Recent Articles

Louisburg canine Officer Jeremy Horn shows folks what K-9 Officer Trace can do, including searching for people and items.

Candy Collins, center, left, helps her grandkids, Grace and Willow Eichacker grab goodies in Bunn.

YOUNGSVILLE -- From 1966 to 1970, Youngsville High basketball coach Larry Lindsey took 33 kids and molded them into state champions -- twice.
Lindsey died in October.
But long before that, and well after, his players remember the coach who worked them hard and loved them harder.
They got together this past weekend for a reunion of sorts at the Youngsville Museum of History.

Warrenton, NC -- Funeral services for Phillip "Phil" Evans, age 74, who died on Saturday, August 9, 2025, will be held on Friday, August 15, at 2 p.m. from the Mt. Bethel Baptist Church in Warrenton with Pastor Willie D. Silver officiating. Burial will follow in the new Mt. Bethel Church Cemetery.

Louisburg, NC -- Robert Wayne Ayscue, 72, of Louisburg, died Tuesday morning August 5, 2025 at his home.

Louisburg, NC -- Funeral services for Raymond Evans Jr., age 55, who died on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, will be held on Thursday, August 14, at 1 p.m. from the Rocky Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Louisburg, Rev. Rory Sneed, officiating.

LOUISBURG, NC -- Kathryn Joyner West, 94, of Louisburg, died August 6, 2025 at Brekenridge in Rocky Mount, NC. She was born March 10, 1931, the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Bennett Joyner and was preceded in death by her husband, George M. West, her son, George M. "Buddy" West, Jr., sister and brother-in-law, Janice and Bill Fleming and her brother, Mack Joyner.

SPRING HOPE, NC -- Corell Garland Pittman, 60, of Spring Hope, died Saturday morning, August 9, 2025 at his home.

Warrenton, NC -- The family for John Thomas Francis, age 72, who died on Thursday, August 7, 2025, will receive friends on Wednesday, August 13, from 2 until 4 p.m. at Richardson Funeral Home in Louisburg. Burial will follow in the Francis Hill Cemetery.

Louisburg, NC -- Funeral services for Lottie "LaLa" Alston, age 24, who died on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, will be held on Saturday, August 16, at 11 a.m. from the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel in Louisburg with Rev. Anthony Alston officiating. Burial will follow in the Alston Family Cemetery.

FRANKLINTON, NC -- Funeral services for Clyde Raymond Yarborough, age 66, who died on Sunday, August 3, 2025, will be held on Sunday, August 10, at 2 p.m. from the Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church in Bunn with Rev. Jeffrey Anderson officiating. Burial will follow in the Gethsemane Church Cemetery.

YOUNGSVILLE, NC -- Wilbur Gray Pearce, 90, of Youngsville, died Monday evening, Aug. 4, 2025, at his home.

BUNN -- Six months after taking the job, Police Chief Justin Hastings presented commissioners with his strategic plan for the next two years.
During the Aug. 4 meeting of the Bunn Board of Commissioners, Hastings presented the document which outlines the department's core values, its commitment to community policing, its pledge to uphold ethics, its budgeting plans, staffing goals, operations, and equipment plans.

LOUISBURG -- Horses were the main attraction. But, mules stole the show during the Cooperative Extension's 29th annual Franklin County Regional Horse Farm Tour.
The Aug. 1 event featured stops at an equine hospital, a farm stay and a racehorse breeding farm.
But, the stocky hybrids of horses and donkeys -- and their handlers -- were a new addition to the horse farm tour.

LOUISBURG -- The second phase of Franklin County's Triangle North Franklin Business Park is open for business -- giving interested business and industry a bonafide landing spot in Franklin County.
"... We are the fastest growing county in the Research Triangle Region, we're the second fastest growing county in the whole state, with projections to be that for the next several years, we're also getting more and more interest of companies moving to Franklin County, of all sizes," Franklin County Economic Development Director Barbara Fiedor said following the July 31 ribbon cutting that ceremonially opened the road and utility lines that make Phase 2 of the development possible.

The Louisburg Economic Development Committee decided to take a more relaxed and decidedly less form approach during its Monday evening meeting, the first since June.
The EDC, or at least the four members who attended the meeting, decided that they would take a more "conversational" approach to the issues they deem important -- and will operate without a chair or an agenda in future meeting.

RALEIGH -- The State Department of Transportation is soliciting feedback about a construction plan that will detour passenger and truck traffic by about seven and and 20 miles, respectively.
As part of its 10-year Transportation Improvement Plan, the state plans to replace a bridge along N.C. 561 that goes over Sandy Creek -- between Leonard Road and Raymond Tharrington Road, near Sandy Creek Baptist Church.

Maeve Mercer, 7 months

HENDERSON -- Authorities arrested two Henderson men they allege tried to kill a trooper.
Trooper Cody Allen, who covers Franklin County as part of his duties, has returned to service, authorities noted.
Willie Anthony Allen, 42 and his father, Willie Mac Allen Jr., initially a witness to the traffic stop, were charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, assault on a law enforcement officer inflicting serious injury and resisting a public officer.

Woke up one morning last week and discovered that it was August -- and kids are either heading back to school or getting ready to do just that.
Not sure how we got here so quickly, but apparently the calendar doesn't lie.
Amazingly, we're now already almost 25 percent of the way through August and we'll be talking fall almost before we know it!
But if you've got school-age kids and have been planning to do "something" with them this summer, better get crackin' because they'll be waiting on one of those big yellow buses any day -- if they aren't already!

Early last month, I decided to work from home, so when I covered a ribbon cutting for Franklin County's new convenience center just down the road from my residence, I decided to head there in open-toed slides.
I can assure you, anyone in Franklin County who's had to take their trash to the landfill or a convenience center has probably never made that fashion choice -- unless they like living dangerously.

Dear editor: The detention facility in Florida known as Alligator Alcatraz opened on July 3 of this year. The function of this facility is to temporarily hold undocumented immigrants (illegal aliens) prior to deportation.
There have been several groups of our Washinton elites that have been kind enough to visit the facility and point out the apparent shortcomings in this center.

BUNN -- Commissioners agreed to transfer money from a water fund loan to its general fund.
The $150,000 will help the town cover general fund expenditures -- including additional police department expenses -- until property tax revenues start rolling into the town's coffers.
The action came following a closed session to discuss personnel on Monday.