RALEIGH – If North Carolina were a country, our level of taxpayer funding for education would be near the top – but the performance of our public schools would be mediocre.
These are among the findings of a new study by the John Locke Foundation’s education analyst, Dr. Terry Stoops.
Dear Editor:
I can appreciate reporting on crime and informing the community is the charge of the media, and personally I feel The Franklin Times does a good job by providing this service.
Not having given the subject or the role The Franklin Times plays in it, I would have to say it is a service that is under appreciated; they have been doing it so long it is now taken for granted.
The need for education reform grows more obvious daily. We claim to have learned that if we keep doing what we’re doing we are going to keep getting what we are getting, but our talk about providing a world-class education to all students is unsubstantiated boasting.
BUNN - Shirley Cone Dement, 76, died Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, at UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill. Funeral services will be held Saturday, Feb. 4, at 2 p.m. at Harris Chapel Baptist Church, with the Rev. Bill Haley officiating. Interment will follow in Bunn Cemetery.
LOUISBURG - Funeral services for Alex C. Hilliard, 80, who died Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012, will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, at Nelson Chapel Baptist Church, with the Rev. Emma Solomon officiating. Burial will follow in the Davis family cemetery.
ZEBULON - Cynthia Ann O’Neal, 37, died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. A memorial service was held Friday, Feb. 3, at First Baptist Church, Raleigh.
ROCKY MOUNT - Don Scarboro, 92, died Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A worship service celebrating his life will be held at Lakeside Baptist Church on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 11 a.m. Following the service, interment will be held at Pineview Cemetery in Rocky Mount.
LOUISBURG - Lee McGhee, 76, died Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012. Strickland Funeral Home, Louisburg.
LOUISBURG - Mr. Maryland Williams, 91, died Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, at St. Stephen’s Missionary Baptist Church of Warren County. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
By:
GEOFF NEVILLE, Times Sportswriter
LOUISBURG -- Precious Walker has quite the basketball pedigree -- her sister, Lakenzie, was a standout at Bunn High School in the early 2000s.
The younger Walker has quickly established a name for herself, and next season she is expected to follow her sister’s footsteps to BHS.
By:
GEOFF NEVILLE, Times Sportswriter
LOUISBURG -- Connections, grunt work, persistence and luck -- those are usually the intangibles associated with baseball recruiting success at Louisburg College.
First-year head coach Mike McGuire has used them all during his initial off-season recruiting campaign at LC -- and his harvest has folks on campus talking about a potential return to the diamond program’s glory days.
By:
GEOFF NEVILLE, Times Sportswriter
LOUISBURG -- Just because they dropped their final game doesn’t mean that all was lost this season for the Bunn Middle School boys basketball squad.
Not after BMS went 11-1 overall and won the regular season crown in the Middle Athletic Conference.
Bunn also reached the finals of the MAC Tournament before falling by a 55-49 margin against Northern Granville on Tuesday at the Terrell Lane Middle School Gymnasium.
By:
GEOFF NEVILLE, Times Sportswriter
LOUISBURG -- ‘Know Your Personnel’ is a theme taken into every game by Louisburg College men’s basketball coach Mark Vanderslice.
A devotee of matchups and preparations, Vanderslice wants his players to know everything possible about upcoming opponents -- and he hopes that strategy pays off with a pile of victories.
By:
GEOFF NEVILLE, Times Sportswriter
ROANOKE RAPIDS -- Bunn remained undefeated in both the Northern Carolina Conference boys and girls basketball standings with a pair of victories Tuesday at Roanoke Rapids.
In boys action, Bunn took a seven-point lead after one quarter and went on to defeat the Yellow Jackets by a 51-33 score.
High School Basketball
TUESDAY
Northwest Halifax at Franklinton 6 p.m.
Bunn at North Johnston 6 p.m.
By:
GEOFF NEVILLE, Times Sportswriter
ROCKY MOUNT -- Youngsville resident Dickie Schock has announced his resignation after three seasons as the head football coach at Rocky Mount High School.
“It was a family decision,’’ said Schock, the former coach at Franklinton High School. “It was really for family reasons.’’
(L to R) Koty Nixon, Chris King and the rest of the Louisburg College Hurricanes will begin the 2012 baseball season this weekend with a home series versus Catawba Valley.
Bunn Middle School’s Janasha Green (left) drives during Wednesday’s victory over Northern Granville in the MAC Tournament Finals.
Bunn’s Kenan Epps (with ball) drives for two points during the Bulldogs’ matchup Tuesday against Northern Granville in the finals of the MAC-9 Boys Basketball Tournament at Terrell Lane MS.
The popular Ciompi Quartet will be making a return trip to historic Cherry Hill in Warren County.
The group, founded in 1965 by renowned Italian violinist Giorgio Ciompi, will be performing in concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19.
This concert will commemorate Eugenia Williams Voorhees and will feature music by Haydn, Shostakovich and Dvorak
By:
CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
A Louisburg man arrested on child pornography charges late last year is still awaiting a probable cause hearing.
Agents with the State Bureau of Investigation arrested Bruce Arthur Howard on Oct. 27, charging him with 10 counts of second-degree child sexual exploitation and one count of first-degree child sexual exploitation.
By:
CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
Federal aviation investigators are about two months away from releasing the cause of a crash involving the county’s airport director.
The recently released factual report does not indicate any mechanical problem with the craft, though.
On Nov. 20, Triangle North Executive Airport Director Steve Merritt was at the controls of a single-engine kit-built plane that went down at the end of the runway at Crooked Creek Airport — a small, private airstrip on Whippoorwill Lane between N.C. 39 and N.C. 98 in Bunn.
By:
GARY CUNARD, Times Publisher
“I practice what I preach,” said NC State senior Sarah Nahum about a seminar she’s planning to offer in Louisburg beginning in February.
Called “Give Your Heart a Healthy Beat,” the seminars are part of a North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service effort to help people understand the relationship between diet and health -- and to make positive changes to improve both.
By:
CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
Franklin County Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood late Friday suspended an embattled Durham District Attorney who’s at the heart of an ongoing court feud that critics say is undermining the court system.
Hobgood has set a hearing for Feb. 13 which could help determine if Tracey Cline is fit for office.
Durham Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson requested Hobgood’s involvement after an attorney filed an affidavit last week questioning Cline’s ability.
By:
CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
After struggling to keep a decades-old artistic competition alive in Louisburg, organizers of the International Whistlers Convention are preparing to host the worldwide event for a consecutive year.
The county’s Tourism Development Authority is recommending that the county help in that endeavor, suggesting the county give organizers $8,000 in occupancy tax money to help promote the event.
