Mountaire Farms names year’s top growers

CANDOR — Mountaire Farms recently held its annual Top Grower Banquet in West End to honor family farmers who are the superstars of animal production.

With more than 500 contract growers spread across 17 counties in North Carolina, this event honored all the hard-working men and women who are helping Mountaire feed the world.

The company presented the “Top Grower” awards to farmers who consistently outperform everyone else. Six are selected from the growers who raise chicken for the company’s Lumber Bridge processing plant, and six are selected from the growers who raise chicken for the company’s Siler City processing plant.

Top Growers for Mountaire in 2021 included:

— Terry & Sally Farm, owned by Terry Locklear, located in Robeson County, who has been a contract grower for Mountaire Farms since August of 2005.

— Smyrna Farm, owned by Wang Xiong, located in Scotland County, who has been a contract grower of Mountaire Farms since October of 2007.

— Tony Harris Farm, owned by Tony Harris, located in Moore County, who has been a contract grower for Mountaire Farms since March of 2022.

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Juvenile Justice raises ‘minimum age’ law to 10

RALEIGH – In North Carolina, a 6-year-old can no longer be seen in juvenile court for grabbing a candy bar from a checkout aisle or for running away from home.

A new law that took effect Wednesday raises the lower age of juvenile jurisdiction from 6 to 10 for most youth and will provide alternatives to taking a vulnerable juvenile to court.

Thanks to recommendations from the Juvenile Jurisdiction Advisory Committee, the efforts of its members, the hard work of the Juvenile Justice section, bi-partisan support in the legislature, and Gov. Roy Cooper’s leadership, North Carolina will no longer have the youngest minimum age of juvenile jurisdiction because of Senate Bill 207.

An 8- or 9-year-old child who either has a prior court judgement (adjudication) of delinquency or who commits a felony A through G offense will remain under juvenile jurisdiction. The age of juvenile jurisdiction for all undisciplined offenses (e.g., truancy, runaways and other status offenses) is now 10.

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Lumbee Culture Team presents culture at Naval Sea System Command

WASHINGTON D.C. — The Lumbee Tribe had the opportunity to share Lumbee Culture with employees and Naval officers from the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Washington, D.C.

The Lumbee Tribe Culture Team provided a rare presentation in celebration of Native American and Alaskan Native Month as an opportunity to educate people about the Lumbee Tribe’s heritage and culture. The program was hosted by NAVSEA at the Washington Navy Yard.

The historic event was coordinated by Lumbee Tribal member Robert D. Deese Jr., Deputy Command information officer, Program Executive Office SHIPS, who leads the Native American Indian and Alaskan Native Employee Resource Group in collaboration with the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity.

The Lumbee delegation was comprised of Lumbee Tribal dancers, singers and Miss Lumbee 2019-22 Taylor Brooke Locklear. The Culture Team presented a variety of dances and songs, ranging from a War Dance to a Prayer and Honor Song. Through their performance of each dance and song, the team was able to showcase the Lumbee Tribe, its beliefs, clothing, as well as the history and significance for each dance and song.

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County tracking Omicron; not yet increasing COVID-19 precautions

ROCKINGHAM — With concern over the Omicron variant brewing, Richmond County leadership does not currently have any plans to implement COVID-19 precautions at the level they did last year.

County Manager Bryan Land said he and Health Director Cheryl Speight have been on daily calls to stay up to date on the latest information regarding the virus and its variants. So far, the county has only canceled its annual staff Christmas dinner due to the risk of spreading COVID-19, and will instead hold smaller gatherings within each department.

“Currently we don’t have any plans in place to revert back to previous precautionary measures, however, that could change if the outlook worsens,” Land said in an email Thursday.

From Champion Media reports