Area Upfront News

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Fire gutted a home just off of Green Sea Road south of Tabor City Monday morning, flames consuming almost everything inside minutes after its loan occupant escaped.      For more on this story, and the state employees who rushed in and aided the man who escaped with injuries that did not appear…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A guilty verdict was reached Friday for Whiteville area man in the 2013 murder of Lee Travis Wright near Tabor City.      Demoncrick Hunter, 27, found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, and robbery with a dangerous weapon, was sentenced to life in prison…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A “suspicious suspect” sought by Tabor City police after a brick was tossed through a bank window and the man was seen outside a local day care is in jail, charged with possession of an estimated 2,500 prescription medication pills, Capt. Greg Sibbett said Wednesday night.      Louis Ellis Hodge, 36, of…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Was a Brunswick County man planning to rob a Tabor City bank Wednesday morning?      Tabor City police want to talk to a “suspicious suspect” who eluded them in the area of Anderson and Bell streets and Pireway Road not long after officers located a car they believe to have been his,…

By JOYCE GRAHAM tribjoyce@tabor-loris.com      A Hardee will replace a Hardee on Loris City Council next year, with its makeup otherwise unchanged in the unofficial tally of Tuesday’s election.      Council veteran Lewis Hardee finished fourth in the race for three council seats, behind political newcomer Terrence Hardee who will fill that seat.      Mike Suggs, the other…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A 2012 rape case in the Guideway area has been cleared with the arrest of a Tabor City area man.      Luis G. Maldonado, 22, of Leanna Lane, Tabor City, was charged with first-degree rape, arrested Monday and held at the Columbus County Detention Center under a $25,000 bond, jail records show.…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Three people were injured, three walked away after a car overturned several times on Miller Road Wednesday morning.      Ambulances from Tabor City Emergency Services and Nakina Fire/Rescue took a small child and two women to McLeod Loris hospital following the 10 a.m. wreck about a mile south of NC 904.      Three…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      An auto crash in the Sidney Community Monday afternoon claimed the life of a Williams Township School fifth grader.      Joshua Chay Porter, 11, died following the 4:21 p.m. crash on U.S. 701 at Peacock Road, Trooper Bret Baxley of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said.      Porter was the front-seat passenger in…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Broken home and auto windows worth thousands of dollars and a possible arson fire that gutted a vacant home late Friday and early Saturday may be connected, and are under investigation by the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office.      “No one saw anything,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Michelle Tatum said. “We have no suspects.”      It…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Law enforcement is on the hunt for a Nichols man convicted on gun and drug charges this week despite not showing up for his trial.      James Lamont Arthur, 35, failed to appear for trial in October, and despite a bench warrant for his arrest was still not to be found for…