Recent Articles

The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a contract to improve Country Club Road from U.S. 64 Business to Jeffreys Road in Nash County.
Improvements include replacing the bridge over Stoney Creek, widening the road, installing drainage, paving and adding signals. The $8.1 million contract was awarded to Barnhill Contracting Co. of Tarboro.

Appalachia State University has released its graduation list for the Spring 2014 semester. A total of 268 graduate students and 1,715 undergraduate students received degrees during ceremonies held in May.
Nash County residents graduating include Aby Barnes Cash, who received a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology and Caroline Susan Gray, who received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

On a beautiful July morning Peachtree folks gathered for worship in the church.  The sanctuary flowers were red, white and blue in honor of the nation’s birthday.  They were given by David and Rosemary Bryant.  The special music was a solo by Faye Vick.  She sang a beautiful arrangement of, “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”
In the absence of the pastor, the sermon was brought by the Rev. Lynn Long.

Summertime means mission trips! The Red Oak United Methodist Church ASP (Appalachia Service Project) missionaries were commissioned as ambassadors of the ROUMC congregation and sent forth last Sunday, June 22 to be the hands and feet of Christ in Mitchell County, NC, where they will complete various home repair projects to keep the families they go to serve warmer , safer, and drier.  Prayers were offered for their travel, work, and service.

Our choir sang, “I Will Offer You Praise” for the call to worship. Our hymns of praise reminds us how thankful we should be for the freedom we have in America. This weekend has been a time to celebrate the many freedoms we have in America; freedom to worship God, freedom of sharing love for others. Freedom of thanking God for all He has done for us and all He gives us every day.

The Reverends Jamie Lee Thompson (at left) and Laura Keith Thompson (at right), sisters and natives of Kinston, have been appointed as associate pastors at Centenary United Methodist Church in New Bern, and as co-pastors of a new faith community that they are working to establish in the New Bern area. Most recently, Jamie has served as pastor at Maury/Mt. Herman United Methodist Charge in Maury and Lizzie, NC.

The Rocky Mount Rotary Club recently installed its latest officers. Krista Ikirt (at left) passed the gavel to Ron Green (at right) for the 2014-2015 year.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Two of the Nash-Halifax Swim League’s longest-standing foes renewed their rivalry last Wednesday evening.
Visiting Nash Rec, the defending N-HSL champion, was able to hold off a threat from Westridge by a 440-383 margin.
Nash Rec is now 2-0 on the season, with one meet not finished due to poor weather. NRST and Westridge will meet again this Thursday -- this time at the Nash Rec Pool in Nashville.

Among last Thursday’s swim standouts in the meet between Nash Rec and Westridge were Langdon Norris (Nash Rec).

STANHOPE -- Concerning the North Carolina Coaches Association East-West All-Star Football Game, Southern Nash’s Brian Foster already knows the drill.
Foster was an assistant coach for the East Team back in 2009 for the annual event at Jamieson Stadium on the campus of Greensboro Grimsley High School -- so he already knows what to expect coming in.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Facing elimination on two different occasions, the Rocky Mount Coleman-Pitt Post 58 baseball team rallied to defeat Cary Post 67 last week in the opening round of the American Legion State Baseball Playoffs.
Last Thursday, Post 58 fell 15-13 in a high-scoring showdown, but evened the best-of-three series on Friday with a 13-10 triumph.
In the deciding matchup last Saturday, Post 58 used a late rally to win the series with a 10-9 triumph.

ZEBULON -- The Carolina Mudcats fell to the Salem Red Sox 8-2 in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Five Country Stadium in a Class A Carolina League baseball matchup.
The Mudcats (10-8, 39-46) were held to eight base runners and the Red Sox (9-8, 42-43) won their third consecutive series over Carolina.

ROANOKE RAPIDS -- Host Roanoke Valley bounced back from a loss to Nash Rec by defeating Birchwood by a 444-147 margin last Wednesday at the Roanoke Rapids Aquatic Center.
The event was pushed up one day due to the Fourth of July Weekend.
The squads will meet again this Thursday -- this time at the Birchwood Country Club Pool as Nash-Halifax Swim League action resumes. First race will be at 5 p.m.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Since 1999, North Carolina Wesleyan College has honored 56 former athletes, administrators, teams, coaches and contributors by enshrining them into its Athletics Hall of Fame. 
These individuals have created a higher standard for Battling Bishop athletics and were selected based on their outstanding accomplishments and/or contributions to the College.

STANHOPE -- Twas the day before Christmas, and not a creature was stirring at Southern Nash’s Firebird Stadium.
Except for a solitary figure doing wind-sprint repetitions across the chilly track.
While most of his Elon University teammates were feasting on a pre-holiday meal or pondering their gifts under the tree, Tracey Coppedge was hard at work.

LOUISBURG -- A whopping 31 total runs were scored when Nash County lined up against host Louisburg on Monday in the opening round of the Tar Heel District 6 11-12 Baseball Tournament at Warrior Field on the campus of Louisburg High School.
Fortunately for Nash County, the visiting All-Stars delivered 20 of those runs en route to securing a 20-11 decision over Louisburg in a high-scoring showdown on the first day of the double-elimination format.

NASHVILLE -- Seven students from the Nashville Academy of Martial Arts earned advancements during a belt-testing session on June 26.
The following students were honored:

As I looked around the Beulah Community last week, I did a lot of remembering how things used to be, when us older generations were kids here. The houses were in sight of our neighbor but not as they are today. Nearly every home had farmers with small farms and they all helped each other with planting and harvesting the crops. This included the children who all worked in the summer and often having to take off a few days from school when needed.

Wednesday, July 2 from 2 until 6 p.m. at Mike Keffer Chrysler Jeep Dodge, 1340 S. Wesleyan Boulevard
Monday, July 7 from 3 until 7 p.m. at St. Paul Baptist Church, 2423 Hunter Hill Road, Rocky Mount
Tuesday, July 8 from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Environmental Services Building, Thorpe Road, Rocky Mount
Wednesday, July 9 from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at Honeywell Corporation, 3475 Wesleyan Boulevard

WHITAKERS - Dennis Lee Battle, 50, of Whitakers, died on June 23, 2014.

ROCKY MOUNT - Samuel Gilford Cogdell, 76, of Rocky Mount, died on June 22, 2014.

ROCKY MOUNT - Jerome Winstead, Sr., 70, died June 23, 2014.  

Rocky Mount - Bettie Foster Simmons,93, died June 23, 2014.   Funeral arrangements to be announced.   Arrangements by Stokes Mortuary, Inc.

Rocky Mount - Eugene Reed, Jr.,  62, died June 23, 2014.  Funeral services were Wednesday, July 2, 2014 at Stokes Mortuary Chapel.  Arrangements by Stokes Mortuary, Inc.