S-Line Rail Corridor

TownTalk: Downtown Development Manager Shares Updates On Projects

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Picture this: The S Line rail passengers, bound from Charlotte to Richmond, stop in the late afternoon at the Henderson Depot. As they emerge from the train, they’re making decisions – Where to dine? Want to take in tonight’s show at McGregor Hall? Which downtown hotel or bed and breakfast should I try tonight? The stopover in Henderson has become a welcome break in the trip, a respite filled with food, nightlife and tranquil lodging.

When you dream, dream big.

And when there’s an opportunity to get closer to making that dream a reality, make sure to check it out.

That just may be what Tracy Madigan has experienced in her first months as Henderson’s downtown development manager. The dreams are alive and the opportunities are presenting themselves.S-Line Rail Corridor

Madigan spoke with John C. Rose on Wednesday’s Town Talk about her new role and what’s on the horizon to make downtown a more attractive destination for visitors – and prospective businesses.

As for the train stopping again in Henderson, she said there was to have been a meeting today with state officials to share just why Henderson needs to be a stop on the S Line.

“There are all kinds of ideas in the works,” Madigan said. But they are merely ideas, waiting for decisions to be made. Henderson and Franklinton are being studied for possible train stops. A stop in Henderson could open up lots of possibilities for downtown development, she added.

While the train stop may be more of a long-term project, Madigan mentioned several areas downtown that have already gotten a facelift – namely, lights at the reflection pools and fountains near the city fire station, the construction of an outdoor pavilion/amphitheater by McGregor Hall  and the beautification of Orange Street Park.

With help from Sam Franklin and Franklin Brothers Nursery, the summer plantings are in at the park, and some garden benches are coming soon to that greenspace, nestled beside the Henry A. Dennis Building on Garnett Street.

“You should be seeing the lights in the fountains coming on in the next couple of weeks,” Madigan said. This is the first of several water installations that are planned around the city, she added.

The pavilion, an outdoor venue option for events, is under construction. Tommy Roberson, of Robco Manufacturing and Alumadock Marine Structures, is a pavilion benefactor, she said.

The vision of the downtown development commission is to assist with, help and encourage downtown development and economic vitality, she said. Often, city and county entities collaborate to further the mission.

Although she is a city employee and reports to City Manager Terrell Blackmon, Madigan said, she often collaborates with other agencies and government officials. Vance Economic Development Director Christian Lockamy and Chamber of Commerce President Michele Burgess are two individuals who continue to provide extensive support and help.

One long-range goal is to develop incentives in the form of grants to help businesses – existing and prospective – have an impact in the downtown area. There are smaller incentive grants that are available, but Madigan said she hopes to be able to offer larger grants in the future.

Click Play for Today’s Full TownTalk

TownTalk: NWS Predicts Above Average Hurricane Season

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Summer’s On The Doorstep And That Means Hurricane Season Is, Too

Summer is still officially about a week away, but Jonathan Blaes, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service office in Raleigh says it’s not too soon to be thinking about having a plan in case of a hurricane.

Blaes said Tuesday that the first two named storms have posed no threat to North Carolina, but the June to November hurricane season is shaping up to be another busy one for weather forecasters. And he’s watching another system in the Gulf of Mexico that could bring our area rain in the next three to five days.

“This season is likely to be another busy one,” he said. He said last year was an extreme year, and this year is shaping up along the same lines.

He told Bill Harris and John C. Rose on Town Talk that this is the seventh consecutive year that a tropical storm has developed before the normal June start date. There’s even talk about changing the official start date to May 15 because of this, he said. “The weather doesn’t really know the calendar very well – that’s for people to worry about,” Blaes said.

TownTalk Broadcast with Jonathan Blaes

Meteorologists must deal with more and more data in their jobs, and artificial intelligence is one tool that helps target more meaningful data to make their forecasts. But Blaes said it’s important to know when to rely on computer models. “There are certain patterns where humans add a great deal of value to forecast,” he said. One example is cold air damming or “the wedge.”

In winter, when temperatures hover in the 30s and 40s for days, “the wedge” sits over the area and computer models struggle with just how long the weather pattern will last. “Sometimes, we (humans) can beat the models,” Blaes said. But at other times, such as accurately predicting the track a hurricane will take, it’s best to leave it to computers.

“Weather likes balance,” Blaes said, “and to be honest, that’s what a hurricane does.” Hurricanes are nature’s way to remove excess moisture and heat from one area of the globe and put it somewhere else – the Atlantic Ocean supports development of a Bermuda high pressure system, which “hurricanes tend not to be able to drive through,” Blaes said.

Depending on where that high is set up that often will dictate the path a hurricane takes, he added.

“There’s a reason we have a rich history in this area,” he added. Hurricanes oftentimes graze us, and sometimes crush us.”

TownTalk: Turning Point CDC Kicks Off Summer Meal Distribution Program

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Turning Point Community Development Corporation kicked off a summer meal distribution program today that will continue providing meals for children daily through mid-August.

Chalis Henderson, Turning Point’s director, invites the community to drive through and pick up hot meals for children Monday through Friday between noon and 1 p.m.

The meal program is a collaboration with the N.C. Food Bank, Henderson told John C. Rose on Monday’s Town Talk. It will be located at the Oasis of Hope Ministries and Turning Point CDC, 2495 Hwy 158, near the intersection of Norlina and Warrenton roads.

Hot, nutritious meals will be prepared and delivered each day, Henderson said. She has a team of volunteers who will load the meals into vehicles – it’s set up to be a “grab and go” event, she added.

Henderson said folks can just show up to pick up food – there is no need to register or to show any identification – but it is a first come, first served event. The hot meals will be served Monday through Friday, and extra food will be given on Fridays to help over the weekend.

Turning Point CDC is 20 years old this year, Henderson said, an organization started by her parents. It moved to Henderson from Oxford in 2012 and Henderson has been the director since 2018. She said Turning Point’s vision is that “rural communities can thrive and flourish,” and she is committed to continuing her parents’ mission and vision to serve rural communities.

Transportation and limited internet connectivity sometimes hinder access to community resources, she said. That is one reason Turning Point is putting a computer lab on wheels – to bring the resources to those who live in more rural areas. Henderson will be hiring a program director soon to launch the Creating Success Mobile Learning Lab, which is a former school bus upfitted to house a bank of computers for adults and children to use.

The bus is undergoing final inspections to get it road-worthy, she said, and the new program director will be in charge of scheduling and logistics for when and where the bus will be visiting. She hopes the mobile learning lab will be up and running as early as July.

“It’s a unique position,” Henderson said, adding that the perfect candidate would be someone with innovative ideas who isn’t afraid to try new things. She hopes to host as many as 20 community events in the next year with the mobile learning lab.

To learn more, call 252.621.5190. Visit www.turningpoint.org to learn how to become a volunteer or to donate.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

TownTalk: Book To Focus On 275 Years Of Granville County

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Local Author Discusses Book Project To Commemorate Granville’s 275th Anniversary

When Granville County organizers sat down to start planning the county’s 275th anniversary celebration, they surely didn’t have to look far to find the perfect person to write a book marking the event – Lewis Bowling has been chronicling the county’s history for years.

Bowling’s book, Looking Back: 275 years of Granville County History, is 300 pages of text, photographs, maps and more.

He told WIZS’s Bill Harris during Thursday’s Town Talk that he wanted to chronicle as much of those 275 years as he could fit between the covers of a book.

This book, which Bowling describes as a hardback coffee table-style book, will be available beginning on July 24 during a daylong event scheduled for Granville Athletic Park.

If you haven’t yet ordered a copy, you can phone the Granville County administrative office at 919.690.1308 or visit the county’s website at granvillecounty.org.

Bowling said there have been numerous books published about particular areas of Granville County – in fact, he wrote a history of Oxford in 2016 when it celebrated its bicentennial – but as far as he can tell, this is the first comprehensive history for the county.

Bowling writes a weekly column for the Oxford Public Ledger and he said that his readers were most helpful in providing photographs, stories and information whenever he needed it.

“The good thing about being a Granville County historian,” he said, “is that Granville County people just really love their history. I just always can turn to other people, that may be a couple of years older than me, who have seen things I haven’t.”

It took Bowling about a year to research the book and another year to write it. He said his appreciates the help he received from Richard Thornton Library, the Granville County History Museum, as well as the G.C. Shaw Museum and the two orphanages in the county.

The July 24 event at the GAP will be a highlight of the 275th anniversary, Bowling said, and he encouraged all Granville County residents to participate.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

TownTalk: Inaugural Juneteenth Celebration Filled With Activities For Family Fun

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Henderson’s first celebration of Juneteenth will take place next week, thanks to a partnership with Henderson-Vance Recreation and Parks Department and numerous local community agencies.

Tara Goolsby, HVRPD program superintendent, discussed the week’s scheduled activities Wednesday on Town Talk. Activities kick off on Sunday, June 13 at Fox Pond Park with a cookout from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. There will be a COVID-19 vaccination clinic, as well as craft activities for children, a deejay playing music.

The Juneteenth Week of Freedom continues on Monday, June 14 with a 6 p.m. presentation about genealogy by local expert Brandy Parker. This event will be held at Aycock Recreation Center.

The observation of Juneteenth comes from June 19, 1865, when word about enslaved people’s emancipation after the end of the Civil War finally reached enslaved people in Texas.

“This is the first time we’ve had a Juneteenth celebration in Henderson, and the first big event since COVID,” Goolsby said. “We’re excited that we’re bringing something new to Henderson, she told Town Talk host John C. Rose.

There will be a community information fair on Tuesday, June 15 at Aycock Recreation Center. Participants can learn more from representatives of various agencies and entities in the area, including Vance-Granville Community College, the Henderson Tobacco Warehouse, the City of Henderson human resources department and others. There also will be a booth for voter registration.

Between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., folks can take a bus tour of what had been known as Black Wall Street in Henderson. Goolsby describes this area as the general area of Montgomery Street. The bus will run every 30 minutes from Aycock to Montgomery Street and participants can learn more about the businesses that used to be in that area.

Goolsby said the organizers were intentional in their planning. “Of course, we want to have a celebration, but also want to provide people with information that they may not otherwise have access to,” she said.

Two presentations – one on the African diaspora and one on home ownership – will be given on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Aycock Recreation Center.

A street festival on Breckenridge Street will provide activities and excitement on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be food trucks, vendors and music. “I started watching the weather last week,” Goolsby said. “So far, it looks like it’s going to be an amazing day!”

Goolsby said Juneteenth is a time for celebration, but also a time for reflection. And she looks forward to planning future Juneteenth activities.

Goolsby said it’s not too late to register to be a vendor. Contact her at 252.438.3948 or tgoolsby@ci.henderson.nc.us to learn more.

For broadcast audio and other details, click play…

TownTalk: NC IDEA – Finding, Funding Entrepreneurs In Underserved Areas

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Those announcements about big-name companies coming to North Carolina grab headlines and garner attention, but NC IDEA President and CEO Thom Ruhe suggests that it’s the small businesses that deserve the fanfare.

Ruhe did a little quick math on Tuesday’s Town Talk and told John C. Rose that each new business, on average, creates five jobs. And in 2020, North Carolina had more than 7,000 new company filings than it did in 2019. You don’t need a calculator to know that, on average, those new companies created 35,000 jobs.

It’s that “army of entrepreneurs,” Ruhe said, that have a tremendous impact on the economy.

Ruhe and NC IDEA identify, support and promote entrepreneurs and their visions for creating new companies. NC IDEA and its 60 business partners help companies get off the ground, grow and thrive in today’s economy. The $50,000 Seed Grant program and $10,000 Micro Grant program are two streams of “free money” for new companies.

But it’s not just money that NC IDEA is concerned about. “Anybody brave enough to do that,” Ruhe said of those who start their own business, should also have access to resources and networking opportunities to accelerate the company’s growth.

Sometimes, especially in rural communities, if the last big employer packs up and moves away, employees are faced with having to move or do something else. That “something else” could develop into an entrepreneurial passion, he said. This “survival” entrepreneurship often leads to a journey of discovery, he added.

In the spring funding cycle that just ended, Ruhe said NC IDEA funded 50 companies in the state – 80 percent of which were for entrepreneurs representing underserved communities.

Last year, NC IDEA created a Black Entrepreneurship Council and gave the group $500,000 to decide how to advance this particular group of entrepreneurs.

Ruhe said he was breaking news on Town Talk by announcing that a second $500,000 would be headed their way next year.

Ruhe has been on the job at NC IDEA a little more than five years. In his time there, he has seen the organization be more intentional about focusing on areas outside the traditional entrepreneurial hot zones like the Research Triangle and Charlotte area.

It has not been an easy balancing act, but NC IDEA is committed to process improvement – and finding the money to put behind their vision.

An entrepreneur needs perseverance, and critical-thinking skills to looks at problems as opportunities, he said, and obstacles not as roadblocks but something to figure a way around

A person with an entrepreneurial mindset, he said, is an active participant in life, and puts aside the notion that life is just something that happens to him or her. It’s not a TGIF (Thank Goodness It’s Friday) mindset. It’s a TGIM mindset – Thank Goodness It’s Monday – “I’m ready to go out and engage the world again,” Ruhe said.

For more details and TownTalk with Thom Ruhe, please click play.

TownTalk: VGCC Adult Learner Program Helps Students Return To School To Complete Degree, Program

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Vance-Granville Community College is one of five community colleges across the state selected to participate in a pilot program designed to help students return to school to complete their post-secondary education.

VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais told John C. Rose on Monday’s Town Talk about the Adult Learner program and how myFutureNC and the John M. Belk Endowment are providing support to bring students back to school who left without completing a degree or certificate.

“We’re excited to be a part of this,” Demarais said, adding that the program objective complements VGCC’s vision of being “a catalyst to strengthen communities.” Helping people prepare for fulfilling employment and life-long careers is what VGCC is all about, she said.

The myFutureNC program is a statewide nonprofit organization focused on educational attainment and is the result of cross-sector collaboration between North Carolina leaders in education, business and government.

The adult learner program will work to remove barriers to education. VGCC strives to make education meaningful, but “meaningful is in the eye of the beholder,” she said. “We have to prove that meaning – we’ve got to connect people to careers…to see what they could do to use their strengths, abilities and talents.”

“We’re not getting a pot of money,” she explained. “We are getting so much more than money – we’re getting access to services that have shown they work to move the needle” to improve achievement.

Part of the program will include development of a marketing strategy to help craft the message and then get that message out to the public. One particular data tool will be especially useful, Demarais said. It will be used to identify those former VGCC students who have some college credit but haven’t completed all the requirements to get a degree or certificate.

“We need to call these folks back and … make it easy to help them finish what they started,” she said.

Through the adult learner program, Demarais said she hoped to see some results as early as 2022. “If we can increase the number of people 25 and older to come to college, that’s a leading indicator,” she noted.

It will take some creativity to reach  the 25- to 44-year-old group, who must “be able to juggle work and family life, and school life,” she said. VGCC will have to provide flexible options, making sure that the education is efficient – even shoring up and refreshing knowledge that hasn’t been used in awhile.

The adult learner program will evaluate the credits that students already have completed and determine exactly what is left to complete the course of study and get certificates of completion for programs or degrees.

An additional resource is the Second Chance Scholarship, Demarais noted. Students lose access to federal Pell Grant money if they weren’t successful with previous courses. “The only way to get (access) back is to take a class,” she said. But that takes money, which the student may not have. The Second Chance Scholarship can help.

For so many of these students, “life got in the way,” Demarais said. “We need to make it easy for them to finish what they started.”

(For full broadcast audio and details click play.)

 

TownTalk: Elder Abuse Awareness

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Keeping Older Adults Safe, Protected –

Whether it’s unintentional or purposeful, mistreatment of older adults is serious business. It’s called elder abuse and two local experts discussed the topic with John C. Rose on Thursday’s Town Talk.

Elder Abuse Awareness month is observed, appropriately enough, between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day in North Carolina; World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is June 15. In her job as long-term care ombudsman with Kerr-Tar Area Agency on Aging, Kimberly Hawkins monitors nursing homes and long-term care facilities to make sure residents’ rights are being respected. Most often, she said, residents are satisfied with the care they receive. But when a resident has a complaint, Hawkins said, it is her job “to find out what they want me to do with that information.”

In her role as advocate, Hawkins said, she sometimes needs to refer a complaint to the Department of Social Services. Deloris Cooke works in Granville County’s DSS adult protective services division. Cooke said she fields referrals from folks like Hawkins and from the community at-large.

Such a referral can come from anywhere in community, Cooke said. “Anyone has the right to call in and share any type of concern for an elderly person” – anyone over the age of 18, actually, who is disabled. It’s up to DSS personnel to determine if an allegation meets the criteria to be evaluated.

Even if a case of abuse, exploitation, neglect or self-neglect is not substantiated, Cooke said a visit to the home is in order to make sure the adult is ok. Such a “self-report” visit is one way to make sure that individuals and families know about resources that can help.

Whether it’s intentional or unintentional, abuse, neglect or exploitation of an elderly person is something that she works to prevent. Through the evaluation, she can “determine what is the situation, what has caused this and how we can resolve it,” Cooke said.

Sometimes an older person living alone can’t get to the pharmacy to pick up medications or prepare meals – that’s self-neglect.

An example of caretaker neglect could be a care recipient being left alone while the family member providing care is at work; and then there are the scammers, who prey on vulnerable older adults to cheat them out of money.

Cooke said the APS reports can be made anonymously; “we cannot and will not divulge (the name of the reporter) unless it is court-ordered,” she said. So often, the reports come from individuals who care about the well-being of the older adult. DSS has up to 45 days to complete its evaluation of the situation, and they provide the reporter with basic findings once the investigation is complete.

“Our primary job is to make sure the adult is safe,” Cooke said. Often, providing resources and putting a plan in place to keep the adult safe, is sufficient. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to file a petition to the court to have the person removed.

Hawkins said she works with a different complaint process, and sometimes she must refer a long-term care facility complaint to DSS. And, of course, she informs the facility that a complaint has been lodged. But with nursing homes, she sends referrals to the state’s department of health and human resources – with the consent of the resident or that person’s legal guardian.

“Most of the time, it’s a lack of communication,” Hawkins said of complaints she receives. High staff turnover could contribute to complaints, as well as staff that feel overworked and overwhelmed.

“We offer trainings to facilities on resident rights and appropriate actions,” Hawkins said. “Getting new information helps a lot.” She also does activities with residents – like a residents’ rights BINGO game – to raise awareness.

Events in the five-county region are having events in the next couple of weeks to observe elder abuse awareness; contact your county’s Senior Center to learn details. In Vance County, Hawkins and colleague Austin Caton will present a program on family caregiver support at the Vance County Senior Center on June 17; other counties will have contactless, drive-through events to share information about elder abuse awareness.

To learn more, contact Hawkins at 252.436.2050 or toll-free at 866.506.6223; contact Cooke at 919.693.1511.

For complete details and audio click play.

Heaven Leigh Nelson

TownTalk: July 25 Event To Raise Awareness About Drug Overdose, Help Loved Ones Remember Victims

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Patricia Drewes’ daughter, Heaven, loved to watch the sun come up. And although she was only 5-foot-4, she could play a didgeridoo – a wind instrument that Australian Aboriginal people make out of a long, hollow tree branch – like nobody’s business.

But Heaven died a little more than two years ago, the victim of a lethal drug overdose. Drewes spoke with John C. Rose on Wednesday’s Town Talk about an event set for July 25 to raise awareness about drug addiction and what Drewes calls “drug induced homicide.”

The July event will take place at the Vance County Courthouse from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Drewes said anyone who wants to add a loved one’s name to a banner – that will be displayed at the Henderson event and other events across the state – to contact her via social media or by telephone. “People are adding their loved ones daily,” she said. The deadline to submit names is June 11.

“We are trying to bring awareness to what is going on in our community,” Drewes said, of overdoses and deaths associated with drugs laced with fentanyl. Drewes said her daughter died because what she thought was heroin was actually pure fentanyl.  “When you do that, it’s not an overdose. When you add fentanyl, that changes everything. That’s murder,” she said.

“My child made the choice to do drugs,” Drews said. “But she did not make the choice to die.”

Since her daughter’s death, Drews has worked to raise awareness and help find resources for families struggling with addiction.

The first banner she created has more than 40 names on it – the second banner is still a work in progress, but Drewes said she’ll carry the banners to events in North Carolina and a national event later this summer in Washington, D.C.

Drewes created a Facebook group called Forgotten Victims Vance, Granville, Franklin, and Warren Counties N.C. which has helped families work through their grief as well as providing support and awareness. “You don’t have to go this alone,” she said. “We’re here to help you as much as possible.”

The harsh reality of addiction is all around, Drewes said. “Don’t ever say ‘not my child’” she warned. (Addiction) doesn’t discriminate. It can happen to anyone’s child,” she said.

For more information about adding a loved one’s name to the banner, contact Drewes at 252.204.9611 or via FB through the Forgotten Victims page.

(TownTalk Audio for June 2, 2021)

TownTalk: Camping; Fireworks; Medicaid

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WIZS, Your Community Voice.

TownTalk for June 1, 2021.

Hosts John C. Rose and Bill Harris discussed camping, local fireworks shows and Medicaid.

For complete details and audio click play.

The fireworks display and gathering that typically takes place on Kerr Lake July 4th weekend has been moved to Labor Day weekend, specifically to Saturday, Sept 4th at Satterwhite Point.

Vance County Tourism Director Pam Hester said, “It was not practical to have it. … The Board voted to move it.”

The reason is a deadline that needed to be met, which included deposits for the fireworks, came before CDC guidance changed concerning covid and before Governor Roy Cooper relaxed state mandates.

In addition, the North Carolina Parks Service is short staffed, which was going to make it very difficult to have the necessary manpower in place to host a large event at Satterwhite Point.

State of North Carolina Press Release – 

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (May 26th) announced all Medicaid beneficiaries currently eligible to transition to managed care have selected or been assigned a health plan with 97% enrolled in a plan that includes their current primary care provider (PCP) in network.

As a result, nearly all current beneficiaries will keep the same health care provider they have today when managed care launches on July 1. That means more families can continue to visit the practices and doctors who know them best and are familiar with their specific health care needs.

Beneficiaries who did not select a health plan during open enrollment, which ended on May 21, were auto-enrolled in a plan. NCDHHS’ auto-enrollment process prioritized existing relationships between beneficiaries and their PCP and, where possible, a plan that has contracted with that provider was selected for the beneficiary. A summary of NC Medicaid Managed Care enrollment by plans and regions can be found here. Confirmation notices and health plan welcome packets will be mailed to beneficiaries through June 12. Beneficiaries have until Sept. 30, 2021 to change plans for any reason.

“Ensuring beneficiaries have access to the health care they need on Day 1 of Medicaid Managed Care has been a key priority throughout this process,” said Deputy Secretary of NC Medicaid Dave Richard. “This is an important step to ensuring continuity of care for the 1.6 million Medicaid beneficiaries who will begin receiving their care through health plans on July 1.”

Federally recognized tribal members living in the tribal service area who did not choose a health plan were enrolled into the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Tribal Option. The EBCI Tribal Option is primarily offered in five counties: Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Jackson and Swain to federally recognized tribal members and others eligible for services through Indian Health Service (IHS).

Whether beneficiaries chose a plan during open enrollment or were auto-enrolled by NC Medicaid, everyone will have through Sept. 30, 2021, to change their health plan or primary care provider for any reason by contacting the NC Medicaid Enrollment Broker. After that, unless there is a special reason, beneficiaries must wait until their next Medicaid recertification date to change health plans.

Most beneficiaries in NC Medicaid must be enrolled in a managed care health plan. More information can be found on the “Do I Need to Choose a Health Plan?” fact sheet. Beneficiaries are encouraged to visit the NC Medicaid Enrollment Broker website at ncmedicaidplans.gov or call the Enrollment Broker at 833-870-5500 (TTY: 833-870-5588) with any additional questions.