Tribute to Coach Wilton Baskett; Friend, Mentor, Father Figure

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Long-time high school basketball coach and Vance County native Wilton Baskett died Saturday. He was 62.

Baskett retired in March 2020 after 37 years of coaching and teaching, much of that time with Vance County Schools. Baskett was head basketball coach at Northern Vance High School and won his 400th game with the Vance County Vipers last season.

A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. on Jan. 14, 2021 at Jones Chapel Baptist Church in Norlina. A viewing will be from noon to 4 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2021 in the chapel of Davis-Royster Funeral Home in Henderson. He was born in Vance County to Almorine Brandon and  the late Nathaniel Baskett. Survivors, in addition to his mother, are children Wilton E. Baskett II and Amy L. Baskett and their mother, Linda R. Perry.

Friends and colleagues remembered Baskett during Monday’s Town Talk. He was a friend and mentor to many throughout his 30-plus years of coaching, including Joseph Sharrow and Chad Wilson, current athletic director and men’s basketball coach, respectively, of Vance County High School. Baskett’s son, Wilton E. Baskett II, joined the program and said his father loved the game of basketball. Just as importantly, he loved that the game could expose young people to much more beyond high school, from playing college ball to being a successful adult.

L-R Wil, Amy, Coach. Family, a father’s day meal at a nearby restaurant. Selfie photo by Amy Baskett

Wilson told Baskett’s son that he would work to carry on Coach Baskett’s legacy on and off the court. “Your dad was way more than just a coach to me,” Wilson said to the younger Baskett. Wilson was a player for Coach Baskett at Northern Vance High School, and said that he was a positive male figure in his life when he needed one. “It’s just been a wonderful blessing on my life,” Wilson said, to have worked with Coach Baskett. “More than anything,” Wilson continued, “for putting faith in me. Wilson graduated from Northern Vance and went on to play at Louisburg College and Livingstone College. Wilson credits Coach Baskett for giving him the confidence to go beyond high school and then to come back to become a coach himself.

Wilson took over as head coach of the Vipers following Baskett’s retirement. He coached at Vance-Granville Community College for three years before returning to his high school alma mater to be a varsity assistant and coach of the JV team.

Now athletic director for Vance County High School, Joseph Sharrow was athletic director for Baskett’s cross-town rival Southern Vance.  “I have nothing but respect…for Wilton Baskett and his wonderful family,” Sharrow said. To be able to remember him “as a friend and former colleague is an honor.”

Sharrow recalled when the two high schools played each other in the 2018 conference final. “He must have gotten them in the gym over Christmas because “they went on a tear in January,” Sharrow said of that Northern Vance team. “Little did we know it would be the last time the two schools would play” each other, he said. The following year the two schools were consolidated to create Vance County High School. Sharrow became athletic director and Baskett the men’s basketball coach, a relationship they shared for two years before Baskett retired.

Baskett’s 400th win came as coach of the Vance County Vipers. When he retired in March, he had accumulated 402 wins. Win 400 came in a matchup with East Chapel Hill High School on Feb. 4, 2020.

More story below.  Click Play for TownTalk Tribute to Coach Baskett.

Sharrow last spoke with Baskett in November and said his friend and colleague seemed to be enjoying retirement. “It was great to be able to talk with him,” he added. The somewhat unusual relationship between Baskett and Sharrow – first as opponents of inter-county rivals, then as colleagues working together to bring the two schools’ programs together under a single county high school – made for a winning combination. The Vipers won a conference championship in their first year, Sharrow said. Add to that the 400-victory milestone also was great, but Sharrow was quick to add that Baskett wasn’t looking for individual attention. “He (coached) because he loved the kids. He knew he had a gift for making a difference in people’s lives and I think that just says a lot about Coach Baskett.” For everybody else, achieving that 400th win was an enormous milestone, Sharrow continued. “For him, it was just another day at the job. That was the kind of guy he was.”

David Hicks was athletic director at Northern Vance during the time that Baskett was head coach. Wilton had a system for basketball,” Hicks recalled during an interview on Monday.   “He had a knack for being able to get guys to buy in to what he wanted to do,” he added. “He was demanding of his players and students in a good way.”

Greg Ackles coached the Southern Vance team that faced Baskett’s squad in that conference final in 2018. Now the coach at Wake Forest High School, Ackles spoke with Trey Snide on Monday’s Sports Talk. Asked about a favorite memory of Coach Baskett, Ackles said:  “The best thing was also the most frustrating thing, and that was coaching against him.” As a coach, you have to believe what you do is going to work, he added, saying that Coach Baskett stuck to his philosophy of running a few plays but running them well. To this day, Ackles said that Northern-Southern matchup to claim the conference title is still the best game he’s been a part of as a coach.

More story below.  Click Play for SportsTalk Tribute to Coach Baskett.

Was his father tough? “He could see more in you than sometimes you saw in yourself,”  Baskett said of his father. “His goal was to bring the best out in you because he saw the best in people. He saw your potential and I think tough meant that you still had work to do…tough was if he expected something out of you or if he expects you to be able to do something. He was tough on you because he knew you were capable…he wanted you to believe in yourself.”

But for all his toughness, Coach Baskett did a lot off the court to help his players continue to play after high school. He helped prepare highlight reels and more, Hicks said.

One “extra” that Baskett did was take a group of young men to Catawba College every summer for basketball camp, Hicks said. “He had kids falling out of the ceiling wanting to go to camp…He would have open gym for try outs and you couldn’t get in.  There would be 75 guys in there on all six courts.”

The “Wilton System” paid off over the years. Baskett’s teams won five regular season conference titles, six conference tournament championships. He received conference Coach of the Year honors three times, the most recent being 2018, the year his Northern Vance High Vikings topped rival Southern Vance.

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TownTalk 1-7-21 Washington DC Riot

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Host John C. Rose talks about the events that occurred in Washington DC on Wednesday, Jan. 6th.

For full details and audio click play.

 

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TownTalk: Vaccine Deployment; Lisa Harrison, GVPH Director

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The Granville-Vance Health District is establishing a Hotline for county residents to call to register for the COVID-19 vaccine, according to GVHD Health Director Lisa Harrison.

Harrison appeared on Town Talk Wednesday and told host John C. Rose that residents who fall into the 1B phase of people eligible for the vaccine can call the number as early as tomorrow (Thursday). The number will be posted on gvph.org and on WIZS home page when it is available.

“The plan is for us to get as many shots in people’s arms as quickly as possible,” Harrison said, but asked for patience from residents as the health department staff makes adjustments to roll out the vaccine. 

Click Play to Listen to Lisa Harrison on TownTalk…

The state is in Phase 1A of the process, which prioritizes vaccinations for front-line health care workers and those who work and who live in long-term care facilities. Harrison predicted that vaccinations for this group would take all of the month of January to complete, at which time the area would move to Phase 1B. Phase 1B includes any resident age 75 or older and front-line essential workers aged 50 or older, according to Harrison. “That is a huge group – we will be (vaccinating) that group for quite a while,’ she said. 

Harrison predicted that it may be March before the third group prioritized to get the shot. This group includes health-care workers and front-line workers of any age, as well as other groups including educators and city and county government officials.

The health department staff continues to monitor current COVID-19 cases and do contact tracing, and now, Harrison said, she has 20 people who can give the vaccine. “We want to do the best job we can as fast as we can,” she said. “I know a lot of people are really eager to come to the health dept or the hospital and get their shot, and I am grateful,” Harrison continued, and asked for public’s patience as those at higher risk to contract COVID-19 are vaccinated first.

“We will get to everyone. We just can’t get to everyone today and tomorrow. And so we will continue to let you know what comes up next, following the rules but being as fast as possible.”

Right now, the health department has sufficient vaccine to get through the next two weeks. She estimated that the vaccine on hand can vaccinate 100 people a day for 10 days. “We’re both excited and daunted by the work ahead,” Harrison said.

The health department is a “small but mighty group” putting in long hours to work on contact tracing, entering data into the state-mandated COVID monitoring system and now giving vaccines. Harrison said, “I will be very appreciative when other primary care offices and pharmacies have the vaccine available.” At this time, however, health departments and hospitals are the only outlets for the vaccine. Hospitals will spend most of the month of January vaccinating ER and ICU personnel, she said. Other front-line or essential workers will get vaccinated as soon as possible. “We look forward to getting to them in the coming weeks,” Harrison said.

For more information, contact the Vance office at 252.492.7915. The Granville office number is 919.693.2141.

TownTalk for Snow Lovers, Weather Buffs and Scientists

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There really IS a chance of snow on Friday, according to a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. While there could be some accumulation in our area, the term Jonathan Blaes used to describe what we could see probably isn’t used much at his office in Raleigh  – it’s going to be wet and gloppy.

Blaes is the meteorologist in charge for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service in Raleigh. “The rumor, the conjecture, the excitement is already out there,” Blaes told Town Talk host Bill Harris on Tuesday. He said there may be just enough cold temps associated with the system to create some wet snow, “and some of that will likely accumulate in some spots.”

But he doesn’t predict icy conditions and freezing rain or sleet, more a period of rain that mixes with wet snow, falling heavily, at times. And snow lovers, stay tuned: weather patterns and the jet stream flow the NWS is watching now could make you “optimistic” during the second and third weeks of January.

In addition to getting snow lovers’ hopes up, Blaes discussed weather topics and trends and how they affect North Carolina, from hurricanes and El Niño to why Person County seems to get more snow than its neighbors to the east. And why it’s been so awfully wet here lately.

Click play for TownTalk with guest Jonathan Blaes…

Blaes returned to Raleigh in 1998 (after stints in Sterling, VA and Albany, NY with the National Weather Service) and most recently as science operations officer at NWS in Raleigh, working to promote science and training while facilitating collaborating research activities with the University and other partners. He is a 1995 graduate of NC State, where he received a degree in meteorology from the Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department.

“It has been rainy… in the northern Piedmont,” said Blaes, confirming the excessive rainfalls lately. This past year was one of the top 5 – 3rd or 4th wettest year on record,” and that’s without major impact from hurricanes. What began last winter and continued through spring is likely to remain in place this coming spring, he said.

Every 10 years, NOAA releases a 10-year trend for weather. He said the next update likely will present a set of data that shows slightly warmer temperatures on average. That doesn’t necessarily mean that temperatures are rising, he said, but that nighttime temperatures aren’t quite as low, which would push the overall average a bit higher.

All this may contribute to fewer big winter ice storms in the area, but climate outlooks overall can be a little tricky, Blaes said. Precipitation forecasts are more straightforward –check “how much rain is in the gauge every day and add it up,” he said. “All it takes is one big storm” to skew the overall weather trend and to make it memorable.

This past year was a memorable hurricane season, Blaes said. The hurricane “season” traditionally runs June through November, but weather experts now are looking at storms forming in May. Reluctant to tie it all to climate change, Blaes said the systems that we in North America see as hurricanes form in sub-Saharan Africa, travel over the warm waters of the Atlantic and gain strength before doing damage as a hurricane in the Caribbean and the U.S. In general, climate change could mean not more storms, but storms that bring more rain. Higher rainfall in Africa can affect the storms we see here.

“Keep in mind, while we didn’t get clobbered by a hurricane this year, we didn’t have a landfall of a strong tropical storm or a hurricane that devastated the coast, we actually had the remnants or the fringes of anywhere between six and eight tropical storms or hurricanes impact our state,” Blaes said. And while we didn’t have a direct hit, the “glancing blows” from fringes of storms had an impact. Some of the worst conditions, he recalled, were recorded in practically the middle of the state – Greensboro – as the remnants of a hurricane made its way from Louisiana across the NC mountains. Nearly half of the rainfall from late July through September is the result of a tropical storm or its remnants.

Stronger, wetter storms that track farther inland, as well as sea level rise, Blaes said are warning signs that people should be aware of.  Because North Carolina is situated in the middle latitudes, we get systems from the tropics as well as Arctic air from the Poles. The mountains to the west between the mountains and the ocean, our state experiences strange weather from time to time. The mountains to the West and the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean both affect weather systems and patterns. “We’re in this mixing bowl,” Blaes noted. Mother Nature is always looking for balance. If there’s too many of one thing or if it’s too hot or too cold, Nature wants to find a way to get things even. But it never succeeds. That imbalance, that effort to achieve balance is what causes the weather,” he said.

 

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State Treasurer Dale Folwell; Money, Drinks, Covid, Pension Plans on TownTalk

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For North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell, top issues on his radar continue to be the financial health of the state, as well as keeping fully funded the state employees’ pension plan, health-care concerns and understanding the effects of COVID-19.

Folwell, a Republican, won re-election in November to a second term as state treasurer. He spoke with John C. Rose on the Dec. 29 edition of Town Talk. “I think the people of North Carolina understand that when the money is right a lot of things are going to be ok eventually. But when the money is wrong, it’s hard to come back,” he said. “As the keeper of the public purse…our only loyalty is to the people who teach, protect and otherwise serve both at the state and the local level.”

Something that Folwell expressed concern about is the recent bill which allows bars and restaurants to sell mixed drinks to go. “I did not vote for that, nor did I vote for the original resolution about shutting down bars and restaurants back in April,” Folwell said. The additional regulations “are the last things (restaurants) need right now in order to comply with the new rule.” People who think that this will solve the restaurants’ problems, he said, “don’t really understand what the problem really is.”

For TownTalk audio click play…

Folwell spoke about the state’s employees and pension plan for retirees and how federal policy changes can affect a state’s policies. “We occasionally have to make changes to sort of gee-haw, so to speak, with the federal laws that are passed…that’s one thing that happened last year,” he said, noting recent changes in Congress regarding taxation of retirement plans.  A new Medicare Advantage contract goes into effect in January, which will involve savings to nearly 150,000 retirees on the state health plan, which “will result in a billion dollar savings to the state of North Carolina. “I want you to hear me clearly when I say this. For the Basic Plan, it’s zero premium to the member and zero cost to the state of North Carolina. It’s an unheard-of negotiation and we’re very pleased with this.” Humana is the health-care provider driving the business, he added.

“I think that the policy-makers in North Carolina need to be focused on how we flatten the economic curve of the state,” Folwell said in response to a question about the latest round of federal COVID-19 relief funds and those who have lost their jobs during the pandemic. Leaders need to figure out “how we put the joy of achievement back in the small- and medium-sized business owners,” especially noting how, especially restaurant owners, have been “decimated because of COVID…generations folks in these businesses that are going to shut down permanently. We can only do that as policy makers if we do it transparently, if we do it consistently, if we do it by willing to challenge assumptions and that’s just the biggest challenge we have right now.”

Folwell mentioned his concern for hospital consolidation and its effect on health care, especially during the pandemic and increased hospitalizations. “This is an issue not regarding the front-line people who provide health care, (but) it’s about these executives that run multi-billion dollar non-profits in North Carolina who make millions of dollars in salary.” When hospital consolidations occur, Folwell said they become like “cartels, they’re formed in order to restrict competition or raise prices and the people that suffer the most are those in our state who are lower- or fixed-income,” he added.

In addition to the political issues, however, Folwell encouraged everyone to check out nccash.com, a website that can help bring together residents with unclaimed money being held in the state’s Escheats Fund for safekeeping. That amount stands at $900 million, according to Folwell.

“We found $2,500 for the Carolina Panthers,” Folwell noted, adding that the Panthers’ organization gave the money to a domestic violence abuse shelter in Charlotte. The shelter, Folwell said, also had money in the fund, as well as three of the reporters covering the original donation to the shelter. “It’s amazing how much money is there,” Folwell said. “We’ve given out over $25 million out of nccash.com just since July 4.”

Be patient, he advised, since there is now a backlog for the process, which he attributes to more people being at home and researching whether they have money in the fund. “Once the money is there, it’s there forever. It’s not a gimmick. It’s the last paycheck that didn’t get delivered to you, it’s the rent deposit that didn’t deliver to you, small bank account or in one case, a $600,000 life insurance proceed to someone designated to a beneficiary and no one had ever told them.”

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High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Covid Wellness Conference Info For Tonight 1-4-21 – TownTalk

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Two women with an eye on community service and good health are teaming up to provide a special telephone wellness conference this evening to discuss the importance of identifying underlying health concerns – hypertension and diabetes – even amid a global pandemic.

Tonight’s conference, “Understanding Hypertension and Diabetes Effect on Blood Vessels,” is the result of a collaboration between registered nurse Toni Wilson and the Rev. Ola Thorpe-Cooper, pastor of Holy Temple Church on East Avenue in Henderson.

“This Conference is for anyone 21 years and over with a goal of good health consciousness,” stated Rev. Cooper, in a statement to WIZS. She and Wilson appeared on today’s Town Talk with John C. Rose and underscored the importance of keeping medical appointments to stay on top of existing health conditions and learning how to prevent problems from affecting good health.

To join the conference, which begins at 6 p.m., dial 425.436.6330. The access code is 8605811#. This is a free event, although long-distance charges apply if those calls are not included in the caller’s calling plan.

Rev. Cooper is the newest member of the Henderson City Council, filling the unexpired term of the late Fearldine Simmons. She returned to Henderson in 2007 after a four-decades long career with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She reached out to Wilson upon learning that she operates a YouTube channel called Talk to Toni Wilson.

“Vance County has a high incidence of high blood pressure and diabetes,” Wilson said during the Town Talk interview. Although a predisposition to both conditions could be hereditary, Wilson said, they also can be preventable. She emphasized the importance of keeping regular doctor visits and checkups, even during a pandemic.

For TownTalk audio click play…

Wilson had been having a weekly call with family members to help them understand about the effect of diabetes. “Then, as we heard more about COVID-19 and all the chronic illnesses, the co-morbidities, the secondary illnesses that put us at risk for COVID-19…my thought pattern was, ‘wait a minute,’ I need to get something out there so people understand what’s going on,” Wilson added. “They need to know that all these chronic illnesses they have are putting them at greater risk.”

In June or July, she began doing video programs with people who had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

“(People) are not going to the doctor and being checked like they should…they’re having symptoms like increased thirst, or increased urination, unintended weight loss, of feeling very tired, their vision is blurred, or they have these constant headaches…they’re simply not feeling well.” More severe health complications may arise just because they aren’t going to the doctor like they should, Wilson added, saying that some of those complications could be prevented.

Going to the doctor during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, could cause some people some anxiety. Increased cleaning of the offices, spacing out appointments so patients don’t come into contact with one another, and mask wearing are just a few of the precautions that medical offices are using to ensure safety of patients and staff. “It’s still very important that you get those checkups, very important,” Wilson said. High blood pressure has been called the “silent killer,” so a person may not experience symptoms associated with it, including dizziness or pounding in the chest, Wilson said. “So whether you feel good or you do not feel good, you still need your checkups,” she said.

It is so important for health care providers to have a good medical history, Wilson noted, “asking about your family, your diet, taking into consideration your weight, the type of food that you’re eating, what type of medicines that you’re on and your activities, if you do any regular scheduled activities,” she continued. The question to ask your doctor, however is this: How do I prevent it if I don’t already have the condition, as well as the chances of developing the condition if it already exists in your family, Wilson added.

Tonight’s conference will examine the job of blood vessels in the body and the negative effect of hypertension and diabetes. High blood pressure can cause the blood vessel walls to weaken and can create aneurisms. With diabetes, unregulated blood sugar levels contribute to the buildup of plaque which limits elasticity of the vessels. The heart then must work harder to pump the blood, further breaking down the blood vessels. All this can lead to major health events such as heart attack, stroke and limb amputations. “You need to keep those vessels in good shape,” Wilson said.

As for diabetes, Wilson said Type 2 is a result of what we do to our own bodies. “Not exercising, not watching our weight, and just eating anything we want to eat,” she said, all contribute to diabetes Type 2. The pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels steady. Wilson sees patients with both hypertension and diabetes, and sometimes heredity is a factor. Despite this predisposition, however, she says they can be prevented. Wilson hopes to be able to educate people on how to avoid these health conditions.

“I believe you cannot help people when you don’t feel good about yourself, when you have some kind of medical condition,” Rev. Cooper said. “I think you have to be well in order to take care of people to help them to stay well,” she said.  By the way, both Wilson and Rev. Cooper encourage having the COVID-19 vaccinations – Wilson has had her first shot and is ready for the second one next week, she said. Rev. Cooper will have her vaccination as soon as she is able to, she said.

Wilson and Rev. Cooper have never met in person, but upon recommendation by a family member, Wilson tuned in to Rev. Cooper’s virtual church service; then Rev. Cooper viewed one of Wilson’s programs on YouTube “and she was talking about COVID-19 and she interviewed a couple from Henderson, North Carolina. So I contacted her and I wanted some more information about COVID-19,” Rev. Cooper said. The dialogue between the two resulted in tonight’s telephone wellness conference.

Local Gold at Portis Gold Mine: TownTalk 12-28-20 with Tim Fisher

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Modern-day gold prospectors like Tim Fisher have tools and technology that simply weren’t available to folks who ventured to California and Alaska to make their fortunes during the era known as the Gold Rush. What Fisher undoubtedly does share with those earlier prospectors, however, is an enthusiasm and curiosity about what may lie just below the surface.

Gold. Right here in North Carolina.

Fisher was a guest on Town Talk Monday and he spoke with host Bill Harris about land he and his son own in northeast Franklin County, near the Nash County line. It once was part of the property on which the Portis Gold Mine is located, and Fisher hopes to restore the area to its former golden glory. In fact, he said he hopes to do some work in the next week or so on some dredge piles that haven’t been touched since the mine was active. What he finds, he said, he will post on another tool his prospecting predecessors didn’t have – social media.

For the audio of TownTalk click play…

Fisher runs Eastern Outdoor Expeditions and he hopes the Gold Run Branch Goldmine will be a place where people can have fun learning how to pan for gold while learning something new about an activity that spurred a frenzy in mid-19th century United States. Prospectors and miners flocked to California and then to Alaska, Fisher said, in search of their fortunes by digging in the ground and straining gold from rivers.

“This area is rich in gold,” Fisher told Harris of the area around Wood and Ransom’s Bridge. “A lot of gold has been found over the years.” And he predicts that there’s still a lot of gold to be found. It just isn’t an easy process.  “It’s in the clay, and you really have to work hard to get the gold separated from the clay,” he said.

As the story goes, peddlers traveling through the area near Wood in the backwoods of what is now Franklin County would stop in at John Portis’s place to spend the night, sort of a modern-day bed and breakfast. One peddler noticed that the “twinkling mud” Portis had put between the logs of his cabin to keep it airtight, Fisher said.

He researched mining journals and old newspapers to learn more about the history of the Portis Gold Mine. He knows that the mining process involved using running water through troughs to separate the mineral from the clay. The clay slurry produced was then washed away, leaving the gold behind. This was a difficult way to extract gold, he said, so prospectors were eager to head West, where they had heard gold was much easier to find. The town of Wood, located in northeastern corner of Franklin County, used to have its own post office and railroad station, as well as a general store, Fisher said. Now, however, it’s just a crossroads. The buildings that housed the post office and the train station remain, but that’s about it, Fisher said. He hopes that increased tourism to Gold Run Branch Goldmine will bring a little “shine” back to the area.

In his research about the area Fisher has learned that notables of the time visited Wood – Thomas Edison and Mark Twain, for example. He also said he discovered that the very first performance in North Carolina of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was at Portis Gold Mine.

Perhaps the most unusual discovery, however, was one that Fisher and his son made while walking their property. They noticed timbers sticking out of the ground in a very wet, swampy area near a creek. Fisher thought it may the remains of an old stamp mill, which were often found near gold mining sites. His son thought it may be the entrance to a long-forgotten mine shaft. They finally got the chance to investigate in October of 2019, when the area was finally dry enough to get to the timbers.

 

To their surprise, they found a ship – a bucket line dredge, to be exact. This particular dredge, although buried in mud and sediment now, was used for several years, Fisher said, “until the gold got thin, and then they just stopped using it.”  The mining journals Fisher researched noted that the dredge was built in New York City and then disassembled and put in pieces on a train for delivery to Portis Gold Mine. It is 94 feet long and 32 feet wide, and has a 7-foot-deep hull.

“The crazy thing is the paint is still on the wood,” Fisher said, adding that the color is barn red. Some glass is still intact and the hinges are still on the doors. His best guess is that the roof split in two and the dredge slowly sank and was buried in the sediment that flowed into the valley where it is currently situated. The plan is to rebuild it so visitors can have an idea of what it was like in its heyday.

Fisher wants to mine the mounds of sediment in and around the dredge, in hopes of finding some gold there. “All the water runs through the ship,” he said, which makes it like “a huge gold pan.” Fisher explained that the main purpose of dredging was to separate the smaller pieces of gold from the clay, which meant that the larger “klunkers” would be discarded with the slurry. He expects to find some klunkers as their prospecting continues.

Fisher found a story from 1911 in Henderson’s Gold Leaf newspaper that estimated the Portis Gold Mine had more than $1 billion in gold. Fisher projects that, with the price of gold hovering at around $1,700 per ounce today, today’s estimate could be double.

Back in the 1980’s, when gold prices were low, so was interest in land that had gold mines on it. Fisher bought his property after it had passed through several tree companies’ ownership. One reason he and his son chose the particular two tracts was because there is a small branch that runs through a little valley. It is a perfect spot for sediment to accumulate. Sediment that may contain something a little shinier than the prevalent orange clay. “We knew there was gold there,” he said, adding that he got a fair amount of kidding at first for buying what amounted to a swampy flood plain.

“We still get gold on a daily basis,” Fisher said. But one byproduct of this gold-mining process is stains – on clothing, on hands, on everything. “It looks like … a weird fingernail polish.”

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Vaccine Here; TownTalk 12-23-20 MPH CEO Beard Beard

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Vaccine is here.  Maria Parham Health is administering within guidelines.

Last week Maria Parham Health CEO, in talking about Covid-19, said, “It’s been an amazing journey and amazing to watch our healthcare providers in our teams step up over the last year in spite of everything that’s gone on. So I would definitely use exciting or ecstatic to describe just the hope that it gives to receive that vaccine (Tuesday).”

On Tuesday, Dec 22, 2020 the hospital received the Moderna vaccine, and begin administering it Wednesday morning to “front line healthcare workers under the state guidelines of phase 1A.”

On Wednesday MPH administered, Beard said, “from 80 to 90 vaccines and then we will break for the holiday because people need to be off and they need to recharge their battery, and we’ll begin again next week vaccinating our teams within the state guidelines and moving through that progression of the four phases as they allow us and release more vaccine to us.”

Click play to hear Beard on TownTalk…

He said, “It’s mixed among people whether they’re going to get it and how effective it’s going to be. All indications and research that our company and health system has done indicates there’s a 95% effectiveness. So we’re encouraging folks to do it; we’re not mandating it, but we are posting on social media, our physicians, our leaders, some of our nurse leaders to show that it is safe and that we are adopting it to get things back to normal in 2021.”

Beard said the hospital teams are looking forward to being able to vaccinate more and more people as the state releases healthcare workers to do so.

TownTalk 12-22-20; Vance County Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson On Return From Covid

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Vance County Schools developed and last week adopted a plan for the return to face-to-face learning.  But when?

The plan itself calls for two days of face-to-face instruction and a staggered entry.  The entry would begin with PreK then K and 6 grades followed by grades 1 and 2 and finally grades 3-5.  Self-contained EC students in grades PreK-12 begin re-entry as well, and remote options remain available.

Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson told WIZS TownTalk, “One of the reasons we wanted to go ahead and get the plan approved was so parents would understand the format and understand, if you look at it closely, it really looks at the ramp up.  So, each group would be brought in for a period of time, maybe a week, to get it stable, so it would take us about three to four weeks to completely implement the full plan and get all the students back in on that full schedule.”  (To hear the interview with Dr. Jackson click here or the TownTalk logo to the right.)

The total format and all the safety protocols, so the teachers and students have a chance to understand, is important as well.  It can’t happen all at once.

As to the remote learning participation so far, Dr. Jackson said 91 to 92 percent of students are engaged every single day.  In terms of grades, he said, “We had some students do better than they would in the classroom, but we’ve also had some students who have struggled in this environment that we are going to have to do some work to help recapture and recoup the time lost and instruction they’ve missed.”

He said overall students are doing well.

The Vance County School board has operated with caution.  Jackson said he believed that when all the data indicated its safe for kids and adults as well, and when the board is told it’s safe for both kids and adults, that it will be the signal the board needs to implement the plans for face-to-face learning.

Part of the puzzle is not only keeping folks healthy but also knowing there are enough healthy teachers and staff so the schools can operate effectively.  Vance County has avoided flip flopping between open and closed and being forced to stop again after in-person learning resumes.

When asked about requiring teachers and staff to be vaccinated for covid, he said, “We follow state statute that governs our local policies, and once that’s cleared up, we will act accordingly.  The truth is, we can’t get schools back open until people have a comfort level that we are safe.”

TownTalk 12-21-20 Brian “Doc” Miller, Vance Granville Community Band, And More

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Brian “Doc” Miller is experiencing a case of Sousa rehearsal withdrawal. This condition, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, is not affecting Miller’s enthusiasm for teaching and conducting musicians. And that’s a good thing, because he can’t wait to get the band back together.

In this case, the “band” is the Vance Granville Community Band. Miller is the band’s director, as well as the music instructor at the community college and Crosscreek Charter School in Louisburg. When the group can gather again for practice, Miller says the rehearsal room is just as they left it back in February. “We had to cancel rehearsals just abruptly…all the music left in the folders, the room set up ready for the next rehearsal,” Miller recalled during a recent interview on Town Talk. What Miller thought would be a hiccup of a couple of weeks has turned into a months-long hiatus. He holds out some hope that the band can resume in some fashion in the springtime.

“It’s been a real bummer,” Miller said, “because I certainly miss it.” The “it” is the regular Monday evening gatherings to rehearse together. “We play the good ol’ Sousa marches,” which he and the band enjoy performing, along with other classical and old standards. The band combines VGCC music students (the school offers four Band classes) and adults from the community who still enjoy playing a musical instrument. Normally, the group practices from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday evenings. “It’s the highlight of my week,” said Miller. The camaraderie and shared love of music is something very special to this group. Former students of Miller also have joined the group over the years, which Miller finds rewarding.

He took over as the band’s conductor around the time he retired from teaching music at Louisburg High School. “I was missing conducting the fancy stuff, the good ol’ Sousa marches, the old-fashioned stuff that I love so much,” Miller said. “It felt like a seamless transition from Louisburg High to Vance-Granville, he added. “It’s just been a joy to work with the folks (at VGCC).”

Written story continues below…

To hear TownTalk with Brian Miller and host Bill Harris, click play…

The music program has grown over the years, both in the curriculum courses offered and the community band itself. Miller remembers going taking a smaller group to play at a nursing home in Warren County and offering music as a prelude to the Warrenton Christmas parade. Smaller programs like that, in addition to concerts like the 2019 Christmas program at MacGregor Hall in Henderson are what Miller recalls as highlights. “I just miss it tremendously, and I just hope to pick up where we left off” before rehearsals were cancelled. “We’re not abandoning it,” he said, “just suspending time for a little bit.”

Despite all the things that the pandemic restrictions have shut down, Miller maintains a positive attitude. “One of the things that COVID has taught us, the things we took for granted before, we’re not going to take for granted again,” he said. The weekly rehearsals, the performances, even the daily high school band practices are on the list of things not to be taken for granted again.

Because the charter school is operating on an A Day/B Day schedule, he is able to do some in-person teaching. Other students receive remote instruction. “I’ve had to learn how to teach online and even try to do a band rehearsal online,” Miller said, adding “that’s actually kinda fun!”

Sure, there are time lags and it isn’t always easy. “We couldn’t really get beyond whole notes,” Miller admits, and playing a piece of music together via computer isn’t possible for the students. “You learn to adapt,” he said. “I never thought I’d be doing lessons online. But you make adjustments in life.”

One positive outcome is how Miller is able to evaluate students. They record themselves playing their instrument and he can then listen and respond to them with specific feedback about tone quality and other aspects of their performance.

Miller said he always thought he was too old-fashioned to utilize some of the technology in his instruction. But learning about the online resources available to him and his students is something that he can continue using once they can resume in-person learning. “It’s actually very efficient, so we’ll learn a little something” from the pandemic restrictions.

He has always enjoyed teaching the traditional music, full of beautiful melody and tone. Whether it’s a Sousa march or Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Miller explained, students love to re-create the music. He said he has sometimes felt like a lone voice of sorts when it comes to teaching and performing traditional or classical music. It’s not that it’s intellectual or anything, he noted, “it’s just good music.”

Miller recognizes differences in teaching new learners versus rehearsing with older, more experienced musicians. Students in high school have other obligations that can eat into valuable rehearsal time, which the community band members may not have, he noted. “But music is music, no matter the level,” he said. Fifth-graders can learn about good tone quality and how to support a note with sustained air pressure, but the VGCC Community Band members also begin their rehearsals with breathing exercises. Same concept, different level of experience.

The secret? Teaching the team concept is the key to success, whether he is working with a high school concert band or the VGCC Community Band.

“I can wave my baton all I want to and if the musicians haven’t taken the motivation” to do their part,” he said, the team will not be successful. “What we do in rehearsal is put it together – we work on balance and intonation, those things that happen when people are together. It’s the same thing I taught in high school:  band…(is) the ultimate team activity. When everybody does their part well, then we all enjoy. When someone doesn’t do their part, we all suffer.”