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TownTalk: City Council And Regional Water

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The Henderson City Council is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. today (Monday, July 11) for its regular monthly meeting, and tops on the agenda is the swearing-in of the newly elected council members.

Outgoing council member William Burnette will be recognized for his time on the council and then Ola Thorpe-Cooper, Sara Coffey, Garry Daeke and Lamont Noel, who beat Burnette for the Ward 2 seat in the May 17 primary, all will be sworn in.

Because the primary elections were delayed until May, Burnette’s term in office was a little longer than normal and Noel’s term will be a little shorter, but terms of office should be back in synch by the 2024 election cycle.

Among agenda items to be discussed include a grant proposal to provide “stop sticks” for use by local law enforcement to aid in car chases and a clarification of council members’ involvement on various boards and committees.

The recommendation before the council during the meeting will be that no more than four council members serve on a single committee or board and that council members not serve on any citizen committee in a role other than ex officio (non-voting) capacity.

Also before the council for its approval are the minutes from the June 13 meeting, which includes an update regarding the Kerr Lake Regional Water expansion project and extension of Franklin County’s current contract.

Vance, Granville and Warren counties share ownership of the water facility, with Vance County being the managing partner; Franklin County is a customer and recently asked for a seventh amendment to its agreement that spells out a request for 3.45 million gallons of water a day – up from the 450,000 gallons a day it currently receives.

The amendment states that Franklin County be granted an extension of the current contract of $4.37 per gallon, effectively freezing the price it will pay for water for the 48 months after the current contract ends.

The water plant expansion project has been years in the making, but according to the minutes from the June 13 meeting, City Manager Terrell Blackmon said “there seems to be a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel regarding the KLRW expansion.”

According to the minutes, the KLRW advisory board voted to accept the GMP for the upgrade and funding has been secured for the project. Next steps include approval from the Local Government Commission and then in a few months’ time, pulling permits for the actual work to begin, hopefully in early 2023.

“At this time, no rate changes are scheduled but there will be increases once the $79,605,000 project begins,” the minutes stated.

Council members in attendance voted unanimously to approve the resolution; Council Member Garry Daeke was absent from the June meeting.

The latest Henderson City Council news and concerns about the Regional Water System.

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TownTalk: 11 Year Old Varonica Mitchell Attracts National Spotlight

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Like a lot of other kids her age, Varonica Mitchell was excited recently because she was getting a new phone.

But how many other 11-year-olds have a resume that lists accomplishments including actress, musician, dancer and, wait for it…stand-up comedian?

Varonia, or V V, as her family calls her, can be seen in her one-man, er, one-girl show on all the different social media platforms. Simply called “The V V Show,” viewers can click on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see what the vivacious V V currently is up to. She has 37,000 followers, just within that past 18 months.

She chatted with John C. Rose recently for a TownTalk segment that aired Thursday and he asked her what she enjoyed most.

“I think I like dancing most,” she said after a little thought. “Shout out to my mom’s  iDance Praise Academy,” she added.

Whether she’s dancing, modeling, cheerleading, playing the drums or performing her original skits, Varonica gives it her all. Her infectious energy bubbles up when she speaks about the show. She’s developed several characters that she has introduced on her show: there’s Grandma Roseanne and Granny Rowann but she said a lot of folks are partial to Mr. Egg Nog.

“My friends like him,” she said. “His favorite word is ‘Well,’” she said, uses her best gravelly, old codger voice to drag out the word. “Mr. Egg Nog has a big stomach and a beard,” she said. “He tells me he’s supposed to eat healthy, but he doesn’t. He eats everything.”

Varonica gets into costume to portray the characters, and the rest of her family pitches in before and after production. Her dad does the videoing and posting and her mom helps her with her outfits. And when they’re on the road, older sister tutors her so she doesn’t fall behind on school work.

“My mom, my dad and my sister inspire me. Also Kevin Hart,” she added, giving a nod to the comedian, with whom she shares a common attribute – height. Hart, a world-famous comedian, stands at 5-foot-2; Varonica checks in – so far – at 4-foot-5.

“He inspires little kids who want to be comedians,” she said, but even if you don’t want to be a comedian, he still makes them laugh.

And if Varonica creates a similar path for herself, she is well on the way.

When asked what she thought she’d be doing in 5 or 10 years, she got quiet for a moment before she answered. “I will be an independent woman,” she predicted. “I will be doing movies, series…my mom will probably be kicking me out of the house by then,” she said.

But as long as Varonica keeps doing what she’s doing, her future surely is on a sharp upward trajectory.

“It’s me, being myself. Mmm hmmm.”

Learn more about Varonica and “The V V Show” on any of the following:

www.instagram.com/_thevvshow_/

The VV Show – YouTube

www.facebook.com/thevvshow

Google: http://g.co/kgs/Lds9wG

 

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TownTalk: Looking To The Future Of Area Transportation

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Imagine driving to the train station in downtown Henderson to begin your daily commute to your job in the Triangle. You hop on the commuter rail, which whizzes past the stopped traffic along U.S. 1 and Capital Boulevard as you approach your destination.

For regional planner Sam Boswell, that is no longer a pie-in-the-sky notion, but what could be reality in, say, another 10 years or so.

Boswell is a regional planner who concentrates on transportation for the Kerr Tar COG. He told WIZS’s Bill Harris Wednesday that he sees his job as a balancing act to ensure that the COG provides and promotes projects for all parts of the region, not just the ones that are experiencing the burgeoning growth right now.

The Kerr Tar COG, which serves Vance, Granville, Warren, Franklin and Person counties, stays up-to-date on NC DOT projects, such as the S-Line Rail Project slated to run through Henderson and points north, participation in a regional greenway project and an alternative to the gas tax, which helps to fund transportation projects and maintenance.

Individuals have an opportunity to ask questions, voice concerns and hear updates from the NC DOT as it hosts an open house during the week of July 25-29. Folks can drop in to Div. 5 offices, 2612 N. Duke St., in Durham any time between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. during that week, Boswell said.

Part of his job, he said, is to help municipalities and counties with projects and to explore ways to have a regional effect, “a grouping of services to benefit the region.” That sometimes proves difficult, he said, explaining that municipalities may not reap a direct benefit from a project that is not geographically nearby.

Take the S-Line rail project, for example. This project will connect Raleigh and Richmond and completing the Southeast rail corridor that then can feed into the much-used Northeast rail corridor.

“It’s a big deal, for sure,” Boswell said, adding that there’s a great deal of excitement around the project.

In addition to reducing commute times and the number of vehicles on the road, a passenger rail brings with it other benefits. “If you’ve got a train stop, you’ve got people leaving and people coming in,” he explained. That means riders can choose to get off at the Henderson or Norlina stations, “put a break in their trip and visit local businesses,” spending money and adding to the local economies.

There’s another exciting possibility for transportation of a slower nature – bicycle and pedestrian traffic along a greenway. The East Coast Greenway feasibility study is underway now. It’s mostly a biking trail, but there’s a walking route as well, Boswell said. The greenway extends through 400 cities from Florida to Maine, sort of like the Appalachian Trail, and the American Tobacco Trail in Durham makes up 27 or so miles of the greenway trail, he added.

“We’re working with a team of consultants to see how we can make that happen in the Kerr Tar region,” he said. Right now, there’s a section between Butner and Oxford in Granville County, but the COG is waiting to hear from another grant opportunity to continue the study on a bigger scale – building a greenway trail from Oxford north to Virginia and from Oxford to Henderson.

These projects, and others on the horizon, signal change for the area. Boswell said, like it or not, as the Triangle continues to expand, it’s important to keep the transportation system updated – even trying to stay ahead of the growth that is surely coming.

In addition to new projects like the rail line, it’s also critical to keep existing roads in good repair and able to handle the increasing volume of traffic.

“People are going to start moving in here,” Boswell said of the Kerr Tar region. What planners have to try to figure out is how to make adjustments to the infrastructure to accommodate those people.

More people means more vehicles using the roads, but not necessarily producing more revenue through the gas sales tax. More hybrid and electric vehicles means less money spent on gas, he explained. So the DOT is re-examining an idea previously studied that would generate revenue based on the number of miles a driver drives as opposed to how much gas he pumps into his tank.

“Right now, money for construction projects comes from the gas tax,” Boswell explained. As vehicles become more fuel efficient or not dependent at all on gas, drivers “aren’t paying their fair share…and the burden falls on some drivers more than others.”

DOT looked at it a few years ago.

Is it more equitable or sustainable to pay per mile than per gallon of gasoline? That’s one of the questions being considered in the study, he said.

The study has slots for 450 participants throughout the state, which will run from the end of July through October. Participants will get a device of some sort that will connect to the vehicle’s odometer or otherwise track the miles driven.

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TownTalk: Saving Cats And Kittens Is Purr Partners Goal

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There are a couple of important things to consider before becoming a pet owner, if you ask Luwanna Johnson, founder and president of Purr Partners rescue. Johnson and her team of volunteers devote countless hours to the Franklin County-based rescue operation, which takes in as many cats as it can, but it’s not enough.

“The number one thing people can do is spay and neuter their pets,” Johnson said. Without that step, she told WIZS’s Bill Harris on Tuesday’s TownTalk, “nothing is going to change.”

She said her organization gets upwards of 50 or 60 calls each week from people who have found cats or kittens, either abandoned or as strays.

This is not a new phenomenon, she said. “Sadly, it’s happening every year – every year it’s worse,” she said.

Some of the kitten “explosion” can be blamed on the fact that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the spay-neuter clinics closed. Those who were inclined to have their cats fixed couldn’t. Now, she said, those cats have had kittens and the kittens have had kittens.

But it certainly isn’t the only factor in this dilemma, she said.

“As the human population explodes, the cat population does as well,” she said, explaining that folks who move to the “country” and let their cats live outside. And if they’re not spayed or neutered, Mother Nature takes over.

“Cats are just not safe outside,” Johnson said. “Our world is not safe for them,” she continued.

“Never let your cats outside, especially if (they) aren’t fixed,” Johnson stressed. Even if they are fixed, she said too often she sees cats come into rescue that have been hit by cars or attacked by other animals.

“They rarely survive an encounter with a car,” she said, “and they’re prey for coyotes, dogs and even humans.” She said Purr Partners has taken in more than a dozen cats in the past year with gunshot wounds.

These injured animals aren’t feral, she said. “These are the friendly cats – those who are coming up to people asking for help. And they’re being shot.”

And there’s another category of cat that often find themselves in her rescue – Johnson calls them “unsuccessful strays.” She defines this type of cat as one that has either wandered from its home or yard, or was scared or chased away and now finds itself unable to fend for itself.

“They’re not capable of surviving” on their own, and they come to Purr Partners in “horrible condition…they don’t know how to live outside,” she said. One such adult male came in weighing less than 4 pounds, she said.

So, spaying and neutering is the first thing a responsible pet owner should consider. The second important thing to consider is purchasing pet insurance, Johnson said.

It’s not realistic to think that, at some time or another, your pet will never need the services of a veterinarian. Or worse, an emergency veterinary clinic.

Vet care has become extremely expensive, she said, and just like the human members of the family, pets also need regular care to stay healthy.

And pet insurance has come a long way since its inception, Johnson said. For about $20 a month, cat owners can have coverage that will pay for emergencies, injuries and all kinds of illnesses.

Speaking of vet bills, about 99 percent of all Purr Partner donations are used to pay for veterinary services.

“We operate solely on donations and fundraising,” she said. The biggest fundraiser is the “Black Cat Bash” in October, which is a costume party held at the Durant Road Nature Park.

Send an email to purrpartners@yahoo.com to learn more.

Visit https://www.purrpartners.org/ to see the list of adoptable cats, learn how to volunteer, fill out an adoption application or click the big DONATE button!

Checks may be sent to:

Purr Partners

P.O. Box. 905, Youngsville, NC 27596

 

 

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TownTalk: Police Chief Barrow Discusses Gun Violence Resolution

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The increase in gun violence plaguing the country is something that Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow thinks a lot about, but he said he and his officers often are frustrated by the process to get offenders off the streets and successfully processed through the judicial system.

It’s illegal to discharge a firearm within the city limits, but that hasn’t done much to curtail the use of guns and shootings.

On Tuesday, the City Council adopted a resolution declaring gun violence a public health issue. One of the upsides of having this resolution in place, he said during Thursday’s TownTalk, is increased access to grant funding to combat a wide-ranging list of underlying issues that contribute to gun violence.

“We have a crisis and it’s a health crisis,” Barrow said. A mental health crisis, to be precise. He cited as an example that in a 12-month period, his officers were involved in 538 involuntary commitments. And that’s just for the city of Henderson – it doesn’t include numbers from the sheriff’s department.

Other underlying societal issues feed the problem, he said, from socio-economic issues to substance abuse. According to CDC statistics, men account for 87 percent of firearm deaths in the U.S. Firearm deaths are the leading cause of premature death, he said.

Councilwomen Melissa Elliott, founder of Gang Free, Inc. and Sara Coffey initiated the resolution, and Barrow said the audience present in Council Chambers on Tuesday applauded when the resolution passed.

“She did a great job with it,” Barrow said of Elliott’s work crafting the resolution. “She sees a problem and tries to address it.

Now it’s time for the community to address the problem, he said. “We need to get motivated behind this thing,” he said. “We’ve got to get out of the mindset that we’re going to arrest our way out of this.”

His department has secured various grant funding to help tackle the problem, and Barrow discussed one program that was able to go live in January 2022. The process took almost two years, but now his officers can enter data about shell casings into the database and within 24 to 48 hours, get results on whether the gun has been used in other crimes.

This is a great improvement on the six months’ to a year that it could take to get results from the SBI, Barrow said.

“I think we do a really good job here at the police department,” Barrow said. Currently, there are more than 1,800 firearms in the police evidence room. Federal indictments are on the increase in the past five years, but the backlog of cases in the court system means sometimes lengthy waits for convictions.

“We’re trying to do our part,” Barrow said, “keeping our finger stuck in the dam.”

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TownTalk: Pam Hester Talks Local Tourism Attractions, Events

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The executive director of Vance County Department of Tourism said she has a fear of being on the water, but she has absolutely no problem whatsoever promoting Kerr Lake and the variety of events it brings to town – and its contribution to the local economy.

Satterwhite Point is the site of Saturday evening’s fireworks display, sponsored by the local tourism authority.

Pam Hester told John C. Rose on Wednesday’s TownTalk that there will be numerous food vendors on hand for visitors to enjoy. DJ Jay will provide music for the event, she added. There’s a $7 gate fee per vehicle to enter the park and, as with all state parks, alcohol is not permitted.

The fireworks show will begin somewhere around 9:15.

A new food truck is in the lineup for the event in addition to several familiar vendors – King Southern Style Cookin’ – and Hester welcomes the owner to this year’s event.

“He has just moved into the area,” she said. “We’re lucky to have new people moving into Henderson, moving into Vance County,” she said.

“I think Vance County and Henderson have a lot to offer,” Hester added. “We are a great hidden gem.”

Apparently, not so hidden any more – Hester said the county is set to finish out the fiscal year with a record number of hotel stays. This is a sure sign that the many activities and events that happen in Henderson and in the county are attracting visitors like never before.

Although under the umbrella of county government, Hester said the tourism office is funded by the 6 percent occupancy tax that each hotel room generates per guest stay. The tax funds the staffing and events like the upcoming fireworks show at the lake.

“We’re going to have the highest amount of hotel stays (than) in the past 12 years,” Hester noted.

Some of those rooms will no doubt be reserved by folks who come to fishing tournaments at Kerr Lake – there are 24 tournaments that are taking place at the lake this year, up from last year’s 16.

She estimates that each fisherman brings $154 a day to the county. If each boat has a two-person team, that’s more than $300 a day. Multiply that number by the 200 or so boats on the water and the economic impact becomes evident.

But it’s not just Kerr Lake that is bringing in visitor revenue.

“We have things here that most little rural towns don’t have,” Hester said. Notably, McGregor Hall, a venue for concerts, live theater and dance competitions and recitals.

The young dancers who come to compete at McGregor Hall also bring their moms and dads, she said, which means stops for food, gas and other purchases as well.

“McGregor is bringing a huge economic impact” to the area, Hester said, adding that when the dance competitions are in town, the restaurants are packed.

Planning for additional events and attractions is something that she is always interested in, but Hester said she has a wish list for the future – she would wish for a convention center and more hotel space to accommodate the influx of visitors to the area.

A convention center could host a boat show or other large-scale events, she said.

“We have the perfect lake, but we don’t have facilities to accommodate it.”

Collaboration and partnerships create a strong network to keep activities vibrant in the county, and Hester attributes to local civic leader Debra Brown the following quote: “’Individually, we are one drop, but together we are Kerr Lake’. Together, we can make something,” Hester said.

Visit https://www.kerrlake-nc.com/kerrlake.php to learn more about the Vance County Department of Tourism.

 

 

TownTalk: Patrick Bailey Speaks At Local GOP Rally

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Patrick Bailey wants to be the next sheriff of Vance County. The Republican candidate was one of several speakers who spoke during a Vance County GOP fundraiser last week in Henderson. Bailey spoke for almost 15 minutes on topics ranging from Second Amendment rights to the opioid epidemic.

“We need a change,” Bailey said, which prompted applause from the audience. “We need to make Vance County safe again – it’s not safe now.”

He said he would support the Second Amendment right to bear arms as sheriff of Vance County. “The Second Amendment right stands as it is,” he said, which elicited more applause and shouts of support from the 300 or so gathered at the fundraiser.

“We’ve got people running around… in our stores that are criminals carrying guns and what does Washington want to do? Washington wants to come in and make more laws that are binding us as law-abiding citizens so that we can’t go out and buy a gun as easily as we have been.”

As he has traveled across the county to the various townships and communities, Bailey said the Number 1 issue on people’s minds is drugs. According to Bailey, Vance County holds the unenviable spot of being the top county in the import of opium. (He did not cite a source for this statistic.) That means that the majority of the illegal drugs come through Vance County first before being distributed to surrounding counties, across the state and elsewhere.

Bailey said the sheriff’s office desperately needs a drug interdiction unit to catch drugs as they are transported up and down the interstate. He also said the sheriff’s office needs well trained officers who know the law and how to enforce it.

Residents can identify particular spots where drugs are being sold, but there is little being done to shut them down. “We need undercover agents working in these townships and locating drug houses and getting rid of them,” he said.

But the issue has two fronts to battle – the people who deal the drugs and the users who buy them. Bailey said mental health workers need to be working with families of substance abusers to get them help.

The only way to achieve results, he said, is for Republicans to get out and vote. He said of the county’s 24,000 registered voters, only 1,200 Republicans cast ballots in the May primary.

“You’ve got to tell all of your friends, all of your family (to vote),” he said, from local elections all the way up to the president of the United States. “We need to get (the) Democrats out of office.”

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TownTalk: Sandy Smith Speaks At Local GOP Rally

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Sandy Smith is running for U.S. Congress in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Vance and Warren counties. Smith, a Republican, joined other GOP candidates in Henderson last week for a Vance County GOP fundraiser.

Smith spoke to the crowd of about 300 for just more than five minutes in the afternoon heat at the former Charles Boyd Chevrolet location on US Hwy 158.

It was a fitting spot for her to bring up increased gas prices and what she called “out of control inflation.”

Smith said she travels in a 40-foot bus on the campaign trail, and said she dared not tell how much it costs to fill that tank. It runs on diesel fuel.

“We need to open the pipelines and be energy independent,” she proclaimed, which drew cheers from the audience. “And after we are energy independent again, we are going to focus on being energy dominant through the world,” she continued.

She vowed to protect the Second Amendment right to bear arms. “As your representative, I’m going to fight to protect your Second Amendment with every fiber of my being. We are not going to pass any red flag bills…we are not going to take away your Second Amendment right. Our gun rights are absolute rights.”

The fundraiser was held on June 24, the same day that the Supreme Court reversed the Roe v. Wade abortion rights law. Smith used that news to illustrate the importance of Republican lawmakers and their role in government.

“Our work is just beginning,” Smith said. “We need true, Constitutional conservatives” in office.

“We also need to protect our children who are being targeted in schools and indoctrinated,” Smith said. The self-professed pro-life candidate said she believes life begins at conception, and that there are two genders “decided at conception by our Creator.” She said schools need to get back to the basics and that children need to learn how to read, write and do basic math. “They don’t need to be discussing their sexuality.”

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TownTalk: Lt. Governor Robinson Speaks to Local GOP

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Full Mark Robinson audio included below.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson was the featured speaker at a Vance County GOP fundraiser on Friday, and he exhorted those in attendance to stay focused on the task at hand – that being the November midterm elections.

The fundraiser was held at the former Charles Boyd Chevrolet lot on US Hwy. 158. About 300 were in attendance, as well as other local candidates on the November ballot.

Robinson’s speech, which was broadcast live on WIZS Friday afternoon, was rebroadcast – unedited – during Monday’s TownTalk segment. He spoke for about 15 minutes and began his remarks celebrating the Friday Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade.

“It’s been a long, hard battle to see that overturned,” Robinson said of the ruling to return abortion rights to states.

He said he is “thoroughly committed to protect the lives of the unborn,” and that he would strive to “make North Carolina the most pro-life state in the nation.” Earlier in his remarks, Robinson said he and his supporters would fight “tooth and nail to protect life in this state.”

While he hasn’t put his hat in the ring yet, Robinson alluded to his intention to run for governor in 2024.

Callers who either attended the event on Friday or listened to the rebroadcast Monday said they would approve of Robinson the gubernatorial candidate.

One caller said he attended Friday’s event and said it felt like “freedom was ringing in the air.”

Another caller said “he’s what we need. He’ll be a good governor…he’s a God-fearing man (and) he loves his country.”

Pointing to national issues like rising gas prices, inflation and what he called the failure of the Biden administration, Robinson said winning the mid-term elections was crucial in order to elect more conservative candidates.

“Let’s keep standing up and let’s keep fighting, folks. We have a nation to save. It’s only going to get saved if we stand up and do it.”

The audience erupted into applause and shouts periodically to show support for Robinson’s comments. He called the Jan. 6 investigation a “smokescreen” and said he wants to keep the country from becoming a “socialist hellhole.”

Sending conservative candidates to Washington, DC would ensure that Republicans would have a super majority in Congress, but he said it also is important to elect conservative candidates to local offices like school boards.

He said he speaks to people all the time who lament they are but one person and the job is large. To which he answers, he said: “There are no little people in this fight.” Whether stuffing envelopes or canvassing neighborhoods in a door-to-door campaign, Robinson said even small contributions have an impact.

“We’ve got to get up on our feet and do the work ourselves,” he said. “We”ve got a state to run and a nation to save.”

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TownTalk: Place Names In Granville And Vance Counties

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A little community in northern Granville County could possibly be getting a unwanted name change, all thanks to newly planted state signage – and Google maps.

North Carolina Room specialist and local historian Mark Pace told the story of Jonathan’s Crossroads, named for the nearby creek of the same name. It seems that the state put up signs incorrectly identifying the area as Johnson’s Crossroads and Johnson’s Creek.

Once it’s in cyberspace, Pace said, the name could stick.

There are many communities all across the Old Granville County area – comprised of what is now Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin counties – that have interesting name origins. Pace and Bill Harris talked about how some of those places got their names on Thursday’s tri-weekly history segment of Town Talk.

To be sure, many communities were named for prominent families in the area – Gillburg was named for James and David Gill, whose estate stood near the site of the prison there. But Gillburg also was known as Crack Rock, because there had been a school there by the same name.

Once known as  Nutbush, Williamsborough in Vance County was renamed for John Williams , who was a member of the Continental Congress and later a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Townsville honors the family that gave land for the railroad to come through. And Henderson is named for Leonard Henderson.

The community known as Bobbitt, once called Five Points, was named for Patrick Bobbitt.

But Oxford gets its name from the plantation owned by a man called Samuel Benton, who convinced civic leaders in the area known as Merrittsville back in the 1760’s to build the county courthouse on his property. He subsequently went into the real estate business, selling land that would become known as Oxford.

“Sometimes we know the origins of these communities’ names,” Pace said. But sometimes the origin of the name has been forgotten over time.

Seth was the original name for the Granville County area known as Cornwall. But why did its name change? Pace can only presume it’s an homage to the Cornwall in England.

And not too far from Cornwall – between Cornwall Road and Hwy 15 – is the teeny tiny area of Gela. There’s a town in Sicily, Italy with the same name. But how did the name of an old Greco Roman town find its way to rural Granville County?

Then there’s Alert in Franklin County – but if you don’t put the emphasis on the A, folks will know you aren’t from around here.

The location of post offices had something to do with names of towns and communities. Epsom, near the Franklin-Vance line, reportedly got its name when a group of folks were discussing names for the spot where the post office would be located. The area once known as Duke had to change its name because there already was a post somewhere else with the same name. The discussion took place in the community store, and one person suggested Epsom after noticing the container of Epsom Salts nearby.

At that time, it was popular to give towns names that had a positive or progressive spin. And Epsom Salts, with its health benefits, sounded like as good a name as any, Pace said.

The crossroads called Midway in Granville County got its name because it was halfway between Williamsborough and Oxford. But its name got changed to Dexter because someone had a friend with that first name. It sounded upbeat, Pace said, but more importantly, there was no other town called Dexter that had a post office.

Middleburg in Vance County is so named because it was middleway between Raleigh and Gaston, two main points on the railroad.

Leonard F. Dean published a gazeteer in 2011 of the local area that contains a wealth of information, including some of those lesser known or almost forgotten names of communities.

“I don’t reshelve that book,” Pace said. “People use it every day.” He leaves it along with an atlas for library patrons conducting research of one sort or another.

The gazeteer contains information about family homeplaces, along with references to the many creeks that often are mentioned in deeds to denote property boundaries.

Dean’s book is titled “Granville County North Carolina Gazetteer.”

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