Local Chambers Promote Small Business; Looking Biz of Year!

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Nominations are being accepted at local Chambers of Commerce for the 2020 Small Business of the Year.

Henderson-Vance Chamber President Michele Burgess noted several criteria for companies who are nominated. Anyone can nominate a company for consideration, and companies may self-nominate, she said.

All nominated companies must submit a written application to the Chamber office no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, April 16, 2021.

The deadline is Monday, April 12 to submit written applications to the Granville Chamber in Oxford, according to a written statement from that Chamber’s Small Business Committee.

Both chambers use the following criteria for a small business to be nominated:

  • employs a maximum of 50 people
  • is a member of the local chamber and is located in the county
  • has been in business at least 3 years and is experiencing growth or stability over its business life
  • provides critical service or products, fills a void in the business community, or has a unique approach to the delivery of goods and services
  • Is not a governmental agency or municipality

In addition to the above criteria, the Granville Chamber lists two more criteria for consideration:

  • May have overcome diverse or extraordinary circumstances  to remain in business
  • Is supportive of community growth sustainability
  • Representative(s) of each small business completing a written application will be invited to a Small Business luncheon

All applications are confidential.

Email michele@hendersonvance.org or call the H-V Chamber at 252.438.8414 to learn more and to request an application. Copies also are available at the Chamber office, 414 S. Garnett St., open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information about the Granville application, email wanda@granville-chamber.com or call the Oxford office 919.693.6125. Copies of the application are also available for pickup at the Oxford office, located at 124 Hillsboro St.

Multi-Employer, Virtual Hiring Event March 30 at 11 a.m.

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NC Works is having a virtual multi-employer hiring event at 11 a.m. on March 30.

Positions range from assemblers, machine operators, material handlers, welders and more.

The most direct method for this and other job availabilities is to visit events.kerrtarworks.com. You can also call the NCWorks Career Center at 919 693 2686.

In addition, WIZS Radio in Henderson has formed a new partnership with the H-V Chamber of Commerce. As there are job openings in our area, the Chamber is going to help compile and list, and the radio station is going to announce it and publish it for the community to hear and see. This is an additional effort that continues and builds further on what the Kerr Tar Regional Council of Governments has been doing in partnership with NC Works.

Granville Board of Education announces graduation dates, Plan A for middle and high schools

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The Class of 2021 in Granville County Public Schools may have a “normal” graduation after all following a called meeting of the board of education Monday. The board voted 7-0 to allow modified, outdoor, in-person graduation ceremonies, as well as bringing back middle- and high school students to in-person learning beginning April 19.

Graduating seniors will have the option of participating in the in-person graduation ceremony OR a district-wide drive-through ceremony on June 5 if families are not comfortable attending the graduation ceremony at their child’s high school, according to Dr. Stan Winborne, assistant superintendent for human resources & operations and public information officer

Seniors will NOT have a traditional senior prom this year; the board voted 7-0 to follow state DHHS recommendations and cited COVID-transmission risks associated with a dance celebration. Instead, high schools will plan “special socially-distanced outdoor events to celebrate the senior year experience,” Winborne said, which will be linked to positive school attendance and focus on the senior class. Details would be shared with the public no later than April 15, 2021.

Below is the list of schools and graduation dates and times:

  • Granville Early College: May 21 at 7 p.m.; rain date, 5/22, 10 a.m.
  • Granville Central: June 4, 9 a.m.; rain date, June 11, 9 a.m.
  • Granville Academy: June 4, 11 a.m.; rain date, June 11, 11 a.m.
  • F. Webb: June 4, 7:30 p.m.; rain date, June 11, 7:30 p.m.
  • South Granville: June 5, 9 a.m.; rain date, June 12, 9 a.m.

Granville Central, Granville Early College and Granville Academy will hold their graduations on the Granville Central football field, weather permitting; Webb and South Granville also will have their ceremonies on their respective football fields, weather permitting.

The drive-through graduation is scheduled to be held at Northern Granville Middle School. Individual high schools will release more information as details are finalized.

The approved motion directed staff to prepare for students in grades 6-12 to shift from in-person learning from two days a week to four days a week, according to Winborne.  Currently, students in grades 6-12 who attend school in-person are assigned to 2 groups (A or B), each physically reporting to school two days a week.  Both groups attend school virtually for the other three days they are not physically in school.

Beginning on Monday, April 19, the two groups will merge into a single group and all in-person students will attend school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Wednesday remains a remote learning day for all students.  All families who previously chose to have their students remain on full virtual learning will do so for the remainder of the school year, Winborne said.

Granville Vance Public Health Logo

The Local Skinny! March 22; Covid Update

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Thank you for listening to WIZS — Your Community Voice.

“The Local Skinny!” also features Tradio — click here — and the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report — click here.

The latest local data update on Covid-19, as of March 21, indicates right at 13 percent of the population of Vance County and Granville County are fully vaccinated.

In email correspondence that Lisa Harrison, health director at Granville Vance Public Health, sends out at least once per week, she wrote “Vance County — Total Doses Administered: 15,299; First Doses Administered: 9,614; Second Doses Administered: 5,685.  Granville County — Total Doses Administered: 21,036; First Doses Administered: 12,929; Second Doses Administered: 8,107.

“Vance County — Percentage of population at least partially vaccinated: 21.6%. Percentage of population fully vaccinated: 12.8%.

“Granville County — Percentage of population at least partially vaccinated: 21.4%. Percentage of population fully vaccinated: 13.4%.”

Additional links you are encouraged to use are “the NCDHHS COVID-19 Dashboard. Relevant graphs from these dashboards are available on our website at https://gvph.org/covid-19_dashboard/,” Harrison wrote.

For a seventh time overall and for the fifth straight NCAA tournament, seven ACC teams made the field (two remain at of 3-22-21 at 2 p.m.), and Harrison says the NCAA has a good model of safety for players, staff and fans  — https://www.ncaa.org/themes-topics/health-and-safety.

Harrison says the NCAA model is good, and it’s clear.  And Harrison and others around the country say we are at a turning point in the fight against the virus, a fork in the road if you will.

To continue the original basketball/model theme of Harrison’s email to WIZS News, the other type of models, like the ones you would use for forecasting the weather for example, these models being run on covid make one thing clear.  “Get your vaccine when it’s your turn and keep practicing the 3 Ws if we want to get out of this as fast as we can! We need to keep making an effort to flatten any future curves that could happen if we let our guard down too quickly or if we allow these variants to take off unchecked. We’re in this until we’re over the hump – and we don’t want any more upward trends,” Harrison wrote.

She wrote, “GVPH had the opportunity to participate in a pilot project recently to understand better how researchers at UNC, NC State University, and Georgia Tech (all good basketball schools I might add) are able to use systems engineering and simulations to model future scenarios related to the pandemic and our response. Very cool! Even more cool is they want to help us in public health with decision-making and communicating where it’s helpful.”

Presently in North Carolina, the daily percent positive is 4.9 percent.

South Granville Rotary organizes care package project

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The Rotary Club of South Granville County invites the community to participate in a project to create care packages for senior adults in the area affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement issued by Club President Angela Allen, many seniors are not able to go out in the community and may need everyday household and personal items. The club hopes to create the care packages through donations. The goal is to deliver to 100 seniors in southern Granville County. Donations should be delivered no later than Apr. 27; the distribution date is scheduled for May 7.

There are two ways to help:

  1. Sign up to collect one or more items (increments of 25) on Signup Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0a4aaeac23aafc1-granville .  Items must be collected and delivered to the club by April 27, 2021. Items can be dropped off any Tuesday evening at the weekly Rotary club meeting through April 27.
  2. Volunteer to distribute on May 7, 2021 from 11:30 a.m. TO 12:30 p.m. The distribution will take place at the South Granville Senior Center, temporarily located at the South Granville Country Club. It is possible that the new senior center will be open by May 7 and volunteers will be updated on the location site. Volunteer slots are limited because of COVID-19 gathering restrictions, and the event will be held outside, with mask wearing and social distancing. Sign up at the Signup Genius link.

Other businesses, organizations and churches are invited to collect and donate to the project, and there are informational flyers available to promote the project.

To learn more about where to deliver donations, contact Angela Allen at angela.allen@granvillecounty.org or 919-725-6486.

IRS

Tax Day for individuals extended to May 17: Treasury, IRS extend filing and payment deadline

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— press release courtesy of the IRS

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced (this week) that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year will be automatically extended from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021. The IRS will be providing formal guidance in the coming days.

“This continues to be a tough time for many people, and the IRS wants to continue to do everything possible to help taxpayers navigate the unusual circumstances related to the pandemic, while also working on important tax administration responsibilities,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “Even with the new deadline, we urge taxpayers to consider filing as soon as possible, especially those who are owed refunds. Filing electronically with direct deposit is the quickest way to get refunds, and it can help some taxpayers more quickly receive any remaining stimulus payments they may be entitled to.”

Individual taxpayers can also postpone federal income tax payments for the 2020 tax year due on April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021, without penalties and interest, regardless of the amount owed. This postponement applies to individual taxpayers, including individuals who pay self-employment tax. Penalties, interest and additions to tax will begin to accrue on any remaining unpaid balances as of May 17, 2021. Individual taxpayers will automatically avoid interest and penalties on the taxes paid by May 17.

Individual taxpayers do not need to file any forms or call the IRS to qualify for this automatic federal tax filing and payment relief. Individual taxpayers who need additional time to file beyond the May 17 deadline can request a filing extension until Oct. 15 by filing Form 4868 through their tax professional, tax software or using the Free File link on IRS.gov. Filing Form 4868 gives taxpayers until October 15 to file their 2020 tax return but does not grant an extension of time to pay taxes due. Taxpayers should pay their federal income tax due by May 17, 2021, to avoid interest and penalties.

The IRS urges taxpayers who are due a refund to file as soon as possible. Most tax refunds associated with e-filed returns are issued within 21 days.

This relief does not apply to estimated tax payments that are due on April 15, 2021. These payments are still due on April 15. Taxes must be paid as taxpayers earn or receive income during the year, either through withholding or estimated tax payments. In general, estimated tax payments are made quarterly to the IRS by people whose income isn’t subject to income tax withholding, including self-employment income, interest, dividends, alimony or rental income. Most taxpayers automatically have their taxes withheld from their paychecks and submitted to the IRS by their employer.

State tax returns
The federal tax filing deadline postponement to May 17, 2021, only applies to individual federal income returns and tax (including tax on self-employment income) payments otherwise due April 15, 2021, not state tax payments or deposits or payments of any other type of federal tax. Taxpayers also will need to file income tax returns in 42 states plus the District of Columbia. State filing and payment deadlines vary and are not always the same as the federal filing deadline. The IRS urges taxpayers to check with their state tax agencies for those details.

NC Rural Center’s 2021 Rural Summit Featured Granville County

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The 2021 Rural Summit featured Granville County in its recent virtual conference, designed to discuss and share policy actions, education and successes with advocates for rural issues.

“The Secrets of NC’s Down-Home Tycoon” featured Granville County native Pratt Winston and Harry Mills, the county’s economic developer. The two Granville county men joined writer Billy Warden to discuss the intersection between entrepreneurship and living in a rural area.

During the 45-minute featured session, the three discussed various topics with a panel of facilitators, including conducting business in a rural area. “They asked what I thought about rural living and (whether) you can do business in a small town,” Winston said Thursday. “And I said ‘absolutely’ you can.”

The session began with a video clip and other pictures highlighting Winston’s life and business career. Although he lived for a few years in the New York suburbs and commuted to the city, Winston said there’s no comparison between there and Granville County. “For one thing, you don’t have to fight a whole lot of traffic” to get to work, he said.

“It really is an interesting story,” said Mills, of Winston and his decades-long career which includes work in far-flung areas across the world and the invention of a quirky looking radio that has maintained somewhat of a cult following since it first appeared on the scene in the early ‘70s.

Warden wrote a story about Winston’s storied career that appeared in the September 2020 issue of Our State magazine. Find the story at https://www.ourstate.com/a-space-age-oddity/

The Rural Summit, a production of NC Rural Center, was held virtually this year. Mills said the summit is just one way to show those who live in more urban areas just what rural areas offer.

In describing the workshop, the agenda stated that Winston is “arguably North Carolina’s most colorful business success you’ve never heard of –and a living testament to the vibrancy and potential of rural entrepreneurship.”

Being an entrepreneur in a rural community may not be that different from being an entrepreneur in a more urban area – it’s really just depends on the individual, Winston noted.  He added that what he hoped listeners, especially young people, learned from him telling his story is to have a goal, and then get about the business of accomplishing it.

“We’re no different (than anybody else),” Mills said. “We just reside in Granville County.” Increased exposure outside the immediate area tends to attract more people to visit and maybe to relocate. The NC Rural Center’s mission is “to develop, promote, and implement sound economic strategies to improve the quality of life of rural North Carolinians.” The Rural Center serves the state’s 80 rural counties, with a focus on communities with limited resources and low- to moderate-income individuals.

Highlighting rural areas, he said, can have multiple effects. In addition to noting the positives, it also sheds light on what rural areas need “and what we should have,” Mills noted.

According to information from the NC Rural Center, about 700 people from 85 counties across the state – from 12 US states and even one international participant – attended the three-day event.

See more online – https://www.ncruralcenter.org/advocacy-and-research/advocacy/rural-summit/

Oxford Water/Sewer Improvements and Adjusting to get the Big Bucks to do It

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Some residents of Oxford may be annoyed at the rat-a-tat of jackhammers as they chew up sidewalks or asphalt. Others may grimace when they see the ‘Road Work Ahead’ sign marking street construction. But these sights and sounds also are the marks of progress on the city’s infrastructure improvement plan.

In an effort to keep the public informed about what work is going on where, the City of Oxford has begun sending out monthly updates to outline where crews will be working.

Oxford Mayor Jackie Sergent said the idea arose from a town commissioner planning retreat. “It was a simple desire to be more effective at letting people know where work will be happening,” she said in an interview Monday. People want to know, Sergent said, where the work is being done and how long it’s going to take to complete.

The “where” is easy; it’s the “how long” that is less certain, she said.

The improvements are being made as part of a long-range comprehensive improvement plan to make upgrades to the water and sewer infrastructure. Grants and no-interest loans through the 2015 Connect NC bond legislation were available, but the city first had to adjust its water/sewer rates to qualify. Long story short, Sergent said, in the five years since, the city has gotten $50 million – $10 million in grants and more than $25 million in 0-interest loans.

This is a huge undertaking,” Sergent noted. “I am incredibly proud of what we’re doing,” but added that it certainly is not “glamorous.”

Visit www.oxfordnc.org/community/comprehensive_plans_projects.php to learn more. Call 919.603.1100 with questions or concerns.

TownTalk 03-16-2021; Angela Allen, Granville Co. Tourism March and Spring Events

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TownTalk guest Angela Allen, Granville Co. tourism director, described multiple events starting this week and weekend and into the spring.

With spring and Easter in the air and more and more people wanting to get out of the house, Allen listed off events for children and adults, including the upcoming bridal tour which still has availability.  Four venues will be featured, with tours included.  Granville Brides on Wheels on Eventbrite will get you signed up or visit www.brides-on-wheels.com.

Check out the Cedar Creek Gallery Glass Egg Fundraiser March 16 to March 26 in Creedmoor.  All proceeds go to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.  There are prizes including raffles for 55 blown glass eggs and the event is available online as well.

The Spring Fling Maker’s Market Food Truck Rodeo happens this weekend on Saturday (March 20th) from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. in Oxford.

An inaugural Children’s Easter Egg Hunt will take place Saturday (March 20th) at Vino Oasi in Stem.

Carlee Farm presents the Spring Marketplace Sunday in Oxford.

A full listing of events in Granville County can be seen online at https://visitgranvillenc.com/whats-happening/.

For complete details and audio of Angela Allen click play.

(Granville Tourism is a paying advertising client of WIZS. This text, radio show and resulting podcast is not a paid ad.)

Local Covid Update; Granville Vance Public Health Vaccine Hotline Reminder

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— written from information provided by Lisa Harrison, director Granville Vance Public Health.  The information was provided March 10, but this article was not written or published until March 11.

Since the pandemic began, Vance County has seen 4,450 positive test results, and Granville County has seen 5,341.

As a result of covid, 82 have died from Vance County, and 76 have died from Granville County.

Over 11,500 have died from North Carolina, and 1,075 are presently hospitalized.

Local Health Director Lisa Harrison indicated, “As our focus shifts to vaccine efforts, we will begin reporting updates about the numbers vaccinated in each of our counties. This information, as well as demographic information, can also be found at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard/vaccinations.”

In Vance County, 8,328 first doses of vaccine have been administered, and 4,865 second shots have been provided.  With that, 18.7 percent of the populations is at least partially vaccinated, and 10.9 percent is fully vaccinated.

In Granville County, 11,280 first doses have been given along with 6,635 second doses.  That means 18.7 percent has been at least partially vaccinated with 11 percent being fully vaccinated.

Harrison said, “We will deliver over 1,400 first doses this week and over 1,200 second doses. We are making great progress vaccinating our frontline essential workers! As a reminder, if you believe you may be eligible for a vaccine, please call our hotline to book an appointment.”

The health director is encouraging strength and courage through this transformative journey, and she said, “Thank you public health warriors (in this building and outside it)!!! You’re winning this battle. You’re doing hard things. You’re fighting disease and protecting health and life. Keep it up!!”