Top stories of 2015
By From staff reports
Published in News on December 30, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Kenneth Stancil flips a table over in the Wayne County Courthouse during his arraignment for the murder of Ron Lane in April.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Congressman Walter Jones Jr. was among several distinguished speakers, including Gov. Pat McCrory, during the dedication of the Eastern Carolina State Veterans Cemetery on Nov. 10. More than 200 people attended the ceremony to pay tribute to Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, a U.S. Army Special Operations Command soldier who was killed in Iraq on Oct. 22.
JANUARY
* Jan. 15 - A meth lab was found in local hotel room and four people were charged after the lab was discovered in Room 218 of the Irish Inn at 1104 Sunburst Drive.
* Jan. 18 - Officers with the Goldsboro Police Department speak out about problems facing the police department and its staff.
FEBRUARY
* Feb. 1 - Goldsboro begins implementing a child feeding program in an effort to reduce the number of hungry children in the city. When the program took place throughout the summer of 2015, thousands of children were fed that would have otherwise gone hungry.
* Feb. 8 - After having the head of the Wayne County Special Olympics retire, Special Olympians plow ahead to compete in a national bowling tournament in Nevada despite the city and the county failing to replace the head of the Special Olympics by the time of the competition.
* Feb. 17 - The Goldsboro City Council votes to buy the Goldsboro Country Club in order to renovate and reopen it as an area for meeting space, weddings and other special events.
MARCH
* March 8 - The city and county enter into an agreement to build a new Agriculture and Convention Center near Wayne Community College that will be funded by the hotel occupancy tax paid by tourists.
* March 10 - Former Goldsboro Police Department captain, Chad Calloway, is acquitted on charges of sexual assault against his stepdaughter following a weeklong trial.
APRIL
* April 13 - Kenneth Morgan Stancil III allegedly shoots and kills Ron Lane on the campus of Wayne Community College and flees. The campus is locked down and a manhunt commences him.
* April 14 - Kenneth Morgan Stancil III is found sleeping on a beach in Daytona Beach, Fla., and extradited to Wayne County to stand trial.
MAY
* May 17 - Seymour Johnson Air Force Base draws a crowd of 160,000 for its Wings Over Wayne Air show, giving a serious boost to Goldsboro's economy.
* May 17 - Relay for Life event sees cancer survivors and supporters come together to raise awareness about researching a way to eradicate cancer.
* May 25 - Long-time politician John H. Kerr III dies, leaving a lasting legacy for his two decades of service upon his passing at 79 years old.
JUNE
* June 8 - The city rolls out new automated garbage trucks, designed to improve the efficiency of its garbage collection system.
* June 28 - Berris Sweeney relinquishes control of his martial arts studio after eight years and leaves an indelible impact on those he worked with.
* June 28 - The community speaks out on whether or not the Confederate flag should be removed from the governmental buildings it flies over following an act of racial and domestic terrorism that saw Dylan Storm Roof shoot and kill nine members of a historically black church in Charleston, S.C.
* June 30 - Judge Tim Finan dies suddenly of a heart attack, leaving the community and his family in shock.
JULY
* July 8 - Candidates begin filing for local municipal elections, including the battle to be Goldsboro's next mayor after Mayor Al King announces he will not be seeking re-election.
* July 16 - Local strip club Sid's Showgirls is investigated by the state ABC commission for having a history of violence.
AUGUST
* Aug. 2 - The Goldsboro Housing Authority purchased the Walnut Street School Apartments at 508 E. Walnut St. for $730,000, evicting all of the residents while claiming the apartments needed to be renovated and telling the evicted they had until Aug. 31 to relocate, displacing hundreds.
* Aug. 5 - Aycock Ford Tractor on U.S. 117 South is destroyed by an eight-alarm fire, Fire Department says it is the biggest fire in Goldsboro since the Paramount Theatre burned in 2005.
* Aug. 13 - Construction begins on the city's long-awaited new W.A. Foster Center in Mina Weil Park.
* Aug. 28 - Ed's Southern Food and Spirits on Center Street announces it will be expanding into the historic Goldsboro Pharmacy.
SEPTEMBER
* Sept. 9 - The Goldsboro City Council votes to change the name of the Goldsboro Country Club to the Goldsboro Events Center following its purchase and ongoing renovation.
* Sept. 15 - The Wayne County School Board votes to ban the ability to Skype in to school board meetings following a controversy with member Dwight Cannon, who consistently Skyped into meetings from New Jersey.
* Sept. 20 - The Goldsboro Police Department partners with multiple state law enforcement agencies to conduct a sting that saw 27 people arrested and 136 charged over the course of a weekend long operation.
OCTOBER
* Oct. 1 - The Wayne County Regional Agricultural Fair presses on in the face of Hurricane Joaquin, seeing low attendance with one record-breaking day when the sun came out.
* Oct. 6 - Following a year and a half long renovation, the city's F-86H Sabre Fighter Jet is relocated downtown and mounted behind the traffic circle on East Ash Street.
* Oct. 7 - Goldsboro's primary election sees candidate Tondalayo Clark knocked out of the race for the District 4 seat on the City Council by two votes, and sees Chuck Allen and Myelle Thompson pull ahead to be the final two candidates for Goldsboro's mayoral race.
* Oct. 19 - District 4 Goldsboro City Council candidate Bevan foster, who won the primary election for his district, failed to disclose all four felony convictions he had on his record for the possession or sale of cocaine.
NOVEMBER
* Nov. 3 - The city cuts the ribbon for its 15 month-long, $15 million Streetscape project that saw downtown be completely renovated with modern art, a new fountain, new streets, new utilities and more.
* Nov. 4 - Chuck Allen is elected as Goldsboro's new mayor following the Nov. 3 general election that saw four new members elected to the Goldsboro City council.
* Nov. 4 - Superior Court Judge Arnold Jones is indicted on three separate charges relating to attempting to exchange $100 and a case of beer for a Federal Bureau of Investigations agent retrieving text messages from two cell phone numbers Jones provided the agent.
DECEMBER
* Dec. 2 - County Commissioner Joe Daughtery is elected as chairman of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners after being nominated for the position by John Bell.
* Dec. 2 - 4th Fighter Wing Commander Col. Mark Slocum is nominated by President Barack Obama for the position of an Air Force Brigadier General.
* Dec. 8 - The newly elected Goldsboro City Council is sworn into office. Antonio Williams is sworn in to the District 1 seat; Bill Broadaway is sworn in to the District 2 seat after being re-elected; Mark Stevens is sworn in to the District 3 seat; Bevan Foster is sworn in to the District 4 seat; David Ham is sworn in to the District 5 seat; Gene Aycock is sworn in to the District 6 seat after being re-elected; and Chuck Allen is sworn in as goldsboro's new mayor after serving for many years on the City Council as the District 5 City Council member.
* Dec. 8 - The United States Navy Blue Angels Demonstration Team announces they have been scheduled to perform at the 2017 Wings Over Wayne Air Show