Worthy of support The executive director of the North Carolina Horse Council Foundation stood before the county Board of Commissioners on Monday hoping to put a $120,000 dent in the fund-raising effort to construct 200 horse stalls at the Southeastern North Carolina Agricultural Events Center, but came away with just $2,000 — and a hint that more would be coming.
Sue Gray asked each of the eight county commissioners to take $15,000 from their plump discretio...
Worthy of praise When it comes to the term student-athlete, too often the student is silent.
The media, and we share in the blame, have historically been too quick to attach large headlines to an athlete’s on-field accomplishments, while giving too little attention — if any — to the academic achievements of our young people. In a world correctly spinning on its axis, making the honor roll would draw louder cheers than scoring a touchdown.
Mountaire Farms,...
We’re having a party Robeson County is throwing a party on Thursday — and you are invited.
From 4 to 7 p.m. at the Department of Social Services on N.C. 711, just west of Lumberton, residents can join the bicenquasquigenary celebration, where there will be free food, fun and entertainment, as well as historical information about Robeson County’s first 225 years. A time capsule will be buried that will probably be unearthed in 2037, when Robeson County celebrate...
Placing the blame It was apparent on Tuesday that our county commissioners don’t like when the script isn’t followed exactly.
Commissioner David Edge, in an effort to cut in half the discretionary fund each commissioner receives annually from $40,000 to $20,000, went rogue, making the move without the obligatory back-room politicking to try to secure the support. After the motion received a second from Tom Taylor, it went down in a 6-2 vote — perhaps to be c...
No slipping at the shelter The director of the county Health Department, while being interviewed for a story published in Sunday’s The Robesonian, had two handfuls of ominous news regarding the Robeson County Animal Shelter.
Adoptions are down, according to Bill Smith, the problem being that rescue groups that had been pulling animals from Robeson County have abandoned the local shelter while following two former employees to their new jobs at pounds in Sampson and S...
It’s unanimous: Study needed It's a good thing that the county commissioners on Tuesday night not only voted for a study of their pay and perks that should lead to reductions in how they are compensated, but they did so unanimously, without a single utterance in opposition.
The vote for the study is a necessary first step in the return to fiscal sanity, but the hard decisions, ones that will require sacrifice from the commissioners, are down the road, and that is when t...
Sunday option Any honest conversation about the merits of making voting opportunities more convenient for the public needs to begin with this stipulation: Republicans generally oppose these steps, while Democrats are in favor — and those sentiments are never better betrayed than in the debate over whether a voter ID should be required to cast a ballot in elections.
We haven’t heard any protest yet, but that’s because we haven’t asked. We are confident th...
Media matters The conversation about the mainstream media’s left-wing bias resumed this week when a reporter for Yahoo News was fired after a hot mike picked up a racist comment he didn’t want aired.
David Chalian joined 23 million other Americans who don’t have a job after he was heard to say on a live ABC News broadcast that Republicans, including their presidential nominee Mitt Romney, “are happy to have a party with black people drowning.” Chalian ha...
A final step When Neil Armstrong became the first human to take a step on the moon on July 16, 1969, he had just the right remark to memorialize the occasion. Those of us who were alive then can quote the 11 words that were shrouded with static as they made the 239,000-mile voyage from the lunar surface back to Earth: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
And with that, the United States, second in placing a man in space, had fini...
No reason to complain Johnny Hunt, the superintendent of the Public Schools of Robeson County, is an easy mark, perched as he is atop a school system with 44 schools, 2,700 employees, 24,000 students and — in an ideal world — twice that many parents, but certainly a few less.
Hunt carries a big stick, one that he wields in trying to improve the educational opportunities in Robeson County, not an easy assignment in a place where education hasn’t always been prize...
Numbers games Eric Locklear, the rock in the collective shoe of the Lumbee Tribal Council, believes the goal posts have been moved after the clock has been started. But the chairman of the tribe’s Board of Elections says not so, that Locklear was told that a figure provided on the number of names needed for a referendum on the size of the council was just a guesstimate, one that turned out to be as accurate as a dart tossed by a drunken blind man.
So Loc...
When less can be more It appears that at least three county commissioners, Roger Oxendine, Tom Taylor and Chairman Noah Woods, get it — and understand there is a problem with the way they and fellow board members are compensated, both in salary and benefits, and that their shared discretionary fund of $320,000 a year is out of whack in size and scandalously administered.
Better yet they have at least two additional votes among the remaining five commissioners ne...
Food for thought We know that today’s page 1A story on the escalation in the use of food stamps in Robeson County will provoke a lot of indignation among people convinced their labor is feeding lazy no-goods who are abusing the system and are allergic to work.
There will be plenty of finger pointing at President Obama, who has loosened the restrictions on food stamps, which has led to a national expansion of the program and an increase in Robeson County of ...
Healthy choice Are you a young person looking for a career, one that is both satisfying and well-paid? If so, you should give more than a quick glance at nursing.
There are more nursing jobs than applicants, meaning jobs await, and salaries average about two and a half times the median wage in Robeson County, in the neighborhood of $65,000 a year. And what could be more satisfying than helping people deal with health challenges?
Our two local colleges —...
Two too many We hope the old saying isn’t true, and bad news doesn’t come in threes. Two Lumberton police officers having been shot 26 days apart is enough for the city and Robeson County.
Investigations by the State Bureau of Investgation into both shootings continue, although we’re not sure what there is to investigate in the assassination of Lumberton police Officer Jeremiah Goodson. There were plenty of witnesses to his murder, the officer having be...
