Recent Articles

NASHVILLE - The Nashville Police Department has a new Police Chief: Caleb Shockley, formerly a lieutenant within the department, was announced as Chief March 19.
The NPD has been without its own chief at the helm since former Chief J.T. Winstead resigned in October of 2023, after which Chris Joyner, then Fire Chief, was appointed Public Safety Officer to oversee both the police and fire departments.

Robbie and I enjoy a style of music called "Southern Gospel". Every year we go to a conference called NQC where approximately 10,000 are in attendance. We hear great music from the nation's top Christian groups. We also hear many nationally known ministers. We've made so many great friends from our 30 years of attending.
One group that has been ministering since the 1970's is the Nelon's.

Red Oak Baptist Church will celebrate Easter with a Maundy Thursday Communion Experience on April 17 at 6:30 p.m. All are invited!
The Red Oak Community Easter Sunrise Service will be held this year at Red Oak Baptist Church on Sunday, April 20 at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast provided at 8:00 a.m.

SOUTHERN NASH'S ISA VEGA PASSES THE BALL THROUGH THE MIDFIELD AGAINST SWANSBORO

NASH COUNTY -- A two-run sixth inning propelled Northern Nash's softball team to a key win over county rival Nash Central last Thursday night, with the Lady Knights improving to 5-3 on the year while picking up their first Big East Conference win in a 7-5 victory over the Lady Bulldogs.
Despite surrendering five runs, Northern outhit Central 12-1, headlined by five members of the Lady Knights' roster recording multiple hits, three of which came from freshman Kasey Burden who tabbed one RBI and closed the game in the circle as well.

NASH COUNTY -- Two conference and county rivals saw momentum shift in the opposite direction last week when Northern Nash and Nash Central met on the baseball diamond.
It was the Northern Nash Knights who swept the two-game series, picking up their first win of the season by knocking off the Bulldogs 6-1 at Nash Central on March 11, following that up with an 8-5 victory in Central's return trip across the bridge two days later.

Robbin A. Vester, William C. Anderson, Jami R. Solano, Rowland Solano to Jerry R. Couick and Lucinda L. Couick; 79.04 acres, W Castalia Road; $695,000
Four Seasons Contractors, LLC to Andre Cooper and Kimberly Cooper; Pinewoods Farm, Phase 1, Lot 9; $420,000
Larry K. Williams, Pamela Y. Williams, Pamela Yvette Williams and Terri L. Williams to Education is Paramount Foundation; 35 acres; $215,000
Michael L. Baker and Mary S. Baker to Charles E. Baker and Theresa L. Kallal; one acre in Oak Level Township

NASHVILLE - A Spring Hope man is jailed on felony charges after admitting that he shot at a car allegedly involved in a burglary at his home; the car contained four juveniles, one of whom was shot in the head and is now in critical condition.
Zachary Bryant, 30, of 7949 Savage Road, Spring Hope is charged with four felonies: assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, a class "C" felony, along with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, which are class "E" felonies. Bond was set at $500,000 after Bryant had a court appearance Monday, March 17.

SPRING HOPE - Spring Hope's Museum has been chosen as one of four in the state this year to participate in a "travelling archivist program," with the goals of document preservation and instruction on how to improve museum functions.
Rocio Broyles dropped the news at the March 17 meeting of the Spring Hope Downtown Development Board (DDB) while requesting that both the museum and the Spring Hope Historical Association be included in the new town brochure.

NASHVILLE - Live owls, a decorating activity to make owl cupcakes, and a mini-science lab to dissect owl pellets for the bones of prey were enjoyed by all who attended a joint venture by Nash County 4H and the Town of Nashville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources. Held at the Nash County Ag Center at 1006 Eastern Avenue on the evening of March 15, the event began with a presentation by members of the American Wildlife Refuge in Clayton, who brought two owls, had flexible time for crafts and science, and culminated with a free owl-themed movie, "Legend Of the Guardians," complete with hot dogs and popcorn.

MJ Brown, 7, of Nashville creates an owl-themed cupcake during the event.

NASHVILLE - An early start school calendar has been approved for traditional Nash County public schools for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years, but not without considerable debate and allegations of illegality.
Traditional Nash elementary, middle and high schools will begin August 12th for students and August 1st for teachers this year under a calendar exemption waiver requested from the state, which has a later mandatory start date of August 25.

MOMEYER- The town of Momeyer now has its own You Tube channel, and has posted its first video: the March 10 town council session, which ran for about 42 minutes and shorter than expected, because planning consultant, Mid-East Commission of little Washington, did not appear as planned.
The main topic of conversation was the town's new Patriot accounting software, purchased last July but not put into place until after the town's yearly audit.
Will Funderburg, Mayor, passed out copies of current budget information, including monthly and year-to-date Profit & Loss statements and Account Trial balances.

NASHVILLE- Nash County leaders are asking a state senator's help to see that a tragic incident in the Murraytown area which resulted in the deaths of seven children never gets forgotten.
The October 6, 1949 accident, involving a collision between an overloaded school bus and an ice truck, was the worst bus accident in state history.
It happened on what is now Bryantown Road on the Turkey Creek Bridge down from Highway 97.

NASHVILLE - A new county emergency services warehouse building is in the works, to be shared with the Nash County Sheriff's Office.
Nash commissioners chose Jonathan Boone, deputy county manager, as the staff design professional for the project at their March 10 meeting as part of the Design Build Bridging procurement project, which required the selection of a staff member to oversee the project. Boone is a professional engineer.

RED OAK - A pair of well-loved veterinarians have been put out of their home after a lightning strike caught their house on fire Sunday, but an RV is being brought in to allow them to stay on site and care for their animals.
The Loop Road home of Drs. Cole Younger and Kim Logner, who operate Full Service Mobile Veterinary services for large animal care, caught fire Sunday night while no one was home. A neighbor called it into Nash 911 at about 6:09 p.m., according to 911 records.

NASHVILLE - The Nash County Sheriffs' Office has been approved to buy fifteen new Axon in-car cameras, beginning the process of changing over the entire fleet to a camera system that syncs in-car cameras with body cams.
Alan Wilson, NCSO Chief Deputy, said that the current Digital Ally system "has been having some issues" and is outdated. In addition, the department had supply issues last year, leaving 15 patrol cars without cameras.

SPRING HOPE - The second 'Spring Hope Sweep', a volunteer effort to tidy up Spring Hope's downtown area, is coming up April 5, with a rain date of April 12.
The dates were finalized at the Feb. 18 meeting of the Spring Hope Downtown Development Board (DDB), as were the dates for the first 'Rock Your Block' competition, to be held from May 1 to May 17- but the Rock Your Block event will now be sponsored by the Spring Hope Garden Club.
The DDB also welcomed a new member, Lori Harris of MarZylo's Cocktail Lounge & Grill, to her first meeting March 17.

NASHVILLE- Infinity Cabinets, a Bailey-area business, has been approved for expansion under a conditional rezoning amendment.
Nash commissioners approved a site plan amendment March 10 for the company, located at 9340 Winters Road west of Bailey and north of US Highway 264 Bypass.

You may have seen in the news last week that a pair of astronauts that had been stranded in space are being retrieved by a private company. It's pretty amazing.
I avoided reading too much about the story because of the anxiety it caused. Astronauting has to be the worst job in the world and I wonder why so many of my childhood friends wanted to be astronauts.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were supposed to go to the International Space Station for 10 days and then return.

As you can imagine, when thumbing through the archives each week for a Backward Glance photo, I always come across quite a bit of interesting history. Honestly, it takes quite a bit of discipline to just match up a negative with the edition and not sit for hours reading. Looking through The Graphic's historical archives can be as addictive as social media is today.
Last week, Nancy and I pulled the 1949 archive for The Graphic's coverage of the 1949 Samaria school bus accident. (See story today).

Across the land this week the press is observing National Newspaper Week, October 18.
It is a week, perhaps, in which it is not altogether improper for newspapers to stop and pat themselves on the back for the important job they are doing in helping to keep the public informed, in promoting worthwhile projects, in working for better communities and a better nation.
But it is also a week in which the press should take new stock of its responsibilities.