of 1861. Mark Hopkins of Central Pacific paid the freight bill on the train, and after a riverboat trip to Sacramento, it was reassembled, and the first day it ran was on April 9, 1964.

The engine was not heavy enough to pull big loads, so it was taken to the rail yards in Sacramento as a shifter. In 1871, California Gov. Stanford used the engine to pull his special car. It served that function for years. In 1888 it was fitted with a new boiler, but it still did not have the pull power of other locomotives, so in 1897 it was put aside.

In 1900 it was on the "dead track" ready for Ihe scrap pile. The Huntington somehow.