Murder Conviction in Granville County

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Trial in Granville County Superior Court leads to Murder Conviction

Oxford, NC– Granville County Criminal Superior Court was held during the week of October 3, 2016.  Superior Court Judge G. Wayne Abernathy presided during the session.  The Office of District Attorney Mike Waters was represented by Assistant District Attorneys Allison S. Capps and Michael W. Putney, Jr.

The primary focus of the week-long session was the trial of State of North Carolina vs. Rotonya Russell.  Mrs. Russell was charged with the Second Degree Murder of her husband, Carlos Russell, Sr. on June 11, 2014, at their home on Belltown Road.  Mrs. Russell, the defendant, was represented by Keith Bishop of the Durham County Bar.  At the close of all evidence and arguments of counsel, the jury convicted Mrs. Russell as charged.  Judge Abernathy sentenced Mrs. Russell to an active sentence of 148 to 190 months in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Division of Adult Correction.

This case was investigated by Detective Todd Wilkins and officers from the Granville County Sheriff’s Office under the direction of Sheriff Brin Wilkins.

(Official Press Release from District Attorney Mike Waters)

Event Update for the Masonic Homecoming Festival Starting on Friday

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Masonic Homecoming Festival Modifications Due to Hurricane Matthew

As of 12pm, October 5, 2016 – In light of the impending weather events and the uncertainty of its impacts on the 2016 Masonic Homecoming Festival, MHCO officials, Alumni Representatives, and members of the Masonic Grand Lodge and Shrine Temples of North Carolina met to discuss those changes that needed to be made to ensure the safety of all participating and attending this year’s events.  Based on this meeting the following changes to the schedule of events have been made:

The Shrine Parade for Saturday Morning has been cancelled.

All other activities are being held as previously scheduled.  For a full list of activities and changes as well as any additional updates, please visit the MHCO website at www.mhc-oxford.org or our Facebook page.  You can also listen to the following radio stations for further updates – US 98.3 FM and WIZS 1450 AM.

The Home extends its thanks to the City of Oxford Police Department, Granville County Sheriff’s Department, Granville Emergency Management, the Oxford Orphanage/MHCO Alumni Association, our Shrine Temples of NC, and all those locally and throughout the state who have volunteered their time, resources, and support for this year’s festival.  We apologize for any inconvenience these changes have caused, but again must focus on the safety and comfort of our participants and guests, both in Oxford and across North Carolina.

IT certification courses offered at VGCC through new grant

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Information technology training courses are set to be offered soon at Vance-Granville Community College, and grant funding from the new NC TechHire program can help eligible area residents pay for them. These courses are offered in a “hybrid” format, with some coursework online and some on VGCC’s Main Campus.

Three upcoming courses provide opportunities to earn certain certifications through CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association. The CompTIA certifications are internationally recognized and are required by most companies hiring information technology professionals. When students complete each course or module, they take the appropriate certification exams.

“CompTIA A+” covers the basic hardware of a personal computer, including the installation, operating systems, upgrading/maintenance of both equipment and software, as well as troubleshooting and repairing non-functioning personal computers. Upon completion of specific modules, the CompTIA 220-901 and 220-902 exams will be administered to students. The course will be taught by VGCC instructor Donna Gill.

“CompTIA Network+” will introduce students to the networking field and is also set to be taught by Gill. Upon completion, students should be able to perform tasks related to networking mathematics, terminology, models, media, Ethernet, sub-netting, and TCP/IP Protocols. Students will take the N10-006 exam at the end of this class.

“CompTIA Server+” covers the installation and administration of a Windows Server network operating system. VGCC instructor Gerald Young will teach students about managing and maintaining physical and logical devices, access to resources, the server environment, managing users, computers, and groups and managing/implementing disaster recovery. Students will take the SKO-004 exam at the end of this class.

These courses, which are being scheduled now and will be offered multiple times, are approved for funding through the NC TechHire grant that VGCC recently received as part of a consortium of four community colleges. Area residents between the ages of 17-29 who are not currently in school may qualify for grant funding, which can pay for registration fees, course fees, and certification fees.

For more information, contact Kenneth Wilson at (252) 738-3259 or wilsonk@vgcc.edu or Tiffani Polk at (252) 738-3291 or polkt@vgcc.edu.

Candidates Forum to be held at Granville Expo Center

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The Granville County Human Relations Commission, The League of Women Voters Unit of Granville County and the Granville County Chamber of Commerce are sponsoring a Candidate Forum. Candidates who have filed for the 2016 November elections have been invited to participate.

The forum will be held Tuesday evening, October 11. The intention for the Forum will be to allow each candidate a few minutes to introduce themselves. Following, the candidates will participate as a panel to answer prepared questions asked to the panel by the moderator. Panels will be determined based on the number of candidates participating. Granville County Tourism Development Authority Director Angela Allen will be the moderator for the event.

The public is invited to arrive at 6 pm to enjoy light refreshments and conversation prior to the candidate panels beginning at 6:30 pm.

 

VGCC presents free seminar to help businesses prepare for holidays

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The Vance-Granville Community College Small Business Center, in partnership with the Henderson-Vance Downtown Development Commission, is inviting local businesses to plan ahead for success in the upcoming holiday season.

A free workshop, entitled “Maximizing Sales During the Holidays,” will be held at the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce (414 S. Garnett Street, Henderson) on Wednesday, Oct. 26, from 8-10 a.m.

Mike McConchie of Creedmoor will serve as the instructor. The owner of M&M Consultants, Inc., McConchie is a Certified Business Coach and a Senior Business Consultant. He has over 36 years of retail management experience and is the past president of the Granville County Chamber of Commerce.

Topics for the workshop will include: the importance of different time periods, including November as a whole, Thanksgiving weekend in particular, and the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day; merchandising; pricing; staffing; marketing; how to capture customer information for use throughout the year and its relation to target marketing; decorating a store front; why holiday selling is different than the rest of the year; why gift cards are so important; and overcoming sold-out situations.

Breakfast will be provided at no charge to attendees who register in advance by Oct. 20.

Registration can be completed online at www.vgcc.edu/schedules/small-business-center.

For more information, contact Tanya Weary, director of the Small Business Center, at (252) 738-3240 or smallbusiness@vgcc.edu.

Vance County Friday Night Football is on the Air

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Tonight.  Double coverage of Southern Vance hosting Bartlett Yancey and Northern Vance at Southern Durham.  Pregame at 6:45 p.m. following the Joy Christian Center broadcast.  Kickoff at 7 p.m. for NV at SD and 7:30 p.m. for SV vs BY.  Join us for the live play by play on 1450 AM WIZS plus the live stream on wizs.com and via the Tunein Radio App on your computer, smartphone or tablet.

Scouting Reports by Jeff Jenkins:

For the past four years, the Spartans of Southern Durham have had good reason to consider themselves the best in the Big Eight 3A conference, and they were justified in believing they were the best 3A team in the state.  After being re-classified from 4A to 3A in 2013 and joining the Big 8, Southern swept the conference two consecutive years, won the State 3AA championship in 2013, got upset in the Playoffs in 2014, and went back to the championship game again last year.  They lost to Crest, the school they beat for the crown in 2013, to enter this season as the reigning state 3AA runners-up, but then last year’s Big 8 title – and last five wins – were forfeited due to fielding a player whose participation was based on an physical exam form that expired in late-season. The Big Eight title crown went to Orange County, which had finished second to Southern for three years running.  Whatever the record book says now,  everyone had to admit that the Spartans looked like a team that would contend with the state’s best again this year.  Head coach Darius Robinson admitted that his team had lost a few stand-outs from last year, but felt his 17 returning starters would make his team even more experienced and deeper.  Returning veterans include all-conference quarterback Jalen Greene and all-conference defenders Tackle Bobby Fuller, middle linebacker Andre Purvis, and end Ezekial Jennette.

But something went wrong.  As usual, the Spartans started their season against four tough 4A teams, all of which reached the playoffs last year. But, instead of beating 2 or 3 of the big schools and entering Conference play with their usual record of 4-1 or at least 3-2, Southern came out 2-3 against nonconference opponents.  Then, they lost to Orange County for the first time in recent memory, and by an eye-popping score of 49-7 – the Spartan’s worst defeat since 2012.  Orange was gunning for Southern, and with good reason – the Panthers had been conference runners-up to the Spartans for three straight years, AND fell to Southern in the playoffs in two of those three years as well.  Orange is undefeated this year and, with Southern Durham out of the way, they are likely to stay that way throughout the regular season.

Statistically, the Spartans do not look like an elite team; before the Orange game, they were scoring 23 points per game, compared to 34 last year, and they allowed 24 per game, compared to 19 last year.  The Orange blow-out does nothing to improve that picture.   The Offense averages a respectable but unspectacular 325 yards per game in total.  Sr. QB Jalen Green has passed for 143 yards per game and 6 TDs, and he is also the #2 rusher on the team with 53 yards per game and one TD.  Sr. WR Montrel Cooper, at 6’4,” averages 64 yards per game receiving for 2 of those TDs, followed  by Sr. Marcus McDonald at 6’3” with 53 yards per game and one score.  The rushing game is surprisingly mediocre, with only 130 yards total per game and Sr Joey Strong Jr leading the team with 83 yards per game. As predicted by Coach Robinson, Southern’s defense is indeed being led by Sr MLB Andre Purvis with nearly five tackles per game, and Sr. Tackle Ezekial Jennette with over four, but Sr. Tackle Bobby Fuller has missed three of the six games, and has not been a factor.  However, Soph DB Taron Beauford, Jr. utility player Ryan Bond and Sr. LB Dezmon Criss-Barnard have all stepped up with four or five Tackles each per game.

Northern Vance will still need to play their best game of the season to come out on top tonight, but there is a real possibility that the Vikings can go toe-to-toe with the 2016 Spartans, something they could not even hope for in previous seasons, when they were thrashed by Southern by scores of 62-6, 69-0, and, last year, 42-13.

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The Buccaneers of Bartlett Yancey, the only high school in Caswell County, invade Raider Stadium tonight under the leadership of second-year head coach David Weathersby, who is being credited with changing a culture of losing that gripped the school’s football program around the turn of the 21st century.   In Weathersby’s first game as coach, the Bucs won their 2015 season opener against Raleigh’s 4A Enloe, ended a 19-game losing streak, and laid the groundwork for a 5-6 record and their first playoff appearance since 1996.  Graduation robbed Weathersby of his starting quarterback and some other key players, but the winning season brought out a good crop of new players, and “the new BY” is continuing to rebuild.  Enloe got their revenge with a 58-35 win over the Buccaneers in this season’s opener, and 4A Person County beat them in week two, but Bartlett-Yancey has now won three in a row to bring a 3-2 record against the Raiders, who lost last year’s meeting 42-8 in Yanceyville.

This season, B.Y. features 14 seniors, including starting QB Tre Dildy, and several experienced receivers, including Sr. Jaylon Jeffries and Jr. Brandon Budd.  Among the talented newcomers are 6’2” Fr WR and kick returner Dequondre Newman, the team leader with 316 yards receiving for 4 TDs.  In the five games this season, Dildy has a 61 % completion rate, passing for 549 yards and five TDs, and rushing for three more scores.  Sr RB Shay Jeffers rushed for over 1200 yards last season on his way to an all-conference selection.  So far this season, Jeffers is on schedule to exceed his 2015 production, rushing for 1120 yards and 9 TDs so far.   In a 19-14 win over Granville Central two weeks ago, the Bucs had 477 total yards, with Dildy passing for 117 yards, and Jeffers rushing for a whopping 261 yards.

The defense is led by the linebacking group of Sr. MLB Tyree Foster who was a leader in the first five games last year, before an injury ended his season;   Jr. Joe Durden, this year’s leading tackler with 8 tackles per game; and  Jr. Hart Modlin.  As a RB,  Durden has also rushed for 2 short-yardage TDs

The Bucs offense is averaging 27 points per game, an improvement over last year’s 21 per game.  As a result of their high-scoring losses to begin this season, the defense has allowed 34 points per game, but only 19 per game in their 3 wins.  Overall the Buccaneers tend to lose big and win close, suggesting that their defense needs more improvement.  Their 42-8 win over Southern Vance last year was their highest scoring and most lopsided win of that season.

Biodiesel 4 Schools donates to Vance County Schools

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The Biodiesel 4 Schools Program has donated $460 to Vance County Schools since June.

The school system entered a partnership with the program in January of 2015.

Dean Price of Green Circle N.C., administers the program that partners with public school systems across this region of North Carolina to turn used cooking oil from local businesses into biodiesel fuel used in certain motor vehicles. The program then provides the school system with a percentage of the funds collected each quarter when the fuel is sold to customers.

Price made the first donation in early June and the second donation in mid-September. He has also reported that the program is now using the old N.C. Biofuels Center in Oxford to produce the biodiesel from the used cooking oil.

Green Circle on a regular basis collects used cooking oil from 16 local restaurants and other businesses that donate their oil for the Biodiesel 4 Schools Program.

“These businesses are showing their support for local schools and we expect to get others involved in the program,” Price said.

Local businesses currently participating in the program include: Denny’s; Skipper Forsythe’s Bar-B-Q; George’s; Golden Corral; Ichibar Japanese; J.J. Fish and Chicken; Ma’s Country Kitchen; Pegram’s Dairy Bar; Randy’s Kitchen/Amerigas; Village Kitchen; Maria Parham Medical Center; Henderson Moose Lodge; New Hope Mini Mart; Drewry Fire Department; and Vance-Granville Community College.

Vance County High School Students Attend Local College Fair

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Students from the four local high schools attended the annual College Fair held at Vance-Granville Community College on September 21.

The two-hour event was held in the morning in the community college’s Civic Center. There were representatives from approximately 60 colleges and universities in attendance to share information about future educational opportunities with students from Northern Vance, Southern Vance, Western Vance and the Vance County Early College high schools.

The community college partners each year with school systems in the four-county area it serves to provide information to high school students. Vance-Granville officials did another great job in hosting the event and getting a large number of colleges to participate.

Among the colleges with representatives on hand were Appalachian State, Barton, Campbell, Chowan, East Carolina, Elizabeth City State, Johnson & Wales, Liberty, Meredith, N.C. Central, N.C. State, Sweet Briar, UNC Pembroke, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, UNC Wilmington, UNC Greensboro, Shaw, Western Carolina, William Peace and Winston-Salem State.

Good News: VGCC awarded grant for revamped Male Mentoring initiative

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Vance-Granville Community College recently received a $17,234 grant from the North Carolina Community College System to fund the Male Mentoring Success Initiative at the college for the 2016-2017 academic year.

All first-year male students at the college will now be involved in the expanded program, according to Anthony Pope, a VGCC academic & career coach who coordinates the initiative.

Representatives of VGCC and other colleges that received the grants attended a system-wide kick-off event on Aug. 30 at Wake Technical Community College. Then, in early September, VGCC held a series of study skills workshops at all four college campuses, entitled “How to Maximize Your Study Time,” as the Male Mentoring Success Initiative’s first events of the new academic year. The VGCC Academic Skills Center collaborated with the MMSI on those workshops. Pope added that collaboration with departments throughout the college is key to the success of the initiative.

Various VGCC faculty and staff members serve as “coaches” in the program. New for this year, Pope is recruiting student “mentees” who have already completed one year at VGCC to serve as “peer mentors” to students at one of the college’s four partnering Early College high schools.

For several years, under different names, the MMSI has worked to help male students stay in school and on track to graduate or transfer to a four-year university. Pope said that events planned for this year include tours of North Carolina universities, guest speakers and educational workshops. He also hopes to take a group of students to an NBA game and send a delegation from VGCC to the National Mentoring Summit, Feb. 1-3, 2017, in Washington, D.C.

For more information on the mentoring initiative, contact Anthony Pope at popea@vgcc.edu or (252) 738-3395.

 

Friday Night Football 9-23-16 on WIZS

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Vance County Friday Night Football 9-23-16:

Northern Vance is on the road to Webb in Oxford.  That’s our play by play game of the week on 1450 AM WIZS as well as live streamed on wizs.com and WIZS on Tunein Radio.  We will have live score updates of Southern Vance at Louisburg as well.  Join Bill Harris and Doc Ayscue for the kickoff at 7:00 p.m. following the Joy Christian Center broadcast.

Scouting Reports from Jeff Jenkins of WIZS:

NV @ Webb — Webb Warriors head Coach Tony Midgette was only partially joking when he described his team’s lack of depth during the first week of practice this summer. J. F. Webb is one of the smallest 3A schools in the state, and Coach Midgette told his players that many of them would have to be prepared to play three or four positions.  The Warriors have been working with line-up changes during their five nonconference games and some combinations have, of course, worked better than others.  Last year, with similar challenges, Webb started strong, going into conference play with a 3-2 record, averaging scoring 29 points per game, and holding their nonconference opponents to 22 points per game.  This year, they have started 1-4, losing to both of their county rivals, Granville Central and South Granville, and by a large margin to Franklinton last week.  And their stats reflect this start – a scoring average of 20 points per game and 36 points allowed per game.

The Vikings’ nonconference statistics have compared favorably to the Warriors both last year and this season.  Last year the two teams were almost neck and neck and their 2015 match-up showed it.  Both teams started conference play with 3-2 records; both teams averaged scoring 29 points per game prior to their meeting; and the Vikings were allowing just under 20 points per game while the Warriors allowed 22.  Their contest last year went down to the wire with Northern Vance squeezing out a 35-34 victory.  Webb did not win another game last year and finished 3-8; but the Vikings won their last game against Cedar Ridge to finish 5-6.  This season, Northern Vance, like Webb, is scoring right at 20 points per game, but the Vikings have allowed only 11 points per game compared to Webb’s 36; so Defense will be the biggest difference tonight and the Vikings have the edge on that side of the ball.

And the Vikings will need to play Webb tough, regardless of the score, because the Warriors do not quit.  Three of their five games have been close, and two were high-scoring affairs that show the Warriors’ ability to take full advantage of teams with struggling defenses.  Webb took their only victory this season off Southern Vance in Week two by hanging around in spite of a 42-26 4th quarter deficit and taking full advantages of Raider errors to score 16 points in the last 3 minutes of regulation.  Then, two weeks ago at home against Louisburg, the Warriors came up just one score short in a 48-40 shoot-out.

Northern Vance will need to think shut-out tonight – because the Vikings’ best games have been shut-outs, and Webb has a leaky defense that should allow enough scoring with the Viking defense shutting down the passing game that has kept Webb alive to the very end of its two best games this season.

SV @ Louisburg —

After two consecutive playoff appearances as a small 2A team, and another as a newly reclassified 1A team, Louisburg crashed an burned last season with a new coach, a short roster, and injuries to some key starters.  The 2015 Warriors finished 1-10, averaged scoring 18 points per game, and allowed 45 per game.  They started last season 0-4, and then lost to Southern Vance 56-7, by far the raiders’ best game of 2015.  So far this season, Louisburg looks improved, beginning 1-3 with a close 48-40 win over Webb, and a respectable scoring average of 23 points, much better than last year’s 10 points for the first 4 games.

Second-year coach Dontae Lassiter has more to work with this year; he only lost 2 seniors to graduation and has 14 seniors to lead this year’s 39-man roster. And he is keeping things simple be counting on a run offense.  Senior Max Jones started last year wearing No. 81 as a tight end, played quarterback for part of last season, and returns this year as starting quarterback wearing No. 16.  Soph. back-up Cale Bolton has already seen action in 2 games. The rushing leaders so far are Sr. Quamon Person, with over 100 yards per game and 4 TDs, and Jr. Tyre Davis, with just under 100 rushing yards per game and 3 scores. Davis has also returned kicks for 330 yards, giving him a team high 724 all purpose yards, or 180 per game.

The Warrior defense is still weak, however, allowing 48 points per game so far, although to be fair, 54 of those points came last week in their 54-7 blow out by Bunn – a fate most of Bunn’s opponents will have to the accept this year.

Southern Vance, after one week off following their own big loss – 62-8 from Hertford County – also had a rough 2015, finishing 2-9, scoring 14 per game, and allowing 37 per game.  The Raiders, at 0-4 this season, have been hurt this year by injuries but, like Louisburg, have still managed to score in every game, even scoring 48 points in their 2-point overtime loss to Webb, the only opponents they have in common with Louisburg.  Those two games with Webb were similar in that both Southern and Louisburg scored 48 against the scrappy but undermanned 3A Oxford Warriors; although Louisburg came out on top, and the Raiders let the game slip away in the final 4 minutes.  Both of these teams are rebuilding, and tonight’s contest in Louisburg should be won by the team that commits the fewest turnovers and draws the fewest penalties.