Jayne McBurney has joined the Nash County Cooperative Extension Office as the Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent.
North Carolina State University recently assigned McBurney to conduct extension education programs for Nash and Edgecombe Counties in the areas of food, nutrition and food safety.
McBurney comes from Johnston County, where she spent eight years in the same role.

Henry Clegg Coggin, Jr. was found not guilty of taking indecent liberties with a child, following a two-day trial in Nash County Superior Court.
Coggin, 66, who is known in Nashville as Hank, was charged with four counts of taking indecent liberties with a child last July after it was reported that he had touched an 11-year old girl inappropriately.
Coggin had his day in court this week and the 12 jurors unanimously reached the not guilty verdict after around two and a half hours of deliberating.

U.S. Congressman G.K. Butterfield speaks during the annual Community and Rural Developent Council's banquet Saturday night.

Rooted in Community.
That was the theme for the Community and Rural Development Council's annual banquet, which was held on Saturday, November 14 at the Nash County Agricultural Center in Nashville.
Representative Bobbie Richardson was the guest speaker for the event and talked about how the seven community groups, which make up the Community and Rural Development Council, are rooted in their communities.

Threats allegedly posted to social media over the past weekend regarding Nash Central High School caused some parents to pull their children out of school early on Monday but Nash-Rocky Mount School officials said the threats were found to not be credible.
Though the threats were posted over the weekend, parents were unaware of the threats until Monday.
The threats were allegedly posted on Instagram over the weekend and referenced "shooting up" Nash Central High School.

Nash County 4-H is preparing for its annual Shopping Extravaganza but has changed things up a bit.
Sandy Hall, Nash County 4-H Extension Director, said the event has been mostly the same over the years and the committee decided that a change needed to be made to make the event more attractive to customers.
"We decided to make a change since we had so much going on in a two-day event," she said. "We decided to give the light show it's own event and make it a family friendly event."

Officers with the Nash County Sheriff's Office began work on Monday with a new look.
The Sheriff's Office unveiled its new gray uniforms, getting rid of the brown uniforms officers wore for many years.
According to the Sheriff's Office, the change in uniforms was "to adapt to current times in order to provide more professional service to the people."
According to Sheriff's Office, there are only a handful of Sheriff's Offices in North Carolina who still wear the tan uniforms. The Nash County Sheriff's Office was one of the last few still remaining.

Nan Strickland loves to smile. And smiling is something she's been doing most of her life.
Strickland said smiling is contagious.
"If you smile at someone, they are going to smile back and make both of you happy," she said.
On Saturday, Strickland will celebrate her 100th birthday, something she said will definitely make her smile.

Pictured above are a group of runners who came out to support the event.

Jennifer and David Thorne were overwhelmed on Saturday with the turnout of the first annual Healthy Hips Fun Run/Walk.
Over 100 people showed up for the run and over $3,000 was raised for the International Hip Dysplasia Institute.
The Thorne's daughter, Charlotte was diagnosed with Developmental Hip Dysplasia this year and just recently had surgery. Jennifer said surgery went well and Charlotte seems to be recovering well.

INCIDENTS
A larceny was reported on 11/9/15 at L&L Food Stores, 479 W Washington Street
A hit and run was reported on 11/10/15 in the Bojangles parking lot at 101 W Washington Street
A larceny was reported on 11/11/15 at 1205 Eastern Avenue

A damage to personal property was reported on 11/9/15 at 9438 Pine Street
A felony larceny was reported on 11/9/15 at 8549 Mill Branch Road
An assault/affray was reported on 11/9/15 at 1638 South First Street
A breaking and entering and damage to property was reported on 11/9/15 at 9454 Liles Road

Nash County Planning and Inspections issued the following building permits from November 9 through 13.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s visit to Rocky Mount, N.C. in 1962, where he first delivered the iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, is getting noticed around the world. Most recently, the Imperial Centre Theater was packed with Rocky Mount residents who wanted to see reenactments of King's visit and hear from author and NC State University professor, Dr. Jason Miller, who remastered the audio from King's speech at Booker T. Washington High School. Miller has also written the book, "Origins of the Dream," connecting King's speeches and sermons to the poetry of Langston Hughes.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, Nov. 13, in Rocky Mount, Transportation Secretary Nick Tennyson and Board of Transportation Member Gus Tulloss joined City of Rocky Mount Mayor David W. Combs and other local leaders to officially open the bridge on Country Club Road over Stoney Creek. Photos from Friday's ceremony can be found on NCDOT's Flickr Page.
"This is an incredibly exciting day for the City of Rocky Mount," said Board of Transportation Member Gus Tulloss. "Country Club Road is a heavily used route in this community. Having this bridge open is like Christmas coming early for the drivers of Rocky Mount."

MOZINGO TEAM -- Winners of lst place in the 2nd Flight are (left to right) Chris Mozingo, Jay Moss, Courtney Moss (heart transplant patient from Duke Children's Hospital), Ronnie Parrish, and Neal Poland.

The 5th Duke K.I.D.S. Golf Tournament was held on Friday, October 16th at Belmont Lake Golf Club. Sponsored by the West Mount Ruritan Club, this year's event netted over $10,000 to be donated to Duke Children's Hospital and Nash Community College in honor of Bayden Collins and in memory of Connor Armstrong.
In 2005, Bayden, the grandson of Wayne Outlaw, 2008 Ruritan National President, received a life-saving kidney transplant at Duke Children's Hospital.

Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools has announced Kelly Anne Mudd as the new Principal of Spring Hope Elementary School. Mudd earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland. After graduation, Mudd joined Teach for America and has been working in education in eastern North Carolina since 2006.
Mudd has a variety of experience in education, including being an Exceptional Children's educator. She earned a Master's in School Administration from North Carolina State University in 2013 and was a Northeast Leadership Academy Fellow during her program.

Traffic slowed down with many turning into the State Employees Credit Union parking lot Saturday to look at a 400 pound tortoise in front of the bank. The Sulcata African land tortoise, named Benjamin Franklin, is the pet of Randy "Turtle Man" Gallagher of Calabash, North Carolina. Gallagher runs a turtle rescue. He decided to drop by Nashville Saturday for Benjamin Franklin to get a little exercise and offered a chance for the public to meet him. Pictured above is Elia Edwards of Benson who was visiting her grandmother, Joyce Neal, of Nashville.

Mary Boehm of Nashville was installed as a Governor this summer for Lions Club District 5. The installation took place in Honolulu and was conducted by Dr. Jitshuhiro Yamada, a surgeon from Japan and Lions Club International President.

Local Farmer Andrew Tyson got a surprise after all the rainfall earlier this month when a truck loaded with sweet potatoes got stuck in one of his fields.
Tyson said a wheel on the truck just disappeared into a hole, putting a halt on an already delayed-sweet potato season. Tyson said normally, they are done harvesting sweet potatoes but the weather delayed things a bit.
"All in a day's work," Tyson said.

A Rocky Mount woman is hoping to use a game she created almost 10 years ago to help feed and cloth others.
Sharon Bartley came up with the idea for "The Believer's Race!" game while in New Jersey working with youth in the 90s. The game was copy written in 2006.
Bartley came to Rocky Mount in 2009 to take care of her dad and officially moved to the area in 2012. She said though the game is not necessarily new, it's new to this area and she hopes she can use it to help others.

Troop 86 of Nash County visited the Microsoft Store at Streets at South Point in Durham in August. They learned about simple coding, designing a video game and used a Surface.

The Rocky Mount Elks Lodge No. 1038 presented an American Flag to Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone on June 18th in observance of Flag Day. Pictured presenting the flag is Exalted Ruler Frank Hans and Esteemed Loyal Knight Michael P. Davis.

Most homes in the United States will be preparing turkey for holiday meals. Unfortunately, this traditional meat can also be a food safety nightmare as turkey is linked to outbreaks of salmonellosis and campylobacterosis, illnesses caused by bacteria sometimes found in poultry. By following proper steps, you can reduce the risk of foodborne illness at your holiday gathering. Proper handling while thawing, preparing and cooking your bird are essential.
Plan ahead and thaw your turkey in the refrigerator, it will take 3-4 days to fully thaw the turkey.

Children and leaders came together on "Mystery Island" on Saturday, November 14, at Red Oak Baptist Church to discover the "lost" city. Over 50 attended this children's missions event from Red Oak, Arlington, Sunset Avenue, and West Mount churches. As participants arrived to the cruise ship taking them to the island, they were given investigator skills tests. They had puzzles to put together, items to guess by touch, and a tray of items from which items were removed gradually to see if they knew what was missing.

AVENTON STRONG! Well folks, again this may be the Sue Shearin and Ricks Family review. I told Sue I was going on strike this week, but I couldn't do it. I know there are folks that have moved away from the Red Oak and Aventon area that look forward to our little antics, so for you folks I will continue my mess this week....just for you, and if you don't enjoy reading about the Shearin and the Ricks family, now would be a good time to put your newspaper down.

UDC Bethel Heroes Chapter 636 members Margie Parker Brantley, Connie Cobb, Donna Boykin, Margaret Sink, Edith Whitby, Helen Sharpe and Traci Thompson attended the UDC North Carolina Division's 119th Annual Convention in Durham, NC. Connie Cobb, Donna Boykin and Traci Thompson were first time attendees.

The sun shone beautifully on Sunday morning as Peachtree folks gathered for worship. Pastor Whitehouse greeted those present. Sanctuary flowers were given by Bob and Fran Bunn in memory of her mother, Hazel, and in honor of her father, Jake Robertson. Special music by the Adult Choir was, "Calvary Covers it All / Burdens are Lifted at Calvary." It was directed by the pastor.
The title of Pastor Whitehouse's sermon was "Only Jesus and Jesus Only."

The rush is on. I've always thought that Halloween was the official, unofficial beginning to the holiday season. This is easily my favorite time of year...football, hunting, crisp mornings, schools out for a little bit for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This time, though, goes by quickly and if we are not careful it will be January before we know it, therefore, it's vital we slow down and learn to be a content people, a giving thanks people. One of the neat things about giving thanks is that it forces us to slow down. I would submit that we all need to slow down in life some and learn to just be...so we can listen to God and give thanks to Him.

We sure had some beautiful sunshiny weather over the weekend. Even though it was a little bit cooler, I heard several families talking about cooking out on their grill. Recently, we had a lot of rain here but we needed that. We have been blessed and when we see all the flooding in some states and fires in California, we should remember to keep those people in our prayers and thank God each day for our blessings. On days when we have problems, remember to do that, no matter what type of problem they may be. A good scripture to remember is Phillippians 4:13; "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."

In a career of photo-journalism, I have photographed political fundraisers where people contributed vast sums of money to walk through receiving lines and shake hands with a notable politician or celebrity. I have also been contracted by lawyers to provide photographic evidence for their defendants.
It is with some degree of familiarity that I profess that exactly 99.6% of the time, most lawyer jokes are pretty much well-justified, along with the cynicism expressed about politicians. Lawyers turned politicians fill seats in courthouses, state houses, the Congress, and the White House. Opinions about lawyers earn credibility when the mayor of an Eastern North Carolina, lawyer turned politician, is disbarred.

I was at a conference in the Triangle when I got the first familiar vibration from my phone. That's how we get the headlines now, not first on the radio or TV, but through an alert on our smartphones.
Terrorists had taken over a concert hall in Paris and were not interested in negotiating. They were interested in killing. Later, I'd find out that a restaurant and a sports stadium were targeted; the later of which had the French president in attendance.

This photo was found in The Graphic's November 1977 archives. The photo is from the annual Christmas Parade in Rocky Mount.

Save Lives - FIX your Pets! Why not? It is such a simple solution! The excuse of "I can't afford to have my pet altered" is a waste of breath these days. If you can't afford a low cost clinic, then you should not have a pet! If you care about animals, then why would you continue to add to the population of unwanted animals who die in county Animal Control facilities. Plus it is a proven fact that pets that are spayed or neutered live longer and healthier lives.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Nash County athletes are often traveling upstream when it comes to earning a scholarship to compete in swimming on the collegiate level.
The area simply doesn't have the infrastructure to afford swimmers that opportunity to improve.
Strides have been made to upgrade those intangibles, but it's still a big thing when a county high schooler is recruited to swim in college.
But Nash Central's Jenn Jackson bucked the odds through hard work, natural ability, perseverance and academic excellence.

LEARNING THE ROPES. Neil Craver, who finished second overall, hangs on to a rope during last weekend's action at the Ultimate Backyard Warrior event on the Mike Cook-designed course in Red Oak.

RED OAK -- Mike Cook keeps cooking up the challenges at his homemade ninja course in Nash County.
After hosting a Ultimate Backyard Warrior event over Labor Day Weekend, Cook opened his property again to ninja competitors last weekend.
Once again, the event was well-received as 58 athletes showed up to test themselves against Cook's self-designed backyard layout.
"Everything went great,'' said Cook, who was among the competitors. "We couldn't have asked for it to go any better. We just didn't have the number of spectators we wanted.''

A TRUE CONTENDER. Christian Buffaloe will be in action beginning November 23 at the 2015 World Kyokushin Teen Elite Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

WARREN COUNTY -- Even though he just celebrated his 16th birthday, there is a sense of finality about Christian Buffaloe's upcoming appearance at the National Teen Kyokushin Karate Championships in Tokyo.
Buffaloe, who resides in Warren County, is making his third appearance at a tournament in Japan, but this will be his first and final entrance into the teen event, which happens every four years.

LOUISBURG -- For the second consecutive season, Nash Central High School alum Abigail Ross has been saluted as the Region X Keeper of the Year.
Ross, a sophomore at Louisburg College, earned the honor after helping the Lady Hurricanes to an 11-6 overall record.
Ross gave up just 16 goals while making 96 saves for the season. Ross also secured six shutouts.
Ross claimed the same award last fall in Region X.

STANHOPE -- Strange as it may sound, there will be a bit of familiarity in the air Friday when Southern Nash travels to Eastern Alamance for a second-round matchup in the Class 3-A State Football Playoffs.
Though they are far apart geographically, Southern and Eastern have a history as several of the players from both teams were part of a Nash County-Mebane rivalry when they were youngsters taking part in the Statewide Athletics Committee State Championships.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The North Carolina Wesleyan College Battling Bishops wrapped up their 2015 football season last Saturday at home, picking up their fourth straight victory by a 42-33 score over Ferrum.
Coach Jeff Filkovski honored his 2015 senior class prior to kickoff. Playing their final games for the Blue & Gold were Dustin Midgett, John Young, Kenneth Newsome, Robbie Lanier, Cordell Gibbs, Shabre' Judkins, Martin Brazwell, Zach Gibson and Kenneth Flowers.

REGION EXCELLENCE. Southern Nash's Cody Vazquez (right) has claimed a spot on the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association's Class 3-A Region 3 Boys Soccer Team.

NASH COUNTY -- Two Nash County standouts have been selected for honors by the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association's Class 3-A Region 3 Boys Soccer Team.
Southern Nash forward Cody Vazquez and Northern Nash's Tyler Jones, both seniors, were saluted by the NCSCA after voting by region coaches.
Jones, a midfielder, paced Northern Nash in goals (17) this fall while also finishing second on the club in assists with 10.

GOING FOR GOLD. The Nash County Parks and Recreation Department 10-Under Boys All-Star Team took first place recently at the Statewide Athletics Committee State Tournament in Hickory. Pictured are (back, l to r) Mason McClain, Shebari Henderson, Gamiel Mendoza, Jonathan Page, Greer Stevenson and Liam Sellers; (middle, l to r) Coach Richard Wells, Bryson Jenkins, Wells Hutson, John William Bulluck, Adan Flores and Coach Ricky Wells; (front) Carson Richardson.

NASH COUNTY -- Here are the first-round results and second-round pairings for the Class 3-AA and Class 3-A State Football Playoffs, which began last Friday night:

WILSON -- The Wilson Tobs baseball team want to help you with your Christmas shopping.
Starting now, the Wilson Tobs have Stocking Stuffer Tobs 12 Packs on sale.
This plan makes the perfect stocking stuffer for friends, family and co-workers.
Stocking Stuffer Wilson Tobs 12-packs include:

Kristin Tortorici engages a bar as part of the Mike Cook Ultimate Backyard Warrior Event last weekend in Nash County. Tortorici has appeared on the American Ninja Warrior television program.

Devin Harrelson is happy after closing out this obstacle in successful fashion at the Mike Cook Ultimate Backyard Warrior competition. The event was held last weekend in Red Oak.

Eli Bell reaches for a ring as part of last weekend's Mike Cook Ultimate Backyard Warrior Event, which took pace in Red Oak.

Roger G. Taylor and Associates and Southern Bank proudly present "What Sweeter Music" - a Christmas performance by the Tar River Children's Chorus (TRCC) and Youth Strings on Friday, December 4 at 7:30pm. The concert will be held at Fellowship Church located at 1114 South First Street in Nashville.
Start the Christmas holiday season with the sweet sounds of award-winning children's voices and developing young string players, accompanied by harp and flute. The program will be packed with timeless classics from ancient to modern.