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Vance Commissioners Add Work Sessions To Calendar

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners have added work sessions to their regular calendar of activities.

The board took action at its April 3 meeting to incorporate the informal work sessions between regularly scheduled monthly meetings, according to information from Clerk Kelly Grissom.

The work sessions will take place on the third Monday of the month, beginning at 4 p.m., with the exception of June, July and December of 2023.

During its annual planning retreat, the board “expressed interest in having a second workshop-type meeting each month,” said County Manager Jordan McMillen. “During the discussion, it was apparent they wanted to use these meetings to be better informed of issues that were coming up at the following regular meeting,” McMillen explained.

Regular board meetings are held on the first Monday of the month, beginning at 6 p.m.

The first work session is scheduled for Monday, April 17, followed by a budget work session on May 15. After a break for the summer, work sessions continue on Aug. 21, Sept. 18, Oct. 16 and Nov. 20.

Work sessions are for information only and include no action items, Grissom noted. Public comments are not part of a work session.

 

Cameron Majette Competing For State BGC Youth Of The Year

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A local high school senior is headed to Raleigh to compete in a statewide competition for Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year.

Cameron Majette just got back from a weeklong stint in the Governor’s Page Program last month, so he may feel right at home when he attends a reception with lawmakers in the Executive Mansion Friday evening.

No matter Friday’s decision by the judges, Vance BGC Unit Director Evelyn Taylor said Majette’s a winner in her book.

“He has blossomed into a leader,” Taylor told WIZS News Thursday. A club member for 11 years, Majette used to be on the shy side, Taylor said, but that shyness has been replaced with a high level of confidence.

“I’m so proud of him,” Taylor said, “I’m beaming with pride.” She said his influence and leadership throughout the club is palpable, he helps younger children with homework and is helping to re-establish the Keystone Club at the Vance Unit.

The Henderson Collegiate senior was awarded a $3,000 scholarship for being named the BGCNCNC (North Central North Carolina) youth of the year. He’ll go up against about 20 others for the statewide honor.

The young people will assemble at PNC Arena in Raleigh Friday morning, and a panel of judges will review all the information packets, which includes a nomination form, letters of reference and three personal essays about his club experience, what matters to him and his personal growth, Taylor said.

Each will have a 3-minute speech which basically will be a combination of the three essays, Taylor noted, and judges will evaluate the candidates’ overall public speaking.

Whether in front of a group of judges or back at home in the club, Taylor said she believes Majette’s confidence and focus will serve him well.

“He definitely found his voice and he is not afraid of using it,” Taylor said.

TownTalk: Around Old Granville: NC Author Writes About The Revolution

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Author James Becker discusses his recent book “Secrets of the American Revolution”.

 

TownTalk: Northeast Piedmont Chorale Coming To McGregor Hall

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The Northeast Piedmont Chorale will perform its spring concert at McGregor Hall in Henderson on Sunday afternoon, April 23. The concert is free and open to the public, and Director Cindy Edwards said the concert’s theme – “What A Wonderment” – describes perfectly the selections that will be performed.

The audience will see and hear “a trend in our musical selections,” Edwards said on TownTalk, “all about the wonder about the world that we live in.”

Chorale baritones Tom Burleson and Harvey Jackson joined Edwards to talk about the upcoming performance, as well as the state of the chorale. Which is quite, good, by the way.

Since Edwards became director in 2016, the chorale has doubled in size, from just shy of 40 to close to 80. Seventy-five performers are scheduled to take the stage for the spring concert, Edwards noted.

(The chorale will perform the spring concert at New Hope Baptist Church in Raleigh on Friday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. The church is located at 4301 Louisburg Rd. in Raleigh.)

“For next season, we’ll have an even bigger choir,” she said. “I’m very, very pleased about the size of the group.

Although there are a handful of chorale members for whom music is a vocation, Jackson said the majority are just like him and Burleson – folks who’ve sung in church or school groups, but who aren’t music majors.

Jackson, who serves as vice president of the chorale board, said the upcoming concerts are the result of “many, many hours (of practice) put in by 70-plus people. This stuff doesn’t happen by accident.”

In addition to the two-hour weekly practices, Edwards offers “sectionals,” where smaller groups can come together to practice their particular parts. And individuals spend hours and hours outside the common practice time to listen and learn their parts.

Burleson said the process is important. “It’s painstaking and time consuming,” he said. “But if we didn’t want to do it, we wouldn’t be there. There’s a great reward.”

Edwards said the group has worked hard to create what she hopes will be a memorable performance. “The choir is ready – they need an audience…they sound beautiful.”

Kristen Allred accompanies at piano for some of the musical selections, but there will be a full orchestra to offer accompaniment as well.

The concert will begin with “A Shaker Celebration,” sure to delight the audience with its processional, and handbell and drum accompaniment. The program continues with “Te deum,” which translates to “We praise thee, O God” a 20-minute master work of composer Dan Forest.

The group will perform “Alleluia For Our Time” by Raleigh composer, Jay Althouse, whom Edwards described as someone who has become a close friend of the chorale.

After a short break, the theme of the concert focuses on the world around us – earth, stars, sky and water.

The chorale will perform “Earth Song,” followed by a couple of a cappella selections.

Local musicians Wayne Kinton and his son David Kinton provide electric guitar and double bass accompaniment to the Bluegrass-style “Touch the Sky” from the movie Brave.

The chorale’s final selection, complete with full orchestra, is “The Impossible Dream.”

Visit www.npchorale.org to learn more about the Northeast Piedmont Chorale.

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The Local Skinny! Camping, Hiking And More At Kerr Lake

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Bill Stanley says if you just want to throw a line in the water at Kerr Lake, Satterwhite Point and Nutbush are pretty good spots to head to. Now, if you’re headed out in a boat for a day of fishing, there are really too many good spots to count.

Stanley, superintendent of the Kerr Lake State Recreation Area, said that no matter what you choose to do lakeside – camping, fishing, hiking – there are plenty of opportunities awaiting. He spoke with Bill Harris on The Local Skinny!

The COVID-19 pandemic created a ripple effect among camping enthusiasts, which has resulted in a higher volume of campground reservations.

“It seemed like everybody got a camper and wanted to be outside” during the pandemic. As a result, “the campgrounds are staying a little fuller…it’s harder and harder to get a campsite during the week” and especially on weekends.

Reservations are made online through ReserveAmerica Inc.at

https://www.reserveamerica.com/

J.C. Cooper and Hibernia are probably the two most popular for campers. Cooper is located near Satterwhite Point, but Hibernia has more sandy beaches and upgraded campsites, he said.

Stanley said he expects there will be more building projects and upgrades begun in the near future – better campsites and renovated bath houses – that will give Kerr Lake campgrounds “a little facelift in the next few years.”

Maintenance crews manage the “to-do” list – from facilities upkeep to building new trails in different areas. The overall feel of the lake is a little slower pace than other lakes that either have more developed shorelines or are closer to big cities.

There’s a half-mile or so of new ADA-accessible paved trail, as well as hiking trails at Hibernia and J.C. Cooper that campers and locals alike enjoy

“It’s not as busy as Falls or Jordan or any of the other lakes closer to Raleigh,” Stanley said. “Things are not right on top of you (here)…we’re still a little bit of a hidden gem.”

He credits the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the quieter atmosphere. “The Corps has done a good job of protecting the shoreline as best they can,” he said. Fewer homes lakeside makes for quieter surroundings.

Things ramp up, however, when there’s a fishing tournament on the lake. Stanley said there already have been four so far this year, and summer will bring more fishers in search of striped bass and catfish, not to mention prize money and bragging rights.

However you enjoy fishing – whether from shore or in a boat, Stanley reminds everyone they need to make sure they pack one essential item in their tackle box: a current fishing license.

 

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TownTalk: City Manager Blackmon on Community Wide Cleanup And Other Topics

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As drivers make their way through the city on the morning of Friday, April 21, chances are they’ll see some roadside crews picking up trash. It’s all part of the Community Cleanup event, scheduled to coincide with NC DOT’s spring Litter Sweep and Earth Day.

City Manager Terrell Blackmon invites business owners, employees and other individuals to join in the larger community cleanup event when they reach their morning destinations, whether it’s their road front footage once they get to work or back in their neighborhoods after dropping the kids at school.

Crews from the city will be joined by business people, school groups and others beginning at 8 a.m. next Friday, strategically scheduled to coincide with the statewide cleanup effort, Blackmon explained.

Blackmon was a guest on TownTalk and spoke about the upcoming cleanup effort as well as several items presented to the City Council during the Monday evening meeting, including recommendations from the Public Safety Committee, which met April 5 to discuss several topics, including using opioid settlement funds, construction of a communications tower and grant funding to reduce gun violence.

Community Cleanup Event

The cleanup effort does more than simply get trash off the street, Blackmon said.

It checks off a box of one of the city’s strategic goals, for one. “We want to improve the image and perception of our city,” Blackmon said.

The cleanup also builds community among its businesses and residents who are “working together to make our community a more aesthetically pleasing community,” he said.

Groups will be venturing out into the West End area this time, and Blackmon said any individual or group is welcome to participate “to just clean up in your neighborhood or in front of your business,” he said.

The middle and high schools will be participating, as well as several elementary schools.

The decision was made to move the cleanup event from Saturday to Friday to give more business people a chance to participate, but also to provide a “visual” for weekly commuters.
“What an impact it could be, doing it on Friday during rush hour,” Blackmon said.

Visit henderson.nc.gov for details of the cleanup event or contact City Clerk Tracey Kimbrell at 252-430-5705 or traceykimbrell@henderson.nc.gov.

City Council action

Three items on the consent agenda included information from the Public Safety Committee, and Blackmon said all three were approved at the April 10 meeting.

  • The city will participate in the second-wave allocation from the multi-billion-dollar opioid settlement. Henderson is one of just a few municipalities that applied for, and received, funding. North Carolina will divvy up the second allocation of about $600 million, and Henderson will get another $166,000 over a multi-year period aimed at reducing the opioid epidemic.
  • The city also approved working with N.C. Central University to request a grant from the Homeland Security’s Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant to focus on reducing gun violence, which the City Council identified as a public health crisis in 2022. A group of community representatives studying gun violence supports a variety of awareness and prevention activities in schools and other places to educate youth and the community as a whole.
  • The city approved a $3 million grant application through U.S. Rep. Don Davis to install a communications tower behind the North Henderson ballparks. If selected, the city will partner with Vance County to come up with a 25 percent match for the project, or about $375,000 each. The proposed location would provide close to a 100-mile radius coverage area, which local law enforcement and first responders sorely need to have effective, reliable communication when responding to emergencies. The project could be completed as early as 2024.

 

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