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LOUISBURG -- A contingent of Franklin County officials led by county Manager Kim Denton appeared before the Louisburg town council during a public hearing Monday night as part of a fact-finding mission on the county's proposed judicial center.
The meeting, Denton said, "is the next step in this project" which is construction of a new judicial facility in downtown Louisburg.
After more than an hour and a half, two main facts emerged:

LOUISBURG -- Animal Services Director Lynn Bowling plans to ask commissioners for money for spay and neuter programs, and adjust adoption fees in an effort to better control the county's animal population.
She also noted that the percentage of euthanized animals compared to the number of intakes is trending in the right direction.
Still, during the Animal Services Advisory Board's April 29 meeting, animal welfare advocates continued to criticize her shelter operations and leadership.

A TIME FOR FUN ... AND MEMORIES. The participants in the annual Relay for Life, held last Friday evening at Terrell Lane Middle School, had fun, raised money to fight cancer and recalled those who lives have been lost to the dreaded disease. In the photo above, the Survivors' Walk begins with a warning that Cancer won't win because of the determination and enthusiasm of Relay participants. Carrying the banner is Haley Connors and Susette McConnell.

LOUISBURG -- A skydiving student was recovering from injuries sustained in a hard landing this past weekend.
According to county staff and published reports, the parachutist was skydiving at Skydive Raleigh on N.C. 56 -- between Louisburg and Franklinton -- when his canopy did not fully open on Saturday at about 4:20 p.m.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County commissioners agreed to look at helping a community group turn an historic school into a community center.
But, they stayed short of providing funding or officially committing to help.
The Copeland-Perry School was built in the 1880s, serving African American students as a Rosenwald school -- one of a number of African American schools across the South built through the philanthropic efforts of Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears Roebuck.

Blake Holden, 18 months old from Franklinton

Can you hear me now?
Once, that was a semi-famous line in an advertisement but these days, it's often a comment we are forced to make to callers who just want to tell us something.
In fact, it's not unusual that the background noise is so great that I have to pause a conversation to let an especially loud vehicle -- often a truck -- pass by our office on Bickett Boulevard.

If you've read this column often enough, you probably know about me and my history with government meetings: There had been too often too many times when I was the only soul in the audience during many a government meeting.
And, way too often, those meetings proved to be a race to see who could have the shortest meeting.
Without hyperbole, I can tell you that in my history here with The Times, I was five minutes late to a certain government meeting.

YOUNGSVILLE, NC--Jaden Willow Groves, 24, died April 3, 2024. Jaden was born on April 12, 1999 to Jonathon Groves and Melinda Pendley.

LOUISBURG, NC -- Sam J. Hight, 79, passed away peacefully on April 26, 2024 at home, surrounded by his loving family. He leaves behind a legacy of strength, dedication and kindness.

CHARLOTTE, NC -- Funeral services for Zaray Hernandez, age 25, who died on Monday, April 22, 2024, was held at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 27, 2024 from the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel, Louisburg, NC with Rev. Thomas Betts, officiating.

ROCKY MOUNT -- A rare bit of uncertainty was in the air last Wednesday at the annual Big East Conference Track and Field Championships -- at least where the boys final team standings were concerned.
Four schools -- Rocky Mount, defending title holder Northern Nash, Southern Nash and Nash Central -- felt like they had a collective chance to claim the boys crown if a few events played out their way.

WELDON -- Captain Obvious paid a visit to the Chockoyotte Country Club last Wednesday to offer an answer to the least suspenseful question in the Big East Conference's spring sports schedule.
And what would be 'Which team will win the league boys golf title?' -- as if there was ever any doubt.

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- Four things needed to occur in the final week of the regular season for Northern Nash and Bunn to share the Big East Conference baseball championship -- and they all did.
NN and BHS both needed to sweep their two-game series -- the Knights against Southern Nash and the Wildcats versus Roanoke Rapids.
Bunn got the job done in convincing fashion, roaring past the Yellow Jackets by a combined score of 15-3.

BUNN -- There have been a myriad of good girls soccer players in the Big East Conference through the years, but not as many that could be classified as 'great' or 'elite'.
Southern Nash's Charlotte Benson is definitely one of those latter performers -- and the senior has proven that fact again and again throughout her brilliant four-year career for the Ladybirds.

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- The story wasn't that the Southern Nash Ladybirds continued their half-decade dominance of the Big East Conference softball standings this spring -- that is hardly breaking news.
But how the Ladybirds rolled through the league in such a spectacular fashion might have been the most impressive chapter of SN's recent fast-pitch history -- and that's certainly saying something.

CREEDMOOR - South Granville picked up a tough 4-3 win at home over the Louisburg Warriors last Friday to improve to 16-2 overall and wrap up Northern Lakes Athletic Conference play at 12-0 -- the first undefeated season in league action for a Viking baseball team since 2008.
Louisburg, under the direction of head coach Casey Bolton, is now 8-8 overall and 5-5 in the NLAC, with two games looming this week against Granville Central to close out the regular season.

ZEBULON -- The Carolina Mudcats collected 11 hits as they captured the series lidlifter from the Columbia Fireflies 8-3 on Tuesday night at historic Five County Stadium, which is located in Zebulon.
Carolina (16-6) jumped out early as Daniel Guilarte tripled to open the bottom of the first and scored one batter later to open the scoring.

Ed Alston and Russ Reid pick up trash along Bert Winston Road in Youngsville.

Ruby Martin, Ann Marie and Ray Arout, and Rick Martin grab trash along S. Nassau Street in Youngsville.

Rick Peterson and Gregg Harris sort out litter grabbers at the litter sweep starting point in Youngsville.

Novonesis employees Brandon Jones and Emily Hon join Franklinton employees Destiny Russell and Chris George as they happily pick up trash.

Franklinton Town Manager Zach Steffey, Town Clerk Lauren Chandler and resident Yvonne Dalton are joined by residents and Novonesis employees, including Rebecca Replogle, Erica Shoaf, Bernardo Vidal Jr., Commissioner Judy McArn, Nicole Nudelman, Andrea Belford, Town Planner Chris George, Nicole M. Bowling, resident Jennifer Johansson Felicia Scott, resident Kyrie Thames, Brandon Jones, Julie Gattaz, Kathy Humphrey and Arlan Peters.

Franklin County held its annual Relay for Life event Friday evening at Terrell Lane Middle School beginning with a kickoff survivor lap. Carrying the banners were Dwight Williams Jr., Carmen Moore, Madison Williams and Carsen Moore.

Pam Gurganus, Marion Carter and Abbie Carter carry the banner during the Luminary service and memorial walk.

Adult costume contest winners: Tawanda Tucker (third); Janice Cheatham (second) and Sandra Alston (first)

Kids' Costume contest winners from left: Marion Carter (first); Jabryan Scott (second) and Ayden Adams (third)

Relay winning team reps pick up their ribbons, from left: first place Walnut Grove, Nicole Perry and Tricia Preston; second place Mitchiner's Grove Baptist Church, Milltrene Newell; third place Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church, Clara Alston; fourth place New Hope Freedom Deliverance, Hope Wright.

LOUISBURG -- During the Golden Anniversary Club (GAC) reunion festivities recently there was a dedication ceremony for the new historical marker installed on campus of Louisburg College to commemorate the home of former college president Rev. Franklin Swindell Love, 1917-1920.
In the early 1970s, the Love House was used by the college for overflow student housing. Attending the reunion were six of the 13 alums from the Class of 1971 who lived in the "Love House" while attending Louisburg College and were the catalyst for the historical marker project.

YOUNGSVILLE -- Town police are looking for suspects they allege stole a cache of weapons from a gun shop.
According to authorities, Youngsville police officers responded to a burglary at the Youngsville Gun Club & Range at 132 Franklin Park Avenue at around 1:15 a.m. on May 1.
When officers arrived, they discovered a forklift was used to pull the front entrance door away from the building, authorities said in a press release.

LOUISBURG -- Franklin County commissioners said they needed to hear more before fully committing to build a dog park in Pilot that could cost as much as $100,000.
And, at least one commissioner said the park might be a bigger fiscal bite than they want to take.

LOUISBURG -- Designers of the county's new radio system said it could be ready to go live next June.
Ken Steere with Williams Communications, the Florida-based company that Franklin County hired in 2022 to bolster its emergency radio system, told commissioners that the system should be ready for use in 2025.

FRANKLINTON -- Town officials, Tree Committee members, staff and interested historians plunged a weeping willow into the earth last week, expecting it to be as resilient and significant as a world heavy weight champion whose life ended in Franklinton.
But, it's Jack Johnson's legacy that the gathered mass wanted to remember.