It wasn’t a week filled with good news. Less than half of Bladen’s schools met academic growth goals in a state report, arrests were made for counterfeit money, and sex offenders were rounded up for being in non-compliance.
Of course the news wasn’t all bad. Blackwater Rhythm and Blue had a chart-topping song, an overflow crowd watched the Ultimate Late Model Series race at Dublin Motor Speedway, and there were bargains aplenty at Elizabethtown’s annual Labor Day sidewalk sale.
Six of the 13 schools in Bladen County met their academic growth goals in 2014-15, according to the Performance and Growth of North Carolina Public Schools report released Sept. 2 by the state’s Department of Public Instruction. However, Bladen County’s percentage (46.2) lagged the state average of 72.2 percent of schools which met or exceeded goals. In last year’s report, eight Bladen County schools met or exceeded their academic growth goals. Bladen County did see its graduation rate increase frm 76 percent in 2013-14 to 77.2 percent in 2014-15.
Two of the eight sex offenders arrested recently in Bladen County for not being in compliance with their N.C. Sex Offender Registry requirements had served time for first degree rape and another had been convicted of attempted rape. The list also included a sexual battery charge and four charges of indecent liberties with a minor, according to records listed in the database.
Three people were arrested following a traffic stop on South Poplar Street in Elizabethtown. Officers discovered a loaded .357 Magnum revolver in the vehicle along with several counterfeit $1 and $5 bills and a small amount of marijuana.
In other news,
** Blackwater Rhythm & Blues band of Clarkton rose to the top of the charts on Cashbox and statin 94.9 for their single, “Dance Tonight.” The group was founded by Dale Edwards in 2009.
** Prices were and continue to be heavily reduced at the stores in downtown Elizabethtown for the Labor Day Sidewalk Sale, which began Sept. 4 and ends Sept. 6
** Bladen County filmmaker Robert Kinlaw was featured in the September edition of Our State magazine as part of its “100 Voices From 100 Counties.” Kinlaw, a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, produced a feature-length documentary about White Lake, which aired on UNC-TV this summer.
** After a lightning delay of more than an hour, East Bladen’s Eagles rolled to a 48-0 halftime lead en route to a 54-10 non-conference football victory at St. Pauls on Sept. 4 to remain unbeaten. West Bladen suffered its first loss of the season, falling to Whiteville 35-6.
** With 22 cars entered in a race on a 4/10ths mile race track, being up front from the start is often the key to victory. Chris Ferguson proved it Aug. 29 in front of an overflow crowd at Dublin Motor Speedway. The Mount Holly-based driver was the fastest qualifier, then led all 50 laps in winning the $5,000 top prize in the third annual Rattlesnake Rumble.
** The N.C Department of Transportation said Aug. 31 that work is expected to continue until at least the end of September on a pair of 86-year-old bridges on N.C. 211 near Clarkton. The work on the Brown Marsh Swamp and Elkton Swamp Creek bridges, both built in 1929, began in late July.
That’s the week that was in Bladen County.
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