Area News

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      An arrest in the murder of Willie Lee Wheeler at his home in Tabor City was made Wednesday afternoon, Chief Donald Dowless of the Tabor City Police Department said.      Kason Durante Johnson, 43, of Grice Road, was charged with first degree murder. He allegedly “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously did of malice…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      An “altercation” between two students at South Columbus High School on Tuesday has prompted a request from the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office for a state investigation into a School Resource Officer.      Sheriff Jody Greene, in a news release Wednesday, said the incident took place during lunch, and the altercation “between the…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Former Columbus County Sheriff’s officer Jason Soles bested another former deputy, Victor Jacobs, in the Democratic Primary vote Tuesday, earning the right to challenge their former boss and incumbent Sheriff Jody Greene on the November general election ballot.      Though turnout was light, at less than 16 percent of eligible voters casting…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A woman and her mother died following a head-on auto crash on U.S. 701 just north of the Sidney Community Wednesday morning.      An 18-year-old man driving the second vehicle was seriously injured, First Sgt. Andrew Pait of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said.      Teva Norris, 44, of Tabor City died in…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      An assistant who helped a former doctor operate a “pill mill” in Tabor City has been handed a five year prison sentence for her crimes.      Tammy Lynn Thompson, 57, a Bladen County resident, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan Thursday, said a news release from the U.S. Attorney…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      UPDATE: Willie Lee Wheeler, 67, died after apparently being shot at his Lewis Street home in Tabor City Monday morning, Maj. Russell Conway of the Tabor City Police Department said Monday evening.      A “person of interest” has been identified in the shooting, and is being sought by law enforcement, Conway said.…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A pipe replacement project on NC 904 near Dulah Road, east of Tabor City, begins Monday and will include a detour that adds about five miles to the route, NC Department of Transportation officials said.      Signs mark the detour route, eastbound leaving NC 904 (Swamp Fox Hwy) onto Ramsey Ford Road,…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Speed was a factor in a deadly crash no a Tabor City street Thursday night, Maj. Russell Conway of the Tabor City Police Department said.      Kristina Jacobs, 27, of Seal Street, died before she could be freed from a 2006 Cadillac that slammed into a tree at the split between North…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A gunshot, not her leap from a moving car, killed a Whiteville woman in the Williams Township area two years ago, a Columbus County jury ruled Thursday.      William Jacoby Singletary, 31, of Hwy 410, Bladenboro, was convicted of second degree murder two years to the day after Monalisa McMillian, 19, of…

A much larger parade presence and what appeared to be double the number of vendors and crowd size as a year ago, Tabor City’s second annual Spring Has Sprung Festival was every bit as successful as Carolina Extreme Martial Arts student Noah Hart’s flip, with assistance from instructor and co-owner Keith Mercure. Tractors proved a…