Recent Articles

RED OAK -- What was supposed to be a rebuilding season ended up being a building one for the Northern Nash baseball team -- and first-year skipper Leonard Allen certainly understands the difference.
Inherting a young roster with limited varsity experience, Allen wouldn’t have been surprised if the Knights rebuilt near the lower portion of the Big East Conference standings this spring.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Khalil Macklin and Garrison Vick enjoyed being teammates so much for the past three seasons, that they figured they might as well stay together for the next four years.
The Nash Central High School teammates have chosen a similar next-level path as both Vick and Macklin signed letters-of-intent Monday to join the baseball program at Chowan University.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The Rocky Mount Parks and Recreation Department will be offering an Adult Co-Ed Soccer League this summer.
Regular season play will begin the week of June 16.
Players ages 16-over can sign up as teams or individuals. Each team must have between 8-12 players, with at least two females.

STANHOPE -- It takes a special passion to want to wrestle on the collegiate level -- and Southern Nash’s Jacoby Benjamin has it.
Benjamin, who has starred on the mat for the past two seasons at SNHS, has signed a letter-of-intent to continue his wrestling career at Northern Iowa Area Community College.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The Tar River Cats 12-Under Travel Baseball Team took first place last weekend at the Top Gun Third Annual Battle For The Battle Tournament last weekend at the Rocky Mount Sports Complex.
The Cats claimed the crown by defeating the New Bern Flames 8-0 in the championship showdown.
Tar River never looked back after scoring two runs in the first inning of action.

STANHOPE -- Southern Nash continues to ascend new heights during its improbable latter half of the 2014 prep softball season.
Southern, which at one time appeared headed toward a dismal campaign, rebounded at the midpoint of the schedule and eventually tied for the Big East Conference championship.

NASH COUNTY -- Listed are updated scores from the Nash County Parks and Recreation Department’s Spring Youth Soccer Season:

ELM CITY -- After a night of very heavy rain, everyone was ready for the Road to Jamaica 50 lap featuring the Ultimate Super Late Models at County Line Raceway.
With 5 divisions running, including the Super Stock 4’s, Pure Stock 4’s, PL Woodard Pure Stock V8’s, the ARCO Restoration Thunder & Lightning the Ultimate Super Late Models were the icing on the cake for a full night of racing.

NASH COUNTY -- From both a team and individual perspective, the Big East Conference enjoyed another strong boys tennis campaign this spring.
The Southern Nash Firebirds, who won the regular season league championship, made yet another deep run in the Class 3-A State Playoffs under veteran head coach Brad Joyner.

GREENSBORO -- Rocky Mount High School senior standout Dante Battle has earned a spot on the East Team for the annual North Carolina East-West All-Star Basketball Game.
The event will be staged July 21 at the Greensboro Coliseum. Tickets will be available at the gate.
Battle, a post player, has signed a letter-of-intent to continue his career at Wallace State-Hanceville Community College, which is coached by former Louisburg College skipper John Meeks.

ZEBULON -- Todd Hankins drove in two runs with a double and made stellar plays in the field to help the Carolina Mudcats bounce the Salem Red Sox 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at Five County Stadium in Class A Carolina League baseball action.
The Mudcats (20-20) snapped a four-game losing streak and salvaged a win in the series. The Red Sox fell to 23-19.

IRVING, TEXAS -- Following its extra inning walk-off series win over UTSA, East Carolina University will take aim for its first post-season league title since 2002 when it opens play as the No. 6 seed at the 2014 Conference USA Baseball Championships.
The five-day event will start today and run through Sunday at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss.

The Nash County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a teenage girl who left her Middlesex home on Sunday. 

NASH COUNTY -- The Big East Conference regular season in softball was one of the most wacky, parity-filled campaigns in recent years.
So why did anyone think the league tournament would play out any differently?
The Big East Tourney provided a fitting finish to the spring as Southern Nash appeared to be on the verge of reaching the finals -- only to be foiled by a late surge from Wilson Fike during a semifinal matchup last Thursday evening in Stanhope.

Delicious, mouth-watering recipes wanted!  The Red Oak community will be publishing a cookbook this year as a fundraiser to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in their continued search for a cure.  Audrey and Suzy Pearce, CFF community event chairpersons need your help! The cookbook will feature favorite recipes from the area.  Please select approximately 2-3 of your favorite recipes  to be included in the book.

Nash County Commissioners have decided against charging municipal residents a fee to use convenience centers.
Commissioners met in a special budget work session on Friday afternoon to discuss several items within the proposed budget. One topic of discussion was the $25 annual fee for municipal residents Commissioners initially agreed on in March.

Nashville Town Manager Preston Mitchell unveiled the town’s budget last Tuesday evening during the board’s regular meeting and commissioners met again on Monday morning to further discuss the budget in detail.
The budget is balanced at around $8.6 million and includes no increase in the property tax rate, leaving the rate at 56 cents per $100 of valuation.

Middlesex residents are continuing to question the mayor and town board during the public comment section of the town’s meetings.
On Monday night, Becky Strickland questioned why the town did not have a code of conduct.
Strickland said state legislature passed a law in 2009 requiring all local governments to have one in place by December 2010. She said she was told Middlesex did not have a Code of Conduct in place.

The 18th annual Blooming Festival brought thousands to Downtown Nashville to enjoy food, fun and entertainment for several days.
The carnival kicked off on Wednesday and had good crowds from the time it opened until the time it closed.
Entertainment got started on Thursday night with Mac Arnold and Plate Full O’Blues, who performed to a crowd at Nash Arts.

Nash Central High School will present “The Music Man” May 15th and 16th at 7 p.m. and May 17th and 18th at 2 p.m. at the Imperian Centre. “The Music Man” is set in Iowa in 1912. Harold Hill, played by Andrew Beal (at left), is a salesman who comes to cheat the town with his scam of creating a kids band.

Castalia Commissioners spent over an hour last Tuesday reviewing revisions to the town’s zoning ordinances, primarily ones concerning the powers of the board of adjustment. The revisions were presented by Lee Nichols, a Community Development Planner with the NC Department of Commerce.
Nichols said that he had been working with the Castalia Planning Board on the revisions because some of the 2013 updates to the NC General Statutes affect local municipal statutes as well.

Nashville’s Police Chief Tom Bashore recently graduated from an administration course at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Bashore was one of 94 officials who graduated from the 2013-2014 Municipal Administration Course, which his offered by the School of Government.

Vernon Carl Batchelor, Jr., 59, passed away Tuesday, May 6, 2014. He was born in Nash County, March 25, 1955 to the late Vernon C. Batchelor, Sr. and Lula Beamon Batchelor.

SCOTLAND NECK –– Rufus Leonard, 54, of Scotland Neck, died on Monday, May 12, 2014.