Regional Economic Dev. Summit to Feature Bestselling Author

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-Information courtesy the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce

You are invited to attend an exciting Regional Economic Development Summit at McGregor Hall Performing Arts Center on Thursday, February 20, 2020, from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. This is a free event with lunch included.

The summit is a five-county regional event, being planned by the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce and Vance County Economic Development, along with the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments, and the other Chambers and EDC offices in Franklin, Granville, Warren, and Person Counties.

This is a “must-attend” event for business owners, developers, manufacturing managers, small business owners, governmental leaders, etc.

There will be panel discussions and presentations concerning economic development program efforts that have been successful in other small, rural communities.

A highlight of the day will be the presentation by keynote speaker Doug Griffiths, an international speaker and author of the bestselling book “13 Ways to Kill Your Community.”

Michele Burgess, H-V Chamber President said, “When I was hired back at the Chamber in July, I heard about this book from some other Chamber presidents and immediately ordered it and read it. It’s incredible! Griffiths knows all the challenges we face in small communities, and he has good solutions to offer us on how to approach our economic development and make the improvements necessary in our mindset to turn our community into a thriving, beautiful, and progressive town.”

The event is free, but preregistration is required. You may register online at the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments’ Focus 20/20 website (click here). The first 50 people to register and attend the summit will receive a free copy of Griffiths’ book “13 Ways to Kill Your Community.”

With questions, please call the H-V Chamber of Commerce at (252) 438-8414.

New VGCC Partnership with KARTS Makes Education More Accessible

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THIS STORY IS PRESENTED IN PART BY DRAKE DENTISTRY

-Press Release, Vance-Granville Community College

Vance-Granville Community College recently launched a new partnership with KARTS, the public, rural transportation system, to help students travel to and from any of the college’s four campuses at no cost. Through the partnership, the college will use grant funds and donations to the VGCC Endowment Fund to pay for students to use KARTS.

“Transportation is just one non-academic barrier that can make it difficult for rural citizens to make use of their community college,” said Dr. Rachel Desmarais, president of VGCC. “We are thankful for KARTS’ willingness to partner with us to reduce this barrier. We also appreciate our generous donors and grantors who are making this opportunity possible. VGCC is committed to student access and success!”

Students can now make appointments for KARTS to pick them up by calling 252-438-2573 and then dialing “0”. If students need to cancel appointments, they can call the same number. Appointment timeslots are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m, Monday through Friday. Appointments can be made up to two weeks in advance. Service requests for the following day are taken no later than 1 p.m., or as capacity allows.

Students can request tickets on campus from any VGCC employee. Once students have these fare tickets, they must present their VGCC student IDs, along with the tickets, when boarding the KARTS transportation bus. They must be on time, because drivers will wait approximately two minutes, and students who do not show up for scheduled appointments three times are subject to be prohibited from using this service in the future.

Current pickup/drop-off locations on campus are below:

  • VGCC Main Campus (Vance County), in front of Building 7;
  • VGCC Franklin Campus (Louisburg), in front of Building 1;
  • VGCC South Campus (Butner/Creedmoor), in front of Building 1 by the flag pole; and
  • VGCC Warren Campus (Warrenton), between Buildings 2 and 3.

College officials said that there is the potential for more locations to be added in the future.

“We, as a college, are thrilled to provide transportation, at no cost, to current and future students,” said Dawn Michelle Tucker, VGCC’s Dean of Continuing Education and College & Career Readiness. “We know transportation is a major challenge that many students face and we are pleased to be able to partner with KARTS to offer this solution.”

“Our partnership with KARTS provides an even greater opportunity for our communities to access higher education and obtain a college credential,” said Kali Brown, VGCC’s Dean of Student Access & Support.

Working to remove the lack of transportation as an obstacle to receiving higher education and job training is just one aspect of the community college’s commitment to student support. Numerous types of financial aid and scholarships, including the unique “VanGuarantee” program, are available to help students pay for classes. Free tutoring services, library services (on all campuses and online) and career services are also among a variety of resources for students.

“Excessive absences are often a leading contributor to non-completion of community college education,” said VGCC Vice President of Workforce and Community Engagement Jerry Edmonds. “Therefore, VGCC is delighted to partner with KARTS in providing transportation to our growing population of students.”

KARTS is a service of the Kerr Area Transportation Authority. Its mission is “to provide safe, dependable and accessible transportation services in the most efficient and effective manner possible in order to improve mobility, support livable communities, enhance local economies, and provide opportunities to expand horizons of the citizens of Franklin, Granville, Vance and Warren Counties.” Those are the same four counties served by VGCC.

All KARTS rides are provided on a scheduled/reserved basis, with fees based on mileage from point of origin to destination.

Warren County Logo

Warren Co. Agencies Impact Approx. 500 Individuals During Holiday Season

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-Press Release, Warren County Government

Four Warren County agencies worked collaboratively with each other, as well as with area organizations, this 2019 holiday season to make an impact on approximately 500 individuals in Warren County.

Warren County Emergency Services partnered with Warren County Cooperative Extension and Greenwood Baptist Church Women’s Ministry on the project “Pay It Forward ’19.” A church in the Raleigh/Durham area also was involved, supporting the program “Adopt a Family, Pay it Forward.” This project connected Cooperative Extension with 28 families that needed holiday cheer during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Rachel Monteverdi, former Family and Consumer Extension Agent with Warren County Cooperative Extension, began the “Pay it Forward” program 15 years ago. The program has served more than 900 families from Warren County since the program was started.

Participating families receive a food box, frozen turkey, toys, clothes, household items, and blankets. The “Pay it Forward” program also included this year an educational session on fire safety from EMS, as well as info on anger and stress management, and food safety. Greenwood Baptist Church Women’s Ministry donated purses filled with personal hygiene products for participating women.

The Warren County Senior Center in partnership with Warren County Department of Social Services provided holiday senior care to Warren County home-delivered meal clients. Twenty seniors were impacted through this program this 2019 holiday season.

“Without this service, many homebound clients would have been without a special meal for the holidays,” stated Vicky Stokes, Director of the Warren County Senior Center. “The outreach reminded these clients that they are not alone and that someone cares enough to think of them in such a special way.”

The Warren County Senior Center also held a Christmas social at the Senior Center that brought out approximately 100 participants. Many of these participants live alone or are away from or without family, and do not have readily accessible transportation, so the Senior Center’s services provided them an opportunity to gather with friends and neighbors, share a meal, listen to live music and poetry, play games and reminisce on past Christmas memories.

The Warren County Department of Social Services also conducted its annual Angel Tree program, partnering with county employees and the community at large for donations, as well as Toys for Tots and the Salvation Army. This program serves not only children but elderly individuals in Warren County as well. This 2019 holiday season, the Angel Tree program served 365 individuals.

Interim Social Services Director, Emma Perry, stated, “I would like to thank everyone for their contributions which helped make Angel Tree 2019 a success.”

Warren Co. Receives $10K Grant to Remove Abandoned Manufactured Homes

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-Information and photo courtesy the Warren County North Carolina Facebook page

Warren County has received a $10,000 grant to assist in the deconstruction of abandoned manufactured homes as part of the enforcement of the County’s abandoned manufactured home ordinance.

Property owners can apply to the program and contractors will be solicited for the new grant cycle with an anticipated start date of March 1, 2020. Cost to eligible property owners is $305 for a single-wide unit ($35 demolition permit and $270 landfill tipping fees) or $575 for a double-wide unit ($35 demolition permit and $540 landfill tipping fees).

The selected contractor by the County will be reimbursed through the State-funded program administered by Warren County.

For more information or to apply to the County program, please contact Ken Krulik (Planning and Zoning Administrator) at 252-257-7027 or email KenKrulik@warrencountync.gov. Forms may also be picked up at the Planning/Zoning and Code Enforcement Department located at 542 West Ridgeway Street Warrenton, NC 27589.

McGregor Hall: GrassStreet & The Larry Stephenson Band Performing Sat.

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-Information courtesy McGregor Hall Performing Arts Center

A NIGHT OF BLUEGRASS: Featuring GrassStreet and The Larry Stephenson Band

Two great bands come together on the McGregor Hall stage for A NIGHT OF BLUEGRASS!

Local favorite GrassStreet has entertained fans since 2003 with their mix of original material and bluegrass standards. The Larry Stephenson Band has been entertaining audiences for thirty years including numerous performances on the Grand Ole Opry, RFD-TV, and as a headliner on festivals and concerts throughout the US and Canada.

Tickets for this event may be purchased by:

DROP-IN: 201 Breckenridge Street, Henderson, N.C. Monday – Friday 1:30 – 5:30 p.m

CALL: (252) 598-0662 (M-F 1:30 – 5:30 p.m.)

CLICK HERE: www.McGregorHall.org  (Use the eTix official site, online fees apply)

(This is not a paid advertisement)

I Voted Sticker

Absentee By-Mail Voting Begins Monday for NC Primary Election

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THIS STORY IS PRESENTED IN PART BY DRAKE DENTISTRY

-Press Release, NC State Board of Elections

Beginning Monday, January 13, 2020, absentee by-mail ballots for the March primary election will be mailed to voters who request them. Any registered voter in North Carolina may vote absentee by-mail.

Primary Election Day – when voters select the political party nominees to appear on the ballot in the November 3 general election – is March 3, 2020.

“By-mail absentee voting officially launches the 2020 primary election,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “Any registered voter in North Carolina may request a mail-in absentee ballot for the primary.”

To vote absentee by-mail, voters must complete a 2020 State Absentee Ballot Request Form. For the 2020 primary, the form must be received by the voter’s county board of elections by 5 p.m. Tuesday, February 25, 2020.

Voters who submit a valid request will receive a ballot from their county board of elections. The materials will include detailed instructions on how to complete and return the ballot.

For a one-page guide on how to vote absentee by-mail, go here.

Session Law 2019-239 made several changes to the absentee voting process. Changes include:

  • An absentee request form is now valid only if returned to the county board of elections by the voter, the voter’s near relative or legal guardian, or a Multipartisan Assistance Team (MAT);
  • The absentee request form must be mailed or delivered in-person to the voter’s county board of elections. Unlike past elections, request forms may not be emailed or faxed; and
  • If a voter needs help completing the request form due to blindness, disability, or inability to read or write, and a near relative or legal guardian is not available, the voter may get help from another person, who must list their name and address on the form.

About the Primary Election

All five recognized political parties in North Carolina – Constitution, Democratic, Green, Libertarian and Republican – have primary ballots. Voters affiliated with a political party may only vote in their party’s primary. (For example, a voter registered as a Democrat may only vote the Democratic primary ballot.)

Unaffiliated voters may choose either the Democratic, Libertarian or Republican ballot, or a nonpartisan ballot, if available.

The one-stop, in-person early voting period for the March 3 primary begins Thursday, February 13 and ends Saturday, February 29.

 Uniformed or Overseas Citizens

Uniformed service members, as well as U.S. citizens living outside of the country, may request absentee ballots under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). For more information about UOCAVA absentee voting, visit FVAP.gov or ncsbe.gov/voting-options/military-overseas-voting.

 Multipartisan Assistance Teams (MATs)

Special assistance is available for voters living in care facilities, such as nursing homes. Upon request, county boards of elections will send a Multi-partisan Assistance Team (MAT) to help voters in facilities complete their 2020 State Absentee Ballot Request Form, mark their ballot, or serve as required witnesses.

Care facility coordinators or members of the public can contact their local county board of elections office to schedule a visit.

For more information about absentee voting, visit ncsbe.gov/voting-options/absentee-voting.

U.S. Department of Justice

Warren County Man Sentenced as Armed Career Criminal

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-Press Release, U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that today in federal court, United States District Judge James C. Dever III sentenced KIMJUAN DWANE ELLIS, JR., 25, of Warrenton to 235 months imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised release. He was found to be an Armed Career Criminal thereby subjecting him to a minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years.

ELLIS was named in an Indictment filed on January 9, 2019, charging him with being a felon in possession of ammunition. On August 20, 2019, ELLIS pled guilty to that charge.

According to the investigation, on October 19, 2018, officers with the Norlina Police Department responded to a shooting in the parking lot of the Blue Waves convenience store in Norlina, North Carolina. The store’s ip camera
captured ELLIS shooting another man in the chest after an apparent argument. ELLIS fled the scene after the shooting.

The victim was transported to Duke University Medical Center where he was treated for his wounds and survived.  Officers recovered a spent shell casing in the area where the video captured the shooting. The gun used by ELLIS was never recovered. ELLIS was later arrested in a vehicle with two other occupants, along with additional firearms and ammunition, one of which had been stolen. None of those firearms, however, was used in the shooting.

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities.

For more information about Project Guardian, please see https://www.justice.gov/projectguardian.

This case is also part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina implements the PSN Program through its Take Back North Carolina Initiative. This initiative emphasizes the regional assignment of federal prosecutors to work with law enforcement and District Attorney’s Offices on a sustained basis in those communities to reduce the violent crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, and the Norlina Police Department conducted the investigation of this matter jointly. Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. Dodson prosecuted the case for the government.

VGCC Deans Recognized by N.C. State University

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THIS STORY IS PRESENTED IN PART BY DRAKE DENTISTRY

-Press Release, Vance-Granville Community College

A pair of leaders at Vance-Granville Community College were recently recognized by North Carolina State University, where they are doctoral students in the College of Education.

Jeffrey Allen, VGCC’s Dean of Student Retention & Success, was named a Belk Center Fellow, while Angela M. Thomas, the Dean of Health Sciences, received the Edgar J. & Ethel B. Boone Adult & Community College Leadership Fellowship award.

Angela M. Thomas, VGCC Dean of Health Sciences (VGCC photo)

“I am excited about the opportunity to be a Belk Center Fellow,” Allen said. “I look forward to the opportunity to learn more about student success strategies from community colleges across the nation as the American Association of Community Colleges celebrates 100 years.”

Thomas was presented with her award by Associate Professor Dr. Tuere Bowles during a ceremony at the university in December conducted by the Belk Center for Community College Leadership & Research. Bowles described the leadership award, given to only one student per year, as “highly competitive.”

Thomas said she was honored and would “do her best to make the Boones proud.” The fellowship is named in part for Dr. Edgar Boone, the founding head of the Department of Adult and Community College Education at NCSU.

Allen, an Oxford resident, has been a member of the VGCC staff in various roles since 2012. In his current position, Allen provides leadership and oversight to the areas of advising, counseling, male success initiative, student activities and athletics, testing and tutoring. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at North Carolina Central University and a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction at Western Governors University.

Jeffrey Allen, VGCC Dean of Student Retention & Success (VGCC photo)

Allen had a 14-year career in education at the K-12 level prior to joining VGCC. He is also the recipient of the 2016 Laura Thomas Award from the North Carolina Association on Higher Education and Disability (NC AHEAD). Earlier this year, Allen was named one of eight DREAM Fellows by NCSU.

A resident of Hillsborough, Thomas started her association with VGCC in 1997 as a part-time Radiography instructor, later becoming the program’s full-time clinical coordinator and then head of the program. Thomas was named VGCC’s Faculty Member of the Year in 2011.

As dean of health sciences since 2013, she leads a division that includes the Histotechnology, Nursing, Human Services Technology, Medical Assisting, Pharmacy Technology and Radiography programs.

Thomas earned an Associate in Applied Science degree in Radiologic Technology from Pitt Community College, a bachelor of arts in Forensic Science from Guilford College and a Master of Science degree in Health Care Management from Ashworth College. Thomas is a graduate of the North Carolina Community College Leadership Program and completed the Executive Leadership Program through the College of Education at N.C. State University. She is also a recipient of the VGCC President’s Leadership Award.

Warren County Logo

Warren County Awards $40K to Local Non-Profits in FY20 

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-Press Release, Warren County Government

At the January 6, 2020, Warren County Board of Commissioners meeting, County Manager Vincent Jones announced the award recipients of the County’s FY 20 funding for non-profit agencies.

This year’s recipients are Pier View Community Innovations ($5,000), Boys & Girls Club ($11,000), Hecks Grove Community Center ($13,500), Turning Point Community Development ($2,000), Warren County Arts Council ($1,000), Heritage Quilters Giving Circle ($2,500) and the Gladys Rogers Darensburg Foundation ($5,000).

“I am excited that the Board of Commissioners has chosen to fund non-profits in our annual budget,” stated Vincent Jones, County Manager. “It allows the County to reach different segments of our community that may not be reached by our government services. That can run the gamut from recreation to arts to social services, and that’s a win for the County.”

Warren County adopted its current funding for local non-profit agencies policy in 2014. Funded services through this program must be equally available to all residents.

John Preston Appointed Warren Co. Tax Administrator

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-Press Release, Warren County Government

At their January 6, 2020 meeting, the Warren County Board of Commissioners voted to appoint John Preston as the Warren County Tax Administrator for a two-year term with a salary of $70,000.

Preston, who has been serving as Interim Tax Administrator since October 2019, previously held the position of Assistant Tax Administrator of Warren County.

Photo includes: (L to R) Commissioner Walter Powell, Commissioner Jennifer Pierce, Commissioner Tare Davis, John Preston, Commissioner Victor Hunt, Commissioner Bertadean Baker. (Photo courtesy Warren Co. Govt.)

Preston, a native of Prince George’s County in Maryland, moved to Warrenton in 2015 when he was hired as the County Appraiser. Preston brings with him over twenty years of public service at all levels (federal, state, and local) between his time in Maryland and North Carolina. He has worked primarily in the assessments, billing, and collection of property taxes; he also owned his own home inspection business.

Preston worked for Warren County from 2015-2017 before taking a role with the NC Department of Revenue-Local Government Division. He returned to Warren County in 2019 to fill the newly created Assistant Tax Administrator Role.

Preston has received training from both the NC Department of Revenue as well as the UNC School of Government in tax administration, real property appraisal, personal property appraisal, and property tax listing and assessing. He holds his home inspection license from the state of Maryland.

“The Tax Administrator is responsible for determining the fair and equitable assessed market value of both real and personal property here in the county,” Preston explains. “The tax dollars this tax value generates is a major portion of Warren County’s budget. These tax dollars are used to fund everyday programs and projects such as waste management, public safety, education, social services, business development, health care and leisure/social activities. All of these are necessary features to attract new business and new growth for the benefit of our current and future citizens.”

In his leisure, Preston enjoys spending time with his wife and family.