COLUMBUS JOBS FOUNDATION

Whiteville’s new City Planner Robert Lewis is no stranger to the area. Lewis, 34, lives at Lake Waccamaw with his wife Andrea. His in-laws live in Whiteville, and he is a native of Bladenboro. He is a graduate of East Carolina University with a master’s degree from Pembroke. “I’m familiar with Whiteville, and have tried to keep informed as to what was happening there,” he said. “When Hiram (Marziano) left the city, I saw it as a good chance to do something I love there at hom

The Columbus County Board of Commissioners tonight will pass a proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and go behind closed doors for a discussion of economic development matters, said to involve Project Black – the unnamed company that wants to locate on the former Georgia-Pacific site – but before tackling those heavier issues will honor two Whiteville High School athletic teams who distinguished themselves in recent state playoffs. Commissioners had been sched

Columbus Jobs Foundation President Rick Edwards, left, and President Wes Carter of Atlantic Packaging. Atlantic employs more than 300 in Tabor City. The grandson of the founder of a company that had humble beginnings in Columbus County but which has grown to a national and international presence was the keynote speaker for Thursday’s annual meeting of the Columbus Jobs Foundation at Vineland Station. Wes Carter, president of Atlantic Packaging and grandson of company founder

Rep. Brenden Jones, RColumbus, and Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, Columbus County’s two delegates to the N.C. General Assembly, expressed happiness this week with the success of legislation that they sponsored before the crossover deadline. The crossover deadline is a mandate the General Assembly places on itself which says that bills that have not passed either the House of Representatives or the Senate are dead for the remainder of the session. That deadline this year was las

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The novelist Thomas Wolfe had it wrong, at least as far as Greg Lovette is concerned: you can go home again. Lovette, a 52-year old native of Columbus County, proved that point Friday when a ribbon-cutting was held in the Tabor Industrial Park for RadixBay, a privately-held information technology company he founded in 2013. With the opening of the Tabor City facility, RadixBay now has footprints in Charlotte, India and Columbus County. RadixBay was founded by Greg Lovette, 52

The Columbus County Board of Commissioners didn’t take a formal vote Wednesday night but authorized County Attorney Mike Stephens and Economic Developer Gary Lanier to negotiate a lease with S&A Railroad Ties for part of the county-owned former Georgia-Pacific property. They also discussed possible disposition of scrap metal at the G-P site. The 83-minute closed session almost didn’t happen. The board voted 4-3 to enter closed session. Trent Burroughs, Amon McKenzie, Charles

Whiteville native Justin Smith announced Monday his intention to run for a District 1 city city council seat in the November general election. “I am proud to be a third-generation Whiteville resident and want to ensure that my children and everyone in our great city have an opportunity to succeed here,” he said. Smith, 32, has been active in Whiteville since returning to his hometown after college. “My professional experience with the Columbus County Economic Development Comm

Greg Lovette shakes hands with Columbus Jobs Chairman Rick Edwards A Columbus County native who has seen success in the information technology industry nationally and internationally and who has ventured back home to establish offices in Tabor City was the keynote speaker Thursday night at the Columbus Jobs Foundation’s annual membership kickoff social at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences here. Greg Lovette, 52, is founder and CEO of RadixBay, Inc., which touts itself as a

The end of last week saw a flurry of business and industrial activity in Columbus County, not only centered around the former Georgia-Pacific plant, but also with the announcement of two new business prospects, code-named Project Bridal and Project Medical. The announcements came at the Columbus Jobs Foundation membership kick-off drive Thursday night at the Museum of Natural Sciences at Whiteville. Both business prospects are headed by Columbus County natives who have starte

High School students across Columbus County can attend college for free beginning in the fall of this year. Those students who successfully complete two Career and College Promises courses at Southeastern Community College and maintain a 2.8 GPA in high school qualify for the new SCC Success Scholarship. The scholarship provides full tuition and fees after federal financial aid and other scholarships awarded to the student have been exhausted. In September 2016, SCC became th

The board of directors includes, front row: Amber Bellamy, Nancy Sigmon, Joan Ward, chairman; Rebecca Murphy, and Pickett Council Ellis. Back row: Terri Edmund, past chairman; Jeremy Coker, John Elliott, David Holmes, Bill Gore, Brad Crowell, Matt McLean, J.E. Thompson, Stephanie Miller, Anthony Clarke, Gretta Heye and Jennifer Holcomb, president of the chamber. The Columbus Chamber of Commerce and Tourism held its annual banquet and mini business expo Monday evening at North

The Columbus Jobs Foundation will have its membership kick-off event Thursday, Feb. 16 and celebrate the accomplishments of 2016. The speaker will be Greg Lovette, CEO of RadixBay, an internet technology company based in Charlotte. Lovette is a Tabor City native and has opened a computing center branch in the Tabor Industrial Park. Workers finished the renovation of the incubator building in the last two weeks. Lovette hopes to expand ruralbased computing centers, such as the

Ron Gaskins has been named vice president of a new local company that is not yet producing a product, so far as the public knows, but he is thrilled with the opportunities that lie ahead. Marjorie Singley-Hall of Atlanta, chief executive officer of S&A Railroad Ties, LLC, announced last week that Gaskins will serve as president of the company. She said Gaskins is a good fit for the job. “We need someone local, someone who knows the area and knows industry,” she said. Old rail

The Georgia-Pacific plant, in background, is adjacent to Southeast Regional Park. The county commissioners voted to buy the vacant Georgia-Pacific facility Monday night, potentially paving the way for Project Black to move onto the site. The commissioners will spend $1.896 million to buy the property and facility. The property is being purchased as an industrial park, but the county has been trying to entice Project Black to locate here and bring in an estimated 140 jobs. Be

A revitalized team approach taken by Columbus County economic development groups and the county commissioners paid dividends with the announcement today that a railroad crosstie recycling company, Singley and Associates, will move its operations to a site near the former Georgia-Pacific plant. S&A CEO Marjorie Singley-Hall said the local team and business community “get it” when it comes to industrial recruitment. Wooing S&A started in much the way most deals do: with a simpl

A railroad crosstie recycling company that will eventually bring 50 new jobs to the county announced it is locating near the former Georgia-Pacific plant. Marjorie Singley-Hall, CEO of Singley and Associates, Inc., an Atlanta-area based company, said operations could commence in as soon as two weeks. The company plans to recycle more than 1 million ties a year. Railroad tie recycling became a growing business when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandated that used ra

A party to celebrate the Class of 2016 Fifteen Under 40 winners is set for Friday evening, July 29 at the Batten Pavilion at Vineland Station. The News Reporter’s Fifteen Under 40 celebrates 15 Columbus County residents under the age of 40 who make a difference to others and their communities through their professional or civic lives. Each winner will be recognized in a special publication to be included in the July 28 edition of The News Reporter. A party will follow on July

In a split 6-1 vote, the Columbus County Board of Commissioners last Monday approved a $100,000 grant to the Columbus Jobs Foundation’s revolving loan fund to be used for economic development. Commissioners had to tiptoe in their discussion around revealing confidential economic development matters concerning what has been code-named “Project Splinter,” said to involve a company that will support another larger company that wants to locate on the vacant Georgia-Pacifi c indus

Two of six proposed routes to connect local rail service to the port would utilize much of the abandoned rail bed between here and Wilmington, Columbus County commissioners learned Tuesday night as they agreed to underwrite $10,000 of the cost of a conceptual study expected to cost more than $70,000. Paul Worley, director of the rail division of the N.C. Dept. of Transportation, said the study, which will examine options for extending direct rail service from Columbus County