Escape attempt

ends in death

FAIRMONT — The death of an inmate who died Monday afternoon while trying to escape custody at the Fairmont Police Department is being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation.

Fairmont police called in the SBI to investigate after Stephen Preston Lewis, 56, fell to his death about 4:30 p.m. at the police headquarters building.

Sheriff’s deputies had taken Lewis to Fairmont from the Robeson County jail, where he was being released after making bail on unrelated charges. Once in Fairmont he was questioned and that’s when Lewis ran from the interrogation room and climbed up a fire escape. He fell before officers could catch him.

Lewis was taken to a hospital in Florence, S.C., where he was pronounced dead.

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County manager

is set to retire

WHITEVILLE — Columbus County Manager Bill Clark, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, advised Columbus County commissioners of his decision to retire during a closed meeting Monday night, but a public announcement was withheld until after Clark could inform county government department heads Tuesday afternoon.

A native of Charlottesville, Va., the former U.S. Army officer was administrator of Columbus Regional Healthcare before becoming county manager here in February 2008.

His last day on the job will be Friday, Sept. 29.

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City’s Main Street

earns accreditation

CLINTON — For the third straight year, the city of Clinton has earned National Main Street Accreditation by hitting benchmarks for progress and continuing to move the downtown forward.

Earlier this summer, the N.C. Department of Commerce’s Main Street & Rural Planning Center announced that Clinton was one of 39 communities that had achieved accreditation from the National Main Street Center for meeting those performance standards — the Four Point Approach — set by the center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

***

‘Person of interest’

sought by police

FAYETTEVILLE — A 17-year-old was shot to death after 8 p.m. Monday in the Blueberry Place housing project on North Street, and police are looking for a man listed as a “person of interest.”

Officers arrived and found Antonio Jeremiah Styles, whose address was not available, lying unresponsive on the ground. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators said Tuesday they are looking for Tykell Lamarr Hall, 22, no address given.

— From staff and wire reports.

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