Recent Articles

HOLLISTER, NC -- Funeral services for Martha Lynch Evans, age 99, who died on Saturday, October 16, 2021, will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, October 21, 2021 from the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg with Rev. Linda Taybron officiating. Burial will follow in the Pleasant Grove Church Cemetery in Hollister.

SPRING HOPE, NC -- Erwin "Booze" Mann, age 75 died Friday, October 15, 2021. There will be no public funeral service for Mr. Mann.

NASHVILLE, NC -- Funeral services for Mollie B. Hedgepeth, age 82, who died on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, will be held at 12 noon Monday, October 18, 2021 from the Union Hill Baptist Church in Nashville, NC with Rev. Thomas Richardson officiating. Burial will follow in the Rocky Mount Memorial Park.

HOLLISTER, NC -- Funeral services for Bessie Louise Rice, age 86, who died on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, October 20, 2021 from the Trinity Baptist Church in Hollister with Pastor Al L. Copper officiating. Burial will follow in the Trinity Church Cemetery.

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- Residents will be given a chance to weigh in on four newly proposed redistricting maps, two of which would double bunk commissioners Kelli London and Mark Speed.
And, based on a crude map comparison, School Board members Bernard Hall and Elizabeth Keith, who also represent Districts 1 and 3, respectively, could be double bunked in all four of the map drawings.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County's school students will be required to wear masks for at least another month, partly because the overall local vaccination rate of 48 percent is far below the 70 percent goal that health officials say is necessary to break the pandemic.
Other factors also are troubling, including that 32 percent of recent new cases of COVID-19 documented in the county were in those 17 and under.

BUNN -- Town commissioners approved a COVID-19 sick leave policy for all its employees, listened to a pitch to provide liquor by the drink in town, and hatched a plan to, again, rid the town of buzzards.
During the board's September meeting, Town Clerk Pamela Perry presented commissioners with a resolution detailing changes to how town employees could access sick leave related to COVID-19.

Since legendary Franklinton Coach Lester Wilder passed away during the early days of the pandemic, his friends and supporters have been searching for a way to honor and preserve his memory. While getting formal approval from the Franklin County Board of Education Monday night, FHS Principal Russell Holloman unveiled this graphic that is to be painted on the floor of the Franklinton High School gym and paid for by FHS athletic supporters.

FRANKLINTON -- Franklinton Elementary School can be saved -- including the iconic gym with its wooden barrel vault ceiling -- but it will come at a price and after a couple of years of extreme disruption at the school.
The estimated price tag for three options for renovating the aging school ran from about $43.4 million all the way up to just a bit over $48 million -- although these totals were described as preliminary and likely on the high side.

The first step toward ending "street walking" near Louisburg High School was taken Monday night.
The Board of Education agreed to cost-share the engineering work to eventually construct a sidewalk along Allen Drive, past Louisburg High all the way to the school's new athletic field.

LOUISBURG -- Last week's superior court session included four cases that resulted in someone's death, concluding some and continuing others.
During the case management session that began Oct. 6, Deandre Blacknall pled guilty to felony death by motor vehicle and driving while impaired.
In November 2019, authorities charged Blacknall with felony death by motor vehicle, driving while impaired and reckless driving to endanger following a head-on collision that killed 63-year-old Jimmy Stallings.

FRANKLINTON -- Authorities arrested a Franklinton man on gun charges.
Colm William Martin, 24, of Green Hill Road, was charged Oct. 9 with possession of a firearm by a felon, assault by pointing a gun and injury to personal property.
He is next slated to appear in court on Oct. 25

YOUNGSVILLE -- Franklin County sheriff's deputies are looking for suspects in a vehicle break-in.
The incident was reported the afternoon of Oct. 8 in the 100 block of Falls Creek Drive near Youngsville.
It was not clear in the log whether the vehicle was locked, or not.

LOUISBURG -- Early voting begins Thursday for the 2021 municipal elections.
Voters in Bunn, Franklinton, Louisburg, Youngsville and the parts of Wake Forest that creep into Franklin County can begin casting ballots at 8 a.m. today at the new board of elections office, located at 279 S. Bickett Boulevard in Louisburg -- the old Walmart building.

LOUISBURG -- Authorities arrested a South Hill, Va., man on gun and drug charges.
Levante Williams, 25, was charged Oct. 8 with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of Schedule II controlled substance.
Williams is next slated to appear in court on Oct. 26.

There was some good news, some bad news and, potentially, some life-threatening news in the lead story in last week's edition of The Franklin Times.
The good news is that this long-simmering situation is now officially out in the open where it can be discussed -- and hopefully solved -- if only county officials are willing to do so.

In June of 2018, the town of Franklinton was staring growth in the face.
To put it more bluntly, growth was beaming down on the town and daring it to make a move.
So, they called upon the help of the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center because, as Commissioner Anita Fuller said at the time:

Dear editor:
In response to the well written letter by Mr. Radcliffe. The main concern I have with shutting down the Keystone XL Pipeline is that one person with the stroke of a pen can destroy that many jobs. It is obvious that with increasing demand for petroleum products that the completion of the pipeline would benefit the citizens of the United States.

BUNN -- Aside from a rare own goal, it's impossible to score in soccer without possessing the ball.
And that's the main reason the Southern Nash Firebirds are currently two games ahead of their nearest competitor in the Big East Conference boys soccer standings.
Southern Nash relies on a relentless possession game -- one that keeps the ball off the feet of opponents for minutes at a time.

Southern Nash High School's Gamliel Mendoza (left) tries to shake the defense of Bunn's Liam Catalan-Escamilla during Monday afternoon's Big East Conference match at the BHS Soccer Complex.