Michael Ellsworth believes his Kinston baseball team is a handful of hits away from having more wins than losses.

Against Farmville Central the Vikings couldn’t get them when needed most.

Dylan Moore’s two-out single tied it in the sixth inning and Zach Peters’ base hit put the Jaguars ahead for good in the seventh in a 4-3 win where Kinston had the winning run on with no outs in the final inning Thursday and couldn’t capitalize.

The loss dropped Kinston to 4-11 overall and 0-7 in its final season as a member of the Eastern Plains 2A Conference.

“I think we’re going in the right direction. I know I keep saying it over and over, but every game’s been like this all year,” Ellsworth said. “A hit here and there and we’re above .500.”

Damien Williams worked a full-count walk to start the home-half of the seventh at Grainger Stadium and Robert Blake followed by beating out a bunt down the first-base line to put the Vikings in good position.

Ellsworth called for VeQuain Joyner to move the runners over, but his bunt didn’t get as far down the third-base line as he had hoped and Williams was forced out at third for the first out.

Still, Kinston had runners and first and second for Taishu McLawhorn, who successfully sacrificed them over. With the tying run at third and the winning run at second, Farmville Central starter Ricky Hamill made pitch No. 125 count the most as he retired Ryan Harrell swinging to end the game and the threat.

“It’s baseball, and unfortunately it kind of goes that way,” Ellsworth said, “but I’m so proud of them because they’ve improved and they keep coming and fighting.”

Harrell’s strikeout was a low point to an otherwise solid day both at and behind the plate.

The junior catcher’s two-run double to the gap in left-center in the fifth gave Kinston a 3-2 lead, albeit briefly. He also added a single in the second and kept plenty of pitches in front of him that were in the dirt.

Moore’s game-tying infield single in the sixth was Farmville Central’s third hit of the frame off reliever Will Deters. He yielded a lead-off double to pinch hitter Jeremi White, then Jake Ashorn and Moore had back-to-back two-out hits, neither of which left the infield.

In the seventh Alex Strickland singled and scored when Peters found a hole up the middle.

There weren’t a whole lot of productive hits in this one — Kinston went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position and the Jaguars were 5-for-15 — but Farmville Central (8-8, 4-2) got them when needed most.

“There’s more positives than negatives, but sometimes it just doesn’t bounce your way,” Ellsworth said.

Sam McLawhorn had an RBI single in the fourth to score Kinston’s first run and cut the Jaguars’ lead to 2-1. They tagged starter Taishu McLawhorn for two runs in the third, both off the bat of Matt Riggs, whose two-run double made it 2-0.

Deters relieved McLawhorn after 2 1/3 innings, and stood to get the win until Farmville Central rallied.

The junior right-hander gave up two earned runs on eight hits and struck out four in 4 2/3 innings of work.

Robert Blake went 3-for-4 and Deters and Harrell had two hits each for Kinston, which couldn’t figure out Hamill. The right-hander struck out 12 in the complete-game win.

“It’s not always going to bounce your way, but if you give it everything you’ve got and you’re in the game, that’s all you can do,” Ellsworth said. “We will get a conference win. If we don’t, it will surprise me big time. Every game’s been like this. It just hasn’t bounced our way yet.

“Yet.”

Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.

Farmville Central             002         001         1—4       12           0

Kinston                               000         120         0—3       10           1

Hamill and Peters; T. McLawhorn, Deters (3) and Harrell. W—Hamill. L—Deters. 

On this week's show, Bryan Hanks and Jon Dawson are joined by new Lenoir County Sheriff Chris Hill, who talks about his venerable predecessor, changes in law enforcement over the past 30 years and his own future. Bryan and Jon also get a visit from the legendary Paulette Burroughs and share their weekly iPod shuffles.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW

An 18-wheeler, owned by Covenant Transport, is blocking two lanes of traffic at the intersection of Queen and Vernon after it struck a utility pole early Friday afternoon. Sgt. Craig Jarman of the Kinston Department of Public Safety, pictured, was among the officers responding to the incident, which knocked out power and traffic signals for a few intersections. The incident closed the intersection; it is not expected to be reopened for six to eight hours.

The following decisions were reached in Lenoir County superior court in March, 2013:

CLICK HERE  to view  to view a PDF document that includes photos of inmates processed at Lenoir County jail this week. To access previous entries, click on the "MUGSHOTS" tab in the crime section on this page (NOTE: This section is still under construction. Typing "mugshots" into the search box at the top of the page will also produce previous collections of mugshots.)

The following arrests were reported by the Greene County Sheriff's Office:

“We had a good worship service this morning,” one lady said to another as they left the church. While this is a great sentiment and the preacher loves to hear such comments, we have to ask how much it has to do with worship.

If we define “worship” as a show that has religious content, we are far from its meaning. Christian entertainment is wonderful and can lead to worship, but it is not worship itself. In fact, if someone else has to do it for you, it can never be considered worship. While I do not wish to denigrate anything else, worship is personal and can be tremendously meaningful once discovered.

The word translated “worship” in the New Testament is proskuneo. I like the definition found in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: “to prostrate oneself in homage, to adore.” As an example of how the word might be used, this example is cited: “to kiss, like a dog licking the hand of the master.” I have heard worship described as “declaring the worth-ship of God.” This is not wrong but incomplete. It contains none of the humility or love that the New Testament word imagines. 

Probably the best passage to illustrate this comes from Psalm 123. “To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God until He has mercy on us.” (NRSV)

No one can adore God for you. Our order of worship on Sunday morning can lead to worship (or not) but cannot worship God for you. Neither can anyone trust Him or lean on Him for you.

Now let us add to the equation. Our God is a big God. But just how big He might be is beyond our ability to fathom.

Paul gives us an uncanny illustration in Ephesians 3:20-21 that may help. To paraphrase: Our God can abundantly answer far more than we can ask, but He can also abundantly answer more than we can imagine asking. This seems to be a contradiction in terms. But has He ever provided for you in ways that you could not have even have imagined, even a few months earlier?

A college friend celebrated 25 years of ordination this past year. He made the statement that his life had been good but also filled with unexpected twists and turns. Most of us, with some years under our belt, feel that way. We had life planned but it just didn’t work out that way.

Jesus knows what we need long before we know to ask. Our worship and our trust in Him are even more important than the “asking” portion of our prayers. How often have we gotten what we wanted but soon discovered it was not what we needed? Our God is big enough to lead us in a right direction.

Because of the twists and turns, and for other reasons, there are times we need to trust Him, and a life of worship can be seen as our greatest asset. There are times we have to lean on Him.

The Rev. Randy Spaugh is pastor of Faith Fellowship Church in Kinston. Reach him at drrandyspaugh@gmail.com.

A teenager was pronounced dead at the scene of a double shooting near Washington Avenue and East Street late Friday afternoon.

Jahad Moore, 18, was killed after suffering a gunshot wound to the head, while Jacoby Riddick, 24, was shot in the leg and transported to Vidant Medical Center after initially being taken to Lenoir Memorial Hospital.

The shooter or shooters are still on the loose, said officials from the Kinston Department of Public Safety, although two men were detained for questioning by the agency.

Police responded to the incident two blocks behind Fire Station 1 around 5:30 p.m. Dozens of onlookers were on the scene, including the relatives of the deceased.

“All (the police) are saying is that he got shot in the head,” said Moore’s sister, Shanirah Carriere, 29.

KDPS Director Bill Johnson said there were two men detained for questioning, but that they weren’t officially considered as suspects.

“We are still working and searching the area (and) neighborhood to see if we can determine the suspects,” KDPS Director Bill Johnson said.

Bystanders surrounded the little field where the shooting took place, many shaking their heads in disbelief. Cars drove by slowly to get a glimpse at the blood-stained sheet covering the victim’s body before he was loaded on a gurney, mouthing their shock as they rode by.

“It’s senseless, it’s really senseless,” said a woman who identified herself as one of the Moore’s relatives. “He was my second cousin. Honestly, I don’t know what happened; I just got a phone call. I think it’s gang-related. The other little boy that was with him that got shot, I know for a fact he just got shot at two days ago.

“I feel like my cousin was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Johnson said the police will continue searching the neighborhood — house by house, if needed — until they can nail down a suspect.

Witnesses said after the shooting they saw two people in black hooded sweatshirts flee.

“We heard shots and everybody started running,” said a man who asked not to be named in this story. He said he was on the scene shortly after the shooting. “Everybody just stood there and looked.”

While a shooter or shooters were still on the loose, many people, some crying, continued to pry for answers from the authorities.

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.

Elementary school students across Lenoir County rallied at Teachers Memorial School Friday for a competition strategically centered on academic warfare.

They call it: Elementary Battle of the Books.

A team from each local elementary school faced off in nine rounds of the question-based contest in Teachers Memorial classrooms.

“The biggest thing is that it motivates students to read,” said Charles White, EBOB coordinator. “You don’t have to be a super, super reader in order to participate. … All you have to have is a love for reading, and that’s really what’s it’s all about.”

North Carolina Schools Library Association sponsored the statewide initiative, choosing 14 additional books for the fourth and fifth grade students. Reading lists were distributed to teachers this summer, and most teams were chosen by January.

Melanie McCoy, EBOB coach of Northeast Elementary School, said her group began in September and withered down to a group of four based on participation and behavior.  

“As long as they have a good time, that’s all that matters,” McCoy said. “I really wish we had a bigger group to take some of the pressure off of them.”

Twelve is the team maximum, but White said there are usually between six and 12 players in each group.

Because the elementary schools started its version of Battle of the Books only five years ago — the middle schools host the original — there is only a district-level contest.

White said students who participated in the elementary school BOB have been players on middle school teams.

“That motivation is there, win or lose,” he said. “They have such a good time when they’re out here.”

Souvik Roychowdhury, 10, sat with his Northwest Elementary School team Friday after competing in Round 8 of the competition.

“It’s good (and) lots of fun,” he said. “So far, we’re doing not bad at all.”

The fifth grader added, “I believe my favorite book would be ‘Blood on the River in Jamestown,’ 1607 by Elisa Carbone.”

Michayla Dove, a 10 year-old Northeast student, said her favorite book was “Found,” because it was about a young orphan searching for his biological parents.

“I got to read interesting books that I really liked,” she said. “I was happy about (Battle of the Books).”

Dove said the competition challenged her level of reading, making her and the team work harder for what she hoped would be first or second place results.

“They’re always excited,” said Ryan Gardner, a third-year moderator and South Lenoir High School teacher. “It’s very refreshing as a high school teacher to see how excited these kids are about learning and showing what they’ve learned.”

He said the judges can always tell what the favorite book in the bunch was when all students eagerly want to answer the question about it.

Aside from the competitive spirit the EBOB warrants, parents and teachers in attendance said student reading will improve as a result.

“It helps them have a better comprehension when they read,” said Stephanie Jarman, mother of Southwood Elementary School student Cassidy Jarman, 11. “Otherwise, I don’t think they would read as many books.”

Cassidy’s father, John Jarman, said her reading has progressed since she tackled 14 additional books this school year.

Northeast reading teacher LaToyha Polk said reading scores should increase drastically this year.

“I feel like the competition is very beneficial to the fluency and development of reading,” said Polk, who attended her first EBOB Friday. “The students are getting to use their interpersonal skills. I think it’s a good competition.”

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.

2013 Elementary Battle of the Books Winners:

La Grange — 119 points

Banks            — 113 points

Southwood — 107 points

Pink Hill — 104 points

Northwest — 99 points

These first hot days of the year conjure up bushel baskets of memories, most especially of years at Chapel Hill. I lived “Animal House” days, ’59 to ’63.

When the weather turned toward southern summer, the first order of business was to get color back on our pasty-white bodies. That hasn’t changed.

Yesterday I saw my shining legs in the mirror. Before I can wear shorts I’ll probably need a permit from the sheriff. I don’t want to go “to the terror of the public.”

Back then we used stuff from Johnson & Johnson. Conventional wisdom was to mix iodine with baby oil and slather in it. Too much iodine and we came out looking like participants in Rust-Oleum commercials.

Spring brought cherry blossoms and beach music. To say Atlantic Beach “beckoned” me is a gross understatement. It screamed!

As a freshman I couldn’t have my car on campus so I often flew home. The round-trip fare from Raleigh-Durham to New Bern was $23.99.

I remember the exact cost because I got to spend almost exactly 24 hours home. At a buck an hour it was a huge bargain, although Dad and Mom probably questioned my value system. I’m surprised they thought I had one of those.

But any port in a storm, so there were other party options closer than the beach. Right down the road in Raleigh, Jim Thornton’s Dancehall was known for having great entertainments.

The little town of Faison attracted students from all over to their weekly shindigs held in a pickle factory. “Hattie and the Blue Notes” were my favorite headliners. It cost a dollar for the night, and the admission on my hand saying “DILL” took a few days to disappear. They used very good ink.

Durham had a very cool place under a street. In homage to Duke’s law school it was called the “Null & Void.” It was always packed. I think their motto was, “If it’s wide enough for 100 people, it’s deep enough for 200.”

I pledged a real “Animal House.” My fraternity was the only one I could afford but turned out to be an absolute blast.

Our house was old and rickety. When we had parties the floors would often sag. I became pretty expert at moving car jacks around for instant repairs while a band and dancers thumped above my head.

In later years I realized the thing could’ve collapsed on me in a heartbeat, but at the time it didn’t enter my mind. Again ahead of my time, I was one of the original “Expendables.”

Every now and then, right out of the blue, the term “road trip” might find its way into our conversations and we’d take off, sometimes to Atlantic Beach. Going through Havelock, I’d hide in the “crash position” until we cleared the town.

I vainly tried to be careful to little avail. Without cell phones, Twitter or an Internet, bad news about me seemed to travel home with lightning speed. Freaky.

Otis Gardner’s column appears here weekly. He can be reached at ogardner@embarqmail.com.

By the time Debby Guthrie gained legal custody of her grandson, she’d already been in jail for abducting the child.

Guthrie, a local advocate for military veterans who runs the nonprofit Veterans Challenge at the Vernon Park Mall, her daughter Charity Hilderbrand Smith and Lansing Raymond Allen were arrested in the early morning hours Thursday in Washington, N.C. Local police detained the three suspects until detectives with the Kinston Department of Public Safety could show up on the scene.

“The victim reported her mother and her sister kept her son and didn’t return him — her 3-year-old son,” KDPS Cmdr. Jennifer Canady said. “He was supposed to stay the night, and after the day had passed, she tried to make contact to take back possession of her child. She could not make contact.”

The child fell out of a second-floor window at an apartment at The Willows apartment complex earlier in the week, suffering injuries to the head and neck. Guthrie said she, with his mother’s consent, let him stay with her after hospital staff released him.

Believing the child to have suffered from neglect, Guthrie said she filed a complaint with Lenoir County Department of Social Services and had a document drawn up to place the boy in her legal custody. Guthrie said her attorney told her a judge wasn’t able to see and sign off on the request until Thursday morning.

By then, she — along with Smith and Allen — was already charged with a felony. The trio was charged with one felony count each of child abduction and jailed under $50,000 bonds.

“We’re in jail, we’re facing five years in prison, handcuffed, shackles, the whole fun stuff,” Guthrie said. “The whole processing thing, that’s not fun. Locked up, the whole bit. Then as we sit down in the courtroom, the attorney’s there. He said, ‘I’ve got it. Signed it this morning, 9 o’clock.’ ”

Guthrie said Lenoir County District Court Judge Brian DeSoto told her since she was charged with a felony she could not take custody of the child, and rescinded the order. However, Guthrie, Smith and Allen had their $50,000 bonds waived and were released from jail.

The child was placed back into custody of his mother and father.

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.

Chad Murphy gave Greene Central the lead with a two-run single in the sixth inning and James Head added some insurance with a home run in the seventh as the Rams downed host Wilson Beddingfield, 10-8, in baseball on Friday night.

Murphy’s base hit gave Greene Central an 8-7 lead, then Head’s two-run blast made it 10-7 before the Bruins’ rally in the seventh fell short.

Beddingfield led 6-0 in the third inning, but the Rams took advantage of three Bruins errors in the fifth and the first of two two-run hits from Murphy in climb back in.

Greene Central trailed 7-4 heading into the sixth but rallied with four runs to take the lead for good.

Murphy went 3-for-4 and Head was 2-for-3. Mason Head went 2-for-4.

Austin Mooring earned the win. He gave up two runs on six hits, walked one and struck out six in five innings. Ben Brann came on in the seventh for the save.

The Rams (7-7, 5-2 Eastern Plains 2A) travel to Tarboro on Tuesday.

SOUTH LENOIR 7, RICHLANDS 3: At South Lenoir, the Blue Devils had only three hits but benefited from seven walks in the win on Thursday.

Grant Tyndall went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Garrett Holland drove in three runs and had the other Blue Devils hit. Will Graves reached base three times and score three runs for South Lenoir (7-7, 4-4 East Central 2A Conference), which won for the second straight game.

Richlands (10-5-1, 4-3) led 3-2 going into the bottom of the fifth until the Blue Devils broke it open by scoring three runs.

Wyatt Janning earned the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Garrett Holland pitched a scoreless seventh.

Ethan Horne was saddled with the loss for the Wildcats.

BETHEL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 11, GOLDSBORO FAITH CHRISTIAN 0 5 INN.: At Goldsboro, the Trojans picked up a non-conference win.

Alex Hardison went 2-for-4 with a double and scored three runs and eight other Bethel players recorded a hit. Tyler Antwine earned the win with three scoreless innings and five strikeouts.

The Trojans (7-6) travel to Fayetteville Baptist Academy on Monday.

SOFTBALL

KINSTON, SL GAMES POSTPONED: Kinston’s home softball game scheduled with Farmville Central and South Lenoir’s home softball game against Richlands were postponed on Friday due to rain.

Make-up dates for the conference games have not yet been determined.

GIRLS SOCCER

PARROTT ACADEMY 1, ROCKY MOUNT ACADEMY 0: At Parrott, the Patriots earned an EPIC win.

Campbell Huddle scored Parrott’s lone goal in the first half on an assist from Langley Mills, and the Patriots held on from there. Keeper Anna Sale had her second shutout in goal.

The Patriots (7-3-1, 6-1-1) host Raleigh St. David’s School on Tuesday.

TRACK AND FIELD

SL BOYS FINISH THIRD: At Croatan, the Blue Devils finished third in a four-team East Central 2A Conference meet. Jacksonville Northside won with a 90 followed by Croatan (74.5), SL (54) and Topsail (36.5).

Top three finishers for South Lenoir were: Wayne Hall, second place, discus, 101-feet; Tanner Dixon, third place, discus, 97-feet, 2-inches; Gavin Hill, second place, 110-meter hurdles, 19.25 seconds; Mason Zeagler, first place, 1,600-meter run, 5:03, first place, 3,200-meter run, 10:57; Ivan Covarrubias, third place, 1,600-meter run, 5:28; Hunter Bryan, second place, 400-meter dash, 54.44; 3,200-meter relay team, second place, 9:16; 1,600-meter relay team, second place, 3:57.

Stony Wine can’t wait until next month’s Region X tournament.

He’s that excited about where his Lenoir Community College baseball team is headed.

The Lancers (24-9, 11-6) left campus early this morning for Danville, Va., for a key Division II Region X series with Danville C.C. to hopefully keep themselves in the top-half of a tight league race.

LCC, which has won four in a row, has blossomed into a team that is doing the little things and has done so at just the right time.

Refining the little things — mentally — was something Wine had hoped would progress and it has.

“We’re playing well and are developing some consistency,” Wine said. “We’re playing more consistently now. That mental approach? We’re starting to get that solidified.”

The Lancers’ success has been an equal mix of pitching, hitting and defense.

LCC has a staff ERA of 3.82, and leading the way has been starter Troy Jones, a left-hander from Virginia who’s 3-1 with a 2.28 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings.

Wine said that South Lenoir product and southpaw reliever Jonathan Hardison has come one of late. He’s 1-0 with a 0.81 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings.

While there have been a few injuries, this year’s staff has stayed healthy for the most part, unlike last season.

“He’s done really well for us, especially in his last few outings,” Wine said of Hardison. “In all our pitching has been really good and came through when we needed it.”

North Lenoir product Chastin Radford leads the team in plate appearances (111), average (.396), on-base percentage (.496) and RBIs (25). Jones Senior product Kyle Smith is third on the team with a .368 average and leads it with two home runs. Greene Central product Trent Murray is third in on-base percentage (.461) and leads the Lancers with 12 hit by pitches.

“We’re rolling, and we’re starting to get consistent,” Wine said.

This year’s team is a vast improvement from last year’s when it comes to fielding the baseball. It currently has a fielding percentage of .954.

“This is a pretty good defensive team,” said Wine, who will be inducted into the Barton College Sports Hall of Fame in October.

“The bottom line is, we’ve got good kids now. And if we can keep our nose clean, we can make a run at it.”

After this weekend’s series at Danville, the Lancers will be back at Lancer Field for their next two Region X series before wrapping up the regular season at College of the Albemarle May 4-5.

Wine’s team is playing at a high level now, but he knows it’s going to have to continue to do so so it can achieve its ultimate goal of winning the Region X tournament and advancing to the junior college world series.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re first, or second or third — or seventh — when it comes to the tournament because all you have to do is win it,” he said. “We’ve got to play every game from here on out.

“I’m looking to try and play good in the tournament, and that’s what matters.”

Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports. 

Vanessa Tovar Burge and John Dixon Soffe Jr., both of Raleigh, were united in marriage at 4 p.m. April 6, 2013, at Unity Church of the Triangle in Raleigh. The Rev. Anthony Braswell performed the ceremony.

Escorted by her father and given in marriage by her parents, the bride is the daughter of Wally and Alma Burge of Kinston. She is the granddaughter of Cam and Lala Burge of Mt. Airy.

A graduate of N.C. State University with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and a Bachelor of Arts in international studies, she is in sales administration with LENOVO.

The groom is the son of John and Nancy Soffe of Fayetteville. He is the grandson of Dorothy McAllister of Pinehurst.

A graduate of UNC with a B.A. in business administration, he is a regional credit analyst with First Citizens Bank.

The bride’s cousin, Karla Tovar Aguilar of Live Oak, Calif., was maid of honor.

The groom’s father served as his son’s best man.

Following a wedding trip to Cancun, Mexico, the couple will reside in Raleigh.

Erin Brooke Jones and David Tyler Williams, both of Seven Springs, were united in marriage at 5 p.m. April 13, 2013, at First Baptist Church in Kinston. The Rev. Dave Fishman was the officiating minister.

Escorted by her father and given in marriage by her family, the bride is the daughter of Angie Melton of Seven Springs and Carl Jones of Kinston. She is the granddaughter of Jean Jones of Seven Springs and the late Jimmy Jones, and Charlotte Jones of Kinston and the late Floyd Jones.

After graduation in May from ECU with a Bachelor of Science in nursing, the bride will work at Vidant Medical Center as a registered nurse in the oncology department.

The groom is the son of David O. Williams Jr. of Deep Run and the late Lesa Williams. He is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. David O. Williams Sr. of Pink Hill, and Mr. and Mrs. Don Goodwin of Columbia Crossroads, Pa.

He is an operator with Neuse Regional Water and Sewer Authority.

Following a wedding cruise to the Bahamas, the couple will reside in Seven Springs.

Matron of honor was the bride’s aunt, Gena Jones of Seven Springs.

Maid of honor was Laurin Novitsky of Pink Hill.

Bridesmaids included Elizabeth Taylor of Greenville, Allison Howard of Deep Run, Courtney Wood and Casey Lee of Kinston, and Megan Miller of Pink Hill. The bride’s cousin, Macy Sanderson of Kinston, was a junior bridesmaid.

Jaelyn Burkett of Dover, cousin of the bride, was flower girl.

Briley Taylor of Deep Run served as best man.

Groomsmen were the groom’s father, David O. Williams Jr. of Deep Run; the bride’s brother, Adam Jones of Seven Springs; Justin Stroud, Josh Garner and Shawn Sumner, all of Kinston; Mark Rouse of Deep Run; and Michael Boyette of Pink Hill.

Jacob Burkett of Dover, the bride’s cousin, was ring bearer.

Wedding music was provided by Jacob Mewborn, organist, and Charlotte Jones, pianist.

The wedding was directed by Mia Heath and Mellany Davis.

Register and program attendants were the bride’s cousins, Allyson Heath and Meredith Sanderson, respectively.

Reception/parties

Following the ceremony, a reception was hosted by the bride’s parents at Walnut Creek Country Club.

On Oct. 14, a bridal shower was given by Michele Waller and family of the bride at Southwood Memorial Christian Church.

On Feb. 2, a honey-do party was given by Pat Smith and Kim Rouse at the Smith home.

On Feb. 16, a lawn and garden party given by the family of the bride was held at the home of Jimmy and Diane Lynch.

On March 23, a bridesmaids’ luncheon was given by Jolly Barnes, Gena Jones and Virginia Ann Sutton at the Barnes home.

On April 12, a rehearsal dinner was given by the groom’s family at the Deep Run Volunteer Fire Department.

John David Tilghman Jr. and Susan Tilghman of Kinston announce the engagement of their daughter, Kristie Lyne Tilghman, to Donald Allen Day II, son of Donald Day Sr. and Kum-Ye Day of Snow Hill. A July 20 wedding will be held at Briary Run Church in Kinston.

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jenkins of Kinston celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary March 30, 2013, at River of Life Christian Center. A dinner in their honor was given by the Crown of Glory Ministry.

The couple has nine children — Edna Sutton and Evelyn West of Charlotte, Rachel Montford of Maryland, Rebecca Forsythe and Wanda Pickens of Washington, D.C., Walter Jenkins Jr. of Florida, Seretta Jackson of Kinston, Chris Jenkins of Greenville and Emanuel Jenkins of Durham. They have 15 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Jenkins is the former Edna Strayhorn of Pollocksville. She was a stay-at-home mom and housewife.

Mr. Jenkins is a foster grandparent at Dobbs School and is retired from the shoe repair business.

The couple was married Dec. 27, 1942, in Kinston.

Mr. and Mrs. Mike Lindner of Kinston celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on April 11, 2013, with a dinner and party given by their daughter, Angela Weldin of Kinston. The couple has two grandchildren, Zachary and Jessica Weldin, both of Kinston.

Maria Lindner is retried from Hampton Shirt Company. Mike Lindner is retired from DuPont.

The couple was married April 11, 1953, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Kinston.

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jenkins of Kinston celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary March 30, 2013, at River of Life Christian Center. A dinner in their honor was given by the Crown of Glory Ministry.

The couple has nine children — Edna Sutton and Evelyn West of Charlotte, Rachel Montford of Maryland, Rebecca Forsythe and Wanda Pickens of Washington, D.C., Walter Jenkins Jr. of Florida, Seretta Jackson of Kinston, Chris Jenkins of Greenville and Emanuel Jenkins of Durham. They have 15 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Jenkins is the former Edna Strayhorn of Pollocksville. She was a stay-at-home mom and housewife.

Mr. Jenkins is a foster grandparent at Dobbs School and is retired from the shoe repair business.

The couple was married Dec. 27, 1942, in Kinston.