The Nation - News from Dec. 18, 1988

A second defendant charged in the takeover of a North Carolina newspaper has fled to a New York Indian reservation, saying he is in fear for his life, his attorney said. “He has no intention of returning to Robeson County unless or until democracy is restored there,” said Ron Kuby, one of Eddie Hatcher’s attorneys, in a telephone interview from his New York office. In a phone call to the Associated Press, Hatcher said he had joined co-defendant Timothy Jacobs on the Onondaga Indian Reservation near Syracuse, N.Y. Hatcher, 31, and Jacobs, 20, both Tuscarora Indians, were indicted Dec. 6 by a Robeson County grand jury on state kidnaping charges, less than two months after they were acquitted of federal hostage-taking charges in the Feb. 1 takeover of The Robesonian newspaper in Lumberton. Hatcher and Jacobs contend they took over the newspaper to draw attention to what they call public corruption in the county.