Chamber Members, Join The Aug. 19 “Cheer Line” To Welcome School Staffs To Convocation Kick-Off At McGregor Hall

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The Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce invites Chamber members to turn out on Tuesday, Aug. 19 to help welcome back teachers and staff at the Vance County Schools Convocation Kick-Off at McGregor Hall Performing Arts Center.

Chamber President Sandra Wilkerson says to be in place by 8 a.m. with pompoms, company signs and your business mascot to “show loud hometown spirit” in support of educators as they embark on another school year.

Buses will begin dropping off teachers between 8:15 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. It’d be great to have them walk through a cheer line of local business leaders and other community-minded citizens as they enter McGregor Hall to begin the convocation!

The Local Skinny! Henderson City Manager/City Attorney Hassan Kingsberry Resigns

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Henderson City Manager/City Attorney Hassan T. Kingsberry tendered his resignation Monday.

Kingsberry has held the dual roles of city manager and city attorney for less than a year.

About 10 minutes into Monday’s regular monthly City Council meeting, Kingsberry distributed sheets of paper to members of the Council and to Mayor Melissa Elliott.

Kingsberry shared the contents of the letter to WIZS Monday night.

Following is the text Kingsberry sent:

August 11th, 2025

This letter is written to inform you of my resignation from the positions for City Manager and City Attorney.  One contract requires 30 days notice and the other requires a month.  For the sake of peace for myself and my family and for the City, this is the best decision.  I’ve shared with you my issues with the Mayor and you’ve seen them unfold publicly so I encourage you to protect staff and abide by the Charter.  I will remain available for any investigation on my actions for I have not done anything wrong.  Thank you for this opportunity.  God bless the City of Henderson.  

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Kerr Lake Country Club

TownTalk: Ladies Invitational at KLCC Coming September 6

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Whether you’re a scratch golfer or if you’ve never swung a club, an upcoming charity tournament at Kerr Lake Country Club will fit you like a glove – in this case, a golfer’s glove.

Men, however, need not register – the Sept. 6 Mulligan Island is a women’s invitational.

Proceeds for the fundraiser will benefit Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society, and organizers are expecting a fun morning of golf to support a worthy cause.

A formidable foursome – Vance County Tourism’s Pam Hester, RCAPS representatives Michele Wood and Tracey Tsoumbos and Kerr Lake Country Club Manager Jan DeMarco – provided details about the tournament on Tuesday’s TownTalk.

DeMarco said the club has seen an increase recently in women enjoying the golf course, and a ladies’ league formed. “That gave us the idea that we really should have a women’s invitational,” she said.

Hester suggested that organizers connect with a local charity, and that’s when RCAPS joined the mix. There’s a division for serious golfers, she said, but there’s also a division for beginners, who may be hard-pressed to tell an eagle from a birdie.

Registration and breakfast begin at 8 a.m. and the 2-woman scramble will have a shotgun start at 10 a.m. The $75 registration includes lunch, a tee gift and lots of prizes along the way.

There are still opportunities for sponsorships, which range from $2,000 all the way to $100.

Players can buy a Mulligan Package for $20. These packages, as well as the hole sponsorships, go directly to animal protection.

Wood has worked with RCAPS since 2014, when the need was urgent to get unwanted animals out of the shelter and into foster and rescue organizations so they could be adopted.

She estimates that RCAPS has saved nearly 19,000 animals. In July alone, 170 animals were transported from the shelter.

“The impact we’ve been able to make in Vance County is huge,” Wood said.

In recent years, RCAPS has shifted its focus from transport to spay and neuter programs and education as a way to reduce the unwanted pet population and decrease intake at the shelter.

Tsoumbos, who joined RCAPS in November as executive director, said the current spay/neuter voucher program is for any pet owner – regardless of income level – to get a $20 voucher to present to participating local veterinarians when they have their pet spayed or neutered.

Education is a key component to reducing the number of dogs and cats that end up in the shelter. RCAPS has put the finishing touches on a new program designed to educate the community about ways to help.

RCAPS also has monthly yard sales at their office at 165 U.S. Hwy. 158 across from Petco. The next one is this Saturday, Aug. 16 and then again on Sept. 13 and Oct. 18. There are spots available for individuals to sign up to participate.

Then make plans to attend Pet Palooza – Holiday Bazaar edition – on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the former Boyd dealership at the intersection of Ruin Creek Road and U.S. Hwy. 158.

Visit https://www.kerrlakecountryclub.com/ or call 252.492.1895 to learn more or to register for the women’s invitational golf tournament.

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Cooperative Extension with Michael Ellington: What’s Happening in the Sky

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Michael Ellington, on the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report:

This week’s show is focused on observations of what’s happening in the sky above us. It ends with a reminder of the Great Southeast pollinator census on August 22nd and 23rd.

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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The Local Skinny! VCHS Football gets ready with Preseason Jamboree

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The Vance County High School Vipers hosted the Jamboree on Friday, offering fans, coaches and players a sneak peek at the upcoming football season.

The Vipers have two more scrimmages before the opening game of the season on Aug. 22 against non-conference opponent Warren County High School. The team travels to Durham on Tuesday to play Riverside High School and then head to Bailey on Friday to take the field against Southern Nash.

Southern Nash was among the other schools that brought teams to take part in the Jamboree. Other schools included Louisburg High School, Nash Central, Southern Alamance, Rocky Mount Prep and Hoke County.

Coach Aaron Elliott told WIZS’s Scout Hughes after Friday night’s game that he thought his team did a lot of good things offensively. The coaching staff has made some adjustments to its defensive strategy from last season. The team lost about 15 players to graduation last year, among them Taeshawn Alston, who accepted a football scholarship to play at the University of South Carolina.

Elliott, beginning his fourth season, said this was the biggest Jamboree that he’s put together since taking over the head coaching job.

Despite finding some positive things to say about his team’s performance, Elliott said he did spot some mistakes to improve on.

He predicted, however, that the Vipers would be a good football team this season.

The season opener against Warren County High School kicks off at 7 p.m. in the VCHS stadium.

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TownTalk: Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers Annual Golf Tournament Shaping Up

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The annual Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers golf tournament tees up Thursday, Aug. 14 at Kerr Lake Country Club. There are 19 teams signed up so far. Danny Wright, the local organization’s treasurer, says there’s still room to squeeze in a couple more.

Folks may be familiar with the way Crime Stoppers works, and Wright said the local organization has recently made a $5,000 reward for information in a case. Often, the reward is $2,000 or less, he said.

To be clear, the local group receives no state or federal funding – it relies on donations from individuals, businesses and other community organizations to be able to make the rewards.

Organizers hope to raise between $10,000 and $12,000 with the golf tournament.

The four-member teams pay $200 that includes a round of golf, lunch and snacks. Lunch and check-in begins at 11:30 a.m., with a shotgun start at 1 p.m.

The hole sponsors are key to generating the income, he said. Hole sponsorships are $100 and there’s still time to become a sponsor. Call Wright at 252.432.1141 to learn how.

“The reward is a bonus,” Wright explained, “something extra. We like to think that good community-minded citizens would share information without having to be paid to do so.”

Crime in communities is nothing new, and it seems sometimes that Vance County has more than its share, Wright said. It’s the advances in technology that are helping to make it simpler to share information to law enforcement agencies.

Crime Stoppers uses a P3 app in addition to a phone number for individuals to send helpful information.

But there also are links on the group’s social media page and website that facilitate to report information as well.

“For every crime that occurs, somebody somewhere sees something and knows something and we are the organization that facilitates the flow of that information into the hands of law enforcement – anonymously,” Wright said. Emphasis on the word “anonymously.”

The technology has changed, but the premise of seeing something and reporting it is the basis for Crime Stoppers.

“It’s still up to the individual in their community to want to watch and be vigilant as to what is going on in their community and report,” Wright said. “We are relying on the good faith of our community citizens. If you don’t have the safety and security of your citizens, you have absolutely nothing.”

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Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Crucifer Pests

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Wayne Rowland, on the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report: 

Crucifer pests need to be controlled early for good crucifer production.

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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Vance County Logo

Commissioners Give Nod To Continuing Joint City, County Code Enforcement Agreement, Nix Matching Funds For Splash Park

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners approved by consensus Monday a request from City Manager Hassan T. Kingsberry to continue the county’s joint building code enforcement agreement with the city.

Although the Henderson City Council had voted to come out of that agreement at its December 2024 meeting, Kingsberry said he has recommended to the council that the existing agreement remain in effect.

“I have the support of the majority of my council,” Kingsberry said.

City Clerk Tracey Kimbrell told WIZS News Thursday the Council voted on June 30 to extend the current contract for two months, until Aug. 31. The Council has not made a formal vote on the matter; rather, the agreement to re-enter the joint agreement with the county was reached by consensus.

Commissioner Tommy Hester said, “I think that is an exceptionally good idea” and

was prepared to make a motion to continue the agreement, but at the recommendation of County Attorney Jonathan Care, the board offered instead a consensus for approval.

Care said he would recommend that county staff go and negotiate and bring back an actual agreement that both parties approve of.

County Manager C. Renee Perry said she would bring an agreement to the September meeting.

In the meantime, because the current agreement expires Aug. 31, Hester made a motion for a 30-day extension. That motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Commissioner Yolanda Feimster was absent from the meeting.

“We need to work with the city any way we can to bring economic development to this community,” Hester said.

Perry said the budget for the department had stayed in place because she didn’t know what the city would decide to do. “We budgeted for a full department, as we have done historically,” she said.

In other action during the meeting, commissioners voted to deny contributing to a matching grant request for funding the Montgomery/William Street splash park.

During her report, Perry reminded commissioners that during an April 2025 work session, Recreation and Parks Department Director Kendrick Vann and the city manager had requested matching funds of $495,000 from the county for the park.

“The match is now $864,982,” Perry said. “I have concerns with the match just because I don’t feel that we’re in a financial position to come up with that type of cash right now.”

“I think my main concern is, this board didn’t know anything about this grant,” she said.

Dan Brummitt made the motion to deny the county match. It was seconded and passed unanimously.