Ena Sellers

The Duplin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that took place near the town of Faison.
According to law enforcement, last Saturday night, Duplin County Communications received several calls reporting a shooting on Shine Road. The Sheriff’s Office and Duplin County EMS responded to the scene and discovered that Russell Hines and Latonya Tiska Corbett had been shot. Investigators with the DCSO arrived shortly after and began an immediate investigation, which is currently ongoing with the help of the District Attorney’s Office.
Hines sustained non-life-threatening injuries, while Corbett tragically succumbed to her injuries.

The Duplin County Sheriff’s Office asks persons with any information, no matter how minor it may seem, to contact the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office at 910-296-2150 or call the tip line at 910-372-9202. Your information could make a significant difference in this investigation and in solving this case.

GREENSBORO — There was a full house at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro on Oct. 10, as more than 800 people waited to see Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance.
With only 26 days left until Election Day, winning North Carolinians’ vote will play a vital role in the presidential election.
Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley, opened the floor by speaking about immigration, stating that the current administration has taken 94 executive actions to dismantle the security at the southern border.
He addressed the vice president’s tie-breaking vote on $2.5 trillion worth of federal spending and the implications for global affairs on how she is perceived.
“America’s weak under Kamala Harris and her administration. And when America’s weak, the world is a far more dangerous place,” said Whatley. “We have a former president who has said on day one he’s going to end inflationary spending. He’s going to unleash American energy. He is going to have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on social security. … He’s going to support our soldiers, our veterans, and our military families.”

After his speech, Whatley welcomed Senator Ted Budd to the floor. Budd spoke about inflation and holding the government accountable. He also thanked veterans and all the volunteers who have been aiding rescue efforts in western North Carolina.
Former professional race car driver Danica Patrick served as the event moderator.
Patrick shared with the crowd that getting backlash from a post she made saying, “I love my country,” motivated her to seek change.
“It just really lit a fire in my heart to do whatever I could to make this country the kind of country where I can say — I love my country,” said Patrick. “We should be able to say it proudly. That’s the kind of country that I want to live in. So here I am today with the amazing honor of being able to moderate this town hall with y’all and Senator J.D. Vance.”
The excitement filled the room, and the crowd erupted in applause as Vance entered.
Vance spoke about his mother’s addiction and how, for a good part of his early life, he was raised by his grandmother. He added that one of the things that allowed him to pursue his dreams is that “we live in the greatest country in the world” and that he always felt grateful for his grandmother’s love and support.
“I realized there were so many little ways where, without her love, without her support, without her going above and beyond, I just wouldn’t have been here. … She was a woman of incredibly profound Christian faith. She never graduated from high school, but she was the smartest person that I ever knew,” said Vance. “The advice I would give to anybody is don’t let yourself become a victim and don’t forget that however hard your life has been, it would be a lot harder, but for people you ought to show some gratitude toward.”
The first question Vance took from the public was from Adam, a pilot who has been delivering supplies to the victims in Western North Carolina.
“We’ve seen absolute decimation. We’ve seen destruction, and we have seen miracles left and right. Over the last 14 days, we’ve probably had close to, just at our location, maybe 500 different volunteers come through. And we have seen Americans of every shape, color, creed, and size helping every other American, which is what America is supposed to do. There’s two big fears that we have. The biggest fear right now is that when all this is over, Western North Carolina becomes a footnote. And we don’t want that. We don’t want that for anybody that’s left behind after a disaster, holding it back, trying to rebuild everything that they’ve lost. The second fear is that we won’t have an opportunity to have a real conversation about the afteraction of what took place, in order for us to understand how we can use a combination of both private sector and public sector funding and efforts to have effective, efficient actions on the ground to make it more mobile and more agile, but more importantly, to re-inject capital back into the work we’re doing,” said Adam. “I think the bureaucratic process of red tape that we have to cut through in order to get the funding directly to the people who need it most, this just simply takes too long, and it’s not the fault of any individual agency for the federal government.”

He asked Vance if they win the presidency if they would consider overhauling the process of disaster relief in the US to get funding to those in need more efficiently and involve retired veterans and special operations personnel to make the strategy more effective.
“We’re never going to let them be left behind and forgotten. I promise that to you, man,” said Vance. “I want to thank all the private relief agencies, the charities, and Good Samaritans who did their job and took care of their fellow Americans. God bless you guys. We should all be proud of them. …What should have happened is that the president and the vice president should have sent the 82nd Airborne to Western North Carolina… “It’s not any one agency. And there are a lot of people working on the federal effort who are doing a good job or at least are doing as good as they can. The problem is all the bureaucratic incompetence. … In 2010, the terrible earthquake at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the 82nd Airborne was there two days later. The 82nd Airborne is an hour away from Western North Carolina, and it took six days to get them there. That doesn’t happen without a failure of leadership… The only way to fix this is by accountability… I want to be the kind of vice president where you feel like I have your back and that I haven’t left you behind.”

The next question was from Jean about immigration, pointing out the 13,000 murderers who reportedly came across the border illegally last week.
“Unless we get this right in the next administration, we are throwing open the floodgates to illegal immigration for the next 30 years in this country. … it’s tens of thousands of violent criminals … but it’s also millions upon millions of people who have come here. Some of them are good people, but that doesn’t mean they have the legal right to be in the United States of America. … The message that our country sends after 25 million illegal aliens coming into this country is, you get to stay here, you get to collect housing benefits, you get to collect welfare benefits while folks in Western North Carolina are struggling to survive.”
The next question came from Kaylee, a business owner and a first-time voter.
“One day, I want to start a family and own my own home, but with rising costs, I do not know if that will be able to happen. You have come from humble beginnings, so what is your plan for creating more opportunities for people like me?”
“We’re going to cut taxes for American workers. We’re going to penalize folks who are shipping American jobs overseas. … I want you to own a piece of the future and not just be a permanent debtor to people and institutions that don’t care about you,” said Vance. I want you to own a nice house and be able to start a family and build a great business in the United States of America. And that’s what Donald Trump is fighting for.”
Patrick asked Vance about the pathway to becoming energy-independent.
“We can take a week to two years to get us back to where we were. … Let’s buy it from American citizens right here at home and make a lot of money,” said Vance.

“If you want clean air, you don’t ship all of our manufacturing and energy to China, which is the dirtiest economy per unit of economic output in the world. You build more and make more in the United States of America. That’s what President Trump will do.”
The next question came from Patricia, a retired healthcare worker from Timberlake.
“I’ve seen ads and posts where Donald Trump is going to take away our Social Security or cut it or decrease it. But then I also saw ads and posts that Donald Trump is planning to remove taxes on Social Security. Can you explain and, describe, and clarify your and Donald Trump’s Social Security plan?”
Don’t believe everything you see on TV because a lot of those things are paid for by Democrat money. It’s dishonest,” said Vance, adding that Donald Trump is going to protect Social Security.
“He is going to cut taxes on Social Security income because our seniors get paid into it for their whole lives.  You ought to be able to enjoy the benefits. …you know what will bankrupt Social Security in this country? Giving it to illegal aliens… what I think is so sick about what Kamala Harris is going out there doing. She is accusing us of doing the very same thing that she herself is promising to do. She wants to bankrupt this program, not by giving it to the people who paid into it, but by giving it to people who don’t even have the legal right to be in this country to begin with.”
Vance wrapped up the town hall speaking about the incredible responsibility someone running for office is asking from the public, asserting that trust should be earned.
“There’s something about the way that Kamala Harris has run this campaign that I think genuinely to all Americans, Democrats, independents, Republicans, is insulting. … She is asking you to give her control over millions of American troops … over the entire nuclear arsenal of the United States. She is asking for literally the authority to command life and death all over the world. And she won’t even go out and talk to the American people in a non-friendly setting. We all should be insulted by that.”

Wolf discusses what it was like working for Trump

GOLDSBORO — Chad Wolf remembers a night from late 2019, when he was acting secretary of Homeland Security under then-president Donald Trump.

When he took the job, advisors warned Wolf about Trump’s energy level and the workload he’d be taking on in the job.

“I’m a little bit younger than he is,” the 48-year-old former college tennis player recalled thinking. “So, when I got there, I was like, ‘I can keep up with it. I’ve heard this before. I got it. I got this.’”

“I was worn out,” he said with a laugh. ”So, there’s one night where it had been a couple hard weeks in a row. I look at my wife, and I was like, ‘I just, I need, like, five or six hours of uninterrupted sleep.’”

He went off to bed at 10:00 that night.

“I’m just gonna get some sleep refresh,” he said. “I was like, ‘Yep, I’m turning my phone off.’ Terrible idea.”

At 1:30 in the morning, his wife nudged him awake.

“Someone’s in the house,” she said.

“I was like, ‘That can’t be. There’s like a team of Secret Service agents that monitor the house. We’re fine,’” Wolf recalled.

His wife insisted, however.

“Finally, I go down the stairs,” he said. “And yeah, I’ve got an agent standing in my front door, just yelling. ‘The President would like to speak with you now.’”

Wolf placed a secure late-night call to Trump, who was still hard at work.

“He just wants to chat about a couple of things,” Wolf said. “He said, ‘Chad, we need to do this.’ Yes, Mr. President. We can do that. I hang up, go back to bed and get up at six. I’m starting to get ready for work. Another call comes in from the White House. ‘The President would like to speak with you.’”

Wolf was connected with Trump, who asked him, “Chad, how we doing? What we talked about—how’s that coming?”

“That was five hours ago,” Wolf recalled. “Most of the people in my department are still asleep.”

The former Trump cabinet member told the story while in Goldsboro last week. Wolf crisscrossed the state in the Trump/Vance campaign bus, joined by North Carolina Republican candidates such as Buck Newton and Dan Bishop, as well as fellow members of Trump’s first administration like Peter Navarro and Matthew Whitaker.

Speaking in front of more than 60 GOP supporters at the Wayne County  Republican party offices in downtown Goldsboro, Wolf discussed what it was like working for the former president.

“I was at the department for all four years, the acting secretary for the last 15 months, and I was in a lot of Oval Office meetings,” he said. A couple of things that I took away from those encounters with President Trump—one is accountability. I don’t know if you remember, the President like to fire people. As someone who worked for him, that keeps you focused. But he ran it like a business, right? And if you weren’t performing and you weren’t producing, it’s time to go. How many people have been fired by President Biden? The economy, withdrawal from Afghanistan, absolute disaster. The border is a wreck. No one has been fired. Probably the worst example is the President gets shot in Butler, Pennsylvania. Do they fire the Secret Service Director? No, they allow her to resign a week later. That is unacceptable.”

It’s an issue that resonates with Wolf, who, as Homeland secretary, was in charge of the Secret Service.

Wolf also recalled Trump’s unorthodox approach toward debate in the Oval Office.

“His leadership style, which is unique, but it’s also refreshing all at the same time,” he said. “I hear a lot of criticism from folks who say, ‘Oh, well, you know, President Trump only surrounds himself by people that agree with him. So it’s like, a yes fest all day.’ That’s not what I saw. I was at many Oval Office meetings where you would have 10-12, people in there. You have his senior advisors. You would even have cabinet secretaries, and they’re arguing with one another about issues, arguing with the President about issues. That’s the way he absorbed information. He learned this way and made decisions, and it got heated at times. It wasn’t the best. It was a little colorful language at times.”

“I think that’s what the American people want,” Wolf continued. “These are all issues that were being debated that affect everyone, whether it was your paycheck, your national security, whatever it might be. … We need someone back in that in that position, back in the office, going in every day, having tough conversations, and making tough decisions instead of deferring to advisors or (saying) we’ll study that.”

And yes, it could also mean the occasional late-night visit from a secret service agent.

Record numbers of votes have been registered across North Carolina. As of Sunday, more than 1 million voters in North Carolina had cast their ballots, hitting record numbers compared to the previous presidential election in 2020. In Duplin County alone, there were more than 1,900 voters on the first day of early voting.

“We have seen great turnout so far for Early Voting. We saw 1,968 voters on the first day with continuous lines of excited voters,” Carrie Sullivan, Duplin County Board of Elections director, told Duplin Journal. “It is great to see so many people excited to have their voices be heard. Lines have been moving quickly and our voters seem to be happy with that. We look forward to seeing a great turnout in the county for this election.”

As of Sunday, a total of 4,332 votes were cast; of those, 4,123 were in-person, early voting, and 208 by mail.

The Duplin County Board of Elections is actively working to ensure a smooth voting process and to address citizens’ concerns.

Sullivan shared that earlier this year, a group conducting voter registrations raised worries among local voters when they didn’t collect necessary information such as dates of birth or the last four digits of Social Security numbers from the persons filling out the voter registration forms. Instead, they wrote down arbitrary numbers and submitted those to the DC BOE office.

“They were performing drives in parking lots in Kenansville at the Speedway and IGA, in Wallace at the Piggly Wiggly and Wal-Mart, and in Beulaville at the IGA,” Sullivan told Duplin Journal. “When this occurred, we did not change the voter’s information. Instead, we issued the voter an incomplete letter letting them know that there was a discrepancy between their original registration and the one that we had just received.”

Sullivan noted that the issues were addressed and they have not seen the group back in Duplin County since July. Under federal law, noncitizens who register to vote could face up to five years in prison and be subject to deportation.

“At the top of the application, they must check a box stating that they are a U.S. citizen.  Individuals registering to vote must also sign the application, under penalty of perjury, that they are U.S. citizens,” said Sullivan. “The language above the signature box states: ‘Fraudulently or falsely completing this form is a Class I felony under Chapter 163 of the N.C. General Statutes.’”

This is the third installment of Questions and Answers with Duplin County Board of Elections Director Carrie Sullivan:

The number of groups and individuals who say they want to help make elections more secure has grown rapidly in recent years. Many believe that voter fraud is widespread. Are there such groups in Duplin? What are they doing, and what impact do they have?

Voter fraud has become a big topic in elections in recent years. North Carolina has many checks and balances to ensure that elections are safe and secure. There are no such groups in Duplin that I am aware of at this time. I can assure the community that Duplin County follows all election laws, and we are committed to transparency and honesty in our processes.

What, if any, election misinformation is circulating in the community, and what are election officials doing to counter it? How is it affecting voters and their confidence in the election?

There is a lot of misinformation going around. It is easy for anyone to say something misleading on social media. And when people believe that misinformation and share it across their platforms to their friends, it spreads like wildfire.  It is important for voters to fact-check their sources. One false piece of misinformation is that your ballot choices can be changed by the machine after you insert your ballot into it. This is completely FALSE. The ballot reads your markings for the choices that you selected; it cannot mark your ballot or change any information.

What we want voters to know is that we, just like them, want a fair election. We want the voters in Duplin County to call us if they have questions. Don’t just assume that everything rumor that you hear is correct.

A number of communities have restricted voter registration drives by partisan and nonpartisan groups. This has traditionally been an important way to sign up new voters, although sloppy registration drives have sometimes caused logistical or administrative headaches for election administrators. What is your take on this issue, and do we track how voters are registered?

I feel that registration drives are a very important part of the democratic process. It is good to have extra boots on the ground to get people registered. I believe on a large scale that most of these groups are doing the right thing, because they are increasing registration numbers around the state and are ultimately helping increase voter turnout. In my opinion, these drives should be happening every year because local elections are just as important as the presidential elections.

I will say that we have seen a group in Duplin County that was not doing the right things when it came to registration drives and were making voters concerned. We have addressed the issues with this group, and we forwarded our concerns about them to the State Board of Elections. Our office will always do our due diligence to ensure that no misinformation is spread and to instill continued confidence in our processes throughout the community.

Why are drop boxes so controversial?

I have no idea why people have issues with drop boxes. Ballot boxes are for voters to conveniently drop absentee ballots off to be processed. There are no ballot boxes in Duplin County. But to give voters a better understanding of the absentee process, every absentee ballot is numbered and assigned to a specific voter. You must also already be a registered voter to even obtain an absentee ballot. Again, there are checks and balances so that every ballot is accounted for.  No absentee ballot gets accepted until all requirements are completed and met by the voter and until the Board approves them at an absentee meeting. The system flags and restricts voters from getting more than one ballot, even if they submit multiple requests. The system also prevents voters from voting by mail and in person in the same election cycle. Despite the misinformation out there, absentee voting is secure and there are safeguards in place to ensure that.

Early voting will continue through Nov. 2, persons who missed the voter registration deadline may register and vote during this period. Absentee ballots must be requested by Oct. 29 by 5 p.m. and they must be received in the Duplin County Board of Elections office by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day on Nov. 5.

Warsaw’s overburdened wastewater treatment plant has been a significant topic of concern for area residents and leadership. According to Warsaw Mayor A.J. Connors, the town needs approximately $44 million to expand the wastewater treatment plant infrastructure needed to keep up with the town’s growth.

The WWTP provides treatment for a service population of approximately 3,120 people. The facility discharges wastewater to Stewarts Creek in the Cape Fear River subbasin.

This year, the town was fined $33,243.51 for violating discharge limitations and monitoring requirements set by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

Last month, the town received a notice of violation for exceeding the levels of Coliform, Fecal MF, and MFC Broth, more than three times the limit in June. In May, the town had to pay a fine of $12,323.51 for violations in February, and in April, a $20,920 fine for 14 violations in January.

According to the May civil penalty assessment, while it is understood that costs were incurred to resolve the upset impacts caused at the WWTP since 2023, “it seems that actions may have been delayed by the possible continued use of disinfectant agents at a nearby production facility that impacted wastewater treatment operations.”

The assessment notes that the WWTP facility has a concerning track record with three previous enforcement actions for some of the same parameters in the preceding 12-month period.

In April, the assessment noted that while the Wilmington Regional Office was notified, “it seems that no further actions have been taken to prevent the violations that have occurred since June 2023.”

According to a report from the Division of Water Resources issued to Warsaw, the extent of harm to the state’s natural resources and public health has not been quantified. However, the winter Instream Waste Concentration (IWC) was estimated at 86.6% above the allowed. In February, the facility exceeded the weekly Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) by 2347% and the monthly average by 1007%. The higher the BOD, the less oxygen is available for aquatic life. The wastewater plant also exceeded a weekly fecal coliform by 505%.

While the effect on surface water quality has not been evaluated, according to the most recent Discharge Monitoring Report readings obtained by Duplin Journal, many fecal coliform readings show 2,420 bacteria per 100ml. Also, there was a spike in ammonia levels during August, which reached 12 mg/L — four times the limit.

Connors told Duplin Journal that the town’s engineers are working on solutions to help mitigate the problem.

“It’s just taking more time than what we thought it would take,” said Connors, adding that the $7.5 million grant they received to help with the expansion is being allocated as engineers devise a plan to use it. “It’s not enough money to expand in the fashion that is needed,” he explained. “Things will be fine if they just be patient for a little while. Nobody’s losing anything.”

Commissioner Ebony Wills-Wells declared in a social media post that the town monitors two industrial users for their harmful discharges into the wastewater treatment plant.

“These industrial users should have been mandated to have pretreatment programs in place but haven’t,” wrote Wills-Wells. She explained that this ongoing issue has been damaging to the community and the environment and is affecting those downstream. “To be transparent, this has not just started, but has been going on for many, many years due to lack of enforcement in the Town of Warsaw. Citizens were informed that there are some legal issues in process and the town is working to enforce state rules and regulations to try and fix the problems.”

However, these are only some of Warsaw’s problems involving the plant. The town is also considering a moratorium on new sewer lines until improvements are made to the treatment facility.

Connors told Duplin Journal that they have yet to officially implement a moratorium and are evaluating each situation as it arises. He asks business owners for their patience while they work through these matters.

“We’re not trying to brush people off. It’s just the fact that there are certain rules and regulations in place. We have to honor those, or else we get in trouble,” said Connors. “We do our best with what we have in front of us, and that’s what we do. And not everybody’s happy because some people just don’t understand the rules and regulations.”

Cecil Lennon, a Warsaw resident and small business owner who builds homes to rent, expressed his frustration with how things are handled in the town.

Lennon told Duplin Journal that he applied for two permits and received both. Still, with the new restrictions, he won’t be allowed to connect to the sewer after he has invested more than $80,000 in his project.

“If you know that you’re going to enforce a moratorium, why would you wait until I pay for my permit and it’s issued and then put it on hold? That’s not fair,” said Lennon. “I have two projects going that I already paid for. But I can’t tie into the sewer once I finish my projects.”

Issues with the wastewater treatment plant could potentially hinder the town’s growth. While plans for a subdivision with 62 new homes have been approved, the plant currently lacks the capacity for the increased wastewater load.

According to town documents, in an email from Cecil Madden of McDavid Associates, Madden shared her professional opinion that the state likely will not approve additional sewer extensions until the wastewater treatment plant meets its effluent limits and can satisfactorily handle the increased wastewater load a subdivision would bring.

“We do not anticipate this will be resolved very soon. If subdivisions have been approved, the owners should be advised that the sewer lines will require a NC Division of Water Resources permit that the State may not approve at this time because the Town’s WWTP does not currently have the treatment capacity,” stated Madden.