The river beckons Robeson County and Lumberton have no surer friend than the Lumber River. Without it, our county would be much different, and our county seat might not be at all.
The 115-mile dark-water river, a state park, never fails Robesonians, offering us water that is vital to our sustenance, scenic beauty, and a place to get away from it all with fishing, canoeing, camping out and other recreational opportunities. The river is also a key selling poin...
Back to work Desperately in need of some good economic news, Robeson County got an extra large helping of it on Monday.
Robeson Community College was among 32 successful applicants that were selected from 200 colleges and college partnerships in the country seeking a slice of $500 million in federal grant money for job training, but it gets better. Of the nine sister community colleges selected in North Carolina to share in $18.8 million, RCC got the la...
No longer golden Despite a three-decade effort by the federal government to snuff out cigarette smoking, 20 percent of Americans — about 45 million — continue to light up. That percentage has remained steady for several years, and time will tell if the government’s next initiative — graphic warning labels that will appear on packages beginning late next year — will chip away further at that percentage.
We are pleased that fewer Americans are smoking than in...
Room for a compromise? Sometime, someway, Maxton town officials came to a conclusion that Townsend Middle School’s old gym would be theirs. And, although that has not happened, that town’s Board of Commissioners, led by Mayor Gladys Dean, doesn’t seem willing to take no for an answer — and has pledged to continue the pursuit.
Earlier this week Dean updated the town board on efforts to get ownership of the gym, including sending a letter to schools Superintendent ...
Coming to the rescue The news from the Robeson County Animal Shelter is refreshingly good — but it could be better.
As reported in staff writer Ali Rockett’s story that was published on Sunday, adoptions at the shelter are up. In fact, according to shelter officials, there was recently a three-week stretch during which no animals deemed as candidates for adoption had to be euthanized. Perhaps that explains, at least in part, the absence of angst in regard to th...
Road to somewhere If Lumberton were not pinned down as it is by major highways, then it’s economic fate might be similiar to that of Laurinburg, the Scotland County seat that once was much like Robeson County’s, but is now a shadow of its former self.
But, thanks to Hector MacLean , the former Lumberton mayor and state senator, Interstate 95, originally envisioned for farther west, was rerouted eastward in our favor, and slices through Lumberton, d...
Tribal chairwoman’s offers weak defense for not keeping district seat To the Editor,
This is in reply to Tribal Chairwoman Sharon Hunt’s weak explanation of her decision not to resign one of her positions as directed by the Lumbee Supreme Council. Clearly there was intent to have separation of powers.
The excuse used, that she will “be inactive” in her role on the Tribal Council, for not resigning was weak at best. If she is indeed inactive, why not resign? If she is truly being inactive, then she is doing ...
Banking on the future For decades the old BB&T building served as an economic engine for Lumberton and Robeson County, a place where people came to secure loans for homes and businesses, first as Southern National Bank and then, following the merger in 1995, as BB&T.
Deals that were hatched in that building were critical in growing the city of Lumberton and the county.
But the 62,000-square-foot building at 500 N. Chestnut St. was in danger of becoming an econ...
A day to remember It seems like a lifetime since 10 years ago today, when America’s path forward was savagely detoured on a Tuesday morning as we watched almost 3,000 unsuspecting people die horrific deaths in New York City, Washington, D.C., and a remote field in Pennsylvania.
In a couple of hours, America’s invincibility vanished, and we became aware that oceans are no longer an effective defense system. The threat hangs above us perpetually, fading with t...
Getting a fair start In a perfect world, young girls — and we picked that word only after careful consideration — wouldn’t be having children until they could shoulder the financial burden and provide a stable and loving home with an involved father.
But the world isn’t perfect, and neither is Robeson County, which, according to officials with the Health Department, at any single time has as many as 700 pregnant women who are depending on Medicaid. Many of them...
The ABC’s made hard Oct. 8 will mark three years since people living in and around Pembroke have had the convenience of buying bottled alcohol at a nearby ABC store. Instead, they have had to travel to stores in Maxton, Red Springs, Lumberton or elsewhere, burning expensive gasoline and wasting valuable time.
Additionally, those municipalities — and not Pembroke — stand to benefit from potential tax revenue that alcohol sales are intended to generate. That rev...
Tragedy in Clarkton The news out of the small Bladen County town of Clarkton is horrific this week. Too bad it isn’t unique.
A 9-day-old child died Tuesday when she was mauled by five dogs — a pit bull, bulldog, Alaskan malamute, German shepherd and a German shepherd mix. Investigators haven’t said much, and the questions, while not plenty of them, are obvious.
— Who needs five dogs?
— How was a child just 9 days old left at the mercy of five dogs, especia...
Getting a fast start If you want a child to read and write well one day, hand that child a book.
If you want a child to build things one day, give that child an erector set.
If you want a child to excel at sports one day, toss that child a ball.
If you want a child to respect his or her body, and to grow into a healthy adult, enter that child into a triathlon. Or at least tell that child to get off the couch or out from behind the computer and run around th...
Ready or not As this is being written, the forecast track for Hurricane Irene is a bit more ominous for Robeson County, the storm having wiggled slightly westward. We will continue to monitor the storm and keep our readers as current as possible, both in the print edition, and on the Internet at robesonian.com.
Those of us who have called Southeastern North Carolina home for the past 15 years know the drill, having recollections of Fran in 1996 and Floy...
It’s a mess, time for fix It’s been more than a week since the Supreme Council of the Lumbee Tribal Government ruled that Sharon Hunt had to resign either as tribal chairwoman or as the representative of District 2 and, as we write this, she has done neither.
Critics see this as a black/white call, easy to make, and wonder what’s the delay. Hunt says not so, that her actions will establish a powerful precedent, and that any decision must be contemplated, not rushed....
