The Local Skinny! Vance Eats: Blackened Catfish From Restaurant 39

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A lot of folks love a good plate of fish or seafood. Whether it’s fried flounder or shrimp fettuccine or some other dish, seafood can be some of the most delicious food you’ll ever eat. And that includes catfish, even though it’s not from the sea.

Catfish can certainly be battered and fried, but if you’ve never tried blackened catfish, then you have missed out. On today’s Vance Eats segment of The Local Skinny! on WIZS, Trey Snide and Bill Harris had the opportunity to sample some blackened catfish from JR’s Restaurant 39. Blackened Catfish are cooked in a very hot cast iron skillet with butter, black pepper and spices. The black color comes from the burned pepper and spices.

Today’s meal was served with delicious grilled shrimp, perfectly seasoned butter beans, creamy mac and cheese plus hushpuppies but, the highlight was the highly flavorful blackened catfish. The seasoning never overpowered the fish but enhanced it. “I always eat fish with tartar sauce and ketchup but this doesn’t need it,” Harris said of the fish. “It’s delicious,” added Snide.

JR’s Restaurant 39 features daily specials and you can stop by and order the blackened catfish with two sides and see for yourself just how good it is. The restaurant is located at 946 West Andrews Ave. at Crossroads Shopping Center, and they are open Saturday through Monday from 7 to 11 a.m. and Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m.

JR’s Restaurant 39 is an advertising sponsor of WIZS, but this is not a paid ad.

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Salvation Army

TownTalk: Salvation Army Continues To Meet With Success

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Captains Derrick and Odessa Smith not only talk the talk, but they walk the walk when it comes to the local Salvation Army.

The husband-and-wife team have led the local organization for the past few years, and they’ve been instrumental during the recent move to its brand-new location at 2292 Ross Mill Road.

According to the latest annual report, the local Salvation Army served almost 15,000 people in 2020. The Smiths talked with John C. Rose on Thursday’s Town Talk about how the organization has fared during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as some of its long-range goals.

“It’s crazy to think we were able to reach that many people,” Odessa Smith said. The Henderson branch serves six counties – Vance, Granville, Franklin, Warren, Northampton and Halifax – and sometimes, they see people from outside Vance County. “Our goal would be to reach all six counties in the future,” she said, “but there is so much need in Vance County (and) we can only do what we can do.”

At the height of the pandemic, when children were not at school, Odessa Smith said more families came to get food during the popular food distribution events.

In addition, the new facility was able to quickly pivot to provide a place for parents to take their children during the day and complete their remote instruction.

“The biggest way we served people was our food box giveaways,” she said. The distribution events swelled to several times a month during 2020, but have since returned to monthly events, she added.

Derrick said between 200-300 cars regularly drive through to pick up food boxes, which contain provisions from the Food Bank of Central North Carolina in Durham as well as from local donations.

Now that children are back in school, Odessa said they are seeing fewer families and more elderly people coming to pick up food boxes.

Usually, the food box giveaways occur on the third Thursday of each month, but January’s distribution will take place Wednesday, Jan. 19, beginning at 1 p.m. Derrick recommends that people arrive as early as possible. Some people start lining up as early as 9 a.m., he said. “It is a task, at times, to keep cars out of the road,” Derrick said. “We utilize all our parking lot on those days.”

He thanked volunteers for helping make that food distribution run so smoothly, from those who come in and prepare the boxes to other individuals who help out on the day of the event. He also thanked all the individuals and groups who volunteered to ring the bell during the Christmas Kettle campaign.

The Smiths are able to walk the walk and talk the talk out in the community these days, largely because they know that the Red Shield Club and the day-to-day operations are under the capable supervision of Gina Eaves. Eaves joined as club director in May 2021.

“That’s made such a difference for us,” Odessa said. “We can go out into the community and rest assured, the club is taken care of and in good hands. She is the prime spokesperson for the Salvation Army. She believes in our mission…the Christian mission of the Salvation Army. We were so blessed to be able to bring her on, she added.

The mission of the Salvation Army is “to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.”

Derrick and Odessa say their organization is doing just that, and their efforts take many forms: from serving 75-100 children at the Red Shield Club after-school program to providing clothing vouchers for someone in need of clothing for a job interview.

“Folks are coming in for different things,” Derrick said. The community continues to be generous, he continued.

“I think it’s amazing – just when we think we don’t have the resources,” he said, something good happens.

The Salvation Army thrift store provides a revenue stream to support local programs, too. For each dollar that is spent at the store, located on Raleigh Road, 85 cents goes back into the community.

“As we are blessed, we are going to bless others in the community,” he said.

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The Local Skinny! It’s Girl Scout Cookie Time

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It’s that time of year again – Girl Scout Cookie time begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday. And NC Coastal Pines Membership Director Teresa Wimbrow says there’s something for everyone in this year’s offering.

Vance County has about 100 girls who participate in the scouting program, but Wimbrow said she is always ready to welcome new scouts, from kindergarten through high school.

Scouts will have nine varieties of cookies for sale – the old reliables like Thin Mints, peanut butter sandwich and shortbreads – but there’s a new variety out this year called Adventurefuls, which is a brownie-inspired cookie, topped with caramel crème with a hint of sea salt.

“I was sold after one,” Wimbrow told John C. Rose on Thursday’s The Local Skinny! “But I tried a few more, just to be sure.”

Visit the nccoastalpines.org to find out just where the cookie booths will be located beginning on Jan. 22. There’s a Cookies+ tab that has lots of information, from local booth locations to descriptions of all the cookies.

“We are trying to be as COVID careful as we can,” Wimbrow said, so the scouts may not be fanning out across neighborhoods and knocking on doors as much this year.

There is the option of purchasing online as well, she said.

The cookies freeze well, Wimbrow said, so you don’t have to eat them all at once. The Buy 5 program enters your name into a drawing to win Girl Scout cookies for a whole year. And then there’s Operation Cookie Drop that sends cookies to U.S. troops.

Wimbrow oversees membership for four counties – Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren – and said “the organization builds girls of courage, confidence and character.  We have so many opportunities for young girls in STEM, travel, building leaders, community service and outdoor activities.”

In addition to looking for new scouts, Wimbrow said she always welcomes new adult volunteers to join the cadre of 50 or so she already has. “I promise (it) will be the most rewarding job you’ve ever had, that‘s not really a job.”

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Maria Parham Health

Need A COVID-19 Test? Please Do NOT Go To Maria Parham Emergency Dept.

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If you or a family member needs to be tested for COVID-19, please, please please don’t go to the Emergency Department at Maria Parham Health. According to information from the hospital, there’s a “dramatic increase” in the number of people coming to the emergency department to seek a COVID-19 test. “We are asking our community to consider alternative locations for COVID testing, in order to conserve valuable hostpiatl resources,” the statement read.

COVID tests are available at local pharmacies, urgent care clinics and primary care clinics.

Visit https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/about-covid-19/testing/find-my-testing-place/no-cost-community-testing-events to find other locations for COVID-19 testing at no cost or low-cost.

 

TownTalk: Things To Know For Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

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Since 1986, the third Monday in January has been a federal holiday to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There are several opportunities to participate in discussions, events and opportunities to volunteer in the local area as part of this annual observance.

Schools will be closed, as will libraries, post offices and banks, and some area non-profits are encouraging individuals to volunteer to improve their communities.

Monday, Jan. 17 will be considered “a day of action” instead of just a day off from daily routines.

For the second year, the Granville County Human Relations Commission will hold its annual celebration virtually, but there are several ways to tune in. The event will begin at 7 a.m. and can be viewed on Spectrum Channel 17, the county government’s local access channel. Viewers can find the event on Facebook and Youtube as well.

Northern Granville Middle School, 3144 Webb School Road, Oxford, will be the site of a celebration Monday, Jan. 17 at 4 p.m. The event, sponsored by the local MLK Committee, is free and open to the public. Masks are required to be worn at the event.

Visit https://trianglemlk.com/ to learn about observances in the Triangle area, including a weath-laying ceremony at 9 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 14 to a memorial march in downtown Raleigh  beginning at 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 17.

Vance-Granville Community College will host a virtual panel discussion via Zoom on Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. as part of its MLK Jr. observance. Panelists will discuss using equity through social mobility.

Panelists will delve into the areas of education, finance, health and housing as it relates to Dr. King’s dream. “We will continue to focus on his dream by discussing racial justice through Civil Rights to economic justice through the Poor People’s Campaign which he sought near the end of his life,” according to information about the event released by VGCC.

Sponsors include: VGCC board of trustees, VGCC Men’s Achievement Academy, VGCC V.I.E.W. representative and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Register here to join the discussion. https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEucuCgqTIoHtIzZpC7RQSVSle52y8Wq9CS. Contact Dr. Jeffrey Allen at allenjl@vgcc.edu for more information.

Activate Good, a Triangle-based agency that helps volunteers connect with area non-profits that need volunteer help, has expanded upon the day of service concept to Dignity Week 2022 between Friday, Jan. 14 and Sunday, Jan. 23.
Visit https://activategood.org/event/97 to learn more or get ideas about how to volunteer in your community.

King’s philosophy of creating change through non-violent resistance resulted in sit-ins, peaceful demonstrations and marches in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Although there are no records that indicate King visited locally, he did visit Raleigh, Durham and Greensboro, according to North Carolina Room specialist Mark Pace. And, in 1962, during a visit to Rocky Mount, he delivered a dress rehearsal of his now iconic “I Have A Dream” speech that was heard by more than 250,000 civil rights activists who gathered for the March on Washington in August 1963.

In 1964, he was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968.

 

VGCC Logo

VGCC to offer Sustainable Agri-Tech Class

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Vance-Granville Community College will soon offer a sustainable agri-tech program at the school’s south campus in Creedmoor. This is a 96 hour program with 30 hours in class and 66 hours on line. The instructor for this class is Kelly Dixon. Classes begin on February 22nd and continue through May 2nd and will be held on Tuesdays from 6 to 9pm. Tuition scholarships are available to those who qualify. For more information contact wearyt@vgcc.edu or call 252-738-3521. Space for the class is limited and those interested are encouraged to register now.

TownTalk: The Future Of Trains In Henderson

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It’s a sound many longtime Henderson residents recall fondly – the familiar sound of the train whistle. From the way some local officials are talking, the trains could be running through Henderson once again, bringing with them the chance for some economic development in and around the downtown area.

“I’m excited about the prospect for Henderson and for the railroad,” said Henderson Assistant City Manager Paylor Spruill. “There’s a resurgence and interest in the railroad and what it can do, not just for Henderson, but throughout North Carolina,” Spruill said on Tuesday’s Town Talk.

He and City Councilman Garry Daeke spoke with John C. Rose about some exciting possibilities for a future high-speed rail and freight line, in addition to commuter rail service.

The N.C. Department of Transportation is using some federal grant funding to study the feasibility of having a commuter, or S-Line, rail service. Both Spruill and Daeke said it’s pretty much a done deal that Henderson will be a regional stop on this line.

“We will have a stop in Henderson,” Daeke said.

The next step is to identify a spot for a station that can handle both the high-speed and the commuter service. One possibility is the old bank building located just about in the center of town, Daeke said. It’s been vacant for some time, and the building is squeezed in among other buildings on Garnett Street, but it’s a possibility.

“There are some other sites up and down the line,” he said, but added that it’s exciting to think that Henderson will be a stop on the line. It’s also exciting, from a city perspective, to think “big” in terms of economic development in and around the train station. From business and industry, to restaurants, social and recreational activities, the sky’s the limit.

Additional housing for those who commute to, say, the Raleigh area is another possibility for development.

“We’ve got some time, but we need to go ahead and start looking” for a site where the station could be located, Daeke said.

“There’s a whole lot of infrastructure that will have to go in to support the train station,” Spruill said, from elevator towers and a parking deck to several overpasses and underpasses to

accommodate the flow of rail, street and pedestrian traffic.

The project has some distance to go, but, Spruill said, “they’re still making some giant strides.”

 

 

Vance Charter School Education Lottery Applications

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WIZS has been asked to announce:

John Sossamon, member of the board of directors of Vance Charter School says, “Vance Charter School Education Lottery applications will be accepted 1/24/2022 – 2/28/2022. Applications can be accessed at www.vancecharter.org. The lottery will be held on 3/5/2022. Parent information sessions will be held on 1/25/2022 and 2/17/2022 at 6:00 p.m. at Vance Charter School.”