Area News

By DEUCE NIVEN     Child sex warrants were served on a Clarendon man Thursday in a June 2014 case, Columbus County Sheriff’s Office reports show.     Wallace Jason Rogers, 39, of Campbell Park Drive, Clarendon, was charged with first-degree sex offense with a child younger than 13 and indecent liberties with a child. He is…

     A Chadbourn woman carrying her grandchildren to school was killed when her pickup truck slammed into a car that had lost control and spun on U.S. 701 in the Williams Township area Monday morning, Trooper Bret Baxley of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said.     Deborah Nobles Walters, 57, died in the 8 a.m.…

By DEUCE NIVEN     Weapons and other charges have been filed against a Loris man who is also being held on federal warrants, an Horry County Police Department news release said Wednesday.     Norod Arcane McCullough, 23, was taken into custody without incident Tuesday in an operation that involved HCPD officers, the ATF Violent Crimes/Gang…

By DEUCE NIVEN     A student at East Columbus High School was charged with having a weapon on campus after faculty discovered an unloaded handgun in a school locker room, Columbus County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michelle Tatum said Wednesday.     Jaylene Ray’Shawn Pyatt, 16, of  Bay Blossom Road in Bolton, was charged with the felony…

Tabor City Emergency Services Chief Darren Norris and his partner had just stepped away from their ambulance, on the scene of an auto crash on NC 904 west of Tabor City Tuesday morning, when a pick-up truck plowed into the side of the truck, crunching the cab where Norris had been moments earlier.     No…

By DEUCE NIVEN     A violent two-vehicle crash with multiple injuries shut down NC 410 at Roseland Road, north of Tabor City, for about an hour Sunday night.     At least four people were taken to area hospitals following the 8 p.m. crash, one flown out by VitaLink helicopter.     An SUV and passenger car…

By DEUCE NIVEN Dec. 2     South Columbus outlasted East Bladen 42-41 in a nail biter at Civitan Stadium that paves the way for the Stallions to host John A. Holmes in the Eastern Regional North Carolina 2A high school football finals next Friday night.     Holmes earned the berth defeating top seeded Northeastern 28-14…

By DEUCE NIVEN Dec. 2     South Columbus outlasted East Bladen 42-41 in a nail biter at Civitan Stadium that paves the way for the Stallions to host John A. Holmes in the Eastern Regional North Carolina 2A high school football finals next Friday night.     Holmes earned the berth defeating top seeded Northeastern 28-14…

By DEUCE NIVEN     Brenden Jones became the first Republican from Columbus County elected to the North Carolina legislature in modern times, perhaps since reconstruction following the Civil War, early unofficial returns from Tuesday’s general election showed.     Organization and a widespread desire for change fueled Jones to 60 percent of the vote with 37…

By DEUCE NIVEN     Another $7.3 million in state funds for railroad improvements brings to $17 million in recent awards to improve tracks in Columbus County and into South Carolina.     Rail Division leaders from the North Carolina Department of Transportation awarded $10 million for the Freight Rail and Rail Crossing Safety Improvement program for…