Uncle Sam, as tradition, makes his appearance in Castalia's July 4th Parade. Graphic photo by Jo Anne Cooper

Castalia's traditional celebration returned Saturday after a one-year hiatus due to Coronavirus restrictions.
Large crowds gathered at the town's park and streets to enjoy the holiday festivities which included a car show, craft and food vendors, entertainment, amusements, a patriotic parade and fireworks.

A second station for Nashville's Fire Department is on the town's priority list but where the station will go remains up in the air.
Town officials are currently weighing two potential sites.
In 2019, David Rose offered to donate two acres of land to the town for the station.

The town of Spring Hope is continuing code enforcement services with its contractor that was originally hired for a trial basis.
Commissioners chose to extend Alliance Code Enforcement's contract to one year. Prior to the extension, the company was hired for only a three-month period.
Town Manager Jae Kim said that three-month period was supposed to be April through June.

Nash County is launching its annual Operation Fan Heat Relief Program.
The program is offered using funds and donations given and distributed through the Area Agency on Aging.
Individuals interested in this program must complete an application over the phone in order to reserve their fan.

The town of Spring Hope kicked off the 4th of July weekend with its first annual Children's Parade hosted by the Garden Club.
President of the Garden Club Peggy Leggett said they have been planning the parade for weeks and it was a way of bringing the community together for a fun time.
"We felt like they've [children] been sequestered, quarantined for months and months and months. They would like to go outside and do something," she said.

Several incumbents and one newcomer have filed for local municipal seats in November's election.
Prudence Wilkins has filed for the Mayor's seat in Spring Hope. Incumbents Drew Griffin and Brent Cone have filed to be on the ballot to keep their seats as commissioners in Spring Hope.

Castalia officially opened its farmers market June 26th featuring local produce and products.
Pictured above, little Savannah Moore, age two, enjoys a hot dog while visiting the farmers market with her mother, Emily Moore.
The market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Castalia's Community Park, 9656 Main Street.

Damage to personal property was reported at 100 N. Boddie St., Nashville on 7/2/21
Warrant service at 100 N . Boddie St., Nashville on 6/29/21
Simple assault, assault on a female was reported at 1691 Barnes Hill Church Rd., Nashville on 6/28/21

A contractor will replace two bridges over Interstate 95 in Nash County and reconfigure Exit 145 to better handle commercial truck traffic.
The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a $23 million contract to Barnhill Contracting Co. of Rocky Mount to replace these set of bridges:
Swift Creek School Road (N.C. 33) bridge at Exit 150
Watson Seed Farm Road overpass

The West Mount community is proudly displaying its pride as members of the West Mount Ruritan Club have posted American flags along West Mount Drive. Robert Morgan, a club member, spearheaded the expansion of this project which the club has sponsored for decades.

Lance and Karalee Cox of Houston, Texas, announce the engagement of their daughter, Kayla Danielle Cox of Ft. Worth, Texas, to Kristian Allan Lien, also of Ft. Worth Texas. He is the son of David and Athena Lien of Savage, Maryland. Kayla's grandparents are Jim and Rudy Madole of Madisonville, Texas. Kristian's grandparents are Jerry and Retha Pappas of Rocky Mount and Stephen and Linda Parker of Mooresville, North Carolina.

Retail Specialist Seaman Mason Barrett from Rocky Mount operates a clothing press aboard amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7), May 14. Tripoli is underway conducting routine operations in U.S. Third Fleet.

Matthew Floyd, age 6, spent a lot of time the past week searching for Nash County's first cotton bloom of 2021 even marking certain spots he was sure to produce an early bloom. Matthew found his bloom Monday morning, July 5th and brought it to The Nashville Graphic as a long-standing tradition. He is pictured with his grandmother, Ann Evans, and his uncle Jonathan Evans. He is the son of Josh and Frances Evans Floyd.

Edgecombe Community College has announced its President's List for the Spring 2021 semester.

John A. Gibson Jr. and Dureatta F. Gibson to CF KL Assets 2021-1 LLC; 401 Essex Road, Nashville; $142,000
Belinda Hilliard to Jose Fernando Alvarado Guerrero and Victoria Huerta Ponce; 909 West Thomas Street, Rocky Mount
Christopher Lenn Schank and Laura Hamrick Schank to Brent James Niedergall and Christina Niedergall; lot 6, Block E, Section 1, Ketch Point Subdivision

BUILDING PERMITS
RESIDENTIAL

Shannon P. Barger, 6730 W. Mount Drive; new single family; $278,900
Christopher Capobianco, 11764 W. Finch Ave; detached accessory; $3,500

Eight years ago, I lay in a hospital bed dying from a serious stomach infection. I had waited too long, and my wife was told how important the next few days were going to be in my recovery.
I didn't know what she knew. In fact, one morning, very early, my surgeon came by to see me.

Having expressed the ominous prospects for Judah in the opening chapters of Isaiah (1-5), the book now turns to Isaiah's call from God. Isaiah, the prophet of God, has a profound encounter with God in Isaiah 6:1-9. He sees God as God is, but before He has this fresh revelation of the God of all creation, He experiences great loss and grief.

On Saturday, the Christian Fellowship Church Mission Team went out and ministered around the Rocky Mount, Nashville, and Wilson areas with great testimonies. The Sunday morning message was "Who's Building Your House and Who's Living in Your House". Sunday night began the summer revival at CFC with Pastor Daniel Parker, Donnie Rabon, and Michael Bacon ministering for four nights.

This is part two of a post on Christ Culture. Part one appeared in the July 1, 2021 edition of The Graphic. I encourage you to read that one first.
If we want to create a culture that cancels out other human beings because others do not adopt and live into a certain way of thinking that is man made, we will continue to destroy each other.

The Rocky Mount Fire Department, chartered in 1896, will celebrate its 125th anniversary on July 17th.
One hundred twentyfive years have passed since it transitioned from a totally volunteer organization to the Class 1 ISO, internationally accredited, fully paid, career department serving the citizens of Rocky Mount today.

On June 17, 2021, the SACSCOC Board of Trustees voted to reaffirm Nash Community College, following an in-depth decennial review, with no conditions. The college was in compliance with all of the SACSCOC standards and requirements.
"For accreditation, an institution must demonstrate compliance with the standards, policies and procedures set forth by the Commission.

Nash County School Board Member LaShawnda Washington has been named by the Hunt Institute as one of its inaugural cohort of the Hunt State Policy Fellows program.
The program aims to provide a bipartisan group of future education policymakers and aspiring state and local elected officials in North Carolina with the resources, space, and expertise needed to develop thoughtful positions on a variety of education policy issues.

While I don't watch very much television these days, I loved it as a child.
Before I started school, I consumed a lot of PBS programming. I was raised on Captain Kangaroo, Sesame Street, the Electric Company and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Captain Kangaroo was about treating people politely and being friendly and had characters like Mr. Green Jeans, Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose.

The town of Nashville is hosting another drop-in workshop to solicit input for its Comprehensive Plan.
The drop-in workshop will be held on July 14 from 3-7 p.m. at 114 West Church Street in the town council chambers and members of the public are encouraged to drop by to offer comments or suggestions on the vision for the town.

This photo originally published in The Nashville Graphic on October 15, 1970. Residents of the Aventon Community gathered at Ward's Store to cook 325 quarts of brunswick stew. Proceeds of the sale went toward a new community building which was built beside Fishing Creek Church.

Dear Editor: The Nash County Zoning Department finally accomplished what they could not find a legitimate reason to do for the past almost eight years. Mr. Adam Tyson, Nash County Planning Director and Zoning Administrator, issued a directive to stop all firearms discharging on private land on Taylor's Store Road which has been the subject of discussions at several Nash County Commissioner meetings and mentioned in several newspaper articles.

Dear Editor: The recent statement by Rev. Anthony Spearman of the NC NAACP about Senate Bill 473 filed by Sen. Lisa Barnes was as unnecessarily caustic as it was unhinged.

THE BAILEY TWINS AT GRADUATION

STANHOPE -- The Bailey Twins arrived at Southern Nash four years ago and became instant stars -- both in athletics and academics.
It was fitting that they closed out their careers in style -- together while posing for photos after gaining the school's top athletic honors.
Taylor Bailey has been saluted as the Southern Nash Female Athlete of the Year, while Alissa Bailey has claimed the prestigious Nash-Rocky Mount Schools Girls Triple Crown Award for all-around excellence.

NASH REC SWIMMER GARRET LEWIS

ROANOKE RAPIDS -- The Nash-Halifax Swim League schedule continued last Thursday with a road trip for the Nash Rec Stingrays.
Nash Rec headed up Interstate 95 to tangle with the Roanoke Valley Rockfish at the RR Aquatic Center in Halifax County.
The homestanding Rockfish were able to secure the team victory by a 344-231 margin.

FAYETTEVILLE - Brandon Knarr totaled a career-high 11 strikeouts while turning in his first career quality start, Zavier Warren homered, doubled and reached base five times and Ernesto Martinez went 2-for-4 with a triple as the Carolina Mudcats earned an 11-4 Independence Day victory over the host Fayetteville Woodpeckers at SEGRA Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Nash Central High School's football season will begin Aug. 20 with a road game in Tillery against the Southeast Halifax Trojans.
This campaign will mark the return to the Big East Conference for the Bulldogs after four years in the Eastern Plains Conference.
The Big East will now be a split Class 2/3-A league, with Nash Central, Louisburg, Bunn and Roanoke Rapids as the 2-A schools.

ROCKY MOUNT -- North Carolina Wesleyan College senior baseball player Brad Pennington was named as the 2021-22 Male Student-Athlete of the year, the NCWC athletics department announced last Thursday.
Pennington was the leader and captain in numerous categories on the East Division Champion and national qualifying 33-win baseball team while also keeping a 3.5 GPA majoring in Business Administration over his stellar Wesleyan career.

NASH COUNTY PARKS AND REC STRIKERS
13-UNDER BOYS REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS AND TOURNAMENT SECOND PLACE

NASH COUNTY PARKS AND REC HORNETS
10-UNDER GIRLS REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS AND TOURNAMENT CHAMPS

The 2021 production, "The Little Prince," will be performed July 22-25 at the Imperial Centre in Rocky Mount.
The Little Prince is a production based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It will include local youth ages 6-18, telling the story of a world-weary aviator whose malfunctioning plane strands him on the Sahara Desert. Artistic and Managing Director Brooke Edwards will direct the production, while music direction will be led by Benjamin Griffith and Shawn Leonard.