Area Upfront News

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A day of reckoning has come for a Tabor City area man who admitted guilt to drug and money laundering conspiracy charges a year ago.      Justin Lee Myers, 34, who has also previously listed an address in Myrtle Beach, was sentenced this week to serve 14 years in prison for his…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Lunch left unattended on a stove started a fire that a sprinkler system quickly extinguished at Forest Edge Apartments Tuesday, Tabor City Fire Chief Jeff Fowler said.      “The sprinkler did what it was supposed to do,” Fowler said.      Witnesses said the tenant had stepped out from the second floor apartment. Fowler…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Drugs and guns were seized during a traffic safety checkpoint coordinated by the Tabor City Police Department Saturday, First Sgt. Michael Edwards said Monday.      Delvin Kwamaine Scott, 24, of Porter Road, Tabor City, faces the most serious charges of those arrested at the checkpoint set up on NC 904 at Pireway…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Neither Jody Greene nor Lewis Hatcher will be running the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office for the time being, but the confidential agreement hammered out between the men during mediation Thursday was likely better for both than scheduled litigation would Monday would have been, Superior Court Judge A. Graham Shirley said during…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com UPDATE: Friday morning      Formal action ending former Sheriff Lewis Hatcher’s lawsuit against new Sheriff Jody Greene and Columbus County could happen in a Whiteville courtroom this afternoon.      Superior Court Judge A. Graham Shirley of Wake County is expected to keep a scheduled 2:30 p.m. hearing schedule in Columbus County Superior Court…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Killing a Loris teen who had been a standout athlete will send a Longs man to prison for 35 years, a judge and jury in Conway ruled Thursday.      Devonta Edward Williams, 21, was convicted of murder and two counts of attempted murder in a Nov. 12, 2016 altercation that claimed Levi…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      Uncertainty over just when Tabor City’s landmark eatery Dale’s Seafood would re-open, eight months after fire gutted the U.S. 701 Bypass business last summer, ends today.      Dale’s will re-open at 4 p.m. today, co-owner Sue Gore Tyson said, with early plans for a more organized re-opening schedule scuttled by uncertainty on…

By JENN CAUSEY tribjenn@tabor-loris.com      Loris Administrator Damon Kempski’s signature “appears to be” on an invoice and service agreement related to the shredding of more than a ton of City of Loris documents in the fall of 2016, though he says he’s never seen it.      Former City Clerk/Treasurer Bridgett Fowler provided the document this week, and…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com      A decision on who should be sheriff in Columbus County won’t be made by a Pender County jury, with what had been expected to be a distant jury trial now scheduled for a bench trial in Whiteville next week.      Columbus County Clerk of Court Jess Hill said Tuesday that Superior Court…

By DEUCE NIVEN tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com Final update      A CenturyLink fiber line that was cut caused the 911 service outage that impacted a large part of southeastern North Carolina, including Columbus County, the NC Department of Information Technology reports.      CenturyLink replaced that line Tuesday afternoon, providing “full-service restoration” to the impacted 911 services. Tuesday afternoon…