•Lady Pack blasts Fairmont, Wal- lace-Rose Hill to put record at 6-0. •Vikes trip Stallions in extra in- nings. •Lawson fires two-hitter as Pack thumps Tornadoes. Sports See Page 1-B. ThePublished News since 1890 every Monday and Thursday Reporterfor the County of Columbus and her people. Monday, March 14, 2016 One-pot Volume 125, Number 74 Whiteville, North Carolina meth labs 75 Cents on the rise Inside Combination of certain 2-A household items tell-tale sign • Local restaurant By SHALON SMITH receives WDDC Contributing Writer facade grant. Meth labs today aren’t necessarily found • Industrial park in the back rooms of homes. “One pot” labs are creating a potentially lethal threat to earns third the public and especially to first responders. certification Rather than needing a kitchen-type or cooking vessel setting with multiple containers, pots, 3-A or pitchers and a four to five-hour window of time to “cook” meth, criminals have come up • Commissioners ta- with a single container method to produce the ble closing one road; drug in about 45 minutes called the “one pot” favor adding four method, officials say. others to state Representatives from state and local law enforcement and local government agen- system. Staff photo by FULLER ROYAL cies held a community workshop recently at • Breweries could find Perfect day to swing home in Whiteville. Four youngsters take advantage of near-perfect spring-like weather Saturday afternoon to enjoy the “Five ingredients, that’s it. 5-A new swings at Felix Smith Memorial Park on Franklin Street in Whiteville. Literally you can go to Wal- •Movies may be Mart and get all of this stuff.” coming to The Ritz. Solar farm nixed by planning board Kellie Farrell • Bear hearing here SBI Special Agent March 21. By JEFFERSON WEAVER its for green energy companies. The against the solar farm during a Staff Writer facilities use solar panels to absorb very lengthy public hearing, Mar- sunlight, which is then converted ziano said. 8-A A proposed solar farm in South into electricity and sold to power “There were some very passion- Southeastern Community College to discuss • Chadbourn police to Whiteville was turned down by the companies. The farm would have ate speakers,” he said. the growing incidences of clandestine meth- receive new weapons. planning board Monday after vigor- been the third in the city’s jurisdic- The planning board voted to amphetamine laboratories in the state. The ous opposition from neighboring tion. forward the request with a nega- session included information on the role of the property owners. The facility was planned for a tive endorsement, Marziano said. health department and property owners when DIDYOB? The request by Holocene Clean 28-acre tract at 4159 James B. White While the planning board reviews labs are discovered. Child Protective Services Energy received a negative endorse- Highway South. While the property rezoning and building requests for also discussed their response in meth lab cases Did you observe ... ment from the planning board, city is in the extraterritorial jurisdic- compliance and potential conflicts involving children. planner Hiram Marziano said, and tion, it still falls under city planning with neighboring properties, the ‘One pot’ meth labs is scheduled for a final hearing and and zoning rules, Marziano said. city council has the last word, Mar- About a dozen fire and EMS workers, lo- Pastor Mike Bowles vote by the city council April 12. The preliminary plan for the four- ziano explained. cal law enforcement officers and concerned The move is thought to have been megawatt farm met the standards “The planning board voted the citizens listened to a detailed presentation of Pleasant Plains the first time a solar farm has been set down in the city’s regulations, request down due to the strenuous from SBI Special Agent Kellie Farrell on the Baptist Church turned down in Columbus County, Marziano said, including setbacks public objection,” he said. emergence of illegal “one pot” or “Shake-N- Marziano said. and access. Although the elected boards in being delivered to “The general consensus of the Marziano said he and representa- most communities often follow the See Meth, page 9-A speakers was that they didn’t think tives for the developer spoke to the recommendations of their respec- Panchito’s by the the farm would be a good neighbor,” planning board. He noted that the tive planning boards, Marziano said Whiteville Rescue Marziano said. firm provided plans to prove that the council can approve or reject the Solar farms have become a grow- the farm would be in compliance request. Unit for his sur- ing trend in recent years due to with city rules. “The city council has the final State bond, prise 50th birthday changes in agriculture and tax cred- Several residents spoke out say,” he said. party? ... All of the county races Whiteville folks at the Garth Brooks- Grandmother, granddaughter Trisha Yearwood to highlight concert in Raleigh? attended SCC together local voting ... By CLARA CARTRETTE By ALLEN TURNER Staff Writer Staff Writer Peggy Grissett of Nakina took Columbus County voters go to the polls County Deaths care of her mother for three years Tuesday to cast ballots in party primary races until her death. Grissett’s husband Whiteville from the White House to county commission worked on a dredge, her children chambers and many offices in between, and Mary Frances Robinson were in school and she soon real- to make their feelings known in a statewide Mary A.Q. Buchter ized she needed a job, but not just referendum to approve or disallow the issuing any job. She wanted to do something Donald Ray Cartrette of $2 billion in bonds. that would make a difference in Evergreen Absent from the vote-counting mix Tuesday someone’s life. Eva Ruth Nance Jenkins night will be results for U.S. Congress. The She had taken a nurse aide course congressional primary was postponed until Lloyd Gray Davis at Southeastern Community College June 7 after a special session of the General As- Tabor City before her mother’s death, so she sembly adopted new district maps in February went to Premiere Living and Rehab Sarah Lewis Wright in response to a federal court ruling challeng- Center at Lake Waccamaw to inquire ing districts as originally drawn. Incumbent about work. When she left she had 7th district Congressman David Rouzer and a job and worked there a year and challenger Mark Otto appear on Tuesday’s Index a half. While talking to long-time Republican primary ballot, but votes cast in friend Priscilla Rowan, a supervisor Editorials ......... 10-A that race will not count. Originally, the winner at Columbus Regional Healthcare, of that primary would have faced J. Wesley Obituaries ......... 7-A Grissett asked if she thought there Casteen, the only Democrat in the race, in the Sports ................ 1-B were any jobs open at the hospital. November general election. She was told to fill out an applica- Crime ................ 4-A Instead, filing for a new June 7 congres- tion and three months later she was sional primary scheduled by a special session called to come for an interview. of the General Assembly has been set to run She got the job and worked nights from Wednesday, March 16, to noon on Friday, on the fifth floor (surg/med) from March 25. While Rouzer, Otto and Casteen are the mid-1980s until 1994. Classmates Jillian and Peggy expected to re-file, others also could throw Grissett’s doctor had told her to their hats into the ring. get off the night shift because of to make a difference in someone’s Healthcare for nearly two years. Filing also will be held March 16-25 for a her blood pressure, and she spent life and sometimes employees were But alas, open-heart surgery June 7 special election for the N.C. Supreme the next two years working at Lower the only people hospice patients saw stopped her in 1998. Her now 19-year- Court being held because of a February Supe- Cape Fear Hospice. all day.” old granddaughter Jillian Simmons rior Court ruling that up-and-down “retention “It was stressful, but rewarding,” She left that job due to stress and Grissett said. “I felt like I was trying worked for Comprehensive Home See SCC, page 6-A See Voting, page 11-A 2-A – The News Reporter, Monday, March 14, 2016 Local restaurant receives WDDC facade grant By JEFFERSON WEAVER come back to The Southern Staff Writer Kitchen is because they see their friends and neighbors,” Guillame Slama and his Guillame said. “We encourage wife Sokun believe in down- that—we have become distant town Whiteville, and the as a society, but here you can Whiteville Downtown Devel- visit, and enjoy a nice meal. opment Commission believes Early on, we had people who in them. didn’t get to their tables for The Slamas own the South- 20 minutes because they were ern Kitchen, which will soon visiting with people they had give way to a larger fine din- not seen in a while. It makes ing restaurant, The Chef and for a wonderful atmosphere, The Frog. and something lacking in many The new restaurant is places today. right across Madison Street “When we open across the from the landmark Southern street, I expect to see even more Kitchen, which the Slamas re- of that,” he said. “Right now, opened in 2009. The restaurant we are restricted some because has been a fixture downtown of our size. We won’t have that since 1947. problem in The Chef and The For years, Guillame said, Frog.” he watched the former appli- Guillame said he hopes ance store across the street visitors to the new restaurant from his and his wife’s eat- will do more than just come ery, planning for the future.