Maxton Chamber Hosts Dinner Tonight Mary Katherine Murphy Mcrae, Executive Director of Staff Reporter Banquet the Maxton Chamber
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Maxton’s Chamber of opportunity for some network- Rey, right with Commerce is expected to offer ing and getting better acquaint- Newark Mayor a “fun-filled evening” of busi- sold out ed with other potential mem- Cory Booker ness development tonight. Rey, 34, is the youngest elect- bers of the Chamber,” said when Booker At 7:30 p.m., the chamber will ed mayor of Spring Lake and McRae. spoke at The host a banquet and after-din- holds a bachelor of science in The Maxton Chamber of University of ner dance following the annual business administration from Commerce was founded in North Carolina meeting. The banquet, enti- Walden University, a J.D. from 1996, and has held a banquet at Pembroke tled “Building Relationships, William and Mary School of every year since its inception. last year. Business … Success!” will be Law, and is currently working “The chamber is made up of held at the Maxton Freight on a doctorate in education. professionals, business owners, Scott Building at 104 Railroad Street. The event, billed as a kick-off individuals, and other organiza- Witten | The Chris V. Rey, mayor of Spring for the chamber’s 2012 calen- tions, so we will have a vari- Laurinburg Lake, will deliver the keynote dar of events, is “completely ety of people in attendance,” Exchange speech. sold out,” according to Joyce McRae said. One injured Lt. Danny in drive-by McClellan with K9 Lola, left and Investigator Man in custody, another Jamie Laviner with sought in shooting K9 Igor with some 50 Joy Hunt marijuana Staff reporter plants seized on Thursday. A Scotland County man is in custody and another is being sought after a drive- Mary Katherine by shooting in Laurinburg Wednesday Murphy | The night that injured a resident. Laurinburg Authorities responded to a call in ref- Exchange erence to shots being fired around 9:30 p.m. on 400 Beta Street, according to Kim Monroe of the Laurinburg Police Department. Two people were sitting in a car and two were standing outside talking when a white Honda came down the street, police said. Someone leaned out of a window and fired several at them as the car passed by, according to police. One of victims, Dejaris R. Fields, whose age and address were not available, was struck in the leg. Fields was transported Fifty-two plants seized to Scotland Memorial Hospital. His injuries were not life threaten- ing, police said. Witnesses were able Marijuana found off Turnpike Road to provide a description Nicholson Mary Katherine Murphy locate stolen property. Locklear Jr., III, 21, was arrested and of the car, which was Staff reporter “We got consent to search from charged with possession with intent stopped by an officer on Harrison Street, the homeowner, and during a search to sell and deliver marijuana, manu- about a 1/4mile away. What began as a sheriff’s office of the property located 52 marijuana facturing marijuana, maintaining a The driver, identified as Timothy Brown search for stolen turkeys turned even plants, a small plastic bag of mari- dwelling for the purpose of manufac- Jr., 30, of the 600 block of Covington fouler when marijuana was discovered juana, a Stevens shotgun, and three turing marijuana, and simple posses- Street in Laurinburg, was in the car and at a North Turnpike Road address. stolen turkeys,” said Investigator sion of marijuana. Other charges may placed under arrest, Monroe said. Sheriff’s officers visited 30621 Jamie Laviner of the Scotland County be pending, Laviner said. Police are looking for the accused North Turnpike Road at around 9:30 Sheriff’s Office. Laviner estimated the street value on Thursday morning in order to The property owner, Ernest of the plants seized to be $41,600. See SHOOTING | 2A Hagan hints at economic announcement Scott Witten local residents that can be put Editor into action in Washington. Over Senator visits today the next several months Hagan U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan will will visit small businesses, job be in Laurinburg this morning to number of products, including president for workforce develop- training centers, community col- launch her “North Carolina Back automotive hoses and belting, ment at Richmond Community leges, and workforce develop- to Work” jobs tour at a local garden hoses, industrial sewing College will also attend. ment offices across the state. manufacturing plant. and wire, and cable applications. Hagan said she is starting her During her visit to Laurinburg’s Hagan will be joined on her jobs tour in Laurinburg because Following the plant tour, Service Thread Manufacturing visit by Golden LEAF President at 16.6 percent, Scotland County Hagan will host “Conversations she is expected to make an eco- Dan Gerlach, Scotland County has the highest unemployment with Kay” at Scotland Place nomic development announce- economic developer Greg Icard, rate in North Carolina. where constituents can discuss ment. and Robin Cooley of the U.S. With more than 440,000 North their concerns. That event starts Service Thread, which employs Department of Commerce. Carolinians without a job, Hagan at 1 p.m. roughly 100 people, manufac- Service Thread President Chip said she is launching the tour to Hagan’s constituent services Nicholson tures industrial thread for a Butler and Steve Smith, vice hear ideas and concerns from staff will also be on site. PAGE 2A THE LAURINBURG EXCHANGE WWW.LAURINBURGEXCHANGE.COM FRIDAY, JANAURY 27, 2012 New meter reader nearing completion Joy Hunt Staff reporter The installation of the new automatic utility readers for the city of Laurinburg is nearing completion, according to Laurinburg City Manager, Ed Burchins. The project, which initially began five months ago, hit an unexpected delay during the middle phase of installation when the company that was respon- sible for the installation of the meters, announced that it couldn’t finish the job. Burchins declined to elaborate. The city eventually hired a new com- pany to complete the job. “We don’t know the exact final date, but things are well under way,” said Stacy McQuage, Laurinburg public util- ities director. McQuage said that the installations within the city limits are practically complete and that the new meters are Contributed now being installed in other areas. The installation of new automatic utility readers is nearly complete after five months. The new system provides advantages someone attempts to tamper with the for both the consumer and city officials. tion, detect leaks, and calculate the his- based utility system. “The customer will now be able to tory of usage without hand calculation. Educating the consumer is also an meters. use their computer to view their usage. “Scotland County has a very big important and economical aspect of the According to Burchins, “This edu- This information is up to minute and water and sewer system and this sys- system. Users will be given information cational component is where the con- can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days tem will allow us to more quickly and regarding the best times of the day to sumption piece comes into place.” a week,” Burchins said. accurately determine where any prob- use power and the best ways to use it The project will include the instal- The new system will also allow city lems may be,” McQuage added. and provide data on weatherization. lation of over 8,000 water meters and officials with the water and sewer McQuage said that Laurinburg is the The utility readers also have in place 5,000 electric meters and cost 2.4 mil- administration to monitor consump- first in the state to use a complete web- a system that will alert officials if lion dollars, McQuage said. System blocks Scotland meth labs Joy Hunt co-owner of Medical responded to 344 meth of meth labs in Scotland useful to law enforcement skirting around the law Staff reporter Village Pharmacy labs in 2011, compared to County, but officials have officials of neighboring more difficult for would and Scotland Drug in 235 labs busted in 2010 investigated suspicious counties who have had be offenders. A tracking system that Laurinburg. “It’s very and 206 in 2009, accord- practices based on the reports of meth labs. The National bars over-the-limit pur- easy to navigate and it’s ing to latest statistics. data gathered by the sys- The new system has Association of Drug chases of a cold medi- use to law enforcement Although meth abuse tem. already blocked 1,669 Diversion Investigators cine is already working in cannot be understated.” may be increasing in “It’s good to know that questionable purchas- provides NPLEx at no Scotland County, officials The electronic track- North Carolina, that we have a system in place es of more than 2,000 said.