NC Senator Lisa Stone Barnes gives the invocation prior to Vice- President J.D. Vance's arrival Friday. Graphic photo by Nancy West-Brake

ROCKY MOUNT - Vice-President J.D. Vance paid a visit to Rocky Mount last week, both to support President Trump's policies and to stump for district GOP candidates. Also speaking were Laurie Buckhout, who is running for a second time against Congressman Don Davis for the 1st Congressional District seat, and Michael Whatley, who is running for Thom Tillis' seat in the U.S. Senate against former NC Governor Roy Cooper.
Vance, an Ohio native and former US Congressman, first attempted to connect with the 100-plus North Carolina audience present at the Rocky Mount Mills venue by talking up his time spent in NC during his Marine Corps training.

NASHVILLE - A shooting involving multiple adults, two guns, and a juvenile girl who was shot in a leg outside a Nashville laundromat Sunday is under investigation by the Nashville Police Department. One woman has been arrested, and the injured girl has been released from a medical center.
According to a March 16 NPD press release, Michelle Murphy, 53, of 1116 Crescent Meadows Drive, Nashville, has been booked into the Nash Detention Center on a $1,000 bond. She was charged with Misdemeanor Assault Inflicting Serious Injury.

The Eastern Carolina 4-H Livestock Show and Sale Alumni Association hosted Tri-County Ag Day on March 7th to educate the public about animal agriculture and raise funds for 4-H members in Nash, Edgecombe and Halifax counties. Pictured above, Tatum Mills of Nashville shows in Junior Steer Showmanship, finishing 2nd. Graphic photo by Nancy West-Brake

RED OAK - After several months of consideration, public hearings, one neighborhood meeting and back-and-forth action with the planning board, Red Oak's town council has approved conditional rezoning for a 67-lot planned subdivision south of E. Castalia Road.
The 98-acre parcel, planned to house the "Doughtie Subdivision," is currently zoned Agricultural but the application by developer Marvin Shearin requested a change to RM, or Residential mix.

SPRING HOPE - The Downtown Development Board in Spring Hope, which was to lose two of its five members after Pam Brandley and Steven Brumfield were elected as commissioners, is still in limbo about both membership and operations, as members have still not weighed in about a proposed related ordinance.

MOMEYER - Now that Momeyer has officially adopted a town seal, town leaders are looking into trademark protection for it.
Will Funderburg, Mayor, addressing the matter at the March 9 town meeting under new business, ran the idea by town council members who generally agreed to inquire about the process from town attorney Scott McKellar.

ROCKY MOUNT - A grassroots effort to save the Imperial Centre for the Arts and Sciences from potential closure is underway, with an appeal going out to local artists and arts supporters to attend the March 19 Rocky Mount City Council meeting.
Marilyn Barner Anselmi, a Red Oak-area artisan and playwright, in an email to arts supporters, said that she found out last week "that our beloved Imperial Centre for the Arts is on the potential chopping block in efforts to minimize the city's expenditures."

NASHVILLE - Two local teens have appealed to Nash commissioners for funding and advocacy help to combat mental illness among Nash County high schoolers.
Peyton Jones and Karmen Richardson, 11th graders at Nash Early College High School, made a case to commissioners at their March 2nd board meeting. They spoke as representatives of the YMCA Teen Mental Health Advisory Council of North Carolina.

NASHVILLE - On March 11, 2026, at approximately 6:55 p.m., the Nashville Police Department received a 9-1-1 call reporting a physical altercation involving a knife in the area of Embassy Avenue and King George Avenue.
Officers and investigators responded to the scene and located an injured individual. After speaking with the involved parties and processing the scene, investigators developed probable cause and obtained charges against Bobby Ray Wooten Jr., age 42, of 101 Embassy Drive, Nashville.

SPRING HOPE - In keeping with tradition but not talking about how much the tradition costs, the Spring Hope Chamber of Commerce is replacing five of the town's Christmas lights with new ones to the tune of $3,000.
Alan Barbee, speaking on behalf of the Chamber at the town's March 3rd meeting, told commissioners that five new lights had been purchased.

RED OAK - A local veterans' group involved in the Ride of Honor is looking to bring a travelling replica of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial to Red Oak and has gotten initial support from town leaders to do it.
Patti Roberson, Secretary and Membership Officer of HOG Chapter 5119, Flying Iron Harley Davidson, spoke at the March 9 Red Oak town council meeting to request town assistance and permission to host the wall.

NASHVILLE - Communities in Schools, a statewide program that focuses on increasing student success and graduation rates for targeted students, is reporting better attendance, test scores and graduation rates while behavioral issues are decreasing.
Jill Cox, CEO for Communities in Schools NC, addressed the Nash County board of education at an NCPS committee meeting Feb. 23 to show program effects on students in seven Nash schools, including Northern Nash High School, Southern Nash High School, Nash Central High School, Rocky Mount High School and Tar River Academy. CIS is also offered at North Central Middle and Rocky Mount Middle.

A banquet to honor the winners of the VFW annual Voice of Democracy®, Patriot's Pen® essay program, and Law Enforcement Officer of the Year was held at the Post on February 24th. The awards Banquet honors local heroes and acknowledges high school and sixth through eighth grade students essays on a democratic and patriotic-themed recorded essay. Law Enforcement Officer of the Year was Nash County Deputy Sheriff Jack Thorpe. His K-9 partner Fiji was recognized as Law Enforcement K9 of the Year. Voice of Democracy honorees were Teagan Horst and Hannah Lucas. Patriot's Pen honorees were Isaiah Horst and Andrew Lucas.

Where does your food come from? If you're like many Americans, the answer is the grocery store, which is disturbing. The grocery store isn't where food comes from - it's just from where it's distributed. In reality, far too many people are unaware of the role of American agriculture in their daily lives . . . and what it really takes to have food on their dinner table.
Just a few generations ago, most people were a part of - and had friends or relatives involved with - agriculture.

STRICKLAND

Two Nash County farmers have received NC AgVentures grants, already making plans on how to use the money to further their family farms.
Madison Costa with Fowl Creek Farms of Nashville operates a beef cow-calf operation and produces hay, according to a Feb. 23rd press release from North Carolina State University.
Costa, who received a grant for $8,000, will be purchasing a sprayer to use on pastures and hayfields to increase pasture growth and quality of forage.

NASHVILLE - Two new proposed subdivisions in the Spring Hope area have received county approval for rezoning, adding what could amount to 34 future homes.
The larger of the two subdivisions, the Hollow at Hope Creek, was approved for a change from A-1 to RA-30 on just over 25 acres of land on the east side of W. Old Spring Hope Road. The subject property, approved for 28 lots, lies between the five-lot Tar River Hills subdivision to the north and the nine-lot Brenda Dickerson subdivision to the south.

There is a new miniseries about the late John F. Kennedy, Jr. It's hard to believe his plane crash was 25 years ago. Death seems to work its way earlier into the Kennedy family than it does in most other families. Why?
Well, the Kennedy's were and are a family of risk takers. President Kennedy was advised not to go to Dallas. He not only went, but rode in a convertible, waving to onlookers while his assassin patiently waited for him.

In light of the resurrection, the apostle Paul rightly makes a bold claim that Jesus really is who He says He is. Further, Paul writes to the Romans that He "was declared the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 1:4). Considering Jesus's divine nature, one might naturally ask; "what exactly did Jesus think about the Bible?" because if Jesus is who He says that He is, then it matters a great deal what He thought about the Bible.

One of the last encounters with Jesus before He enters Jerusalem is recorded in Mark 19:1-10
You perhaps remember learning a song about him years ago, maybe in Sunday school or a Vacation Bible School.
"Zacchaeus was a wee little man - And a wee little man was he - He climbed up in a sycamore tree - For the Lord he wanted to see."
Zaccheaus was short in stature and people following Jesus made it impossible for him to see Jesus. Well, what do you do when you face these obstacles?

Several ladies enjoyed the Nash County Spring WMU meeting on Monday, March 9 at West Edgecombe Baptist Church. The meeting included the call to order by Kay Turner, chairperson, and minutes from the last meeting shared by Beverly Perry, secretary/treasurer. The Nash County WMU Banner was passed this year from Audrey Pearce, WMU Director at Red Oak Baptist Church, to Ben Mary Bradley, WMU Director at West Edgecombe Baptist Church. There was also a time for churches to share projects and upcoming events, and missionaries John and Pat Gordy. John and Pat shared stories from the field in China and Africa.

Cornelia Faye W. Martin to 231 Homes, LLC; 311 West Franklin Street, Spring Hope; $65,000
RGM Investments, LLC to Gaby Signature Realty, LLC; 1110 Star Street, Rocky Mount; $124,000
Frank L. Montemarano Jr. to Frank Montemarano Jr. Irrevocable Trust, Frank Montemarano Jr., Joseph Montemarano and Timothy Montemarano; 2196 Highway 64A, Nashville

Kenzie Updyke of Nashville shows in Intermediate Steer Showmanship, finishing 3rd.

There's a Del McCoury song called "The Streets of Baltimore" that has a few lines that came to mind last week as a train clack-clacked me north to a writing conference.
The narrator/Del sings, "She said the prettiest place on earth is Baltimore at night" and then a line later, "And I kind of like the streets of Baltimore."
After spending the better part of a week there, it seemed the later lines about being dragged through the streets of Baltimore and "...heading home on that same train that brought me here before" fit better.

I've been asked by a few folks in the past if The Graphic might consider adding the Rocky Mount City Council to its coverage. My quick answer has always been no - unless the management and leadership of Rocky Mount begins to affect people in The Graphic's coverage area - meaning water and utilities.
Nashville relies on Rocky Mount for its water. Some of the rural areas in our coverage area also rely on Rocky Mount for water, natural gas or electricity.
In the past, our coverage has usually been limited to those two things in unison with covering the Nashville Town Council and county government.
It's more than obvious that the leadership of Rocky Mount has (forgive the pun) been on somewhat rocky ground for some time now.

This photo published in The Nashville Graphic on June 27, 1968. Bill Shackleford (pictured far right) explains the process used in bulk tobacco curing to local businessmen who were invited on a tour of farming operations. The curer was owned by L.R. Joyner of Sandy Cross. Bulk barns were becoming more popular at that time in this area.