Recent Articles

CASTALIA - Deborah Radford Wood, 59, of Castalia, died Thursday morning at her home.

WAKE FOREST--Funeral services for Stella L. Moore, 69, who died Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, will be held Friday, Oct. 2, at 12 p.m. at Westminister Evangelistic Church #2 in Louisburg, with Bishop Louis Witherspoon officiating. Burial will follow in the Westminister Church cemetery.

ZEBULON--Barbara was born on October 24, 1936, in Franklin County to Harold and Dorothy Baker Alford and peacefully departed on September 18, 2020. She graduated from Wakelon High School in Zebulon and attended Women's College of Greensboro. She was married for 52 years to the late Paul Winston Jones.

HIRAM, GA--Brenda Gail Smith Holland, age 79, of Hiram, GA, passed away on Thursday, September 24, 2020. She was born on July 14, 1941 in Paulding County, GA, to her late parents; Clyde and Cora Smith. Mrs. Holland was a homemaker and a member of Poplar Springs Baptist Church. Brenda spent most of her life loving and caring for Larry and her family.

FRANKLINTON--Clarence "Bernard" Cooke was born on July 29, 1934 to Herbert and Eleanor Cooke in Franklinton. He was preceded in death by his parents and his two older brothers, Frederick and Milton. The couple moved from Maryland to Louisburg after retiring in 1996.

ROLESVILLE--Funeral services for Cedric Darren "Pops" Hobgood, 54, who died Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, will be held Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 12 p.m. in the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg, with Dr. Paulette Alston officiating. Burial will follow in the Per-ry's Missionary Church cemetery.

Patricia Dickerson, driver, and Helen Pender pick up items from the Louisburg Senior Center.

Sisters Dorothy Daniels (driver) and Annie Mitchell

KITTRELL -- Residents in a rural Vance County community that's a stones-throw from Franklin County have pushed back the vote on a proposed inert debris landfill they allege will be a detriment to the community and the environment.
The proposal has garnered the interest of those in Franklin County, too.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County school officials are gathering data, seeking the opinions of staff and parents and weighing the scientific evidence about the COVID-19 virus with an eye on a special Oct. 8 Board of Education meeting where difficult decisions may have to be made.
The county school system has been committed to operating under Plan C -- virtual learning only -- for this first nine weeks of the school year which ends Oct. 23 and the school board plans to evaluate the situation and decide if changes can be made.

LOUISBURG -- COVID-19 cases and, unfortunately, deaths, continue to rise in Franklin County.
But the news isn't all morbid, county health staff said this week.
As of press time, there were 1,191 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 33 deaths.

LOUISBURG -- Frank Poyer comes from a big family that spent a lot of time under one roof -- whether that was a home in the American Samoa, or under the umbrella of the military.
Because of his service and sacrifice, he and his wife will get to spend the next several years under a new, free roof.

LOUISBURG -- A 27-year-old man accused of choking his father to death was still in the hospital at the beginning of the week.
Authorities have charged Xavier Vishal Billups with an open count of murder.
The evening of Sept. 18, deputies with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office's Special Response Team responded to reports that Billups was choking his father, Darren Hobgood, inside a residence at 26 William Perry Road.

BUNN -- Town commissioners agreed to open the wine and beer tap for everyone -- at least for all permitted establishments.
During the board's Sept. 15 meeting, commissioners adopted an ordinance that allows for early alcohol sales on Sunday.
The ordinance, commonly referred to as the brunch bill, allows for ABC permitted establishments to sell and serve alcohol beginning at 10 a.m., instead of noon.

On Dec. 5, 1928, the Main Building and West Wing at Louisburg College were practically destroyed by a devastating fire.
Sixty years later, almost to the day, another blaze tore through the very same space.
Al Peoples, a 27-year veteran and Captain in the Louisburg Fire Department, recalled that the alarm came in the early evening on Friday, Dec. 2, 1988.
"We could see the glow in the sky all the way out to Bickett Boulevard, and feared this was not going to be good."

It was a welcome break from the heat and humidity we've all endured this summer but Mother Nature certainly threw us a bit of a surprise with an early taste of what Fall will be like when the remnants of Hurricane Sally blessed us with a good soaking last week.
The hurricane, which brought a deluge of rainfall with it when it visited Alabama and then worked its way across the South Eastern U.S., also brought markedly cooler temperatures with more than four inches of rainfall.

Stop me if you've heard this one before, but Franklin County is growing.
For the sake of this conversation, let's do one of two things:
• Forget, for a moment, how the county's apparent lack of water allocation could limit growth;
• Assume that Franklin County leadership will find the water resource and necessary funding to sustain and maintain growth now and down the line.

Dear editor: In regards to recent letters to The Franklin Times, I question why some individuals are so angry and volatile with their comments.
People are fundamentally different about their viewpoints for fundamentally different reasons.
Is that not why the United States is referred to as a "melting pot?"

Dear editor: I've always been told that there are two sides to every story.
There's a lady here in Louisburg that's seeking help, not only through prayers, but law enforcement. She's been lied on, set up, cars follow her and hold cell phones up in the air and out the window so she can see their phones. Home violation.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County administration announced the signing of a lease that will help alleviate some space issues.
Following a closed session in June, commissioners gave County Manager Angela Harris authority to negotiate a lease agreement with JMD Housing LLC to move some county offices into the old Walmart space at 279 S. Bickett Boulevard.
The agreement has the county leasing 35,000 square feet for $3.75 per square foot a month -- $10,937.50 per month.

LOUISBURG -- A traffic stop led a special unit of the sheriff's office to arrest a Selma man.
Harold Tew Corbett, 25, was charged Sept. 15 with possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver heroin, possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver methamphetamine, possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver MDA/MDMA, possession with intent to sell/deliver cocaine, maintaining a vehicle/dwelling/place for the sale of a controlled substance, possession of an altered firearm and possession of drug paraphernalia.

LOUISBURG -- Members of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office's Community Action Team arrested a Raleigh man on drug charges.
Steven Lamont Sanders, 51, was charged Sept. 16 with two counts of trafficking cocaine.
The arrest came after the Franklin County Sheriffs Office Community Action Team (C.A.T) conducted a traffic stop on U.S. 1 near Franklinton.