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LOUISBURG - Funeral services for Lillie "Bam Bam" Epps, 73, who died Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016, were held Saturday, Nov. 19, at Haywood Baptist Church in Louisburg, with Pastor Douglas Harris officiating. Burial followed in the Hargrove family cemetery.

LOUISBURG -- Each year, the United Way supports education in Franklin County Schools through the organization's teacher grants program.
The program encourages classroom teachers and school faculty to apply for up to $1,500 to support innovative classroom projects or school-wide programs that will impact student learning in positive and engaging ways.
For the 2016-17 school year, Franklin County Schools in partnership with the United Way of Franklin County is pleased to announce that 13 FCS teachers will be receiving more than $12,000 in funding this year.

Mionnie's Place, located in downtown Louisburg, 203 Court St., recently held its grand opening and ribbon cutting sponsored by the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. Open since Oct. 24, Mionnie's is a nutrition club offering a healthy alternative to fast food. The healthy meal and snack options include protein smoothies, green tea, aloe water, protein bars, soy nuts and more. In addition, Mionnie's offers free community workouts including a cardio drumming program and fit camp.

HENDERSON -- The Vance-Granville Community Band will perform traditional Christmas fare as well as light classical and contemporary favorites during its ninth annual holiday concert on Monday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. at McGregor Hall Performing Arts Center in Henderson.
The band is led by Louisburg resident Brian Miller.
This will be the first time that the Community Band has held a concert at the 1,000-seat venue, which opened earlier this year and is located at 201 Breckenridge Street in downtown Henderson. Admission is free.

RALEIGH -- The State Board of Elections met through the weekend, trying to figure out a way to bring the Nov. 8 election to a conclusion amid protests filed in half of the state's 100 counties.
The only real conclusion they made was that they'd meet again Tuesday (Nov. 22) in an attempt to provide counties with legal guidance on how to handle allegations of voter fraud, including allegations of dead voters and votes cast by active felons.

LOUISBURG -- When most folks see a few pieces of split and well-dried red maple and a couple of pieces of dried red spruce, they're probably thinking firewood!
But Louisburg's Mike Anderson sees a violin. Or, a fiddle.
If the pieces are a little larger, perhaps a cello.
Snuggled into a corner of Anderson's Oak Drive backyard is a small, stand-alone workshop where he handcrafts violins or fiddles, smaller pocket fiddles and, a couple of times, a cello.

Christmas celebrations will begin in earnest next week.
First up is Franklinton, which will host its Christmas Parade -- the county's only nighttime event -- at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1.
The town of Youngsville will host a day of festivities on Dec. 3, beginning with the Youngsville Rescue Auxiliary Breakfast from 7-9:30 a.m.
The parade will follow at 10 a.m.

LOUISBURG -- If Black Friday sales, the relentless pressure of finding just the right gift and the hectic holiday season is about to become too much, one event may be the antidote.
A 19th Century Christmas Open House is planned at the historic Person Place home on the corner of the Louisburg College campus at 605 N. Main Street.
Slated to run from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 9, the event is a quiet alternative to the hectic 21st Century Christmas.

Louisburg resident Ozell Mangum

FRANKLINTON -- Life can get in the way, even for the closest of family and friends.
Three years ago, the men of the Green and Cooke families sought to rectify that and started meeting, figuring out a way they could get together more often to hang out and catch up -- eventually sowing the seeds for a once-a-year getaway for the group.
"We'd get together and we'd hang out and laugh and joke and enjoy time together," said Tim Green, president of the group, which became the Green-Cooke Men's Group.

CARY -- Two Franklin County residents and firefighters graduated last week as part of the State Highway Patrol's 140th Basic School.
Trooper J.T. Southerland and C.R. Lanham were two of the 47 cadets who completed the 15 week academy, enduring training in physical fitness, defensive tactics, drivers training, as well as other sessions of motor vehicle laws.
Their graduation was held Nov. 18 at Colonial Baptist Church.

"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" will return to Louisburg Collect Dec. 1 to 11.
Norris Theatre Director Wally Hurst will direct the production, which was written by Barbara Robinson.
In this Christmas tale, a couple struggling to put on a church Christmas pageant is faced with casting the Herdman kids - probably the most inventively awful kids in history, Hurst said.

Allison Kaye Fobes and James Furman Wright Jr. were married on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016 during a 4 p.m. ceremony at Duke Memorial Baptist Church. The officiating minister was Tony Gupton.
The bride is the daughter of Rodney and Lisa Fobes of Castalia.
The groom's parents are Lisa Neville of Louisburg and the late James Wright Sr. of Henderson.

YOUNGSVILLE -- Franklin County sheriff's deputies are looking for a suspect who robbed a sweepstakes business at gunpoint.
According to authorities, a man entered the sweepstakes cafe located at 225 Weathers Street just outside the town limits just after 9 a.m. on Nov. 20.
The man pointed a nickel-plated long-barrel pistol at a store clerk and demanded money.
There was one other person inside the business, according to Franklin County Sheriff's Office Chief of Staff Terry Wright, but no shots were fired and no one was injured.

YOUNGSVILLE -- Police arrested a Louisburg man they allege ran from a police checkpoint.
According to a report by Youngsville Police Lt. M. Little, he was conducting a license checkpoint when someone, later identified as Charles Wright, 41, pulled up in a burgundy Kia Sportage sport utility vehicle.
Wright, according to authorities, approached the checkpoint, he almost drove off the road to the left, nearly hitting a parked patrol vehicle, before stopping.

In April 2013, a small group formed in the Moulton Road community to pick up litter.
The group picks up litter on a two-mile stretch of Moulton Road near the convenience site on Saturday mornings every six to eight weeks.
The group has picked up 21 times the past three years, with on average four to 10 volunteers who pick up 10 bags of litter each time - half of which is recyclable materials.

With the snip of a ribbon last Thursday evening, Fresenius Kidney Care's new Louisburg facility opened its doors to the community.
The facility, which is located at 935 North Main Street, is not quite ready for patients but will be shortly as soon as it passes its final inspection by the state, officials said.
Fresenius Kidney Care, the dialysis division of Fresenius Medical Care North America and the nation's leading network of dialysis facilities, invited the community to an Open House celebration on Thursday, Nov. 17.

BUNN -- Bunn hosted a pre-game ceremony last Friday to commemorate the illustrious career of retiring head football coach David Howle.
But Howle hopes he still has a dose or two of heroics remaining in his tenure as the Wildcats continue to advance through the Class 2-AA State Playoffs.
Howle's storybook night won't be his last as Bunn, after a slow start, rolled past St. Pauls by a 49-12 margin.
The second-seeded Wildcats, now 11-1 overall, will move into a second-round event this Friday at home versus Northside-Jacksonville, which was a winner at Randleman.

BUNN - Four years ago, Charles Haley took over as the head boys soccer coach and Haley faced an immediate communication problem.
Bunn had too many players with the first name of 'Brian' on its roster, so Brian Husinko simply became known as 'Husinko' -- and that would stick for the rest of his career.
And what a career it would be as Husinko developed into a dominant performer, especially during his senior year, when he made a name for himself in the area soccer circles.

LOUISBURG -- Following a successful regular season, Louisburg High School was able to secure a home game in the first round of the Class 1-AA State Football Playoffs.
That didn't mean, however, that the contest would be easy as Gates County brought a solid club to Patterson Field last Friday -- and left with a 34-17 decision over the Warriors.

BUNN -- With point guard Bernadette Cooke out until later in the season and post Cressida Duncan moved back to Kentucky -- and several other key players graduated -- the Bunn Ladycats are short on experience but high on potential during the 2016-17 basketball campaign.
Bunn opened its season in short-handed fashion last Thursday against backyard rival Southern Nash.
The Ladycats showed their inexperience -- but also displayed some promise for the future -- during their 31-29 home loss to Southern at the Bunn Dome in a back-and-forth game.

AHOSKIE -- A tough first-round draw awaited the visiting Franklinton Red Rams in their final football season -- at least for the near future -- on the Class 2-AA level.
That campaign would close last Friday night as the Red Rams were defeated 46-18 by a strong, high-powered Hertford County contingent.
Franklinton, which entered as the No. 6 seed, fell behind 20-3 after one period of action.

CHAPEL HILL -- Listed are last Friday's results and this Friday's schedule for Class 1-AA and 2-AA State Football Playoffs:

Louisburg's Terry Allen (right) registers a quarterback sack during last Friday night's home playoff setback against the Gates County Red Barons.

Makayla Strickland (with ball) is one of several new faces this season for the Bunn High School girls basketball squad under Coach Matt Keith.