Front page: Beast of Bladenboro to Hurricane Matthew, Bladen County's newspaper tells stories of its corner of eastern North Carolina.

• Author: Thompson, Bill
• Position: CENTURIONS: Tar Heel businesses that have stood the test of time

The day I stopped by the office of The Bladen Journal in downtown Elizabethtown, there was a sense of urgency as people rushed around preparing for Hurricane Matthew. A newspaper office is often hectic, but when there is a warning of imminent disaster, there is an added rush to get the news out.

The Bladen Journal has been recording local events since it began publication as The Bladen Express in 1898 in Clarkton, 13 miles south of Elizabethtown. Like most community newspapers, its history includes sporadic publication, ownership changes and changing printing technology. But its purpose remains unchanged: To inform the 34,000 people of Bladen County.

What began as a daily bulletin transformed into a daily newspaper and is now published twice a week. Curt Vincent, general manager and editor, follows in the shoes of original editor J.D. Currie. Various owners and editors had different approaches, "but we still print everything, as long as it's the truth," Vincent says.

The Bladen Express became The Bladen Journal about 1911 and moved to Elizabethtown about 1927. As a native of adjoining Columbus County, I have known many of its editors and reporters. The story of The Bladen Journal is much like the stories it prints: It's full of personalities.

Probably the most notable editor was Jessie Lee Sugg McCulloch, one of the state's first woman newspaper editors. She oversaw the paper from 1929 until 1974, recording and influencing tremendous changes in her community and the South.

During her tenure, in the mid-1950s, a mysterious animal was blamed for the death of several dogs in the area. The Beast of Bladenboro remains an unsolved mystery that has sparked an annual festival.

"Folks around here look forward to getting the Journal because it is about them and their neighbors," Vincent says. "They get their national news from television mostly, but we tell them about local...