News Roundup

CBS 17 reports that members of the Raleigh Fire and Police departments gathered in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday prior to a city council meeting to protest and call for the city to pay them higher wages.  The City Council was set to consider a 2 percent pay increase for city employees, but those gathered at the protest noted that the cost of living in and around Raleigh has risen more than 2 percent in recent years and that wages weren’t competitive relative to other opportunities.  The CBS 17 report says that vacancies at the police department are at an all-time high, with a vacancy rate around 20%. Officer Passes.  There was sad news out of Whiteville this week where Whiteville Police Department Sgt. Cameron Lemmons died unexpectedly from a brain tumor on Tuesday.  Lemmons had been with the department for five years and previously served in the military.  The department is working with Lemmons’ family on a diaper drive for his twin sons.  More information about that effort can be found on the department’s Facebook page. K9 Killed.  WRAL reports that hundreds of people gathered in Louisburg on Monday to honor Franklin County Sheriff K9 Major, who was shot and killed while working a standoff with an armed man last week in Granville County.  Major was tasked with searching a crawlspace where William Darius Eichelberger is alleged to have been hiding with an assault rifle.  Corporal Jamie Lariviere was Major’s handler and lauded Major for taking on the dangerous task that [...]