Sharpe’s goal: Keeping kids out of trouble
By GORDON ANDERSON
anderson@sanfordherald.com
SANFORD — Cameron Sharpe spent 15 years seeing up close what not having a strong education can do to young people.
“Seeing the problems in our society for so long, I saw a need to address some of those issues,” Sharpe, a former probation officer in Lee County, said of his candidacy for the Lee County Board of Education.
Aside from his college years in Wilmington, Sharpe is a lifelong resident of Lee County and a product of the area’s schools.
“I’m just interested in giving back to the community that provided me with good schools growing up,” he said.
Although Sharpe isn’t a probation officer anymore — he works at an RTP biotechnology company — the issues he dealt with in that capacity are fueling his campaign, particularly drug use and gang activity among teens.
“We need to be stressing drug education programs for kids who get into this type of trouble,” he said. “We need to be thinking about things like using drug dogs in the schools, maybe planting an undercover officer in the schools. We need to try different things.”
Sharpe’s experience in the probation office also equipped him personally to attack the issues he mentioned: He was the Lee County office’s gang officer and received training from the state in gang and graffiti identification.
Sharpe has always wanted to work with young people in some capacity, he said. He had originally planned to work as a third-grade teacher before going into probation and parole, and he’s spent years coaching youth sports. He said he and his wife would like nothing more than to have children of their own, although they can’t due to treatment for cancer that Sharpe received at age 21.
“I’d hate for someone to think that because we don’t have kids of our own that we don’t love children,” he said.
In addition to battling cancer, Sharpe also had to deal with a public trial on a misdemeanor assault charge that stemmed from an altercation on a local road in the summer of 2005. During the trial, Sharpe never denied that he punched Richard Buchanan, but said that he was acting in self-defense after Buchanan antagonized him on the roadway and acted in a way he perceived as threatening.
A District Court Judge initially sided with Buchanan, finding Sharpe guilty. But Sharpe appealed the conviction to Superior Court and the District Attorney’s Office dismissed the charge outright.
The incident was not Sharpe’s reason for leaving the probation office — he was never dismissed from his position while the charge was pending, and he cited burnout as his reason for going into the biotechnology industry.
Sharpe, like many other candidates for the office, cited renovations at Lee County High School as an important issue the school board faces, calling it “necessary to bring Lee County High School onto a level playing field with Southern Lee,” but also said that board members can’t afford to let the issue cloud other issues such as the county’s dropout rate, teen pregnancy and the achievement gap.
“A building has never taught anybody anything,” he said. “Teachers are the real issues, and I’m really concerned about the schools’ moral freefalling.”
Cameron Sharpe
Age: 44
Occupation: Works for Diosynth Biotechnology in Morrisville.
Office sought: One of four at-large seats on the Lee County Board of Education
Political experience: None
Education: Bachelor’s degree in history from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
