Area News

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Gunfire into a Tabor City area home early Friday left bullet holes in the residence, damage to a vehicle, but no injuries.      Seven people were in the Shug Norris Road home of Mabelene McKvian Graham, 61, including two babies and a young child, Columbus County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michelle Tatum said.…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com Tuesday update      More charges have been filed against a pest control employee accused last week in the theft of tens of thousands of dollars worth or prescription medication  from Baldwin Hills Pharmacy in Whiteville, the Columbus County Sherff’s Office reports.      Antonio Donnell Mitchell, 27, of Tart Road in Clarkton…

Story & Photos By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Pastor Rusty Davis issued a challenge to the congregation at Cherry Grove Baptist Church as nearly 300 people gathered to dedicate a new sanctuary Sunday.      Reading from Acts 2:42, “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers,”…

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…