Pubdate: Fri, 19 Jul 2002
Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2002 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.journalnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504
Note: The Journal does not publish letters from writers outside its daily 
home delivery circulation area.
Author: Sherry Wilson-Youngquist, Journal Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

BOONE POLICE MOURN LOSS OF VETERAN OFFICER IN PLANE CRASH

Major Was Also Leader in the Civil Air

Boone police are mourning the loss of a beloved 24-year veteran killed in 
an airplane crash Wednesday afternoon as he and two other officers 
patrolled for marijuana plants in Chowan County.

Maj. Robert C. Kennedy, 46, was a trained spotter in the Civil Air Patrol's 
counternarcotics program. He led the Civil Air Patrol in Boone as squadron 
commander and was in Edenton to assist a pilot and communications officer 
on a patrol flight above Chowan County's rural landscape.

The single-engine Cessna 172-S that they were flying in crashed in a cotton 
field about 3:30 p.m. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

"Obviously they needed (an officer), and he was assigned. Bob is going to 
be very sadly missed," said Lt. Jane Raymond, the Civil Air Patrol's 
squadron commander in Mount Airy. She and Kennedy had recently completed 
squadron commander's college, a weekend training course in Burlington.

Also killed in the crash were a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer, Sgt. 
Anthony Scott Futrell, 38, and a Chowan County sheriff's deputy, Richard 
Edward Ashley Jr., 34.

Futrell piloted the plane, though Kennedy also had a pilot's license. 
Ashley communicated to law enforcement on the ground the locations of any 
drugs.

At the Boone Police Department, where Kennedy also held Civil Air Patrol 
activities for cadets ages 11 to 21, officers said yesterday seemed dull 
without Kennedy's presence.

"Bob was a pillar of the community; he really was," said police Capt. 
Curtis Main. "He was a very unselfish man. He did whatever he could for the 
community ... a very devoted husband and father."

Kennedy began his career in law enforcement in 1977 as a sheriff's deputy 
in Stanly County. In 1978, he came to Boone to work as a police officer. 
Most recently, he commanded the police department's operations bureau, 
which includes patrol and narcotics investigations.

He leaves behind a wife, Kerri, and a son, Kyle, 7.

"He just loved to fly," Main said of Kennedy. "His main focus most of his 
career was doing drug eradication. He got started with spotting, and he 
just always love to fly. When you spoke to him, there were three things he 
talked about-his family, work and flying."

Kennedy flew both for his profession and for recreation, Main said. It was 
his idea to start a Civil Air Patrol squadron in Boone.

The Civil Air Patrol is the civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. 
Throughout the country, there are more than 1,700 units, and about half of 
them have both senior members, like Kennedy, and cadets, who are often 
school-age children.

The Civil Air Patrol's charge is to teach about aerospace, provide cadet 
programs and assist in emergencies, Raymond said. The patrol also assists 
in a statewide drug-eradication program.

"The mission they were on was run clearly by senior members and not 
cadets," Raymond said. "Members have to have two years in membership. It's 
a highly secretive, very close-knit program. Most of the members are police 
officers."

There are eight other Civil Air Patrol planes in North Carolina.

In addition to the counternarcotics program, Kennedy also took the Civil 
Air Patrol's cadet program seriously.

"It is very similar to ROTC," Raymond said. "There is drill and ceremony 
and a lot of competition.... He was the epitome of a squadron commander. 
The cadets adored him. He will be a loss to the community."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager