Recent Articles

CHAPEL HILL -- The North Carolina High School Athletic Association has announced the winners of the Female and Male Athletes of the Year for the 2019-2020 School Year.
The award is in its 35th year and winners receive the Pat Best Memorial Trophy.

Holland Shearin

BUTNER--Archie Lee Gupton, 80, of Butner died Tuesday, June 16, 2020 as the result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

FRANKLINTON--Funeral services for Alex McKenly Wright Sr., 86, who died Tuesday, June 16, 2020, will be held Tuesday, June 23, at 2 p.m. in the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg with the Rev. Stanley Hicks officiating. Burial will follow in the Haywood Church cemetery.

FRANKLINTON --Joyce Laughter Pearce, 88, died Monday, June 15, 2020. A private family memorial service will be officiated by the Rev. Jonathan Chandler at Fairview Cemetery.

YOUNGSVILLE--Dallas Ray George, 43, died Tuesday, June 16, 2020 at Duke Raleigh Hospital. A family celebration of life will be held at a later date.

LOUISBURG--Lonnie Ray Arnold, 60, of Louisburg, passed away peacefully on Sunday, June 14, 2020 at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh. He was born on October 26, 1959 to Lillie Earp Arnold and the late Carlton Ray Arnold.

HOLLISTER--Funeral services for Tonya Lynch, 42, who died Thursday, June 11, 2020, will be held on Thursday, June 18, at 2 p.m. at the Greater Bethesda Baptist Church in Hollister. Burial will follow in the Greater Bethesda Church cemetery.

LOUISBURG--Funeral services for Ionas Mitchell "Teenie" Wright, 86, who died Wednesday, June 10, 2020, will be held on Tuesday, June 16, at 1 p.m. in the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg. Burial will follow in the Haywood Church cemetery.

LOUISBURG -- More than 200 people gathered peacefully in front of the Franklin County Courthouse Saturday evening, ultimately holding up candles against the approaching darkness and remaining silent for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the time it took for George Floyd to die at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The rally, billed as a time to heal by organizer Ebonee Strickland, featured speeches by Louisburg Police Chief Jason Abbott, author Rhoza Lee, Safe Space Director Monica McInnis and Dorian Cannady, a local man who offered an emotional African-American perspective both on Floyd's murder and on the state of racial relations locally.

While the adults held a vigil, these two youngsters put their focus on creating art. The budding artists are Case Gilliam, 6, and 20-month-old Hazel Judd.

LOUISBURG -- The town council got its first look at a nearly finalized 2020-21 budget during a work session Tuesday evening and made few changes in the document that was presented by town administrator Jonathan Franklin.
Essentially, the new budget stands at $14,728,197 and keeps the property tax rate for the coming year the same -- 45 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

LOUISBURG -- The Franklin County Board of Commissioners adopted an $88.8 million spending plan without much dialogue, much to the chagrin of one board member.
Commissioners had a public hearing on the matter during a virtual meeting on June 1, which prompted no public comments about the budget.

Birthday Boy JC Wright, 2

Last week was a bit of a roller coaster ride, starting out on rather rough ground but ending on a positive point that renewed some of my faith in the future of this country and the people coming behind us who will one day lead this nation.
As everyone knows, protests and riots -- and those are two radically different things done by two (or more) very different groups which must not be confused -- rocked the nation last week following the murder of a man in Minneapolis by poorly trained and largely unsupervised police.

Sometimes, as a reporter, you have an idea of how a story will turn out. Still, you're supposed to let the facts drive the narrative, not the other way around.
So, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I started thinking about the impacts it could have.
So, back in April, I spoke with law enforcement and Safe Space Executive Director Monica McInnis about how isolation protocols put in place to combat COVID-19 might impact incidents of domestic violence.

Dear editor :
Compare the tone and rhetoric of Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, delivered near the end of our Civil War, with Donald J. Trump's tone and rhetoric -- and his utter lack of empathy, understanding, or even humanity,

Dear editor:
On Flag Day, June 14, we commemorate the adoption of the American flag. For more than 200 years, Old Glory has served as a symbol of our nation's freedom and as a source of pride for our citizens.

LOUISBURG -- A Louisburg woman died over the weekend following a single-vehicle wreck.
According to a report by Trooper A.T. Lamancusa, Ethel Wilder was driving east on East River Road -- about six miles east of Louisburg -- when the 2003 Volkswagen Beetle she was driving ran off the road to the left.

LOUISBURG -- A routine audit revealed bookkeeping errors that resulted in thousands of dollars in unclaimed funds sitting in the Franklin County Clerk of Court's office bank account, rather than being returned to the rightful owners or the state treasurer's office.
Superior Court Clerk Patricia Burnette Chastain blamed the errors on staff shakeups and a lack of proper training during the time of the audit -- from July 2019 until January 2020.

CHAPEL HILL -- Bunn Town Clerk Pamela Perry received the designation of North Carolina Certified Municipal Clerk from the NC Association of Municipal Clerks, along with the School of Government of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for achieving its high educational, experience, and service requirements.
Perry attained her designation as a NC State Certified Municipal Clerk through the completion of the NC Association of Municipal Clerks Program, conducted in cooperation with the School of Government of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

BUNN -- Town leaders appointed a new commissioner, adopted a budget, mulled a tethering law and, following a closed session, provided some cash for two town employees.
Charlene Clay announced in April that she was stepping down as a commissioner, ending public service that she began in 2009.