Beaufort County native files for District Court seat now held by Cayton

Published 7:42 pm Wednesday, June 27, 2018

 

A Hyde County magistrate is seeking to become a District Court judge in the 2nd Judicial District, which includes Beaufort, Hyde, Martin, Washington and Tyrrell counties.

Sarah Homes, a Beaufort County native, filed Tuesday at the N.C. State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement in Raleigh. She is seeking the judgeship currently held by Darrell B. Cayton, a Democrat who is seeking re-election. District Court judges serve four-year terms.

Homes, a Republican and former assistant district attorney, said, “I have the temperament and attributes necessary for the position of District Court judge. Throughout my career as a prosecutor and private attorney, I have always strived to be honest, forthright, fair and courteous with everyone I come in contact with. I will bring each of these qualities to the bench. All judgments I render will be well reasoned, impartial, just and fair to all concerned.”

Homes was educated at Washington High School, North Carolina State University and The University of Arkansas School of Law. She’s been in private practice and served as a public defender.

Regina Parker, the chief District Court judge in the 2nd Judicial District and a Democrat, has filed for re-election. Parker was appointed chief District Court judge earlier this year after Michael Paul retired from that position. Parker lives in Martin County.

Cayton, who lives in Beaufort County, filed his candidacy paperwork June 18, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement.

Superior Court Judge Wayland J. Sermons Jr., a Beaufort County resident, is seeking to retain his seat as a Superior Court judge. He filed the required documents by mail last week.

Sermons is the chief Superior Court judge in the Second Judicial District.

According to a news release, Homes has been active in civic and political causes, having served as vice chairwoman of the Hyde County Board of Elections and Hyde County Republican Party. She is a member of the 2nd Judicial District Bar Association, where she served as secretary/treasurer from 2008-16. She is an active member of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Engelhard and resides in Swan Quarter.

Homes is the mother of daughter Courtney, an ECU graduate.

The filing period for judicial candidates ends at noon Friday.

Two of the three elected seats on the five-member Beaufort County Soil and Water Conservation Board are available this election cycle. The filing period for that election ends July 6. As of Wednesday, incumbent James Allen and Adam Philipps have filed as candidates.

The other two elected members of the board are Lex Mann and Tracy Warren.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.

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