Hamlet — Students in the Welding Technology program at Richmond Community College finished out the spring semester with a friendly competition to see who was the best welder in their class.

ROCKINGHAM — Mayor Steve Morris said during the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce's ribbon cutting for Advanced Machine Services on Friday that the city received some ridicule when leaders decided to buy land towards the Cordova area to begin an industrial park.

However, he said they knew that the topography was better than it looked on paper, and 10 years later, AMS is one of the newer businesses there reaping the benefits.