Henderson Sears Closing Its Doors June 27

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There’s been a Sears store in Henderson for more than 60 years, but that’s about to change: the Sears store on Dabney Drive is closing its doors on June 27. Friday marked Day 1 of a liquidation sale, and Store Manager T.W. Floyd said business has been brisk.

Business used to be brisk when Floyd’s dad, Thomas Floyd,  was the manager of the Sears store, too, from 1956 to 1986.

The senior Floyd retired after 30 years, and he reflected about his time with the company.

“I gave my life to Sears,” he told WIZS News via telephone Friday. There were long hours, to be sure, but Floyd said he loved every minute of it. “We were the center of sales,” he recalled. “We were busy, busy, busy.”

The first Sears location was right in the center of downtown on Garnett Street, Floyd recalled From there, the store moved to Rose Avenue and then ultimately, to its current 9,100 square foot location on Dabney Drive. Each store was bigger than the previous one, Floyd said, trying to keep up with demand for goods from customers.

But over the years, consumers’ buying habits changed, and corporate philosophy shifted to the smaller, hometown store model. The Henderson store is one of about 85 still in operation, but T.W. Floyd said that between the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing supply chain challenges that retailers face, he decided to close the doors when the current contract is up.

Floyd owns the building where Sears is located, and he said Friday he didn’t expect any trouble finding a new tenant.

Floyd, who has managed the current store for 28 years, said both he and his dad followed the “old school” way of putting customer service at the top of the priority list. “It has served us well,” he added.

“We were fortunate to be in business for as long as we have been,” the younger Floyd said, and he said the store had always enjoyed good local support.

Both men said that change is a part of life that should be embraced. “Nothing in life stays the same,” Thomas Floyd said. “We have to adapt to change.”

One thing that IS the same, however is a freezer in the older Floyd’s basement. “I put it there in 1959,” he said proudly, “and it’s never given me a moment’s trouble.

No need to wonder where he purchased it – the brand name was Coldspot before it underwent a name change. To, you guessed it – Kenmore.

Kids Invited To Fish May 25 At Fox Pond

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Young people between the ages of 5 and 18 are invited to come fishing at Fox Pond Park next week – just show up at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25 and fish to your heart’s content until 7 p.m. All Fishing equipment will be provided and there is no registration to complete. The event is sponsored by The Henderson-Vance Recreation and Parks Department and the Edmonds Tennis & Education Foundation.

MPH Staff Has An Oasis Room To Take Respite

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Maria Parham Health staff now has an Oasis Room, designed just for them as a spot where they can just unplug and recharge – themselves and their phones.

With thanks to the hospital’s facilities team and suggestions from staff to the Resiliency Committee, the room was officially opened today (Thursday) and will open for everyone to enjoy come Monday, according to Kimberly Smith, director of the Cancer Center and member of the resiliency committee.

What once had been a spot with outdated lighting and carpeting that served as a hiding spot for storage racks has been transformed into a soothing, well – oasis – for MPH staff to come enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet during their workday.

There’s a massage chair for relieving stress and a television that will play soothing music, Smith said.

“People can use it as a place to relax a little bit,” said CEO Bert Beard, before returning to the work of saving lives and caring for patients.

There will be snacks and drinks and a single-cup coffee maker for everyone to enjoy. There’s a spot to charge phones and a coloring wall, along with a board where folks can write positive messages to one another.

“We’re very pleased with the way the space turned out,” Beard said. Smith also gave special thanks to Josh Banks, director of the facilities team, for the extra effort they put in to making the room just right. “They just really have a heart to make things happen,” she said.

But that’s not all – Smith said she hopes to create a smaller version of the Oasis room on the patient floors for those nurses and others who aren’t necessarily able to come to the Oasis room during their shift. “Even if it’s a simple recliner,” Smith said, having a mini-oasis on the different floors would allow staff “to get away and reset themselves.”

TownTalk: Kaleah Padgett Helps Daughters Who Have Lost Mothers

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Kaleah Padgett has degrees in sociology and in Biblical and religious studies, both of which provide useful tools, but it’s the personal experience of dealing with the loss of her mother that she draws from as she helps other women struggling with their own mothers’ deaths.

Padgett formed Our Motherless Daughters about five years ago, and until the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the group met monthly at Perry Memorial Library. Now Padgett is leading more than 100 women via a Facebook page.

“Hopefully we can have start having meetings again soon,” Padgett told John C. Rose on Thursday’s Town Talk. It also is her wish to find a central location to gather, making it easy for women to walk to the meeting.

Padgett said her mother died 12 years ago, on Padgett’s own birthday.

“Having that happen on my birthday was very, very hard,” she said. Over the years, however, the sadness of grief has transformed into a “great celebration of life,” with each birthday that comes.

“My mom gave me life on that day…and she went Home on that day,” she said. The profound grief she still feels over the loss of her mother is an emotion that others in the group feel as well. But Padgett said the skills she learned through her education help her provide spiritual support and emotional support as she talks with the other women in the group. And she also has experienced the loss herself, which can also be a source of comfort to the group’s members.

Padgett said she was lucky because she had wonderful family support when her mother died. “A lot of people don’t have that support,” she noted. “I wanted to reach out…and let them know they are not alone in this process.”

Everyone grieves in a different way, she explained. It is something that she continues to process, but the feelings remain. “It lessens and it gets better, but it never goes away. Grief is also a part of the healing process as well,” she said.

In addition to starting up the in-person meetings again, Padgett said she has a second goal of identifying a location for a community garden, where women in the group can select a flower to plant as a way to remember their mothers. Each flower can represent a mother that is still missed by her daughter.

Call Padgett at 919.426.7396 to learn more about the support group, or find the group page on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/groups/204678233602493.

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The Local Skinny! Around Old Granville: Tiny Broadwick

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She was a little bit of a thing, but Georgia Ann “Tiny” Broadwick achieved some larger-than-life accomplishments in her day.

All of 4-foot-8 and 85 pounds, Broadwick had been married, given birth to a child and had jumped out of a hot-air balloon by the time she was 15, according to Mark Pace, who shared details about the Granville County native’s life and career on Thursday’s Around Old Granville segment of The Local Skinny!

She was born in 1893 to tobacco farmers, but her parents moved to Henderson when she was 7 and went to work in the local cotton mill.

She went to see Charles Broadwick’s air show near Raleigh and the rest, as they say, is history.

Pace said she faced trials and tribulations in her early years. “She Literally lived life on the edge,” he said. But when she saw Broadwick’s show, she walked up to him and said “I want to jump out of a balloon.”

Broadwick took her in, became her mentor and basically adopted her. They toured the country for many years and Broadwick was known as the “world famous jumping doll,” Pace said. At age 15, she became the first female to jump from a balloon and then an airplane.

Broadwick wowed the public with his airborne acrobatics, but he also had an eye for business. He associated himself with pilot and aviation Glenn Martin – the Martin of what would become Martin Marietta – and it is during that association that Tiny Broadwick really got her name on the map.

Charles Broadwick was pitching his parachute idea to the Army and Tiny demonstrated how they could be used. During her first jump, the static line got tangled up – that’s the line that literally tethered the parachutist to the airplane – she decided to ditch it on her final jump and essentially did a free fall. But she had a cord attached to the parachute that she herself could deploy, and in so doing she invented the ripcord.

But Broadwick didn’t get a patent on the ripcord, so they missed an opportunity to make money from it.

She died in 1978 at the age of 85 and is buried in Sunset Gardens in Henderson. Her great-granddaughter, Bonnie Young Ayscue, wrote the foreward for a recently published book that includes stories of Tiny Broadwick. The book, published in March 2022, is titled “Ladies of Skydiving A Comprehensive History: Volume One The Early Years” by Robert V. Lewis.

 

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Police Looking for Lonte D. Alston in Homicide Case

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— press release — 

On May 18, 2022, at approximately 10:15 PM, officers of the Henderson Police Department responded to 325 Alexander Avenue in reference to someone being shot inside the residence.

Officers arrive within two minutes of being dispatched, and discovered Christopher Dewayne Falcon, age 52, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was transported to an area medical facility where he succumbed to his injuries earlier this morning.

Our investigation into this matter has led us to obtain warrants on Lonte D. Alston, (43), for First Degree Murder. The incident occurred inside the residence of 325 Alexander Avenue after a verbal altercation between the victim and suspect.

We are seeking the public’s assistance with any information that can assist in locating the suspect. Please contact us through Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers at (252- 492-1925 or the P3 app), the Henderson Police Department 252-438-4141, or contact us through Facebook or Instagram.

Authority Chief Marcus W. Barrow

Investigation continues in report of armed suspects inside local Walmart

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Henderson police continue to investigate following a report Tuesday of possible armed suspects inside the local Walmart. So far, no arrests have been made in the case.

Police were called to the Walmart, located at 200 N. Cooper Dr. at about 4:15 p.m. on a report of possible armed suspects inside the store.

The first officers arrived on the scene at 4:17 p.m. The store was evacuated while a search of the building was conducted, according to information from Chief Marcus Barrow. Upon review of surveillance video, it was determined that three individuals suspected in the incident had left the store before the first officers arrived.

The store since reopened as investigators follow up on leads.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the police department through Facebook Messenger, the P3 app, Crime Stoppers, or by calling our main line 252.438.4141.

HPD: 3 Arrested On Drug Charges

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Henderson police arrested three men earlier this week on various drug charges following a search at a home on Eastside Drive.

Police officers served a narcotic search warrant on Monday, May 16 at 803 Eastside Dr. and seized several semi-automatic weapons, 520 dosage units of heroin and drug-manufacturing equipment, according to a statement from Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow.

On May 16, 2022, Officers of the Henderson Police Department served a narcotic search warrant at 803 Eastside Drive Henderson, North Carolina in response to a drug complaint.
Arrested in connection with the investigation were Demazhae Perry, 19, Tyrone Rogers, 36, and Waynemon Bullock, 34.

Perry was charged with two counts of trafficking heroin, one count of possession with intent to manufacture, sell, deliver Heroin, felony possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana and one count of maintaining a vehicle/dwelling place for a controlled substance.
Perry received a $1,036,000.00 secured bond due to his previous post-trial releases on multiple other pending charges, Barrow noted.
Rogers was charged with one count of possession of a firearm by felon, felony possession of heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a vehicle/dwelling place for a controlled substance. Rogers was placed under a $39,000 secured bond.
Bullock was charged with one count of possession of a firearm by felon and was placed under a $30,000 secured bond.
Anyone with information about any ongoing criminal activity is asked to contact the Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers at 252.492.1925 or P3 phone app, or contact the police department at 252.438.414 or via Facebook or Instagram.