Area News

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Correction: An earlier version of this story said Franklin Graham has admitted his involvement in a Feb. 14 bank robbery in Loris. Loris Police Chief Gary Buley on Tuesday said he made that statement in error, a misunderstanding of a conversation he had with a detective. —      A second suspect…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Already charged in last fall’s murder of NC Highway Patrol Master Trooper Kevin Conner, a Chadbourn teen is accused of stabbing a fellow inmate at the Robeson County Detention Center in Lumberton.      Chauncy Askew and the other inmate were in a common area of the jail in Lumberton on Wednesday when…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com Friday update correction      An emergency meeting of the Columbus County Board of Elections has been called to schedule an evidentiary hearing involving the November 2018 election for Columbus County Sheriff.      An earlier update here said Monday’s meeting would be to hear evidence in an elections protest. That was in error. Monday’s…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A “partial remand for findings” in protests involving the election for Columbus County Sheriff may be sent back to the newly formed county Board of Elections.      State Board of Elections members will hold a teleconference meeting Thursday to consider the partial remand, spokesman Patrick Gannon said in an email to news…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      An attempt to destroy surveillance cameras by setting a Ray Street home ablaze Monday night instead resulted in the arrest of a neighbor Tuesday, Capt. Greg Sibbett of the Tabor City Police Department said.      Frank McLeod Phillips, 58, was arrested at his home Tuesday morning, charged in a warrant with second…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      More than 400 cases on the docket for District Court in Tabor City Friday likely set a record for the facility, Clerk of Court Jesse Hill said.      Water damage from recent floods and a faulty water pipe forced extensive renovations inside the courthouse, cancelling sessions in January and February, those cases…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A Christmas day killing more than two years ago will leave a Loris man in prison for 35 years, a judge and jury in Conway ruled Thursday.      Roger Grate, 53, was convicted by a jury in the shooting death of his nephew, Darrell Doctor, who was 40, during a family gathering…

Pink was the theme as the Columbus County Board of Elections was sworn Thursday, the first all-female panel in the organization’s history, Elections Director Carla Strickland said. Clerk of Court Jess Hill administered the oaths. From left are Brenda Blanks Ebron, Katherine Horne, Bonita Blackney, JoAnn Garrell, Bonnie Inman, Strickland, and Hill. Board chair Blackney,…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A new Columbus County Board of Elections will take office Thursday.      Members nominated by the political parties and approved by the State Board of Elections, and a chair appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper will be sworn at 11 a.m. at the Board of Elections office in Whiteville, Director Carla Strickland said…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A teacher at Loris High School was arrested for possession of an open container of alcohol on campus Thursday, Loris Police Chief Gary Buley said.      Jessica Ann Zajac McCoy, 33, of North Myrtle Beach, was arrested after police investigating a minor wreck involving her car found an open beer in McCoy’s…