LINCOLN COUNTY - This week kids will have a chance to join Kris Kringle's wife for story time! 

The Lincoln County Public Library will hold “Story Time with Mrs. Claus” from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Florence S. Shanklin Branch Library and 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Charles R. Jonas Library, 306 W. Main St., Lincolnton.

For more information, call (704) 735-8044.

Procrastinators rejoice - there is some last minute help getting those Christmas gifts where they need to go.... for free!

If you are a last minute shopper who loves the convenience of ordering online, the Better Business Bureau wants you to mark December 17 on your calendar!

December 17 is National Free Shipping Day and more than 1,000 retailers are planning to participate.

By Jeff Rivenbark - email

LINCOLN COUNTY, NC (WBTV) - Five agencies were called to help rescue a horse that was stranded in a swimming pool in Lincoln County Friday afternoon.

Firefighters with the South Fork Volunteer Fire Department, Lincolnton Fire Department and East Lincoln Fire Department were called to rescue the female horse around 12:30 p.m.  Lincoln County Animal Control and Lincoln County EMS also responded to the scene.

Jon Dellinger was working at Laboratory Mill when he heard a commotion and discovered a horse was in a swimming pool at a house along the 2800 block of Laboratory Road.

"The horse was swimming under the tarp when we first arrived," Phillip Connor, a firefighter with the South Fork Volunteer Fire Department.  "We had to take the tarp off of the pool to get to the horse."