Regional Briefs: Forsyth law agencies to split $1.1M

By: JournalNow Staff | JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
Published: July 07, 2009

Forsyth County commissioners voted unanimously last night to accept a grant of more than $1.1 million in economic stimulus money that will be divided among law-enforcement departments in the county.

The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office and the Winston-Salem Police Department will each get about $540,000, with the Kernersville Police Department collecting about $60,000.

Although Sheriff Bill Schatzman and Winston-Salem Police Chief Scott Cunningham sparred this spring over how to split the money, the county, Winston-Salem and Kernersville signed an agreement on May 11 outlining the sharing of finances.

In another round of federal financing, unrelated to the economic stimulus efforts, commissioners unanimously approved accepting about $276,000 in a law-enforcement grant that will be used, in large part, to buy a tactical vehicle to be shared by the city and county. Kernersville will get about $15,000 of that grant under an agreement between the three law-enforcement agencies.

Depression treatments studied

Combining antidepressant drugs with electroconvulsive therapy does a better job of reducing symptoms of severe depression and causes less memory loss than using the therapy alone, according to a study conducted in part by Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

The finding could alleviate one of the primary concerns about using electroconvulsive therapy -- that it causes memory loss -- said Dr. Vaughn McCall, the chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist. The study appears in Archives of General Psychiatry.

The therapy relies on the use of an electrical stimulus to the brain to induce seizures. It is prescribed for patients with crisis-level severe depression or with major depression who have not responded to medication.

After consenting to the treatment, 319 patients received either a placebo or one of two antidepressants: nortriptyline, an older, generic drug, or venlafaxine, sold under the brand name EffexorTM. The patients also received at least one form of electroconvulsive therapy.

The American Psychiatric Association has not recommended routinely combining antidepressants with the therapy because there currently is lack of information and research on the topic.

Judge moves trooper-death-case trial

WAYNESVILLE -- A North Carolina judge says he will move a trial for a Florida man accused of killing a state trooper because media coverage would make it too hard to pick a jury in the county where the shooting happened.

Superior Court Judge Nathaniel Poovey yesterday approved moving the trial as requested by defense lawyers for Edwardo Wong, 37, of Ormond Beach, Fla.

The trial will be in Catawba County, about a two-hour drive east of Haywood County.

The June 2008 slaying of Trooper David Shawn Blanton Jr., 24, occurred on Interstate 40 in Haywood County.

Defense lawyers had argued that potential jurors in the area would be biased because of news media coverage.

'85 library association president dies

WASHINGTON, N.C. -- The first black president of the American Library Association has died in Eastern North Carolina.

Amina Josey Turner says her father, E.J. Josey, died Friday at his home in Washington from natural causes. He was 85.

Josey served as president of the American Library Association from 1985 to 1986.

Turner says her father's efforts during the civil-rights movement led to the desegregation of library associations in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Services will be Saturday at Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville. The family says a memorial tribute will be held at the University of Pittsburgh later in the summer. Josey was a professor emeritus at the school.

Josey is survived by his daughter, ex-wife, the Rev. Dorothy J. Josey, six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.