Warren Parks And Recreation Mini-Grant Application Window Open Through Oct. 31

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The Warren County Parks and Recreation Department and the Parks and Recreation Commission mini-grant application period is open through October to support community non-profit organizations in the county.

The mini-grant applications are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31 and should be for developing and supporting recreation amenities for county resident at satellite locations, according to information from the Parks and Recreation office.

Find the grant application at https://www.warrencountync.com/345/Parks-Recreation or obtain a physical copy from the Parks and Recreation Department at 113 Wilcox Street, Warrenton.

Submitted requests may not exceed $10,000.

Applications should be submitted by:

  • Email: brettgarrett@warrencountync.gov OR
  • In person: Warren County Parks and Recreation Office at 113 Wilcox Street, Warrenton, NC 27589 (not a mailing address) OR
  • Mail: Warren County Parks and Recreation, Attn: Brett Garrett, PO Box 835, Warrenton, NC 27589

 

For more information, contact Christopher Williams, Program Manager at 252.257.2272 or parksandrecreation@warrencountync.gov.

VGCC Foundation’s ‘Fill The Pantry’ Craft Fair Set For Friday, Oct. 10 At Civic Center

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— Information courtesy of Vance-Granville Community College Foundation

The Vance-Granville Community College Foundation is planning its third annual Fill the Pantry Craft Fair on Friday, Oct. 10 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the College’s Civic Center in Henderson.   The event supports the VGCC food pantry, which provides essential resources to students in need.  This indoor craft fair is open to the public.

Cost of admission will be three (3) canned goods, nonperishable food items, or paper goods at the door.

Join in for a day of shopping, community, food, raffles and giving back. Local vendors will offer a variety of handmade goods—perfect for early holiday shopping—while helping to stock the pantry shelves.  In addition, grab a bite to eat from Bun on the Run or enjoy a coffee and/or treat from The Double Shot.

“With the holiday season quickly approaching, this show is a fantastic way to celebrate our local crafters while also supporting the community,” said Angela Douglas, VGCC Food Pantry Assistant. “We are excited to host this family-friendly event and help our students at the same time.”

Sheri Jones, VGCC Foundation associate director, said, “We are supported by donations from The Food Bank of North Central NC as well as one of the local Food Lion stores.  We also do a weekly donation pick-up from Strong Arm Baking Company in Oxford and have employees who make monetary donations and product donations.  Since we are able to do our event indoors, we have moved it to Friday afternoon and early evening this year so that it doesn’t compete with numerous other events – most outdoors – that take place on Saturdays in October.”

The VGCC Foundation is still accepting craft vendors to participate in this indoor community event, but spaces are limited. Craft vendors who would like to participate should complete the online Craft Show Interest Form. Vendor fees will be $25 for a 10 x 10 space plus a donated item to be used for raffles. For more information, please contact the Vance-Granville Community College Food Pantry at 252-738-3323 or douglasa@vgcc.edu.

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Warren County Schools Names New Principals At Warren Co. High, Northside Elementary

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— Information courtesy of Warren County Schools

Warren County Schools has appointed principals at Warren County High School and Northside Elementary School.

Dr. Lionel Kato and Dr. Tobias Hocutt, Sr. bring experience and a passion for helping students succeed with their collaborative approach to leadership, according to a press release from Crystal Myrick, director of Community Engagement and Communications for Warren County Schools.

With more than 25 years of experience in public education, Kato brings seasoned leadership and a proven track record of excellence to Warren County High School. His career began in 1999 as a high school social studies teacher at his alma mater, New Bern High School, before becoming a middle school math in Jones County.

Kato has served in school administration at every level, including four years as a middle school principal and three and a half years as a high school principal in Brunswick, Greene, and Pitt counties.

He was named North Carolina Media Administrator of the Year in 2011 and Pitt County Schools Principal of the Year in 2013. He later served in district leadership roles with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, such as Instructional Superintendent, Area Superintendent, and Chief Officer. In 2022 he completed the NC Aspiring Superintendents Program and received the Dr. Sam Houston, Jr. Leadership Award from the N.C. School Superintendents’ Association.

Before joining Warren County Schools, Kato was the assistant director for Student Support Services with Danville Public Schools in Virginia. A proud U.S. Navy veteran, he holds degrees from Fayetteville State University, East Carolina University, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

“I am excited about returning to North Carolina and joining the Eagles family,” Dr. Kato said. “Together, we will keep our eyes on the sky and soar to new heights.”

Dr. Tobias Hocutt Sr. brings nearly 16 years of experience in education, beginning his career in support roles as a custodian and bus driver. His journey into teaching began at Archer Lodge Middle School where he taught Social Studies for six years and was recognized as Outstanding First-Year Teacher in 2015. He also received the Johnston County Public Schools Leading WithThe Heart Award in 2017.

After earning his masters in School Administration from Barton College, Hocutt served as assistant principal at Cleveland High School in Clayton, and later as assistant principal at Four Oaks Middle School. He was named Johnston County Public Schools 2023–2024 Assistant Principal of the Year. In 2023, he earned his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Western Carolina University.

“We are excited and proud to welcome Dr. Lionel Kato and Dr.Tobias Hocutt Sr. to Warren County Schools,” said Warren Schools Superintendent Dr. Carol Montague-Davis. “Their extensive leadership experience and unwavering commitment to student success align perfectly with our district’s mission and values. With a shared vision for growth, equity, and academic excellence, we are confident they will make a significant and positive impact on our students, staff, and the broader community, helping to drive our schools forward.”

For more information, visit https://www.warrenk12nc.org/

TownTalk: ‘Pink With A Passion’ Oct. 11 Event To Raise Awareness, Funds

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Pink With A Passion is hosting a fish plate fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 11 on the campus of Warren County Middle School as part of its mission to raise awareness and providing financial support for people who need help as they battle the disease.

“Hopefully, one day we won’t have to talk about breast cancer – or cancer of any kind,” said Elaine Tunstall-Smith, a member of Pink With A Passion, a nonprofit based in Warren County founded by breast cancer survivor Amena Wilson.

The fundraiser runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Plates are $12 and include fish, buttered parsley potatoes, green beans and hushpuppies. Dessert and beverage vendors will be on hand at the site, located at 118 Campus Dr., Warrenton.

In addition to the fish plate fundraiser, the “Pink Out for Hope: Cancer Awareness Benefit” will have Pink With A Passion T-Shirts for sale – $20 for short sleeve and $25 for long sleeve, as well as cancer awareness literature and a voter registration table.

The day is a chance to celebrate survivors, honor loved ones, and support awareness in the community. And, of course, a great opportunity to wear pink!

Pink With A Passion is thriving, Tunstall-Smith said, thanks to support from the community, and from family members and friends of individuals who honor and remember their loved ones who have battled – or battle – breast cancer.

“Any efforts we can do to help people be more aware of what’s available,” she said, is what the organization is all about. Early detection through screenings and education provide valuable information that work together to increase awareness of the disease.

The group hosts a walk in the spring and had a “Rainbow” luncheon in June for survivors of all types of cancers.

At that luncheon, speakers shared stories of encouragement and support to those gathered as a way to give hope to those survivors.

“It’s important to celebrate so that hope stays alive for those who are currently fighting a battle,” she said.

Donations from the fundraiser are used to host the events and workshops, support groups to encourage strength and hope to connect with people who are in the struggle.

“Every dollar that we make we try to use to help save lives and support survivors,” Tunstall-Smith said. The group has helped fund transportation, medications and prosthetics.

It’s a way to “just hand somebody a dollar and a smile to remind them that they’re not in the battle alone.”

To learn more, contact founder and president Amena Wilson at 252.213.5735 or Elaine White at 443.983.4742 or visit www.pinkwithapassion.org

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Ridgeway

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Visitors to New York City back in the late 1800’s may have seen advertisements from Ridgeway

Estates Co., a group of local men who had big plans for enticing Northerners to move South, to the tiny little community that sits today between Middleburg and Norlina, just over the Warren County line.

This corporation had big plans – the Raleigh to Gaston railroad had a stop in Ridgeway, and there was even a fancy new 3-story brick hotel right across from the depot with a h 27-stall barn, carriage houses and all the finest amenities a traveler could want.

Yep, thing were looking up in Ridgeway. The group of men created a vision of a town with streets laid out and 1,800 building lots on about 350 acres of property. All they needed were the buyers.

“It didn’t take off like they anticipated,” said local historian Mark Pace on Thursday’s Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk.

Pace and WIZS’s Bill Harris talked about the community known for its German settlers and super-sweet cantaloupes. In 1869, Ridgeway became an incorporated township in anticipation of the influx of Northerners, Pace said. There’s a stone marker near what would have been the center of town, which lost its charter about 10 years later.

In 1901, a man by the name of Ed Petar happened to plant a few cantaloupe seeds in the Ridgeway area and, it turns out, the ripe melons were really sweet and delicious. From that modest beginning grew a craze for the super-sweet produce that lasts to this day. By 1932, with the help of the railroad, thousands of crates of cantaloupes were shipped from Ridgeway. The peak year was 1956, Pace said, when 30,000 crates of the smallish melon with the light orange flesh and ropy exterior found their way all across the country via refrigerated trucks and boxcars.

Pace said that 75 percent of the cantaloupes grown in Ridgeway at the time were cultivated by farmers of German descent. Families with surnames like Kilian, Holtzmann, Bender and Daeke – just to name a few – began to settle in little ol’ Ridgeway.

But how’d they know to come? It seems a traveling preacher with ties to the German community and the Lutheran Church in Germany started spreading the word about the area. He was a German-born missionary and when he came upon the advertisements in New York City, he translated them and sent them to friends in Germany.

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Granville County Crime Stoppers Establishes Scholarship For VGCC Criminal Justice Students

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–       Information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel

The Vance-Granville Community College Foundation (VGCCF) is proud to announce the establishment of a new academic achievement scholarship for Criminal Justice students, made possible by a generous $10,000 donation from Granville County Crime Stoppers.

The newly created Granville County Crime Stoppers Criminal Justice Academic Achievement Scholarship will support and encourage students pursuing careers in criminal justice. This contribution reflects Crime Stoppers’ ongoing commitment to crime prevention and community development through education.

“We are deeply grateful to Granville County Crime Stoppers for investing in the future of our students and our community,” said VGCC Foundation Executive Director Tanya Weary. “This scholarship will help remove financial barriers and empower students who are passionate about making a positive impact through criminal justice.”

The scholarship is available to qualified students currently enrolled in VGCC’s Criminal Justice Technology program who demonstrate academic excellence and a commitment to public service. Interested students may apply now at vgcc.academicworks.com.

 

Granville County Crime Stoppers continues to be a vital partner in making our community a safer place to live and work. This scholarship further strengthens their mission by supporting the next generation of criminal justice professionals.

 

For more information about The VGCC Foundation, contact 252.738.3264 or foundation@vgcc.edu.

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Kerr-Tar COG Regional Housing Summit Sept. 11 At VGCC Civic Center

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Regional leaders, housing experts and community partners will come together on Thursday, Sept. 11 for the Kerr-Tar Regional Housing Summit, an event designed to address current housing challenges and explore opportunities for collaboration.

The summit will bring together local officials, planners, developers, nonprofit organizations, financial institutions and other stakeholders to discuss strategies for strengthening housing availability, affordability and accessibility throughout the region.

“Access to safe, attainable housing is central to our region’s long-term growth and quality of life,” said Kerr-Tar COG Executive Director Diane Cox. “This summit is an opportunity to share knowledge, identify common challenges, and work toward solutions.”

The summit will feature subject matter experts including Tyler Mulligan, professor of Public Law and Government at the UNC School of Government. He advises state and local officials as well as partner organizations on community economic development, affordable housing, public-private development partnerships, and revitalization initiatives. Also presenting will be Chris Allen, director of Events and Partnerships at Strong Towns, a national nonprofit that helps communities strengthen their housing markets and expand access to homes at prices residents can afford.

The event will take place at Vance-Granville Community College Civic Center, 200 Community College Rd.  from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Registration is open to the public, with particular emphasis on participation from government officials, housing professionals, business leaders and community advocates.

For more information or to register, please visit kerrtarcog.org  or contact Desiree Brooks at 252.436.2040 or dbrooks@kerrtarcog.org.

NC State Board of Elections

State Board Of Elections Registration Repair Project Underway To Update Voter Info

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The first wave of mailings is now going out to North Carolina voters who need to provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number as part of the State Board of Elections “Registration Repair Project.”

The SSBE is sending letters to about 82,700 individuals whose voter registration records lack one of these numbers, as required by state and federal laws.

According to the SBE database, which is updated daily, Vance County has 451 voters who need to provide the additional information to keep their voter registration current. Granville County has 384, Warren County has 133 and Franklin County has 649.

Individuals who receive the letter requesting the additional information can provide their driver license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number either by completing and returning the form at the bottom of the letter and returning it in the mail, in person at their local Board of Elections office or online through the NCDMV secure website at to payments.ncdot.gov.

There is no cost to make the registration update using the NCDMV website.

Updating the voter registration may not be done by phone.

“It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s free,” said Sam Hayes, State Board executive director. “We strongly encourage all voters on the Registration Repair list to take action now and avoid any issues the next time they show up to vote.”

North Carolinians can search whether they are on the list via the Registration Repair Search Tool, which is updated daily.

The Registration Repair Project launched on July 17, and already, the registrations of more than 20,000 voters have been fixed through a combination of research by the county boards of elections and the response of individual voters to update their registration records. As of Monday, Aug. 18, 82,540 registrants remained on the repair list, down 20 percent from 103,270 on the original list.

In future elections, in-person voters who still have not provided the required information to update their registration must vote provisional ballots and provide the information when they vote. That process is easy — the application for voting a provisional ballot includes prompts for DL# or SSN4.

The State Board is creating a flag to appear on these voters’ records in the electronic or paper poll books used at voting sites to alert poll workers that these voters must vote provisional ballots and provide the missing information for their ballot to count. Once a voter provides their DL# or SSN4 and that number is validated, the provisional ballot will count. County boards of elections will train poll workers accordingly.

For more information, go to ncsbe.gov/registrationrepair.

Free Computer Classes Offered At Warren County Senior Center; Registration Required

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The Warren County Senior Center is the location for Basic and Intermediate Computer Classes beginning on Sept. 16 for county residents who want to learn more about using computers.

The six-week course, taught by an instructor from Vance-Granville Community College, is designed for beginner and intermediate learners, according to information from Warren County.

The course provides a supportive and engaging environment for seniors to build confidence and enhance their computer skills. Whether you are brand new to using a computer or looking to expand your current knowledge, this class offers a great opportunity to learn at your own pace with expert guidance.

Classes will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at the Warren County Senior Center. The class is free, but registration is required. For additional information or registration, contact Senior Center Activity Director Aquayla Lynch at 252.257.3111.

Early registration is recommended – the space is limited to 7 participants.

Warren County Sept. 9 ‘Let’s Talk’ Session Focuses On Entrepreneurs, Small Business

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Warren County residents are invited to join county staff and leaders for a “Let’s Talk” Warren County – Small Business event on Tuesday, Sept. 9, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Buck Spring Park, 217 Nathaniel Macon Drive in Littleton.

This event will give local entrepreneurs, small business owners and those considering starting a business a chance to chat with county Economic Development staff about available resources, support programs and opportunities to help their business grow and thrive.

Light refreshments will be provided, and participants can stop in at any time during the two-hour event to ask questions, share ideas, or simply learn more about doing business in Warren County.

The “Let’s Talk” Warren County series is an initiative spearheaded by the chair of the Warren County board of commissioners, aimed at increasing civic engagement and giving residents a better understanding of local government practices and resources. Each event in the series has focused on a specific topic important to the community, from County Resources to Emergency Preparedness.

“This event will be a great opportunity for our business community and future business owners to have an open conversation with county staff, get connected to resources, and share their vision for Warren County’s economic future,” said Angelena Kearney-Dunlap, chair of the board of commissioners.

For more information, contact Warren County Economic Development at 252.257.3037 or  email meganwilliams@warrencountync.gov.