Area Upfront News

By DEUCE NIVEN      An early Sunday fight at a party on Good Luck Road near Aynor led to gunfire that killed a Loris teen, a video recorded altercation that has prompted the arrest of a local man expected to face charges in the case, the Horry County Police Department reports.      Spencer Nolan Prince, 16, died…

By DEUCE NIVEN      Walter Harold Hughes, an agriculture teacher at Tabor City and South Columbus high schools for 33 years and a 15-year veteran of the Tabor City Council, died Wednesday at the Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston. He was 73.      “It’s a great loss to Tabor,” Mayor Royce Harper said Thursday.      “He…

By DEUCE NIVEN      Stormy weather steered clear of South Columbus High School allowing Tabor City’s 30th Annual Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration to go off with a satisfying, rockin’ and entertaining bang Monday night.      That was just prelude to America’s 241st birthday, today.      Local entertainers Monday night included Christian musicians Love Mission, Yam Festival…

     Tabor City’s 30th Annual Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration is scheduled for tonight, with organizers at the sponsoring Greater Tabor City Chamber of Commerce keeping an eye on the weather and crossing their fingers.      Late forecasts call for better than even rain chances this afternoon, clearer weather before gates open at South Columbus High…

By DEUCE NIVEN      A new budget for the year that begins Saturday was adopted without dissention in an unusual outdoor meeting of Tabor City Council early today.      Councilman Nelson Lee had promised breakfast at the 6:30 a.m. meeting and public hearing held at his business, The Todd House. Flu kept Lee and others of his…

By DEUCE NIVEN      Country music legend Stonewall Jackson’s voice is from an era largely left behind these days, but he hasn’t forgotten the place he was born, and Tabor City hasn’t forgotten him.      Those unfamiliar with the Grand Ole Opry star whose 1959 hit “Waterloo” became his signature song, and who drive through Tabor City,…

By DEUCE NIVEN UPDATE, MONDAY      Sought by police during the weekend, the suspect in last week’s arson of a mobile home was arrested by Tabor City police on Monday, Chief Donald Dowless said.      Michael Dillon Barefoot, 23, of First Avenue South, Murrells Inlet, was charged by Lt. Richard Kosloski with second degree arson and…

By DEUCE NIVEN Thursday evening update      “Gas leaks in the courthouse have been fixed,” Columbus County Clerk of Court Jess Hill said Thursday evening, paving the way for the two-year-old court facility to re-open on schedule Friday morning.      Hill closed the facility Thursday after the odor of gas, coming from a leak in…

By DEUCE NIVEN      Facing a possible life prison sentence after entering a plea to drug and weapons charges in March, a Loris man will instead serve up to six years behind bars.       Norad Arance McCullough, 24, was sentenced to serve 72 months in prison, followed by five years supervised probation, during a hearing before…

By DEUCE NIVEN THURSDAY 11 a.m. UPDATE      An investigation is underway into how Ricky Robinson eluded capture after walking away from a Columbus County prison Tuesday afternoon, NC Department of Public Safety spokesman Jerry Higgins said.      Robinson, 59, was captured about 1 a.m. Thursday in a home not far from the Columbus Correctional…