Area News

Story & Photo By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Dedicating a new sanctuary is a once-in-a-lifetime event, if then, at most churches.      Members at Cherry Grove Baptist Church have a little more practice than most, with the second such dedication in six years set for this Sunday, exactly two years and one week since fire nearly leveled…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Three decades in prison was the sentence for Longs man convicted last week as a heroin dealer, Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said.      Abel Gause, 44, was convicted by a jury sitting in Conway last Wednesday, Circuit Court Judge Benjamin H. Culbertson handing down the sentence in the one-day trial.      Gause…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      At least two Columbus County Board of Education employees have been paid from federal grant proceeds for work they did applying for those grants, Supt. Alan Faulk confirmed Tuesday.      Neither Supt. Faulk nor members of the school board were aware of those payments until after the three-year US Department of Justice…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Liquor by the drink for Tabor City will be on the ballot for town residents this November, Town Council members agreed Tuesday.      The measure will come five years after a similar referendum failed by just one vote, and comes on the heels of an ongoing effort that could lead to Tabor…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Rapid response to Columbus Regional Healthcare by Whiteville Police Department officers ended with an armed woman threatening suicide safely admitted for mental health care, department spokesman Maj. Alan May said Tuesday.      A lockdown ordered at the hospital as the situation unfolded “was lifted once the female was placed into custody,” May…

     A section of Peacock Road near Beaverdam, between Tabor City and Chadbourn, has been shut down for a drainage tile replacement project, the North Carolina Department of Transportation reported Monday.      Construction will take place from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, with the road schecduled to be re-opened next Monday, July 16, the DOT said.…

    Get an early start to the Independence Day celebration as the Greater Tabor City Chamber of Commerce hosts its annual Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration tonight, one day early.      Returning as headline entertainers for the festivities at South Columbus High School is the Kevin Sanson Band, including Chamber President Chris Avery on bass…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com Afternoon update      “Substantial active prison time,” is facing a Tabor City physician and his girlfriend assistant accused of trafficking in prescription medications and street drugs from their office and home, Assistant District Attorney Heath Nance said Friday.      Columbus County Sheriff’s Office Vice-Narcotics detectives served search warrants on both properties Friday morning,…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Supt. Alan Faulk will retire from the Columbus County Schools this fall.      Faulk, the school system for seven years, has spent his entire career in education in Columbus County.      “I feel like it’s my time,” said Faulk, 57. “I’ve got 34 years in. I feel like it’s time to pursue some…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A previously convicted drug dealer stopped after leaving a known drug area had narcotics in his vehicle, but no pants on his body, Columbus County Sheriff Lewis Hatcher said in a news release.      James Eldred Buffkin, 67, of Pireway Road in Tabor City, was charged with possession with intent to manufacture,…