Recent Articles

Rotarian President Richard Sykes, at left, stands with US Marshal Scott Parker, at right, who spoke at the Doubletree of Rocky Mount on the operations, staff, and scope of duties of the US Marshal's service in Eastern NC. The next scheduled Rotary meeting is January 11th, with Chrystal Kowack, formerly of AAA Travel, who will be speaking on vacation travels, bookings, and locations.

The following students made at Red Oak Middle School made the A or the A/B Honor Rolls for the latest reporting period.

Hobgood Academy recently announced its Principal's List (A's) and Honor Roll (A's and B's) for the second six weeks of school.

Sarah Sophia Fairman, of Nashville, was recently named to the Dean's List at UNC-Asheville for the Fall 2015 semester.
The Dean's List is made up of full-time students who have achieved between 3.5 and 3.99 grade point average.

A/B Honor Roll
Taylor King

The N.C. Farm School started four years ago as the Piedmont Farm School, utilizing Cooperative Extension agents from Davidson, Forsyth, Randolph, Montgomery, and Iredell counties. It has now grown to four schools held annually across the state and has even crossed state lines, working with Virginia Cooperative Extension agents. In 2016, the first Eastern Piedmont Farm School will be held, a collaboration of extension agents in Nash, Warren, Franklin, and Wake counties.

Spreading holiday cheer through gifts, service and fellowship are just a few of the many activities members of the Tar River Chapter of Les Gemmes, Inc. enjoy during the holiday season.
In 2015, Les Gemmes members prepared a Thanksgiving meal for residents of United Community Ministries. Members said residents were appreciative for the food, thoughtfulness and fellowship that was extended to them during the Thanksgiving season.

Thursday, January 7 from 12 until 6 p.m. at Englewood Presbyterian Church, 100 South Englewood Drive, Rocky Mount
Friday, January 8 from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at Englewood Presbyterian Church, 100 South Englewood Drive, Rocky Mount
Monday, January 11 from 3 until 7 p.m. at Bethlehem Baptist Church, 305 South Halifax Road, Rocky Mount
Tuesday, January 12 from 2:30 until 7 p.m. at Petsmart, 1462 Jeffries Road, Rocky Mount

A Honor Roll
Crucita Adams, Jose Aguayo, Jeffrey Alvarado, Bianey Antunez, Brian Arellano Ayala, Kevin Austin, Joshlyn Barnes, Caitlin Batchelor, Carly Batchelor, Brittany Battle, Michaela Blanchard, Dylan Bottoms, Paul Braswell, Cameron Bunn, Leonardo Cabral De Leon, Francisco Cazares, Danielle Champagne, Griffin Chapman, Juanita Chavez, Zachary Coble, Dyamond Coe, Raven Colbert, Brittany Coley, Elizabeth Cowart, Jacob Cox,

A Honor Roll
James Asbell, Lanaya Atkinson, Jason Avent, Kadeem Barnes, Anisti Barrett, Brittany Beckford, Felix Belcher, Forrest Bell, Dania Benners, Taehja Bennett-Spell, Erin Binkley, Alysha Boone, Tanner Boone, Katherine Boyette, Mary Broderick, Barkley Browder, Deangelo Brown, Naudia Brown, Savon Brown, Selena Brown, Aaron Buenrostro, Kanovis Bullock, Lane Butler, Michael Chamberlain, Zhenbang Chen, Zhenjia Chen,

RALEIGH -- Todd Brewer toiled 11 years for the opportunity to work on the state's most important football stage -- and it definitely proved to be worth the wait.
Brewer, who coaches baseball at Southern Nash High School, served as the head linesman for the Class 2-AA State Football Championship last month between Monroe and Bunn at Carter-Finley Stadium.
"It's a goal that you set to end up (officiating at the state finals),'' Brewer said. "It was an honor to do it. It's great to be able to do it once, though I would love to be able to do it again.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Basketball coaches often find out more about the heart of their team when facing a deficit, as opposed to leading in convincing fashion.
Using that logic, Nash Central's Terri Cash certainly gained a knowledge of the Lady Bulldogs during the furious fourth quarter of Monday's comeback decision over backyard rival Bunn.
The Lady Bulldogs showed some savvy by rallying from an 11-point deficit with 7:38 remaining to stun the Ladycats by a 53-49 margin in a non-conference hoops event at the NCHS Gymnasium.

ROCKY MOUNT -- When Nash Central's boys basketball starting lineup is introduced at home games, each player is designated as a guard by the public-address announcer.
And there's a good reason for that, because the Bulldogs' shortish lineup is loaded with performers under 6-feet tall.
"The announcer asks me about it, and I just say that we are small and we get after it,'' said NCHS veteran head coach Renny Taylor. "We have a lot of guys who just want to be guards. Some of them might not be able to handle the ball like a guard, but they can all play defense like a guard.''

CLEVELAND -- Both Nash Central's boys and girls squads put together effective performances last week at the annual Cleveland Classic Christmas Basketball Tournament.
The event was held at Cleveland High School in Johnston County, and the Nash Central boys stopped West Johnston and Fuquay-Varina to reach the championship matchup.

Bunn's Quenten Wright (right) tries to drive past Nash Central's Josh Mullins during Monday night's boys basketball event at the NCHS Gymnasium.

ABINGTON, PA. / MEDIA, PA. -- The North Carolina Wesleyan College men's basketball team returned to action last weekend with a pair of road victories at PSU-Abington and PSU-Brandywine in Pennsylvania.
The Bishops (7-4) have now won six of their last seven contests.
At Abington on Saturday, the Bishops were able to secure a hard-fought 84-75 win.

Nash Central's Myia Spivey (with ball) converted a key 3-pointer late in the contest to help the Lady Bulldogs secure a comeback triumph against the Bunn Ladycats.

Nash Central's Rebecca Speight had a huge performance off the bench for the Lady Bulldogs during Monday's home decision against Bunn.

WILSON -- Once again, Nash County will be well-represented at the 2016 Brittany XII Girls Soccer Tournament.
The annual event will be staged March 11-12 at the Gillette Soccer Complex in Wilson.
Tickets will be available at the gate, with proceeds going to The Brittany Willis Memorial Scholarship Fund. Donations will also be accepted.
Nash County's competitors will be Southern Nash, Rocky Mount, Nash Central, Northern Nash, Faith Christian and Rocky Mount Academy.

CLEVELAND -- Here is the completed list of players on the 2015 Cleveland Classic All-Tournament Team.
The annual basketball extravaganza was held last week at Cleveland High School in Johnston County.

Winter is tough on our pets, especially when they are outside. Wind can cut thru any winter coat and they need shelter, protection from the elements, be they a dog or a cat. The dog houses (that can also be used for cats) need to have straw (not hay) or chips to help hold the warmth. If you have them in a dog kennel, consider putting up tarps on the sides where the wind mostly blows. Remember too, that water is essential to life and ice isn't good for hydration!

Christmas is over and the New Year has already begun...ready or not. I have really been busy the last few months and haven't been able to devote as much time to my news as I would like, but I will try to do better.
I have written about "thread for the future" several times in my news. What is this thread? It's memories that hold us together in the future with each stage of life's changes.

RED OAK -- Northern Nash High School will kick off its 2016 girls soccer campaign on Feb. 23 with a home matchup against North Pitt.
Northern, coached by Joe McCarthy, will take part in the annual The Brittany Soccer Showcase on March 12 with a 4 p.m. meeting with Northside Jacksonville.
The Lady Knights' complete ledger is as follows, with home matches listed in CAPS: