Martin Luther King Jr.’s now-iconic “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered at The March on Washington.
As we celebrate Black History Month, please enjoy by clicking play below the first in a weekly series here on WIZS as produced by our Steve Lewis of the WIZS Weekday Wake Up!
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On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.
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The van fleet at Rebuilding Hope, Inc. has doubled, thanks to a recent donation by Island Creek Baptist Church.
Randolph Wilson, coordinator of the non-profit, located in the former Coca-Cola Bottling Co. location, said the 15-passenger van will be especially helpful when it’s time to take volunteers to various project sites during the summertime Servants on Site mission.
West End Baptist Church had made a similar donation earlier, Wilson noted in the group’s monthly newsletter.
RHI relies on volunteers and donations from the community and beyond to help achieve their mission of helping area homeowners repair – free of charge – roofs and install wheelchair ramps, keeping them safe and able to remain in their homes.
Early Bird registration ends tomorrow for the annual Servants on Site project, scheduled for June 19-23. The reduced cost is $125; after tomorrow, the cost is $150.
The fee includes a specially designed t-shirt, as well as all meals and lodging. Scholarships are available. SOS is a weeklong project that includes work, worship and witness – in Vance and surrounding counties. Young people who have completed 6th grade through adults may participate.
To learn more about SOS and other ways to=participate in Rebuilding Hope programsand projects, visit www.rebuildinghopeinc.org.
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They are everywhere – in office buildings and schools, under kitchen sinks and in so many other places where fires could break out. But just because we see fire extinguishers throughout the course of a day doesn’t mean we know how to use them.
Vance County Schools puts a strong emphasis on providing students with experiences and opportunities and high school students in the Public Safety 2 class recently got some hands-on, live training with extinguishing a fire. Students went through training ahead of the actual lab to learn proper techniques and the use of a fire extinguisher. Each student discharged the fire extinguisher to put out a live, controlled fire, with 100 percent success.
Public Safety is one of the many courses offered through the Career and Technical Education program.
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The kickoff event for the “Feeding the 5,000” food ministry is set for this Saturday, and Corey Brooks, pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church near Ridgeway, said volunteers will be ready to serve a hot meal between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“Come in, sit down, have a hot meal…and enjoy a time of fellowship,” Brooks said on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny!
During the colder months, the meal will be served in the church fellowship hall, but when the weather’s nicer, the plan is to “meet people where they are” and go to different places in the community to serve food.
Thanks to funding from the Mid-Atlantic Lutheran Mission and other local folks interested in helping with food insecurity issues in the community, Brooks said the project has taken shape.
He also said a “Blessing Box” is built and ready to be installed across from the Norlina post office. The weather hasn’t cooperated for installation, but Brooks said it should be up and running by the weekend.
The idea is simple: “Take what you need and leave what you can,” Brooks said of the box, which will be stocked with food items. And Bibles, too.
“We’re excited to have others from other churches in the community that are going to help and volunteer to make this come together,” Brooks said of the meal program. They are brothers and sisters in Christ, he said, “here to serve our neighbors in need.”
Monetary donations can be made to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, with “Feeding the 5,000 food ministry” in the memo line.
The church is located off the Ridgeway-Drewry Rd., 114 Poplar Mt. Rd., Norlina, NC 27563.
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On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.
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Chocolate fondue. Sewing on a button. Legos.
Not necessarily what you’d associate with a library.
But Melody Peters, youth services director at Perry Memorial Library says all these things – and more – are available for library patrons.
From Mother Goose Story Time on Thursday mornings to Life Hacks sessions, Peters said the library offers something for everyone.
“We use every square inch” of the library, she said. “It’s wonderful.”
The Legos club meets on Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. The Survival Skills class helps participants with things like sewing on a button.
Take the recent Survival Skills session that focused on sewing on a button. One participant took the new-found knowledge and said she was going to go home and sew the hole in her bunny. And not only that, she’d be able to sew the hole in her blanket and even the hole in her mom’s coat. Now that’s a survival skill, taken to the next level.
The library has its own spaces to hold classes like the Survival Skills class, but the adjacent Farm Bureau Room also is a space that community groups can reserve.
“It is certainly a gift to have a room accessible to the community for different programs,” Peters said. “It’s amazing,” Peters said, of the community space.
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The city of Henderson is in pretty good financial shape, according to a recent report presented by the auditor who completed the annual comprehensive study.
Bryon Scott delivered the positive news to City Council members during its November meeting, and he said the only bit of information that concerned him was uncollected taxes.
In the fiscal year ending June 2022, the city’s uncollected taxes were just more than 3 percent, according to minutes from the city council meeting. When that 3 percent threshold is passed, it triggers the state to require a letter stating the reason for going over the 3 percent mark.
Mayor Eddie Ellington thanked Finance Director Joey Fuqua and the finance department staff for all their hard work in helping with the audit process.
Council Member Mike Rainey moved the approval of the report, seconded by Council Member Ola Thorpe-Cooper. The vote to approve was unanimous.
Highlights of the report:
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UPDATE Noon Friday –
When asked if there was anything new to report, Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow said, “Nothing that has led to an arrest.”
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UPDATE 5:30 p.m. Thursday –
Press release information from Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow:
Jan. 19 at approximately 9:30 a.m., two subjects entered Mast Drug at 418 Dabney Drive brandishing a firearm and demanding prescription medication. The two assailants exited the business and entered the front and rear passenger area of a 2019-2023 Toyota Rav4 (Black). The suspects left the business and headed West on Dabney Drive. 
Multiple items of evidence were collected at the scene and from other sources, but police still need the assistance of the community. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Henderson Police Department at 252-438-4141 or by contacting Crime Stoppers through the P3 App or by calling (252) 492-1925. Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $2,000. You can also contact Henderson Police through Facebook Messenger. (HPD on Facebook)
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UPDATE 10:45 a.m. Thursday –
Henderson police are investigating an attempted armed robbery that occurred at a local drug store this morning and are looking for a late-model Toyota RAV 4 in connection with the incident.
Police Chief Marcus Barrow told WIZS News moments ago that two suspects entered Mast Drug on Dabney Drive about 9:30 a.m. Nobody was injured in the attempted robbery.
The suspects came inside, presented firearms and tried to rob the store of narcotics, dropping some items as they left, Barrow said, which he said could provide valuable information as the investigation continues.
Barrow said he has contacted federal officials, as well as local sheriff offices and the State Highway Patrol to be on the lookout for the vehicle in question. A description of the suspects was not available at this time. The investigation is active and ongoing.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911.
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William Brian Coghill was sentenced this past Friday to 10 years in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for possession of a firearm by a felon after shooting two acquaintances and leaving one for dead at his home in Oxford, North Carolina. This is the statutory maximum sentence available for this offense. Coghill also pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree attempted murder in state court and was sentenced to 15 to 19 years.
According to court documents and other information presented in court, on August 14, 2021, Granville County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) responded to a 911 call regarding a gunshot victim located at Fredrick Road, Oxford, North Carolina. Upon GCSO’s arrival, the first victim, who had a gunshot wound to his right arm, advised that he had been at the residence next door when he was shot. He was then transported via EMS to a local hospital. As deputies tried to find a blood trail to ascertain the first victim’s direction of travel, they heard a male voice groaning from the front porch area of Coghill’s home that he shared with his mother. A second male victim was located on the porch, doubled over, writhing in pain. Victim two had two gunshot wounds to his lower right side/back area and the front lower left abdomen area. The second victim was transported via Life-Flight to a local hospital.
Minutes after knocking at the doors and windows of the residence, Deputies were permitted inside by Coghill’s mother, and he was found hiding in the attic of the home with a shotgun. Deputies discovered two spent 9mm shell casings on the porch of the residence. Coghill’s mother later told deputies she witnessed her son take the shotgun in one hand, and a black pistol in his other hand, to the porch where the two victims were sitting and began pointing both the shotgun and the pistol at the victims. She stated that both victims begged Coghill not to shoot them. Coghill’s mother stated she was able to take the shotgun away from her son and took the shotgun to her bedroom. She returned to the porch and watched as her son pulled the trigger of the pistol, shooting the first victim, then turned the pistol toward the second victim, and fire again, striking him. Coghill then went into the house, turned out the lights, and forbid his mother from calling for help. The second victim spent several weeks in the hospital and was close to death at one point. He also underwent several surgeries.
Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II presided over the sentencing. Granville County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer May-Parker prosecuted the case.
