Area Upfront News

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com UPDATE      Jody Greene’s residency in Columbus County was rejected by a divided Columbus County Board of Elections Thursday following two days of testimony and arguments.      The decision was far from the last word, State Board of Elections attorney Josh Lawson reminding members that the body in Raleigh will take jurisdiction of…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Bantering lawyers, a boisterous witness and testimony that did not seem to clear confusion over last November’s election for Columbus County sheriff were highlights of day one of a Columbus County Board of Elections hearing Wednesday.      That hearing recessed after 6 p.m. and is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com UPDATE, April 1 A manslaughter charge has been upgrades to murder in the shooting death of a Loris High School senior last month. Aaron Miguel Vereen, 18, of Log Cabin Road in Loris has been served with a warrant charging him with murder in the March 25 slaying of Mar’trellyiz Vereen,…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Found with marijuana, cocaine and Suboxone strips inside Tabor Correctional Institution on Saturday, a Raleigh woman says an “unknown” caller told her to do it.      Callie Laverne Graham, 43, of Addison Place, Raleigh, was charged with three felony counts of possession of controlled substances in a prison, the report by Officer…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A Loris teen was shot and killed east of the city Monday night, leaving the Horry County Police Department seeking information they hope will lead to his killer, an HCPD news release said.      Mar’trellyiz Vereen, 18, was found at Flag Patch Cemetery off of Wayside Road about 6:30 p.m. Monday. Police…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A second Tabor City man is in custody accused of murder in a parking lot slaying at a Food Lion in Longs last August.      Stephon Miller was arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals Task Force on Lewis Street in Tabor City Monday afternoon, an Horry County Police Department news release…

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…