VIOLENCE BECOMING ROUTINE IN A 'DESENSITIZED' ROBESON COUNTY

LUMBERTON - Chris Locklear finished reading the obituary of a
28-year-old man who had been shot twice in the back. He looked in the
faces of the 300 people who had gathered at Mount Hebron Church for
the funeral and said, ".... if we don't stand up to mind-altering
drugs, we will be back here before the year is out." Locklear was right.

Four weeks later, the congregation gathered again to mourn the death
of a grandmother who had been killed by her grandson for drug money.
"It happened so quick," Locklear said, "and it just gets worse every
time it happens." He said he fears that the frequency of shootings
and murders has desensitized residents to the violence. "Things just
keep happening in the community, and young people are losing their
lives," he said. Robeson County has a history of violent crime. As of
Tuesday, there had been 29 murders in the county this year. Twenty of
them happened within the last six months. Last year, Robeson's murder
rate - 20.7 cases per 100,000 people - ranked third in the state and
was more than three times the state average of 6.2 cases per 100,000.
The national average is 5.5 cases per 100,000. The county's murder
rate has ranked in the top five in the state since 2000. Lawmen and
criminologists attribute Robeson County's high murder rate to drug
abuse, poverty and domestic violence. Johnson Britt, who has been the
district attorney for 11 years, said every society has some
lawlessness, but it appears Robeson County has more than its share.
"It is a learned behavior, and it is being passed on generation to
generation," Britt said. "We have individuals who resort to resolving
conflict by violent means." Most murders in Robeson County happen on a weekend.

Britt said it is common for prosecutors to come to work on Monday
asking, "How many people were killed this weekend?" "It is so common
that the public's response to it has lessened," he said. "I am not
saying that to be critical.

That is the reality." Jessica Scott sat with two friends in the
atrium at Biggs Park Mall in Lumberton last week discussing the
recent string of murders in the county. Scott, who is studying
criminal justice at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke,
knew some of the people who were murdered this year and those who
have been charged in their deaths. "To me, when I hear about a murder
in the county, it's just typical Robeson County," Scott said. "No one
gets into fistfights anymore.

Either you are going to get cut or shot." McCray Bowen, who works at
the mall, said far too many of the homicides are senseless. "It
becomes pretty bad when it doesn't shock you anymore," he said.
Around the region Cumberland County has the second-highest number of
reported homicides in the 10-county Cape Fear region this year at 22.
The Sheriff's Office, which investigated 13 of those murders,
declined to comment except by e-mail. Bladen County has had none.
Hoke, Moore and Sampson have had two each. Lawmen in Robeson County
almost expect a murder to happen each week. But when they occur in
other communities, the crimes seem more shocking because of their
infrequency. "We're very fortunate here in Moore County," Sheriff
Lane Carter said. He said he's not sure why murders are rare in Moore
County, but he thinks the high population of retirees and the
county's reputation as a resort community could be factors.

The latest murder in Moore County happened in March. "Homicides can
happen anywhere," Carter said. "If it's going to happen it's going to
happen." Each year, about 550 murders are committed in the state.

Robeson County accounts for nearly 10 percent, Britt said. Ninety-one
murder cases are pending in Robeson County Superior Court. One-third
of them happened this year. The spike in the number of murders that
have happened during robberies is related to the county's economic
situation, Britt said. "We have a high number of people who are
unemployed, and you have a low per capita income," he said. "Put
those two together, people are going to do certain things in order to
survive or support themselves. Unfortunately, that leads to people
robbing others." Over the past 10 years, several manufacturing plants
closed and left thousands of people jobless.

About 3,579 of the county's residents were unemployed in September.
According to the 2000 census, 22.8 percent of the county's residents
live in poverty. The Robeson County Sheriff's Office alone has
investigated 16 murders this year. A majority of them were related to
drugs or domestic violence, said Maj. Randal Patterson, who heads the
detective division. In most cases, the victim knew the murderer.

Two cases remain unsolved. "A lot of people jump the gun and take the
law into their own hands," Patterson said. "They regret it later.
"Why do people do things like that?" he asked. "I don't know. I have
had people ask me in the past, 'What can you do to prevent it?' There
aren't a lot of preventive measures you can put out there for
homicides." The murders have been scattered throughout the county,
but the small community of Evans Crossroads, just outside Maxton, has
been hit particularly hard. Three people have been killed there
within the past nine months; two died within four weeks of each
other. In February, Odis Locklear was shot in the head by his
daughter's boyfriend, Richard Locklear. Richard Locklear killed
himself a week later while hiding from lawmen in the woods.

William Locklear's home was destroyed by fire in retaliation for the
death of Christopher Jones, lawmen say. Locklear was charged with
shooting Jones to death after Jones knocked down Locklear's mailbox.
Another death happened in October when Christopher Jones was killed
while riding his four-wheeler on John L. Road. Lawmen say William
Locklear shot Jones twice in the back with a rifle after Jones
knocked over Locklear's mailbox. Investigators say the men had clashed before.

William Locklear's home was burned a few days later in retaliation
for Jones' murder, lawmen said. No one was injured. Nearly four weeks
later - on Nov. 5 - Shirley Locklear was raped and killed by her
grandson, Junior Blue, lawmen said. Investigators said Blue dumped
her body on a logging road. Blue stole more than $200 to buy crack
cocaine, they said. One day last week, Carol Locklear leaned out her
front door and talked about the violence that has plagued Evans
Crossroads for years. Christopher Jones was her cousin. "You wonder
when it's going to stop," Carol Locklear said. "I don't know what
happened here. It's like everything went to chaos.

Majority of it is drugs. It's just awful.

You may expect something like this in Fayetteville, but not in a
small community where everybody knows everybody." Evans Crossroads is
a sparsely populated community set between cotton fields and farmland.

Most of its families have lived there for generations. Chris
Locklear, who attends Mount Hebron Church in the community, wants the
area cleaned up. "You have one generation raising the next generation
of drug dealers," he said. "It's just a cycle." Many of the murder
victims were young adults he had seen around the neighborhood. "Most
of those killed hadn't even turned 30," he said. His brother-in-law
was murdered in October 2004. "I don't know what to say about the situation.

It doesn't make sense," he said. "What is the purpose of taking a
life? All these murders just don't make sense to me." Lumberton
crimes Seven murders in Lumberton this year include a murder-suicide
and a drive-by shooting.

Four happened during robberies. The murder of a 14-year-old boy in
May remains unsolved.

The boy was shot in the back. His body was found behind a house in
East Lumberton. Investigators believe he may have been trying to rob
someone and was shot, Police Chief Robert Grice said. "Ten years ago,
shots fired in Lumberton drew a lot of attention.

Now, it's commonplace," he said. "It's almost becoming an epidemic.

Rather than try to work things out, people are quick to use violence.

Seems to be the firearms are the weapons of choice." Despite the
increased number of murders, Grice doesn't think the county is any
more violent than other places in the state. "The county has gotten a
real bad rep because of some of the high-profile cases," Grice said.
"Yes, we have a history of violence.

But is it greater than other areas?

I don't think it is." High-profile cases - such as the murder of
basketball star Michael Jordan's father in 1993 - brought national
attention to the county.

James Jordan had pulled off U.S. 74 near Lumberton to take a nap in
his car and was killed. "There were people calling AAA trying to find
out how they could avoid Robeson County. They had heard about
Jordan's killing," said Frank Schmalleger, a former criminal justice
and sociology professor at the University of North Carolina at
Pembroke. New Yorker writer Susan Orlean immortalized the county's
murderous reputation in her 1990 book "Saturday Night." The book is a
collection of articles about a typical Saturday night in cities and
towns across the country. Orlean went to Pembroke to tell the true
story of a girl who killed her lover.

In the book she writes, "As a matter of fact, Robeson County is full
of murders.

Nearly everyone in the county carries a gun. ... Gunplay is not out
of the ordinary in this sort of place." Criminology professors who
have studied the murder rate in Robeson say they believe a violent
subculture exists. "There are many good people who are not involved
in that subculture," Schmalleger said. "It's a matter of
proportionality. It's not an absolute thing where we can condemn
Robeson County for being the most violent place on earth." Richard
Kania, a sociology and criminal justice professor at UNCP, said
another factor in the crime rate is the social complexity of the
county. Robeson is nearly equally divided among whites, blacks and
Indians and has a growing Hispanic population. One ethnic group may
victimize another, he said. In May, Alejandro Santiago was killed
during an armed robbery at his home in Red Springs. The men involved
were not Hispanic. Economists and local business leaders say the
murder rate has not hurt the county's effort to recruit business and industry.

Businesses usually consider the county's property tax rate and work
force before inquiring about the crime rate. "I don't know if it's
any more prevalent than any other county," said Bo Biggs, the
legislative chairman for the Lumberton Area Chamber of Commerce.
Biggs, who also is a political observer, said businesses rarely
consider the crime rate when looking to move to an area. Greg
Cummings, the county's economic developer, agreed.

He said companies look at the work force, possibilities for corporate
training and education. "Very seldom are we asked about the murder
rate," he said. Lawmen, prosecutors and educators offer various
solutions for curbing the violent crime in the county.

They say raising the education level and skills would provide better
jobs and opportunities that would give people a sense of purpose and
deter them from using violence to solve problems. "This is not your
normal sleepy rural county out in the middle of nowhere," Kania said.
"There are different dynamics here. ... People need to learn other
mechanisms to resolve issues.

Their problems are real, but the method they are settling them is
wrong." Britt, the district attorney, said he believes the number of
murders would drop if something was done to reduce the drug problem.
"There is no dispute that the number of defendants that end up being
charged with killing people are either under the influence of drugs
or have a history of using drugs or, in some instances, selling
drugs," he said. "The drug problem in this county has greatly eroded
people's sense of responsibility and people's sense of right and
wrong." Additional law enforcement officers to patrol the county
would also help, Britt said. The Sheriff's Office has 36 deputies.

He said it is nearly impossible to cover the county's 951 square
miles with such a small department. Robeson also needs more
prosecutors and judges, he said.

Gail Morgan McRae, a Robeson County native, has been following the
murders in the news. McRae is the founder and former director of the
Sandhill Mediation Center in Laurinburg. A mediation center could be
beneficial to the county, McRae said. Volunteers serve as
facilitators to help resolve disputes within a community, she said.
They also provide help for family crisis and conflict resolution
training. "Mostly, what we do is teach communication skills," McRae
said. "People who communicate well and respectfully do not get
involved in the kinds of conflict that leads to violence." Such a
center would not be an overnight success, she said. The county tried
to establish a mediation center in the late 1980s. The Robeson County
Dispute Resolution Center was set up to handle minor disagreements
between people, but it was never used. The center closed in the
mid-1990s. "Served up on a proper dish, it will be palatable to
some," McRae said. "I believe in my heart that no one wants to be
violent or be a victim.

They just don't know any other tool but violence.

We need to provide them with the tools that will free them." But
lawmen and prosecutors are uncertain how people who are used to
violence can reach peaceful resolutions. "How can you reprogram
people?" Grice asked. "It's not like there is a bottle you can buy at
the store and drink it. It would be nice to have people sitting down
and resolving their issues.

I am afraid we are a long way from that."