TownTalk: Chief Barrow Discusses Weekend Shootout

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Henderson police are searching for four suspects in connection with an exchange of gunfire outside a convenience store on West Andrews Avenue Saturday afternoon.

Police Chief Marcus Barrow spoke with John C. Rose on Tuesday’s Town Talk and provided an update on the weekend incident that took place over the course of about one minute in the parking lot of Gate City Foods on 601 W. Andrews Ave.

“We received a call around 4:15 or 4:20,” Barrow said, but officers arrived to find that the suspects had left the scene. After reviewing the surveillance video, the police identified four suspects and subsequently obtained warrants for their arrest.

“For the past two days, we’ve been out looking for the suspects,” he said, adding that his office is working closely with other agencies, including the Vance County Sheriff’s Office.

A vehicle thought to have been involved in the incident was located on Nutbush Road Saturday evening, and Barrow said between the store’s surveillance video, the location of the car and other evidence, he believes his department has made “a really good case against these individuals.”

While taking cover from the exchange of gunfire, one of the suspects was seen with a long gun of some sort – Barrow said he thinks it could be a type of automatic rifle. One of the subjects recently had been released from prison in connection with a homicide that had taken place several years ago; Barrow said it is believed that the incident was retaliation for that homicide.

According to Barrow, warrants have been issued for:

Jaymon Gibson, 24; Charles Green, Jr., 23; Anthony Sanders, Jr., 18; and Jordan Turnage, 21;

All four suspects are charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and discharging a weapon into occupied property. Gibson also is charged with possession of a firearm by a felon.

Barrow said one of the suspects is believed to have injured one or both feet in the incident.

Anyone with information about the location of the four suspects is urged to call 911, Henderson Vance Crime Stoppers at 252.492.1925, or use the P3 app or Facebook Messenger.

 

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TownTalk: Maria Parham Memorial Day Ceremony

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Maria Parham Health was the site Thursday morning for a solemn ceremony to remember all the members of the military who have given their lives in service to the country and to hear read aloud the 77 names of members from the local area who died serving their country.

CEO Bert Beard welcomed those in attendance to begin the “No Greater Love” observance, in which various members of the hospital staff had roles. Pastor Frank Sossamon led opening and closing prayers and members of hospital security presented the colors. Travis Thompson, director of imaging and wound care, led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and Hope Schuler, daughter of MPH employee Lisa VanFleet, sang the National Anthem.

Rickey Padgett, with N.C. Detective Agency and also a member of the hospital staff, shared remarks and reflected on what the Memorial Day holiday means. It’s a time to remember all men and women in uniform, Padgett told the gathering but especially those who sacrificed their lives.

“They paid the price so that we could be here today,” he said. The families of the fallen continue to grieve, so it is also important for us to remember, Padgett said, “and to celebrate the freedoms that we have and the life we are given…to remain grateful and never forget.”

Padgett said he had been friends with one particular man who also was a veteran of World War II. This friend had told Padgett that, upon his death, Padgett would receive something from him. That “something” turned out to be a long, typewritten letter – from a real typewriter, not a word processor – that recounted some of what the man had encountered as a U.S. infantryman in the European theater.

Padgett read excerpts from this letter, which chronicled snowy, muddy conditions on and near battlefields in France and the grim task of recovering soldiers’ bodies strewn along the countryside.

“’I could hear the Germans digging foxholes’” in the snowy landscape not far from where this soldier and his unit were camped, the letter read. “’We had to pick up dead bodies, American and German,’” Padgett continued.

Although he said he has met and talked with many veterans of World War II, Padgett said this letter helped answer a question he had often wondered about: How do the bodies of fallen soldiers make it back home, where they can be laid to rest and receive a proper burial?

Soldiers like the one who wrote the letter and sent it to Padgett, that’s how.

Whether it was from a battlefield in Europe or the desert-like conditions in Afghanistan, members of the military take care of each other until the end.

Padgett said he asked this friend what he did in the war. “He said, ‘I was a soldier,’” Padgett recalled.

A simple answer with layers and layers of meaning.

Listen to the recorded ceremony in its entirety just below.

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TownTalk 05-25-22

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TownTalk: Sam Seifert New Associate Administrator at Maria Parham Health

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Samuel B. Seifert, MHA, FACHE will serve as Associate Administrator starting Monday, June 13 at Maria Parham Health. He is a board-certified healthcare administrator with over 17 years of continuous experience.

The Henderson native most recently served as a Senior Administrator in the Department of Anesthesiology at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. Before moving to Atlanta in 2016, Seifert served in various leadership positions during a 12-year tenure at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem.

In a press release issued by Maria Parham Health, Seifert said, “It is an honor and a privilege to join the team at Maria Parham Health and help advance Maria Parham’s nearly 100-year tradition of providing quality, accessible healthcare to the citizens of Henderson, Vance County and surrounding communities. I’m excited to start in my new role, and my family and I look forward to returning to the area and becoming involved in the community.”

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Click Play – John C. Rose of WIZS on Seifert Hire

Maria Parham Health CEO Bert Beard said, “We are very excited to welcome Sam home to Henderson as part of Duke LifePoint and Maria Parham Health. Sam’s extensive healthcare experience and knowledge of the region will be a huge benefit to our team objectives as we continue to progress our mission of making communities healthier. With our growth in services and integration with Duke in the graduate medical education space it is a great time for Sam to join the team. We are as excited as the rest of the community to welcome him home.”

Seifert earned a Bachelor of Arts in Religion at Wake Forest University and a Master of Health Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Sam and Amine, his wife and also a Henderson native, have a daughter and son at home.

TownTalk: The City Of Henderson Budget

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The proposed budget for the City of Henderson includes a bump in salary for some frontline city employees, continued funding for economic incentives and grants and, what may interest city residents most – no increase in taxes or fees for city services.

The $22.68 million also includes a $1.65 million appropriation from the fund balance, which City Manager Terrell Blackmon called a “considerable reduction” from the appropriation from the previous fiscal year. This reduction is due largely in fact to the availability of ARPA pandemic relief funds.

“The fund balance is still doing great at this time,” Blackmon told WIZS News Tuesday in a statement via email, adding that it remains well above minimum requirements of both the City Council and the Local Government Commission.

Blackmon provided details of the budget to WIZS News earlier Tuesday via email. The city council is set to vote on approval of the 2022-23 budget at its June meeting.

According to Blackmon, personnel costs are the biggest variable in the proposed budget.

“Although there is no cost-of-living increase in the FY23 budget, we are absorbing salary increases from police and fire the past two years in addition to cost-of-living and premium pay increases in the current budget,” Blackmon stated.

In an overview of the budget that was presented to the city council, Blackmon noted that revenues – although up – continue to be projected in a conservative manner and expenditures limited to capital needs.

The budget addresses one of the issues in the city’s recently adopted strategic plan – employee recruitment and retention – by giving frontline workers in operations, water and wastewater departments a $1 increase in their hourly rates. He said this moves those salaries closer to the current market rate and will hopefully help to retain employers in these areas.

The city may have to take a second look at water rates once construction begins on the regional water system expansion, but that is not expected to begin until early 2023. Blackmon said the city is seeking approval for the project from the

The budget designates $25,000 to the Downtown Development Commission for incentive and grant programs toward continued downtown revitalization and $100,000 in economic development grants for ongoing projects at M.R. Williams, North Central Medical Transport and MAKO Laboratory.

The police and fire departments will get funding for leasing and lease-purchase of needed equipment, including police cars under a 5-year lease plan and possible purchase of a new fire engine by the fire department.

Blackmon said the budget reflects “further positive steps to help the city grow and reach its full potential.”

Part of that potential lies in the West End Urban Redevelopment Plan, which focuses on improvements to areas near the downtown area as well as the Flint Hill Community Development Plan. These projects represent a $1.5 million investment in redevelopment activities in the city, which could include acquisition of properties, down payment help for first-time home buyers and urgent repairs to homes – all of which would help strengthen the downtown area and nearby neighborhoods.

“We must continue to work towards innovative ways to promote and energize redevelopment initiatives now to position the city to be ready for near future business prospects and citizenship,” Blackmon said.

See the full proposed budget at https://cms8.revize.com/revize/henderson/recommended%20budget%20FY%2023.pdf

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Vance County Logo

TownTalk: A Look At The Vance Co. Budget

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Vance County residents can expect no increase in property tax rates or other fees if the commissioners approve the $55 million budget presented to them earlier this month.

The commissioners are expected to decide at their June 6 meeting, according to information from County Manager Jordan McMillen.

The proposed budget represents a 6 percent increase – or roughly $3.3 million – in the 2021-22 budget, and McMillen said the county is in a position to further plans to create a shell building in the industrial park, which will be a boost for future jobs and local investment.

The budget will use more than $1.6 million from the general fund balance.

“We do anticipate our fund balance increasing over the next year or so,” McMillen said in an email to WIZS News. He attributes this expected increase mainly to increased tax collections and, unfortunately, vacancies in some of the larger county departments and added that he anticipates moving additional fund balance money to plan longer term for future capital needs.

The property tax base is increasing $95 million from the prior year which, along with an increased tax collection rate, will account for $1.1 million in additional property tax revenue, according to the budget information presented to the commissioners for review.

The sales tax is projected to be $2.8 million more to the 22-23 budget than in the current budget. This increase will help fulfill recommendations from the recent salary study for county employees.

The proposed budget also has increased support for the fire department, with the addition of three new fire engineer positions – one for each shift.

McMillen said having such revenue growth in both property tax and sales tax is not something that the county is used to. “ I have not seen a situation where both property tax and sales tax were up to the degree it is right now,” he said. “Both are explainable when you look into what is making up the tax base growth and when you account for the pandemic’s impact on sales tax spending.,” he said, adding that he doesn’t anticipate it to be a “continual pattern.”

View the proposed budget here: https://www.vancecounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/MASTER-File-Website.pdf

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TownTalk: Kaleah Padgett Helps Daughters Who Have Lost Mothers

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Kaleah Padgett has degrees in sociology and in Biblical and religious studies, both of which provide useful tools, but it’s the personal experience of dealing with the loss of her mother that she draws from as she helps other women struggling with their own mothers’ deaths.

Padgett formed Our Motherless Daughters about five years ago, and until the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the group met monthly at Perry Memorial Library. Now Padgett is leading more than 100 women via a Facebook page.

“Hopefully we can have start having meetings again soon,” Padgett told John C. Rose on Thursday’s Town Talk. It also is her wish to find a central location to gather, making it easy for women to walk to the meeting.

Padgett said her mother died 12 years ago, on Padgett’s own birthday.

“Having that happen on my birthday was very, very hard,” she said. Over the years, however, the sadness of grief has transformed into a “great celebration of life,” with each birthday that comes.

“My mom gave me life on that day…and she went Home on that day,” she said. The profound grief she still feels over the loss of her mother is an emotion that others in the group feel as well. But Padgett said the skills she learned through her education help her provide spiritual support and emotional support as she talks with the other women in the group. And she also has experienced the loss herself, which can also be a source of comfort to the group’s members.

Padgett said she was lucky because she had wonderful family support when her mother died. “A lot of people don’t have that support,” she noted. “I wanted to reach out…and let them know they are not alone in this process.”

Everyone grieves in a different way, she explained. It is something that she continues to process, but the feelings remain. “It lessens and it gets better, but it never goes away. Grief is also a part of the healing process as well,” she said.

In addition to starting up the in-person meetings again, Padgett said she has a second goal of identifying a location for a community garden, where women in the group can select a flower to plant as a way to remember their mothers. Each flower can represent a mother that is still missed by her daughter.

Call Padgett at 919.426.7396 to learn more about the support group, or find the group page on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/groups/204678233602493.

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Town Talk: First Fruits Farms Balloon Festival

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Jason Brown’s faith has led him to do some interesting things since he retired from his NFL football career and he and his family have used their farm in Franklin County to do everything from growing and giving away produce to transforming an old dairy barn into a wedding venue.

And on Memorial Day weekend, visitors will have a chance to cast their eyes to the skies for the second annual Memorial Balloon Festival at First Fruits Farm.

The Vance County native said there could be as many as 35,000 to 40,000 people in attendance during the four-day event, which kicks off on Friday, May 27 and ends on May 30. He spoke with John C. Rose on Tuesday’s Town Talk about what’s in store at the farm, located at 2805 E. River Rd. in Louisburg.

The festival is a way to honor veterans and those who served in the military, and Brown said the event has special meaning for him. His brother, Lunsford, was killed while deployed to Iraq in 2003. And again this year, Brown said there will be a Gold Star reception for families like his who have lost a loved one. More than 100 Gold Star families attended last year’s event. “There is comfort and strength” for the families to be together, “to share love and their experience with one another,” Brown said.

Visit https://ncmemorialballoonfest.com/the-venue/ to purchase tickets and see a complete schedule of events for the weekend festival. There will be fireworks displays, balloon rides and tethered balloon rides and family fun for everyone.

“It’s an opportunity to bring the community together at a time when there’s so much divisiveness,” he said. The festival will provide a time for fellowship, as well as food and some good entertainment. Brown said some folks spend more than one day at the festival so they can take their time and soak in all the activities and performances.

Brown said God pointed him to farming and agriculture, something he said his time on the football field didn’t exactly prepare him for. “As long as there’s faith – that’s what’s most important.”

It’s a long way – literally and figuratively – from the football fields of the NFL to the sweet potato fields of Franklin County, but Brown said God continued to order his steps to make his dream a reality.

That reality has become a hybrid of sorts – growing produce that he gives away with the help of hundreds of volunteers each season. He said “some of the most awesome people give up a Saturday morning” to dig, collect and distribute the hundreds of thousands of pounds of sweet potatoes that provide a healthy food to those in need. “They truly are the salt of the earth,” he added.

Volunteers are vital during harvest time, and Brown said there’s room for additional volunteers to help at the balloon festival, too. Visit the webpage to learn how to register, but Brown said in exchange for four hours of service, volunteers will get free admission and parking to the festival. And a cool t-shirt.

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TownTalk: Crime Stoppers Breakfast Held In Appreciation To Law Enforcement

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The Henderson Vance Crime Stoppers kicked off National Police Week by giving area law enforcement officers a pat on the back – and a complimentary breakfast.

Frankie Nobles is president of the local Crime Stoppers organization and he said Wednesday’s  breakfast included an awards ceremony to recognize a number of people who serve the community.

The event was held at J.R.’s Restaurant 39, and owners J.R. Stainback and wife Harley received Business of the Year award for their efforts to support local law enforcement. The Crime Stoppers group holds its monthly meetings at Restaurant 39, Nobles said, noting the “many things they do for Crime Stoppers and our community.”

Nobles told John C. Rose on Monday’s Town Talk that Clearview Baptist Church footed the bill for the breakfast, which fed more than 100 law enforcement officers and other local leaders who joined in to say thank you.

“These officers need this recognition,” Nobles said. “They need to know how important they are to our community.”

The breakfast is just a small show of support for the men and women who dedicate themselves to keeping the community safe. “Law enforcement agents…put their lives on the line every day, and the community just doesn’t recognize that enough,” Nobles said.

He said the breakfast gives officers from different agencies the opportunity to mingle and to support each other, too.

“If (that’s) just a little something we can do, that’s what we’ll do,” Nobles said, adding that if the officers can come in and be stress-free for the 30 minutes or so to eat breakfast, “it was all worth it.”

The Henderson Police Department’s Gregory Hunter received the Sam Pearson Memorial Award.

Detective Andrew Bishop of the Vance County Sheriff’s Office received the Tom Long Memorial Award award; Sgt. Akira Alston received the detention officer award and Trooper J.P. Taylor was honored for State Highway Patrol officer of the year.

Heather Lovings, a member of the support staff for Vance County Animal Services, was honored for her work as well. “It’s not always about the officer handling the cases, but also about the support person,” Nobles said.

Nobles said the recipient of the VGCC law enforcement award will receive his award on Friday, so the announcement will be made public at that time.

This is the first year that wildlife officers have joined the group, and Nobles said he hoped they would participate in future events.