WIZS Election Coverage

TownTalk: Who’s On Your Ballot?

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With the upcoming midterm elections now less than one month away, Vance County voters have a few options for casting their ballots – they can vote early beginning Thursday, Oct. 15, by mail, or in person on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Vance County ballots include a U.S. Senate race between former Gov. Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley to take retiring Thom Tillis’s place in Washington, a key N.C. House District 32 contest between incumbent Bryan Cohn and challenger Frank Sossamon, who Cohn beat in the 2024 election, as well as a handful of contested races at the local level.

Three state constitutional amendments also are on the ballot – two concerning tax rates and one about requiring voters to present photo ID when voting.

Four candidates are vying for the District 3 seat on the Vance County Board of Commissioners:

Incumbent Charisse Fain, a Democrat, faces Republican challenger Angie Ryan and two unaffiliated candidates, former commissioner Gordon Wilder and Charles “C.J.” Turrentine, Jr.

In the District 4 contest, Republican Kelley Wade Perdue faces Democratic candidate June Lewis III.

In District 7, Republican Joseph Falkner faces Democrat Joanne Evans.

The Vance County Board of Education has only one contested race, and that is the District 7 seat that has Democrat Angela Cooper Lyons and Republican Hailey Breeze Macklin vying for the seat.

WIZS News has mailed a list of questions to candidates in contested races for county commissioner and one school board seat and asked for written responses to present to listeners and readers before the early voting period begins.

In-person early voting for the November midterm elections begins on Thursday, Oct. 15. Vance County residents can vote early at 500 N. Beckford Dr., which is the former Eaton-Johnson Middle School campus.

Early voting ends on Saturday, Oct. 31. The early-voting site will be open from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. each weekday Oct. 15 – 30. The polls will be open on Saturday, Oct. 31, which will be 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

See Vance County’s early-voting schedule at:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/One-Stop_Early_Voting/2026/Early_Voting_Site_List_November_2026.pdf

Eligible individuals have until 5 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 9 to register to vote in the upcoming Nov. 3 election, those who want to cast their ballot either by mail or on Election Day.

State elections officials remind voters that “same-day registration” is available during the early voting period; registrants must attest to their eligibility, provide proof of U.S. citizenship and show an accepted form of photo ID.

Find your sample ballot https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/

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City of Henderson Calls For Immediate Water Conservation Due To Critically Low Lake Levels

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— From the City of Henderson
The City of Henderson is requesting all water customers to immediately conserve water due to critically low water levels in Kerr Lake, the City and County’s primary water source.
Effective immediately, all residents, customers, and businesses are required to limit water use and avoid unnecessary consumption.
Individuals and organizations are asked to refrain from activities such as watering lawns and gardens, washing vehicles, filling swimming pools, and all other non-essential uses of water.
All residents, customers, and businesses are encouraged to take additional steps to reduce water usage, including taking shorter showers, repairing leaks promptly, and only running dishwashers and washing machines when full.
This mandatory conservation measure will remain in effect until water levels in Kerr Lake improve and conditions allow the system to lift the restrictions.
The City of Henderson appreciates the cooperation of all residents and businesses as we work together to protect our community’s water supply.
A copy of the City of Henderson’s Water Shortage Response Ordinance is available on the Kerr Lake Regional Water System and Customer Services webpage for those who wish to review the policy in detail.
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TownTalk: Central Fire Station Hosts Oct. 8 Open House During Fire Safety Week Oct. 4-10

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The City of Henderson Fire Department is teaming up with the National Fire Protection Association to support Fire Prevention Week Oct 4-10. This year’s theme, “Charge into Fire Safety: Safe Charging Is a Superpower,” focuses on the simple steps people can take to recharge safely. Safe charging means making smart choices every time you plug in.

Phones, tablets, laptops, tools, toys, e-bikes and scooters just a few of so many household items that run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. These batteries store a lot of energy in a small space and if they are damaged or charged the wrong way, they can overheat, start a fire or even explode.

“The way you charge your lithium-ion battery devices can make a difference in helping prevent home fires,” said Lee Edmonds, battalion chief at City of Henderson Fire Department. “It comes down to using simple habits each time you plug in.”

Stop by Central Fire Station 1 on Dabney Drive between 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8 for an open house and learn more about practicing fire safety.

Following are a few suggestions to keep in mind when recharging lithium-ion batteries:

  • Use the cord and charger that came with your device or one approved by the manufacturer. Using the wrong charger can damage the battery and increase the risk of fire.
  • Charge devices on a table, desk, or other hard, flat surface. Do not charge them on beds, couches, or under pillows. Devices and chargers produce heat during normal charging. Soft surfaces can trap heat and block airflow, which can cause the battery to overheat.
  • Stop using your device if it feels very hot, starts to swell, is smoking, or has a strange smell. These are warning signs that the battery may be damaged or failing.
  • Unplug your device when it is fully charged. Do not leave it plugged in longer than needed. Leaving a device plugged in too long can increase heat and stress on the battery.
  • Charge larger items like e-bikes, scooters, and power tools outside and away from exits.  These batteries are larger and store more energy. If they fail, fires can grow quickly and spread.
  • When on a plane, keep your device where you can see it while charging. Do not charge devices in overhead compartments. Do not charge e-cigarettes or vapes on a plane. If a battery overheats or fails, it is important for the flight crew to respond quickly.

For more information about FPW programs in the City of Henderson, contact Battalion Chief Edmonds 252.438.7315.

To learn more about lithium-ion battery safety, visit www.fpw.org.

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TownTalk: Knowledge of Proposed Data Center

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If you chose to listen to the following radio show, please consider spending the time to listen to the entire show to prevent any parts from being out of context. This is the report for today, a link below to replay the broadcast.

This file was edited in one place to correct to a June 2025 date of one of the emails mentioned, as opposed to what was incorrectly stated on the air saying the email was in June 2024. The edit is in the 32nd minute.

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TownTalk: Vance Furniture Celebrates 85 Years

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For 85 years, Vance Furniture Co. has been an anchor for downtown Henderson. And on Friday morning, the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce had a ribbon-cutting to recognize the local business for its long-standing commitment to the community.

With well-wishers and Chamber board members looking on, Craig and Maria Bailey, along with company employees, welcomed the group into the main floor showroom.

“This just doesn’t ‘happen,’” said Vanessa Jones, the Chamber’s director of programs. “It takes hard work and dedication to the community to make it to 85 years,” Jones said in opening remarks.

Bailey’s father, Hayden Bailey, established the business in September 1941.

“We all know what happened in 1941,” Bailey said, referring to the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 of that year.

After a two-year tour in the Pacific, the elder Bailey came back to Henderson to focus on the business and starting a family.

Another name with a long association to the company co-owner Sam Harper, who as co-owner spent six decades with Vance Furniture Co. Harper died in 2024.

Craig Bailey said he has a rich history with the furniture company. “I’ve been here most of my life,” he said. “It’s been fun, it’s been an experience,” he added.

Chamber Board Chair the Rev. Abidan Shah said the iconic five-story building represents downtown in the best possible way.

“Thanks for all your sacrifices and service,” Shah told Bailey and staff.

With his office literally across the street from Vance Furniture, Vance County Economic Development Director Ferdinand Rouse said he is glad the county – and downtown – has a business with the staying power of Vance Furniture and said he hopes that it will continue to loom large as revitalization efforts continue.

Downtown Development Director Tracy Madigan said her parents had been loyal customers since they moved here in 1970.

Madigan said she understands now more than ever how important it is to support local businesses, especially when there are so many options available.

“It is amazing that we have a store like this in Henderson,” she said, that serves not just the local community but touts a wide customer base.

After the ribbon-cutting, Bailey said folks come in from all over the area, including Wake Forest, Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and recreational areas like Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston.

Customers can roam around showrooms on all five floors and get an extra thrill when they step into that elevator that transports them to each level.

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TownTalk: MHCO Homecoming October 9-11

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The weekend of October 9, 10 and 11 will feature Homecoming festivities at the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford, but Saturday, Oct. 10 is the big day for the public including food, live music, rides for the children plus the parade route along College Street.

Alvis Billings, MHCO’s annual giving director said more than 30 Shrine units are wheeling into town for Saturday’s parade, which will once again delight parade watchers all along the route.

You won’t want to miss it – it’s the biggest Shrine parade in the state. The parade steps off at 10 a.m., Billings said on Monday’s TownTalk.

The ‘Pit’ will be cranking out all types of delicious barbecue on Saturday, Oct. 10 and the Embers will take the stage from 12 noon to 2 p.m. The public is invited to come out and enjoy the day, beginning with the parade at 10 a.m. and going through 3 p.m. Enjoy the barbecue – all you care to eat – for a $10 donation.

There are other events going on through the weekend for alumni and former residents of the home, which Billings said is the oldest children’s home in the state.

This is the 14th Homecoming festival, Billings said. Organizers expect several hundred former residents to return this weekend – to celebrate, remember and reminisce.

“It’s a fun time, but it’s also a very solemn time,” he said. The home’s mission, simply put, is to create a safe, nurturing and loving environment for children. “We create this space where kids can excel,” he said.

The home will celebrate 154 years in February and Billings called his work a passion. In his role as annual giving director, he keeps a sharp eye on what it takes to provide for the children.

The Freemasons do provide support, and the alumni association is active, but the children’s home relies heavily on financial donations, will and estates.

The Homecoming festival is a way to show appreciation for donors, as well as engage and inform the community about the home’s mission and needs.

Visit https://mhc-oxford.org/ to see a complete schedule of activities.

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Vance County Logo

TownTalk: The Stepping Up Initiative

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The Five County Stepping Up initiative has been working in Vance County since 2015 to help people suffering from mental illness or substance abuse disorders who find themselves in jail or detained because of their health challenges.

Stepping Up is a national movement, with almost half of North Carolina’s 100 counties participating, including the counties that team with Vance – Granville, Warren, Franklin and Halifax – to create the Five County collaborative.

At their Sept. 22 work session, Granville-Vance Public Health Director Lisa Harrison gave Vance County commissioners an overview of its progress and a projection for how the group plans to continue making gains over the next five years.

Simply put, Stepping Up isn’t a program in and of itself, Harrison said. It’s a framework that creates connections for both service providers and those who find themselves either headed to jail, in jail or ready to be released.

In her presentation to commissioners, Harrison shared sobering statistics about mental illness, substance use disorder and people who find themselves in the judicial system.

More than two-thirds of jail detainees have a substance use disorder, and another 17 percent of the jail population has a serious mental illness. Three-quarters of those with a serious mental illness also have a substance use disorder.

The toll these health challenges have on individuals can be staggering, but there are economic consequences, too. It costs more to house detainees with these conditions – 50 percent more than someone without mental illness or substance use disorder.

Stepping Up helps people stay out of jail and return to jail less frequently by connecting resources with people who need them.

Access to appropriate services could mean someone doesn’t get in trouble with the law, so Stepping Up serves as a diversion tool. But a person who finds himself in detention may need a plan for when he’s released so he doesn’t go back into the system. That works to lower the recidivism rate.

“Jails have become crisis facilities,” Harrison said, adding that detainees rarely receive the treatment they truly need once they’re behind bars.

Nationally, inmates with addictions stay longer in jail, she observed.

“We know this is an issue we’d like to address.”

While Stepping Up doesn’t provide direct service, Harrison said it works to “connect the dots” among service providers and community resources so they can be as effective as possible.

“We want to make sure we reduce the number of people in jails with substance abuse,” she said.

Ways to do that include promoting crisis response efforts, working within the judicial system and supporting individuals through the re-entry process.

Stepping Up uses something called the Sequential Intercept Model approach which has four shared goals that include increasing connection to appropriate services, shortening time in jail, reducing recidivism and improving data collection systems.

The regional group meets quarterly, bringing more than 30 or so to the table to share successes and best practices, as well as to help solve problems.

The individual county groups also meet, in alternate months, to work on things more specific to their own needs.

Over the next five years, Stepping Up has identified five priorities:

  • expand diversion and crisis response
  • improve continuity of care and re-entry
  • advance data and evaluation capacity
  • strengthen workforce and trauma-informed systems
  • expand youth and prevention strategies

Find out more about Stepping Up at www.gvph.org and review the slide presentation Harrison shared with commissioners online at  https://www.vancecounty.org/departments/board-of-commissioners/agenda/ and click on Sept. 22, 2026 Work Session.

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TownTalk: Vance County Schools to Hold Fall Festival & Jersey Sale

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Vance County Schools invites families, students and the whole community out to its annual fall festival happening on Thursday, Oct. 8 at Vance County Middle School.

“Autumn Around the World” is being planned as a way to celebrate the many cultures represented throughout the school district, and Grace Herndon, VCS digital media coordinator, said it’s a great way “to bring everyone together and showcase what makes Vance County schools so special.”

Herndon joined VCS Chief Officer of Accountability, Research and Communication Aarika Sandlin on Wednesday’s TownTalk to share details about the fall festival, as well as to promote another special activity in conjunction with Vance County High School’s Homecoming festivities.

In addition to a variety of foods representing different cultures, there will be special performances and other activities that will take place between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. around the Vance County Middle School stadium – on the field and around the track, Herndon said.

This year’s theme is a nod to the wide range of cultures represented in the district’s school, both in the student population and in the international faculty.

Sandlin said faculty hails from countries like Jamaica and the Philippines, as well as India and South Africa.

“We are truly grateful for the cultural exchange our students have,” Sandlin said. Having international faculty exposes schoolchildren to cultures that they otherwise would probably never have, she said.

“That, to us, is part of the Vance advantage,” she added.

These days, middle and high school VCS students have one traditional school option – Vance County Middle and Vance County High – but it wasn’t so long ago that there were two middle schools and two high schools in the district.

Sandlin shared a unique opportunity that VCS is embarking on that she said will appeal to former students of Northern Vance, Southern Vance, Henderson Middle and Eaton-Johnson Middle.

It’s merch – and it’ll be available beginning on Friday, Oct. 9 at Vance County High School’s stadium lot. It’s a chance to own a piece of Vance County School’s history and celebrate the district’s legacy, whether you’re looking for apparel featuring the Eaton-Johnson Cougars, Henderson Middle School Rams, the Northern Vance Vikings or Southern Vance Raiders.

Athletic apparel – jerseys, pullovers, sweatshirts, jackets – all bearing the different logos from the four schools will be available for purchase at just $10 an item.

“It’s going to be a fabulous day for alumni,” Sandlin said. The Legacy Jersey sales event kicks off from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. the day of the Vipers Homecoming game at 7 p.m.

Payment by cash or card will be accepted, she said.

In addition, take a few minutes to stop by the 500 Hall where jerseys, trophies and more will be on display from as far back as the days of the Henderson High School Bulldogs and Vance Senior High School Vikings.

The sale will continue on Fridays in October while supplies last, she said.

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TownTalk: NCDMV Eliminates License Plate Sticker, Paper Registration Card Beginning Oct. 1

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Beginning Oct. 1, vehicle owners no longer have to worry about placing that little sticker in the upper right corner of their license plates.

And making sure you keep that paper registration in your glove box or other safe spot in your car or truck? Nope. Not necessary.

The state is moving to an electronic registration system that will eliminate the need for both the renewal sticker and that paper registration.

The renewal process itself hasn’t changed, however. Vehicle owners can still expect to get their annual notification in the mail that it’s time to renew – and get their vehicle inspected and pay the vehicle property tax. There is an option for a paperless renewal notification, too.

The transaction can be done online or in person at the local tag office.

Phil Lynch at the Vance County tag office told WIZS News Wednesday that you’ll no longer get a paper registration card with the sticker stapled to it when you pay in person at the office.

“Rather than a visual sticker on the tag, law enforcement will be verifying a plate online.”

Individuals who wish to have that paper registration for tucking away in their glove box can download the document and print it at home, or they can request a copy at the tag office for $5.

So, if you just happen to get pulled over, chances are you will not hear “license and registration, please” from the law enforcement officer standing by the driver side door. They’ll already know the status of your vehicle and that it’s properly registered – or not.

 

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TownTalk: Henderson Family YMCA Construction Update

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This time next year, the Henderson Family YMCA is most likely going to be in its brand-new facilities. CEO David Caudle and H.G. Reynolds’s Bert Long agree on some time next summer, and so far, the timeline is humming right along.

“It’s really exciting,” Caudle said Tuesday, speaking outside beside the construction zone. “They’ve moved really fast in the past couple of months.” Passersby can’t help but notice the crane that’s been busy lifting steel beams into place.

As he spoke, he was watching the crane lifting roof rafters or ceiling joists atop the two-story structure.

“Maybe there’ll be a roof on this thing in the next week or so,” he said. “Once they get the roof on, it’ll definitely help. Weather won’t be so much of a factor.”

There’s a lot of activity that is visible from the road, but a lot of things are happening that passersby can’t see. The concrete’s been poured on the second floor, plumbing’s done and HVAC ductwork and some electrical work, too.

And the new pool’s been poured. It’s going to be something special – and unique to this area – because it’s going to have a retractable dome. Other amenities include a hot tub, steam room and sauna.

“They lifted the elevator in last week,” Caudle said. “That was really exciting – they lifted it in and bolted it down.”

The current Y building will become a designated space for youth programs, Caudle said. And there will be a new outdoor track that will once again welcome the public. The “old” track is no more – it’s currently a construction zone.

Caudle, who is coming up on one year as the Y’s CEO, said he won’t be surprised if this construction project doesn’t mirror a project he saw when he was at the Y in Wilson.

Membership there had been at 4,500 or so before the construction project. The last he heard that number was more like 10,000.

“The membership exploded in Wilson with that new facility,” Caudle said.

“I know what excitement this can bring, and I truly do expect it to be similar,” he said. “This is a very positive thing for our community.”

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