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LOUISBURG -- In 12 days, Franklin County went from zero COVID-19 cases to 11.
The state Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that number by March 31 -- a day after Gov. Roy Cooper's Stay at Home order took effect.
The order formalizes a number of gathering and other restrictions scientists believe will flatten the curve of the spread of the coronavirus, but it also gives officers enforcement powers against those who flaunt the law.

As North Carolina begins a lock down to try to slow the pandemic of COVID-19 that is ravaging the world, someone may have to rework the unofficial motto of the U.S. Postal Service. While it's not official, the popular belief is that its motto is "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

LOUISBURG -- With public schools closed and much of the state on a lockdown of sorts, even the way local governing boards operate is changing.
One of the first local changes involves the Franklin County Board of Education which, for the duration of this pandemic, will not meet in a traditional public format but, instead, will meet virtually.
Instead of meeting on-site at the school district's West River Road Administrative Complex, the board will meet electronically from their homes.

FRANKLINTON -- The COVID-19 pandemic has made public meetings a tricky situation.
Most recently, the Franklin County Board of Education met partly in person and partly via digital connection to avoid large gatherings and maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

YOUNGSVILLE -- Town officials said they'd be ready to discuss how they might be able to aid the hospitality industry this month.
During the board's March 12 meeting, Brian Whitley, co-owner of The Victorian wedding venue on SE Railroad Street, asked officials if they might be ready to amend its ordinance on sound amplification.

Louisburg College pitcher Ina Womack

Not sure which was more sobering last week, watching the nation's restaurants and stores shut down as confirmed virus cases spiraled upward and medical folks tried to cope, watching our governments' inept responses to the crisis or reading an article that called the coronavirus a media extinction event.
Granted, it's not quite to the point where, like the dinosaurs, we're looking up to see a giant, life-ending meteor barrelling in our direction.
But, like so many small and medium-sized businesses, we have been hit hard by this pandemic -- and we at The Times are struggling to survive.

As I wrote this column, Franklin County and the Harris Corporation were in the midst of its second deadline to improve the multi-million dollar emergency radio system.
In February, county commissioners crafted a letter that did two things:
• It put in writing their disappointment with the radio system that's had issues ever since it was installed in the fall of 2012;
• It spelled out the kinds of improvements that officials and staff wanted to see by certain dates.

Dear editor: We thank you, Carey Johnson, for the article you wrote: "Virus changes lifestyles in an instant." This article is written in a very positive way.
We see the picture of the public school system providing lunches for our children.
The online version of The Franklin Times is now available free for people to stay informed of the virus.

Dear editor: They did what I said. I've asked lots of people to donate blood to the Red Cross and many did at Rock Spring Baptist Church recently.
Cheryl Noe was very happy. I do believe I saw her "cut a step." The Red Cross has good stepping music in the background. Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Stallings didn't cut a step but made lots of steps working.

My name is Caroline White. I am a senior at Bunn High School.
The COVID-19 virus has brought about many emotions for me where my softball career is concerned.
My prep career most likely ending prematurely makes me really upset because this season is what I have looked forward to since my freshman year.
It's not only softball; it's everything that I feel that I'm missing from my senior year.

This spring, a lot of good things were going to happen for me.
I was supposed to go teach elementary school children, play my last season of softball, have my senior prom and walk across the stage to get my diploma that I have worked so hard for.
The school and athletic suspension stirs a lot of emotions.

When I heard that my season could possibly be finished for the school year, I was devastated.
I was more upset because this is my senior year, my last high school track season.
I will never be able to get this time and experience back.
This suspension of athletics has stopped me from being able to defend my state (high jump) title, which is very upsetting to me.

I'm at a loss for words to describe how it feels to have the senior season of my prep career (possibly) taken away from me before it could really get started.
I have been a three-sport athlete since I was 6 years old -- football, basketball and baseball.
Since little league, baseball has always been my favorite. Hearing that the season would be suspended because of the coronavirus I thought to myself "okay. no way that's true and if so it'll only be a week or two and it will be back do no worries", but little did I know.

STOP! A portion of Terrell Lane in Louisburg was closed last week when heavy rains overwhelmed a utility pipe, creating a deep sinkhole on the two-lane road. No injuries were reported because of the collapse, but the section of road near Terrell Lane Middle School remains closed to through traffic. According to State Department of Transportation staff, they anticipate installing a larger pipe and repairing the road, having it open to traffic by the end of April.

NEW YORK -- Hospital Corpsman Carson Sayles of Louisburg arrived in New York harbor Monday morning, aboard the hospital ship USNS Comfort, one of the US Navy's floating hospitals.
Sayles is part of a relief deployment to help hard hit New York deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

BUNN -- An alert citizen, sheriff's deputies and prison staff combined to arrest three people they allege tried to get drugs into the Franklin Correctional Center.
On March 27, someone called the sheriff's office, telling authorities they saw a vehicle stop in front of Franklin Correctional Center and a passenger got out and threw an object over the fence.