NEWTON––Catawba County Sheriff Don Brown welcomed visiting Edgecombe County Sheriff Clee Atkinson, Thursday.

During the visit, Brown and Atkinson spent time together discussing issues facing law-enforcement officers here in North Carolina.

Atkinson is an alumnus of Lenoir-Rhyne University. A member of its class of 1995, he visited the university’s campus on Thursday as well. There he enjoyed reminiscing about his days as a wide receiver for the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears football team.

And Atkinson is also known as an avid cyclist. During his visit to LRU, he received a Lenoir-Rhyne triathlete jersey.

“Our office is proud of the partnership with Sheriff Atkinson,” said Brown, “and greatly benefitted from his visit.”

Scam alert

In another news, Brown wanted to alert the public about a recent telephone scam, involving a suspect impersonating Lt. Rodney Harris.

Several calls came in to the sheriff’s office on Thursday, concerning someone claiming to be Harris and threatening citizens with arrest unless they paid demanded sums of money.

“Lt. Harris, or any law-enforcement officer, will never call you and demand money,” Brown emphasized, “nor will we ask you deposit it into a cryptocurrency machine. Please do not fall for this scam. Pass the word on to everyone you know!”