Vance Board of Education Recognizes Athletes at April Meeting

/by

— courtesy of Vance County Schools and the latest Board Briefs Publication

The Board of Education recognized student athletes. Rosie Kanouff, senior at Early College High School, was recognized as an all-conference selection in Volleyball. Tra’On Lyons, a senior at Vance County High School, was recognized as an all-conference selection in Boys Basketball. Yumyah Hargrove, a senior at Early College High School was recognized as an all-conference selection in Girls Basketball. Blake Vick, a freshman at Early College High School, pitched a complete game no hitter in her first career varsity softball game on 3/17 in a 13-1 victory over Chapel Hill High School. She finished the game with 11 strikeouts in 5 innings pitched. We are extremely proud of our student’s athletic accomplishments.

H-V Chamber Logo

Nominate Someone for Citizen of the Year 2020

/by

From the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce — 

The Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce is now accepting nominations for the 2020 Citizen of the Year!  This award is presented each year by the Chamber to recognize an individual for their volunteer work to make our community a better place to live.  The Annual Banquet and Meeting is the setting for the award presentation.  Due to the pandemic the Annual Banquet will be held virtually at a later date that will be announced in the near future.

Please send in those nominations by using the attached form.  The deadline is May 21st.

Nomination Form for Citizen of the Year – 2020

 

The Citizen of the Year award is presented each year by the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce to recognize an individual for their volunteer work to make our community a better place to live.

The criteria used in making the selection includes:

  • The person must be a resident of the Henderson-Vance County community.
  • The acts and good deeds for which the award is presented must have been performed for the benefit of Vance County and its citizens.
  • The community at large should recognize, once the award is made, that it is deserved.
  • The activities resulting in the award should be regarded outside the recipient’s normal business or profession.
  • The recipient does not have to be a member of the Chamber.

 

———————————————–

 

To nominate an individual for this award, fill out the information below and attach a letter describing the things you think make this individual eligible for this award. If possible, please attach other letters of support for this individual.

 

Name:                                                                                                             

Address:                                                                                                         

Place of Employment:                                                                                 

 

Your contact information:

Name:                                                                                                               

Email Address:                                                                                               

Phone Number:                                                                                              

 

Submit nomination form and letter(s) to the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of

Commerce, P.O. Box 1302, Henderson, NC 27536 or by email to

michele@hendersonvance.org by Friday, May 21, 2021

The Local Skinny! Apr 22 Abandoned Mobile Homes

/by

Vance County residents can participate in a state-funded program to remove abandoned mobile homes from their property. Jason Falls, county solid waste director, said the program is seeking four or five more applicants to sign up for the program.

Participation is voluntary, but savings are big, Falls said on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny! Grant applicants pay $250 to remove a single-wide mobile home and $500 for a double-wide. The typical deconstruction and removal cost is about $3,500, Falls said.

“The program identifies abandoned mobile homes across the county that pose aesthetics, health and safety hazards. This is a voluntary program on behalf of the homeowner and is meant to enhance the beauty, safety and appearance of Vance County,” Falls said.

The county has participated in the state program in the past and Falls estimated that about 100 abandoned mobile homes have been removed from properties as a result.

Sign up by calling Chris Fowler in the county planning department, 252.738.2092. Applications are also available at the Planning Department, 156 Church Street, Suite 003, Henderson.

TownTalk 04-22-21 Vaccines, Restrictions, Latest in NC

/by

TownTalk Broadcast Audio 4-22-21

The base of information for TownTalk 4-22-21 comes from the following press release from the State of North Carolina, Governor Roy Cooper and NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen.

April 21, 2021 Press Release

Governor Cooper Outlines Timeline for Lifting State’s COVID-19 Restrictions
As vaccinations continue and trends stabilize, NC will lift mandatory social distancing, capacity, and mass gathering restrictions by June 1

Governor Roy Cooper and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D. laid out a timeline for lifting current pandemic restrictions today. With stable trends and continued vaccination success, the state expects to lift mandatory social distancing, capacity, and mass gathering restrictions by June 1. The Governor plans to issue an executive order next week outlining safety restrictions for the month of May.

“Each shot in an arm is a step closer to putting this pandemic in the rearview mirror,” said Governor Cooper. “North Carolinians have shown up for each other throughout this entire pandemic and we need to keep up that commitment by getting our vaccines.”

North Carolina continues to focus on distributing vaccines quickly and equitably. This fast and fair approach to getting shots in arms is the best way to beat this pandemic, protect one another, boost the economy and make it possible for restrictions to be lifted.

To date, the state has administered over 6.5 million vaccines. 46.9 percent of adults are at least partially vaccinated, and 35.1 percent are fully vaccinated. More than 76 percent of people 65 and older have had at least one shot.

With vaccine now widely available across the state – often with no wait for an appointment, all North Carolinians 16 and older can plan to take their shot. The state anticipates lifting the mask mandate and easing other public health recommendations, once two thirds of adult North Carolinians have received at least one vaccine dose and if trends remain stable.

“We are at an exciting moment. We now have enough vaccine for everyone,” said Secretary Cohen. “If you are 16 and older, it is your turn to join the more than 3.6 million North Carolinians who have already taken their first shot. It’s up to you to get us to the two thirds goal as quickly as possible so we can live with this virus and begin to put this pandemic behind us.”

Gov. Cooper and Sec. Cohen urged North Carolinians continue to get vaccinated and exercise good judgment even when restrictions are lifted. Businesses should continue to follow voluntary health recommendations and North Carolinians should continue to take safety measures in order to boost the economy, keep children in schools and protect each other.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released statistics indicating that North Carolina is among the states with the fewest deaths and fewest job losses per capita.

State health officials are continuing to monitor the presence of COVID-19 and its more contagious variants in North Carolina, which is why it is important to continue to follow the state’s mask mandate and continue to practice safety precautions, including the Three Ws—wear a mask, wait 6 feet apart, and wash hands often.

If you avidly follow the latest information in North Carolina about covid, the following press release from North Carolina came out Thursday, April 22, 2021 AFTER TownTalk was already complete.

NCDHHS Announces Summer Community Get-out-the-Vaccine Campaign
Initiative Aims to Vaccinate Majority of North Carolina’s Adults by Summer

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the Bringing Summer Back get-out-the-vaccine campaign that will engage community organizations across the state to fully vaccinate as many people as possible by summer.

To date, more than 3.6 million adults in North Carolina have been vaccinated with at least one dose. While the state has made great progress in helping people schedule and get to their vaccine appointments, more than half of the adult population is still completely unvaccinated, putting them at higher risk of contracting and spreading the virus.

Being fully vaccinated means getting back to hugging loved ones who are also fully vaccinated, gathering with fully vaccinated friends and family and going to small indoor gatherings with less worry. Getting the majority of North Carolina’s adults vaccinated by summer means getting back to the summer activities we all love — like backyard gatherings with families and friends, public fireworks, outdoor festivals or parades — all without wearing masks.

The Bringing Summer Back campaign is a fun, flexible and community-centered approach that creates a space for every organization and individual to roll up their sleeves and do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19 and get everyone back to the people and places they love. The campaign will run during two weeks in May (May 9–15 and May 16–21) and two weeks in June (June 6–12 and June 20–26), during which organizations across the state will rally together to promote vaccination.

Organizations can get involved in a number of ways:

    • Organize volunteer days: Invite members, volunteers and others to participate in a day(s) of phone banking, door knocking or other forms of outreach to the communities they serve.
    • Distribute resources: Notify communities about efforts to help people get COVID-19 vaccine appointments through emails, social media or other creative ways.
    • Host a get-out-the-vaccine challenge: Create friendly competition. See who can reach out to the most people via phone, door knocking, social media or other ways. Offer an incentive to get people motivated and involved.
    • Get creative: Come up with your own approach to encourage people to get vaccinated.

Organizations that would like to get involved can register to participate and access toolkit materials at covid19.ncdhhs.gov/BringSummerBack (Spanish: covid19.ncdhhs.gov/Devueltaalverano) or by emailing BringingSummerBack@dhhs.nc.gov.

The toolkit offers simple, specific steps everyone can take to navigate people to an appointment, such as calling loved ones who haven’t been vaccinated yet, sharing their experience on social media and asking if anyone needs support in getting vaccinated.

For more information about COVID-19 vaccines in North Carolina, visit YourSpotYourShot.nc.gov or call the state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Help Center at 888-675-4567. Appointments can be made by visiting myspot.nc.gov. 

Vance County Schools Logo

VCS Teachers Get Classroom Help From Online Tool

/by

In the old days, students could hide comic books or novels inside their thick Biology or English textbooks to fool the teacher into thinking they were on task; nowadays, however, teachers have an ally to help manage off-task behaviors as more and more classrooms have exchanged books for laptops: GoGuardian.

Vance County Schools is a 1:1 digital district, said Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent. “Every single child has a computer, whether they’re in school or not,” he said, drawing the distinction to in-person versus remote instruction. And the district has chosen GoGuardian to help teachers with classroom management.

“It’s not a teaching tool,” Jackson told WIZS News, “it’s a great tool to help our teachers manage while they teach.”

The school district piloted the program and, thanks to positive teacher feedback, Jackson said the decision is likely to be made to expand its use.

GoGuardian was launched in 2014 and is used to monitor student activity online.  Jackson said teachers can see students’ screens and can help to re-direct them if they are off-task or visiting sites that they shouldn’t. It also allows teachers to shut a computer down, he added.

The Local Skinny! Apr 21 Home And Garden Show

/by

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.

 

TownTalk 04-21-21 Tasker Fleming, Front Porch Bluegrass

/by

Tune in to WIZS on Sunday, May 2 at 6 p.m. to set your toes to tappin’ as the radio station airs a new program called “Front Porch Bluegrass” hosted by Tasker Fleming. Fleming grew up in the area and spent part of his career in education right here in Vance County.

Fleming sat down – virtually – with Town Talk’s John C. Rose Wednesday and talked about growing up in Vance and Warren counties and how music has been a part of his life over the years.

He spent 36 years teaching math and coaching sports and recently retired in the Albemarle area. He started Front Porch Bluegrass, an hour-long show that airs on his local station WSPC AM 1010 and FM 107.3.

“I just like the story as much as the fast pickin’ ” of bluegrass, he said. This particular genre of music started out as Everyman’s music, he noted, and said he likes to think that his efforts are a way to help preserve the music as well as entertain listeners.

“I invite people to tell me what they like,” he said. Send requests to frontporch21@yahoo.com.

Listeners will hear a mixture of very new music, with additional timeless classics and even some vintage tunes from the ‘40’s and ‘50’s.

Fleming’s interest in bluegrass and other forms of music goes back to his childhood. He ordered his first instrument – a banjo – from the J.C. Penney catalog after attending the Earl Scruggs Revue in Afton, NC.

“I’ve never made a penny with music,” he said, “but I was hooked.”

He picked up the mandolin more recently and, until COVID-19, played with a group of local musicians who entertained at nursing homes near his home. The residents enjoyed the visits from Mountain Creek Connection, listening to familiar bluegrass and gospel favorites. And Fleming enjoyed watching them sing along.

Fleming recalled fondly evenings at Marie’s in the Epsom community – a service station-turned-music venue where locals gathered on to listen and play on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. “I grew up there, listening to the music,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun being around the music.”

Fleming’s father turned the old theater in Warrenton into a civic auditorium and gospel groups would play there on Sunday afternoons. Fleming ran the concessions for these events and recalled one time when Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys were scheduled to perform. But Monroe ended up in the hospital in Nashville. Mac Wiseman filled in and did well, Fleming said, adding that he even brought the singer a meal of a burger and fries from the locally famous Burger Barn.

“I was his leg man to get him lunch or dinner – he was just a nice guy,” Fleming said.

Learn more about Front Porch Bluegrass at frontporchbluegrass.com or follow on Facebook.

TownTalk Broadcast Audio with Tasker Fleming, the full and entertaining half hour!