Hope Shows Up on Branch Street: Rocky Mount NC

I watch a lot of the videos of lawn clean-ups and repost some on my Main Street Facebook page. With the right equipment, one or more people find a neglected, overgrown yard and offer, for free, to reclaim the property. The results are always remarkable. In a matter of hours the transformation lifts more than … Continue reading Hope Shows Up on Branch Street: Rocky Mount NC →

Sherlock Holmes Would Say, The Game Is Afoot in Rocky Mount

I’m addicted to well written mysteries. My mother was a Sherlock Holmes buff. I regret that I didn’t begin reading them until after she was gone. It would have been fun to compare notes. I’m thinking of her as I write about Holmes. Sherlock Holmes was created by the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes … Continue reading Sherlock Holmes Would Say, The Game Is Afoot in Rocky Mount →

Hope Arrives Early: A New Season of Candidates for City Council

As of March 1, something hopeful is taking shape in Rocky Mount. Ward 1 and Ward 2, both represented by longtime Councilmen, André Knight in Ward 1 and Reuben Blackwell in Ward 2, are no longer “foregone conclusion” seats. Brian Lapine and Mark Williams have already declared their intent to run against these incumbents, Lapine … Continue reading Hope Arrives Early: A New Season of Candidates for City Council →

Changing How We Vote: 1985 Was a 42 Percent Minority City. 2026 That Minority Has Changed To a 62 Percent Majority.

When Rocky Mount moved from at-large elections to ward-based voting in 1985, the city looked very different. In 1980, Rocky Mount’s total population was 41,283. At that time, Black residents made up just over 42 percent of the population. The shift to seven single-member wards came in that context, when Black citizens were a large … Continue reading Changing How We Vote: 1985 Was a 42 Percent Minority City. 2026 That Minority Has Changed To a 62 Percent Majority. →