N.C. Department of Correction--Correction News--September 1998

News Briefs

Young becomes first female president of Lions Club

Dr. Jane Young, director of Educational Services for the department, was recently elected as the first female president of the Raleigh Host Lions Club, a service organization with a 75-year history.

"I am honored to be a part of this club, and I look forward to serving our community as president of the state’s largest Lions Club," Young said. The club and Lions International have a long and distinguished history of serving the blind and visually impaired. One of the major outreach programs of the club is the Raleigh Lions Clinic for the Blind which provides evaluation, training and rehabilitative support serving some 7,000 visually impaired persons since 1966. Women were first invited to membership in the club in 1992, and today, they number some 20 among 165 Lions in the club.

OSDT to offer computer training

The Office of Staff Development and Training is offering computer classes in Raleigh at the OSDT training office located on Mountford Avenue. Division of Prison employees interested in attending computer training should contact their regional office, and Division of Community Correction employees should contact their divisional CTI. All other inquiries can be directed to Ricky Byrd at 919-715-0818. The following courses are currently being offered:

wMicrosoft Word 6 Level I (One-day class)

wWordPerfect 6.1 Level I (Two-day class)

wWordPerfect 6.1 Level II (Two-day class)

wIntroduction to Windows 3.1 (One-day class)

In addition to offering classes to DOC employees, the OSDT computer room can be utilized for training by individual sections who provide their own training to employees. Two computer classrooms are available for scheduling with access to the Mainframe and Netscape, in addition to the above programs.

Employee of the quarter selected

Accountant Diane Gabriel has been named Employee of the Quarter by the Controller’s Officer for the period April through June 1998.

Jean Burke and Julie Carpenter selected Gabriel for the award in recognition of her diligent efforts in keeping up with sales tax issues and notifying appropriate parties of changes including the reduction in sales tax on food items effective July 1.

In addition, Gabriel recently published a revised policy on moving expenses which reflects changes by the Internal Revenue Service and released a revised Canteen Policy.

Controller Sam Newman told Gabriel that the professionalism and commitment to excellence that she brings to her job is greatly appreciated by the department.

Greensboro drug lab sponsors seminars

The Greensboro drug testing laboratory sponsored two informative seminars on Inmate Urinalysis Drug Screening. These seminars were a collaborative effort of James A. Goode, senior medical technologist, and Sgt. Linwood Best of the Guilford Correctional Facility.

With an overwhelming request from other units, the program was expanded to include nine additional facilities in the North Piedmont district. More than 40 participants enrolled in the one-day workshop to gain some insight and current information on specimen collection, maintaining "chain-of-custody" protocols, pharmacodynamics of Drugs of Abuse and bloodborne pathogens.

The seminar was followed by a brief tour of the new laboratory and an overview of the toxicological analysis given by Dyann S. Williams, staff medical technologist.

The officers were generous with their responses to the value of such testing and wanted this training session sponsored on a regular basis, Following the program, certificates were mailed to each participant.

DOC employees run in race

Five employees from Robeson Correctional Center and Lumberton Correctional Institution recently participated in a 3.1-mile run in Pembroke. Runners from Robeson included James Harris, food service supervisor; Harry Mitchell, program supervisor; Eric Locklear, program assistant; and Vernessa McAllister, correctional officer. Runners from Lumberton included Craig Britt, program supervisor. Harris and Britt placed first in their categories, while Locklear and McAllister placed third in their respective categories. Mitchell completed the 3.1-mile run in good spirits.

Keith Hester speaks on prison ethics in Maine

Keith Hester, chief of program services, spoke on the prison ethics program during the annual ethics forum in Rockport, Maine held Aug. 30.

The forum which was held at the Rockport Opera House was sponsored by the Institute for Global Ethics.

The topic of the forum was, "Reaching Out to Troubled Teens: A panel discussion on ethics for at-risk youth."

Annual tent revival scheduled

Buncombe Correctional Center’s Prison Ministries program will be having its annual tent revival Sept. 14-18. Services will be held nightly from 7:00 to 8:30 and will feature a gifted speaker with a Spirit-filled choir or group.

For more information, call Chaplain Steve Plemmons at 828-645-7630.

Golf tournament will help feed the hungry

The Community Resource Council at Randolph Correctional Center is sponsoring a golf tournament Sept.11 to benefit a local soup kitchen, Our Daily Bread.

The tournament will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the Asheboro Country Club, 5105 Old Lexington Road, Asheboro.

The format will be three man captain’s choice with two teams playing together per hole. The cost to enter is $40 per player or $120 per team.

For more information, contact Jeff Purvis at 336-625-2578.

Program supervisor at Columbus has star athlete in the family

Chris Wilcox, the 16-year-old son of Debra Brown, program supervisor at Columbus Correctional Institution, and Whiteville High School basketball standout, has been ranked among the nation’s Top 20 rising junior players by Prep Stars Recruiter’s Handbooks.

Wilcox is ranked No. 15 on the Top 20 list and is the No. 2 center listed.

He is the only North Carolina player on the list. u

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