Two Roanoke Rapids men are more than 6,000 miles from home at Joint Security Station Doura located outside Baghdad.

It is there they do patrols and train Iraqi military and police.

It is from there Sergeant Troy Beach and Specialist E4 Christopher Stacy, both in the National Guard, send these email dispatches.

Both soldiers have left family behind and are not sure when they will return. Beach, a Roanoke Rapids native and the son of Elaine Wong and Johnny Braswell, is married to Paula Beach and they have two children, Ashlyn Beach and Brandon Batton.

Stacy and his wife Emily have a 14-month-old son named Luke. His mother, Cindy, lives in Gaston, and his father, Phillip Herman, is from Powell, Mo. His stepfather is John Adams from Colerain.

Both men feel fortunate they have not been injured.

“We have been fortunate not to have encountered any hostile fire but every time we leave there is a threat of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and insurgents tossing grenades from overpasses so we are always on alert,” Beach said.

“Every situation is dangerous,” Stacy says, “from the time you leave the gate until the time you return.”

The places they patrol are not exotic, Beach explains. “The country is still trying to get itself straight. There is trash everywhere and destroyed and damaged buildings wherever you look.

“Kids are glad to see us and some of the older people, but a lot of the men in their 20s aren’t too glad we're here. I think they know why we're here and they see that our mission is changing now to support the Iraqi military and police.”

Stacy says most of the people are friendly. “But just like in any country, including the United States, there are mean people. We let them know we are here to protect them and to help lead their country in the right direction.”

The answers are simple when asked what is the hardest thing to adjust to. “Being away from my family. It's hard not to be able to handle things back home that my wife might need my help with,” Beach said.

“Being away from your family and friends is one of the hardest things for a lot of people I think,” offered Stacy.

Routine is the easiest thing to adjust to, both men say.

What do they miss about home? “Everything,” Beach says. “Mostly my family but I miss it all. Sometimes you just get a craving for a food like a Browning’s hot dog or something and you can't do anything about it. I miss all the little things about home that maybe I took for granted before I deployed.”

For Stacy it is the more intimate family moments he misses. “I miss cuddling up to my wife on the couch and watching our little son play in the living room floor.”

The soldiers have no specific date on when they will return but Beach looks forward to that time. “I'm gonna kiss my wife and take her away on a romantic weekend. Then I'll go home and kiss and hug my kids and probably have a big welcome home party with all my family.”

Says Stacy, “The first thing I do when I get home is kiss my wife and son. Then when I get to the house it's off to the shower.”

Beach wants people to realize Roanoke Rapids soldiers are still over there. “I would like to thank all the people who do support us over here but it seems like a lot of people have forgotten we are here.”

He said, “I really haven't seen anything from the area showing that they even know we deployed. I guess since the armory in Roanoke Rapids was taken from the local soldiers last time they deployed and given to a special forces unit that the local citizens have forgotten about us. But we still have soldiers from the Roanoke Valley in the Guard, We just had to go to other cities to serve.” 

Stacy also has some advice. “I'd just like to remind folks at home not to take simple things in life for granted such as air condition, water and electricity, but most of all your family and friends.”

The state Wildlife Resources Commission is already reporting one deer stand injury before bow hunting season starts.

Sgt. Carl Hatcher, an enforcement officer with the commission, said the injury occurred on Aug. 20 but wasn’t reported to Wildlife until Aug. 24.

Phillip Vinson Davis, 48, of Conway, was putting up a lock-on stand unassisted, putting steps in the same location he had them last year when one of the steps dislodged, causing him to fall.

As he fell he hugged the tree with his arms and legs to break the fall but was impaled in the left arm by the fifth step, causing him to hang from the tree. He suffered nerve damage and lost a large amount of blood. He fell 19 feet, Hatcher said.

Several factors led to the fall, Hatcher said, the first being Davis was erecting the deer stand alone, carrying all the equipment by himself.

Most stand makers recommend placing the steps in a different location from the previous year. Davis also failed to wear a fall restraint device. Wildlife recommends bow hunters wear a full body harness which limits the distance of a fall.

Hunting season

Bow season: Sept. 12 through Oct. 9.

Muzzle loading season: Oct. 10 through 16.

Gun season: Oct. 17 through Jan. 1.

For more information visit Wildlife’s website at www.ncwildlife.org.

Between 10 to 15 storm grates have been stolen from city streets over the last several days, Roanoke Rapids Police Chief Jeff Hinton said this morning.

The grates, used to trap debris from runoff, cost around $300 and present a possible hazard to pedestrians and motorists, he said. “It could cause severe injury if people aren’t paying attention.”

Police believe the grates are being stolen to sell as scrap metal.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the police department at 252-533-2810 or Halifax County Crimestoppers at 252-583-4444.

A Roanoke Rapids developer has appealed the denial by city council of his zoning request, according to a lawsuit filed in Halifax County Superior Court yesterday.

Council turned down the rezoning request of developer Mike Davis, who owns MTD Investments Inc., at its July 28 meeting. Council accepted the recommendation of the planning board, which recommended it turn down Davis’ request to rezone 6.62 acres of land at the end of Downs Brook Drive to multifamily housing. The decision by council was unanimous.

The lawsuit, filed by Cary Whitaker, a Roanoke attorney, says the rezoning would change the zoning of the property from R-12 to R-3, a lawful use under the city’s zoning ordinance.

“The application complied in every respect with the requirements of the zoning ordinance,” the lawsuit says. “No factual reasons were stated by the Respondents for its failure to make the necessary findings to deny the application and its conclusions are not supported by competent evidence in the record.”

The appeal maintains, “The decision of Respondents was arbitrary and capricious in that the Statement of Consistency with Plans to Amend the Land Use Ordinance had already been distributed. The decision of the City Council was arbitrary and capricious in that adjoining property and property which is of a similar nature has been zoned R-3. The reasons set out in the Statement of Consistency with Plans to Amend Land Use Ordinance for denying petitioner’s application are conclusions not supported by the facts.”

Davis said in an interview yesterday he simply wants the decision overturned. This is the second time the rezoning request was turned down. He said the same request was turned down about three or four years ago.

He said the city’s rejection of the rezoning is costing him untold amounts of money. “I could have had it developed and selling property at the peak of the market. There is no justifiable reason. If it was rezoned I would be building townhouses.”

Demand for townhouses is strong, he said. “They sell good. People are looking for places to live with no maintenance.”