SVHS Students Earn National Certifications

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Seven masonry students at Southern Vance High School have earned two national certifications that make them eligible for employment upon their graduation.

Ben Arrington is the students’ masonry teacher at Southern Vance.

All of the students met the standards required for certification in both the Core Curriculum and Green Environment areas through the National Center for Construction Education Research (NCCER).

The students are shown in the photo holding their certificates and are joined by Arrington, far left, and Southern Vance Principal Rey Horner, far right. The students include, from left, Chelsea Galindo, Christopher Stevenson, Jackson Royster, Jose Gonzalez, Sherrod Carter and Tyler Bondurant. One more student earning certification, Aaliyah Rahming, was unavailable for the photo.

Town Talk 02/17/17

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2017 Betsy Jeff Penn 4-H Summer Camp Announcement

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It’s that time of the year again. For 100 years, 4-H summer camp has been a life-changing experience, offering campers a greater chance to learn, develop life skills and form attitudes that will help them to become self-directed, productive members of society.

Youth interact with people of different cultures and backgrounds, increasing interdependence, understanding and appreciation of others.  It may be their first experience being an equal member of a community.  Campers are exposed to professionals and role models who may lead career discussions.

Less focus is on competition and failure; more emphasis is on group cooperation and shared success.  Adventures, new experiences and skills learned in an outdoor environment at camp contribute to a positive sense of self.

Youth do not have to be in a 4-H club to participate.

Deadline to apply is March 31st.

Cost of camp is $100.00.  A deposit of $75.00 will hold your space.

Apply in person with Turner Pride, 4-H Youth Development Agent, 305 Young Street, Henderson, NC.

Call the Vance County Center of NC Cooperative Extension at 252-438-8188 or email turner_pride@ncsu.edu for more information.

North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, or veteran’s status.  In addition, the two Universities welcome all persons without regard to sexual orientation.  North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T State University, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.

Multiple Trials Resolved in Vance County – Office of the DA

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Henderson, NC – Jurors in Vance County Superior Court found Antwon Burt guilty of Battery on an Unborn Child and Simple Assault after hearing one day of testimony. Officers with the Henderson Police Department testified about their 2016 investigation of the defendant. Mr. Burt was sentenced to 210 days in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Division of Adult Correction (DAC). That sentence was suspended for 18 months of supervised probation by Judge Henry W. Hight, Jr. Mr. Burt was represented by Deborah Leigh Holtzman and Adam Mincher.

In the second jury trial of the week long session of Superior Court in Vance County, Melvin McDonald was found guilty by a Vance County jury of Resisting a Public Officer and Possession of a Firearm by a Felon. Judge Hight sentenced McDonald to an active sentence of 17 to 30 months in the DAC. McDonald was on probation at the time he was charged by officers with the Henderson Police Department. Judge Hight revoked McDonald’s probationary sentence as well. The defendant was represented by Scott Hamilton.

Maurice Manning plead guilty to Assault Inflicting Serious Bodily Injury. Judge Hight sentenced Manning to a 16 to 29 month sentence that was suspended for 24 months of supervised probation to begin after the defendant had served a portion of his sentence in jail. Detective B. Logue with the Henderson Police Department investigated the case. Mr. Manning was represented by Nick Bagshawe.

Peter Lagattuta plead guilty to Felony Possession of Cocaine. Judge Hight sentenced Lagattuta to a 6 to 17 month sentence that was suspended for 18 months of supervised probation. Officer J. Henderson with the Henderson Police Department charged the defendant. Mr. Lagattuta was represented by J. Paul Stainback.

Arthur Henderson was found guilty of Driving While Impaired and Carrying a Concealed Gun after entering a plea of no contest. Mr. Henderson was given a 60 day sentence that was suspended for 12 months of supervised probation in each of his cases. B. Yarborough who was formerly with the Henderson Police Department charged Mr. Henderson with the gun charge, while Trooper J. Harrah with the NC State Highway Patrol charged Mr. Henderson with Driving While Impaired. The defendant was represented by Michael F. Rogers.

Jonathan Dailey plead guilty to Assault on a Female and was given a 75 day sentence that was suspended for 18 months of supervised probation. J. Aiken with the Vance County Sheriffs Office was the complainant. Defendant was represented by Deborah Leigh Holtzman.

Stanley Bullock, Jr. plead guilty to misdemeanor breaking and entering and misdemeanor larceny. Mr. Bullock was given a 45 day sentence that was suspended for 18 months of supervised probation by Judge Hight. Detective J. Jones with the Vance County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. The defendant was represented by Dorothy Lewis.

News 02/17/17

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Cast, crew announced for VGCC Dinner Theater production of “The Glass Menagerie”

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Vance-Granville Community College has announced an upcoming production of “The Glass Menagerie,” the Tennessee Williams classic, for the college’s fifth annual Dinner Theater.

The cast and crew have also been named for the dinner theater, which is scheduled for the evenings of Thursday, April 27, and Friday, April 28, in the Civic Center on VGCC’s Main Campus in Vance County. Dinner begins at 6 p.m. each evening.

The cast is set to feature Brittney Patterson of Henderson as Amanda Wingfield; Ben Taylor of Franklinton as Tom Wingfield, her son; Samantha Hines of Henderson as Laura Wingfield, her daughter; and Jordan Bunting of Rocky Mount as Jim O’Conner, the “gentleman caller.”

Members of the crew include Chadstity Copeland of Henderson (Assistant to the Director/Stage Manager), Allison Hines of Henderson (Assistant Stage Manager/Props), Jamie McGinn of Wake Forest (Costumes/Assistant for Props), Camden Jones of Henderson (Lighting/Sound operator), Lauren Elliott of Oxford (Head of Props) and Mya Hargrove and Evan O’Geary, both of Henderson (Hair and Make-up).

All are current students at the college, except for Elliott, an alumna and VGCC staff member.

Betsy Henderson, VGCC’s Department Chair/Instructor of Humanities and Fine Arts, is the director of the play.

First staged in 1944, “The Glass Menagerie” is a “memory play” (narrated by one of the characters, recalling his experiences) and is based in part on Tennessee Williams’s own memories of his family. In 1945, the play premiered on Broadway, won the prestigious New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for the best American play of the year, and launched Williams to fame. “The Glass Menagerie” has been adapted for television twice and as a Hollywood feature film twice. It has been revived for the Broadway stage numerous times, including a new production starring Sally Field that is currently in previews. A drama of great tenderness, charm and beauty, “The Glass Menagerie” has become one of the most famous plays of the modern theatre.

The story focuses on Amanda, a “faded Southern belle” who lives in poverty in a dingy St. Louis apartment with her son, Tom, and her daughter, Laura. The crux of the action comes when Tom invites a young man of his acquaintance to eat dinner with the family. Jim, the caller, is at once pounced upon by Amanda as a possible husband for Laura.

Tickets are $30 and are scheduled to go on sale on March 22. For more information, visit www.vgcc.edu/dinnertheater.

–VGCC–

Vance County Schools Empowerment Academy Students create local garden

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Administrators and students at the Vance County Schools Empowerment Academy have created a garden outside of the facility’s main entrance with funding from a special grant program.

The grant funding, totaling about $170, came from the Karma for Cara Foundation which funds youth volunteer projects.

Brian Schlessinger, a teacher at the Empowerment Academy, led efforts to apply for the grant and create the garden. He worked with his students and administrators at the academy to seek the grant funding and follow through on building the garden that is beside the facility’s main entrance.

The garden was completed by early February after students and their teachers worked to prepare the soil, install landscaping timbers for borders for the garden and had soil brought in to fill the space. They then worked to plant tulip bulbs, two evergreen shrubs and a cedar tree in the garden. Schlessinger and students are shown in the first two photos as they work on the garden.

Antavius Turner, a seventh grader who was attending the Empowerment Academy and is now a student at Eaton-Johnson Middle School, was one of the students involved in the project. Turner is shown with Schlessinger in the third photo as they work online to complete paperwork for the grant funding.

“Building the garden was a really good experience,” Turner said. “All of us in the academy worked together to get it done. We wanted to give the area outside the building life and make it look nice. We really like how it turned out and I think the project helped to show when you give us another chance we can do good things.”

The four female students and 10 male students who attend the Empowerment Academy are all on long-term suspension from their home schools because of behavior issues. Girls attend classes at the academy in the mornings and the boys attend their classes in the afternoons each day. Schlessinger and other teachers, along with Dr. Ralphel Holloman, coordinator of the academy, work with the students in online course work as well as teacher led math and language arts classes on a daily basis. Turner spent the first semester of this school year in the Empowerment Academy. He was able to return to Eaton-Johnson for the beginning of the second semester in late January after he completed necessary course work and met attendance and behavior requirements.

“All of the Empowerment students pitched in to help with the garden project,” Schlessinger said. “It made them feel good to have a role in creating it. We hope to do more with the garden at a later time and continue to improve the appearance of the areas outside of the building.”

Schlessinger pointed out that the funding from the Karma for Cara Foundation was a perfect fit for the academy’s project. The foundation was established in memory of Cara Becker, who lived in Maryland and at the age of 21 was diagnosed with leukemia. She battled the disease for four months, but died of complications from her treatments in December of 2012. Her family has carried on her legacy through the foundation. Becker throughout most of her short life was involved in volunteer work and community service. She had a special interest in helping children who were experiencing tough times and promoted community involvement with those her age and beyond. The foundation regularly awards small grants for community projects involving youth groups and also recognizes the efforts

Timberlake Opens MMMG 2017 Art Exhibitions with PHOART™

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MacCallum More Museum & Gardens will feature the art of R F Timberlake for the museum’s first art exhibition this year.  Timberlake, who grew up just across the state line on the Carolina side of Kerr Lake will feature over 30 colorful prints from various collections in his online Shutter Art Gallery, plus several new prints not yet seen by the public.

“Mr. Timberlake has a special treat for all of us in the area as he will be presenting a special collection of local art within the exhibit that is entitled “Meanders in Mecklenburg,” said museum spokesperson Liz Lowrance, adding, “These prints are all about things and places that have touched Timberlake’s eye and heart.  We will be as surprised as the public because no one has seen these pieces and he will not add them to his web gallery until after the show.”

The second treat for MMMG visitors during the exhibit is that they can register for a drawing to win one existing print of their choice, signed and numbered by Timberlake, worth up to $200 in value, with no purchase required, only a filled-out registration slip.

The exhibit begins on Monday, February 6th and continues through Sunday, March 5th, concluding on that Sunday with a free admission “meet the artist” reception from 2:00 – 5:00PM in the museum on the MMMG grounds. Visitors can see and talk with Timberlake about his art works.  “Everyone connected with MMMG is excited to bring this exquisite and unique type of exhibit to the area,” says Lowrance, further saying, “his adaptive approach brings local art to all the communities he touches, and now, that includes ours.”

Timberlake’s PhoArt™ prints will be on sale the entire month with a gracious amount of sale proceeds going to help sustain MacCallum More Museum & Gardens, located in Chase City, VA.

He is a familiar face in Southside Virginia as a frequent camping visitor and as a cofounder of the 500+ member Kerr Lake support group, Kerr Lake Park Watch. Timberlake is a former news broadcaster and broadcast owner and for the last 26 years has been president of the award-winning advertising & PR firm, R F Timberlake & Company, Inc.  “I can paint but not to the point of detail I like and I don’t have the time,” says Timberlake. “So, I worked, studied, got tutoring to improve my photography and then I incorporated digital technology to create PhoArt™ which is simply making a photograph appear that it is painted and it’s a lot more detailed than people might think.  My wife and business partner of 40 years, Linda, a Virginian by the way, said that I should show and share my art.  I did as she said and wham, it took off!”  The artist adds that producing Digital Fine Art allows him to take on more projects in a variety of locations.

“We’re capturing some communities previously ‘dry of local art’ and that fills a void for me and for them.  We recently sold a western Virginia historic site dozens of signed and numbered prints they could not have found a year ago,” said Timberlake.  “We’ve made adjustable sizing and affordability priorities right behind subject matter and people like it!”

“It also seems to mean a lot to our customers and clients that each print we produced will be signed and numbered with no more than 200 issues of any print, and that adds a touch of exclusivity,” says the artist.  Timberlake’s like to present his work as “gallery wrapped” meaning the canvas is stretched around a wooden frame, backed and prepped for hanging.  All prints, however, are offered printed on smooth or slightly textured fine art papers, unframed.

“I hope my family and friends in Virginia and North Carolina, plus new friends and art enthusiasts will visit MacCallum More Museum & Gardens to see and enjoy my work.  Seeing the delight on people’s faces when my pictures take them somewhere is my very best reward,” commented Timberlake.  He opened his own online art gallery late last summer at https://shutterartgallery.

Ms. Lowrance added,” We hope the public will take a little time to kick back and use a daycation to visit Chase City, Mecklenburg County and the museum to see the R F Timberlake exhibit.”

Town Talk 02/16/17

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Cooperative Extension with Jean Bell 02/16/17

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