Tag Archive for: #hendersonnews

Henderson Vance Recreation & Parks

TownTalk: Upcoming Activities At HVRPD

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Parents who may be looking for some engaging activities for their children this summer need look no further than the program listings at the Henderson Vance Recreation and Parks Department.

A daylong summer camp begins June 12 and continues through Aug. 11, and HVRPD facilities supervisor said Alisha Shaw said the camp will include field trips, meals and more, all for a weekly fee of $50.

Shaw and colleagues Deanne Brown and Shantal Hargrove were guests on Tuesday’s TownTalk to talk and shared information on programs and events that are happening at Fox Pond Park and Aycock Rec Center this summer.

There’s a free Gridiron program for children ages 7-12 that started May 15, but there’s still time to register, Brown, assistant director of the rec and parks department, said.
This program is focused on conditioning, she said. “That’s the whole purpose of this program – before the fall football starts.” Players and cheerleaders for the Tri-City Seahawks begins in the fall. The registration fee is $40, but parents can apply for a fee waiver. There are several different age divisions; football is for ages 4-12 and cheerleading is for ages 5-12. Registration continues through July 30.

Whether providing a spot for sports teams to practice and play or offering multipurpose rooms for rental to the community, Shaw said the department’s recreational facilities are staying busy.

“We are very busy with Fox Pond rentals at this time,” she said. The shelter rental is brisk and folks are out enjoying the pickle ball courts, trails and other outdoor amenities the park offers.

Hargrove is youth services outreach administrator and she said HVRPD offers structure and programming for children, but they also provide parents with peace of mind that their kids are in a safe, secure location while they’re at work.

“It gives the youth something to do in the summertime,” Hargrove said. “Sports gives them a chance to get back outside…and get some exercise.”

Whether it’s summer camp or being a member of a sports team, young people have a chance to interact with children their own age and meet new people who may attend different schools.

Plus, it gets them off their phones and gets them engaged,” Hargrove said. “It gives their thumbs a break,” she said.

HVRPD is planning a couple of activities for Juneteenth, including a street festival on Saturday, June 17 behind the county courthouse on Rose Avenue. There will be live entertainment, lots of food and product vendors. The festival will be held from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Anyone interested in being a vendor can contact HVRPD. The fee for food vendors is $75; other vendors are $25.

Contact Shaw for more information about the street festival at 252.438.2670.

Hargrove said a Juneteenth Jamboree will be held at Aycock Rec Center on Friday, June 16 for youth ages 14-18. There will be a glow-in-the-dark pool party, as well as a a DJ playing music, food, movies and more, she added.

Register to attend the Jamboree on Friday, May 26. All participants must be enrolled in school and have a minimum 2.5 GPA. Contact Darius Pitt at 252.431.6099 to learn more about the Jamboree.

Since 2023 has been designated the Year of the Trail, HVRPD decided to collaborate with Tina Crews and her Visions Educational Learning to create Nature’s Classroom, an interactive program that incorporates hiking trails with education to complete a scavenger hunt along the trails between Fox Pond Park and Aycock Rec Center.

All the recs and parks programs require staffing, and all available positions are listed on the city of Henderson’s webpage at www.henderson.nc.gov.

There are full-time and part-time positions available. Applications are available online and at Aycock Rec Center. Completed paper applications should be turned in to City Hall.

 

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Cooperative Extension With Paul McKenzie: What Works in the Garden

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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.

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Vance County Logo

The Local Skinny! Vance Co. Budget Details

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Vance County Commissioners have held a couple of work sessions to discuss the proposed 2023-24 budget and the community will have a chance to chime in during an upcoming June 5 public hearing before commissioners decide whether to adopt it.

The details of the roughly $57.5 million budget are contained in a 131-page document presented by County Manager Jordan McMillen. This is McMillan’s final budget presentation before he leaves his position later this month to become Butner Town Manager in neighboring Granville County.

The budget calls for no increase in the property tax, holding at 89 cents per $100 valuation, as well as appropriating more than $1.5 million from the General Fund to plug a gap between expected expenses and expected revenues. The proposed budget is 4.5 percent more than the 2022-23 budget.

Among the budget highlights are improvements to the county’s fire tax fund, which will provide 24-hour coverage in the north and south of the county – all with no tax increase.

On the revenue side, property tax is up some $63 million, which translates into more than $600,000 in additional tax revenue for the county.

Sales tax continues to be the big leader, with expected revenues projected at close to $2 million more than last year. Sales tax is the second largest source of revenue for the county at 21 percent.

Among the budget’s line items are funding for broadband expansion and the economic development strategic plan, as well as preparing for ongoing and increased costs in the areas of community health, education and workforce development training, to name a few.

In all, the county received requests for $7.4 million more than it was able to provide. If all those funding requests were to be granted, it would mean a 25.9 cent tax increase to county residents.

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Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Ticks

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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.

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SportsTalk: Local Schools Making A Run In State Playoffs

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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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Front Porch Bluegrass Show With Tasker Fleming

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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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H-V Emergency Operations

TownTalk: Short To Retire As Director Of Emergency Operations

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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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