Turning Point Offers Big Prizes in Oct 22 Raffle

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Turning Point Community Development Corporation is sponsoring a raffle Friday. Tickets are $10.00 each. The grand prize is an HVAC Unit plus installation (up to 4 ton unit size and must be in Vance County or surrounding area for installation).

Turning Point CDC Director Chalis Henderson said, “Grand prizes are the HVAC from Ranes (Heating and Air) and Kitchen countertops from NC Countertops based in Henderson.

“Tickets can be purchased online, at Oasis of Hope Ministries, or at the event and you don’t have to be present to win.”

To purchase a raffle ticket online, visit turningpointcdc.org, scroll down the page and click on purchase a raffle ticket.

Turning Point CDC has the mission to serve as a catalyst for the continued development, transformation, and empowerment of the citizens of this region, and to provide leadership and programming across four key areas: education, health and wellness, economic development, and community engagement.

The event is taking place rain or shine.

Vance County Sheriff's Office

Man Drowned at Kerr Lake Off Frank Bullock Road

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— from a press release courtesy of Sheriff Curtis Brame

On October 17 at approximately 12:44 a.m., Emergency First Responders along with Vance County Sheriff’s Office personnel were dispatched to Kerr Lake at 547 Frank Bullock Rd., regarding a drowning.

According to a witness, the victim—Jody Brooks Massey—attempted to swim out to retrieve a boat that they were on earlier that had drifted away from the shore line.

The witness stated he observed the victim go under water and not resurface.

Shortly after the Vance County Rescue Squad launched its boat, the victim’s body was recovered.

Governor Cooper Awards Seifert State’s Highest Civilian Honor

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Birthday presents come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, recipients have an idea of what’s inside a wrapped box before they even open it. Other gifts, however, may be a complete surprise. And that’s what Henderson native Donald C. Seifert got on the occasion of his 90th birthday – a surprise.

From North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

Seifert became a member of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the state’s highest civilian honor.

His four children presented him with the framed certificate during a recent gathering that he thought was going to be a celebration of family birthdays. It was a birthday celebration, complete with cake and singing of “Happy Birthday,” but he said he wasn’t expecting what happened next.

“When (son) Clem started his remarks, I started to smell a rat,” Seifert told John C. Rose for Monday’s “The Local Skinny!” broadcast. “I thought, ‘oh me, I’m not prepared for this.’”

With his four children standing before the gathering of about 125, Seifert made his way up to the microphone, collecting his thoughts as he passed through the audience, who was giving him a standing ovation. “I remembered a little story about Rufus Edmisten,” he said, and proceeded to tell the story about the time Edmisten stood before a group that had stood up for him as he approached the microphone to offer remarks.

“He said, ‘Y’all don’t fool me with that standing ovation – you’re just looking for an excuse to stand up, stretch your legs and straighten your underwear.’”

Seifert summed up the remainder of his remarks from Oct. 2 and said he told a story from Ron Cava, pastor of First Baptist Church. He said Cava had shared a quick and easy way to talk about God’s grace and mercy. Grace is when you receive things that you don’t deserve and mercy is when you don’t get something that you DO deserve.

Seifert said receiving the Order of the Long Leaf Pine is definitely an example of God’s grace because he certainly didn’t feel deserving of the honor.

Danny Wright and others would beg to differ, however.

Wright, who serves with Seifert on the Vance-Granville Community College Board of Trustees, submitted the nomination, and several people in the community who have worked alongside Seifert over the years were asked to submit letters of recommendation to accompany the nomination. Henderson-Vance Chamber President Michele Burgess, Vance-Granville Community College Endowment Executive Director Eddie Ferguson and the Rev. Donald Lowery, rector at The Church of the Holy Innocents all wrote letters in support of the nomination.

In her letter, Burgess cited Seifert’s “tremendous community spirit” and a desire to work for the betterment of his hometown and county as shining examples of his civic leadership. “Mr. Seifert is a man of integrity and is a very respected member of our community. He is fair to all and shows compassion for those less fortunate.”

Seifert serves as assistant treasurer for his church, The Church of the Holy Innocents, and Rev. Lowery said one of the things he relies on Seifert for is maintaining the rector’s discretionary fund. Seifert has “a heart for charitable needs in our community,” Lowery wrote. “As a person who both donates to it…(and) who balances it on my behalf, he makes sure it is able to do the work it is established to do. I am grateful for this.”

Seifert has been a member of the VGCC board for many years and was its chair from 2003 to 2012. His family established an endowed scholarship a few years ago to honor Seifert and his wife of 61 years, Betsy.

“Donald is humble and shuns any limelight; however, his thoughts and counsel have proven time and time again to be encouraging and insightful. Donald not only symbolizes the ‘best in people,’ but he also models those attributes daily in the life he lives,” Ferguson wrote.

One of those attributes, surely, is humility. He said he appreciates the honor, and it was especially meaningful that his children presented it to him.

“It was one of the proudest and most humbling experiences of my life,” he said, reading from the letter of thanks that he sent the governor. And so as to put a face with a name, Seifert said he enclosed a photograph of him, his wife, their children and grandchildren taken the night he was presented with Cooper’s gift.

 

TownTalk: American Legion Works to Better the Community

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Ticket sales for Friday’s chicken plate fundraiser at the American Legion hut in Henderson have been brisk – so brisk, in fact, that Andy Roberson, commander of local post 60 said if you haven’t gotten a ticket yet, you’ll have to rely on luck to snag a plate. 

“We’ve actually sold 1,150 tickets,” Roberson told John C. Rose on Monday’s Town Talk. “That’s the most we’ve ever done.” They shoot for 1,200 plates each time, he said. The fundraiser begins at noon and ends at 2 p.m.

There are usually some no-shows, however, and the cooks always prepare 50 or so extra plates, so if you’re feeling lucky, there’s a chance you can get a plate closer to 1:30 or 2 p.m. without a ticket.

Roberson said the legion post tries to hold the fundraiser twice a year – April and October – and tries hard to avoid other community fundraiser dates. 

Next year, the local post will celebrate 100 years of service in the community, Roberson noted. But it wasn’t too long ago that the post was in danger of having its charter revoked for lack of membership and activity.

Roberson has been involved with Legion Post 60 for about five years. Numbers had dwindled as members aged, he said, and he credits Ed Blue for keeping the post afloat. Blue’s efforts, along with a policy change that removed active military service as a requirement for membership.

The ranks have swelled to 125 members today, Roberson said, adding that service members who served in Afghanistan and Iraq now join veterans who saw action in Vietnam and Korea.

Roberson said it’s just as important for the legion to support the community as it is for the community to support the legion’s efforts.

In addition to raising money to send students to participate in Boys’ State and the N.C. State Highway Patrol Student Academy, Roberson said annual countywide oratorical contests the Legion sponsors could lead to thousands of dollars in scholarship money for local winners who win competitions at higher levels.

In addition, he said a local Girl Scout troop meets at the Legion building.

But mostly, the legion is active to support veterans’ needs, he said. Whether it’s building a home ramp or better accessibility or arranging transportation to the VA hospital for appointments, the legion wants to be available for veterans.

They meet on the third Thursday of the month, gathering at 6 p.m., sharing a meal and then having a meeting about 7, he said, and extends the invitation to any service member to consider joining. 

“If you have a DD-214 with an honorable discharge,” you’re eligible to join. 

“We all have something in common in that building,” Roberson said. 

“If you’re a veteran and you need some help, you call and we’re going to do everything we can to help you,” he said, from help with military service records or getting paperwork squared away to get VA services. “Whatever it takes, we will try our best to get it done.”

Roberson hopes to join Mako Medical and Chick-fil-A again this year to provide meals for veterans. The tentative date is Nov. 5 when veterans can “drive by and get a bag with some food in it,” Roberson said. 

Having such good community partners makes for a good relationship, he added. Other projects in and around the legion have been completed by others in the community, Roberson said. There’s a firepit with five benches representing the five branches of the military that was a scout project, and Franklin Brothers Nursery installed mulch and other landscaping during a recent facelift. The family of Harold Ivey donated a new heating and air system in memory of their loved one as well, he said.

“It just shows what you can do in a community where people want to be tied in to veterans,” Roberson said. 

Contact Roberson at 252.432.2432 to learn more.

 

 

Vance County Logo

Vance Water District Gets $4.4M In Grant, Loan Program For Improvement, Expansion

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The Vance County Water District is one of four in the state that will benefit from a federal program to help rural communities improve drinking water for its residents.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that Vance County is set to get $1.6 million in loan and an additional $2.8 million in grant funds to build its Phase B waterline expansion project, according to a press statement from the USDA.

According to the statement, upgrades include installing 23 miles of water mains and expansion of the county’s coverage to 210 rural residents within the Kittrell township.

“Rural Development is providing much needed assistance to help rebuild these dated water systems in rural North Carolina,” said USDA Rural Development State Director Reginald Speight.
USDA water and environmental programs help rural communities obtain the financing and technical assistance necessary to develop, maintain and improve drinking water and waste disposal systems, Speight added.

The loan and grant program serves people and businesses in eligible rural areas with populations of 10,000 or less.  It provides money for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage disposal, sanitary solid waste disposal and storm water damage.

The Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program is awarding $272 million to modernize rural drinking water and wastewater across 37 states and Puerto Rico, affecting more than 270,000 residents.

TownTalk: Sons Of American Revolution Hope Upcoming Events Will Draw Interest From Vance & Granville

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Bill Riggan likes to give credit where credit is due. And as a member of the Halifax Resolves Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, that credit involves identifying and marking graves of long-deceased patriots and compatriots and honoring them with an official ceremony.

Riggan spoke with Bill Harris on Town Talk’s tri-weekly history program. He said there are ceremonies scheduled for the next two Saturdays in Franklin County to where a number of graves at several different cemeteries have been identified.

“Not only do you have to find the grave, but they must be marked…and we have to get permission from the family,” Riggan said.

The first ceremony will be Saturday, Oct. 16 at 10 a.m. in Youngsville at the Winston family cemetery on the grounds of Long Mill Elementary School. Anthony Winston and one of his sons, John Winston, will be honored for being patriots – defined as anyone who contributed service in one way or another to support the Revolution cause.

Whether they held public office, signed the Oath of Allegiance or served in the militia, patriots and their contributions are what SAR members want to commemorate. “Not only just people who were soldiers, but those who contributed to the cause, in our minds, are considered patriots,” Riggan noted.

These ceremonies are actually a pretty big deal, he said, adding that he expects representatives from such organizations as the NC Sons of the American Revolution, as well as their counterparts in Georgia and Virginia. The local Daughters of the American Revolution, local Boy Scout troop and members of the Winston family all will be represented.

Later on Oct. 16, at 2 p.m., the group will travel to Oakwood Cemetery in Louisburg. At this ceremony, Daniel Smithwick, a dentist and well-known historian in Franklin County in the 1930’s, will be remembered. Smithwick was instrumental in reviving the state SAR and in getting the Harrison Macon Chapter of the SAR started in Franklin County. The chapter was named for an ancestor of Smithwick’s wife, and Smithwick “purchased a stone from the government to mark the grave” of Macon, who was a military veteran. The search for that grave marker continues to this day.

It’s out there, Riggan said, adding that it, so far, has proven elusive.

Whenever they locate a grave of a Revolutionary War patriot, SAR representatives plan a ceremony to officially commemorate the spot with a footstone that has an SAR logo on it. The stone is installed in such a way that Riggan said future generations will not have to search for and wonder who is buried where.

On Saturday, Oct. 23, the team will be back in Youngsville to honor Francis Timberlake. The Timbelake Family Cemetery is located on property of Hill Ridge Farms, and the cemetery is located nearby on Timberlake Drive. Then, that afternoon, it’s back to Oakwood Cemetery in Louisburg for to honor five more patriots – that’s the maximum number allowed by the national SAR.

Riggan said he expects that there are gravesites in Granville and Vance counties that can be identified as well, and he welcomes participation from anyone in either county to consider joining the local SAR. The Halifax Resolves chapter encompasses eight counties and Riggan hopes to “spread the good word in Vance County” about SAR’s mission.

Becoming a member is not as involved a process as one may think, he said, although it may prove a little involved if genealogy isn’t your thing. Basically, if there is someone in your family who has served the Revolution in some way, you are a candidate for membership.

“It’s been something that’s been very rewarding for me,” Riggan said of his involvement with SAR. “Other than the Mayflower Society and the Jamestown Society, the SAR and the DAR are the gold standard for genealogical societies,” he said.

There’s a lot more to SAR than just attending monthly meetings, Riggan said. “It’s just a subtle way to show patriotism and be involved in things that are important to a lot of people,” he added.

To learn more, contact hrcregistrar@nc.rr.com

Bill Riggan of the Halifax Resolves Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution details upcoming events.

 

The Local Skinny! Night Out Against Crime is Tuesday, Oct. 19.

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Vance County’s Night Out Against Crime is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 19 on Breckenridge Street, and there will be lots of activities for families to enjoy, according to Lorraine Watkins and Tonya Moore, a couple of the organizers for the annual event.

Originally scheduled for September, rainy conditions forced officials to move the annual event to next week, Watkins told Trey Snide during Thursday’s The Local Skinny! program. Fortunately, all the participants are able to attend next week, which both women are pleased about. Activities begin at 4:30 p.m. and conclude at 8:30 p.m.

“It’s going to be absolutely awesome,” Watkins said. “This is going to be one of the best events we’ve ever had.”

Whether you’re interested in getting a free hot dog or Coca-Cola product, or you’re a kid who wants to match his (or her) push-up skills against local law enforcement officers, the evening is sure to be entertaining and fun-filled.

In addition to guest speakers and welcomes from the Henderson Police Department and Vance County Sheriff’s Office, cheer squads from the high school and middle school are scheduled to perform. And right after the Gospel choir Work In Progress finishes its concert, there will be a drawing – hopefully captured live on Facebook – for a $500 gift card to Sam’s Furniture.

COVID-19 vaccines and testing also will be available.