TownTalk: City of Henderson Deal For Franklin County Water

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Click Play to listen to the update from November 10th on the Water Deal.

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The Henderson City Council approved in October the allocation to Franklin County of up to an additional 1 million gallons of water per day from the Kerr Lake Regional Water System.

The Franklin County Board of Commissioners approved the at its meeting Monday. It’s one of the items listed on the consent agenda, according to the agenda posted on the county’s website.

The agreement, which Henderson Mayor Melissa Elliott signed on Oct. 15, states that Franklin County will pay $5.01 per 1,000 gallons of water above the 2-million-gallon mark it gets from KLRWS.

The Henderson City Council, with no discussion, unanimously approved the motion at its Oct. 12 meeting. The motion was made by Council Member Michael Venable and seconded by Council Member Garry Daeke.

Interim City Manager Kendrick Vann explained that he, the mayor, Assistant City Manager Christy Lipscomb, City Attorney Dan Hartzog and Council Member Venable had been working on the deal that ultimately produced the 8th Amendment to the original 1998 agreement to sell water to Franklin County.

“We want the public to know that we have been working with them,” Vann said, “we have been negotiating for the benefit of the city as well as the citizens.”

 

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Famous Sports Figures & Teams of Old Granville County Part 1

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Folks around here love their sports – college and professional teams certainly have strong followings, but there’s no shortage of rec league and school-affiliated teams that bring parents, grandparents and others out to the ball fields and courts in the area to cheer on their favorites.

Sure, some parents have watched as their young outfielder has picked flowers during T-ball games or scored a goal for the other team by mistake.

But legends have to start somewhere, and there are plenty of sports legends to talk about that got their start right here in the four-county area.

WIZS’s Bill Harris and local historian Mark Pace teamed up with WIZS’s Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue to review some of the people who had great runs in their chosen sport, either as a player, a coach or both. And when those sports notables have returned to give back to their communities – either in the off-season or in retirement – everyone wins.

Take the late Eddie Hicks, for example.

Ayscue said he and Hicks were in high school together for a year, and the friends stayed in touch over the years. “I guess he was friends with everybody in Henderson,” Ayscue said, adding that Hicks helped him and Lonnie Davis when they were coaches at Eaton-Johnson Middle School.

Hicks played football at East Carolina University and was inducted into the ECU Hall of Fame in 2014. in 2024, Winder Street in downtown Henderson was dedicated and named for Hicks, who died in 2022.

Hicks shares the hometown spotlight in the ECU Hall of Fame with another Henderson favorite, Lawrence “Cotton” Clayton, whose skills on the basketball court and baseball diamond were nothing short of legendary.

Clayton was named an All America in both basketball and baseball between 1959 and 1961; he led the ’61 Pirates baseball team in the NAIA national championship in hitting and played third base and outfielder. That same year on the basketball court, he averaged 14.9 points per game, 9.9 rebounds and shot 61 percent from the field. In 1984, he was inducted into the ECU Sports Hall of Fame.

He spent seven years playing pro baseball in the Baltimore Orioles organization, but many more years were spent back home in Henderson raising a family and giving back to the community.

Then there’s Jason Brown. The Northern Vance High School graduate and UNC standout center turned in his NFL cleats for farmer’s boots and continues to give back to his community to this day. He and his wife started First Fruits Farm in Franklin County and operate it as an event venue, but also grow crops like sweet potatoes and cucumbers that they donate to the community.

In the off-season, Ayscue said Brown would return to Vance County and go around and speak at schools in the county.

“He’d probably be the prime example of giving back,” Pace said on Thursday’s tri-weekly Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk.

Others have figured prominently into the sports scene because of extensive coaching careers. Louisburg College’s Russell Frazier, Enid Drake, Mike Dement and Sheila Cotton have worked with multitudes of junior college students playing baseball, basketball and softball during their coaching tenures.

Then there are people like Austin Ayscue, who happens to be Doc Ayscue’s father. Austin Ayscue had a long, storied relationship with Louisburg College. For years, he was the Sports Information Director there, but he did everything from drive team buses to recruit with Coach Frazier, his son said.

“He and Coach Frazier drove a million miles looking at baseball players,” Ayscue said. He provided the play-by-play for afternoon baseball games and he’d keep the clock for basketball games.

Frazier had a lot of success taking Louisburg College to the Junior College World Series over the years, and although Louisburg never won, Frazier’s teams won more than their share of regional tournaments.

Players like Otis Nixon, Cedric Mullins, Kelly Little are just a few who swung a bat for Frazier and the Hurricanes.

 

Listen back to the complete program at www.wizs.com to hear more stories about other athletes who hail from the area we call Old Granville County.

 

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TownTalk: Kerr-Tar Family Caregiver Conference Coming to VGCC November 5

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Many people find themselves in the position of providing care for a family member who’s aging or who’s been diagnosed with a chronic health condition like dementia or Alzheimer’s. It may not have been something they’d planned for, but they’re doing their best.

“Caregiving is a tough journey,” said Michael Patterson, family caregiver specialist with Kerr-Tar Council of Governments. “It’s not something that everyone necessarily signs up for…it’s a duty that takes a lot of emotions.”

The 4th annual Family Caregiver Conference, which will be held on Thursday, Nov. 5 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Vance-Granville Civic Center auditorium, is a perfect opportunity for individuals to come and learn more about this business of providing care to loved one that, at times, can be physically and emotionally demanding.

The doors open at 9 a.m. and participants will get a swag bag of goodies, as well as breakfast and refreshments, Patterson said.

Registration is $10 for family caregivers; $25 for professional caregivers, who also can receive up to 1.5 continuing education credits for attending.

Register online at www.kerrtarcog.org or visit any of the senior centers in the five-county KTCOG service area (Vance, Granville, Warren, Franklin and Person counties) and sign up there, Patterson said. Phone him at 252.436.2040 x6072 or email him at  mpatterson@kerrtarcog.org

This year’s speakers include a Duke University researcher who will discuss the importance of oral health care for people with disabilities, a husband and wife team – both health professionals – who will talk about their book and tell their story about caring for a family member with Alzheimer’s and the founder of an organization that focuses on the over-prescription of medications and the importance of having regular medication reviews.

There’s a lot of responsibility that goes along with providing care for a loved one, Patterson said.

“There’s no manual or instruction booklet,” he continued. And caregiving looks different for every individual because every individual has their own story and own journey.

He wants caregivers to give themselves the grace to know one thing: “You’re already doing your absolute best and that should be enough…the simple fact that the caregiver has taken their intentional time to care for a loved one is commendable and they need to be appreciated for that.”

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Major Events Since 1960, Part 3

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People may look back in time and identify particular dates or specific short-term events that are, decades or centuries later, now viewed as being historical. Dates like July 4, 1776, December 7, 1941 are just two particular dates etched into most Americans’ minds as having great significance. Most folks can tell you the importance of those two dates – Independence Day and Pearl Harbor.

But sometimes it’s the regular – the mundane – that are rightly added to that category of “historical events,” and WIZS’s Bill Harris and local historian Mark Pace talked about several in Thursday’s TownTalk segment called “Around Old Granville.”

Take road expansion as one example. Road projects take years (sometimes decades) to complete, but the widening of U.S. 1 from Raleigh to Henderson and later the Hwy. 401 project between Raleigh and Louisburg, both are game-changers for the area.

Harris and Pace wrapped up a three-part series on events since 1960 that have historical significance for the four-county area.

Add to those road expansions the completion of “the Missing Link” that connected I-85 in southern Granville County back in 1973, and Pace said road construction has had a significant impact on the area.

Water systems, like roads, are critical pieces of infrastructure that communities rely on for daily life. A severe drought in 1974, coupled with the need to provide water to Soul City and the possibility of landing a beer manufacturer in Warren County led to the development of the Kerr Lake Regional Water System, Pace said.

“Old Milwaukee wanted to relocate to Warren County,” Pace said, adding that the manufacturer would require a tremendous amount of water. At the time, there wasn’t a water system capable of handling their demands.

Well, it didn’t work out with Old Mil but the water system today processes millions and millions of gallons of water a day. It is completing a huge expansion to grow the amount to 20 million gallons a day.

The area has seen its share of protests since 1960 – some successful and others less so.

Landowners in southern Granville had been upset over the creation of Camp Butner during World War II because they didn’t feel like they were being fairly compensated for the property the government was taking.

Ditto the creation of Kerr Lake in the 1950’s and Falls Lake in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.

Those projects prevailed and are part of the fabric of the community, but there were other protests that caused a stir.

There have been protests against proposed repositories for hazardous materials and waste incinerators, Pace said. In fact, the PCB landfill protests of 1982 is largely credited with being the driver for coining the phrase “environmental justice.”

Pace said it was a “grassroots resistance movement that’s actually been echoed nationwide. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 50 years.”

What events, projects or particular dates will be added to that list of historical events in 50 or 60 more years?

But there could be other events that, for now, are considered regular, ordinary…mundane.

Will it be the Dabney Drive project, long-talked about but – so far, anyway – still in the planning stage?

Will there be “that date” when folks first learned about plans for a proposed data center, sparking a rise in protests and opposition?

Time will tell.

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VGCC Announces Partnership With New York-Based Excelsior University

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— Information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel

Vance-Granville Community College is partnering with a New York-based university to provide its students with access to a wide range of online undergraduate and post-graduate degree programs.

Through the collaboration with Excelsior University, VGCC graduates can continue their education and advance their careers, according to a recent press release from VGCC.

VGCC Vice President of Instruction & Student Services Kim Sepich said, “Our partnership with Excelsior University provides Vance-Granville Community College graduates with many options for continuing their education. The flexibility Excelsior offers allows students to pursue degree programs in ways that work for them, which is really important for people managing a variety of life responsibilities.”

In addition to offering a rolling admissions calendar, Excelsior offers other benefits, including a 10 percent tuition discount for undergraduate and graduate students, access to personalized support, more than 40 degree programs and professional development courses and skills training.

These educational partnership benefits are also available for eligible Vance-Granville Community College employees, as well as their spouses or domestic partners and children.

“As the needs of students and employers continue to evolve, it is increasingly important for institutions to create clear and affordable pathways for lifelong learning,” said Excelsior University President David Schejbal. “Through this partnership with Vance-Granville Community College, learners can move seamlessly between institutions, with new possibilities for personal and professional growth at every stage of the educational journey.”

Excelsior University provides online degrees to working adult students in six fields of study that directly align with Vance-Granville Community College’s educational offerings, including programs in Business, Liberal Arts, Health Sciences, Nursing, Public Service, and Technology.

For more information on this partnership, visit www.excelsior.edu/partner/vance-granville-community-college.

To learn about other transfer partnerships available to Vance-Granville Community College students, visit VGCC’s online Transfer Center or call 252.738.3255.

 

TownTalk: NCDMV Eliminates License Plate Sticker, Paper Registration Card Beginning Oct. 1

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Beginning Oct. 1, vehicle owners no longer have to worry about placing that little sticker in the upper right corner of their license plates.

And making sure you keep that paper registration in your glove box or other safe spot in your car or truck? Nope. Not necessary.

The state is moving to an electronic registration system that will eliminate the need for both the renewal sticker and that paper registration.

The renewal process itself hasn’t changed, however. Vehicle owners can still expect to get their annual notification in the mail that it’s time to renew – and get their vehicle inspected and pay the vehicle property tax. There is an option for a paperless renewal notification, too.

The transaction can be done online or in person at the local tag office.

Phil Lynch at the Vance County tag office told WIZS News Wednesday that you’ll no longer get a paper registration card with the sticker stapled to it when you pay in person at the office.

“Rather than a visual sticker on the tag, law enforcement will be verifying a plate online.”

Individuals who wish to have that paper registration for tucking away in their glove box can download the document and print it at home, or they can request a copy at the tag office for $5.

So, if you just happen to get pulled over, chances are you will not hear “license and registration, please” from the law enforcement officer standing by the driver side door. They’ll already know the status of your vehicle and that it’s properly registered – or not.

 

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville – The Role of Tobacco in Old Granville County

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When folks bring up “the good ol’ days” as they reminisce about how things used to be, it often comes with feelings of nostalgia. You know – when times were simpler and less complicated.

Some may remember summer afternoons shelling beans on the front porch or squeezing lemons for sugary lemonade.

But whoever recalls sweating in a tobacco field, topping or priming as you made your way up and down the endless rows may have a different perspective about how “good” those days were.

There is no doubt that Vance County – indeed, all of the area once known as Granville County – has a long, rich history with tobacco. Tobacco paid the bills, literally, for a lot of farmers and played a tremendous role in the area’s economy.

People moving south from Virginia brought their “red” tobacco with them when they settled in this area, said local historian Mark Pace. It was cured differently and they used it for snuff, for chewing and for smoking in their pipes.

Fast forward to post-American Revolution days and Granville County not only had ideal soil for growing tobacco, but it also had lots of plantations that had lots of enslaved people.

“There was a crop here and there was a labor supply,” Pace said on Thursday’s TownTalk segment of Around Old Granville. He and WIZS’s Bill Harris chatted about the history of tobacco, their own memories about growing up in an area where the crop has played – and continues to play – such a vital role.

When the railroad came through in the 1830’s, it provided a way for tobacco farmers to get their product to market, whether it was Richmond, Baltimore or to the coast where it would be shipped overseas.

And tobacco was just as important as the railroad to Henderson’s prosperity, Pace said.

“There was a time in the 1880’s,” Pace said, “when Henderson, North Carolina was the world’s largest tobacco market,” moving something like 6.5 million pounds of tobacco from warehouses to manufacturers.

J.P. Taylor, one of the biggest in the world, was located in Henderson.

By 1878, there were close to a dozen tobacco warehouses in Henderson, and the second week in August, they’d come alive with activity. That’s when the tobacco markets opened and the air all around was filled with that unmistakable aroma of the cured golden leaf.

The local newspaper plumped up to rival the size of the Sunday New York Times, Pace said, with local businesses placing ads to get the attention of tobacconists and farmers alike during the market.

“Tobacco farmers got paid once,” Pace said. “That’s when you took your tobacco to market.”

Generations of families helped plant, cultivate, tend, prime and barn tobacco – it was important to the whole family that the crop be successful.

Pace said he remembers kids getting out of school early because they needed to help get the tobacco in; when the tobacco season was late, the opening of school was delayed, he said.

“It all revolved around tobacco,” Pace added.

Farmers worried about one thing or another during the season – weather, worms, wilt – and they continued to worry when the leaf was in the curing barn because of the risk of fire.

Farmers who were able to get their crop to market, however, could see the results of their considerable labor get auctioned off bundle by 500-pound bundle.

Buyers representing the major manufacturers were bidding and farmers were listening, hoping for top dollar.

But changes were in the offing, especially after the U.S. Surgeon General’s 1964 report that smoking causes cancer.

And when the price of tobacco fell, producers planted more tobacco to make up the difference. That led to a glut on the market, and the government stepped in to limit how much tobacco farmers could produce. At first, it was based on acreage, Pace said, but it changed from acreage to poundage to account for the fact that the crop grew better on some land than on other.

Tobacco auctions and warehouses largely went away, with the trend emerging to contract directly with tobacco manufacturers.

“The end of the price support program brought about the demise of the tobacco warehouse,” Pace noted.

The tobacco auctioneer’s chant will be in the air in Oxford next Sunday, Sept. 27 at the Tobacco Research Station on Providence Road. The Granville County Museum and Historical Society is hosting its second annual Mock Tobacco Auction on the grounds of the research station and Pace said folks can see – and hear – what auctions were all about.

Auctions will take place at the top of the hour during the afternoon event, which is a fundraiser for the museum.

N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler will be a featured guest.

Admission is free to attend, with a suggested donation of $5 per person – $10 per family.

There will be plenty of vendors and food items, and there will even be a tobacco tying contest.

 

 

 

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The Local Skinny! MPH Having Toy Drive Through Sept. 22

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— submitted by Maria Parham Health

A child’s hospital stay can be difficult and frightening, especially when that stay stretches from days into weeks or even months. Sometimes, something as simple as a new stuffed animal, a box of crayons or a sticker book can provide a welcome distraction and a little bit of comfort.

Maria Parham Health is inviting the community to help bring that comfort to children at Duke Children’s Hospital through a special toy drive taking place September 8–22.

The effort was inspired by a member of the Maria Parham Health family whose young daughter recently spent time receiving care at Duke Children’s Hospital. During her stay, the family discovered firsthand that the hospital has a need for toys and other simple activities for children who may be hospitalized for extended periods.

After seeing how much a simple toy could mean to a child during a difficult hospital stay, the family wanted to turn that experience into an opportunity to help other children.

“Knowing how much joy a simple toy can bring to a child during a difficult hospital stay, we wanted to find a way to help other children experience that same little moment of happiness,” said Bert Beard, CEO of Maria Parham Health. “We hope our community will join us in showing others love through the gift of toys.”

Community members are encouraged to donate just one or two basic, new toys. There is no need to purchase anything elaborate or expensive. Suggested donations include:

  • New stuffed animals
  • Crayons
  • Sticker books
  • Coloring and activity books
  • Other small, age-appropriate toys and activities

**Collection boxes will be available at Maria Parham Health in the lobby throughout the drive, September 8–22. Toys can be dropped off between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily. **

Following the collection, Maria Parham Health will deliver the community’s donations to Duke Children’s Hospital.

The toy drive is a simple opportunity to make a meaningful difference. For a child spending weeks or months in a hospital room, a new toy can offer a moment of fun, a creative outlet, a comforting companion and a reminder that people are thinking about them.

Maria Parham Health encourages community members, employees, families, churches, schools, civic organizations and local businesses to participate by donating whatever they can.

One toy. One child. One moment of joy.

Together, our community can help bring a little more comfort, happiness and hope to children when they need it most.

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(This information and audio is not a paid ad.)

VGCC Board Of Trustees Votes Against Hosting Educational Forum On Data Centers

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In a special called meeting on Thursday, Sept. 3, the Vance-Granville Community College Board of Trustees decided against hosting an educational forum to discuss the issue of data centers.

At its regularly scheduled meeting on July 20, the board heard two requests from residents during the Public Comment period requesting the board consider hosting a public forum to give the community an opportunity to learn more about data centers, which has been a hot-button topic in Vance County for months.

At that meeting, the board instructed VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais to create a framework for a public forum.

“They specified that the framework should include a forum structure and guidelines,” Desmarais said in a statement Friday afternoon to WIZS News. “They also requested that I articulate the pros and cons of hosting such a forum and give them a recommendation on whether the College should indeed host such a forum.”

At Thursday’s meeting, the board reviewed the proposal, and, after what Desmarais described as “lengthy” discussions, Trustee Gordon Wilder made two motions, the first of which was withdrawn and replaced with a second motion to remove the VGCC administration from the responsibility of organizing an educational forum regarding data centers.

Trustee Tony Cozart seconded the motion and it passed unanimously in a roll-call vote.

Wilder’s first motion included keeping the college as a possible host site for a forum if a request came from a county commission or other recognized group from Vance, Granville, Warren or Franklin counties, which comprise the VGCC service area.

Desmarais said the board members considered a variety of concerns and options during their discussion, including risks of disruption from possible protests and the strain on college resources and staff that such an event could create.

According to Desmarais, Trustee Carolyn Faines – who also chairs the Vance County Board of Commissioners – questioned the logic of organizing an educational event before any formal application or filing for a data center has been made in Vance County. Desmarais said Faines characterized it as “putting the cart before the horse.”

Several board members suggested that another group could rent the Civic Center to host a forum and indicated a certain degree of comfort with providing a venue rather than hosting the event and the college would not be seen as organizing or endorsing the event.

In addition to Desmarais, trustees in attendance were Tony Cozart, Tare Davis, Carolyn Faines, Tom Harris, Dorwin Howard, Bruce Howerton, Abdul Rashid, Michael Schriver, Archie Taylor, Corey Thornton, Elaine Trujillo, Sara Wester, Gordon Wilder, Brenda Williamson, Xavier Wortham and Danny Wright.

TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Major Events Since 1960 Part 1

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Local historians Mark Pace and WIZS’s Bill Harris are “of an age” now that things they remember when they were youngsters are now being considered as parts of local history that, with the benefit of hindsight, are proving to be noteworthy and important to the area.

The two history buffs usually discuss people, places and events from the very beginnings of the formation of what they refer to as Old Granville County, but this week they talked about several events that have found their way into the headlines since 1960.

Depending on your perspective, some of these events functioned much like the proverbial double-edged sword.

Henderson was where Paul H. Rose founded Rose’s, which at its peak, had something like 175 stores across the region. But Henderson had the first one, and it was located on Garnett Street, right in the heart of downtown.

That was back in 1915, when downtowns were where shopping happened. Needed shoes? Downtown. Wanted a piece of jewelry for a special gift? Downtown. Groceries? A&P on one end of Garnett, Colonial on the other. Clothing, sporting goods and more all were found downtown.

Rose’s stood its ground when Kmart and Mammoth Mart came to town, Pace said. But it had difficulty competing with Walmart, and Rose’s emerged from two years of bankruptcy in 1995 and then sold to Variety Wholesalers in 1997.

But Rose’s took a chance back in the late 1960’s when developers constructed the Henderson Mall.

The mall, all 185,000 square feet of it, opened in July 1969. Pace remembers that he and his brother pestered their mother until she took them there for the first time.

Harris said the mall drew patrons from nearby counties, too. People could park their cars, go inside the mall and get all their shopping done.

“It was a big deal,” Harris said, adding that the mall had “a huge impact on the entire region.”

With those benefits, however, came consequences – especially for the downtown area. The mall “changed the focus of the entire community,” Pace said.

Of course, what happened in Henderson was happening all over the place with malls and suburban retail spaces luring business away from downtowns

People still went downtown for staples like the post office, the library and the courthouse, but the mall was where folks went to shop, eat and where young people could hang out with friends.

Just as malls shaped people’s shopping habits, so did the nation’s growing interstate system shape how people got from one place to another way back in the 20th century.

It was in 1960 that the first stretch of I-85 in the area was completed – 18 miles from Henderson to about Wise in Warren County.

And finally, in 1972, the final bit – dubbed “the Missing Link” connected Oxford and Butner. Pace said John K. Nelms was instrumental in completion of the Granville County section.

The original plans had the interstate going around Henderson to the east, hitting Gillburg and Kittrell before heading to Wilson and ultimately linking with Durham.

“The powers that be lobbied long and hard (and it was) with quite a great deal of effort that Oxford got included in the 85 path,” Pace said.

In close proximity to I-85 in Warren County was where Floyd McKissick planted the seed for Soul City, a planned city that, had it taken hold, was supposed to have 55,000 inhabitants by the year 2000.

The idea never really took off, but McKissick is someone locals point to as the person who helped bring a regional water system to the area.

McKissick, a Republican, was very influential in the political arena and he knew Richard Nixon.

After Nixon was elected president, Pace said McKissick “called in a marker” with his pal and said he wanted a regional water system.

Those efforts resulted in the creation of the Kerr Lake Regional Water System in 1976.

Listen back to the complete story at wizs.com to learn about other events that helped shape local history around Old Granville.

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