Recent Articles

Louisburg College has an impressive list of players who have gone on to play professional baseball -- and each of those performers are part of a banner at Frazier Field. Recent draftees Seth Johnson and Jason Parker and now listed after being selected in the 2019 Major League Draft.

LOUISBURG -- Louisburg High School's Cale Bolton began to experience buyer's remorse almost immediately after signing a baseball letter-of-intent last December to join the program at Barton College.
Throw in some coaching changes, along with the exploration of his full options, and Bolton eventually opted out of his commitment.

LOUISBURG -- Post 105's first playoff game in over 20 years didn't exactly go as planned Tuesday night at Frazier Field on the campus of Louisburg College.
After two decades, Post 105 resurrected its American Legion program this summer in Franklin County -- and Coach Larry McKeithan's club opened some area eyes by qualifying for the postseason.

LOUISBURG -- Bryan Bagwell checked all of the search committee's boxes to become the new men's basketball coach at Louisburg College.
Bagwell boasts plenty of experience -- 16 years worth -- and he also has served as a head coach for two years at Lenoir Community College in Kinston.

LOUISBURG -- Just because the softball season ended in May at Louisburg High School doesn't mean that the Lady Warriors will be taking the summer off.
Instead, a trio of LHS standouts starred for the Region 1 Team that claimed the championship last month at the annual Powerade North Carolina State Games in Charlotte.

RALEIGH -- The National Hockey League has released the 2019-20 regular-season schedules for its 31 member clubs.
The Carolina Hurricanes will open the season at PNC Arena on Thursday, Oct. 3, against the Montreal Canadiens.
For the third consecutive season, the Hurricanes will begin the season on home ice.

ZEBULON -- Mario Feliciano went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and three RBI, Wes Rogers scored four runs while going 2-for-3, Ryan Aguilar went 2-for-4 with a two-run double in the eighth and Noah Zavolas earned the win the as Carolina Mudcats held on to win their fifth straight game 6-5 on Monday night versus Lynchburg in a Class A Carolina League baseball showdown.

Louisburg High School softball players (l to r) Laine Barefoot, Chelsea Roberson and Ragan Holloman display their first-place medals from the Powerade North Carolina State Games.

WENDELL--Risa Babeck, 55, died Wednesday, July 10, 2019 at her home in Wendell after a long battle with breast cancer. Funeral service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at Calvary's Cross Baptist Church, 1807 NC Hwy 98, Louisburg, with Pastor Martin Pinnell officiating. The family will receive friends immediately following the service.

PILOT COMMUNTY--Nell Stallings Williams, 92, of Pilot, passed away peacefully at her home Tuesday, July 9, 2019.

FRANKLINTON--Funeral services for Hazel Perry, 67, who died Sunday, July 7, 2019, will be held Friday, July 12, at 2 p.m. at Manasseh Chapel Baptist Church in Franklinton with Pastor Samuel Tunstall officiating. Burial will follow in the Kearney-Perry cemetery.

SPRING HOPE--Alta Beck Woodard, 87, went home to be with God after a year long battle with cancer, which she fought as hard as she could. Alta was born in Rowan County, the 10th of 11 children, to Arthur and Zelma Beck. Alta had a strong faith, and was active in church. She graduated from Gardner Webb University with a major in biology and a minor in psychology.

ZEBULON - Dr. James Evan Horton, 67, went home to be with the Lord on Saturday, July 6, 2019.

LOUISBURG--Memorial services for India T. Smith, 77, who died Thursday, July 4, 2019, were held Sunday, July 7, in the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg, with the Rev. LeRoy Dukes officiating.

Frank Raymond Alexander, 59, died Tuesday, June 25, 2019. A memorial service will be held at the Cremation Society of the Carolinas, 2205 E. Millbrook Road, Raleigh, at 3 p.m. Friday, July 12.

FRANKLINTON--Edwina Bullock Wadford, 82, died Wednesday, July 3, 2019. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 10, at Neuse Baptist Church, 444 Louisbury Rd., Wake Forest. Burial will follow at Pine Forest Memorial Garden in Wake Forest.

This is the time of the year when the mid-summer news doldrums often set in but that may not be happening this year.
The good news is that all local governments and the schools got through the annual budget nonsense with a minimum of controversy and bloodshed -- but there are still major issues that have to be dealt with locally.

LOUISBURG -- It hasn't taken long for the American Legion Post 105 Baseball Team to return to quality form after a two-decade absence.
Post 105, consisting of players from Franklin, Granville and Vance Counties, has enjoyed a strong renaissance this summer under Coach Larry McKeithan.
McKeithan's crew will be the second seed from the Area 1 Western Conference and has qualified for the Legion Playoffs, which will begin July 9.

CASTALIA -- The wondering never stops for Linnie Anderson.
For the past 10 years, she's wondered about the whereabouts of her son, Roger Wade "Kojack" Ayscue.
In darker times, friends and family wonder if he's in a shallow grave, having been left for dead.

LOUISBURG -- Last week, Wake County's health staff notified 19,000 households about the potential for radiological contaminants in their well water.
That mass notification prompted worry from residents in Franklin County, too, whose private well owners feed from the same resource as their neighbors to the south.

FIRE IN THE SKY. Above, Caleb Ernste and Tyree Armstrong tumble down a slide set up in the kid zone. Franklinton's event kicked off Independence Day festivities that were held by the county in Louisburg on Wednesday and the Alert Fourth of July Parade on Thursday.

LOUISBURG -- Meeting in a special end-of-the-fiscal-year session last Thursday, the Franklin County Board of Education took its budget-cutting axe to the plans for the new Louisburg High School athletic complex -- and lopped about $328,461 from the total cost.
Working with its architects and the likely contractor, school officials used a technique called "value engineering" to trim the cost of at least 33 line items in the project.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County's municipal filing period opens this Friday and, already, there could be some changes.
Bunn Commissioner Linda Pippin has said she will not file to seek re-election.
And, Louisburg Town Councilman Bill Williamson said he's undecided.

Justice Fire crews loaded a MasTec employee onto a UNC helicopter on Monday morning after he was apparently electrocuted. First responders said he was stable when he was transported. It was not immediately clear how the incident on Hubert Davis Road occurred.