By Miles Layton

EDENTON – “You wake up every morning knowing that you’re putting your life on the line just so that I and the other members of this community can remain safe,” Edenton Mayor Hackney High told a room full of first responders Thursday night.

High closed his remarks with a promise. “This community, this mayor, supports you,” he said.

The evening’s guest speaker, FBI Special Agent Chris Hedges, followed with a message about how law enforcement agencies work together.

“We can’t survive without those partnerships that you guys bring us,” Hedges said, before telling the crowd how a single traffic stop in the region grew into a five-year federal investigation that dismantled a street gang.

The two men spoke at the 55th annual Chowan County Emergency Services Appreciation Banquet, held Oct. 22 at the Edward G. Bond American Legion Post 40. The Legion post family sponsors the event each year. Cadets from John A. Holmes High School’s JROTC served dinner.

This year’s award winners were:

• Holly Pierce, Chowan County Sheriff’s Office deputy and school resource officer: Law Enforcement Officer of the Year and Edenton Optimist Club Youth Award — Story’s feature photo is of Pierce.
• Kevin Briggs, retired N.C. Highway Patrol trooper and now a middle school resource officer: 4-H Top Cop Award, presented by the Kids and Cops Program
• Doug Oliver, Captain, Edenton Fire Department: Emergency Medical Technician of the Year, presented by Colon Ryan, director of Chowan County Emergency Medical Services
• Timothy Midgette: Firefighter of the Year, presented by Assistant Chief Allen Monds

‘Service above self’

High, who has spoken at the banquet before, called it one of his favorite events of the year. He said it is “refreshing” to be in a room “full of people who constantly put service above self.”

He said he thought on the drive to the Legion that Chowan County’s law enforcement and first responders could stand “up against any in the state,” especially given where the county sits on the map.

“You do an unbelievable job with limited resources,” High said. “You don’t have nearly the bells and whistles that some of your counterparts and colleagues have in richer, more populous areas of the state, and that does not go unnoticed either.”

High said he tries to thank responders whenever he sees them around town, and he hopes the repetition doesn’t dull the message. “I sincerely am very, very grateful for the job that each and every one of you do,” he said.

A former longtime sheriff, Dwayne Goodwin, Chowan County’s clerk of Superior Court, then introduced the agencies and special guests. He had a quick answer for the mayor’s remark about bells and whistles. Anyone who has been around town when the fire truck goes by, Goodwin said, knows it “shakes the windows and it rattles all the pictures in the room.”

To save time, Goodwin asked representatives of the sheriff’s office, 911, the Edenton Police Department, emergency management, emergency medical services, area fire departments, the State Bureau of Investigation, adult corrections and other agencies to raise their hands instead of standing.

The one group he asked to stand was the spouses and significant others of emergency workers. The room gave them a long round of applause.

“If it wasn’t for those folks that we were just cheering for, none of us could do what we do,” Goodwin said.

Operation Red Beard

Chief Deputy John McArthur introduced Hedges, saying the agent had sent over his biography as a single line: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

Love that line from one of President Reagan’s jokes!

Hedges has a long and distinguished career, but let’s do this — he stressed how much the FBI relies on local and state officers, especially in rural areas where only a few federal agents work.

“We can’t be successful without these partnerships,” he said.

He closed his talk with a case he said showed what those partnerships can do. It was called Operation Red Beard.

Hedges said the case began with a routine stop.

“That case started with a heads-up patrol officer who made a stop and got somebody with drugs, and thought that hey, there’s more here, and we built a team around that and set off to do that,” he said.

Hedges said the investigation began in 2017, not long after he arrived in the region, when agencies from the room and elsewhere in the area came together to go after the United Blood Nation street gang.

“As everybody knows, street gangs bring violence. They bring drugs,” he said.

The team set two goals. One was to disrupt and dismantle the gang. The other was to go after the people supplying it with narcotics and guns. “Everybody kind of brought their resources and tools, and we leveraged that partnership and started the case,” Hedges said. “And for about the next five years, we worked that case.”

The investigation reached the Southwest border, South Florida, Texas, New Jersey and Virginia. Hedges said investigators cut off three narcotics supply lines coming into the region and, in the end, broke up the gang.

He then listed the results. About 50 defendants were prosecuted in federal court. Agents seized kilogram quantities of cocaine, fentanyl and heroin, about 40 guns and about $600,000 in cash. They also took four houses, about six vehicles, a hotel and a nightclub. The crowd murmured at the list.

He said the FBI benefits from such partnerships “way more” than its partners do. “It’s a huge honor. We don’t take it lightly,” Hedges said. He thanked officers, first responders and especially their families.

Hollie Pierce, a double honoree

McArthur presented Pierce with the Edenton Optimist Club Youth Award, which the club has given every year since 1980 to a law enforcement officer who has made a difference in young people’s lives.

McArthur said Pierce is a regular presence at White Oak Elementary and D.F. Walker Elementary. She also joins community parades, mentors students going through rough patches and coaches a youth softball league.

“She replaces fear and uncertainty with trust and approachable mentorship,” McArthur said. “She shows our youth that law enforcement officers are not distant authority figures. They are neighbors, mentors, and fiercely loyal advocates for their future.”

Sgt. Kenny White, a past winner of the Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award, presented that honor. He said he has known Pierce and her family for years, from before she became an officer. He recalled her coming to turkey shoots at the Legion with her father, while his own children were there too. “They would kind of get together and talk strategy and compare targets afterwards and see where to aim for next round,” White said.

White said Pierce played softball at Pitt Community College and then at Barton College, where she graduated cum laude in May 2012 with a bachelor of science degree. She completed Basic Law Enforcement Training in 2013 and started her career that year with the Edenton Police Department. She joined the Sheriff’s Office in January 2014 and has kept adding to her training since, earning intermediate and advanced law enforcement certificates.

At the Sheriff’s Office, White said, Pierce leads Project Lifesaver, a tracking program for residents who may wander, including those with dementia or Alzheimer’s. She also runs R.U.O.K., a program in which participants get a phone call at the same time every day to make sure they are all right. She does a lot of other jobs too!

“I’ve had the privilege of working with her in different capacities for the last 14 years,” White said.

Pierce said she did not know what to say. She thanked Sheriff Scooter Basnight “for allowing me to continue to do what I love at the school” and thanked parents for trusting officers with their children.

“Without y’all, our job wouldn’t be possible,” she said. She also thanked her family. “Without y’all, I wouldn’t be here where I am today.”

Kevin Briggs, 4-H Top Cop

A past recipient presented the Top Cop Award on behalf of the Kids and Cops Program. He said children vote on the winner, and they chose Briggs for the second time. Retired Sheriff Wade Goodwin started Kids and Cops in 2012, and it has since reached hundreds of children through a camp with games, meals and visits from officers, firefighters and EMS crews.

The presenter said the program is meant “to bridge that gap between law enforcement and children, to show them that the folks of emergency services aren’t all bad people.”

Briggs said Basnight once reminded the program’s organizers of its name. “It’s not named Kids and SROs. It’s also not named Kids and Deputies. It’s Kids and Cops,” Briggs said.

He credited the three school resource officers who work the program, himself, Pierce and Justin Gray. He also credited Kenny White and his family, who cook for the camp, and the Edenton Fire and Police departments, wildlife officers, probation and parole, Marine Patrol and EMS, which brought a new vehicle for the children to see.

“It’s that everyone comes together with a common goal,” Briggs said.

Doug Oliver, EMT of the Year

Ryan said Oliver started in 2011 as a firefighter with the Edenton Fire Department and became a captain in 2019. In 2025, he completed his state EMT certification, a step Ryan said he took because he wanted to give patients the best care he could.

Ryan said Oliver was one of the main forces behind the fire department’s first responder program. Under it, firefighters respond to select EMS calls within town limits so patients get help sooner. Ryan said the program has strengthened the working relationship between the fire department and county EMS.

“He doesn’t simply show up to a job; he looks for ways to make things better, and he understands that public service is about teamwork, commitment, and putting the needs of others first,” Ryan said.

Oliver said the award caught him off guard. “I didn’t do it for me,” he said. “I think a lot more people would deserve it.”

Timothy Midgette, Firefighter of the Year

Monds, assistant chief of the Center Hill Crossroads Fire Department, said a fire department’s greatest asset is not its trucks or equipment but “the people who walk through those doors.” He said the award is not always about a dramatic rescue. “Sometimes it’s simply about being someone everybody knows they can count on,” Monds said.

He said Midgette answers calls, helps around the station and handles whatever needs doing without being asked. “He doesn’t do it for any recognition,” Monds said. His dependability recently led to a promotion to an officer position.

“Great fire departments aren’t built on one heroic moment,” Monds said. “They’re built by dedicated people who consistently show up and get the job done.”

Bishop Jonthan Downing, chaplain for the Edenton Police Department, gave the benediction. Her prayer asked for God’s “shield and your protection around our emergency services.”

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