Operation Cursed Cupid leads to 80 charges against alleged sexual predators. Graphic photo by Nancy West-Brake

NASHVILLE - Sixteen men from locales all around North Carolina came to Nashville in February, looking to sexually exploit children, but instead found themselves in the long arm of the law.
'Operation Cursed Cupid," a multi-agency collaborative undercover operation spearheaded by the Nashville Police Department involved more than 150 officers and thousands of man hours.

ROCKY MOUNT - A cadre of Nashville town leaders and staff showed up to represent the town at a 3 and one-half hour special called Rocky Mount city council meeting Monday, to file a formal objection to Rocky Mount raising its utility rates, particularly the 15% rise in water and sewer for wholesale customers.
The stated meeting purpose was to "receive public comments for amending electric rates, stormwater utility rates, environmental services, fees and charges as well as amendments to water/sewer retail wholesale rates."

Nashville Parks and Rec hosted its annual Eggciting Saturday featuring egg hunts, Easter Bunny visits, activities and more. Pictured above, Steven Tooley, Angel Tooley and Charles Tooley of Battleboro snuggle with the Easter Bunny.

NASHVILLE - A second attempt at conditional rezoning to expand a neighborhood convenience store at the intersection of First and Brake Streets has failed for a second time at the planning board level, with the issue slated to come before the Nashville town council April 7.
Mujalli Empire LLC of Garner, the current owner, purchased two residential lots directly behind the existing People's Market Store, with the idea of demolishing the current store to rebuild a larger one and to add additional parking.

SPRING HOPE - The new town manager for Spring Hope, Jonathan Allen, made his first town debut at the March 26th planning board meeting, hopping up onto the dais like he'd always been there but not saying a word, just taking it all in.
"I'm looking forward to being a part of the community and have to immerse myself," Allen told The Graphic, who interviewed him several days later.
Allen's official start date on the job was three days earlier on March 23, 2026.

NASHVILLE - With a budget retreat session breaking the ice for beginning work on the FY 27 town budget, Nashville leaders are "chewing on" department presentations prior to the first of two town council work sessions, those scheduled one week apart on May 13th and 20th.
Among department heads speaking at the first meeting, held March 23rd, were Koy Worrell, Director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources; Shawn Lucas, Planning Director; and Daniel Jones, Strategic Advisor at VC3, the company that handles the town's internet security.

NASHVILLE- A plan to see a unique town logo for Nashville has been revived, with the Downtown Strong Advisory Board (DSAB) working with NC Wesleyan students on various designs.
A call for designs was first issued two years ago, but there were no takers, according to Shawn Lucas, Planning Director, who spoke at the March 24th DSAB meeting.

ROCKY MOUNT - The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles has opened a new license plate agency (LPA) in Rocky Mount.
The new agency is located at 659 Tiffany Blvd., in Rocky Mount, and will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday, except on state holidays. The office will be operated by Harvey Godwin, who also operates LPAs in Lumberton, Shallotte and Wilson.
In North Carolina, NCDMV oversees LPAs, but the agencies are managed by private businesses or local governments.

Michelangelo once posed a very interesting question to one of his fellow artists.
With frustration in his voice, he asked, "Why do you keep filling gallery after gallery with endless pictures on the one theme of Christ in weakness, Christ on the cross, and most of all, Christ hanging dead? Why do you concentrate on the passing episode as if it were the last work as if the curtain dropped down there on disaster and defeat? That dreadful scene lasted only a few hours. But to the unending eternity Christ is alive. Christ rules and reigns and triumphs!"

Last week, we examined the reliability of the biblical text and concluded that there were three good reasons to believe the New Testament canon was a natural and expected product of the unfolding of redemptive history in Jesus Christ. First, the story needed to be finished.
The first-century Israelites were waiting for God to finish the redemption story that began in the Old Testament. Consequently, the earliest Christians believed that He was completing the story through the man sent from God, Jesus.

Congratulations to James and Amanda Hurst on the birth of their daughter, Hazel Wynn! Proud grandparents are Pat and Melinda Griffin.
The Nell Boone Sunday School Class of Red Oak Baptist Church donated Easter baskets for the children at The Bassett Center in Rocky Mount. This is a project that the class looks forward to each year. Members filled baskets with fun items including candy, toys, stuffed animals, games, school supplies, and a gospel tract.
The Easter Sunrise service with Red Oak United Methodist Church and Red Oak Baptist Church will be at 7:30 a.m.

Adams Homes AEC, LLC and Don J. Adams to Milton Bradley Jones Jr., Katherine Rivera-Narvaez and Katherine Rivera Narvaez; Coolwater, Phase 4, Lot 35; $391,500
Charles L. Shultz, Gregory C. Shultz and Loretta S. Bass to Loretta S. Bass; 31.95 acres
Substitute Trustee Services, Inc., Patrick Joseph Roach and Janis Bates Griffin to Pennymac Loan Services, LLC and The Parker Law Office, PLLC; Section 2,

Brittany Armbruster, Sales and Marketing Manager for Braswell Family Farms, presents an Easter basket to one-year-old Stetson Walker and his mom, Farrin Walker, of Nashville. Graphic photo by Nancy West-Brake

Scarlett Sharpe of Wilson found a golden egg at Eggciting Saturday in Nashville. She received the prize gift basket for ages 5-8. Graphic photo by Nancy West-Brake

Walker Smith of Momeyer, 15 months, sits on a tractor.

Spring is barely two weeks old, but already breathtaking.
As in, many of us can hardly breathe when we go outside because of the pollen.
My formerly metallic black Honda is now a disgusting yellow-green. I was driving down Nash Street in Wilson the other day and briefly thought someone had launched a mustard gas attack at the Ward Boulevard intersection -- or that maybe a high school team bus had stopped for Big Macs -- but it was just a pollen storm.

There are always two sides to every story, even if we don't want to accept the "other side."
I learned late Sunday evening that a young man who grew up here in Nashville had returned home to deliver the Palm Sunday message at his hometown church.
This young man left for college four years ago with one vision for his future. He never once thought his journey, and passion, would change to follow God rather than the world's expectations.

This photo published on Oct. 3, 1968 in The Nashville Graphic. The annual membership campaign of the Nash County Farm Bureau was kicked off with a supper meeting at Buck Overton's. Shown here are those in attendance. The farm organization had a membership goal of 1,600 for 1969.

AMBROSIA LEONARD (8) AGES 8 and under