Recent Articles

Four NC Wesleyan students were killed on Monday night in an accident in front of the entrance to the college.
The accident happened around 8:30 p.m. at the front entrance of NC Wesleyan on N Wesleyan Boulevard.
Robyne St. Claire Barnes, 20, of Conway, Kandis McBride-Jones, 20, of Littleton, Donesha Scott, 19, of Raleigh and Quedeshia Brown, 20, of Henderson, were killed when their vehicle collided with another near campus. The accident is still being investigated by the Rocky Mount Police Department.

Nash County Commissioners approved a request to rename a Nash County bridge after Trooper Bobby Gene DeMuth, Jr., who lost his life in the line of duty in 2012.
Major Brandon Medina, of the Nash County Sheriff's Office, presented the request to commissioners at their regular meeting earlier this month.
The request was for the bridge over Red Oak Road to be named in honor and memory of DeMuth, who was from Red Oak.

A Nashville mother is grieving the loss of her daughter and blames bullying for her decision to commit suicide.
Kenya Speight was a junior at Nash Central High School and had left school early last Thursday, March 17. Her mother, Pamela Speight, said her daughter had asked to come home early after reportedly being bullied at school that day.
Pamela said Kenya's grandfather picked up Kenya from school. Later that day, Pamela said she received a phone call while at work.

The Town of Nashville is hoping to get more bang for its buck by trying an alternative to asphalt for street resurfacing projects.
Council members voted 2-1 during a strategic planning session on Friday to use slurry paving instead of asphalt on streets with a lower traffic volume.
Nashville Planning Director Brian Hassell told council members that the town maintains 27 miles of streets using Powell Bill funds. During the past fiscal year, the town received $153,437 in Powell Bill funds but only $115,000 of that was used to maintain and surface street.

The Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education are considering whether to put up the Spaulding Resource Center as surplus property.
Board members met on Monday afternoon for a special called work session to discuss updates to the system's Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).
Dr. Eric Cunningham, Associate Superintendent of Administration and Operations, also brought up surplus property to board members following his presentation on the CIP.

Nash Central Middle School (NCMS) won the Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools (NRMPS) Middle School Quiz Bowl held on March 15, 2016. Quiz Bowl is an academic competition where teams compete in a head-to-head challenge to be the first team to answer various academic questions.
"The NRMPS Middle School Quiz Bowl consists of a fall and spring competition. All six middle schools compete in a round robin of head-to-head matches during the competitions. Each head-to-head match consists of five students from each school who compete to answer a series of 12 toss up and bonus questions.

A book reading and signing featuring "Memory Cards: Portraits from a Rural Journey," by Michael K. Brantley, will be held Thursday, March 31st from 4-5 p.m. at the new Rachel T. Dix Bookstore at NC Wesleyan College.

As you might expect, this column receives letters by the bushel basket on a weekly basis. Well, sort of. Sometimes these letters come in the form of emails or heckling on the streets of Nashville when I don't pull my fedora down far enough to prevent recognition.
But anyway, I haven't cleaned out the mailbag in quite some time, so I thought it only proper to answer some questions from dear readers. So here we go:

Having to raise children in today's world is tough. But having to be a child in today's world is even tougher.
Children today have so much more to deal with than when I was a young girl. Technology has played a big part in the changes but so have the changes in society. The world is just a different place than it used to be. And it's scary.
Last week, a teenage girl took her own life. It's hard to imagine anything that could cause a young person with so much ahead of her to do something so drastic. But it happens.

Dear editor:
Death is death, and it hurts when our children see it as the only way to escape the pain of humiliation from bullying. When will our society start doing more about it?
Last year, the local papers published an Op Ed penned by me that stated bullying is straight from hell.

ARBOR DAY CEREMONIES -- This photo originally published in The Graphic on March 24, 1966--fifty years ago. Marshall Rackley (left) and Sarah Clarke (center) plant a tree on the Nashville High School campus during ceremonies held at the school. Trees were planted around the school to commemorate Arbor Day. Looking on are Principal G.W. Davis and several other students.

As the spring season quickly approaches, everyone in the Town of Nashville should be aware of certain occurrences and events over the next couple of weeks.
Beginning April 1, Nashville residents must begin bagging loose leaves for pickup by the Public Works Department. This is a seasonal change as adjustments are made to our equipment during this time of year. Loose leaf pickup will resume in the fall.
With warmer weather swiftly advancing, the Town of Nashville Police Department has a couple recommendations.

Nash County Ruritans gathered at the Momeyer Ruritan Club for their 57th meeting on March 8.
The meeting featured election of officers for 2017, a presentation of Rudy Bears, recognition of Ruritan Officers in attendance as well as regular business.
Ruritans had a moment of silence for three Nash County Ruritans who have passed away over the past year. They were Aaron Joyner, Lee Horace Joyner and Kenneth "Ray" Wheeler.

A Middlesex man has been charged with robbing Southern Bank at 11438 E Finch Ave. in Middlesex on Wednesday, March 16th.
Middlesex Police Chief William Murray said Mark Anthony Nelson, 24, of Middlesex was arrested and charged with common law robbery.
A surveillance photo was broadcast through multiple news agencies and on social media.
"He came in on his own," said Chief Murray, "His soon to be brother-in law made the phone call to let us know who did it."

INCIDENTS
An obtaining money/property by false pretense, fraud - credit card/ATM and identify theft was reported on 3/14/16 at 1003 S. Alston Street
An involuntary commitment was reported on 3/15/16 at 604 S Boddie Street
A hit and run and driving while impaired was reported on 3/15/16 at Prestwick Drive at Doral Lane

A misdemeanor larceny was reported on 3/13/16 at 4580 E NC 97
A recovered stolen firearm was reported on 3/13/16 at 5983 Finch Road
A breaking, entering and larceny and larceny of a firearm was reported on 3/13/16 at 4646 E NC 97
A damage to personal property was reported on 3/13/16 at 7387 Bryant Road

Nash County Planning and Inspections issued the following building permits from March 14 through 18.

The 2016 Advancement Spelling Bee, sponsored by the Delta Center for Life Development, Inc. and the Teacher Education Program of North Carolina Wesleyan College, took fifteen rounds to crown a champion on Thursday, March 10, 2016. Red Oak Middle School eighth grade student Hannah Gerlach earned first place honors for the second year in a row.
A total of 45 students from Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools, Edgecombe County Public Schools, Rocky Mount Academy and Rocky Mount Preparatory School competed in the event held at the Dunn Center at North Carolina Wesleyan College.