North State Journal Vol. 8, Issue 33

VOLUME 8 ISSUE 33

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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2023

the

BRIEF this week

Smithfield to close Charlotte processing plant Charlotte Smithfield Foods will close its Charlotte pork processing plant and transfer production to its Tar Heel facility to increase efficiency and better utilize existing capacity, the company announced Tuesday.

Financial and other transition assistance to the 107 employees who are affected by the closure and will meet with employees to discuss options including transferring to other Smithfield locations, the company said. The final day of production at the plant is scheduled for December.

“Providing transition support to our Charlotte employees is our number one priority,” said Doug Sutton, chief manufacturing officer for Smithfield Foods, in a statement. “We appreciate their commitment to producing good food responsibly, and we hope many of them will continue in roles at other Smithfield locations.”

Smithfield more than 10,000 people in North Carolina and nearly 40,000 in the U.S.

AP PHOTO

Friends and relatives of Ilai Bar Sade mourn next to his grave during his funeral at the military cemetery in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Bar Sade was killed after Hamas militants stormed from the blockaded Gaza Strip into nearby Israeli towns. Israel’s vaunted military and intelligence apparatus was caught completely off guard, bringing heavy battles to its streets for the first time in decades. The White House said Tuesday that 14 Americans were killed in Israel and 20+ are missing.

Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza stuns Israel

NSJ

Biden interviewed as part of special counsel investigation into handling of classified documents Washington, D.C. President Joe Biden has been interviewed as part of an independent investigation into his handling of classified documents, the White House said late Monday.

Special counsel Robert Hur is examining the improper retention of classified documents by Biden from his time as a U.S. senator and as vice president that were found at his Delaware home, as well as at a private office that he used in between his service in the Obama administration and becoming president.

Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office, said in a statement that the interview was voluntary and conducted at the White House.

Investigators with Hur’s office have cast a broad net in the Biden probe, interviewing a wide range of witnesses about their knowledge of the handling of classified documents.

It is one of three recent Justice Department investigations into the handling of classified documents by politically prominent figures.

The Associated Press

National Retail Federation report: unprecedented levels of theft in 2022

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Retail crime, violence and theft continue to impact the retail industry at unprecedented levels, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual Retail Security Survey.

“Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire,” National Retail Federation President David Johnston said in a statement. “Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category.”

The survey, conducted in partnership with the Loss Prevention Research Council covers 177 retail brands and represents over 97,000 retail locations across the United States span-

ning 28 retail sectors.

The average shrink rate in FY 2022 increased to 1.6% over 1.4% recorded the year prior.

In dollar figures, that 1.6% represents $112.1 billion in total retail sales, according to the survey. NRF’s previous annual survey found losses from shrink came in at $94.5 billion in 2021, up from $90.8 billion in 2020.

“While retail shrink encompasses many types of loss, it is primarily driven by theft, including organized retail crime (ORC). Theft – both internal and external – accounts for nearly two-thirds (65%) of retailers’ shrink. However, for some sectors, theft can represent more than 70% of overall shrink,” the survey’s findings say.

Additionally, the survey found that the number of violent shoplifting incidents had increased by 35% on average and See THEFT, page A8

JERUSALEM — Backed by a barrage of rockets, Hamas militants stormed from the blockaded Gaza Strip into nearby Israeli towns, killing dozens and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday.

A stunned Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza, with its prime minister saying the country is now at war with Hamas and vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”

In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities as far as 15 miles from the Gaza border. In some places they gunned down civilians and soldiers as Israel’s military scrambled to muster a response.

Gunbattles continued well after nightfall, and militants held hostages in standoffs in two towns. Militants occupied a police station in a third town, where Israeli forces struggled until Sunday morning to finally reclaim the building.

Before daybreak Sunday, militants fired more rockets from Gaza, hitting a hospital in the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon. The hospital sustained damage, said senior hospital official Tal Bergman. Video provided by Barzilai Medical Cen-

ter showed a large hole punched into a wall and chunks of debris scattered on the ground of what appeared to an empty rooms and a hallway.

In a televised address Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier declared Israel to be at war, said the military will use all of its strength to destroy Hamas’ capabilities. But he warned, “This war will take time. It will be difficult.”

“All the places that Hamas hides in, operates from, we will turn them into ruins,” he added. “Get out of there now,” he told Gaza residents, who have no way to leave the tiny, overcrowded Mediterranean territory of 2.3 million people.

Early Sunday, the Israeli military issued warnings in Arabic to residents of communities near the border with Israel to leave their homes and move to areas deeper inside the tiny enclave. In previous Israel-Hamas fighting on Gaza soil, the Gaza communities near the border were hit particularly hard, both by artillery fire and at times by ground incursions.

The strength, sophistication and timing of the Saturday morning attack shocked Israelis. Hamas fighters used explosives to break through the border fence enclosing Gaza, then crossed with motorcycles, pickSee ISRAEL, page A2

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cooper clears desk signing 7 bills, vetoing 2, three others becoming law

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper took action last week on the remaining bills passed by the General Assembly by signing seven bills into law while vetoing two bills and refusing to sign three others.

Three of the bills signed contain provisions protecting children from pornography, sexually graphic adult entertainment, and sexual assault by school employees.

House Bill 8, which mainly deals with requiring students to take Computer Science courses in order to graduate, contains a section creating civil penal-

ties for any website distributor or publisher of materials considered harmful to minors if those entities fail to perform age verification checks to access said materials.

Senate Bill 579 increases the felony level from Class I to Class H for “intentionally disseminating obscenity when it is knowingly done in the presence of a person under 18 years of age.” Adult live entertainment, such as drag queen or strip shows, that includes exposure of certain sexual anatomy or displays genital arousal, masturbation, and erotic touching in the presence of a person under 18 would be a Class A1 misdemeanor for a first offense, and a Class I felony for a second

“He would rather glorify the Green New Deal than strengthen energy production in our state.”

State Sen. Paul Newton (R-Cabarrus) or subsequent offense. Additionally, the law institutes a Class A1 misdemeanor for intentional sexual contact with a minor.

House Bill 142 ups the felony level from Class I to a Class H felony for teachers or education employees who engage in sexual ac-

tivity with students or who take indecent liberties with students.

The law also requires forfeiture of pension benefits by any employee convicted of such crimes. Additionally, the law requires school officials to report such conduct, including terminations and resignations tied to such crimes, to the state board of education within five days or face a misdemeanor charge. A final provision of that law includes a video on grooming, neglect, and abuse to be created by the Center for Safer Schools. The video will be shown to K-12 students in grade six and See COOPER, page A2

$2.00

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

A2 WEDNESDAY

THE WORD: AN INVISIBLE HAND AT THE HELM

10.11.23 #405

“One of One” Visit us online nsjonline.com

North State Journal (USPS 20451) (ISSN 2471-1365) Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Cory Lavalette Managing/Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Griffin Daughtry Business/Features Editor Jordan Golson Locals Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday

by North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite 300 Raleigh, NC 27607 TO SUBSCRIBE: 336-283-6305 or online at nsjonline.com Annual Subscription Price: $100.00 Periodicals Postage Paid at Raleigh, N.C. and at additional mailing offices.

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COOPER from page 1

up at the onset of each school year.

The governor vetoed two bills; House Bill 600, Regulatory Reform Act of 2023, and Senate Bill 678, Clean Energy/ Other Changes. The two vetoes bring the governor’s overall total to 94 over his two terms in office.

Both of the vetoes, along with the previous vetoes of three other bills, appear likely to be overridden as soon as this week by the supermajorities held by Republicans in both chambers of the legislature.

The three other bills previously vetoed which the General Assembly has yet to take up include Senate Bill 512, Greater Accountability for Boards/Commissions; Senate Bill 747, Elections Law Changes; and Senate Bill 749, No Partisan Advantage in Elections.

In part of his veto message of House Bill 600, Cooper called it “a hodgepodge of bad provisions that will result in dirtier water, discriminatory permitting and threats to North Carolina’s environment.”

“Considering the thoughtful effort that resulted in House Bill 600, I am disappointed that Gov. Cooper has vetoed this common sense bill today,” said Rep. Dennis Riddell (R-Alamance) in a statement. “HB 600 has had strong bipartisan support from members of both parties, government agencies and businesses across North Carolina.”

Rep. Jeff Zenger (R-Forsyth) also responded to Cooper’s veto, stating, “House Bill 600 is a good-faith effort to help reduce the regulatory burden on North Carolinians and their businesses. I am disappointed that Gov. Cooper has sided with radical, environmentalist, job crushing bureaucrats over the people of North Carolina.”

In his veto of Senate Bill 678, the governor claimed the measure “attempts to diverge” from a path to remove carbon from the state’s electric power sector in favor of constructing traditional power plants he said would give “higher profits for utility companies” over “over lower-cost solutions like energy efficiency.”

Sen. Paul Newton (R-Cabarrus) fired back over the veto as a “slap in the face” to the energy industry.

“Gov. Cooper’s hardline opposition to nuclear power is a slap in the face to North Carolina’s energy industry,” said Newton in a statement. “He would rather glorify the Green New Deal than strengthen energy production in our state. I look forward to overriding his veto and ensuring that

“We know that all things work together for good— to those who love God.” Romans 8:28

The believer is absolutely sure, that an invisible hand is always on the world’s helm, and that wherever providence may drift, Jehovah steers it. That reassuring knowledge prepares him for everything. He looks over the raging waters—and sees Jesus treading the billows; and he hears a voice saying, “It is I, do not be afraid!” He knows also, that God is always wise, and, knowing this, he is confident that there can be no accidents, no mistakes; that nothing can occur—which ought not to arise. He can say, “If I should lose all I have, it is better that I should lose than have—if God so wills. The worst calamity is the wisest and the kindest thing that could befall to me—if God ordains it.”

“We know that all things work together for good—to those who love God.” The Christian does not merely hold this as a theory—but he knows it as a matter of fact. Everything has worked for good as yet; the poisonous drugs mixed in fit proportions, have worked the cure. The sharp cuts of the lancet, have cleansed out the

North Carolina can have a reliable electrical grid.”

The three bills the governor refused to sign include the 2023 Appropriations Act, going back on the deal to sign the budget that he previously made with legislative leaders in exchange for passing Medicaid Expansion.

The other two bills that became law without the governor’s signature are House Bill 361: Require Report/Protection & Advocacy Agency, and Senate Bill 452: DOI & Ins Law Amd/ Revise HS Athletics.

The governor did not say why he refused to sign House Bill 361 but did remark on Senate Bill 452.

Cooper approved of the protections for motorists with regard to insurance but rejected the “late-night changes to high school sports governance” which he said, “are a solution in search of a problem.”

The section of the bill objected to by the governor overhauls the oversight of high school sports, arguably upending the long-held monopoly over student sports by the N.C. High School Athletics Association.

The law redefines “administering” organizations and gives the state superintendent authority to grant organizations to administer high school sports.

In a statement, the Department of Public Instruction noted law doesn’t take effect until next year, and that the department “will address any needs with the General Assembly as needed in the coming months.”

At an Oct. 3 press conference, NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said the law “handcuffs” the group.

“It handcuffs the means through which the association can raise funds,” Tucker said at a press conference on Oct. 3. “It prevents the NCHSAA from giving grants and scholarships back to students and schools, unless they are donor directed.”

In terms of raising funds, Tucker’s claim conflicts with the nonprofit sitting on over $41 million in assets as disclosed during an investigation into the group launched in 2021 by the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations.

Following the investigations that year, Cooper approved a bill that took a similar step to change the governance of the NCHSAA through the signing of a fouryear memorandum of understanding with the state board of education. The measure became law after lawmakers investigating the NCHSAA said the group had too much power over member schools, as well as areas like eligibility decisions and issuance of monetary penalties.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

“Daniel in the Lions’ Den” (circa 1614) by Peter Paul Rubens is a painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

proud flesh and facilitated the healing.

Every event as yet has worked out the most divinely blessed results; and so, believing that God rules all, that He governs wisely, that He brings good out of evil—the believer’s heart is assured, and he is enabled calmly to meet each trial as it comes.

The believer can in the spirit of true resignation pray, “Send me what You will, my God—so long as it comes from

You. A bad portion never came from Your table—to any of Your children.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) is one of the most widely read preachers in history and is known by many as the Prince of Preachers. Spurgeon was pastor of the New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle) in London. His works are now in the public domain.

AP PHOTO

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper listens as democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein speaks at a rally at Shaw University in Raleigh, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

A3

Insights and hot topics in agriculture discussed at NC Chamber event

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Hot topics in agriculture from trade to technology were discussed at the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s “Ag Allies” conference held on Oct. 3 at the McKimmon Center on the North Carolina State University Campus.

Sessions at the event included Women in Ag Breakfast, Global Economic Outlook for Ag, a Future of Food Panel, and International Trade Issues.

The Keynote Presentation, “Ag of the Future,” was delivered by Aidan Connolly the president of Agritech Capital. Connolly resides in Wilmington, North Carolina, but is a native of Ireland and has lived in France.

Connolly shared his vision of what he calls “agri-food in evo-

lution,” with a focus on the need for integrating data-driven technologies in farming, including everything from tablets, robots, ChatGPT, and AI as well as blockchain to 3D printing, to aid the increasing demand for food products.

“There are, however, today 570 million farms. So the question that always comes up is, “How are we going to feed people” with 70% more demand for food and 70% more demand for protein,” said Connolly. “And some people think that won’t come from animals.”

Connolly drew comparisons to the technological innovations in health care and medicine which have helped that industry leapfrog into the future. He said that crop production industries were at least 10 years behind the medical industry and livestock at least 20 years behind despite efforts to

“The realities are that we need these technologies to succeed, and we need to think about how we help those technologies succeed.”

Aidan Connolly

bring broadband and internet access to rural farming communities.

“But the realities are that we need these technologies to succeed, and we need to think about how we help those technologies succeed,” said Connolly, urging those in the agriculture sector to

embrace the need for technology.

“So, the connectivity issues are global issues and, for whatever reasons, we’ve obviously put farms in rural areas – far away from towns and cities, and therefore not generally connected.” Connolly said when asked by North State Journal to expand on the issues with broadband and internet connectivity in rural areas.

He added that new systems coming out such as Elon Musk’s Starlink could be helpful solutions.

Michael Swanson, Ph.D., Chief Agricultural Economist for Wells Fargo discussed various trends in consumption, spending, and inflation during his session on the global outlook for agriculture.

Swanson noted that food inflation was generally good for the food industry over the past few years but warned that trend could reverse itself in the coming years and

Raleigh mass shooting suspect faces 5 murder charges as his case moves to adult court The Associated Press RALEIGH — A teenager is facing murder charges in adult court nearly one year after police say the youth killed five people and injured two others in a shooting rampage that rocked his quiet neighborhood in North Carolina’s capital city.

A hearing last week in Wake County Superior Court marked the final step in a transfer process to elevate Austin Thompson’s case from juvenile court to superior court, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said.

Freeman had announced shortly after the shooting that she would seek adult charges for Thompson, who was 15 years old last Oct. 13 when police said he fatally shot his brother, several neighbors and an off-duty Raleigh police officer.

“Once today’s hearing was concluded, then that triggered the case having been transferred to superior court where Mr. Thompson can now be tried as an adult,” Freeman told The Associated Press.

Thompson has been charged with five counts of murder in the deaths of Officer Gabriel Torres, Mary Elizabeth Marshall, Nicole Connors, Susan Karnatz and the suspect’s older brother, James Roger Thompson, according to

AP PHOTO

Raleigh’s Hedingham neighborhood entrance sign becomes a makeshift memorial, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022 court records. He also faces two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, and one count of assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer.

Although a grand jury had previously returned indictments

against Thompson in August, those documents did not become public until Superior Court Judge Pat Nadolski finalized the case transfer at last Wednesday’s hearing, Freeman said.

The suspect’s father, Alan Thompson, was also charged with a misdemeanor offense of storing

a firearm in a manner accessible to a minor. Before Wednesday, investigators had not indicated who owned the guns — a handgun and a shotgun — used in the shooting. An initial court date for Alan Thompson has not yet been set, Freeman said.

An attorney for the Thompson

could “go negative.”

Swanson also discussed the biofuels sector, which ethanol currently dominates mainly due to mandates at the gas pump. He also said North Carolina is unique in that the state offers a wide variety of crops and livestock versus that of other states with concentrations in corn and soy production.

Cultivated or lab-grown meat and associated technologies were feature topics of the Future of Food panel featuring Gustavo Burger, CEO of Believer Meats; Clare Doyle, CEO of Verdesian; Liz Koutsos, president of EnviroFlight; and moderated by Bill Aimutis, the executive director for Food Innovation Lab. Later in the conference, International Trade took centerstage in a presentation by Sharon Bomer Lauritsen, a consultant with AgTrade Strategies, LLC, and Ray Starling, the general counsel and president of the Legal Institute, NC Chamber. Discussion included challenges presented by China and Russia, as well as non-tariff trade barriers inhibiting progress towards a “rule-based international trading order.”

family did not immediately respond Wednesday to emails seeking comment.

Police allege the killing rampage began when the teen shot and stabbed his 16-year-old brother in their East Raleigh neighborhood. He then shot multiple neighbors, including an off-duty police officer who was on his way to work, according to the police report.

Dressed in camouflage with multiple weapons strapped to his belt, the high school student traveled nearly 2 miles on foot before law enforcement located him in a barnlike structure near the Neuse River Greenway, a popular walking path where he is alleged to have killed two of the victims.

Body camera video released by police shows gun shots ringing out from the structure, striking one officer in the knee, and police return fire. Officers later approached the building and found the suspect lying on the ground with a nonfatal gunshot wound. Authorities have not said whether he was shot by police or if his wound was self-inflicted.

A trial date for the teenager has not been set but will likely be “somewhere about a year to 18 months from now,” Freeman told The AP. If convicted, she said, the teenager could face life sentences for each of the five homicides. The transfer to superior court means the trial will be open to the public.

Wake County’s chief public defender, Deonte’ Thomas, who has been appointed to represent the suspect, did not respond to emails seeking comment on the case.

ISRAEL from page 1

up trucks, paragliders and speed boats on the coast.

In some towns, civilians’ bodies lay where they had encountered advancing gunmen. At least nine people gunned down at a bus shelter in the town of Sderot were laid out on stretchers on the street, their bags still on the curb nearby. One woman, screaming, embraced the body of a family member sprawled under a sheet next to a toppled motorcycle.

In amateur video, hundreds of terrified young people who had been dancing at a rave fled for their lives after Hamas militants entered the area and began firing at them. Israeli media said dozens of people were killed.

Among the dead was Col. Jonathan Steinberg, a senior officer who commanded the Israeli military’s Nahal Brigade, a prominent infantry unit.

The shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, said the assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the past year, violence at Al Aqsa — the disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount — increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians and the growth of settlements.

“Enough is enough,” Deif, who does not appear in public, said in the recorded message. He said the attack was only the start of what he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” and called on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight.

The Hamas incursion on Sim-

AP PHOTO

Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations, killing hundreds and taking captives. Palestinian health officials reported scores of deaths from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. chat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll, revived painful memories of the 1973 Mideast war practically 50 years to the day, in which Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, aiming to take back Israeli-occupied territories.

Asked by reporters how Hamas had managed to catch the army off guard, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesman, replied, “That’s a good question.”

The abduction of Israeli civilians and soldiers also raised a particularly thorny issue for Israel, which has a history of making heavily lopsided exchanges to bring captive Israelis home.

Hecht confirmed that “substantial” number of Israelis were abducted Saturday.

Saudi Arabia, which has been in talks with the U.S. about normalizing relations with Israel, called on both sides to exercise restraint. The kingdom said it had repeatedly warned about the danger of “the situation exploding as a result of the continued occupa-

tion (and) the Palestinian people being deprived of their legitimate rights.”

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group congratulated Hamas, praising the attack as a response to “Israeli crimes.” The group said its command in Lebanon was in contact with Hamas about the operation.

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

A4

OPINION Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor VISUAL VOICES

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL

Deja-vu all over again in Middle East

The most vivid memory of older Americans are the 52 American hostages who were held hostage in the US Embassy in Tehran for 444 excruciating days from 1979 to 1980.

I WAS CONTEMPLATING writing a piece this week about the antics of Matt Gaetz in Congress ― until Saturday morning, Oct. 7.

News broke that Hamas had launched a full-scale attack on Israel by murdering, butchering and raping Jews on their Sabbath day after a week-long observance of the Jewish festival of Sukkot.

Suddenly, the antics of Matt Gaetz, et.al. didn’t seem very important any more in the grand scope of things.

These Hamas attacks feel like déjà vu all over again. Hamas had the full support of Iran, which came as no shock to anyone who has been in politics or served in the federal government since 1980 ― except President Joe Biden and his entire national security team including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

It must be hard for them and anyone who served in the previous White House under President Barack Obama to believe all of their appeasement of radical terrorists in Iran for the past fifteen years has accomplished nothing.

Most adults over the age of 60 still have vivid memories of 1979 when Muslim fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini led the Iranian revolution to overthrow the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and institute strict Islamic rule which has lasted for over four decades.

Ever since then, Iran has used oil revenue money and over $12 billion in misbegotten aid offered to them from Presidents Barack Obama and now Joe Biden to fund and export terrorism around the globe. There is not a single positive thing which has happened on the world stage in terms of peace, diplomacy and democracy that can be attributed to Iran since 1979.

The most vivid memory of older Americans are the 52 American hostages who were held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for 444 excruciating days from 1979 to 1980. During that time, Iran and OPEC nations destroyed the world economy by restricting oil output; dramatically raising oil prices and generally causing major havoc the world over.

The “misery index” hit 20% ―it was a combination of inflation which hit 12% plus unemployment which hit 8%. Unemployment spiked at 8% to add more misery to the index.

America had an incredibly weak Democratic President in 1979, Jimmy Carter, who was incapable of leading any sort of effort to free the hostages. America has a weak, almost-totally-disengaged-from-reality Democratic President Joe Biden today who has proven his incompetence

in world affairs with the botched and bloody withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan ― so don’t expect any sort of bold action from him to help defend Israel against further Hamas attacks.

Is there any wonder why Hamas now feels emboldened to attack Israel and slaughter, rape, maim and kidnap thousands of men, women and children? They know that Biden’s foreign policy team will not recommend any strong action against such terrorism ― the office of Secretary of State Blinken had to delete an initial tweet urging Israel to restrain themselves from retaliation for these heinous acts and to agree to a ceasefire before Israel had even responded to these sneak attacks. Blinken’s office tweeted this Alice-in-Wonderland-ish statement as well: “We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing” which essentially is saying nothing because it did not condemn Hamas and Iran for initiating hostilities.

Iran has been emboldened by the actions of President Obama and now Biden. They both have supported allowing Iran to become a nuclear state which is totally unjustifiable and careless. Both have supported a normalization of relations with Iran, the largest supporter of terrorism in the world, as if being nice to them will make them stop funding kidnapping, rape and murder now being conducted by Hamas in Israel.

Both have paid enormous ransoms for American hostages and released dangerous Islamist terrorists from American prisons to return to Iran and other state supporters of terrorism.

What terrorists and bullies in China and Russia really understand is brute force. Vladimir Lenin is credited with saying: “Probe with bayonets.

If you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw.”

Iran has found mush in both the Obama and Biden foreign policy; otherwise, why would they have brazenly helped Hamas plan this deadly attack? In contrast, they feared the steel in Ronald Reagan as he was about to walk into the White House on January 20, 1981.

Approximately thirty minutes before he was sworn in as the nation’s 40th president, Reagan was informed the Ayatollah had released all fiftytwo American hostages. No shots fired; no American lives were lost. The Iranians knew they would no longer be appeased.

The world needs another Reagan in the White House. Whether America finds one is up to us.

EDITORIAL | STACEY MATTHEWS

Blue state Democrats change tunes on border crisis

The federal government’s lack of intervention and coordination at the border has created an untenable situation for Illinois.

THERE’S NO QUESTION that President Joe Biden has a full-blown border crisis on his hands.

It is one that he and his administration aren’t taking seriously.

The result has been border states such as Texas taking matters into their own hands, with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordering buoy barriers to be placed along stretches of the Rio Grande along with more barbed wire placed nearby on land to discourage illegal crossings.

Another thing Abbott has been doing for the last year-and-a-half is authorizing the busing of illegal immigrants who are overwhelming border towns to Democrat-run cities like New York City and Chicago.

In the past, these cities have boasted about being “sanctuary cities” where illegal immigrants could come, receive shelter, and be protected from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as well as the Dept. of Homeland Security.

But not long after they started arriving en masse on those buses, those same Democrats began changing their tunes on being so welcoming and accommodating. New York City Mayor Eric Adams lashed out at not only the influx of illegal immigrants but also Abbott, who he has accused of treating the illegals like human pawns.

Abbott, with the full understanding in mind that open borders Democrats can’t truly experience what it’s like to be overrun by the illegal immigrants they claim to support until they experience it themselves, responded accordingly by continuing the busing plan, which has also included occasional bus stops in front of the Washington, D.C. home of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is Biden’s border czar.

2024 GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken a similar approach after becoming fed up over reports that the Biden administration was flying illegal immigrants from the Texas border into Florida in the dead of night when they thought no one would be paying attention.

Well, they were, and DeSantis responded by busing and flying them out of his state to blue states and cities like Martha’s Vineyard, which prompted an outcry from the same Democrats who previously rolled out the red carpet for them.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has been trying to

elevate his national profile for a likely future presidential run, even went so far as to accuse DeSantis of “kidnapping” after planeloads of illegal immigrants were flown to Sacramento by DeSantis.

In the midst of all the bluster about Abbott’s and DeSantis’ actions from these Democratic leaders has come an acknowledgment: The realization that the current system under Biden is unsustainable and that there must be a better system in place not only to discourage surges to the southern border but also to handle the influxes when they do happen so that it’s not just a handful of border towns and states sharing the responsibility. “…(T)he federal government’s lack of intervention and coordination at the border has created an untenable situation for Illinois,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, said in a letter written to Biden last week.

“There is much more that can and must be done on a federal level to address a national humanitarian crisis that is currently being shouldered by state and local governments without support,” Pritzker also noted.

Interestingly enough, that is exactly what Abbott and DeSantis have been saying to Biden since day one of his presidency. But now that it’s Democrats who are kicking up a fuss about the border crisis, the Biden administration is suddenly listening, with a recent announcement on a restarting of building the border wall that Biden said on the campaign trail in 2020 would not happen on his watch.

For Abbott and DeSantis, it’s mission accomplished. This doesn’t mean the border crisis is over, not by a long shot, but better late than never.

North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

COLUMN | DEANNA BALLARD AND VIRGINIA FOXX

Manufacturing in North Carolina From 1995 to 2022, manufacturing jobs fell from 830,000 to 475,000.

THIS IS National Manufacturing Week, which is supposed to be a celebration of American industry and jobs.

North Carolina certainly has some cause for celebration, though recent closures of the Canton paper mill and the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams furniture company show how tenuous manufacturing jobs can be — and how important it is to protect and expand them.

First, the good news. After years of NAFTArelated devastation, North Carolina’s overall manufacturing sector looks to have recovered somewhat. Data published by the National Association of Manufacturers shows our state’s manufacturing output hit $102 billion in 2021, up 21% since 2012.

That growth just barely outpaces the rate of inflation, but major economic development announcements suggest the positive trend will continue to improve. Pratt & Whitney will soon open its one-million-square-foot turbine airfoil production facility in Buncombe County. Toyota is constructing a battery manufacturing plant in Randolph County, a project that will total $5.9 billion when complete.

Other examples abound — Wolfspeed, Apple, VinFast, John Deere, Boom Supersonic, and more.

Add it all up and it’s clear why CNBC ranked North Carolina the top state for business two years in a row.

But the purpose of a manufacturing resurgence isn’t just state prestige or even economic growth alone — it’s jobs.

On this count, we still have a lot of ground to make up. Starting in the mid-1990s, North Carolina’s manufacturing employment went into freefall. From 1995 to 2022, manufacturing jobs fell from 830,000 to 475,000. That’s a 42% drop even as the state’s total population increased by 33%.

Viewed in this light, recent factory closures look like more of the same.

Two questions emerge from this picture: One, why do manufacturing jobs even matter if the state seems to be doing well without them? And two, what can be done to bring those jobs back?

To answer the first question, manufacturing jobs deserve attention because of where they are and who has them. Yes, on the whole North Carolina is doing very well. But nearly all of that success benefits the state’s urban centers.

Zoom out of Raleigh, Charlotte, and a few other cities, and a very different reality exists.

Working-age adults are leaving. Job growth is stagnant. Poverty is higher, wages are lower, and

it’s getting worse.

It’s these areas that the post-NAFTA economy hit the hardest, and it’s these areas that a manufacturing resurgence can most benefit.

Now to the second question: What can be done to bring manufacturing jobs back?

We said at the top that North Carolina is already moving in the right direction by attracting major manufacturing facilities outside of urban centers. For the past decade, state legislators have laid the groundwork for this trend through low taxes, reasonable regulations, and a pro-jobs agenda. We need to stay the course.

Next year’s state budget puts tens of millions of dollars towards preparing large tracts of land, called megasites, for other major employers.

That will likely be money well spent: the Toyota, Wolfspeed, and VinFast plants are all located on megasites.

Outfitting community colleges and the UNC System to educate students affordably — especially adults — for modern manufacturer demands also makes good sense. The UNC System is undertaking an effort, called Project Kitty Hawk, with that aim in mind.

It isn’t enough that manufacturing jobs are made available for North Carolinians.

These jobs require an upskilled and reskilled workforce as well. At the federal level, the Committee on Education and the Workforce is hard at work broadening the talent pipeline from postsecondary education opportunities to in-demand, good paying careers, which are available in manufacturing.

The Committee has two main legislative priorities — the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and workforce, or shortterm, PELL grants — which will help outfit the workforce with skills demanded by manufacturers. By cutting bureaucracy, ensuring more dollars go to skills development programs, and letting employers take the lead, we can ensure the workforce system is, well, working.

All of these efforts share a common goal: creating an environment that delivers goodpaying jobs to rural areas, anchored by durable employers who won’t pack up and move.

Manufacturing and industry checked those boxes for decades, and they can do so again.

Deanna Ballard is a former state senator.

Virginia Foxx represents North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District.

COLUMN | MATT MERCER

The Axis of Evil never left

Iran is at the center of the anti-West movement.

“IRAN AGGRESSIVELY PURSUES these weapons [of mass destruction] and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people’s hope for freedom. ... States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.”

These words were spoken by President George W. Bush on Jan. 29, 2002, in his State of the Union address five months after the Sept. 11 attacks. It was this speech where he declared Iraq, Iran and North Korea an ‘axis of evil’ in their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

The axis now revolves around Iran.

Whether its the longtime funding and support of Hamas and Hezbollah, attempts to make post-war Iraq a client state, or seeding disruption across the Middle East, Iran is at the center of the anti-West movement.

While their leaders continually stoke resentment, significant numbers of Iranians recoil - a point that cannot be forgotten. As demonstrated by the 2009 Green Revolution, the Iranian government can be vulnerable.

That is compounded by inexplicable decisions made by the Obama and Biden administrations to bail out Iran’s leaders.

Then-President Barack Obama’s lack of support allowed the ’09 Green Revolution to fizzle and die on the vine. The Iran deal in his second term gave the regime a lifeline of billions of dollars. Most recently, the Biden administration unlocked $6 billion for the

struggling regime that now is flush with cash to spread across its client groups.

Iran’s destabilizing efforts, combined with work done to normalize relations between Israel and Arab nations, would end Iran’s efforts to control what happens in their region - untenable for them and for any spectre of a two-state solution, if nations such as Saudi Arabia back Israel and, by extension, the West.

Iran’s is a brand of militant Islam that is more uncomfortable with peace than war.

It much easier to blame the interlopers for shortages of food and medicine than to give up power. Empowering those leaders, appeasing their interests, instead of isolating them, hasn’t worked because it can’t work.

This is what separates Iran from Communist China, Russia and North Korea.

While Iran has worked in alignment with Russia and North Korea to further an antiWestern agenda, their end goal won’t align with empirical aspirations of Russia to reclaim for Soviet territory, North Korea’s desire to dominate Southeast Asia or China’s goal to once again reach its Middle Kingdom status.

The muted response from those nations following Saturday’s atrocities should be equally concerning for Western nations. If the West can’t show resolve now, the world map will reach a realignment not seen since the end of World War II.

BE IN TOUCH

Letters addressed to the editor may be sent to letters@nsjonline.com or 1201 Edwards Mill Rd., Suite 300, Raleigh, NC 27607. Letters must be signed; include the writer’s phone number, city and state; and be no longer than 300 words. Letters may be edited for style, length or clarity when necessary. Ideas for op-eds should be sent to opinion@nsjonline.com.

A5 COLUMN

NEWT GINGRICH

Speaker Kevin McCarthy will be missed IT IS BEGINNING to dawn on people that betraying the House Republican Conference and forcing Speaker Kevin McCarthy to vacate the speaker’s chair will have serious consequences.

The damage to the House GOP may prove much bigger and more lasting than the momentary personal defeat for the California Republican.

It has begun to sink in that none of the candidates for speaker have even 10% of McCarthy’s ability to fundraise or recruit. During the 2022 election cycle, the speaker raised $485 million. He also sought out and found dozens of strong Republican candidates.

Ironically, several of the members who voted against him were only serving in Congress because of the support he gave them. While the betrayers rhetorically have denounced the fundraising system (and McCarthy’s talent for it), the reality is campaigns are expensive — and candidates need money.

Meanwhile, Democrats will almost certainly have a huge financial advantage in the 2024 races. With McCarthy’s absence from the fundraising circuit, the GOP may be in dire straits. The current chaos in turmoil will also likely lead some veteran Republicans to retire – and discourage other competent people from running. Who would want to join a selfsabotaging team that stabs itself in the back? I predict House GOP recruitment is about to get much harder.

Speaker McCarthy was a strategist and visionary of unusual skill. He brought MIT professors down to brief a bipartisan group of members on artificial intelligence. Unlike Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he consciously put together congressional delegations that were bipartisan. He reached out to Democrats to go to California to meet with the President of Taiwan, to Israel, and the Middle East. He put together bipartisan groups to have lunch with the Prime Minister of Italy.

Speaker McCarthy developed a strategy for getting a more conservative debt ceiling agreement — and stuck to it for 100 days while Biden tried to avoid negotiating. He had Chairman Jodey Arrington lead the Budget Committee Republicans in developing and reporting out a 10-year path to a balanced budget. Speaker McCarthy coordinated the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Oversight and Accountability committees in a sophisticated and determined investigation of corruption in the Biden family. He was calmly and methodically moving from an early investigation to an impeachment inquiry. He was gradually building the case, so the American people would come to understand how deeply corrupt the Bidens are.

Speaker McCarthy also had a crystal clear vision of the kind of inclusive Republican Party that could become — and remain — a majority in the House. He worked hard to recruit women, minority candidates, and veterans. He was consciously changing the face of the House GOP to better reflect the country in which we live and the people who Congress serves. Make no mistake: His effort was working. In both 2020 and 2022, the House GOP gained seats while the U.S. Senate lost them. McCarthy was already recruiting and fundraising to expand the majority significantly in 2024.

He had a disciplined, positive, and cheerful approach no matter what was happening.

As opposed to the all too often gloomy, angry, or inarticulate Republican stereotype, Speaker McCarthy actually likes people. He communicates positively. Watch the 15 ballots that it took for him to become Speaker, and you will find him consistently positive. Watch his walk to the press conference to announce he was stepping down as Speaker, and you will see the same positive cheerful approach.

McCarthy shares with President Ronald Reagan a Californian optimism that appeals to a large number of Americans.

Unfortunately, his positive attitude was a weaknesses with the Republican base. Modern populism requires fear of what is happening to the country, rage about the corruption of the establishment, and frustration with business as usual in the so-called imperial capital.

McCarthy worked to solve problems and achieve goals — but he could not satisfy the grassroots’ psychological hunger for a crazed political pugilist.

The conference will also miss his knowledge.

McCarthy has been immersed in politics his whole life. He knows virtually every district and member. He can successfully gauge what will win elections in the moderate Northeast, divided California districts, and the conservative Sunbelt.

No one else in the House GOP has McCarthy’s depth of understanding. This will likely soon lead to avoidable mistakes and unnecessary tensions.

Finally, Speaker McCarthy’s admiration of President Abraham Lincoln — and his deep belief in government of, by, and for the people — kept him constantly focused the American people and what they wanted.

Ironically, just as the short-sighted anarchists were betraying McCarthy (in alliance with the House Democrats), Gallup was reporting the largest favorable results for congressional Republicans since the President Jimmy Carter years. The generic ballot for Republicans in House races was the highest it had been in decades.

The House GOP is going to find it extraordinarily hard to replace the gentleman from Bakersfield.

They will come to regret this betrayal.

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

A6

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Murphy to Manteo

A7

Jones & Blount LGC approves $1.9B in financing requests; Project Grace finally moves forward

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

Leaf season kicks off

Fall color peak

RALEIGH — At its Oct. 3 meeting, the N.C. Local Government Commission (LGC) approved some $1.9 billion in financing requests as well as ending the long-running debate over New Hanover County’s Project Grace to move forward by approving the requested $57 million for the project.

The vote to move Project Grace forward was a close 5-4 decision.

Project Grace involves a request last September for the LGC to approve an $80 million 20-year lease for a 95,000-square-foot space to house a museum and library in downtown Wilmington. At the September 2022 meeting, the motion to approve the project

For people who want to be overwhelmed by the majesty of fall foliage, it doesn’t get any better than the Blue Ridge Parkway. The National Parks-maintained scenic byway has been the country’s most-visited national park nearly every year since 1946 for good reason. With 469 miles of road, there is plenty of opportunity to take in the immense, awesome power of the Blue Ridge in full color. While one of the most iconic, postcard-perfect views is the Lynn Cove Viaduct, located just south of the bustling college town of Boone, there are numerous vantage points at different elevations throughout the peak weeks of fall. Both on and off the parkway, these charming spots offer not only leaves, but also great music, food, and crafts celebrating our state’s mountain heritage.

after Nov 14 Nov 1-10

failed to get a second and the project was put on hold.

“This idea was around for nearly a decade before I was treasurer. There’s been nothing graceful about it. The drama around this and other projects was completely avoidable, but they lacked the right level of transparency, competence and an eye on conflicts of interest that can have the potential of punishing taxpayers,” said State Treasurer and LGC Chair Dale Folwell.

The largest approval was $750 million in revenue bonds for the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency for affordable housing and home ownership programs for low and moderate income families for 2023 and 2024. Over the course of 2022, the LGC approved $418.5 million for such purposes.

Oct 24-31 Oct 13-20

Cabarrus Rep. won’t seek reelection

Sep 29 to Oct 9

North State Journal

WEST

EAST

PIEDMONT Former ASU chancellor dies suddenly

Harrisburg eyes economic development as Charlotte metro grows Cabarrus County The Town of Harrisburg has announced intentions develop a Strategic Economic Development Plan that will serve as a guide for the town’s efforts to capitalize on area economic growth and development over the next 5 years.

According to a press release, the effort is intended to be an action-oriented plan that will inform and guide town officials, residents, property owners and developers in making sound policy and investment decisions which will lead to the expansion of the Town’s tax base and economic wealth. “Our newly-adopted vision for the town is that Harrisburg will be a distinctive, family-focused community where memories are made,” said Town Manager Rob Donham.

Watauga County Appalachian State University announced Friday that former chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock, who served as chancellor from 200414, and was employed by school for more than 30 years died suddenly on Friday morning. The current App State chancellor, Sheri Everts, credited Peacock with growing the university academically, establishing the College of Health Sciences, opening a new education building and more.

Peacock also played a role in moving the Mountaineers’ athletic programs to the Sun Belt Conference, as well as the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), in addition to working as a Department Chair and Dean. Peacock is survived by his wife, Rosanne.

ASU

WBTV

Catawba College center to study public service, NC politics Catawba County Catawba College has received an anonymous $360,000 gift that will fund a new Center to study North Carolina politics and promote public service. Dr. Michael Bitzer, a long-time Catawba politics professor, will lead the Center, which he envisions involving students and the area community in civic engagement of all types, according to a press release. The Center is slated to include a speaker series, as well as a fellows program to support students pursuing internships at the federal, state, and local levels in addition to access to financial resources to explore the vocation of public service. A summer workshop for high school civics teachers, focused on professional development sessions is also planned, alongside a partnership with the Commission on the Future of NC Elections.

CATAWBA COLLEGE

High School football game interrupted by arrests for guns, drugs and alcohol Iredell County According to area press reports, the Friday night football game at Statesville High School was postponed after police had to respond to several incidents in the school parking lot during the Statesville vs West Iredell High game.

A Statesville Police press release stated that during the game, officers on special assignment observed Keonta Chambers, 20, of Statesville, who was wanted for eight outstanding felony warrants related to a shooting incident last month that injured a 14-year-old. While arresting Chambers, police say they saw marijuana and alcohol beside the driver of the vehicle, and found a pistol concealed on another passenger in the back seat.

Greensboro calls on leaders to step up public safety effort

Church van involved in multivehicle crash on US 29 Rockingham County According to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, on Thursday at around 7:30 p.m., a church van driving north on US 29 in Reidsville failed to yield when turning left into a parking lot and hit a work van, causing a chain reaction involving a total of five vehicles.

Over a dozen people were sent to the hospital, including several children ages six months to 11 years old. The driver of the van was charged with no operator’s license, failure to yield and a child restraint violation. The van came from Eternal Life Ministries in Bassett, Virginia to worship in Reidsville.

WGHP

Guilford County According to recent reports, the city of Greensboro is rapidly approaching a record number of homicides. The Office of Community Safety, which works in collaboration with Greensboro police, are leading the effort to help the community reduce violence through a new request for proposals and seeking ideas from the community. Leaders are calling on all organizations with a stake in public safety to consider making a proposal, as multiple grants will be offered through the new tiered system, so groups like Unifour One, working with the juvenile justice system and offering parenting classes, for example, will be considered alongside others who seek to make a difference, officials say.

Local woman receives winning $200K lottery ticket from boyfriend Harnett County A Fuquay-Varina woman has won a $200,000 scratch-off prize, according to an N.C. Education Lottery news release.

Linda Benefiel said she got home from work Monday night after a particularly stressful day, and her boyfriend bought her a Lightning 7’s scratch-off. The lucky $5 ticket came from Chalybeate Store on U.S. 401 North in Fuquay-Varina, and after required state and federal tax withholdings, Benefield took home $142,501. “We decided we are going to pay off our mortgage,” she said. “It’s such a wonderful feeling.”

NSJ

Johnston Co. deputy sheriff fired after shooting incident Johnston County According to official reports, a member of the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office was fired after an internal investigation in to a shooting that happened during a chase early Monday. Deputy Sheriff Christopher Adcock fired his service weapon after being struck by the fleeing vehicle, and fired a total of five shots. In a termination letter, Sheriff Steve Bizzell told Adcock that in choosing to stay seated in his vehicle while firing upon the suspect, he endangered the fellow officers in pursuit, and In demonstrated his failure to comply with the law and the “standards and goals” that have been set by the sheriff.

CONCORD — A three-term member of the N.C. House of Representatives announced Monday she won’t seek reelection next year.

Rep. Kristin Baker (R-Cabarrus), said she would serve out the remainder of her two-year term through December 2024.

Baker was appointed to the N.C. House in early 2020 to succeed state Rep. Linda Johnson after her death, then was elected to two terms in the chamber.

Baker, a psychiatrist, has sponsored several bills related to mental health and women’s health.

She backed several significant mental health initiatives and successfully sponsored a bill that prohibits male students from playing on middle school, high

school or collegiate athletic teams designated for females, women or girls. The bill also requires a student’s sex to be recognized solely based on reproductive biology and genetics at birth for purposes of athletic participation.

“I am proud of the work I was able to do in partnership with, and on behalf of, the people of North Carolina, using my experience as a physician to help pass legislation that I hope will make an enduring difference,” said Baker in a news release.

Baker’s announcement comes as legislators are about to consider new General Assembly districts for use in the 2024 elections.

Candidate filing will begin in early December.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WNCN

NSJ

High Point mayor announces congressional bid Guilford County On Monday the current mayor of High Point, Jay Wagner, announced that he is running for Congress. Wagner will be a Republican candidate for North Carolina’s 6th congressional district, currently represented by Democrat Kathy Manning. This comes after announcing earlier in the year that he would not be seeking reelection for mayor of High Point. In the announcement Wagner stated that he would “focus on reducing energy costs, curbing excessive spending, reducing our unprecedented inflation, opposing rising sentiments of antisemitism, and fully standing with Israel and supporting their war against terror.”

Prior to be elected mayor, Wagner served as a High Point City Councilman in Ward 4. He is a graduate of Oak Ridge Military Academy and a partner in Fisher Wagner, PLLC.

NSJ

Winston-Salem bar fight leads to hospitalization and arrests Forsyth County Investigators from the Winston-Salem Police Department say seven people have been arrested in connection to a fight at a Winston-Salem bar. According to a press release, police responded to a fight involving about 20 people at the Thirsty Pallet Bar in downtown Winston-Salem at 1:30am last Saturday. Officials believe the situation began when two people got into a fight, which then led to the larger fight, during which a 33-year-old man working security “was brutally attacked, including being punched, kicked, and hit with multiple chairs during the fight.”

The victim was taken to a hospital, and seven of the people appeared before a magistrate.

WGHP

School employee charged with multiple counts of sexual battery Edgecombe County A sheriff’s detective responded to a report of sexual assault at South Edgecombe Middle School in Pinetops, and a school custodian has been arrested and charged with sexual battery involving a student. The Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office was notified by the principal of the school that a 14-year old student had accused 68-year old Stephen Moore Wells of inappropriate touching. During an interview with officials, the student said there were two more students she witnessed Wells touch, and on Oct. 5, the sheriff’s detective activated warrants for three counts of misdemeanor sexual battery and one count of felony indecent liberties with a child. Wells was charged and placed into the Edgecombe County Detention Center under a $40,000 secured bond.

WNCN

NSJ

Fayetteville starting one-year pilot program for e-bikes and scooters Cumberland County A recently passed ordinance allows companies to rent bikes and scooters to the public in downtown Fayetteville, as the city is looking to draw people to the area and help them get around in a safe and fun way. The application process is now open for vendors looking to rent electric bicycles and scooters in Fayetteville, and will close November 1.

With mixed reaction from the public — primarily concerns about safety for both riders and pedestrians — city leaders have said all aspects of the new venture will be taken into consideration. The program is conceived as a one-year trial for the bikes and scooters, after which the ordinance will be reviewed.

NSJ

Longtime Republican activist named to national group North State Journal RALEIGH — Delegates to the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) 42nd biennial convention elected Martha Jenkins of Chapel Hill, N.C., to serve as 1st vice president for the 2024-2025 term. The convention was held Sept.

29-Oct. 1 in Oklahoma City.

Jenkins, whose term will begin Jan. 1, currently serves as a member of the NFRW Resolutions Committee for the 2022-2023 biennium. Previously, Jenkins served in a number of roles in the organization, including as 3rd Vice President, 4th Vice President and Member-at-Large of the NFRW Executive Committee. In 2007, she was recognized for her distinguished service as president of the North Carolina Federation of Republican Women with the

NFRW Ronald Reagan Leadership Award.

“The Federation has always been the most important aspect of my political activities, and I welcome the opportunity to once again serve NFRW on the Executive Committee as 1st Vice President,” said Jenkins.

“I am looking forward to working with the women across the United States in our Federation during the next two years.”

A well-known Republican across the state, she has been involved in the Republican Women’s Club of Chapel Hill Chatham and the North Carolina Federation of Republican Women since 1994. She has worked on many campaigns and has served as Secretary of the North Carolina Republican Party. Jenkins is currently the treasurer of the 4th District Republican Party.

A8

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

NATION & WORLD

Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel raises questions about the influence of its sponsor, Iran The Associated Press JERUSALEM — Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel and the war it launched has raised new questions about the influence of its main sponsor, Iran, and whether it had anything to do with the assault.

From Tel Aviv to Washington, however, no one is willing to directly blame Iran as they say they lack direct evidence. Tensions between the Islamic Republic and the West remain high over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. In Tehran, even its supreme leader has denied the country being involved while praising what he described as the “capable, smart and courageous” militants who killed more than 1,000 Israelis and for the first time took over 100 civilians and soldiers as hostages.

Yet the suspicion of Iranian involvement remains — and how it shakes out could threaten to morph what has been the most-shocking deadly attack on Israel in 50 years into a wider regional war that drags in the United States.

Hamas grew out of the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which was marked by widespread protests against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987. Its name is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement and an acknowledgment of its early ties to the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood. Sworn to Israel’s destruction, it has launched numerous suicide bombings and

other attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, leading Israel and other nations including the U.S. to describe it as a terrorist organization.

Although Sunni, it has grown increasingly close to the Mideast’s Shiite powerhouse, Iran.

For Tehran, Hamas fits into a pattern it has followed since its 1979 Islamic Revolution of backing regional proxies as a hedge against the superior firepower of archenemy Israel and its main backer, the U.S. The attack showed a level of sophistication and scale so far unseen in previous Hamas attacks on Israel. Airborne militants flew into southern Israel on paragliders. Bomb-carrying drones dropped ordinance precisely on Israeli robotic gun positions. Within hours, militants detonated bombs to tear open Israel’s separation fence, body cam footage showed.

Some of these militant techniques have been used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, whose Quds, or Jerusalem, force serves as an expeditionary unit that long has liaised with proxy militia groups across the Middle East.

As of now, no government worldwide has offered direct evidence — whether images, electronic surveillance or satellite imagery — supporting that Iran orchestrated the attack. However, many have pointed to Iran’s long sponsorship of the group through extensive training, funding and smuggled rockets.

“On Iran, let me start by say-

ing no question that there’s a degree of complicity here. Iran has been supporting Hamas for many, many years,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday. “That said, we haven’t seen hard, tangible evidence that Iran was directly involved in participating in or resourcing, planning these sets of complex attacks that Hamas pulled off over the weekend.”

“We have no evidence, no intelligence proof of Iranian involvement in this situation,” said Maj. Nir Dinar, an Israeli military spokesperson.

Dinar, however, hinted at Iranian involvement in the same breath. “You have to be very naive in order to think that someone in Iran woke up at 6:30 on Shabbat, on Simchat Torah, and was surprised to see this,” he said, referring to the Jewish holiday that was commemorated last Saturday.

For Israel, it already appears to be gearing up for what looks like a massive military operation including a possible ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. That urban fighting is incredibly dangerous for its troops, as well as the Palestinian civilians inevitably caught between them and Hamas fighters. Israel also has faced some sporadic missile fire and fighting from Hezbollah, Iran’s main regional partner in neighboring Lebanon since the violence erupted. The conflict expanding into a two-front war would make the situation even more dangerous.

THEFT from page 1

included ORC incidents.

“Last year, 81% of respondents reported that ORC offenders had grown more violent,” per the survey results. “Compounding that this year, more than two-thirds (67%) of respondents said that they were seeing even more violence and aggression from ORC perpetrators compared with a year ago.”

Due to these thefts, 45% of retailers reduced operating hours, 28% closed stores, and 30% reduced product availability.

Top cities being hit by ORC include Los Angeles, Calif; San Francisco/Oakland, Calif.; Houston, Tex.; New York City, N.Y.; Seattle, Wash.; Atlanta, Ga.; Sacramento, Calif.; Chicago, Ill., Denver, Colo.; Miami, Fla.; and Albuquerque, N.M. ORC has driven store closures and extreme measures for some retailers like Target, which has put merchandise into locked cases in some of its stores. In May, the company warned it was on track to lose half a billion due to rising theft. Target said in Sept. that theft was the root cause behind the upcoming closure of nine stores. The nine locations will close by Oct. 21 and include one in New York City, two in Seattle, three in Portland, and three in San Francisco and Oakland.

Meanwhile, big box clubs like Sam’s Club and Costco that have memberships, larger items, and that have secured entry/exit areas, are not seeing such thefts.

On the issue of policies to combat retail theft, 72% of NRF survey respondents wanted increases in the average value per incident and increased felony thresholds, and 92% supported federal OCR legislation.

Additionally, 67% reported an increase in repeat offenders, a situation often tied to areas that have reduced or eliminated cash bail.

This past January, a bill was filed in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that would establish an Organized Retail Crime Coordination Center within the Department of Homeland Security to crack down on ORC. The bill has seen no movement since its filing.

In North Carolina, retail crime has been an increasing concern following the 2020 pandemic.

During 2020, retail thefts had

AP PHOTO

A “We’re Hiring,” sign is shown displayed at the entrance to a Target store, Wednesday, June 2, 2021, in North Miami Beach, Fla. increased in Durham by 83% and 97% in Fayetteville. The following year, in September, the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office broke up an ORC, recovering around $400,000 in merchandise stolen from Lowe’s, Home Depot, Target, Kroger and other retailers.

Just this past year, Raleigh has seen an increase in “smash-andgrab” theft, some of which have involved violence, according to some media reports. The city and its police department have apparently struggled to address crime in the downtown area and recently announced the hiring of private security to combat the issue.

In an interview with North State Journal, North Carolina Retail Merchant Association (NCRMA) President and General Counsel Andy Ellen said the state was “definitely seeing an uptick” in ORC. He cited several major cases in the western part of the state such as a case of a half million in Kings Mountain, west of Charlotte.

During 2022, Law enforcement in Charlotte took down an ORC that had been targeting stores like CVS, Walgreens, Publix, Target and Walmart over a three-year period. The ORC ring there had amassed over $5 million in stolen goods during that time period.

Per a report on retail theft impact from the Retail Industry Leaders Association, North Car-

olina businesses have seen over $3.3 billion in economic losses with more than 18,000 jobs lost and lost wages of over $944 million. Additionally, 76% of retail asset protection managers surveyed said an ORC criminal has physically assaulted an associate.

“Two things that I think are noteworthy: One, I think the groups are more brazen than they have been in the past,” Ellen said.

“And the second piece is our General Assembly, in a bipartisan manner, have really worked hard to make sure we gave district attorneys and law enforcement tools to prosecute those cases with active time.”

In June 2022, the North Carolina legislature enacted a law increasing felony levels and jail time for thefts committed

by ORC rings. The law includes additional penalties for damage to property or assault of a person during an ORC theft, requires high-volume third-party online sellers like Amazon to require seller verification and track activity on their platforms, and gives prosecutors and law enforcement tools to connect cases where stolen goods across county lines to raise criminal penalty and fine levels.

The NC Organized Retail Theft law was enacted just months after a Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety hearing on retail theft. A rep-

Adding Iran into the mix would escalate it further. Keeping that from happening is likely an American priority. The Washington-dispatched aircraft carrier group USS Gerald R. Ford reached the eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden warned other countries not to get involved the conflict in hopes of exploiting the chaos. “For any anyone thinking advantage of the situation,” he said in a speech Tuesday, “I have one word: Don’t.”

However, given the grief and outrage in Israel over Saturday’s attack, anything linking Iran to the assault would drastically increase pressure on long-embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to retaliate against Tehran. Netanyahu, who has campaigned as being Israel’s self-described protector, has pointed at Iran as his nation’s No. 1 regional enemy. He has repeatedly warned he wouldn’t allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon — something his nation possesses.

And while Iran maintains its program is peaceful, it enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. That makes those facilities, as well as military bases in Iran and abroad, possible targets for Netanyahu.

“Citizens of Israel, we are at war, not in an operation or in rounds, but at war,” Netanyahu told the nation after Saturday’s attack. How wide that war will become remains in question.

resentative of the Raleigh Police Department told the committee over 2,100 retail theft cases were recorded between April 2021 and April 2022 and that 86% of retailers reported verbal threats made to their employees with 75% reporting an employee was actually assaulted.

Other individuals from major retailers like Lowe’s Home Improvement told the committee that these rings had sophisticated planning and coordination.

Ellen agreed that ORC planning and coordination is a real issue.

“The issue I think you see too is for so long, people saw shoplifting as the kid that stole a pair of sunglasses or they stole a T-shirt and that’s not what you have,” Ellen said. “You have very sophisticated organized groups using a lot of technology, using people that are, unfortunately, depending on drugs or opioids sometimes, as the people that actually steal the items.”

Ellen said many of the ORC rings are interstate operators and those committing the crimes are often linked to drugs and human trafficking.

“They’re going with a shopping list of what they would like stolen,” said Ellen. “But this organized retail crime is also very much tied into things like opioids that was tied into human trafficking and other things that are crimes against people.

“These are not just crimes against property and unfortunately we all pay for this shoplifting because it eventually gets embedded in the cost of the goods that we buy,” Ellen said, adding that the items that go out the door translate into stores being forced to increase prices.”

Ellen said ORC is not just a local or state problem, but it’s Interstate and international as well.

“You see a lot of these organized retail crime gangs moving up and down the East Coast and you know, utilizing our interstates to do things,” said Ellen. “Unfortunately, some of these things are right off the highway - made for easy access.”

He went on to say that he thinks the words gets out that North Carolina has really stepped up and has sent a strong message with the criminal penalties now in place that this activity won’t be tolerated here.

Ron DeSantis’ campaign will move more staff to Iowa in his latest bet on the first caucuses Des Moines, Iowa Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign said it will move about a third of its staff to Iowa, underscoring the door-die importance the Florida governor is placing on the leadoff caucuses.

The development, a little more than three months before Iowa Republicans launch the 2024 nominating calendar, comes as DeSantis seeks to visit all of the state’s 99 counties in an effort to outmaneuver former President Donald Trump.

So far, Trump is dominating in Iowa and nationally while DeSantis has seen his national support slip substantially from its high point earlier this year.

Sending about a third of the 56 Tallahassee-based staff to Iowa gives DeSantis by far the biggest organizational footprint in Iowa, where he has had four staff. However, DeSantis’ organizational work in Iowa has been carried out by a super PAC supporting him, which has about two dozen Iowa staffers.

Deputy campaign manager David Polyansky, who has worked on several Iowa Republican presidential campaigns, will be among the first wave of staff to move from Florida.

DeSantis’ strategists think he must beat Trump or come close in Iowa. Other candidates are also trying to finish second in the state. Meanwhile, Trump is holding more events in Iowa with several appearances scheduled in October.

“If we’re able to beat Donald Trump in Iowa, that’s a huge problem for him,” DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

What to do with 1.1 million bullets seized from Iran? US ships them to Ukraine Washington, D.C. Russia has long turned to Iranian-made drones to attack Ukraine. Now Ukrainian forces will be using bullets seized from Iran against Russia troops.

A U.S. Navy ship seized the 1.1 million rounds off of a vessel that was being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to arm Houthi rebels in Yemen’s civil war in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Those 7.62 mm rounds have now been transferred to Ukraine, U.S. Central Command said. The much-needed ammunition has been sent at a time when continued U.S. financial support for Kyiv’s fight to defend itself remains in question.

The 7.62 mm ammunition is the standard round for Soviet-era Kalashnikov assault rifles and their many derivatives. Ukraine, as a former Soviet republic, still relies on the Kalashnikov for many of its units.

Even though the shipment of more than 1 million rounds of small arms ammunition is substantial, it pales in comparison with the amount that the U.S. has already sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, much of which has already been used in the intense ground battle.

The U.S. has provided more than 300 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades as part of the almost $44 billion in military aid.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A7

normal

The comfo How China will payThe for this can 3 bigCOVID-19 questions

WITH MOST STATES under either shelter-in-place or stay-at-h hina lied about the origin of the ONE THING IS CERTAIN; after thisthanks COVID-19 virus cavalierofmanner in orders to local ordissipates state governments,The a majority America WEEK, virus, according to members ied to tell the world there were only “THIS ISof around the globe and in the United will to pay forTHIS this covered up its spre areStates, havingChina to adjust what is being called the “new normal.” and state and local governments, America rldwide panic, economic collapse and (Psalm catastrophe one way or another.

3,341 related has Some of these orders extend at least through the endindeaths ofit”this mon ce or stay-at-home fallen into place. I understand the seriousness of the virus and the need the curve in the novel coronavirus outbrea being thrown out of work.

I know In order to put the crisis causedVirginia’s

by Chinastay-at-home in perspective, zero go into June. millions of Americans th ne orders ty of at Americans to take precautions, but I’m uneasy with how people who simply ask — after all, trends canhas easily ayer least $2.4 trillion in added working from worldwide pandemics can trace their source to theCarolina, Unitedmuted States over costrever the Here in North Democratic Gov.The Roycrisis Cooper stated dur normal.” questions back tohistory. At least four in the 20th century alone have abided by recommendations and ord Reserve backup liquidity to the about the data, and when things can start getting be glad” t our 231-year be that debt plus trillions more a recent coronavirus press can briefing “we just don’t know yet”asifin nd of this month. are treated in some circles with contempt. to stay at home; they’ve practiced social d he U.S. dollar were notnormal the reserve and dad, the directly traced to China: flu,” 1968 “Hong orders Kong flu,” markets state’s stay-at-home will 1977 extend into May. and financial ou Since when1957 did “Asian They’re treated as though we as a society simply must accept flu” without they’ve donned masks. fund any of these emergency have tonot beth th “Russian and the 2002 SARS outbreak.

There is evidence that the currency, would b Perhaps If he does decide to extend it, questions should bewe asked as to We need WALTER E. WILLIAMS questioning per stated during question what the government tells us about when it’s massive safe to begin the The result: a reduction in expected hosp Lenten and of rampant inflation and currency pandemic.

1918 “Spanish flu” pandemic also had its origins in China. measures without immed justification for it.

And the answers should not be vague ones like “ COVID-19 t know yet” if the process of returning back to normalcy.

According to theseasons University of Washingto For me, m government There is 100% agreement, outside oftransparency China, thatofCOVID-19 depreciation. must do this out an abundance Easter of caution.” is China’s No. The government works for us, and we have the right to askin those Metrics and Evaluation model most oftAs ci ant ways and decisions through and honesty originated Wuhan Province probably from the has to pay for th provide a China at all levels It will need tocompletely be explained in detail to the people ofmaking. this state w asked as to the And the longer stay-at-home orders are in place all over the Trump administration, the expected need plomacy has obviouslyquestions. not worked Corinthians Chernobyl. unregulated and unsanitary wet markets.

Some believe it came out of a economic and financial m from our are being told to remain jobless and at home for an undetermined message of become a gue likecentury “we health, country, and the stricter some of them get in states, such as Michigan, peak outbreak was revised down by over 1 orldones of 21st hygiene affliction, so biowarfare lab run by the communist Chinese army. to bring China into the ci scientific experts amount of time why models predicting hundreds of thousands of c hope that we13,000 will and bad thing? thethe more people, sitting at home feeling isolated and/or anxious about ventilators by nearly the num unist regimes never take blame affliction, wi Until China adopts rigorous verifiable policing and regulation of and fair trade. Totalitaria are reliable.

— we need to again enjoy sincere of this state who when will demand August byonce nearly 12,000. orse, because that is not whatthey can get back to providing for their families,their God.” That is what food safety and health protocols, American business has nowhat other or express To know date, what I’ve gone along with the state has asked andregret then they answers.

Here’s the problem: We still don’t know sporting events, yndetermined take advantage of every weakness If you are choice than tofree build redundant manufacturing totalitarian citizens mandated thatplants we do,elsewhere but alongpurely the way I’ve also had governments questions abo housands of cases at the local and state levels should be as forthcoming as they know, what they questions that will allow the economy tothar pushing until they win orLeaders the reflect on concerts, family for national security and safety reasons as well as supply and delivery they find in adversaries the data.

State Republican leaders have, too. living in a free can be with those answers — and again, not vague answers, but concerns. answer First, what is the true coronavirus fatal God’sback. examp don’t and when reliability adversaries gatherings, Unfortunately, when certain types of questions get push asked, there AMERICA’S COLLEGES are rife with society were kedhappens and then with details that give their statements believability. important because it determines whether ent such as the Chernobyl this difficult The most direct way to make China “pay”hope for this is to offer That is, unless an exog they to disaster corruption. The financial squeeze resulting sometimes a disturbing tendency among people to treat thos church some services questions about We should families, be open or closed,meltdown whether we oughtSome to we pu believe that event, not the Star Warsall continue confident supposed from COVID-19 offers opportunities for a to do what we can to keep our U.S. tax credits to companies whosimply willknow source at least halfdata of their in 1986. what they questioning the and asking when we can start getting and many more that presumes Sponsored

by Union and our communities safe. But we still continue more liberalized society wi Sponsored by should also o the dissolution of theourselves, Soviet In this sam bit of remediation.

Let’s first examine what production back in the States.

There is though approximately programor of are Reagan, led d to do, lastUnited I to normal they are$120 conspiracy theorists people wh don’t.as afterdown our own asked, there to of ask questions about the data, because while reasonable stay-at-home ought to lock further. neighbors he mightisbe the root academic corruption, billion worth checked. of American direct investment in plants and equipment inor1989. otherwise don’t care if they get themselves others sick. title of a recent study, ehernobyl. to treatsuggested those by the measures are understandable, they should also have an date. direct investment in the U.S. is about $65We’ve seen rates — Concor the num temporary In inexpiration China. Chinese billion by case fatality Perhaps COVID-19 C Since when did questioning government at all levels become aisba “Academic Grievance Studies and theAmericans, and it is not normal. Not in any way, North State Journal for Wednesday, April 15, 2 starttalking gettingabout back the possibility This is all new to the number of identified COVID-19 cases eady money to bu sacrifices are comparison.

Senators in Washingto thing?

That is what free citizens living in a free society were suppo Corruption of Scholarship.”

The study was are people who shape, safe, at and in theChina denominator are likely wrong.

We debt we owe them as one wayor toform. get So while we should remain vigilant and stay health care An investment tax credit of 30% U.S. investment forgiving $1.2 trw over. of China toon do,half lastof I checked. done by Areo, an opinion and analysis sick. the same time we shouldn’t get comfortable with this so-called “new people have actually died of coronavirus. y have caused the US. Don’t hold your Governor Cooper to today, or $60 billion, applied to repatriated China to “pay”isfor dam digital magazine. By the way, Areo is short My first American concern asmanufacturing we go along in all this, of course, mythe famil ls become aAreopagitica, badbut ask normal.” number beenbreath overestimated, given th lee” to happen your elected for a speech delivered by investment to the U.S. would costworried the U.S.about Treasury billion in has waiting Ifor a Chin them$18 catching the virus, and I’m worried will.

Afte lead N.C. delegation ty were supposed Not one little bit. of death, particularly among elderly patie ountable in tangible financial ways for John Milton in defense of free speech. tax revenue spread over a few years. $18 billion lost revenue hold C suffering fromin the H1N1 virusis(swine flu) representatives during the 2009topandem on economic Authors Helen Pluckrose, James A. sources suggest the number is dramatical decimal dust compared to the $6 I’ve trillion+ Marshall Plan extra we areprecautions, now this disaster. been trying to take because all of this brings Lindsay and Peter Boghossian say has that also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah e, to is my family.

Stacey Matthews manyas people are dying home. ed operate as I’m responsible citizens of development trip to undertaking to save our own economy, notmany of defeated enemies in the It is at about timenot they way too memories of a painful experience I’ d prefer to ar re something drastically wrong ied I will.

After has gone and is a regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.

Even more importantly, we have no clue ation. past. the world like any other But what also makes me lose sleep is how easily most everyone hm Japan in academia, especially within certain 2009 pandemic, actually have coronavirus. Some scientist China has been cheating, stealing, pirating and pillaging American fields within the humanities. They call l of this brings up of identified business now for the past 30 years. They have made no secret that theycases could be an order of ma these fields “grievance studies,” where Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill,coronavir senior refer notscholarship to Governor repeat. isRoy number of people who have had set to upon notCooper so muchis based intend to replace the U.S. as the premier superpower in the world and ost everyone leadhas a North finding truth Carolina but upondelegation attending to replace the dollar as the reserve currency with their renminbi.

business & economy Fixingn.c. college corruption FAST

FACTS

A6

Approved Logos

north STA

social grievances.

Grievance scholars to Japan for the annual bully students, United administrators Southeastern States/ and other departments into adhering to their Japan (SECU/Japan) Economic worldview. The worldview they promote is Jason Development Conference in neither scientific nor rigorous. Grievance EDITORIAL | STACEY MATTHEWS Tokyo this week. goal is tosuch as studies consist of His disciplines recruit industry and meet with studies, sociology, anthropology, gender business leaders.

COLUMN | REP. RICHARD HUDSON queer studies, sexuality and critical race studies.

“Japan is a highly valued In 2017 and 2018, Pluckrose, economic partner forauthors our state, Lindsay and Boghossian started and it’s important to take this submitting bogus academic papers to opportunity to strengthen our academic journals in cultural, queer, AP PHOTO relationship Japanese race, gender, with fat and sexuality studies and employers while toleaders determine if they would pass peer A DC fast charging station manufactured by Sumitomo Electric works at Fully Charged Live, an electric vehicle, renewable and in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sept. 8, 2023. The window to limit human-caused laying the for “THIS IS THE DAYinto the lord has made seriousness of and thegroundwork virus and the review be accepted for need publication.clean energy and urban mobility exhibition, WITH MOST STATES underof either shelter-in-place orenergy stay-at-home fallen place.

I unders warming to a globally agreed goal is narrowing but still open because the huge growth of solar and electric vehicles sales Acceptance of dubious research ourpeople SEUS/Japan Economic in it” (Psalm 118:24). y with how who simply ask that orders to take precautions, but I worldwide, a report said Tuesday, Sept.

26 thanks to local or state governments, a majority of Americans editors found sympathetic to their Development Conference this challenging tim n thingsjournal can start getting back to are having to adjust to what is being called the “new normal.”I know that during questions about the data, intersectional or postmodern in Charlotte next year,” said leftist vision working from home or losing a job, it may with contempt.

Some of these orders extend at least through the end of this month. normal are treated in som of the world would prove the problem of Governor Cooper in a press be glad” as the Bible tells us to do. as Howev a societylow simply must accept without Virginia’s stay-at-home orders go into June.

They’re treated thou academic standards. last Friday.

“On this and dad, the Easter holiday has reminded ls us aboutrelease when it’s safe to begin the Here in North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper stated during question what the govern Several of the fake research papers trip, accepted I will recruit business The Fat and of hopeful for, even alcy. were fornew publication. a recent coronavirus press briefing that “we just don’t knowhave yet”to if be thethankful process returning back Lenten and with better-paying jobs pandemic. us, and we have the right to askforthose Studies journal published a hoax paper state’s stay-at-home orders will extend into May. No. The government w Since when did that argued the term was North while having me, my faith is an important part o home orders areCarolina, in place all bodybuilding over the Easter seasons If he does decide to extend it, questions should be asked asFor to the questions.

And the longer questioning andas should be replaced discussions with and personally making.

As I celebrated Easter with my f hem get exclusionary in states, such Michigan, justification for it. And the answers should notabe vague ones like “we country, and the stricter provide with “fat bodybuilding, as a fat-inclusive government encouraging industry to Corinthians 1:4, which reminds us our eeling isolated and/or anxiousleaders about must do this out of an abundance of caution.” the more people, sittingLo a message of politicized performance.” One reviewer attend our conference next year affliction, so that we may be able toback comfo ng for their families, will demand To be eligible, electric vehition Act, which included the The Associated Press they took the credits, they’ll at all levels It will need to be explained in detailhope to the people of this state who when they can get t said, “I thoroughly enjoyed reading this that wetowill so they canbelieve see foritthemselves affliction, the comfort orat plug-ins havean be mancredits, buyers transfer have towith repay them whenwhich they we our are being told tocan remain joblesscles and home for undetermined answers. article and has an important become a once again enjoy ufactured in North America. credits to dealers, which file their income tax returns, what great state of God.” vels should be our as forthcoming as contribution to make toNorth thethey field and this DETROIT — Starting next the amount of time why models predicting hundreds of thousands of cases Leaders at the local an badwant thing? and events, trucks can’t Ifthe said. the Easter season year, people who to buy a can apply them at the point of SUVs, vans sporting Carolina has to offer.” yougovernment are celebrating again, not vague answers, but answer journal.” are reliable. can be with those answer have a sticker price greater sale starting Jan. 1. new or used electric or plug-in There also are requirements “Our Struggle is Isconsidered My Struggle: Solidarity That is what SEUS/Japan reflect on this message and be comforted ents believability. concerts, family To date, I’ve gone along withthan what$80,000, the statewhile has asked and then with details that give the cars can’t Plus, the government says hybrid vehicle will be able to for battery and component Feminism anfamilies, Intersectional Reply to the economic God’s example and comfort all in n hat we can to premier keep as our free citizens mandated thatthe wefull do,credits but alongsticker the way I’ve also had questionsmanufacturing about We should allthose continue gatherings, for more than $55,000. people can get get U.S. government income that could disNeoliberal Choice Feminism,” was development this difficult time.

Through faith and by h afe. But we should and alsopartnership still continue the data.

State Republican have, too. services our comm Used electric vehicles can’t qualify some ourselves, dealers regardless of howleaders the time pur- from vehicles orand make church in aoffree accepted for publication by Affilia, a tax credits atliving between the eightstay-at-home states in the confident we will emerge out of this pand ecause while reasonable have a sale price of more than much they owe in federal taxchase. them eligible for only part of Unfortunately, when certain types ofand questions get asked, there is to ask questions about th feminist journal for social workers. The many more societyincluding were Southeastern United States this spirit, I continue to be ins y shouldpaper also have an expiration $25,000. es.

Eligible buyers, the taxsame credits. sometimes a disturbing tendency among some people to treatInthose measures are understand consisted in part of adate. rewritten after our own There also are income limThe vehicles have to qualify an EV or hyTreasury Department supposed and Japan.

Japan oneway, of the neighbors helping neighbors. nd it is not normal.

Not inisany passage from Mein Kampf.

Two other those that bought simply questioning the data and asking when we can start getting back This is all new to Amer set up to stop Inguidelines had to wait under guidelines spelled out in its for buyers still have to wind temporary nation’s largest trading Concord, a shape, high school senior name d remainhoax vigilant and stay safe,partners at including brid this year,tohave papers were published, do, last I to normal as though they are conspiracy theorists or are people who or form.

So while wealthier people from getting the law, and buyers’ incomes until they filed their federal their way through the gov-plastic to “Rape Culture andcompanies Queer Performativity and home 225 money to buy a 3-D printer and mfortable with thistoso-called “new sacrifices are otherwise don’t care if they getthe themselves others sick. the sameprocess, time we should checked. credits. orBuyers cannot ernment regulatory to fall below limits. income tax returns to actually have atwith Urban Dog Parks.” in This paper’s subject large presences North health care workers out comment of his own home.

Since when didhold questioning government at allgross levelsannual become a bad normal.” over. have an adjusted Dealers have to state or get the benefits. including a public was dog-on-dog ButNorth the dog rape Carolina.

Nearlyrape.

30,000 thing?

That is citizens livingabove in a free societyifwere Not one little bit. income $150,000 sin- supposed licenses inwhat orderfree to offer The Treasury Department local period. paper eventually forced Boghossian, Carolinians work for Japanesecredits, they must reg- gle, $300,000 if filing jointsays the near-instant credits the Sales of new electric vehicles to do, last Iand checked.

Pluckrose and Lindsay to prematurely out owned companies, with several under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah ly and $225,000 if head isofmy a family. an concern Internal as Revenue of $7,500 for an eligible new ister for theI’m first nine months of the has also Myonfirst we go along in all this, of course, Stacey Matthews themselves.

A Wall Street Journal writer household. website.

After dealers year rose 50.9% from the same contribu thousand scheduled start dState and Legal Insurrection. had figured out what to they were doing. vehicle and $4,000 for a qual- Service worried about them catching the virus, and I’m worried I will. After and is a regular To qualify, buyers have to be period a year ago, pushing the in the sales paperwork, inSome the next five years.

In recent papers accepted for publicationifying used vehicle should low- turn suffering from the H1N1 virus (swine flu) during the 2009 pandemic, er purchasing costs for con- dealers can expect to get pay- below the income limits either EV market share up slightly to inyears, academic journals advocated training companies including I’ve been trying take extra precautions, because all of in the year of purchase or this the brings ments from the to government sumers and help car dealers by 7.5%. up U.S. consumers bought men like HondaJet dogs and punishing Toyota, and Fujifilmwhite male way too many memories of a painful experience I’ d prefer not to repeat. prior year.

If their income exwithin about 72 hours, officials boosting EV sales.

875,798 EVs from January college students for historical slavery by have announced significant But what also makes me lose sleep is how easily most everyone has ceeds the limits both years and said.

Under the Inflation Reducthrough September. asking them to sit in silence on the floor in investments in North Carolina chains during class and to be expected to communities. learn from the discomfort. Other papers The governor’s comes y celebrated morbid trip obesity as ainhealthy life advance next year’streating SEUS/ privately choice andofadvocated conducted masturbation Japan Conference, whichas is a form of sexual against women. Typically, set to violence take place in Charlotte s academic journaltoeditors send submitted and is expected showcase papers out to referees for review. In the state’s economy and build recommending acceptance for publication, stronger ties between North many reviewers gave these papers glowing Carolina and Japan. praise.

The governor is traveling with Political scientist Zach Goldberg ran The Associated Press certain studies concepts through severalgrievance state officials, including the Lexis/Nexis database, to see how often Secretary of Commerce they appeared inSanders, our press over the years.SAN FRANCISCO – The SeMachelle Baker He found huge increases in the usages curities and Exchange CommisEconomic Development of “white privilege,” “unconscious bias,”sion said Thursday it is seeking Partnership of Northand Carolina “critical race theory” “whiteness.” a court order that would comExecutive Chris Chung, All of this isDirector being taught to college pel Elon Musk to testify as part of an investigation into his purand several other economic students, many of whom become primary chase of Twitter, now called X. and secondaryleaders. school teachers who then development This The SEC said in a filing in indoctrinate our young people. delegation will meet with a San Francisco federal court I doubt whether coronavirusJapanese businessthe leaders that Musk failed to appear for caused financial crunch will give college and government officials to on Sept. 15 despite and university administrators, who aretestimony a strengthenbetween relationships andand jellyfish, an investigative subpoena crossbreed a parrot served by the SEC and having recruit opportunities for academic the gutsnew and job backbone to restore raised no objections at the time North Carolinians. respectability.

Far too often, they get much of their political support Governor Cooper alsofrom campus it was served. grievance people who are members of theBut “two days before his visited Tokyo in 2017 to speak faculty and diversity and multiculturalscheduled testimony, Musk at a reception at the Japanese abruptly notified the SEC staff administrative offices.

Ambassador’s residence, The best hope lies with boards of that he would not appear,” said prioritizing the recruitment the agency’s filing. “Musk attrustees, though many serveofas yes-men tempted to justify his refusal well-paying jobs from Japanese for the university president.

I think that a to comply with the subpoena by companies in high-growth good start would be to find 1950s or 1960s raising, for the first time, severcatalogs.

Look at the course offerings at industries like aerospace, al spurious objections, includa electric time when college graduates knew how AP PHOTO vehicles and biotech. ing an objection to San Francisto read, write and Throughout thiscompute, week, and make co as an appropriate testimony Twitter, now X. Corp., and Tesla CEO Elon Musk poses before his talks with French President them today’s curricula. Another helpful the governor is expected to location.”

Emmanuel Macron, May 15, 2023, at the Elysee Palace in Paris. The Securities and Exchange tool would be to give careful consideration remain in regular contact with X is based in San Francisco.

Commission said Thursday, Oct. 5, that it is seeking a court order that would compel Musk to to eliminating all classes/majors/minors his cabinetthe secretaries and containing word “studies,” such as Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, testify as part of an investigation into his purchase of Twitter, now called X. staff in North well studies. said in an emailed statement women, Asian,Carolina, black or as queer I’d that bytorestoring the traditionalThursday that the “SEC has asbet continue direct state already taken Mr. Musk’s tes- before Musk’s takeover last year $44 billion agreement to buy acquire Twitter in April 2022, academic mission to colleges, they would business. put a serious dent into the COVID-19 timony multiple times in this when Twitter was still a public- Twitter and take it private in he tried to back out of it, leadmisguided investigation — ly traded company. The agency October 2022, after a months- ing the company to sue him to budget shortfall. enough is enough.” said it has not concluded that long legal battle with the so- force him to go through with The SEC said it has been anyone has violated federal se- cial media company’s previous the acquisition.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of conducting a fact-finding in- curities laws. leadership. economics at George Mason University. vestigation involving the period The Tesla CEO closed his After Musk signed a deal to See MUSK, page A10

VISUAL VOICES

It’s okay to ask questions about when The comfort and ho we begin to get back to normal

Eligible electric and plug-in vehicle buyers will get US tax credits immediately in 2024

US regulators seek to compel Elon Musk to testify in their investigation of his Twitter acquisition

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

A10 NCDOT CASH REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCT 6

Total Cash & Bond Proceeds

$2,355,959,672 Add Receipts

$107,187,103 Less Disbursements

$112,753,158 Reserved Cash

$125,000,000 Unreserved Cash Balance Total

$6,312,010,266 Loan Balance

$0

MUSK from page A9

The SEC said that starting in April 2022, it authorized an investigation into whether any securities laws were broken in connection with Musk’s purchases of Twitter stock and his statements and SEC filings related to the company.

A lawsuit filed that same month by Twitter shareholders in New York alleged that the billionaire illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.

That complaint brought by a pension fund for Oklahoma firefighters centers around whether Musk violated an SEC regulatory deadline to reveal he had accumulated a stake of at least 5%. The delay, the lawsuit alleges, hurt less wealthy investors who sold shares in the company in the nearly two weeks before Musk acknowledged holding a major stake.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter last week rejected Musk’s attempt to dismiss the case, expressing doubt about suggestions that “Musk was somehow ‘too busy’ to comply with SEC disclosure rules about his ownership stake in Twitter, while simultaneously buying millions of shares of stock of Twitter, tweeting about the state of Twitter as a social media platform, and meeting with several Twitter executives and insiders.”

Carter, however, did dismiss part of the lawsuit alleging the actions amounted to insider trading.

The SEC’s Thursday court filing doesn’t detail the specifics of what its investigation is about, but argues that the agency is responsible for protecting investors and has broad authority to conduct investigations and that Musk has no basis to refuse to comply.

The SEC said Musk objected to testifying in San Francisco because he doesn’t live there, so the commission said it offered to do it at any of its 11 offices, including one in Fort Worth, Texas, closer to where Musk lives. The SEC said on Sept. 24, Musk’s lawyers responded by saying Musk would not appear for testimony in any location.

Musk also objected to testifying on grounds that a biography on him by Walter Isaacson published on Sept.

12 contained “new information potentially relevant to this matter” and his lawyers needed time to review it. But the filing says the book’s publication is “not a legitimate basis” for Musk to avoid a legal subpoena and in “any event, Musk’s initial refusal to comply with the subpoena has now presented his counsel with plenty of time to review the biography for any relevant information.”

A hearing on the matter is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 9 in San Francisco.

Rising long-term interest rates are posing the latest threat to a US economic ‘soft landing’ The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Surging interest rates are intensifying the challenges for the U.S. economy and threatening to derail the Federal Reserve’s drive to tame inflation without causing a deep recession.

Since mid-summer, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, a benchmark for many loans, has steadily climbed, causing a spillover rise in other borrowing costs. The costs of mortgages, auto loans and credit card debt have all risen in response. The collective impact of higher rates across the economy could also weaken the government’s own finances.

The jump in longer-term rates coincides with other threats, from higher gas prices and this week’s resumption of student loan payments to autoworkers’ ongoing strike and the risk of a government shutdown next month, all of which could leave consumers with less money to spend to power the economy.

The strike by the United Auto Workers, now in its third week with no resolution in sight, could reduce vehicle sales in coming months. And the threat of a government shutdown, narrowly averted this past weekend, looms large, especially given the chaos over the leadership of the House of Representatives. Farright Republican House members deposed their leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, on Tuesday for working with Democrats to temporarily avoid a shutdown.

The economy is coming off a robust summer, fueled by strong consumer spending on travel, concert tours and movie blockbusters. The economy is estimated to have grown at a healthy 3.5% annual rate in the July-September quarter, according to economists at Goldman Sachs.

Yet growth will likely slow to a meager 0.7% annual rate in the final three months of the year, Goldman estimates. With borrowing rates high and inflation still relatively elevated, consumers, who drive about 70% of economic growth, are expected to spend more cautiously.

On Friday, the government will provide a snapshot of how employers are factoring the

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A man fuels his truck at a gas station in Palatine, Ill., Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. Higher longer-term interest rates coincide with other threats to economic growth, from higher gas prices and the resumption of student loan payments to the autoworkers’ strike and the risk of a government shutdown next month. turmoil into their hiring plans when it issues the September jobs report. Economists have forecast that it will show that employers added a solid 162,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate dipped to 3.7%, near a half-century low, from 3.8%.

But the substantial rise in borrowing costs could intensify the economy’s slowdown. The yield on the 10-year Treasury touched a 16-year high of 4.8% on Tuesday, up from 3.3% in April. Last week, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage hit 7.3%, the highest rate in 23 years, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. On Tuesday, Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, said she and other Fed policymakers will have to consider the rise in longterm rates in deciding whether to raise their key rate once more before year’s end. Her remarks suggested that the higher borrowing costs might lead the Fed to forgo another hike.

“That will influence not only our policy decisions but how the economy evolves over the next year,” Mester said. “Those tighter, higher rates will have an impact on the economy.”

Financial analysts point to

several reasons for the rapid increase in lending rates. To begin with, the Fed has repeatedly underscored that it intends to keep its key rate elevated for much longer than financial markets had expected earlier this year.

And the economy’s ability to keep growing, even as the Fed has jacked up rates, has lent the impression that it can withstand higher borrowing costs.

The economy’s resilience in the face of higher rates could mean that borrowing costs will stay higher than they did after the 2008-2009 financial crisis, which led the Fed to cut its rate to near zero. During that period, the 10-year Treasury yield dropped to as low as 1.5%, and mortgage rates even fell below 3% during the pandemic.

The Treasury Department is now also auctioning off more debt to cover the government’s swelling budget deficit, which reached $1.5 trillion this year and is expected to rise further in 2024. The supply of Treasurys is growing even as the Fed is reducing its holding of bonds.

Overseas buyers have reduced their purchases, thereby forcing rates higher to attract buyers.

“All of that is driving these fears of higher rates, and no one knows when it’s going to stop,”

said Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US rates strategy at TD Securities.

Benson Durham, a former Fed economist who is head of global policy at Piper Sandler, suggested that long-term rates are rising because investors consider it riskier to hold government debt for the long run when the economy appears particularly volatile and uncertain, as it does now.

And Fed officials, Durham noted, have shifted from well-telegraphed rate hikes to a hazier stance. Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly stressed that the central bank is “data dependent,” meaning it will raise rates again only if the latest economic data supports doing so — or forgo a rate hike if inflation falls steadily.

“What they’re really telling us is, ‘We’re all over it like a cheap suit, but we’re not sure what exactly we’re going to do,’ “ Durham said.

In addition to higher rates, student loans are expected to take a noticeable bite out of the economy. Roughly 43 million people will resume paying several hundred dollars a month to the government, which Goldman estimates could cut one-half of a percentage point from annual growth in the October-December quarter. More expensive gas could shave an additional 0.3 percentage point from growth in both the fourth quarter and the first three months of next year, Goldman estimates.

A government shutdown, should it occur next month, would lop another 0.2 percentage point off growth for each week it endures, according to calculations by Nancy Vanden Houten, an economist at Oxford Economics.

“We think the narrative is going to shift quite materially before the end of the year,” said David Page, head of macro research at AXA IM, a London-based investment manager, who expects the economy to actually shrink in the fourth quarter.

Rather than optimism for a “soft landing,” in which inflation is curbed without causing a recession, there will be renewed fears of a downturn, he said.

Airlines halt flights in and out of Israel after a massive attack by Hamas ignites heavy fighting The Associated Press Major airlines have suspended flights in and out of Israel after the nation declared war following a massive attack by Hamas.

Israel hit more than 1,000 targets in Gaza and Palestinian militants continued firing barrages of rockets, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Video posted online appeared to show a plume of smoke near a terminal at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport.

Scores of arriving and departing flights at Ben Gurion were canceled or delayed, according to the airport’s online flight board, which also showed a steady trickle of flights. Most were operated by Israel’s national airline El Al along with others by regional carriers like Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines and Greece’s Blue Bird Airways.

American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines suspended service as the U.S. State Department issued travel advisories for the region citing potential for terrorism and civil unrest.

American suspended service to Tel Aviv through Friday. The airline said that it has issued a travel alert providing additional flexibility for customers whose travel plans are impacted.

“We continue to monitor the situation with safety and security top of mind and will adjust our operation as needed,” American said.

United said it allowed two scheduled flights out of Tel Aviv late Saturday and early Sunday

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In this file photo made Jan. 21, 2010, a passenger walks past a Delta Airlines 747 aircraft in McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Mich. and accommodated its customers, crews and employee travelers who were at the airport.

The airline said that its Tel Aviv flights will remain suspended until conditions improve.

Delta said its Tel Aviv flights have been canceled through Oct. 31. The airline said it’s monitoring the situation and making schedule adjustments accordingly. The company said customers with canceled flights or who want to change their Tel Aviv ticket should check the Delta app, website or call Delta reservations to make adjustments.

Airlines in Europe and Asia also put flights on hold amid the hostilities, offering refunds and waiving rebooking fees for passengers.

Air France said that it has suspended services to Tel Aviv

“until further notice” after coordinating with French and Israeli authorities.

“The airline is constantly monitoring the geopolitical situation in the areas served and overflown by its aircraft in order to ensure the highest level of flight safety,” Air France said in on its website.

Germany’s Lufthansa, which suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until Saturday, said Monday that the decision regarding its planes and those of its subsidiaries was made “due to the still unclear developing security situation in Israel and after an intensive analysis of the situation.”

The Lufthansa Group includes Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines as well as Lufthansa itself.

Hong Kong’s main carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways, said that “in view of the latest situation in Israel,” it was cancelling its Tel Aviv flights scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday.

“The safety of our passengers and crew are our top priority.

We will continue to monitor the situation very closely,” the airline said on its website, adding it would provide another update on Friday ahead of its third weekly flight on Sunday to the Israeli city.

Virgin Atlantic canceled its service between London’s Heathrow Airport to Tel Aviv on Monday and Tuesday as well as part of that route on Wednesday.

Budget airline Wizz Air, which flies to Israel from Abu Dhabi and more than two dozen airports in Europe, said it was cancelling all flights to and from Tel Aviv “until further notice.”

The U.K. discount carrier easyJet said that “due to the evolving situation in Israel,” it has decided to “temporarily pause operations,” by canceling its Monday flights from London Luton and Manchester airports to Tel Aviv.

“Our thoughts are with those who have been affected and the safety and security of our passengers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority,” easyJet said in a statement.

British Airways said it’s planning to continue operating flights to Israel “over the coming days with adjusted departure times.”

Dutch carrier KLM said it’s scrubbing flights to Tel Aviv “until and including Wednesday.”

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

A11

Sam Bankman-Fried stole customer funds from the beginning of FTX, exchange’s co-founder tells jury The Associated Press NEW YORK — Sam Bankman-Fried authorized the illegal use of FTX customers’ funds and assets to plug financial gaps at an affiliated hedge fund from the exchange’s earliest days, FTX’s co-founder Gary Wang told a New York jury on Friday, as prosecutors pressed their case that Bankman-Fried was the mastermind behind one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history.

Eventually, the losses at the hedge fund, Alameda Research, became so large that there was no way to hide them any longer, Wang said in his second day of testimony.

“FTX was not fine,” Wang said, referring to the now-infamous tweet that Bankman-Fried wrote only a few days before the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.

Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried, 31, stole billions of dollars from investors and customers in order to fund a lavish lifestyle in The Bahamas and buy the influence of politicians, celebrities and the public.

Wang was FTX’s chief technology officer and is part of what has been referred to as the “inner circle” of FTX executives who have agreed to testify against Bankman-Fried in exchange for leniency in their own criminal cases. He is expected to finish his testimony Tuesday. Wang has pleaded guilty to wire fraud, securities and commodities fraud as part of his agreement with prosecutors.

Prosecutors hope to have Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda and Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend, take the stand

AP PHOTO

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan federal court, June 15, 2023, in New York.

Tuesday.

Wang and Bankman-Fried started Alameda in 2017, then founded FTX in 2019.

Wang told the jury that, at the direction of Bankman-Fried, he inserted code into FTX’s operations that would give Alameda Research the ability to make nearly unlimited withdrawals from FTX and have a line of credit up to $65 billion. Alameda was given these privileges initially because the hedge fund was the primary market maker for FTX’s customers in the exchange’s early days.

Alameda took advantage of its unlimited withdrawal capabili-

ties and lines of credit from the start, Wang said, in the forms of cryptocurrencies as well as dollars. Initially it was only a few million dollars but grew over the years.

“It withdrew more funds than it had on exchange,” Wang said adding that the money that it withdrew “was money from (FTX) customers.”

The relationship was effectively a two-way street, where the exchange could help out the hedge fund and vice versa as FTX quickly grew between 2019 and 2022. At one point, when a loophole in FTX’s software was exploited to cause hundreds of

millions of dollars in paper losses on a particular cryptocurrency, Wang said Bankman-Fried ordered that loss to be moved onto Alameda’s balance sheet because FTX’s financial condition was more visible to the public while Alameda’s balance sheet was not.

Alameda’s deep financial ties to FTX were in contrast to Bankman-Fried’s public statements that the hedge fund was “no different” from any other FTX customer.

The losses at Alameda reached as much as $14 billion in the months leading up to the exchange’s bankruptcy. Bank-

man-Fried and Wang discussed solutions to the problems at Alameda in the summer of 2022, including shutting down the hedge fund, but by then it was too late. “(Alameda) had no way of repaying this,” Wang testified.

FTX filed for bankruptcy Nov. 11. Wang testified that, within hours of FTX filing for bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried ordered him to send the bulk of FTX’s remaining assets to the securities regulators in The Bahamas instead of to the U.S. authorities handling the bankruptcy.

Bankman-Fried said the Bahamian regulators “seemed more friendly to him, and they seemed more likely to let him stay in control of the company compared to the U.S.,” Wang testified.

Following this exchange, Wang contacted the FBI on Nov. 17, saying he knew what he had done was wrong and he wanted to avoid a long prison sentence for his crimes.

In opening statements this week, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers claimed that Wang and other FTX lieutenants failed to do their jobs, including setting up appropriate financial hedges that would have protected FTX from last year’s crash in crypto prices. They said Bankman-Fried believed he was managing a liquidity crisis caused by cryptocurrency values that collapsed by over 70% and criticism from one of his biggest competitors that caused a run on his companies by customers seeking to recover their deposits.

In their cross examination of Wang on Friday, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers tried to downplay any special relationship between Alameda and FTX, saying it was not unusual for market-making entities such as Alameda to have losses or borrow funds from an exchange.

Pharmacist shortages and heavy workloads challenge drugstores heading into their busy season The Associated Press A dose of patience may come in handy at the pharmacy counter this fall.

Drug and staffing shortages haven’t gone away. Stores are starting their busiest time of year as customers look for help with colds and the flu. And this fall, pharmacists are dealing with a new vaccine and the start of insurance coverage for COVID-19 shots.

Some drugstores have addressed their challenges by adding employees at busy hours. But experts say many pharmacies, particularly the big chains, still don’t have enough workers behind the counter.

Chris Adkins said he left his job as a pharmacist with a major drugstore chain a couple years ago because of the stress.

Aside from filling and checking prescriptions, Adkins routinely answered the phone, ran the register and stocked pharmacy shelves.

“I just didn’t have time for the patients,” he said. “I am OK working hard and working long hours, but I just felt like I was not doing a good job as a pharmacist.”

In recent years, drugstores have struggled to fill open pharmacist and pharmacy technician positions, even as many have raised pay and dangled signing bonuses.

Larger drugstore chains often operate stores with only one pharmacist on duty per shift, said Richard Dang, an assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Southern California. That kind of thin staffing can make it hard to recruit employees.

“I think that many pharmacists in the profession are hesitant to work for a company where they don’t feel supported,” said Dang, a former president of the California Pharmacists Association.

Customers have noticed.

John Staed, of Pelham, Alabama, said a CVS pharmacist gave him the wrong prescription about a decade ago: the pills were a different color than usual.

He worries the chances for an-

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A prescription is filled, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, in Morganton. other mistake could increase as pharmacists take on more work.

“These pharmacists always look stressed,” he said.

A CVS spokeswoman said the company is focused on addressing concerns raised by its pharmacists and has taken several actions, including “providing additional pharmacy resources” in markets that need support.

She declined to say how many pharmacists or technicians the company has hired.

Former Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer said in late June that the company had added more than 1,000 pharmacists in the second quarter, but was running into a shortage of job candidates. Walgreens is adding processing centers around the country to ease some of the prescription workload for its stores.

Brewer, who left in late August, also said the company was limiting hours at 1,100

pharmacies, or about 12% of its U.S. locations. That was down from 1,600 earlier this year, but a company executive has said it doesn’t expect to return all pharmacies to normal operating hours by year’s end.

Labor strife and staffing shortages in health care are not isolated to drugstores, as the recent Kaiser Permanente strike shows.

But drugstores have some additional challenges in the fall.

Many customers come to them for vaccines for COVID-19, flu and pneumonia. Plus, federal officials have approved a new shot for people ages 60 and older for a virus called RSV. All told, CVS touts in a pharmacy counter brochure that the company can offer more than 15 vaccines to customers.

Ongoing drug shortages also have kept pharmacy workers on the phone more.

Jonathan Marquess said one of his drugstores fielded 100 questions one day last fall about the antibiotic amoxicillin and the attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder treatment Adderall, two drugs in short supply.

Marquess runs several independent pharmacies in Georgia and serves on the National Community Pharmacists Association board. He has done a few things to help his stores adapt to the extra workload, he said, including training all employees to answer basic questions about vaccines.

Marquess also adds extra staff when he knows they will have an influx of customers, like when a nearby company sends its employees over for vaccines.

“We learned from our experiences,” he said. “Training your entire staff is very, very important.”

Pharmacists say customers

aren’t powerless and can help things run smoothly.

People should bring all their insurance cards to vaccine appointments, especially since insurance coverage is new for the COVID-19 shots, Marquess said.

Dang said customers should avoid showing up right after pharmacies reopen from a lunch break or just before they close, times when pharmacists and technicians are especially busy.

Making appointments for vaccines gives pharmacy workers a better sense for their workload. Calling several days in advance for a prescription refill also helps, said Jen Cocohoba, a pharmacy professor at University of California San Francisco.

“That tiny piece of control can help, because there’s so many things you cannot predict when you’re inside the community pharmacy,” Cocohoba said.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Casino industry spurs $329 billion in US economic activity, study by gambling group shows The Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY — The casino gambling industry in the U.S. generates nearly $329 billion a year in economic activity, according to a new study by the industry’s national trade association.

The American Gaming Association released a study Monday showing the industry’s economic impact in 2022 was up 26% from 2017, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Commercial and tribal casinos support 1.8 million jobs, including 700,000 jobs at casinos themselves or related businesses, about the same as in 2017. Those jobs generated $104 billion in wages across the country, up 40% from 2017, according to the study.

The industry paid $52.7 billion last year in taxes to federal, state and local governments, up 29% since 2017, the report said.

The report was the first such study released by the association since 2018, which presented 2017 data.

Bill Miller, president and

CEO of the association, said the numbers show the casino industry’s “resiliency and continued strength” since the pandemic first hit.

“Think back to where we were a few years ago with nearly 1,000 casinos, almost all of them closed,” he said. “Today, we’re seeing record revenue in the industry.”

Miller said the association will use numbers from the survey to press its case to lawmakers in favor of gambling industry goals, including a government crackdown on unlicensed gambling operations.

The U.S. casino industry is having its best year ever this year in terms of the amount of money won from gamblers. It is on a pace to exceed the $60 billion it won from gamblers last year.

“I think it speaks to the continuing popularity of casino gambling in the United States,” said David Schwartz, a gambling historian at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. “Despite some economic headwinds, casinos remain powerful drivers of eco-

nomic activity.”

Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at New Jersey’s Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling industry, said money won by casinos is just part of their overall contribution to the nation’s economy.

“Casinos are often the largest employers in a region, with major commitments in terms of wages and benefits,” she said. “People employed by casinos use those wages and benefits to purchase additional goods and services, generating secondary economic impact.”

Bokunewicz said casinos spend significant sums on operating costs, including purchases of goods and services like food, linen, hotel room amenities, laundry services, and building maintenance. They also hire local builders and vendors for construction and ongoing capital improvements.

The survey examined money won from gamblers or spent at non-gambling casino businesses like restaurants and stores, in-

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A dealer conducts a game of roulette at Harrah’s casino in Atlantic City, N.J., on Sept. 29, 2023. cluding traditional casino games, sports betting and online gambling. Also surveyed was capital investment, including the building and opening of new casinos or renovations to existing ones, and spending by manufacturers of gambling devices including slot machines.

It included supply chain spending by casinos, and spending by casino workers on non-gambling items. And it also included $13.5 billion in so-called catalytic spending by casino patrons outside casinos, on things like transportation to and from a casino resort, and money spent at restaurants that are not part of

casinos.

Commercial casinos employed almost 332,000 workers last year, who earned $16.3 billion in wages and benefits, and tribal casinos employed almost 265,000 workers, who earned $8 billion in wages and benefits. There also were almost 89,000 jobs at businesses serving casino patrons during trips or in casino construction and renovations, and more than 23,000 jobs at gambling equipment manufacturers.

Non-gambling revenue accounted for nearly 17% of casino revenue last year, including money from food and beverage sales, hotel rooms and other items.

AP PHOTO

International Monetary Fund Director of the Research Department Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas speaks at a news conference during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, on April 11, 2023.

IMF outlook worsens for a ‘limping’ world economy, Mideast war poses new uncertainty The Associated Press The world economy has lost momentum from the impact of higher interest rates, the invasion of Ukraine and widening geopolitical rifts, and it now faces new uncertainty from the war between Israel and Hamas militants, International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday.

The IMF said it expects global economic growth to slow to 2.9% in 2024 from an expected 3% this year. The forecast for next year is down a notch from the 3% it predicted back in July.

The deceleration comes at a time when the world has yet to fully mend from a devastating but short-lived COVID-19 recession in 2020 and now could see fallout from the Middle East conflict — particularly to oil prices.

A series of previous shocks, including the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, has slashed worldwide economic output by about $3.7 trillion over the past three years compared with preCOVID trends.

“The global economy is limping

along, not sprinting,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said at a news conference during the organization’s annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco.

The IMF expectation of 3% growth this year is down from 3.5% in 2022 but unchanged from its July projections.

It’s “too early” to assess the impact on global economic growth from the days-old war between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, Gourinchas said. He said the IMF was “monitoring the situation closely” and noted that oil prices have risen by about 4% in the past several days.

“We’ve seen that in previous crises and previous conflicts. And of course, this reflects the potential risk that there could be disruption either in production or transport of oil in the region,” he said.

If sustained, a 10% increase in oil prices would reduce global economic growth by 0.15% and increase global inflation by 0.4%, Gourinchas said.

“But again, I emphasize that

it’s really too early to jump to any conclusion here,” he added.

So far, the increase in oil prices has been “fairly muted,” said Commerzbank commodities analyst Carsten Fritsch. He noted the absence of declarations of support for Hamas from key oil producers Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq, which would make it unlikely that they would restrict supply in response to the war.

So far, the world economy has displayed “remarkable resiliency,” Gourinchas said, at a time when the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks worldwide have aggressively raised interest rates to combat a resurgence in inflation.

The hikes have helped ease price pressures without putting many people out of work. That combination, he said, is “increasingly consistent” with a so-called soft landing — the idea that inflation can be contained without causing a recession.

The IMF sees global consumer price inflation dropping from 8.7% in 2022 to 6.9% this year

and 5.8% in 2024.

The United States is a standout in the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook, which was completed before the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.

The IMF upgraded its forecast for U.S. growth this year to 2.1% (matching 2022) and 1.5% in 2024 (up sharply from the 1% it had predicted in July).

The U.S., an energy exporter, has not been hurt as much as countries in Europe and elsewhere by higher oil prices, which shot up after Russia invaded Ukraine last year and jumped more recently because of Saudi Arabia’s production cuts. And American consumers have been more willing than most to spend the savings they accumulated during the pandemic.

Things are gloomier in the 20 countries that share the euro currency and are more exposed to rising energy prices. The IMF downgraded eurozone growth to 0.7% this year and 1.2% in 2024.

It actually expects the German economy to shrink by 0.5% this year before recovering to 0.9%

growth next year.

That’s below even Russia’s economy, which the IMF predicts will expand 2.2% this year before dropping to 1.1% growth next year.

The Chinese economy, the world’s second biggest, is forecast to grow 5% this year and 4.2% in 2024 — both downgrades from what the IMF expected in July.

China’s economy was expected to bounce back this year after the communist government ended draconian “zero-COVID” lockdowns that had crippled growth in 2022. But the country is struggling with troubles in its overbuilt housing market.

The IMF again expressed concern that the countries of the world were breaking into geopolitical blocs that could limit international trade and economic growth globally.

The United States and its allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and have sought to become less reliant on Chinese imports as tensions with Beijing grow.

The IMF noted that last year countries imposed nearly 3,000 new restrictions on trade, up from fewer than 1,000 in 2019. It sees international trade growing just 0.9% this year and 3.5% in 2024, down sharply from the 20002019 annual average of 4.9%.

Hurricanes season preview, B4

AP PHOTO

AJ Allmendinger celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

MLS

Charlotte FC beats Chicago, keeps playoff hopes alive Chicago Ashley Westwood scored in the first half, the only goal Kristijan Kahlina would need, and Charlotte FC defeated Chicago 2-0 Saturday, keeping its playoff hopes alive while preventing the Fire from clinching a postseason berth. Westwood found the net for a third time this season, scoring unassisted in the 23rd minute to give Charlotte (9-11-12) the lead for good.

Kahlina finished with three saves to earn his fifth clean sheet of the season.

Karol Swiderski added an insurance goal on a penalty kick in the 58th minute.

It was his 12th goal of the season, and he became the first Charlotte player to score in three straight league matches. Charlotte plays Inter Miami in each of its final two games of the regular season. Inter Miami will host Charlotte on Oct. 18, and the season finale between the two teams will be three days later at Bank of America Stadium.

If Charlotte wins both, it will earn a playoff spot for the first time in franchise history.

NBA

Hornets’ Jones says he wants to be traded Charlotte Kai Jones, the Hornets’ 19th overall pick out of Texas in 2021, announced Monday on X that he has officially requested a trade from the organization. The Hornets have declined to comment on the matter. Charlotte announced last week that the 6-foot-11 forward/center would not join the team for training camp following some bizarre behavior on social media, including a mostly indecipherable video on Instagram Live and other criticisms of teammates on X. Jones has averaged 2.7 points and two rebounds in 67 career games with Charlotte.

Allmendinger conquers Roval, playoffs cut 4 Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace didn’t make it to the round of eight The Associated Press CONCORD — AJ Allmendinger isn’t racing for a Cup Series championship and knew very well that Kyle Busch’s entire season rested on the outcome of Sunday’s playoff elimination race.

Busch could only stave off elimination by winning on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Allmendinger figured he knew Busch well enough that Busch would understand if Allmendinger raced for the win.

Allmendinger spoiled NASCAR’s playoffs by refusing to cede track position even though

he’s not part of the championship field. Back in the Cup Series full time for the first time since 2018, Allmendinger led 46 laps for Kaulig Racing to win for the first time in NASCAR’s top series since Indianapolis in 2021.

“I knew Kyle had to win. I kept looking up at the board to see where he was points-wise,” Allmendinger said. “Kyle has been fantastic to me my whole career. I knew he was going to race hard. I knew what he was racing for.”

Allmendinger, who became a father within the past month, was sobbing when he collected the checkered flag.

“Because you don’t know when you are going to do it again,” cried Allmendinger, who turns 42 in December. He said he normally gives the checkered flag away to a fan but was keeping Sunday’s flag for his newborn son.

“That was probably the drive

“I hate crying right now, but it’s a freaking Cup race, man. You don’t know when it’s ever going to happen again.”

AJ Allmendinger of my life,” he said later.

Allmendinger then went into the stands to pose for selfies with the fans chanting his name. It was the third Cup Series win for Allmendinger, who has raced across 16 Cup seasons but took a mental health break from NASCAR’s top series in 2019 and 2020.

Kaulig slowly lured him back with five Cup races in 2021, all the way to this year’s full season in Kaulig’s second year fielding

cars at the elite level.

“I hate crying right now, but it’s a freaking Cup race, man. You don’t know when it’s ever going to happen again,” Allmendinger said. “This is why you do it. This is the only reason you do it. You fight. All the blood, sweat, tears.

It’s our second year in the Cup Series.”

Allmendinger won four consecutive Xfinity Series races on the hybrid road course/oval but wasn’t entered Saturday for Kaulig because he’s already exhausted his allotted five starts in the second-tier series. Allmendinger won twice this year in the Xfinity Series, and it’s unclear if he’ll be in the Cup Series or return to Xfinity next year.

Either way, his win was pivotal in the playoff elimination of Busch, the two-time series champion who had to win Sunday to advance to the round of eight. Busch gave it a few tries but couldn’t get into second place — William Byron finished second — and Busch settled for third.

Busch was uncharacteristically optimistic after elimination and said he’ll try to win each of the final four races.

See ROVAL, page B3

No 24-hour rule as Duke prepares for NC State Memories, and injuries, from the Blue Devils’ loss to Notre Dame linger

By Shawn Krest North State Journal DURHAM — You have to have a short memory in football, or so the old saying goes.

Whether you’ve given up a big play or produced one, pulled off a program-defining win or suffered a heartbreak, you can’t let the memory of it carry over to the next game, next day or next snap.

Some coaches call it the 24-hour rule. For others, the memories last much longer.

“Any time you get into that type of situation, you make the call you think is the best call for the moment,” said Duke coach Mike Elko, who saw Notre Dame convert a fourth-and-16 and then score a game-winning touchdown in the final moments of a near Duke upset two weeks ago.

“I still hold to the call we made at the moment,” he said, “but when it doesn’t work out you rethink everything.”

And that period of questioning

AP PHOTO

Duke’s loss to Notre Dame was further compounded when quarterback Riley Leonard was injured on the Blue Devils’ final offensive snap. Coach Mike Elko, left, is holding out hope his offensive leader can play Saturday against NC State. oneself lasts far in excess of the 24-hour rule.

“People say, ‘Ah, you’ll get over it,’” Elko said. “Sure. Just like the Bowling Green-Toledo game in 2013 on fourth-and-9.”

Elko was defensive coordi-

nator for then-Bowling Green head coach Dave Clawson for that game, which saw the Falcons erase a 21-0 Toledo lead to pull in front. Toledo faced a thirdand-26 in its last-ditch drive with just over 80 seconds left.

Quarterback Terrance Owens scrambled for 17 yards, setting up the infamous fourth-and-9 play, which was an Owens touchdown pass to give Toledo the win.

That game passed the 87,000hour mark at about the time Duke was losing to Notre Dame. While Elko still agonizes over the result, he’s managed to have quite a bit of success over that time. He’ll try to bounce back in a similar fashion after the heartbreak at Duke when the Blue Devils, fresh off a bye week, host NC State on Saturday night.

The Notre Dame loss will cast a shadow over Duke’s preparations for the 4-2 Wolfpack even ignoring the mental pain it caused. Quarterback Riley Leonard went down with an ankle injury on Duke’s last offensive snap of the game. Initial reports had him not returning until late October, at the earliest. However, Leonard has been busy trying to put the injury behind him. It may not quite be a 24-hour rule, but his recovery has been accelerated.

“One thing about Riley, he’s See DUKE, page B3

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

B2 WEDNESDAY

10.11.23

TRENDING

Hailie Deegan: The 22-year-old Californian will make the move to NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series next season in a multiyear deal with AM Racing. Deegan is the only woman competing full-time at NASCAR’s national level and has spent the last three seasons in the Truck Series and posted five top 10s in 67 races.

Deegan finished 13th in her only Xfinity appearance last season at Las Vegas.

Jim Poole: The former big league reliever died Friday of complications from ALS at the age of 57. He pitched in the majors for 11 seasons with eight teams, most notably giving up the deciding homer to Atlanta’s David Justice with Cleveland in the 1995 World Series.

Poole, who played collegiately at Georgia Tech, was diagnosed two years ago with ALS.

Beyond the box score POTENT QUOTABLES

Panthers guard Chandler Zavala was released from a hospital and traveled home with the team after being carted off the field with a neck injury late in the first quarter of Carolina’s 42-24 loss Sunday in Detroit. The rookie out of NC State, who was injured on a running play, was taken to a hospital where he was alert and able to move all extremities.

BEN MCKEOWN | AP PHOTO

“What a great story.”

UNC quarterback Drake Maye on Tez Walker making his debut with the Tar Heels.

JACOB KUPFERMAN | AP PHOTO

Wayne Rooney: The legendary English soccer player is out as coach of D.C. United after one season. Despite a 2-0 win over New York City FC on Saturday, the team announced the mutual split that night after United failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Rooney improved the team in his only full season at the helm, but United missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season, matching a club mark from 2008-11.

NFL

“This is 100 percent on me.”

Panthers rookie quarterback Bryce Young on his two turnovers contributing to Carolina’s 42-24 loss at Detroit.

JULIE BENNETT | AP PHOTO

GYMNASTICS

FORMULA ONE

NOAH K. MURRAY | AP PHOTO

JOHN LOCHER | AP PHOTO

Simone Biles added to her resume as the most accomplished gymnast in history at the world championships in Belgium. The 26-year-old claimed her sixth all-around title, more than any male of female gymnast, and the U.S. women won the team title at the event for the seventh straight time.

Max Verstappen secured the Formula One title for the third year in a row Saturday, clinching what has long been inevitable in a dominant season for the Red Bull driver with a win in Qatar. It was the 14th win of the season for the 26-year-old, who set an F1 record with a run of 10 consecutive wins earlier in the season.

NHL

PRIME NUMBER

2:00:25 Time for Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum in the Chicago Marathon, setting a new world record by 34 seconds over countryman Eliud Kipchoge’s previous mark.

JASON FRANSON | AP PHOTO

Panthers goalie Spencer Knight, who stepped away from hockey last season to seek treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder, will start his season with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.

The 22-year-old 2019 first round pick — considered Florida’s goalie of the future — was 9-8-3 with a 3.18 goals-against average and .901 save percentage with one shutout.

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

B3

Clifford, Hornets optimistic heading into season Charlotte’s four-game preseason began this week

By Jesse Deal North State Journal CHARLOTTE — After six days of training camp, the Charlotte Hornets’ preseason began this week when the team opened its four-game slate of exhibition matchups on Tuesday in Miami.

With just two weeks before the regular season begins, many franchise front offices offer bolder assessments of their teams’ rosters with Summer League and training camp practice in the rearview.

Charlotte coach Steve Clifford didn’t mince words last week, AP PHOTO saying the 2023-24 Hornets is the best group of talent he has Hornets center Nick Richards , left, interviews guard LaMelo ever led.

Ball during the team’s media day Oct. 2 in Charlotte.

“I’ve coached a lot of teams that are pretty good or good or whatever. I don’t think I’ve ever Clifford’s second tenure in Char- has recovered from right hand been the head coach of a team lotte, the Hornets head into the surgery in June.

“I think we’re in a good spot that was picked really high,” campaign under new ownership and going the right way,” Ball Clifford said. “We’re young, but with a relatively healthy roster. to me, this is the most talented Star point guard LaMelo Ball said. “Everybody is here. We team I’ve ever coached as a head has been fully cleared for all bas- pretty much started this thing coach. Now, everything is about ketball activities seven months like three weeks ago. Everybody attitude, about how we evolve.” after suffering a season-ending has been in the gym, so I feel like Coming off an injury-plagued right ankle fracture, while sec- we’re in a good spot.”

Clifford said his tentative 27-win season in the first year of ond-year center Mark Williams

starting lineup for the preseason opener will be Ball, Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, PJ Washington and Williams.

The Hornets also have three rookie draft picks in camp — Brandon Miller, Amari Bailey and Nick Smith Jr. — and all eyes are on Miller.

“He is a really good competitor,” Clifford said of the second overall pick in this summer’s draft. “He is good with his teammates. He has an edge. You saw it last year (at Alabama). He likes to compete, and he has an edge when he plays. He’s far more advanced to me than guys I’ve been around in the last few years in terms of that. He’s going to be on the floor right away. He’s got size, he knows how to play, he can really pass, and he plays at both ends of the floor.”

Miller said he is enjoying the adjustment from his college days as the SEC Player of the Year to his new NBA career in Charlotte. “(Training camp has been) what I expected, a lot faster, but I think that is just one of the things I love to play: a fast-paced game,” Miller said. “Get out in transition, get a lot of open 3s and layups, and now the midrange. I’m just really out here having fun.”

The Hornets will also get back

the services of the team’s 202122 scoring leader, Miles Bridges, who will sit out during the preseason and be cleared to play on Nov. 17 against the Milwaukee Bucks after his 30-day suspension is served.

The 25-year-old said he has accepted being the team’s sixth man until he shakes off the rust of missing last season and works his way back into the starting lineup. Bridges missed all of 2022-23 after being arrested on domestic violence charges in July 2022.

“When Gordon first got signed here and I went to the bench, it didn’t really make a difference for me,” Bridges said. “I just want to impact the team as much as I can. I’m not worried about starting. Everything will be good this year, that’s all I know.”

Following Tuesday’s preseason opener in Miami, the Hornets will travel to Washington on Thursday for a 7 p.m. tip before returning to the Spectrum Center to face Oklahoma City on Sunday at 5 p.m.

Charlotte will conclude its preseason Oct. 19 at home against Boston at 7 p.m., just six days before the regular season tips off with an Oct. 25 home game against visiting Atlanta at 7 p.m.

One unbeaten reaches showdown as UNC hosts Miami The Hurricanes suffered a last-second loss to scuttle a battle of perfect records

onds to play on Saturday. Instead of taking a knee and running out the clock, however, Miami decided to run the ball. The Hurricanes fumbled it and gave up a game-winning touchdown to the Yellow Jackets with 1 second on the clock.

It was a crushing loss for the Hurricanes, who dropped eight spots in the AP Top 25 but still managed to hold on to the No. 25 spot, making Saturday’s game a battle between ranked teams — UNC moved up to No. 12 — despite not being a clash of unbeatens. It’s just the eighth time in the last 40 years that the Tar Heels have hosted a game between ranked teams and just the fourth

time ever that a 5-0 UNC team will take the field at home.

Brown was skeptical that Miami’s tough loss the previous week would have an impact on Saturday’s game.

“If anything, they’ll come in with a chip on their shoulder because they weren’t happy with how it finished,” he said. “The players will be on edge. The coaches will be on edge.”

Meanwhile in Miami, the Canes appear to still be struggling to get over the blow. Coach Mario Cristobal opened his postgame press conference by saying, “I made the wrong call.”

He doubled down during his first press conference of UNC

week.

“Obviously, tough one on Saturday. Really tough one,” he said.

“I made the wrong call, you know, take full ownership and not taking a knee and not giving them the opportunity to have a couple of extra plays and preventing us from sealing the win.”

Cristobal and the Canes are working on healing.

“You do it with honesty and transparency,” he said. “Go in and fix all the things that we can do better. Realize the opportunity in front of us, understand that football is very much like life. … And the way that we train our players, the type of DNA and the players that we recruit, we expected a

good response today. And that’s what we got. There’s a lot of conviction in our preparation and proper processes, and the guys are very, they’re very eager to get back to work and prepare for this weekend’s opportunity.”

The ending of the game was far from the only area of concern for the Hurricanes. After three straight 40-point games and a 38-point opener against Texas A&M, the Miami offense suddenly seemed off-kilter against Georgia Tech. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who had one interception on the year, threw three against the Yellow Jackets, and the offense was held to a mere 20 points.

Brown was worried that the Tar Heels would be the team having an off day looking ahead to a marquee matchup with the Canes.

“Because there was so much hype about Miami, I wondered if we’d play as good,” Brown said.

He needn’t have worried.

Drake Maye led the Tar Heels’ offense with ruthless efficiency, topping 400 passing yards, and the defense had its best performance of Brown’s second stint in Chapel Hill.

Now that defense will have to keep Miami’s offense under wraps, which is a daunting challenge even in light of the Hurricane’s struggles last week.

“They’re the most talented team we’ve played at this point,” Brown said. “They have speed all over the place.”

In other words, his UNC team will need another peak performance to stay alive in the Power Five’s survivor pool.

(Monday) morning.”

Officially, Leonard is day-today. If he can’t make it, backup Henry Belin, who missed the UConn game earlier this year with his own injury, will get his first career start.

“He has the arm talent,” Elko said of the backup. “He can make all the throws. But in a first start, you never know until you know.”

On the other side of the field, NC State seems to have solved its own quarterback woes. After UVA transfer Brennan Arm-

strong struggled in his first five starts with the Wolfpack, he was benched in favor of sophomore MJ Morris, who led the Wolfpack to its biggest offensive output of the season against Marshall.

Morris threw for 265 yards and four touchdowns, although he also had three interceptions.

The Wolfpack put 48 points on the board, and the crowd at Carter-Finley booed Armstrong when he made an appearance — and struggled — in a goal-line situation.

“He gave us the spark we needed and threw some good balls,” said Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren.

Morris became the first true freshman since Phillip Rivers to start for the Wolfpack last year, leading NC State to a win in relief and one as a starter before suffering a season-ending injury in his third game.

“It’s been a long time since he played,” said Doeren. “(The Marshall game) was the first time he has been tackled, first time he’s

had game speed at him that way since last season. I do expect him to grow and improve each week.

The challenge changes each week as well., but the game does slow down the more you play it.

“He’ll learn. MJ will learn from the things that he wants to be better at.”

The lessons Morris acquires will be committed to memory.

And, as the coach on the other side of the field can attest, those memories sometimes last a long, long time.

ing from Wallace’s pit stand.

“We weren’t supposed to be here, according to a lot of people, but we proved them wrong and then proved a lot of people in the garage wrong that you can’t really count on the 23 at a road course race,” said Wallace, who finished 16th. “Got to continue to work. I don’t think we’re a winning car yet, but we’re light-years from where we were a few races ago.”

It was a brutal day for Chevrolet, which lost both Chastain of

Trackhouse Racing and a resurgent Busch, who won three times in his first season driving for Richard Childress Racing. He’s been a boost to the organization, which won its last championship in 1994 with the late Dale Earnhardt.

“First year at RCR, means a lot to me for Richard having me and for the Chevy guys having me, everybody, to get this far,” Busch said. “Rides on me to get to the next round, so I’ve just got to do

a better job.”

Keselowski knocked a Ford team out, while Toyota lost a championship chance with Wallace.

The remaining eight drivers in the championship race are led by Byron and Ryan Blaney, who both won in the three-race round of 12 to earn automatic berths into the next three races.

Denny Hamlin advanced in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, as did Tyler Reddick, who drives for

Hamlin and Jordan at 23XI Racing. Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr., the regular season champion, advanced with Hamlin for Gibbs to get three cars through.

Kyle Larson drove a backup car to a 13th-place finish to join Byron, who has a series-best six wins this season, representing Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet in the next round.

The round of eight opens Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

By Shawn Krest North State Journal CHAPEL HILL — UNC did its part.

The Tar Heels held up their end of the potential battle of unbeatens last weekend, blowing out Syracuse in one of the best all-around performances the Tar Heels have turned in since the turn of the century, at least.

The win improved Mack Brown’s Heels to 5-0 on the year, leaving them as one of just 11 unbeatens remaining in Power Five — Louisville, Florida State, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia, USC, Oregon and Washington are the others. In the mid-majors, only Liberty, Air Force and James Madison remain undefeated.

Two weeks ago, the number was 21 in Power Five, meaning the group’s membership has been nearly cut in half in the last 14 days.

Brown has kept tabs on the survivor pool.

“So each week, it gets tougher,” he said. “It gets tougher to see who can survive and who can move forward in that group, and I’m glad we’re part of it.”

One of the teams that fell by the wayside last weekend, when four Power Five unbeatens went down, was UNC’s opponent on Saturday night at Kenan Stadium — Miami.

The Hurricanes nearly made it, leading Georgia Tech with 35 sec-

DUKE from page B1

extremely competitive in every aspect of his life,” Elko said. “He’s been attacking his rehab for six or seven hours a day. He’s on a mission to get back and not miss a game.”

Over the past week and a half, Leonard has gone from not being able to put any weight on the ankle to returning to practice.

“He’s made really, really strong progress,” Elko said. “He was moving around, throwing the ball

ROVAL from page B1

“I would love to be the spoiler.

That would be fun,” Busch said.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’ll keep building.”

Also eliminated was Ross Chastain, last year’s title runner-up, 2012 champion Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace, whose first playoff appearance ended in the round of 12 on his 30th birthday with 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan watch-

AP PHOTO

Tight end Bryson Nesbit and the Tar Heels will look to stay unbeaten when UNC hosts Miami on Saturday in Chapel Hill.

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

B4

March to Stanley Cup starts for Hurricanes After reaching the conference final last year, Carolina looks to take the final step

By Cory Lavalette North State Journal RALEIGH — “We talk about it a little, and then we don’t. And then it’s about you can’t win the Stanley Cup today.”

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour’s goal has been the same since he took over the bench in 2018 — set the standard of striving to be the best team in the NHL, then pound home the expectation that the best way to reach the pinnacle of the sport is to put in the work one day at a time.

Carolina has done that since Brind’Amour took over, going 226-107-37 in the five seasons being led by the man whose No. 17 hangs from the rafters at PNC Arena. There has been playoff success as well — the Hurricanes have won a postseason round in each of those seasons and reached the Eastern Conference final twice, including last spring.

But a fan base that once only wished for a return to hockey under the hot Southern sun now has bigger expectations for the franchise in its 26th season in North Carolina. It’s the same expectation Brind’Amour set when he took over a team that spent nine years on the outside looking in come playoff time, a stretch that deprived those same fans of the raucous tailgating that became synonymous with the team during its two runs to the Stanley Cup finals — both in the aughts when Brind’Amour was still a player.

Three weeks after camp officially began, the Hurricanes will open their season Wednes-

KARL B. DEBLAKER | AP PHOTO

Sebastian Aho, left, and Seth Jarvis, right, make up two-thirds of the Hurricanes’ new top line, which also includes free agent signing Michael Bunting. day when the Ottawa Senators visit PNC Arena.

“Now, for a while, you kind of have the same plan every year,” Brind’Amour said Sunday of navigating training camp. “You put your tweaks in there, but you don’t want to broke what’s not broken.

“We’ve got a pretty good feel for how training camp goes, and that’s behind us now.”

General manager Don Waddell and his front office kept intact the team that went 52-21-9 last season, finishing behind only Boston with 113 points in

226 Regular season wins for the Hurricanes in five seasons under coach Rod Brind’Amour

the standings. The team’s top 14 scorers from a year ago are back, and the only subtractions are fourth-liners Paul Stastny

and Derek Stepan, trade deadline acquisitions Shayne Gostisbehere and Jesse Puljujarvi, playoff scratch Calvin de Haan, and Max Pacioretty and Ondrej Kase — who played a combined 79 minutes last season.

The team re-signed captain Jordan Staal, Jesper Fast, goalies Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta, and got star player Sebastian Aho to commit to an eight-year, $78 million contract extension that will kick in next season.

The team then used free agency to make three key ad-

ditions that bolster an already stacked lineup.

Dmitry Orlov, the top defenseman on the free agent market this summer, joins a blue line that was already considered among the NHL’s best. Michael Bunting brings a net-front presence and scoring, along with the reputation as one of the league’s peskiest players. And Tony DeAngelo, who resurrected his career two seasons ago in Carolina, is back and starting the season grouped with Orlov for a tandem that could be a top pairing in many cities.

“This team has been very close for the last couple of years, and that’s one of the reasons why I came here,” Bunting, who left another contender in Toronto to sign with the Hurricanes, said at the start of camp. “They reached out in free agency and I had, obviously, a couple other offers. But the second Carolina called I thought, ‘You know, I still want to win. I want to win in this league.’ And I’m looking forward to starting this journey.”

It starts Wednesday with a home game before the Hurricanes head out on a six-game road trip that coincides with the North Carolina State Fair.

By the time they return and play back-to-back home games Oct. 26-27, the Hurricanes will be nearly a tenth of the way through the regular season. It’s a small step toward the end of the regular season in mid-April.

And then, the playoffs.

But you can’t win the Stanley Cup in October.

“We’re excited. The group is ready to go,” Staal said after the preseason finale last Friday.

“We’ve been practicing hard, but it’s hard to replicate a game. So it’s exciting to get into the games and get into the real stuff.”

Bring on the real stuff.

2023-24 CAROLINA HURRICANES OPENING ROSTER DEFENSE

CENTERS

RIGHT WINGS

5 / JALEN CHATFIELD 6-foot-1 / 199 pounds After his breakthrough season, Chatfield starts the year as the No. 7 defenseman.

2022-23: 78 GP, 6 G, 8 A, 14 PTS, 35 PIMS

11 / JORDAN STAAL 6-foot-4 / 220 pounds A new contract has the captain locked in for four more years.

2022-23: 81 GP, 17 G, 17 A, 34 PTS, 32 PIMS

23 / STEFAN NOESEN 6-foot-1 / 210 pounds The veteran had a career year last season as a net-front presence.

2022-23: 78 GP, 13 G, 23 A, 36 PTS, 32 PIMS

18 / JACK DRURY 5-foot-11 / 184 pounds The 23-year-old won a fourth line spot after being a late cut last season.

2022-23: 38 GP, 2 G, 6 A, 8 PTS, 14 PIMS

24 / SETH JARVIS 5-foot-10 / 184 pounds The 21-year-old is poised for a breakout third season.

2022-23: 82 GP, 14 G, 25 A, 39 PTS, 12 PIMS

20 / SEBASTIAN AHO 6-foot-0 / 180 pounds His streak of five straight years leading the team in scoring was snapped last season.

2022-23: 75 GP, 36 G, 31 A, 67 PTS, 42 PIMS

71 / JESPER FAST 6-foot-1 / 188 pounds Carolina re-signed the reliable Swede who led the team in playoff goals.

2022-23: 80 GP, 10 G, 19 A, 29 PTS, 16 PIMS

82 / JESPERI KOTKANIEMI 6-foot-3 / 203 pounds Carolina needs the second line center to have a fast start.

2022-23: 82 GP, 18 G, 25 A, 43 PTS, 50 PIMS

86 / TEUVO TERAVAINEN 5-foot-11 / 198 pounds The Hurricanes need a bounce-back year from their versatile, all-situations winger.

2022-23: 68 GP, 12 G, 25 A, 37 PTS, 16 PIMS

7 / DMITRY ORLOV 5-foot-11 / 214 pounds The newcomer strengthens an already stacked blue line.

2022-23: 66 GP, 7 G, 29 A, 36 PTS, 22 PIMS 8 / BRENT BURNS 6-foot-5 / 228 pounds The ageless wonder looks to add another page to his Hall of Fame career.

2022-23: 82 GP, 18 G, 43 A, 61 PTS, 44 PIMS 22 / BRETT PESCE 6-foot-4 / 197 pounds The subject of trade rumors, the 28-year-old will have to avoid distractions.

2022-23: 82 GP, 5 G, 25 A, 30 PTS, 43 PIMS 74 / JACCOB SLAVIN 6-foot-3 / 207 pounds The steady blueliner remains one of the NHL’s top defensive defensemen.

2022-23: 76 GP, 7 G, 20 A, 27 PTS, 8 PIMS 76 / BRADY SKJEI 6-foot-3 / 206 pounds The pending free agent would certainly welcome another 18-goal season.

2022-23: 81 GP, 18 G, 20 A, 38 PTS, 40 PIMS 77 / TONY DEANGELO 5-foot-11 / 180 pounds The shifty defender returns after a year in Philadelphia.

2022-23: 70GP, 11 G, 31 A, 42 PTS, 73 PIMS

LEFT WINGS 28 / BRENDAN LEMIEUX 6-foot-1 / 215 pounds The feisty winger brings snarl to Carolina’s forward corps.

2022-23: 45 GP, 2 G, 7 A, 9 PTS, 74 PIMS

88 / MARTIN NECAS 6-foot-3 / 195 pounds After leading the team in scoring last year, he’s playing for a contract this season.

2022-23: 82 GP, 28 G, 43 A, 71 PTS, 32 PIMS

37 / ANDREI SVECHNIKOV 6-foot-3 / 199 pounds The Hurricanes need their star power forward at 100% after knee surgery.

2022-23: 64 GP, 23 G, 32 A, 55 PTS, 71 PIMS

GOALTENDERS

48 / JORDAN MARTINOOK 6-foot-1 / 208 pounds The veteran will look to build off his career year.

2022-23: 82 GP, 13 G, 21 A, 34 PTS, 61 PIMS 58 / MICHAEL BUNTING 6-foot-0 / 192 pounds The agitator extraordinaire scored in each of his three preseason appearances.

2022-23: 82 GP, 23 G, 26 A, 49 PTS, 103 PIMS

31 / FREDERIK ANDERSEN 6-foot-4 / 229 pounds A stellar playoffs made up for a difficult regular season.

2022-23: 21-11-1, 2.48 GAA, .903 S%, 1 SO 32 / ANTTI RAANTA 6-foot-0 / 190 pounds The 34-year-old Finn is 21-4-2 all time at PNC Arena in the regular season.

2022-23: 19-3-3, 2.23 GAA, .910 S%, 4 SO

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Deep Fried Delicious: A look at the new foods for the 2023 State Fair

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — A whopping 48 new food and drink experiences will be available at the 2023 North Carolina State Fair.

Media outlets were invited to sample some of the new foods at the N.C. Fairgrounds’ Dorton Arena. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler was on hand at the event, giving remarks about the efforts of farmers that make all of the delicious treats at the fair possible, as well as applauding the work of those involved in running the fair.

North State Journal had an early preview of around 30 of these morsels. Here are the top picks: A number of the items this year have a dill pickle theme, including dill pickled flavored deep-fried cheese curds from the Cheese Curd Shack and The Dill Pickle donut from Fluffly’s Hand-Cut Donuts, which was a bit of a surprise.

The first images circulated of the dill pickle donut may make one think it will be a sweet and sour experience, however, the sample was on the savory side of

A.P. DILLON

There are 48 new food options for fair goers to try at this year’s North Carolina State Fair. the aisle with the dill pickle chip nestled in a dill-dashed cream cheese spread that was oddly satisfying.

The Colossal Shrimp skewers are, in this reporter’s opinion, the best in show for this year’s new fair foods. Oak City Fish and Chips has outdone itself with three giant butterflied shrimp

tossed in a sweet and spicy mixture, deep fried, and served with half a lemon to drench them with. There will also be lobster and salmon skewers available during this year’s fair.

Not to be missed are the Crab and Shrimp Rangoon tossed in a sweet chili sauce. Waypoint Oyster Bar’s Rangoon was crisp

and light, and the chili sauce was just the right amount of heat and sweet.

Also on the crisp and light side are the Little Locas Empanadas provided by Arepa Loca. These perfectly crispy, bite-sized empanadas come in chicken or beef. They make a perfect snack and shouldn’t be missed!

Of the desserts we sampled, many were overpoweringly sweet, with one exception: Chef’s D’Lites: Deep Fried Cinnamon Apple Bread Pudding Bites.

These delicious little confectionaries were very balanced with the right blend of sweet, creamy cinnamon and the apple’s fruit flavor. We also recommend Waffle Chix’s Oreo Brownie Blast, which is not too big and not too small, but has a ton of Oreo crumbles and a creamy filling.

The Strawberry Cheesecake Slush is not only beautiful to look at, but it also had the best of both beverage and food worlds with a sweet Strawberry fizzy slush with a slice of cheesecake nestled inside the cup. Bring a straw and a fork!

If a full-on meal that will stick to your ribs is what you are craving, try Cool Runnings Ja-

B5 maican: Jerk BBQ Chicken Mac & Cheese Bowl or hit Lawrence & Perry BBQ’s “Slop Bucket.”

The bucket includes crinkle-cut seasoned fries topped with authentic Eastern North Carolina BBQ drizzled with a tangy BBQ sauce, along with a helping of homemade mac & cheese, coleslaw, and baked beans.

Ethio Indi Alkaline & Vegan Cuisine was also among the dishes sampled, such as the African Spinach Soup & Ghanan Pounded Yams that offer a hint of spice with a touch of sweet.

If meat is what you crave, head over to Hickory Tree Turkey BBQ and grab the “Morning-After Stuffed Leg.” There was a lot going on in that leg, but it all worked and For those hitting the fair at the start of the day, the Brisket & Waffles On a Stick from Fat Boys BBQ has everything you need to get your engine going, as will the Big Mac-Woody Egg Roll & Churros from Woody’s Sports Tavern & Grill.

The on-the-go-eaters can’t go wrong with the Hot Chix Walking Totchos – layers of crispy tater tots and potato chips, with fried chicken, beef or chili. That mixture is then topped with gooey cheese and your choice of Doritos, Fritos, or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Hot Chix Hotcakes & Chicken also offered Stuffed Mini Pancakes.

To see the list of all the new food offerings, visit: https://ncstatefair.org/2023/Attractions/ New.htm.

From Coke floats to Cronuts, going viral can have a lasting effect on a small business The Associated Press NEW YORK — The Lexington Candy Shop in New York City has served burgers, fries and shakes to hungry patrons for decades. Last remodeled in 1948, the diner is the definition of old-fashioned.

But that hasn’t stopped it from getting a wave of new fans.

In August 2022, this old school business met the new world when Nicolas Heller, a TikToker and Instagrammer with 1.2 million followers known as New York Nico, popped in for a traditional Coke float – Coke syrup, soda water and ice cream.

Naturally, he took a video. It went viral, garnering 4.8 million likes.

“The next day (after the video was posted), the lines started forming at 8 in the morning,” John Philis, the diner’s third-generation co-owner, recalls with amazement. “And it was like, huh!”

When a smaller restaurant unexpectedly goes viral on TikTok or other social media, the sudden demand can be overwhelming. Owners have to adapt on the fly, revamping operations to quickly serve a crush of people. But savvy business owners who are able to adapt can parlay newfound fame into a lasting boost for their business.

Ali Elreda opened Fatima’s Grill in Downey, California, in 2016, drawing in customers with an eclectic range of tacos, wraps and burgers.

He sprinkled Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in some of them, inspired by his daughter’s love of hot chips. By 2020, Elreda had worked hard to develop his restaurant’s social media presence, shooting videos with music. But after a TikToker dubbed @misohungry posted a video of Elreda’s Flaming Hot Cheeto Fusion burger that August, things suddenly “just went crazy.”

Lines to get into the restaurant ballooned to two to three hours – for months. At first, the store wasn’t ready for the influx.

“We just couldn’t adjust,” he said. “We would stay late hours to prep for the next day and then the lines would continue and continue and continue and continue.”

Opening two nearby restaurants helped relieve the pressure.

Elreda now has 10 locations, including newly opened restaurants in Detroit and Brooklyn — an expansion started by one viral video.

“Social media can make you or break you,” he said. “It catapulted us to starting to franchise

AP PHOTO

John Philis, a third-generation owner of the Lexington Candy Shop, prepares a Coke float at the luncheonette, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, in New York. and getting the name out there.

It’s been a blessing.”

When Kevin Muccular opened Aunt Bill’s soul food restaurant in Katy, Texas, just last year, crowds were sparse at first because Katy is a suburb about half an hour outside of bustling Houston. That all changed when a TikToker who goes by Mr. Chimetime posteda video in July lavishing praise on Aunt Bill’s brisket hot dog, waffles and customer service.

The floodgates opened and didn’t stop.

“People poured in from everywhere, every seat taken, the lines, down the street and around the corner, a three, fourhour wait, wait time in line in the middle of the Texas summer,” Muccular said.

He rushed to prepare food and put his vendors on standby, but the demand was overwhelming. He bought all of the ingredients he could find at nearby Sam’s Club and Walmart stores, and had friends check stores in their areas. The fire marshal was called twice about the crowd.

“We were ill prepared for exactly what happened over the

next two weeks of our business,” he said. “We were hiring staff on the spot. I cooked more than I ever have in my entire life.”

Muccular hired a consultant to help figure out how to revamp his business to serve the crowds in an efficient manner. Among the changes: He shifted walk up to-go orders to an online system and created a reservation system for tables.

Two months later, the restaurant is still bustling. The restaurant now serves 800 to 1,000 people a day, up from 200 to 250. Longer term, Muccular has plans to open a food truck to serve people all over Texas.

“We refer to everything as pre-Chimetime and post-Chimetime,” he said.

“What Mr. Chimetime did for our small business changed the fabric of what we are for forever.”

At the Lexington Candy Shop, Philis thought the craze of last August would die down after Labor Day, or during the holidays. But a year later, the crowds are still going strong.

On a recent weekday, Australian vacationer Max Ferfoglia, 32, stopped by the diner for a

float. He said he had found the diner via social media.

“We were looking to try and find what are the ‘must do’s’ in this beautiful city,” he said. “And the diner was one that just was constantly being recommended as iconic via YouTube, TikTok. ...

So we just had to come and try it out.”

For Philis, the boost in business is a welcome relief after the diner suffered from a steep drop in customers during the pandemic. Before Nico’s visit, he sold 10 Coke floats a day.

Today it’s 200 on weekdays and 500 a day on weekends. He hasn’t raised his prices. A float is $12.50 including tax. Plus, people who come in for a float may order a burger, fries or other menu item.

“Every day we’re going home and we’re tired,” he said. “But it’s a good tired.”

One person who knows about going viral is Dominique Ansel. In 2013, before most people knew the term “going viral,” the French pastry chef created the “Cronut,” a cross between a croissant and a doughnut, at his newly opened New York bak-

ery. The Cronut created a craze the old-fashioned way, through newspaper and TV news reports.

Ansel remembers the frantic early days, when the bakery had to hire security to control the line: “It was chaos in the morning.

People were lining up at 2 a.m. in the morning, hitting each other. Neighbors were calling the police,” he remembered.

Ten years later, Ansel has plenty of other bestselling pastries and store locations in Hong Kong and Las Vegas. But there’s still a line outside the original Dominique Ansel bakery for the Cronut. These days the line is cheerful. The bakery even hands out umbrellas when it rains and roses on Valentine’s Day. “I think the most important thing is not to overreact in the beginning,” he said. He was approached to do deals for mass producing the Cronut, but he declined.

“You don’t want to kill the idea because you want to make money,” Ansel said. “You want to build something real, and you want to invest into the longevity of the product.”

B6

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Witnesses to FBI hunt for Civil War gold describe heavily loaded armored truck, signs of a night dig The Associated Press PENFIELD, PA — In the heart of Pennsylvania elk country, Eric McCarthy and his client, Don Reichel, woke before sunrise to scour the forest for so-called “brown gold,” a rack of freshly shed antlers to add to Reichel’s collection.

One hill over, a team of FBI agents was also hunting for gold.

The metallic yellow kind.

The FBI’s highly unusual search for buried Civil War-era treasure more than five years ago set in motion a dispute over what, if anything, the agency unearthed and an ongoing legal battle over key records. There’s so much intrigue even a federal judge felt compelled to note in a ruling last week: “The FBI may have found the gold — or maybe not.”

Now, two witnesses have come forward to share with The Associated Press what they heard and saw in the woods, raising questions about the FBI’s timeline and adding plot twists to a saga that blends elements of legend, fact and science — and a heavy dose of government secrecy.

The FBI insists nothing came of the 2018 excavation in Dents Run, a remote wooded valley about 110 miles (177 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh.

But a treasure hunter who led FBI agents to the hillside where an 1863 gold shipment might’ve been buried is challenging the government’s denials. How could the dig have come up empty, he asks, when the FBI’s own scans showed the likelihood of a buried metal mass equaling hundreds of millions of dollars in gold?

McCarthy, a 45-year-old elk guide, recently decided to share his story because he thought the treasure hunter, Dennis Parada — who spent years looking for the gold before approaching the

AP PHOTO

This 2018 photo released by Federal Bureau of Investigation shows the FBI’s 2018 dig for Civil War-era gold at a remote site in Dents Run, Penn., after sophisticated testing suggested tons of gold might be buried there.

FBI with his findings — has been treated unfairly.

“I have no ties to anybody here. It’s just I felt like they were wronged,” McCarthy explained.

In an interview at a remote hunting camp about 25 miles (40 km) from Dents Run, McCarthy recalls hearing the unexpected clang of heavy equipment as he worked his way up the mountain in near-darkness.

Later that day, while breaking for lunch, McCarthy and Reichel watched a trio of armored trucks rumble past. One of the vehicles rode low, as if it was carrying a full load.

“They took something out of Dents Run,” McCarthy insists now. “Something heavy.”

Reached by phone, Reichel, McCarthy’s 73-year-old shed hunting client, corroborated his account of hearing early-morning clatter and seeing a loaded truck on March 14, 2018.

Their recollections echo earlier statements from residents who told the AP of hearing a backhoe and jackhammer overnight and seeing a convoy that included armored trucks.

Parada, co-founder of the treasure-hunting outfit Finders Keepers, has long suspected the FBI of conducting a secret overnight dig for the gold and spiriting it away. The FBI’s warrant to excavate the site limited work to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The agency denies it dug after

hours, and says it recovered nothing of value from Dents Run. There’s little historical evidence to substantiate old stories that an Army detachment lost a gold shipment in the Pennsylvania wilderness. But the legend inspired generations of treasure hunters.

Scientific testing had suggested Parada was on to something.

The FBI said in a 2018 court document that its own geophysical consultant identified an underground metallic mass weighing up to 9 tons, suggestive of gold, at the site identified

by Finders Keepers. A federal judge approved the FBI’s request for a search and seizure warrant.

Parada hoped to earn a finder’s fee from the potential recovery.

On the second day of the dig, McCarthy and Reichel awoke at 4 a.m. and were on the mountain sometime between 5 and 5:30, splitting up to increase their odds of finding an elk shed.

McCarthy said he could hear the distant hum of an engine as soon as he got out of his truck.

The noise grew louder as he walked up the hill, and he heard what sounded to him like heavy equipment meeting earth.

Cresting the ridge, McCarthy spotted the FBI operation on the opposite slope, about 400 yards (meters) away. He saw lights powered by a generator. A parked excavator. A smaller piece of equipment moving up and down the hill. A brown-black gash in the earth. People huddling under a canopy.

“It looked to me like they were wrapping up a dig,” he said.

Reichel, who was farther away, said he heard machinery from the top of the ridge.

“I can hear some machines, or something, clanging and banging and roaring and all that stuff,”

said Reichel, a retired manufacturing worker. He said he was too far away to be able to see anything.

An FBI timeline says the search team didn’t arrive at the dig site until 8 a.m. that morning, and an excavator operator arrived even later. That’s well after the time McCarthy and Reichel say they detected signs of activity.

The pair reconvened for lunch several hours later. It was then, they said, that a convoy of unmarked SUVs and armored trucks went past. McCarthy and Reichel said one of the three armored trucks seemed to be weighed down.

“Eric and I both made the comment that one must be loaded.” Reichel said.

“It was loaded to the gills,” said McCarthy.

Not so, the FBI says. While “appropriate vehicles and equipment” were brought to Dents Run, armored trucks were not among them, said Carrie Adamowski, an FBI spokesperson.

After the FBI told Parada the dig came up empty, he filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records. In 2022, a judge forced the FBI to release a trove of photos and documents, but Parada is pursuing additional material including an operational plan. A federal judge told the FBI last week it needed to come up with a better justification for keeping the disputed records under wraps.

Parada, meanwhile, hasn’t given up his search in the Dents Run area. He’s now seeking to partner with the state conservation agency, which owns the land, on a new excavation.

“It’s a part of our history that’s hidden away,” Parada said, “and I think it’s time that should be told.”

An app shows how ancient Greek sites looked thousands of years ago. It’s a glimpse of future tech The Associated Press ATHENS, Greece — Tourists at the Acropolis this holiday season can witness the resolution of one of the world’s most heated debates on cultural heritage.

All they need is a smartphone.

Visitors can now pinch and zoom their way around the ancient Greek site, with a digital overlay showing how it once looked. That includes a collection of marble sculptures removed from the Parthenon more than 200 years ago that are now on display at the British Museum in London. Greece has demanded they be returned.

For now, an app supported by Greece’s Culture Ministry allows visitors to point their phones at the Parthenon temple, and the sculptures housed in London appear back on the monument as archaeologists believe they looked 2,500 years ago.

Other, less widely known features also appear: Many of the sculptures on the Acropolis were painted in striking colors. A statue of goddess Athena in the main chamber of the Parthenon also stood over a shallow pool of water.

“That’s really impressive ... the only time I’ve seen that kind of technology before is at the dentist,” Shriya Parsotam Chitnavis, a tourist from London, said after checking out the app on a hot afternoon at the hilltop Acropolis, Greece’s most popular archaeological site.

“I didn’t know much about the (Acropolis), and I had to be convinced to come up here. Seeing this has made it more interesting — seeing it in color,” she said. “I’m more of a visual person, so this being interactive really helped me appreciate it.”

The virtual restoration works anywhere and could spare some visitors the crowded uphill walk and long wait to see the iconic monuments up close. It might also help the country’s campaign to make Greek cities year-round destinations.

Tourism, vital for the Greek

AP PHOTO

A man holds up a tablet showing a digitally overlayed virtual reconstruction of the ancient Parthenon temple, at the Acropolis Hill in Athens, Greece on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. economy, has roared back since the COVID-19 pandemic, even as wildfires chased visitors from the island of Rhodes and affected other areas this summer. The number of inbound visitors from January through July was up 21.9% to 16.2 million compared with a year ago, according to the Bank of Greece. Revenue was up just over 20%, to 10.3 billion euros ($10.8 billion).

The app, called “Chronos” after the mythological king of the Titans and Greek word for “time,” uses augmented reality to place the ancient impression of the site onto the screen, matching the real-world view as you walk around.

AR is reaching consumers after a long wait and is set to affect a huge range of professional and leisure activities.

Medical surgery, military training and specialized machine repair as well as retail and

live event experiences are all in the sights of big tech companies betting on a lucrative future in immersive services. Tech giant like Meta and Apple are pushing into VR headsets that can cost thousands of dollars.

The high price tag will keep the cellphone as the main AR delivery platform to consumers for some time, said Maria Engberg, co-author of the book “Reality Media” on augmented and virtual reality.

She says services for travelers will soon offer a better integrated experience, allowing for more sharing options on tours and overlaying archive photos and videos.

“AR and VR have been lagging behind other kinds of things like games and movies that we’re consuming digitally,” said Engberg, an associate professor of computer science and media technology at Malmo University in Sweden.

“I think we will see really interesting customer experiences in the next few years as more content from museums and archives becomes digitized,” she said.

Greece’s Culture Ministry and national tourism authority are late but enthusiastic converts to technology. The popular video game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, which allows players to roam ancient Athens, was used to attract young travelers from China to Greece with a state-organized photo contest.

Microsoft partnered with the Culture Ministry two years ago to launch an immersive digital tour at ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games in southern Greece.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said the innovations would boost accessibility to Greece’s ancient monuments, supplementing the recent installation of ramps and anti-slip pathways.

“Accessibility is extending to the digital space,” Mendoni said at a preview launch event for the Chronos app in May. “Real visitors and virtual visitors anywhere around the world can share historical knowledge.”

Developed by Greek telecoms provider Cosmote, the free app’s designers say they hope to build on existing features that include an artificial intelligence-powered virtual guide, Clio.

“As technologies and networks advance, with better bandwidth and lower latencies, mobile devices will be able to download even higher-quality content,” said Panayiotis Gabrielides, a senior official at the telecom company involved in the project.

Virtual reconstructions using Chronos also cover three other monuments at the Acropolis, an adjacent Roman theater and parts of the Acropolis Museum built at the foot of the rock.

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

B7

On ‘Carolyn’s Boy,’ Darius Rucker pays loving g tribute to his greatest inspiration: his late mother The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — In 1992, country star Darius Rucker ‘s mom died of a heart attack.

That was two years before his band, Hootie and the Blowfish, would release their debut record “Cracked Rear View.” It went No. 1 and eventually become diamond certified, twice.

Carolyn Rucker didn’t get to experience her son’s incredible success — either in the rock band, or in the 2000s, as a Grammy award winning country music superstar. It’s been 10 years since he released his cover of “Wagon Wheel,” one of the most popular country songs of all time.

But Darius Rucker never stopped thinking about her. On Friday, he released “Carolyn’s Boy,” his eighth solo full-length album in tribute to his mom.

“I was writing the record, I was having a bad day, you know, bad mental day. And I just remember I sat there, and I said to myself, ‘At the end of the day, I’m just still my mama’s boy.’ And that was really the moment for me, you know, that’s what the record is,” he told The Associated Press. “It’s me just being who she raised me to be.”

And though it has been over three decades since her death, Rucker says he finally got to a point where he knew it was time to thank her in this way — through a collection of 14 cheery country music tracks. “Now that I’m a dad, three times over with grown kids, I just wanted to pay tribute to my mom who never got to see any of this stuff, any of this success.”

Songs that might sound like they’re about a romantic relationship or a carefree afternoon — such as “Never Been Over,” with its folky acoustic riff, or the laidback radio hit “Beers and Sunshine” — recall Carolyn. Especially the latter. “She worked hard. She was a nurse,” he says.

AP PHOTO

Singer/songwriter Darius Rucker poses for a portrait in Los Angeles on Aug. 21, 2023, to promote his new album “Carolyn’s Boy.” “When she came home, she wanted a Budweiser and to sit on the back porch.”

But, he adds, the listener could find resonance in these songs with any kind of relationship. “Love is love, even though there’s different kinds of love,” he adds, so to others, these songs could be about “your cousin or your uncle or your brother or your mom or your dad.”

Still, “You never stop missing your mom,” he says. She was his first fan — and as he describes her, a “much better singer.” Ruck-

er’s mom inspired him to become a performer, because she was his first audience, watching a young Darius sing Al Green songs into the salt and pepper shaker.

There’s nothing somber about this tribute album — “Carolyn’s Boy” is about the good times.

“Joyful is the word,” Rucker says.

“She was a happy person.”

Optimism is found all over “Carolyn’s Boy.” Like in the only collaboration on the album, “Ol’ Church Hymn,” featuring the trio Chapel Hart, made up of sisters

Danica Hart and Devynn Hart and their cousin Trea Swindle.

Rucker saw a video of the group covering Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” on Twitter, fell in love with their choir-like voices, and slid into their DMs to ask if they’d want to cut a record. “Those family harmonies, you can’t match that,” he says.

Then there’s the nostalgic, romantic ballad “Sara,” a song Rucker went to London to write with Ed Sheeran. He’s known Sheeran since the English sing-

er opened for Taylor Swift in the U.S. early on, and they became friends.

“We just kept talking about writing together some day. And so, I said, ‘All right.’ And I actually go on a plane; I was there less than 24 hours,” he says. “We sat around and wrote all day and then we got really drunk and I came home,” he laughs.

If anything, that is the spirit Rucker carries hopes throughout “Carolyn’s Boy”: it should sound like a celebration.

TAKE NOTICE

CUMBERLAND EXECUTOR’S NOTICE IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE 23-E-1540 State of North Carolina Cumberland County NOTICE TO CREDITORS The undersigned, having qualified as the Executor of the Estate of George Morris Gore, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 1517 Marlborough Road, Fayetteville, North Carolina 28304, on or before December 20, 2023, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 20th day of September, 2023.

Lori Hough Murphy Executor of the Estate of George Morris Gore, Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305 09/20/2023, 09/27/2023, 10/4/2023 and 10/11/2023

ADMINISTRATOR CTA NOTICE IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE 23E1486 State of North Carolina Cumberland County NOTICE TO CREDITORS The undersigned, having qualified as the Administrator CTA of the Estate of Roberta McConnell Gore, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 1517 Marlborough Road, Fayetteville North Carolina 28304, on or before December 27th, 2023, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 27th day of September, 2023.

Lori H. Murphy, Administrator CTA Estate of Roberta McConnell Gore, Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305 09/27/2023, 10/04/2023, 10/11/2023 and 10/18/2023

NEW HANOVER

NEW HANOVER

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND DEBTORS

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Having qualified as Personal Representative of the Estate of Scott Royal a/k/a Scott Rundle Royal, deceased, late of New Hanover County, North Carolina, the undersigned hereby notifies all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to present them, duly verified, to the undersigned, care of their attorney, on or before December 21, 2023 (which date is at least three (3) months from the first publication of this notice), or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, firms and corporations indebted to said Estate will please make immediate settlement with the undersigned, care of their attorney.

State of North Carolina New Hanover County Notice to all Creditors.

The undersigned having qualified as the Executor of the estate of DeMette Gordon Bordeaux late of New Hanover County North Carolina does hereby notify all persons,firms and corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 1204 43rd St Wilmington,NC 28403 on or before December 27,2023 or this notice will be pleated in bar of their recovery.All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA NEW HANOVER IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION 23E 852 Having qualified as Executor of the Estate of Mary Louise Tanfield, deceased,late of New Hanover, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, firms, and corporations having claims against the Estate of said Mary Louise Tanfield to present them to the undersigned on or before the 27th day of December, 2023 or same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment.

This the 27th day of September, 2023 Alyson Ranalli Wilford 2210 S. Live Oak Parkway Wilmington, NC 28403 Executor of the Estate of Mary Louise Tanfield Sept 27, Oct 4,11,18 2023

This the 20th day of September, 2023.

Beth Thompson Register, Administrator C.T.A. of the Estate of Scott Royal a/k/a Scott Rundle Royal, Deceased c/o Randall S. Hoose, Jr. Atlantic Coast Law 314 Walnut Street, Suite 100 Wilmington, NC 28401-4160

NOTICE TO CREDITORS:

This the 11th day of September 2023 CLIFFORD DEAN ZIPF Ancillary Executor of the ESTATE OF H. WILLIAM ZIPF c/o ROBERT H. HOCHULI, JR. 219 RACINE DR., SUITE #A6 Wilmington, NC 28405

Having qualified as Executor of the Estate of Elizabeth Fields Pusey, deceased, late of New Hanover County, North Carolina, this is to notify that all persons having claims against the said estate to present such claims to the undersigned on or before the 21st day of December 2023, or this notice will be placed in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the said estate will please make immediate payment.

This 20th day of September, 2023.

Randall Craig Pusey 3 Riverside Drive Greenville, SC 29605 Robert C. Kenan, Jr. MOORE & KENAN Attorneys at Law P. O. Box 957 Burgaw, NC 28425 (910) 259-9800 09/20/2023; 09/27/23; 10/04/23; 10/11/23

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND DEBTORS NOTICE TO CREDITORS: STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF NEW HANOVER IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK

NEW HANOVER

This the 20th day of September, 2023.

FILE NO. 23 E 1338 In the Matter of the Estate of Robert Baird Godley, Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS:

Patricia Ann Lyerly, Executor of the Estate of Leon E. Wright, Deceased c/o Randall S. Hoose, Jr. Atlantic Coast Law 314 Walnut Street, Suite 100 Wilmington, NC 28401-4160

Having qualified as the Executrix of the Estate of the late Ann L. Magill, of New Hanover County North Carolina, the undersigned does hereby give notice to all persons, forms or corporations having claims against the Estate to present them in writing by giving evidence of the same to the undersigned on or before the 20th day of December 2023, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the deceased or said estate will please make immediate settlement with the undersigned.

This is the 20th day of September 2023.

Robin M. Pearsall, Executrix for the Estate of Ann L. Magill 723 Timber Lane Wilmington, NC 28405

Please publish 09/20, 09/27, 10/04, 10/11

DeMette Gordon Bordeaux II Executor of the Estate of : DeMette Gordon Bordeaux Mail to: 1204 43rd St Wilmington,NC 28403

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Published:

Having qualified as Personal Representative of the Estate of Leon E. Wright, deceased, late of New Hanover County, North Carolina, the undersigned hereby notifies all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to present them, duly verified, to the undersigned, care of their attorney, on or before December 21, 2023 (which date is at least three (3) months from the first publication of this notice), or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, firms and corporations indebted to said Estate will please make immediate settlement with the undersigned, care of their attorney.

This the 25th of September 2023.

Please publish 09/20, 09/27, 10/04, 10/11

EXECUTOR’S NOTICE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF NEW HANOVER NOTICE TO CREDITORS The undersigned,CLIFFORD DEAN ZIPF, having qualified as the Ancillary Executorof the Estate of H. WILLIAM ZIPF, Deceased, hereby notifies all persons, firms or corporations having claims against the Decedent to exhibit same to the said CLIFFORD DEAN ZIPF, at the address set out below, on or before December 20, 2023, or this notice may be pleaded in bar of any payment or recovery of same. All persons indebted to said Decedent will please make immediate payment to the undersigned at the address set out below.

NEW HANOVER

The undersigned, having qualified as Executrix of the Estate of Robert Baird Godley, deceased, this is to notify all creditors of said Estate to file their claims against the same on or before December 27, 2023, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of same. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make payment of such indebtedness at once. All claims against said Estate are to be filed with, and all debts owed to said Estate are to be paid to, the undersigned: Julie Borden Godley, Executrix of the Estate of Robert Baird Godley, 2832 Leader Circle, Wilmington, NC 28412.

This the 27th day of September, 2023.

JULIE BORDEN GODLEY Executrix of the Estate of Robert Baird Godley, Deceased ATTORNEY FOR THE ESTATE: Lonnie B. Williams, Jr. Attorney | Estate & Business Law 2325 Tattersalls Drive Wilmington, NC 28403 Telephone (910) 619-0248

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA NEW HANOVER COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTIC SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION Having qualified as Administrator of the Estate of the deceased Shanita Springer, of New Hanover County NC. This is to notify all persons, firms and corporations having any claims against the Estate of said Shanita Springer. To present them to the Administrator Of The Estate, on or before the 4th Day of January 2024. So the sum will be pleaded in Bar of the recovery. On this day, October 11th 2023, Lillian Springer 1000 Martin Street, Wilmington NC 28401. Administrator of the Estate of Shanita Springer PUBLICATION DATE OCTOBER 4TH, 2023.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS State of North Carolina of New Hanover notice to Creditors. Having qualified Executrix of the Estate of the late James E. Bowman.

The undersigned does hereby notify all persons, firms, and corporations having claims against the estate of said decedent to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before December 27, 2023 or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, firms and corporations indebted to the said estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. (For Publications 9/27, 10/4, 10/11 and 10/18) This day October 11th 2023 Sidion Nixon, 1310 Grace St. Wilmington, NC 28401

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

B8 TAKE NOTICE

CABARRUS NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 22 SP 470 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Janet Brown and William R. Brown, Jr. (Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): William R. Brown, Jr., Heirs of William R. Brown, Jr.: Janet Brown, Kristine Brown Gunther, Matthew Brown, Robert Brown a/k/a William Robert Brown, III; Heirs of Janet Brown: Amy Hansen, Tom McAleese a/k/a Thomas McAleese, Billy McAleese a/k/a William McAleese, Caitlin McAleese Locke) to Michael Lyon, Trustee(s), dated March 6, 2015, and recorded in Book No. 11316, at Page 0311 in Cabarrus County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Cabarrus County, North Carolina and the

NOTICE OF SALE IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION 23SP419 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CABARRUS IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY KRISTINE V. WADE DATED JULY 8, 2005 RECORDED IN BOOK 6081 AT PAGE 275 IN THE CABARRUS COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements therein contained and, pursuant to demand of the holder

23 SP 378 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE NORTH CAROLINA, CABARRUS COUNTY Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Albert B. Laidlaw and Roger A Carrier to Trste, Inc., Trustee(s), which was dated August 30, 2006 and recorded on August 30, 2006 in Book 6986 at Page 50, Cabarrus County Registry, North Carolina.

Default having been made of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidencing said default having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthouse where the property is located, or the usual and customary location at the county courthouse for conducting the sale on October 18, 2023 at 01:00 PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following described property situated in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, to wit:

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY 23 SP 288 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Jay Sree Sai, LLC to Miller Walker & Austin, Attorneys, Trustee(s), dated the 28th day of May, 2021, and recorded in Book 15211, Page 131, in Cabarrus County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Cabarrus County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Concord, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 Noon on October 16, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the Township of #4, in the City of Kannapolis, in the County of Cabarrus, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Parcel No.: 56334995000000 Property Address: 2808 Lane Street, Kannapolis, NC 28083 ALL THAT TRACT OR PARCEL OF LAND, SITUATE IN THE CITY OF KANNAPOLIS, TOWNSHIP #4, CABARRUS COUNTY AND STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, BEING LOT 5 AS SET FORTH ON A PLAT OF PATEL-BULSARA SUBDIVISION AS RECORDED IN THE CABARRUS COUNTY IN MAP BOOK 27 AT PAGE 94 AND BEING MORE PARTICULARLY

CUMBERLAND NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 676 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Brandon Dowling (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Brandon Dowling) to Investors Title Insurance Company., Trustee(s), dated September 15, 2022, and recorded in Book No. 11573, at Page 0713 in Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Cumberland County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed,

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 846 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by William Shuman (Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): William Shuman, Heirs of William Shuman: Carole Magana, Jack Shuman, Jr., Debra Kanter, Anita Shuman, Michael Shuman; Heirs of Michael Shuman: Marc Shuman, Steven Shuman, Michelle Lawrey) to H. Terry Hutchens, Trustee(s), dated January 15, 2008, and recorded in Book No. 7790, at Page 0350 in Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Cumberland County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on October 16, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Fayetteville in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 149 of the Ridgewood, Section One

holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Concord, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on October 16, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Concord in the County of Cabarrus, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Tax Id Number(s): 5621 43 6137 0000 Land Situated in the City of Concord in the County of Cabarrus in the State of NC. Land Situated in the Township of Number twelve (12) in the County of Cabarrus in the State of NC. Lying and Being in the City of Concord, Number twelve (12) Township of Cabarrus County, North Carolina on the Southwest side of Newell Street, Northwest, and Being all of Lot Number SIXTEEN (16) of TARLTON DOWNS Subdivision, Final Plat, as surveyed and platted, a copy of which plat is filed in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Cabarrus County in Map Book 29, Page 11, to which map book and page reference is hereby made for a complete description thereof by metes and bounds. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 547 Newell Street, Northwest, Concord, North Carolina.

Commonly known as: 547 Newell St NW, Concord, NC 28025 Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §4521.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable

Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or

renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Cabarrus County courthouse at 10:00 AM on October 25, 2023, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Kristine V. Wade, dated July 8, 2005 to secure the original principal amount of $125,200.00, and recorded in Book 6081 at Page 275 of the Cabarrus County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modified by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended.

Address of property: 4866 Bentridge Dr NW, Concord, NC 28027 Tax Parcel ID:

55092681920000 Present Record Owners: Kristine V. Wade The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are Kristine V. Wade.

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all

prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law.

After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

The date of this Notice is 4th day of October, 2023.

Grady I. Ingle, Attorney for Substitute Trustee Ingle Law Firm, PA 13801 Reese Blvd West Suite 160 Huntersville, NC 28078 (980) 771-0717 Ingle Case Number: 13143-30605

All that certain lot or parcel of land situated in Number Five (5) Township, Cabarrus County, North Carolina and more particularly described as follows: Lying and Being in Number Five (5) Township of Cabarrus County, North Carolina on the South side of Michael Avenue (formally Mitchell Avenue), adjoining the property of D.W. Johnson, Jr., J.A. Ritchie and others, and being more fully described as follows: Beginning at a point in Michael Avenue, the northwestern corner of D.W. Johnson, Jr. (Deed Book 495, Page 754) said beginning point being South 89-21-00 West 692.51 feet from the intersection of Michael Avenue and Bradfford Drive) and runs thence with the line of Johnson south 18-32-00 East 26.0 feet to an old iron stake; thence continuing with the line of Johnson (Deed Book 527, Page 388) South 08-56-42 East 175.19 feet to an iron stake, rear corner of Johnson in the line of JA Ritchie (Deed Book 482, Page 225, and Deed book 592, Page 363); thence with the line of Ritchie South 84-53-48 West 150.30 feet to an iron stake, corner of Ritchie, M, IL Smith, and A. W. Perkins, Jr. (Deed Book 553, Page 174); thence with the line of Perkins North 22-07-01 West 225.44 feet (passing an old iron stake in line at 195.44 feet) to a point in Michael Avenue; thence with Michael Avenue North 89-21-31

East 199.09 feet to the point of beginning containing 0.8333 acre, more or less, as surveyed and platted by J. Lawrence Blackley, RLS, February 11, 1987; Subject to the right of way for Michael Avenue. Being the identical property conveyed by Deed to Donald L. Vanraalte and wife, Cpnie D. Vanraalte recorded 2/12/1987 in Book 620 at Page 530 in the Cabarrus County Public Registry, North Carolina.

Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record.

Said property is commonly known as 1150 Michael Avenue, Concord, NC 28025.

A Certified Check ONLY (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale. Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts are immediately due and owing.

THIRD PARTY PURCHASERS MUST PAY THE EXCISE TAX AND THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS WHERE IS.” There are no representations of warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in,

on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale.

This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special assessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of release, and any other encumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are Albert B Laidlaw and Roger A Carrier, as Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship.

An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may, after receiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination [NCGS § 45-21.16A(b)(2)]. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the

rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Attorneys for Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 File No.: 13-01367-FC01

BOUNDED

ROUTE 85; THE FOLLOWING SIX (6) COURSES: 1.

N. 33-08-18 W. 20.25 FEET TO A FOUND CONCRETE MONUMENT; 2.

N 54-04-27 E. 58.04 FEET TO A FOUND CONCRETE MONUMENT; 3.

N. 44-54-01 E. 116.08 FEET TO A FOUND CONCRETE MONUMENT; 4.

N 31-05-40 E. 101.28 FEET TO A FOUND CONCRETE MONUMENT; 5.

N 24-52-51 E. 76.56 FEET TO A SET #5 REBAR; 6.

N 47-14-05 E. 99.18 FEET TO A POINT OF BEGINNING. CONTAINING 1.5403 ACRES (67,097 S.F.) OF LAND.

AND

DESCRIBED

AS

FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING AT N.G.S. MONUMENT “TOWELS” HAVING N.A.D. ‘83 GRID COORDINATES OF N: 640,038.10 FT. AND E: 1,534,757.12 FT.; THENCE S 27-25-36 E, A DISTANCE OF 410.09 FEET TO A FOUND CONCRETE MONUMENT ALONG THE EASTERLY RIGHT-OF-WAY LIMITS OF INTERSTATE ROUTE 85, BEING THE NORTHWESTERLY CORNER OF LOT 5 AS REFERRRED TO ABOVE AND DESIGNATED AS THE POINT OF BEGINNING; THENCE ALONG THE SOUTHERLY RIGHT OF WAY MARGIN OF LANE STREET (S.R. 2180), S 89-40-37 E. 100.22 FEET TO A FOUND CONCRETE MONUMENT AT THE NORTHWESTERLY CORNER OF LOT 4 AS SET FORTH IN THE AFORESAID PATEL-BULSARA SUBDIVISION AS RECORDED IN THE CABARRUS COUNTY IN MAP BOOK 27 AT PAGE 94; THENCE ALONG THE WESTERLY BOUNDARY OF SAID LOT 4, BEING LANDS NOW OR FORMERLY OF KAPAVI AS RECORDED IN BOOK 1777 AT PAGE 118, THE FOLLOWING THREE (3) COURSES: 1.

S 00-06-31 E. 40.23 FEET TO A FOUND #3 REBAR; 2.

S 07-17-55 W. 60.02 FEET TO A FOUND ½” ROD; 3.

S 24-52-51 W. 271.71 FEET TO A FOUND ½” ROD ON THE NORTHERLY BOUNDARY OF LANDS NOW OR FORMERLY OF RICHARD DWIGHT LOCKLEAR, TRUSTEE OF THE RESIDUARY TRUST CREATED UNDER SECTION 6 OF THE SADIE S. BRANTLEY TRUST AGREEMENT DATED 9/26/83 AS RECORDED IN BOOK 5979 AT PAGE 287; THENCE ALONG SAID NORTHERLY BOUNDARY OF LANDS OF RICHARD DWIGHT LOCKLEAR, TRUSTEE, S 87-45-08 W.253.74 FEET,TOAFOUND CONCRETE MONUMENT ON THE EASTERLY RIGHT-OF-WAY MARGIN OF INTERESTATE ROUTE 85; THENCE ALONG SAID EASTERLY RIGHT-OF-WAY MARGIN OF INTERESTATE

the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on October 23, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Fayetteville in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Parcel Number 9499-92-3061 Being all of Lot 4 In Subdivision known as “Summer Hill, Section Five, Part One” according to a plat of the same duly recorded in Plat Book 36, Page 9, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 722 Dandridge Drive, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. 45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as

Subdivision according to a map of the same duly recorded in Book of Plats 86, Page 97, Cumberland County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6853 Bailey Lake Road, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

This conveyance is made subject to Restrictive Covenants recorded in Book 4181, Page 795, Cumberland County Registry and this conveyance is made subject to utility and drainage easements appearing of record, which includes a utility easement along the front of the lot as shown on the recorded plat (being 20 feet, more or less). By a prior deed recorded in Book 4756, Page 398 and in accordance with paragraph 4(a) of Article I of the Restrictive Covenants the minimum sideline distances for this lot were fixed at 5.0 feet.

COMPLIANCE WITH WETLAND REGULATIONS. In accordance with Title 15 NCAC 2H .0500, the following DEED NOTIFICATION is recorded in the Cumberland County Registry. This DEED NOTIFICATION applies to Lot 151 of the Ridgewood, Section One Subdivision, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina as shown on the plat recorded in Book of Plats 86, Page 97 prepared by Moorman, Kizer & Reitzel, Inc., Engineers, Planners & Surveyors dated July 1994 and recorded June 29, 1994 with the DEED NOTIFICATION being as follows: A portion of this lot has been determined to meet the

LESS

AND

EXCEPT:

The property conveyed in Book 11870, Page 13 recorded in the Cabarrus County Register of Deeds Schedule

of

Personal

Property

All assets of Grantor, however arising or created, and whether now owned or existing or hereafter arising, created or acquired, including, without limitation, all Equipment (including machinery and furniture), Fixtures, Accounts, Chattel Paper, Inventory, Goods, Instruments, General Intangibles, Investment Property, Documents, Deposit Accounts, Letter of Credit Rights, tort claims, insurance claims, accounts receivable, and contract rights of Grantor; all accessions, additions, replacements, and substitutions relating got any of the foregoing; all records of any kind relating to any of the foregoing; all proceeds relating to any of the foregoing (including insurance and general intangibles), wherever located including, without limitation, affixed or to become affixed to that real property commonly known as 2808 Lane Street, Kannapolis, NC 28083.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by NCGS §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 9939 - 40232

discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE Cameron D. Scott Attorney at Law c/o Pinyan Law PLLC 1320 Matthews Mint Hill Road Matthews, NC 28105 Phone No: (704) 264-7556 Case No: 1361463 (CFC.CH)

well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. 7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars

($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property

pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

requirements for designation as a regulatory wetland.

Any subsequent fill or alteration of this wetland shall conform to the requirements of the state wetland rules adopted by the State of North Carolina in force at the time of the proposed alteration. The intent of this provision is to prevent additional wetland fill, so the property owner should not assume that a future application for fill would be approved. The property owner shall report the name of the subdivision in any application pertaining to said wetland rules. The covenant is intended to ensure continued compliance with wetland rules adopted by the State of North Carolina and therefore benefits may be enforced by the State of North Carolina. This covenant is to run with the land and shall be binding on all parties and all persons claiming under them.

authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property

An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. 45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. 7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 15162 - 67906

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 15714 - 71514

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

B9

TAKE NOTICE

CUMBERLAND NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION

JERRY MEYER MILLER TRUST,

Fayetteville, North Carolina 28304

Plaintiff,

Take notice that a pleading seeking relief against you has been filed in the above entitled action. The nature of the relief being sought is as follows: The Plaintiff in the above entitled action has filed a Complaint for Renewal of Judgment pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 1-47 and other applicable law, to bring an action to obtain a new Judgment, renewing the Prior Judgment for an additional term of ten (10) years. You are required to make defense to such pleading no later than November 20, 2023 (40 days from the date of first publication) and upon your failure to do so the party seeking service against you will apply to the court for the relief sought.

v.

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE DISTRICT COURT DIVISION FILE NO. 23 CVD 4897

KEITH L. CLARK, VERONIKA CLARK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY- INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, and SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC., Substitute Trustee,

NORTH CAROLINA

Defendants.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY

TO: Keith L. Clark and Veronika Clark 2951 Cosmo Drive, Apt. B

23 SP 490 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE NORTH CAROLINA, CUMBERLAND COUNTY Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Patricia Key Landreth to BB&T Collateral Service Corporation, Trustee(s), which was dated February 2, 2012 and recorded on February 24, 2012 in Book 8838 at Page 862, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina.

Default having been made of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidencing said default having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthouse where the property is located, or the usual and customary location at the county courthouse for conducting the sale on October 25,

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION CUMBERLAND COUNTY 21SP10 IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY DEBRA E. MOORE DATED APRIL 11, 2012 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 8875 AT PAGE 309 IN THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at

DURHAM IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION 22SP3 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF DURHAM IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY KIM MARIE LAVKA DATED AUGUST 31, 2017 RECORDED IN BOOK 8262 AT PAGE 90 IN THE DURHAM COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE

22 SP 901 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE NORTH CAROLINA, DURHAM COUNTY Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Annie Ruth Charleston to Wells Fargo Financial National Bank, c/o Specialized Services, Trustee(s), which was dated December 23, 2011 and recorded on January 5, 2012 in Book 6879 at Page 651, Durham County Registry, North Carolina.

Default having been made of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidencing said default having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthouse where the property is located, or the usual and customary location at the county courthouse for conducting the sale on October 19, 2023 at 11:30 AM, and will sell to the highest bidder

FORSYTH

2023 at 01:30 PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following described property situated in Cumberland County, North Carolina, to wit: A tract or parcel of land in the County of CUMBERLAND and State of North Carolina, in CROSS CREEK Township, namely: BEING all of Lot No. 12, Block C, as shown on a plat entitled Huntington Park, as recorded in Book of Plats 30, Page 2, Cumberland County, North Carolina Registry, and being a portion of the property described in Deed recorded in Book 2117, Page 431, Cumberland County, North Carolina Registry.

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION 22 CVS 5407

IREDELL NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 15 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Richard T. McDaniel (Deceased) and Deborah L. McDaniel (Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Richard T. McDaniel and Deborah L. McDaniel, Heirs of Deborah L. McDaniel: Darren M McDaniel, Richard T. McDaniel, Jr. , Brian K. McDaniel, Greg J. McDaniel; Heirs of Greg J. McDaniel: Dalton McDaniel) to PRLAP, Inc., Trustee(s), dated September 10, 2009, and recorded in Book No. 2027, at Page 1144 in Iredell County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Iredell County, North Carolina and

AMENDED NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 12 SP 797 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Shawn E. Collins and Sheila Morris Collins (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Shawn Everett Collins and Sheila Jo Collins) to Jan G. Griffin, Patricia M. Vogel or Ronnie D. Blanton, Trustee(s), dated March 11, 2005, and recorded in Book No. 1629, at Page 1654 in Iredell County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Iredell County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Statesville, Iredell County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for

A Certified Check ONLY (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale.

Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts are immediately due and owing. THIRD PARTY PURCHASERS MUST PAY THE EXCISE TAX AND THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED.

HUTCHENS LAW FIRM LLP By: J. Scott Flowers N.C. State Bar No.: 31525 Post Office Box 2505 Fayetteville, NC 28302 Telephone: (910) 864-6888 Facsimile: (910) 867-8732 Attorneys for Plaintiff Dates of Publication: 10/11/23, 10/18/23, and 10/25/23 THIS IS A COMMUNICATION FROM A DEBT COLLECTOR. THE PURPOSE OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS TO COLLECT A DEBT AND

of the property is/are Charles M. Brittain III, Guardian of the Estate of Patricia A. Landreth, an incompetent.

An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may, after receiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination [NCGS § 45-21.16A(b)(2)]. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE, except as stated below in the instance of bankruptcy protection.

IF YOU ARE UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE BANKRUPTCY COURT OR HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED AS A RESULT OF A BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDING, THIS NOTICE IS GIVEN TO YOU PURSUANT TO STATUTORY REQUIREMENT AND FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES AND IS NOT INTENDED AS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT OR AS AN ACT TO COLLECT, ASSESS, OR RECOVER ALL OR ANY PORTION OF THE DEBT FROM YOU PERSONALLY.

for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Said property is commonly known as 3307 Granville

Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS WHERE IS.” There are no representations of warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special assessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of release, and any other encumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s)

the Cumberland County courthouse at 11:00AM on October 25, 2023, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Debra E. Moore, dated April 11, 2012 to secure the original principal amount of $116,860.00, and recorded in Book 8875 at Page 309 of the Cumberland County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modified by other instruments appearing in the public record.

Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended.

Address of property: 1 5 1 1 Diplomat Dr, Fayetteville, NC 28304 Tax Parcel ID: 9496-535301 Present Record Owners: Robin Hood Investments, LLC

The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are Robin Hood Investments, LLC. The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required

from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be

liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

The date of this Notice is August 30, 2023. _________ ________________ ____________ Jason K. Purser, NCSB# 28031 Morgan R. Lewis, NCSB# 57732 Attorney for LLG Trustee, LLC, Substitute Trustee LOGS Legal Group LLP 10130 Perimeter Parkway, Suite 400 Charlotte, NC 28216 (704) 333-8107 | (704) 333-8156 Fax | www.LOGS. com Posted: By:

Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements therein contained and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Durham County courthouse at 10:00 AM on October 18, 2023, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Durham County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Kim Marie Lavka, dated August 31, 2017 to secure the original principal amount of $167,450.00, and recorded in Book 8262 at Page 90 of the Durham County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modified by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended.

Address of property: 3635 Rawdon Dr, Durham, NC 27713 Tax Parcel ID: 155811 Present Record Owners: Kim Marie Lavka

out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law.

After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

This being the same property conveyed to DON H. LANDRETH AND PATRICIA A. LANDRETH, dated 03/23/1971 and recorded in Book 2252, Page 363, in the CUMBERLAND County Recorders Office.

Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record.

for cash the following described property situated in Durham County, North Carolina, to wit: ALL THAT CERTAIN LOT OR PARCEL OF LAND SITUATED IN THE CITY OF DURHAM TOWNSHIP, DURHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA AND MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are Kim Marie Lavka.

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising

BEGINNING AT A STAKE ON THE NORTH SIDE OF PRICE STREET, 150 FEET IN AN EASTERLY DIRECTION FROMTHE EAST SIDE OF FAYETTEVILLE STREET AT THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF LOT NO. 9 IN BLOCK C AND RUNNING THENCE NORTH 16 DEGREES 57 MINUTES EAST 125 FEET TO A STAKE; THENCE SOUTH 73 DEGREES 03 MINUTES EAST 50 FEET TO A STAKE, THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF LOT NO. 11; THENCE SOUTH 16 DEGREES 57 MINUTES WEST 125 FEET TO A STAKE ON THE NORTH SIDE OF PRICE STREET; THENCE ALONG AND WITH THE NORTH SIDE OF SAID PRICE STREET, NORTH 73 DEGREES 03 MINUTES WEST 50 FEET TO A STAKE, THE POINT OF BEGINNING, AND BEING LOT NO. 10, BLOCK C OF STOKEDALE AS PER PLAT AND SURVEY, NOW ON FILE IN THE OFFICE OF THE REGISTER OF DEEDS OF DURHAM COUNTY IN PLAT BOOK 5, PAGE 44.

THE PROPERTY HEREINABOVE DESCRIBED WAS ACQUIRED BY GRANTOR BY INSTRUMENT RECORDED IN BOOK 207, PAGE 523 AND BOOK 73, PAGE 293. A MAP SHOWING THE ABOVE DESCRIBED PROPERTY IS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 5 PAGE 44.

Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record.

Said property is commonly known as 507 Price Ave, Durham, NC 27701.

A Certified Check ONLY (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale.

Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts are immediately due and owing. THIRD PARTY PURCHASERS MUST PAY THE EXCISE TAX AND THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS WHERE IS.” There are no representations of warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

SERVICES, INC., Substitute Trustee Defendant(s).

COUNTY OF FORSYTH

NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION

Dr, Fayetteville, NC 28303.

This the 9th day of October, 2023.

NEWREZ, LLC d/b/a SHELLPOINT MORTGAGE SERVICING, Plaintiff, V. THE UNKNOWN HEIRS OF DENNIS DEAN HALL, by and through his GUARDIAN AD LITEM, MARIA SATTERFIELD and SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE

the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Statesville, Iredell County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on October 19, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Mooresville in the County of Iredell, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of LOT 58 of MILLS POND subdivision, PHASE 2, as shown on plat recorded in Plat Book 25 at page 223, 224 and 225, in the office of the Register of Deeds for Iredell County, North Carolina, to which reference is hereby made for greater certainty of description. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 124 Mikron Lane, Mooresville, North Carolina.

This conveyance is made subject to all restrictions, easements and rights of way of record, including those for utilities and public roadways.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-

foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on October 12, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Mooresville in the County of Iredell, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 547, Phase 5 of THE POINT Subdivision as shown on a map thereof recorded in Map Book 33 at Page 98 in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Iredell County, North Carolina, reference to which map is hereby made for a more complete description of the property. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 108 Wescoe Court, Mooresville, North Carolina. Parcel ID 4625754233.000 Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §4521.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S.

TO: TIFFANY LANG and ABIGAIL GORDY a/k/a ABIGAIL FELDER Take notice that a pleading seeking relief against you has been filed in the above-entitled action. The nature of the relief being sought is as follows: Judicial Foreclosure of a Deed of Trust encumbering real property located at 4896 Candlelight Drive

21.23.

Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Attorneys for Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 File No.: 23-07217-FC01

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS

20-111015

The date of this Notice is 13th day of September, 2023.

Grady I. Ingle, Attorney for Substitute Trustee Ingle Law Firm, PA 13801 Reese Blvd West Suite 160 Huntersville, NC 28078 (980) 771-0717 Ingle Case Number: 5596-6631

existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special assessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of release, and any other encumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are ALL LAWFUL HEIRS OF ANNIE RUTH CHARLESTON. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may, after receiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination [NCGS § 45-21.16A(b)(2)]. Upon termination of a rental

agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Attorneys for Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 File No.: 22-18843-FC01

Winston Salem, North Carolina 27107.

Jeffrey A. Bunda N.C. Bar No.: 34432 6230 Fairview Road, Suite 315 Charlotte, NC 28210 Telephone: (704) 357-6262 Attorney for Plaintiff

You are required to make defense to such pleading no later than Thursday October 26, 2023 and upon your failure to do so the party seeking service against you will apply to the court for the relief sought.

This the ____ day of September, 2023.

HUTCHENS LAW FIRM LLP

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property

pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

§7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of

the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after

receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 12316 - 53428

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 1081538 - 10185

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

B10 TAKE NOTICE

IREDELL NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 297 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Adrian Redman (Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Adrian Redman, Heirs of Adrian Redman: Arron Bryson Redman a/k/a Aaron Bryson Redman) to Vylla Title, LLC, Trustee(s), dated December 19, 2019, and recorded in Book No. 2667, at Page 1763 in Iredell County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Iredell County, North Carolina and

JOHNSTON NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23SP001201-500 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by William Lee Tucker, III and Kassy Tucker (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): William Lee Tucker, III and Kassy Tucker) to R. Isaac Parker Attorney at Law 212 East Main Street Benson, NC 27504, Trustee(s), dated March 4, 2019, and recorded in Book No. 5307, at Page 609 in Johnston County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Johnston County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute

NEW HANOVER NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 256 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made

by Lisa P. Bullock and Cornelius E. Bullock, Jr. (Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Cornelius E. Bullock, Jr. and Lisa P. Bullock) to First American Title Insurance Co, Trustee(s), dated May 23, 2007, and recorded in Book No. 5186, at Page 814 in New Hanover County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds New Hanover County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina,

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION NEW HANOVER COUNTY 23sp422 IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY MARY A. LEVITE DATED MAY 24, 2010 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 5489 AT PAGE 1292 IN THE NEW HANOVER COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 332 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made

by Paul M. Verna and Cathleen Verna (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Paul M. Verna and Cathleen Verna) to Michael Lyon, Trustee(s), dated September 4, 2007, and recorded in Book No. 5228, at Page 1728 in New Hanover County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds New Hanover County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 412 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made

by Roger Sterling Wells, III and Anna Mae Wells (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Roger Sterling Wells, III and Anna Mae Wells) to The Law Office of Jonathan Richardson, PLLC, Trustee(s), dated March 4, 2022, and recorded in Book No. RB 6544, at Page 1382 in New Hanover County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds New Hanover County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 317 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by David L. Brannock (Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): David L. Brannock, Heirs of David L. Brannock: Barbara Burton, Kenneth W. Brannock, William Brannock, Jr., Cynthia Brannock; Heirs of William Brannock, Jr.: Joyce Cressman Brannock; Heirs of Cynthia Brannock: Serena Pulliam) to Pamela S. Cox, Trustee(s), dated November 4, 2013, and recorded in Book No. 5781, at Page 301 in New Hanover County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds New Hanover County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the

ONSLOW NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 417 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Ryan Little (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Ryan Little) to Hilton T. Hutchens, Jr. Esq., Trustee(s), dated March 23, 2022, and recorded in Book No. 5713, at Page 176 in Onslow County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Onslow County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the

the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Statesville, Iredell County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on October 26, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Statesville in the County of Iredell, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: All that certain lot, parcel of land or condominium unit situated in the Iredell County, North Carolina and more particularly described as follows: BEING ALL of Lot No. 5 of REVISION OF SURVEY FOR RIVERGREEN, as the same is platted, planned and recorded in Plat Book 36, pages 85 & 86 Iredell County Registry. Including the Unit located thereon; said Unit being located at 119 Sweetwater Drive, Statesville, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party,

that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is

greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to

a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Smithfield, Johnston County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 11:00 AM on October 17, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Four Oaks in the County of Johnston, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 14 of Sanders Landing Subdivision, Phase I, as recorded in Plat Book 41, Page 291 and recombined in Plat Book 45, Page 545, Johnston County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 383 Heath Road, Four Oaks, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the

county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

Also being conveyed herewith is a 30’ access easement more particularly shown & a survey entitled, “Sanders Landing”, prepared by W. Stanton Massengill, RLS, dated 02-04-95 and recorded in Flat Book 45, Page 545, Johnston County Registry. See also Plat recorded in Plat Book 41, Page 65, Johnston County Registry.

Said property is commonly known as 383 Health Read, Four Oaks, NC 27524.

or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on October 24, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Kure Beach in the County of New Hanover, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: That real estate located in the County of NEW HANOVER, State of NORTH CAROLINA, more particularly described as follows:

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 13800 - 60576

A UNIT OWNERSHIP in real property pursuant to Chapter 47-C of the General Statutes of North Carolina and being known and designated as Unit 107B in Dow Avenue, A Condominium, a condominium development as the same is shown and described on map thereof recorded in Condominium Plat Book 17 at Pages 28 and 29 in the Office the Register of Deeds of New Hanover County, North Carolina, and in the Amended Declaration of condominium recorded in Book 5178 at Page 2874 and following pages in said Registry, and all amendments and supplements thereto; sand said unit is also conveyed SUBJECT TO AND TOGETHER WITH all of the rights easements, covenants, terms and conditions of said Declaration and all amendments and supplements thereto, and being the land s described, or intended to be described, in the deed recorded in Book 5135 at

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this

property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of

public auction at the usual place of sale at the New Hanover County courthouse at 10:00AM on October 24, 2023, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in New Hanover County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Mary A. Levite, dated May 24, 2010 to secure the original principal amount of $114,300.00, and recorded in Book 5489 at Page 1292 of the New Hanover County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modified by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended.

Address of property: 3 3 1 5 Needle Rush Ct, Castle Hayne, NC 28429 Tax Parcel ID: R02617001-002-000 Present Record Owners: T h e

Estate of Mary A. Levite The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are The Estate of Mary A. Levite.

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of five percent (5%)

of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or

was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

The date of this Notice is October 5, 2023. _____________________________________ Jason K. Purser, NCSB# 28031 Attorney for LLG Trustee, LLC, Substitute Trustee LOGS Legal Group LLP 10130 Perimeter Parkway, Suite 400 Charlotte, NC 28216 (704) 333-8107 | (704) 333-8156 Fax | www.LOGS. com Posted: By:

sales, at 12:00 PM on October 17, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Wilmington in the County of New Hanover, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING ALL of Lot 2, Section 1 of Hidden Pointe On The Lake, as shown on a map recorded in Map Book 44, Page 331 of the New Hanover County Registry, reference to which is hereby made for a more complete description. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6337 Northshore Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the

Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is

the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of

termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on October 24, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Carolina Beach in the County of New Hanover, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot #2, block #57 of the plan of Carolina Beach according to Map prepared by J.L. Becton, C.E., and duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of New Hanover County, in Map Book #2, at Page #106. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 802 South Third Street, Carolina Beach, North Carolina.

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time

of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into

or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must

be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or

renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed.

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and

must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit.

The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered

into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on October 24, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Wilmington in the County of New Hanover, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lots 99 and 100 of the Subdivision of Arcadia, according to a map thereof duly recorded in Map Book 2, at Page 88, New Hanover County Registry, reference to which is hereby mad for a more particular description. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 225 North 26th Street, Wilmington, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §4521.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Jacksonville, Onslow County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:00 AM on October 26, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Hubert in the County of Onslow, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot No. 11, Whispering Pines Subdivision, Section Two as shown on that Plat by Pate Phillips, R.L.S. and recorded in Map Book 25, Page 196, Onslow County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 116 Pine Needle Drive, Hubert, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00)

Page 2309 in said Registry. Including the Unit located thereon; said Unit being located at 107 Dow Avenue, Unit B , Kure Beach, North Carolina.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 15169 - 67941

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 7523 - 28669

23-116639

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 13619 - 59740

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 15915 - 72745

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 15498 - 69928

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 15912 - 72742

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

B11

TAKE NOTICE

ONSLOW NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 190 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made

by Drake William David Sturtz and Gianna Selene Sturtz (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Drake William David Sturtz and Gianna Selene Sturtz) to Pamela S. Cox, Trustee(s), dated March 14, 2019, and recorded in Book No. 4912, at Page 184 in Onslow County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Onslow County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having

RANDOLPH 23-116679 IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION RANDOLPH COUNTY 23sp256 IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY NANCY SNYDER DATED APRIL 8, 2011 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 2227 AT PAGE 1101 IN THE RANDOLPH COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION RANDOLPH COUNTY 22sp399 IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY DAVID B. HAITHCOCK DATED MARCH 11, 2013 AND RECORDED IN BOOK RE2328 AT PAGE 1759 IN THE RANDOLPH COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23 SP 249 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Raymond Rudolph Isom, Jr. and Margaret Susan Thomas Isom (Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Margaret Susan Thomas Isom, Heirs of Margaret Susan Thomas Isom: Matthew Aaron Craven, Jeremy Michael Craven) to Douglas Douglas and Connie Lampieri, Trustee(s), dated July 18, 2003, and recorded in Book No. 1826, at Page 0371 in Randolph County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Randolph County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale

WAKE NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23SP002734-910 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Skyline Real Estate Group Of NC, Inc., a North Carolina Corporation (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Skyline Real Estate Group Of NC, Inc., a North Carolina Corporation) to Mitchell & Associates Law Firm, PLLC, Trustee(s), dated August 30, 2018, and recorded in Book No. 017230, at Page 01975 in Wake County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Wake County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION WAKE COUNTY 23SP002621-910 IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY EDWARD V. WILLIAMS AND JAN L. WILLIAMS DATED OCTOBER 12, 2009 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 13727 AT PAGE 1237 IN THE WAKE COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 23SP002761-910 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Anthony L. Bowen and Ruth Bowen (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Anthony L. Bowen and Ruth Bowen) to Verdugo Trustee Service Corporation, Trustee(s), dated April 23, 2013, and recorded in Book No. 015281, at Page 02431 in Wake County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Wake County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the Wake County Courthouse door, the Salisbury Street entrance in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on October 23, 2023 and will sell

directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Jacksonville, Onslow County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:00 AM on October 25, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Jacksonville in the County of Onslow, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 5, WYNDHAM HILLS, SECTION I as shown on that plat recorded in Book 39, Page 52, Onslow County Registry. Together with improvements thereon; said property being located at 2414 Hines Farm Road, Jacksonville, North Carolina.

($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit.

The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the

property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination.

Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents

($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed.

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars

Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Randolph County courthouse at 10:00AM on October 24, 2023, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Randolph County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Nancy Snyder, dated April 8, 2011 to secure the original principal amount of $111,605.00, and recorded in Book 2227 at Page 1101 of the Randolph County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modified by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended.

Address of property: 3871 Old Liberty Rd, Franklinville, NC 27248 Tax Parcel ID: 7784-25-3234 Present Record Owners: The Estate of Nancy Snyder The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are The Estate of Nancy Snyder.

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition

expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted.

This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS

residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

The date of this Notice is October 5, 2023. _________ ____________________________ Jason K. Purser, NCSB# 28031 Attorney for LLG Trustee, LLC, Substitute Trustee LOGS Legal Group LLP 10130 Perimeter Parkway, Suite 400 Charlotte, NC 28216 (704) 333-8107 | (704) 333-8156 Fax | www.

LOGS.com Posted: By:

the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Randolph County courthouse at 11:00AM on October 26, 2023, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Randolph County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed David B. Haithcock, dated March 11, 2013 to secure the original principal amount of $78,900.00, and recorded in Book RE2328 at Page 1759 of the Randolph County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modified by other instruments appearing in the public record.

Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended.

Address of property: 2581 Carl Allred Rd, Franklinville, NC 27248 Tax Parcel ID: 7783373217

Present Record Owners: The Estate of David B. Haithcock The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are The Estate of David B. Haithcock.

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit

of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted.

This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007,

be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

The date of this Notice is September 11, 2023. _________ ________________ ____________ Jason K. Purser, NCSB# 28031 Morgan R. Lewis, NCSB# 57732 Attorney for LLG Trustee, LLC, Substitute Trustee LOGS Legal Group LLP 10130 Perimeter Parkway, Suite 400 Charlotte, NC 28216 (704) 333-8107 | (704) 333-8156 Fax | www.

LOGS.com Posted: By:

at the courthouse door in Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:00 AM on October 24, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Archdale in the County of Randolph, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of lot 22 of Penman Heights subdivision, as per plat thereof recorded in plat book 25, page 1, Randolph County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 3429 Hilltop Drive, Archdale, North Carolina.

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed.

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at

the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit.

The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may

after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination.

Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

NC 27603

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination.

Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

Commonly known as: 5315 Old Stage Rd, Raleigh,

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed.

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or

prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit.

The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Wake County courthouse at 11:00AM on October 26, 2023, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Wake County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Edward V. Williams and Jan L. Williams, dated October 12, 2009 to secure the original principal amount of $128,200.00, and recorded in Book 13727 at Page 1237 of the Wake County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modified by other instruments appearing in the public record.

Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended.

Address of property: 7 1 0 1 Shellburne Dr, Raleigh, NC 27612 Tax Parcel ID: 0136305

Present Record Owners: Edward V. Williams and Jan L. Williams The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are Edward V. Williams and Jan L. Williams.

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated

with the foreclosure. A deposit of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in

favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

The date of this Notice is September 14, 2023. _________ ________________ ____________ Jason K. Purser, NCSB# 28031 Morgan R. Lewis, NCSB# 57732 Attorney for LLG Trustee, LLC, Substitute Trustee LOGS Legal Group LLP 10130 Perimeter Parkway, Suite 400 Charlotte, NC 28216 (704) 333-8107 | (704) 333-8156 Fax | www.LOGS. com Posted: By:

to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Fuquay Varina in the County of Wake, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: The land referred to herein below is situated in the county of WAKE, State of NC and is described as follows:

§45-21.23.

to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit.

The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination.

Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

Trustee will offer for sale at the Wake County Courthouse door, the Salisbury Street entrance in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on October 23, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Raleigh in the County of Wake, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Beginning at a stake in the eastern edge of the Old Stage Road 200 feet south of the intersection of the eastern edge of the Old Stage Road with the southern edge of Sunny Lane; and runs thence North 1 30 minutes east along the eastern edge of the Old Stage Road 50 feet to a stake, the southwestern corner of Lot No. 10; thence south 88 30 minutes east along the southern boundary line of Lot No. 10 a distance of 150 feet to a stake, the southeastern corner of Lot No. 10; thence north 88 30 minutes west 150 feet to the point of beginning, and being all of Lot Z of part one of Echo Heights according to map and subdivision of same prepared by J/L/Castleberry, Jr., Engineer, on April 8, 1957. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 5315 Old Stage Road, Raleigh, North Carolina.

ALL that parcel of land in Wake County, State of North Carolina, as described in Deed Book 12334, Page 1960, ID# 199096, Being known and designated as: Lot 74, Cottonwood Subdivision, Phase 2, filed in Plat Book 1993, Page 671. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 700 Perry Howard Road, Fuquay Varina, North Carolina.

More Commonly known as: 700 Perry Howard Road, Fuquay Varina, NC 27526 Tax/Parcel ID: 199096 Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed.

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 11501 - 49305

23-116679

22-114685

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 15931 - 72855

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 15062 - 70076

23-116353

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 8768 - 34281

B12

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

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Ready for the fair N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler speaks on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023 at the N.C. State Fairgrounds ahead of the 2023 State Fair. See North State Journal for a roundup of this year’s best new foods to sample when the fair kicks off on Thursday, Oct. 12.

COUNTY NEWS North Carolina issues urgent call for volunteer firefighters A crucial recruitment campaign is currently underway across North Carolina, aiming to tackle the severe shortage of volunteer firefighters throughout the state, with a special emphasis on departments and associations in local areas.

The recruitment initiative coincides with Fire Prevention Month in October, particularly Fire Prevention Week from Oct. 8-14. The campaign’s focus this year is on cooking safety, the cause of 51% of all home fires. Fire departments are dedicated to educating their communities about the importance of fire safety and prevention.

There is an urgent need for new recruits as North Carolina has seen a decrease of 4,963 volunteer firefighters since 2020. Considering that over 80% of all North Carolina firefighters are volunteers, the state is in dire need of more individuals willing to take up these roles.

Volunteering as a firefighter offers a rewarding experience, allowing individuals to make a tangible difference in their communities. Volunteers acquire invaluable skills and knowledge and significantly impact their neighbors’ lives.

Local fire departments across the state need volunteers of all skill levels and abilities who can respond to emergencies when needed.

The two-year recruitment and retention campaign is specifically targeting atrisk fire departments and associations throughout North Carolina. For more information about becoming a volunteer firefighter and making a difference in your community, visit www.

VolunteerFireNC.org.

USDA announces initiatives benefiting North Carolina’s agricultural sector Randolph Record WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) unveiled a series of initiatives last week with significant implications for North Carolina’s farmers. These measures aim to bolster the nation’s agricultural sector, from providing financial relief to those affected by natural disasters to launching a pilot program designed to address workforce challenges.

On September 27, the USDA announced the disbursement of over $1.75 billion in emergency relief payments to eligible farmers and livestock producers. This funding is intended to aid those affected by natural disasters that occurred in 2020, 2021, and 2022. North Carolina, with its diverse agricultural landscape, is among the states expected to benefit significantly from this relief.

A substantial portion of this relief, over $581 million, is allocated for the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) to provide 2021 and 2022 drought and wildfire emergency relief.

Additionally, the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) will deliver more than $1.17 billion in crop disaster assistance payments.

North Carolina’s organic dairy industry received a boost on September 26 when the USDA announced a second round of payments through the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP). This additional $5 million aims to help organic dairy producers, including those in North Carolina, navigate challenges like market volatility and rising costs. With the first round of ODMAP payments disbursing $15 million, the total support now stands at $20 million.

“This program is critical to

“Our country is facing growing agriculture workforce challenges that jeopardize our farmers’ ability to be competitive.”

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack keeping small, organic dairies sustainable as they continue to weather a combination of challenges outside of their control,” said Bob Etheridge, FSA State Executive Director in North Carolina. “The funding from ODMAP will give organic dairy producers additional economic support to stay in operation until markets return to more favorable conditions.”

The USDA’s announcement

Albemarle city council approves temporary Goodwill donation center Allows for a mobile donation center ahead of the permanent store opening in 2024

By Jesse Deal North State Journal ALBEMARLE — The Albemarle City Council voted 4-1 at its Oct. 2 meeting to approve a special use permit allowing Goodwill Industries to establish a temporary donation center in the city.

The mobile trailer for donations will be situated at the Al-

bemarle Crossing Shopping Center (814 N.C. Highway 24-27 Bypass East), where construction for a permanent Goodwill store is ongoing, with a tentative opening date in February 2024.

The temporary center will operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Kevin Robinson, Albemarle Planning and Development Services director, presented Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont’s application to the council. Stephanie Hoffman, a real estate manager for Goodwill, provided detailed information about the mobile trailer and

donation process.

“Our staff believes the proposed donation center will not endanger public health and safety. It is in a well-lit, lightly-used area of an existing parking lot, away from the city right-of-way,” Robinson said. “Our staff believes that, based on the intended use, it will have little to no negative impact on nearby properties. Most usage will be during business hours and with an attendant on site.”

Goodwill’s mobile trailer will accept donations of clothing, shoes, books, toys, housewares, and small household electronics.

All items not suitable for store

of the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program (FLSP Program) on September 22 has potential benefits for North Carolina’s agricultural workforce. Backed by up to $65 million from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, this program aims to bolster the resilience of the food and agricultural supply chain, with a focus on addressing labor shortages and enhancing working conditions.

“Our country is facing growing agriculture workforce challenges that jeopardize our farmers’ ability to be competitive, threatens the resiliency, abundance and safety of our food system, and has repercussions on our overall economy,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

“At the same time, record numbers of people are interested in living and working in the United States, including from Northern Central America.”

use, such as combustible materials, will be properly disposed of through recycling or approved disposal methods.

“We are beyond excited to be coming to Albemarle,” said Hoffman, who added that Goodwill is experienced in hosting mobile donation centers in areas where it plans to open new stores. “We’ve been trying to get a center here for many years.

Now, things have come together so we’re very excited that we See GOODWILL, page 2

$2.00

Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

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Stanly County Journal ISSN: 2575-2278 Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Jordan Golson Locals Editor Cory Lavalette Sports Editor Shawn Krest Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday as part of North State Journal 1550 N.C. Hwy 24/27 W, Albemarle, N.C. 28001 TO SUBSCRIBE: 336-283-6305 STANLYJOURNAL.COM Annual Subscription Price: $100.00 Periodicals Postage Paid at Raleigh, N.C. and at additional mailing offices.

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Stanly County Schools considers contract review with ESS Board discusses potential changes to ESS contract and announces pay raises following state budget approval

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal ALBEMARLE — The Stanly County Schools Board of Education convened Tuesday, Oct. 3, with a limited number of reports presented to the board.

The board received several updates on committee reports, particularly from the facility and finance committees.

The Facility Committee provided the first update.

“We met with Albemarle Council to discuss future growth plans and development in the surrounding areas,” said Vice Chair Carla Poplin. “The meeting was productive in terms of discussion, but there

were some concerns.”

Poplin expressed concerns about potential plans to add nearly 4,000 homes in Albemarle and the surrounding area.

Given the issue of aging facilities, SCS is exploring ways to address the challenges associated with growth.

“We’re going to continue those meetings and we do have plans to meet with the municipalities from other cities and speak as part of our future facility plans,” Poplin said.

The Finance Committee reported that they had postponed the contract review for ESS until their next work session.

“ESS is a private company that provides the school system with substitute teachers and teacher assistants,” said board member Dustin Lisk. “It was a contract entered into in late 2018 by the former board and superintendent at that time and it had a five-year term on it

Stanly County Schools is exploring ways to address the challenges associated with growth. with a renewal every year. That term is now up.

“Some of the things that we are reviewing is moving on from ESS where we hire our own teacher assistants that work for the school system.

Teacher assistants that can drive buses which is part of the agreement when you come on as a teacher assistant. We also need to look, as a committee, the non-solicit in the agreement. It was a favorable, one-sided contract where we could not hire ESS employees without their written permission, but they could take our employees. That is seeming-

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ly what happened. Part of the contract was using our resources. Our social media, our marketing resources, having links on our website and essentially using a lot of our taxpayer dollars to do their private recruitment efforts.”

Lisk also explained that while ESS teacher assistants earn more at a base rate of $16.72 an hour compared to SCS teacher assistants at $16.39 an hour, when you factor in pension and added healthcare, the total compensation amounts to about $26.45 per hour.

Finally, the district can now proceed with their planned pay raises thanks to the state budget being passed.

“We now have a legal budget that has been approved from the state,” said Chief Financial Officer Terry Dudney. “I’ve also received documentation on how to implement pay raises and how the allotments will be coming down within the next week.”

“All our employees understood that raises were coming and were notified,” Lisk said.

“Now, as of October 2, that is funded.”

The Stanly County Schools Board of Education will hold its next meeting Nov. 7.

X removes article headlines in latest platform update, widening a rift with news media The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — X, formerly known as Twitter, has stopped showing headlines on articles shared on the platform.

Now, X only displays an article’s lead image and a link to the story.

Plans for the change were first reported by Fortune in August, when owner Elon Musk confirmed in a post that he thought the change— which came from him “directly” — would “greatly improve the esthetics” of posts.

Linked articles now appear as an image and include text in the left-hand corner noting the domain of the link. Users must click on the image if they wish to visit the full article, which could lead

to confusion.

Musk’s platform has been the target of a lot of criticism recently, including accusations by a top European Union official who said that X has “the largest ratio of mis- or disinformation posts.”

The Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil-rights organization, has accused Musk of allowing antisemitism and hate speech to spread on the platform.

Musk’s latest decision builds on the growing rift between the platform and news organizations who for years used it to build their audiences. Among his more controversial moves was a decision to upend the site’s verification system.

Under Twitter’s previous leadership, journalists — no matter

how small their outlet — could receive a blue checkmark next to their username that verified they were who they said they were.

Celebrities and other public figures could also receive a verification. That changed when Musk ended the verification process and Twitter started doling out blue checkmarks to anyone who wanted one — without verifying their identity — as long as they pay a monthly subscription fee.

Musk has also gutted the team that had been responsible for moderating the content flowing across the platform, temporarily suspended accounts of journalists and has appeared to throttle, or slow down access to links, to media sites such as The New York Times.

x GAUTIER, ZACHARY RANDALL (W /M/30), RESISTING PUBLIC OFFICER, 09/29/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

(B /M/24), FELONY LARCENY, 09/29/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

AP PHOTO

An “X” sign rests atop the company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, July 28, 2023

CRIME LOG

x TAYLOR, TOMMY LEE (W /M/22), ASSAULT ON FEMALE, 10/02/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office x ALLEN, ANTHONY REYNARD (B /M/25), FIRST DEGREE MURDER, 09/29/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

GOODWILL from page 1

found the right property. Dusty Mason, the landlord, has been amazing to work with and we’re super excited about contributing to your community and hiring a lot of folks to work in the store.”

Amy Jordan, vice president of business development and facilities for Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont, told

x PITTS, MARQUEZ BRYANT (B /M/25), FELONY LARCENY, 09/29/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

x LOVE, DOMINIQUE CARDELL (B /M/26), OBTAIN PROPERTY FALSE PRETENSE, 09/28/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

09/28/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office x BORDEAUX, XAVIER MONTREAL (B /M/28), ASSAULT PHY INJ DETENTION EMP, 09/27/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

x WATSON, CHRISTOPHER CORTEZ

x PERRY, DUANE LAMONT (B /M/47), ASSAULT ON FEMALE,

x JACKSON, TONY BERNARD (B /M/51), SECOND DEGREE KIDNAPPING, 09/27/2023, Stanly

the council that the store plans to hire an estimated 25 people from Albemarle and surrounding areas.

“When we open any store, it’s an opportunity for us to get into the community,” Jordan said.

“By being a little bit ahead of when we can open our doors, it provides us a runway to get acclimated and to start the process of collecting donations to be able to sell in that store. We

will be supplementing donations so that there will be donations coming in from other areas.”

Despite the council’s 4-1 approval of Goodwill’s request — with the only dissenting vote from Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Sue Hall — not everyone at the meeting supported the plan.

During a public hearing, Stanly Community Christian Ministry Executive Director

Heather Kilde and Board Member Doug Hume expressed concerns that Goodwill’s presence in the area could negatively impact SCCM’s operations.

“We would just like to ask for your continued support of Stanly Community Christian Ministry as this would provide a substantial hit on the donations that we would receive through our community,” Kilde said.

“One of the criteria for this is

County Sheriff’s Office x POLK, ELIJAH LEE (B /M/33), RESISTING PUBLIC OFFICER, 09/27/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office x DYE, JAMES CHASE (W /M/23), SIMPLE ASSAULT, 09/26/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

that it meets a community need and I didn’t see any statement of a need being met,” Hume added.

The council’s permit grant includes a condition that the mobile donation center will be removed after 12 months if the permanent facility has not opened by then.

The Albemarle City Council will hold its next regular meeting at City Hall on Oct. 16 at 6:30 p.m.

Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

3

OPINION Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor VISUAL VOICES

COLUMN | DENNIS PRAGER

How would Frederick Douglass regard today’s left?

Races, like individuals, must stand or fall by their own merits.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS was one of the greatest Americans who ever lived.

This man began life as an illiterate slave — nearly all slave owners prevented slaves from learning to read — and rose from slavery to become, along with Abraham Lincoln, the greatest orator of his time, and one of the wisest and most eloquent writers in American history.

He became the great black leader of his day, honored by multiple American presidents who frequently sought his counsel. If you read his autobiography, “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass,” you will experience English language writing that has few peers in any nonfiction writing in American history.

Every American child and adult should read this book for many reasons. First, it should be read to appreciate the inhumanity of slavery. The physical abuse, and perhaps worst of all, the human degradation inherent to slavery are depicted in understated yet riveting language. Second, it should be read as a document of history. Third, it should be read for its wisdom about the human condition.

Frederick Douglass may be one of the few figures in American history revered by Left and Right, and by nearly all blacks and all whites.

In light of that, it is worth pondering the question: Are Frederick Douglass’ views more consonant with today’s Left or today’s conservatives? It is fair to say that nearly every leftist believes that Frederick Douglass is one of them. But if you read his “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass,” you will discover a man who, with regard to race, the Constitution, Abraham Lincoln and related matters has virtually nothing in common with today’s Left. In fact, leftists would identify every one of the following quotes from Douglass’s autobiography as “white supremacist” and/or “racist.”

Frederick Douglass: “When an unknown man is spoken of in their presence, the first question that arises in the average American mind concerning him and which must be answered is, of what color is he? and he rises or falls in estimation by the answer

given. It is not whether he is a good man or a bad man. That does not seem of primary importance.”

This Douglass quote runs completely counter to the virtually universal left-wing (not liberal, left-wing) claim that race is important and that to ignore it — to attempt to be color-blind — is racist.

The Atlantic, Sept. 13, 2013: From an article titled, “Color Blindness Is Counterproductive”: “How many times have you heard someone say that they ‘don’t see color,’ ‘are color-blind,’ or ‘don’t have a racist bone in their body’? Maybe you’ve even said this yourself. Many sociologists, though, are extremely critical of color blindness as an ideology.”

“The language of explicit racism has given way to a discourse of color blindness.”

“It is no longer socially acceptable in many quarters to identify oneself as racist.

Instead, many Americans purport not to see color.”

TED Talk by Heather McGhee, chair of the board of Color of Change, “the country’s largest online racial justice organization”: “Why saying ‘I don’t see race at all’ just makes racism worse.”

American Psychological Association: “Has The United States Really Moved Beyond Race?”

“In this collection, scholars in psychology, education, sociology, and related fields provide a probing analysis deconstructing racial color blindness; all of the contributors point out the problems with ... racial color blindness, point out major flaws in the myth of racial color blindness, and reveal its harmful impact on the lives of people of color.”

Southern Poverty Law Center: “Colorblindness: The New Racism?”

Forbes, September 28, 2022: “ColorBlindness Perpetuates Structural Racism” by Maia Niguel Hoskin.

Frederick Douglass: “Races, like individuals, must stand or fall by their own merits.”

Advocating that individuals rise or fall “by their merits” is derided on the Left as racist.

Wikipedia: “’Myth of meritocracy’ is

a phrase arguing that meritocracy, or achieving upward social mobility through one’s own merits regardless of one’s social position, is not widely attainable in capitalist societies because of inherent contradictions.”

Toronto Metropolitan University: “Meritocracy is one of the beliefs that sustains systems of inequity and supremacy.”

Douglass: “The downfall of slavery under British power meant the downfall of slavery, ultimately, under American power, and the downfall of negro slavery everywhere.”

According to the Left, anyone who credits whites with ending worldwide slavery is a white supremacist. And anyone who credits British colonialism with almost any moral achievement is a defender and supporter of imperialism and colonialism.

Douglass: “Had he (Abraham Lincoln) put the abolition of slavery before the salvation of the Union, he would have inevitably ... rendered resistance to [Southern] rebellion impossible.”

Here is New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow citing Douglass on Lincoln: “In 1861, after Abraham Lincoln defended the Fugitive Slave Act as an attempt to assuage Southern slavers, Douglass called him an ‘excellent slave hound’ and the ‘most dangerous advocate of slave-hunting and slave-catching in the land.’”

Both citations are accurate. But the one I cite is from much later in Douglass’s life when he could better judge Lincoln.

Douglass: “The Constitution of the United States not only contained no guarantees in favor of slavery, but, on the contrary, was in its letter and spirit an anti-slavery instrument, demanding the abolition of slavery as a condition of its own existence as the supreme law of the land.”

The left generally holds the Constitution in contempt — at the very least, as a slaverydefending document.

(Suggestion: Copy these Frederick Douglass statements into a document and ask any leftist in your life what he or she thinks of them) Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist.

COLUMN | BEN SHAPIRO

Congress’ perverse incentive structure

Gaetz is perhaps Congress’ most ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, who added some $7 trillion to the national debt.

LAST WEEK, a small coterie of House Republicans moved, along with all House Democrats, to oust Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., they claimed that McCarthy had to go because of his insufficient zeal in cutting spending, most prominently by failing to advance more individual spending bills.

McCarthy, for his part, had advanced four individual spending bills, which were then rejected by the Senate. In order to avoid a government shutdown, McCarthy attempted to pass a continuing resolution that would have cut discretionary spending by 8% and included border security provisions; Gaetz and his colleagues voted it down. McCarthy then passed, with a majority of Republican support plus some Democratic support, a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the government for 45 days, not including any further funding for Ukraine.

This, for Gaetz, was supposedly the last straw. He took to the floor of the House to accuse not merely McCarthy but the entire Republican caucus of cowardice in confronting President Joe Biden’s spending agenda. “My colleague says we’ve passed the strongest bills in history, well guess what, look

at the border right now... I take no lecture on asking patriotic Americans to weigh in and contribute to this fight from those who would grovel and bend knee for the lobbyists and special interests who own our leadership... who have hollowed out this town and have borrowed against the future of our future generations.”

All of this would be more convincing except for two simple facts: First, Democrats control the Senate and presidency, making it impossible for Republicans to pass bills closing the border and radically cutting spending; and second, Gaetz is perhaps Congress’ most ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, who added some $7 trillion to the national debt and pledges never to touch the greatest drivers of America’s debt: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

So, what was this truly all about? Radically misaligned interests. The Republican Party has zero actual institutional power at this point. It can be captured from the outside with ease; it can be twisted by a few rogue actors who seek attention rather than policymaking power. McCarthy signed his own political death warrant the day he acquiesced to insurgent Republicans’ demand

that they be able to challenge his speakership with a single vote. Once, congressional Republicans ensured solidarity through the power of the speakership; now the speaker worries about avoiding his own demise at the hands of fractious politicians seeking TV spots on CNN and MSNBC. This won’t change with McCarthy’s ouster.

Should Rep. Steve Scalise or Rep. Jim Jordan take over, they will presumably still serve at the behest of a few free radicals who can ensure chaos at the drop of a hat. The only way to restore any semblance of order to the House would be to restore consequences for violating party solidarity. And that won’t happen so long as conservative media declare anyone a hero who declares himself a lone man standing against the “powers that be” — and so long as both politicians and conservative media parrot the lie that if only Republicans were simply more determined, conservative policy priorities would magically become law over the objections of a Democratic Senate and Democratic White House.

Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+.

4 SIDELINE REPORT

Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

SPORTS

NBA

Embiid says he’ll play for U.S. in Paris Olympics Philadelphia Reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid has told USA Basketball that he intends to play for them at the Paris Olympics. Embiid let the federation and managing director Grant Hill know of his decision last week and revealed it publicly last Thursday. USA Basketball does not plan to name its team until the spring of 2024, but if healthy, Embiid would seem certain to have one of the 12 spots on the squad that will be coached

by Golden State’s Steve Kerr. France had given Embiid — who could have played for the U.S., France or Cameroon — an Oct. 10 deadline for deciding on his Olympic plans. The U.S. will be trying for a fifth consecutive gold medal.

GOLF

List’s long putt gives him playoff win Jackson, Miss.

Luke List made the most of his second chance, sinking a 45-foot birdie to win a five-way playoff Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi. Ben Griffin missed an 8-foot par putt on the last hole that led to the playoff, but List ended it quickly against Griffin, Ludvig Aberg, Henrik Norlander and Scott Stallings. List shot a 70 and missed a 10-foot putt on the last hole of the final round and figured his chance to win was over. But Griffin’s bogey opened the door, and List won it on the first playoff hole for his second career PGA Tour victory.

MLB

Successful video reviews drop slightly in majors New York Team-initiated video reviews were slightly less successful in the major leagues this season, which saw overturned calls drop to 48.5% from 50.2% in 2022.

Major League Baseball says 625 of 1,288 club challenges were overturned. There were 304 calls confirmed (23.6%) and 359 allowed to stand (27.9%). Miami led the major leagues with a 75% success rate, followed

by Washington (74.2%), Houston (67.7%), Arizona and Kansas City (65.1% each). The Angels (29.4%), Detroit (32.6%), Pittsburgh (38%), Cincinnati (38.7%), Toronto (38.9%) and Baltimore (39.6%) were the least successful.

HOCKEY

Former NHL coach Constantine fired by WHL team Wenatchee, Wash.

Former NHL coach Kevin Constantine was fired as coach of the Wenatchee Wild on Thursday, a day after he was suspended indefinitely by the Western Hockey League for making “derogatory comments of a discriminatory nature.”

In its first season in Washington after moving from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the team said associate head coach Chris Clark and assistant coach Andrew Sarauer will direct the club while it searches for a head coach. Constantine, 64, was suspended Sept. 24 pending an independent investigation that found he violated the WHL’s standard of conduct policies. He coached in the NHL from 1993-2002 with the Sharks, Penguins and Devils.

AP PHOTO

Lions running back David Montgomery runs for a touchdown around Panthers safety Sam Franklin Jr. during Detroit’s 42-24 home win Sunday.

Panthers stay winless with loss at Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff accounted for four touchdowns

The Associated Press DETROIT — The Detroit Lions were without arguably their best player and a dynamic rookie on offense.

Detroit didn’t miss a beat.

Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes in the first half and ran for another score in the fourth quarter, lifting the Lions to a 42-24 victory over the winless Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Detroit scored at least 27 points in consecutive first halves for the first time in franchise history and topped 20 points in a team-record 14th game in a row despite missing receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and run-

ning back Jahmyr Gibbs.

“These guys who have been asked to step up are making plays,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We’re not getting any drop-off.”

The NFC North-leading Lions (4-1) are alone atop the division in October or later for the first time since 2016 and have won 12 of their last 15 games dating to last season.

The Panthers (0-5) turned the ball over three times in the first half — two coming on consecutive snaps — to set up Detroit up for three touchdowns and a 28-10 halftime lead.

“We knew they have an explosive offense, but we made the game much too easy for them,” Carolina coach Frank Reich said.

Carolina rookie quarterback Bryce Young was picked off twice in the first half and Miles Sanders lost a fumble.

“It doesn’t matter what success I had in college.

“I’m no different than anyone else on the team at this point.”

Bryce Young, Panthers quarterback Young, the No. 1 overall pick, was 25 of 41 for 247 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. The former Alabama star entered the game with two touchdowns, two interceptions and two lost fumbles in three starts.

“It doesn’t matter what success I had in college,” Young said. “I’m no different than anyone else on the team at this point.”

Goff was 20 of 28 for 236 yards, and his 1-yard sneak early in the fourth put Detroit ahead 35-10.

“Love where his confidence is at,” Campbell said. “He was on fire.”

David Montgomery, with 109 yards rushing, became the first Lion to run for 100-plus yards and score in two straight games since Kevin Jones in 2004.

Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta caught two TDs in the first half.

Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson used his right hand to snag Young’s short pass in the first quarter and became the first NFL defensive lineman to have four interceptions in his first two seasons.

The Panthers bounced back from a 14-0 deficit when Young threw a 1-yard TD pass to Tommy Tremble. Carolina stopped Detroit on fourth down on the ensuing possession.

Turnovers stopped any potential momentum.

The Lions, as if they were toying with Carolina, called a reverse flea-flicker and Goff found LaPorta wide open for a 31-yard touchdown to go ahead 28-7 late in the first half.

The Panthers are at Miami next Sunday.

Atlanta, Watkins Glen gets playoff races on ’24 Cup schedule Texas and Darlington will not have playoff races next year The Associated Press CHARLOTTE — NASCAR added Atlanta Motor Speedway and the road course at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York to the playoffs as part of the 2024 Cup Series schedule released last week.

Many of the changes to the schedule had already been announced: Bristol Motor Speedway is removing the dirt for its spring race, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is returning NASCAR to his historic oval and Iowa Speedway will finally host a Cup race.

The remainder of the schedule release showed that the season again begins with the exhibition Busch Light Clash at

the Coliseum in Los Angeles on Feb. 4, followed by the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18. The season ends once again at Phoenix Raceway, where the Cup champion will be crowned on Nov. 10.

The notable changes to the schedule are the additions of the playoffs of Atlanta and Watkins Glen, as well as the regular-season finale moving one week from Daytona to Darlington in an unchanged stretch of August racing.

Daytona had most recently been the regular season finale and Darlington’s Southern 500 the playoff opener.

Texas Motor Speedway lost the playoff race it has hosted since 2004 and its lone Cup race will be in the spring. Kansas Speedway, meanwhile, moved its playoff race from the middle race in the round of 16 to the opening race in the round of 12.

Richmond Raceway’s annu-

AP PHOTO

The NASCAR All-Star Race will return to North Wilkesboro next year when the iconic North Carolina track hosts the event May 19, 2024. al spring race will be on Easter Sunday, a shift to the date most recently held by Bristol. Bristol is not only removing the dirt that had given it fan appeal the last few years, but the Tennessee track is going back to a March date after nearly a decade of battling inclement weather at that time of the year.

One surprise is the return of the hybrid oval/road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which hosts this Sunday’s play-

off elimination race in the round of 12. Drivers last week said they wanted The Roval off the schedule with a return to the regular oval, but Charlotte Motor Speedway’s parent company is hanging on to the idea that began as a novelty.

NASCAR, like IndyCar, will have a two-week break during the Paris Olympics to accommodate broadcast partner NBC Sports.

Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Shalyn Bell

South Stanly takes down Albemarle with 26-12 home victory The Rowdy Rebel Bulls are now 1-1 in conference play

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

North Stanly, volleyball Shalyn Bell is a junior outside hitter on the North Stanly volleyball team, which, for the second week in a row, produces our Stanly County athlete of the week.

The Comets swept all three matches last week, topping Piedmont, South Stanly and Mount Pleasant, all by 3-0 scores, to move to 21-1 on the season and 9-0 in the Yadkin Valley Conference. Their winning streak is now 19 in a row.

Bell was dominant against Mount Pleasant, getting a team high 24 kills, 4 service aces, 10 points and 11 digs. For the week, she had 55 kills in the three matches, adding to her team lead. She also had 6 aces, 17 points, 2 blocks, 31 digs and 3 assists.

5

SOUTH STANLY and Albemarle met Friday in Norwood, and the Rowdy Rebel Bulls came away with a 26-12 win over the Bulldogs in an intracounty matchup.

South responded to an early 12-6 deficit by scoring 20 unanswered points to earn the win.

Playing under first-year coach Terry Shankle, the Bulls (4-3, 1-1 YVC) have now won four of their past six games since ending a 12-game losing streak that dated back to 2021.

South’s win over Albemarle (2-5, 0-1 YVC) marks its first win over a Stanly County team since it defeated the Bulldogs 34-6 in 2018.

Early in the game, South quarterback Kaleb Richardson found wide receiver Jasiah Holt in the end zone for his first of three touchdown grabs to go up 6-0. Albemarle responded with touchdown passes from quarterback Ander Artis to Jason Wall and Kaine McLendon to vault the Bulldogs to a 12-6 lead.

Holt’s second score of the night tied the game at halftime before running back Mahari Caple gave the Bulls a 1912 edge with a touchdown run.

South will next host North Stanly, while Albemarle will play at home against Mount Pleasant (5-2, 2-0 YVC).

North Stanly 57, Lake Norman Charter 20 North Stanly put together its strongest offensive showing of the season, running away from Lake Norman for a 57-20 home win.

The Comets (5-2, 1-0 YVC) used a balanced attack led by 225 passing yards by quarterback Chance Blake and 210 rushing yards from running back Jay Jackson. The Knights (4-3) managed to score 14 points in the third quarter but were unable to mount a serious challenge after falling behind 34-6 at halftime.

North will travel to South Stanly for a matchup with the Bulls nearly a year to the day after the Comets cruised to a 68-6 home win between the two teams.

Forest Hills 56, West Stanly 7 Just one week after notching a victory in their Rocky River Conference opener, West Stanly suffered a 56-7 loss at Forest Hills.

The Colts’ only score of the night — a touchdown pass from Jett Thomas to Austin Eudy — came when they were down 49-0 with seven minutes left in the game. The Yellow Jackets (6-1, 1-1 RRC) scored at least 14 points in each of the first three quarters.

West (4-3, 1-1 RRC) heads next to Parkwood to face the Wolf Pack (1-6, 0-2 RRC), which has lost four games in a row and been outscored 27274 on the season.

Dick Butkus, fearsome Hall of Famer, dies at 80 The Bears linebacker was a five-time All-Pro

Dick Butkus (51), a fearsome middle linebacker for the Bears, died last Thursday. He was 80.

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — A photo of Dick Butkus sneering behind his facemask filled the cover of Sports Illustrated’s 1970 NFL preview, topped by the headline, “The Most Feared Man in the Game.” Opponents who wound up on the business end of his bone-rattling hits could testify that wasn’t an exaggeration.

Butkus, a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears whose speed and ferocity set the standards for the position in the modern era, died Thursday, the team announced. He was 80.

According to a statement released by the team, Butkus’ family confirmed that he died in his sleep at his home in Malibu, California.

Butkus was a first-team AllPro five times and made the Pro Bowl in eight of his nine seasons before a knee injury forced him to retire at 31. He was the quintessential Monster of the Midway and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. He is still considered one of the greatest defensive players in league history.

“Dick Butkus was a fierce and passionate competitor who helped define the linebacker position as one of the NFL’s all-time greats. Dick’s intuition, toughness and athleticism made him the model lineAP PHOTO backer whose name will forever be linked to the position and the sboro e event Chicago Bears,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We also remember Dick as a long-time advocate for former players, and players at all levels of the game.”

A moment of silence honoring Butkus was held before the Bears played at the Washington Commanders on Thursday night.

Trading on his image as the toughest guy in the room, Butkus enjoyed a long second career as a sports broadcaster, an actor in movies and TV series, and a sought-after pitchman for products ranging from antifreeze to

AP PHOTO

beer. Whether the script called for comedy or drama, Butkus usually resorted to playing himself, often with his gruff exterior masking a softer side.

“I wouldn’t ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately,” Butkus replied tongue-in-cheek when asked about his on-field reputation. “Unless it was, you know, important ... like a league game or something.”

Butkus was the rare pro ath-

lete who played his entire career close to home. He was a star linebacker, fullback and kicker at Chicago Vocational High who went on to play at the University of Illinois. Born on Dec. 9, 1942, as the youngest of eight children, he grew up on the city’s South Side as a fan of the Chicago Cardinals, the Bears’ crosstown rivals.

“He was Chicago’s son,” Bears chairman George McCaskey,

Halas’ grandson, said in a statement. “He exuded what our great city is about and, not coincidentally, what George Halas looked for in a player: toughness, smarts, instincts, passion and leadership. He refused to accept anything less than the best from himself, or from his teammates.”

Butkus brought speed, agility and a scorched-earth attitude to the linebacker position.

“Just to hit people wasn’t good enough,” teammate Ed O’Bradovich said. “He loved to crush people.”

The Pro Football Hall of Fame lowered its flags to halfstaff in Butkus’ honor.

Butkus is survived by his wife, Helen, and children Ricky, Matt and Nikki. Nephew Luke Butkus has coached in college and the NFL, including time with the Bears.

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Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as House speaker could cost the GOP its best fundraiser heading into 2024 The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kevin McCarthy spent years raising mountains of Republican campaign cash, flying around the country to recruit top candidates in key districts and painstakingly building political relationships as he worked his way toward becoming speaker of the House.

Now that he’s been ousted from the post after less than nine months, some in the GOP are wondering if anyone can take his place as a fundraising dynamo and party builder.

House Republicans have no clear leader heading into next year’s election as they cling to a razor-thin majority.

“Nobody can raise money like him,” said Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D. “And no matter who is the next speaker of the House, none of them can do what Kevin McCarthy did.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP’s House campaign arm, postponed its upcoming fall gala in Dallas that McCarthy was supposed to headline. The committee said McCarthy helped it raise more than $40 million during the last election cycle and $20plus million so far this cycle.

The totals were even higher for a McCarthy-aligned super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, which said that it and its associated nonprofits had raised about $645 million under McCarthy. That included about $215 million for the 2020 election, roughly $350 million during last year’s midterm races and around $80 million so far this cycle.

The leadership fund will shift its alignment to follow the new

AP PHOTO

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to reporters hours after he was ousted as Speaker of the House, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. House speaker once one is elected. Paul Ryan replaced fellow Republican John Boehner in 2015.

The GOP retained House control the following year when Donald Trump was elected president.

“Speaker McCarthy has fundamentally altered House elections for Republicans through his recruitment efforts, his unmatched fundraising prowess, and his ability to inspire and generate confidence among donors,” Congressional Leadership Fund President Dan Conston said in a statement. “While this is an obvious loss for the House, CLF remains laser-focused on our mission of holding radical Dem-

ocrats accountable, protecting our vulnerable incumbents, and expanding the House Republican majority.”

As speaker and in his prior years leading the Republicans in the minority, McCarthy was viewed by many as less of a legislator and more of a political tactician who found strong Republican candidates and raised enough money to get them elected and to bolster the national party.

McCarthy visiting a district could often be a major draw, juicing fundraiser proceeds, though that’s a role any new House speaker can grow into.

A bigger test for the next speaker is whether they will be able to raise the same kind of sums as McCarthy for the party’s outside groups, which every year pour millions of dollars into advertising in key races, unburdened by contribution limits for individual campaigns.

“That’s where McCarthy has crushed it,” said Cam Savage, a longtime Republican strategist who works on House races. “He did the heavy lifting for the Congressional Leadership Fund.”

During the 2022 midterms, Republicans underperformed national expectations and eked out a House majority so narrow

that McCarthy needed an unprecedented 15 rounds of voting to claim the speakership in January. McCarthy had to remain close to Trump, who is now the front-runner in the party’s 2024 primary, and balance the interests of moderates and hard-right members alike. He ultimately couldn’t.

The revolt against him featured eight Republicans teaming with House Democrats to vote McCarthy out of the speakership. Ironically, McCarthy had campaigned for some of those who eventually helped strip him of the post he’d worked so long to obtain.

“A lot of them, I helped get elected, so I probably should have picked somebody else,” McCarthy joked at a press conference after being forced out.

He may still prove a force in 2024 races. McCarthy has so far suggested that he’ll continue to bolster the GOP nationally, saying, “My goals have not changed, my ability to fight is just in a different form.”

“I intend to make sure that we gain and keep the majority in the next cycle as well,” he said.

House members in both parties said that what happens next will depend greatly on whether the former speaker endorses his eventual successor. That’s because aligning the GOP’s various fundraising mechanisms to the new speaker will likely go far smoother if McCarthy supports his replacement.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” said Marty Obst, who worked for Trump’s 2020 campaign and has raised money with McCarthy in the past. “The transition is going to be fairly bumpy.”

The US is forgiving more federal student loans in a bid to tackle ‘unsustainable debt’ for borrowers The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden outlined a new round of federal student loan forgiveness on Wednesday to address the “unsustainable debt” that borrowers accumulate to complete their college education.

The announcement comes as borrowers brace for payments to restart after a threeyear pause that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and Biden tries to fulfill his campaign promises on debt relief as he runs for reelection.

The Democratic president’s latest step will help 125,000 borrowers by erasing $9 billion in debt through existing programs. In total, 3.6 million borrowers will have had $127 billion in debt wiped out since Biden took office.

“We’re not done yet,” Biden said in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

He pledged to help alleviate the burden of student debt while running for president, and he’s been under pressure to

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden talks with reporters after delivering remarks on student loan debt forgiveness, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, in Washington. D.C. follow through even though his original plan was overturned by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

Biden said the decision was responsible for “snatching from the hands of millions of Ameri-

cans thousands of dollars of student debt relief that was about to change their lives.”

He has been relying on a patchwork of different programs to chip away at debt, such as the SAVE Plan an-

nounced last year, which lowers payments by tying them to borrowers’ income.

“My administration is doing everything we can to deliver student debt relief to as many as we can, as fast as we can,” Biden said.

“While a college degree is still the ticket toward a better life, that ticket has become excessively expensive. Americans who are saddled with unsustainable debt in exchange for a college degree has become the norm,” he said.

Some of Biden’s efforts have involved bolstering existing programs, like public service loan forgiveness.

“For years, millions of eligible borrowers were unable to access the student debt relief they qualified for, but that’s all changed thanks to President Biden and this administration’s relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

Additional debt forgiveness could help alleviate the impact of the long-scheduled re-

sumption of loan payments this month, which will put a dent in tens of millions of family budgets. But it is unlikely to undermine the economy’s strength in the long term even though analysts at BNP Paribas estimated it could take $100 billion out of consumers’ pockets and slow overall growth during the final three months of this year.

In addition, the NAACP is pushing Biden to expand debt forgiveness by allowing Parent PLUS loans, which parents use for their children’s college education, to be eligible for the SAVE Plan.

“Historically, education has been viewed as an entry point for marginalized communities to achieve upward mobility and begin building generational wealth,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement that emphasized the disproportionate impact of debt on Black families. “It is unconscionable that, in their quest to provide their children with a brighter future, Black parents have fallen victim to a system that preys on their inherent disadvantage.”

Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

obituaries obituaries

BarbaraHuffman Jean Dianne (Taylor) Drye7, 2023 April 4, 1942 - October

April 17, 1936 ~ January 14, 2023 Dianne Huffman was born April 1942Drye, to the Barbara Jean4, Taylor 86,late Ernest and Hazel of Oakboro, passed awayHatley Saturday, Rogers of Albemarle.

She January 14, 2023 at her home. was predeceased by her sister Barbara was born April 17, 1936 Gail (Jack) Rogers Crowley in North Carolina to the late Robert Eldred, PA.late Dianne passed Leeof Taylor and the Eva Belle Watts Taylor. away peacefully October She was also preceded Woods in death 7, 2023 at Bethany by husband 61 years, Keith Furr Nursingofhome in Albemarle, Drye, and brothers, Robert Lee NC. Taylor,Educated Jr. and George Kenneth NC in Albemarle, Taylor. and Jacksonville, FL schools, Survivors include children,in she obtained a degree Debbie (Mike)working Williamsmany of Nursing, years Albemarle, Teresa (Tom) Curry in as an RN before retiring of Oakboro, Douglas (Tammy) 2007. She was active in the Drye of Oakboro; grandchildren, choir and programs at First Melissa (Don) Parrishin ofConcord, Albemarle, Baptist Church Samantha NC. (Destiny) Smith of Oakboro, Bradley Smith of Oakboro, Dianne is survived by her Jonathan Stover of(Jill) Peachland, and son, Gregory McKee of Jessie Stover of Lylesville; sisterEstero, FL, daughter Kathryn in-law, Beatrice many (Ted) LottiGoodman; of Salisbury, NC, nieces and nephews; and her beloved and her four grandchildren: cats, Bo and Garfield.

Benjamin Basinger of Barbara was a member of Charlotte, NC, Shelby McKee Oakboro Baptist Church for over of Mooresville, 60 years.

She workedNC, overDanielle 30 years McKee of Gastonia, NC,just and at Stanly Knitting Mills. After McKee, Gastonia, twoMatthew years of retirement, she began NC. the Oakboro Senior managing Center and did that for 18 years until this past week. Barbara was known for her good cooking and always taking care of others. She also loved going on day long shopping trips - she could out walk and out shop people half her age. She kept her mind and body active through gardening, word searches, and various other hobbies.

Larry Gene Smith

March 26, 1955 - October 1, 2023 Larry Gene Smith, 68, of Albemarle, NC passed away Sunday, October 1, 2023 at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. Born March 26, 1955 in Albemarle, he was the son of the late James Thomas Smith and Jane Hatley Smith.

He was also a member of Prospect Baptist Church.

Larry was known for his ability to make jokes but more so known for the love he showed his family.

Larry is survived by his wife Bonnie Williams Smith of the home. He is also survived by a son, Jaman James Thomas Smith (Amanda) of Locust, one daughter, and Natalee Smith Rogers (Zachary) of Stanfield. Other survivors include brother, Jimmy Darrell Smith and one sister, Libby Carriker; grandchildren, Emma, Mason, Wyatt and expectant granddaughter.

In addition to his parents Larry is preceded in death by a sister Wanda Mauldin.

Dwight Beverly Farmer “Tootie” January 24, 1939 ~ January 15, Barbee 2023Hatley

February 23, 1950 - October 4, Dwight Britten Farmer Sr., 83, 2023 of Norwood died Sunday morning, January 15, 2023 atOctober Forrest Oakes.

Wednesday, 4, Dwight was born JanuaryBarbee 24, 2023, Beverly “Tootie” 1939 in Stanly County to the late Hatley peacefully passed away Walter Virgil and Martha Adkins at Bethany Woods Skilled Farmer. He was a 1957 graduate Nursing Facility. of Norwood High School and was Ms.States Hatley wasVeteran. born a United Army 23, 1950 in Stanly HeFebruary was a member of Cedar Grove County to the late Rev. Wade United Methodist Church where he Hampton and the and late had served as Barbee church treasurer Elsie MarieHe Almond Barbee. choir member. began his career She was preceded in death with the Stanly County Sheriff’ s by her husband Richard Department moving to the“Dickey” Norwood Martin Hatley;and sisters, Gaynell Police Department retiring as Love, Katiewith Barbee and Shirley Chief of Police the Town of Love Hatley; Nieces, Norwood after many yearsDonna of service.

Love Hobbs and Sherry Love Dwight was an avid gardener, Bowers. bird watcher and Carolina fan.

Hatleyby is his survived by HeMs. is survived wife Hilda her brother, Whitley Farmer;Darrell one son Barbee; D. Britten her niece, Michele Solesbee Farmer Jr. (Mary) of McLeansville, and beloved nephewNC; oneher daughter Sharon Farmer in-law, Ronnie Hobbs;one five Lowe (David) of Norwood; sister Geraldine of Troy;and two great nieces Dennis and nephews grandchildren, Dwight Brittenand “Dee” seven great-great-nieces Farmer III and Whitley Hui nephews, whom sheRose loved Lowe. dearly.

He was preceded in death by his son Alex, brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, sisters, Nancy, Cornelia Annabell, Glennie Mae, and Betty.

Memorials may be made to Cedar Grove United Methodist Church, Cemetery or Choir Fund c/o Pam Smith 36071 Rocky River Springs Road, Norwood, NC 28128.

Dorothy Delores (Tinsley) Chaney May 25, 1931 ~ October 2, 2023

Dorothy Delores Chaney , age 92, of 2011 Woodhaven Drive, Albemarle, NC crossed over to the promised land on October 2, 2023.

She was a native of Winston-Salem, NC. and was reared for most of her childhood in New York, NY. She loved her family and relished the many family gatherings, especially birthday parties.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents: Susie Tinsley Cowan and Herman Tinsley; and children, sons: Ramos and Robert Davis, and daughter; Merna Delores Armwood.

Left to cherish her memories are her children, sons: Anthony T. Smith of Winston-Salem, NC, Edward R. Reid of Winston-Salem, and Pernell S. Davis of Cincinnati, Ohio; daughters: Rosa Maria Dunlap of Winston-Salem, NC, Dedra Regina Lee of Odenton, MD, and Arnetta Michelle Reid of Greensboro, NC; 36 grandchildren, 56 great grandchildren and 11 great great grandchildren.

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in SCJ at obits@stanlyjournal.com

James John B. Kluttz Judy Roseboro Almond David Leroy Plott June 23, 1967 ~ January 10, 2023 March 23, 1935 January March 15, 1941 - October 3, 9, Troutman 2023 James Arthur Roseboro, 55, of 4, November 6, 1943 - October Albemarle, passed away Tuesday, 2023 January 10, 2023 at Anson Health and Rehab.

Mrs. Judy Troutman, 79, Mr. Roseboro was born on formerly of Albemarle, NC, June 23, 1967 to the late Robert passed away on Wednesday, and Delena4, Shipp Roseboro.

October 2023, at The He graduated from South Stanly Laurels of Salisbury in High School and was employed by Salisbury, NC. Triangle Brick. He enjoyed watching Mrs. Troutman was born football and basketball, especially the November 6, 1943, in Stanly Carolina TarHeels and Miami.

County, to the late Milas and In addition to his parents he is BlancheinAlmond.

She was preceded death by his brothers predeceased by her husband and sisters: Barbara Lee Roseboro, Dwight Troutman; brothers, Dorothy Brown, Verna Roseboro, Alton and Donald Almond Henrietta Ingram, and Harold and sister, Linda McSwain.

Roseboro.

Mrs. her He isTroutman survived byspent his sisters: career caring for others as a Helen (James) Roseboro Edwards Nurse.

She is best ofRegistered Albemarle, Mary Roseboro by her family as the ofknown Washington DC, and Marion most loving and caring Mother Morrison of Albemarle; brothers: and Grandmother.

Thomas D. Roseboro of Charlotte, Mrs. Troutman is survived Robert Roseboro (Patricia) of by her daughters; Lisa a special Norwood, and Van Horne; Rushing (Ted) of Gastonia, friend of over 40 years, Michelle NC, and of Candice Troutman McLendon the home; special of Kannapolis, NC. SheKnya is also nieces: Nybrea Montague, survived by her grandchildren; Little, and Laquanza Crump; special nephews: Robert Jr., Desmond Noah and Rachel Barger.

Roseboro, and Marcus Lilly; and God daughter, Daphne Johnson; and special friends, Vetrella Johnson and Ben McLendon.

Joyce Mahala

February 28, 1937 — October 2, 2023

Darrick Baldwin

January 7, 1973 ~ January 8, Joyce Keller Mahala, 86, 2023 of Albemarle, passed away Monday, OctoberBaldwin, 2, 2023, at50, Darrick Vashon age Trinity Place in Albemarle. entered eternal rest, Sunday, January JoyceAlbemarle, was bornNorth February 8, 2023, Carolina.

28, 1937, in Spencer, Born January 7, 1973, in North Stanly Carolina to the late Marvin County, North Carolina, DarrickRay was Keller and theJames late Loma Louise the son of Eddie Baldwin Sr. Beaver Keller. and the late Phyllis Blue Baldwin.

She enjoyed was also preceded in Darrick life, always kept deathlively by grandson, Preston things and enjoyed making Casteen. others smile. His presence is no Survivors include children, longer in our midst, but his memory Leah (Chris) of will forever live Haywood in our hearts.

Berwick, LA and in Jason Trent He was educated the Stanly Casteen of Norwood, County public schools andNC; attended grandchildren, Jerrod (Emma) Albemarle Senior High School, Albemarle.

Coley, Evan Coley, Elijah He was aLydia great conversationalist Casteen, Casteen, and and loved meeting people. Darrick Jade Casteen; great-grandson, never a stranger andgreatalways Liammet Coley and one showed loveon andthe compassion for his grandson way, James fellowman. also loved dog, Coley; andHe sister, Judyhis (Rodney) Rocky.

Cochran.

He is survived his father, Joyce retiredbyfrom General Eddie J. Baldwin Electric where Sr.; shesisters: made Crystal (Eric) Jackson, LaFondra (Stoney) electrical boxes.

She enjoyed Medley, andreading, Morgan and Baldwin; knitting, brothers: EddieJoyce Baldwin Jr.,her Anton crosswords. loved Baldwin, and Lamont Baldwin; a little dog, Dylan. hostMemorials of other relatives friends. may and be made toA limb has fallen from our family tree.

Hospice of Stanly and Uwharrie We not grieveFoundation Darrick’s death; or will Alzheimer's of we will celebrate his life. We give America. thanksgiving for the many shared memories.

2023

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7

Doris Fred Jones Randy Coleman Harrell

October 11, 1944 - January 10, March 27, 1958 - October 4, 2023 2023

John grew upPlott, in the Millingport David Leroy 82, of communityNC, where he drove a school Stanfield, passed away Doris Elaine Jones Coleman, 78, bus and worked at the local gas Randy Fred 65, of on Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at went home intoHarrell, God’s presence station during his High School years. New London, NC passed away and Atrium Health Cabarrus.

January 10 after a sudden illness He graduated from Millingport Wednesday, October 4, in 2023 He was born March 15, a valiant week-long fight ICU. High in 1954 and entered into at Atrium Health Stanly in 11, 1941 in Blairsville, GA to the Doris was born on October service with the US Airforce Albemarle.

1944, in the mountains of Marion, late Jerman afterward.

Blake Plott and immediately Upon Born March 27, 1958 in NC while her father was away Leila Victoria Barnes Plott. return from the service, he and his Rowan County, Randy is fighting in the US Navy during David was employed high school sweetheartwith Julie were the sonWar of the Arthur World II. late Raymond Jones was Plott Electric in He Stanfield. married in 1956. graduated from Lester Harrell andafter the the latewar and so proud to return He formerly worked with his Nashville Auto Diesel College later in Leatrice Elizabeth “Boots” meet his little girl! Doris grew up in brother, in Atlanta, 1959 andJB began his careerGA. as a diesel Miller Harrell.

Randy was afrom Durham, NC and graduated Mr. Plott is survived by his mechanic at Mitchell Distributing graduate of West Rowan High Durham High School.

She furthered wife, Carol Lee Drye Holmes Company, moving his growing School class of 1976.

He was her studies at Watts Hospital Plott oftothe home. where He is they also lived family Charlotte a School member of Antioch Baptistand of Nursing in Durham survived two sons, Michael until theirby retirement.

Church and owned his own graduated as a Registered Nurse in Plott andJohn Charles Holmes When purchased his first 1966. plumbing business, C & R (Sarah) all of Stanfield, NC; Model A Ford at the age of 17, he Doris married Rev.established Dr. Ted Plumbing which he three grandchildren, said that he took the carBrandon to the Coleman in 1966 and had two in 1996.

Randy was a man of Holmes, Kevin Holmes and community mechanic when he had daughters Amy and Laura.

Doris many trades and had a passion Deanna Hall and three greata small problem.The mechanic told raised Amy and in North working withLaura his hands. grandchildren, Mason Hall, him that if he was going to keep the for Augusta, SC. Randy will be remembered by car, he needed to learn to work on Ellie Hall and Penny Hall.

Doris was anbig incredible neonatal many with his heart and it. Thisisisalso whenpreceded John’s passion for David in death intensive nurse his for most of her the love hecare showed family.

Model A FordsJB began how he by a brother, Plottand and three career, and this was her passion.

Randy is survived by his spent his happiest days Plott with his best sisters, Marie Esther The Augusta did a feature CynthiaChronicle Saville Harrell friends from Blanch around the globe for the wife, Price Allen, Luemma on her in 1985. She was asons, clinical of New London, three rest of his life!

Plott and Mabel Grey Plott. nurse manager in Augusta, At age 50, after years as a Detroit Joshua Harrell (Kelley) of Georgia at University Hospital and Knoxville, TN, LucasNICU Harrell Diesel Mechanic he and Julie worked there for 20 years.

During (Tiffany) of Charleston, SC, decided to take the plunge and thisJacob time, Doris mentored young and Harrell of Little open a full Model A Restoration nurses and assisted in saving the River, SC, and stepdaughter, Shop. They thrived at their shop in lives of so many babies.

She also Cornelius, NC until their retirement Angela Willis (Jerry) of worked for Pediatrician Dr. William in 1998 when they moved back to Albemarle. Other survivors A. Wilkes in Augusta for several Cabarrus County. John once again include three sisters, one years prior to her NICU career. Doris set up shop in his back yard garage brother, eight grandchildren retired from the mother/baby area at where he attracted a loyal group of and three great-grandchildren.

Atrium Stanly in 2007 after over 40 friends who visited almost daily.

In addition to his parents, years of nursing.

While on the farm in Gold Hill, Randy is was preceded death by Doris a gentleinand sweet John also began a lifelong love with a stepson Chris Seawell. spirit and loved her Lord. She never Alis Chalmers tractors after he met a stranger, and she always left restored his Dad’s tractor and began you feeling uplifted after talking amassing his collection of tractors with her. She would often claim that as well. she had “adopted” friends into her John restored many cars of immediate family, and honestly, she his own and had the crowning never made a distinction between achievement of winning the most the two. Positivity radiated from her prestigious award from MARC, The Henry for a restoration that garnered like sunlight. She was selfless, funny, smart, and sentimental. During her top points.29, He 1963 was also presented October - October 1, lifetime she was an active member with the Ken Brady 2023Service Award of First Baptist Church of Durham, the highest award given to members First Baptist Church of Augusta, atDavid the national level.

Lyndol Arnold, 59, of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church This is what John’ s Model A Mt. Gilead, NC, passed away in Augusta, and Palestine United Community had to1,say upon Sunday, October 2023 at his Methodist Church in Albemarle. learning of his death: home.

She especially loved helping at Hewas was an active member He born October 29,of church with older adults, youth, and Wesley Chapel Methodist Church 1963 in Genesee County, children. where he loved serving as greeter on Michigan to the late Eugene She was especially talented Sunday and mornings. also belonged Arnold NancyHe Robinson. at sewing from a young age and to the United Methodist David was selfless and Men. a man of made gifts for friends, Christmas is survived by his fewJohn words, but when he wife spoke ornaments, Halloween Costumes, Julie Ussery Kluttz, for 66 years everyone listened, being a voice doll clothes, pageant dresses, prom ofreason. the home. He is also survived of dresses, coats, tote bags, scarves, byMr. a son John David Kluttz (Kim) Arnold is survived by his outfits for Amy and Laura, and of Oakboro, NC; two daughters, wife, Karen Jean Boone Arnold Christening gowns for each of her Sally Simerson of Denver, CO and of the home. He is also survived grandchildren.

Betsy Tusa (John) of Lafayette, CO; by two daughters, Jennifer DorisCelebrate was preceded in of death by the life three grandchildren, Bonnie Kluttz Symons (John) of Rock Hill, SC her father Arthur Raymond Jones, Sammons (Ben) of Richfield, NC your loved ones. Submit her mother Mary Ellen Cameron and Miranda Ireland (Danny) John Alexander McKinnon (Sarah) obituaries and death Jones, and her sister Maryanne of Michigan; two sisters, ofFlint, Asheville, NC and Seth William notices to be published in Jones Brantley.

Terri Bindschatel andofLaura McKinnon (Amanda) Germany; SCJ ather two Survivors include Mann; sister-in-law, Shari five great-grandchildren, Charlotte, obits@stanlyjournal.com precious daughters: Amy Cameron Boone; brother-in-law, Meredith, Grant, VictoriaJohn and Coleman (partner Dr. Edward Neal Boone Free); three in Ronan.(Cheryl John is also preceded Chernault) of Albemarle, NC, and grandchildren, LolaJ.S. Jean, Lana death by his parents, Kluttz and Laura Lindahl Coleman Oliverio Renee and Malcolm Lewis; Mary Wyatt Clayton Kluttz; a large (husband David) of Cincinnati, Ohio; good friends, Benji Boggs and and loving group of brothers and seven grandchildren: Cameron Brian Moore and many nieces sisters, Jack Methias Kluttz, Annie David Oliverio, Stephanie Jae Dejak, and David was Lounephews.

Kluttz Honeycutt, Jakealso Nelson Luca Beatty Oliverio, Coleman John preceded in death by his inKluttz, Julius Kluttz, Mary Patricia Dejak, Carson Joseph Oliverio, Ryan laws, Jerry Sandy Boone, Phillips andand a grandson, Kevin Nicholas Dejak, and Jadon Richard sister-in-law, Fowler Kluttz.Vicki Hahn, Oliverio; and numerous in-laws, nephew, David Hahn and his nieces, nephews, cousins, and loved feline companion, Lisa. ones.

David Lyndol Arnold

Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

8

STATE & NATION DeSantis sharpens his attacks on Trump in their shared home state of Florida candidate who is in the last throes of his campaign,” Cheung said in a statement. “This tough guy routine from DeSantis is laughable, because the only thing tough about him is his ability to embarrass himself every single day on the campaign trail.”

DeSantis spoke to an audience of more than 100 supporters as he announced support from Florida law enforcement officers. There were a few pro-Trump protesters outside, one of them yelling persistently through a bullhorn, but DeSantis took no notice of them.

Attendee Rachel Yates, who said she moved to Tampa two years ago from Chicago, said she likes both Trump and DeSantis.

She said a main source of Trump’s appeal in the past was “that he came in as kind of an independent.”

“I think Trump never had a history in politics and that was important,” she said.

Yates also said she liked DeSantis’s message of law and order, symbolized by his endorsement Thursday by 60 Florida sheriffs, but declined to say which of the two candidates she preferred.

DeSantis, responding to questions both from the media and his

friendly audience, said no one was entitled to the GOP nomination, “especially anybody that couldn’t even stop Joe Biden.” He suggested that the 77-year-old Trump did not have the energy for his old job.

“We need a president that’s going to be full throttle for eight years,” the 45-year-old said. “We don’t need any more presidents that have lost the zip on their fastball.”

He also dismissed Trump’s sizeable fundraising.

Trump’s campaign said that it raised more than $45.5 million in the third quarter of the year, while DeSantis’ team said it brought in $15 million during the same period.

DeSantis said his own fundraising is “being spent on actually delivering the victories that we know we need,” and questioned how much of Trump’s fundraising was being spent on his legal problems, including four criminal cases.

In response to a question about whether he can continue raising enough money to say in the race, he said, “Absolutely.” But he argued that what was most important was earning people’s votes, “town by town, county by county.”

US moves closer to underground testing of nuclear weapons stockpile without any actual explosions

iments since 1995 and nuclear testing dates to 1951. The facility is about 65 miles (104 kilometers) north of Las Vegas.

Custer said above-ground facilities have tested explosive behaviors of other materials but the Scorpius experiments will use real plutonium, which is unique.

“Nothing else behaves like it,” Custer said. “So, the question to us is, are we feeding accurate data into our codes about plutonium’s behavior?”

Josh Leckbee, who led the injector development and design for Scorpius, said it will provide more confidence in both existing and new designs.

Plans for the complicated project have been the focus of proposals examined over the past decade during a vetting process at the Energy Department that finds and removes conceptual and technical errors before funding can be committed. Final approval came late last year.

The first shipment of key components to Nevada is scheduled to begin in March.

Assembly testing is planned through most of 2025 before the Nevada site will move the injector underground.

“We are looking forward to establishing this capability in 2027, conducting the first subcritical experiments using these new capabilities to support our nuclear deterrent and demonstrate once again our technical prowess as a nation,” said Dave Funk, vice-president for Enhanced Capabilities for Subcritical Experiments at the Nevada National Security Site.

The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly slammed Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday and defended his own campaign, warning that the former president could deliver the 2024 election to Democrats energized to beat him.

DeSantis, speaking at a campaign event in their shared home state, argued that Trump lost the 2020 election not because more voters supported Democrat Joe Biden but rather to cast him out of office.

“He energized Democrats. You could have John Kennedy walk through the door right now and he wouldn’t energize Democrats as much as Donald Trump does,” DeSantis said in Tampa. “That’s just the reality.”

The Florida governor has been sharpening his critiques of Trump over the past few months as he’s sought to revitalize his campaign.

Most notably, he used his first opening on the GOP debate stage last week to criticize the former president for skipping the event.

Trump remains his party’s most influential figure. He was

AP PHOTO

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, greets sheriffs from different counties in Florida before he delivered remarks at an event, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. considering a visit to Capitol Hill next week as Republicans sort out their leadership crisis following House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.

DeSantis suggested the thousands of voters who show up to Trump’s political rallies would be matched by those who show up to keep the former president from winning the White House again.

“A voter that goes to 10 rallies, their vote counts the same as somebody that’s unenthusiastic that then goes and votes,” he said.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to DeSantis’ remarks by saying: “Ron DeSantis has the energy of used wet rag.”

“This is nothing more than a desperate attempt of a flailing

The Associated Press RENO, Nev. — Scientists charged with ensuring the aging U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons are good to go — if needed — say they’ll start shipping key components to Nevada’s desert next year to prepare for underground testing they call “tickling the dragon’s tail.”

Experts at national defense laboratories haven’t been able to physically validate the effectiveness and reliability of nuclear warheads since a 1992 underground test ban. But Energy Department officials announced Thursday they’re on the verge of piecing together the technology needed to do the next best thing.

As early as 2027, the $1.8 billion Scorpius project will make it possible to move beyond theoretical computer modeling to study in much more detail the conditions found inside the final stages of a nuclear weapon implosion but without the nuclear explosion, said Jon Custer, the Sandia project lead in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Scientists call it “tickling the dragon’s tail,” Custer said, because the experiment approaches but stays below the stage at which the fission of nuclear materials sustains an ongoing series of chain reactions.

The hope is to answer many

AP PHOTO

In this photo provided by Sandia National Laboratories, technicians work to test two of the cathode inductive voltage adder cells used in the Scorpius Injector being assembled at Sandia National Labs, June 8, 2023, in Albuquerque, N.M. pivotal questions about whether the nation’s aging nuclear weapons still work as designed.

During the Cold War, those questions were answered by actually setting off nuclear explosions. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the explosions sent mushroom clouds high into the skies above the New Mexico and Nevada deserts. Testing later was limited to underground explosions, which ended in 1992.

In the works for 10 years,

the new era of testing has advanced to the next phase at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico where workers have started assembling the high-energy electron beam injector considered the most complex piece of Scorpius, Energy Department officials said Thursday.

The experimental machine the length of a football field eventually will sit 1,000 feet below the ground at the Nevada National Security Site.

“It’s clear we need to know that the stockpile will work if required,” Custer said.

“If you had a car in a garage for 30 to 50 years and one day you insert the ignition key, how confident are you that it will start?” he asked. “That’s how old our nuclear deterrent is. It has been more than 30 years since we conducted an underground nuclear explosive test.”

The Los Alamos National Lab in northern New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California also have roles in the project.

The injector being assembled at Sandia is a linear induction accelerator that will generate a high-energy electron beam to collide with a metal target generating X-rays that penetrate test objects. As plutonium is compressed with the high explosives, a detector will convert the X-rays into images recorded by a sensitive camera that can capture images at speeds of 1 billion per second.

Those nanosecond portraits will be compared with images of the same events generated by supercomputer codes to check their accuracy.

Scorpius will be fully assembled in an underground complex at the facility formerly known as the Nevada Test Site, where scientists have been conducting subcritical exper-

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Randolph record THE RANDOLPH COUNTY EDITION OF THE NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Fall is the air Visitors flocked to Asheboro for the Fall Festival on Saturday.

There were many attractions with a variety of vendors on hand. The Fall Festival, which was cancelled the past three years for a variety of reasons, took place on one day this year, rather than the usual two.

SCOTT PELKEY | RANDOLPH RECORD

WHAT’S HAPPENING RCC partners with ECU in ‘Pirate Promise’ On Monday, Randolph Community College officially announced that it has become a partner in the Pirate Promise with East Carolina University.

Moving forward, the application fee will waived for admission to ECU when students finish their degree at RCC. “This collaboration represents a significant opportunity for our students to access a high-quality education and broaden their horizons,” said RCC President Dr. Shah Ardalan. “Through the Pirate Promise, our students will have a clear and seamless pathway to transfer to ECU, ensuring that they can continue their academic journey with confidence. This partnership reflects our commitment to providing our students with the best possible opportunities for success.” Other benefits of the Pirate Promise include guaranteed admission to ECU with a completed associate degree (including AAS and ADN degrees), a dedicated transfer coach, joint academic advising and financial counseling, access to career service and ECU libraries, and eligibility to purchase an ECU 1 Card for sports and campus events.

The Pirate Promise application is due by November 1. To apply, students should visit https://piratepromise. ecu.edu/.

Asheboro city council approves rezoning for child care center, land lease Land lease with Norfolk Southern to support historic preservation efforts

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal ASHEBORO — The Asheboro City Council addressed several property matters at its meeting on Thursday, Oct. 5.

The first action item was a public hearing for the rezoning of a 3.3-acre property at 624 Brewer St. and 621 Franks St. The rezoning from RA6 and B2 (CZ) to an amended B2 (CZ) would allow a large child care center to operate on the site.

“The request is to operate a large child care center out of the structure located at 624 Brewer St.,” said Trevor Nuttall, community development director. “In order to do that, she has filed a request to change the zoning from

the current residential high-density district to take the entirety of the property, which already has a portion of commercial zoning on it, to a conditional zoning district to allow both a large child care center and to allow the continuation of what the city council previously authorized for the Boys and Girls Club gym which is on the property.”

Nuttall noted that a child daycare had previously operated in the facility, approved in 1982.

However, due to the time that has lapsed since the daycare was last in the structure, a new special use permit or change in zoning was required.

The applicant stated that the gym will remain as is, and the center will provide child care for infants to school-age children.

“There’s no question that if any part of Asheboro needs child care availability, it’s East Side right now,” said Mayor David Smith.

Following the hearing, the

council approved the request.

The council also approved a request for city staff to submit a land lease to Norfolk Southern.

“The staff requests authorization to apply for and, if favorably reviewed, execute a land lease with Norfolk Southern Railroad for city-owned property at 159 North St.,” Nuttall said. “This is the former Acme-McCrary property just across the railroad tracks from city hall. The purpose of this lease is to support our continuing historic preservation efforts for the building and the property.”

The city plans to request approximately 37,000 square feet from 15 feet east of the rail line and continuing to the edge of the railroad right of way adjacent to city-owned property.

Nuttall was unsure of the total cost at the time of the meeting, but described the lease as “essential to the city’s efforts.”

Lastly, the council approved an ordinance to establish a project

Urgent call for volunteer firefighters in NC amid significant shortage Randolph Record A VITAL recruitment campaign is currently in progress in North Carolina, aiming to address the significant shortage of volunteer firefighters across the state, with a particular focus on departments and associations in Randolph County.

The recruitment drive aligns with Fire Prevention Month in October, specifically Fire Prevention Week from Oct. 8-14. This year’s focus is on cooking safety, which is responsible for 51% of all home fires. Fire departments are committed to educating their communities about the importance of fire safety and prevention.

New recruits are urgently

needed as North Carolina has lost 4,963 volunteer firefighters since 2020. Given that over 80% of all North Carolina firefighters are volunteers, the state desperately needs more individuals willing to step into these roles.

Volunteering as a firefighter is a rewarding experience, offering the opportunity to make a tangible difference in one’s community. Volunteers gain invaluable skills and knowledge and have a lasting impact on their neighbors’ lives. Local fire departments, including numerous in Randolph County, including Westside Fire & Rescue in Asheboro, the Ramseur Fire Department, and the Tabernacle Volunteer Fire Department in Trinity, need volunteers of all skill levels and abilities

who can respond to emergencies when needed.

“Local volunteers provide the bedrock of North Carolina’s firefighter workforce.” said Chief Tracy Mosley, program manager at the North Carolina Association of Fire Chiefs, which is pushing the drive. “We understand that the safety of our communities relies on fully staffed and trained departments.”

The two-year recruitment and retention campaign is particularly targeting at-risk fire departments and associations across North Carolina and Randolph County. For more information about becoming a volunteer firefighter and making a difference in your community, visit www.VolunteerFireNC.org.

fund for the design and construction of a third fire station.

“We have a $3 million grant from the government that can be applied towards the Emergency Operations Center,” said Finance Director Deborah Reaves.

“We are at the point in the process where we need to move forward with the design process which means we have to establish a project fund to account for revenues and expenses.”

Mayor Smith emphasized the necessity of the third station, stating, “There’s no question. We are in danger of losing our ISO 1 rating if we don’t and all of the development we have approved in the last few months all down the Zoo Parkway requires that we have a station down that way.” ISO 1 is the highest rating given by the Insurance Services Office, reflecting superior property fire protection.

The Asheboro City Council will meet next on Nov. 8.

New recruits are urgently needed as North Carolina has lost 4,963 volunteer firefighters since 2020.

Over 80% of all North Carolina firefighters are volunteers.

$2.00

Randolph Record for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

2 WEDNESDAY

Randolph

10.11.23

Guide The Randolph Guide is a quick look at what’s going on in Randolph County.

“Join the conversation”

Oct. 12 Fossils and Prehistoric Life | 6:30pm

North State Journal (USPS 20451) (ISSN 2471-1365) Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Jordan Golson Locals Editor Cory Lavalette Sports Editor Shawn Krest Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor

SCOTT PELKEY | RANDOLPH RECORD

Getting started

UpStyled Goods & Salon, a store that blends repurposed and recycled textiles, arts and crafts, and a hair salon held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 122 S. Church St. in Downtown Asheboro on Friday. Chamber staff flank the excited leadership of UpStyled Goods & Salon at their grand opening at 122 S. Church St. in downtown Asheboro. L-R (Shea Davidson, Emma Trotter, Annabeth Trotter, Lori Trotter, Todd Trotter and Jim Canter.)

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USDA announces initiatives benefiting North Carolina’s agricultural sector Randolph Record WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) unveiled a series of initiatives last week with significant implications for North Carolina’s farmers.

These measures aim to bolster the nation’s agricultural sector, from providing financial relief to those affected by natural disasters to launching a pilot program designed to address workforce challenges.

On September 27, the USDA announced the disbursement of over $1.75 billion in emergency relief payments to eligible farmers and livestock producers. This funding is intended to aid those affected by natural disasters that occurred in 2020, 2021, and 2022. North Carolina, with its diverse agricultural landscape, is among the states expected to benefit significantly from this relief.

A substantial portion of this relief, over $581 million, is allocated for the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) to provide 2021 and

2022 drought and wildfire emergency relief. Additionally, the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) will deliver more than $1.17 billion in crop disaster assistance payments.

North Carolina’s organic dairy industry received a boost on September 26 when the USDA announced a second round of payments through the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP). This additional $5 million aims to help organic dairy producers, including those in North Carolina, navigate challenges like market volatility and rising costs. With the first round of ODMAP payments disbursing $15 million, the total support now stands at $20 million.

“This program is critical to keeping small, organic dairies sustainable as they continue to weather a combination of challenges outside of their control,” said Bob Etheridge, FSA State Executive Director in North Carolina. “The funding from ODMAP will give organic dairy producers additional economic support to

stay in operation until markets return to more favorable conditions.”

The USDA’s announcement of the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program (FLSP Program) on September 22 has potential benefits for North Carolina’s agricultural workforce.

Backed by up to $65 million from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, this program aims to bolster the resilience of the food and agricultural supply chain, with a focus on addressing labor shortages and enhancing working conditions.

“Our country is facing growing agriculture workforce challenges that jeopardize our farmers’ ability to be competitive, threatens the resiliency, abundance and safety of our food system, and has repercussions on our overall economy,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “At the same time, record numbers of people are interested in living and working in the United States, including from Northern Central America.”

MONDAY OCT 16 HI 66 LOW 42 PRECIP 2%

TUESDAY OCT 17 HI 70 LOW 46 PRECIP 3%

The Randolph County Association of Fire Chiefs is hosting its annual Firefighter Day at the Randolph County Courthouse parking lot at 176 East Salisbury Street in Ashboro.

Fire trucks and other equipment will be on display, as well as demonstrations of fire operations including vehicle extrication demos at 10am and 1pm.

The event is free.

Motorcycles for Mammograms | 9am – 5pm

Pumpkin Palooza at the North Carolina Zoo AP PHOTO

SATURDAY OCT 14

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Randolph County Firefighter Day | 9am – 5pm

Oct. 14-15

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SUNDAY OCT 15

Oct. 14

Cox’s Harley-Davidson in Asheboro presents its yearly Motorcycles for Mammograms fundraiser with food trucks, beer from Four Saints Brewing, live music from Band of Oz and more.

The breast cancer ride is $20 per bike, with registration from 9am – 10:30am.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks during a meeting with farmers, meat processors and business owners, Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa.

FRIDAY OCT 13

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The Ashboro Public Library at 201 Worth Street hosts an educator from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science to present on the library’s Dueling Dinosaurs exhibit, debuting next year.

See real fossils, replica specimens, and an interactive fossil dig, best for ages 8 and up. The event is free. Call 336318-6804 to sign up, or visit the Children’s Room at the library.

CRIME LOG x Alston, Patrick (M, 33), Arrested on charge of Felony Possession of Marijuana, PWISD Marijuana, on 10/4, at Interstate 85 SB. x Caudill, Joni (F, 40), Arrested on charge of Simple Assault, on 10/1, at 4570 Nelson Park Rd. x Foley, Kasey Woodl (F, 40), Arrested on charge of Simple Possess Schedule III CS, Simple Possess Schedule IV CS, Possess Meth, Possess Drug Paraphernalia, on 10/2, at 7046 Hunters Club Rd. x Foster, Michael (M, 37), Arrested on charge of four counts Sex Offender/ Child Premises, on 10/5, at Braxton Craven Rd.

x Hedgecock, Kelsey (F, 21), Arrested on charge of Possess Stolen Motor Vehicle, Larceny of Motor Vehicle, Break or Enter a Motor Vehicle, on 10/5, at Coltrane St & Old Hopewell Church Rd. x Hill, Shane (M, 33), Arrested on charge of Possess Meth, on 10/4, at Bethel Dr. x King, William (M, 49), Arrested on charge of Possess Drug Paraphernalia, Possess Meth, on 10/6, at 383 Back Creek Rd. x Layne, Robert (M, 30), Arrested on charge of Second Degree Trespass, on 9/30, at 7123 Bridlewood Dr.

x Lira-Garcia, Marcos (M, 25), Arrested on charge of Injury to Personal Property, on 10/3, at 7 E Main St. x McCorkindale, Lesley (F, 34), Arrested on charge of Possess Drug Paraphernalia, Possess Meth, Possess Marijuana up to 1/2oz, on 10/1, at 5905 Finch Farm Rd.

Pumpkin Palooza is a fall tradition at the North Carolina Zoo where animals get tasty pumpkins for enrichment. Guests can enjoy watching the animals from around the Zoo pound, stomp, crush, and eat pumpkins.

Included with general admission on Saturday and Sunday.

x McDaniel, Jerrell (M, 37), Arrested on charge of Possession of Firearm by Felon, Possess Marijuana up to 1/2oz, on 10/4, at 1881 Interstate HWY 85.

DEATH NOTICES

x Mullins, Ricky (M, 39), Arrested on charge of Obtain Property False Pretense, Possess Stolen Motor Vehicle, on 9/29, at 5011 Cashatt Rd.

x Robert Conley Moore, Jr., age 70 of Franklinville, died Monday, October 2, 2023 at his home.

Randolph Record for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

OPINION

de

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor VISUAL VOICES

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

Committed to serving you

While Washington Democrats allow thousands of illegal immigrants into our country each day, they also refuse to acknowledge the ways their failed economic policies are impacting hardworking families.

THIS WEEKEND we have witnessed a savage and unprecedented attack on our greatest Middle Eastern ally, Israel. The senseless violence in Israel is sickening, but we must be clear-eyed that this is an unprovoked act of war on a sovereign ally. There should be no doubt that Israel has every right to defend itself, and the United States should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our friend in this terrible time.

Reports that Americans are among the hundreds killed or taken hostage is worrying. I am also outraged by the possibility that the Biden administration’s eagerness to give legitimacy and over $6 billion to Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorists including Hamas, may have contributed to this attack. I will continue to monitor this situation and will always stand with Israel.

These have been a challenging few weeks in Washington.

Our House Republican majority is the only firewall against the extreme agenda of Washington Democrats. I am doing anything I can to remind my colleagues of this and find a way forward by electing a new Republican speaker. My focus remains on cutting spending, securing our Southern border, and working on behalf of you and your family.

As the crisis at the border rages, Senate Democrats refuse to take any action on the House-passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, the strongest border security bill in history. This legislation restarts construction of the border wall, deploys technology to the Southern and Northern border, increases the number of Border Patrol agents, and provides them with bonus pay.

The ongoing humanitarian and national security crisis at our Southern border continues to escalate, as record numbers of illegal migrants cross into the United States. In August alone, there were 232,972 encounters at the Southern Border—a 27% increase from July and more than double the population of Moore County.

While Washington Democrats allow thousands of illegal immigrants into our country each day, they also refuse to acknowledge the ways their failed economic policies are impacting hardworking families. Washington Democrats

borrowed and spent at record levels under their one-party rule, fueling inflation and propelling our debt to an astronomical $33 trillion. Because of this, new polling data shows only 28% of Americans are satisfied with the state of the economy.

These are serious issues facing our nation today – yet we have seen troubling times before. In the face of previous conflict and uncertainty, President Ronald Reagan believed that America’s best days were always ahead. He also knew that uniting under conservative leadership was the only way to secure our freedoms for future generations. I believe in that too, especially because House Republicans have solutions to each of the challenges we are once again facing today.

House Republicans are focused on cutting wasteful spending, fully-funding programs for seniors, military families, and veterans, securing our border, and passing solutions that fulfill our commitment to the American people.

As your Congressman, I am committed to building a safer future for you and your family. As internal debates continue in Congress on how our majority can achieve those goals, know that I will always stay focused on the big picture and the issues that matter most to you.

My goal is to always provide you with high quality constituent services and be accessible to hear your needs, thoughts, and concerns on the key issues facing our community and nation. My dedicated staff in our Southern Pines and Fayetteville district offices are here to serve you.

To find out our office locations and office hours, visit Hudson. house.gov or call us at 910-910-1924.

As your Congressman, I will never stop working with my House colleagues to advance common sense solutions that grow our economy, keep us safe, and help you and every American family succeed.

Richard Hudson is serving his sixth term in the U.S. House and represents North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. He currently serves as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and is a member of the House Republican Steering Committee.

COLUMN | BEN SHAPIRO

Congress’ perverse incentive structure

Gaetz is perhaps Congress’ most ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, who added some $7 trillion to the national debt.

LAST WEEK, a small coterie of House Republicans moved, along with all House Democrats, to oust Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., they claimed that McCarthy had to go because of his insufficient zeal in cutting spending, most prominently by failing to advance more individual spending bills.

McCarthy, for his part, had advanced four individual spending bills, which were then rejected by the Senate. In order to avoid a government shutdown, McCarthy attempted to pass a continuing resolution that would have cut discretionary spending by 8% and included border security provisions; Gaetz and his colleagues voted it down. McCarthy then passed, with a majority of Republican support plus some Democratic support, a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the government for 45 days, not including any further funding for Ukraine.

This, for Gaetz, was supposedly the last straw. He took to the floor of the House to accuse not merely McCarthy but the entire Republican caucus of cowardice in confronting President Joe Biden’s spending agenda. “My colleague says we’ve passed the strongest bills in history, well guess what, look at the border right now... I take no lecture on asking patriotic Americans to weigh in and contribute to this fight from those who would grovel and bend knee for the lobbyists and special interests who own our leadership... who have hollowed out this town and have borrowed against the future of our future generations.”

All of this would be more convincing except for two simple facts: First, Democrats control the Senate and presidency, making it impossible for Republicans to pass bills closing the border and radically cutting spending; and second, Gaetz is perhaps Congress’ most ardent supporter of former President

Donald Trump, who added some $7 trillion to the national debt and pledges never to touch the greatest drivers of America’s debt: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

So, what was this truly all about? Radically misaligned interests. The Republican Party has zero actual institutional power at this point. It can be captured from the outside with ease; it can be twisted by a few rogue actors who seek attention rather than policymaking power. McCarthy signed his own political death warrant the day he acquiesced to insurgent Republicans’ demand that they be able to challenge his speakership with a single vote. Once, congressional Republicans ensured solidarity through the power of the speakership; now the speaker worries about avoiding his own demise at the hands of fractious politicians seeking TV spots on CNN and MSNBC. This won’t change with McCarthy’s ouster. Should Rep. Steve Scalise or Rep. Jim Jordan take over, they will presumably still serve at the behest of a few free radicals who can ensure chaos at the drop of a hat. The only way to restore any semblance of order to the House would be to restore consequences for violating party solidarity. And that won’t happen so long as conservative media declare anyone a hero who declares himself a lone man standing against the “powers that be” — and so long as both politicians and conservative media parrot the lie that if only Republicans were simply more determined, conservative policy priorities would magically become law over the objections of a Democratic Senate and Democratic White House.

Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+.

3

Randolph Record for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

4 SIDELINE REPORT

SPORTS

NBA

Embiid says he’ll play for U.S. in Paris Olympics Philadelphia Reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid has told USA Basketball that he intends to play for them at the Paris Olympics. Embiid let the federation and managing director Grant Hill know of his decision last week and revealed it publicly last Thursday. USA Basketball does not plan to name its team until the spring of 2024, but if healthy, Embiid would seem certain to have one of the 12 spots on the squad that will be coached

by Golden State’s Steve Kerr. France had given Embiid — who could have played for the U.S., France or Cameroon — an Oct. 10 deadline for deciding on his Olympic plans. The U.S. will be trying for a fifth consecutive gold medal.

GOLF

List’s long putt gives him playoff win Jackson, Miss.

Luke List made the most of his second chance, sinking a 45-foot birdie to win a five-way playoff Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi. Ben Griffin missed an 8-foot par putt on the last hole that led to the playoff, but List ended it quickly against Griffin, Ludvig Aberg, Henrik Norlander and Scott Stallings. List shot a 70 and missed a 10-foot putt on the last hole of the final round and figured his chance to win was over. But Griffin’s bogey opened the door, and List won it on the first playoff hole for his second career PGA Tour victory.

MLB

Successful video reviews drop slightly in majors New York Team-initiated video reviews were slightly less successful in the major leagues this season, which saw overturned calls drop to 48.5% from 50.2% in 2022.

Major League Baseball says 625 of 1,288 club challenges were overturned. There were 304 calls confirmed (23.6%) and 359 allowed to stand (27.9%). Miami led the major leagues with a 75% success rate, followed

by Washington (74.2%), Houston (67.7%), Arizona and Kansas City (65.1% each). The Angels (29.4%), Detroit (32.6%), Pittsburgh (38%), Cincinnati (38.7%), Toronto (38.9%) and Baltimore (39.6%) were the least successful.

HOCKEY

Former NHL coach Constantine fired by WHL team Wenatchee, Wash.

Former NHL coach Kevin Constantine was fired as coach of the Wenatchee Wild on Thursday, a day after he was suspended indefinitely by the Western Hockey League for making “derogatory comments of a discriminatory nature.”

In its first season in Washington after moving from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the team said associate head coach Chris Clark and assistant coach Andrew Sarauer will direct the club while it searches for a head coach. Constantine, 64, was suspended Sept. 24 pending an independent investigation that found he violated the WHL’s standard of conduct policies. He coached in the NHL from 1993-2002 with the Sharks, Penguins and Devils.

AP PHOTO

Lions running back David Montgomery runs for a touchdown around Panthers safety Sam Franklin Jr. during Detroit’s 42-24 home win Sunday.

Panthers stay winless with loss at Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff accounted for four touchdowns

The Associated Press DETROIT — The Detroit Lions were without arguably their best player and a dynamic rookie on offense.

Detroit didn’t miss a beat.

Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes in the first half and ran for another score in the fourth quarter, lifting the Lions to a 42-24 victory over the winless Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Detroit scored at least 27 points in consecutive first halves for the first time in franchise history and topped 20 points in a team-record 14th game in a row despite missing receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and run-

ning back Jahmyr Gibbs.

“These guys who have been asked to step up are making plays,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We’re not getting any drop-off.”

The NFC North-leading Lions (4-1) are alone atop the division in October or later for the first time since 2016 and have won 12 of their last 15 games dating to last season.

The Panthers (0-5) turned the ball over three times in the first half — two coming on consecutive snaps — to set up Detroit up for three touchdowns and a 28-10 halftime lead.

“We knew they have an explosive offense, but we made the game much too easy for them,” Carolina coach Frank Reich said.

Carolina rookie quarterback Bryce Young was picked off twice in the first half and Miles Sanders lost a fumble.

“It doesn’t matter what success I had in college.

“I’m no different than anyone else on the team at this point.”

Bryce Young, Panthers quarterback Young, the No. 1 overall pick, was 25 of 41 for 247 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. The former Alabama star entered the game with two touchdowns, two interceptions and two lost fumbles in three starts.

“It doesn’t matter what success I had in college,” Young said. “I’m no different than anyone else on the team at this point.”

Goff was 20 of 28 for 236 yards, and his 1-yard sneak early in the fourth put Detroit ahead 35-10.

“Love where his confidence is at,” Campbell said. “He was on fire.”

David Montgomery, with 109 yards rushing, became the first Lion to run for 100-plus yards and score in two straight games since Kevin Jones in 2004.

Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta caught two TDs in the first half.

Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson used his right hand to snag Young’s short pass in the first quarter and became the first NFL defensive lineman to have four interceptions in his first two seasons.

The Panthers bounced back from a 14-0 deficit when Young threw a 1-yard TD pass to Tommy Tremble. Carolina stopped Detroit on fourth down on the ensuing possession.

Turnovers stopped any potential momentum.

The Lions, as if they were toying with Carolina, called a reverse flea-flicker and Goff found LaPorta wide open for a 31-yard touchdown to go ahead 28-7 late in the first half.

The Panthers are at Miami next Sunday.

Atlanta, Watkins Glen get playoff races on ’24 Cup schedule Texas and Darlington will not have playoff races next year The Associated Press CHARLOTTE — NASCAR added Atlanta Motor Speedway and the road course at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York to the playoffs as part of the 2024 Cup Series schedule released last week.

Many of the changes to the schedule had already been announced: Bristol Motor Speedway is removing the dirt for its spring race, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is returning NASCAR to his historic oval and Iowa Speedway will finally host a Cup race.

The remainder of the schedule release showed that the season again begins with the exhibition Busch Light Clash at

the Coliseum in Los Angeles on Feb. 4, followed by the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18. The season ends once again at Phoenix Raceway, where the Cup champion will be crowned on Nov. 10.

The notable changes to the schedule are the additions of the playoffs of Atlanta and Watkins Glen, as well as the regular-season finale moving one week from Daytona to Darlington in an unchanged stretch of August racing.

Daytona had most recently been the regular season finale and Darlington’s Southern 500 the playoff opener.

Texas Motor Speedway lost the playoff race it has hosted since 2004 and its lone Cup race will be in the spring. Kansas Speedway, meanwhile, moved its playoff race from the middle race in the round of 16 to the opening race in the round of 12.

Richmond Raceway’s annu-

AP PHOTO

The NASCAR All-Star Race will return to North Wilkesboro next year when the iconic North Carolina track hosts the event May 19, 2024. al spring race will be on Easter Sunday, a shift to the date most recently held by Bristol. Bristol is not only removing the dirt that had given it fan appeal the last few years, but the Tennessee track is going back to a March date after nearly a decade of battling inclement weather at that time of the year.

One surprise is the return of the hybrid oval/road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which hosts this Sunday’s play-

off elimination race in the round of 12. Drivers last week said they wanted The Roval off the schedule with a return to the regular oval, but Charlotte Motor Speedway’s parent company is hanging on to the idea that began as a novelty.

NASCAR, like IndyCar, will have a two-week break during the Paris Olympics to accommodate broadcast partner NBC Sports.

Randolph Record for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

PREP ROUNDUP

BEST OVERALL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Cougars seal title in volleyball Randolph Record SOUTHWESTERN RANDOLPH entered the final week of regular-season play in the Piedmont Athletic Conference needing to defeat second-place Uwharrie Charter Academy to go undefeated in PAC competition.

The Cougars already clinched first place in the conference by defeating host Eastern Randolph and visiting Wheatmore on backto-back nights last week.

Madelyn Smith and Gracie Hodgin both had seven kills in the Wheatmore match. ** Randleman knocked off visiting UCA 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 16-25, 15-12 to avenge an earlier loss.

Camryn Vickery provided 32 assists, Haley Hinshaw had 14 digs and seven kills and Camden Scott posted 13 kills and 13 digs for Randleman. Karli Kennington added 19 digs and four aces.

The Tigers swept host Providence Grove later in the week behind Vickery’s 38 assists, Kadie Green’s 13 digs, Hinshaw’s 13 digs and nine kills and Scott’s 17 kills.

5

** Asheboro has been in a good groove in Mid-Piedmont Conference play after struggling in non-conference competition.

The Blue Comets had a chance to finish in second place in the conference going into the final week of the regular season.

Asheboro won three matches last week including a road conference clash with Central Davidson, a non-league home match with Southern Guilford and a home conference meeting with North Davidson. The Blue Comets had sweeps in the final two matches.

In the Central Davidson match, Sion Murrain had 19 kills and 11 digs, Lia George supplied 17 kills, 13 digs and four aces, Ellen Long had 18 kills and five aces and Piper Davidson added 15 digs.

Against North Davidson, Davidson had 16 digs, Anna Grace LeRoy notched 16 assists, Eva Vuncannon chipped in with 14 assists, Long had 17 kills and Murrain cranked out 15 kills.

Boys’ soccer Multiple goals from individual players became a trend last week for Randolph County teams. ** Trinity topped rival Wheatmore 2-1 in overtime in the PAC. Moises Ventura had both goals for the Bulldogs.

Hayden Hemming had Wheatmore’s goal on a first-half penalty kick, continuing his level of high offensive production. ** PAC leader Randleman had goal-scoring spread out with Chris Lopez, Owen Leonard, Christian Garcia and Chris Ayala. ** Southwestern Randolph’s Fernando Hernandez scored twice in a 4-0 victory against visiting UCA. David Dominguez and Janaksel Perez had the other goals. ** Asheboro maintained dominance in the Mid-Piedmont Conference, receiving two goals from Daniel Gutierrez in a 2-0 victory against visiting Ledford.

In defeating host North Davidson, Ozmar Martinez and Tyler Smith each had two goals in the 6-1 decision.

Sion Murrain

SCOTT PELKEY | RANDOLPH RECORD

Sion Murrain of Asheboro goes above the net during a match earlier this season.

Asheboro, volleyball Murrain compiled 40 kills across three matches last week as the Blue Comets won all three.

Asheboro defeated Central Davidson, Southern Guilford and North Davidson.

Murrain, a senior outside hitter, leads the team in kills per set and she’s third in digs.

The Blue Comets have reached the 10-win mark for the first time in four years. Asheboro entered this week with its second three-match win streak of the year.

Murrain also has been a basketball and track and field standout for Asheboro.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Anna Brewer goes up for a block against Randleman’s Mollie Hall during a volleyball match last week.

New UCA basketball coach knows Eagles

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

ASHEBORO — Preston Steele has had connections to Uwharrie Charter Academy boys’ basketball players and those are becoming stronger.

Steele is the team’s new coach.

He took the position after it AP PHOTO came open a few weeks ago.

“I think it was the need that sboro they had,” Steele said. “Things e event played out fast. I want to make sure the boys are invested in the way they should be.”

Brad Monroe was the coach for eight seasons, according to an online listing. He also had been athletics director for some of that time at the school.

Steele had been coach of the UCA middle school boys’ basketball team when that program began in 2015. He was the coach for the first few years.

He also had coached boys’ soccer at the middle school. He directed siblings of some of the current UCA basketball play-

COURTESY PHOTO

Preston Steele ers.

“I have a relationship with about half the guys,” he said.

“They know me through soccer or their siblings.”

Steele also officiated middle school basketball, so he knows players from that capacity as well.

The Eagles had a 7-19 record last season. They finished fifth in the seven-team Piedmont

Athletic Conference.

In 2021-22, UCA won the PAC Tournament and finished with a 19-7 record for the second-biggest win total under Monroe.

Even before the coaching change, it figured to be a season of transition. Standout center Ashton Troutman, who tallied more than 1,000 career points, has graduated.

“You lose a player of that caliber, you have to figure out where to get offense,” Steele said.

This will be a chance to rework the systems used, the new coach said.

UCA will open the season Nov. 9 at Bethany Community.

Steele, 43, is a 1998 graduate of Rockingham County, where he played soccer, baseball and golf before going to Guilford Tech.

He has roles outside of UCA, where his two sons attend.

He works for Global Industrial Supply and he also is a student pastor at Vintage Church in Randleman.

Casper, Sanders log victories at Caraway Randolph Record SOPHIA — Jaxon Casper pulled out the victory in Modifieds on Saturday night at Caraway Speedway.

Casper, who was on the pole, was ahead of Justice Calabro and Dean Lowder. There was only a six-car field, with Nate Gregg, Corey Rose and Levi Hold holding the next three spots.

A.J. Sanders won the Mini Stocks race from the pole, Sanders finished ahead of Chuck Wall and Bryson Pickard in the 14car field for the 40-lap race.

In the Challengers class, pole-sitter Daniel Schadt picked up the victory, with Enoch McNiell the runner-up.

Blake Shupe placed third, followed by Allen Vance and Nicholas Graham among the 14 drivers.

The 25-lap Legends race was won by Josh Lowe, with Sam Bochu and Anthony Freedle in the next two spots.

There were 11 cars entered in the Legends class.

The UCARs had 15 entrants, with Jason Richmond the winner, but Josh Phillips was second to cross the finish line.

Phillips, though, was disqualified, so that has jumbled the standings. Pole-sitter Daniel Hughes moves up to the second position, followed by Tito Clapp, Justin Smith and Barry Hines.

The Bandoleros division was won by Brexton Busch, with Rylan Lowder the runner-up among four cars.

This Saturday night is the Crashin’ Hackett’s Nigh of Destruction and Terror with a Halloween theme and a demolition derby. There will be racing UCARs and Bootleggers.

In a pair of UCARs races, Jason Richmond and Daniel Hughes were winners, with standings altered by a disqualification.

Randolph Record for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

6

Asheboro Hall of Fame grows with Allgood, Moore, two wrestlers, basketball team

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record ASHEBORO — Dr. Tim Allgood spent 34 years working in various roles for Asheboro City Schools.

Now he’s entrenched even more in the district’s history.

Allgood, three others and the 1961-62 boys’ basketball team were inducted into the Asheboro Sports Hall of Fame on Friday night.

“I think we all enjoy recognition,” Allgood said.

Former tennis player and longtime coach Jay Moore and former wrestling standouts Sawyer Davidson and Dalton Cook were also inducted. The school has an induction class every-other year.

Allgood capped his time with Asheboro schools by holding the title of athletics director from 1992-97.

“Asheboro City Schools, it’s still deep in my heart and it is who I am,” Allgood said. “I loved Asheboro, just the people of the community. It has been terrific.”

Allgood graduated from what was then High Point College and spent a few years at Trinity before the switch to Asheboro.

“My dad told me that if I want to Asheboro that ‘you’ll never want to leave,’ ” Allgood said. “I

found a home.”

He was an assistant football coach, an assistant basketball coach and spent two years as head coach of the boys’ basketball team. By 1992, he began shifting into administration.

He had a couple of stints as athletics director at the high school. He spent time as South Asheboro Middle School principal and in the central office.

Allgood lives about a half-dozen blocks away from the high school and enjoys attending events when he can. He said he has encountered Leukemia and Parkinson’s disease so he has “been focusing on my health.”

Allgood, 66, said he was proud of the range of sports that students could choose from. He said he was glad to help add swimming and diving along with junior varsity programs for volleyball and soccer.

“One of your driving tenants was to add more opportunities for students.”

Allgood has stayed involved with the school’s Hall of Fame committee. He has enjoyed that “because the stories are so great,” he said. “To hear their stories and their laughter.”

So since his 2012 retirement, he has devoted countless hours in volunteer roles involving the

New Asheboro Sports Hall of Famer Dr. Tim Allgood had a role in hiring another of the inductees from last week.

school and the athletics department.

Moore had moments as player, coach Moore, 75, credits much of his professional career at the school to Allgood, who hired him as a teacher. Moore taught mostly business courses in career and technical education.

“We’ve been well-acquainted for quite a while,” Moore said.

While Moore, 75, retired from a teaching position about five years ago, he continued as tennis coach. He has logged 20 years as coach of the girls’ and boys’ teams, except for taking one girls’ season off as required after his retirement.

“I was surprised and humbled that somebody thought so much of me,” he said.

Before he became coach, he was a volunteer assistant for Tom Lewis for about a decade.

Under Moore, the Blue Comets went three consecutive boys’ seasons without a dual-team loss. He guided Austin Allen to two berths in the Class 3-A state semifinals and another in the quarterfinals.

Moore’s coaching might not overshadow his abilities as an Asheboro tennis player. He didn’t make the American Legion baseball team prior to his sophomore season and took up tennis that summer.

“I did not have something to do one summer,” he said. “I picked it up and never left it.”

He was a doubles state champion as a junior with teammate George Johnston. The next year, the Asheboro team was a state runner-up in 1966 under coach Morris Whitson.

Moore, who also lettered in football and basketball, played four seasons of college tennis for Appalachian State.

Wrestlers receive accolades Davidson, 25, is the youngest member of the Asheboro Hall of Fame, graduating in 2016. He was a two-time state champion before competing for the University of North Carolina.

“I came in with a big goal and wanted to be a four-time state champ,” Davidson said. “I didn’t win it the first year, but it drove me that next year. It still gives me chills.”

His final two seasons came under then-coach Wes Berrier, the school’s current athletics director.

Davidson reached the state tournament in all four high school seasons.

Davidson, who gave up baseball after his freshman year, also has a connection to Allgood. The former administrator’s daughter, Bailey Allgood, was in his class and also attended UNC. Cook, a 2001 graduate, was a three-time state qualifier.

Twice, he received all-state recognition. He was a Class 3-A runner-up in 2000 and 2001.

Cook is a North Carolina State graduate who lives in Raleigh.

What a team The 1961-62 boys’ basketball team was coached by Don Thomas, who already had been inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame. Members of the team were Kritz Cox, Phil Freeman, Jimmy Grimsley, Ronnie Johnson, Bill Joyner, C.L. King, Dave McFadden, Tom Robbins, Houston Roberts, William Rush, Mike Stroud, Robert West and Mike Williams.

The Blue Comets posted a 19-5 record that season, finishing the title run by defeating Statesville and Belmont.

Passing touchdowns propel Randleman, Eastern Randolph Randolph Record RANDLEMAN — John Kirkpatrick threw five of his six touchdown passes in the first half as Randleman blew out visiting Providence Grove 42-14 on Friday night in a Piedmont Athletic Conference football game.

Tyshaun Goldston made five of the touchdown catches. Those plays covered 50, 33, 34, 41 and 20 yards.

Kirkpatrick threw for 218 yards, completing 13 of 22 passes.

The other touchdown pass from Kirkpatrick went for 9 yards to Jeffrey Guzman.

The Tigers (7-0 overall, 2-0 PAC) still haven’t allowed more than 14 points in a game.

Thomas Dobias helped lead the Randleman defense with an interception.

Providence Grove (5-2, 1-1) scored late in the third quarter after trailing 42-0. Andrew Thomas made a touchdown catch and Logan Fox ran for a touchdown. The Patriots were limited to 128 yards of total offense.

Eastern Randolph 48, Trinity 0: At Trinity, the visiting Wildcats delivered their third

PREP FOOTBALL — WEEK 9 Friday night’s games Providence Grove at Eastern Randolph Southwestern Randolph at Randleman Trinity at Wheatmore Asheboro at North Davidson

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Randleman’s Tyshaun Goldston, right, prepares to make a catch against Providence Grove’s Jackson Rhyne. consecutive shutout with the PAC drubbing.

Nicah Taylor made three touchdown receptions among his seven total catches that accounted for 204 yards. Carter Revelle threw for four touchdowns and ran for another.

Eastern Randolph (6-1, 2-0)

led 42-0 at halftime.

Lucas Smith, Timothy Brower and DeSean Shamberger also scored touchdowns.

Trinity (3-4, 0-2) has lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. Adrian Goodwin had 73 rushing yards for the Bulldogs.

Southwestern Randolph 18, Wheatmore 0: At Asheboro, the host Cougars scored one touchdown in each of the final three quarters.

Southwestern Randolph (5-2, 1-1) has won its last three meetings with Wheatmore (2-5, 0-2).

Jentezen Cox scored on a 23-

yard run. Owen Whelan scored on a recovered fumble in the fourth quarter.

Central Davidson 42, Asheboro 35: At Asheboro, the host Blue Comets couldn’t hang on as they were outscored by 21-8 in the fourth quarter in the Mid-Piedmont Conference game.

Central Davidson (3-4, 1-1) snapped a two-game losing streak.

Asheboro (1-6, 0-2) scored a season-high point total. DJ Scott ran for three touchdowns, racking up 68 yards on 20 carries.

Logan Laughlin of the Blue Comets threw for one touchdown to Amare Godwin. Valentino Mark scored on a kickoff return. Elijah Woodle made five catches for 77 yards.

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Randolph Record for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

7

obituaries

Janice Mae James Bulla

Patricia "Pattie" Louise Hunt

January 10, 1942 — October 7, 2023

November 10, 1938 — October 4, 2023

Janice Mae James Bulla of Asheboro passed away early Saturday morning October 7, 2023 at Asheboro Health and Rehabilitation, formerly known as Woodland Hills. She was born to Otha James and Emma Mabe on January 10, 1942.

Janice enjoyed watching races, going to the mountains, and listening to bluegrass music. She was especially fond of shopping at Belk’s, and often reminisced about she and her mother riding the bus from Star to Asheboro in order to make their Sunday shopping trip. She was also a big fan of Elvis Presley. Though she was a quiet, reserved, private person; she was a very gentle, kind, and sweet soul who cared for her stepchildren.

Janice is survived by her stepdaughters Tammy Bulla Matthews, and Lori Bulla George (Chris). She was also survived by her grandchildren Amanda Phillips, Brittney George, Mallory George, Chloe' Bulla, Donna Bulla and 5 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents Otha and Emma, her husband Kenneth Reece Bulla, and her stepson Scott Bulla.

The family would like to give special thanks to Asheboro Health and Rehabilitation, formerly known as Woodland Hills. The wonderful staff loved Janice, and often called her Mama or Nannie. The family would also like to give special thanks to Randolph Hospice for their special care and attention.

Mrs. Patricia "Pattie" Louise Hunt, 84 of Randleman passed away Wednesday, October 4, 2023 after a period of declining health, surrounded by her family. Pattie was married to her husband Bruce for 65 years. She worked and retired from Energizer in Asheboro and after retirement was a sitter for many folks needing help. Pattie was a member of the Red Hat Society and loved the color purple. She cared so much for her cats, feeding the birds and squirrels and working in her flowers . She very much enjoyed the fall time of year watching all the changes in the environment and always enjoyed her many trips to Belks to shop.

Pattie is survived by her husband Bruce of the home, 1 son Shannon (Kim) of Pleasant Garden, 1 daughter Teresa Lynn Groce (Mikel) of Asheboro, 2 granddaughters Jessica Lynn Wilson of Asheboro and Madison Noel Hunt (Fiancé) Reece DeForge of Pleasant Garden and 1 sister Janie Nance of Liberty. She was preceded in death by her brother Steve Pattishall and her parents Sanky James Pattishall and Mary Ferguson Pattishall.

Dr Charles Walter Stout

June 1, 1932 — October 4, 2023 Dr Charles Walter Stout, age 91, of Asheboro NC, passed away peacefully on October 4, 2023.

Dr Stout was born June 1, 1932, to Martha Eunice Tillotson Stout and Howard Walter Stout in High Point, North Carolina.

Charles Stout spent his youth in High Point, growing up in a large home of an extended and loving family.

One of his favorite teachers mentored him in music and was a catalyst in his receiving a tuition scholarship to UNC. In 1950, home from college and visiting a friend, Charles was talked into a blind date.

He met the incomparable Barbara Ann Marshall and fell in love. After that first date, he “just knew”. They have been happily married for 66 years.

Doctor Stout’s extracurricular activities are varied. He enjoyed woodworking (making Grandfather clocks for each of his children). He found satisfaction in working in the yard and around the house.

He was incredibly proud of his children and grandchildren.

Dr Charles Stout is survived by his wife Barbara, his children Julia, Michael and Steven and their families: Julia Stout Dickerson and her husband Jody, grandson Charles Dyer, granddaughter Stephanie Dyer, Charles Michael Stout and his wife Jackie, Steven Marshall Stout and his wife Catherine, grandson Courtland Stout, grandson Shane Stout (wife Jessica). Other surviving family members include his brother Thomas Lee Slate (wife Sherry).

Michael Jefferson "Mike" Robbins November 3, 1954 — October 3, 2023

Michael Jefferson "Mike" Robbins, age 68, of Asheboro passed away on October 3, 2023 at Randolph Hospice House.

Mr. Robbins was born in Randolph County on November 3, 1954 and will be remembered as a true friend and a great person. In 1974, Mike received a baseball scholarship from UNC-W. He was a huge Atlanta Braves fan.

Mike was an avid fisherman and hunter. On Thanksgiving morning in 1986, Mike killed a 9-point buck that was scored as a 152. In 1977, Mike caught his biggest bass weighing 91/2 lbs. and in July 2023 he caught his biggest catfish weighing 35 lbs. Mike was preceded in death by his father, Hobert Robbins and daughter, Taylor Harmon.

He is survived by his wife, Deborah Hill Robbins; mother, Clara Varner Robbins McDuffie; stepfather, Bob McDuffie (Vicki); and brothers, Steve Robbins (Ellen), Jeff McDuffie (Susan), and David McDuffie (Stephanie); brotherin-law who was like a brother, Larry Hill; sisters-in-law, Janet Henley, and Sharon McIntosh; and several nieces and nephews.

D.B. Hilliard

October 6, 1942 — October 1, 2023 D.B. Hilliard, Jr., 80, passed away at home October 1, 2023 surrounded by his loved ones. He was born October 6, 1942 to D.B. Hilliard, Sr, and Nannie Hancock Hilliard in Guilford County, NC. D.B. graduated from Randleman High School in 1960 and attended Campbell College from 1960-1962. He was a proud veteran of the US Army having served in Vietnam 1964-1966. In 1968 he was voted as Randleman’s Young Man of the Year. D.B. was a beloved little league coach and his team won the Little League World Series.

He worked at the family lumberyard, Hilliard Brothers Lumber. D.B. spent many years on the road as a longhaul trucker, working for Pilot Freight and ABF. He drove over 3 million miles – accident free. When he was home, he enjoyed spending time traveling with his family. He could be found tending to his flower gardens, cheering on the Braves, or watching NASCAR – his favorite being Dale Earnhardt.

D.B. is survived by his children, Denise Hilliard Johnson (Dennis)of Asheboro, Jennifer Hilliard Walsh (Ray) of Eugene, OR, Brad Hilliard of Randleman; grandchildren, Courtney, Cody, Hannah of Asheboro, Olivia, Owen of Eugene, OR; great-grandchildren, Aadyn, Christopher, Natalie; twin sister, Jennette Morris of Independence, VA; several nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his wife, Eugenia Edwards Hilliard; brothers, Cecil Hilliard, Ray Hilliard; and his faithful canine companions, Pixie and Brutus.

Ricky Busick

February 23, 1958 - October 6, 2023

Bettie Jean Whitaker

April 25, 1935 — October 1, 2023 Betty Jean Key Whitaker, born April 25, 1935, went home to be with Jesus October 1, 2023.

Betty is survived by her son David Whitaker (Vickie); daughter Deborah Whitaker; granddaughters April Smith (Philip) and Nicole Carone (Jonathan); great grandchildren Lauren and Aaron Smith, and Olivia and Owen Carone. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews. Betty is proceeded in death by her husband Harry; granddaughter Sherry Goins Bray; her parents Jasper and Cora Key; siblings Lawrence, Clarence, Davis, Paul, Mildred, Bernice, Mary Ruth, and Hettie Lee. Betty was an active member of New Salem United Methodist Church for over 50 years. Her favorite hobbies were crocheting and playing cards with friends and family.

Betty grew up in Surry County and loved sharing stories of her life and her family.

Ricky Dale Busick, 65, of Asheboro, died unexpectedly on Friday, October 6, 2023.

Ricky grew up in Browns Summit, NC, but made Asheboro his home when he met his wife, Barbara. He started his own business, "A Cut Above Landscape" in 1991.

He continued to work until health issues forced him to retire. Growing up he farmed and raised tobacco.

Ricky loved being outdoors.

He even had beehives for a few years. He loved cooking his neighborhood BBQ's, and he could make a delicious red velvet cake and loved Duke basketball games.

He attended C4 Church in Asheboro. Health issues kept him at home many times, but he loved Jesus and continued to read his Bible faithfully, every day.

Ricky was preceded in death by his parents, Dan and Ruby; and brothers, Ronnie and "Teet".

He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and would have celebrated 32 years together on October 15th. Also surviving are his sons, Ricky Busick II (Shirley) of Asheboro, Josh Busick (Amber) of Burlington; daughter, Tracy Scott (Doug) of Randleman; 4 granddaughters, Audrey, Avery, Rylee and Sabrina; sisters, Brenda, Janie and Sharon; brother, Mark; and sister-in-law, Judy (Ron).

Mary Lynn Rogers

December 16, 1959 - October 3, 2023

Rebecca “Becky” Jane Myers Amick

September 12, 1941 ~ October 3, 2023 (age 82) Rebecca “Becky” Jane Myers Amick, age 82, of Franklinville passed away October 3, 2023 surrounded by family at her home.

She was born September 12, 1941 in Winston Salem, North Carolina the daughter of the late Robert Lee Myers and Myrtle Cranford Myers. Also, preceding her in death are her three sisters, Florence, Martha and Nita.

She enjoyed working in her yard, decorating for all the holidays, bird watching and spending time with family on beach trips.

Left to cherish her memory are her devoted husband of 53 years, Larry Amick; a special niece, Judy Canada; great niece, Shannon Canada; numerous other beloved nieces, nephews, and family and friends.

Mary Lynn Stines Rogers, 63, of Randleman, passed away on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, at Randolph Health in Asheboro.

Born in Newport News, VA, on December 16, 1959, Mary was the daughter of Ammie Jean Fisher Stines and the late Charles Alvin Stines. She enjoyed painting, crocheting, making floral arrangements and cutting up. Mary was very family oriented and loved spending time with her family, she especially loved her grandchildren very much.

In addition to her father, Mary was preceded in death by her brothers, Larry Stines, Dennis Stines; and grandson, Logan Wade.

Surviving are her daughter, Kippie Turner of Archdale; son, Matthew Trotter of Ramseur; mother, Ammie Jean Stines of the home; sister, Darlene Reynolds of Randleman; brother, David Stines of the home; grandchildren, Austin Turner, Bryson Grant, Corbin Trotter, Jodie Trotter; and great grandchild, Colton Turner.

Jerry Wayne Pack, Sr.

April 8, 1951 ~ September 30, 2023 (age 72) Jerry Wayne Pack, Sr., age 72 of Asheboro, passed away Saturday, September 30, 2023 at the Randolph Hospice House. A native of Surry County, NC, Jerry was born on April 8, 1951 to the late Sam Perring and Betty Lou Bowman Pack. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his loving wife Vickie Corum Pack.

Jerry leaves behind to cherish his memory, sons Darrell Pack (Lisa), Michael Wayne Holder (Abby), Jerry Wayne Pack, Jr. (Alma), daughters April Renee Pollock and Angie Garner (Tommy).

He also leaves behind several brothers and sisters, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

Randolph Record for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

8

STATE & NATION DeSantis sharpens his attacks on Trump in their shared home state of Florida candidate who is in the last throes of his campaign,” Cheung said in a statement. “This tough guy routine from DeSantis is laughable, because the only thing tough about him is his ability to embarrass himself every single day on the campaign trail.”

DeSantis spoke to an audience of more than 100 supporters as he announced support from Florida law enforcement officers. There were a few pro-Trump protesters outside, one of them yelling persistently through a bullhorn, but DeSantis took no notice of them.

Attendee Rachel Yates, who said she moved to Tampa two years ago from Chicago, said she likes both Trump and DeSantis.

She said a main source of Trump’s appeal in the past was “that he came in as kind of an independent.”

“I think Trump never had a history in politics and that was important,” she said.

Yates also said she liked DeSantis’s message of law and order, symbolized by his endorsement Thursday by 60 Florida sheriffs, but declined to say which of the two candidates she preferred.

DeSantis, responding to questions both from the media and his

friendly audience, said no one was entitled to the GOP nomination, “especially anybody that couldn’t even stop Joe Biden.” He suggested that the 77-year-old Trump did not have the energy for his old job.

“We need a president that’s going to be full throttle for eight years,” the 45-year-old said. “We don’t need any more presidents that have lost the zip on their fastball.”

He also dismissed Trump’s sizeable fundraising.

Trump’s campaign said that it raised more than $45.5 million in the third quarter of the year, while DeSantis’ team said it brought in $15 million during the same period.

DeSantis said his own fundraising is “being spent on actually delivering the victories that we know we need,” and questioned how much of Trump’s fundraising was being spent on his legal problems, including four criminal cases.

In response to a question about whether he can continue raising enough money to say in the race, he said, “Absolutely.” But he argued that what was most important was earning people’s votes, “town by town, county by county.”

US moves closer to underground testing of nuclear weapons stockpile without any actual explosions

iments since 1995 and nuclear testing dates to 1951. The facility is about 65 miles (104 kilometers) north of Las Vegas.

Custer said above-ground facilities have tested explosive behaviors of other materials but the Scorpius experiments will use real plutonium, which is unique.

“Nothing else behaves like it,” Custer said. “So, the question to us is, are we feeding accurate data into our codes about plutonium’s behavior?”

Josh Leckbee, who led the injector development and design for Scorpius, said it will provide more confidence in both existing and new designs.

Plans for the complicated project have been the focus of proposals examined over the past decade during a vetting process at the Energy Department that finds and removes conceptual and technical errors before funding can be committed. Final approval came late last year.

The first shipment of key components to Nevada is scheduled to begin in March.

Assembly testing is planned through most of 2025 before the Nevada site will move the injector underground.

“We are looking forward to establishing this capability in 2027, conducting the first subcritical experiments using these new capabilities to support our nuclear deterrent and demonstrate once again our technical prowess as a nation,” said Dave Funk, vice-president for Enhanced Capabilities for Subcritical Experiments at the Nevada National Security Site.

The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly slammed Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday and defended his own campaign, warning that the former president could deliver the 2024 election to Democrats energized to beat him.

DeSantis, speaking at a campaign event in their shared home state, argued that Trump lost the 2020 election not because more voters supported Democrat Joe Biden but rather to cast him out of office.

“He energized Democrats. You could have John Kennedy walk through the door right now and he wouldn’t energize Democrats as much as Donald Trump does,” DeSantis said in Tampa. “That’s just the reality.”

The Florida governor has been sharpening his critiques of Trump over the past few months as he’s sought to revitalize his campaign.

Most notably, he used his first opening on the GOP debate stage last week to criticize the former president for skipping the event.

Trump remains his party’s most influential figure. He was

AP PHOTO

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, greets sheriffs from different counties in Florida before he delivered remarks at an event, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. considering a visit to Capitol Hill next week as Republicans sort out their leadership crisis following House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.

DeSantis suggested the thousands of voters who show up to Trump’s political rallies would be matched by those who show up to keep the former president from winning the White House again.

“A voter that goes to 10 rallies, their vote counts the same as somebody that’s unenthusiastic that then goes and votes,” he said.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to DeSantis’ remarks by saying: “Ron DeSantis has the energy of used wet rag.”

“This is nothing more than a desperate attempt of a flailing

The Associated Press RENO, Nev. — Scientists charged with ensuring the aging U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons are good to go — if needed — say they’ll start shipping key components to Nevada’s desert next year to prepare for underground testing they call “tickling the dragon’s tail.”

Experts at national defense laboratories haven’t been able to physically validate the effectiveness and reliability of nuclear warheads since a 1992 underground test ban. But Energy Department officials announced Thursday they’re on the verge of piecing together the technology needed to do the next best thing.

As early as 2027, the $1.8 billion Scorpius project will make it possible to move beyond theoretical computer modeling to study in much more detail the conditions found inside the final stages of a nuclear weapon implosion but without the nuclear explosion, said Jon Custer, the Sandia project lead in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Scientists call it “tickling the dragon’s tail,” Custer said, because the experiment approaches but stays below the stage at which the fission of nuclear materials sustains an ongoing series of chain reactions.

The hope is to answer many

AP PHOTO

In this photo provided by Sandia National Laboratories, technicians work to test two of the cathode inductive voltage adder cells used in the Scorpius Injector being assembled at Sandia National Labs, June 8, 2023, in Albuquerque, N.M. pivotal questions about whether the nation’s aging nuclear weapons still work as designed.

During the Cold War, those questions were answered by actually setting off nuclear explosions. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the explosions sent mushroom clouds high into the skies above the New Mexico and Nevada deserts. Testing later was limited to underground explosions, which ended in 1992.

In the works for 10 years,

the new era of testing has advanced to the next phase at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico where workers have started assembling the high-energy electron beam injector considered the most complex piece of Scorpius, Energy Department officials said Thursday.

The experimental machine the length of a football field eventually will sit 1,000 feet below the ground at the Nevada National Security Site.

“It’s clear we need to know that the stockpile will work if required,” Custer said.

“If you had a car in a garage for 30 to 50 years and one day you insert the ignition key, how confident are you that it will start?” he asked. “That’s how old our nuclear deterrent is. It has been more than 30 years since we conducted an underground nuclear explosive test.”

The Los Alamos National Lab in northern New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California also have roles in the project.

The injector being assembled at Sandia is a linear induction accelerator that will generate a high-energy electron beam to collide with a metal target generating X-rays that penetrate test objects. As plutonium is compressed with the high explosives, a detector will convert the X-rays into images recorded by a sensitive camera that can capture images at speeds of 1 billion per second.

Those nanosecond portraits will be compared with images of the same events generated by supercomputer codes to check their accuracy.

Scorpius will be fully assembled in an underground complex at the facility formerly known as the Nevada Test Site, where scientists have been conducting subcritical exper-

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VOLUME 8 ISSUE 33 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2023 | HOKE.NORTHSTATEJOURNAL.COM | SUBSCRIBE TODAY: 336-283-6305

HOKE COUNTY THE HOKE COUNTY EDITION OF THE NORTH STATE JOURNAL

U.S. MARINE CORPS HANDOUT PHOTO BY CPL. MEGAN OZAKI

Jumping over Raeford

A U.S. Marine with the 2nd Recon Battallion out of Camp Lejeune conducts a Low-Level Static Line (LLSL) jump out of a Casa 212 in Raeford on Sept. 28, 2023. The training event included day and night rehearsal of LLSL and Military Freefall jumps to maintain individual jumper qualification and advance proficiency in airborne capabilities.

WHAT’S HAPPENING N.C. students can take advantage of waived college application fees in October Students throughout North Carolina can submit college applications to the state’s many colleges and universities for free during College Application Week. This week, which is set to take place from October 16-20, is part of the College Foundation of North Carolina’s (CFNC) Countdown to College campaign, which kicked off on October 1. This annual campaign is run in partnership with individual high schools, colleges and universities across all 100 N.C. counties to help students take the necessary steps to plan and prepare for the education and career opportunities they want to pursue. “This campaign empowers tens of thousands of students each year in communities across the state to make progress toward the education and career goals they want to achieve,” said Andrea Poole, Executive Director of the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority.

“Countdown to College has been part of our work for decades, and we are happy to help students pursue opportunities aligned with their goals.”

Students and families can learn more and take advantage of the free resources available by visiting www.CFNC.org.

USDA announces initiatives benefiting North Carolina’s agricultural sector North State Journal WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) unveiled a series of initiatives last week with significant implications for North Carolina’s farmers. These measures aim to bolster the nation’s agricultural sector, from providing financial relief to those affected by natural disasters to launching a pilot program designed to address workforce challenges.

On September 27, the USDA announced the disbursement of over $1.75 billion in emergency relief payments to eligible farmers and livestock producers. This funding is intended to aid those affected by natural disasters that occurred in 2020, 2021, and 2022. North Carolina, with its diverse agricultural landscape, is among the states expected to benefit significantly from this relief.

A substantial portion of this relief, over $581 million, is allocated for the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) to provide 2021 and 2022 drought and wildfire emergency relief.

Additionally, the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) will deliver more than $1.17 billion in crop disaster assistance payments.

AP PHOTO

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks during a meeting with farmers, meat processors and business owners, Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa.

North Carolina’s organic dairy industry received a boost on September 26 when the USDA announced a second round of payments through the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP). This

additional $5 million aims to help organic dairy producers, including those in North Carolina, navigate challenges like market volatility and rising costs. With the first round of ODMAP payments disbursing $15 million,

the total support now stands at $20 million.

“This program is critical to keeping small, organic dairies sustainable as they continSee USDA, page 2

Raeford Police arrest three men for vehicle break-ins North State Journal AT AROUND 4:40 a.m. on October 4, Raeford Police Officers were dispatched to the 300 block of W. Palmer Street after receiving reports about a breakin of a motor vehicle. Upon arrival, officers found two motor vehicles that had been damaged with significant damage to the

ignition.

While on scene, officers received an additional 911 call about a similar break-in taking place at the 300 block of Credit Union Way. With the help of witnesses, Raeford Police and a Hoke County Sheriff K-9 unit tracked down three suspects shortly after. Renard Sa Kwan Freeman, London

Xavier Russel and Jayveon Xavier Steele were all taken into custody without further incident.

They were each charged with four counts of felony breaking and entering of motor vehicle, one count of felony attempted larceny of a motor vehicle, and felony conspiracy. Freeman was given an additional charge for possession of a stolen firearm.

$2.00

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

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USDA from page 1

ue to weather a combination of challenges outside of their control,” said Bob Etheridge, FSA State Executive Director in North Carolina. “The funding from ODMAP will give organic dairy producers additional economic support to stay in operation until markets return to more favorable conditions.”

The USDA’s announcement of the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program (FLSP Program) on September 22 has potential benefits for North Carolina’s agricultural workforce.

Backed by up to $65 million from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, this program aims to bolster the resilience of the food and agricultural supply chain, with a focus on addressing labor shortages and enhancing working con-

ditions.

“Our country is facing growing agriculture workforce challenges that jeopardize our farmers’ ability to be competitive, threatens the resiliency, abundance and safety of our food system, and has repercussions on our overall economy,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “At the same time, record numbers of people are interested in living and working in the United States, including from Northern Central America.”

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

OPINION Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor VISUAL VOICES

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

Committed to serving you

While Washington Democrats allow thousands of illegal immigrants into our country each day, they also refuse to acknowledge the ways their failed economic policies are impacting hardworking families.

THIS WEEKEND we have witnessed a savage and unprecedented attack on our greatest Middle Eastern ally, Israel. The senseless violence in Israel is sickening, but we must be clear-eyed that this is an unprovoked act of war on a sovereign ally. There should be no doubt that Israel has every right to defend itself, and the United States should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our friend in this terrible time.

Reports that Americans are among the hundreds killed or taken hostage is worrying. I am also outraged by the possibility that the Biden administration’s eagerness to give legitimacy and over $6 billion to Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorists including Hamas, may have contributed to this attack. I will continue to monitor this situation and will always stand with Israel.

These have been a challenging few weeks in Washington.

Our House Republican majority is the only firewall against the extreme agenda of Washington Democrats. I am doing anything I can to remind my colleagues of this and find a way forward by electing a new Republican speaker. My focus remains on cutting spending, securing our Southern border, and working on behalf of you and your family.

As the crisis at the border rages, Senate Democrats refuse to take any action on the House-passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, the strongest border security bill in history. This legislation restarts construction of the border wall, deploys technology to the Southern and Northern border, increases the number of Border Patrol agents, and provides them with bonus pay.

The ongoing humanitarian and national security crisis at our Southern border continues to escalate, as record numbers of illegal migrants cross into the United States. In August alone, there were 232,972 encounters at the Southern Border—a 27% increase from July and more than double the population of Moore County.

While Washington Democrats allow thousands of illegal immigrants into our country each day, they also refuse to acknowledge the ways their failed economic policies are impacting hardworking families. Washington Democrats

borrowed and spent at record levels under their one-party rule, fueling inflation and propelling our debt to an astronomical $33 trillion. Because of this, new polling data shows only 28% of Americans are satisfied with the state of the economy.

These are serious issues facing our nation today – yet we have seen troubling times before. In the face of previous conflict and uncertainty, President Ronald Reagan believed that America’s best days were always ahead. He also knew that uniting under conservative leadership was the only way to secure our freedoms for future generations. I believe in that too, especially because House Republicans have solutions to each of the challenges we are once again facing today.

House Republicans are focused on cutting wasteful spending, fully-funding programs for seniors, military families, and veterans, securing our border, and passing solutions that fulfill our commitment to the American people.

As your Congressman, I am committed to building a safer future for you and your family. As internal debates continue in Congress on how our majority can achieve those goals, know that I will always stay focused on the big picture and the issues that matter most to you.

My goal is to always provide you with high quality constituent services and be accessible to hear your needs, thoughts, and concerns on the key issues facing our community and nation. My dedicated staff in our Southern Pines and Fayetteville district offices are here to serve you.

To find out our office locations and office hours, visit Hudson. house.gov or call us at 910-910-1924.

As your Congressman, I will never stop working with my House colleagues to advance common sense solutions that grow our economy, keep us safe, and help you and every American family succeed.

Richard Hudson is serving his sixth term in the U.S. House and represents North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. He currently serves as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and is a member of the House Republican Steering Committee.

COLUMN | BEN SHAPIRO

Congress’ perverse incentive structure

Gaetz is perhaps Congress’ most ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, who added some $7 trillion to the national debt.

LAST WEEK, a small coterie of House Republicans moved, along with all House Democrats, to oust Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., they claimed that McCarthy had to go because of his insufficient zeal in cutting spending, most prominently by failing to advance more individual spending bills.

McCarthy, for his part, had advanced four individual spending bills, which were then rejected by the Senate. In order to avoid a government shutdown, McCarthy attempted to pass a continuing resolution that would have cut discretionary spending by 8% and included border security provisions; Gaetz and his colleagues voted it down. McCarthy then passed, with a majority of Republican support plus some Democratic support, a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the government for 45 days, not including any further funding for Ukraine.

This, for Gaetz, was supposedly the last straw. He took to the floor of the House to accuse not merely McCarthy but the entire Republican caucus of cowardice in confronting President Joe Biden’s spending agenda. “My colleague says we’ve passed the strongest bills in history, well guess what, look at the border right now... I take no lecture on asking patriotic Americans to weigh in and contribute to this fight from those who would grovel and bend knee for the lobbyists and special interests who own our leadership... who have hollowed out this town and have borrowed against the future of our future generations.”

All of this would be more convincing except for two simple facts: First, Democrats control the Senate and presidency, making it impossible for Republicans to pass bills closing the border and radically cutting spending; and second, Gaetz is perhaps Congress’ most ardent supporter of former President

Donald Trump, who added some $7 trillion to the national debt and pledges never to touch the greatest drivers of America’s debt: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

So, what was this truly all about? Radically misaligned interests. The Republican Party has zero actual institutional power at this point. It can be captured from the outside with ease; it can be twisted by a few rogue actors who seek attention rather than policymaking power. McCarthy signed his own political death warrant the day he acquiesced to insurgent Republicans’ demand that they be able to challenge his speakership with a single vote. Once, congressional Republicans ensured solidarity through the power of the speakership; now the speaker worries about avoiding his own demise at the hands of fractious politicians seeking TV spots on CNN and MSNBC. This won’t change with McCarthy’s ouster. Should Rep. Steve Scalise or Rep. Jim Jordan take over, they will presumably still serve at the behest of a few free radicals who can ensure chaos at the drop of a hat. The only way to restore any semblance of order to the House would be to restore consequences for violating party solidarity. And that won’t happen so long as conservative media declare anyone a hero who declares himself a lone man standing against the “powers that be” — and so long as both politicians and conservative media parrot the lie that if only Republicans were simply more determined, conservative policy priorities would magically become law over the objections of a Democratic Senate and Democratic White House.

Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+.

3

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

4 SIDELINE REPORT

SPORTS

NBA

Embiid says he’ll play for U.S. in Paris Olympics Philadelphia Reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid has told USA Basketball that he intends to play for them at the Paris Olympics. Embiid let the federation and managing director Grant Hill know of his decision last week and revealed it publicly last Thursday. USA Basketball does not plan to name its team until the spring of 2024, but if healthy, Embiid would seem certain to have one of the 12 spots on the squad that will be coached by Golden State’s Steve Kerr. France had given Embiid — who could have played for the U.S., France or Cameroon — an Oct. 10 deadline for deciding on his Olympic plans. The U.S. will be trying for a fifth consecutive gold medal.

GOLF

List’s long putt gives him playoff win Jackson, Miss.

Luke List made the most of his second chance, sinking a 45foot birdie to win a five-way playoff Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi. Ben Griffin missed an 8-foot par putt on the last hole that led to the playoff, but List ended it quickly against Griffin, Ludvig Aberg, Henrik Norlander and Scott Stallings.

List shot a 70 and missed a 10-foot putt on the last hole of the final round and figured his chance to win was over.

But Griffin’s bogey opened the door, and List won it on the first playoff hole for his second career PGA Tour victory.

MLB

Successful video reviews drop slightly in majors New York Team-initiated video reviews were slightly less successful in the major leagues this season, which saw overturned calls drop to 48.5% from 50.2% in 2022. Major League Baseball says 625 of 1,288 club challenges were overturned.

There were 304 calls confirmed (23.6%) and 359 allowed to stand (27.9%). Miami led the major leagues with a 75% success rate, followed by Washington (74.2%), Houston (67.7%), Arizona and Kansas City (65.1% each). The Angels (29.4%), Detroit (32.6%), Pittsburgh (38%), Cincinnati (38.7%), Toronto (38.9%) and Baltimore (39.6%) were the least successful.

AP PHOTO

Lions running back David Montgomery runs for a touchdown around Panthers safety Sam Franklin Jr. during Detroit’s 42-24 home win Sunday.

Panthers stay winless with loss at Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff accounted for four touchdowns

The Associated Press DETROIT — The Detroit Lions were without arguably their best player and a dynamic rookie on offense.

Detroit didn’t miss a beat.

Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes in the first half and ran for another score in the fourth quarter, lifting the Lions to a 42-24 victory over the winless Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Detroit scored at least 27 points in consecutive first halves for the first time in franchise history and topped 20 points in a team-record 14th game in a row despite missing receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and run-

ning back Jahmyr Gibbs.

“These guys who have been asked to step up are making plays,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We’re not getting any drop-off.”

The NFC North-leading Lions (4-1) are alone atop the division in October or later for the first time since 2016 and have won 12 of their last 15 games dating to last season.

The Panthers (0-5) turned the ball over three times in the first half — two coming on consecutive snaps — to set up Detroit up for three touchdowns and a 28-10 halftime lead.

“We knew they have an explosive offense, but we made the game much too easy for them,” Carolina coach Frank Reich said.

Carolina rookie quarterback Bryce Young was picked off twice in the first half and Miles Sanders lost a fumble.

“It doesn’t matter what success I had in college.

“I’m no different than anyone else on the team at this point.”

Bryce Young, Panthers quarterback Young, the No. 1 overall pick, was 25 of 41 for 247 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. The former Alabama star entered the game with two touchdowns, two interceptions and two lost fumbles in three starts.

“It doesn’t matter what success I had in college,” Young said. “I’m no different than anyone else on the team at this point.”

Goff was 20 of 28 for 236 yards, and his 1-yard sneak early in the fourth put Detroit ahead 35-10.

“Love where his confidence is at,” Campbell said. “He was on fire.”

David Montgomery, with 109 yards rushing, became the first Lion to run for 100-plus yards and score in two straight games since Kevin Jones in 2004.

Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta caught two TDs in the first half.

Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson used his right hand to snag Young’s short pass in the first quarter and became the first NFL defensive lineman to have four interceptions in his first two seasons.

The Panthers bounced back from a 14-0 deficit when Young threw a 1-yard TD pass to Tommy Tremble. Carolina stopped Detroit on fourth down on the ensuing possession.

Turnovers stopped any potential momentum.

The Lions, as if they were toying with Carolina, called a reverse flea-flicker and Goff found LaPorta wide open for a 31-yard touchdown to go ahead 28-7 late in the first half.

The Panthers are at Miami next Sunday.

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Hoke drops fifth straight game North State Journal HOKE COUNTY lost to Southern Lee, 21-14, on Friday, giving the Bucks their fifth straight loss. The tough decision on the road dropped Hoke to 2-6 on the year and 0-4 in the Sandhills Conference. The

loss snapped a two-game win streak by the Bucks in the series and gave Southern Lee their first win over Hoke County as conference rivals.

Southern Lee built a quick 14-0 lead, but Hoke rallied, only to fall short in the contest.

Hoke will return home for a

7:30 game against Union Pines on Friday. The Vikings are 2-5, 1-2 in the conference. The Bucks have beaten the Vikings each of the last two years, winning 42-22 on the road last year and 52-12 the last time Union Pines came to Hoke County, in 2021.

5

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Jose Vazquez De La Cruz

Racers will be ready to go when Rockfish Speedway hosts its next event in a busy fall season. Racing resumes Oct. 28

ROCKFISH SPEEDWAY PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Rockfish Speedway racing results North State Journal Rockfish Speedway in Raeford has seen plenty of action this fall, with four Saturday nights of action since the start of September.

Each Saturday event has featured four races, each in a different category.

Steve Dunn (Carolina Modlites), Dale Trogdon (600 cc Micro Sprint) and Brayton Lawrence (Junior Sprints) have

posted a pair of wins each. Here’s a look at the winners so far, with the next event scheduled for Oct. 28.

Carolina Modilites winners Sept. 2, Steve Dunn Sept. 14, Donovan Jackson Sept. 30, Tim White Oct. 7, Steve Dunn 600 cc Micro Sprint winners Sept. 2, Matt Jones Sept. 14, Brant Woods

Sept. 30, Dale Trogdon Oct. 7, Dale Trogdon 270/Restricted 600 winners Sept. 2, Matt Thompson Sept. 14, Stevie Daron Sept. 30, Wesley Sweatman Oct. 7, Andrew Daugherty Junior Sprints winners Sept. 2, Layne Gerrald Sept. 14, Brayton Lawrence Sept. 30, Taniyah Keith Oct. 7, Brayton Lawrence

Hoke County, men’s soccer Jose Vazquez De La Cruz is a junior midfielder on the Hoke County men’s soccer team.

The Bucks split their two games last week, losing, 3-2, to Lee County and beating Richmond, 3-1.

De La Cruz had a big week, playing a part in both scores in the Lee County game. He finished with one goal and one assist in the game, adding a steal. He had another assist against Richmond, finishing the week with four points.

De La Cruz leads the Bucks in assists, helping the team to an 11-6-1 record on the season, 5-4 in the Sandhills Conference.

Dick Butkus, fearsome Hall of Famer, dies at 80 The Bears linebacker was a five-time All-Pro The Associated Press CHICAGO — A photo of Dick Butkus sneering behind his facemask filled the cover of Sports Illustrated’s 1970 NFL preview, topped by the headline, “The Most Feared Man in the Game.” Opponents who wound up on the business end of his bone-rattling hits could testify that wasn’t an exaggeration.

Butkus, a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears whose speed and ferocity set the standards for the position in the modern era, died Thursday, the team announced. He was 80.

According to a statement released by the team, Butkus’ family confirmed that he died in his sleep at his home in Malibu, California.

Butkus was a first-team AllPro five times and made the Pro Bowl in eight of his nine seasons before a knee injury forced him to retire at 31. He was the quintessential Monster of the Midway and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. He is

AP PHOTO

Dick Butkus (51), a fearsome middle linebacker for the Bears, died last Thursday. He was 80. still considered one of the greatest defensive players in league history.

“Dick Butkus was a fierce and passionate competitor who

helped define the linebacker position as one of the NFL’s all-time greats. Dick’s intuition, toughness and athleticism made him the model line-

backer whose name will forever be linked to the position and the Chicago Bears,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We also remember Dick as a long-time advocate for former players, and players at all levels of the game.”

A moment of silence honoring Butkus was held before the Bears played at the Washington Commanders on Thursday night.

Trading on his image as the toughest guy in the room, Butkus enjoyed a long second career as a sports broadcaster, an actor in movies and TV series, and a sought-after pitchman for products ranging from antifreeze to beer. Whether the script called for comedy or drama, Butkus usually resorted to playing himself, often with his gruff exterior masking a softer side.

“I wouldn’t ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately,” Butkus replied tongue-in-cheek when asked about his on-field reputation. “Unless it was, you know, important ... like a league game or something.”

Butkus was the rare pro athlete who played his entire career close to home. He was a star linebacker, fullback and kicker

at Chicago Vocational High who went on to play at the University of Illinois. Born on Dec. 9, 1942, as the youngest of eight children, he grew up on the city’s South Side as a fan of the Chicago Cardinals, the Bears’ crosstown rivals.

“He was Chicago’s son,” Bears chairman George McCaskey, Halas’ grandson, said in a statement. “He exuded what our great city is about and, not coincidentally, what George Halas looked for in a player: toughness, smarts, instincts, passion and leadership. He refused to accept anything less than the best from himself, or from his teammates.”

Butkus brought speed, agility and a scorched-earth attitude to the linebacker position.

“Just to hit people wasn’t good enough,” teammate Ed O’Bradovich said. “He loved to crush people.”

The Pro Football Hall of Fame lowered its flags to halfstaff in Butkus’ honor.

Butkus is survived by his wife, Helen, and children Ricky, Matt and Nikki. Nephew Luke Butkus has coached in college and the NFL, including time with the Bears.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

6

Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as House speaker could cost the GOP its best fundraiser heading into 2024 The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kevin McCarthy spent years raising mountains of Republican campaign cash, flying around the country to recruit top candidates in key districts and painstakingly building political relationships as he worked his way toward becoming speaker of the House.

Now that he’s been ousted from the post after less than nine months, some in the GOP are wondering if anyone can take his place as a fundraising dynamo and party builder.

House Republicans have no clear leader heading into next year’s election as they cling to a razor-thin majority.

“Nobody can raise money like him,” said Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D. “And no matter who is the next speaker of the House, none of them can do what Kevin McCarthy did.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP’s House campaign arm, postponed its upcoming fall gala in Dallas that McCarthy was supposed to headline. The committee said McCarthy helped it raise more than $40 million during the last election cycle and $20-plus million so far this cycle.

The totals were even higher for a McCarthy-aligned super PAC, the Congressional Lead-

AP PHOTO

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to reporters hours after he was ousted as Speaker of the House, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. ership Fund, which said that it and its associated nonprofits had raised about $645 million under McCarthy. That included about $215 million for the 2020 election, roughly $350 million during last year’s midterm races and around $80 million so far this cycle.

The leadership fund will shift its alignment to follow the new House speaker once one is elected. Paul Ryan replaced fellow Republican John Boehner in 2015.

The GOP retained House control the following year when Donald Trump was elected president.

“Speaker McCarthy has fun-

damentally altered House elections for Republicans through his recruitment efforts, his unmatched fundraising prowess, and his ability to inspire and generate confidence among donors,” Congressional Leadership Fund President Dan Conston said in a statement. “While this is an obvious loss for the House, CLF remains laser-focused on our mission of holding radical Democrats accountable, protecting our vulnerable incumbents, and expanding the House Republican majority.”

As speaker and in his prior years leading the Republicans

in the minority, McCarthy was viewed by many as less of a legislator and more of a political tactician who found strong Republican candidates and raised enough money to get them elected and to bolster the national party.

McCarthy visiting a district could often be a major draw, juicing fundraiser proceeds, though that’s a role any new House speaker can grow into.

A bigger test for the next speaker is whether they will be able to raise the same kind of sums as McCarthy for the party’s outside groups, which every year pour millions of dollars into advertising in key races, unburdened by contribution limits for individual campaigns.

“That’s where McCarthy has crushed it,” said Cam Savage, a longtime Republican strategist who works on House races. “He did the heavy lifting for the Congressional Leadership Fund.”

During the 2022 midterms, Republicans underperformed national expectations and eked out a House majority so narrow that McCarthy needed an unprecedented 15 rounds of voting to claim the speakership in January. McCarthy had to remain close to Trump, who is now the front-runner in the party’s 2024 primary, and balance the interests of moderates and hard-right members alike. He ultimately

couldn’t.

The revolt against him featured eight Republicans teaming with House Democrats to vote McCarthy out of the speakership. Ironically, McCarthy had campaigned for some of those who eventually helped strip him of the post he’d worked so long to obtain.

“A lot of them, I helped get elected, so I probably should have picked somebody else,” McCarthy joked at a press conference after being forced out.

He may still prove a force in 2024 races. McCarthy has so far suggested that he’ll continue to bolster the GOP nationally, saying, “My goals have not changed, my ability to fight is just in a different form.”

“I intend to make sure that we gain and keep the majority in the next cycle as well,” he said.

House members in both parties said that what happens next will depend greatly on whether the former speaker endorses his eventual successor. That’s because aligning the GOP’s various fundraising mechanisms to the new speaker will likely go far smoother if McCarthy supports his replacement.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” said Marty Obst, who worked for Trump’s 2020 campaign and has raised money with McCarthy in the past. “The transition is going to be fairly bumpy.”

The US is forgiving more federal student loans in a bid to tackle ‘unsustainable debt’ for borrowers The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden outlined a new round of federal student loan forgiveness on Wednesday to address the “unsustainable debt” that borrowers accumulate to complete their college education.

The announcement comes as borrowers brace for payments to restart after a threeyear pause that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and Biden tries to fulfill his campaign promises on debt relief as he runs for reelection.

The Democratic president’s latest step will help 125,000 borrowers by erasing $9 billion in debt through existing programs. In total, 3.6 million borrowers will have had $127 billion in debt wiped out since Biden took office.

“We’re not done yet,” Biden said in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

He pledged to help alleviate the burden of student debt while running for president, and he’s been under pressure to follow through even though his

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden talks with reporters after delivering remarks on student loan debt forgiveness, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, in Washington. D.C. original plan was overturned by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

Biden said the decision was responsible for “snatching from the hands of millions of Amer-

icans thousands of dollars of student debt relief that was about to change their lives.”

He has been relying on a patchwork of different programs to chip away at debt,

such as the SAVE Plan announced last year, which lowers payments by tying them to borrowers’ income.

“My administration is doing everything we can to deliver student debt relief to as many as we can, as fast as we can,” Biden said.

“While a college degree is still the ticket toward a better life, that ticket has become excessively expensive. Americans who are saddled with unsustainable debt in exchange for a college degree has become the norm,” he said.

Some of Biden’s efforts have involved bolstering existing programs, like public service loan forgiveness.

“For years, millions of eligible borrowers were unable to access the student debt relief they qualified for, but that’s all changed thanks to President Biden and this administration’s relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

Additional debt forgiveness could help alleviate the impact of the long-scheduled re-

sumption of loan payments this month, which will put a dent in tens of millions of family budgets. But it is unlikely to undermine the economy’s strength in the long term even though analysts at BNP Paribas estimated it could take $100 billion out of consumers’ pockets and slow overall growth during the final three months of this year.

In addition, the NAACP is pushing Biden to expand debt forgiveness by allowing Parent PLUS loans, which parents use for their children’s college education, to be eligible for the SAVE Plan.

“Historically, education has been viewed as an entry point for marginalized communities to achieve upward mobility and begin building generational wealth,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement that emphasized the disproportionate impact of debt on Black families. “It is unconscionable that, in their quest to provide their children with a brighter future, Black parents have fallen victim to a system that preys on their inherent disadvantage.”

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North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

obituaries

James Irvin Ivy

August 5, 1929 ~ October 8, 2023 Mr. James Irvin Ivy, of St. Louis, Mo went home to glory on October 08, 2023, at the age of 94.

James was born in West Point, MS on August 05, 1929, to the late Hezekiah Ivy and Gertrude Barr Ivy. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Dorotha Ivy; son, Kenneth Eugene Ivy; and nine siblings.

When he was younger, he served in the U.S. Army. He then went on to college at Jackson State. James was a good dad and a very warm and loving granddad.

He is survived by his children, James Ivy (Lena), Anthony Ivy, Quintin Ivy (Stephanie), Cheryl Willis (James), and Kimberly Greene (Nathaniel); grandchildren, James Ivy III (Vanessa), Anthony Ivy, Demon Brown, Cara Lee, John McGhee (Yurlsheila), Quinton Brown, Tonia Reynolds, Shaun McGhee (Janeen), Antonio Peguese (Cassandra), Shulonder Leak, Quintin Coleman (Tiffany), Charles Ivy, Ticqita Ivy, Angelo Willis (Keyon), Tenita Ivy, Shantay McGhee (Antonio), Jasmine Powell, James Willis (Tanisha), Jr., Paris Ivy, Nathaniel Greene, Jr., Aneesha Mclain, Martin Hunter; and a host of great and great-great grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to 273 Northwoods Drive, Raeford, NC 28376.

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Charles Edward Blue

Patricia "Pat" Grant

September 27, 1950 ~ October 1, 2023

March 8, 1948 ~ October 3, 2023

Mr. Charles Edward Blue age, 73 transitioned from earth to glory on October 1, 2023.

He leaves to cherish his loving memories his loving wife, Dorothy Blue and children. Charles will be greatly missed.

Patricia “Pat” Grant passed away peacefully at home with her family on Tuesday, October 03, 2023, at the age of 75.

Pat was born in Fayetteville, NC on March 08, 1948, to the late Archie Boyd Grant and Dorothy Elizabeth Baine Cotton.

Along with her parents, she was preceded in death by her daughter, Teresa Faye Bennett; son, Johnny Horace Bennett, Jr.; stepmother, Gene Grant; grandson, Michael Andrew Miller, Jr.; niece, Jessica Lauren Miller; and sister Cornelia Moore.

Pat was a strong-willed, spunky, and fun woman. She was very active with her family and enjoyed spending time with them. She was sweet, extroverted, and had a lot of friends. She will be missed dearly.

She is survived by her children, Chris Watkins and Sheryl Beasley; granddaughter, Ashley Nuhaj ;niece Donna Jackson; nephew, Henry Beasley, Jr.; and sister, Wanda Locklear; and several other family members.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Cancer Society in honor of Pat’s threetime battle with cancer.

Grace Dodt

June 1, 1934 ~ October 4, 2023 Ms. Grace Dodt age, 89 departed this earthly life to rest with her heavenly father on October 4, 2023.

Kathleen Carter August 6, 1952 ~ October 1, 2023

Kathleen Carter entered into eternal rest on October 1, 2023 at Firsthealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, NC

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North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

8

STATE & NATION DeSantis sharpens his attacks on Trump in their shared home state of Florida candidate who is in the last throes of his campaign,” Cheung said in a statement. “This tough guy routine from DeSantis is laughable, because the only thing tough about him is his ability to embarrass himself every single day on the campaign trail.”

DeSantis spoke to an audience of more than 100 supporters as he announced support from Florida law enforcement officers. There were a few pro-Trump protesters outside, one of them yelling persistently through a bullhorn, but DeSantis took no notice of them.

Attendee Rachel Yates, who said she moved to Tampa two years ago from Chicago, said she likes both Trump and DeSantis.

She said a main source of Trump’s appeal in the past was “that he came in as kind of an independent.”

“I think Trump never had a history in politics and that was important,” she said.

Yates also said she liked DeSantis’s message of law and order, symbolized by his endorsement Thursday by 60 Florida sheriffs, but declined to say which of the two candidates she preferred.

DeSantis, responding to questions both from the media and his

friendly audience, said no one was entitled to the GOP nomination, “especially anybody that couldn’t even stop Joe Biden.” He suggested that the 77-year-old Trump did not have the energy for his old job.

“We need a president that’s going to be full throttle for eight years,” the 45-year-old said. “We don’t need any more presidents that have lost the zip on their fastball.”

He also dismissed Trump’s sizeable fundraising.

Trump’s campaign said that it raised more than $45.5 million in the third quarter of the year, while DeSantis’ team said it brought in $15 million during the same period.

DeSantis said his own fundraising is “being spent on actually delivering the victories that we know we need,” and questioned how much of Trump’s fundraising was being spent on his legal problems, including four criminal cases.

In response to a question about whether he can continue raising enough money to say in the race, he said, “Absolutely.” But he argued that what was most important was earning people’s votes, “town by town, county by county.”

US moves closer to underground testing of nuclear weapons stockpile without any actual explosions

iments since 1995 and nuclear testing dates to 1951. The facility is about 65 miles (104 kilometers) north of Las Vegas.

Custer said above-ground facilities have tested explosive behaviors of other materials but the Scorpius experiments will use real plutonium, which is unique.

“Nothing else behaves like it,” Custer said. “So, the question to us is, are we feeding accurate data into our codes about plutonium’s behavior?”

Josh Leckbee, who led the injector development and design for Scorpius, said it will provide more confidence in both existing and new designs.

Plans for the complicated project have been the focus of proposals examined over the past decade during a vetting process at the Energy Department that finds and removes conceptual and technical errors before funding can be committed. Final approval came late last year.

The first shipment of key components to Nevada is scheduled to begin in March.

Assembly testing is planned through most of 2025 before the Nevada site will move the injector underground.

“We are looking forward to establishing this capability in 2027, conducting the first subcritical experiments using these new capabilities to support our nuclear deterrent and demonstrate once again our technical prowess as a nation,” said Dave Funk, vice-president for Enhanced Capabilities for Subcritical Experiments at the Nevada National Security Site.

The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly slammed Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday and defended his own campaign, warning that the former president could deliver the 2024 election to Democrats energized to beat him.

DeSantis, speaking at a campaign event in their shared home state, argued that Trump lost the 2020 election not because more voters supported Democrat Joe Biden but rather to cast him out of office.

“He energized Democrats. You could have John Kennedy walk through the door right now and he wouldn’t energize Democrats as much as Donald Trump does,” DeSantis said in Tampa. “That’s just the reality.”

The Florida governor has been sharpening his critiques of Trump over the past few months as he’s sought to revitalize his campaign.

Most notably, he used his first opening on the GOP debate stage last week to criticize the former president for skipping the event.

Trump remains his party’s most influential figure. He was

AP PHOTO

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, greets sheriffs from different counties in Florida before he delivered remarks at an event, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. considering a visit to Capitol Hill next week as Republicans sort out their leadership crisis following House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.

DeSantis suggested the thousands of voters who show up to Trump’s political rallies would be matched by those who show up to keep the former president from winning the White House again.

“A voter that goes to 10 rallies, their vote counts the same as somebody that’s unenthusiastic that then goes and votes,” he said.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to DeSantis’ remarks by saying: “Ron DeSantis has the energy of used wet rag.”

“This is nothing more than a desperate attempt of a flailing

The Associated Press RENO, Nev. — Scientists charged with ensuring the aging U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons are good to go — if needed — say they’ll start shipping key components to Nevada’s desert next year to prepare for underground testing they call “tickling the dragon’s tail.”

Experts at national defense laboratories haven’t been able to physically validate the effectiveness and reliability of nuclear warheads since a 1992 underground test ban. But Energy Department officials announced Thursday they’re on the verge of piecing together the technology needed to do the next best thing.

As early as 2027, the $1.8 billion Scorpius project will make it possible to move beyond theoretical computer modeling to study in much more detail the conditions found inside the final stages of a nuclear weapon implosion but without the nuclear explosion, said Jon Custer, the Sandia project lead in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Scientists call it “tickling the dragon’s tail,” Custer said, because the experiment approaches but stays below the stage at which the fission of nuclear materials sustains an ongoing series of chain reactions.

The hope is to answer many

AP PHOTO

In this photo provided by Sandia National Laboratories, technicians work to test two of the cathode inductive voltage adder cells used in the Scorpius Injector being assembled at Sandia National Labs, June 8, 2023, in Albuquerque, N.M. pivotal questions about whether the nation’s aging nuclear weapons still work as designed.

During the Cold War, those questions were answered by actually setting off nuclear explosions. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the explosions sent mushroom clouds high into the skies above the New Mexico and Nevada deserts. Testing later was limited to underground explosions, which ended in 1992.

In the works for 10 years,

the new era of testing has advanced to the next phase at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico where workers have started assembling the high-energy electron beam injector considered the most complex piece of Scorpius, Energy Department officials said Thursday.

The experimental machine the length of a football field eventually will sit 1,000 feet below the ground at the Nevada National Security Site.

“It’s clear we need to know that the stockpile will work if required,” Custer said.

“If you had a car in a garage for 30 to 50 years and one day you insert the ignition key, how confident are you that it will start?” he asked. “That’s how old our nuclear deterrent is. It has been more than 30 years since we conducted an underground nuclear explosive test.”

The Los Alamos National Lab in northern New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California also have roles in the project.

The injector being assembled at Sandia is a linear induction accelerator that will generate a high-energy electron beam to collide with a metal target generating X-rays that penetrate test objects. As plutonium is compressed with the high explosives, a detector will convert the X-rays into images recorded by a sensitive camera that can capture images at speeds of 1 billion per second.

Those nanosecond portraits will be compared with images of the same events generated by supercomputer codes to check their accuracy.

Scorpius will be fully assembled in an underground complex at the facility formerly known as the Nevada Test Site, where scientists have been conducting subcritical exper-

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THE FORSYTH COUNTY EDITION OF THE NORTH STATE JOURNAL

PHOTO COURTESY OF FORSYTH COUNTY GOVERNMENT

The new Forsyth County courthouse, at 175 N. Chestnut Street in Winston-Salem, spans 250,000 square feet across 17 courtrooms and 3 hearing rooms.

COUNTY NEWS North Carolina issues urgent call for volunteer firefighters A crucial recruitment campaign is currently underway across North Carolina, aiming to tackle the severe shortage of volunteer firefighters throughout the state, with a special emphasis on departments and associations in local areas.

The recruitment initiative coincides with Fire Prevention Month in October, particularly Fire Prevention Week from Oct. 8-14. The campaign’s focus this year is on cooking safety, the cause of 51% of all home fires. Fire departments are dedicated to educating their communities about the importance of fire safety and prevention.

There is an urgent need for new recruits as North Carolina has seen a decrease of 4,963 volunteer firefighters since 2020. Considering that over 80% of all North Carolina firefighters are volunteers, the state is in dire need of more individuals willing to take up these roles.

The two-year recruitment and retention campaign is specifically targeting atrisk fire departments and associations throughout North Carolina. For more information about becoming a volunteer firefighter and making a difference in your community, visit www.

VolunteerFireNC.org.

New Forsyth County courthouse set to open, doubling current capacity Twin City Herald FORSYTH COUNTY officials are preparing to open a new courthouse at 175 N. Chestnut Street on Oct. 23, 2023, replacing the current 48-year-old facility.

The new Forsyth County Courthouse, which covers 250,000 square feet, is more than double the size of the existing courthouse on North Main Street. The six-story building features 17 courtrooms, three hearing rooms, two escalators, and four public elevators. The current Forsyth County Hall of Justice houses 16 courtrooms.

“We are grateful to our For-

syth County Commissioners, past and present, who have contributed to the funding, design, and construction of this wonderful new facility,” said Forsyth County Clerk of Superior Court Denise Hines. “Our courts provide the preservation of peace and order in our diverse society and having this new building will have a positive impact on our ability to deliver the quality services that our community expects and deserves.”

The existing courthouse at 200 North Main Street will close to the public on Oct. 20, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. The new courthouse will open its doors on Oct. 23, 2023, at 8:00 a.m.,

with the Clerk of Superior Court’s Office opening to the public at 8:30 a.m.

In the run-up to the move, the Clerk of Superior Court’s Office will maintain regular public hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, with exceptions on Oct. 10 and Oct. 18 when it will close from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m., and on Oct. 20 when it will close at 12:00 p.m.

Court operations will be reduced during the transition to the new courthouse, according to a memorandum issued by the court. Normal operations and services are expected to resume at the new location on Oct. 23, 2023.

Forsyth county commissioners approve residential development rezoning Public hearing set for partial closure of Plemmons Road

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal WINSTON-SALEM — The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners tackled an agenda filled with budgetary issues at their meeting on Thursday, Oct. 5.

The board first conducted two public hearings, the initial one concerning a text amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to incorporate graphics for illustrating certain dimensional requirements.

“The inclusion of new and

improved graphics within the document will better illustrate the existing ordinance provisions for our code users and readers and just generally to make that document more user friendly,” City/County Planner Dan Rankin said.

The board then resumed a hearing from their previous meeting regarding a rezoning request for a property on the north side of Old Hollow Road between Baux Mountain Road and Phelps Drive. The proposal was to change the zoning from RS40 to RS20-S. The board endorsed the item after the applicant revised the original request to include a 10-foot perimeter buffer and additional evergreen trees for buffering. The applicant also relocated one proposed home

“Its focus is on removing barriers to accessing vaccines, increasing vaccine confidence, increasing COVID-19 services and expanding vaccination programs.”

County Manager Dudley Watts away from the southern property line.

Following the hearings, the board approved both items.

The board then greenlit three budgetary amendments to the 2023-24 budget ordinance.

These included a $75,000 in-

“Our courts provide the preservation of peace and order in our diverse society and having this new building will have a positive impact on our ability to deliver the quality services that our community expects and deserves.”

Forsyth County Clerk of Superior Court Denise Hines.

crease to the Special Appropriation for Harry Veterans Community Outreach Services, Inc. to match prior commitments, a $35,194 allocation from the NC Department of Health and Human Services for Agreement Addendum 914 addressing lead, lead-based paint and asbestos in schools and child care facilities, and a $1,337,137 allocation for the NCDHHS for Agreement Addendum 716 related to the county’s COVID-19 vaccination program.

“Its focus is on removing barriers to accessing vaccines, increasing vaccine confidence, increasing COVID-19 services and expanding vaccination programs,” County Manager Dudley Watts said.

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Congress’ perverse incentive structure Twin City Herald Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Jordan Golson Locals Editor Cory Lavalette Sports Editor Shawn Krest Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday as part of North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite 300 Raleigh, NC 27607 TO SUBSCRIBE: 336-283-6305 nsjonline.com Annual Subscription Price: $100.00 Periodicals Postage Paid at Raleigh, N.C. and at additional mailing offices.

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Gaetz is perhaps Congress’ most ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, who added some $7 trillion to the national debt.

LAST WEEK, a small coterie of House Republicans moved, along with all House Democrats, to oust Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., they claimed that McCarthy had to go because of his insufficient zeal in cutting spending, most prominently by failing to advance more individual spending bills.

McCarthy, for his part, had advanced four individual spending bills, which were then rejected by the Senate. In order to avoid a government shutdown, McCarthy attempted to pass a continuing resolution that would have cut discretionary spending by 8% and included border security provisions; Gaetz and his colleagues voted it down. McCarthy then passed, with a majority of Republican support plus some Democratic support, a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the government for 45 days, not including any further funding for Ukraine.

This, for Gaetz, was supposedly the last straw.

He took to the floor of the House to accuse not merely McCarthy but the entire Republican caucus of cowardice in confronting President Joe Biden’s spending agenda. “My colleague says we’ve passed the strongest bills in history, well guess what, look at the border right now...

I take no lecture on asking patriotic Americans to weigh in and contribute to this fight from those who would grovel and bend knee for the lobbyists and special interests who own our leadership... who have hollowed out this town and have borrowed against the future of our future generations.”

All of this would be more convincing except for two simple facts: First, Democrats control the Senate and presidency, making it impossible for Republicans to pass bills closing the border and radically cutting spending; and second, Gaetz is perhaps Congress’ most ardent

supporter of former President Donald Trump, who added some $7 trillion to the national debt and pledges never to touch the greatest drivers of America’s debt: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

So, what was this truly all about? Radically misaligned interests. The Republican Party has zero actual institutional power at this point. It can be captured from the outside with ease; it can be twisted by a few rogue actors who seek attention rather than policymaking power. McCarthy signed his own political death warrant the day he acquiesced to insurgent Republicans’ demand that they be able to challenge his speakership with a single vote.

Once, congressional Republicans ensured solidarity through the power of the speakership; now the speaker worries about avoiding his own demise at the hands of fractious politicians seeking TV spots on CNN and MSNBC. This won’t change with McCarthy’s ouster.

Should Rep. Steve Scalise or Rep. Jim Jordan take over, they will presumably still serve at the behest of a few free radicals who can ensure chaos at the drop of a hat. The only way to restore any semblance of order to the House would be to restore consequences for violating party solidarity. And that won’t happen so long as conservative media declare anyone a hero who declares himself a lone man standing against the “powers that be” — and so long as both politicians and conservative media parrot the lie that if only Republicans were simply more determined, conservative policy priorities would magically become law over the objections of a Democratic Senate and Democratic White House.

Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+.

X removes article headlines in latest platform update, widening a rift with news media The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — X, formerly known as Twitter, has stopped showing headlines on articles shared on the platform.

Now, X only displays an article’s lead image and a link to the story.

Plans for the change were first reported by Fortune in August, when owner Elon Musk confirmed in a post that he thought the change— which came from him “directly” — would “greatly improve the esthetics” of posts.

Linked articles now appear as an image and include text in the left-hand corner noting the domain of the link. Users must click on the image if they wish to visit the full article, which could lead to confusion.

Musk’s platform has been the target of a lot of criticism recently, including accusations by a top European Union official who said that X has “the largest ratio of mis- or disinformation posts.”

The Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil-rights organization, has accused Musk of allowing antisemitism and hate speech to spread on the platform.

Musk’s latest decision builds on the growing rift between the platform and news organizations who for years used it to build their audiences. Among his more

Elon Musk confirmed in a post that he thought the change— which came from him “directly” — would “greatly improve the esthetics” of posts. controversial moves was a decision to upend the site’s verification system.

Under Twitter’s previous leadership, journalists — no matter how small their outlet — could receive a blue checkmark next to their username that verified they were who they said they were.

Celebrities and other public figures could also receive a verification. That changed when Musk ended the verification process and Twitter started doling out blue checkmarks to anyone who wanted one — without verifying their identity — as long as they pay a monthly subscription fee.

Musk has also gutted the team that had been responsible for moderating the content flowing across the platform, temporarily suspended accounts of journalists and has appeared to throttle, or slow down access to links, to media sites such as The New York Times.

An “X” sign rests atop the company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, July 28, 2023

COMMISSIONERS from page 1

lem Foundation for community garden expansion, and the application for a $163,961 Rural Operating Assistance Program Grant for various transportation assistance programs.

In terms of contractual matters, the board approved six

items including contracts for library resources, a mobile lab for the Forsyth County Public Library, configuration of the FC Connect solution, law enforcement mutual assistance, shared use of a traffic safety project grant, and a five-year,

The board also approved three grant items, including a $52,019 appropriation from the US EPA for air pollution monitoring equipment, an $8,000 allocation from the Winston-Sa-

AP PHOTO

$665,000 contract with Fusus for law enforcement video collaboration platform services.

The board also approved a resolution to close the last 225 feet of Plemmons Road, with a public hearing on the issue scheduled for Nov. 16.

Lastly, the board approved the declaration of property at 3290 and 3230 North Liberty Street as surplus and authorized their demolition.

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will meet again on Oct. 19.

Twin City Herald for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

SIDELINE REPORT

3

SPORTS

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NBA

Embiid says he’ll play for U.S. in Paris Olympics Philadelphia Reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid has told USA Basketball that he intends to play for them at the Paris Olympics. Embiid let the federation and managing director Grant Hill know of his decision last week and revealed it publicly last Thursday. USA Basketball does not plan to name its team until the spring of 2024, but if healthy, Embiid would seem certain to have one of the 12 spots on the squad that will be coached

by Golden State’s Steve Kerr. France had given Embiid — who could have played for the U.S., France or Cameroon — an Oct. 10 deadline for deciding on his Olympic plans. The U.S. will be trying for a fifth consecutive gold medal.

GOLF

List’s long putt gives him playoff win Jackson, Miss.

Luke List made the most of his second chance, sinking a 45-foot birdie to win a five-way playoff Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi. Ben Griffin missed an 8-foot par putt on the last hole that led to the playoff, but List ended it quickly against Griffin, Ludvig Aberg, Henrik Norlander and Scott Stallings. List shot a 70 and missed a 10-foot putt on the last hole of the final round and figured his chance to win was over. But Griffin’s bogey opened the door, and List won it on the first playoff hole for his second career PGA Tour victory.

MLB

Successful video reviews drop slightly in majors New York Team-initiated video reviews were slightly less successful in the major leagues this season, which saw overturned calls drop to 48.5% from 50.2% in 2022.

Major League Baseball says 625 of 1,288 club challenges were overturned. There were 304 calls confirmed (23.6%) and 359 allowed to stand (27.9%). Miami led the major leagues with a 75% success rate, followed by Washington (74.2%), Houston (67.7%), Arizona and Kansas City (65.1% each). The Angels (29.4%), Detroit (32.6%), Pittsburgh (38%), Cincinnati (38.7%), Toronto (38.9%) and Baltimore (39.6%) were the least successful.

HOCKEY

Former NHL coach Constantine fired by WHL team Wenatchee, Wash.

Former NHL coach Kevin Constantine was fired as coach of the Wenatchee Wild on Thursday, a day after he was suspended indefinitely by the Western Hockey League for making “derogatory comments of a discriminatory nature.”

In its first season in Washington after moving from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the team said associate head coach Chris Clark and assistant coach Andrew Sarauer will direct the club while it searches for a head coach. Constantine, 64, was suspended Sept. 24 pending an independent investigation that found he violated the WHL’s standard of conduct policies. He coached in the NHL from 1993-2002 with the Sharks, Penguins and Devils.

Lions running back David Montgomery runs for a touchdown around Panthers safety Sam Franklin Jr. during Detroit’s 4224 home win Sunday.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Bryce Baker AP PHOTO

Panthers stay winless with loss at Detroit “It doesn’t matter what success I had in college.

“I’m no different than anyone else on the team at this point.”

Bryce Young, Panthers quarterback

Lions quarterback Jared Goff accounted for four touchdowns The Associated Press DETROIT — The Detroit Lions were without arguably their best player and a dynamic rookie on offense.

Detroit didn’t miss a beat.

Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes in the first half and ran for another score in the fourth quarter, lifting the Lions to a 42-24 victory over the winless Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Detroit scored at least 27 points in consecutive first halves for the first time in franchise history and topped 20 points in a team-record 14th game in a row despite missing receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and running back Jahmyr Gibbs.

“These guys who have been asked to step up are making plays,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We’re not getting any drop-off.”

The NFC North-leading Lions (4-1) are alone atop the division in October or later for the first time since 2016 and have won 12 of their last 15 games dating to last season.

The Panthers (0-5) turned the ball over three times in the first half — two coming on consecutive snaps — to set up Detroit up for three touchdowns and a 28-10 halftime lead.

“We knew they have an explosive offense, but we made the game much too easy for them,” Carolina coach Frank Reich said.

Carolina rookie quarterback Bryce Young was picked off twice in the first half and

Miles Sanders lost a fumble.

Young, the No. 1 overall pick, was 25 of 41 for 247 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. The former Alabama star entered the game with two touchdowns, two interceptions and two lost fumbles in three starts.

“It doesn’t matter what success I had in college,” Young said. “I’m no different than anyone else on the team at this point.”

Goff was 20 of 28 for 236 yards, and his 1-yard sneak early in the fourth put Detroit ahead 35-10.

“Love where his confidence is at,” Campbell said. “He was on fire.”

David Montgomery, with 109 yards rushing, became the first Lion to run for 100-plus yards and score in two straight games since Kevin Jones in 2004. Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta caught two TDs in the first half.

Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson used his right hand to snag Young’s short pass in the first quarter and became the first NFL defensive lineman to have four interceptions in his first two seasons.

The Panthers bounced back from a 14-0 deficit when Young threw a 1-yard TD pass to Tommy Tremble. Carolina stopped Detroit on fourth down on the ensuing possession.

Turnovers stopped any potential momentum.

The Lions, as if they were toying with Carolina, called a reverse flea-flicker and Goff found LaPorta wide open for a 31-yard touchdown to go ahead 28-7 late in the first half.

The Panthers are at Miami next Sunday.

PHOTO COURTESY EAST FORSYTH

East Forsyth, football Bryce Baker is a junior quarterback on the East Forsyth football team.

The Eagles hammered Parkland on Friday, 62-7, to win their second straight and move to 6-1 on the year, 3-1 in the Central Piedmont Conference.

Baker, a UNC football commit, is rated the 17th best 2025 quarterback in the nation and the No. 7 junior in the state by the 247 Sports composite index, did most of the damage, throwing for 198 yards on 16-of-25 passing for 3 touchdowns and a 128.0 quarterback rating. He added a 34-yard rush.

For the year, his 1,702 passing yards are No. 3 among the state’s Division 4A players, and his 1,836 total yards are No. 4.

Atlanta, Watkins Glen get playoff races on ’24 Cup schedule Texas and Darlington will not have playoff races next year

The Associated Press CHARLOTTE — NASCAR added Atlanta Motor Speedway and the road course at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York to the playoffs as part of the 2024 Cup Series schedule released last week.

Many of the changes to the schedule had already been announced: Bristol Motor Speedway is removing the dirt for its spring race, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is returning NASCAR to his historic oval and Iowa Speedway will finally host a Cup race.

The remainder of the schedule release showed that the season again begins with the exhibition Busch Light Clash at

the Coliseum in Los Angeles on Feb. 4, followed by the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18. The season ends once again at Phoenix Raceway, where the Cup champion will be crowned on Nov. 10.

The notable changes to the schedule are the additions of the playoffs of Atlanta and Watkins Glen, as well as the regular-season finale moving one week from Daytona to Darlington in an unchanged stretch of August racing.

Daytona had most recently been the regular season finale and Darlington’s Southern 500 the playoff opener.

Texas Motor Speedway lost the playoff race it has hosted since 2004 and its lone Cup race will be in the spring. Kansas Speedway, meanwhile, moved its playoff race from the middle race in the round of 16 to the opening race in the round of 12.

Richmond Raceway’s annual spring race will be on Easter

AP PHOTO

The NASCAR All-Star Race will return to North Wilkesboro next year when the iconic North Carolina track hosts the event May 19, 2024.

Sunday, a shift to the date most recently held by Bristol. Bristol is not only removing the dirt that had given it fan appeal the last few years, but the Tennessee track is going back to a March date after nearly a decade of battling inclement weather at that time of the year.

One surprise is the return of the hybrid oval/road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which hosts this Sunday’s play-

off elimination race in the round of 12. Drivers last week said they wanted The Roval off the schedule with a return to the regular oval, but Charlotte Motor Speedway’s parent company is hanging on to the idea that began as a novelty.

NASCAR, like IndyCar, will have a two-week break during the Paris Olympics to accommodate broadcast partner NBC Sports.

Twin City Herald for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

4

STATE & NATION DeSantis sharpens his attacks on Trump in their shared home state of Florida candidate who is in the last throes of his campaign,” Cheung said in a statement. “This tough guy routine from DeSantis is laughable, because the only thing tough about him is his ability to embarrass himself every single day on the campaign trail.”

DeSantis spoke to an audience of more than 100 supporters as he announced support from Florida law enforcement officers. There were a few pro-Trump protesters outside, one of them yelling persistently through a bullhorn, but DeSantis took no notice of them.

Attendee Rachel Yates, who said she moved to Tampa two years ago from Chicago, said she likes both Trump and DeSantis.

She said a main source of Trump’s appeal in the past was “that he came in as kind of an independent.”

“I think Trump never had a history in politics and that was important,” she said.

Yates also said she liked DeSantis’s message of law and order, symbolized by his endorsement Thursday by 60 Florida sheriffs, but declined to say which of the two candidates she preferred.

DeSantis, responding to questions both from the media and his

friendly audience, said no one was entitled to the GOP nomination, “especially anybody that couldn’t even stop Joe Biden.” He suggested that the 77-year-old Trump did not have the energy for his old job.

“We need a president that’s going to be full throttle for eight years,” the 45-year-old said. “We don’t need any more presidents that have lost the zip on their fastball.”

He also dismissed Trump’s sizeable fundraising.

Trump’s campaign said that it raised more than $45.5 million in the third quarter of the year, while DeSantis’ team said it brought in $15 million during the same period.

DeSantis said his own fundraising is “being spent on actually delivering the victories that we know we need,” and questioned how much of Trump’s fundraising was being spent on his legal problems, including four criminal cases.

In response to a question about whether he can continue raising enough money to say in the race, he said, “Absolutely.” But he argued that what was most important was earning people’s votes, “town by town, county by county.”

US moves closer to underground testing of nuclear weapons stockpile without any actual explosions

iments since 1995 and nuclear testing dates to 1951. The facility is about 65 miles (104 kilometers) north of Las Vegas.

Custer said above-ground facilities have tested explosive behaviors of other materials but the Scorpius experiments will use real plutonium, which is unique.

“Nothing else behaves like it,” Custer said. “So, the question to us is, are we feeding accurate data into our codes about plutonium’s behavior?”

Josh Leckbee, who led the injector development and design for Scorpius, said it will provide more confidence in both existing and new designs.

Plans for the complicated project have been the focus of proposals examined over the past decade during a vetting process at the Energy Department that finds and removes conceptual and technical errors before funding can be committed. Final approval came late last year.

The first shipment of key components to Nevada is scheduled to begin in March.

Assembly testing is planned through most of 2025 before the Nevada site will move the injector underground.

“We are looking forward to establishing this capability in 2027, conducting the first subcritical experiments using these new capabilities to support our nuclear deterrent and demonstrate once again our technical prowess as a nation,” said Dave Funk, vice-president for Enhanced Capabilities for Subcritical Experiments at the Nevada National Security Site.

The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly slammed Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday and defended his own campaign, warning that the former president could deliver the 2024 election to Democrats energized to beat him.

DeSantis, speaking at a campaign event in their shared home state, argued that Trump lost the 2020 election not because more voters supported Democrat Joe Biden but rather to cast him out of office.

“He energized Democrats. You could have John Kennedy walk through the door right now and he wouldn’t energize Democrats as much as Donald Trump does,” DeSantis said in Tampa. “That’s just the reality.”

The Florida governor has been sharpening his critiques of Trump over the past few months as he’s sought to revitalize his campaign.

Most notably, he used his first opening on the GOP debate stage last week to criticize the former president for skipping the event.

Trump remains his party’s most influential figure. He was

AP PHOTO

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, greets sheriffs from different counties in Florida before he delivered remarks at an event, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. considering a visit to Capitol Hill next week as Republicans sort out their leadership crisis following House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.

DeSantis suggested the thousands of voters who show up to Trump’s political rallies would be matched by those who show up to keep the former president from winning the White House again.

“A voter that goes to 10 rallies, their vote counts the same as somebody that’s unenthusiastic that then goes and votes,” he said.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to DeSantis’ remarks by saying: “Ron DeSantis has the energy of used wet rag.”

“This is nothing more than a desperate attempt of a flailing

The Associated Press RENO, Nev. — Scientists charged with ensuring the aging U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons are good to go — if needed — say they’ll start shipping key components to Nevada’s desert next year to prepare for underground testing they call “tickling the dragon’s tail.”

Experts at national defense laboratories haven’t been able to physically validate the effectiveness and reliability of nuclear warheads since a 1992 underground test ban. But Energy Department officials announced Thursday they’re on the verge of piecing together the technology needed to do the next best thing.

As early as 2027, the $1.8 billion Scorpius project will make it possible to move beyond theoretical computer modeling to study in much more detail the conditions found inside the final stages of a nuclear weapon implosion but without the nuclear explosion, said Jon Custer, the Sandia project lead in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Scientists call it “tickling the dragon’s tail,” Custer said, because the experiment approaches but stays below the stage at which the fission of nuclear materials sustains an ongoing series of chain reactions.

The hope is to answer many

AP PHOTO

In this photo provided by Sandia National Laboratories, technicians work to test two of the cathode inductive voltage adder cells used in the Scorpius Injector being assembled at Sandia National Labs, June 8, 2023, in Albuquerque, N.M. pivotal questions about whether the nation’s aging nuclear weapons still work as designed.

During the Cold War, those questions were answered by actually setting off nuclear explosions. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the explosions sent mushroom clouds high into the skies above the New Mexico and Nevada deserts. Testing later was limited to underground explosions, which ended in 1992.

In the works for 10 years,

the new era of testing has advanced to the next phase at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico where workers have started assembling the high-energy electron beam injector considered the most complex piece of Scorpius, Energy Department officials said Thursday.

The experimental machine the length of a football field eventually will sit 1,000 feet below the ground at the Nevada National Security Site.

“It’s clear we need to know that the stockpile will work if required,” Custer said.

“If you had a car in a garage for 30 to 50 years and one day you insert the ignition key, how confident are you that it will start?” he asked. “That’s how old our nuclear deterrent is. It has been more than 30 years since we conducted an underground nuclear explosive test.”

The Los Alamos National Lab in northern New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California also have roles in the project.

The injector being assembled at Sandia is a linear induction accelerator that will generate a high-energy electron beam to collide with a metal target generating X-rays that penetrate test objects. As plutonium is compressed with the high explosives, a detector will convert the X-rays into images recorded by a sensitive camera that can capture images at speeds of 1 billion per second.

Those nanosecond portraits will be compared with images of the same events generated by supercomputer codes to check their accuracy.

Scorpius will be fully assembled in an underground complex at the facility formerly known as the Nevada Test Site, where scientists have been conducting subcritical exper-

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VOLUME 8 ISSUE 33 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2023 | MOORE.NORTHSTATEJOURNAL.COM | SUBSCRIBE TODAY: 336-283-6305

MOORE COUNTY THE MOORE COUNTY EDITION OF THE NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Off to prom Quail Haven Village’s independent living residents enjoyed a Senior Prom last weekend. The event at the senior living community featured the crowning of Bobby and Peggy McBryde as Prom King and Queen. The evening included elegant decorations, a special dinner with cocktails, and dancing to 1950s music. The event was marked by joy, laughter, and memorable moments.

COURTESY PHOTO

WHAT’S HAPPENING North Carolina issues urgent call for volunteer firefighters A crucial recruitment campaign is currently underway across North Carolina, aiming to tackle the severe shortage of volunteer firefighters throughout the state, with a special emphasis on departments and associations in local areas.

The recruitment initiative coincides with Fire Prevention Month in October, particularly Fire Prevention Week from Oct. 8-14. The campaign’s focus this year is on cooking safety, the cause of 51% of all home fires.

Fire departments are dedicated to educating their communities about the importance of fire safety and prevention.

There is an urgent need for new recruits as North Carolina has seen a decrease of 4,963 volunteer firefighters since 2020.

Considering that over 80% of all North Carolina firefighters are volunteers, the state is in dire need of more individuals willing to take up these roles.

Volunteering as a firefighter offers a rewarding experience, allowing individuals to make a tangible difference in their communities. Volunteers acquire invaluable skills and knowledge and significantly impact their neighbors’ lives. Local fire departments across the state need volunteers of all skill levels and abilities who can respond to emergencies when needed.

The two-year recruitment and retention campaign is specifically targeting atrisk fire departments and associations throughout North Carolina. For more information about becoming a volunteer firefighter and making a difference in your community, visit www.

VolunteerFireNC.org.

Aberdeen to install stop signs on Shepherd Trail Intersections to become three-way stops

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal ABERDEEN — The Aberdeen Town Board tackled road and financial matters at its meeting on Monday, Sept. 25.

The meeting kicked off with the Aberdeen Police Department swearing in two new officers, Jose Zapol and Seanessey O’Dowd.

The board approved the in-

stallation of two stop signs at Shepherd Trail intersections in response to residents’ concerns about speeding.

“A few weeks ago, we received phone calls from concerned residents within Shepherd Trail,” said Director of Public Works Joe Wood. “We’ve had this problem, several phone calls over the past few years… Shepherd Trail is being used as a shortcut from Roseland Road to Highway 5.

They’re speeding through the area. I know it’s posted as 25 miles per hour. The PD has been posted there enforcing the cur-

rent speed limit, but they just cannot be there all the time.”

The new stop signs will be located at the intersections of Shepherd Trail with Lacey Lane and Mulberry Place, creating a three-way stop at each location.

“I think this is a great idea, and it will help the neighborhood,” said Mayor Robbie Farrell.

The board also approved a budget amendment to acquire and utilize funding through the general fund. “[The funding] for the rightof-way acquisition revenue that

we expect to see and it is two parts,” said Finance Director Butch Watson. “They are buying our property so they have provided us money, and we expect that to be around $390,000 total. $215,000 for Highway 211 and $175,000 for US 1.”

The board also approved the expenditure of funds related to the new sportsplex.

“In December 2020, the town signed an agreement to enter into a lease contract for the [sportsplex] to be built and for us to buy it at a future date no later than December 2023 in addition to two additional acres at $10,000 per acre,” Watson said.

The total cost of the amendment, which includes the purchase of the building, the land, and additional legal costs, amounts to $325,000.

The Aberdeen Town Board will meet again on Oct. 23.

Pinehurst council approves RV space rental fees, reviews new library costs

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

said Village Manager Jeff Sanborn.

The council reviewed updated cost projections for both the library and the archives. The Tufts Archives are projected to cost between $2 million and $2.3 million, while the Givens Memorial Library is projected to cost between $5.8 million and $6.5 million.

Following the presentation, the council directed staff to continue data collection and set up meetings with the library board and local area school principals.

“We’re Pinehurst,” said Mayor

Pro Tem Pat Pizzella. “We want to build a first-class library…

That’s what we’re going to do. So now we have to figure out what’s the right size of the library and the right location.”

The council also approved an updated fee and charges schedule for the Pinehurst Harness Track’s new RV spaces.

“We are proposing a $400 monthly rate or a $2,500 full season rate,” said Parks and Recreation Director Mark Wagner.

The Village of Pinehurst Council will meet again on Oct. 10.

Moore County Principal is first recipient of True Trailblazer Science of Reading Award

have set a shining example for educators and administrators across North Carolina,” the district press release states.

“She embodies the spirit of innovation, dedication, and a deep passion for the betterment of education.”

PINEHURST — The Village of Pinehurst Council met Tuesday, Sept. 26, primarily focusing on reports.

The council began by appointing Carol Henry as the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction representative for the Planning and Zoning Board and Board of Adjustments. “[Henry] holds previous planning and zoning board experience with the Village of Pinehurst having served from around 2014 to 2016, and she’s going to

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — On Oct. 3, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) honored Principal Ashlee Ciccone as the first recipient of the True Trailblazer Science of Reading Award.

Ciccone is the principal of Pinehurst Elementary School

be a benefit to us with that previous experience,” said Planning and Zoning Board Chairman Jeramy Hooper. “Carol will not only fill the ETJ seat for the planning and zoning board but also she will be a voice for the Jackson Hamlet community.”

The council then received an update on the library and archives space analysis, programming update and location discussion.

“We’ve been going through this process incrementally with regards to the design of our future library and archive spaces,”

in Moore County Public Schools.

NCDPI’s account on the social media platform X issued a post congratulating Ciccone as being “recognized for her exemplary efforts to guide the school through its shift to SoR [Science of Reading], positively impacting professional & student knowledge & collaboration.”

According to the district, Ciccone had begun using LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) professional development at her school before State Superintendent Catherine Truitt launched the statewide literacy initiative involving LETRS. “Principal Ciccone’s leadership and unwavering commitment to the science of reading

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North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

2 WEDNESDAY

10.11.23

“Join the conversation”

Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Jordan Golson Locals Editor Cory Lavalette Sports Editor Shawn Krest Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday as part of North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite 300 Raleigh, NC 27607 TO SUBSCRIBE: 336-283-6305 MOORE.NORTHSTATEJOURNAL.COM Annual Subscription Price: $100.00 Periodicals Postage Paid at Raleigh, N.C. and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite 300 Raleigh, NC 27607

We stand corrected To report an error or a suspected error, please email: corrections@nsjonline.com with “Correction request” in the subject line.

COLUMN | U.S. REP RICHARD HUDSON

Committed to serving you THIS WEEKEND we have witnessed a savage and unprecedented attack on our greatest Middle Eastern ally, Israel. The senseless violence in Israel is sickening, but we must be clear-eyed that this is an unprovoked act of war on a sovereign ally.

There should be no doubt that Israel has every right to defend itself, and the United States should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our friend in this terrible time.

Reports that Americans are among the hundreds killed or taken hostage is worrying. I am also outraged by the possibility that the Biden administration’s eagerness to give legitimacy and over $6 billion to Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorists including Hamas, may have contributed to this attack. I will continue to monitor this situation and will always stand with Israel.

These have been a challenging few weeks in Washington. Our House Republican majority is the only firewall against the extreme agenda of Washington Democrats.

I am doing anything I can to remind my colleagues of this and find a way forward by electing a new Republican speaker. My focus remains on cutting spending, securing our Southern border, and working on behalf of you and your family.

As the crisis at the border rages, Senate Democrats refuse to take any action on the House-passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, the strongest border security bill in history. This legislation restarts construction of the border wall, deploys technology to the Southern and Northern border, increases the number of Border Patrol agents, and provides them with bonus pay.

The ongoing humanitarian and national security crisis at our Southern border continues to escalate, as record numbers of illegal migrants cross into the United States. In August alone, there were 232,972 encounters at the Southern Border—a 27% increase from July and more than double the population of Moore County.

While Washington Democrats allow thousands of illegal immigrants into our country each day, they also refuse to acknowledge the ways their failed economic policies are impacting hardworking families.

Washington Democrats borrowed and spent

at record levels under their one-party rule, fueling inflation and propelling our debt to an astronomical $33 trillion. Because of this, new polling data shows only 28% of Americans are satisfied with the state of the economy.

These are serious issues facing our nation today – yet we have seen troubling times before. In the face of previous conflict and uncertainty, President Ronald Reagan believed that America’s best days were always ahead. He also knew that uniting under conservative leadership was the only way to secure our freedoms for future generations. I believe in that too, especially because House Republicans have solutions to each of the challenges we are once again facing today.

House Republicans are focused on cutting wasteful spending, fully-funding programs for seniors, military families, and veterans, securing our border, and passing solutions that fulfill our commitment to the American people. As your Congressman, I am committed to building a safer future for you and your family. As internal debates continue in Congress on how our majority can achieve those goals, know that I will always stay focused on the big picture and the issues that matter most to you.

My goal is to always provide you with high quality constituent services and be accessible to hear your needs, thoughts, and concerns on the key issues facing our community and nation. My dedicated staff in our Southern Pines and Fayetteville district offices are here to serve you. To find out our office locations and office hours, visit Hudson.house.gov or call us at 910-9101924.

As your Congressman, I will never stop working with my House colleagues to advance common sense solutions that grow our economy, keep us safe, and help you and every American family succeed.

Richard Hudson is serving his sixth term in the U.S. House and represents North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.

He currently serves as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and is a member of the House Republican Steering Committee.

CRIME LOG

MOORE CITIZENS FOR FREEDOM

MOORE COUNTY Remember that we live in the best country, the best state, and by far the best county.

MOORE COUNTY, WHAT A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE!

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x TROXLER, NICHOLAS GAVIN, 33, I, M, 10/9/2023, Robbins PD, Possess Methamphetamine, Possess Drug Paraphernalia x TROUTMAN, KOVACS KIERON, 40, B, M, 10/9/2023, Southern Pines PD, Possession of Firearm by Felon, PWISD Cocaine, Felony Possession of Cocaine, PWIMSD Schedule II CS, Simple Possession Schedule II CS, Carrying Concealed Gun, Simple Possess Schedule VI CS, Possess Drug Paraphernalia, Second Degree Trespass x QUICK, JERMAINE MICHAEL, 44, B, M, 10/9/2023, Southern Pines PD, Possession of Firearm by Felon, Simple Possess Schedule VI CS, Second Degree Trespass, Carrying Concealed Gun, Possess Drug Paraphernalia x HARRINGTON, DENNIS MONROE, 24, B, M, 10/9/2023, Moore County Sheriff’s Office, Violate Domestic Violence Protection Order, Simple Possess Schedule VI CS x CHRISCOE, JESSICA ANNE, 36, W, F, 10/9/2023, Moore County Sheriff’s Office, Larceny of Motor Vehicle, Resisting Public Officer x RODGERS, DENNIS EDWARDS, 35, H, M, 10/8/2023, Aberdeen PD, Second Degree Trespass x SUAREZ, ANDRES GOMEZ, 45, H, M, 10/6/2023, Moore County Sheriff’s Office, AWDW w/ Intent to Kill Inflicting Serious Injury, Discharge Weapon into Occupied Prop Serious Bodily Injury, Assault on a Child Under 12, Assault by Pointing a Gun, Carrying Concealed Gun x DAVIS, CODY LEE, 24, W, M, 10/6/2023, Moore County Sheriff’s Office, Breaking and or Entering (x5), Felony Larceny (x2), Possess Stolen Goods/Prop (x3) Inj Prop Nonferr Metal (x2), Misdemeanor Larceny, Burning Personal Property, Burning Certain Building, Larceny After Break/Enter, Set Fire to Woods/Lands/ Fields, Larceny after Break/Enter (x2)

moore

happening Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Moore County:

Oct. 12 Trivia Thursday at the Brewery 6pm Come out for Trivia at the Southern Pines Brewery!

Enjoy fun and prizes each Thursday. Southern Pines Brewing Company is located at 565 Air Tool Dr., Southern Pines, NC.

Thursday Night Music Bingo 7pm Come out to James Creek Cider House for Music Bingo with Lauren! James Creek is located at 172 US Hwy 1 Bus. in Cameron. A food truck will be on site at 8!

Oct. 13 Carthage Farmers Market 2pm – 6pm Come out and support your local farmers at the brand-new farmers market in Carthage! The market features fresh produce, meats, eggs, and handmade goods! The market will be set up on S. Ray Street in the parking lot across from the post office.

Oct. 14 Moore County Farmers Market 8am – 12pm Enjoy the Moore County Farmers Market at the Downtown Park, which is located at 145 SE Broad Street in Southern Pines!

Buy local and fresh seasonal produce and products every Saturday morning from 8am until 12pm!

Oct. 15 Sipping on Sunday 2pm The Triangle Wine Company, located at 144 Brucewood Road in Southern Pines, is hosting Sipping on Sunday wine tastings! Wine down on your Sunday and enjoy sipping on a great selection!

ing

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

3

SPORTS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

North Moore’s offensive line (in green) was able to control the line of scrimmage and lead the Mustangs to a 48-7 win on Friday.

Jakarey Gillis ASHEEBO ROJAS | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Jakarey Gillis, explosive first half push North Moore past Seaforth, 48-7

By Asheebo Rojas North State Journal

“Take what you get and go, man.”

Jakarey Gillis

faster than he was last year,” Carrouth said. “He’s always been able to put his shoulders down and run through peoFriday Oct. 13, 7:30 PM, Pinecrest Patriots (7-0, 3-0) at ple a little bit, but he’s about Scotland Fighting Scots (7-0, to where he can run by people now…I am so glad to be able 3-0) *Conference Game* to see the success he is having Friday Oct. 13, 7:30 PM, North right now.”

Moore Mustangs (5-2, 4-1) Said Gillis, “I feel like being home vs. Graham Red Devils (1a senior as a running back, I 6,1-4) *Conference Game have a lot more knowledge and Friday Oct. 13, 7:30 PM, Union know what I’m doing more, Pines Vikings (2-5, 1-2) at so it just comes with the flow Hoke County Bucks (2-6, 0-4) with everything.” *Conference Game* The North Moore defense also played lights out, coming away with three intercepscore just before the end of the tions and a fumble recovery.

Junior Jax Hussey picked off first quarter.

He scored once more in Seaforth’s quarterback twice, the first half with a five-yard and sophomore Justin Walker touchdown run early in the grabbed his third interception second quarter, which pushed of the season.

The Mustangs’ main flaw of the Mustangs’ lead to 34.

“First half, (offensive) line- the night was just their execumen did their jobs,” Gillis said. tion in the second half, iron“Wide open holes, take what ically. False starts, defensive busts and other mistakes you get and go, man.”

Gillis scored again in the slowed North Moore to just fourth quarter and finished one touchdown and allowed the game with a career-high Seaforth to avoid the shutout 244 rushing yards, averaging in the final two quarters.

“Second half, we kind of just under 14 yards a carry. He rushed for over 200 yards in waned a little bit,” Carrouth said. “We’ve got to clean that the first half alone.

Now with 14 rushing touch- up and be able to execute for downs on the season, Gillis is four quarters.”

Sitting at fourth in the just two shy of breaking his single-season career-high of Mid-Carolina 1A/2A confer15 touchdowns, which he set ence with a 4-1 conference relast year. His production has cord and the head-to-head been impressive, considering win over Northwood, North he suffered a severe knee in- Moore still has hopes of bejury ahead of his sophomore coming conference champions year and ran with his right for the second year in a row.

The Mustangs will continshoulder wrapped in athletic tape after it popped out of ue their quest for a conference place in the Mustangs’ recent title at home against Graham Friday, and for that game, the win over Bartlett-Yancey. “(Gillis) worked his tail off focus will be on playing sound in the weight room and got football all night long.

PREP FOOTBALL — WEEK 9

NORTH MOORE football head coach Andrew Carrouth worried about his team’s focus ahead of Friday’s game against Seaforth, as homecoming festivities created potential distractions.

But in route to a 48-7 victory over the Hawks, the Mustangs started the homecoming celebrations early after locking in and playing their brand of football the right way.

The Mustangs took care of business behind an explosive 41-point first half and a career night from senior running back Jakarey Gillis.

“I really liked the first half,” Carrouth said. “We had a couple of miscues here and there, but I thought we really did a good job of executing.”

North Moore’s offense found success out the gate with its offensive line controlling the line of scrimmage and creating lanes for the Mustangs’ run game. On the first play of the game, senior running back Kolby Ritchie broke free for 29 yards, and senior Nathan Rogers finished the drive a few plays later with a four-yard rushing touchdown.

And once Gillis got going, there was no slowing down the Mustangs’ rushing attack.

For his first touchdown of the night, Gillis sprinted untouched for 89 yards to the end zone, giving North Moore a 14-0 lead with the extra point.

After senior quarterback Nate Dyer capitalized on a Seaforth fumble with a touchdown pass to senior Joseph Ritter, Gillis put his speed on display again with a 29 yard

ASHEEBO ROJAS | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

North Moore, football Jakarey Gillis is a senior running back for the North Moore football team.

The Mustangs won their third straight game last Friday, a 48-7 shellacking of Seaforth, and Gillis was a big reason why. He rushed for 244 yards on 18 carries and scored four touchdowns, giving him 14 on the season, one shy of his total for all of last year.

Gillis has 998 rushing yards on the year and has more touchdowns than any two other Mustangs combined.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

4

obituaries

Dr. James Cole

Dorothy Taylor

April 12, 1936 ~ September 30, 2023

June 8, 1933 ~ September 26, 2023

Dr. James S. Cole, of Pinehurst, passed away Saturday, September 30, 2023, at the age of 87.

He was born in Vinton, Iowa; his parents were Jess and Janet Cole. He graduated from the University of Iowa School of Medicine and completed his fellowship in Cardiology at the University of Seattle, Washington.

He continued in academic medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Kentucky Medical Center.

Jim then had private practices in Appleton, WI, and later in Raleigh, NC until his retirement.

Jim’s survivors include his wife, Pat; his brother, Jess (Judy); children Kelly (James) Dark, Tracey (Tom) O’Connell, Ryan (Annalyn) Cole, Doug (Maelyn) Lessard and Steve (Stacy) Lessard; ten grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions can be made to the charity of one’s choice.

Dorothy B Taylor passed away on September 26, 2023, at the age of 90 years old.

Dorothy was born in Anniston Alabama on June 8, 1933, to the late John King Brewer and Penola Jones.

Along with her parents, Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband William Edison Taylor, one brother, Luther Dennis Brewer, three sons Joseph Carl Colasacco; Shon Eddie Taylor; Johnnie Uber Taylor; and a daughter Delbra Steptoe.

Dorothy was a fun-loving woman who enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved anything that made them happy. The majority of the memories made were with her great-grandchildren whom she absolutely adored. She will be missed dearly by family and friends.

She is survived by her children, Katherine Smith and Douglas Anderson, her granddaughter Harley Taylor, and many other grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

Bernice Roszkowicz Sullivan

April 21, 1929 - October 5, 2023 Bernice Roszkowicz Sullivan, 94, of Southern Pines, died Thursday, October 5, 2023.

Mrs. Sullivan was born April 21, 1929, in Fall River, Mass., to the late Albert and Agnes (Cisek) Roszkowicz.

She was the widow of the late Frederick W. Sullivan, whom she married in 1952. She was a retired home maker, moving to the Pinehurst area with her husband in 1992. She loved her family and friends, traveling, reading and nice glass of merlot.

She is survived by a son, William and wife Barbara, of Spring, Texas; a daughter, Karen and husband, Stephen, of Sanford, North Carolina; two grandchildren, Gregory and Ian Sullivan, of Austin, Texas.

Theresa Lynn Fox Margaret Marie Assad McDonald

December 3, 1928 - October 1, 2023 Margaret Marie Assad McDonald, age 94, died on Sunday, October 1, 2023.

Mrs. McDonald was a wonderful seamstress and loved to cook, garden and work in her yard. She was preceded in death by her husband William A. McDonald and two brothers, James S. Assad and Daniel W. Assad.

She is survived by her sons: William Michael McDonald (Sharon) of Raleigh, NC. and Anthony Deane McDonald of Southern Pines, NC., Grandchildren: Michael McDonald (Maria), Shea Cunningham (Sean), Nicholas McDonald (Sunnie), Anthony McDonald (Rosa) and 6 great grandchildren.

June 21, 1957 - October 3, 2023

Jimmy Lee Wilson

April 19, 1965 - October 2, 2023 Jimmy Lee Wilson, age 58, of Carthage, NC passed away at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital on October 2, 2023.

Jimmy was born in Coats, North Carolina April 19, 1965 to James Ray Wilson and Mary Elizabeth Wilson.

Jimmy is survived by his sons, Nevin, Jack and Carter Wilson; partner of 14 years, Shannon Horne. Jimmy was preceded in death by his parents; grandparents, Earnest and Beulah Wilson, Dave and Maribelle Wilson.

Memorial contributions can be made in care of Shannon Horne.

Theresa “Terry” Williams Fox, 66, of Southern Pines, passed away surrounded by family October 3, 2023 at St. Joseph of the Pines.

Theresa was born June 21, 1957 in Fayetteville, NC to the late Robert Riley Williams and Patricia Smithman Williams.

Theresa’s career was spent teaching elementary and special needs students for 35 years. She dearly loved all the students she had the privilege to teach. More than anything, she loved her family and being a mother. She is survived by her children Matthew Fox, Nathaniel Fox, and Katherine Fox; her siblings Marlene Vikor, Robert “Butch” Williams, Lisa Bryan, and Julie Wilson; and her mother Patricia Williams.

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Patsy Gail Schawitsch

May 11, 1941 - October 7, 2023 Patsy “Pat” Burleson Schawitsch, age 82, of Pinehurst NC, passed away on Saturday, October 7, 2023.

She was born in Stanly County, North Carolina to Cecil Burleson and Virginia (nee Cox) Burleson. However, during World War II, her family moved for a short time to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to help with the war effort.

She was happy to return to North Carolina, where she excelled in academics and in making friends, graduating top of her class from Boyden High School, Salisbury, NC. She married and started a family. Yet, it wasn’t long after her children started school that Pat decided PTA meetings and creative birthday parties were not enough. As with everything Pat pursued, she flourished in her position and met people from around the country. She stayed in touch with them after meeting the love of her life, Dale Schawitsch, who moved her first to Maryland and then to Pennsylvania.

Pat is survived by her husband, Dale Schawitsch of 37 years; her daughters, Ellen Sidbury and husband Tom of Hampstead, NC, and Elaine Wilderson and husband Eric of Pinehurst, NC; grandsons Sean Sidbury and Ben Sidbury; stepdaughter Tiffany Dillow and husband Mark of Catonsville, MD; brothers Gary Burleson and wife Annette, and Clay Burleson and wife Jackie, both of Salisbury, NC. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Jennifer Whitman of Salisbury, NC.

Michael Jonathan McCrann November 28, 1943 - October 6, 2023

Michael Jonathan McCrann Sr. laid in the glow of the Moore County sunset and warmth of his beloved children and wife - Kelly, Jonathan, KC, and Josephine - on Thursday October 5th before peacefully passing away early the next morning.

His death came almost 80 years after his birth and nearly 3 years since he began battling Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS).

The eldest son of William Joseph McCrann and Josephine Brannon McCrann, he was an accomplished athlete, scholar, lawyer, veteran, and community activist.

Perhaps his most lasting legacy in the law came not as a lawyer but as a father. He and Kelly joined Jonathan as petitioners in a “Davidvs-Goliath” suit which won greater control over financial and health planning decisions for individuals with disabilities and their families.

He was most proud of his wife, Kelly Coughenour McCrann (originally of Salisbury, NC), and their three children, Michael Jonathan McCrann Jr., Kelly Coughenour McCrann, and Josephine Brannon McCrann II. He was pleased that each of his children became interesting and productive human beings. He delighted in their accomplishments.

Mr. McCrann is also survived by his grandson Clement Bender McCrann his sister, Jacqueline Claire Westbrook and his brother, Duncan Francis McCrann.

Celebrate the life of your loved ones.

Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in NSJ at obits@northstatejournal.com

Proudly supporting you every step of the way on your grief journey.

CONTACT

www.bolesfuneralhome.com Email: md@bolesfuneralhome.com Locations in: Southern Pines (910) 692-6262 | Pinehurst (910) 235-0366 | Seven Lakes (910) 673-7300

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North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

A6

North State Journal for Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Murphy to Manteo

A7

Jones & Blount LGC approves $1.9B in financing requests; Project Grace finally moves forward

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

Leaf season kicks off

Fall color peak

RALEIGH — At its Oct. 3 meeting, the N.C. Local Government Commission (LGC) approved some $1.9 billion in financing requests as well as ending the long-running debate over New Hanover County’s Project Grace to move forward by approving the requested $57 million for the project.

The vote to move Project Grace forward was a close 5-4 decision.

Project Grace involves a request last September for the LGC to approve an $80 million 20-year lease for a 95,000-square-foot space to house a museum and library in downtown Wilmington. At the September 2022 meeting, the motion to approve the project

For people who want to be overwhelmed by the majesty of fall foliage, it doesn’t get any better than the Blue Ridge Parkway. The National Parks-maintained scenic byway has been the country’s most-visited national park nearly every year since 1946 for good reason. With 469 miles of road, there is plenty of opportunity to take in the immense, awesome power of the Blue Ridge in full color. While one of the most iconic, postcard-perfect views is the Lynn Cove Viaduct, located just south of the bustling college town of Boone, there are numerous vantage points at different elevations throughout the peak weeks of fall. Both on and off the parkway, these charming spots offer not only leaves, but also great music, food, and crafts celebrating our state’s mountain heritage.

after Nov 14 Nov 1-10

failed to get a second and the project was put on hold.

“This idea was around for nearly a decade before I was treasurer. There’s been nothing graceful about it. The drama around this and other projects was completely avoidable, but they lacked the right level of transparency, competence and an eye on conflicts of interest that can have the potential of punishing taxpayers,” said State Treasurer and LGC Chair Dale Folwell.

The largest approval was $750 million in revenue bonds for the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency for affordable housing and home ownership programs for low and moderate income families for 2023 and 2024. Over the course of 2022, the LGC approved $418.5 million for such purposes.

Oct 24-31 Oct 13-20

Cabarrus Rep. won’t seek reelection

Sep 29 to Oct 9

North State Journal

WEST

EAST

PIEDMONT Former ASU chancellor dies suddenly

Harrisburg eyes economic development as Charlotte metro grows Cabarrus County The Town of Harrisburg has announced intentions develop a Strategic Economic Development Plan that will serve as a guide for the town’s efforts to capitalize on area economic growth and development over the next 5 years.

According to a press release, the effort is intended to be an action-oriented plan that will inform and guide town officials, residents, property owners and developers in making sound policy and investment decisions which will lead to the expansion of the Town’s tax base and economic wealth. “Our newly-adopted vision for the town is that Harrisburg will be a distinctive, family-focused community where memories are made,” said Town Manager Rob Donham.

Watauga County Appalachian State University announced Friday that former chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock, who served as chancellor from 200414, and was employed by school for more than 30 years died suddenly on Friday morning. The current App State chancellor, Sheri Everts, credited Peacock with growing the university academically, establishing the College of Health Sciences, opening a new education building and more.

Peacock also played a role in moving the Mountaineers’ athletic programs to the Sun Belt Conference, as well as the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), in addition to working as a Department Chair and Dean. Peacock is survived by his wife, Rosanne.

ASU

WBTV

Catawba College center to study public service, NC politics Catawba County Catawba College has received an anonymous $360,000 gift that will fund a new Center to study North Carolina politics and promote public service. Dr. Michael Bitzer, a long-time Catawba politics professor, will lead the Center, which he envisions involving students and the area community in civic engagement of all types, according to a press release. The Center is slated to include a speaker series, as well as a fellows program to support students pursuing internships at the federal, state, and local levels in addition to access to financial resources to explore the vocation of public service. A summer workshop for high school civics teachers, focused on professional development sessions is also planned, alongside a partnership with the Commission on the Future of NC Elections.

CATAWBA COLLEGE

High School football game interrupted by arrests for guns, drugs and alcohol Iredell County According to area press reports, the Friday night football game at Statesville High School was postponed after police had to respond to several incidents in the school parking lot during the Statesville vs West Iredell High game.

A Statesville Police press release stated that during the game, officers on special assignment observed Keonta Chambers, 20, of Statesville, who was wanted for eight outstanding felony warrants related to a shooting incident last month that injured a 14-year-old. While arresting Chambers, police say they saw marijuana and alcohol beside the driver of the vehicle, and found a pistol concealed on another passenger in the back seat.

Greensboro calls on leaders to step up public safety effort

Church van involved in multivehicle crash on US 29 Rockingham County According to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, on Thursday at around 7:30 p.m., a church van driving north on US 29 in Reidsville failed to yield when turning left into a parking lot and hit a work van, causing a chain reaction involving a total of five vehicles.

Over a dozen people were sent to the hospital, including several children ages six months to 11 years old. The driver of the van was charged with no operator’s license, failure to yield and a child restraint violation. The van came from Eternal Life Ministries in Bassett, Virginia to worship in Reidsville.

WGHP

Guilford County According to recent reports, the city of Greensboro is rapidly approaching a record number of homicides. The Office of Community Safety, which works in collaboration with Greensboro police, are leading the effort to help the community reduce violence through a new request for proposals and seeking ideas from the community. Leaders are calling on all organizations with a stake in public safety to consider making a proposal, as multiple grants will be offered through the new tiered system, so groups like Unifour One, working with the juvenile justice system and offering parenting classes, for example, will be considered alongside others who seek to make a difference, officials say.

Local woman receives winning $200K lottery ticket from boyfriend Harnett County A Fuquay-Varina woman has won a $200,000 scratch-off prize, according to an N.C. Education Lottery news release.

Linda Benefiel said she got home from work Monday night after a particularly stressful day, and her boyfriend bought her a Lightning 7’s scratch-off. The lucky $5 ticket came from Chalybeate Store on U.S. 401 North in Fuquay-Varina, and after required state and federal tax withholdings, Benefield took home $142,501. “We decided we are going to pay off our mortgage,” she said. “It’s such a wonderful feeling.”

NSJ

Johnston Co. deputy sheriff fired after shooting incident Johnston County According to official reports, a member of the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office was fired after an internal investigation in to a shooting that happened during a chase early Monday. Deputy Sheriff Christopher Adcock fired his service weapon after being struck by the fleeing vehicle, and fired a total of five shots. In a termination letter, Sheriff Steve Bizzell told Adcock that in choosing to stay seated in his vehicle while firing upon the suspect, he endangered the fellow officers in pursuit, and In demonstrated his failure to comply with the law and the “standards and goals” that have been set by the sheriff.

CONCORD — A three-term member of the N.C. House of Representatives announced Monday she won’t seek reelection next year.

Rep. Kristin Baker (R-Cabarrus), said she would serve out the remainder of her two-year term through December 2024.

Baker was appointed to the N.C. House in early 2020 to succeed state Rep. Linda Johnson after her death, then was elected to two terms in the chamber.

Baker, a psychiatrist, has sponsored several bills related to mental health and women’s health.

She backed several significant mental health initiatives and successfully sponsored a bill that prohibits male students from playing on middle school, high

school or collegiate athletic teams designated for females, women or girls. The bill also requires a student’s sex to be recognized solely based on reproductive biology and genetics at birth for purposes of athletic participation.

“I am proud of the work I was able to do in partnership with, and on behalf of, the people of North Carolina, using my experience as a physician to help pass legislation that I hope will make an enduring difference,” said Baker in a news release.

Baker’s announcement comes as legislators are about to consider new General Assembly districts for use in the 2024 elections.

Candidate filing will begin in early December.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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High Point mayor announces congressional bid Guilford County On Monday the current mayor of High Point, Jay Wagner, announced that he is running for Congress. Wagner will be a Republican candidate for North Carolina’s 6th congressional district, currently represented by Democrat Kathy Manning. This comes after announcing earlier in the year that he would not be seeking reelection for mayor of High Point. In the announcement Wagner stated that he would “focus on reducing energy costs, curbing excessive spending, reducing our unprecedented inflation, opposing rising sentiments of antisemitism, and fully standing with Israel and supporting their war against terror.”

Prior to be elected mayor, Wagner served as a High Point City Councilman in Ward 4. He is a graduate of Oak Ridge Military Academy and a partner in Fisher Wagner, PLLC.

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Winston-Salem bar fight leads to hospitalization and arrests Forsyth County Investigators from the Winston-Salem Police Department say seven people have been arrested in connection to a fight at a Winston-Salem bar. According to a press release, police responded to a fight involving about 20 people at the Thirsty Pallet Bar in downtown Winston-Salem at 1:30am last Saturday. Officials believe the situation began when two people got into a fight, which then led to the larger fight, during which a 33-year-old man working security “was brutally attacked, including being punched, kicked, and hit with multiple chairs during the fight.”

The victim was taken to a hospital, and seven of the people appeared before a magistrate.

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School employee charged with multiple counts of sexual battery Edgecombe County A sheriff’s detective responded to a report of sexual assault at South Edgecombe Middle School in Pinetops, and a school custodian has been arrested and charged with sexual battery involving a student. The Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office was notified by the principal of the school that a 14-year old student had accused 68-year old Stephen Moore Wells of inappropriate touching. During an interview with officials, the student said there were two more students she witnessed Wells touch, and on Oct. 5, the sheriff’s detective activated warrants for three counts of misdemeanor sexual battery and one count of felony indecent liberties with a child. Wells was charged and placed into the Edgecombe County Detention Center under a $40,000 secured bond.

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Fayetteville starting one-year pilot program for e-bikes and scooters Cumberland County A recently passed ordinance allows companies to rent bikes and scooters to the public in downtown Fayetteville, as the city is looking to draw people to the area and help them get around in a safe and fun way. The application process is now open for vendors looking to rent electric bicycles and scooters in Fayetteville, and will close November 1.

With mixed reaction from the public — primarily concerns about safety for both riders and pedestrians — city leaders have said all aspects of the new venture will be taken into consideration. The program is conceived as a one-year trial for the bikes and scooters, after which the ordinance will be reviewed.

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Longtime Republican activist named to national group North State Journal RALEIGH — Delegates to the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) 42nd biennial convention elected Martha Jenkins of Chapel Hill, N.C., to serve as 1st vice president for the 2024-2025 term. The convention was held Sept.

29-Oct. 1 in Oklahoma City.

Jenkins, whose term will begin Jan. 1, currently serves as a member of the NFRW Resolutions Committee for the 2022-2023 biennium. Previously, Jenkins served in a number of roles in the organization, including as 3rd Vice President, 4th Vice President and Member-at-Large of the NFRW Executive Committee. In 2007, she was recognized for her distinguished service as president of the North Carolina Federation of Republican Women with the

NFRW Ronald Reagan Leadership Award.

“The Federation has always been the most important aspect of my political activities, and I welcome the opportunity to once again serve NFRW on the Executive Committee as 1st Vice President,” said Jenkins.

“I am looking forward to working with the women across the United States in our Federation during the next two years.”

A well-known Republican across the state, she has been involved in the Republican Women’s Club of Chapel Hill Chatham and the North Carolina Federation of Republican Women since 1994. She has worked on many campaigns and has served as Secretary of the North Carolina Republican Party. Jenkins is currently the treasurer of the 4th District Republican Party.