Tag Archive for: #localnewsaudio

37th Annual VGCC Golf Tourney May 3 and 4

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Vance-Granville Community College’s 37th annual golf tournament is less than one month away, and VGCC Foundation Executive Director Eddie Ferguson said the event is shaping up to be the most successful ever.

There’s a wait list for golfers, and more than 70 sponsors have signed on so far, Ferguson said on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny.

He said the tournament has pledges of about $131,000. Last year’s tournament netted about $110,000. There are still plenty of opportunities to sponsor – $500 to be a greens sponsor and $150 to sponsor a tee box. Each of these sponsorships includes signage with the sponsor’s name, logo and phone number, Ferguson said.

This year’s tournament will be held at Henderson Country Club over two afternoons – Monday, May 3 and Tuesday, May 4. Proceeds are used to help students not only with tuition and books, but with other emergency needs that arise as well.

The tournament consistently brings in at least $100,000 that can be given “directly to students with these different needs and other initiatives of the community college,” Ferguson said. The support over the years from the community and the success of the tournament year after year is “a testament to the community and how they perceive and recognize and value the community college,” he said.

Employers in the four counties that VGCC serves rely on the college for future employees, as well as workforce training and other points associated with economic development. “Honestly, the biggest thing is that the community appreciates what the community college does,” Ferguson said.

Other sponsors include:

Title Sponsor – Gupton’s Services

Afternoon Round Sponsors – Altec and Killian Engineering

Health care Sponsor – Granville Health System

Scoreboard Sponsor – Rose Oil

Car Sponsor – Charles Boyd Chevrolet

Pharmacy Sponsor – Mast Drug.

Driving Range Sponsor – Wester Insurance

Soft Drink Sponsor – Durham Coca-Cola

Contact Ferguson at fergusone@vgcc.edu or 252.738.3264.

 

TownTalk 04-08-21 History Of Franklin Co. with Eric Medlin

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Although a native of Creedmoor and Granville County, when Eric Medlin was inspired by a professor at NC State to write a book on a local North Carolina county it wasn’t Granville that he chose to write about but Franklin County. His book, A History of Franklin County North Carolina, has recently been published by Acadia Publishing.

Medlin’s interest in history didn’t begin at the local level. He studied European history at both UNC and NC State. His interest in that particular area of history, however, would change. “Coming out of grad school I decided European History was not where I wanted to go,” Medlin said. He began to take weekend trips throughout North Carolina to visit county courthouses and became interested in the history of North Carolina’s counties. Medlin noted several reasons to write about Franklin County. One reason was because it had been forty years since a book on the county had been written, the beautiful churches in Louisburg and Laurel Mill. According to Medlin, “Franklin County captured my imagination.”

Medlin said the process of writing the first word to the moment it was submitted to the publisher took about a year. With access to the Franklin Times, diaries of families, and access to previous books Medlin was able to pull the book together fairly quickly. Weekends were used to take photographs and he spent numerous days at the state archives office gathering material for this book. “I have no writer’s block,” Medlin said about the writing process.

Medlin said the most difficult decision in writing the book was what to include and what not to include. Earlier books by E. H. Davis and T. H. Pearce focused on different areas of the country history and Medlin wanted to update those earlier works to include more about the post-World War II era including Civil Rights and county’s evolution through the 20th century. He also felt it important to talk about Louisburg writer and poet Edwin Wiley Fuller and Franklin County being the site of the last battle of the Tuscarora war.

When not writing Eric is a Professor of History at Wake Tech. Medlin’s next book project will focus on the history of the North Carolina Furniture industry.

“A History of Franklin County, North Carolina” can be purchased from any local bookseller and online.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

The Local Skinny! April 7; Home And Garden Show

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Wayne Rowland and Paul McKenzie of the Vance Co. Agriucultural Extension Service offer home and garden tips.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

TownTalk 04-07-21 Juvenile Offenders; Gun Violence

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What are some of the steps taken in North Carolina when a juvenile is a suspect or person of interest in a crime?

For one thing, it matters if the crime is a felony and if so what letter.  Felonies are grouped by letters, with letter A, for example, being first degree murder.  A felony with a letter of I, for example, might be a drug crime of some sort.  A second thing that matters is has the juvenile been tried and convicted as an adult before – the once an adult, always an adult law (N.C. G.S. 7B-1604).

North Carolina juvenile delinquency law as of Dec. 1, 2019 looks at ages 6-15 as being juveniles for all offenses and ages 16-17 for all non-motor vehicle offenses as being juveniles.  The exception is – any juvenile with a previous criminal conviction, other than a misdemeanor or infraction motor vehicle offense not involving impaired driving, must be processed as an adult.

How the juvenile may be processed when felony charges are involved and he/she is 16 or 17 years old follows a bit of a flow chart as well.  An A-G felony with a finding of probable cause or return of bill of indictment results in a mandatory transfer to superior court.  An H-I felony with a finding of probably cause results in a discretionary transfer to superior court.

The “Raise the Age” Initiative, an NC Legislature-passed law, raised the age of juvenile jurisdiction for nonviolent crimes to age 18 effective December 1, 2019.

In March of 2019, District Attorney Mike Waters told WIZS TownTalk the change would significantly increase the juvenile court workload as the majority of 16 and 17-year-olds, currently tried automatically as adults in NC, will be tried as juveniles when the law goes into effect.

Under the new law, exceptions exist for 16 and 17-year-olds who commit felonies that are classified as A-D – including murder, robbery and burglary – in addition to DWI and other traffic offenses, firearm charges and gang-related offenses.

“North Carolina is one of the last two states in the nation to charge 16-year-olds as adults,” Waters said at the time in 2019. “I want to reassure the public that, under the new law, the DA’s office will have the discretion to prosecute juveniles that commit serious crimes as adults.”

As for the reason behind raising the age limit for juvenile prosecutions, Waters said research and statistics make a compelling case.

“Research shows that many 16 and 17-year-olds that get involved in the court system may not get involved with it again. Tracking someone forever and giving them a record at a young age creates a certain outcome. Also, 16 and 17-year-olds are not thinking the same way that 18, 19 and 21-year-olds are thinking.”

If you follow the suspect, warrant, arrest pattern for adults, those 18 and over, it is just that.  First a suspect with warrant issued for arrest, or arrested on-view with the State as complainant, then appearing before a magistrate and being charged and detained or bonded or released — in the most simple of terms.

Also in broad terms, once a juvenile is taken into custody, then juvenile services comes and a decision is made on whether to transport the juvenile to a secure facility.  The juvenile is granted a probable cause hearing and the decision about being transferred to superior court is made.

For the Wednesday, April 7, 2021 broadcast of TownTalk, hosts John C. Rose and Bill Harris discussed juvenile offenders and gun violence in the local area and nation.

<This is a news article.  This is not legal advice.>

For complete details and audio click play.