Recent Articles

Dear editor: We thank you, Carey Johnson, for the article you wrote: "Virus changes lifestyles in an instant." This article is written in a very positive way.
We see the picture of the public school system providing lunches for our children.
The online version of The Franklin Times is now available free for people to stay informed of the virus.

Dear editor: They did what I said. I've asked lots of people to donate blood to the Red Cross and many did at Rock Spring Baptist Church recently.
Cheryl Noe was very happy. I do believe I saw her "cut a step." The Red Cross has good stepping music in the background. Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Stallings didn't cut a step but made lots of steps working.

NEW YORK -- Hospital Corpsman Carson Sayles of Louisburg arrived in New York harbor Monday morning, aboard the hospital ship USNS Comfort, one of the US Navy's floating hospitals.
Sayles is part of a relief deployment to help hard hit New York deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

My name is Caroline White. I am a senior at Bunn High School.
The COVID-19 virus has brought about many emotions for me where my softball career is concerned.
My prep career most likely ending prematurely makes me really upset because this season is what I have looked forward to since my freshman year.
It's not only softball; it's everything that I feel that I'm missing from my senior year.

This spring, a lot of good things were going to happen for me.
I was supposed to go teach elementary school children, play my last season of softball, have my senior prom and walk across the stage to get my diploma that I have worked so hard for.
The school and athletic suspension stirs a lot of emotions.

When I heard that my season could possibly be finished for the school year, I was devastated.
I was more upset because this is my senior year, my last high school track season.
I will never be able to get this time and experience back.
This suspension of athletics has stopped me from being able to defend my state (high jump) title, which is very upsetting to me.

I'm at a loss for words to describe how it feels to have the senior season of my prep career (possibly) taken away from me before it could really get started.
I have been a three-sport athlete since I was 6 years old -- football, basketball and baseball.
Since little league, baseball has always been my favorite. Hearing that the season would be suspended because of the coronavirus I thought to myself "okay. no way that's true and if so it'll only be a week or two and it will be back do no worries", but little did I know.

Not sure which was more sobering last week, watching the nation's restaurants and stores shut down as confirmed virus cases spiraled upward and medical folks tried to cope, watching our governments' inept responses to the crisis or reading an article that called the coronavirus a media extinction event.
Granted, it's not quite to the point where, like the dinosaurs, we're looking up to see a giant, life-ending meteor barrelling in our direction.
But, like so many small and medium-sized businesses, we have been hit hard by this pandemic -- and we at The Times are struggling to survive.

LOUISBURG -- In 12 days, Franklin County went from zero COVID-19 cases to 11.
The state Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that number by March 31 -- a day after Gov. Roy Cooper's Stay at Home order took effect.
The order formalizes a number of gathering and other restrictions scientists believe will flatten the curve of the spread of the coronavirus, but it also gives officers enforcement powers against those who flaunt the law.

LOUISBURG - Robert Bloomer Fleming (Bob) was born in Halifax County, son of the late Lillian Moore Bloomer Fleming and Robert Maynard Fleming. He was preceded in death by his beloved son, Robert B. Fleming, Jr., who was claimed by childhood leukemia, at age 13, in 1983. He was also predeceased by his great-uncle and aunt, Hugh and Sallie Draper Bloomer, and his sister, Lillian Moore Fleming White. Since 2003, when he fell and suffered a traumatic brain injury, his home has been the Fountains of the Albemarle in Tarboro.

LOUISBURG--Graveside services for Fredrick "Wayne" Crudup, 60, who died Sunday, March 29, 2020, will be held Friday, April 3, at 1 p.m. in the Haywood Baptist Church cemetery in Louisburg.

LOUISBURG--Graveside services for Ossie Hayes Wilkins, 93, who died Friday, March 27, 2020, will be held Wednesday, April 1, at 1 p.m. at the Hayes family cemetery in Louisburg.

LOUISBURG--Funeral services for Willie Shelton "Dean" Branch, 76, who died Friday, March 27, 2020, were held Sunday, March 29, at 12 p.m. in the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg with Apostle Michael Branch officiating. Burial followed in the Mitchell Church cemetery.

FRANKLINTON--Gordon Laverne Appleford, 84, of Franklinton died Wednesday, March 25, 2020. Services will be held at a later date.

LOUISBURG -- Airport officials moved one step closer to tidying up the airfield.
Going back to August, the Triangle North Executive Airport Advisory Board began discussions to address derelict aircraft that use the airport's tie down spaces -- the most visible crafts to visitors.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County joined the list of counties with confirmed cases of COVID-19 as the pandemic continues to shut down, shutter and suspend all aspects of life.
On March 20, four Franklin County residents tested positive for the coronavirus, health officials confirmed. By Wednesday, an additional county case appeared on the State Department of Health and Human Services website.

Volunteers stepped up at the Louisburg Senior Center to feed the seniors during the pandemic. Several volunteers put together 60 boxes of food, making more than 900 meals for senior citizens who would normally be at the center to dine.

LOUISBURG -- Meeting in an unusual session to deal with an unusual crisis, the Franklin County Board of Education Monday night granted sweeping emergency powers to Superintendent Rhonda Schuhler to allow her to deal with the escalating COVID-19 crisis.
The special Monday night meeting was conducted partially over the internet and partially in the West River Road administrative complex where board chair Paige Sayles and member Rosemary Champion were in attendance.

Laurel Mill Elementary School has become the fifth site in Franklin County where officials are distributing free lunches and breakfasts to students while the schools are closed.
The meals are also available at Louisburg and Bunn high schools, and Franklinton and Youngsville elementary schools between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays

YOUNGSVILLE -- Town Administrator Phil Cordeiro presented commissioners with an outline of his 2020-21 budget proposal that keeps the tax rate neutral, calls for about $1 million in renovations and new construction, and raises some fees.
The most ambitious aspect of the budget -- a preview of which was given to commissioners during a special called March 19 meeting -- are plans to renovate the town's administrative complex, which hosts town hall staff, the police department and public works operations.

LOUISBURG -- One casualty, at least initially, of COVID-19 has been the county's Comprehensive Development Plan.
The document, which will serve as a guide for county development for the next 20 years, was originally on the Franklin County Board of Commissioners' March 16 agenda, but was jettisoned in favor of brevity.

The River golf pro Randy Davis

It's been a really strange week -- and the best question I heard was somewhat tongue-in-cheek.
Noting that 2020 was off to a very disjointed and tumultuous start, like sometimes happens with a computer, someone asked if unplugging the year, waiting 20 seconds and then plugging it back in would help.
That's the last line of defense against cranky computers, so it might work on a year -- although so far nothing much is working.