FRONT PAGE
By:
CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
A Franklinton man was taken to a Chapel Hill hospital on Tuesday to receive treatment for burns he received in a house fire.
Franklinton, Youngsville and Mitchner’s firefighters responded to 8 First Street at about 1:15 p.m on Tuesday to find the home fully engulfed in flames.
James Holder, his wife and one of his daughters were inside the home when the fire started. Everyone else escaped injury, but James Holder was transported to UNC Hospital’s burn unit.
By:
GARY CUNARD, Times Publisher
Efforts to improve the U.S. 401 corridor from Louisburg to Raleigh received a major boost this week, according to State Rep. Lucy Allen.
Transportation Secretary Gene Conti, speaking at a dinner in Raleigh, told his audience that money from federal stimulus funds will be used to construct improvements on 401 from the Neuse River to the southern end of Rolesville where the Rolesville bypass will begin. Essentially, that means construction on that leg of the highway could begin early next year.
By:
CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
The Franklin County Board of Commissioners will consider a request to add new vehicles to the sheriff’s office fleet during its meeting on Monday.
Last June, Sheriff Pat Green wanted 15 new vehicles to replenish the department, but because of expected budget crunches, requested 10 new vehicles.
Commissioners were only able to meet him halfway, approving five new vehicles in the 2008-09 budget.
By:
CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
Prosecutors pulled a matter from case management court on Wednesday, giving them the discretion to proceed with their case against a former Louisburg High teacher charged with sexual assault as evidence comes forward.
Louisburg Police and agents with the State Bureau of Investigation arrested James Collier in January on charges of having a sexual relationship with a student that resulted in a pregnancy.
By:
GARY CUNARD, Times Publisher
One local businessman discovered to his chagrin this week just how easy it is to be drawn into a complex con game and how a reputation can be endangered when that happens.
In this case, the victim was Franklin Regional Medical Center’s Administrator Michael McNair who found his company’s name drawn into the so-called “Pearl Project,” a complex fraud scheme detailed in the Wednesday, April 1, edition of The Franklin Times.
McNair said he was stunned Wednesday morning as he read the story on his I-Phone while out of town on a business trip.
By:
CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
The Franklinton Police Department is under new management, at least temporarily, after Chief Ray Gilliam was placed on extended medical leave.
The decision came following a closed session during a special-called meeting on March 19.
Lt. John Green Jr. said he got the call the next day to step in as the interim police chief.
Gilliam is expected to be out an indefinite period of time.
OPINIONS/EDITORIALS
Being targeted for a complex, well-planned con game is no cause for embarrassment.
But the embarrassment begins when you don’t check out a deal that clearly seems too good to be true because, as your mother probably taught you — if it’s too good to be true, it probably is!
That’s where the North Carolina Department of Commerce began to let down the taxpayers who fund that state agency.
GOOD MORNING: Boy, Kathy Harrelson and the Times really blew the lid off that bogus $100 million gem polishing scam that state Commerce Department industry hunters so desperately tried to sweep under the rug, didn’t they?
Following are a couple of the early comments relating to the matter that were posted on our website:
By LaLaLand on 4/1/09: Good lesson learned. Never, ever take anything on face value that seems too good to be true. A little thing called a background check in the initial phases of this scam would have prevented any loss whatsoever.
If we’ve learned nothing else in the past few months, it’s that there is no such thing as a free lunch! (Unless you’re a Wall Street banker and we taxpayers are buying.)
We’ve come to that realization reluctantly and with a bit of trepidation after trying for three years to provide one.
Beginning about May 1, The Franklin Times website will become a paid-access site, meaning that only subscribers to the newspaper will have full access to everything that’s there now and even some items, weddings and engagements for example, that aren’t there now.
In the late 1980’s North Carolina experienced one of the recessions we have almost every ten years. Jim Martin, in his second term as Governor, faced the problem of a budget swimming in red ink.
Martin went to work to cut all the fat he knew existed in proposing the coming year’s budget. After several frustrating weeks he reported to legislative leadership that he couldn’t cut enough to present a balanced budget for the coming year.
RALEIGH – When confronted with the just-reported news that North Carolina businesses, trade associations, and nonprofit organizations spent a combined $22 million lobbying on state issues in 2007, you can react in one of three ways.
I’ll label the reactions not by rhetoric or arguments, but by hand gestures. (No, I don’t mean those kinds of gestures – get your head out of the gutter!)
OBITUARIES
LOUISBURG - James T. Perry, 92, died Saturday, March 28, 2009 at Britthaven of Louisburg.
LOUISBURG - Natalie Ann Romine, 41, died Saturday, March 28, 2009. Graveside funeral services will be Saturday, April 4 at 2 p.m. at Bunn Memorial Gardens.
YOUNGSVILLE - Daisy Frances Sheets Vandervort, 101, died Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at her residence. She was the daughter of the late Nancy Jane Gall Sheets and John Marshall Sheets.
FRANKLINTON - Maria T. Dragula, 48, died Wednesday, April 1, 2009. She was born in Coral Gables, Fla. on April 25, 1960.
Surviving: husband, Bobby Dragula; son, Jeremiah T. Collins; daughter, Kristal B. Dragula; mother, Johnie Rea Thompson of Defuniak Springs, Fla. and Tom Orea Thompson of Tallahassee, Fla; sister, Barbara Ann Foster of Bainbridge, Ga.
SPORTS
By:
Geoff Neville, Times Sportswriter
BUNN - Because Franklinton and Roanoke Rapids appear to be destined for a one-two finish in the Northern Carolina Conference, every other league showdown brings an extreme measure of importance in the race for one of the NCC’s remaining spots in the Class 2-A State Girls Soccer Playoffs.
Wednesday’s matchup between Southern Vance and Bunn served as one of those examples, as both clubs are seeking one of the postseason slots.
By:
Geoff Neville, Times Sportswriter
BUNN -- Colby Lyles’ absence provided a rare opportunity for someone other than the Roanoke Rapids star to walk away with medalist honors at Tuesday’s weekly Northern Carolina Conference golf match.
It was a challenge that both Bunn’s Graham Lewis and Roanoke Rapids’ Jackson Collier readily accepted.
Playing in the same group, both Collier and Lewis fashioned solid 77s to share the medalist award under tough conditions at The River at Lake Royale Golf Course.
By:
Geoff Neville, Times Sportswriter
LOUISBURG -- Victories over a pair of nationally ranked foes in the past few weeks have John Thomas upbeat about his club’s prospects for the rest of the 2009 season.
Following a slow start, Thomas’ Louisburg College baseball team has been much more competitive in recent outings, including decisions over JUCO powers Pitt Community College and Young Harris.
ROANOKE RAPIDS -- The Bunn High School girls track and field team earned an 81-55 victory over host Roanoke Rapids in Northern Carolina Conference action Tuesday.
The Ladycats’ first-place winners were as follows:
LOUISBURG -- Louisburg College baseball legend Otis Nixon will return to the LC campus as part of the school’s annual Alumni Weekend, which is scheduled for April 17-18.
Nixon will participate in a golf tournament on April 17 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Bull Creek Golf and Country Club. The cost to play is $75 per person.
From 4:45-5:30 p.m., Nixon will meet and greet high school and youth players in the lobby of Holton Gymnasium.
BUNN -- The Bunn Youth Recreation League held its annual Opening Day Ceremonies last Saturday.
In addition to games, there was a parade and plenty of activities, including face painting, clowns, balloons, inflatables and food.
Game results were as follows:
High School Baseball
TUESDAY
Franklinton at Granville Central 7 p.m.
Louisburg at Northampton West 4:30 p.m.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Time is running out for local public agencies and nonprofits to submit applications for the Franklin County United Way funding for the 2009 Community Impact Grants.
The applications are due in the United Way Office on Tuesday, April 7, by 4 p.m.
“These grants are significant to all those human service agencies that address needs of people in the county who would otherwise not benefit from services or go without help,” FCUW Executive Director Kathy Harrelson said.
The retrial of a man charged with killing his estranged wife is slated to begin on Monday.
The first trial against Robert Lee Pastuer ended in a mistrial in September when a jury split 8-4 on whether to convict or acquit him of killing Narskelsky Pastuer in the fall of 2006.
Mrs. Pastuer’s body was found on Dec. 7, 2006 in the trunk of her car, which was parked down a path off of U.S. 401 in Franklinton.
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge is slated to update elected officials on government finances this coming Monday.
Etheridge is scheduled to meet with elected county, municipal and education leaders at the school system’s Central Office on West River Road at 8 a.m.
LOUISBURG -- Louisburg College’s annual Alumni Weekend is scheduled for April 17-18.
A variety of activities are planned, including a golf tournament, an alumni dinner, a historical homes tour and a Class of 1969 Reunion.
By:
CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
A bill that could relieve a wronged father of paternity is making its way through the General Assembly.
The House passed a bill on March 18 that would allow judges to set aside child support payments if the putative father, armed with genetic proof they aren’t the father, can prove that a paternity order was the result of fraud, duress, mutual mistake, or excusable neglect.
A similar bill now sits in a Senate judiciary committee.
