Dr. Richard Lemont Dales

"This room is for my comfort, not theirs," Dr. Richard Lemont Dales says in nasal tones that are nothing like the stereotypical soothing doctor voice.

But if a snake bites you, you'll meet with Dr. Richard Lemont Dales wherever he wants.That would likely be in one of the examining rooms at the Pinehurst Surgical Clinic, where Dales is a staff surgeon.

Snake Expert

Dales is the foremost expert in Moore County in telling whether a snakebite victim is poisoned or not.This comes by virtue of his master's degree in herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians.

"People think every snake hanging out of a tree is poisonous," Dales says.The truth, he says, is that there are only a handful of poisonous snakes in this area: the copperhead, timber or pygmy rattler, cottonmouth and water moccasin.

How could a doctor feel so at home among the cold-blooded?He says it began in his childhood.

His father spent 28 years in the Air Force, so he and his three brothers and one sister moved around the globe a lot as children.He's lived in England, Panama and Bolivia.

"Bolivia's probably where I became interested in snakes," he says, "because there were so many jungles."

But he didn't like moving around all the time.

"I hate it," he says."About the time you establish friends, it's time to go.That, to me, is about the worst part of military life."

Dales knows quite a bit about military life.He retired from the US.Army last month after 13 years in the Army reserves.
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"The first thing I did was deliver a baby," Dales says."It was a native woman.The baby did fine."

When everything settled down, Dales realized he had only about a week before he was to take his medical board examinations.He knew he needed to study, so he asked his commanding officer if he could go back.He was granted permission, but not a ride.He was told just to get on the next plane out.

The next plane, by coincidence, happened to be going to Fort Bragg.He says the flight, though uncomfortable, was uneventful.The landing was otherwise.

"We landed, and I saw the pilot grab his stomach and- " He stops and pantomimes a person keeling over.

During the landing, one of the Marines who was riding along had accidentally discharged his weapon and shot the pilot in the stomach.

"What a hell of a way to end up a war," Dales says."Survive it, then get shot by your buddy."

Once again the story has a happy ending.Dales took the pilot to surgery and he lived.

Dales passed his medical boards, too, and graduated from the Eisenhower Medical Center in Augusta, Ga.

It's not difficult to tell where Dales' collegiate loyalties lie.This guy bleeds Clemson orange.He often works in an orange Clemson jumpsuit.

Once, when a patient only glimpsed one of Dales' long legs from around a corner, she asked the nurse if there was a prisoner being treated.She thought his Clemson outfit was an orange Department of Correction jumpsuit.

Two Decades in Army

Dales and his nurse have fun laughing about that one, but he's not all laughs.The opinionated Dales often has contradicting values.He spent over 20 years in the Army and was chief of surgery at Womack when Desert Storm happened.But, when asked if he wanted to be in the Persian Gulf part of the operation, he responds decisively: "Hell, no. God, no."

He loves snakes but hates spiders.

"I can sleep in a bed of snakes," he says, "but I cannot abide spiders.They're horrifying."

And perhaps the most glaring contradiction: He's dedicated his life to helping ease pain (for humans and animals), and he's proud of several times being thrown out of Tae Kwon Do tournaments for breaking people's noses.

He points to a picture from a newspaper on his door.It's a picture of him kicking a man in the head in a tournament."That's right before his nose went to the other side of his head," he says.

Despite being mostly soft-spoken, Dales, a Second-Degree Black Belt, is pretty cocky about his martial arts skills.

"I enjoy competing primarily because I'm very good," he says."I've never lost.I've been thrown out a few times (the aforementioned nose incidents).It's one on one.Nobody else."

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"It's like a medical oasis," Dales says."We can do almost anything here, probably better than most places."

The 57-year-old Dales has begun to consider retirement, though.His son, Rick Jr., is grown, has just graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in video journalism, and has moved to Wilmington to try to get into the industry.

"He wants to be the next Steven Spielberg," Dales says.

Dales says he may retire back in Clemson, S.C., but admits it would be hard to leave Moore County.

He has a home in Southern Pines, where he has nine cats and two dogs.He also has two cats at his office that are strays he's had "fixed."

"I'm a rural-type person," Dales says."I don't like the big city.I'd much rather drive to work seeing pine trees and dogwoods than smokestacks and concrete."

He says this area provides him with the chance to engage in all his hobbies.

"I like to hunt, fish and play golf," Dales says."Everything I want is here."