A drug bust first reported by The Spin yesterday has netted several arrests, the Roanoke Rapids Police Department said.

Five people were charged after officers went to 36 Madison St. acting on tip, according to Chief Jeff Hinton.

When narcotics agents arrived they found Larry Nathaniel Jenkins Jr., 21, sitting in a car. When he gave the agents ID, officers saw a bag of marijuana under the seat. The bag contained 20 separate bags of marijuana packaged for sale, Hinton said.

Jenkins, of Weldon, was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, maintaining a vehicle for controlled substances and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Agents found a 5-pound bag of marijuana inside the stove and charged John Matt Deloatch, 36, of 36 Madison St., with possession of schedule VI, possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, maintaining a dwelling to keep a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Rashard Jones, 22, of Gaston, was charged with felony possession of marijuana, possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and an outstanding warrant for assault on a female. He was jailed on $5,000 bond.

Hinton said Monte Plum, 34, of the 900 block of Cedar Street, was charged with felony possession of marijuana, possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, maintaining a vehicle to keep a controlled substance, felony possession of schedule II for allegedly having a gram of cocaine in his vehicle and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was jailed on $10,000 bond.

Mykeal Greene, 27, of Hamilton Street, was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, possession of schedule VI, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and an outstanding warrant for assault on a female.

Hinton said agents believe the men arrested were possibly working together.

Meanwhile, Hinton said a case at 84 Jefferson Street remains under investigation. A pot plant was found in plain view in a garden and several bags of marijuana were hidden in different rooms of the house.

The city will lose two-thirds of its beer and wine revenues after the state approved its budget last week, Roanoke Rapids Finance Director MeLinda Hite said today.

That equals $44,646.

“The municipal share, distributed in May 2010, will be reduced by two-thirds, and cities and towns should reduce their expected beer and wine tax revenues by two–thirds for 2009-2010 to reflect this reduction,” she wrote in a memo for department heads. “The distribution formula for beer and wine tax revenue distribution will be adjusted for 2010-2011, and the funding level will be restored for the May 2011 distribution.”

The state took away those funds to help combat its own budget deficit.

“That hurts,” Hite told The Spin. That was money already budgeted that must now be pulled from the city’s budget.

The city must also try to make up that money, Hite said. She said the city will wait for new City Manager Paul Sabiston to come onboard before investigating how to make up that money.
The city has made significant strides in improving its fund balance since the end of last fiscal year.

Measures taken by council when the city learned in February it faced a $664,000 shortfall mean when it closed the books at the end of June, its fund balance increased 8.9 percent for a total of 17.2 percent. That represents a $1.9 million unreserved fund balance. Fund revenues for the year are expected to increase by more than $900,000.

The money is revenues which come from the sale of beer and wine in the city.