WIZS Radio Local News Audio 10-22-21 Noon
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A Juvenile Suffering from a Gunshot Wound has Died
Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame has informed WIZS News that a local 14-year-old juvenile suffering from a gunshot wound has died. Another juvenile, age 15, has been charged in the matter.
In a press release, the sheriff indicated an incident occurred Tuesday, Oct 19 shortly before 12:30 p.m. At that time, the Vance County Sheriff’s Office responded to 318 Foxfire Drive in reference to a gunshot victim, the release stated.
At the scene, it was discovered at the time that a 14 year old had suffered a gunshot wound “causing life threatening injuries and was transported to Duke University Hospital.”
Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigators were able to identify a suspect and obtain a secure custody order for the 15 year old, who was then charged with attempted 1st degree murder.
Thursday afternoon Sheriff Brame wrote by email to WIZS and said, “I am sorry that I have to inform you regarding the attached, the 14 year old gunshot victim died as a result of his injury.”
Sheriff Brame confirmed Thursday afternoon the charges would be upgraded or changed to 1st degree murder.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Vance County Sheriff’s Office (252) 738-2200 or Crime Stoppers (252) 492-1925. Anyone giving information can remain anonymous.
The Local Skinny! Warren County Tops State In Growth Of Visitor Spending – Two Years Running
Pandemic or no pandemic, the numbers don’t lie – for the second year in a row, Warren County has grabbed the top spot in the state for growth in visitor spending, according to an annual report released by N.C. tourism officials.
The data comes from an annual study commissioned by Visit North Carolina, a unit of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.
Warren County Community and Economic Development Director Charla Duncan points to several reasons why her county has shown positive growth when other counties are posting negative figures, not the least of which is Warren County’s relative proximity to major cities like Richmond, VA and the Raleigh-Durham area, she told WIZS News.
“Warren County has opportunities for day trippers, weekenders, and repeat visitors, and our local economy benefits from that,” continued Duncan.
People tend to overlook the quality of life in a rural county, she said. It’s not less quality of life, but it is a different quality of life that Warren County offers, Duncan said. “I think that people have looked for that a little more over the past year or so. Folks are having a chance to understand what we know to be true.” There’s a lot going on, she said, “it’s just a different kind of thing going on around here.”
“We are fortunate that Warren County’s travel and tourism industry has been able to demonstrate such resilience during a difficult year,” Duncan said. “Individually, many of our businesses have certainly experienced similar challenges as other small businesses across America during this pandemic. The strength in Warren County, particularly during 2020, is that our natural and cultural assets are a stable, safe, and desirable resource for visitors.”
It may be challenging to discern whether the $49.6 million spent in Warren County in 2020 is from visitors, tourists or simply residents who are spending more time within Warren County, Duncan noted. It’s probably a mixture of all three groups.
Duncan said a quick look at sales tax figures show that spending in the county is going fairly well. Gas sales, food and beverage sales, as well as retail and certain recreational spaces all contribute to the numbers, but whether those sales can be tied to a true tourist or a true visitor may be more difficult to track, she said.
Despite this, Duncan said, “this is our second year in a row topping the state in growth. We saw a lot of growth between 2018 and 2019, and the pandemic wasn’t in play.”
Warren County was the only county in its region to see growth; all other counties in the North Central region saw a decrease in visitor spending. The region includes Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Orange, Person, Vance, and Wake counties, according to a press release from Warren County Manager Vincent Jones.
Of the $49.6 million related to visitor spending, $12 million came from lodging, $15.5 from food and beverage, $6.7 from recreation, $4.8 from retail, and $10.6 from transportation, according to the statement.
In addition, people who have vacation homes or retirement homes on both Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston may figure in the positive numbers for Warren County since the onset of the pandemic. “If they were going to be allowed to work from home, they were going to do it from their lake house,” Duncan said.
The appeal of agritourism and agribusiness also contributes, she said. For example, Seven Springs Winery near Norlina opened for business right about the time that the pandemic was shutting everything down.
“That business has been incredibly successful, despite challenges that face small businesses. People were looking for more things to do outside, she said, and Seven Springs provides that opportunity. “They opened up at a time when that was a sought-after thing,” she added. “They’re a great asset for us. They are achieving their dream – they have a great story to tell.”
“It is great to see this positive news, as we adjust to the long-term impact of the pandemic,” stated County Manager Vincent Jones. “We hope that this new energy we are seeing as people discover and rediscover the charm of Warren County is sustained going forward.”
According to Visit NC date, the Warren County travel and tourism industry directly employees 231 people; this is an increase in employment related to visitor spending since 2019. The total payroll generated by the tourism industry in Warren County in 2020 was $10.1 million.
In 2020, state tax revenue generated in Warren County totaled $1.6 million through state sales and excise taxes, and taxes on personal and corporate income. Approximately $3.4 million in local taxes were generated from sales and property tax revenue from travel-generated and travel-supported businesses.
The breakdown by county is available at partners.visitnc.com/economic-impact-studies. The study was prepared for Visit North Carolina by Tourism Economics in collaboration with the U.S. Travel Association.
Warren County has seen an increase in visitor spending every year since 2016.
WIZS Radio Local News Audio 10-21-21 Noon
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TownTalk: Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society Pays Tribute To Ricky Overby
Most Friday evenings for almost a decade, Ricky Overby would climb into the Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society van, put it in Drive and head out of town on a freedom ride. The thousands of dogs and cats that left Vance County for rescue and adoption groups up and down the East Coast owe their lives – literally – to Captain Ricky.
Overby died Tuesday after a short battle with cancer. But Brandon Boyd, RCAPS President, holds Overby up as an example as someone who selflessly gave of his time to further the RCAPS mission of saving animals.
Overby started out as a driver, Boyd told John C. Rose on Thursday’s Town Talk, but as the single van grew to a fleet of vans, Captain Ricky took on more responsibilities with RCAPS.
Boyd remembered his employee – and friend – as loyal and dependable. “He took pride in his work, in his job,” he said. “And he loved saving animals.”
He’d take off usually by 9 p.m. on Fridays, with dozens and dozens of dogs and cats loaded in the van. He’d make numerous stops along his way up the East Coast, his destination sometimes as far North as Albany, New York.
Sometimes, Boyd said, when he found himself awake in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, “I’d call the Captain.” The calls sometimes lasted five minutes; others lasted upwards of an hour, Boyd recalled.
His reputation for a loving, caring person grew as his transports continued – Boyd said it’s difficult to grasp just how widespread that reputation reached.
James Jackson, another local volunteer, stepped in when Capt. Ricky got sick. And Friday night, when Jackson settles in behind the wheel of the van loaded with 50 or 60 dogs and cats headed for New York, he and the other RCAPS volunteers will continue Capt. Ricky’s mission of doing God’s work of caring for animals.
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Rain Chance Didn’t Dampen Success Of Downtown Car Show
Although the official economic impact has yet to be quantified, Vance County Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Pam Hester has plenty of anecdotal evidence to show that last weekend’s Show, Shine, Shag and Dine was a great success.
“The car show (was) fabulous,” Hester told WIZS News. She estimated that between 350 and 400 cars rolled into town to participate in the 19th annual event. Given the concern for COVID-19, plus the fact that there was a good chance of rain, she said she was pleased with the turnout.
This year should have been the 20th anniversary celebration, but COVID-19 put the brakes on last year’s event. Hester said she and her team of volunteers are already making plans to mark the anniversary in special ways for next year.
Attendance was slightly down, but she cited COVID-19 as a factor in that. Hester didn’t have an official estimate, and “it’s so hard to tell when it’s that many people” milling about downtown, she noted.
Hotels seemed to be pretty well booked on Saturday night, and she predicted that was the case for Friday as well. She fielded calls from New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Massachusetts and said that many cars were trailered in. “There were a lot of cars and people that I haven’t seen – lots of new places and new faces,” she said.
She noted that there were fewer vendors and food trucks, but she attributed that to COVID, too. “It’s hard to find help to run (main restaurants and food trucks), and that’s what the vendors were running into,” she said. The food vendors that were there, however, provided delicious food. “One guy sold out of everything he had on his truck,” she added.
A meeting is scheduled for next week to debrief the team of volunteers about what went well and what can be improved upon for next year, when the event turns 20.
TownTalk: Randy Owen Looks To The Future After Retirement
When Randy Owen says he’s not one to sit around and do nothing, he really means it. Although he is enjoying a short time off at the moment, Owen said he will be officially retired from Vance -Granville Community College on November 1. That also happens to be his first day at his new job as a paramedic at Rex Health Care’s catheterization lab.
Owen spoke with John C. Rose on Town Talk Wednesday, and he said the afternoon’s activities involved playing a little golf. When November rolls around in a couple of weeks, however, he will be working 12-hour shifts several days each week, which he said he looks forward to.
His first career began when he joined the Henderson Fire Department back in 1990. What began as a job as a firefighter and EMT morphed into becoming first a part-time instructor at VGCC and then a full-time instructor and coordinator of fire and rescue training.
“I fell in love with the instruction part of it,” Owen said. He got a certificate to teach CPR and then got his EMS certification. He credits Ranger Wilkerson, Danny Wilkerson and Curtis Tyndall with getting his career off on solid footing.
His second career will be challenging, but it’s a challenge he said he looks forward to. “I love a challenge,” he exclaimed. “I’m really, really looking forward to doing some patient care.”
Whether it’s caring for patients, co-workers, family or his community, Owen does so with a smile and great enthusiasm.
He said he is grateful for the support that he and his family have received in the past few years since his daughter Reagan’s diagnosis with acute myeloid leukemia. There have been fundraisers and many other expressions of support as medical bills continued to mount.
“It was very, very stressful,” he recalled, when Rae Rae spent eight long months at Duke for treatment. Community support “touched us in such a special way,” he said. Right now, she’s doing well, although she faces a pulmonic valve replacement in the future. “She should be put in line pretty soon,” he said.
In his new job, he’ll work fewer days, but longer shifts, and the schedule is more flexible. This is another aspect of the job that appeals to Owen because that means he can donate his time to help with other organizations.
Amanda Riggan, founder of Hungry Heroes, called him recently and asked whether he could help with an upcoming event in the area. “I just jumped on board and said, ‘most definitely!’”
“It’s amazing what she does for our public safety people,” he said of Riggan and the organization that provides meals and stocks kitchens for first responders like firefighters and rescue personnel.
Offering food to those who serve in their community is a little “give back,” he said. “One little thing we can do is feed them.”
In his role as coordinator for the fire and rescue training program at VGCC, Owen saw to it that the 50-plus agencies in the four counties that VGCC serves had the appropriate training classes.
One program that he remembers well involved helping first responders deal with stress.
The idea was to debrief after a traumatic event like a fire or a car accident, let folks explain their role and “get it off their chest and grieve about it.”
It’s important for supervisors and chiefs to monitor their team for signs of stress and get on top of it quickly, he said. “Stress is a big part of this job – It takes a special person to do it.”
Owen should know.
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WIZS Radio Local News Audio 10-20-21 Noon
Click Play to Listen. On Air at 8am, 12pm, 5pm M-F
WIZS Radio ~ 100.1FM/1450AM
GVPH Director Lisa Harrison In President’s Role At National Association Of Health Officials
Granville-Vance Public Health Director Lisa M. Harrison is the 2021-22 president of the board of directors of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), which represents nearly 3,000 local health departments across the country.
“It is a privilege to serve as NACCHO’s board president while public health continues to work so diligently during the pandemic to prevent disease and promote health,” Harrison said in press release from the national organization. “I have been in awe of our public health workforce for a long time, but these last two years have been a constant reminder of their tireless dedication to and focus on community. We are fortunate in the United States to have hundreds of thousands of public health workers across nearly 3,000 local health departments fighting a hard fight at the tip of the spear against COVID-19, against underfunded and outdated systems that can hinder more than help get the job accomplished, and against misinformation that spreads more quickly than fact. I look forward to working with our partners at all levels to ensure the critical public health system receives long-term sustainable solutions. In the meantime, you can count on your local health department for vaccines, case investigation, contact tracing, outbreak investigation, data management, education, outreach, infection control, and a host of important partnerships to leverage local community health efforts.”
“On behalf of the Board of Directors and our county and city health departments, we welcome and look forward to Lisa’s strong leadership of local health departments as we continue to respond to COVID and address the myriad of public health priorities facing our communities and our country at this crucial time in our history,” said NACCHO Chief Executive Officer Lori Tremmel Freeman.
Harrison has been the director of the GVPH since 2012. Her previous roles in North Carolina public health have been in research, practice, and policy development.
Harrison has served as the performance improvement manager for the North Carolina Division of Public Health (NCDPH), where she worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a public health infrastructure grant for performance improvement. Prior to that, she participated in the North Carolina 2020: A Better State of Health initiative with the North Carolina Institute of Medicine. In addition, she worked on the development of the Quality Improvement 101 curriculum for local public health agencies; and established a quality improvement training program for the North Carolina public health workforce.
Harrison has been a member of the public health field for more than 20 years. She has served as the director of the Office of Healthy Carolinians and Health Education at the NCDPH, led the Public Health Incubator Collaboratives Program at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, and directed the Southeast Public Health Leadership Institute (SEPHLI) at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health where she continues to stay connected as adjunct faculty in the Public Health Leadership Program. In 2015, Harrison served as the North Carolina Public Health Association president where she continues to stay involved connecting public health research and practice.
About NACCHO’s Board of Directors
NACCHO is governed by a 22-member board comprising local and tribal health officials who are elected by their peers, as well as three ex-officio members representing partner organizations.
As the governing body, NACCHO’s Board of Directors establishes the association’s strategic direction and initiatives, sets the annual legislative agenda, approves official policy statements, ensures that annual goals are met, and provides financial oversight. The Board is NACCHO’s public face, and represents members in matters of policy, public health practice, and collaboration with health partners in the public and private sectors.
NACCHO’s Board is led by four executive officers. In addition to Ms. Harrison, this includes:
- President-elect Margaret Jahn, MS, MPH, Director, Freehold Area Health Department, Freehold, NJ
- Vice President Pramod Dwivedi, DrPH, MS, MSW, MA, Health Director, Linn County Public Health Department, Cedar Rapids, IA
- Immediate Past President Jennifer C. Kertanis, MPH, Director of Health, Farmington Valley Health District, Canton, CT
The Local Skinny! Jobs In Vance
The H-V Chamber of Commerce and WIZS, Your Community Voice, present Jobs in Vance for October 19, 2021. The Chamber compiles the information, and it is presented here and on the radio. Contact the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce at 438-8414 or email christa@hendersonvance.org to be included.
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Name of the Company: Vance County Sheriff’s Department
Jobs Available: Sheriff’s Office has openings for 5 Deputies, 2 School Resource Officers and 1 Administrative/ Front Office person. The Detention Center has 12 vacancies for Detention Officers and 1 part-time opening for the kitchen
Method of Contact: For more information visit vancecountysheriff.org or call Sheriff Office @ 252-738-2200
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Name of the Company: George’s Restaurant of Henderson
Jobs Available: Looking to fill all positions
Method of Contact: Please stop by the business at 210 N. Garnett St. to apply in person
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Name of the Company: Hollander Sleep Products, LLC
Jobs Available: Operator Sewing Machine II and Utility I
Method of Contact: Interested persons who want to apply please contact NC Works Office
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Name of the Company: First United Methodist Church of Henderson
Jobs Available: Director of Children and Youth Ministries – This is a salaried position working directly under the supervision of the Pastor and is ultimately responsible to the Staff Parish Relations Committee for the development and promotion of a comprehensive and effective ministry to children and youth.
Method of Contact: To apply email cover letter and resume with at least three professional references to Pastor George Loveland at George.loveland@nccumc.org
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Name of the Company: Roses/ Variety Distribution Center
Jobs Available: General Warehouse Associates, Lift Drivers, Team Leads, Yard Drivers, Housekeeping/ Custodial, Supervisors. Available shifts 1st and 2nd Monday- Friday, Saturday overtime as needed. Potential to earn up to $20.00 an hour, Sign on bonus of $1500.00 and attendance bonus.
Method of Contact: Apply in person at NEW Roses Distribution Hiring Center located at 218 S. Garnett Street, Henderson, hours are Monday and Wednesday 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8:30am – noon and 1:00pm – 4:oopm.
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Name of the Company: Walmart Distribution Center – Henderson
Jobs Available: HR Clerk Part-time, Asset Protection Associate, Area Managers, Operations Manager, Order Filler/Freight Handler and Forklift Drivers, Loader Wrapper, Unloading/ Receiving
Method of Contact: For full listings and more information go to https://careers.walmart.com/us/jobs
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Name of the Company: Granville Vance Public Health
Jobs Available: Front Office Manager for Clinical Services – A minimum of five (5) years of administrative experience in personnel budgeting, research or administrative management is preferred. The candidate must also possess knowledge and a strong command of principles and practices of effective communications both orally and in writing. Graduation from a 4 year college or university and one year experience or an equivalent combination of training and experience.
Method of Contact: Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, sample of written work (one page), completed State application, college transcripts and three work related reference contacts via email to humanresources@gvdhd.org or mail to Human Resources Manager, Granville Vance District Health Department, Post Office Box 367, Oxford, NC 27565
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Some of these businesses are present or past advertisers of WIZS. Being an ad client is not a condition of being listed or broadcast. This is not a paid ad.