SportsTalk: Success On The Field Keeps Vance Charter AD Lance Stallings Busy

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#1 in women’s volleyball, #2 in men’s soccer, a great cross country season and women’s golf coach and player of the year have certainly put a smile on Vance Charter’s athletic director Lance Stallings. “Kudos to the coaches and the kids,” Stallings said on Thursday’s SportsTalk with Trey Snide. “It’s great to get back to normal and I’m lucky to be a part of it all,” Stallings added.

Women’s golf at Vance Charter has been a great success with second year head coach Tyler Woodside being named Coach of the Year and golfer Grace Stovall grabbing Golfer of the Year honors this season. Three other golfers finished in the top ten for the school.

Men’s soccer is #2 in the Triangle North Athletic Conference and Vance Charter’s team will get a bye going into the tournament and will play on Monday at 4:30pm. If they come away with a win they will play for the conference championship later next week.

Meanwhile, volleyball also has their tournament going on and Vance Charter will begin tournament play this Saturday at 3pm taking on Carrboro. It all adds up to a busy fall sporting season for Vance Charter and AD Lance Stallings.

 

Vance County High School

SportsTalk: Vipers Prepare For Southern Durham

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128 points…sounds like what a high school basketball team might score over a couple of games but, that is not the case here. This is what Southern Durham has scored in their last two football games and the high powered Southern Durham offensive show is coming to Henderson this week to take on the Vance Co. Vipers in what will most likely determine the champion of the Northern Lakes Athletic Conference.

Both teams are 3 – 0 in the conference and while Vance Co. boasts an overall better record at 6 -1 to Southern Durham’s 4-4, the Spartan’s have played a much more difficult schedule and Vance Co. is coming off a poor performance in a 21 – 8 win over Granville Central last week that saw the Vipers struggle on offense against a winless team.

Coach Wilbur Pender felt his team didn’t have their best offensive game last week but thought the defense may have turned in its best performance.  “We couldn’t get out of our own way,” Pender said of the Viper’s offense. This week Pender and Vipers are working on those mistakes. “Let’s stop being our own worst enemy,” is what Pender has stressed to his team.

Pender says the key Friday night is to tackle, stop the big play and don’t allow Southern Durham to score on special teams. Practice has been much better this week so Pender hopes that will result in slowing the Southern Durham offensive machine down and will lead to a victory and likely conference championship.

WIZS will have live play by play of the games beginning immediately after the Joy Christian Center broadcast about 6:45pm with kickoff at 7pm.

 

Vance County Sheriff's Office

A Juvenile Suffering from a Gunshot Wound has Died

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Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame has informed WIZS News that a local 14-year-old juvenile suffering from a gunshot wound has died. Another juvenile, age 15, has been charged in the matter.

In a press release, the sheriff indicated an incident occurred Tuesday, Oct 19 shortly before 12:30 p.m. At that time, the Vance County Sheriff’s Office responded to 318 Foxfire Drive in reference to a gunshot victim, the release stated.

At the scene, it was discovered at the time that a 14 year old had suffered a gunshot wound “causing life threatening injuries and was transported to Duke University Hospital.”

Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigators were able to identify a suspect and obtain a secure custody order for the 15 year old, who was then charged with attempted 1st degree murder.

Thursday afternoon Sheriff Brame wrote by email to WIZS and said, “I am sorry that I have to inform you regarding the attached, the 14 year old gunshot victim died as a result of his injury.”

Sheriff Brame confirmed Thursday afternoon the charges would be upgraded or changed to 1st degree murder.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Vance County Sheriff’s Office (252) 738-2200 or Crime Stoppers (252) 492-1925. Anyone giving information can remain anonymous.

The Local Skinny! Warren County Tops State In Growth Of Visitor Spending – Two Years Running

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Pandemic or no pandemic, the numbers don’t lie – for the second year in a row, Warren County has grabbed the top spot in the state for growth in visitor spending, according to an annual report released by N.C. tourism officials.

The data comes from an annual study commissioned by Visit North Carolina, a unit of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.

Warren County Community and Economic Development Director Charla Duncan points to several reasons why her county has shown positive growth when other counties are posting negative figures, not the least of which is Warren County’s relative proximity to major cities like Richmond, VA and the Raleigh-Durham area, she told WIZS News.

“Warren County has opportunities for day trippers, weekenders, and repeat visitors, and our local economy benefits from that,” continued Duncan.

People tend to overlook the quality of life in a rural county, she said. It’s not less quality of life, but it is a different quality of life that Warren County offers, Duncan said. “I think that people have looked for that a little more over the past year or so. Folks are having a chance to understand what we know to be true.” There’s a lot going on, she said, “it’s just a different kind of thing going on around here.”

“We are fortunate that Warren County’s travel and tourism industry has been able to demonstrate such resilience during a difficult year,” Duncan said. “Individually, many of our businesses have certainly experienced similar challenges as other small businesses across America during this pandemic. The strength in Warren County, particularly during 2020, is that our natural and cultural assets are a stable, safe, and desirable resource for visitors.”

It may be challenging to discern whether the $49.6 million spent in Warren County in 2020 is from visitors, tourists or simply residents who are spending more time within Warren County, Duncan noted. It’s probably a mixture of all three groups.

Duncan said a quick look at sales tax figures show that spending in the county is going fairly well. Gas sales, food and beverage sales, as well as retail and certain recreational spaces all contribute to the numbers, but whether those sales can be tied to a true tourist or a true visitor may be more difficult to track, she said.

Despite this, Duncan said, “this is our second year in a row topping the state in growth. We saw a lot of growth between 2018 and 2019, and the pandemic wasn’t in play.”

Warren County was the only county in its region to see growth; all other counties in the North Central region saw a decrease in visitor spending. The region includes Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Orange, Person, Vance, and Wake counties, according to a press release from Warren County Manager Vincent Jones.

Of the $49.6 million related to visitor spending, $12 million came from lodging, $15.5 from food and beverage, $6.7 from recreation, $4.8 from retail, and $10.6 from transportation, according to the statement.

In addition, people who have vacation homes or retirement homes on both Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston may figure in the positive numbers for Warren County since the onset of the pandemic. “If they were going to be allowed to work from home, they were going to do it from their lake house,” Duncan said.

The appeal of agritourism and agribusiness also contributes, she said. For example, Seven Springs Winery near Norlina opened for business right about the time that the pandemic was shutting everything down.

“That business has been incredibly successful, despite challenges that face small businesses. People were looking for more things to do outside, she said, and Seven Springs provides that opportunity. “They opened up at a time when that was a sought-after thing,” she added. “They’re a great asset for us. They are achieving their dream – they have a great story to tell.”

“It is great to see this positive news, as we adjust to the long-term impact of the pandemic,” stated County Manager Vincent Jones. “We hope that this new energy we are seeing as people discover and rediscover the charm of Warren County is sustained going forward.”

According to Visit NC date, the Warren County travel and tourism industry directly employees 231 people; this is an increase in employment related to visitor spending since 2019. The total payroll generated by the tourism industry in Warren County in 2020 was $10.1 million.

In 2020, state tax revenue generated in Warren County totaled $1.6 million through state sales and excise taxes, and taxes on personal and corporate income. Approximately $3.4 million in local taxes were generated from sales and property tax revenue from travel-generated and travel-supported businesses.

The breakdown by county is available at partners.visitnc.com/economic-impact-studies. The study was prepared for Visit North Carolina by Tourism Economics in collaboration with the U.S. Travel Association.

Warren County has seen an increase in visitor spending every year since 2016.

Cooperative Extension with Jamon Glover: Disobedience Pt. 3

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Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

 

TownTalk: Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society Pays Tribute To Ricky Overby

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Most Friday evenings for almost a decade, Ricky Overby would climb into the Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society van, put it in Drive and head out of town on a freedom ride. The thousands of dogs and cats that left Vance County for rescue and adoption groups up and down the East Coast owe their lives – literally – to Captain Ricky.

Overby died Tuesday after a short battle with cancer. But Brandon Boyd, RCAPS President, holds Overby up as an example as someone who selflessly gave of his time to further the RCAPS mission of saving animals.

Overby started out as a driver, Boyd told John C. Rose on Thursday’s Town Talk, but as the single van grew to a fleet of vans, Captain Ricky took on more responsibilities with RCAPS.

Boyd remembered his employee – and friend – as loyal and dependable. “He took pride in his work, in his job,” he said. “And he loved saving animals.”

He’d take off usually by 9 p.m. on Fridays, with dozens and dozens of dogs and cats loaded in the van. He’d make numerous stops along his way up the East Coast, his destination sometimes as far North as Albany, New York.

Sometimes, Boyd said, when he found himself awake in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, “I’d call the Captain.” The calls sometimes lasted five minutes; others lasted upwards of an hour, Boyd recalled.

His reputation for a loving, caring person grew as his transports continued – Boyd said it’s difficult to grasp just how widespread that reputation reached.

James Jackson, another local volunteer, stepped in when Capt. Ricky got sick. And Friday night, when Jackson settles in behind the wheel of the van loaded with 50 or 60 dogs and cats headed for New York, he and the other RCAPS volunteers will continue Capt. Ricky’s mission of doing God’s work of caring for animals.

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Rain Chance Didn’t Dampen Success Of Downtown Car Show

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Although the official economic impact has yet to be quantified, Vance  County Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Pam Hester has plenty of anecdotal evidence to show that last weekend’s Show, Shine, Shag and  Dine was a great success.

“The car show (was) fabulous,” Hester told WIZS News. She estimated that between 350 and 400 cars rolled into town to participate in the 19th annual event. Given the concern for COVID-19, plus the fact that there was a good chance of rain, she said she was pleased with the turnout.

This year should have been the 20th anniversary celebration, but COVID-19 put the brakes on last year’s event. Hester said she and her team of volunteers are already making plans to mark the anniversary in special ways for next year.

Attendance was slightly down, but she cited COVID-19 as a factor in that. Hester didn’t have an official estimate, and “it’s so hard to tell when it’s that many people” milling about downtown, she noted.

Hotels seemed to be pretty well booked on Saturday night, and she predicted that was the case for Friday as well. She fielded calls from New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Massachusetts and said that many cars were trailered in. “There were a lot of cars and people that I haven’t seen – lots of new places and new faces,” she said.

She noted that there were fewer vendors and food trucks, but she attributed that to COVID, too. “It’s hard to find help to run (main restaurants and food trucks), and that’s what the vendors were running into,” she said. The food vendors that were there, however, provided delicious food. “One guy sold out of everything he had on his truck,” she added.

A meeting is scheduled for next week to debrief the team of volunteers about what went well and what can be improved upon for next year, when the event turns 20.

TownTalk: Randy Owen Looks To The Future After Retirement

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When Randy Owen says he’s not one to sit around and do nothing, he really means it. Although he is enjoying a short time off at the moment, Owen said he will be officially retired from Vance -Granville Community College on November 1. That also happens to be his first day at his new job as a paramedic at Rex Health Care’s catheterization lab.

Owen spoke with John C. Rose on Town Talk Wednesday, and he said the afternoon’s activities involved playing a little golf. When November rolls around in a couple of weeks, however, he will be working 12-hour shifts several days each week, which he said he looks forward to.

His first career began when he joined the Henderson Fire Department back in 1990. What began as a job as a firefighter and EMT morphed into becoming first a part-time instructor at VGCC and then a full-time instructor and coordinator of fire and rescue training.
“I fell in love with the instruction part of it,” Owen said. He got a certificate to teach CPR and then got his EMS certification. He credits Ranger Wilkerson, Danny Wilkerson and Curtis Tyndall with getting his career off on solid footing.

His second career will be challenging, but it’s a challenge he said he looks forward to. “I love a challenge,” he exclaimed. “I’m really, really looking forward to doing some patient care.”

Whether it’s caring for patients, co-workers, family or his community, Owen does so with a smile and great enthusiasm.

He said he is grateful for the support that he and his family have received in the past few years since his daughter Reagan’s diagnosis with acute myeloid leukemia. There have been fundraisers and many other expressions of support as medical bills continued to mount.
“It was very, very stressful,” he recalled, when Rae Rae spent eight long months at Duke for treatment. Community support “touched us in such a special way,” he said. Right now, she’s doing well, although she faces a pulmonic valve replacement in the future. “She should be put in line pretty soon,” he said.

In his new job, he’ll work fewer days, but longer shifts, and the schedule is more flexible. This is another aspect of the job that appeals to Owen because that means he can donate his time to help with other organizations.

Amanda Riggan, founder of Hungry Heroes, called him recently and asked whether he could help with an upcoming event in the area. “I just jumped on board and said, ‘most definitely!’”

“It’s amazing what she does for our public safety people,” he said of Riggan and the organization that provides meals and stocks kitchens for first responders like firefighters and rescue personnel.

Offering food to those who serve in their community is a little “give back,” he said. “One little thing we can do is feed them.”

In his role as coordinator for the fire and rescue training program at VGCC, Owen saw to it that the 50-plus agencies in the four counties that VGCC serves had the appropriate training classes.

One program that he remembers well involved helping first responders deal with stress.

The idea was to debrief after a traumatic event like a fire or a car accident, let folks explain their role and “get it off their chest and grieve about it.”

It’s important for supervisors and chiefs to monitor their team for signs of stress and get on top of it quickly, he said. “Stress is a big part of this job – It takes a special person to do it.”

Owen should know.

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