The Local Skinny! Pop the Hood: Spring Cleaning Your Car

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For our sponsor, Advance Auto Parts, as part of a paid radio sponsorship on WIZS.

Getting a little spring cleaning done may be on people’s minds, now that the pollen has done its thing and the weather’s warming up.

But spring cleaning shouldn’t be limited to homes and businesses – what about your vehicles?

We make lists to take care of seasonal household chores like washing the windows and cleaning out the gutters, but cars and trucks would benefit from having seasonal checklists, too.

The professionals at Advance Auto Parts can help you choose the right products to keep your vehicle looking great and running great this spring and all year long.

Some maintenance and spring cleaning tasks are recommended based on time, others on the number of miles you’ve driven, and some are simply preventative measures to keep your vehicle in good repair.

The “check” lights on dashboards of many newer models remind us when it’s time to change the oil or check tire pressure – they may be annoying to see, but they shouldn’t be ignored.

There’s not a “check” light for things like belts, battery terminals and spark plugs, so a quick look under the hood can help you spot little problems before they become big problems that could leave you stranded along the roadside.

Spark plugs may need to be replaced every few years, especially if you put 30,000 or more miles a year on your vehicle. Timing belts should last for 50,000 miles or so, but all hoses and belts should be checked periodically for wear.

If you use a mechanic for tire rotations and oil changes, they should be checking things like tire pressure and uneven wear, as well as air filters and cabin filters.

DIY’ers need to keep those things in mind as well – a cabin air filter helps keep dirt and irritants out of the interior of your vehicle.

Speaking of interiors, when’s the last time you cleaned the inside of the windshield? That filmy buildup can be easily removed. While you’re at it, go ahead and give the seats and floorboards a deep clean.

If vehicles are, indeed, a reflection of the owners who drive them, then some of us may need to tackle a spring cleaning project or two before we head down the road.

The information contained in this post is not advice from Advance Auto Parts or WIZS.  Safety First!  Always seek proper help.  This is presented for its informational value only and is part of a paid advertising sponsorship.

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Vehicles Stolen from Other Parts of State Found in Williamsboro

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The Office of Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame says vehicles stolen elsewhere recovered locally.

On April 29th the Vance County Sheriff’s Office located and seized two stolen motor vehicles, both of which were 2017 Dodge Charger Hellcat editions. The vehicles were reported stolen over the past seven days. One vehicle was reported stolen out of Greensboro, N.C.  The second was stolen out Benson, N.C. in Johnston County.

The vehicles were located parked at a residence in the Williamsboro community. It has been confirmed that one of the stolen vehicles was involved in a high-speed chase in the city limits Henderson over the weekend. The driver fled and was not apprehended at that time.

All involved jurisdictions have been notified of the seizures/recoveries. The investigation of this incident remains active. Anyone that can identify the operators of these two stolen vehicles, please contact the Vance County Sheriff’s Office.

— from Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame

Vance-Granville Community College Graduation May 10

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On behalf of its faculty, staff, and 2024 graduating class, Vance-Granville Community College welcomes all members of the public to attend its 55th annual commencement exercises.

VGCC will honor 533 graduates who completed degrees or diplomas during the 2023-2024 academic year.

The 2024 graduation ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 10, on the grounds of the College’s Main Campus in Henderson.

In addition to remarks from Vance-Granville’s president and trustees, guests will hear addresses from keynote speaker Rep. Frank Sossamon of the NC House of Representatives and Micah Jones, 2023-2024 president of the College’s Student Government Association.

No admission tickets are required; however, seating is limited and is available on a first come, first served basis. Guests are welcomed to bring lawn chairs for seating in the grassy area around the College gazebo.

Those unable to attend the ceremony in person are invited to watch a livestream of the event at the College’s official YouTube channel.

— information courtesy of VGCC

Vance County Logo

Counties Weigh Revenue Needs Against Tax Rate Levels As June 30 Deadline Approaches

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As counties and municipalities continue to hammer out details for next year’s budgets that are set for adoption by the end of June, residents are awaiting news about whether their tax bills are going to go up. And if so, by how much.

The recent change in value notifications noted spikes in property values since the last revaluation in 2016, which city and county leaders in Vance and other neighboring counties had been quick to point out.

In simple terms, if property values go up (and they did, almost across the board), then the overall tax rate could go down and the amount of tax needed to fund budgets could stay at existing levels.

However, if there are additional projects above and beyond the routine expenditures, then the tax rate may need to be adjusted.

Vance County Manager C. Renee Perry said there have been 329 informal appeals made by property owners, and seven would be continuing on for further review by the Board of Review & Equalization – which is the board of commissioners – on Monday, May 6.

Upcoming budget work sessions would be the time and place to talk about revenue neutrality, she said.

Perry said she expects to send out this week details about an information session that will be held in the county to talk about the revaluation process.

Granville County held a similar event in early April and the Granville County Board of Commissioners is holding budget work sessions at the Granville Convention & Expo Center Monday, May 13, and Wednesday, May 15, and if necessary on Thursday, May 16. Each session begins at 9 a.m.

Granville County Tax Administrator Jennifer Short told WIZS News Wednesday that 1,013 informal appeals were fielded before the April 29 deadline; of those, only one so far will continue to the Board of Equalization and Review.  The deadline for formal appeals is June 3, Short said.

“We are recommending anyone that wants to appeal to contact our office for an appointment date and time to ensure everyone is heard,” Short said in an email. “I would hate to chance someone having to come back because of the possible number of formal appeals and running out of time.”

Counties are scheduled to adopt the new tax rate in June and it would go into effect at the beginning of the new fiscal year, July 1.

According to information contained in a brochure explaining the process in Granville County, until the tax rate is set, it’s not clear how the revaluation numbers will affect individual tax bills.

In Franklin County, property owners have until May 20 to file a formal appeal. According to Franklin County’s Public Information Officer James F. Hicks, III, the vendor contracted to complete appraisals has indicated that “large tracts of land and any assessment that showed more than 100 percent increase would be reviewed again.”

The Franklin County Board of Commissioners will likely receive the proposed budget on May 20 and a public hearing will be in likely in early June., Hicks said.

TownTalk: ALS United NC Helps Those With The Disease

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Dave Shore and WIZS’s Bill Harris have some things in common: They both have had media careers – Dave as one of the founders of 99.9 The Fan in Raleigh back in 2007, and Bill behind the mic right here at the radio station, for one. But more importantly, both are interested in helping others manage what, at best, is a life-altering diagnosis.

Shore was busy with TV sports career back in 1991 when his mother was diagnosed with ALS, and he said he wasn’t able to provide the care for her that he would have liked.

As president and CEO of Raleigh-based ALS United NC, however, Shore said he considers “this is my time to help my Mom…to help others.”

Today, Harris can count himself in that group. He was diagnosed last week.

“I’ve got it. I have to deal with it,” Harris said. “If doing a show can help someone else, I’m all for it.”

And so, that’s just what he did.

Shore joined Wednesday’s TownTalk segment by telephone from Washington, DC, where he and others are meeting with North Carolina legislators to talk about ways to help fight ALS.

“I’m leading a major Mission First organization,” Shore said. ALS United funds two grant streams – one that goes to patients to pay for things not covered by insurance – and the other that provides grant funding to the six clinics set up across the state to help ALS patients.

The two closest are at Duke and UNC, he said. These multi-disciplinary clinics are a one-stop shop of sorts to help patients see various specialists during the course of a day visit.

It’s a lot easier to go with the acronym ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease than it is to say Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a-my-o-TROE-fik LAT-ur-ul skluh-ROE-sis), and Shore said diagnosing the disease can be as complicated as trying to pronounce the medical term correctly.

Basically, what it’s doing is breaking down motor neurons in your body and robbing your body’s ability to get signals from the brain, Shore explained.

“It’s a hard diagnosis to make,” he said, and it often takes a long time.

There is reason for hope, however. Between advances in research and drug trials, neurologists have more tools to improve patients’ lives.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to find a cure. In the meantime, organizations like ALS United continue to work to make patients’ lives better.

“Our main goal is to take care of our patients. We don’t do the research, but …partner with the ones who do to keep it going,” Shore said. “They’re smart people,” he said of the researchers, “and they’re going to find the right combination.”

Similarities between ALS and other neurological diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s to Parkinson’s are desperately underfunded. But Shore said if ALS researchers have a breakthrough, it likely would carry over into treatment of the others.

Remember the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that went viral 10 years ago? “We’re going to do it again,” Shore said. “We need that influx of dollars.”

He’d like to think that a treatment for ALS, now considered a progressive, degenerative disease, will come along, much like the drug cocktail that has essentially made HIV a disease that patients can live with.

“It became a survivable diagnosis,” he said.

There are so many trials and so many drugs that people are being put on to see if the progression can be slowed down.

Shore’s mission is to find a way to live with ALS. “It’s kind of what fuels me,” he said. “That I get this information out and help as many people as I can.”

Visit https://alsnc.org/ to learn more.

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TownTalk: Diamond Unique’s Domestic Violence Story

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Victims of domestic violence suffer at the hands of people who supposedly care for them – whether it’s physical or emotional abuse, or both, the suffering is real. But victims who make a plan to get out of a dangerous situation and then do so triumphantly call themselves survivors.

Once they choose survivor over victim, the tide turns and healing begins.

Just listen to Diamond Unique’s story, and you’ll hear what a survivor sounds like. She’s put the past behind her and she’s ready to share her story with others, in hopes of inspiring others who find themselves in similar circumstances.

The name Diamond Unique is not the name she was given at birth, but it is the name she goes by as she pursues a career as an actor, podcaster and author.

She reached out to WIZS to tell her story, “to let everyone know that I am a living testimony.” By sharing her story on various social media platforms, this single mother said she wants others to know they aren’t alone in their struggles.

Diamond said she thanks God for delivering her from her abuser. “Without the Lord, I would be nothing,” she said on Tuesday’s TownTalk. As she lay in a hospital bed, with a concussion from that last attack, she said God sent her a message: “You have a message, get your voice out. Let people know the real meaning of domestic violence.”

And now she’s using Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and Tik Tok to do just that. She said she’s got 20.8K Tik Tok followers, which she describes as “amazing…incredibly empowering.”

Domestic violence robs people of their self-love, their determination, Diamond said. “It makes you feel less than who you are,” she said. She felt like a nobody.

After she had gotten away from her abuser, she said “I could finally lift my head up and know that I was a person who made it through.”

She wants to send a message of empowerment to others through her acting and her video posts; she wants others who are suffering at the hands of abusers to know that there is more to life than their current situation.

Diamond is working on a book that chronicles her life and her experiences. The title is “Woman Behind the Bruises.” She doesn’t have a publication date yet, but she anticipates it will be out soon.

Find Diamond Unique on Facebook and Youtube; you’ll find her on Tik Tok and Instagram as Miss Pretty Ambitious.

Listen to the entire interview here.

Vance County Courthouse

eCourts Odyssey Roll Out

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UPDATE 4-30-24 Noon

Clerk Of Court Henry Gupton Said Day 1 Of ‘Odyssey’ Went Smoothly on WIZS Radio’s The Local Skinny!

The clerk of court staff put in a full day Sunday – 9 to 5 – to make sure the transition from paper to paperless went as smoothly as it possibly could, and Vance County Clerk of Superior Court Henry Gupton said he thought things went very well on Monday – Day 1 – of the online data management system.

Gupton said he was happy and proud of the court staff, and he predicted that things would smooth out as everyone gets used to the Enterprise Justice system, also called Odyssey. Odyssey replaces paper processes with online access uploads and transactions. Features include online citation and ticket payments, as well as a free search portal to display court records and case events.

“The system is slow, we’ve got to get used to it,” he said on Tuesday’s segment of The Local Skinny! “It’s going to be very beneficial,” Gupton added.

But for the next 10 weeks or so, it’s going to probably be a slog.

Most of the work will fall to the clerk’s office at first, he said. “If we all give it time and we’re all patient, we’ll be fine.”

Gupton said he’s going to take part in a meeting later this week to discuss equipment at the detention center that could be used to provide detainees a virtual first appearance, which could ease sheriff’s officers of the burden to transporting detainees to and from court.

**Previous update below as well as additional audio.

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**UPDATE 4-29-24 Noon

Vance County is among 10 counties switching over to eCourts today, putting an end to paper files and transitioning to a cloud-hosted digital case management system.

The Enterprise Justice system, also called Odyssey, replaces paper processes with online access uploads and transactions. Features include online citation and ticket payments, as well as a free search portal to display court records and case events.

As Enterprise Justice expands statewide, millions more North Carolinians gain mobile access to their courthouse, saving time and providing transparency, according to information from the N.C. Office of the Administrative Courts.

Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin counties are in Track 4 of the statewide rollout. There are two more groups of counties to go live in 2024, and the process should be completed by the end of 2025.

But in an April 15 work session of county commissioners, Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame said he and other sheriffs across the state are less enthusiastic about the rollout.

“It’s going to slow down our court system,” Brame told commissioners. “Nobody likes it.” Brame said a typical court day in Vance County may have 300 names on the docket. Odyssey would reduce that number to 50, Brame said.

“Enterprise Justice has accepted over 600,000 electronic filings and supports tens of thousands of daily searches for digital court records in North Carolina’s largest population centers and five counties, jurisdictions serving nearly three million people,” said NCAOC Director Ryan Boyce.

Preparations and walkthroughs for each track of the eCourts transition begin months in advance to train court officials and the public on new technologies and processes, install improved network infrastructure in courthouses, customize programming integrations, and migrate case event data and court records from mainframe indexes and paper to a dynamic cloud-hosted platform.

In addition to electronic filing and records searches, the eCourts suite of applications also includes the already statewide eWarrants and Enforcement Mobile platforms, which integrate law enforcement processes with the court system, and Guide & File, a tool that helps self-represented users create and electronically file common legal actions through automated interviews. Statewide, more than 36,000 registered eWarrants users have issued 1.2 million criminal processes since the eCourts application for law enforcement replaced older systems in July 2022.

A large network of IT and software systems teams from NCAOC supports the eCourts transition through training, on-site assistance, remote monitoring and help desk response. Several eCourts platforms already operate statewide, including eWarrants, Enforcement Mobile, and a dual-form of Guide & File.

The NCAOC estimates that more than 2.3 million sheets of paper have been saved during the first two phases of eCourts by transitioning five counties to electronic filing and records access over a ten-month period. Historically, roughly 30 million pieces of paper were added to court files each year in North Carolina. The historic transition from paper court records to digital files is also shifting data storage from old mainframe technology to cloud hosting and storage, allowing NCAOC to retire outdated onsite application hosting and storage infrastructure while improving cybersecurity and online accessibility long-term.