rSix-run f f h lif s Wolfpack over Laney. rGators hold of Stallions in baseball play. Columbus grows T e 2010 U.S. Census rLady Pack, Lumberton play to soccer reports that the county tie. rWest Bladen drubs Vikings. rLady has grown 6.1 percent PAGE Knights get soccer win over WCHS. since 2000. T ere are Sports See page 1-B. now 58,098 residents. ThePublished News since 1896 every Monday and T ursday forReporter the County of Columbus and her people. T ursday, March 3, 2011 No appeal for former Cash source hearing if Wright makes bond Volume 114, Number 71 ■Court ordered stipulation here Whiteville, North Carolina Tuesday after Wright’s arrest Mon- poll worker day night. 50 Cents ■State Election board says local board acted By BOB HIGH within the law Staff Writer Billie Jay “B.J.” Wright, who has posted Inside Today By NICOLE CARTRETTE bonds totaling $198,600 in the past year – in- 3-A Staff Writer rOptimists honor cluding a $106,500 cash bond – must provide the source of money before he’s released if The State Board of Elec- outstanding youth. he attempts to post a new $1 million bond. tions is standing behind the 5-A This modifi cation of the 24-year-old’s bond Columbus County Board of rOne juror seated was put in place here Tuesday by District Election’s decision not to re- Court Judge Marion Warren on a request by in murder trial. hire a poll worker accused of District Attorney Jon David in a courtroom numbering ballots on Election with three TV cameras and at least seven Day in 2010. members of the media. Doris Strickland, of Tabor Wright was captured late Monday at a Next Issue City, requested an appeal of residence in the Flagpatch community south- the county board of elections east of Loris, S.C., after a tip prompted by a decision that she “would no reward posted by Sheriff Chris Batten. longer be requested for future Waived extradition elections” due to allegations He was booked into the Conway jail at that she numbered ballots on 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, and waived extradition. Election Day. She denies any Batten, accompanied by Drug Detectives wrongdoing. Kevin Norris and Aaron Herring, returned “North Carolina General Wright to Columbus County at 11:45 a.m. for Statute 163-42 gives a county the bond hearing. board of elections the discre- Wright eluded police twice in the past tion to appoint precinct assis- eight days in Tabor City where he attempted tants for a particular primary to break into R.C. Soles Jr.’s home. Last Satur- or election or for a term. You day he had to swim the chilly waters of Lake were appointed only for the Monday’s Tabor to disappear. Monday’s November 2, 2010 election,” Two Tabor City offi cers were injured in American Prof le Don Wright, attorney for the Wright’s latest escapade Saturday, and Batten State Board of Elections wrote features “Blue Plate posted the reward to get Wright off the streets in a letter to Doris Strickland Breakfast.” Award- because he was a “great danger” to people in dated March 1. several communities, and before “someone winning recipes from a “A county board of elections gets killed chasing him,” Batten declared. restaurant that serves has no duty to re-appoint a No job morning meals all day. David said Wright’s bonds come without See Poll worker, page 6-A any known job and an unknown means of support that has allowed him to gain owner- DIDYOB? ship of vehicles and other property. Did you observe ... Council “Time and again he has bonded out, and Staff photo by Mark Gilchrist this raises troubling questions as to where Lower Cape Fer Hos- Det. Aaron Herring, left, and Sheriff Chris Batten, right, bring B.J. Wright the money is coming from. Is this money pice chaplain Whit- considers into the Columbus County Courthouse Tuesday morning for a hearing. being lawfully obtained?” David questioned. Judge Marion Warren ordered him to disclose the source of funding for ney Russell presenting cleanup bail in his latest arrest. In the background is Dep. Brian High. See B.J., page 4-A her f rst sermon for First Baptist Church of rail cars of Whiteville? ... By JEFFERSON WEAVER Charter school Staff Writer Clerks of court retire Code enforcement isn’t out with 90 years of service bill passes Senate Worth Noting of the ordinary in any town, By BOB HIGH The retirements come with urging By FULLER ROYAL Monday, March 7 but the city of Whiteville may Staff Writer have an unusual case – rail Staff Writer from the Administrative Offi ce of the U.S. Representative Mike Courts in order to curtail operational McIntyre will be in White- cars overgrown with weeds The North Carolina Senate has approved and vines. Cindy White Hooks began work costs of the court system in a budget- ville for “one-on-one” with the Superior Court clerk’s offi ce cutting move. a bill that removes the 100-school cap on the meetings with Columbus Councilman Jimmy Clarida number of charter schools allowed in the state, recently asked City Manager in August 1976. Saundra Spivey Wright “The real bad thing about this is that County constituents. started her work in the same offi ces in I’m not being allowed to replace them. and offers details on how schools would be ap- “Conversations with the Larry Faison and Attorney proved, who would make those decisions and Carlton Williamson what could June 1981, and Jeanette Watson Pridgen All the girls in criminal and civil offi ces Congressman” will be at began clerk duties in October 1983. will just have to work harder to get it how the schools would operate. the Whiteville Town Hall be done about the Carolina A similar bill is making its way through Southern rail cars parked on The three clerks retired Monday all done,” Sheila Pridgen said. in the Council Chambers with a combined service of more than Hooks retires after serving 25 years the House. the Lee Street siding. The Senate’s version of the bill states its at 1:30 p.m. Columbus “I have had a number of 90 years, and were honored by fellow in the criminal clerk’s offi ce, the last County residents are wel- clerks and their boss, Clerk of Court 12 years as her boss’ top criminal purpose as a way to “create new professional complaints about the appear- opportunities for teachers and administrators, come to stop by and visit ance of the cars,” Clarida said. Sheila Pridgen, with a reception in the clerk where she supervised eight other privately with the con- courthouse. women. including the opportunities to be responsible “They do look pretty bad, and for the learning program at the school site; gressman to discuss issues, don’t help our image as a city, “I’ve loved every minute of it, and I She is married to Edward Hooks, ideas, and concerns. First really don’t want to retire but it’s time, and she has a daughter, Misty Soles, provide parents and students with expanded either.” choices in the types of educational opportuni- come, f rst served and no Board members questioned based on the retirement package the living in Leland. appointments are neces- state offered,” Hooks declared. Jeanette Pridgen is married to ties that are available within the public school whether the city could do any- system; hold the schools accountable for meet- sary. thing about the railcars, since “It’s been a good job. I’ve really en- Linwood Pridgen, and she has sons joyed it,” Wright said. Cameron Hester living in Bladenboro, ing measurable student achievement results; they are parked on the rail- and provide the schools with a method to road right of way. Williamson “I love my job. I’ll really miss my and Clint Hester in Elizabethtown, plus County Deaths work and all my friends here,” Jeanette one grandchild. change from rule-based to performance-based See Rail cars, page 2-A Pridgen stated. See Clerks, page 6-A See Charter schools, page 9-A Whiteville Billy Ward Clarendon Johnie Culbert Fowler 94-year-old watched as Bolton changed By RAY WYCHE several stores, a school, a variety the once-thriving town was little Staff Writer of churches and a three-story hotel more than a bedroom community, Index (one of two in town) still standing, just a place to live. When Elizabeth Brown moved although it had registered its last The Martin County native re- Editorials ......... 10-A to Bolton in the early 1940s, the guest several years before Brown’s calls life in the village at the be- Obituaries ......... 8-A eastern Columbus County town arrival. ginning of World War II. Most Sports ................ 1-B could be said to have seen better Mill offi cials lived in big houses of the male residents, other than days. in the village and Brown remem- farmers, and a few others worked Crime ................ 4-A Now 94 years old, Brown remem- bers particularly one of these at the booming ship-building yard Living ................ 1-C bers the old Bolton, the pleasant homes that featured pocket doors, in Wilmington. village about 20 miles east of a fascinating item to her. “I had She was in Bolton when the Whiteville that some in the 1930s never seen a pocket door,” she says shipyard closed and former ship- and 1940s said was slowly dying. Even though the company re- builders sought employment in The town’s biggest employer, built part of the mill and attempted other places, but not the Browns.