Kerr-Tar COG Schedules Info Sessions On Local Food Systems

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What do you think about when you hear or read the phrase “food chain?”

Some folks may think back to elementary school Science lessons that talked about little fish getting gobbled up by bigger and bigger fish. But the Kerr-Tar region Council of Government is scheduling a series of meetings – one in each of the five counties it represents – for regional policymakers to hear from folks in the community about what’s working and what’s needed when it comes to our local “food chain.”

One of the outcomes of the meetings is the development of a food policy council, according to information publicizing the events.

If you think about it, we’re all part of the “food chain” whether we grow and market vegetables locally or simply prepare meals for ourselves and our families.

Everyone is welcome to share experiences, successes and challenges – from the consumer to producer, as well as food pantry partners and other agencies in the community.

The meetings begin next week in Roxboro and continue through March. Each session will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  To register for one of the meetings, email crobinette@kerrtarcog.org or phone 980.389.3446.

Here’s the list of meetings:

  • Wednesday, Mar. 6 in Roxboro, Person County Cooperative Extension Center
  • Wednesday, Mar. 13 in Louisburg, Franklin County Cooperative Extension Center
  • Tuesday, Mar. 19 in Warrenton, Warren County Library
  • Tuesday, Mar. 26 in Henderson, Vance County Regional Farmers Market
  • Wednesday, Mar. 27 in Oxford, Richard Thornton Public Library

 

 

 

TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Drug Stores

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Today’s pharmacies just don’t have the same feel as those “drug stores” from days gone by. Nowadays, it’s all business, filling prescriptions and answering questions at a special window marked “consultation.”

That’s not all bad, by the way. We can thank a fellow originally from New Bern who moved to Oxford back in 1884 for standardizing the drug industry.

Local historian Mark Pace called Franklin Wills Hancock “the father of pharmacies in North Carolina.”

Hancock started at drug store in Oxford and enjoyed a 68-year career. When he died at age 92, he was the oldest licensed pharmacist in the country. His almost seven decades was the longest tenure as a druggist.

In fact, he was the first licensed druggist, Pace said.

Before licensing was required, there was little standardization among drug stores, apothecaries and other establishments.

Henderson is home to two independent pharmacies – Mast Drug and Medical Arts Pharmacy, and both have been around for decades. Bill Mast started Mast Drug in 1962 and Chocky White started Medical Arts in 1971. Their presence in the community has not faded, despite the existence of larger chain stores.

If you’ve lived in the area long enough, you remember Parker’s, Page’s and Woolard’s. Even the Florida-based chain store Eckerd’s had a front-row seat at the Henderson Mall, complete with a lunch counter and grill in its heyday.

In Granville County, there was Puckett’s up in Stovall that was in business from 1934-1984 and Jones Drug in downtown Oxford. Charlie Jones returned to his hometown and ran his drug store from 1955 to 2009. He continued working part-time well into his 90s at one of the chain stores in Oxford.

The best information Pace can find notes that John G. Hall opened the first drug store in Oxford in 1879. When it closed in 2000, it could claim being in operation over three centuries – the 19th, 20th and 21st, Pace said.

It opened just more than a decade after the Civil War ended, when folks used home remedies concocted from roots and bark and other materials found in nature.

“In the early days of drug stores and pharmacies, basically they were winging it,” Pace said. “They had their own cures, their own method of doing things.”

And many of those early pharmacists touted patented medicines, including Owen Davis, a Henderson pharmacist who formulated “Atlas Celery Phosphate Vitalizer” at Atlas Medicine Company in town.

At 50 cents a bottle, it claimed to cure everything from “general debility” to virility problems.

 

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The Local Skinny! Mar. 5 Primary Elections

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The March 5 primary elections are upon us, and local elections officials are gearing up to make sure all goes smoothly.

There are a couple of updates from state elections officials that could have an impact on how local officials process the early voting and absentee votes next week.

With only two contested races in the upcoming primary, local officials should be able to manage without too much trouble, but instead of tabulating the early votes in advance of the 7:30 p.m. poll closing, they have to wait until after the polls close to make those tabulations.

WIZS News will be at the Vance County Board of Elections office Tuesday evening to report all the election results as they become available.

Since this is the first time the new rules will be in effect, it’s unclear just how long the early voting results may take, but it could be an hour or more before unofficial results can be posted.

One other change involves absentee ballots. Those ballots must be received no later than 7:30 p.m. on Election Day; this rule replaces the previous rule that allowed for a three-day grace period to receive absentee ballots.

Unlike early voting results, absentee-by-mail results can be tabulated before the polThose absentee results will likely be the first to appear publicly for any given county when the polls close. They will include all absentee ballots returned to the county boards of elections before Election Day. Under state law, ballots returned on Election Day are approved and added to the vote totals during the 10-day period after Election Day known as the “canvass.”

Canvass is the process of ensuring votes have been counted correctly and required audits have been completed, culminating in the certification of results during meetings of every county board of elections.

By law, these canvass meetings will be held by each county board of elections at 11 a.m. on Friday, Mar. 15. The state board will meet at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Mar. 26 to finalize primary results.

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Goalkeeper Peralta Among 2024 WFU Sports Hall Of Fame Inductees

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Back in the mid 1970’s, when José Peralta was in middle school at what was then Vance Academy, soccer hadn’t yet gotten a toehold in the area. But by the time Peralta and some of his Spartan teammates made their mark on the soccer field as Vance Senior High School Vikings, all that was changing.

It was early days for soccer when Peralta was in high school, but he told WIZS co-hosts Bill Harris and George Hoyle Thursday that the team began to make a name for itself. “We beat one of the Raleigh teams – Sanderson,” he recalled, a soccer powerhouse at the time.

And that’s when the letters starting hitting his family’s Ruin Creek Road mailbox, he said. College coaches, asking him to consider playing goalkeeper for them.

But Peralta’s focus was on academics, and ultimately he chose Wake Forest University. Earlier this month, his alma mater chose Peralta to join the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame.

You see, it’s Peralta who still holds the NCAA Division I record for career saves at a whopping 620 – that’s 342 more saves than anyone else in program history.

Peralta is one of only two goalkeepers in NCAA Division I history who can claim more than 600 saves.

As a freshman, he had 164 saves – the most by any freshman in program history.

He holds the four highest single-season number of saves in program history: 218 in 1983; 164 in 1980; 126 in 1982; and 112 in 1981.

Peralta’s statistics at WFU have stood the test of time – he was a member of the very first men’s soccer team at the school.

“Wake Forest didn’t even have a soccer team when I went there,” he said. What’s more, he didn’t know the school was thinking about forming one.

But, he said, God has a plan.

He remembers back to 1979, sitting in the quad with his parents – both beloved Spanish teachers in Vance County Schools – “all of a sudden I see these guys,” he said, who said soccer tryouts were going to start in 30 minutes, if he wanted to check it out.

Peralta said he kissed his parents goodbye and headed off to try out for the team.

They played as a club team that first year, with Peralta in the goal. He was the only walk-on to make the team.

Coach George Kennedy’s brother did goalkeeper camps and Peralta credits him with teaching him the goalkeep position from not only a physical standpoint but a mental one as well.

Reflecting on his time in the goal as a Demon Deacon, Peralta said he and his teammates helped to lay a good foundation for the program, now more than 40 years later.

His children, one of the grandchildren, a dozen or more teammates from the old days and a bunch of fraternity brothers all attended the induction ceremony, held Feb. 9 in Winston-Salem.

“The ceremony was awesome,” Peralta said. And at the Wake-N.C. State basketball game held later afternoon, Peralta was called to midcourt at halftime to receive a plaque and be recognized for his achievements.

One of those accolades is that Peralta was an All-ACC academic every year he was at Wake.

“I dedicated myself to soccer, but the classroom was extremely important,” he said.

 

Coop Extension With Paul McKenzie: What Works in the Garden

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Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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Home And Garden Show

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On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

  • Do not till wet soil in your garden
  • Continue pruning.
  • Check seedlings each day when growing them under grow lights.
  • Learn about Lithium Ion battery care.
  • Try growing a vegetable that you haven’t grown.
  • If you want to try fruit production, start with blueberries, blackberries, muscadine grapes, strawberries or figs.
  • Check house plants for insects, wipe with a soft cloth.
  • Avoid the temptation to plant tender flowers and vegetables. Trees and shrubs are fine to plant now.

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Project “Roll On” Continues At Rebuilding Hope

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Randolph Wilson hopes that monetary donations will pick back up so the parking lot and driveway at Rebuilding Hope can be repaved.

It’s called Project “Roll On” and the goal is a lofty one – it’s going to cost about $100,000 to complete.

Right now, the fund is sitting at $12,000, and Wilson, founder of the non-profit located on Raleigh Road, hopes the community will help.

 The fundraising campaign launched in late September, and the hope was to get started on the worst areas by springtime.

 In a letter to volunteers and to other supporters last fall, Wilson said he hopes to “gain support in acquiring much needed funds to repair the damaged pavement around our building.  The parking lot and driveways are in real need of resurfacing to prevent damage to vehicles and also (to) allow proper drainage away from the building,” he stated.

 Rebuilding Hope, Wilson said, has always been funded solely from individuals, churches, and business entities. “We must ask our faithful community once again to help us continue this good work.  These are very difficult times for many people simply trying to afford housing, food and basic needs.  We need to secure this ministry’s ability to respond to people with hope, by repairing this damage.”

 The Rebuilding Hope ministry was founded in 2006 following a deployment to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

There are a variety of ways to make donations to Project ‘ROLL ON’:

 Visit the website rebuildinghopeinc.org and select Donate to make an online contribution, mail donations to 414 Raleigh Rd., Henderson, NC 27536 or drop donations off in person at the office Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Mar. 16 International Food Festival Serves Up Info About Health Resources As Well As Tasty Dishes

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When you head downtown on Mar. 16 to sample fare from food trucks during the International Food Festival, you may come away having learned a little something about the state’s Medicaid Expansion and how it affects you.

It took North Carolina a long time to get on board with Medicaid expansion, but it finally cleared the last hurdles in December 2023.

Adults between 19 and 64 who earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line – that single adults earning about $20,000 and families of three earning about $34,000 a year – may be eligible.

Representatives from Maria Parham Health will be available on the resource fair side of the food festival to share information to individuals who may qualify for Medicaid. There will be Medicaid Expansion advocates on site to provide more information about eligibility.

Of course, the best way is to apply online through ePASS or HealthCare.gov, but you can also apply in-person, by phone or by mailing paper applications via the U.S. Postal Service. The processing time for applications can be up to 45 days; applications submitted online may be processed faster.

Medicaid provides comprehensive health coverage, including services like primary care, hospital stays, maternity care, vision and hearing, dental/oral health care and more.

It pays for doctor visits, yearly check-ups, emergency care, mental health and more – at little or no cost to you.