Tag Archive for: #towntalk

TownTalk: Byrne Running For NC Court of Appeals

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When it comes to local contests, voters may not need much time to decide who they’re going to support at election time. But statewide contests – like the N.C. Court of Appeals, for example – may cause voters to spend a few minutes longer at the polls before deciding who to vote for.

Michael Byrne is the Republican nominee whose name will appear on the November ballot. He faces incumbent John Arrowood, who was appointed to the court in 2017, for Seat 1 on the 15-judge court.

Byrne, 59, has been an administrative law judge for the past six years, and he said that experience, coupled with close to 20 years focused narrowly on representing state employees and police officers, gives him the skill set needed to be an effective court of appeals judge.

Appeals Court judges serve an eight-year term, Byrne explained on Monday’s TownTalk, and the N.C. Court of Appeals is the second highest court in the state behind the State Supreme Court.

Byrne said 85 percent of cases end at the N.C. Court of Appeals level.

As an attorney, Byrne said he’s argued more than 20 cases at both the state Supreme Court and appellate level – “I was fortunate,” he said. “I never lost a law enforcement case on appeal.”

The 15 appellate judges cover the entire state and usually hear and deal with more than 1,000 cases a year.

Compared to the state Supreme Court, that’s a lot. Appellate judges have to be able to do their jobs quickly and efficiently, he said.

Similarly, administrative court judges handle a lot of cases, too. Byrne said he’s issued more than 400 decisions; the 10 that went to the court of appeals were all unanimously affirmed, he added.

He announced his candidacy one year ago, and since then, he’s been putting lots of miles on his trusty Volvo station wagon as he travels the state meeting people and campaigning.

And although he’s been a registered Republican since he was 18, Byrne said political affiliation plays no role in his work as a judge.

“My number one concern is fairness and due process for everyone,” he said. “I’m never going to let political considerations affect a ruling that I make. The law’s the law for everyone.”

His philosophy is simple, he said, something he learned from his mentor Julian Mann: “Get it right.” My overall saying is ‘A fair judge. Period. For everyone. Period.’”

More than anything else, people want to know that the judge that’s hearing their case is fair, he said, that they don’t favor one side or the other.

Byrne said he hears cases involving agencies that have been headed by Democrats and others by Republicans.

“The difference in the way I treat them is nothing,” Byrne said. “Because the law’s the same for everybody.”

You can learn more about Byrne and his candidacy at www.mb4nc.com and about all contests in the upcoming November elections at https://ncvoterguide.org/ and https://ncvoterguide.org/profiles/

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(This is not a paid ad. WIZS offers equal time to candidates.)

TownTalk: Advanced Manufacturing At VGCC; Big Opportunities; Big Pay

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Once associated with low pay and manual labor in dirty, hot conditions, today’s manufacturing facilities are clean, temperature-controlled spaces where it’s the robots that do the heavy lifting, and right here in the four-county area that Vance-Granville Community College serves, a full list of companies contribute to the more than $44 billion of goods that the state sends to consumers near and far each year.

That’s where you come in.

Having those manufacturers within the VGCC footprint provides a unique opportunity for the community college to help students with education and training and to create a highly trained pool of employees to fill jobs these employers need.

Stephanie Tolbert, VGCC’s dean of Business and Applied Technologies, said the college has been offering programs like mechatronics and electronic engineering, among others, for a long time. And now, VGCC is getting ready to break ground for construction of its Center for Advanced Manufacturing in Granville County that will ultimately bring all those programs under one roof.

“We have tons of manufacturing companies, and that equals a lot of jobs,” Tolbert told WIZS TownTalk.

With more than 250 workers 55 or older in area manufacturing facilities, Tolbert said VGCC is positioning itself to provide a trained workforce as employees take retirement so companies can keep their production strong.

There are several different paths to get trained, from certificates to an associate’s degree, she explained.

A full-time student can take 4-5 classes and finish in one semester. In one year, a full-time student can take 10-12 classes and receive a diploma credential. An associate’s degree takes two years.

A student can get started in a certificate program, secure a job upon completion and then return for the additional classes – sometimes on the employer’s dime.

“They need employees now but know that this education is valuable and will make them a better employee,” Tolbert said.

The new center, a 35,200 square-foot building that will be located in Triangle North business park, is scheduled to open in January 2028.

“We are extremely excited,” Tolbert said. “This is a project that has been in the making for a decade.”

Initially, the center will house the mechatronics, electronic engineering, electrical systems technology, welding and HVAC programs. There will be conference space for meetings and trainings and open labs that will serve as expansion spaces, she explained, so future programs can be brought in.

David Bullock is the department chair for Applied Technologies, and Tolbert said the program has grown under his leadership – in the past four years, in fact, enrollment is up 40 percent.

Students learn technical skills that transfer to programming, repairing and maintaining automated and robotic equipment that continue to transform manufacturing.

But don’t believe everything you hear about robots and AI taking over all the jobs that humans do, Tolbert said.

A robot doesn’t move until it’s commanded to – by a human punching in instructions with a device akin to an iPad or tablet. “These robots are here to work collaboratively,” she said, doing the hard work which frees up the humans to do other things.

“AI and robots, I promise, will not take over manufacturing,” Tolbert said. “They cannot do anything until we program them to do it.”

Not sure whether mechatronics or advanced manufacturing is something you’d be interested in or good at? Come out for a visit or take a tour at a summertime “Thursday Connect” event, Tolbert said. Tomorrow’s (6-25-26) event will be held at the Franklin Campus from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

And if you’re someone who built Lego creations when you were a child or still enjoy taking things apart, figuring out what’s wrong and putting things back together again, then Tolbert says, “mechatronics may be your jam.”

There’s plenty of time to apply, enroll and get registered for fall semester, which begins mid-August.

Visit https://www.vgcc.edu/ to learn more about programs, classes, registration and future Thursday Connect events.

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(This is not a paid ad. The information and audio above originated on WIZS on June 24, 2026. An ad about the same information is running at this time on WIZS Radio.)

TownTalk: Veterans Memorial A Success; Phase 2 To Come

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The Vance County Veterans Memorial has been in place for a few weeks now in the city-owned public space outside the Henderson Police Department.

Each side of the six-sided monument honors one of the branches of the military, from Army to  Space Force. Visitors who have come for a closer inspection of the impressive installation may notice something that’s unique to Henderson: depictions of Corbitt trucks on two sides of the monument.

“We’re proud to have those in there,” said American Legion Post 60 Commander Hartwell Wright on Tuesday’s TownTalk. Wright and Andy Roberson joined WIZS’s Scout Hughes to reflect on how the memorial came to be, as well as what’s next.

The 9-foot tall monument with the bronze eagle atop it may be the first thing that grabs people’s attention, but Wright said “they always migrate to the names and reflect on the names.”

Although the monument itself is devoid of names, the 126 names of those Vance County natives who died in service to their country are inscribed on a large stone as part of the overall installation.

When the American Legion Post 60 kicked off its campaign to raise the $150,000 or so needed to complete this part of the project late in 2025, Wright said folks were skeptical that things could fall into place by July 4.

But, indeed, the memorial was officially dedicated on Saturday, July 4 – on time and on budget – and Wright called it a true labor of love. From financial donations – small and large – to donations of time, labor and materials from numerous individuals and businesses in the community, the memorial was commissioned and completed.

Mission accomplished.

At least this phase, anyway.

Wright said next phases include adding lighting to illuminate the memorial at night, and then to replace nearby wooden benches with granite benches to complement the memorial area.

In addition to those who contributed time and money to the project, Wright said the city of Henderson has been a key partner from the beginning.

Wright said, “We contemplated several different locations,” including the property where the Post 60 Hut sits on Garnett Street. But the railroad owns a good bit of the property near there, and, besides, Wright said, parking would have been a problem, too.

The city offered up the area outside the police department, and that set the wheels in motion.

Long-time residents may remember the monuments in what Wright called Veterans Triangle, positioned near the Fire Department and the overpass on North Garnett Street. After the city removed those monuments to make way for the water fountain installation, folks began talking about the need to have some sort of memorial to remember the war dead.

“It was time for us to rectify that,” Wright said. “That was the impetus behind getting this thing started.”

Without the generous donation of the property by the city, the project most likely would have had a very different outcome, Wright said.

Roberson agreed, adding that the donations of landscaping work, hole digging and concrete pouring would have added to the bill considerably.

“It would have been a lot more money,” Roberson said.

Another partnership involved the Vance County Historical Society, which had a project of its own underway to create banners for downtown lampposts in memory of the 126 veterans who died in military service.

“We piggy-backed off of them and the research they were doing in verifying each and every one of those names,” Wright said.

Names inscribed on the original stones at Veterans Triangle had been provided long ago by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Wright said they were presumed to be correct.

In their research, however, it was discovered that several of those names belonged on memorials in Henderson-VILLE, not Henderson.

Please contact the Vance County Historical Society if you believe your family has a loved one whose name should be included along with the 126 other names of service members who have died in military service.

Visit https://vcvm.org/ to learn more and find a link to make a donation online.

Send checks to:

American Legion Post 60

P.O. Box 1765

Henderson, NC 27536

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TownTalk: Bridging the Digital Divide

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A group of local, state and regional partners is teaming up to host a daylong summit in Henderson on July 23 that will focus on closing the “digital divide” in rural areas as a way to improve access to healthcare resources with the ultimate goal of having a positive effect on health outcomes for rural residents.

Organizers say the summit is designed to move beyond discussion and into action by creating a regional framework for collaboration, investment, and measurable outcomes. Participants will explore how broadband can serve as a catalyst for improved healthcare access, stronger workforce participation, economic opportunity, and enhanced quality of life throughout eastern North Carolina.

The Centre for Homeownership and Economic Development Corp. is partnering with state-level departments – Information and Technology and Health and Human Services –  along with collaboration from Henderson Mayor Melissa Elliott and numerous other community entities to present the program, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at McGregor Hall in downtown Henderson.

“I’m excited about this,” Elliott said. “I know that collaboration is key…we have to collaborate for the betterment of the whole, to make sure people get the care they deserve.”

She hopes that one outcome of the summit will be to gather data that will be used to craft legislation to take to the General Assembly.

Elliott said she’s working with CHOEDC as program director for the “Here to Help” program that’s getting everything organized for July 23. It’s a 12-month contract that began in September 2025, with $100,000 in funding from the U.S. based biotechnology company Genentech.

Broadband accessibility, Elliott said, is becoming more and more critical for people to get access to health care. Patients increasingly are accessing their medical information through online portals, completing screenings and conducting telehealth visits with their health care providers, she noted.

Rural residents without reliable broadband access may not be able to access those medical services.

“The digital divide was contributing to the health care divide,” Elliott said.

Take the idea of telehealth, for example. Elliott said part of the “Here to Help” program included a survey of individuals who live in Vance and surrounding counties. She said only 23 percent of respondents were familiar with the term “telehealth.”

“There are a lot of people in our community and across the rural spaces – particularly the seniors – that can really benefit from telehealth services,” Elliott said, who called herself a telehealth advocate.

This summit is designed to bring together public health, health care systems, local government, nonprofits, broadband providers, educational institutions and community organizations under one shared vision – greater accessibility to broadband service to ultimately have a positive effect on health outcomes for rural residents.

“Reliable internet access has become a critical component of healthcare delivery, education, workforce development, and economic mobility,” said Glyndola Massenburg-Beasley CHOEDC’s chief development officer.

“Yet many households across Vance, Granville, Warren, Franklin and surrounding counties continue to face barriers to broadband connectivity, limiting access to telehealth services, behavioral health support, chronic disease management resources, and preventive care,” Massenburg-Beasley said in a press statement.

The use of telehealth is becoming more and more frequent, and it can be a convenient way for patients to be in touch with their physicians or other health care providers. People who live in rural areas where broadband access can be sometimes spotty, can’t take full advantage of telehealth visits.

“Broadband access is no longer a luxury—it is an essential component of access to healthcare,” said Massenburg-Beasley.

Educating the public is a key component, Elliott said. Placing an emphasis on having reliable internet connectivity is more than just a convenience for streaming movies and television shows.“We want to make sure that we have the same access that they have in a Raleigh or a Greensboro or Charlotte. We want our people to have the same access to internet services for health care, education, working – whatever they’re utilizing it for.

The hope is to change the mindset of the end user so it’s not just internet for social media and streaming movies. Elliott wants rural consumers to be able to use internet for doctor’s appointments, prescription refills and more.

“Broadband is health care infrastructure,” Elliott said. “Once people understand that connection, the conversation changes from ‘I don’t need the internet’  to ‘I need access to care.’”

The upcoming summit will take a comprehensive look at the needs of rural residents and then work with community stakeholders including managed care organizations, local governments, faith-based institutions and community stakeholders to come up with ways to expand broadband access, strenghthen digital inclusion that improve health outcomes.

Below are some examples of how different groups can contribute to the overall goal:

  • CHODEC –  focus on community engagement, outreach and implementation strategies that integrate housing stability, workforce development, health equity, and family support services
  • Faith-based organizations – serve as critical partners in the initiative. Churches, ministries and interfaith networks will assist with community outreach, digital literacy education, telehealth navigation and trust-building efforts that ensure residents can effectively utilize new technologies and healthcare resources
  • Managed care providers – contribute expertise in care coordination, population health management, and telehealth implementation, while local governments are helping identify infrastructure needs and community priorities
  • State-level participation – partnership aligns with statewide broadband expansion goals led by NCDIT and healthcare priorities advanced by NCDHHS

Elliott said registration is encouraged, mainly to ensure there’s enough food for everyone. But if you can’t pre-register and would like to come to at least some of the day’s programs, she said by all means, do so.

Contact gmbeasley.com/events to register or to learn more.

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(This audio and web post first appeared on WIZS on July 1, 2026.)
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TownTalk: Vance County Water District Offers Debt Forgiveness Program For Eligible Customers

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The Vance County Water District has a forgiveness program in place in an effort to help residents with outstanding balances erase that debt and tap on to the water line.

Enterprise Fund and Special Projects Director Frankie Nobles said the water bill forgiveness program will erase 75 percent of the customer’s outstanding balance.

“We’re trying to help some customers that want water but they haven’t paid their $30 a month fees like they should have,” Nobles said.

These customers started the process to tap into the water line once it was available, and that’s when they began receiving that monthly $30 accessibility fee.

For whatever reason, there are customers who didn’t complete the process to tap into the water line, but they kept accumulating the monthly accessibility fee.

Now – several years later, in some cases – customers find themselves with outstanding balances.

Nobles said customers who are interested in completing the process to tap into the county water line can pay 25 percent of what they owe and they’ll be connected.

The offer will be in effect through March 2027.

The county also has slashed the normal $1,795 tap fee down to $125, which will remain in place until the current water expansion project in Kittrell is completed. Nobles said should be in mid-September 2026.

The Kittrell expansion is the fifth phase the county has undertaken to try to get more water throughout the county. Nobles said more than 23.6 miles of water line is involved. A final total won’t be available until the project is completed, he added, but the price tag is more than $10 million.

“We’re getting there,” he said. “It just takes a while to get it done because of the cost.”

Nobles said the county initially loses money, but added that as more customers come on line, the county can make that money back. “That’s what we’re trying to do, add customers to our system and that really helps cover all of our costs.”

He gets calls each week from residents who have problems with their wells and ask about county access to provide clean drinking water.

“We want to be able to help the citizens in the community that do want water and (who) are having issues with their well,” he said. “We want to help as much as we can.”

The county contracts with Envirolink to handle repairs, leaks, and meter installation. Contact Envirolink at 252.235.4900 or toll-free at 888.754.9878 to learn more. The email is customerservice@envirolinkinc.com

Nobles said he also is available to try to help answer residents’ questions. Contact him at 252.738.2005.

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(The above audio and text originated on WIZS May 20, 2026.)

TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Nathaniel Macon

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Some may say that the area known as Old Granville County can lay claim to having the original “Senator ‘No’” among its residents, more than a century before the longtime TV editorialist-turned politician Jesse Helms was known by the dubious nickname.

That man – Nathaniel Macon – was perhaps the foremost public figure from North Carolina in the early 19th century said WIZS’s Bill Harris. Bill and local historian Mark Pace recounted stories about Macon and his rise to prominence in the political arena in the 1800’s on Thursday’s Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk.

“He might have been the most important and significant North Carolinian in his time and his day,” Pace said. “He personified North Carolina.” The North Carolina of that time, anyway. Which meant that he was a staunch conservative who didn’t believe the government had any business doing much of anything that interfered with individual rights and private industry.

His ideas aligned more with those of Thomas Jefferson, who was a champion of individual liberty and states’ rights and talked up the virtues and the lifestyles of landowners.

Macon was a 24-year-old serving in the New Jersey militia during the American Revolution when he got word that he’d been elected to the State Senate. That set him on a career path that spanned close to four decades and sent him to Washington, D.C.

He was in the State Senate from 1781 to 1785, and then was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1791. He served there until 1815 and was elected Speaker of the House and served for six years – from 1801 to 1807.

He was elected to the U.S. Senate and served from 1815 to 1828, including seven years President pro tem from 1825 to 1827.

Over the years, he said ‘no’ to cabinet posts, appointments and even re-entered military service in 1780 as a private instead of accepting a higher rank that could have been his for the taking.

He didn’t like making government appropriations and didn’t think government had any business in private industry.

Despite his penchant for saying ‘no,’ however, Pace said Macon’s oratory skills and ability to compromise served Macon the politician well.

“You always knew where you stood with him,” Pace said. “He was a personable guy. It was  hard not to like him.”

Macon retired to his home in present-day Warren County – Buck Spring – in 1828, following his storied career in the House and the Senate.

But the home was nothing fancy, no columns across the front or sprawling staircases inside.

No, in keeping with his humble, no-frills ideas, Macon instead lived in what amounted to a one-room house that contained few possessions other than books.

Although the original Buck Spring home was partially burned about 40 years ago, Pace said some parts were salvageable and the reconstructed home currently is part of a park in the Littleton area.

The project received some federal funds to complete, an appropriation Macon himself most likely would have frowned upon.

 

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TownTalk: House of Hope International School Of Ministry Orientation Friday, July 17 At 7 PM

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Dr. Bonnie Davis, pastor of House of Hope on Alexander Avenue in Henderson, invites interested individuals to participate in an online orientation at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 17 to learn more about the bible college where she learned what she said is her true calling: being a pastor.

But Davis also serves as president of House of Hope International School of Ministry, and she and Dr. Joe Fears, the school’s founder and dean, want the community to know about the different programs the school offers. The classes are web-based and affordable, and students can earn an associate’s bachelor’s and master’s degrees, they told WIZS’s Steve Lewis on Wednesday’s TownTalk.

Fears started the school in 2011, and Davis herself was a student when she and her husband lived in Italy while he was in the military.

Davis has been a pastor since 2016 and established House of Hope, which is located on 355 Alexander Ave.

Fears said it’s been a lifelong desire of his to have a bible college. He’s a military veteran as well, and has completed studies at Lancaster Bible College and earned his doctorate from Liberty University.

Davis thought she’d be in Italy only three years until her husband’s tour was over and then she’d come on back home. “God had other plans,” she said. She ended up working with Fears in Italy as an associate pastor. Together they worked with missionaries there, “loving on the people and teaching people about God.”

In addition to typical classes one would expect at a bible college – Spiritual Formation, Greek, Hebrew and homiletics (how to preach and deliver sermons), Fears said there also are classes on leadership. Pastors need to be effective leaders, too, he said, and lead with integrity.

The affordability is an attractive selling point, Fears said, but students have told him they love the way the classes are presented.

“We’re not focused on a denomination,” Fears said. “We’re focused on the bible. We look at the bible and go from that angle.”

With more than 20 years in the post-secondary education world, Fears said he’s borrowed from in-person and online teaching to create an “exciting” format for students.

The groups meet twice a week for a few hours each time, Davis said. “We’ve become a family. We get to know each other… we learn and grow together.”

The online format is a good alternative for those who can’t afford to get their degrees at brick-and-mortar schools.

Fears said the school partners with schools in California as well as Liberty, Regent and Lancaster Bible College. They use a platform called Learning World in conjunction with Zoom to for instruction.

Davis was a student in 2011, before the school had a true home. With Henderson as its new homebase, she and Fears are excited about the future.

“What I’ve learned from this school has been wonderful,” Davis said. “It stretched me, it grew me…The school had me take a leap into what God created me to be.”

Visit https://www.hohisom.com/ to learn more about registering or call 252.432.8509.

 

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TownTalk: Vance Commissioner Dan Brummitt On Current Status Of Data Centers At State, Local Levels

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There’s been a lot of speculation and rumors swirling about recently about the location of a data center or centers within Vance County. And while District 4 Vance County Commissioner Dan Brummitt said there has been communication from a Maryland developer, he said the fact is:

“There has been no application made to Vance County for a data center.”

That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, just that it hasn’t happened. Yet.

Brummitt said pending legislation – the Ratepayer Protection Act- that contains strict language governing data centers, and he said Tuesday on TownTalk that developers are waiting to see what the final bill entails.

From what he has heard, Brummitt said Maryland-based developer Tom Natelli is planning to schedule some community meetings in the county “to dispel some of the misinformation and also give more about what their plans are for the community.”

No dates have been set, however, as all parties are waiting to see what legislators do.

Many residents have been in an uproar since a rezoning request came before the planning board about a property along U.S. Hwy 158 Business. The commissioners ultimately approved the planning board’s recommendation to grant the request, which has resulted in residents near the property to voice their concern and disapproval both during meetings and as recently as Wednesday, July 8, when a group of concerned citizens held a town hall-style gathering to express their opposition to a proposed data center.

Brummitt cited Mecklenburg County, VA as an example of the type of economic impact a data center can make. Microsoft has a data center complex there, and Brummitt said it accounts for 65 percent of the county’s property tax base. They just completed construction of a new school and announced just recently that all students’ school supplies will be provided this year.

Those are both beneficial for Mecklenburg County residents, he said.

The cons of having a data center, he said, come into play “if they’re not properly done. Then you’ve got some issues that you may have to deal with.”

During last week’s joint meeting between the planning board and the board of commissioners about the unified development ordinance, Brummitt proposed that N-Focus get started on the portion about data centers first so that the wording can be used as a text amendment to the existing plan that is being updated.

“I think with the information that we have, we can get a text amendment done in fairly short order,” Brummitt said. He said he hopes to get input from the public, too. “They’ve been more than happy to do that in the past,” he added.

Although there was a lot of resistance at first, Brummitt said he’s hearing from people who are studying ordinances from other municipalities and counties. “There’s a number of people who are contributing positive information now to us so that it should make it easier for us to work on the text amendment,” he said.

He said he gets a lot of calls from people about data centers. “At first, it was a lot of ‘No, No, No.’ Now people are starting to study them some and look at other ordinances.”

The calls he gets now are fairly evenly divided into three camps: for, against and still studying.

Brummitt said he’s told people who are upset about the prospect of having a data center in the county that he wouldn’t have a problem with it. “I’ve told them… if there was a 500acre parcel close to my farm, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. And I honestly believe that. Part of development is noise, when you have commercial business, they’re going to make some noise, but that’s part of what we’ve got to have to live in society. As long as those things are not toxic and not poisoning people, then I think that’s just a part of what we have to do. I wouldn’t have a problem if there was one right next to my farm.”

Brummitt is kicking off a series of community town hall forums on Wednesday, July 29 at the Bearpond Volunteer Fire Department to discuss a variety of topics, from public safety and infrastructure to economic development and county priorities.

The event will be from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Submit a question or comment before the event at https://www.vancecounty.org/vance-county-community-town-hall-district-4/

 

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TownTalk: Vance County Commissioners and Planning Board Talk UDO’s

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners and the Vance County Planning Board gathered Thursday afternoon for a joint meeting to get an update on progress of the development of a Unified Development Ordinance for the county.

Under the leadership of N-Focus, the county is in the process of updating policies that govern development and land use.

Michael Harvey with N-Focus shared a draft of the document during the hour-long meeting, and he walked the group through the various sections of the document.

Harvey said the UDO will provide a streamlined process that is easy for the public to read and follow, and will make policies easier to enforce.

The UDO is “born out of partnership, not mandates,” Harvey said.

N-Focus has worked with numerous counties and municipalities to develop ordinances and comprehensive land use plans over the past 20 years.

Harvey said N-Focus provides two years of service after the document is adopted to help resolve questions, address modifications or tackle other issues where support is needed.

Commissioner Dan Brummitt advocated for concentration first on Article 5 of the UDO draft, which includes data center development. If N-Focus can make that article a priority, then that part of the UDO could be adopted as a text amendment to the current ordinance.

Commissioner Valencia Perry said the current draft language is not strong enough; Harvey said N-Focus helps counties and municipalities develop their desired policies, while making sure the language is consistent with state law.

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TownTalk: Stephen Wolf Tapped As New Market Manager at VCRFM

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As the new manager of the Vance County Regional Farmers Market, Stephen Wolf is stepping right in at the height of the growing season, and he said everyone should come on out to pick up locally grown fruits, veggies and more.

“There’s a lot of beautiful produce out here,” Wolf said in an interview on Wednesday.

Since starting his new job in July, Wolf’s observations are that neither the persistent drought conditions nor sweltering heat have deterred producers or customers from coming out to the market.

Last Wednesday, for example, he said as many as 250 people visited the market. GRRO was out signing seniors up for the senior voucher program. “That was a strong Wednesday,” he said.

Topped only by Saturday, July 4, when more than 450 came in, “despite the heat, despite the holiday, they still came out and supported local. That really made us all feel good.”

The role of a market manager is complex – part cheerleader, part accountant, part community networker, part human resources expert – and that’s probably just scratching the surface. But Wolf said he brings a skill set to the job that sets him up for success.

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, Wolf has more than a decade of experience in facility management, and he knows how to market and sell products.

And while his previous experience as a farmer is limited to summertime work in a Williamsboro tobacco field when he was younger, Wolf said he’s got a soft spot in his heart for farmers. He wants to see local producers not only succeed, but thrive.

He describes himself as an inquisitive person, and he’s always willing to ask questions if he doesn’t know something. Since he’s been on board, he’s been talking with vendors at the market, shaking hands, hearing their stories and about what their business does.

“I want to build strong relationships with everyone so that we can all grow together,” he said.

“I see everybody out here trying,” Wolf said of the folks who bring their produce, locally sourced meats, eggs, fresh-cut flowers and handicrafts to market each week. “They’re hard workers, trustworthy people. “I want to see us all thrive – it’s the love of the game. I want to see Henderson come up, I want to see the market come up and I really just want to see the success.”

While he’s promoting the idea of eating local, Wolf said he also wants to make sure people know where the market is.

“I just want to help increase the visibility back here off of Beckford,” he said. In addition to more signs planted along roadsides, Wolf is beefing up the market’s social media presence.

And upcoming events – including a Misty Mayhem concert and a cooking class both on Aug. 1 – should bring some additional foot traffic to the market.

“I think we have the best facility in the entire region,” Wolf said. In addition to a great covered building, the community garden and the native pollinator garden that the Master Gardeners oversee are extra attractions for folks to come and enjoy.

Find out more at https://www.facebook.com/vcrfm/

and https://vance.ces.ncsu.edu/vance-county-regional-farmers-market/

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