Recent Articles

Southern Nash High School's Jada Zimmerman (front, right) is joined by family members, coaches and administrators as she signs a letter-of-intent to continue her soccer career at Louisburg College under first-year Head Coach Chris Fresco (top right).

MARIETTA, OHIO -- The 17th-ranked North Carolina Wesleyan College baseball team saw its terrific 33-win season come to an end last Saturday afternoon as the Bishops dropped their second game of the NCAA Regional 7-3 to 6th-seeded Penn State-Behrend in the Buckeye State.
Behrend, out of Erie, Pa., got off to a quick 2-0 lead in the first off Bishop starter CJ DiBenedetto (5-3).

ZEBULON - The Carolina Mudcats capped a six-game sweep of the visiting Kannapolis Cannon Ballers after taking both games of Sunday's diamond doubleheader 5-0 and 9-5 at Five County Stadium.
Brendan Murphy tossed a complete game shutout in game one and Joe Gray Jr. hit a go-ahead grand slam while homering in both games as the Mudcats won their sixth straight contest.

Early College High School grad Bethany Lee

ZEBULON, NC -- Raymond C. Kilduff, Sr., 84, of Zebulon, passed away peacefully at his home on Friday, May 28, 2021, a son of the late Joseph LaSalle Kilduff and Muriel (Heatherington) Kilduff. He was predeceased by his wife, Argatha Kilduff, and his brother, Joseph LaSalle Kilduff, Jr.

LOUISBURG, NC -- Funeral services for Bennie "Jack" Edgerton, age 70, who died on Sunday, May 30, 2021, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 5, 2021, from the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg with Rev. David Rosby officiating. Burial will follow in the Cedar Street Cemetery.

RALEIGH, NC -- Funeral services for Janie "Carolyn" Richardson, age 77, who died on Thursday, May 27, 2021, will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 2, 2021. from the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg with Rev. Chance Lynch officiating. Burial will follow in the Pine Chapel Memorial Garden Cemetery in Hollister. She was formerly of Hollister, NC.

LOUISBURG, NC -- Sue Ellen Smith Johnson, 72, died May 29, 2021, at her home in Louisburg surrounded by her family. She was born on October 15, 1948, to Clyde and Florence Smith in Indianapolis, Indiana.

CREEDMOOR, NC -- Beulah Bernice Morgan, 86, of Creedmoor, daughter of the late Viola and Cash Taylor, was born on September 18, 1934 in Granville County, North Carolina, died on Friday, May 21, 2021.

NEW YORK CITY, NY -- Graveside services for Joseph Thomas "J. T." Hill, age 82, who died on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, June 4, 2021 at from the Cemetery on the Hill in Louisburg, NC, with Rev. Stephen Thomas officiating. He was formerly of Louisburg.

PERTH AMBOY, NJ -- Graveside services for James Edward "Buddy Boy" Mann, Jr., age 83, formerly of Louisburg, who died on Monday, May 24, 2021, will be held at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, June 3, 2021 from the Mann Family Cemetery in Louisburg with Rev. Larry Keith officiating.

FRANKLINTON, NC -- Terry Robert Young, 73, of Franklinton, passed away at his residence on Thursday, May 13, 2021. He was born in Wake County, a son of the late Johnny Laster Young and Annie Willie Bridgers Young. Along with his parents, he was predeceased by his twin brother, Jerry and his other brothers: Butch, Albert and Johnny.

LOUISBURG -- The Franklin County Board of Commissioners was set to discuss their spending plan this week.
At press time, it was still not clear how the county would navigate its plan to lower the tax rate.
County Manager Kim Denton presented commissioners and the public with a 2021-22 budget that proposes to spend $95.7 million while reducing the tax rate from 80.5 cents per $100 of valuation to 79.5 cents per $100 of valuation.

LOUISBURG -- It takes communication to build relationships. As an English teacher, that's Shelbi Wheeler's specialty.
Because of that, she was named Franklin County School system's 2020-21 District Teacher of the Year [TOY].
"My message to carry ... would be to stress how important it is to build relationships with your students, especially after being virtual and in a pandemic for the past year," said Wheeler, a 10th- and 11th-grade English teacher at Louisburg High School.

LOUISBURG -- A Bunn man appeared in court this week on charges that his drug dealings led to a death.
The case against Taylor Austin Proctor continues, though.
Franklin County sheriff's deputies arrested Proctor on May 20, alleging he sold drugs that led to an overdose death.

FRANKLINTON -- Mystery solved.
For the past few months, Franklinton leaders, staff and downtown visitors have wondered why there has been an increased presence by the State Highway Patrol.
This week, Town Manager Gregory Bethea had the answer.

YOUNGSVILLE -- Famously, astronaut Neil Armstrong said 'the Eagle has landed' when the lunar module touched down on the moon.
While maybe not as boundary breaking, representatives with Wake Electric and Winslow Homes said the Eagle Chase subdivision is ground zero for new ways to make communities more resilient to energy loss prompted by disaster.

Louisburg College graduate Deepmala Sharma

Spring 2021 graduate Christopher Hawkins waves to the crowd.

De'Shone Hicks and his mom, Lateeya Johnson, celebrate his graduation.

FRANKLINTON -- Traffic enforcement efforts by a Franklinton police duo yielded a handful of drug arrests.
All of the following arrests are the result of traffic enforcement conducted by Officers J. Garrett and H. Cruz.
• On May 19, at about 12:30 p.m., Kyle Gilgen was stopped at the intersection of NC 56/US 1 Hwy for a seat belt violation.

FRANKLINTON -- Franklin County sheriff's deputies expect to take out a juvenile petition against a Franklinton High student who threatened to kill the principal.
According to authorities, the incident was reported the morning of May 24.
The student, who is less than 18, created a disturbance at the school.

Since this is a family-oriented newspaper -- and especially since we're located in an agricultural region -- there are some words that get used only very reluctantly.
So, it's with a great deal of reluctance that we point out that it's really, really dry out there -- at least it was when this was being written.
And, a check with the weatherman didn't give us much hope that might change anytime soon!

I promise you, I had intentions to write this column well before I saw the editorial cartoon above, but it certainly feels part of this story -- it does feel good to ditch face masks, under certain conditions, of course.
It does feel really good to begin to get back to normal.