National Weather Service

Heavy rain expected with Elsa

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The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for a large portion of central North Carolina including Franklin, Granville, Vance and Warren Counties. The flood watch is in effect from 6 a.m. Thursday through 6 p.m. Thursday as the remnants of Hurricane Elsa move through the state. According to the National Weather Service, the heaviest rain will be along the U.S. 1 corridor during the daytime hours Thursday.  Rainfall amounts are expected to be 1 to 3 inches although locally higher amounts can be expected where thunderstorms persist.  Areas receiving excessive rainfall will be susceptible to flash flooding. Low lying areas, areas of poor drainage and areas normally flood prone could all become flooded. Roads in these areas could be impassable due to high water.

Elsa is expected to be a weak tropical storm as it moves through the state tomorrow and limited impacts are expected across central North Carolina. The National Weather Service predicts wind damage would be minimal however gusts up to 40 mph are possible. A level 1 risk of tornadoes is also forecast. Winds will increase from south to north during the morning hours after sunrise. Winds should diminish by 11 p.m. Thursday. Stay tuned to WIZS throughout the day Thursday for the latest weather updates regarding the remnants of Hurricane Else as it passes through our region.

TownTalk: Rob Montague and the NC Forest Service, Storm Ready

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N.C. Forest Service Gives Advice To Keep Trees Healthy, Withstand Storm’s Wind, Water

There are lots of good reasons to have trees in the landscape – they provide shade in the summer, homes and food for many animals as well as income for many landowners who manage larger tracts of woodland or tree farms.

And while it’s always important to keep an eye out for dead limbs or trees in a weakened state, weather forecasters and forestry experts are gearing up to ward off potential problems that Tropical Storm Elsa may create as it moves up the Atlantic Coast over the next day or so.

Rob Montague of the N.C. Forest Service was on Wednesday’s Town Talk to talk about the role of the forest service and precautions homeowners and landowners can take to avoid problems with trees when a storm blows in.

“Go ahead and get rid of hazard trees around your house before the storm comes through,” Montague advised. For those with larger tracts of woodlands or tree farms, it’s important to maintain a clear path to get in and out of the property.

He and his team serve Vance and Granville counties and they began planning early last week for the possible arrival of Elsa and the associated rain and wind that comes with a tropical storm or hurricane.

The forest service provides assistance to local emergency response teams as well as the N.C. Department of Agriculture during and after storms and help with tasks like clearing roads of fallen trees.

“We may be thrown into a lot of different roles if this storm proves bad,” Montague said. “The emergency response side of our job trains us” for such events as storms and wildfires.

The forest service work continues after a storm, he added, by helping landowners who may face a long-term recovery phase. The foresters help with technical assistance to get a forest management plan back on track, whether it’s a harvesting goal or getting a new forest growing.

The N.C. Forest Service can also help landowners with prescribed burns, a management strategy to keep pine stands healthy. These require careful planning, Montague said, from checking the weather forecast and knowing where the smoke will blow to having fire lines prepared ahead of the burn area. It shouldn’t be a matter of thinking at 9 a.m. one morning, ‘Hey, I’m going to light my trees on fire today,’ he added.

Prescribed burns are one strategy to cut down on the chance of wildfires, Montague said. May was a dry month and he said the forest service responded to quite a few wildfires with local fire departments. “Each of us shows up with different tools,” he explained. The fire departments have the bigger trucks and gear, and the forest service brings along smaller brush trucks and engines that allow them to get in tighter spaces. Bulldozers and airplanes that can drop water from above are also resources the forest service can call on.

Whether it’s wind and rain from a summer storm or a grass fire when conditions are extremely dry, the N.C. Forest Service provides training for its foresters and technical assistance for residents to be prepared.

“We’ve got a great group of folks ready, willing and dedicated to help out,” Montague said.

To learn more, visit www.ncforestservice.org,  call 919.693.3154  or email rob.montague@ncagr.gov.

For complete details and audio click play.

The Local Skinny! Home And Garden Show

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WIZS, Your Community Voice.  Thank you for listening! 

The Local Skinny! each Wednesday on WIZS is the Vance County Cooperative Extension Service Home and Garden Show.

 

The Local Skinny! Jobs In Vance

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The H-V Chamber of Commerce and WIZS, Your Community Voice, present Jobs in Vance for July 6th, 2021. The Chamber compiles the information, and it is presented here and on the radio. Contact the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce at 438-8414 or email christa@hendersonvance.org to be included.

JOB OPENINGS IN VANCE COUNTY – Week of July 6, 2021

 

Name of the Company:  Vance County Schools

Jobs Available: Open positions for bus drivers, a plumber and an electrician

Method of Contact:  to apply go to www.vcs.k12.nc.us and click on job opportunities

 

Name of the Company:  Roses Distribution Center

Jobs Available:  General Warehouse, lift drivers, maintenance, CDL truck drivers, leads, managers and security

Method of Contact:   visit their hiring center to apply, located at 218 Garnett Street. Please bring a valid (not expired) photo ID

 

Name of the Company:  Brewer Cycles

Jobs Available:  Service Write/ Advisor- this position requires a person to be able to type fast, be computer smart and talk professionally about repairs and cost to customers regarding their power sort vehicles. Must be courteous and helpful to all customers. This position is full or part time. Pay is $13.00 – $18.00 per hour.

Method of Contact:   Stop by Brewer Cycles at 420 Warrenton Road to apply

 

Name of the Company:  Kittrell Job Corps Center

Jobs Available: Residential Advisors, Accounting Clerk, LPN’s (full and part time), Academic Instructor for Reading, CTT Instructor for Medical Administrative Assistant and CTT Instructor for Facilities Maintenance.

Contact Person: Angela Williams- HR Manager

Method of Contact:  call 252-438-9108 or email williams.angelap@jobcorps.org

 

Name of the Company:  Next Level Kennels

Jobs Available:  Part time weekend Kennel Tech. – Will be responsible for the day-to-day care of boarders and personal animals. Must have sufficient physical strength, mobility and stamina to lift and or move heavy pets and objects. It is ESSENTIAL that they have the ability and willingness to learn and the desire to provide gentle, compassionate care for boarded pets.

Method of Contact: for more information call 252-438-4459

 

Some of these businesses are present or past advertisers of WIZS.  Being an ad client is not a condition of being listed or broadcast.  This is not a paid ad.

 

Town Talk Logo

Town Talk: Retired Colonel Helps Fellow Veterans, Stops In Henderson On 10,000-Mile Fundraiser Ride

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The numbers are staggering: Since it started in 2014, RIP Medical Debt has paid medical bills for more than 2.7 million families to the tune of $4.5 billion – that’s billion with a “B” – $90 million alone to veterans and families of veterans. And if Mikel Burroughs, a retired Army colonel, has his way, those numbers will continue to grow.

Burroughs recently completed the 3rd annual RIP Ride for Veterans motorcycle ride to raise awareness and funds for the non-profit RIP Medical Debt; he took a short detour to Henderson to meet Phyllis Maynard, a fellow veteran and local Disabled American Veterans service officer. Maynard served in the U.S. Navy as a petty officer on the USS Puget Sound. She met Burroughs through an online veterans’ support group about two years ago.

When Burroughs was in Fayetteville recently during his 32-state road trip, he decided he wanted to make the 2-hour trip to meet Maynard in person.

“It was wonderful coming in to Henderson and meeting with Phyllis,” Burroughs told John C. Rose on Town Talk, which aired Tuesday. Maynard wanted to make the visit more than just a pit stop along the 10,000-plus mile journey, so she had some other guests from the community to help her welcome Burroughs to Vance County.

Maynard said she appreciated Burroughs including a stop in Henderson on his itinerary and she “wanted it to end up being special for him – I really wanted to share it with the community,” she said. He seemed to be the “glue” of the support group, Maynard said of Burroughs. “Everybody loved the colonel,” she said, adding that the group learns from each other, from the low-stress comfort of their own homes.

The RIP Ride 4 Vets 2021 fundraising goal was $50,000. RIP Medical Debt buys debt from hospitals or from a secondary market and follows a process to determine which accounts fit the criteria to be marked as “paid in full.” Burroughs said every $1 the group spends buys $100 in medical debt.

“A lot of our veterans are struggling under the burden of health care debt across the country,” Burroughs said. Add financial burdens to those invisible illnesses like PTS (post-traumatic stress) and TBI (traumatic brain injury) and the negative effects definitely mount up.

He said two-thirds of all bankruptcies in the U.S. are the result of health-care debt.

“I’ve talked to a lot of veterans on the Warriors for Life program that are struggling financially,” Burroughs said. “I hear it first-hand – I hear it in their voice and they share and they get that off their mind…it has a profound effect on our veterans and it shouldn’t,” he said of overwhelming medical debt.

Mackenzie Scott, former wife of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, recently gave $50 million to RIP Medical Debt. “That’s going to abolish a lot of debt” over the next three years – for civilians and veterans alike.

Relieving the stress of medical debt for veterans is just one way Burroughs contributes to the veteran community. He facilitates the Saturday Warriors for Life group – other volunteers cover the other five groups each week. And a Life Readiness Center is being planned to open on 165 acres in Costa Rica which will provide different therapies and treatments to help veterans with PTSD and TBI. The goal is to partner with Victory for Vets Inc. to have readiness centers in 32 U.S. cities. The centers use brain mapping, hyperbaric oxygen treatment and neurofeedback to address veterans’ needs.

“We’re very excited about what the future holds and what we’re going to be able to do for veterans holistically,” Burroughs said.

 

The Warriors for Life group will be a perfect place for veterans who participate in the Life Readiness Centers. “We want veterans to be able to reach out to Warriors for Life and let down the warrior barrier,” Burroughs said.  “Be vulnerable… you don’t have to prove to anyone on the call that you’re a warrior –  we already know that you’re a warrior. And you’ll always be a warrior,” he said.

“We want you to let that vulnerability down and be able to share it and get it off of your mind. Honestly, being able to share with others who have gone through similar experiences, I think it helps the healing process.”

Learn more at www.ripmedicaldebt.org.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

New Downtown Henderson Fountain Activated July 2

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Henderson City Councilman Garry Daeke forwarded an email memo to WIZS from City Manager Terrell Blackmon. Blackmon sent the note to Mayor Eddie Ellington and the City Council.

It said after months of anticipation, the fountains at the intersection of Charles and Garnett streets would be activated about 7 a.m. on Friday, July 2, 2021.  In the email Blackmon said, “Staff has met our goal to have the fountains (operational prior) to the July 4th holiday. The fountains will operate 24/7 and will be illuminated at night.”

There is no formal program scheduled at this time, but Blackmon said, “There will be a naming opportunity as well as benches that are being donated for the site which will allow us to celebrate the fountains at a later date.”

You are encouraged to enjoy the fountains, which are placed where the war memorial monuments had been across from First Methodist Church.

The war memorials have been moved around the corner to Young Street between Fire Station 2 with the clock tower and the old police station/municipal building.  The memorials remember the names of heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice for freedom and County in WW II, Korea, Vietnam and Irag.

Many years ago as it so happens, but long since gone now, there was a fountain near where the war memorials presently sit.

Also nearby is the memorial to Rebel the fire dog (1971-1984) and the time capsule, planted 30 years ago in 1991.  It is due to be unearthed in 20 more years in 2041, surely to be part of the 200th anniversary of Henderson.  The capsule was sealed during the sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of Henderson.  A huge celebration was held, including fireworks and much much more, on the blank field behind Bennett Perry’s house.

Today, that field is covered with the parking lot for and a portion of the courthouse, Sheriff’s Office and emergency management.

GVPH Director Harrison President-Elect Of National Health Officials Group

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Granville-Vance Public Health director Lisa Harrison is the new president-elect of the National Association of City and County Health Officials.

Harrison served in 2020-21 as vice-president of the group, and officially began her term as president-elect on July 1, 2021. She will serve as president in 2022-2023. The NACCHO 360 annual conference was held virtually June 29-July 1.

“I had the great privilege to offer remarks as the incoming president for the National Association of County and City Health Officials,” Harrison told WIZS News Thursday. She said she addressed the conference attendees on its last day, following discussion of a multitude of important topics by a “national audience of public health practitioners, researchers, elected officials, and people as passionate about community service as we are here at GVPH.”

“There are so many things for public health to be proud of, and relentless about, in the time that feels like a brief pause between vaccination efforts and continued social justice work,” Harrison said.

She joined Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky to facilitate a panel discussion during the conference that featured health directors, academic leaders and CDC representatives to address health disparities and structural racism. “She (Walensky) did a marvelous job thanking the public health workforce for their long-standing dedication and knowledge,” Harrison noted.

“The work ahead is as big and as hard as the pandemic response – the work ahead is about continuing to build community and reduce structural barriers to access to health and wellness in all forms. I believe strongly in our work together and am delighted to be having these conversations on a national stage to connect what is working and more quickly be able to address what is not,” Harrison said.

Harrison joined GVPH in 2012 and has worked in public health for more than 24 years. She was director of the Office of Healthy Carolinians and health education at the N.C. Division of Public Health; she was the 2015 president of the N.C. Public Health Association, among other leadership roles in the field.

“The public health infrastructure is clearly in need of some updates and I’m thrilled to be co-chairing a N.C. Institute of Medicine Task Force here in North Carolina that begins later this month to help guide the thinking and the focused needs about how to wisely build the infrastructure of the 21st century public health approach,” Harrison explained. “We know there are other viruses that will emerge over time, and we will be ready to find them quickly, stop them in their tracks, and educate the public quickly about the steps they can take to stay healthy and keep our communities healthy and strong,” she said.

Her activities and accomplishments in the field of public health make her a perfect match for the leadership role Harrison has as president-elect and, next year, president, to further the association’s mission – to improve the health of communities by strengthening and advocating for local health departments.

Based in Washington, D.C, NACCHO is the only organization dedicated to serving every local health department in the nation, according to information published on its webpage. It serves 3,000 local health departments and is the leader in providing cutting-edge, skill-building, professional resources and programs, seeking health equity, and supporting effective local public health practice and systems.