Matthew blows in at No. 1

Jan. 01--Editor's note: Throughout 2016, Bladen County was a blur of important news -- both good and not-so-good -- and the task of whittling 12 months of news stories down into a top 10 was a daunting task. But the staff of the Bladen Journal spent time taking a look at the biggest stories and, based on their merit and how each one affected residents and the county as a whole, chose the annual Best of the Year list. Following is the Top 10 of 2016, along with a handful of honorable mentions. The choices, as always, are subjective, so please keep that in mind as you look through our list.

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No. 1: Hurricane Matthew

There would be little or no argument from anyone in Bladen County that the biggest story in 2016 was the arrival of Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 8 -- not only in Bladen but in many of the region's counties.

For far too many, the results of the storm, a Category 1 hurricane when it came ashore along the Carolina coast, was summed up best by Bladen County Emergency Services Director Bradley Kinlaw when he told the Bladen Journal "many of those people (affected by the storm) have nothing to return to."

It was estimated that between 11 and 15 inches of rain fell in less than a 24-hour period around Bladen County, and the results were devastating. More than 30 roads and/or bridges in Bladen County collapsed under the pressure of rapidly moving flood waters and all but cut off any entry or escape from the county.

Several communities were evacuated because of the flooding, including those in the Kelly and Rowan areas, where many residents were flown out by helicopter, as well as in the Tar Heel and White Oak areas.

While many residents spent the day before the storm hit literally clearing the shelves of area grocery stores from bread, milk, water and other staples, others were kept busy boarding up and preparing their homes and businesses from wind and water damage.

After the storm, Bladenboro's downtown may have been hardest hit as several feet of water covered its streets and swallowed up businesses -- sending numerous residents to the shelter at West Bladen High. Many more county residents went to the shelter at East Bladen High.

In Elizabethtown, Tory Hole Park was engulfed by the rising Cape Fear River and the bridge on U.S. 701 South near Taylor Manufacturing was completely washed out.

About 10 days after Matthew, North Carolina Farm Services Agency Executive Director Bob Etheridge made his second trip of the year to Bladen County to assess the damage to area crops and had a dismal report.

"When all the numbers are added together, it will be extensive," he said. "I think it would be safe to say there will be hundreds of millions of dollars in loss."

As local agencies and FEMA began to get relief efforts rolling, a silver lining began to take shape around Bladen County. A number of community efforts began to take shape, all aimed at assisting storm victims. Within days, collections of clothing, food, bedding, furniture, toiletries and more were rolling into the county. Even the Bladen Journal's annual "Roger's Wish" blanket and sleeping bag drive in October were directed to storm victims this year.

By the end of 2016, a total of 2,871 applications for FEMA assistance had been approved and more than $2.1 in aid had been OK'd by FEMA for the county.

No. 2: Lenon Lacy case

After nearly two years, the mysterious hanging death of a Bladenboro teenager finally came to an official close when the United States Attorney's Office, Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and Federal Bureau of Investigation ruled the August 2014 death of 17-year-old Lennon Lacy showed no evidence of foul play, essentially determining it a suicide in June.

Numerous levels of investigation -- from local law enforcement, District Attorney's Office, State Bureau of Investigation, State Medical Examiner's Office and federal authorities -- found no evidence to keep the case open as a potential homicide.

The case, however, drew statewide and nationwide attention primarily through the efforts of the North Carolina Chapter of the NAACP, whose President William Barber made a number of visits to Bladenboro for vigils and a public march earlier in 2016.

Though the case seemed to be closed, an online petition was started by Tools For Change in August to get the case reopened. As of this week, that effort had garnered just 734 signatures.

No. 3: McGill selected

This story that garnered more hits for the Bladen Journal website than any other story in our history, as well as another 7,775 hits on Facebook. In December at the annual North Carolina Baptist State Convention meeting, Dublin First Baptist/Lake Church Senior Pastor Cameron McGill was elected president of the statewide organization.

As the largest religious organization in the state, the BSC is comprised of a full 33 percent of the North Carolina's religious adherents. While serving as its president, McGill will oversee 78 regional associations representing over 4,300 Baptist churches, speak around the country, take charge of a $31.5 million budget, and represent the state's Baptists at the national level.

"I certainly never dreamed or envisioned this would be something I would be elected to," McGill said. "I've never felt so humbled in all my life. In a room representing 4,300 churches -- to think they would elect me as president was a humbling thing."

McGill added that, during his tenure, he wants to "remind large churches to do small things well and encourage small churches to do big things."

No. 4: Bladen charter school

Bladen County parents learned they will soon have another option when it comes to their children's education. In March, the North Carolina Charter School Advisory Board approved an application for a charter school -- Emereau:Bladen -- to be opened in the Mother County.

Citing their reason for opening as the "low performance of Bladen County Schools" and the "lack of public school choice," the school promises graduation requirements will include four years of Spanish, four years of fine arts, and service learning hours. Named after Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, the school will spend five years teaching students from selected works of the two philosophers and writers. Classes of 20 to 22 students will participate in weekly conversational walks and daily journals, and utilization of North Carolina Common Core Standards will be included, as will an inquiry model aimed at developing thinking skills and questions.

In the fall, the Emereau Foundation elected Eddie Madden its chairman, purchased property on Airport Road for the school site, and opened an office in downtown Elizabethtown. Applications are currently being accepted for the scheduled opening in 2017. The foundation hopes to open with 308 students in grades K-6 and to add a grade each year, becoming a K-12 school with 1,100 students in the 2023-24 school year.

"Students from Bladen County deserve the same opportunity for a great education as students from Durham, Wake, and Mecklenburg counties," said Madden. "Emereau will give them that opportunity."

No. 5: Clark's on TV

A mother and daughter tandem from Bladenboro became television celebrities early in 2016 when Vicki and Lauren Clark were selected for NBC's reality series "The Biggest Loser."

The duo, who each said their decision to try out for the show was filled with a lot of prayer and guided by God, were chosen by the show's producers and sent to the King Gillette Ranch in California where they joined several other couples to compete.

Vicki began the series with a weight of 237 pounds and, over the course of seven weeks, lost 39 pounds.

It was "the most difficult thing I've ever done," she said afterward.

Lauren, who entered the competition with a weight of 234, lost 55 pounds over 10 weeks and made it to the coveted "Makeover Week."

She said having her mother eliminated took a real toll on her the rest of the way.

"Things went down hill a lot," Lauren said. "Because me and momma are so alike and I'm used to being near her. It was rough."

But despite the challenges, both Vicki and Lauren were appreciative of the opportunity and proud of their accomplishments.

No. 6: Lara Trump visits

Elizabethtown became ground zero for the Trump for President campaign on Sept. 23 when Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law of Republican Donald Trump, visited Melvin's and the Cape Fear Farmer's Market to stump for her father-in-law.

Lara Trump, a native of Wilmington who is married to Eric Trump, has lived in New York City for the past nine years.

"We have a movement in this country," she told those gathered, "and I'm proud to play a part in it. I was raised by a good North Carolina family with solid values, and I would not speak on behalf of a man and a family I didn't believe in. Donald Trump is genuine and will make a good president."

The voters must have listened, because Bladen County, North Carolina and the United States' electoral college all went Trump's way on Nov. 8.

No. 7: Local lottery winner

For Brenda Sellers, the month of April may have started like everyone else's -- with April Fool's Day. But the very next day, she purchased a lottery ticket that would change her life forever.

For the first time ever, Sellers bought a $10 ticket for the 50X The Cash scratch-off game and all but forgot about it. But then she had the ticket scanned at her place of employment, Food Lion in Elizabethtown, and things got interesting fast.

"I didn't think I'd won anything," Sellers said. "But when the checked it, I was told I'd won $1 million. I yelled right away and started jumping up and down."

Given the options of taking a $1 million annuity that had 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000, Sellers chose to take the lump sum. To celebrate, she planned to take her sister on a cruise to Jamaica.

And despite her big win, Sellers said she planned to keep working at Food Lion as a customer service rep.

No. 8: PAC investigated

After years of speculation and rumor mongering, the Bladen Improvement Committee came under formal fire in the wake of this year's election. To the delight of some and the indignation of others, a protest was filed and accepted alleging voter fraud on the part of the political action committee.

Bladen County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor candidate-elect McRae Dowless filed a protest stating this year's election involved a "massive scheme to run an absentee ballot mill involving hundreds of ballots, perpetrated by and through the Bladen County Improvement Association PAC."

The issue came to the attention of voters when a write-in candidate received more than 3,700 votes. Though Dowless won by just over 4,000 votes, the protest state that "upon in-person review of mail-in absentee ballots by a forensic handwriting expert ... despite the fact that literally hundreds of votes were cast for the same write-in candidate ... the handwriting ... matches only about a dozen handwriting styles."

The protest also cited payments of hundreds of dollars made to PAC members for obtaining absentee ballots.

PAC leaders maintained the group's innocence.

In early December, in a move that stymied residents, the State Board of Elections dismissed the case, stating that any misconduct would not affect the outcome of the election. However, the board referred the case on to federal prosecutors who, representatives said, are able to investigate and make charges into misconduct.

No. 9: Bobby Lewis passes

The Mother County lost an irreplaceable figure last spring when Bobby Lewis suddenly passed away. Called "the heart and conscience of Bladen County history" and the "backbone of the Battle of Elizabethtown," Lewis was, for many, the embodiment of local history.

Though the cause of his sudden death is unknown, the family of Lewis speculated that, because he was found in his truck with the engine still running, a heart attack was a likely culprit.

Prior to his death, Lewis volunteered at, and often used his own funds to finance projects for, Harmony Hall. Under his supervision, the attic skeleton was reconstructed, a new roof was installed, plumbing and water were repaired, as was electricity in the general store, and landscaping was improved. Lewis also served as field marshal, opening the home every Sunday afternoon to visitors and encouraging the history clubs at high schools to visit the plantation.

"There is truly no one to replace him," lamented Sunday Allen, history teacher at East Bladen. "I've lost count of the number of students who have been impacted by him."

In addition to Harmony Hall, Lewis almost singlehandedly began and maintained the Battle of Elizabethtown re-enactment, which attracted thousands. Postponed for 2016 after Lewis's death, the future of the event is still up in the air.

"It would not be the Battle of Elizabethtown, it would not be Harmony Hall, without his interest in it," said Lewis's nephew, Scott Lewis. "He allowed people to celebrate who they are."

No. 10: Bruce Cannon leaves

Another important face disappeared from the region in 2016 when the Rev. Bruce Cannon, missions director for the Bladen Baptist Association, resigned in February. After 16 years as the overseer of regional Baptist missions, Cannon left in order to return to the pulpit in the North Carolina mountains.

Prior to serving as missions director, Cannon was in the area the previous 10 years ministering at Galeed Baptist Church in Bladenboro.

"I've missed that part of serving the Lord," he said of pastoring. "And the thing I've probably missed the most is baptizing people."

He added, "The really hard part is to communicate to Bladen County that we love them. We've been here 27 years, but God has given us this other church to work with. We want to leave with people understanding that we love Bladen and always will."

The Rev. Charles Hester was named in March as the interim missions director and continues to serve in that position.

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Honorable mention

-- November election: Bladen County voters leaned Republican by electing three new members to the Board of County Commissioners -- Ashley Trivette, Ray Britt and David Gooden -- and also gave GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump an edge over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

-- School consolidation: The issue of school consolidation bubbled back to the surface early in the year, but school board officials decided to take the issue off the table for the year. It did, however, come back up late in 2016.

-- Sales tax referendums: Efforts by the Bladen County Board of Commissioners to get a sales tax referendum passed went down in flames twice, first during the May primary when it would have benefited local education and again in November"s general election when it would have benefited the county's EMS.

-- Battle of Elizabethtown: The fourth annual Battle of Elizabethtown re-enactment took a huge hit when one of its primary organizers, Bobby Lewis, suddenly passed away earlier in the year and the event at Tory Hole Park was scratched for 2016. Its return in 2017 is questionable.

-- Socks for the homeless: Miss Bladenboro Outstanding Teen Anna Grace Allen, 14, joined with the Bladen Journal for a "Sock It To 'Em" sock drive as part of her platform for the Miss North Carolina Outstanding Teen Pageant and collected a total of 1,882 pairs of socks for the homeless in the region.

-- A new roof: Harmony Hall, the 255-year-old plantation home in White Oak, received a new cedar-shingle roof. It was the first roof since the 1980s to be installed on the historic home.

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(c)2017 the Bladen Journal (Elizabethtown, N.C.)

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