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ROCKY MOUNT - The City of Rocky Mount has received a notice of violation by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
At issue is effulent discharge from the Tar River Water Treatment Plant's wastewater treatment facility on May 8 and May 9, 2025.
A July 15 certified letter to Elton Daniels, Rocky Mount City Manager, gives both the notice of violation and the intent to assess a civil penalty.
The environmental group Sound Rivers posted a press release about an event July 17, the same day that a Nashville Graphic reporter was denied photographic access to the Tar River Reservoir dam.

ROCKY MOUNT - Less than six weeks after the Nash County Animal Shelter was cited by the state for multiple animal care violations, the facility has failed another inspection, leading to another civil penalty of $9,100.
The shelter, also called the Pet Connection Center, was previously assessed $6,700 in fines after an inspection June 13 and a follow-up visit on June 16.

NASHVILLE - A well- attended 34th annual meeting of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce July 24 featured a celebration of appreciation for multiple local folks and businesses, with awards bestowed for "Business of the Year," "Beyond The Call of Duty," a Special Recognition, four scholarships and the swearing-in of Chamber officers.

RALEIGH - Former North Carolina Governor and Nashville native son Roy Cooper is running for a U.S. Senate seat.
Cooper, a Democrat and also a former attorney general from 2001-2017, said his decision came in response to the current threat to the middle class.
"Right now, our country is facing a moment as fragile as any I can remember. And the decisions we make in the next election will determine if we even have a middle class in America," Cooper said, adding that he "never really wanted to go to Washington" and wanted to serve people in North Carolina, "but these are not ordinary times."

NASHVILLE - The bulldozers have started their work for Nashville's long-awaited splash park at Glover Park, with a celebratory ground breaking July 23rd, accompanied by free hot dogs served up by members of the town's Parks & Rec Department.
"This is a dream come true," commented Brenda Brown, mayor, who said It had been her heart's desire to do more for the town's children and their families.

BAILEY - The owner of a Bailey event center, initially denied a variance to keep his business open past midnight, has won that right while re-branding his business as a nightclub or dance hall.
Herculao Patino and Patino Contracting of Wendell, owners of the Tu Casa ("Your Home") Event Center at 5825 Main Street, Bailey, asked for a variance in the summer of 2024, stating that it was causing a business hardship for him to close his events down prematurely, as clients wanted to stay longer during celebrations.

NASHVILLE - The Nashville Planning Board has weighed in with recommendations about the use of shipping containers in town, and now it will be up to the town council to make a decision at their upcoming August 5th meeting.
Spearheading the movement to codify shipping container use has been local businessman Chris Sandy of Build Right Supplies, who first composed and presented a prospective ordinance at the June 24 town planning board meeting.

NASHVILLE- While a final vote is pending at the August 4 board of education meeting, Nash School District officials are putting the word out now about a policy change on student wireless device use. It should be going into effect at all schools- K-12- across the county by the first day of school, August 12. This also includes the Early College. The policy is based on recent legislation adopted at the state level, and would supersede earlier district policies.

COLLEGE PARK, MD - National History Day® (NHD) announced in May, the teachers honored as the 2025 National History Day Teacher of the Year Award nominees.
Emily Lemus of Nash County was one of 71 teachers nominated this year. Lemus was nominated in the senior division.
This year, teachers from all NHD affiliate programs were able to self-nominate for the award.

Years ago, I stumbled across a book entitled "Questioning Evangelism". It provides a practical framework for winning souls to Christ.
What actually is the "Great Commission"? In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus instructs Christians to go forth into all the world, proclaim the gospel, make disciples, and teach obedience to his commands. The Lord challenges us to do this so others can understand what words like joy, peace, grace, and mercy really mean!
The author of the book, Randy Newman, points out the skeptic in the world today is not very different from the skeptic that watched and listened to Jesus.

In Psalm 51, we see several lessons about choices and the fact that our choices matter.
David is at the end of himself and yet he remembers who he can turn to. He knows his mistakes and he pleads with God to give him mercy and grace. He knows he has sinned against others, but he also knows he has rebelled and sinned against God. He asks for forgiveness and also admits that God is just in His judgment. When we sin, we deserve God's judgment, but everyday we should praying for His grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

We concluded last time by analyzing the popular "COEXIST" bumper sticker. According to this bumper sticker, "c" is the symbol of Islam, "o" is the symbol of the peace movement, "e" is the symbol of transgenderism, "x" is the Jewish star of David, the dot on the "i" is the witch worshiping Wiccan symbol, the "s" is the Taoist yin/yang symbol, and the "t" is the Christian Cross of Christ. One big happy family, they say. But that cannot be true because each one makes an exclusionary truth claim and claims to be the ultimate and exclusive moral truth.

The children and chaperones had a great time at Camp Caraway last week. There were 23 children with nine chaperones who attended the missions camp. Activities included missionary, Bible study, music, recreation, and more.
Red Oak Baptist Church will have a Backpack Giveaway on Saturday, August 2 at 8:30 a.m. Backpacks will be filled with school supplies.
Merry Christmas in August! Christmas in August is a missions project of Woman's Missionary Union (WMU) in partnership with the North American Mission Board.

Kenneth R. Reynolds Jr. and Danielle M. Reynolds to One to One Enterprises, LLC; 340 West Raleigh Boulevard, Rocky Mount; $21,000
Ethen Mae Davis Mayfield and Tiara S. Davis to Tiara S. Davis; 1308 West Mount Drive, Rocky Mount
Conly D. Belk and Candice L. Belk to Mark Christopher Fulford and Linda Stark Fulford; 5268 Tuscany Road, Rocky Mount; $585,000
B&V Associates, LLC to Thomas C. Wilder Jr.; .528 acres in South Whitakers Township

Financial transaction card fraud reported at 131 Nashville Commons Dr., Nashville on 6/16/25
Larceny, misdemeanor reported at 711 S. First St., Nashville on 6/17/25
Larceny, misdemeanor reported at 131 Nashville Commons Dr., Nashville on 6/20/25
Sell/deliver heroin reported at 217 Aviation Ave., Nashville on 6/25/25

Assault with deadly weapon with inflicting serious injury reported at 1089 Bloomery Rd., Bailey on 7/19/25
Larceny of a firearm reported at 13001 Edwards Rd., Spring Hope on 7/16/25
Larceny by employee reported at 1765 Red Oak Rd., Nashville on 7/18/25
Fail to report change of address-sex offender; fail to return verification form reported at 1921 N. Wesleyan Blvd., Rocky Mount on 7/17/25

The Nashville Chamber of Commerce presents four college scholarships during its 34th annual meeting. Scholarship winners (left to right) Carsyn Roughton, Jaylah Faulkner, Gavin Alan Clark and Madelyn Grace Girouard poses with their certificates and presenter Christie Baker.

The last few weeks over in Brantleyworld have been rough.
If my mama was still around, she'd probably tell me it's because I missed church two weeks in a row.
I had this naivete that the summer might get a little less hectic once Wedding Week: The Epic Motion Picture finished its run. Pfft.
I finished a five-year commitment by chairing a conference a couple of weeks ago that went well.

I really can't believe we're having to report, again, the shortcomings of Nash County leadership when it comes to making sure our animal shelter is managed and operated properly.
It's bad enough they were basically gifted a brand new facility, which opened in 2023, but have yet to place any focus on developing a plan to increase staff, increase adoption hours, develop affordable spay/neuter programs or increase public awareness.

This photo published in The Nashville Graphic on Sept. 20, 1977. The executive committee for the fall stewardship crusade at the Nashville United Methodist Church were pictured as they reviewed final plans for the crusade.