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LC'S HALEIGH JOYNER ACCEPTS REGION X SOFTBALL HARDWARE

BUNN -- Anyone who has followed the parallel careers of Aidan McKeithan and Jaheim Brown shouldn't have been surprised by last Thursday's pitcher's duel at the Bunn High School Baseball Field.
McKeithan (Bunn) and Brown (Louisburg) have pitched against each other in several big games through the years -- and usually the scoreboard wasn't dented too much when the talented hurlers squared off.

Senior Jaheim Brown was exceptional last Thursday for the Louisburg Warriors during their road baseball loss at rival Bunn in Northern Carolina Conference action.

HENDERSON -- No pressure, right?
That's what Mike Rigsbee must have been thinking when he accepted the Kerr-Vance Academy head baseball coaching job during the off-season.
Certainly, Rigsbee has plenty of experience, dating back to his days as a player at Millbrook High School, Louisburg College and Barton College -- not to mention a five-year stint as an assistant at K-VA under legendary skipper Todd Wilkerson.

ZEBULON -- The Carolina Mudcats, in conjunction with Minor League Baseball, have announced that starting pitcher, Justin Bullock, a Creedmoor native, has been named Low-A East Pitcher of the Week for the week ending on May 16.
Bullock's lone start during the last week of games was a dominating performance on May 14 at Down East where he totaled a career high 12 strikeouts over six scoreless innings.

BURLINGTON -- With his club on the cusp of winning the Region X Tournament Championship, Louisburg College softball coach Eric Lee knew who to turn to in order to finish off the job.
Carrigan Ewers.

FRANKLINTON -- Last week was a crucial one for both Franklinton and Northern Nash's baseball teams, who squared off against one another in two vital Big East Conference contests on the diamond.
Despite falling behind early in both games, it was the Northern Nash Knights who emerged victorious, using big offensive efforts en route to a 13-7 win last Tuesday, and an 8-4 decision last Thursday.

LOUISBURG -- County management has proposed a budget that lowers the tax rate, increases employee pay, raises water and sewer rates, bolsters the workforce and helps replenish some of the county's vehicle fleet.
And, while it wasn't a budget action, commissioners took action to increase spending for the county manager.

WARRENTON - Emmitt Clonix Cyrus, Jr., 84, of Warrenton, died Saturday morning.

LOUISBURG, NC - Mary Elizabeth (Liz) Beasley Faulkner, 87, of Louisburg, passed away Friday, April 16, 2021.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County management said they'll be prepared on May 17 to address concerns raised by residents who questioned the county's plans to update its Unified Development Ordinance -- including rezoning nearly half of the county's 36,000 properties.
The county has set out to update its UDO -- a document that combines zoning and subdivision regulations with other design guidelines to guide development for two purposes:

LOUISBURG -- The Triangle North Executive Airport's Advisory Board heard from two disgruntled tenants during its Tuesday meeting.
The lack of any real resolution highlighted the board's lack of any real authority.
First, Brett James, who operates an aeronautics maintenance and modification business at the airport again complained to the board that has yet to get insight from airport operators on how he can procure or secure a hangar to continue to operate and grow his business.

LOUISBURG -- The Franklin County Board of Commissioners agreed to provide First Fruits Farms with $25,000 to help advertise the 1,000-acre farm's first Memorial Balloon Festival.
The goal is that there would be no way anyone in or around Franklin County could miss the Memorial Day weekend event expected to draw between 50,000 and 100,000 people over the four-day weekend.

LOUISBURG -- Although the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be waning in Franklin County, it was still a "threat" woven through much of the Franklin County Board of Education meeting Monday night. The district's most recent data shows five students testing positive for COVID and one staff member.
The school board learned that about six in 10 local students have returned to face-to-face (F2F) learning in the last few weeks but another 38 percent are still learning virtually.

WHITE LEVEL -- Hard work pays off.
That's what Fire Rating Inspector Tony Bailey told residents inside the White Level Fire House, announcing that the volunteer department attained a 5/9E rating on a scale where 10 is the lowest.
The department previously had a 9.

Brian Rice, Clennie Wilkins

LOUISBURG -- Louisburg College students are slated to take part in commencement activities, including some who missed out on the pomp and circumstance last year.
COVID-19 prompted the college to cancel graduation ceremonies last year.
There will be visitor restrictions for events this Friday and Saturday, but in-person festivities are set to mark matriculation, staff said.

LOUISBURG -- Christopher Cullom has been named as the next principal of Bunn Elementary School (BES).
"Cullom brings a commitment to servant leadership and a passion for learning to the principal role. He knows the community well, and I'm excited for the future of Bunn Elementary as they continue to move forward in a positive direction," said Superintendent Rhonda Schuhler.

LOUISBURG -- Joseph Cobb has been named a new assistant principal for Franklinton High School.
Cobb is from Raleigh and graduated from North Carolina Central University with a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology. He was also a member of the AKD Sociology Honors Society.

LOUISBURG -- The company hired by Franklin County to provide better Internet service has expanded its reach, officials said.
New areas are available for sign-up, including customers in the area of the Louisburg 911 tower, as well as areas in Bunn and areas in the Edward Best/Castalia area.
"We are excited to offer our fixed-wireless broadband service in Franklin County," said Open Broadband CEO Alan Fitzpatrick.

Words have meaning. And impact.
You may not be surprised that before last week's paper went to press, I spent time pondering the use of the word "weaponized" in the main headline pertaining to the zoning proposal that was the topic of a poorly advertised public hearing a few days earlier.

It would be easy to pile on Open Broadband's efforts to roll out broadband Internet service in Franklin County.
In June 2019, leaders in three counties, including Franklin, chose Charlotte-area Open Broadband -- over Cary-based North Carolina Broadband Partnership -- to bring another Internet service option to the county, with an eye toward expanding the service to unserved and underserved areas.

Dear editor:
My name is Burt Pearson, 241 Camping Creek Road, Franklinton, NC, and I spoke at the May 3, 2021 Commissioners meeting via Zoom. I spoke mainly about the area of Franklin County Zoned R-30. After rereading the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) I was astonished to find that 99 percent of Franklin County is zoned to permit lots, really meaning subdivisions, to be sized at 30,000 square feet and use a well and septic system.