Eagle, by Susan Bellew, who is retiring after 22 years as the first and only executive director of Family Promise, which offers shelter for women and their children who have nowhere else to turn.
Last spring, local governments found themselves wringing their hands over what they presumed would be a budget-wrecking year caused by the global coronavirus pandemic and an upended economy.
The Easter story from Luke’s Gospel: When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his…
If a rising tide lifts all boats, what does a strong economy do for a local airport? Sends it soaring, if the current experience of the Moore County Airport is any indication.
The bed of Lake Surf remains boggy and overgrown. Amenities such as a historic old clubhouse and an Ellis Maples-designed golf course have fallen into disrepair.
It’s been a little over a year of life under the coronavirus pandemic, but finally things are trending solidly toward recovery and a return to normalcy.
Double Bogey, by several Pinehurst residents who, proclaiming to support the “Freedom Matters” movement, went before the Village Council recently and refused to comply with the governor’s order and their own mayor’s repeated requests to don a mask while at the meeting.
Going by what the state dictated, Moore County Schools has been operating these past two months under the formula of A+B = disjointed learning.
Public service is a noble endeavor, and can be a rewarding career for those who possess certain skills, whether it’s land planning, operating a water plant or serving as a first responder. The ultimate goal of these jobs is to serve your community and make a difference in the process.
It is too soon to hail Pinehurst for, after more than 20 years, finally closing the book on its longstanding library problem. But the solution announced last week to take over operations — and expansion — of the privately held Given Memorial Library is positive forward movement indeed.
It’s been a year since the toilet paper and cleaning wipes disappeared — the leading edge for what was to become the lost year of the coronavirus global pandemic.
Eagle, by the late Vergil Shamberger, for being one of those quiet heroes who leaves a lasting legacy on his community.
The case to reopen public schools for five-day in-person attendance is getting a shot in the arm, literally and figuratively.
It’s hard to remember a time when Pat Corso wasn’t trying to improve life and the local economy here in Moore County.
In a recent letter on this page, SCC President John Dempsey proffered a generous suggestion to the village of Pinehurst as it wrestles with its future library situation.
The proposition was clear three years ago for voters: Approve a $103 million bond referendum and Moore County Schools would build three new elementary schools in Aberdeen, Southern Pines and Pinehurst. The acceptance was overwhelming — 80 percent. To date, Aberdeen and Southern Pines are ope…
Moore County’s travel and tourism industry has taken a massive hit since the onset of the coronavirus last March. Our local resorts and hotels lost most of the spring and fall 2020 golf seasons — or at least those guests who would have booked rooms and stayed multiple days. And business-rela…
On this Valentine’s Day, it’s good to know that love makes the world go ’round. But more important, it’s the manifestations of love, through acts of kindness, generosity and thoughtfulness, that make a community so special. And so:
A month from today, The Pilot will print its annual listing of people who owe Moore County taxes.
If you’re 65 or older in Moore County, your best strategy at this point for the coronavirus vaccine is to go outside the county.
Moore County’s annual budgeting method has always been a little unstructured when it comes to its public schools. For years, the Board of Commissioners and Board of Education would look at the current budget; estimate new costs and needs vs. impact on taxes and the county’s overall budget; a…
It should be old news by now that the Moore County Health Department is woefully short-staffed and falling further behind. Almost from the very moment the coronavirus arrived locally, the department has struggled to keep up with its mission.
In the event of a medical emergency, the single best first thing to do is call 911. But about 14 years ago, a group of local leaders thought it would suit our community if help could be closer and faster. Together, they formed HeartSafe Moore County, an effort designed to raise community aw…
The contrast couldn’t be more noticeable. In recent months, Pinehurst has either approved or been the recipient of announcements signaling substantial new development and investment in the village.
Birdie, by FirstHealth of the Carolinas and Pinehurst Medical Clinic, for establishing and operating what, by virtually all accounts, appears to have been a successful first week of COVID-19 vaccine delivery.
On Monday, we remember one of this nation’s great leaders, a man who effected historic change not through words of violence but the vocabulary of conscience.
Might our worst failing in the coronavirus pandemic yet be ahead of us? Here we are, with two approved COVID-19 vaccinations — developed in record time and now in full production by their manufacturers — and yet we have insufficient means of delivery. Imagine how World War II might have turn…
“Jan. 20, 2017, will be remembered,” President Donald J. Trump said in his inaugural speech, “as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”
A family can plan its budget with utmost care, but fate will intervene. Just when you’re about to buy a new car, the water heater bursts or the roofer finds a lot of rot around that tiny leak.
Happy New Year. 2020 is now in the rear-view mirror, even if all that it wrought remains with us.
A month ago, we learned that Moore County Schools had agreed to a $200,000 settlement with a former student who accused then-school resource officer Joshua M. Evans of engaging her in sexual acts back in 2017.
“In doing this, it was survival first and foremost. I knew if I stayed doing what I was doing, it wasn’t generating enough revenue to run that business.”
From The New York Sun, Sept. 21, 1897:
From the Gospel According to Luke:
The story of Southern Pines — and much of Moore County — these last few years has been the white-hot home construction market and lack of available land.
One of Moore County’s defining characteristics has always been its residents’ spirit of service to others. Our history and tradition is replete with people who have given generously of their time and talents to make this community a better place in which to live.
Double Bogey, by U.S. Reps. Richard Hudson and Dan Bishop, in joining with seven of their fellow North Carolina congressional Republicans in supporting a nonsense lawsuit filed by the state of Texas to try to throw out the lawful 2020 presidential election.
The time is nigh for the Moore County Board of Education to decide how to dispose of the vacant — or soon to be vacant — Aberdeen Primary and Elementary and Southern Pines Primary and Elementary School buildings.
Unfortunately, the prediction health officials made prior to Thanksgiving — a post-holiday bloom in coronavirus cases — is being fully realized nationally, in the state and in Moore County.
If one thing in Pinehurst has been talked about longer — and gone as equally unfulfilled — as a new library, it’s what to do with the old service district just off the village center.
It seems hard to imagine now, but when founded 100 years ago, The Pilot and its newspaper kin were the sole form of telling folks what was going on in their world.
Bogey, by one of Moore County’s congressmen, U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, for hewing to the party line instead of doing what’s best for this country.
President George Washington issued this proclamation Oct. 3, 1789:
President Abraham Lincoln issued this proclamation on Oct. 3, 1863:
Like so many other things affected by the coronavirus in 2020, college is one more paradigm that has been turned on its head. Students are more likely to “attend” classes these days via the laptop computer that sits in their childhood bedroom. Many universities have gone all fall looking lik…
Normally, we wait until after Thanksgiving to deliver our annual message of shopping local for the holidays, but, frankly, time is of the essence.
We are now eight months into the novel coronavirus pandemic and, for better or worse, adjusting our lives around the virus. There is good and bad to be found in that.
Eagle, by Moore County Board of Elections director Glenda Clendenin and all her staff for what, to date, has been a well-executed election under record turnout.
We’ve been living with this 2020 election for so long now — 11 months! — that it seems hard to grasp that it’s over.
Of all the dismaying things to come out of the coronavirus controversy, the debate about wearing masks may be the most specious.
