Recent Articles

LOUISBURG -- County commissioners agreed to spend up to $130,000 to build a dog park in Pilot.
During the board's April 15 meeting, Assistant County Manager Will Doerfer presented a preliminary proposal to build a dog park at the Pilot Lions Park, with a rough estimate of between $89,000 and $100,000.
At that meeting, Commissioner Danny Pearce successfully made a motion to move forward with plans to construct that park, starting no later than September.

Youngsville Town Manager Nathan Page

LOUISBURG -- One man died and another was taken to the hospital in serious condition following a head-on collision last week.
According to a report by Trooper T.A. Clayton, Junior Jose Berrios Luna was traveling north along U.S. 401 when the sport utility vehicle he was driving crossed the center line at about 8:45 p.m. on May 2.
He collided with a southbound Honda Accord driven by Kelvin Alston, 40, of Wendell.

Lights. Camera. Plenty of action.
Franklin County tested out its first attempt at livestreaming a meeting Tuesday night when they met "jointly" with the Franklin County Board of Education.
I'll let my story speak to the content of the meeting.
And, I suspect I'll let my boss, who is much better at these column things, expound on the nature of the meeting and what it accomplished in next week's edition
I just wanted to speak about the execution.

Dear editor:
As a retired Franklin County Librarian with 27 years' experience it has been difficult to witness the dismantling of libraries across the school district.
The superintendent and her administration decided that all school librarian positions will be cut, and if the libraries are to remain open, they will be operated by a teacher assistant or an office assistant.

LOUISBURG -- The State Highway Patrol is investigating a wreck caused by one of their own.
According to a report by Sgt. S.E. Fuller, Trooper T.A. Clayton was traveling north on Bickett Boulevard near the Tar River bridge when he failed to reduce speed and crashed into the back of a car at about 5:20 p.m. on May 1.

LOUISBURG -- From May 3-5, the Louisburg College softball program hosted the NJCAA Region X Regional Tournament at Sheilah R. Cotten Field on the LC campus.
Louisburg College, which maintained the #1 ranking throughout the season, swept its way through the competition to play in the Championship game last Saturday.
The Lady Hurricanes played against the #3-ranked Bryant & Stratton College in the title showdown.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Between them, Nash Central and Bunn boast only five combined seniors, so the future definitely looks bright for both of the girls prep soccer programs in the always-strong Big East Conference.
But in the present, the Lady Bulldogs have an edge, as evidenced by their pair of decisions over the Ladycats this spring -- the latest of which came last Thursday at the NCHS Soccer Complex.

CHAPEL HILL -- Twenty miles south of Chapel Hill near Jordan Lake lies a difficult test created by University of North Carolina alum Davis Love III. The test is the game of golf, and the name of this particular test goes by The Preserve at Jordan Lake Golf Club. The par-72, 6,400-yard layout played host to the NCHSAA Class 2-A Mideast Regional on Monday.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Carolina Mudcats (19-7) opened their series against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (16-12) on Tuesday with a 4-1 victory in Fayetteville.
Mudcats starter, Manuel Rodriguez (W, 2-2), went seven strong innings only giving up 1 run and 3 hits.
The 7-inning performance is the deepest any Mudcats starter has gone in a game this season.

It has happened again.
U.S. 401 just south of Louisburg has claimed another life -- bringing the horrifying total on that stretch of highway to about 25 or 26!
It should not have happened.
Most of these deaths might have been avoided if the highway had been upgraded to four lanes as promised a long time ago.

LOUISBURG, NC -- Funeral services for Ella Mae Smith Strickland, age 71, who died on Friday, May 3, 2024, were held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, 2024 from the Cedar Rock Missionary Baptist Church in Castalia with Pastor Sylvester White officiating. Burial will follow in the Cedar Rock Church Cemetery.

RALEIGH, NC--Ann Gale Hall Maske, 81, of Raleigh, passed away early Monday morning at Hillside Nursing and Rehab in Wake Forest.

CONCORD, NC -- Joseph Hartwell Overton died unexpectedly on April 30, 2024 in Concord, NC at the age of 85.

Hartwell is survived by wife, Betty Ayscue Overton; children Joy Safrit (Jon) of Kannapolis, NC; Melody Dahllof (Barry) of Bear, DE; Derek (Heather) of Palm Coast, FL; grandchildren Noah, Gabi and Caleb Dahllof and Ethan and Aubrey Overton. He was preceded in death by his father Rev. Jobe Overton, mother Catherine Yeargin Overton and brother Colin Overton.

LOUISBURG -- Animal Services Director Lynn Bowling plans to ask commissioners for money for spay and neuter programs, and adjust adoption fees in an effort to better control the county's animal population.
She also noted that the percentage of euthanized animals compared to the number of intakes is trending in the right direction.
Still, during the Animal Services Advisory Board's April 29 meeting, animal welfare advocates continued to criticize her shelter operations and leadership.

A TIME FOR FUN ... AND MEMORIES. The participants in the annual Relay for Life, held last Friday evening at Terrell Lane Middle School, had fun, raised money to fight cancer and recalled those who lives have been lost to the dreaded disease. In the photo above, the Survivors' Walk begins with a warning that Cancer won't win because of the determination and enthusiasm of Relay participants. Carrying the banner is Haley Connors and Susette McConnell.

LOUISBURG -- A skydiving student was recovering from injuries sustained in a hard landing this past weekend.
According to county staff and published reports, the parachutist was skydiving at Skydive Raleigh on N.C. 56 -- between Louisburg and Franklinton -- when his canopy did not fully open on Saturday at about 4:20 p.m.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County commissioners agreed to look at helping a community group turn an historic school into a community center.
But, they stayed short of providing funding or officially committing to help.
The Copeland-Perry School was built in the 1880s, serving African American students as a Rosenwald school -- one of a number of African American schools across the South built through the philanthropic efforts of Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears Roebuck.

Blake Holden, 18 months old from Franklinton

LOUISBURG -- During the Golden Anniversary Club (GAC) reunion festivities recently there was a dedication ceremony for the new historical marker installed on campus of Louisburg College to commemorate the home of former college president Rev. Franklin Swindell Love, 1917-1920.
In the early 1970s, the Love House was used by the college for overflow student housing. Attending the reunion were six of the 13 alums from the Class of 1971 who lived in the "Love House" while attending Louisburg College and were the catalyst for the historical marker project.

YOUNGSVILLE -- Town police are looking for suspects they allege stole a cache of weapons from a gun shop.
According to authorities, Youngsville police officers responded to a burglary at the Youngsville Gun Club & Range at 132 Franklin Park Avenue at around 1:15 a.m. on May 1.
When officers arrived, they discovered a forklift was used to pull the front entrance door away from the building, authorities said in a press release.

If you've read this column often enough, you probably know about me and my history with government meetings: There had been too often too many times when I was the only soul in the audience during many a government meeting.
And, way too often, those meetings proved to be a race to see who could have the shortest meeting.
Without hyperbole, I can tell you that in my history here with The Times, I was five minutes late to a certain government meeting.