Recent Articles

NASH COUNTY -- Northern Nash's 2016 softball season proved to be a memorable one as the Lady Knights tied for the top spot in the Big East Conference -- and reached the third round of the Class 3-A State Playoffs.
Northern Nash went 8-2 in the league and 16-6 overall -- marks that helped veteran skipper Greg Tharrington earn Big East Co-Coach of the Year honors along with Wilson Hunt's Craig Mercer.

ROCKY MOUNT -- An unexpected snag in Jahlia Williams' basketball career only served as a temporary dose of adversity -- and made her a stronger player in the long run.
After being cut from the seventh-grade team at Red Oak Middle School five years ago, Williams was devastated -- but vowed to become better through hard work.
Fast forward to last Thursday, when Williams, a senior point guard at Northern Nash, signed a letter-of-intent to continue her hoops career at Winston-Salem State University.

Northern Nash's Jahlia Williams will play basketball at Winston-Salem State.

NASH COUNTY -- Parity was a keyword this spring in the Big East Conference baseball standings as three teams -- Northern Nash, Rocky Mount and Wilson Hunt -- tied for the league crown with 6-4 records.
And two squads -- Nash Central and Wilson Fike -- were just one game behind at 5-5.
That balance is reflected in the annual All-Big East Conference Baseball Team, which features five players apiece from RM, NN and Hunt.

WINSTON-SALEM -- Winston-Salem's Matt Cooper struck out 11 over eight scoreless innings while leading the Dash to an 8-0 blanking of the Mudcats last Thursday night at BB&T Ballpark in Winston-Salem in a Class A Carolina League baseball showdown.
Ryan Gebhardt was 3-for-4 and had all three Carolina hits in the shutout loss.
Cooper (3-4, 3.22) retired the first nine he faced in consecutive order to start the game and allowed just two hits over eight innings pitched.

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- The Cypress Creek Civitan Club of Franklin County will have its charity golf scramble on June 18 at The River Golf Course near Bunn.
Registration will begin at 8 a.m. and will be followed by a shotgun start at 9 a.m.
Entry fee is $65 per person or $245 for a four-person team. The cost includes lunch, green fees and cart.
Ladies and coed teams are welcome. Senior tees are available for ages 65-over.

RED OAK -- Northern Nash concluded its strong sports campaign by conducting its annual Winter-Spring Sports Awards Ceremony last week on the NNHS campus.
Zach Langley was saluted as the Male Athlete of the Year, and CeCe Harrison was chosen as the Female Athlete of the Year.
Nash-Rocky Mount Schools Triple Crown Awards went to Rebekah Beal and Coleman Cherry.
Tyler Jones received the prestigious Roger Shearin Award.

STANHOPE -- The final tally is in, and Southern Nash Middle School is pleased to announce that its Baseball and Softball teams raised $2,067 for the SNMS Exceptional Children's Class during the Light It Up Blue autism fundraiser in April.
This is the first year SNMS has participated in Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness.
Coaches Jennifer Veillette and Tim Finn decided that a philanthropic event would be a benefit to all of their team members.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The season's longest Rocky Mount Little League game lasted 29 days (due to 2 postponements for rain) and saw two ties and three lead changes, with the most important being the one Drew Pridgen executed in the sixth inning to catapult the Breakfast Orioles to a 7-6 win over the Wesley Men Yankees last Tuesday afternoon.
Pridgen was ably supported by the lights-out pitching from the slinky right arm of Jake Fuller who struck out 4 of 6 Wesley hitters, including all three in the final inning and teammate Will Varnell, whose 2-3 outing at the dish included a double and two runs batted in.

NASH COUNTY -- The annual Nash-Halifax Swim League schedule will kick off June 16 with a matchup between backyard rivals Nash Rec and homestanding Birchwood.
N-HSL participants for the campaign will be Birchwood, Nash Rec (defending champion), Roanoke Valley and Westridge.
The complete Nash-Halifax Swim League slate is as follows:

Katie Hill helped the Southern Nash High School Ladybirds to yet another effective season in the always-competitive Big East Conference softball standings.

Nash County has formed a focus group to respond to the heroin epidemic.
The heroin epidemic has taken its toll on Nash County, with Nash County EMS units responded to a greater percentage of overdosing calls over the past few months. On average, EMS are responding to between 25 and 32 calls each month.
Coastal Plains Hospital has also seen a dramatic jump in patients admitted with heroin/opioid overdoses from 33 patients in 2013 to 632 patients in 2015.

Nashville Town Council members were presented an $8.7 million budget last week that includes an increase in automobile sticker fees but a significant decrease in the town's recreation fees.
Town Manager Henry Raper presented the budget during a special meeting last Wednesday.
The $8.7 million budget includes two permanent funds; a general fund totalling $5.5 million and an enterprise fund totalling $3.2 million.

Spring Hope's Chamber of Commerce presented the town's Police Department with a $2,000 check at the town's meeting on Monday. The funds came from a 5K the chamber hosted in April. Pictured on the front row (L-R) is Spring Hope Police Chief Anthony Puckett with Tracey Jackson and Chris Wheaton, both of Spring Hope's Chamber of Commerce. Pictured on the back row (L-R) are Spring Hope Police Officers Durwood Radford, Tim Bell and Allen Proctor.

The Spring Hope Board of Commissioners have approved the town's budget which means residents will officially not endure any tax increases.
The total budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year is $1,527,050, which is $100 less than the proposed total budget. Property tax rates will stay the same at 63 cents per $100 valuation.
Regarding the town's water and sewer fund, Town Manager Jae Kim said the town will indeed pursue a water and sewer rate study for the upcoming fiscal year.

Nash County residents have joined together to fight the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).
Landowners, farmers, neighbors and other concerned residents have formed the Nash Stop the Pipeline (NSTP) with the help of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL).
The non-profit organization was formed to educate the community and take action against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and their proposed 564-mile interstate natural gas transmission pipeline.

A Rocky Mount pastor recently announced plans to run for the NC House District 25 seat.
James Gailliard, the pastor of Word Tabernacle Church, announced last week that he is working to have his name placed on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate in the general election for the NC House District 25 seat.
Gailliard said he has developed a petition to solicit signatures and hopes to have at least 4,000 before June 14.

Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools are unveiling a new website this week.
Patricia Hollingsworth, Chief Public Information Officer, told school board members on Monday that the school system would be making the switch to Schoolwires, a move that would improve functionality, offer cutting edge features, streamline navigation and present a much better visual display.
The school system has been using HD Studios but the company was having trouble handling glitches with such a large customer.