Tag Archive for: #hendersonnews

TownTalk: The Food Farmacy and VAD’s

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The folks at the Vance County Cooperative Extension have to keep their eyes and ears on a whole community as they provide programs and services that County Extension Director Dr. Wykia Macon puts into three broad categories: agriculture, food and nutrition and youth development.

Some programs – like this weekend’s Food Farmacy at the Vance County Regional Farmers Market, for example – check all three boxes for community development, and Macon invites folks out to take part in some of the educational programs and earn some Market Bucks to spend with vendors.

The Food Farmacy program will focus on mental health, physical health and a variety of different things in between, she said.

Educational workshops will be held at the top of the hour beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, Macon said on Tuesday’s TownTalk. Topics range from understanding our relationship with food, food and feelings through therapeutic gardening and stretching our food dollars.

It’s a great way to share information with market customers and they’ll get to spend Market Bucks which will be a benefit to vendors, she explained.

The farmers market has become fertile ground for other special programs, too. Take the community garden space, for example. Most all the beds are rented, which is wonderful, Macon said.

Because there’s a little bit of a hill to navigate, steps have been installed and construction of a ramp is in the works to make the area totally accessible.

The community garden helps people who may not have space for a garden where they live to rent a bed and then get to the business of growing, cultivating, harvesting and enjoying their produce.

Even producers who do have ample land to grow vegetables or plant row crops need extra support from time to time, and that’s where programs like the Voluntary Agricultural District come in.

It’s a way to help farmers preserve their land and their way of life, even when development encroaches.

As the name implies, it is a voluntary program, Macon said, that affords farms and local agriculture some protections when it comes to incoming developments.

“Farmland loss is a huge issue in North Carolina,” Macon said. The VAD is one way to inform developers where working farms are located as they’re considering prospective sites for homes or other developments.

The VAD also has an advisory board, made up of active farmers and others interested in agriculture.

More and more active farms are figuring out ways to diversify their income streams and turning to agritourism, Macon said.

At the recent Kerr-Tar COG economic development summit in Henderson, Macon facilitated a panel discussion about the topic. Former Vance County Schools Superintendent Dr. Cindy Bennett represented Vance County on the panel and discussed her family’s venue, Hillside Farms.

The panelists were in agreement about the need for increased visibility and support at the county and regional level.

“For agritourism to really work, we need more people to know about it, (about) what’s going on, right?” Macon said. “I’m very hopeful when it comes to agritourism in this area,” she added.

Agritourism may be one way to boost economic development for individuals, but it also can bolster the county’s economic development.

“How do we grow as a county but preserve what we have along the way?” Macon said, adding that the county has so much to offer – recreational activities at Kerr Lake, the farmers market and more. “But we don’t want to lose ourselves as we are growing.”

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Cooperative Extension with Michael Ellington: The State Fair

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Michael Ellington, on the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report:

This week, I encourage listeners to explore more than just rides and food at the State Fair.

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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The Local Skinny! KRCV Calling for Minimum 2-Year Statewide Data Center Moratorium

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More than 50 people showed up Monday morning to a press conference held by Kerr Regional Citizen Voices, which expressed support for a minimum two-year moratorium on data center development in the state.

The press conference took place at a location on U.S. 158, close to the 500+ acre tract that is being considered for a hyperscale data center. According to organizers, this is the first of several press conferences to be held across the state that will call state lawmakers to put in place at least a two-year moratorium on data center development.

The application was approved by Vance County late last week, coincidentally, but the press conference had been planned before that application approval was made.

Those in attendance heard from a handful of people who shared their remarks and their unique perspectives with regard to data center development.

Although this particular data center project is at the heart of the opposition, speakers expressed discontent about the county process for discussion, consideration and approval of economic development projects. Speakers called for transparency about prospective projects before decisions are made.

Warren County’s Deborah Ferruccio has been involved with grassroots environmental justice efforts for close to 50 years and said that counties in North Carolina and Virginia that share the Roanoke River Basin – Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston – need to join forces.

“Once again, we are forming a regional alliance,” Ferruccio said. “We’re in this together. She said data center development will have a “devastating impact” on the affected areas, from natural resources, tourism and recreation to water availability and increased electricity demand.

Vance County resident Hope Crabtree spoke about the need for county government leaders to be more responsive to citizens’ requests for information.

“We’re not asking for special treatment, we’re asking for responsible government,” Crabtree said. She further stated that the public should have the opportunity to request and receive information about proposed projects before decisions are made.

She said progress should not come at the expense of those who have to live with the consequences of development.

Other speakers included nearby resident Angie Thornton, retired biomedical researcher Hope Taylor and Vance County resident Christian Somerville.

Visit www.kerrregionalcitizenvoices.com to learn more about the group, its mission and how you can participate or email Info@kerrregionalcitizenvoices.com.

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TownTalk: Watkins Fire Dept. Receives State Award

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If all goes as expected, there will be two volunteer fire stations to serve the Watkins community by next summer.

Watkins Chief Brandon Link said the department has received $550,000 and will use most of the money – $400,000 – to construct a new station.

Link said the site for the new station is still being hammered out, but most likely will be in the general area of Stratford Hills along U.S. Hwy 158.

“We’re trying to get ahead before any type of growth really hit us in Watkins,” Link said on Monday’s TownTalk. The Watkins fire district covers the Dabney area, and the second station will cut response times and, therefore, have a positive effect on resident’s fire insurance rates.

Link said N.C. Sen. Lisa Barnes had been most helpful in securing the funding, which was initiated a few years ago with then-N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon.

Watkins has enjoyed good financial support from the community over the years, and the department’s gotten other funding in the past, “but never this amount of money at one time,” Link said.

The new building, which will be about 6,000 square feet, will have room for fire apparatus, as well as a commons area, bathrooms and a meeting space. They’ll use some of the money for furnishings for the new station, but Link said money also will be spent to remodel the current station on Horseshoe Bend Road.

“It will not go out of operation,” Link said of the existing station, that he hopes will be around another 40 years once remodeling is complete.

“We’ll be operating two fully functioning fire stations, hopefully by next summer.”

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Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Fruit Orchards

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Wayne Rowland, on the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report:

Small orchard fruit trees need to be planted in the fall.

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: Selah Coming to McGregor Hall Oct. 15

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Join Hope for the Hearts of Henderson, Harriett Baptist and Sovereign Redeemer churches for a free concert Thursday, Oct. 15 at McGregor Hall.

The Christian music trio Selah will take the stage at the local performing arts venue, and guest speaker Carlton McLeod will bring a message titled “Unity in Diversity” at the event, according to Hope for the Hearts of Henderson co-founder Charlie Comeau.

The doors open at 6 p.m. and pre-show activities at 6:45 p.m. and the concert begins at 7 p.m., with McLeod speaking in the middle. This free concert marks the launch of Hope for the Hearts of Henderson, and Comeau said he hopes the organization will be able to help provide services and opportunities for churches in the area.

Comeau said the ministry’s mission is to promote and support worship and fellowship with honor and joy of the Lord, seeking Spiritual renewal of hearts and minds in the community.

Harriet Baptist Church in Henderson and Comeau’s church Sovereign Redeemer in Youngsville are partnering with the newly formed ministry of churches to bring the concert to Henderson.

Comeau said he is scheduled to speak at tonight’s Henderson City Council meeting to introduce the new organization to city leaders.

Visit www.HaveHopeforHearts.org to learn more about the ministry. There’s a link for churches and other organizations to register to learn more about how Hope for the Hearts of Henderson may be able to help.

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Major Events Since 1960, Part 3

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People may look back in time and identify particular dates or specific short-term events that are, decades or centuries later, now viewed as being historical. Dates like July 4, 1776, December 7, 1941 are just two particular dates etched into most Americans’ minds as having great significance. Most folks can tell you the importance of those two dates – Independence Day and Pearl Harbor.

But sometimes it’s the regular – the mundane – that are rightly added to that category of “historical events,” and WIZS’s Bill Harris and local historian Mark Pace talked about several in Thursday’s TownTalk segment called “Around Old Granville.”

Take road expansion as one example. Road projects take years (sometimes decades) to complete, but the widening of U.S. 1 from Raleigh to Henderson and later the Hwy. 401 project between Raleigh and Louisburg, both are game-changers for the area.

Harris and Pace wrapped up a three-part series on events since 1960 that have historical significance for the four-county area.

Add to those road expansions the completion of “the Missing Link” that connected I-85 in southern Granville County back in 1973, and Pace said road construction has had a significant impact on the area.

Water systems, like roads, are critical pieces of infrastructure that communities rely on for daily life. A severe drought in 1974, coupled with the need to provide water to Soul City and the possibility of landing a beer manufacturer in Warren County led to the development of the Kerr Lake Regional Water System, Pace said.

“Old Milwaukee wanted to relocate to Warren County,” Pace said, adding that the manufacturer would require a tremendous amount of water. At the time, there wasn’t a water system capable of handling their demands.

Well, it didn’t work out with Old Mil but the water system today processes millions and millions of gallons of water a day. It is completing a huge expansion to grow the amount to 20 million gallons a day.

The area has seen its share of protests since 1960 – some successful and others less so.

Landowners in southern Granville had been upset over the creation of Camp Butner during World War II because they didn’t feel like they were being fairly compensated for the property the government was taking.

Ditto the creation of Kerr Lake in the 1950’s and Falls Lake in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.

Those projects prevailed and are part of the fabric of the community, but there were other protests that caused a stir.

There have been protests against proposed repositories for hazardous materials and waste incinerators, Pace said. In fact, the PCB landfill protests of 1982 is largely credited with being the driver for coining the phrase “environmental justice.”

Pace said it was a “grassroots resistance movement that’s actually been echoed nationwide. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 50 years.”

What events, projects or particular dates will be added to that list of historical events in 50 or 60 more years?

But there could be other events that, for now, are considered regular, ordinary…mundane.

Will it be the Dabney Drive project, long-talked about but – so far, anyway – still in the planning stage?

Will there be “that date” when folks first learned about plans for a proposed data center, sparking a rise in protests and opposition?

Time will tell.

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Cooperative Extension with Jamon Glover: Calmness is Contagious

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Jamon Glover, on the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report:

We continue our series called, “Nobody Taught Dad This”. Today we talk about managing ourselves when it comes to controlling our emotions when our child is present.

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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