Following school fight, police chief holds meeting

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COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WECT) - Last week, 14 students from West Columbus High School were charged and suspended for a large fight during school, and investigators say most of those students involved are from Chadbourn, Cerro Gordo, and Fair Bluff.

As a result, Tuesday night, a police chief in Columbus County met with some of the students involved, along with their parents.

Chief Steven Shaw of Chadbourn said he had been hearing a lot of rumors about that fight, and he wanted to address them head on.

Shaw says he's received phone calls from people who believe tensions between the students may still be high, so when he met with the students and parents, he wanted to see if that was true.

Shaw also says some people are concerned that tensions between the students could bleed into the community, and could cause some trouble at the NC Strawberry Festival in Chadbourn this coming weekend, and he wants to ensure the public that such fighting will not happen.

"For the Strawberry Festival, after the Strawberry Festival, we're going to have officers, state and local agencies, we'll have 40…probably 40 officers minimum on the road and on the street that night, too," said Shaw.

According to Shaw, because officials take the festival so seriously, every year, there is high security.

After the meeting with students, the chief posted a statement on the Chadbourn Police Department's Facebook page:

Words can not express my gratitude for assistance from Rev. Cartwright, Deacons and Members of the First Missionary Baptist Church for hosting and participating in the community meeting tonight. Most importantly I would like to thank the parents, students and young adults that made this meeting a positive event.

I once again would like to stress that this was a positive event. I am sure that some of the media may portray our meeting as an effort to defuse a gang, not a community uniting to help our youth mediate a problem. I hope everyone, especially the media understands the power of positive reinforcement and supports our parents and children for their participation.

The citizens of Chadbourn never cease to amaze me. We are truly a resilient community that can pull together and over come any obstacle. This is one of the many reasons why I love Chadbourn and I have made serving the citizens of this town my career.

Steven Shaw
Chief of Police