What: Prescription drug take-back event where you can safely dispose of your expired, unused prescription drugs or over-the-counter medications and keep them out of the wrong hands. Operation Medicine Drop cannot accept biohazard materials.
Where: Vance County Fire Department at 188 Bickett Street, Henderson, NC 27536 and Henderson Fire Department at 211 Dabney Drive, Henderson, NC 27536
When: March 21, 2017 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at both above locations
Why: Unintentional poisoning from prescription medications is on the rise in North Carolina. Since 1999, nearly 4,500 people have died from prescription poisoning. Operation Medicine Drop offers the public a free and convenient option for disposing of their prescription and over-the-counter medications to protect their families and the environment.
More information is available at ncsafekids.org.
Contact: Captain W.W. Bullock at the Vance County Sheriff’s Office (252)-738-2200
https://wizs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Operation-Medicine-Drop-WIZS.gif280453WIZS Staffhttps://wizs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/wizswebsitelogoimage.pngWIZS Staff2017-03-15 14:37:552017-03-15 14:37:55Vance County Fire Department, Henderson Fire Department, Vance County Sheriff’s Office Partner for Operation Medicine Drop
The first concert for the year will be held on Thursday, May 25 and will feature “The Konnection Band”. This band is a local favorite and is one of the East Coast’s premiere party bands, specializing in a variety of music including Top 40, Rock, Country, R & B, Beach and Oldies.
The second concert is set for Thursday, June 22 and will host “Steve Owens & Summertime”. A band with a beach music focus and chart-topping songs since their start in 2011, Summertime presents a mix of Carolina Beach Music, soul and rock-n-roll.
The third and final concert of the season is on Thursday, September14 and will feature “Liquid Pleasure”. After more than two decades of bringing audiences to their feet, this band has become a multi-cultural icon. Veteran member Melvin Farrington says “We love being in touch with people like us, who love a variety of good music, and appreciate hearing it performed live”. Liquid Pleasure presents a mix of Oldies, Beach Music and Disco.
In addition to the live music and dancing, a kids section will also be included this year. So bring the whole family for an evening of food, friends and fun!
Sponsors for this year’s concert series are: CenturyLink, Duke Energy and Maria Parham Health – Gold Sponsors; BB&T, Mars Petcare, Wake Electric Membership Corporation and Walmart DC #6091 – Silver Sponsors; and Express Employment Professionals – Bronze Sponsor.
All concerts are free to the public and will be held at the corner of North Garnett and Breckenridge Streets from 5:30 until 8:30 p.m. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available for 2 Presenting Sponsors and more. For more information, contact the Chamber at 438-8414 or annette@hendersonvance.org.
https://wizs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/chamberofcommerce.png280453WIZS Staffhttps://wizs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/wizswebsitelogoimage.pngWIZS Staff2017-03-15 13:27:582017-03-15 13:27:58H-V Chamber Announces 2017 “Meet Me In The Street” Concert Series
The Vance County Schools Family Resource Center, located in our Administrative Services Center on Graham Avenue in Henderson, will host a Healthcare Information Session from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22. A registered dietitian, eye doctor and dentist will be on hand to share information with parents. The dietitian will be available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The eye doctor and dentist will be available from 1 to 5 p.m. All parents are invited to attend this free information session
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WHAT: The 2017 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament season will open Saturday, March 25, for Piedmont Division anglers with a tournament on Kerr Lake presented by Navionics. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing for top awards of up to $8,000 and $3,000 respectively in the one-day tournament.
NOTES: Piedmont Division anglers can expect Kerr Lake to produce some sizeable bass for this BFL opener. Fans following the action will likely see competitors flipping and pitching to flooded bushes with jigs and Texas-rigged soft-plastics. A variety of moving baits including crankbaits, spinnerbaits and umbrella rigs may also play a role near wood. A five-bass limit nearing 18 pounds should be enough to take top honors at this late-March BFL event.
The 2017 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.
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https://wizs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Vance-County-Tourism-feature-image.jpg280453WIZS Staffhttps://wizs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/wizswebsitelogoimage.pngWIZS Staff2017-03-15 13:09:002017-03-15 13:20:55Kerr Lake Readies For T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Piedmont Division Opener Presented by Navionics
Vance-Granville Community College is preparing to offer an Associate in Fine Arts (AFA) degree in Visual Arts, with classes starting in August. Prospective students can begin the process of enrollment now.
The degree will be a third college transfer option available at the college, joining the Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees already being offered. Earning this two-year AFA degree can serve as a springboard to completing a four-year bachelor’s in fine arts (BFA) degree in visual art at a university. Students will be encouraged to contact four-year universities in which they are interested, to find out about any specific transfer requirements.
In addition to their general education classes, AFA students will take classes in art history, two-dimensional and three-dimensional design, and drawing.
VGCC has offered visual arts classes of different kinds throughout its history. In 2015, VGCC began holding “Fine Arts Day” events, which incorporated not only visual art but also music, dance and dramatic arts.
Isaac Talley, an award-winning visual artist, is a full-time art instructor at VGCC, teaching courses such as Art Appreciation, Two-Dimensional Design, and Drawing. “The AFA will be an excellent way to complete your first two years of college with tuition that’s very affordable, and then proceed on to East Carolina University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro or elsewhere,” Talley said. “It’s a great opportunity, especially for people who are interested in painting, as well as digital photography, which we are planning to add in 2018.”
He added that while at VGCC, students will be able to hone their skills and build a portfolio that can help them gain admission to the university of their choice. They also may simply want more training in art without necessarily continuing to the four-year level. Jessie Hartley of Oxford, a current VGCC College Transfer student who won first place at the college’s juried student art exhibition, said that “the AFA program is appealing to me because it opens up more learning opportunities for me involving art. With the Associate in Arts program, I have learned everything from some early art history to painting and drawing. With the AFA program, my knowledge of art can expand even further with the use of different media and techniques that I possibly haven’t even heard of. It will also help my credibility for future job possibilities involving art.”
Hartley said that she has enjoyed all of the art classes she has taken at VGCC thus far. “In painting and drawing, I enjoyed the freedom and self-control it gave me,” she recalled. “I learned that I could express myself in all manners of ways on a canvas that could speak to the viewer of that piece, perhaps even touch their soul. In art history and art appreciation, I enjoyed going through the past, learning facts and valuable information and where it all began. All in all, I am really looking forward to the AFA program, and I feel that all art students, including myself, will benefit wonderfully from it.”
After she graduates from VGCC, Hartley’s plan is to develop her own studio as a freelance artist. “I would like to travel to different art festivals and sell my work, as well as learn different crafts and techniques with a diverse range of media,” she said. “I may pursue further education later on, which the AFA degree will help with to enhance my credibility and experience.”
For more information about the AFA program, contact Betsy Henderson at hendersonb@vgcc.edu or (252) 738-3371.
–VGCC–
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Parents of children who are pre-kindergarten and kindergarten age are urged to visit Vance County Schools‘ elementary schools this coming week, March 13-17, to tour the school, visit with teachers and administrators and register their children for the upcoming 2017-2018 school year.
Special pre-kindergarten and kindergarten registration activities are planned for Tuesday, March 14, and Thursday, March 16, from 1 to 6 p.m. each day at the schools. Aycock, Carver, Dabney, E.M. Rollins, E.O. Young, L.B. Yancey, Pinkston Street and Zeb Vance have special events planned for Tuesday, March 14. Special events will be held at Clarke and New Hope on Thursday, March 16.
All children who register for kindergarten will receive a colorful, new backpack. Refreshments and special children’s activities also will be available.
For those parents who cannot attend the school events during the week, a special registration event will be held at the Vance County Schools Administrative Services Center at 1724 Graham Avenue in Henderson on Saturday, March 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers will be on hand to talk with parents and to lead children in special activities. Parents of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children can also register them for the 2017-2018 school year at this event. Refreshments and backpacks will be provided. All activities and items are free.
“The WOW Starts NOW!” is the slogan this year for the school system’s pre-kindergarten and kindergarten registration campaign.
To register for the 2017-2018 school year, all pre-kindergarten children must be four years of age on or before August 31, 2017, and all kindergarten children must be five years of age on or before August 31, 2017.
The Vance-Granville Community College Vanguards men’s basketball team recently closed out the season at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II Region X tournament, the first two rounds of which were held at Richard Bland College in Petersburg, Va.
On March 4, VGCC, the tenth seed in the tournament, defeated the seventh-seeded Titans of Guilford Technical Community College in the opening round, 90-87, recording the program’s first postseason win since 2015. The victory came just one week after the Vanguards lost to the Titans, 108-102, to wrap up the regular season.
This time, VGCC came out strong from the start, leading by as many as eight points in the first five minutes of play. GTCC came back in the middle of the first half but the Vanguards responded and built up a 44-39 lead at halftime. VGCC led for practically the entire second half, beating back a late rally by the Titans to secure the narrow win, in part on the strength of shooting 100% (14 for 14) from the free-throw line. According to the staff at tournament host Richard Bland College, the Vanguards were the only team to make 100% of their free throws all season in that arena, and may be the only team to be perfect from the line in a Region X tournament game.
“The NJCAA Region X Conference tournament was an amazing experience for both the players and myself,” said VGCC head coach DeMarcus Oliver. “The atmosphere was electric! For the first time, players had the opportunity to play in front of NCAA Division I and II college coaches sitting court-side to recruit. This is the place where everything mattered, from the pre-game warm-up to the post-game hand shake.” The coach said that the tournament, his first since taking the reins of the program, will always be “an unforgettable moment” in his life. “Being defeated by Guilford Tech twice in the regular season, and then coming out victorious when it mattered most, brought tears to my eyes as I left the court,” Oliver added.
The Vanguards were led in scoring by sophomore TyQuon Reid of Goldsboro, who posted 26 points to go along with four steals. Freshman NiQuan Cousins of Raleigh was also key, contributing 24 points as well as a team-high 14 rebounds. Freshman Kenneth Finley, Jr., of Raleigh led in assists (6), while also scoring 11 points. Sophomore Chris Pernell of Raleigh put up 14 points.
With the win, VGCC advanced to the second (quarter-final) round on March 5, but lost to the number-two seed, Richard Bland College, on March 5. The Statesmen were ranked as the eighth-best team in the nation in the most recent NJCAA Division II poll.
Cousins scored a game-high 25 points for VGCC and also led in rebounding (8). Reid put up 14 points and 3 assists in his final game as a Vanguard. His fellow sophomores were Pernell, who had 6 points, 2 rebounds, one assist and one steal; Antonio Adams of Oxford, who had 4 rebounds and a steal; and Michael Henderson of Henderson, with 3 rebounds.
The 2016-17 season saw the emergence of two Vanguards as national leaders. Cousins was the top rebounder in the nation this year for Division II, recording 432 total rebounds and 14.9 rebounds per game while also ranking first in both offensive rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game. He is VGCC’s all-time leader in rebounds during a single season and in a single game (28). Reid, meanwhile, ended the season ranked third in the nation for free-throw shooting (195-256) and fifth in steals (95). Reid was also VGCC’s team leader in points per game (23.3), assists per game (6.1) and steals per game (3.3) for the season.
Before the opening of the conference tournament, Reid was named to the All-Region X Second Team, becoming just the third Vanguard to receive that honor in program history. He is also the first player in VGCC history to score 1,000 points.
Coach Oliver said that among the many highlights of the season, the Vanguards defeated the UNC Tar Heels JV team for the first time, and at one point had three players ranked on the NJCAA national leader boards at the same time: Cousins, Reid and Finley. He added that Pernell became the first player in Vanguards history to make more than 100 career three-pointers, with nine of those coming in a single game.
“I can assure our VGCC fans that we will be back in the 2017-2018 season, playing some exciting basketball,” Coach Oliver said. “I am committed to building a much stronger, better, and more equipped men’s basketball program that will aid us in continuing to pursue making history! Thanks to sophomore players such as TyQuon Reid (Team Captain), Chris Pernell (Team Co-Captain), Antonio Adams, and Michael Henderson, for being four solid pillars that I have used to start construction on the rebuilding of VGCC men’s basketball.”
–VGCC–
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RALEIGH – The N.C. Forest Service is urging residents across the state to think safety and exercise caution during the spring fire season, which typically lasts from March to May.
“During the spring fire season, people do a lot of yard work that often includes burning leaves and yard debris,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “There are many factors to consider before doing any burning.”
North Carolinians thinking about burning debris should contact their county ranger for advice first, Troxler said. “The ranger can help maximize safety for people, property and the forest.”
Follow guidelines to reduce risk of wildfire
For people who choose to burn debris, the NCFS urges them to adhere to the following tips to protect property and prevent wildfires:
Consider alternatives to burning. Some yard debris, such as leaves and grass, may be more valuable if composted.
Check with your county fire marshal’s office for local laws on burning debris. Some communities allow burning only during specified hours; others forbid it entirely.
Make sure you have an approved burning permit, which can be obtained at any NCFS office, county-approved burning permit agent, or online at https://ncforestservice.gov.
Check the weather. Don’t burn if conditions are dry or windy.
Only burn natural vegetation from your property. Burning household trash or any other man-made materials is illegal. Trash should be hauled away to a convenience center.
Plan burning for the late afternoon when conditions are typically less windy and more humid.
If you must burn, be prepared. Use a shovel or hoe to clear a perimeter around the area where you plan to burn.
Keep fire tools ready. To control the fire, you will need a hose, bucket, a steel rake and a shovel for tossing dirt on the fire.
Never use flammable liquids such as kerosene, gasoline or diesel fuel to speed burning.
Stay with your fire until it is completely out. In North Carolina, human carelessness leads to more wildfires than any other cause. In fact, debris burning is the No. 1 cause of wildfires in the state.
These same tips hold true for campfires and barbecues, too. Douse burning charcoal briquettes or campfires thoroughly with water. When the coals are soaked, stir them and soak them again. Be sure they are out cold and carefully feel to be sure they are extinguished. Never dump hot ashes or coals into a wooded area.
Burning agriculture residue and forestland litter: In addition to the guidelines above, a fire line should be plowed around the area to be burned. Large fields should be separated into small plots for burning one at a time. Before doing any burning in a wooded area, contact your county ranger, who will weigh all factors, explain them and offer technical advice.
For more information on ways you can prevent wildfires and loss of property visit https://ncforestservice.gov.
https://wizs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ncforestservice.png280453WIZS Staffhttps://wizs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/wizswebsitelogoimage.pngWIZS Staff2017-03-09 16:08:442017-03-09 16:08:44Be careful when burning debris in spring
Henderson, NC– District Attorney Mike Waters is pleased to announce the addition of David Erdmann as an Assistant District Attorney.
Mr. Erdmann was sworn in by District Court Judge Carolyn Thompson on Thursday, March 2, 2017. He joins the District Attorney’s staff after four years of practice as a criminal defense attorney in Surry County, North Carolina.
Vance-Granville Community College has scheduled a “CAD with Solid Edge” course, to be held Monday through Thursday, April 3 through May 25, on the college’s Main Campus in Vance County. Students will choose to take the course on one of two different schedules: 9 a.m. until noon, or 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Solid Edge is a Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) software program, produced by Siemens, which is used in a variety of industries, including advanced manufacturing.
This course introduces students to the three-dimensional solid modeling and design software. Topics include design sketching, basic three-dimensional design considerations and techniques, model creation, model editing, model rendering, analysis of solid models and creation of multi-view drawings. Upon completion, students should be able to use design techniques to sketch, model, edit, and render 3D models and generate multi-view 2D drawings. Students will learn how to create and print 2D drawings from 3D solid models and send solid models to a 3D printer.
The instructor for the course is Peter M. Robinson.
Students may become certified through Siemens upon passing the credentialing exam.
The cost of this course is $187 plus the cost of textbooks and the exam.
Registration can be completed online at www.vgcc.edu/oex or in person at any VGCC campus. The deadline to register is March 28. For more information, contact VGCC at oex@vgcc.edu or (252) 738-3324.
–VGCC–
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