Mark Hopper, Executive Director at McGregor Hall, joins TownTalk to discuss the exciting things at McGregor Hall, including the McGregor Live 2025 Concert Series.
(Our WIZS written coverage will appear here soon.)
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When Paul Tine stepped into his new role as the state’s DMV commissioner back in May, he knew his role was largely to steer the department through some upgrades and challenges that presented lots of roadblocks to customer service. Hours of waiting in line just to get in the door and impossible-to-get appointments were common complaints, and Tine said he and his team continue to work to make things better.
“Demand is certainly high,” Tine said on Wednesday’s TownTalk, “based on population and the Real ID initiative.”
He acknowledges the need for greater efficiency with internal processes, including upgrading and replacing the record-keeping technology that DMV uses. Customers expect a strong platform, he said, and he hopes to deliver before too long. He said he hopes to award by year’s end a contract to modernize the DMV technology. Until then, Tine and the DMV staff are constantly looking for ways to improve customer satisfaction.
The COVID-19 era requirement that customers make appointments is over, and walk-ins are welcome any time. Tine said 87 percent of clients are walk-ins these days, with the other 13 percent making appointments to conduct their business at DMV.
Moving toward more online transactions is helping ease the crunch at brick-and-mortar DMV offices, and there’s a new queueing system in place that allows customers to wait in their vehicles or other locations nearby instead of braving adverse weather conditions while they wait to get inside the DMV office.
“You can wait wherever you like,” Tine said, and a quick text message from DMV will let customers know when it’s their turn for assistance.
Thanks to more funding from the state legislature, Tine said more examiners have been hired – “the majority of those people in 30 days,” he said. The department is clearing a backlog of employee training by shifting to “in the field” training, which allows employees to serve while they are learning, he said.
Having third-party contractors step in to provide services is proving to be beneficial, too. There are self-serve kiosks in selected areas of the state, and a recent announcement that teen drivers can take their driving tests with a driver education group are just two examples of this partnership.
“We’re hoping to have that first certificate coming in the office any day,” Tine said.
The vast majority of North Carolinians will have to conduct business with the DMV at some time or another, and Tine said he’s sure about one thing:
“Our customers do not care about me…they care about that person they talk to in the office, on the phone, and how good our website is.”
Visit www.ncdmv.gov to learn more.
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Franklin Vance Warren Opportunity provides a multitude of programs throughout its service area that gets right to the heart of its mission of supporting people and helping them make their lives better.
For Dr. Abdul Rasheed, CEO and senior advisor to the FVWOpp board of directors, that’s what it’s all about. Rasheed said a community must leverage its assets in order to excel. “The first thing that we have to do is invest in our assets,” he said on Tuesday’s TownTalk. “Our Number 1 asset is people.”
Rasheed and Roy Brown, FVWOpp’s Media and Communications coordinator, talked about an upcoming podcast and live conversation called “Where Our DOGs At?” whose target audience includes males in the community.
DOG stands for “Dads on Guard,” Rasheed explained, and he said FVW is launching the live conversation and podcast to help men of all ages identify positive norms and principles, creating a “moral compass” to help guide men in their own lives and then translating that to their own families and the larger community.
Several local leaders are scheduled to take part in the program, including Eric Sanchez, founder of Henderson Collegiate, Jamon Glover, Incredible Years Program Coordinator at Vance County Cooperative Extension and Anthony Ragland, owner of Southern Charm event venue in downtown Henderson.
“All of these young men are excellent role models that even an old dog like myself can learn from,” Rasheed said. He and Brown will also participate in the conversations, rounding out the complement of young fathers and community leaders.
FVWOpp will be making announcements on its social media platforms soon about how to participate in the program.
With a $10,000 grant from Triangle North Healthcare Foundation, Rasheed said FVWOpp is going to be able to strengthen its capacity to reach into the community by building positive pathways that allow individuals to survive and thrive.
The theme of the first podcast is safety and gun violence. “We do have a problem here in our area,” Rasheed said. “I think our police are doing the best job they can with the resources they have available to them. We have to rally and support law enforcement in our community,” he said.
Offering young people ways to access workforce development, certificate programs, paths to graduation and mental health resources help young men look to something other than criminal activity, guns and violence.
When Brown was in the Navy, he got to travel extensively and lived in U.S. cities where he saw Black professionals – doctors, lawyers, business people – being successful in places that supported them.
“When I came back home, I thought, ‘why can’t we do that here?’” Brown said. Programs like the Community Services Block Grant that helps individuals pursue certificate programs that help them get better jobs is just one program that FVWOpp works with.
The Section 8 program is another way to support renters secure housing with private property owners by providing a rental subsidy.
A weatherization program helps mostly senior adults and people with disabilities better insulate their homes to keep them warmer in winter and cooler in summer.
These programs, among others offered by FVWOpp help people in the community establish a better quality of life. Helping individuals helps neighborhoods, too, which ripples out into the larger community, Rasheed said.
Partnerships with city and county reap benefits, too. The area’s largest Headstart location is at the former Eaton Johnson campus, with upwards of 100 children getting high-quality instruction in 5-star state certified classrooms.
This Thursday, Oct. 2, at 11 a.m., FVWOpp will welcome Assistant Secretary for Rural Economic Development at the N.C. Dept. of Commerce Reginald Speight to Henderson. This arm of the state government is focused on strengthening rural communities across the state.
Rasheed invites the community to attend this event as a way to establish relationships for positive growth and development for the area.
Visit www.fvwopp.com to learn about all the programs the center offers.
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Pink With A Passion is hosting a fish plate fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 11 on the campus of Warren County Middle School as part of its mission to raise awareness and providing financial support for people who need help as they battle the disease.
“Hopefully, one day we won’t have to talk about breast cancer – or cancer of any kind,” said Elaine Tunstall-Smith, a member of Pink With A Passion, a nonprofit based in Warren County founded by breast cancer survivor Amena Wilson.
The fundraiser runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Plates are $12 and include fish, buttered parsley potatoes, green beans and hushpuppies. Dessert and beverage vendors will be on hand at the site, located at 118 Campus Dr., Warrenton.
In addition to the fish plate fundraiser, the “Pink Out for Hope: Cancer Awareness Benefit” will have Pink With A Passion T-Shirts for sale – $20 for short sleeve and $25 for long sleeve, as well as cancer awareness literature and a voter registration table.
The day is a chance to celebrate survivors, honor loved ones, and support awareness in the community. And, of course, a great opportunity to wear pink!
Pink With A Passion is thriving, Tunstall-Smith said, thanks to support from the community, and from family members and friends of individuals who honor and remember their loved ones who have battled – or battle – breast cancer.
“Any efforts we can do to help people be more aware of what’s available,” she said, is what the organization is all about. Early detection through screenings and education provide valuable information that work together to increase awareness of the disease.
The group hosts a walk in the spring and had a “Rainbow” luncheon in June for survivors of all types of cancers.
At that luncheon, speakers shared stories of encouragement and support to those gathered as a way to give hope to those survivors.
“It’s important to celebrate so that hope stays alive for those who are currently fighting a battle,” she said.
Donations from the fundraiser are used to host the events and workshops, support groups to encourage strength and hope to connect with people who are in the struggle.
“Every dollar that we make we try to use to help save lives and support survivors,” Tunstall-Smith said. The group has helped fund transportation, medications and prosthetics.
It’s a way to “just hand somebody a dollar and a smile to remind them that they’re not in the battle alone.”
To learn more, contact founder and president Amena Wilson at 252.213.5735 or Elaine White at 443.983.4742 or visit www.pinkwithapassion.org
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Budding artists in Vance County have a unique opportunity to have their artwork appear on Kernel Craze holiday popcorn tins and spread some pride and passion for their community in the process.
Stephen Wolf, Kernel Craze founder, said the Holiday Art Challenge is open to K-12 students who live or go to school in Vance County. Participants must register by Oct. 1 and submit artwork no later than Oct. 16. Visit www.kernelcraze.com to register.
The artwork should include a few specific aspects, Wolf explained. It should have a winter theme and incorporate the city of Henderson and Kernel Craze in some way. In addition, the artwork must fit within an 11 x 17 inch document, using the landscape orientation.
The top winner will get $100 and the top two winners’ creations will appear on the 2025 holiday tins that hold the different popped corn creations.
All the entries will be featured in a Showcase on Thursday, Oct. 23. Most likely the showcase and judging will take place at McGregor Hall, but Wolf said details haven’t been finalized.
This is the first year for the contest, and Wolf said he hopes it will spark some interest among young people in the area.
“Henderson is my home, it’s where I grew up,” he said. “I think that our youth here need more opportunities to do something positive…do something that encourages the pride and passion of the community.”
And there’s a little bit of pride that goes along with having original artwork featured on the tins, too. “When one of our popcorn tins is purchased, your art is also coming with it,” he said.
Find all the details for the Holiday Art Challenge at www.kernelcraze.com.
Contact Wolf at stephen@kernelcraze.com to learn more.
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Visitors to New York City back in the late 1800’s may have seen advertisements from Ridgeway
Estates Co., a group of local men who had big plans for enticing Northerners to move South, to the tiny little community that sits today between Middleburg and Norlina, just over the Warren County line.
This corporation had big plans – the Raleigh to Gaston railroad had a stop in Ridgeway, and there was even a fancy new 3-story brick hotel right across from the depot with a h 27-stall barn, carriage houses and all the finest amenities a traveler could want.
Yep, thing were looking up in Ridgeway. The group of men created a vision of a town with streets laid out and 1,800 building lots on about 350 acres of property. All they needed were the buyers.
“It didn’t take off like they anticipated,” said local historian Mark Pace on Thursday’s Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk.
Pace and WIZS’s Bill Harris talked about the community known for its German settlers and super-sweet cantaloupes. In 1869, Ridgeway became an incorporated township in anticipation of the influx of Northerners, Pace said. There’s a stone marker near what would have been the center of town, which lost its charter about 10 years later.
In 1901, a man by the name of Ed Petar happened to plant a few cantaloupe seeds in the Ridgeway area and, it turns out, the ripe melons were really sweet and delicious. From that modest beginning grew a craze for the super-sweet produce that lasts to this day. By 1932, with the help of the railroad, thousands of crates of cantaloupes were shipped from Ridgeway. The peak year was 1956, Pace said, when 30,000 crates of the smallish melon with the light orange flesh and ropy exterior found their way all across the country via refrigerated trucks and boxcars.
Pace said that 75 percent of the cantaloupes grown in Ridgeway at the time were cultivated by farmers of German descent. Families with surnames like Kilian, Holtzmann, Bender and Daeke – just to name a few – began to settle in little ol’ Ridgeway.
But how’d they know to come? It seems a traveling preacher with ties to the German community and the Lutheran Church in Germany started spreading the word about the area. He was a German-born missionary and when he came upon the advertisements in New York City, he translated them and sent them to friends in Germany.
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We’re officially into the first few days into autumn, when thoughts turn to football, pumpkin spice everything, and fall colors like orange, yellow and…PINK!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Freddie Harris and her nonprofit organization Sisters Speak Life want to turn Henderson and Vance County pink to bring awareness to the importance of annual mammograms and early detection.
“Pink Out Vance County” kicks off at 12 noon on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at McGregor Hall. The event will begin with a “countywide pause and a Pink Bow moment,” Harris said on Wednesday’s TownTalk. Participants will tie dozens of pink bows on trees along Breckenridge Street outside McGregor Hall. The bows serve as visual reminders and symbols of hope for all who have been touched in one way or another by breast cancer.
“I really want the community to know that we need you,” said Harris, herself a two-time cancer survivor. “We want you to come and join us as we tie the pink bows around trees downtown. That’s a community effort and we want you to be a part of that,” she said.
Pink bows and Pink Out t-shirts can be purchased online at www.sistersspeaklife.org to show support for the cause. The event continues later that afternoon at 5:30 p.m. with a Community Gathering in the Gallery Area between McGregor Hall and Perry Memorial Library.
“Our goal is to inspire women to get their mammograms, to provide educational information and support for survivors,” said Harris. “It’s like a passion for me. I want women to know the importance of getting a mammogram. I hope to inspire others as well…My hope is that in Vance County we can come together to do awareness, which is so important.”
Dr. Gary Smith, a local physician and a member of the nonprofit’s board emphasized the importance of early detection.
“Early detection is an important event,” Smith said, “that starts with awareness.” Annual mammograms, especially for women between 45 and 75 years of age.
Early detection means earlier interventions, he said, which can lead to better outcomes. A mammogram is an important tool in early detection. Another important tool, Smith said, is having a support team to help a patient in the healing process, which begins the moment a patient receives a cancer diagnosis. “That’s a time they need their community the most,” he said.
Invision Diagnostics is bringing its Mammogram Bus to Aycock Rec Center on Saturday, Nov. 1 and now is the time to schedule a free mammogram. Phone 877.318.1349 to schedule an appointment. Last year, 19 women took advantage of the mobile service, and Harris would love to see a good turnout this year, too.
SistersspeakLife is creating a video to help promote that Nov. 1 event. If you’re a breast cancer survivor, please send a headshot photo, along with the year you were diagnosed and a one-word description of yourself to be included in the video. In addition to the mammogram bus, there will be health-related resources for participants to learn about available services in the area.
When Harris was diagnosed, she said she found inspiration from people – family, friends and even strangers – who surrounded her with love and support.
She encourages people to come together, reach out and help each other. “It made a difference for me and I think it can make a difference for someone else.”
Learn more at https://www.facebook.com/sistersspeaklife or https://sistersspeaklife.org/
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During a special called meeting Monday, the Vance County Commissioners approved a revised emergency pay policy that has been in effect since April to staff the county detention center.
Since the policy was put in place – which allows for employees of the Vance County Sheriff’s Office to fill in at the jail because of staffing shortages – the county has paid more than $483,000 to keep adequate staff at the jail. The funds have come from lapsed salaries.
County Manager C. Renee Perry recommended some changes to the policy to commissioners, which includes removing exempt staff from substituting at the jail, using individual employees’ overtime pay rate and allowing no more than 60 hours overtime per pay period.
The revised policy states that exempt employees and non-exempt staff at a pay grade of 72 or above be excluded from the emergency pay policy.
Sheriff Curtis Brame responded to commissioners’ concerns and said he opposed some of what the manager included in the revised policy. He requested that a cap not be placed on the number of hours an individual can work, and he balked at having on-duty patrol deputies be responsible for transporting detainees.
Brame said that he is down 12 staff at the sheriff’s office, and having patrol deputies transporting detainees would mean they’re not patrolling the county.
“We’re talking about safety, we’re definitely talking about safety,” Brame said. As of Monday, the county has 171 detainees, 63 of which are housed at the county jail. That means that the other 108 are in other detention facilities spread across the state of North Carolina from the coast to the Tennessee border.
In response to questions earlier Tuesday from WIZS, Perry said the sheriff “must reach out for approval in advance, just to ensure that the funds are available, not necessarily if the employees can work – just that funds are available,” she reiterated.
With regard to transport of detainees, Perry said that historically, deputies were able to transport. “My preference is to have his deputies do the actual transport without additional pay on their regular shift,” she said, but added that if that causes an undue hardship she would entertain conversations with the sheriff about that. “He just needs to let me know,” she said.
The policy that Perry proposes states that when the lapses salary well goes dry, the emergency pay policy will end.
Brame said county money needs to be made available to keep the staffing at the jail. He called the fund balance a rainy-day fund, used when emergencies arise. “It’s raining like hell in Vance County,” Brame said, “and I’m getting wet.”
After close to a half hour discussion, Commissioner Tommy Hester made a motion to approve the policy Perry recommended. The motion was seconded and was approved, with a lone “no “vote cast by Commissioner Valencia Perry.
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The ‘Make A Joyful Noise Unto The Lord’ concert to benefit ACTS is coming up quickly, and Executive Director Thomas Blackwell is looking forward to the Oct. 11 performance at McGregor Hall. Blackwell has been in the role since January, and this will be the first chance he’s had to attend.
So far, local performers like Evelyn Couch, Eric Hargrove and praise teams from Harriet Baptist Church and Clearview Church are among those taking the stage over the course of the concert, which begins at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $5 and are available at the door. Children 12 and under get in free.
Sponsorships are available and there’s still time to sign up to perform, Blackwell said on Monday’s TownTalk. The deadline for both is Oct. 6.
And while the concert will be a feast for the ears, Blackwell said it’s a way to support the mission of ACTS to feed people – and not just with food.
“We want to feed people spiritually, not just bodily,” he said.
ACTS continues to provide hot meals at lunchtime, but since the COVID pandemic, those meals have been served outside.
He estimates that ACTS is serving between 200 and 300 plates a day, but some of those are take-home plates, so the number of individuals is lower than that figure.
“There are a lot of people who just need a little help,” Blackwell said, quoting statistics that state there are close to 4,000 children in Henderson alone who are food-insecure.
Blackwell said volunteers, as well as the cook, are working to put a plan together to return to providing meals indoors for those who rely on hot lunches at ACTS.
“We really want to bring people back inside, to build relationships,” he said. “We want Gospel opportunities in all that we do.”
Blackwell said he sees the mission of ACTS as part of The Great Commission, taking Jesus’s message to the corners of the world. Henderson is one of those corners, too, and the work of ACTS is a way to fulfill that mission close to home.
People “need hope, dignity, compassion,” he said, “someone to point them to Jesus.”
Follow ACTS on Facebook, where Blackwell keeps an updated list of particular needs for food donations and more. With school back in session, for example, the Backpack Buddies program is up and running, so there’s a need for single-serve food items for students to take home on weekends.
Contact Blackwell at ACTS 252.492.8231 or via email at tdblackwell@actsofhenderson.org
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The Faith in Mental Health certificate program has gotten off to a strong start, with more than 100 people representing about 30 churches taking part in the initial program in June. Organizers are expanding this pilot phase in Vance and Granville counties and welcome others to join at upcoming meetings, one in Vance and one in Granville.
The Vance County meeting will be held Monday, Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Henderson. The Granville County meeting will be held Monday, Sept. 29 at 6 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Butner.
Local pastor Frank Sossamon, in partnership with Granville Vance Public Health, Vaya Health and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Mental Health, introduced the idea to his colleagues in the N.C. House of Representatives.
Sossamon and GVPH’s Karl Johnson, PhD, talked about how the Faith in Mental Health program works to help church communities be a bridge to services and to resources for members of the congregations and for the larger community.
“It’s a mechanism for churches to become more knowledgeable about resources,” Sossamon said on Thursday’s TownTalk. Services are available, he said, but if you don’t know how to access those services, they’re of no help to someone struggling with mental health issues.
“We have already gotten some positive response back,” Sossamon said of the first training session held in June.
They decided to add more sessions to allow even more churches to get involved. “Every church can be involved and should be involved,” he added.
Johnson is on the faculty of UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, but he said he spends a good bit of time as part of the GVPH staff. He said he helps connects both work sites – things happening at the university and things happening on the ground in Vance and Granville counties.
Those connections include financial resources and networks of professionals who can support the kind of work the Faith in Mental Health program does.
“It’s exciting to work with Pastor frank Sossamon,” Johnson said, as well as Vaya and the professionals at the state level to be able to tailor programs to meet the diverse needs of churches.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all program,” he said. Program organizers work with churches to help them identify the topics that best suit their needs, whether it’s addiction, depression, anxiety, the mental health of the elderly, among others.
This set up “gives churches a lot of agency in pursuing the kinds of activities that they think will better equip their congregations and community,” Johnson said.
The program is free and open to all local religious leaders and church members of any denomination in Vance and Granville counties. Designed to help faith communities support individuals facing mental health and substance use challenges—through both practical resources and a faith-based perspective – the Faith in Mental Health program is one way to help churches and their members to become more knowledgeable about available resources and agencies.
“Churches have long been a source of strength and support in our communities,” Sossamon said in a press release from GVPH announcing the extra meetings. “With the right tools and knowledge, faith communities can play a powerful role in walking alongside individuals in their recovery journeys—spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.”
Participants will learn about local providers of mental health and substance use treatment; understand the science behind conditions like depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, and suicidality; explore available treatment options; and discover how faith and spirituality can provide unique forms of support for those in need.
If a church were to develop a mental health ministry that highlights each month a different theme related to mental health, Sossamon said it would go a long way to educated and inform the congregation.
But more than that, just talking openly about mental health and the challenges associated with it, are helpful. “Talk about it and remove the stigma,” Sossamon said. “That in itself is healing.”
For more information or to get involved, contact Sossamon at pastorfrank1954@gmail.com.
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