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LOUISBURG -- There was a bright side of having to navigate a global pandemic for the class of 2021, Julia Grace said: senior skip day was a breeze.
"... While this year has been challenging, it has not all been negative," the Bunn High valedictorian told the graduating class of 173 inside the Louisburg College auditorium on June 11.
"We have grown and learned from our experiences," she said.

LOUISBURG -- As is their tradition, after walking across the stage to grab their diploma, each of Louisburg High Schools nearly 120 graduates grabbed their class flower -- a white rose.
This year, that walk, that rose meant a bit more, said Louisburg High School's salutatorian, Enya Jones -- who quoted Christy Ann Martine's "Flower in the Desert", an ode to strength and beauty under perilous conditions.

FRANKLINTON -- During the height of the pandemic, NASA launched Perseverance to seek out signs of life on Mars -- sending the rover more than 218 million miles to the red planet.
Franklinton High School valedictorian Cassandra Bell said perseverance has carried the class of 2021 just as far.

LOUISBURG -- Sheriff Kent Winstead said, personal reasons, not politics, is why he'll be stepping away from law enforcement when his term expires in the fall of 2022.
A budget disagreement with Commissioner Danny Pearce, he said, has nothing to do with his decision.

LOUISBURG -- The Franklin County Board of Education came face to face with two problems that confront most of the rest of the county Monday night -- rising grocery and construction prices.
And, the board also learned that the COVID-19 pandemic, while receding, is still with Franklin County Schools where one staff member and five students have recently tested positive.

Jennifer Southerland, FHS grad Jedarian Dunston & April Shearer

Franklin County's future as a rural, pastoral place where farms and rural landscapes predominate got just a little dimmer last week, trashed by politicians who want development at any cost and local residents who either don't care or were too apathetic to stand up and be counted.
Franklin County's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) was passed on a split, 4-3 vote last Monday with all four Republican commissioners voting in favor of it.

Five hundred, seventy-three.
According to commencement programs provided for Franklin County Early College High, Louisburg High, Bunn High and Franklinton High schools, that's how many students took part in graduation festivities starting May 26 and wrapping up this past Saturday.

Across North Carolina, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit it rapidly and radically altered how we work, learn and connect with friends and family. Broadband internet instantly became critical for residents to learn and work remotely, find jobs and even access telemedicine.
The pandemic showed us that many North Carolinians lack the access, financial means, devices or skills needed to fully participate in today's digital society.

Dear editor:
President Biden said, and I quote, "When I was first elected vice president with President Obama, the military sat us down to let us know what the greatest threats facing America were."

FRANKLINTON -- Daisy Newton Abbott passed away on June 12, 2021. She was born February 8, 1953 to the late Howard and Annie Hailey Newton.

HENDERSON, NC -- Donald Wayne Condrey, 85, of Henderson passed away Saturday, June 12, 2021. He was born on April 28th, 1936.

LOUISBURG, NC -- Funeral services for Khadijah (Louetta) Greene-Simpson, age 54, who died Saturday, June 12, 2021, will be held AT 1 p.m. Saturday, June 19, 2021 from the Emmanuel Church of God in Louisburg with Pastor L. J. Allison officiating.

BUNN - Parker Haake has created a mini-dynasty during his tenure as the Bunn High School wrestling coach.
After rolling through their regular season toward another Northern Carolina Conference championship, the Wildcats soared once again during last Wednesday's NCC Championships at the South Granville High School Gymnasium in Creedmoor.

LOUISBURG -- South Granville's girls and Granville Central's boys were the big team winners at last week's Northern Carolina Conference Track and Field Meet at the Louisburg High School Football Field.
But there were plenty of Franklin County heroics to go around as Bunn's girls were second overall, while the Louisburg boys were strong with a third-place performance.

FRANKLINTON -- Franklinton High School's final 2021 varsity baseball game provided a fitting close to the careers of three seniors -- and also served as a possible future notice of a program on the rise in the always-competitive Big East Conference.
The FHS seniors -- Brayden Davis, Robbie Burnett and Eli Eason -- all had huge games as the Red Rams rolled to a 14-6 decision over Wilson Hunt.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The 2021 D3baseball.com All-Region teams have been announced.
And the 17th-ranked, 33-win North Carolina Wesleyan College Baseball Team had three players named to All-South Region Teams, while head coach Greg Clifton was named South Region Coach of the Year.

FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. -- The North Carolina State University baseball team is headed back to the College World Series for the first time since 2013 and its third time in program history, thanks to its 3-2 win over No. 1 Arkansas, on Sunday evening in a winner-take-all game at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.
After suffering a 21-2 loss in game one then evening the series with a 6-5 win in game two, the Wolfpack gutted out the win over the number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

LOUISBURG -- Four years ago, Ragan Holloman was one of three ninth-grade starters for an otherwise-veteran Louisburg High School softball team that went all the way to the Class 1-A State Finals.
Fast forward to this spring, and Holloman's career came full circle when she provided senior leadership to a group that was loaded with underclassmen.

KANNAPOLIS - Felix Valerio drove in two with a RBI double in the third and homered in the sixth while directly accounting for four of the Carolina Mudcats' six runs in a 6-2 series finale victory versus the Cannon Ballers in Kannapolis on Sunday afternoon in Low A-East baseball action.
Andre Nnebe also had a two-run single in eighth and Nick Belzer earned his second victory as the Mudcats left with a series split in Kannapolis.

Students at Louisburg High School completed their commencement activities this past week.

Students at Franklinton High School completed their commencement activities this past week.

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- A Wake County man is slated to appear in Franklin County court later this month on child sex offense charges.
Benito Torres-Torres, 19, was charged June 11 with statutory rape of a child less than 15.
Deputies responded to a home in the western part of the county after getting a report of a sexual offense.

BUNN -- The State Highway Patrol has identified the second person killed in two separate wrecks two weekends ago.
According to a report by Trooper R.M. Goodacre, Michael Scott Dzengeleski was riding a Suzuki motorcycle on Seven Paths Road on June 6 when he ran off the road to the right and struck a tree.