•Pack boys overcome St. Pauls challenge. •Lady Gators fall again. •Stallion girls edge Fairmont.•Scott to coach Region 4 All-Stars in 2016 State Softball Games. •Red Springs sweeps Vikes. Sports See page 1-B. ThePublished News since 1890 every Monday and Thursday Reporterfor the County of Columbus and her people. Thursday, February 4, 2016 Byrd says park board Suspects Volume 125, Number 63 Whiteville, North Carolina not diverse 75 Cents enough arrested By ALLEN TURNER Inside Staff Writer for 2014 Columbus County Commis- 4-A sion Chairman Buddy Byrd expressed concern recently •Three arrested in about a lack of racial diversity Bolton serious assaults. on the board of the Columbus Veterans’ Memorial Park. The county has committed Next Issue $75,000 to the project planned killings for property in the New Hope nVictims were ages 74 and 52 and community. were found wrapped in blankets in “The groundbreaking November 2014. ceremony recently was very honorable but I was deeply By BOB HIGH concerned that there were no minorities on that board,” Staff Writer Byrd said Monday. A young male and female were arrested late He later acknowledged that Wednesday and charged with the murders of he learned that District Judge two women in Bolton in Fred Gore, who is African November 2014. American, is a member of the Justin Gray Reynolds, veterans park board. 28, of Bitmore Road in “This (county) board com- Brunswick and Megan mitted $75,000 in taxpayer dol- Monday’s Alicia Haynes, 27, of the lars and that board needs to be 2300 block of Howard American Profile totally diversified. The whole Cox Road, Tabor City, are entire (sic) county needs to be features “CUTE & charged with the dou- represented. Everybody that ble murders of Jeanette CRAFTY: Easy Val- went to war and fought needs Nancy Thutt, 74, and Don- to be recognized totally,” Byrd entine’s Day Gifts na Reynolds Gore, 52, of said Monday. Reynolds Staff photo by FULLER ROYAL Blacksmith Road, Bolton. and Treats.” Audience member Robert Mrs. Gore was the mother Adams, whose wife, Anita, is of Reynolds. vice president of the veterans Music fan DIDYOB? Five-year-old Ian Martin enjoys a snack while waiting for his grand- The bodies of the park committee, responded to two women were found Did you observe ... Byrd. father, Curtis Martin, to begin demonstrating his collection of musical instruments Friday night at the Columbus Arts Center. See story in next at night on Nov. 3, 2014 Melissa Reaves of See Byrd, page 6-A Monday’s issue. wrapped in blankets in an outbuilding on Thutt’s Lake Waccamaw property along Black- running into Gov. Pat smith Road just north of McCrory on Sugar Bolton. For 33 years, Gray kept tabs Reynolds was already in Haynes Mountain? The gover- jail for an unrelated theft nor was wearing his charge. Haynes was arrested at her home. on Columbus County farming Thutt, who reported the theft of tools, cash Carolina Panthers jer- and medication on Oct. 22, 2014, had been re- sey. ... Editor Les High By RAY WYCHE See Two arrested, page 4-A giving a guest lecture Staff Writer in a digital media economics class at the If it was grown commercially on a Columbus County farm, Coke Gray County okays UNC School of Media knew about it — and kept records on and Journalism Tues- how the crop turned out. Gray recently retired as county incentive plan day? His daughter executive of the Farm Service Agen- Carly is in the class. cy (FSA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) local connec- for Shodja tion for overseeing its multitude of regulations, advisories and records expansion County Deaths relating to Columbus County farm- ing activities. By ALLEN TURNER For two years after graduating Staff Writer Whiteville from N.C. State University in 1975, Coke Gray discusses his three decades with the USDA. Patricia Ann Gore Gray was FSA’s county executive for Columbus County commissioners packed fill the position by a committee in one of the leading counties for the Tyrell County in the northeastern a lot into one of their shortest meetings in Arvell Duncan February 1984. number of farms in North Carolina. part of the state. He then assumed recent history Monday night. The board ap- Johnny Ray Davis “Columbus County was one of As director, Gray was chosen to the same post in Beaufort County. proved a $41,000 economic development incen- the first five counties in the nation be a trainer, teaching employees the Joseph Wilkins Jr, When the county executive position tive grant for Shodja Textiles/Whiteville Fab- selected to be equipped with com- ins and outs of managing the office Doris Stanley in Columbus County came open, rics, changed the county land use ordinance puters by the USDA,” he says. It is Chadbourn Gray applied and was chosen to See Gray, page 8-A and agreed to pay just 50 percent of the cost of Robert Lonza Brown a school construction feasibility study, among Ernest Wayne Williamson other actions. Meeting for less than an hour, commission- Hallsboro ers conducted a public hearing on the Shodja Annie Thurman Lennon’s skills yielded 150-year history grant, a grant, which will help as the company Sean D. Nixon Rhoda nFreeman resident produced expands in the former Conflandey building in Tabor City document heralding history the Southeast Industrial Park, a $1.5 million Diane Merritt Faulk of Livingston Baptist Church investment by the company. south of Delco. Shodja president Camron Shodja told the board that his company already has added 15 By BOB HIGH workers and probably will add another 15-20 Staff Writer workers at the facility over the next two years. Index Shodja said that his employees currently The spry 79-year-old Charles Len- are working 10- and 12-hour shifts six days a Editorials ......... 10-A non Jr. of the Freeman community Obituaries ......... 8-A week. “We started our business here in July – halfway between Bolton and Delco 2000 with two employees,” Shodja said, “and Sports ................ 1-B – learned much of his skill in pro- we have grown to 50 employees. Most of our Crime ................ 4-A ducing historical documents about employees work 10 and 12 hour shifts six days Living ................ 1-C his church during a 40-year career a week. We have a very low turnover rate and with the Star-News in Wilmington. most of our employees have been with us for Lennon’s knowledge includes eight and 10 years or more. What we do is very how to repair hot-lead Linotype specialized, and we’re asking for the grant to machines, the mainstay of newspa- be approved to help with our cash flow situa- pers as workers typed the galleys of tion as we expand.” upside down and backward letters Under the terms of the grant, approved Charles Lennon Jr. of Freeman that yielded stories and advertise- unanimously by the board, the company would ments when sheets of white paper Wilmington spent several summers Linotype repairs receive $41,309 over a five-year period, and were pressed to the rows of inked at The News Reporter repairing and Lennon’s knowledge continued annual payments will be made only after the metal. servicing the newspaper’s machin- to grow as newspapers moved from previous year’s property taxes have been paid. Lennon was so proficient that he ery in the early 1960s. and his boss George Hutchinson of See Lennon, page 6-A See County, page 8-A 2-A – The News Reporter, Thursday, February 4, 2016 Officers for the 84th annual N.C. Strawberry Festival elected Thursday night were, from left, Secretary Hilda Bullard, President Guy Long and Treasurer Joy Bullard. The group will elect a vice president at its next meeting on Feb. 11. Plans coming together for 84th Strawberry fest Voter ID The Columbus County Board of Elections will host a public forum regarding the Voter By ALLEN TURNER hind Hardee’s and opening evening at a location that will ID requirements for the 2016 Primary Election. The forum will be held today, Thurs- Staff Writer ceremonies will be held with be finalized at the next board featured entertainment still to meeting. day, Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the National Guard Armory, 929 Washington St. in White- Plans are beginning to be named. The usual “festival day” ville. come together for the 84th an- The Rev. events will be Saturday, high- nual North Carolina Strawber- Timothy lighted by the parade at 2 ry Festival in Chadbourn. The Lance, pas- p.m. Also on tap Saturday festival’s board of directors tor of will be arts and crafts met Thursday and elected offi- and food products con- Feb. 5-6 Women of Worth cers for the upcoming festival. tests. An all-day vari- Parade day – the big day of the ety show will be held more than week-long festival – Mount at the event field, conference is sold out will be Saturday, May 7. Olive except during the The Women of Worth con- ers and performers include Clark, co-chair and founder. Guy Long was re-elected Mis- parade. The straw- ference, slated for Feb. 5-6 at Jennifer Rothchild, a woman As of last week, more than president of the festival and sionary berry luncheon will Bowers Auditorium on the who has been blind since she 700 tickets had been sold. Joy Bullard and Hilda Bullard Baptist be held at 11:30 a.m. campus of Whiteville High was 15 years old; Gwen Smith, Women of Worth kicks off were re-elected treasurer and Church, at the Chadbourn School, is sold out, according an author and worship artist; at Bowers Auditorium on Fri- secretary, respectively.