Kyle Harris is going to graduate from Vance-Granville Community College’s automotive systems technology program next month. But it will be the second time in as many months that he will be recognized for his efforts.
Harris accepted the Dallas Herring Student Achievement Award last week, given to one student or former student from across the state that best fits the philosophy of the community college visionary of “taking people where they are and carrying them as far as they can go,” according to a press release from VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel.
Each of the state’s 58 community college systems submits a nominee for the achievement award named for a person whose work set in motion what would become the N.C. Community College System.
The awards dinner was held on Thursday, Apr. 3 at the Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary, Harris said on Monday’s TownTalk.
There were a lot of powerful people – politicians, donors to the Community College foundation, and others at that dinner. “They were all very interested in my story, and they gave me a round of applause that just really blew me away,” he said.
Things hadn’t been easy for Harris, a military veteran who found himself at the Veterans Life Center in Butner, unsure of what his next steps might be. He got sober and then he got to work on changing his life.
“I had lost a lot of hope in the fact that I would recover,” he said, recalling that period of his life that may seem in stark contrast to the life he leads today. “I’m so grateful I was given the opportunity to reinvent myself,” Harris said. “it’s changed my life. It’s changed the life of my family.”
CLICK PLAY!
Once he was at the Veterans Life Center, he said representatives from the community college came to help him figure out some next steps.
He’d been in the Signal Corps and Communication Corps when he was in the military, and “a lot of the skills I had didn’t transfer over into the civilian world.”
But he did know about mobile communication network maintenance and operations, along with troubleshooting wiring problems using wiring diagrams. With that information, Harris decided to try the automotive systems technology program, trading out communication wiring application for automotive wiring
“In the end, they’re all wires,” he said.
He’s already working at Southeastern Specialty Vehicles in Henderson, which builds ambulances and other emergency vehicles. It’s a challenging job, but it’s one he really enjoys.
With employment comes a level of financial stability Harris truly appreciates, and he said it has given him the self-confidence to assure that he “will never have to go back to a homeless situation.”
“We work on ambulances that service the community all across North Carolina, and places where I have friends and family,” he said, adding that he now feels like he’s paying back a community who supported him. “Now I’m able to help my community through my work, by producing the best ambulances to service our state.”
“Enrolling in the Automotive [Systems] Technology associates’ program is where my redemption story really began,” he noted. “I hope that my story reaches as many people as possible struggling in addiction, to not only choose sobriety but to enroll in a community college.”
It was a fellow veteran who made that first phone call on Harris’s behalf that got him to the Veterans Life Center and that person’s concern for another’s welfare is what got Harris to where he is today. Remembering the idea behind the Dallas Herring award – to take people where they are and carry them as far as they can go – is what he plans to do for others.
“I want to be that person for another veteran in this community one day,” Harris said. “There is a path forward…that if you choose a life of sobriety, the community is here to help you and that you can turn it all around.”
WIZS Radio Henderson Local News 04-09-25 Noon
/by WIZS StaffListen On Air at 8am, 12pm, 5pm M-F
WIZS Radio ~ 100.1FM/1450AM
Click Play!
State Gives Vance Jail April 10 Deadline To Reduce Population, Address Deficiencies
/by Laura GabelVance County has one more day to reduce its jail population from about 140 to 20, one of five corrective action measures issued by the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services.
In a 6-page letter addressed to County Commissioner Board Chair Carolyn Faines, County Manager C. Renee Perry, Sheriff Curtis Brame and acting jail administrator Maj. William Mitchell, DHHS Secretary Devdutta Sangvai wrote that conditions at the Vance County Detention Center “jeopardize the safe custody, safety, health, or welfare” following an inspection last month.
“I have concluded that the conditions at VCDC jeopardize the safe custody, safety, health, or welfare of the individuals incarcerated there. Based on the information set forth below and the Facility’s failure to act with a sense of urgency to implement corrective measures and substantially depopulate, I have determined that an Agreement of Correction is not appropriate, and that an Order of Corrective Action is necessary,” Sangvai wrote in the letter, dated April 1, 2025.
In addition to the jail’s depopulation, the other four corrective action measures address supervision rounds, contraband, staffing and the county’s comprehensive action plan to address deficiencies at the detention center. The county has until April 15 to submit a written plan that spells out how it will recruit additional staff as well as implementation dates for recruiting, hiring, training and retaining detention officers. April 15 also is the deadline to submit a comprehensive plan of correction for each deficiency cited in previous inspections, giving priority to repairing the video surveillance system and repair of all cell door locks.
The state of disrepair has been a topic of discussion at county commissioner meetings for quite a while, and commissioners have gone back and forth about whether to repair the existing jail or to build a new one. Recent discussions – and the dismal inspections reports – have resulted in the need to spend a significant amount of money on repairs while weighing the options about new construction – a multi-year project.
The county can appeal the decision, but County Attorney Jonathan Care said he has not yet been authorized to do so.
Although the physical condition of the jail is a major concern, the April 1 letter also cites staffing as a problem. “The Facility remains seriously understaffed,” the letter reads. “The current staff cannot adequately supervise the Facility’s current census.” Where once close to 30 officers were employed to supervise and staff the detention center, there are now only nine positions that routinely supervise the Pods, the letter stated.
Here’s a timeline of most recent inspections by the Division of Health Service Regulation:
Read the letter from the NC DHHS Secretary here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25879915-vance-county-letter-4125/
SportsTalk: Recap of the NCAA Men’s Title Game
/by Scout HughesSportsTalk 12:30 p.m. M-Th
Scout Hughes and Steve Lewis recap the National Title Game to end the Men’s College Basketball Season. Also, can Henderson host a summer league baseball team? That and much more on SportsTalk!
Click Play!
Cooperative Extension with Micah Sharpe: 4-H Events Coming Up
/by WIZS StaffOn the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report from Micah Sharpe:
Earth Day is Approaching! On April 22nd at 4pm, we will be celebrating Earth Day at the Perry Memorial Library. Come out and join us as we honor the planet and discuss ways we all can contribute to a greener more sustainable future!
Our Summer Camps are still in the works. Micah Sharpe will be posting further details by the Spring.
District Activity Day is coming up soon. This is a chance for students to showcase their presentation skills. Sign-ups will be opening up very soon!
The Vance County Game of Drones Team is looking more promising than ever! They have strong hopes in taking first place at the upcoming competition this month in April! Best of luck to our team!
The Vance County Cooperative Extension is located at 305 Young St, Henderson, NC 27536
The Vance County Regional Farmers Market is located at 210 Southpark Dr., Henderson, NC 27536
Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.
Click Play!
SportsTalk: Action from Over the Weekend
/by Scout HughesSportsTalk 12:30 p.m. M-Th
Scout Hughes and Doc Aycsue talk about the events of the weekend which included the Final Four matchups, Minor League Baseball now officially underway, and Alex Ovechkin’s record breaking weekend! All that and much more on SportsTalk!
Click Play!
Granville County Couple Named Extension’s 2025 Small Farmers Of The Year
/by Laura GabelElvin and Madeline Eaton, owners of Fairport Farms in Granville County, have been selected as the 2025 Small Farmers of the Year by N.C. A&T State University during the annual Small Farms Week celebration.
The Eatons decided to grow microgreens as a retirement venture, but they wanted to change things up and steer away from some of the more traditional farming practices. Their philosophy – a no-till, no commercial fertilizer or pesticide and keeping growing beds in place for multiple seasons approach – is paying off.
Using five 100-foot-high tunnels — greenhouses without air conditioning — on just one quarter of an acre of their 12-acre Century Farm, the Eatons have grown their retirement venture into a profitable, civic-minded enterprise. A certified Naturally Grown farm, they grow microgreens, kale, collard and mustard greens, broccoli and a variety of lettuces in addition to tomatoes, potatoes, onions and carrots, supporting a farmers’ market business and a direct-sell business
More than 400 farmers, ranchers, Extension agents and partners from across the state came to A&T’s campus to attend N.C. Cooperative Extension’s 39th annual Small Farms Week, which this year centered around the theme “Next Gen Agriculture” and included educational workshops and panel discussions focused on the needs of the next generation of growers.
“We’re more than surprised,” Elvin Eaton said after the award was announced during the annual banquet at A&T State.
“We grow so different — we grow all year long, we grow covered, we grow without chemical fertilizer or pesticides. Soil health is the basis of our farm. This is far out of the norm for people in our area, but when they see the results, a lot of people have been super receptive.
“We really didn’t think we had a chance. We were just happy being nominated, honestly.”
The weeklong annual celebration was launched by Extension in 1985 to connect with small-scale farmers — including minority farmers and those in underserved communities — to ensure they receive the latest research-based information on farming techniques, new tools and technologies. It also gives the public a chance to meet their agricultural neighbors and learn about farm operations and food production.
Learn more about Small Farms Week by clicking here and watch a video produced by NCA&T that highlights Fairport Farms by clicking here.
Click Play!
Elvin and Madeline Eaton, center, of Fairport Farm in Granville County, North Carolina, became N.C. Cooperative Extension’s 39th Small Farmers of the Year on Wednesday, March 26, at the annual Small Farms Week luncheon on the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University campus. From left are Interim College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Dean Shirley Hymon-Parker, Chancellor James R. Martin II, Elvin Eaton, Madeline Eaton, Wendy Tatum of Granville County Cooperative Extension and Associate CAES Dean and N.C. A&T Extension Administrator M. Ray McKinnie.
TownTalk: The Kyle Harris Story
/by WIZS StaffKyle Harris is going to graduate from Vance-Granville Community College’s automotive systems technology program next month. But it will be the second time in as many months that he will be recognized for his efforts.
Harris accepted the Dallas Herring Student Achievement Award last week, given to one student or former student from across the state that best fits the philosophy of the community college visionary of “taking people where they are and carrying them as far as they can go,” according to a press release from VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel.
Each of the state’s 58 community college systems submits a nominee for the achievement award named for a person whose work set in motion what would become the N.C. Community College System.
The awards dinner was held on Thursday, Apr. 3 at the Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary, Harris said on Monday’s TownTalk.
There were a lot of powerful people – politicians, donors to the Community College foundation, and others at that dinner. “They were all very interested in my story, and they gave me a round of applause that just really blew me away,” he said.
Things hadn’t been easy for Harris, a military veteran who found himself at the Veterans Life Center in Butner, unsure of what his next steps might be. He got sober and then he got to work on changing his life.
“I had lost a lot of hope in the fact that I would recover,” he said, recalling that period of his life that may seem in stark contrast to the life he leads today. “I’m so grateful I was given the opportunity to reinvent myself,” Harris said. “it’s changed my life. It’s changed the life of my family.”
CLICK PLAY!
Once he was at the Veterans Life Center, he said representatives from the community college came to help him figure out some next steps.
He’d been in the Signal Corps and Communication Corps when he was in the military, and “a lot of the skills I had didn’t transfer over into the civilian world.”
But he did know about mobile communication network maintenance and operations, along with troubleshooting wiring problems using wiring diagrams. With that information, Harris decided to try the automotive systems technology program, trading out communication wiring application for automotive wiring
“In the end, they’re all wires,” he said.
He’s already working at Southeastern Specialty Vehicles in Henderson, which builds ambulances and other emergency vehicles. It’s a challenging job, but it’s one he really enjoys.
With employment comes a level of financial stability Harris truly appreciates, and he said it has given him the self-confidence to assure that he “will never have to go back to a homeless situation.”
“We work on ambulances that service the community all across North Carolina, and places where I have friends and family,” he said, adding that he now feels like he’s paying back a community who supported him. “Now I’m able to help my community through my work, by producing the best ambulances to service our state.”
“Enrolling in the Automotive [Systems] Technology associates’ program is where my redemption story really began,” he noted. “I hope that my story reaches as many people as possible struggling in addiction, to not only choose sobriety but to enroll in a community college.”
It was a fellow veteran who made that first phone call on Harris’s behalf that got him to the Veterans Life Center and that person’s concern for another’s welfare is what got Harris to where he is today. Remembering the idea behind the Dallas Herring award – to take people where they are and carry them as far as they can go – is what he plans to do for others.
“I want to be that person for another veteran in this community one day,” Harris said. “There is a path forward…that if you choose a life of sobriety, the community is here to help you and that you can turn it all around.”
WIZS Radio Henderson Local News 04-07-25 Noon
/by WIZS StaffListen On Air at 8am, 12pm, 5pm M-F
WIZS Radio ~ 100.1FM/1450AM
Click Play!
Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Carpenter Bees
/by WIZS StaffOn the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report from Wayne Rowland:
Carpenter Bees can be difficult to control if you have unpainted wood around the exterior of your home.
Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.
Click Play!
Attend May 2 ‘Food Farmacy’ To Learn How Wellness, Food Choices Affect Health
/by WIZS StaffWe’ve all heard the saying, “you are what you eat,” and we know we should make healthy food choices — at least most of the time – to be our healthiest selves. But did you know that our food choices could play a role in helping us combat chronic illnesses and reduce health disparities within the community?
Learn more about choosing healthy food options that don’t bust the budget at the upcoming 2025 Food Farmacy Market on May 2 at the Vance County Regional Farmers Market.
With a focus on health and wellness, the Food Farmacy will take place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the day before Opening Day of the farmers market.
Organizers are building on the success of a previous event, and they’re taking things to the next level to promote nutritious diets and physical fitness and address health-related challenges facing the community.
The Food Farmacy will provide access to nutritious, affordable food options while also hosting educational opportunities on making healthier food choices and lifestyle choices. Come learn about the local food system and how to come together as a community to reduce chronic illnesses and health disparities.
There’s a brief interest form in the link below for anyone who wants to be a vendor, an educator or a volunteer for this community event.
Find the form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc4dGKOiAOxk3nHgWsKGGTRu1NlE-GtyrMKEG1XXujRfM9qcg/viewform