By Jackie Seabolt
Enterprise Record

Davie County is No. 1  in North Carolina – but it’s a distinction folks here don’t want.
State statistics show that Davie County has the highest per capita violent death rate in the state.
In January 2004 the North Carolina Violent Death Reporting System (NC-VDRS) began collecting detailed information on deaths that occur in the state.
These deaths resulted from violence – specifically homicide, suicide, unintentional firearm deaths, legal intervention, and those deaths for which the content could not be determined.
In 2007 Davie had 18 violent deaths out of a 40,364 population.
Columbus County was second with 23 violent deaths, followed by Robeson and Cherokee counties.
Of all the violent death victims in the state, 72.7 percent were white and 76.2 percent were males.
The leading methods of violent deaths were firearm (59.5 percent), poisoning (14.5 percent) and hanging/strangulation/suffocation (11.9 percent).
Davie County fell in third place in suicide death rates by county.
The study showed 13 people died by suicide in 2007.
Key findings among suicide victims were that …