Ice storm forces
Parkway closures
A wintry concoction of freezing rain and ice across western North Carolina on Friday has led the National Park Service to shut down a majority of the Blue Ridge Parkway, all the way through Virginia.
A Facebook post from the Park Service said “widespread freezing rain across the NC and VA Blue Ridge” left parts of the roadway covered in sheets of ice, forcing the closure Friday morning.
The agency said residents should plan for alternate routes until crews assess the conditions after the temperature rises.
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Town names its
new police chief
ST. PAULS — The St. Pauls Board of Commissioners unanimously named a veteran police officer from New Jersey as the town’s next police chief on Thursday.
“We had to go to the other side of Fayetteville to get him,” Mayor Elbert Gibson with a laugh. “Nine hours on the other side of Fayetteville.”
Steve Dollinger, from Middleton, New Jersey, has been a police officer more than 30 years. He retired in March as chief of the Middleton Police Department, but wasn’t ready to give up law enforcement.
Dollinger will replace Chief Thomas Hagens, who has served 31 of his 45 years in the St. Pauls Police Department as its chief.
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4th person sentenced
in PNC Bank robbery
RALEIGH — The last of four men who robbed a Lumberton bank in January 2018 and were the subject of a multi-day manhunt has been sentenced to life in prison.
In addition to life in prison, Demetris Sean Robinson, 27, of Whiteville, also known as “Bo Bo,” will serve 10 years consecutively, followed by five years of supervised release and pay $40,302 in restitution.
Previously sentenced were Daquan Madrid Pridgen, 27, of Whiteville; Jeramie Ross Vaughn, also known as “Vido,” 30, of Parkton; and Rashad Devonte Young, also known as “Rep,” 28, of Whiteville.
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Leach will run
for school board
ROWLAND — A Super Bowl champion has cast his hat into the ring for a Public Schools of Robeson County Board of Education seat.
Vonta Leach is a Rowland native who graduated from South Robeson High School and East Carolina University and then played 10 years in the NFL, from which he is retired. He was a member of the Baltimore Ravens when the team won Super Bowl XLVII. A former Pro-Bowler, he remains an ambassador for the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans.
He owns VL Investments LLC, which primarily deals in real estate.
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iblestick, which is an iPod-like device that plays selections from the New Testament.