Area Upfront News

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      COVID-19 cases are exploding in the Carolinas, racing past all previous records in North Carolina on Thursday, fueled by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, health experts say.      Locally Columbus County recorded 32 newly confirmed COVID cases on Thursday, Horry 166, both numbers well ahead of typical days during the pandemic…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      An inmate at Tabor Correctional Institution died early Wednesday of an apparent suicide, the NC Department of Public Safety reported.      Malek Moore, 29, “was found unresponsive in his cell around 4:34 a.m.,” a DPS news release said. Prison first responders “performed lifesaving measures until local paramedics arrived who also worked to…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Battered by hurricanes that decimated its downtown, Fair Bluff’s plans for a new uptown area away from potential floodwaters have been given a boost with a donation of land by R.J. Corman Railroad.      News of the gift came from a corporate news release just two days before Christmas.      “This donation will…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A 20-minute long police pursuit that began in a “high crime area” of Tabor City ended with stop sticks disabling the suspect’s pick-up truck and her capture during a foot chase, the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office reports.      Christina Marie Manuel Hernandez, 34, of Conway was charged by the Horry County Police…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A former coaching assistant for the Loris High School baseball team is facing two sex crime charges involving a student.      Ronnie Lee Barron, 44, surrendered to police, accompanied by his attorney, Monday morning, Loris Police Chief Gary Buley said.      Barron was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual battery…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Stonewall Jackson, a country music legend and Tabor City native who just a few years ago gave his blessings to welcome signs erected in his honor, died Saturday. He was 89.      His death, following a long battle with vascular dementia, was reported Saturday by Nashville’s Taste of Country at tasteofcountry.com.      Born…

By DEUCE NIVEN & JENN CAUSEY      Council conversation concerning a quit claim deed Mayor Todd Harrelson signed to a Loris merchant early this year grew increasingly contentious during Monday’s City Council meeting.      That conversation could be moving to a courtroom early in the new year, council member Carroll Padgett said during the meeting, and again…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Broadcasting herself “preparing marijuana to be smoked” Thursday morning landed an area woman in jail, the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office reports.      , 33, of Sellers Town Road, Whiteville, “did not deny” what deputies had seen on the Facebook Live, which has since been deleted, Chief Deputy Aaron Herring said in…

     A Boston Butt sale to benefit a Gapway area family who lost their home and belongings to a recent fire has been launched by the Columbus County Fire & Rescue Association.      Annette Soles and her extended family, including her boyfriend and Lake Waccamaw firefighter David Vela, escaped the fire, though five of the six in…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com UPDATE      A problem with an electric space heater caused the fire that burned the Annette Soles home west of Tabor City early Monday, Columbus County Fire Marshal Shannon Blackman said later Monday morning.      “It was the space heater in the two girls’ bedroom,” Blackman said.      The older of the two girls…