Tag Archive for: #franklincountynews

Heavy Rain and Inflow of Stormwater into Sewer System Cause Wastewater Bypass

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Youngsville, North Carolina April 25, 2017: Franklin County Public Utilities experienced a bypass of untreated wastewater at two separate locations, one in the Youngsville District and the other in the Franklinton District. The spills occurred after receiving heavy rainfall over the course of 56 hours. The main cause of both bypasses is attributable to the direct inflow of stormwater into the sewer collection system. The spill in the Youngsville District (sewer main off of Railroad St) is estimated to have released 20,000 gallons into an unnamed tributary of Richland Creek and in the Franklinton District (manhole at lift station off Chavis St) is estimated to have released 19,000 gallons.

Franklin County staff was notified of the spill by electronic monitoring equipment and appropriate staff responded to the incident. All operating equipment was found to be in working order but was unable to handle the inflow of stormwater.

As required by North Carolina State Law, the spill was reported to the North Carolina Division of Water Quality and is currently under review.

For additional information concerning this event, please contact Mike Bailes, Franklin County Public Utilities Interim Director at (919) 556-6177. Additional contact numbers can be obtained by visiting Franklin County’s website at www.franklincountync.us.

Franklin County Government is committed to effective and innovative public services for all Franklin County citizens and businesses.

Missing Person Reported in Franklin County

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The Following is a Press Release from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

Rebecca Ann Jamason was last seen in the area of Nipper Lane, Youngsville, NC on 03/23/2017.

Her last clothing description was blue jeans, white shirt, and black boots.

Last known direction of travel was towards Louisburg, NC operating a 1999 silver Volkswagen Jetta.

North Carolina License Plate EEL-5518.

Anyone having contact or information regarding Rebecca Ann Jamason is asked to contact the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office at 919-496-2186.

Rebecca Ann Jamason

Age: 49

Height : 5 Feet 

Weight: 107 Pounds

Hair: Strawberry Blonde

Eyes: Blue

 

Longtime Local Leader David Averette Named Principal of FMS

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Louisburg, N. C. —  As school officials prepare for the 2017-18 school year, the local board of education named David Averette Principal of Franklinton Middle School at its regular meeting on Monday evening. Averette, who has served as Assistant Principal of Franklinton High School since 2007, says he’s excited for the opportunity to build on the growth that Franklinton Middle School has seen in the last few years.
“I hope to bring a level of confidence that Franklinton Middle School is a tremendous ship and we just need to reset the sail, enhance what already is working and not change for the sake of it,” he says adding “We’re going to address the culture of the school to build trust with our community and the students will be reminded that we are successful and we can continue to be successful.”

Averette has invested his life in Franklin County and his family is deeply vested in public education in this community. Averette’s wife, Dottie, will be retiring this year after spending her career teaching in Franklin County Schools. Their children, Whitney and Kaitlyn, have also dedicated their careers to teaching in Franklin County Schools.

“It’s great to see our children working in education,” says Averette, adding that both he and Dottie are proud to see their careers have had a positive impact on their own children’s lives and careers.

Before his current role as Assistant Principal at Franklinton High School, Averette worked as an AP at Louisburg Elementary School and Cedar Creek Middle School. However, he started his near 20-year education career in Franklin County Schools as an Exceptional Children’s Teacher at Cedar Creek Middle School.

Averette holds a Master’s of School Administration and a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration from North Carolina State University. He received his teaching certification from North Carolina Central University. In addition to his work as a school leader, Averette is the Pastor of Franklinton Baptist Church and holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Religion and Christian Ministries from Campbell University and an Associate’s Degree in Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

As a leader characterized by his service to the community, Averette is looking forward to leading Franklinton Middle School and says this is the right opportunity for him. “We’re in the business of making people’s lives better – Franklinton Middle School is a good option for our students,” he says adding “Come see what it feels like.”

Retirements and Transfers Confirmed
On Monday evening, the board also approved the retirement of Youngsville Elementary School Principal Marylin Newkirk. Newkirk stepped down earlier this month as students at the year-round school tracked-out. Retired FCS administrator Jewel Eason began as Interim-Principal of the school on April 3 after working in an administrative support role at YES that began in March.

Additionally, the board confirmed the transfer of Franklinton Elementary School Principal Dr. Claire King to Laurel Mill Elementary School, where she will serve as an Assistant Principal beginning in August 2017. Both administrative vacancies have been posted on the district website.

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Patrick Glace

Director of Communications

Franklin County Schools

Granville Chamber Requests Nominations for Small Business of the Year Award

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The four area Chambers of Commerce – Granville, Franklin, Vance and Warren, along with Vance-Granville Community College’s Small Business Center, are sponsoring the annual Small Business Award Luncheon May 3rd at Henderson Country Club.

The criteria is as follows:

  • Employs a maximum of 50 people
  • Member of the Chamber and located in the county
  • Viable, on-going business for three or more years
  • Provides critical service or product
  • May have overcome diverse or extraordinary circumstances to remain in business
  • Business is supportive of community growth sustainability
  • Is not a governmental agency or municipality

Anyone may nominate a business they feel deserves recognition and meets the criteria.

Companies may nominate themselves.  Past Granville County recipients are:  Cardiovascular Care; Stovall’s Gifts;  Preferred Communications; Royster, Cross and Hensley; House of Ribeyes; Lewis Electric of Oxford; The School of Graphic Arts,  Express Employment Professionals, Oxford Ace Hardware, Creedmoor Drug Company, Whitco Termite and Pest Control, F. O. Finch Insurance Agency and Floyd Management and Realty.

Nomination forms are available from a Chamber office or from the website, www.granville-chamber.com and are to be returned to the Chamber by April 13th.

 

Middlesex Police Chief Arrested for Alleged Assault

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Chief William D. Murray of the Middlesex Police Department was arrested on Wednesday March 15, 2017 by the Nash County Sheriff’s Office and was turned over to Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Personnel. Chief Murray was arrested after warrants were obtained by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend and communicating threats.

Mr. Murray is facing the following charges: Misdemeanor Assault on a Female and Misdemeanor Communicating Threats.

William Dennis Murray

3128 Prophecy Road

Middlesex, North Carolina

DOB: 07-06-1973

Mr. Murray is currently being held in the Franklin County Detention Center with no bond.

 

Terry M. Wright

Chief of Staff

Boston University Students Dedicate Spring Break to Serving Franklin County

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Louisburg, N. C. — Ten students from Boston University have spent last week supporting Terrell Lane Middle School as part of the University’s Alternative Spring Break Program. The program, which has served the Louisburg community and Terrell Lane Middle School students for more than ten years, is focused on providing volunteer support and community service to rural and low-income areas across the country.

During their visit, the team of student volunteers worked to provide various forms of instructional support to the school. This includes: tutoring small groups of students, presenting to classes and grade levels on various subjects, including character education, and assisting with the middle school’s annual spelling bee.

According to Lisa Rocco, program coordinator for the University’s internship program and chaperone for this year’s trip to Terrell Lane, the alternative spring break program is not only a leadership opportunity for BU students, it also gives them a chance to better understand many of the needs facing similar areas throughout the country.

“For both [BU] students and communities, these trips are an opportunity for them to engage in service, engage with people in the community, and to really get a feel for the needs of the people they’re working with,” she says.

The team of students drove more than 15 hours from Boston, Massachusetts before arriving at the school. Rocco says the drive was more than worth it for these students to better understand rural life and some of the challenges students in Franklin County face each day.

“Walking away feeling enlightened, feeling so much more aware and seeing first-hand some of the issues affecting people, it helps ground you,” she says.

However, without the support of local philanthropist and school board member, Paige Sayles, the visit wouldn’t be possible. Sayles has opened her home to nearly a dozen college students each year as part of the program’s visit.

Devin Harvin, a sophomore and double major in Political Science and History at BU, is one of the student coordinators for this year’s group. He said the welcome that Sayles and other members of the community have provided to him and the student volunteers he’s traveling with has been unbelievably positive.

“I really like Louisburg,” he said, adding “It’s been such a welcoming and friendly atmosphere that seems really focused on community.”

Harvin is from Baltimore, Maryland, but members of the student group are from all over the world – ranging from Abu Dhabi to California, and from Thailand to Georgia. On Friday, Schools Superintendent Pascal Mubenga visited Terrell Lane to thank the visiting students for choosing to serve Franklin County Schools and to invite them to return as teachers when they graduate.

“Programs like this really make an impact on our student’s perspective,” he said. “I would encourage you to think about returning to Franklin County after you graduate – we’re always looking for great, dedicated teachers.”

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Patrick Glace

Director of Communications

Franklin County Schools

District Attorney’s Office Comments on Horrific Franklin County Murder

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Louisburg, NC – The District Attorney’s Office was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of 35 year old Yesenia Funes Machada on Monday, March 6, 2017. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the Funes Machada family.

Shortly before 1:00 p.m. on Monday, March 6, 2017, deputies with the Franklin County Sheriffs Office were called to a home located at 90 Morgan Drive in Zebulon, North Carolina. When authorities arrived at the scene, they found the victim deceased. The suspect, her 18 year old son Oliver Mauricio Funes Machada, was taken into custody without incident.

A warrant was issued and served for the arrest of Oliver Mauricio Funes Machada on the charge of First Degree Murder. The Defendant is currently in the custody of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and is being held without bond.

The circumstances of this crime are very unusual and horrific. While it is too early to know for sure what the Defendant’s mental state was at the time of the murder, it will be reviewed at the appropriate time and place.

In the meantime, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office will continue to prepare this case for trial. The probable cause hearing in this matter is scheduled for March 14, 2017, and the District Attorney’s Office will prepare the case to be presented to the grand jury on April 3, 2017.

The District Attorney’s Office has been and will continue to work closely with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in this ongoing investigation. Anyone with additional information is urged to contact the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Investigative team at (919) 496-2186.

Michael Waters

Franklin County Sheriff: Suspect Arrested in the Death of his Mother

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On March 6, 2017 at approximately 12:47 p.m., the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office responded to 90 Morgan Drive, Zebulon after receiving a call from the alleged suspect that he had killed his mother with a knife.

Upon arriving on the scene a deputy encountered the suspect who was taken into custody without incident.

As a result of the investigation, the following individual was arrested and charged with First Degree Murder and Placed in the Franklin County Detention Center with no bond:

 

 

Oliver Mauricio Funes Machada

90 Morgan Drive

Zebulon, North Carolina 27597

DOB: 06/15/1998

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terry M. Wright

Chief of Staff

VGCC awards top academic honor to Ivy League-bound student

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Vance-Granville Community College has named student Paul Caroline of Louisburg as its recipient of the North Carolina Community College System’s Academic Excellence Award for 2017. One student from each of the 58 colleges in the state system is honored with the award each year.

Caroline will be officially recognized at Commencement in May, when he is scheduled to graduate from the college with both an Associate in Arts degree and an Associate in Science degree. That same month, Caroline will graduate from Franklin County Early College High School. This is the second year in a row that the VGCC Academic Excellence Award has gone to a student at FCECHS.

The college partners with four Early College high school programs, one in each county of the VGCC service area. As Caroline has done, students typically finish the program in five years, simultaneously earning high school diplomas and college degrees, or up to two years of college-transferable credits.

In an essay that he wrote for the award nomination, Caroline put his academic experience into its historical context. “For my family, education has always been a privilege,” he wrote. “In the early twentieth century, laws prohibited my great-grandmother and many other African American students from advancing to the twelfth grade and earning a high school diploma. Since then, each new generation has attested to a strong commitment to the pursuit of educational opportunity.”

Caroline added that “education opens doors to a better life, and one of the greatest thresholds I have crossed on my journey thus far is the iconic archway of Vance-Granville Community College.”

He described the support he has received from faculty members at both the high school and the college as “transformative.” Caroline said that he found that learning “not only yields the power to better oneself, but the world as a whole.” He took the “Vanguard spirit” and VGCC’s commitment to students to heart, he said, by helping others as a Peer Tutor through the college’s Academic Skills Center, starting at the age of 17.

After he graduates, Caroline is set to study Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, the prestigious Ivy League institution, with a full QuestBridge scholarship, which he described as “a first” for his community. “In my personal journey, Vance-Granville Community College has been a stepping-stone to making an Ivy League education possible,” Caroline said.

His twin brother, Peter, is also a Franklin County Early College High School student. Peter is likewise set to graduate with both an Associate in Arts degree and an Associate in Science degree from VGCC and will continue his education at Stanford University with a full QuestBridge scholarship.

“Paul’s hard work and dedication to excellence have earned him a place among the top community college students in North Carolina,” said Dr. Stelfanie Williams, the president of VGCC. “He is an outstanding representative of both Vance-Granville and Franklin County Early College High School, and we know he will continue to make us proud as a student at one of our country’s elite institutions of higher learning.”

–VGCC–

Franklin County Man Allegedly Shoots Two in Stolen Gun Argument

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Press Release

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Unit issued warrants on a Franklin County resident. On 02/10/2017, warrants were issued on Jon Edward Check with Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury. On 02/10/2017, Jon Edward Check was arrested by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Unit. He is under a $40,000 bond.

This incident is alleged to have occurred on 02/09/2017.

Mr. Check is alleged to have shot two victims at his home.

This incident was alleged to been an ongoing dispute over a gun someone had stolen from Mr. Check.

Four individuals came to Mr. Check’s home, an apparent fight ensued and the end result was Mr. Check shooting two victims. One in the legs and the other in the arm.

Both victims were transported by private vehicle to WakeMed North.

Suspect:

Jon Edward Check

136 Elsie Marie Drive

Youngsville, NC 27596

This matter remains under investigation and no further information will be released at this time. If anyone should have any additional information pertaining to this investigation, please contact Detective JC Senter at 919-340-4344.