Dunn is the most populous city of Harnett County, North Carolina, United States.

[5] Originally called "Lucknow", what would become present-day Dunn was a sleepy hamlet compared to Averasborough, a much larger city on the Cape Fear River.

The city of Dunn was incorporated on February 12, 1887, at which time it was a logging town and a turpentine distilling center.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Dunn has a total area of 7.0 square miles (18.1 km2), all land.

Dunn is also home to private religious schools, including Dream Big Christian Academy, Calvary Christian Academy, Heritage Bible College, and Foundations Bible College and Theological Seminary.

In December 1983, following one week of testimony and 15 minutes of deliberation, the jury found for the defendants, and the plaintiff's subsequent appeal was ultimately rejected two years later by the Supreme Court of North Carolina.

The trial was chronicled by psychologist Irwin Hyman, who was a witness for the plaintiff, in his 1990 book, Reading, Writing and the Hickory Stick.

She stated that the county medical examiner who treated her for bruises and external hemorrhaging in the days after she was paddled filed a child abuse charge against Varney (a fact that was not allowed to be presented at trial), but that "there is no agency that can investigate a charge of child abuse against a public school teacher."

When asked if she believed schools had the right to administer corporal punishment to students," Mrs. Gaspersohn replied, "I used to think that they had that right, but after experiencing the trauma that it can create, I have changed my mind completely about it.

"[16] Shelly Gaspersohn also called for the abolition of school paddling in a guest column for USA Today, published October 23, 1984.