Recent Articles

A second opinion will be solicited after several citizens spoke at a town council meeting Tuesday morning in opposition to the proposed removal of 15 large trees on Washington Street in downtown Nashville.
An assessment, at the request of the town, was recently provided by John Sugg, a Certified Arborist of Treefull Communities, LLC. His opinion after evaluating 36 trees was that 15 were in need of removal. He rated them as low, medium and high priority.

Nashville residents will soon see their water and sewer bills increase, as the town is proposing a tax increase to cover costs. The increase in sewer rates will be a bit more than anticipated, however.
Council members received news on Tuesday during a budget retreat that sewer customers had not been billed the increase approved for the current budget year.

Nash County's high schools found creative ways to honor their graduates last year due to COVID-19 restrictions. Though the restrictions are mostly lifted, students are again being honored with local events such as parades around the county.
Southern Nash High School students drove in their parade Saturday from Bailey, to Spring Hope and looping back to Bailey via Hwy 231.
Parents, relatives and friends lined the streets in Spring Hope to show their support.
Pictured above family and friends gather in Spring Hope to cheer on Southern Nash's Class of 2021 as they drive by.

Nash County Manager Zee Lamb presented the Nash County Board of Commissioners with the proposed 2021-22 balanced budget of $115.4 million at their regular meeting Monday afternoon. The budget proposal and the Nash County Public Schools capital improvement presentation were the main focus of the meeting, which also included a resolution for the state opioid allocation, amendments to two construction projects, update on a Community Block Grant, and an overview of reports from various boards.

Citizens will have the opportunity to be a part of history by sponsoring pavers honoring someone special to them at a special display to be constructed on the Nash County Courthouse lawn. The display will house the founding documents of the United States.
The proposal to place the documents, referred to as "The Charters of Freedom," in Nash County was brought to commissioners in 2019 by Nash Central High School History Teacher Renny Taylor accompanied by former Nashville Mayor Donald Street.

Nashville's Town Council tweaked the proposed 2021-2022 budget during a final budget work session on Tuesday, bringing the total budget down to $14.8 million.
The budget was originally proposed at $15.2 million, a four percent increase from the 2020-2021 amended budget. The new $14.8 figure is a two percent increase.
The updated proposed budget includes an appropriation of $565,688 from the general fund balance to balance the budget.

Castalia will hold a public hearing on June 1 at 6 p.m. at town hall to hear comments on the $212,000 proposed budget for the 2021-2022 Fiscal Year.
The budget includes leaving the ad valorem tax rate at .32 per $100 valuation of taxable property.
Other line items of the budget include $57,900 for administration costs, $29,150 for operation cost, and a capital outlay of $5,000.

I took a class in college about World War II. It was one of my favorite topics in history and the instructor was an interesting lecturer.
He prided himself on yielding almost no A grades and was notorious for covering hundreds of pages between tests, only to ask five to eight questions on the exam, often obscure.

When I wrote this column last week, I was under the impression citizens who serve on our town's tree board, many of whom are very meticulous when it comes to decisions, were convinced 15 trees needed removal from Washington Street in downtown Nashville due to irreparable condition.
I even mentioned two members whom I know would fight tooth and nail to save a tree if they thought there was a chance of saving it. Knowing a couple of the members as I do, I still trust their judgement when it comes historic streets and trees.

This photo was shared with us by George Whitaker of Rocky Mount. Pictured is the DET I CO A 1ST BN (MECH) 119TH INF, 30TH DIVISION, NASHVILLE NC ARNG, 1971.

Forest Service officials urge the public to postpone any outdoor burning through early June. During the next two weeks as warmer, drier weather patterns continue across the state, fire danger will be high, and in some cases, extreme, especially in the Coastal Plain and portions of the Sandhills.
"As our state continues to dry out and heat up, we need every North Carolinian to be mindful of fire danger and the increased risk of wildfire due to this warm, dry weather," said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

Northern Nash High School students were honored last Sunday by a parade of their parents, relatives and friends driving by while students lined the streets in Red Oak. Parade participants decorated cars, trucks, even made homemade floats cheering on their 2021 graduating seniors.
Pictured above, Northern Nash High School seniors gather for a photo prior to the parade.

Some friends of ours have a daughter, Caroline, that just graduated from Berry College in Rome, Georgia. Robbie and I recalled a story from when she was a small child. She attended the Christian school operated by our church but had a close friend that attended a public school. When she was five, Caroline and her mother passed by a Publix Supermarket. "Mom", she asked, "Is that the Publix School that John goes to"?

For this purpose, the Lord will intentionally put adverse conditions in our path so we will choose to believe Him rather than focus on our circumstances--which is what usually gets us in the most trouble.
We know from Scripture that David had to remind himself of God's promises and renew his faith in the Lord often because of the adversity he was experiencing.

BBQ is good. Gnats are a bother. Humans are followers.
These are simple truths that seem to be timeless. Now, as you can imagine, the rest of this article will center around the last of the aforementioned statements, humans are followers. Whether we realize it or not, we are not leaders, we are followers - we've all been formed by certain people, places, and events.