Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Ticks
Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.
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Tag Archive for: #hendersonnews
SportsTalk: Local Schools Making A Run In State Playoffs
It’s an exciting time at Oxford Prep and Kerr Vance Academy. Both schools have teams advancing through the state playoffs.
At Oxford Prep it’s Tommy Anstead’s softball team that is looking to make it to the third round of the state playoffs. “We’ve never been as far as the third round,” Anstead said on Thursday’s SportsTalk on WIZS. On Tuesday Oxford Prep had a convincing 5-3 win over Union High School. That school featured a pitcher with 196 strike outs this year. When asked how you prepare for a pitcher with that type of talent Anstead said, “You hope they don’t have any,” referring to the strike outs. This is the school’s third time advancing to the second round and they must defeat Riverside Martin from Williamston Friday night to make it to round three. Riverside Martin is ranked eleventh in the state. That game is in Oxford and will be at 6pm Friday.
Meanwhile, Mike Joyner, Athletic Director at Kerr Vance Academy, will need to be in two places at once Friday night as both the baseball team and the girl’s soccer team will be playing. The Spartan’s soccer team is ranked #8 in the state and escaped with a 1-0 win over Lee Christian earlier this week and will now face local rival Crossroads Christian. That game is at 5pm Friday. At 6pm the #1 seeded baseball team, which is coming off a first round bye, will take on North Hills Christian. “We lost in the semi-finals last year and we felt we were in good shape to make a run this year,” Joyner said of the team. “We are young with no seniors but we added two really good players,” Joyner added. KVA will be at home throughout the playoffs with the championships coming up on May 19th and 20th.
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WIZS Radio Local News Audio 05-11-23 Noon
Click Play to Listen. On Air at 8am, 12pm, 5pm M-F
WIZS Radio ~ 100.1FM/1450AM
Front Porch Bluegrass Show With Tasker Fleming
Tune in to Tasker Fleming’s Front Porch Bluegrass Show on Sunday evenings on WIZS and you’ll surely find yourself tapping your toes to some familiar songs, featuring fiddles, mandolins and more.
But tune in to the program on Sunday, May 21 at 6 p.m. and you may hear some familiar – and local – artists as well.
Fleming said he plans to mark the second anniversary of the show being aired on WIZS with some nods to all things Henderson.
“I’m going to dedicate the whole show” to Vance County, whether he’s featuring local bluegrass musician Wayne Kinton or reminiscing about eating in local restaurants as a child traveling through Henderson on his way to visit relatives in Virginia.
The show originates from Albemarle, in Stanly County, and it is aired on numerous stations in North Carolina and Virginia. He’s in talks now with a station in Galax, VA. “I’ll offer my show to anyone who wants to listen,” he said.
Folks who tune in on May 21 may just hear him tell the story about his days as a new UNC graduate who landed his first job at Vance Senior High School. The superintendent at the time was Wayne Adcock. Fleming said he was the only employee in the school system who could “boast” of having been paddled by the superintendent.
He’d deserved that paddling, Fleming confessed, when he had been a second-grader with Adcock as his principal.
Fond memories of Nunnery-Freeman and Hereford House restaurants are sure to bring back memories, Fleming noted. And bringing up good memories is part of what the Front Porch Bluegrass show is all about.
“I love doing the show,” Fleming said. “I’ve always had a passion for bluegrass.”
Tune in on Sunday evenings and contact Fleming at frontporchbluegrass21@yahoo.com.
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TownTalk: Short To Retire As Director Of Emergency Operations
Brian Short, director of Vance County emergency operations, is retiring at the end of May. But you won’t find him on the golf course or puttering around in the yard for very long – he’ll begin a new state job just four days after he turns over his local duties to Vivian Lassiter, who will serve as interim director.
Short and Lassiter were guests on Thursday’s TownTalk segment to talk about the state of emergency operations in the county and what may lie ahead.
“With the exception of being a husband and a father,” Short said, “this is the most important thing I’ll do in my life.” He started out in 1991 as a part-time 911 dispatcher and rose through the ranks to become its director in 1998.
“I’ve got a lot of faith and a lot of pride in this agency,” Short said. Lassiter said she’s been preparing for this new role as interim director and said she feels confident because of the way Short has prepared her.
“Brian’s worked with me one on one…I feel as ready as anyone else. I believe I’ll do fine (but) I’ve got big shoes to fill.”
Short said he always tried to make sure the emergency operations staff was ready to work outside their comfort zones “so they’d be ready to grow and progress when the opportunity presented itself.”
Having the safety and welfare of close to 50,000 people is a heavy burden, he acknowledged, but he has great confidence in the people who run the 911 call centers and everyone else who responds to emergency situations.
“They’re the ones in there on the front lines, making split-second decisions, making the right calls,” he said.
Today’s local 911 dispatchers have the best equipment and technology available, Short said. You may find bigger operations functioning in larger cities, “but you won’t see one with any more or better technology than what we have,” he added. “We try to always be on the cutting edge.”
Lassiter knows all about that technology – she’s currently the acting operations manager for the 911 center and occasionally fills in as a 911 operator when needed.
“I just enjoy saving lives,” she said. And that desire was only heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I wanted to do more,” she said.
She plans to keep the agency running just like it’s running now. “I think the way that we do things and involving the community is the right thing to do,” she said.
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Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Carpenter Bees
Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.
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TownTalk: Kerr Lake Regional Water Systems Keeps The Water Flowing
A recent groundbreaking ceremony at the city’s water treatment facility is a tangible indication that all the t’s have been crossed and the I’s dotted to set in motion an expansion project that will, once completed, double the facility’s output to as much as 20 million gallons of water a day.
This is good news for the current 55,000 customers who rely on the Kerr Lake Regional Water System, but Water Resources Director Christy Lipscomb said increased capacity also will allow for growth.
Lipscomb was a guest on Wednesday’s TownTalk and explained just what the almost $80 million expansion project would involve and when it is expected to be completed.
“I am very excited,” Lipscomb said. “This will give us more tools in our toolbox to treat the water and some of the things that show up in the water.
As water testing improves, the EPA and the state set forth regulations that water systems must comply with. “We have to meet (the regulations) and know that it’s going to be safe for the customers,” she said.
The existing system is what Lipscomb calls a “conventional” system, and the plan is to add on to the current building to add a super pulsator system – or Super P, for short.
“It’s like the conventional system, but it runs more efficiently and effectively,” she said of the Super P.
And while there presently no problems with contaminants in the water, having this newer style of system with activated carbon will help if problems arise in the future.
If all goes according to plan, the project will take between 20 months and 30 months to complete, but it will allow for up to 20 million gallons of water a day to be treated and returned to customers for use.
The City of Henderson is the managing partner of the regional water system and has a 60 percent ownership; the city of Oxford and Warren County each have a 20 percent ownership.
Right now, Lipscomb the different entities aren’t using all the water that is allocated to them on paper, which helps the system stay ahead of the game.
On an average day, the water plant treats 7.1 million gallons. When that capacity more than doubles, it could be a game-changer for the area.
Once there is more capacity, customers like Henderson, Oxford and Warren County can use that as a drawing card for economic development.
The plan is to use the Super P as the main treatment source, but keep the conventional system as a backup, just in case. And then, later, a second Super P would be installed and the conventional system would be decommissioned, Lipscomb said.
She said customers shouldn’t see any disruptions in service or changes in water quality because of the expansion.
“They shouldn’t experience anything disruptive,” she said, adding that the city would send out notices if something were to occur that would affect water customers.
Home And Garden Show
On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.
- Identify your insect pest before purchasing a control.
- Read the instructions before purchase.
- Practice Lawnmower safety. Scout lawn for debris, never refuel a mower when mower is hot, don’t mow when grass is wet, No extra riders one seat means one person!
- Don’t override mower safety features.
- Clean up fallen fruit that may have fallen after
- Good time to check tree/shrub health. If any trees and shrubs have not put out vigorous new growth by now, it may be time to consider replacing them.
- Honey bees are still swarming if you see a swarm call Cooperative extension 252-438-8188
- In general, don’t apply insecticides to plants that are blooming.
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WIZS Radio Local News Audio 05-10-23 Noon
Click Play to Listen. On Air at 8am, 12pm, 5pm M-F
WIZS Radio ~ 100.1FM/1450AM
VCS hosts Young Women’s Empowerment Conference
-information courtesy of Brielle Barrow, VCS communication coordinator
A group of business leaders and professionals joined forces to share their knowledge, expertise and paths to success recently for the first Young Women’s Empowerment Conference sponsored by Vance County Schools.
The conference was designed “to inspire and empower middle and high school students to be their best selves and to prepare for their journey into young womanhood,” according to a press statement from Brielle Barrow, VCS Communication Coordinator.
The event was held Friday, April 28 at the Center for Innovation. More than 200 middle and high school students were on hand to hear from the six keynote speakers and to participate in a variety of mini breakout sessions with the women.
Among those present to speak at the conference were Margier White, KaKeasha Richardson, PA-C, Cameshia Gavin, Kayachtta Hawkins-Bullock, DDS, Heather Kenney and Kemira Venable.
