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Eighteen youth from Nash County 4-H competed at District Activity Day held at Edgecombe Community College over the summer. The competition focused on public speaking and presentation.
Local youth brought home eight gold awards, three silver, one bronze, two Cloverbuds, two Entertains, and two Participation Ribbons
Topics consist of basketball, heath fitness, nutrition, digital media, careers, small animals and ag science. Youth had to speak for 5-12 mins on their topic.

ROCKY MOUNT - One of Spring Hope's own, Lt. Jason Leary, stood in front of a crowd of 400 at Nash Community College Tuesday night to receive one of the most meaningful honors anyone can get: the Carnegie medal, "awarded to civilians who risk death or serious physical injury to an extraordinary degree saving or attempting to save the lives of others."
Leary, who stood silently on a dais flanked by Spring Hope Police Chief Nate Gant, Nash Sheriff Keith Stone, and Spring Hope Mayor Kyle Pritchard, accepted the award from Senator Lisa Barnes after Barnes told the story of what happened on August 6th, 2025, in the area of 687 N NC-581 .

NASHVILLE - Public complaints about the town's pickup schedule for curbside collection of yard waste and bulk trash are hitting town council ears, with a decision made last week to give the twice a month schedule- newly amended- another 60-day trial period.
In order to avoid having to hire additional public works personnel and to free up time for workers to attend to other public works tasks, town officials made the decision two months ago to change curbside collection from every week to the first and third weeks of the month.

NASHVILLE - An announced plan by the Long Island-based company BuildLabs to put a $12 million dollar precision-engineering facility on Lot 4 of the Nashville Business Center has withered on the vine, with the announcement last week that the town was getting its land back.
Randy Lansing, town manager, read through a Real Estate Conveyance Agreement at the Sept. 16th town council meeting, relaying that BuildLabs owner Punit Chugh had told town officials that the company was not going to be able to "meet the terms of the development agreement" for construction of the promised manufacturing facility.

Brenda Foster knows community service isn't always easy, but after years of giving her time to organizations throughout Nash County, walking away has never really been an option.
"Sometimes it gets kinda hard, but I got a passion for it, I guess, and I don't want to let it go," Foster said.
That passion was recognized Saturday when Foster was named the 2026 Community Champion during the annual Community and Rural Development (CRD) of Nash County Banquet at the Nash County Agriculture Center.

NASHVILLE - Five decades ago, a vision took shape inside the walls of Nashville Methodist Church to create a dedicated program to meet the developmental needs of local children. The program wasn't designed just for members of the church, but as a resource for families across the entire community.
On Saturday, Sept. 26, Nashville Methodist Church Weekday School will celebrate five decades of education, care and growth with a 50th anniversary community celebration, "Legacy of Little Feet: Planting Faithful Seeds for 50 Years."

The bridge on Old Carriage Road over U.S. 64 may be little more than concrete and steel to the motorists who cross it each day, but for the family, friends and fellow officers of Nash County Sheriff's Deputy Jared Allison, it now carries something much more -- his name and the promise that his service will not be forgotten.
The bridge was officially dedicated on Friday, Sept. 18 as the Jared M. Allison Bridge in honor of the 26-year-old deputy and Army veteran who died in 2020 from injuries sustained in the line of duty.

NASHVILLE - The revised Nash County Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) is nearly complete, and a second and final set of community meetings to gather public input is now on the calendar.
Announced at the Sept. 21st meeting of the Nash County Planning Board, the three UDO update community meetings, located in the northern, southern and central parts of the county, will be as follows:

NASHVILLE- Rise Church, Nashville has been approved to hold a timed 5K 'fun run' on Saturday, December 5th.
Trey Sanderson, former Nashville HR Director and now Executive Pastor at Rise Church's Nashville campus, asked for and received approval at the Sept. 1 town council meeting for a special event permit approval.
"We're excited about the opportunity. We think it will be great for the town," Sanderson said, adding that race organizers planned the race route so as not to have it run in front of businesses on Washington Street.

NASHVILLE - Nash County's new Outdoor Classroom, recently erected on the grounds at the Nash Ag Center and conveniently close by the Arboretum, had its official ribbon-cutting Sept. 21st in bright sunshine.
Built earlier this year using a $102,000 grant from the 2025 Tobacco Trust Fund Program, the attractive open-air pavilion, complete with arching beams, has a concrete floor, picnic benches and overhead fans.

NASHVILLE - Kids love rocks and treasure hunts - and that's what they will find during the week of Sept. 24-30 at the Nash County Arboretum.
"Rock Around the Arboretum," a family-friendly activity developed by Master Gardener volunteers in honor of 'Take A Child Outside Week,' involves exploration of the gardens using a series of clues to find 25 painted rocks.
And those aren't just any painted rocks.

At 22 years old, Bobby joined the Braswell Family Farms team in December 1962. Sixty-three years later, he can proudly say he spent his entire adult working life at Braswell Family Farms; a milestone few can claim. Over the years, Bobby worked alongside all four generations of Braswell leadership, witnessing decades of growth and change in both our company and the egg industry.

SPRING HOPE - Long-planned street paving in Spring Hope, tabled in July until the board's August meeting, is still hung up for lack of a detailed map as of the latest board of commissioners meeting Sept. 8th.
Weaver's Asphalt & Maintenance has been recommended as the contractor of choice, as reported by Jonathan Allen, town manager, who described Weavers as a "reputable contractor" that also submitted the low bid for the work.

I'll be honest, I could not foresee that Ed Sheeran or Macklemore would ever be a topic in the Soapbox. As I hear more frequently from the more experienced generations these days, "we must be in the end times."
If you don't know who they are, Sheeran is a British pop music singer and Macklemore is a past-his-prime rapper. They were both involved in what's being called free-speech suppression, but that's not the case at all.

Something I've heard more times than once over my four decades in the newspaper business is that newspapers should print more good news. We don't control what happens, we just cover it to make sure you, our readers, are well informed.
This week's edition is packed full of good news due to so many great things happening. Seldom are there weeks where there are such a smorgasbord of good happenings!
I figured this makes for a good time to use my column space for some more good vibes since we're on a roll this week.

Dear editor:
As Paul Harvey said, here's "The rest of the story."
Nashville recently lost a genuine kind-hearted community champion recently, Lee Roy Jones.
Lee Roy and I became like brothers.
Due to my infirmity, I was unable to get to the podium to speak at his funeral. I hope, in this letter, to relay how much he meant to me, and to Nashville.

Dear editor: AI is powerful, it can be used for good or bad depending on who is in control of it. That is why it makes more sense to me for the United States to lead the way instead of communist China.
In my humble opinion China is responsible for a lot of negative propaganda being feed to Americans about the down side of AI, and there are some down sides. Why the negative buzz from China? So, we will reject it, and they will advance it and control it.

This photo published in The Nashville Graphic in October of 1978. Three members of the Nashville Police Department received certificates upon completion of the basic 240-hour recruit training course required by the state for all law enforcement officers. All were among the top five percent in the class, taught at Nash Technical Institute, and one, Sandra Pridgen, with a 98.9 average, ranked first in the class of 50 students.

SPRING HOPE- With time running out to use up an $800,000 state grant for Depot renovations, town officials are putting new pressure on the architectural company involved: the board of commissioners has voted to send a default letter to the bond company stating contractor breach of contract.
"This is a process and a first step. It does not mean that the contract is null or voided at this time," Jonathan Allen, town manager, explained to The Graphic.
During action taken after a closed session at the Sept. 8th board of commissioners' meeting, the board voted unanimously to send a default letter to the Performance Surety Bond Company.

ROCKY MOUNT - Following a failed facility compliance inspection earlier this month, primarily over issues with animal records, Nash County Animal Services has "implemented several corrective actions to strengthen documentation, medical oversight, and compliance." No violations or disciplinary actions have been taken by the state, and a follow-up inspection is scheduled soon.

The Nashville Chamber of Commerce honored the Elks Lodge #1038 at Birchwood as its Member of the Season for Summer 2026.

NASHVILLE - The North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Division (ALE) has charged five individuals following an investigation into a serious motor vehicle crash involving underage individuals that occurred on Sept. 6 in Nash County. ALE routinely conducts criminal investigations to identify the source of alcoholic beverages provided to underage individuals, particularly in cases that result in serious injury or fatalities.

We heard so much over the past few weeks about the events of September 11, 2001. If there's one thing that fateful day has taught us, it's that tomorrow is not promised.
If only we could apply that line of thinking to other areas of our life. The truth from the 9/11 tragedy is that many of us now realize that the nice cars, big homes, and many of the dreams that we have been chasing are just not all that important.