If you're 16 in North Carolina and suspected of committing a felony, the state considers you adult. 

Some child advocates want felony suspects who are younger than 18 to have their cases handled in the juvenile justice system rather than adult court. 

Those supporting the change, including Action for Children North Carolina, have failed in recent years to get legislators to go along.

But there's a task force talking about getting the law changed. It met for the first time this week.

A state employee who failed to show up for work last week was found dead inside his Raleigh home and was the apparent victim of a homicide.

Jurgen "Jay" Dietmar Cheston often worked late into the night and on weekends to make sure that he made the deadlines for federal grant proposals he wrote for the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Thomasi McDonald reports.

"He rarely missed work, other than to check on his dad," said Billy Lassiter, a state juvenile justice spokesman. "He would go every Wednesday to check on him."

On Friday, police found Cheston dead inside his home at 2700 Westhampton Place in the Southall subdivision, off New Hope Road. Lassiter said Cheston, 48, had failed to show up for work last week and had not said he would be absent.

Police think Cheston may have known his killer.

Cheston, a native of Kinston, had worked with the state juvenile justice department for three years. Along with writing federal grant proposals, he also traveled across the state, writing proposals for local youth development centers.

Justice and public safety, particularly the Department of Correction, face deep cuts in the budget proposal.

In Correction, which runs the state's prisons and probation system, the budget would eliminate 100 vacant positions and 87 jobs to save a total of $8.1 million. The budget would also close seven smaller prisons to save $8.4 million this year and $22.3 million next year.

The budget proposal would also:

* Eliminate 47 vacant positions in the judicial system including jobs at county courthouses to save $2 million.

* Wipe out the $7,000 travel allowance given to each Superior Court judge to save $672,000. Travel would be reimbursed as judges request it.

* Increase the SBI Crime Lab fee assessed on convicted criminals from $300 to $600. Impaired driving cases make up the bulk of the money generated by the fee. The increase would raise an additional $195,000 this year.

* Eliminate funding for the Center for the Prevention of School Violence, which would eliminate six jobs and save $481,000. The center is a think tank for schools and the budget proposal states that the center does not fit the core mission of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

* Eliminate the Support Our Schools program, including three filled jobs to save $6.6 million. The program provides funding to after school programs across the state.

* Eliminate 127 work crews that provided free labor to state and local governments to save $4.8 million.

The list of prisons that would close after the jump.

   Comments (0)

Gov. Mike Easley has picked two deputies to replace retiring department heads until permanent successors are picked. Tracy Little will be acting secretary of the Department of Correction to replace retiring Secretary Theodis Beck.

Easley named Joanne McDaniel acting secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to replace retiring Secretary George Sweat.

Little was deputy secretary in the correction department, according to a news release. McDaniel was chief of staff in her department. The two will lead their agencies until Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue can install a replacement.

Should a Cabinet appointee oversee military affairs?

An advisory group on military issues for Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue has recommended the creation of a new Cabinet-level position, perhaps called the secretary of military affairs.

The appointee would oversee the long-term sustainability of the state's military bases, economic development, base relocation measures, support services for members of the military and their families and identifying places for training.

"Base sustainability (that is, protection against inappropriate development near bases that  is inconsistent with the military function of the bases) is an issue of immediate concern that could be addressed by the cabinet-level office," the report notes. "The secretary could (also) oversee land use planning to protect effective military use of bases."

The report argues the position would open "clear channels of communication" between military and civilian leaders in North Carolina.

If created, the position would become the 11th member of the governor's Cabinet, and the first since the secretary of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention was added in 2000.

The legislature would have to approve the position.

One member of the advisory group on aging also recommended creating a new Cabinet post to look into issues of the elderly, while a group on energy split on whether to identify a "point person" on that issue.