WIZS Radio Local News Audio 06-27-22 Noon
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TownTalk: Lt. Governor Robinson Speaks to Local GOP
Full Mark Robinson audio included below.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson was the featured speaker at a Vance County GOP fundraiser on Friday, and he exhorted those in attendance to stay focused on the task at hand – that being the November midterm elections.
The fundraiser was held at the former Charles Boyd Chevrolet lot on US Hwy. 158. About 300 were in attendance, as well as other local candidates on the November ballot.
Robinson’s speech, which was broadcast live on WIZS Friday afternoon, was rebroadcast – unedited – during Monday’s TownTalk segment. He spoke for about 15 minutes and began his remarks celebrating the Friday Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade.
“It’s been a long, hard battle to see that overturned,” Robinson said of the ruling to return abortion rights to states.
He said he is “thoroughly committed to protect the lives of the unborn,” and that he would strive to “make North Carolina the most pro-life state in the nation.” Earlier in his remarks, Robinson said he and his supporters would fight “tooth and nail to protect life in this state.”
While he hasn’t put his hat in the ring yet, Robinson alluded to his intention to run for governor in 2024.
Callers who either attended the event on Friday or listened to the rebroadcast Monday said they would approve of Robinson the gubernatorial candidate.
One caller said he attended Friday’s event and said it felt like “freedom was ringing in the air.”
Another caller said “he’s what we need. He’ll be a good governor…he’s a God-fearing man (and) he loves his country.”
Pointing to national issues like rising gas prices, inflation and what he called the failure of the Biden administration, Robinson said winning the mid-term elections was crucial in order to elect more conservative candidates.
“Let’s keep standing up and let’s keep fighting, folks. We have a nation to save. It’s only going to get saved if we stand up and do it.”
The audience erupted into applause and shouts periodically to show support for Robinson’s comments. He called the Jan. 6 investigation a “smokescreen” and said he wants to keep the country from becoming a “socialist hellhole.”
Sending conservative candidates to Washington, DC would ensure that Republicans would have a super majority in Congress, but he said it also is important to elect conservative candidates to local offices like school boards.
He said he speaks to people all the time who lament they are but one person and the job is large. To which he answers, he said: “There are no little people in this fight.” Whether stuffing envelopes or canvassing neighborhoods in a door-to-door campaign, Robinson said even small contributions have an impact.
“We’ve got to get up on our feet and do the work ourselves,” he said. “We”ve got a state to run and a nation to save.”
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“How To Grow Your Small Business” Lunch Event June 28 At VGCC Civic Center
Area business owners have an opportunity to hear from a panel of experts who will discuss how to grow a small business. The program will be held Tuesday, June 28 from noon to 2 p.m. in the VGCC Civic Center on the Henderson campus.
MakoRx, a local business and member of the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce, has organized the “How to Grow Your Small Business” event, and Chamber President Michele Burgess said it will be a wonderful opportunity to learn strategies to help business owners – whether they’re getting a new startup off the ground or own a business that’s been around a long time.
Among the topics to be discussed: health care, HR relations, finances and employee retention.
Lunch will be provided.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/371344951747.
Master Gardener Class Forming for Vance, Warren Counties
N.C. Cooperative Extension is looking for a few good volunteers to join the Vance/Warren Master Gardenersm program. Applications are now being accepted for the 16-week training program, which will begin on Thursday, Aug.11, 2022 and will continue to meet on Thursday mornings.
During the course of the class, participants will learn about all aspects of gardening including fruits, vegetables, weeds, insects, diseases, trees, shrubs, turf and more. The class location will alternate between Henderson and Warrenton.
After training, each volunteer intern is required to provide 40 hours of service in various community outreach projects. No green thumb required, and many other skills are needed including public speaking, writing, photography, social media, event planning, graphic design, and much more. Recent volunteer projects have included demonstration gardens in both counties, newsletters, gardening workshops and seminars, youth education and more. The training fee is $125.
For more information, please visit http://go.ncsu.edu/mgvw or call 252.438.8188 (Vance County) or 252.257.3640 (Warren County).
WIZS Radio Local News Audio 06-24-22 Noon
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SportsTalk: Vance Charter Cheerleaders Heading to Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade
From a sealed envelope after a recent cheerleading practice, the 21 girls who make up the Vance Charter Cheerleading team discovered that they had been selected to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. Stacey Long, the girls’ coach, said there was excitement followed by disbelief. “Is this really happening,” Long quoted the girls as asking on Thursday’s edition of SportsTalk.
No cheerleading team from the area has ever been selected to participate in the parade. Vance Charter will be the first. The hard work and practice has paid off. The team practices a couple of times a week and it was only last school year that Vance Charter participated in its first competition. In February, they went to their second competition and took first place resulting in an invitation to submit a video, FAQ sheet, GPA’s and titles to the parade organization. Two days after submission came the reply that Vance Charter’s Cheerleading squad would be included in this year’s parade.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Long said of the invitation. Long also said that it will be expensive, around $3,000 per girl, to make the trip to the Big Apple for the parade. To that end, fundraising efforts have begun with a goal of $70,000 for the trip which will last for six nights and include various sightseeing opportunities in addition to the participation in the parade. To help with fundraising efforts, the team is going to businesses seeking sponsorships and will have a calendar fundraiser along with conducting a cheerleader camp. The cheerleader camp will cost participants $150 per person with all of the money from the camp and other fund raising projects going to send the Vance Charter Cheerleaders to New York City.
Bronze level sponsorships are $500, Silver is $1,000, Gold $1,500 and Platinum level is $2,500. All donations of any monetary value are welcomed. For more information on how to donate see their Facebook page at facebook.com/Vance-Charter-High-School-Cheerleading-105276945550598 or call Stacey Long at 919-691-3279.
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TownTalk: Place Names In Granville And Vance Counties
A little community in northern Granville County could possibly be getting a unwanted name change, all thanks to newly planted state signage – and Google maps.
North Carolina Room specialist and local historian Mark Pace told the story of Jonathan’s Crossroads, named for the nearby creek of the same name. It seems that the state put up signs incorrectly identifying the area as Johnson’s Crossroads and Johnson’s Creek.
Once it’s in cyberspace, Pace said, the name could stick.
There are many communities all across the Old Granville County area – comprised of what is now Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin counties – that have interesting name origins. Pace and Bill Harris talked about how some of those places got their names on Thursday’s tri-weekly history segment of Town Talk.
To be sure, many communities were named for prominent families in the area – Gillburg was named for James and David Gill, whose estate stood near the site of the prison there. But Gillburg also was known as Crack Rock, because there had been a school there by the same name.
Once known as Nutbush, Williamsborough in Vance County was renamed for John Williams , who was a member of the Continental Congress and later a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Townsville honors the family that gave land for the railroad to come through. And Henderson is named for Leonard Henderson.
The community known as Bobbitt, once called Five Points, was named for Patrick Bobbitt.
But Oxford gets its name from the plantation owned by a man called Samuel Benton, who convinced civic leaders in the area known as Merrittsville back in the 1760’s to build the county courthouse on his property. He subsequently went into the real estate business, selling land that would become known as Oxford.
“Sometimes we know the origins of these communities’ names,” Pace said. But sometimes the origin of the name has been forgotten over time.
Seth was the original name for the Granville County area known as Cornwall. But why did its name change? Pace can only presume it’s an homage to the Cornwall in England.
And not too far from Cornwall – between Cornwall Road and Hwy 15 – is the teeny tiny area of Gela. There’s a town in Sicily, Italy with the same name. But how did the name of an old Greco Roman town find its way to rural Granville County?
Then there’s Alert in Franklin County – but if you don’t put the emphasis on the A, folks will know you aren’t from around here.
The location of post offices had something to do with names of towns and communities. Epsom, near the Franklin-Vance line, reportedly got its name when a group of folks were discussing names for the spot where the post office would be located. The area once known as Duke had to change its name because there already was a post somewhere else with the same name. The discussion took place in the community store, and one person suggested Epsom after noticing the container of Epsom Salts nearby.
At that time, it was popular to give towns names that had a positive or progressive spin. And Epsom Salts, with its health benefits, sounded like as good a name as any, Pace said.
The crossroads called Midway in Granville County got its name because it was halfway between Williamsborough and Oxford. But its name got changed to Dexter because someone had a friend with that first name. It sounded upbeat, Pace said, but more importantly, there was no other town called Dexter that had a post office.
Middleburg in Vance County is so named because it was middleway between Raleigh and Gaston, two main points on the railroad.
Leonard F. Dean published a gazeteer in 2011 of the local area that contains a wealth of information, including some of those lesser known or almost forgotten names of communities.
“I don’t reshelve that book,” Pace said. “People use it every day.” He leaves it along with an atlas for library patrons conducting research of one sort or another.
The gazeteer contains information about family homeplaces, along with references to the many creeks that often are mentioned in deeds to denote property boundaries.
Dean’s book is titled “Granville County North Carolina Gazetteer.”
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Magistrates in North Carolina
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According to nccourts.gov/learn/court-officials where you can click on the word magistrates, “A magistrate is an independent judicial officer, recognized by the North Carolina Constitution as an officer of the district court. Magistrates perform numerous duties in both civil and criminal proceedings. Magistrates are not elected, but are nominated for office by the clerk of superior court, appointed by the senior resident superior court judge, and supervised by the chief district court judge. A magistrate serves an initial term of two years, with subsequent terms of four years.”
Responsibilities of a magistrate in North Carolina include criminal proceedings like conducting initial appearances, set conditions of release such as bonds and bond amounts, issue warrants and more as well as civil proceedings like hearing small claims cases, entering orders for summary ejectment known as evictions, involuntary commitments, marriages and more.
Talk to most any magistrate or clerk of court and you’ll learn there are bonding guidelines. Despite a large public sentiment that bonds should be higher in a lot of cases, it’s important to understand bonds are to assure a defendant’s appearance in court. Bonds are not for punishment.
There is online a fiscal year 2019-2020 North Carolina Magistrate Fact Sheet (click here), and it states, “In order to be eligible for nomination or re-nomination as a magistrate, a candidate must be a resident of the county for which he or she will be appointed. The candidate also must have a four-year college degree or eight years of work experience as a clerk of superior court; or a two-year associate degree and four years of work experience in a job related to the court system, law enforcement, or other public service work. Many magistrates are attorneys, but they are not required to be, and those who are attorneys are prohibited from practicing law while in office as a magistrate.
“A magistrate serves an initial term of two years, with subsequent terms of four years. While magistrates are not under the jurisdiction of the Judicial Standards Commission like judges are, they must obey the Code of Judicial Conduct, and the grounds for removing magistrates are the same as for removing judges. Judges, justices, and magistrates share the same mandatory retirement age.”
Age 72 is it for judges in N.C.
The Judicial Branch uses a workload formula to determine the appropriate number of magistrates per county. Magistrates are salaried employees who provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They account for about 10 percent of the judicial workforce in North Carolina and about nine percent of the judicial budget in the state with the figure being about $51 million.
There are six magistrate positions in Vance County, and one of those is vacant as of this publication.
To read more from North Carolina General Statutes, click here for Article 16 as it pertains to magistrates from the web site ncleg.net. Among other things, you can read about a magistrate’s training requirements.
As an aside, in fiscal year 2019-2020, district and superior courts combined disposed of over 2,250,000 cases in North Carolina.
Man On Post Release, Posts Another Bond, Leads Police on Chase
This time Tyren Hargrove was served with an outstanding Order for Arrest that had a preassigned $1,000,000 bond.
“The $1,000,000 bond was due to the DA’s office fighting to get a sufficient bond set from the extraordinarily low bond previously set,” Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow said, referring to the magistrate level bonds already available to Hargrove.
This latest incident unfolded Tuesday about 9 p.m. when Henderson Police attempted a vehicle stop, and that stop attempt resulted in a lengthy chase out Vicksboro Road. The driver, Tyren Hargrove, was charged as indicated in the first press release below with a litany of charges – including Felony Flee to Elude, Felony Possession of Schedule II – and received a $52,000 bond from the magistrate.
In so many words, the police chief told WIZS if his officers had not been able to serve a preassigned $1,000,000 bond set by a superior court judge, then Hargrove would have posted and be out. By way of example, reference the second press release below from earlier this month when the HPD and DEA served a narcotics search warrant on Eastway Drive. Seized were about 4,004 dosage units of heroin, $59,348 in cash, and a semi-auto pistol.
After the narcotic warrant was served, Hargrove posted a $100,000 bond. He never made it to jail.
Barrow also cited the information listed in the first of the two press releases below about Sedarius Artez Boyd (age 22), the passenger who fled from police on foot at the end of the car chase. Barrow said, “Notice the unsecured bond set for the other guy who ran.” Boyd was served with an outstanding Criminal Summons for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle, and charged with Resisting a Public Officer. Boyd received a $1,000 bond unsecured. Unsecured bonds don’t require the posting of any money.
HPD Press Release: 06/22/2022
On June 21st, 2022, at approximately 9PM, Officer T. McDaniel was stationary at the intersection of Sunnyview Road and Water Street when he observed a white Toyota Tacoma traveling at a high rate of speed. Officer McDaniel attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver accelerated more and turned the vehicles lights off in an attempt to elude police.
The driver of the vehicle took several evasive turns, passed multiple vehicles in no-passing zones, failed to stop at several intersections, and reached speeds of approximately 115 mph. The pursuit continued into Warren County, made a U-turn at Annie Lee Lane, and headed back towards Henderson.
A tire deflation device was deployed by our agency at S. Cokesbury Road. and Vicksboro Road. The vehicle successfully ran over the device, but continued to flee. The suspect vehicle finally came to a stop at Vicksboro Road and Ashmont Lane. The occupants then fled on foot, the driver and passenger were quickly located.
The passenger, Sedarius Artez Boyd (age 22) was located in a wood line after a successful K-9 track. The driver, Tyren Hargrove (21) was found hiding in a vehicle he unlawfully entered at a residence on Barclay Lane. Tyren Hargrove was found in possession of the Toyota truck and an unlabeled container with 33 oxycodone pills inside.
Tyren Hargrove was served with an outstanding Order for Arrest that had a preassigned $1,000,000 bond. Tyren Hargrove was additionally charged with Felony Flee to Elude, Felony Possession of Schedule II, Breaking and Entering a Motor Vehicle, Reckless Driving, Resisting a Public Officer, and Simple Possession of Schedule VI. For those charges, Magistrate Fuller gave Hargrove a $52,000 bond.
Sedarius Boyd was served with an outstanding Criminal Summons for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle, and charged with Resisting a Public Officer. Boyd received a $1,000 bond unsecured bond by Magistrate Fuller.
The suspect vehicle was a rental vehicle, belonging to Hertz Rental and displayed a New York tag. It was towed from the scene.
We were assisted by the Vance County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina Highway Patrol, and we are always grateful for the tremendous working relationship we have with both.
Authority Chief Marcus W. Barrow
HPD Press Release: 06/09/2022
On June 3, 2022, officers of the Henderson Police Department and Federal DEA Agents served a narcotic’s search warrant at 808 Eastway Drive Henderson, North Carolina in response to a drug complaint.
During the service of the warrant, approximately 4,004 dosage units of heroin, $59,348 in U.S. Currency, and a semi auto pistol were seized.
21-year-old Tyren Hargrove was arrested in relation to this investigation.
Hargrove was charged with two counts of Trafficking Heroin, one count of Possession with Intent to Manufacture, Sell, Deliver Heroin, and one count of Maintaining a Dwelling Place for a Controlled Substance.
Hargrove was already on post release, but received a $100,000.00 secured issued by Magistrate Williams. He posted bond prior to transport to Vance County Detention Center.
Third Arrest Made In Oct. Shooting Death In Williamsboro
A Vance County man faces charges of first-degree murder in connection with a shooting in Williamsboro in October 2021.
Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame said Donte S. Henderson of the New Hope community was arrested Tuesday, June 21 and was charged with first-degree murder, accessory after the fact and shooting into an occupied vehicle. He was placed in the Vance County Detention Center under a $1 million bond.
Brame said his Criminal Investigation Division officers located Henderson and subsequently served the indictments.
No further details of the arrest were given.
Henderson is the third person arrested in connection with the Oct. 30 death of Devontae Cheek, who was shot as he was getting out of a vehicle in the parking lot of the Williamsboro Shell Station. He was taken to Maria Parham Health, where he later died of his injuries.
The Vance County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate this incident, Brame said. Anyone with information regarding this matter is urged to contact the Vance County Sheriff’s Office.