Area News

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Dollar General’s store on East 5th Street in Tabor City was closed for safety violations Thursday, the second time this month, Tabor City Fire Chief Jeff Fowler said.      Fowler, also the town’s fire inspector, said his actions resulted from repeated violations of safety regulations, specifically aisles blocked by merchandise.      Dollar General…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Guilty pleas related to a deadly shooting in Longs and subsequent robbery in Loris has resulted in a 10-year prison sentence for a Tabor City man.      James Laverne Bellamy, 51, entered guilty pleas to accessory after the fact of murder and criminal conspiracy to commit armed robbery, said Mary-Ellen Walter,…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A re-design of the intersection at US 701 at NC 410 at East Tabor put a long pause in a series of auto crashes that involved a building there, until Thursday night.      Motorheads, as the building was most recently called, looked to be “totaled” after the 10 p.m. crash that involved…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Mother Nature smiled Nakina’s annual Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, but other events scheduled for later this week are facing the headwinds of Tropical Storm Nicole as it moved into the south Florida coast Wednesday afternoon.      Area events that have been cancelled, postponed, or are hoping for clear skies this Saturday,…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Former Columbus County Sheriff’s Jody Greene was the top-voter getter in the race for the county’s top law enforcement post in Tuesday’s general election, but is expected to face a legal challenge to wearing that badge again.      Greene resigned last month as a hearing initiated by District Attorney Jon David to…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      An unusual head-on crash involving a tractor-trailer truck and a passenger car near downtown Tabor City Tuesday afternoon resulted in a woman being flown by helicopter to a regional trauma center.      While the woman’s injuries were not minor, Lt. Gary Lewis of the Tabor City Police Department said they did not…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Electric school buses are apparently on their way to the Columbus County Schools, as many as 10 and as early as the 2023-2024 school year, Associate Supt. Dr. Jonathan Williams said Tuesday.      That includes nine funded in a $3.555 million grant through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean School Bus…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      O. Richard Wright Jr., the only original North Carolina Yam Festival at Tabor City board member still serving, was recognized by the board as festival week heated up on Tuesday.      Wright was unable to attend a Worker’s Appreciation breakfast, where the plaque was to be presented, so festival President Joe Small,…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Jerry Hodges, a veteran firefighter with nearly four decades of service behind him before his retirement at the end of 2018, died Sunday at McLeod Loris hospital. He was 83.      Hodges’ body was taken from Loris to Inman Ward Funeral Home in Tabor City on board a Tabor City Emergency Service…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com UPDATE: 5:30 p.m.      Winds were picking up, trees, limbs and power lines coming down across Columbus and Horry counties after Hurricane Ian came ashore in Georgetown Friday afternoon, and began moving in a line expected to take it through Florence, then Charlotte, storm remnants expected into central North Carolina Saturday morning.…