WIZS Christmas Special
“Listen Live” to WIZS 1450 AM or by clicking “Listen Live” at WIZS.com.
If non-stop Christmas music is your thing, or you want Christmas music at your home Christmas party, be sure to tune in or listen live each night this week from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. plus all day Christmas Day.
We’ll have all your traditional favorites, and the music in the evenings will be commercial free.
— courtesy NC SBI and North Carolina Department of Public Safety
The State Bureau of Investigation has deployed a mobile fingerprint scanning application for local and state law enforcement officers that instantly searches state and national databases for a positive identification.
The process is simple. A suspect places his or her finger on a small portable device, about the size of a smartphone and the fingerprints become digitized and sent to the SBI’s Statewide Automated Fingerprint Identification System and to the FBI for a search of their databases for any matches.
The Rapid ID System allows law enforcement officers to capture fingerprints remotely using the mobile fingerprint scanner. An officer quickly receives the results of a search on the hand-held device. If a fingerprint match is made, the device provides a person’s name, photo (if available) and other relevant information allowing for a quick assessment of a potential threat level.
“All of this happens in seconds,” said Wyatt Pettengill, SBI’s special agent in charge of the Criminal Information and Identification section. “Once the fingerprint image is received at the SBI, the image is compared against the SBI’s entire biometric database and sent to the FBI for a search of the Repository of Individuals of Special Concern, a combination of many different FBI databases that house sensitive law enforcement information.”
Officers who participated in SBI’s pilot program saw how valuable the technology is in correctly identifying individuals who had given them fictitious information or who had outstanding warrants in North Carolina.
A national fingerprint search through the Rapid ID System also provides officers access to outstanding warrants in other states, national sex offender registry subjects and known or suspected terrorists. Several states are already using this remote identification technology and are experiencing great success, according to Pettengill.
“The SBI tries to provide its law enforcement partners with the most current, cutting edge technology in the effort to apprehend criminals and make North Carolina safer,” said Pettengill. “It’s an amazing investigative and officer safety tool.”
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— courtesy The Chamber of Commerce of Warren County | Craig Hahn, Executive Director ~ 252-257-2657 ~ info@warren-chamber.org ~ Facebook
“Santa’s Christmas List” Needs Your Help — Final Week For Gifts For Warren County Children
We need your help! As you’re out and about this week, could I ask you to please pick up a toy here and a book there for children in Warren County? We have a great many children in need of presents for Christmas Morning…
Thanks to your overwhelming generosity last year, Social Services was able to hand out toys, books and other gifts that guaranteed Christmas Morning smiles for more than 733 children. This year we’d like to help at least that many children.
The donation locations are easy to find…just look for the very LARGE wrapped box at a number of Warren County locations…and our thanks to David Gardner at Warrenton Furniture Exchange for once again supplying us with these boxes! We’re looking for toys (both fun & educational), clothes/hats/gloves, stuffed toys, books, candy, gift cards for 13-16 year olds…really, anything new and unwrapped that you think would bring some joy to a child.
Then, just drop them by one of the following locations in the big wrapped boxes in Warrenton: Chamber of Commerce of Warren Office, Warren Record, WARR 1520 AM, First Citizens Bank, BB&T, Warrenton Town Hall, Milano’s, Firehouse Biscuits & Burgers and Pete Smith Tire & Quick Lube. In Norlina: White’s Barber Shop, Norlina Town Hall, Norlina Auto Parts and The Whistle Stop Cafe. If you’re up at the Lake, you can drop your gifts by The Lake Gaston Chamber Office on Eaton Ferry Road.
— courtesy Rick Kenneer, AD Oxford Preparatory School
Oxford Preparatory School will host their 2nd Annual Holiday Classic Basketball Tournament on December 27th, 28th, and 29th. This year it will be a middle school boy’s only event with 6 schools participating: Oxford Prep, Henderson Collegiate, Hawley MS, Warren County MS, Butner-Stem MS, and Northern Granville MS.
Admission is $8/day or $16 for all 3 days.
Game 1: Oxford Prep vs Henderson Collegiate 12/27 @ 1:00 pm
Game 2: Hawley MS vs Warren County MS 12/27 @ 2:30 pm
Game 3: Butner Stem MS vs Winner Game 1 12/28 @ 1:00 pm
Game 4: Northern Granville MS vs Winner Game 2 12/28 @ 2:30 pm
Championship Game: Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 4 12/29 @ 2:00 pm
12/27 12:00 pm 3-point shootout
12/28 12:00 pm Free Throw contest
— courtesy VGCC
The newest club for students at Vance-Granville Community College focuses on the Human Services Technology (HST) field. The college offers three Human Services degrees – a General HST track, a Substance Abuse track, and a Gerontology track – although interested students in any major are welcome to join the new club.
The HST Club held its first organizational meeting in November at VGCC’s South Campus, the home of the HST program. VGCC Human Services instructor Sharon O’Geary conducted the meeting and said she hopes that the new venture will increase the program’s visibility on campus. “Human Services students are passionate about helping people,” O’Geary observed. “We hope that this club can participate in a variety of special service projects that relate to our field and hold fundraisers that help our community. At the same time, we may be able to represent VGCC, attend conferences and help students obtain jobs in this field through networking.”
Seated, from left: Human Services Technology Club faculty advisor Sharon O’Geary, club Vice President Melissa Jackson, Secretary Caitlyn Rudd and President Pamela Campbell; standing, from left: Student Government Association (SGA) representative Feliciana Hernandez and Treasurer Sonya Barnes.
Students at the meeting elected the first officers to lead the HST Club. They included President Pamela Campbell of Littleton, a Gerontology major; Vice President Melissa Jackson of Oxford, a Substance Abuse major; Secretary Caitlyn Rudd of Franklinton, a Gerontology major; Treasurer Sonya Barnes of Henderson, who is completing both the General and Gerontology tracks; and Student Government Association (SGA) representative Feliciana Hernandez of Henderson, a Substance Abuse major.
The HST curriculum program prepares students for entry-level positions in institutions and agencies which provide social, community, and educational services. VGCC’s program is nationally accredited by the Council for Standards in Human Service Education (CSHSE).
For more information on joining the HST Club, contact Sharon O’Geary at 252-738-3529 or ogearys@vgcc.edu.
–VGCC–
(VGCC is an advertising client of WIZS.)
— courtesy NC Cooperative Extension
Warren County / BEEF and Herd Meeting
December 19, 2017 | 6:00 pm
Franklin County Cooperative Extension Center
Area cattle producers are invited to participate in a Beef Cattle Marketing Trends and Updates program, along with a Basic Herd Health Program, on Tuesday, Dec. 19, in the Annex meeting room at the Cooperative Extension Center in Louisburg. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m., followed by the educational and informative programs. Will Hargett, of East Carolina Stockyards, is sponsoring the meal and will also be speaking on marketing trends and how to get the most from your calves in 2018. In addition, Dr. Harrison Dudley, NCSU Extension Veterinarian, will speak on herd health updates. To participate in the evening’s meal and program, call the Franklin County Cooperative Extension office at 919-496-3344 before Friday, Dec.15, or email martha_mobley@ncsu.edu. This program is open to area cattle producers.
The gift is about a commitment made a long time ago to make the world a better place, and it’s that same commitment that Girl Scouts instilled in Margaret Pickard Sirvis, according to her daughter Barb Sirvis.
Girl Scouts – North Carolina Coastal Pines (GS-NCCP) recently notified WIZS News that a $300,000 gift from the Margaret Pickard Sirvis Fund will go towards revitalizing Camp Graham, just north of Henderson. Be sure to click here for Camp Graham details.
A lifelong Girl Scout and advocate for women, Margaret Pickard Sirvis, or “Peggy” as she was known by her Girl Scout friends, passed away on April 8, 2017 at 93 years old. Peggy’s daughter Barb worked with GS–NCCP staff to create a legacy gift to support improvements to Peggy’s beloved Camp Graham.
Information provided by GS–NCCP indicates the $300,000 gift will go towards much needed facilities renovations that will enable Camp Graham to continue providing valuable outdoor leadership opportunities to girls across North Carolina, just as it had for Peggy 80+ years earlier. Renovations will include things like a new HVAC, a full-enclosed bathhouse, updates to cabin units, and much more.
Barb Sirvis told WIZS News in a phone interview that her mother Peggy was very clear she wanted to make sure the Girl Scouts received a generous gift at her death, so the $300,000 came from Peggy’s estate. Barb said Girl Scouts had always been very important to her mother Peggy, as she was in scouting some 75 years.
“She loved camp,” Bard said. “She wanted to make sure her gift would continue to provide camp opportunities for Girl Scouts today and into the future.”
When asked how Camp Graham was chosen, Barb said, “My mother was born and raised in Chapel Hill, and she went to camp as a girl at a camp that no longer exists, but she did go to Girl Scout camp as a girl, and she also watched the power of Girl Scouting to shape my life and the camp experience and the life-long friendships that I made at camp. Then, when she moved back to North Carolina in 2006, a local Girl Scout friend took us to an event with Girl Scouts of North Carolina Coastal Pines, and there (Peggy) had a chance to talk to some of the staff about her interests, and they were doing a new project at Camp Graham building tree houses. She said she wanted to see them, and she went to camp, and she fell in love with Camp Graham.”
Peggy told her daughter Barb she wanted to spend some money on this council, that she wanted to leave money to make sure the camp stays here for girls in the future.
It turns out that Peggy was very quiet about her ability to leave a gift like this for Girl Scouts, so by all accounts it had a wow effect, just by the amount alone of $300,000 if nothing else.
It’s the personal side that tells the rest of the story.
Barb Sirvis said, “She and my dad met in 1944 and were married in 1945. They each had a dream. His dream was to be an entrepreneur, and her dream was to make the world a better place. They brought those two dreams together. He eventually started his own business, and she was the home and corporate treasurer. They managed wisely and lived modestly their whole life.”
As far as how the money will be used, GS–NCCP went to Barb with a proposal with several options in it. Barb said the renovations and improvements mentioned “were the ones that spoke to me.” She said these priorities were on the top of their list, and “I thought they would be on the top of my mom’s list.”
— courtesy VGCC
Area residents have until Jan. 4, 2018, to complete the process of registering for the spring 2018 semester at Vance-Granville Community College, but college officials urge prospective students to register before the holidays.
The semester begins on Jan. 8, with classes offered on schedules of 16, 12 and 8 weeks. Course schedules are available online at schedules.vgcc.edu.
For new students, the process of enrollment begins with completing an application for admission at www.vgcc.edu/application along with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at fafsa.gov. Then, students will request their official high school transcripts, and in some cases, their transcripts from other colleges they have attended. Next, they should meet with an academic/career coach and schedule a placement test, unless it is waived. Finally, students complete an orientation session, either online or in the traditional face-to-face format.
One relatively new resource for students residing in Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties is the VanGuarantee scholarship program. The VanGuarantee is designed to cover tuition, student fees and/or textbooks for eligible students whose financial needs are unmet by federal financial aid and other means of support. For more information on all the various types of financial aid, contact the VGCC Financial Aid Office at fao@vgcc.edu or (252) 738-3280.
The college offers classes at four campuses and online, including six degree programs that are offered completely online: Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Medical Office Administration – Coding Specialist and Supply Chain Management.
VGCC’s Main Campus is located on Poplar Creek Road in Vance County (about midway between Henderson and Oxford) at the intersection with Interstate 85 (Exit 209).
The Franklin County Campus is located just west of Louisburg on N.C. 56.
South Campus is on N.C. 56 between Creedmoor and Butner.
The Warren County Campus is located at 210 West Ridgeway Street (U.S. 158 Business) in Warrenton.
For more information on enrolling, call (252) 738-3234 or visit any campus.
–VGCC–
(VGCC is an advertising client of WIZS.)
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for our area from 10 p.m. Saturday until 10 a.m. Sunday. Areas include Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin Counties plus much of the remainder of the area like Person, Durham, Orange, Wake Counties and beyond.
The concern is about refreezing of residual snow, slush, and water as skies clear late in the evening. Areas bridges, overpasses, parking lots, and side walks will be most prone for icing.
Original winter storm warnings and advisories have been cancelled.
For the full forecast, click here.
Additional Information: https://
See the latest briefing by clicking here.
The National Weather Service says a little light snow is possible Friday night.
Click here for the latest briefing.
Light accumulations less than an inch, mainly on grassy and elevated surfaces, should have minimal impact. Greatest amounts in the I-85 corridor from Burlington northeast.
Travel is not likely to be impacted, however some slick spots on bridges and elevated roadways are possible.
Light accumulations of less than an inch are possible, mainly on grassy and elevated surfaces west of U.S. Route 1. The greatest
amounts will be in the I-85 corridor from Burlington northeast.
As always, Vance County Emergency Management Director Brian Short will keep us up to date. He said, “They are continuing to forecast some light snow for our area tomorrow evening. No significant accumulations or impacts are expected.”
