9.625” x 20.375” N&O Template Page 4B Louisburg, NC, Thursday, January 30, 2020 January well additional pay. Franklinton Middle was the only school in the county system Franklin County quickly got into the “spirits” of 2019 when the first edition of The denoted as low performing in the most recent state grading period. The state graded Franklin Times featured a story on the pending opening of Carolina Country Distillery the school with a “D” and that it was designated as “low performing.” The key to in Louisburg. The venture was a project of Randy Moore and his partner, Lucy Monks, the district’s approach is to attract the best teachers to the school — and reward them and is part of an effort to revitalize downtown Louisburg. accordingly. In recent years, administrators have lamented that the teacher turnover at •Newly elected Superior Court Judge Cindy King Sturges was sworn in and FMS has been excessive and placed some of the responsibility for student performance replaced retiring Judge Robert Hob- on the frequent changes in teaching staff. good. Witnessing the swearing in was •Franklin County Schools were ready to ask county commissioners for a $3,451,738 Judge Sturges’s husband, Boyd, and increase in local current expense funding for the 2019-20 school year, which begins on their daughter Olivia. July 1 and that total did not include capital expense projections of $2 million, maintain- •After more than a half century, ing last year’s funding levels in this area. Roughly $2 million would be earmarked Franklin County Schools got out from for raises for all of the district’s “classified” employees, which includes non-teaching under much of a federal court desegre- and other non-certified employees. In addition, $55,000 would be used to upgrade gation order, although the district will the salary structure for assistant principals; $60,000 would be used for a pilot, teacher face some restrictions through at least incentive program for select Franklinton Middle School teachers; and the remaining 2020. The federal court case where these nearly $1.3 million would be used to handle other increasing operating expenses. Also desegregation rules began started more included in the school budget is about $2,545,332 that will “flow through” the tradi- than 50 years ago when the late Harold tional public schools’ budget to 31 charter schools that Franklin County students now D. Coppedge sued the county school attend. board in an effort to fully integrate HONORED FIREFIGHTERS. Two vet- •Phillip Cordeiro was sworn in as Youngsville’s new administrator shortly after county schools and ensure that African- eran local firefighters were honored last town officials adopted an ordinance that gives him the powers of a town manager. American students got equal access to January by the Firefighters Association. Cordeiro said town officials and residents could look forward to hard work and com- educational opportunities. In the photo above, Louisburg fireman mitment from him. “... The trust that your board of commissioners has vested in me •The Franklin County Fire Associa- William “Bill” Bailey (right) receives will be taken seriously,” he said. tion awarded two veteran firefighters his award from Franklin County Fire •In a long-awaited scene, Louisburg Mayor Karl Pernell and a crowd of onlookers their coveted ‘Fireman of the Year’ Association President Tommy Lloyd. In helped re-light the V.A. Peoples Bridge over the Tar River. The lights, visible on both award. Saluted were long-time Louis- the photo below, Lloyd presents Justice sides of the bridge, are part of a downtown revitalization effort. burg fireman William “Bill” Bailey and Fire Chief Kelly Harris (right) the same Justice Fire Department Chief Kelly award. Harris. March • When Franklinton’s Martin Luther •Aviation investigators were working to find out what caused a plane crash that King Jr. Committee held its 13th annual killed three people but warned it could take months before they had a final report. A Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. remembrance single-engine plane piloted by Brian Sjostedt crashed shortly after takeoff from Frank- service, it was the first time it began lin County airport en route to Hilton Head, S.C., killing the pilot and two passengers, with a ceremonial march from Martin Jessica Kenny and Allison Forsythe. The plane took off from Triangle North Executive Luther King Jr. Boulevard to First Bap- Airport and crashed shortly after takeoff two miles southwest of the airport. tist Church. “We now have a Martin Lu- •Efforts were renewed to get one of Louisburg’s most famous “ladies” back home ther King Jr. Boulevard,” Alvin Holden, after she spent a long, long time in a “spa” in an effort to return her to the way she a town commissioner and deacon at looked nearly 100 years ago. The “lady” was Maude, a vintage fire truck that once bat- First Baptist Church said of the road, tled fires in and around Louisburg and is the county’s first motorized fire truck. Maude the first in Franklin County named in is a 1921 American La France type 75 fire engine — and she’d had been away for many honor of the slain civil rights icon and months undergoing unveiled last April. a detailed restora- •Animal rescuers asked county com- tion designed to missioners to increase staffing at the county’s animal shelter to get more animals fos- make her shine like tered and adopted, rather than euthanized. she did on her first •Ron Cox, who has been instrumental in helping to revitalize downtown Louisburg, day in town. was named the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year. • The family of a Cox’s efforts have led to events like the Friday Nights on the Tar concert series, the woman decapitated town’s Strategic Economic Development Plan and an annual Christmas Tree lighting by her psychotic son ceremony. has filed a lawsuit •Local Civil Rights icon Rosanell Eaton was remembered following her death about against the doctor a month earlier at the age of 97. Eaton was one of the first African-Americans to earn who discharged the right to vote in Franklin County, helped register more than 4,000 voters in her life- the teenager less time, and was a lead plaintiff in a 2013 lawsuit against what courts ultimately deemed than a week before were efforts to suppress minority voters. the murder. Late •Franklinton commissioners approved a rezoning that paved the way for a 100- the previous year, THREE KILLED. Three persons died when this single-en- unit apartment complex and town officials struggled to lure commercial development. Oliver Machada gine aircraft crashed near Franklin County Airport in early Town officials also learned that the first section of the Sterling Cotton Mill apart- was found not March. The crash was still under investigation as this edi- ments were nearing complete and there also was a a 46-unit town house development guilty of killing tion went to press about l0 months after the crash. planned near the Burlington Mill site at Oak Ridge Road. Yesenia Funez by reason of insanity and was committed to a state mental health facility — where he will more than likely February spend the rest of his life. The case began March 6, 2017, when Franklin County sher- •Police arrested one suspect and looked for another man they allege shot and killed iff’s deputies responded to the family’s Morgan Drive home, finding Machada with a a Franklinton man. But they still didn’t know why Clarence Person Jr. was killed by a butcher knife in one hand and his mother’s head in the other. single gunshot wound on Jan. 18. Franklinton police found the 49-year-old man and •Franklinton commissioners selected Gregory Bethea as town manager and the vet- investigators allege two men entered the home and fired a single shot, killing him. eran public servant said his goal was to establish policies, practices and procedures •Authorities arrested a Henderson man at gunpoint on Bickett Boulevard and then that would help the town and its next manager direct growth that’s coming its way. “I charged him with more than 50 drug violations, most stemming from an undercover really appreciate the opportunity to serve the community,” Bethea said. drug investigation that ran for several weeks. A heavily armed tactical response team •Youngsville Town Administrator Phillip Cordeiro presented commissioners with surrounded Jhi’Tay Thomas but he fled authorities during a staged drug buy. Thomas, an outline of his 2019-20 budget that included a drop in taxes and an increase in fees, who was first approached by police in the Sheetz gas station parking lot, slammed his employee pay and other resources needed to bolster town services. vehicle into reverse, leaving the parking lot and managing to drive backward a short •Residents in northeast Franklin County figure it’ll take exposure and funds to distance north on Bickett Boulevard just before 1 p.m. before being surrounded and revitalize their portion of the county and the Northeast Franklin Revitalization Com- stopped at gunpoint. mittee decided a signature event or festival could do the trick. Such an event could •Franklin County Schools took a step into relatively uncharted territory, unani- either raise money for what they want to do, bolster agritourism and spur business mously agreeing with a proposal from school administrators that is designed to attract and residential growth in the area, or raise awareness about how they’re going about and keep the best teachers at the school — and to offer those who stay and perform trying to do that.