Mountaire’s annual Thanksgiving for Thousands program took place the Saturday before Thanksgiving at the company’s Siler City processing plant, with nearly 10,000 meal boxes assembled by hundreds of volunteers for distribution by local nonpro ts and churches.
See more photos on page A3.
Commissioner Travis Patterson was unanimously elected as the new Mayor Pro Tem
By Ryan Henkel
Dells donate $6.25B to encourage families to claim “Trump Accounts”
Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell pledged a historic $6.25 billion on Tuesday to provide an incentive to families to adopt new investment accounts for children.
The so-called “Trump Accounts” were created as part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation but have not yet launched. Through their gift, the Dells will deposit $250 into the investment accounts of 25 million children aged 10 and younger as an incentive for their families to claim the accounts and make investments in the stock market.
Doctor says Trump had screening MRI with “perfectly normal” results
Donald Trump’s doctor says the president had MRI imaging on his heart and abdomen in October as part of a preventative screening for men his age. That’s according to a memo from the physician released by the White House on Monday. Sean Barbabella said in a statement that Trump’s physical exam included “advanced imaging” that is “standard for an executive physical” in Trump’s age group. Barbabella concluded that the cardiovascular and abdominal imaging was “perfectly normal.”
$2.00
Chatham News & Record
SILER CITY — At the Siler
City Board of Commissioners’
Dec. 1 meeting, the board underwent a bit of reorganization.
Mayor Donald Matthews and Commissioners Cindy Bray, Albert Alston and Michael Feezor
all took their oaths of o ce following their November election wins and, in addition, Commissioner Travis Patterson was elected unanimously by the board as the new Mayor Pro Tem.
While Matthews, Bray and Alston all had previously served, Feezor is a new face to the board, taking over for former
The Hillmont development will see 23 fewer a ordableunits, but will donate more than $1 million
By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record
CHAPEL HILL
— The Chapel Hill Town Council met Nov. 19 for the nal meeting
“My time in Pittsboro has been the highlight of my professional career and personal life.”
Colby Sawyer
of the current council.
The council will have two new faces at its next meeting, ascouncilmember Karen Stegman resigned from her seat earlier in the year and Adam
Colby Sawyer joined the town in 2022 and was promoted to director in September
Chatham News & Record sta COLBY SAWYER, the Town of Pittsboro’s communications and emergency management director, left at the end of November to become county manager for Pender County.
Sawyer joined Pittsboro in April 2022 as public information o cer and emergency management specialist before being promoted to director in September 2024. During his tenure, he wrote more than $20 million in grants for connectivity, transportation, economic
commissioner and Mayor Pro Tem Lewis Fadely, who decided not to run for reelection.
The board also honored Fadely for his 12 years of service to the town now that his term has ocially ended.
“I cannot at all thank you enough,” said Mayor Donald Matthews. “You made the job so much easier working with you.”
Fadley was presented with a certi cate of appreciation from the police department, a
Searing did not seek reelection.
They will be replaced by the newly elected Louie Rivers and Wes McMahon, both of whom collected the largest share of votes this past November.
Incumbents Paris Miller-Foushee and Camille Berry also won reelection to remain on the council.
resolution by the board of commissioners and a personal gift from the mayor as well.
“This is not a job of one person, this is eight people coming together to lead the town,” Fadley said. “The faces have changed over the years, but the direction has always been the same. We always move forward for the benet of the town.” The Town of Siler City Board of Commissioners will next meet Jan. 12.
The new council will be sworn in Dec. 3.
At the meeting, the council held a public hearing for a conditional zoning modi cation request for a development project — “Hillmont” — located at 146 Stancell Drive and o N.C. 54.
development and hazard mitigation projects. He also created PBO-101, the town’s community engagement program. In 2024, he was named to the International Association
THURSDAY
The Foushee family would like to express their gratitude for all of the thoughts and prayers during this di cult time.
We will never be able to thank you all enough for your kindness and your thoughtful ways. Thank you all for the visits, phone calls, texts, cards, flowers, meals, gift cards and every kind word along the way.
We would like to extend a Special Thank You to those who donated contributions towards Gaines Grove Cemetery, especially to the Goldston Fire Dept. and many churches in the community.
With All Our Love, Thank You.
The Foushee Family
Multiple people have been hospitalized, and a dog was killed by deer raised or regularly fed by humans
North State Journal sta
RALEIGH — The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) is warning residents who attempts to tame or domesticate deer can have dangerous consequences, following multiple attacks across the state this year. Incidents involving deer attacking people or dogs have been reported in Rockingham, Randolph, Wilkes, Onslow, Iredell and Cherokee counties. Most involved deer that had been regularly fed by residents or illegally raised by humans.
Nov. 22
• Alexander Joseph, 19, of Pittsboro, was arrested for sexual exploitation of a minor.
• Shaun Michael Clayton, 34, of Siler City, was arrested for assault on a female and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
Nov. 23
• Shanree Tia Ernesty, 31, of Chapel Hill, was arrested for simple assault, misdemeanor child abuse and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
Nov. 24
• Alexis Flores Briones, 20, of Siler City, was arrested for second degree kidnapping, felony conspiracy and robbery with a dangerous weapon.
• Aerial Danielle Marsh, 42, of Siler City, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
Nov. 26
• Grace Josselyn Godina, 28, of Siler City, was arrested for nancial card theft and obtaining property by false pretenses.
Nov. 27
• Kevin Dean Hammer, 50, of Goldston, was arrested for resisting public o cer, communicating threats, misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, maintaining vehicle/ dwelling/place for controlled substances, possession of cocaine and discharging rearm to incite fear.
• Emilio Fabian TolentinoCalvillo, 26, of Siler City, was arrested for assault and battery, assault on a female and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
• Jacob Ray Phillip, 31, of Bear Creek, was arrested for identity theft, resisting public o cer, larceny of motor vehicle and felony conspiracy.
On Nov. 6, a 70-year-old Wilkes County woman was hospitalized after being gored by the antlers of a male deer near her mailbox. On Oct. 21, a woman in Onslow County was attacked by a 3½-year-old buck that had been illegally raised as a fawn by an acquaintance, suffering a puncture wound to her shoulder and neck along with scrapes and bruises.
In March, a Cherokee Coun-
“A male fawn that is treated like a pet can become a danger as an adult when hormones surge during mating season.”
April Boggs Pope, NCWRC
ty man was treated at an urgent care facility for a lip laceration after being attacked by a neighbor’s alleged pet deer while gardening. More recently, a deer being fed by residents in an Iredell County subdivision killed a dog.
“Deer that lose their fear of humans can act in abnormal ways,” said April Boggs Pope, a deer biologist with the commission. “That male deer that seemed ne or friendly during the rest of the year can become dangerously aggressive during the rut. A male fawn that is treated like a pet can become a danger as an adult when hormones surge during mating season. Deer antlers and hooves can in ict serious injuries.”
In North Carolina, it is unlawful to hold a wild animal in
captivity as a pet. Only licensed wildlife rehabilitators are permitted to rehabilitate fawns.
While feeding deer is not illegal in most areas, the commission advises against hand-feeding or conditioning deer to approach people. Baiting and feeding is prohibited between Jan. 2 and Aug. 31 in Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Areas.
“Attempting to domesticate a wild deer creates safety concerns for people, and it rarely ends well for the deer,” said Colleen Olfenbuttel, the commission’s game mammals and surveys supervisor. “People trying to tame wild deer may think they are doing the deer a favor, but they are putting the deer at higher risk of malnourishment and poor health, as the articial foods provided by residents don’t contain the diverse nutrition needed by wild deer.”
Deer that attack people are typically euthanized, and Olfenbuttel noted that victims are often innocent bystanders rather than those who fed or tamed the deer.
Residents can contact the commission’s Wildlife Helpline at 866-318-2401 to report someone illegally housing deer or for guidance on human-deer con icts.
feeding
‘Rage bait’ named Oxford University Press word of year as outrage fuels social media tra c in 2025
Other contenders included “aura farming” and “biohack”
The Associated Press
LONDON — Oxford University Press has named “rage bait’’ as its word of the year, capturing the internet zeitgeist of 2025.
The phrase refers to online content that is “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or o ensive,” with the aim of driving tra c to a particular social media account, Oxford said in a statement.
“The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares
and even likes sometimes,’’ lexicographer Susie Dent told the BBC. This is a result of the algorithms used by social media companies “because although we love u y cats, we’ll appreciate that we tend to engage more with negative content and content that really provokes us.”
Rage bait topped two other contenders — “aura farming’’ and “biohack’’ — after public comment on a shortlist compiled by lexicographers at Oxford University Press.
“Aura farming’’ means to cultivate a public image by presenting oneself in “a way intended subtly to convey an air of con dence, coolness or mystique.’’ “Biohack’’ is de ned as “an attempt to improve or op -
Dec. 6
timize one’s physical or mental performance, health or longevity.’’ The word of the year is selected by lexicographers at Oxford University Press who analyze new and emerging words, as well as changes in the way language is being used, to identify words of “cultural signi cance.”
Oxford University Press, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, has selected a word of the year annually since 2004.
Past winners include “podcast” in 2005, “emoji” in 2015, and in 2022 “goblin mode,” which described people who resisted returning to normal life after the COVID-19 pandemic.
8 Chatham
Dec. 9
tness levels. Bring your own mat. Free to attend; suggested donation of $15.
Front Porch, Bynum General Store 950 Bynum Road Bynum
Dec. 12
Bobby Gales & New Direction Bluegrass – Coming Home for Christmas Doors open at 6 p.m. Concert starts at 7 p.m. Before the concert, there will be a free potluck supper for all attendees. You are not required to bring anything, but extra dishes are always welcome.
Holiday in the Park 5-8 p.m.
This free indoor/outdoor event o ers a variety of holiday festivities, including the opportunity for letters to and photos with Santa, a tree lighting, hayride, and a host of games and craft activities. Vendor applications are now being accepted; contact Leigh.Babcock@ chathamcountync.gov for information.
Northwest District Park 2413 Woody Store Road Siler City
SAWYER from page A1 of Emergency Managers’ “40 Under 40” list. Pender County is a county of about 70,000 people along the coast, just north of Wilmington.
“Colby’s appointment reects his knowledge and expertise, and the strength and readiness of our team,” Mayor Kyle Shipp said.
“My time in Pittsboro has been the highlight of my professional career and personal life,” Sawyer said.
Mountaire’s annual Thanksgiving for Thousands event saw hundreds of volunteers and company employees pack nearly 10,000 boxes of food for families facing food insecurity this holiday season. Each box held enough food to feed four people, including a Mountaire roaster chicken, corn, green beans, stu ng, gravy, cranberries and brownie mix.
He said signing the charter deal would have been a “death certi cate”
By Jenna Fryer
The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE — The landmark federal antitrust trial against NASCAR opened Monday with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin breaking down in tears minutes into his testimony as the rst witness in a case that could upend the venerable stock car series.
Hamlin’s 23XI Racing, which he co-owns with Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports claim the series is a monopolistic bully that leaves its teams no option but to comply with rules and nancing they don’t agree with.
As Jordan watched from the gallery, Hamlin began to cry and had to stop and compose himself when asked how he got into racing. He disclosed to The Associated Press last month that his father is dying, and he said on the stand he was emotional because his dad “is not in great health.”
“We got to when I was about 20 and a decision had to be made, I could keep racing or go out and work for my dad’s trailer business,” Hamlin testi ed, adding that he later was thinking about what retirement looked like and found a team going out of business. He needed a partner and turned to Jordan, who he had developed a friendship with when the Basketball Hall of Famer owned the Charlotte Hornets and Hamlin was a season-ticket holder.
“If I can’t be successful with Michael as a partner, I knew this was never going to work,” he said.
The references to his early days in auto racing and the
sacri ces his family made were intended to show how di cult it is for both team owners and drivers to make it at the top level of the sport. He said he never would have been able to start 23XI in 2021 had he not partnered with Jordan.
On Tuesday, Hamlin said that agreeing to its charter proposal last fall would have been like signing his own “death certi cate.”
He was asked about line items in 23XI Racing’s budget. He noted how more than $703,000 three years ago was spent on costs to NASCAR ranging from entry fees, credentials for team members to enter the track and even access to Internet signals. He also said he and Jordan spent $100 million to build 23XI and “all it takes is one sponsor to go away and all our pro t is gone.”
Because of Jordan’s presence with the team, Hamlin testied, 23XI has turned a pro t in all but one of its ve seasons of operation. His attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, said in his opening statement that fast-food restaurant entrepreneur Bob Jenkins has never turned a pro t since starting his Front Row team in 2004, a team that won the Daytona 500 in 2021. Kessler said a NA-
Michael Jordan arrives at the start of the antitrust trial between 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR in Charlotte on Monday.
SCAR-commissioned study found that 75% of teams lost money in 2024 and added that over a three-year period almost $400 million was paid to the France Family Trust. He said a 2023 evaluation by Goldman Sachs found NASCAR to be worth $5 billion. NASCAR is currently run by Jim France, son of founder Bill France Sr. “What the evidence is going to show is Mr. France ran this for the bene t of his family at the expense of the teams and sport,” Kessler said. Hamlin testifed that the TV deal NASCAR signed ahead of the 2025 season has not been a boon to race teams because of a shift toward streaming sponsors and big-ticket sponsors want to be on television. He also referred to a meeting with NASCAR chairman Jim France, who indicated teams are spending too much and it should only cost $10 million per car. At the heart of the lawsuit is NASCAR’s revenue sharing model, which 23XI and Front Row argue is unfair to race teams that often operate at a loss. Hamlin testi ed it cost $20 million to simply bring a single car to the track over a 38race season, not including overhead expenses such as driver
salary and business operations.
“We cannot cut more. Tell me how to get my investment back? He had no answer,” Hamlin said.
“So why would these people do this if you are just going to lose money because NASCAR isn’t giving you a fair deal?” asked Kessler, “Because you love stock car racing, and there’s nowhere else to do it.”
The charter agreements signed for this year that triggered the lawsuit guarantee the teams $12.5 million in annual revenue per chartered car. NASCAR argues the guaranteed payouts are an increase from $9 million from the previous agreement, but Hamlin noted that 11 of the rst 19 chartered teams are no longer in business.
As for refusing to sign the charter agreements last fall, Hamlin said the last-ditch proposal from NASCAR “had eight points minimum that needed to be changed. When we pointed that out we were told, ‘Negotiations are closed.’”
“I didn’t sign because I knew this was my death certi cate for the future,” he said, later adding: “I have spent 20 years trying to make this sport grow as a driver and for the last ve years as a team owner. 23XI is doing our part. You can’t have someone treat you this unfairly, and I knew It wasn’t right. They were wrong, and someone needed to be held accountable.”
Under cross-examination, Hamlin was asked why he paints a rosier picture of NASCAR on podcast appearances. He replied that he is regurgitating NASCAR talking points because any negative comments can lead to retribution.
All three charters 23XI purchased came from teams that ceased operations, and Hamlin said 23XI paid $4.7 million for its rst charter, $13.5 million for its second and $28 mil-
lion for its third, acquired late last year. He acknowledged purchasing the third charter was a risk because of the pending litigation — and the price concerned him — but it was required if 23XI intends to build itself into a top team.
The charter system guarantees a car a spot in the eld each race week as well as a percentage of the purse. It also gives team owners an asset to sell should they want to get out of the business.
NASCAR attorneys argued that the charter system has created $1.5 billion in equity for the 36 chartered teams. Prior to the charter system, teams raced “open,” with no guarantee they’d make the eld or earn a payout.
“The France family built NASCAR from nothing. They are an American success story,” Johnny Stephenson said in the opening statement for NASCAR. Stephenson is a colleague of Christopher Yates, who had previously handled most of the courtroom arguments for the defendants.
“They’ve done it through hard work over 75 years. That’s the kind of e ort that doesn’t deserve a lawsuit. That’s the kind of e ort that deserves admiration.”
The case has churned through hearings and arguments for more than a year despite calls from other NASCAR teams to settle. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell even helped mediate a failed twoday summit in October.
A NASCAR victory could put 23XI, Front Row and their six combined cars out of business. Their charters — now being held by NASCAR — would likely be sold. The last charter went for $45 million, and NASCAR has indicated there is interest from potential buyers, including private equity rms.
A win for the teams could lead to monetary damages and the potential demolition of NASCAR as it is run today. The judge has the power to unravel a monopoly, and nothing is o the table, from ordering a sale of NASCAR to the dismantling of the charter system.
Trip Ho end, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor
During those shared meals with Afghan refugees, I had a taste of the multicultural vision found in Luke 13:29.
I AM DEEPLY saddened by the killing of Sarah Beckstrom, the National Guard member. I hold her family in the light. I also pray for the healing of her fellow Guard member, Andrew Wolfe.
I am also concerned about the future of thousands of Afghan refugees in our country. We cannot blame the thousands of Afghans who assisted American soldiers in the war against the Taliban for the actions of a single individual. Military veterans and CIA o cials alike have testi ed that these brave Afghans saved countless American lives. They are here in our country because of our promise to honor their service.
However, Congress has stalled in passing the bipartisan legislation known as the Afghan Adjustment Act. Before extending permanent legal status to our Afghan allies, the bill would provide additional security vetting. But despite several attempts over the past four years, Congress has never adopted the proposal.
This Sunday, Dec. 7, marks 84 years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that killed more than 2,400 Americans and launched the United States into World War II. During that war, over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, many of them American citizens, were forced into internment camps solely based on their ethnicity. This denial of rights is a
COLUMN | BOB WACHS
terrible stain on the American history of justice and an insult to people of faith who believe that we are called to love our neighbors of every race.
Like many communities of faith in our area, my church had assisted Afghan families who relocated to the Triangle. We have helped pay rent and also o ered soft skills, like resume writing, to help these allies achieve solid nancial footing in their new country. We have shared meals. Our friends insisted on bringing traditional foods from their homeland, which were delicious! We continue to build these relationships, yet I worry their status in our country is now in jeopardy through no fault of theirs but on account of shameful, xenophobic reactions. Americans are better than that.
During those shared meals with Afghan refugees, I had a taste of the multicultural vision found in Luke 13:29: “And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and they shall sit down in the kingdom of God.” Isn’t that the kind of feast we want to attend? Isn’t that the kind of people we want to be?
Andrew Taylor-Troutman’s newest book is “This Is the Day.” He serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church as well as a writer, pizza maker, co ee drinker and student of joy.
Leave leaves leaving trees … or rake and burn them?
“Keep it between the ditches” was a favorite as we slid behind the wheel learning to drive.
MY FATHER HAD many sayings he imparted to his three sons. Some were original, I think, while others he had heard himself or were a part of the general culture of mankind.
There were the familiar sayings like, “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too” if we were having trouble deciding whether to spend money or to save it. “Keep it between the ditches” was a favorite of his as we slid behind the wheel learning to drive.
Others were speci c to the son in question. He has on more than one occasion reminded me, “You’d lose your head if it weren’t glued on.” Actually he used another part of the human anatomy when sharing that wisdom with me, but you get the picture. To this day, I am still proving him right on that observation.
But there’s one saying my oldest brother says he heard often that I can’t remember and whose origin is, at least according to the masses, lost somewhere never to be found. The saying in question is, obviously, relevant this time of the year; it is — “If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas.”
The logic behind that, I think, is that we use those two words — “if” and “but” — too often to be helpful in meeting life head-on. Instead of concentrating on what was or could be, we’d be better o to deal with reality. And it’s the reality of this time of year coupled with that little rhyme that has led me to this point: “If leaves were dollar bills, I’d have lots of money.”
Our little corner of Heaven is in the Chatham County countryside. I like it. We’re close enough to what shopping needs to be done but are free from tra c congestion. At night we see a little of the glow from Siler City or Sanford but can still see the sky and the North Star.
We hear the sounds of Nature’s night … the crickets, bullfrogs in the summer, chattering squirrels and even the unwelcome howl of the coyotes across the woods.
And then there are the trees … shady and cool in the summer, and stark and impressive in the winter … when the leaves are o . I know you can’t have it both ways; you either cut all the trees (ugh!) or you keep the trees and get the leaves. So far this year we’re way behind on raking and burning.
Better Half loves to rake and burn the leaves that are leaving their tree homes. Something about clearing the yard and smelling the smoke. Folks who live in town miss out on much of that, at least the burning part. Rake ’em to the curb and wait for the vacuum truck and hope there’s not much wind until.
As a little guy, my mama tortured me and engaged in child abuse by having me help rake her leaves. During the process, I tried to leave enough time, space and energy to jump into the big piles we’d gathered, at least enough to scatter them all again until she threatened to hide the peanut butter if I didn’t stop. At that point I did.
As her brood aged and scattered and produced their own ock of little folks, arriving at the home place to help rake her leaves became part of the Thanksgiving proceedings. The key was to arrive late enough to miss out on most of the work but not too late to miss dinner.
My brothers had that perfected … which meant I did most of the work.
In time, the Air Quality Police told us we should cease and desist from destroying the atmosphere on Mars as we burned our leaves. After Better Half and I took up residence here, for the longest time we’d rake leaves into a ditch or scatter them into the pasture or dump them in the natural (“ungrassed”) part of our yard to help in the creation of more dirt. And some we even left in piles for the puppy patrol to sleep in.
But in time, the lure of the smoke was too strong. So out came the rakes and the matches, and once again there’s a haze over our place … except that, as noted, we’re way behind. The good news of that is, I guess, that there’s still plenty of smoke to be inhaled.
But as I celebrate more birthdays and realize all over again that I’m not going to outlast Mother Nature and that she can dump more leaves than I can get up, I’m becoming more inclined to leave the leaves and to take another of my dad’s proverbs to heart: “Don’t wish your time away. Pace yourself.”
Thanks, Dad …
Bob Wachs is a native of Chatham County and emeritus editor at Chatham News & Record. He serves as pastor of Bear Creek Baptist Church.
I mean, really, where are the squirrel whisperers when you really need them?
ONE FRIGID MORNING last winter, around 6:30 a.m., I’d just washed my hair. Toweling o and suddenly the electrical power goes kaput.
Again.
Our neighborhood has a homeowners association (HOA), a darn good one. Truth be told, however, I believe our neighborhood squirrels share power with the HOA. Those scrambling-everywhere critters (who do not, ever, pay their annual homeowner’s dues) seem to have a continuing a nity for antagonizing the neighborhood’s, highwire, electrical transformers. This ongoing, yearslong, con ict never, ever bodes well for the curious squirrel, and for that matter, the neighborhood’s fondness for experiencing heat and light. Brrrrr …
I mean, really, where are the squirrel whisperers when you really need them?
The temp was a teensy bit below freezing. And, me, with wet hair! Winter knit cap found and pulled over my head. The power’s projected return was three hours. Geez!
Three hours!
Uh-oh, I could feel my brain’s trapdoor beginning to open. My lifelong, hypochondriacally inclined mind surfaced my mother’s long ago, and frequent, warning: “Don’t go out in the cold when your hair is wet! You’ll get sick!” (No homespun wisdom, however, was shared regarding wet hair and invasive cold in my house.)
| DAVID HARSANYI
Suddenly, I’m in hypochondriacal free fall. The fuse for my powder keg of worrying had been sparked. Oh geez, I could get pneumonia … And then the cell phone rings, halting my rapidly accelerating descent into anxiety. A neighbor, also without power, decided desperate measures were called for. In the hopeful belief that McDonald’s, several miles away, would be open, did I want co ee? (The equivalent of asking if I’d like a heated electric blanket, right then and there.)
I felt myself (almost) getting warmer in anticipation of possible co ee. My neighbor called from her car to say she was three minutes away with a large, hot brew. Whoopee!! Hung up, and the electricity returned in the very next moment. That very next moment, 21⁄2 hours earlier than expected.
A wonderful reminder for me that the universe, unexpectedly, o ers light when we least expect it. I forget that portals of light (co ee-bearing neighbors, an open McDonald’s, the return of heat and light) surround me. Generally, I’m not paying attention. Can I periodically remind myself — light, ahoy?
Relaxing; happily sipping my co ee …
Jan Hutton, a resident of Chatham County and retired hospice social worker, lives life with heart and humor.
Greene will almost surely take a dive down every rabbit hole that emerges.
DURING A RECENT stop on her image rehab tour, Marjorie Taylor Greene told CNN’s Dana Bash that she is sorry “for taking part in the toxic politics.” It has been, she added, “bad for the country.” A week later, Greene nally did something patriotic by announcing her retirement.
It’s fair to say Greene is one of the most well-known GOP House members in the nation. Greene, though, is famous because her nitwittery has been endlessly highlighted by the media and Democrats to cast the Republican Party as one of hayseeds and conspiracists.
And, in all fairness, Greene might be one of the biggest ignoramuses to ever serve in Congress, which is no small achievement when one considers the “Squad” exists. If I asked you to name a single piece of legislation Greene has sponsored, you would probably be at a loss.
If I asked you to name an important policy she has championed, an uplifting speech she has delivered or an area of expertise she has mastered, you would not think of any because there have been none.
Once the president reportedly dissuaded her from running for higher o ce in Georgia, Greene’s loyalty dissipated. Scorned, she became rudderless and useless. There is nothing left for her because there was not much there to begin with.
Donald Trump has contended that Greene went “BAD” and became a “ranting lunatic.” This is wrong. She has always been a ranting lunatic and an early adopter of the unhinged conspiratorial notions that have now infected so much of the populist right.
“I was a victim, just like you were, of media lies and stu you read on social media,” Greene appealed to the women on “The View” when confronted with her past. It’s undeniable that the (well-earned) collapse of trust in both media and experts has created a vacuum that’s now lled by a horde of hucksters.
Victims such as Greene are easy marks for online con artists and propagandists because they lack a substantive belief system, organizing principles, coherent worldviews or historical perspective to repel conspiracies. Asking questions can be an admirable quality of an inquisitive mind. Asking questions such as “Are spacebased solar lasers built by the Rothschilds starting California wild res?” makes you a paranoid dolt.
Greene, of course, was in on the Pizzagate and QAnon stu from the beginning. She suggested that the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas may have been staged by gun control activists and questioned whether the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
BE IN
THIS MONTH, Florida Attorney General James Ulthmier led a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for false advertising.
Not over a billing dispute or a sloppy ad claim. Instead, the country’s largest abortion provider has been telling women that its “product” — speci cally the abortion pill drugs mifepristone and misoprostol — is “as safe as taking a Tylenol.”
The truth is far more serious.
was a “massive false ag.” You would be hard-pressed to nd a conspiracy on the “right” that she did not entertain.
Let us also not forget that Greene was one of the rst — and only — elected o cials to cozy up to the Groypers who are being normalized by the online NatCon Right. Greene spoke at a 2022 white nationalist junior varsity jamboree in Florida held by Tucker Carlson’s friend Nick Fuentes, who believes that Jews are “race traitors,” denies the Holocaust happened and believes segregation was bene cial for black Americans.
At the time, Greene pleaded ignorance of these positions, contending she was merely there to “talk to an audience” of young people. She never once confronted attendees to rethink their identitarian views, as she basked in their applause. Greene is either mind-bogglingly gullible or an ally. With her, both options are wholly plausible. Let us be charitable and concede it’s the former. Greene is no less credulous these days as she tries to appeal to the left. She broke with Trump by falling for the Democrats’ scaremongering over Obamacare subsidies during the government shutdown. She bought the Gaza “genocide” hoax just like she bought into Pizzagate. A big proponent of releasing the Epstein “ les,” Greene will almost surely take a dive down every rabbit hole that emerges.
I’m often told that it’s “elitist” to mock these champions of average Americans. We need more “normal” people in Congress, they say. Absolutely. We have too many lawyers and professional activists running in Washington and far too few successful Americans who comprehend the real-world concerns of a diverse population.
To say Greene is a normal American, however, is to contend that a normal American is an imbecile, which is not true. Indeed, there are millions of “average” Americans who are curious, smart, idealistic, capable and problem solvers. The representative of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District possesses none of those attributes.
Greene’s resignation from Congress will take e ect on Jan. 6, 2026, exactly in time for a lifelong pension to kick in. Greene was unable to ful ll a two-year commitment to her constituents because her feelings were hurt. Despite enabling her twice, they should consider themselves lucky. We have always had embarrassingly low standards for electing o cials. But they are not often this low.
David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner.
Letters to the editor may be sent to letters@nsjonline.com or mailed to 1201 Edwards Mill Rd., Suite 300, Raleigh, NC 27607. Letters must be signed; include the writer’s phone number, city and state; and be no longer than 300 words. Letters may be edited for style, length or clarity when necessary. Ideas for op-eds should be sent to opinion@nsjonline.com.
Contact a writer or columnist: connect@northstatejournal.com
As a Florida mother of four daughters, I’m relieved to see our state o cials recognize the increased risks of taking the abortion pill and the life that it ends inside the womb. Planned Parenthood should be held accountable for deceiving women and killing their preborn children. Furthermore, the FDA should take note and remove its approval of all abortion drugs and review these risks in-depth for the safety of all women.
The Florida lawsuit claims that Planned Parenthood’s campaign to induce women to purchase abortion drugs by misrepresenting the risks of chemical abortion violates the Florida law. The gross misrepresentation of a drug designed intentionally to take the life of a preborn child can be found on Planned Parenthood’s website, in printed materials, and in television advertisements. In fact, the organization claims that chemical abortion is “extremely safe” in all its descriptions.
However, the data suggests otherwise.
A recent analysis from the Ethics and Public Policy Center of hundreds of thousands of insurance claims shows one in 10 women su er severe complications within 45 days of taking mifepristone. We’re talking about things like hemorrhaging, infections or even sepsis, which can turn deadly fast. That’s 22 times higher than what the prescription label claims. Doesn’t sound like Tylenol to me.
Chemical abortion involves two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol. The rst pill starves the developing baby; the second forces the mother’s body to deliver her dead child through hours of violent cramping and bleeding, often far worse than the “mild period” symptoms Planned Parenthood describes. Postabortive testimonials say they were lied to, left alone on bathroom oors, terri ed and hemorrhaging, some permanently scarred or sterilized.
Planned Parenthood’s lies are a deliberate cover-up for the violence they knowingly in ict. By denying the scienti c fact that life begins at conception, they not only hurt women with these drugs but also take the innocent life in the womb. And abortion pill access is easier than ever, even in our pro-life state. Due to the Biden administration’s elimination of nearly all safeguards, abortion drugs are now sent through the mail with no requirement for an in-person exam, ultrasound or follow-up care. Furthermore, there are no regulations governing where or to whom these pills are distributed. Women, many of them minors, are left alone to bleed out in their bathrooms, risking their health and future fertility, all while Planned Parenthood cashes in on another customer.
The Florida lawsuit is a crucial step in the process, but we can’t stop here. This ling should be a wakeup call to the FDA, acting as a catalyst for the new HHS leadership to nally review the abortion pill’s risks as promised. Planned Parenthood must be held fully accountable for deceiving women and killing their preborn children. The FDA should immediately remove its approval of all abortion drugs and conduct a thorough, unbiased review for the safety of every mother and the protection of every child.
This bold action by Uthmeier builds on the courageous leadership of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has made Florida a national beacon for protecting preborn life over the past several years. From signing the 15-week protection in 2022 to boldly enacting the Heartbeat Protection Act in 2023, banning abortion after six weeks when a baby’s heartbeat can already be detected, DeSantis has stood unapologetically for the most vulnerable among us. He fought tirelessly against the radical Amendment 4 last year, which would have stripped away nearly all protections for preborn children and allowed abortion on demand up to birth in many cases.
Thanks to DeSantis’ leadership and the e orts of pro-life Floridians, Amendment 4 was defeated, falling short of the required 60% even as the abortion industry poured millions into deceiving voters.
Yet the abortion lobby is still attempting a runaround of our laws by ooding Florida with mailorder pills and out-of-state telehealth prescriptions. Chemical abortion already accounts for more than 60% of all abortions nationwide. If we allow these dangerous drugs to ow unchecked into our state, we will undo everything Florida families have fought for.
That’s why this lawsuit matters. That’s why Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promise to reexamine the abortion pill’s risks matters. And that’s why we must keep pushing until these drugs are removed from the market entirely.
In his X post about the lawsuit, Uthmeier said, “We stand by our women.” But Planned Parenthood does not.
Here in the “Free State of Florida,” under leaders like DeSantis and Uthmeier, we will keep leading the nation by exposing the lies of the abortion industry, defending women and their innocent children, and fostering a culture of life because every human life from conception is sacred and deserves protection.
Kimberly Bird is a communications specialist at Live Action and lives in Florida with her husband and four children. This column was rst published by Daily Caller News Foundation. COLUMN
SEPT. 20, 1932 – NOV. 26, 2025
Larry M. Aronson, age 93, of Moncure passed away peacefully on Wednesday, November 26, 2025 at the Laurels of Chatham in Pittsboro, NC. Larry was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 20, 1932, son of Louis Aronson and Yetta Freedman Aronson. Larry was preceded in death by his parents, his beloved wife, Geri, and his son, Cary.
MARCH 12, 1935 – NOV. 27, 2025
Pastor Vernon Clark Davis, 90, of Bear Creek, went to his Heavenly home on Thursday, November 27th, 2025, at home surrounded by family.
Clark was born on March 12th, 1935, in Johnston County, NC to the late Walter L. “Bo” and Alice S. Davis. He is preceded in death by his parents; his sister, Glenda Davis Johnston; his brother, Wendell Walters Sherwood Davis; and his wife, Mary Lou Whitehurst Davis.
Clark attended Randolph Macon Military Academy on a football scholarship and then went on to attend East Carolina University also on a football scholarship. At the age of 40, he went back to college and attended Bob Jones University. He was a minister for 25 years at Antioch Christian Church, Independent Baptist. He loved going hunting and shing, as well as playing music and singing. Clark could play most musical instruments. He also liked to weld in his spare time. Clark was also a Korean war veteran for the United States Army.
Left to cherish his memory are his son, Mark Aden Davis and his wife, Susan of Bear Creek; his grandchildren, Leighton Davis and his wife Alexis, Lauren Davis Carlson and her husband, Jeremy, Connor Davis and his wife, Colby, and Savannah Davis Crissman and her husband Evan; his three great grandchildren, Riley Davis, Scarlett Davis, and Kacie Chrissman; and his brother, Don Davis.
APRIL. 1, 1938 – NOV. 27, 2025
Billy Joe Cox, age 87, of Sanford, NC, passed away on Thursday, November 27, 2025, at his home. He was born in Lee County on, April 1, 1938, to the late Roland Wilson Cox and Lessie Lett Cox. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister Mary Elizabeth Reece. Following graduation from high school, Mr. Cox attended King’s Business College, completing his Accounting Degree. He worked as a controller for Hunter Motor Lines, Provident Finance Company and later retiring from Trion, Inc. He served his country in the Army National Guard and was a proud Iron Dukes charter member. Surviving relatives are his wife of 64 years Mary Frances Berryman Cox; daughter Jill Cox; brother, Stanley Wilson Cox; sisters Linda Sue Cox Crompton, and Barbara Ann Cox.
Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in Chatham News & Record at obits@chathamnewsrecord.com
We offer an on-site crematory with many options of Celebration of Life services, Traditional, and Green Burials. Call us to set an appointment to come by and learn more.
Tom Stoppard, sparkling playwright who won Oscar for ‘Shakespeare In Love,’ dead at 88
His plays won ve Tony awards for “Best Play” in ve di erent decades
By Jill Lawless The Associated Press
LONDON — British playwright Tom Stoppard, a playful, probing dramatist who won an Academy Award for the screenplay for 1998’s “Shakespeare In Love,” has died. He was 88.
In a statement Saturday, United Agents said the Czechborn Stoppard — often hailed as the greatest British playwright of his generation — died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset in southwest England, surrounded by his family.
“He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language,” they said. “It was an honor to work with Tom and to know him.”
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger was among those paying tribute, calling Stoppard “a giant of the English theater, both highly intellectual and very funny in all his plays and scripts.
“He had a dazzling wit and loved classical and popular music alike which often featured in his huge body of work,” said Jagger, who produced the 2001 lm “Enigma,” with a screenplay by Stoppard. “He was amusing and quietly sardonic. A friend and companion and I will always miss him.”
King Charles III said Stoppard was “a dear friend who wore his genius lightly.”
Theaters in London’s West End dimmed their lights for two minutes on Tuesday in tribute. Brain-teasing plays
Over a six-decade career, Stoppard’s brain-teasing plays for theater, radio and screen ranged from Shakespeare and science to philosophy and the historic tragedies of the 20th century.
Five of them won Tony Awards for best play: “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” in 1968; “Travesties” in 1976; “The Real Thing” in 1984; “The Coast of Utopia” in 2007; and “Leopoldstadt” in 2023.
Stoppard biographer Hermione Lee said the secret of his plays was their “mixture of language, knowledge and feeling. … It’s those three things in gear together which make him so remarkable.”
The writer was born Tomás Sträussler in 1937 to a Jewish family in Zlín in what was then Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic. His father was a doctor for the Bata shoe company, and when Nazi Germany invaded in 1939 the family ed to Singapore, where Bata had a factory.
In late 1941, as Japanese forces closed in on the city state, Tomas, his brother and their mother ed again, this time to India. His father stayed behind and later died when his ship was attacked as he tried to leave Singapore.
In 1946, his mother married an English o cer, Kenneth Stoppard, and the family moved to threadbare postwar Britain. The 8-year-old Tom “put on Englishness like a coat,” he later said, growing up to be a quintessential Englishman who loved cricket and Shakespeare.
He did not go to university but began his career, aged 17, as a journalist on newspapers in Bristol, southwest England, and then as a theater critic for Scene magazine in London.
Tragedy and humor
He wrote plays for radio and television, including “A Walk on
the Water,” televised in 1963, and made his stage breakthrough with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” which reimagined Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” from the viewpoint of two hapless minor characters. A mix of tragedy and absurdist humor, it premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966 and was staged at Britain’s National Theatre, then run by Laurence Olivier, before moving to Broadway. A stream of exuberant, innovative plays followed, including meta-whodunnit “The Real Inspector Hound” ( rst staged in 1968); “Jumpers” (1972), a blend of physical and philosophical gymnastics, and “Travesties” (1974), which set intellectuals including James Joyce and Vladimir Lenin colliding in Zurich during World War I.
Musical drama “Every Good Boy Deserves Favor” (1977) was a collaboration with composer Andre Previn about a Soviet dissident con ned to a mental institution — part of Stoppard’s long involvement with groups advocating for human rights groups in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
He often played with time and structure. “The Real Thing” (1982) was a poignant romantic comedy about love and deception that featured plays within a play, while “Arcadia” (1993) moved between the modern era and the early 19th century, where characters at an English country house debated poetry, gardening and chaos theory as fate had its way with them.
“The Invention of Love” (1997) explored classical literature and the mysteries of the human heart through the life of the English poet A.E. Housman.
Stoppard began the 21st century with “The Coast of Utopia” (2002), an epic trilogy about prerevolutionary Russian intellectuals, and drew on his own background for “Rock ’n’ Roll” (2006), which contrasted the fates of the 1960s counterculture in Britain and in Communist Czechoslovakia.
“The Hard Problem” (2015) explored the mysteries of consciousness through the lenses of science and religion.
Free-speech champion
Stoppard was a strong champion of free speech who worked with organizations including PEN and Index on Censorship. He claimed not to have strong political views otherwise, writing in 1968: “I burn with no causes. I cannot say that I write with any social objective. One writes because one loves writing, really.”
Some critics found his plays more clever than emotionally engaging. But biographer Lee said his “very funny, witty plays” contained a “sense of underlying grief.”
“People in his plays … histo -
ry comes at them,” Lee said at a British Library event in 2021. “They turn up, they don’t know why they’re there, they don’t know whether they can get home again.”
That was especially true of his late play “Leopoldstadt,” which drew on his own family’s story for the tale of a Jewish Viennese family over the rst half of the 20th century. Stoppard said he began thinking of his personal link to the Holocaust quite late in life, only discovering after his mother’s death in 1996 that many members of his family, including all four grandparents, had died in concentration camps.
“It would be misleading to see me as somebody who blithely and innocently, at the age of 40-something, thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, I had no idea I was a member of a Jewish family,’” he told The New Yorker in 2022. “Of course I knew, but I didn’t know who they were. And I didn’t feel I had to nd out in order to live my own life. But that wasn’t really true.”
“Leopoldstadt” premiered in London at the start of 2020 to rave reviews; weeks later all theaters were shut by the COVID-19 pandemic. It eventually opened in Broadway in late 2022, going on to win four Tonys.
Dizzyingly proli c, Stoppard also wrote many radio plays, a novel, television series including “Parade’s End” (2013) and many lm screenplays. These included dystopian Terry Gilliam comedy “Brazil” (1985), Steven Spielberg-directed war drama “Empire of the Sun” (1987), Elizabethan romcom “Shakespeare in Love” (1998) — for which he and Marc Norman shared a best adapted screenplay Oscar — code breaking thriller “Enigma” and Russian epic “Anna Karenina” (2012). He also wrote and directed a 1990 lm adaptation of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” and translated numerous works into English, including plays by dissident Czech writer Václav Havel, who became the country’s rst post-Communist president.
Stoppard also had a sideline as a Hollywood script doctor, lending sparkle to the dialogue of movies including “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and the Star Wars lm “Revenge of the Sith.”
He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 for his services to literature.
He was married three times: to Jose Ingle, Miriam Stern — better known as the health journalist Dr. Miriam Stoppard — and TV producer Sabrina Guinness. The rst two marriages ended in divorce. He is survived by four children, including the actor Ed Stoppard, and several grandchildren.
He was serving a life sentence for killing a Georgia sheri ’s deputy
The Associated Press
BUTNER — H. Rap Brown, one of the most vocal leaders of the Black Power movement, has died in a prison hospital while serving a life sentence for the killing of a Georgia sheri ’s deputy. He was 82. Brown — who later in life changed his name to Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin — died Sunday at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, his widow, Karima Al-Amin, said Monday.
A cause of death was not immediately available, but Karima Al-Amin told The Associated Press that her husband had been su ering from cancer and had been transferred to the medical facility in 2014 from a federal prison in Colorado.
Like other more militant black leaders and organizers during the racial upheaval of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Brown decried heavy-handed policing in black communities. He once stated that violence was “as American as cherry pie.”
“Violence is a part of America’s culture,” he said during a 1967 news conference. “... America taught the black people to be
violent. We will use that violence to rid ourselves of oppression, if necessary. We will be free by any means necessary.”
Brown was chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a powerful civil rights group, and in 1968 was named minister of justice for the Black Panther Party.
Three years later, he was arrested for a robbery that ended in a shootout with New York police.
While serving a ve-year prison sentence for the robbery, Brown converted to the Dar-ul Islam movement and
changed his name. Upon his release, he moved to Atlanta in 1976, opened a grocery and health food store, and became an Imam, a spiritual leader for local Muslims.
“I’m not dissatis ed with what I did,” he told an audience in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1998. “But Islam has allowed things to be clearer. ... We have to be concerned about the welfare of ourselves and those around us, and that comes through submission to God and the raising of one’s consciousness.”
On March 16, 2000, Fulton
County Deputy Sheri Ricky Kinchen and deputy Aldranon English were shot after encountering the former Black Panther leader outside his Atlanta home.
The deputies were there to serve a warrant for failure to appear in court on charges of driving a stolen car and impersonating a police o cer during a tra c stop the previous year. English testi ed at trial that Brown red a high-powered assault ri e when the deputies tried to arrest him. Then, prosecutors said, he used a handgun to re three shots into Kinchen’s
HOUSING from page A1
The development was previously approved Nov. 15, 2023, with a maximum allowance of up to 500 units, split amongst ve blocks of multifamily dwellings, and just under six acres of green space.
The project also had a zoning compliance permit issued that would require 43 a ordable units to be developed on the project.
The breakdown of those affordable housing units would be 50% for households earning up to 60% area median income (AMI), and the other 50% would be for households earning up to 80% AMI.
The proposed modi cation, however, would be to amend the a ordable housing plan to change the minimum affordable unit total to 20 units in exchange for a $1.15 million voluntary contribution to the town’s a ordable housing funding program.
“The requested modi cation is in alignment with the Complete Community goals and the Comprehensive Plan,” said Planner Anna Scott My-
“America taught the black people to be violent. We will use that violence to rid ourselves of oppression, if necessary. We will be free by any means necessary.”
H. Rap Brown in a 1967 press conference
groin as the wounded deputy lay in the street. Kinchen would die from his wounds.
Prosecutors portrayed Brown as a deliberate killer, while his lawyers painted him as a peaceful community and religious leader who helped revitalize poverty-stricken areas. They suggested he was framed as part of a government conspiracy dating from his militant days. Brown maintained his innocence but was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to life.
He argued that his constitutional rights were violated at trial and in 2019 challenged his imprisonment before a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case.
“For decades, questions have surrounded the fairness of his trial,” his family said Monday in a statement. “Newly uncovered evidence — including previously unseen FBI surveillance les, inconsistencies in eyewitness accounts, and third-party confessions — raised serious concerns that Imam Al-Amin did not receive the fair trial guaranteed under the Constitution.”
“We support both units and having a contribution to the a ordable housing fund. Both are valuable to the town.”
Planner Anna Scott Myers
ers. “We support both units and having a contribution to the a ordable housing fund. Both are valuable to the town.”
According to the applicant, the a ordable units will be distributed throughout the project.
“In this project, the ve largest buildings, which encompass 375 of the 468 units, the a ordable units will be located in all ve of those buildings and all units stemming from studio to one-, two- and three-bedroom units,” said Northwood Ravin Vice President Adam Golden.
The Chapel Hill Town Council will next meet Dec. 3.
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FOR RENT
POWELL SPRINGS APTS. Evergreen Construction introduces its newest independent living community for adults 55 years or older, 1 and 2 bedroom applications now being accepted. O ce hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 919-533-6319 for more information, TDD #1-800-735-2962, Equal housing opportunity, Handicapped accessible.
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ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS now for onebedroom apartments, adults 55 years or older. Water included, appliances furnished, onsite laundry, elevator, keyless entry. Section 8 accepted. No security deposit. Application fee $25 per adult. Call Braxton Manor, 919-663-1877. Handicap accessible. Equal Housing Opportunity. J14,tfnc
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JUNK CARS PICKED UP Free of charge. Due to many months of low steel prices and unstable steel markets, we cannot pay for cars at this time. Cars, trucks, and machinery will be transported and environmentally correctly recycled at no charge. 919-542-2803.
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IN SEARCH OF SOMEONE
I met you at Dollar Tree in Siler City, you paid for a Birthday Gift Bag. I want to meet you again to thank you. I live on Hwy.902 at 11348, Bear Creek, NC. My phone # is 919-837-5280.
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Does anyone else wish to sue Brightspeed for non-delivery of services on internet? Call Tom Glendinning – 919-545-0880
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Beautiful Collards & Greens for Sale - $4.00 a head – Crutch eld X-Roads Area 984-265-0402 or 919-214-1849
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MOVING - Everything Priced To Sell - Couch, Hide A Bed, Queen Bed & Mattress, Tables, Lamps, Chairs, Rugs, Bedroom Set, Games, Etc. Fearrington Village, Call Jerry 919-637-7570
View Apartments in Siler City is currently accepting applications for 1 & 2 bedroom apartment homes for the waiting list. Amenities include a playground, computer center, on-site laundry facilities, community garden, and income requirements. Housing Choice Vouchers accepted. Apply in-person at 226 Campus Drive, Siler City, NC 27344 from 8:00 to 5:00pm, call 336-895-1128, or email: oakview@partnershippm.com
criminal and eviction records background check required. Handicap accessible units subject to availability. Equal Housing Opportunity. Professionally managed by Partnership Property Management.
PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE
A public hearing will be held by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners on Monday, December 15, 2025, beginning at 6:00 p.m. The hearing will be held in the courtroom of the Historic Courthouse in Pittsboro, North Carolina at 9 Hillsboro Street, Pittsboro NC 27312. Additional information is available at the Chatham County Planning Department o ce. Speakers are requested to sign up at the meeting prior to the hearing. You may also sign up on the county website prior to the meeting at www.chathamcountync.gov by selecting the heading County Government, then Commissioner Meetings, then Public Comment. The public hearing may be continued to another date at the discretion of the Board of Commissioners. The purpose of the Public Hearing is to receive input, both written and oral, on the issues listed below: Legislative Request: A legislative public hearing requested by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners and Chatham County Fire Marshal to consider amendments to the Chatham County Subdivision Regulations; speci cally, section 7, Requirements and Minimum Standards For Improvements, Reservations, and Design adopting all standards of the North Carolina State Fire Code and Appendix D by reference. Substantial changes may be made following the public hearing due to verbal or written comments received or based on the Board’s discussions.
Notice to people with special needs: If you have audio or visual impairment, unique accessibility requirements or need language assistance, please call the number listed below prior to the hearing and assistance may be provided. If you have any questions or comments concerning these issues, please call the Chatham County Planning Department at 919-542-8204 or write to P.O. Box 54, Pittsboro N.C. 27312. Please run in your paper: December 4th and 11th, 2025
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
24E000576-180 NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY The undersigned, Jacelyn Schmid, having quali ed as Administrator of the Estate of John Wayne Hudson, deceased, late of Chatham County, this is to notify all persons having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned on or before the day of February 18, 2026, or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 20th day of November 2025. Jacelyn Schmid Administrator
Marie H. Hopper Attorney for the Estate Hopper Cummings, PLLC Post O ce Box 1455 Pittsboro, NC 27312
PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE TOWN OF PITTSBORO
On Monday, December 8, 2025, at 6:00 pm, the Pittsboro Board of Commissioners will hold a legislative public hearing for the following requests at the Chatham County Agriculture & Conference Center at 1192 Hwy 64 Business West: PB-25-596 – Turkey Creek CZ Amendment to PB23-289. A legislative request by Kate Murdoch, McAdams Company, has been submitted petitioning an amendment to PB-23-289 list of permitted uses in the M1-CZ district to include O ce, Medical/Dental and O ce Park, Medical/Dental.
The hearing will be held in person. The public can also watch the hearing live on the Town’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@townofpittsboronc/ streams. Members of the public must attend in person if they wish to speak at the hearing. Contact the Town Clerk, Carrie Bailey, by 4 pm on December 8, 2025 with written comments or to sign up to speak at the hearing. You can contact Carrie Bailey at cbailey@pittsboronc.gov, (919) 542-4621 ext. 1104, or PO Box 759, Pittsboro, NC 27312. NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS
CHATHAM COUNTY
HAVING QUALIFIED as Executor of the Estate of James Mack Gee late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 11th day of February, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. This the 5th day of November, 2025. Henry Gee, Executor of the Estate Of James Mack Gee 2544 Siler City Glendon Road Siler City, North Carolina 27344
MOODY, WILLIAMS, ATWATER & LEE
ATTORNEYS AT LAW BOX 629 SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 27344 (919) 663-2850 4tp
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25000649-180
The undersigned, LORETTA WHITEHEAD
BATCHELOR, having quali ed on the 26TH Day of NOVEMBER 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of DIANE B. WHITEHEAD aka BARBARA DIANE BOWERS WHITEHEAD, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 4th Day OF MARCH 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 4th DAY OF DECEMBER 2025.
LORETTA WHITEHEAD BATCHELOR, EXECUTOR 2465 ROSSER ROAD BEAR CREEK, NC 27207 Run dates: D4,D11,18,25p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25E000538-180 The undersigned, MARIE O. JOHNSON, having quali ed on the 26th Day of SEPTEMBER 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of DONALD CARSON OLDHAM, SR., deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 13th Day OF FEBRUARY 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 13th DAY OF NOVEMBER 2025. MARIE O. JOHNSON, EXECUTOR 104 ROUNDROCK LANE SANFORD, NC 27330 Run dates: N13,20,27,D4p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Chatham County 25E000625-180
Having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Chester Joseph Pletzke, Jr., late of Chatham County, North Carolina, the undersigned do hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claim against the estate of said decedent to exhibit them to the undersigned c/o Guido De Maere, P.A. at 100 Europa Drive, Suite 160, P.O. Box 3591, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 on or before the 20th day of February, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms and corporations indebted to said estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 20th day of November, 2025. Jonathan Joseph Pletzke Executor of the Estate of Chester Joseph Pletzke, Jr. Attorney for the Estate: Guido De Maere, P.A. P.O. Box 3591 Chapel Hill, NC 27515-3591
To be published: November 20 & 27, December 4 & 11, 2025
NOTICE
NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATION 25E000484-180
Having quali ed as Co-Executors of the Estate of Kathy Thompson Whaley of Chatham County, NC,
this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate to present them to the undersigned on or before February 27, 2026 or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment.
Ellen Thompson Jones, Co-Executor Rachel Elizabeth Whaley, Co-Executor
Janice A. Walston, Attorney PO Box 279 Wilson, NC 27894-0279
NOTICE
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
NOTICE TO CREDITORS COUNTY OF CHATHAM THE UNDERSIGNED, having quali ed on the 13th day of November 2025, as Executor of the ESTATE OF JAMES REID MORRISON, JR., Deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before February 21, 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 20th day of November, 2025.
CATHERINE BARNETT ALEXANDER EXECUTOR ESTATE OF JAMES REID MORRISON, JR.
c/o Jennifer Dalman, Attorney Walker Lambe, PLLC Post O ce Box 51549 Durham, North Carolina 27717
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS CHATHAM COUNTY
HAVING QUALIFIED as Executor of the Estate of Helen Grace Oldham late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 11th day of February, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery.
This the 5th day of November, 2025. Victoria O. Phillips, Executor of The Estate of Helen Grace Oldham 2747 Edwards Hill Church Road Siler City, North Carolina 27344 MOODY, WILLIAMS, ATWATER & LEE
ATTORNEYS AT LAW BOX 629 SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 27344 (919) 663-2850 4tp
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS CHATHAM COUNTY
HAVING QUALIFIED as Executor of the Estate of Mary R. Parks late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 19th day of February, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. This the 12th day of November, 2025. Cheryl Ann Green, Executor of the Estate of Mary R. Parks 314 Pebble Beach Drive Mebane, North Carolina 27302 MOODY, WILLIAMS, ATWATER & LEE
ATTORNEYS AT LAW BOX 629 SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 27344 (919) 663-2850 4tp
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The undersigned, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Patricia Hennessy, Deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate to exhibit them to the undersigned at the o ce of Munson Law Firm PLLC, P.O. Box 1811 Pittsboro, NC 27312, on or before the 20th day of February 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment. This 20th day of November 2025. RUSSELL BARKER, EXECUTOR ESTATE OF PATRICIA HENNESSY
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS CHATHAM COUNTY
HAVING QUALIFIED as Co-Executors of the Estate of James Thomas Cotner late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 27th day of February, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. This the 20th day of November, 2025. John Riley Culberson, Co-Executor of the Estate of James Thomas Cotner 902 Mt. Vernon Hickory Mountain Road Siler City, North Carolina 27344 Ricky Gordon Culberson, Co-Executor of the Estate of James Thomas Cotner
140 Lay N Low Way Goldston, North Carolina 27252 MOODY, WILLIAMS, ATWATER & LEE
ATTORNEYS AT LAW BOX 629 SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 27344 (919) 663-2850 4tp
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS
CHATHAM COUNTY
HAVING QUALIFIED as Executor of the Estate of Harry F. Knepp, Jr. late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 27th day of February, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery.
This the 20th day of November, 2025. Erin Knepp Warrick, Executor of the Estate of Harry F. Knepp, Jr. 149 Pike Drive NW Pikeville, North Carolina 27863
MOODY, WILLIAMS, ATWATER & LEE
ATTORNEYS AT LAW BOX 629 SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 27344 (919) 663-2850
4tp
EXECUTOR’S NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY All persons having claims against the estate of Steve George Zimo, of Chatham County, NC, who died on June 2, 2025, are noti ed to present them on or before February 11, 2026 to Deborah Zimo, Executor, c/o Maitland & Sti er Law Firm, 2 Couch Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery.
Michele L. Sti er MAITLAND & STIFFLER LAW FIRM 2 Couch Road Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Attorney for the Estate
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The undersigned, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Billy Hugh Elkins, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, noti es all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned at her address, P. O. Box 266, Goldston, North Carolina, 27252, on or before the 4th day of March, 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery.
All persons indebted to said estate will please make immediate payment. This 26th day of November, 2025. Rebecca L. Elkins
P. O. Box 266
Goldston, North Carolina 27252
GUNN & MESSICK, PLLC
P. O. Box 880
Pittsboro, North Carolina 27312-0880
December 4, 11, 18, 25
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Probate #25E000556-180
All persons, rm and corporations having claims against Carolyn Herberta Huckshorn , late of Chatham County, North Carolina are hereby noti ed to present them to Kristin Rae Huckshorn, as Executor of the decedent’s estate in care of Kendall H. Page, Attorney, 210 N Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 on or before the 6th day of February, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery.
All persons, rms and corporations indebted to the said estate will please make immediate payment to the above-named Executor.
Kendall H. Page
210 N Columbia Street Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Bar # 14261
Notice to Run: 11/13/2025, 11/20/2025, 11/27/2025 & 12/04/2025
Notice to Creditors
All persons, rms and corporations having claims against Victoria Carol Stephan, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before February 15, 2026 or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 13th day of November, 2025.
Kevin Stephan Limited Personal Representative c/o W. Thomas McCuiston 200 Towne Village Drive Cary, NC 27513
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
25E000603-180
ALL persons having claims against Eric Charles Youmans, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before Feb 27 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment.
This the 27th day of November, 2025.
CHE BOYD YOUMANS, EXECUTOR C/O Howard Stallings Law Firm PO Box 12347 Raleigh, NC 27605 N27, 4, 11 and 18
NOTICE
NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND DEBTORS OF Barbara Russell Hardin All persons, rms and corporations having claims against Barbara Russell Hardin, late of Chatham, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit them to Paul Russell Hardin as Executor of the decedent’s estate on or before February 14, 2026, c/o Janet B. Witchger, Attorney at Law, 1414 Raleigh Rd., Ste. 203, Chapel Hill, NC 27517, or be barred from their recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment to the above-named Executor. This the 13th day of November 2025. Paul Russell Hardin, Executor c/o Janet B. Witchger, Atty.
TrustCounsel 1414 Raleigh Rd., Ste. 203 Chapel Hill, NC 27517
NOTICE TO CREDITORS STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CHATHAM File Number 25E000652-180
THE UNDERSIGNED, having quali ed on the 1st day of December 2025, as Executor of the ESTATE OF GRANT FRANKLIN KOHER, Deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 5th of March, 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.
This, the 4th day of December, 2025.
Blanche Guay Koher
EXECUTOR ESTATE OF GRANT FRANKLIN KOHER
c/o Shirley Diefenbach, Attorney Walker Lambe, PLLC Post O ce Box 51549 Durham, North Carolina 27717
NOTICE
NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND DEBTORS OF EDGAR J. HARLOW All persons, rms and corporations having claims against EDGAR J. HARLOW, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit them to Gregory Herman-Giddens or James Wynkoop as Co-Executors of the decedent’s estate on or before February 16, 2026 c/o Gregory HermanGiddens, Attorney at Law, 1414 Raleigh Rd., Ste. 203, Chapel Hill, NC 27517, or be barred from their recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment to the above-named CoExecutors. This the 13th day of November 2025. Gregory Herman-Giddens, Co-Executor c/o Gregory Herman-Giddens, Atty. TrustCounsel 1414 Raleigh Rd., Ste. 203 Chapel Hill, NC 27517
NOTICE TO CREDITORS NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25E000644-180 The undersigned, LESLIE LEIGH LAFOSSE, having quali ed on the 24TH Day of NOVEMBER 2025 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of BETTY OLIVE FARLESS, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 4th Day OF MARCH 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 4th DAY OF DECEMBER 2025. LESLIE LEIGH LAFOSSE, ADMINISTRATOR 6923 WILLIAMS COUNTRY ROAD STALEY, NC 27355 Run dates: D4,D11,18,25p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#25E000586-180 The undersigned, KRISTINA DAVIS BOGART AND KIMBERLY DAVIS YARBOROUGH, having quali ed on the 23RD Day of OCTOBER 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of BOBBY GENE DAVIS, SR., deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 20th Day OF FEBRUARY 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 20th DAY OF NOVEMBER 2025. KRISTINA DAVIS BOGART, EXECUTOR 906 TANGLEWOOD DR. EXT. SILER CITY, NC 27344 KIMBERLY DAVIS YARBOROUGH, EXECUTOR 407 CALLAWAY ST. SANFORD, NC 27330 Run dates: N20,27,D4,D11p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#25E000304-180 The undersigned, JEFFREY SCOTT KLINKER, having quali ed on the 5th Day of OCTOBER 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of CAROLYN SUE KLINKER, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 13th Day OF FEBRUARY 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 13th DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2025. JEFFREY SCOTT KLINKER, EXECUTOR 2197 LAUREL LAKE RD. SALEMBURG, NC 28385 Run dates: N13,20,27,D4p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25E000619-180 The undersigned, NORMAN M HILL IV, having quali ed on the 10th Day of NOVEMBER 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of CRYSTAL F. LONG, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 20th Day OF FEBRUARY 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 20th DAY OF NOVEMBER 2025. NORMAN M HILL IV, EXECUTOR 1715 BAEZ CT. VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23464 Run dates: N20,27,D4,D11p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY
25E000628-180
ALL persons having claims against Gisela Hilda Hecken, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before Mar 04 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment.
This the 4th day of December, 2025.
Margit H. Iwanowicz, Executor C/O Howard Stallings Law Firm PO Box 12347 Raleigh, NC 27605
D4, 11, 18 and 25
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#24E001626-180
The undersigned, DEREK RILE GREEN, having quali ed on the 20TH Day of OCTOBER 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of ANN BLANKENSHIP GREEN, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 4th Day OF MARCH 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 4th DAY OF DECEMBER 2025.
DEREK RILE GREEN, EXECUTOR 4551 STALEY SNOW CAMP RD. STALEY, NC 27355 Run dates: D4,D11,18,25p
“In every community, we are lifted by simple acts of kindness that re ect the enduring American spirit of generosity, patriotism, and gratitude,” White House statement
This year’s theme is “Home Is Where the Heart Is”
By Darlene Superville The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Melania Trump on Monday unveiled the holiday decorations for her family’s rst Christmas back at the White House and her theme is “Home Is Where the Heart Is.”
The decor also nods to next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and founding of the United States of America.
Several dozen volunteer decorators from across the country helped deck the halls of the executive mansion with 75 wreaths, 51 Christmas trees, more than 700 feet of garland, more than 2,000 strands of lights, over 25,000 feet of ribbon, over 2,800 gold stars, more than 10,000 butter ies and 120 pounds of gingerbread.
A few things are di erent because President Donald Trump tore down the East Wing to build a ballroom he’s long desired.
This year, the o cial White House Christmas tree, which is always on display in the Blue Room, also honors Gold Star families, those that lost a member during active-duty militaryservice.
That tree was an East Wing xture and the rst one visitors encountered after they entered through those doors, but the building and a covered walkway, or colonnade, connecting it to the White House were demolished by Trump in October as part of his ballroom plan.
Public tours, which had been suspended because of the construction, were set to resume Tuesday but with a shorter route limited to just the State Floor, which includes the East Room; the Green, Blue and Red Rooms; the State Dining Room; the Cross Hall; and the Grand Foyer.
The Library and the Vermeil and China Rooms on the Ground Floor — one level below the State Floor — were cut from the tour route because of the construction.
The White House expects tens of thousands of visitors for holiday tours, receptions and parties before Christmas. Visitors will now enter through the North Portico doors on Penn-
sylvania Avenue using a new, semipermanent walkway and entrance.
A statement from the White House said Christmas is a time to celebrate what makes the U.S. exceptional and that while every home has its own traditions, shared values unite Americans.
“In every community, we are lifted by simple acts of kindness that re ect the enduring American spirit of generosity, patriotism, and gratitude,” the statement said. “These moments remind us that the heart of America is strong and that Home Is Where The Heart Is.” Planning for the holidays starts months in advance, and the White House said Melania Trump chose every detail of the decor. Trees in the East Room are trimmed in patriotic red, white and blue and national symbols, including golden eagle tree toppers, to highlight the coming America250 national celebration.
The o cial White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room is decorated with gold stars honoring families that lost a member in the line of ac-
tive-duty military service. The o cial tree traditionally recognizes each state and territory and this year’s r is decorated with ornaments showcasing the o cial bird and ower of each.
The Green Room celebrates family fun, featuring large portraits of the rst and the current presidents, George Washington and Donald Trump, respectively, each made from more than 6,000 Lego puzzle pieces.
Thousands of blue butter ies decorate the Red Room and its tree in a celebration of young people and in tribute to Melania Trump’s Fostering the Future initiative, which is part of her Be Best child-focused initiative, to support people who have been in foster care.
A holiday highlight, the gingerbread White House on display in the State Dining Room shows o the mansion’s South Portico and o ers a special glimpse into the Yellow Oval Room, a sitting room o the Truman Balcony in the president’s private living quarters on the second oor.
It was made using 120 pounds of gingerbread, 100 pounds of pastillage, a sugar-based modeling paste; over 10 pounds of chocolate and 5 pounds of royal icing.
Part of the White House creche is on display in the Grand Foyer while the rest of it is undergoing a restoration overseen by the curator’s o ce.
Most of the tree trimming and hall decking was done after the Trumps decamped to their Florida home early last week for the Thanksgiving holiday. They returned to the White House on Sunday.
Northwood girls fall short of the Stallions for the second time
By Asheebo Rojas
Chatham News & Record
Boys: Northwood 71, Southeast Alamance 56
PITTSBORO — North-
wood rode a late second half run to earn its rst win of the season over former Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference foe Southeast Alamance 71-56 on Nov. 25.
Down 27-22 with two minutes left in the second quarter, the Chargers quickly took the lead with a 6-0 run. Two straight dunks by senior guard Cam Fowler brought Northwood within one, and an inbound steal by junior guard Raje Torres led to a go-ahead layup for junior guard Asher Brooks.
Northwood held the lead for the rest of the game. Senior forward Bakari Watkins led the way with 19 points, junior guard Josiah Brown scored 18 and Fowler nished with 16. Torres ended the night
with a team-high ve steals.
“I think our defensive intensity and pressure and getting good looks on the o ensive end really helped us out,” Northwood coach Matt Brown said.
Josiah Brown, who had just ve points and missed his all three of his 3-point attempts in the rst half, helped extend Northwood’s lead to double digits by draining three triples in the third quarter.
“Spacing was there,” Josiah Brown said. “My team was setting me up for the 3s.” Watkins, playing his rst season for Northwood after three years at Carrboro, was the most consistent and efcient scorer for the Chargers. He shot 7 for 9 from the oor and matched Torres and Brooks for a team-high four assists. He also credited the team’s spacing for his o ensive success. With the win, Northwood avenged a 70-62 loss to Southeast Alamance in the season
opener Nov. 18. Southeast Alamance sophomore Donnie Fairley, who did not play in the rematch, scored 21 points, and Northwood committed 18 turnovers to help the Stallions down the Chargers for the rst time in program history.
“Energy is a big thing,” Fowler said. “Last week, we were in the locker room, we had no energy at all. And we went out there, and it showed. Today, we had energy coming out there, and we played like we wanted to play.”
By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record
basketball
Boys’
Seaforth senior Declan
Lindquist scored a season-high 17 points to lead the Hawks over Apex 55-51 for their rst win of the season on Nov. 25. Senior Campbell Meador contributed 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Northwood fell to E.E. Smith 53-43 in the Hoops and Dreams Showcase at Methodist University on Saturday. The Chargers are o to their worst three-game start since 2016.
Chatham Charter defeated Providence Grove 5652 on Nov. 24, winning its third straight game. Sophomore Ryder Murphy scored a team-high 17 points while shooting 75% from the oor. Despite 18 points from junior Zaeon Auguste and 17 points from sophomore Nolan Mitchell, Jordan-Matthews lost to Southern Lee 55-53 on Nov. 25. Conference standings as of Sunday (overall, conference)
Four Rivers 3A/4A: 1. Northwood (1-2, 0-0); 2. Uwharrie Charter Academy (1-3, 0-0); 3. Jordan-Matthews (1-3, 0-0); 4. North Moore (0 -1, 0-0); 5. Southwestern Randolph (0-1, 0-0); 6. Eastern Randolph (0-0, 0-0) Central Tar Heel 1A: 1. Woods Charter (2-0, 1-0); 2. Chatham Charter (5-3, 0-0); 3. Southern Wake Academy
(3-3, 0-0); 4. Clover Garden School (1-2, 0-0); 5. Ascend Leadership (2-4, 0-0); 6. Central Carolina Academy (0-3, 0-0); 7. River Mill (0-6, 0-0) Greater Triad 1A/2A: 1. Bishop McGuinness (10, 0-0); 2. Chatham Central (2 - 0, 0-0); 3. South Stokes (2-0, 0-0);
North Carolina’s top volleyball players will compete in Chatham County
By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record
THE STATE’S BEST volleyball players are coming to Pittsboro.
Seaforth will host the second annual North Carolina Volleyball Coaches Association All-Star Game on Saturday. The boys’ game will start at 2:30 p.m., and the girls’ game will follow at 5 p.m. Both games will be streamed on NFHS Network. The girls’ game will feature seniors, while the boys’ game will include players from all grades. Both games will have East and West teams, with the girls’ teams decided by the NCHSAA playo designations and the boys’ teams split geographically by position. Seaforth’s Josie Valgus will be one of two setters representing the East in the girls’ game. Valgus, a TCU signee, recorded career-highs of 434 assists, 234 digs and 30 blocks in the fall. She nished her high school career with 1,294 kills, 791 assists and 1,077 digs. Here are the rosters for each all-star team.
Girls
East: Genevieve Harris (Cardinal Gibbons, setter, Texas signee); Josie Valgus (Seaforth, setter, TCU signee); Maggie Penn (Falls Lake, libero, South Carolina commit); Katie Raymer (Apex, libero, LSU signee); Eva Smith (Chapel Hill, middle hitter, Mizzou signee); Ava Wilkerson (Orange, middle hitter, Houston signee); Jolene Oddo (Cleveland, middle hitter, Tennessee signee); Kayla Stoll (Cedar Ridge, middle hitter); Clara Evans (J.H. Rose, pin, TCU signee); Taylor Bruce (Green Hope, pin, Georgia signee); Britni Silver (D.H. Conley, pin, NC State signee); MaryGrace Gonyeau (Cardinal Gibbons, pin, Virginia signee); Lindley Miller (Green Level, pin, North Carolina signee); Keira Rosenmarkle (Union Pines, pin, Liberty signee); Lainy Evans (Ayden-Grifton, pin) West: Callie Largent (Reagan, setter, Nova Southeastern signee); Jilly Young (Marvin Ridge, setter, Flagler commit); Morgan Falk (Grimsley, libero); Brooke Wilson (Marvin Ridge, libero); Camden Pasour (Kings Mountain, libero,
Northwood, boys’ basketball
Northwood senior Bakari Watkins earns athlete of the week honors for the week of Nov. 24.
Watkins led the Chargers with a team-high 19 points in the 71-56 win over Southeast Alamance on Nov. 25. He shot an e cient 7 for 9 from the oor and added six rebounds and four assists.
After spending his rst three seasons at Carrboro, Watkins has made an immediate impact with Northwood. He recorded an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double in the season opener against Southeast Alamance.
Lisa Morse will be honored between Friday’s varsity basketball games
By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record
ANOTHER HALL of fame career will be enshrined amongst the greats who played in Frank N. Justice Gymnasium.
Jordan-Matthews will retire the jersey of former girls’ basketball player Lisa Morse after its home varsity girls’ basketball game against Chatham Central on Friday. Morse, previously known as Lisa Brooks, wore No. 22 and graduated from Jordan-Matthews in 1980. She was inducted into the school’s athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
As a player, Morse, a 5-foot- 6 guard, scored 1,306 points in her four years with the Jets. She averaged double- gure scoring for three seasons, including 17.8 points per game as a senior.
Morse led the Jets to a 22-3 record in the 1979-80 season while shooting 48% from the oor. She nished her basketball career with three all-conference selections, and she earned News & Observer rst-and second-team All-East honors.
Basketball wasn’t Morse’s only talent. She also played tennis and softball at the varsity level, earning multiple all-conference honors in those sports. In softball, Morse batted .474 through her junior season, and in tennis, she went undefeated in regular season singles matches after her sophomore year. In the classroom, Morse achieved an academic grade average about 90 as a senior, and she was a member of the Beta Club.
After high school, Morse played basketball at Wake Forest alongside high school teammate Kelly Marshall (inducted into the Jordan-Matthews Hall of Fame in 2013). Although the Demon Deacons failed to achieve a winning record in her four years, Morse excelled as a shooter. She recorded multiple 20-point performances throughout her career, including a 21-point showing against UNC in 1982 and a 24-point night against Appalachian State in 1983.
Morse improved her eld goal percentages and scoring average year-by-year leading up to her senior season. By her nal
1,306
Career points for Lisa Morse
year, her shooting abilities became an integral part of Wake Forest’s success.
“A steady player and leader de nitely describes Lisa,” former Wake Forest coach Wanda Briley said ahead of the 1983-84 season.
Morse holds the third-highest career free-throw percentage (82.3%) and the third-highest single-season free-throw clip (86.2% in the 1982-83 season) in Wake Forest women’s basketball history. She also led the team in free-throw percentage as a sophomore.
Following her college career, Morse taught history at Jordan-Matthews and was named the school’s teacher of the year for 2020-21 and 2023-24. She
coached girls’ basketball from 1986-96, girls’ tennis from 1986-95 and again from 201518, and softball for a few years in the 1980s. Morse’s daughter Sarah also played basketball at Jordan-Matthews from 2013-17. As a sophomore, Sarah Morse helped the Jets to a 19-8 record while leading the team in blocks and nishing second on the team in points per game, eld goal percentage, free -throw percentage and 3-point percentage.
Lisa Morse retired from teaching in May.
Jordan-Matthews’ latest jersey retirement will be its third in two years. In 2024, the school retired the basketball jerseys of Terrence Newby, who formerly played for UNC, and current football coach Kermit Carter. Jordan-Matthews retired the football and basketball jerseys of Robert Siler, a 1987 graduate who continued his basketball career at Wake Forest.
The NCSCA released its All-State and All-Region lists
By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record
THE NORTH CAROLINA Soccer Coaches Association released its All-State and All-Region lists for the 2025 season. Here are the local athletes who earned postseason honors.
Woods Charter
Campbell Blackburn
(1A All State, Midstate
1A/2A/3A All Region)
Sophomore defender Campbell Blackburn nished second on the team with nine goals while taking 11 shots on the year.
Daniel Horil (Midstate
1A/2A/3A All Region)
Senior mid elder Daniel Horil put pressure on defenses, logging 27 shots, the second most on the team, two goals and three assists this fall.
Odin Withrow (Midstate
1A/2A/3A All Region)
Senior defender Odin Withrow was a crucial piece in the Wolves’ defensive success, helping them hold seven opponents scoreless and ve opponents to one goal.
Northwood
Aidan Swaine (3A All State, Midstate 1A/2A/3A All Region)
Senior defender Aidan Swaine tied for the most goals on the team (10) and record-
ALL-STAR from page B1
Lenoir-Rhyne signee); Laney Blevins (East Forsyth, middle hitter, Boston College signee); Denét Houey (Kings Mountain, middle hitter, Lenoir-Rhyne commit); Lydia Chambers (Lake Norman Charter, middle hitter, Queens commit); Jordyn Gray (Cox Mill, pin, Louisville signee); Kinnady Boothe (East Forsyth, pin, High Point signee); Emma Pastusic (Watauga, pin, Citadel signee); Alden Schwartz (Bradford Prep, pin, High Point commit); Gia Lowe (Mooresville, pin, Flagler commit); Natalie Unkrich (Marvin Ridge, pin, Lehigh commit); Scholar Bates (North Mecklenburg, pin, Alabama A&M commit)
Boys
East: Liam Shugart (West Forsyth, setter); Carter Zorn (Union Academy, setter); Luke Rosenburger (Reagan, libero); Cayden Smith (Mt. Pleasant, libero); Niky Capistrano (West Forsyth, middle hitter); Car -
Northwood’s Aidan Swaine was one of three local players to earn All-State honors.
ed ve assists, both of which are career-highs. Out of his 18 shots, 15 were on goal.
Calvin Britt (Midstate 1A/2A/3A All Region)
Sophomore goalkeeper Calvin Britt notched 104 saves in
ter Buchanan (Riverside, middle hitter); Cole Creedle (Eno River, middle hitter); Ben Kaplan (Chapel Hill, pin); Logan Boluc (West Forsyth, pin); Dylan Coulombe (Reagan, pin); Jackson Arnaez (West Forsyth, pin); Brady Milligan (Christ the King, pin); Will Park (Jordan, pin); Bodhi Peoples (Reagan, pin); Cooper Warman (West Forsyth, pin)
West: Ryan Neal (T.C. Roberson, setter); Joseph Moy (Marvin Ridge, setter); Jayden Verhoeven (Hough, libero); Owen Conklin (Weddington, libero); TJ Crawford (East Forsyth, middle hitter); Colin Townes (Providence, middle hitter); Adrien Ruzic (Christ the King, middle hitter); Silas Lowder (Mt. Pleasant, pin); Lev Mikhieiev (Weddington, pin); Kit Dougherty (East Mecklenburg, pin); Noah Gauthier (Hough, pin); Landon Hixon (Hough, pin); Cooper Kruk (Pisgah, pin); Dean Lowe (T.C. Roberson, pin); Noah Ramsey (Hough, pin)
19 games. He recorded at least 10 saves in two games, including the Chargers’ second round loss to NCSSM-Durham. Britt helped Northwood achieve nine clean sheets.
Berkely Godehn (Mid-
state 1A/2A/3A All Region)
Junior defender Berkely Godehn was a crucial contributor to Northwood’s clean sheets and solid defensive performances. He scored one goal this fall.
Johnny Santiago (Midstate 1A/2A/3A All Region)
Freshman forward Johnny Santiago made an immediate impact for the Chargers. Santiago tied for the team’s most goals (10). He recorded two games with multiple scores, including a hat trick against Eastern Randolph in October.
Jordan-Matthews
Andres Tepile (4A All State, Burlington 4A/5A/6A All Region)
Senior defender and captain Andres Tepile scored eight goals and notched four assists in his nal high school season. Tepile recorded 23 shots on goal, bringing his goals-to -shots on goal percentage go 34.8%.
Samuel Basilio (Burlington 4A/5A/6A All Region)
Senior mid elder Samuel Basilio, a captain for the Jets, scored seven goals and set up his teammates with 20 assists in the fall.
Jeremy Alvarado (Burlington 4A/5A/6A All Region)
Senior mid elder Jeremy Alvarado nished the season with 23 goals and 14 assists. He scored 35.4% of his 65 shots on goal. Alvarado was one of the captains for the Jets.
College football mascots just as good at keeping their identities secret as ring up a crowd
Schools keep the person under the suit a secret, often until graduation
By Mike Householder
The Associated Press
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Ross Ramsey enjoys spending time with fellow alums at Michigan State football tailgates.
These aren’t just any old former Spartans, though.
They were Sparty himself — something few knew when Ramsey and his pals donned the muscular mascot suit two decades ago.
“Once you are done being Sparty, you can tell others that you were Sparty,” said Ramsey, a physician and hospital administrator in Pigeon, Michigan. “And clearly you have a close bond with those others who were in the same role as you, because they couldn’t share that experience with anyone else at the time, either.”
Ramsey and his buddies are members of an elite fellowship of ex-mascots. Men and women who once carried on as Big Al, Alabama’s lovable elephant; the Disney-inspired Oregon Duck; Wisconsin’s Bucky Badger and many more. We’re talking humans in suits, not live animal mascots, which also are xtures on college football Saturdays.
The job for costumed mascots is to re up the crowd, bring a smile to a fan’s face and symbolically represent the university.
“When you think of Michigan State, you think of Sparty. And everybody knows what the mascot is,” said Phil Lator, another former Sparty who joins Ramsey at the tailgates and also successfully concealed his alter ego during his tenure in East Lansing.
Anonymity is the name of the game for many college mascots.
“Some programs value secrecy so highly that multiple performers report to the stadium but only learn in the moment who will actually be suiting up,” said Je Birdsell, a communication professor at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Birdsell has experience in these matters, having served as Point Loma’s mascot as an undergrad, as well as inhabiting suits for minor league baseball, NBA G League and indoor soccer teams.
“Some schools have traditions where they work hard to keep the performers anonymous so that there can be a big reveal as part of graduation ceremonies,” he said.
Enter Nicole Hurley, who came clean about her Cocky past at South Carolina’s spring commencement, rolling into the arena wearing her cap, gown and
NORTHWOOD from page B1
Girls: Southeast Alamance 52, Northwood 29
After trailing by one at halftime, Northwood got outscored by 22 in the second half on the way to a 52-29 loss to defending 2A state champions Southeast Alamance.
Southeast Alamance senior Clara LaChapelle scored all 10
ROUNDUP from page B1
2. Chatham Central; 3. Woods Charter; 4. Northwood; 5. Seaforth; 6. Jordan-Matthews Girls’ basketball
Seaforth defeated Apex Friendship 54-25 on Nov. 25. The Hawks outscored the Patriots 30-10 in the rst half.
Chatham Charter fell 60 -14 to Providence Grove on Nov. 24. Jordan-Matthews also took a big loss, falling short of Southern Lee 55-8 on Nov. 25. The Jets have lost four straight games to start the season. Conference standings as of Sunday (overall, conference)
Four Rivers 3A/4A: 1. Uwharrie Charter (5-0, 0-0); 2. Southwestern Randolph
“There were countless moments that I had to change into my suit in my car, pretty
much lie to every person about how I worked a job in athletics”
Nicole Hurley, former Cocky the Gamecock
oversized yellow bird feet of the bird mascot.
“When I walked across the stage, I felt so much joy. The whole arena started to clap and cheer, and it made me emotional,” said Hurley, a pediatric hematology oncology nurse in Charleston, South Carolina.
Only Hurley’s roommates and parents knew about her second life.
“There were countless moments that I had to change into my suit in my car, pretty much lie to every person about how I worked a job in athletics and created excuses when I was not free on the weekends due to working private events,” Hurley said.
“When people I know would come up to take a photo with me when I was Cocky and they had no idea I was the one under the
of her points in the second half. Senior guard Shaniya Paylor led the Stallions with 11 points, and sophomore Rreanna Johnson contributed 10 points.
Northwood got o to a hot start, leading Southeast Alamance 12-6 at the end of the rst quarter. Seniors Alyia Roberts and Shaylah Glover scored four points apiece in the opening quarter.
“I think our defensive e ort
(0 -1, 0-0); 3. North Moore (0-1, 0-0); 4. Eastern Randolph (0-1, 0-0); 5. Northwood (0-2, 0-0); 6. Jordan-Matthews (0-4, 0-0) Central Tar Heel 1A: 1. Woods Charter (3-1, 0-0); 2. Clover Garden School (1-1, 0-0); 3. Southern Wake Academy (1-2, 0-0); 4. Chatham Charter (2-6, 0-0); 5. Central Carolina Academy (0-3, 0-0); 6. Ascend Leadership (0-4, 0-0); 7. River Mill (0-6, 0-0) Greater Triad 1A/2A: 1. Chatham Central (2-0, 0-0); 2. College Prep and Leadership (5-0, 0-0); 3. Bishop McGuinness (3-1, 0-0); 4. South Stokes (3-3, 0-0); 5. North Stokes (0 -1, 0-0); 6. South Davidson (0-0, 0-0) Big Seven 4A/5A: 1. Orange (1-0, 0-0); 2. Seaforth (20, 0-0); 3. Durham School of the Arts (2-2, 0-0); 4. Carrboro
suit was the craziest feeling.”
Carlos Polanco-Zaccardi, whose years inside Miami’s Sebastian the Ibis costume were known only to a select few, also became pro cient at hiding his true identity. The 2025 graduate of the “U” toted his bird get-up around campus in an enormous du el bag. When confronted, Polanco-Zaccardi would supply a white lie depending on the questioner.
“For my friends, I told them that I was one of the party performers on stilts that perform at weddings, bar mitzvahs and birthday parties,” he said.
Like the Michigan State guys, Hurley and Polanco-Zaccardi, costumed performers at the collegiate level almost always are students.
That intense school pride doesn’t go away for many ex-mascots, long after they’ve stopped wearing the fur. Just ask Scott Ferry, another Sparty alum and tailgate regular whose passion for the green-and-white hasn’t ebbed.
“The spirit of the university is critical,” said Ferry, who these days owns and operates a farm and meat-processing facility an hour south of campus. “We don’t want to just be an individual. We want to be the icon of the university at all times.”
got us to that point,” Northwood coach Kerri Stubbs said.
The Chargers made one eld goal in the second quarter, but continuing their solid defensive performance kept them in the game. However, playing tough defense came with a price. Northwood fell into foul trouble with its ball handlers, Roberts, senior Neah Henry and sophomore Noelle Whitaker, all having
(2-2, 0-0); 5. South Granville (0-2, 0-0); 6. Cedar Ridge (0 -3, 0-0); 7. J.F. Webb (0-3, 0-0) Power Rankings (week of Nov. 24): 1. Seaforth; 2. Chatham Central; 3. Woods Charter; 4. Chatham Charter; 5. Northwood; 6. Jordan-Matthews Wrestling
Boys: Seaforth picked up a conference win with a 58 -21 victory over Carrboro on Nov. 25. In a tri meet with North Moore and Scotland, Chatham Central beat Scotland 47-30 and fell to North Moore 48-36 on Nov. 25.
Top individual performances: Chatham Central’s Carson Williams defeated Lexington’s Qa’Darion Hud-
multiple fouls before halftime.
Southeast Alamance picked up steam behind eight third quarter points from LaChapelle. Roberts, who led the Chargers with 10 points, tried to keep Northwood within reach with ve third quarter points, but it wasn’t enough.
“We just couldn’t quite withstand that defensive e ort that we needed to in the second half,” Stubbs said. “Allowed them to
son in a 15-0 technical fall to win the 157-pound title at the Zack Thornburg Memorial Invitational on Nov. 26. At the same tournament, Jordan-Matthews’ Jakari Blue won the 190-pound division after pinning Trinity’s Grayson Carroll in 1 minute, 17 seconds. Girls: Chatham Central fell 24-6 to Scotland on Nov. 25. Jordan-Matthews nished as runners-up at the Zack Thornburg Memorial Invitational. Northwood fell to Chapel Hill 24-12 and beat Northwest Guilford 24-9 with multiple forfeits in a Thanksgiving Tri on Nov. 25.
Top individual performances: Jordan-Matthews’ Alexandra Zumano Garcia nished rst in the 120-pound
get some transition opportunities and just didn’t win on the board.”
Northwood made one eld goal in the fourth quarter while Southeast Alamance continued to pull away at the free throw line. Turnovers also hurt the Chargers in the second half.
The Stallions defeated the Chargers for the second time this season after winning the rst matchup 73-35 on Nov. 18.
division at the Zack Thornburg Memorial Invitaional after pinning Asheboro’s Brianna Munoz in the championship match. At the same tournament, Brianna Leandro Balderas, also a Jet, beat Asheboro’s Yarislaidy Santiago Ramirez to win the 185-pound title. Chatham Central’s Emilie Nava beat her teammate Yakelin Gomez to win the 165-pound championship at the Zack Thornburg Memorial Invitational.
Swimming
Chatham Central’s Jesse Eskelund nished rst in the boys’ 100 free (50.69 seconds) and second in boys’ 50 free (23.12) at a multiteam meet at Smitheld Recreation and Aquatics Center on Nov. 24.
Coach who went missing before undefeated team’s playo game wanted on criminal charges
Big Stone Gap, Va. Virginia State Police say a high school football coach who disappeared days ago before his undefeated team’s playo game is being sought on charges of possessing child sexual abuse material and using a computer to solicit a minor. Police say warrants were obtained for 46-year-old Travis Turner, of Appalachia, Virginia. They say the Union High School coach has been missing since last Thursday, when agents headed to his home not to arrest him but as part of an investigation, but learned he was no longer there. They say the search nearby has included drones, dogs and rescue teams.
MLB Ohtani announces he will play for Japan in next year’s World Baseball Classic
Los Angeles
Shohei Ohtani plans to play for Japan in next year’s World Baseball Classic. The two-way Los Angeles Dodgers star made the announcement on social media. Ohtani helped Japan win the 2023 WBC, striking out then-Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout for the nal out of the championship game against the United States. He was named MVP of the tournament. Ohtani won his fourth MVP award this month, shortly after he helped the Dodgers win their second straight World Series title. He did not specify whether he plans to pitch for Japan in the WBC, which begins March 5.
Briles hired by Eastern New Mexico, 9 years after Baylor red him amid scandal
Portales, N.M.
Art Briles was hired as football coach at Eastern New Mexico, getting his rst college head coaching job since Baylor red the two-time Big 12 champion more than nine years ago amid a sexual assault scandal. An NCAA infractions report ve years later ripped him for failing to look into horri c and potentially criminal allegations against his players, but he wasn’t found guilty of any NCAA violations. Briles turns 70 next month. He was o ensive coordinator at Grambling State for less than a week in 2022, and Southern Miss administrators vetoed an attempt to hire Briles as OC.
Clark, Reese, Bueckers to make U.S. national team camp debuts
Durham Caitlin Clark will make her USA Basketball national team camp debut when the Americans get together at Duke this month. The Indiana Fever Al-Star had been invited to camps while she was in college at Iowa, but the timing didn’t work out. She’ll be there alongside rst-timers Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Cameron Brink, Sonia Citron, Veronica Burton, Kiki Iriafen and Rickea Jackson. College players Lauren Betts of UCLA and JuJu Watkins of Southern California are also invited.
The weird assortment of objects has a long, emotional history
By Dave Campbell The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — The most-played series in major college football history, the bitter border-state rivalry between Minnesota and Wisconsin, is punctuated each year with a postgame ritual.
The victors sprint toward Paul Bunyan’s Axe, take turns hoisting the 6-foot shaft above their heads as they parade it around the stadium, and pretend to chop down one of the goal posts. The axe has been awarded annually since 1948.
There’s hardly a richer — or quirkier — tradition in college football than rivalry trophies.
“It’s a way for a community — certainly the students, alumni, fans and faculty, but even more casual fans — to get revved up for a football game,” said Christian Anderson, a University of South Carolina professor whose research focus is on the history of higher education. “There are a lot of people who may not pay attention the whole season, and then the rivalry game comes and they’re a passionate fan for one Saturday.”
Longtime members of the Big Ten boast perhaps the richest history of these one-of-akind prizes. The Little Brown Jug, which is neither little nor brown, dates to the Michigan-Minnesota game in 1903. Wolverines coach Fielding Yost, out of fear the Gophers might tamper with their water, had a student manager buy a jug for the team. After a brutal struggle ended in a tie as Minnesota fans stormed the eld, the container was left behind. The Gophers formally returned it after the Wolverines won the next meeting in 1909.
Minnesota fared better at the beginning with Floyd of Rosedale, a 98-pound bronze pig named after the state’s governor, who suggested the trophy to his Iowa counterpart in 1935.
Indiana faces Purdue for the Old Oaken Bucket, found in disrepair on a local farm in 1925 with the belief it might
“It’s a tangible representation that we beat our rivals.”
Professor Christian Anderson
have been used by Confederate soldiers in the Civil War. Indiana and Michigan State have competed since 1950 for the Old Brass Spittoon. Illinois and Ohio State have played for a century for the Illibuck Trophy, now a wooden turtle after an ill-fated attempt to award the real thing — a 16-pound snapper. Michigan and Michigan State have fought since 1953 for annual ownership of the Paul Bunyan Trophy, a 4-foot wooden statue of the mythical lumberjack.
“It’s a tangible representation that we beat our rivals,” Anderson said. “Maybe we only keep it for a year because it’s a
traveling trophy, but next time we’re going back to get it if we didn’t win it.”
The NCAA certi ed the Territorial Cup played for by Arizona and Arizona State as the oldest known rivalry trophy, awarded after their rst meeting in 1899. It was missing for decades until its rediscovery in a storage area of a church near the ASU campus in 1983.
Nevada and UNLV play for the Fremont Cannon, a 545-pound replica of the cannon the explorer of the same name abandoned in a snowstorm during his trek through the state in 1844.
Notre Dame and USC have the Jewelled Shillelagh, a wooden symbol of a traditional Gaelic war club that was rst presented in 1952.
California and Stanford play for an axe, too, awarded since 1933. Kentucky and Tennessee battle for a beer barrel.
When Mississippi fans
stormed Mississippi State’s eld after a Rebels win in 1926, MSU supporters balked and brawls broke out. To help restore dignity to the rivalry the following year, the student bodies from both schools introduced the Golden Egg, a gold-plated football mounted on a pedestal. Fortunately, the egg never gets too close to Dallas-Fort Worth, where SMU and TCU have played for the Iron Skillet since 1946.
The Slab of Bacon is safely away from the skillet, too.
That was the rst version of the Minnesota-Wisconsin hardware, a wooden slab that went missing in 1943 after the planned exchange following a Gophers victory never took place.
A summer storage cleanout project in Madison in 1994 turned up the trophy, which Wisconsin has since kept on display.
The 21-year-old has been named ozeki, the second-highest rating
By Stephen Wade The Associated Press
TOKYO — Ukrainian sumo
wrestler Aonishiki is only 21 but has moved just one step from the top rank of Japan’s national sport.
In an elaborate ceremony last week, he was promoted by the Japan Sumo Association to the rank of ozeki, the rung just below the top.
Only two now hold the top rank of yokozuna — grand champion in English: Japanese Onosato and Mongolia-born Hoshoryu.
“I’m happy, but I feel more strongly about working harder from now on,” Aonishiki said last Wednesday after the ceremony. “There is a higher rank, and that’s my next goal.”
Sumo’s new rising star, who wrestles under the ring name of Aonishiki Arata, was born Danilo Yavhushyshyn in west central Ukraine and has identied his hometown as Vinnytsia. He moved to Japan after Russia invaded Ukraine just over 31⁄2 years ago, the byproduct of a friendship he had made a few years earlier with a Japanese wrestler at a tournament. Japanese media identi-
es him as being the quickest — he’s wrestled only 14 tournaments — to reach the ozeki rank since 1958 when the present tournament scheduling system was installed.
The promotion was inevitable after he won a prestigious tournament on Sunday in western Japan. He defeated Hoshoryu in the deciding match.
He explained earlier that his parents ed to Germany after the invasion and said they are living safely. He said he called them after the big tournament on Sunday and praised them for allowing him to pursue his
interests. He said his mother cried on the phone call. He was told his father did too, but tried to hide it.
“They never scolded me even when I didn’t do well in studies, as they believed in letting me do what I liked to do,” he said last week.
Aonishiki is small by sumo standards. He weighs in the 125 to 135 kilogram range — (between 275 to 300 pounds).
This is slight in sumo — in the range of an NFL lineman — since many wrestlers weigh at least 150 kilograms (330 pounds) and some much more. Sumo experts in Japan say
“I have to be bigger, and I still need to learn a lot more about sumo.”
Aonishiki
his success comes from keeping a low body position. He can bench press 210 kilograms (460 pounds) — about 50% more than his body weight.
“I need to be stronger all around,” he said. “I have to be bigger, and I still need to learn a lot more about sumo.”
Non-Japanese sumo wrestlers have excelled in di erent periods in Japan. They have included Mongolians, Hawaiians and now Ukrainians. A second Ukrainian, Shishi Masaru, is also a highly ranked wrestler in Japan.
Ukraine has a very strong tradition in Olympic wrestling. Its last gold-medal winner was Zhan Beleniuk in the Greco-Roman category at the Tokyo Games, which were delayed until 2021 by the pandemic.
Aonishiki has endeared himself to the Japanese public with his uent command of their language. He said he arrived speaking no Japanese, but picked it up quickly living only with Japanese wrestlers in the sport’s tightly controlled environment.
By Hilel Italie The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Like so many Jamaican teens of his time, Jimmy Cli moved to Kingston in the early 1960s and joined a rising musical movement that would help give voice to the country’s independence from Great Britain. A decade later, he helped reggae ascend to the international stage with his starring role in the cult favorite “The Harder They Come” and his featured place on the lm’s classic soundtrack. Here are a few songs that trace the arc of his career, and of reggae.
1962: “Miss Jamaica”
Singing along to an easy, bluesy groove, Cli had a way of sounding both relaxed and fully committed, and he could make a nursery rhyme sound like an anthem: “Roses are red / violets are blue / Believe me / I love you.” He also joined a long popular tradition, most famously expressed in such 1970s standards as Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are” and Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” of o ering praise to a very personal kind of beauty.
1968: “Vietnam”
Like Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and other anti-war songs, Cli ’s “Vietnam” was drawn from the horrors of those who had served overseas. “Vietnam” was a seething, mid-tempo chant — “Vi-et-nam, Vi-et-nam,” the very name an indictment, in this song for the death of a soldier who had written home to say he would soon be returning, only for his mother to receive a telegram the next day announcing his death.
1969: “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”
One of Cli ’s many talents was looking clear-
“So as sure as the sun will shine / I’m gonna get my share now, what’s mine.” Jimmy Cli
eyed at life as it is, and imagining so well what it could be — a paradise made real by the melody, the feel and lyrics of “Wonderful World, Beautiful People,” a vision so inevitable even the likes of President Richard Nixon and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson can’t get in the way.
1969: “Many Rivers to Cross”
Onstage, he sometimes literally jumped for joy, but Cli also could call out the deepest notes of despair. The somber, gospel-style “Many Rivers to Cross” was inspired by the racism he encountered in England in the 1960s and tells a story of displacement, longing, fatigue and gathering rage — but never defeat. “I merely survive because of my pride,” he tells us.
1970: “You Can Get It If You Really Want” Cli ’s political songs were so enduring in part because they were so catchy and because they offered hope without the promise of easy success. Kicked o by a spare horn ri , “You Can Get It If You Really Want” has a lighter mood than “Vietnam” but just as determined a spirit. “You must try, try and try, try and try,” Cli warns.
1972: “The Harder They Come”
The title track to the movie which would mark the high point of his success, “The Harder They Come” has a spiky, muscular rhythm, the kind you could set to the forward march of a mass protest. It’s a sermon of retribution for oppressors — “the harder they fall, one and all” — and of earthly rewards for those who have been robbed: “So as sure as the sun will shine / I’m gonna get my share now, what’s mine.”
Nelson Mandela dies at 95, 13th Amendment rati ed, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
The Associated Press
DEC. 4
1783: Gen. George Washington bade farewell to his Continental Army o cers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.
1956: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins — later dubbed the “Million Dollar Quartet” — gathered for their rst and only jam session at Sun Records in Memphis.
1991: Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson was freed after nearly seven years as a hostage of Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
DEC. 5
1848: President James K. Polk, in an address to Congress, con rmed gold had been discovered in California, igniting the Gold Rush of ’49.
1933: Prohibition ended as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment, repealing the 18th.
1952: The Great Smog of London settled over the city for ve days, a toxic haze
blamed for thousands of deaths.
2013: Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa’s rst black president, died at age 95.
DEC. 6
1865: The 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was rati ed when Georgia became the 27th state to approve it.
1907: A coal mine explosion in Monongah, West Virginia, killed at least 361 men and boys, the deadliest mining disaster in U.S. history.
1923: A presidential address was broadcast nationally on radio for the rst time as Calvin Coolidge spoke to a joint session of Congress.
1969: A free Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway in California turned deadly when four people died, including one man fatally stabbed by a Hells Angels member working event security.
DEC. 7
1787: Delaware became the rst state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1941: Japan launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing more than 2,300 Americans. The United
1987: President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a landmark treaty at the White House ordering the elimination of intermediate-range missiles.
DEC. 9
1965: “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the rst animated TV special based on Charles M. Schulz’s “Peanuts,” premiered on CBS.
1979: Scientists declared smallpox eradicated worldwide, wiping out a disease that killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century.
1990: Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa won Poland’s rst free presidential election since 1926.
DEC. 10
States declared war on Japan the next day.
1982: Charlie Brooks Jr. became the rst U.S. inmate executed by lethal injection, at a prison in Huntsville, Texas.
DEC. 8
1941: The United States entered World War II as Congress declared war on Japan, one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1980: Former Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment by Mark David Chapman.
The comedic screenwriter claims he was harassed by activists after the incident
The Associated Press
LONDON — The co-creator of British TV sitcoms “Father Ted” and the “IT Crowd” was cleared last Tuesday of harassing a transgender activist on social media, but he was found guilty of damaging their mobile phone during an encounter last year.
Prosecutors alleged that Gary Linehan, an Irish comedy writer known for his outspoken criticism of trans activism, wrote “repeated, abusive, unreasonable” social media posts about Sophia Brooks. He denied the charge.
District Judge Briony Clarke said that while Linehan’s social media posts were “deeply unpleasant, insulting and even unnecessary,” they did not amount to harassment. She also questioned if Brooks was as distressed as they made themselves out to be.
But she said Linehan took Brooks’ phone, knocked it to the ground and damaged it outside a conference venue in London in October last year because the writer was “angry and fed up.”
The writer’s lawyer, Sarah Vine, said Linehan had “a momentary lapse of control.” During his trial, the
57-year-old writer said his “life was made hell” by trans activists and described the plainti as a “young sol-
dier in the trans activist army.” Linehan was ned 500 pounds ($657) and ordered to pay additional costs for
1898: The Treaty of Paris was signed, formally ending the Spanish-American War.
1906: President Theodore Roosevelt became the rst American to win a Nobel Prize, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for helping negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese War.
1964: Martin Luther King Jr. accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, saying he did so “with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind.”
“It is not for this court to ‘pick a side’ in any matter of public debate.”
District Judge Briony Clarke
criminal damage. His lawyer said he planned to appeal the conviction.
Clarke, the judge, told the court her job was to deliver a verdict on the two charges against Linehan, and not on the wider public debate around gender issues.
“It is not for this court to ‘pick a side’ in any matter of public debate,” she said. “This court is not concerned with that debate and does not have to determine and nor should anything in this judgment be viewed as the court determining any issues in relation to it.”
Linehan is known for posts asserting that trans women are men. In September, he was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence against trans women, advocating hitting them if calling police and other measures failed to stop them from using women-only facilities.
His arrest over that case sparked a debate over which online comments constitute hate speech and warrant police intervention. London’s police chief said after the arrest that he did not want o cers “policing toxic culture war debates,” and prosecutors later said Linehan will not face charges over that case.
Je Bridges celebrates 76, Kim Basinger turns 72, Donny Osmond hits 68, Dame Judi Dench turns 91
The Associated Press THESE CELEBRITIES have birthdays this week.
DEC. 4
Actor-producer Max Baer Jr. is 88. Actor Gemma Jones is 83.
Actor Je Bridges is 76. Actor Patricia Wettig is 74. Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson is 70. Basketball Hall of Famer Bernard King is 69. Actor Marisa Tomei is 61. Actor-comedian Fred Armisen is 59. Rapper Jay-Z is 56.
DEC. 5
Author Calvin Trillin is 90. Opera singer Jose Carreras is 79. Musician Jim Messina is 78. Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins is 76. Football Hall of Famer Art Monk is 68. Comedian-actor Margaret Cho is 57.
DEC. 6
Actor JoBeth Williams is 77. Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is 73. Actor Tom Hulce is 72. Comedian Steven Wright is 70. Rock musician Peter Buck (R.E.M.) is 69. Animator Nick Park is 67. Actor Janine Turner is 63. Writer-director Judd Apatow is 58.
DEC. 7
Linguist and political philosopher Noam Chomsky is 97. Actor Ellen Burstyn is 93. Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench is 78. Singer-songwriter Tom Waits is 76. Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird is 69. Actor Je rey Wright is 60. Actor C. Thomas Howell is 59.
DEC. 8
Flutist James Galway is 86. Author Bill Bryson is 74. Actor Kim Basinger is 72. Commentator and columnist Ann Coulter is 64. Actor Wendell Pierce is 63. Actor Teri Hatcher is 61.
DEC. 9
DEC.
Actor Fionnula Flanagan is
Actor-singer Gloria Lor-
Actor Judi Dench is 91. Actor Beau Bridges is 84. World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Kite is 76. Actor John Malkovich is 72. Singer Donny Osmond is
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds drop “Live God”
The Associated Press
GEORGE CLOONEY playing a dashing movie star with nagging midlife regrets in “Jay Kelly” and Zac Brown Band returning with fresh tunes are some of the new television, lms, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also, among the streaming o erings worth your time this week: The latest “Mission: Impossible” lm, “The Final Reckoning,” begins streaming on Paramount+, Net ix has the American Western series “The Abandons” with women at the center of its story, and Nintendo’s Samus Aran returns with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
MOVIES TO STREAM
Clooney plays a dashing movie star with new nagging midlife regrets in “Jay Kelly” (Net ix on Friday), Noah Baumbach’s comic drama about fame and family. As Jay’s youngest daughter (Grace Edwards) prepares for college, a trip to Europe turns into a deeper self-examination. With Adam Sandler as Jay’s long-su ering manager and Laura Dern his publicist. In his review, the AP’s Mark Kennedy wrote that “reality and ction beautifully weave in and out in Baumbach’s love letter to Hollywood.”
The latest “Mission: Impossible” lm, “The Final Reckoning,” begins streaming on Paramount+ on Thursday. The Tom Cruise adventure, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, concludes the chapter begun with 2023’s “Dead Reckoning Part One.” Whether dead or nal, a reckoning may be in order for the eight- lm Ethan Hunt franchise. In her review, AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr wrote: “In a series that has often been best when it’s not taking itself too seriously, dour developments start to feel a little unintentionally silly.”
The Christmas movies cometh. One of the rst out of the gate this year is “Oh. What. Fun.” (Now on Prime Video). Michelle Pfei er stars as a matriarch who, after years
“Reality and ction beautifully weave in and out in Baumbach’s love letter to Hollywood.”
Mark Kennedy, AP Film Writer
of handling all the season’s festivities for an ungrateful family, goes missing. Michael Showalter directs a cast including Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Denis Leary and Dominic Sessa.
MUSIC TO STREAM
Zac Brown Band re ects on life’s highs and lows on their new album, “Love & Fear,” out Friday. Some of the singles out so far include the Jimmy Buffett-like “I Ain’t Worried About It,” the weed-friendly “Let It Run” with Snoop Dogg, the
sweet ballad “Butter y” with Dolly Parton” and the anthemic party banger “Give It Away.” Perhaps the best of the bunch is “Hard Run” featuring Mar-
cus King, starting quietly with a twang, building to harmonies and some funk, adding a touch of Broadway and then someery guitar work. The band is
making a splash with the album’s drop date, performing at the Sphere in Las Vegas and kicking o several nights there in December and January.
If you adored Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds last album “Wild God,” here’s some good news: The alternative rock legend and his formidable band is releasing “Live God,” which includes live versions from the album, as well as catalog favorites such as “From Her to Eternity,” “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” and “Into My Arms.” And if you just can’t get enough of Cave, there’s more: The Royal Danish Library has put its “Stranger Than Kindness: The Nick Cave Exhibition” online, allowing fans to explore 300 objects collected or created by Cave during his career.
SERIES TO STREAM
“The Abandons,” a new American Western series comes to Net ix with women at the center of its story. Taking place in the 1850s, Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey star as two widowed women who are the heads of their household and who are ghting over land. Kurt Sutter, who created “Sons of Anarchy,” is behind this one. Nick Robinson and Aisling Franciosi also star. It debuts Thursday.
Starz has a new “Spartacus” series out Friday called “Spartacus: House of Ashur.” Nick E. Tarabay reprises his role as Ashur from “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” and “Spartacus: Vengeance,” which explores what may have happened if the character had survived the events of “Vengeance” instead of being killed. This series also features a woman in a powerful role. Tenika Davis plays a female gladiator.
VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY
Fans of Nintendo’s Samus Aran have been waiting a long time for the spacefaring bounty hunter to return to the 3D world of Metroid Prime. At long last, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is here — but it remains to be seen if Samus’ years in limbo have made her stronger. She has landed on a jungle planet lled with hostile wildlife, and another bounty hunter is in hot pursuit. In addition to her usual high-tech arsenal, Samus has gained some psychic powers — not to mention a wicked motorcycle. Can this long-delayed sequel live up to its beloved predecessors? Find out Thursday on Switch and Switch 2.