COLUMBUS JOBS FOUNDATION

Nearly 200 people attended a celebratory dinner Thursday evening at The Chef & The Frog to honor The News Reporter’s 2017 class of “fifteen Under 40” winners. The honorees were 15 Columbus County individuals under 40 years of age selected from varied walks of life and areas of the county. The number of candidates was up this year compared to last, said project manager Becky High. “Nominations have increased as people in the county are becoming aware of the project,” she said.

Columbus County commissioners were expected in a rare 7 a.m. session today to extend for another 90 days a June 30 deadline the county had given the owners of Project Black to purchase the former Georgia-Pacific industrial site between Whiteville and Chadbourn. The decision to meet today came after a 55-minute closed session Monday night for economic development matters and the board recessed its meeting Monday to reconvene this morning. They confirmed Monday night that they

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

Whiteville City Schools teachers of the year for 2017-2018 are Katie Worthington, Bruce Ketcham, Heath Conner, Katherine Hyatt and Jami Hinson. Whiteville City Schools announced five teachers of the year for 2017-2018 at a school board meeting May 8 at the schools’ administrative office. All five, with their principals, were honored at a luncheon on May 18. Bruce Ketcham, Central Middle School “I have always had a love for history and working with young people,” said Bruce Ke

Although a 41-year-old Fair Bluff native who took a big risk six years ago by leaving the security of state employment to open his own business is a little down after flooding from Hurricane Matthew ravaged his computer store, he is anything but out. M i c h a e l G r e e n , t h e owner of Mike Mikes Computers, is looking forward to reo p e n i n g h i s business soon with a heavy reliance on his strong Christian faith and with a little help from the Columbus Jobs Foundation

For about a month after floods from Hurricane Matthew wrought havoc on Columbus County, Resident Superior Court Judge Douglas Sasser of Hallsboro was hard at it most mornings as early as 6:30 and he didn’t rest again until well after midnight as he did volunteer work to try and help alleviate the suffering of his fellow county citizens. His efforts were lauded in Raleigh Monday by Gov. Roy Cooper, who presented Sasser with a Governor’s Medallion for Volunteer Service, the sta

The N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences at Whiteville was the site of an event bringing together representatives of other small towns that could one day have similar museum branches. Officials from the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources sent invitations to city and county representatives in 96 communities, offering them a look at a successful museum that could serve as a template for other regional expansions. Charles Yelton, Regional Network Chief for the N.C. Museum o

Ronna Gore lights up with excitement and surprise after being named Columbus County Schools Principal of the Year at the awards banquet April 11 at Vineland Station. Old Dock Elementary School has recovered valiantly from the fire that devastated its campus two years ago. During those years of rebuilding, students have continued to perform at an above-average level on yearly evaluations. Now the school can also celebrate that their principal, Ronna Gore, has been honored as C

Columbus County Schools named Fred Mason of Columbus College and Career Academy as teacher of the year. Mason teaches general construction skills as well as masonry classes from basic through advanced levels. His students have earned attention at regional and state level contests, even competing against adults who are already earning a living in the masonry business. His strongest, most skillful female students can lay 370 bricks per hour. One young man has laid 440 bricks pe

As the tobacco industry in North Carolina continues to dwindle, farmers continue to search for alternative crops. Commercial hemp production is one of those options, and the local Agriculture Extension office is fielding numerous calls from farmers. Dalton Dockery, the local N.C. Cooperative Extension Director, said, “As long as we stay within the legal means of the law, it has great potential as far as for fiber and seed production.” The North Carolina Department of Agricult

Columbus County commissioners are expected tonight to authorize Economic Developer Gary Lanier to use contract and inmate labor to clean up the county-owned former Georgia-Pacific site between Whiteville and Chadbourn to “enhance its market appeal.” That’s the big item on the agenda for a meeting that gets underway at 6:30 p.m. at the Courthouse Annex at 112 W. Smith St. in Whiteville. Not on the agenda is consideration by the commissioners of bids from four entities, includi

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 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

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

The latest census numbers show that Columbus County is getting older and expected to lag behind the rest of the region in growth over the next several years. Yet, there is a very bright spot that isn’t reflected in those numbers: a surge in young people who are not only living and working here, but who are also ready and willing to take leadership roles in improving the county. That’s something to celebrate, so The News Reporter asked its readers to nominate 15 up-and-coming