By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Jody Greene “is a Usurper of authority and is unlawfully holding the Office of Sheriff of Columbus County,” a complaint filed by former Sheriff Lewis Hatcher on Friday says.      Hatcher, with attorney’s Oscar Blanks and Heath Nance, filed the complaint, demanding a jury trial, in Columbus County Superior Court on Friday…

Jeff Fowler took the oath of office as the new chief of the Tabor City Fire Department Wednesday morning, with Columbus County Clerk of Court Jess Hill officiating. Fowler was flanked by stepdaughter Elizabeth Strickland and his wife Tonya, holding the Bible. (Deuce Niven, TLT)

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Protests focusing on the still unsettled race for Columbus County Sheriff have also left the future of liquor by the drink in Tabor City in limbo, a North Carolina Board of Elections spokesman said Monday.      Certificates of Election have not been sent in the sheriff’s race, or for the mixed drink…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Former Tabor City Fire Department Chief Jerry Wayne Watts died Tuesday morning, Jan. 1, at McLeod Loris hospital, where he had been taken following a sudden illness. He was 84.      Watts served the TCFD for 48 years, just 18 when he joined the department his father and four other men had…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A Chadbourn area man appears to have been shot dead outside his home, prompting a homicide investigation by the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office.      Deputies responded to the Williams Road home of Dennis Jerome Smith Jr. just after 8 p.m. Saturday. Smith, 29, was outside the home, dead of an apparent gunshot…