Area Upfront News

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Two large-scale drug operations have been shut down following intensive Columbus County Sheriff’s Office Vice-Narcotics investigations in the Beaverdam and Iron Hill areas of Columbus County, Sheriff Lewis Hatcher said this week.      Two people were arrested in the Iron Hill investigation, with a third in custody on unrelated warrants. Two more…

     Can it be too messy for Mess Fest?      Mother Nature has apparently said yes, the deluge this week coupled with more rain in the forecast for Saturday has prompted Mess Fest organizers in Loris to postpone the inaugural event to Aug. 18, weather permitting and fingers crossed.      Geared for children infants to age 12, Mess…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Felony warrants for soliciting a child by computer and disseminating obscene materials to a minor were served by state agents on a Cerro Gordo man Tuesday, Columbus County Detention Center records show.      Kelton Grant Ford, 28, of Bullard Lane, Cerro Gordo, was charged with two counts of soliciting a child by…

Tuesday update      Hannah Campbell “has been located and is safe,” Columbus County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michelle Tatum said Tuesday afternoon.      Campbell had not been seen by family since late Saturday night. Investigators now know that her boyfriend “dropped her off at a friend’s residence to stay the night,” Tatum said in a news…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A marijuana growing operation was found Friday on the property of an area man on probation for previous drug offenses, Columbus County Sheriff Lewis Hatcher said.      Byron Scott Stevens, 43, was arrested after state Adult Probation and Parole Officers were joined by sheriff’s Vice/Narcotics detectives executing a search warrant at Stevens’…

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…