Recent Articles

Dear editor: Was driving through Louisburg, yesterday, on the way to church, when lo and behold, I spied a huge billboard for the health department advertising family planning services.
After over 50 years of medical and public health practice and education, I was, both, amazed and disheartened that public health has become so woke that it is willing to spent $2K-$3K of taxpayer monies on such an advertisement, when there are so many real public health issues that, after all this time, still need to be addressed.

ROCKY MOUNT -- While several prep volleyball programs are trending upward this fall in the Big East Conference, one tradition-rich entity is attempting to maintain its lofty standing while facing a myriad ofunique challenges.
That program would reside at Franklinton, and the defending league champions are being tested this season -- both by their improving opponents and a series of unlikely in-house trials.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Both Nash Central and Franklinton have made upward moves in the Big East Conference girls tennis standings this fall, but there was only going to be one team winner when the clubs squared off on September 23 at the NCHS Courts.
And that squad was the homestanding Lady Bulldogs, who maintained their hold on third place in the tough league with an 8-1 victory.
Central is now 7-4-1 overall and carried a four-match winning streak into this week's Big East Tournament.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Two teams with much different ambition levels for the 2024 boys soccer season met on September 23 when Nash Central hosted Bunn for a Big East Conference showdown.
For Bunn, the goal is simple -- make it back to the Class 2-A State Playoffs and equal or eclipse last year's historic run, which saw the Wildcats reach the third round for only the third time in school history.

RALEIGH -- Long-awaited changes are coming to Raleigh's sports and entertainment district that houses the NC State Wolfpack and Carolina Hurricanes, as renovations unofficially began with the renaming of what was previously known as PNC Arena to the Lenovo Center on Sept. 19.
Located just off of Wade Avenue, the Lenovo Center is the home of NC State's Men's Basketball program and the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Carolina Hurricanes.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County commissioners added more than $563,000 to its plans to bolster employee pay.
That's on top of the $1.4 million they set aside in their current budget to cover salary increases they expected from a classification and compensation study they commissioned in 2023.
Monday night's decision comes less than a month after the board agreed to bolster sheriff's office pay by $1,074,000 -- instead of the roughly $500,000 the study initially proposed.

Flutist Tadeu Coelho and pianist Dmitri Vorobiev will present their program, "Music of the Americas" at Cherry Hill on Sunday, Oct. 13 with a performance beginning at 3 p.m. It will include music by Aaron Copland, Katherine Hoover, Eduardo Gamboa, and other 20th century composers.
Both artists are professors of music at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Dr. Coelho is a native of Brazil and regularly performs across the Americas. He is a soloist and clinician, and is an advocate for contemporary music.

Franklin County desperately needs a breath of fresh air -- and strong dose of transparency, especially in its county government.
The most recent example of why is the social media diatribe unleashed this week by Franklin County Sheriff Kevin White who demanded the resignation of county manager Kim Denton -- but gave no concrete reason for his demand other than, apparently, he didn't like being questioned or following the rules.
But it gets worse.

Louisburg, NC--Funeral services for Bettie Jean "Boot" Fleming, age 72, who died on Tuesday, August 1, 2024, were held 2 p.m., Sunday, October 6, from the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg with Rev. Reginald Powell officiating. Burial followed in the Shiloh Church Cemetery in Arcola.

Hollister, NC--Funeral services for Robert R. Lynch, age 75, who died on Thursday, October 3, 2024, were held 1 p.m., Tuesday, October 8, from the Pine Chapel Baptist Church in Hollister with Pastor Robert Hedgepeth officiating. Burial will follow in the Pine Chapel Church Cemetery.

Louisburg, NC--Funeral services for Judy Silver, age 74, who died on Friday, October 4, 2024, will be held 11 a.m., Saturday, October 12, from the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg with Rev. John Williams officiating.

SPRING HOPE, NC--Jimmy Clifton Wilder, 85 of Spring Hope passed away Thursday, October 3, 2024. Funeral services were held at 3 p.m. Sunday, October 6, 2024, at Pine Ridge Baptist Church, 874 Pine Ridge Road, Zebulon. Interment followed in Oakdale Cemetery, E Branch Street, Spring Hope. Rev. Butch Gordon will officiated.

RALEIGH, NC--Edith Owen McKinne, age 95, passed away October 2, 2024 at Transitions Hospice House in Raleigh, NC.

Franklin Granville Vance Smart Start will offer Mini-grant and scholarship opportunities for child care centers and their employees. These opportunities are possible because of the generous support of Time-Out-Tuesday and Ducky Derby fundraisers. This support comes at a time when child care centers face multiple challenges with staffing and funding.

Duke Memorial Baptist Church in Spring Hope, NC (Justice Community of Franklin County) celebrated its 100th anniversary on Saturday, Sept. 21 and Homecoming on Sunday, Sept. 22.
Saturday, church members and their families gathered with a greet and meet at 3 p.m. Tony Gupton presented the history of the church.

LOUISBURG -- Hurricane Helene missed Franklin County by a couple of hundred miles.
But, in its aftermath, Franklin County residents and its emergency response community have not missed chance to lend a hand.
The Franklin County sheriff's office established a donation center at its office, collecting and delivering tons of items to those in need -- serving as the central state collection point for the effort, Sheriff Kevin White noted in a Facebook post.

Sheila and Rick Hill check out the engine and the specs on a '69 Chevy Camaro Z-28 at the car show. The Sept. 28 event featured cars in display, as well as food, fun, craft vendors and opportunities for the community to gather.

LOUISBURG -- A murder case against a Youngsville businessman accused of killing a mother of two remains pending in Franklin County Superior Court.
Missouri authorities arrested Bradley Morris Hines in June 2021 -- days after Franklin County authorities allege the 48-year-old killed Heather Guild.
According to an application for a search warrant, the 30-year-old was found wrapped in a bed sheet inside a fridge at a Gilcrest Farm Road cabin owned by Hines.

LOUISBURG -- Animal services board members, the department's interim director and animal welfare advocates had a wide-ranging discussion about the county's pet population on Monday.
However, there weren't enough board members in attendance to form a quorum, so no actionable measures were taken.
"We have no quorum, but we can discuss stuff," said Board member Dr. Julie Pomerantz, who assumed chairman duties at the board's August meeting.

LOUISBURG -- The idea of creating a social district in downtown Louisburg was the focus of much of the discussion during the first meeting of the newly formed Louisburg Economic Development Committee Tuesday evening.
The group, which was approved by the Louisburg town council recently, is all volunteer and is to serve as an advisory group to Louisburg town leaders.
The idea was first proposed by council member Dr. Phillip Stover who is a member of the EDC and served as unofficial chair of the first meeting.

LOUISBURG -- KARTS' executive director told county commissioners that he and his staff have moved swiftly in a year's time to bolster the rural ride service system.
And, moving forward, they plan to continue making fiscal and operational changes to make the Kerr Area Transportation Authority [KARTS] more efficient.
"... I've been meeting with each county to let you how KARTS is doing," KARTS Executive Director Randy Cantor told commissioners during their Sept. 16 meeting.

Kayleigh Zambrano and Morgan Strickland

FALL FEST. Youngsville Mayor Fonzie Flowers stands by Gary Duffield's crowd-favorite 1928 Model A.

Winston Hastings plays tic tac toe while Mike and Zoey Huber watch.