Tag Archive for: #towntalk

TownTalk: Alert Christmas Parade Is Coming

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Looking for some good old-fashioned entertainment to help get you in a festive holiday mood? Check out the Alert Christmas Parade, set to kick off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14.

That’s right, A-lert, the community that’s just over the Franklin/Vance County line beyond Epsom.

Larry Ayscue is one of this year’s parade organizers, but he also is credited with being the original organizer of that first parade 34 years ago.

“I would love to get the word out, just come and see it – check it out and see what you think of it,” he said on WIZS TownTalk. He wants to promote participation in the parade, as well as inviting spectators to come out and enjoy the eclectic variety of entries.

Unlike Christmas parades that are held inside town or city limits, Alert’s parade isn’t fettered by rules and regulations.

“Alert is not a town,” Ayscue said. “I always tell people, don’t come expecting a town – it’s just a little community.”

No forms to fill out, no official lineup to follow translates into good, old-fashioned fun, with “a lot of hollering, wavin’ and carrying on,” he said.

“We’ve had people to tell us that they’d rather be in that parade than any other one they’ve ever been in,” he added. “It’s just a lot of fun.”

Melanie Bobbitt helps Ayscue and his wife, Nancy, out and maintains a Facebook page complete with photos from previous parades and other information to promote the event, which had a pretty humble beginning.

“It started out as a kind of a joke,” Ayscue said, when he and others were putting in tobacco. It was summertime hot, and Ayscue said he made a comment that Alert ought to have a Christmas parade, any reason to think about cooler weather. Later on in the year came the questions: Well, are we going to have a parade? Are we? Ayscue checked with the Franklin County Sheriff’s office and “everybody gave me the ok.”

And what was supposed to be a one-shot deal has become a tradition like no other. Ayscue explained that a lot of older folks simply weren’t able to get out and go to town to watch parades, so the parade came to them.

Over the years, there have been some pretty interesting entries in addition to the usual firetrucks, church floats and children dressed up in Christmas costumes.

Ayscue has fond memories of one particular entry in the parade a few years ago. “It was the prettiest little thing,” he said, describing a goat hooked to a cart, both decorated up for the occasion.

“Anyone who has anything they’d love to put in the parade,” he said, should just show up by 1 p.m. at the intersection of Alert and Jordan School roads. The parade route is about 1.5 miles, ending at G.F. Ball Road.

For more information, contact Bobbitt at 919-497-6081, Nancy Ayscue at 252.458.1600 or Larry Ayscue at 252.343.9275.

“I believe you would thoroughly enjoy it if you come out,” Ayscue said.

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville – First Families Part Two

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Ready to hear how the area now known as Kittrell is connected to the first Thanksgiving?

THE first Thanksgiving.

The one that happened in 1618, a full four years before the Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated the first successful harvest in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621.

Leave it to WIZS’s Bill Harris and local historian Mark Pace to make the local connection in their tri-weekly TownTalk segment called Around Old Granville. Monday’s discussion was a continuation of “First Families” of the area that now includes the four counties of Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin.

According to Pace, a man by the name of John Woodlief gets the credit for the very first Thanksgiving that took place at Berkeley Plantation on the banks of the James River southeast of Richmond. It is Woodlief’s grandson, Thomas Woodlief, who leaves Charles City, VA and settles in the vicinity of what is now Kittrell way back in 1754, when the Colonies were still under British rule.

Woodlief is just one of numerous notable surnames that pop up in research of local history, but sometimes genealogists and historians have to do a bit of detective work to find useful tidbits about people who lived and worked in the area almost three centuries ago.

Kittrell is another family name that predates the birth of the United States. The earliest Kittrells came pretty early, Pace said, back in 1727. Then Jonathan Kittrell purchased 300 acres or so in the area along Tabbs Creek around 1760.

Another well-known family was the Eaton family. “The Eatons would definitely qualify as one of the first founding families of this area,” Pace said.

William Eaton first settled up in the northeast corner of the old Granville County along the Roanoke River – a ferry bearing the family name operated from the 1800’s to the early 1960’s near Littleton in Warren County.

Eaton also built the first courthouse and the first jail – with his own money – in Granville County

and he built Locust Hill on Old County Home Road in Vance County.

“It was actually THE county home” at one time, Pace noted. Eaton died in 1759 and his children were influential in the area for the next hundred years or more, up until the Civil War.

Locust Hill burned in 1976. Pace remembers the year vividly because it was the year he got his driver license. He and his younger brother tootled out to Locust Hill and the brother snapped a pic of the old home with his Polaroid.

“About two weeks later, it burned down…my brother took the last picture of it,” Pace said. He said the back portion of the home could easily date back to the 1740’s – “It wouldn’t surprise me,” Pace said.

One son, Thomas Eaton, was a general in the American Revolution. He was captured during the Battle of Brier Creek in Georgia, and legend has it that when he was captured, the British sympathizers confiscated his prized boots, made specially to fit his quite narrow foot. Fast forward to a post-war “sit down” Eaton was summoned, along with one of his captors, who returned the long-lost boots to Eaton.

And although Pace said he can’t confirm what happened, the story goes that Eaton proceeded to whack the captor over the head with said boots. So much for letting bygones be bygones.

There’s a stately home in Warrenton – the William Eaton home – that still stands today that belonged to a son of Thomas Eaton.

William Eaton, an attorney and prominent politician, wrote a book called “How to be a Good Lawyer” which Pace said was a bestseller in the 1830’s and 1840’s.

The Eatons have a connection with Osborne Jeffreys, who was born in Williamsburg, VA in 1716.

Jeffreys was a captain in the North Carolina Colonial militia for Granville County, said Harris, and owned several plantations in the area, which included grist mills, a tannery, a shoe-making business and taverns. Jeffreys also was active in the politics of the area. Like many early settlers, Pace said Jeffreys “owns land all over the place…he comes here (early) and gets the best land” for himself. He built Portridge on some of his land holdings, which was located between what is now Louisburg and Franklinton. It was at Portridge that the first church of England was built in the area. The building is long gone, but the cemetery remains. It contains many unmarked graves, but the names on some stones are legible.

Jeffreys and his wife, Patience, had a daughter named Elizabeth. She married Charles Rust Eaton, another descendant of the original William Eaton.

A dozen or so families in Colonial North Carolina, he said, intermarry and create what Pace calls an oligarchy – “they’re the ones who run things,” he explained.

Listen to the entire discussion at wizs.com.

 

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TownTalk: Arts Council Getting In The Christmas Spirit

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Anyone who may need a jumpstart into feeling that holiday spirit need only chat for a moment with Dr. Alice Sallins with the Vance County Arts Council. Whether she’s promoting the upcoming Tidings of Comfort and Joy concert at McGregor Hall or talking up the Henderson Christmas parade, Sallins exudes that excitement and anticipation that comes along with the holiday season.

The concert takes place on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 4 p.m., Sallins said on Thursday’s TownTalk. The show is free to attend, and Sallins said the audience is in for a real treat.

Clearview Church pastor Dr. Abidan Shah will emcee the he first portion of the show which will feature sacred music and then he’ll pass the mic to Mixmaster James Williams who’ll emcee the second portion of the show that features secular music.

The concert features recording artists Lynn Cooper,  Spencer Alston and Tia “Catillia” Cheek, and Sallins said there will be other local musicians and groups lined up to perform as well.

“We give you the best that we can offer,” Sallins said. “We look forward to packing the house.”

Other musical and dance performers include Clearview Church Praise Team, vocalist Evelyn C. Couch, Davida Lewis, Sequoia Epps Hargrove, St. Mary’s Praise Dancers, Work In Progress, Holy Temple Praise Dancers,  Brotherhood  and Jimmy & the Sound Barriers.

Sallins said she wants the show to be something that makes people feel good. People feel sad during the holidays, especially if they’ve lost loved ones. “We want to do something to help cheer people up,” she said.

Spreading that holiday cheer continues on Saturday, Dec. 7 when the Christmas Parade makes its way up Raleigh Road toward Garnett Street to the delight of onlookers along the parade route.

Over the years, Sallins and her Arts Council team have promoted the parade “to build it up to something great, ‘cause I love, love, love Christmas,” she exclaimed. “The highlight of my holiday is standing at the beginning of that parade line, flagging that first car down the road.”

This year’s parade features seven professional floats, but there are plenty of locally made floats that are sure to delight the crowds as well.

“Maria Parham goes all out of the way to build these phenomenal floats,” Sallins said, calling out the hospital team for its creativity in years past. And although throwing candy from floats is strictly a no-no, she said it’s perfectly fine for folks to walk alongside the floats to distribute sweet treats to folks along the parade route.

“Everyone has stepped up their game,” Sallins said of the local parade entries. “Each year the parade gets bigger and better…more elaborate scenery.”

Time is tight to get your parade entry form in, however. Technically, today is the deadline, but Sallins said as long as she gets the completed form by next Saturday, it should be ok.

One piece of information is non-negotiable, however. All vehicle drivers must provide a copy of his or her insurance, Sallins said.

And please just put the forms and entry fees – checks made out to the Vance County Arts Council – in the mail. Last Thanksgiving, she said folks were calling her all day and late into the night to ask how to get their entry forms to her.

Visit https://vanceartscouncil.com/ and click on Henderson, NC Christmas Parade to read rules and download the entry form.

Mail entries to:

Vance County Arts Council

P.O. Box 34

Henderson, NC 27536

 

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TownTalk: NC House 32 Contest Update

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Vance and Granville counties are in the middle of a recount in the too-close-to-call contest for House District 32, which has Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn leading incumbent Republican Frank Sossamon by 233 votes.

Cohn led by 185 votes on Nov. 5, but that number grew to 233 following the Nov. 15 canvass to include provisional and absentee ballots.

Vance County Board of Elections Director Haley Rawles said Tuesday her team would begin the recount process at 8:30 this morning (Wednesday); information from the N.C. Board of Elections indicated that the Granville County recount would commence at 12 noon today, with an estimated time of 1-2 days for completion.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Cohn said he was pleased with the overall process and said he has been pleased with the way both counties’ boards of elections have handled things.

“Given all the changes this year, staffing issues, all the normal hurdles…I could be more pleased with the effort they’ve put into this election cycle,” he said.

“You find out who you are as a person,” Cohn notes, “going through a highly competitive and highly scrutinized campaign like Frank and I went through.”

Cohn commended his campaign staff for knowing exactly what needed to be done, a heavy focus on the city of Oxford – where Cohn is a city commissioner – as well as Creedmoor, Butner and all of Vance County that sits within the boundaries of District 32.

Through outreach, engagement and “good old-fashioned door knocking,” Cohn said he was able to get his message to constituents.

The Republican majority in the House hangs in the balance, pending the outcome of this contest, but Cohn said he is focused on “governing from the middle.”

“The (Democratic) Party has to tack back toward the center because that’s where the bulk of the American people and North Carolinians are at – they’re more centrist than partisan on one side or the other,” he said.

“We have to co-govern with our GOP colleagues and find common ground,” he said, adding that if he goes to Raleigh to represent District 32, he’ll focus on “governing from a place of mutual understanding and try to work together, as opposed to throwing roadblocks.”

In his role as a city commissioner, Cohn said he has a new-found understanding of “how much we can’t do at the local level.” Municipalities have less and less control over things like zoning and planning, he said. Those changes have to come at the state level, he said. “In order to advance the things that we need in Vance County and in Granville County with infrastructure upgrades, we need to have more representation at the state level in order to get some of those initiatives passed if we want to continue to grow in both counties.”

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TownTalk: Sossamon Calls For Recount

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Vance and Granville counties will conduct a recount in the too-close-to-call contest for House District 32, which has Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn leading Republican incumbent Frank Sossamon by 233 votes.

Because that margin is less than 1 percent of the voting totals – .53 percent, to be precise – the challenger (in this case, Sossamon) was entitled to ask for a recount by 12 noon today. Vance County Board of Elections Director Haley Rawles told WIZS News Tuesday that she received a notification of the recount from Raleigh shortly before 11:30 a.m.

Sossamon spoke with WIZS News this morning as he was waiting for the General Assembly to convene and confirmed that he would be seeking a recount.

“It hasn’t been filed, but it will be filed before 12,” Sossamon said by phone shortly before 11 a.m. He said he’d waited until now to let the process play out, which included the Nov. 15 canvass and certifying and counting provisional and absentee ballots.

“A lot of elections are cut-and-dry,” he said. “Close elections are different…and there are options that candidates have,” including filing protests if there are “anomalies,” and filing a lawsuit.

Rawles said Vance County elections officials will begin the recount at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20 for two races – the District 32 contest and a statewide recount for a seat on the N.C. Supreme Court between sitting Justice Allison Riggs and Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin.

Rawles expects the recounts to take the majority of the day to complete, if not longer.

WIZS News reached out to Granville County Board of Elections Director Tonya Burnette Tuesday afternoon to find out when the recount would begin in that county and we will update the story if that information becomes available.

In a concise letter sent via email to N.C. State Board of Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell, Sossamon requested the recount.

It reads:

Executive Director Brinson Bell,

As a candidate for North Carolina House District 32 in the 2024 General Election, I her3eby submit my written demand for a mandatory recount pursuant to the N.C. Gen. Stat. 163-182.7(c) and 163-182.4(b)(3). Please confirm receipt of this timely written demand at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Frank Sossamon

Sossamon expressed frustration when it came to finding out what his options were regarding a recount and said he felt voters weren’t adequately inform about redrawn district lines that removed a portion of Vance County from District 32.

Nobody said “Mr. Sossamon, you can call for a recount,” Sossamon said. “I had to find that out for myself – I find that quite alarming.”

Sossamon also said he was concerned to learn that voters in Vance County showed up to vote and noticed that the District 32 race wasn’t on their ballot.

“They were thinking they could vote for me, but I wasn’t on their ballot,” he said, adding that “people who are already skeptical of the voting system are getting even more skeptical.”

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Cohn said he was pleased with the overall process but acknowledged that the campaign was “long and expensive, and, at times, a rather dirty campaign. I don’t think anybody is happy about any of that.”

(This text and story developed more after the embedded audio below.)

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Salvation Army

TownTalk: Annual Salvation Army Red Kettle Season Kicks Off

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As if on cue, November 15 provided a crisp backdrop to the morning’s Red Kettle Season Kickoff, and dozens from the community showed up outside Belk to take the opportunity to drop in the first donations of the Christmas season.

The Vance County High School chorus provided several seasonal and inspirational selections for the Salvation Army kickoff event to add an air of excitement and joy to the chilly morning’s festivities.

Whether you’re someone who hauls out the holly and puts up the tree before Thanksgiving or you’re one of those die-hards who prefers to wait until December to think about Christmas plans, you’re likely to run across a few Red Kettles and bell ringers during the next 40 days.

Alongside the iconic Salvation Army symbol of giving, the bell ringers invite shoppers to donate during the holiday season to help provide food and gifts to seniors and children across Vance County and the surrounding counties it serves.

Kettle donations “help us provide clothing and toys for children at Christmas time,” said Maj. Beth Mallard. But more than 200 senior adults also have signed up to receive food baskets, Mallard said Friday, and the funds are used to feed more than 500 people each month, all year long.

“When you walk by, make sure you drop something in the bucket,” she said.

The kettles ignite a spirit of generosity in our community, said Margier White, chair of the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce board. “Each bell that rings this season (is) not just signalling a donation,” White said, “it’s a connection that we make with people who are in need.

Placing any donation – coins or bills – represents love, kindness and community support, she said.

The Salvation Army kettle is “more than just a container – it represents hope for families facing hardships.”

Call Mallard at 252.438.7107 if you’d like information about volunteering to be a bell ringer during the holiday season. You, your church or civic group can also sponsor a kettle, or participate in the Angel Tree project at https://www.tsamm.org/angeltree.

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TownTalk: ‘Shop With A Cop And Friends’ Reception: Fun With A Purpose

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Wednesday’s celebratory reception for the Shop With a Cop and Friends program was sprinkled with laughter, music and levity, but the underlying message shone clearly in remarks by everybody from Chamber President Sandra Wilkerson on down to local law enforcement leaders – it’s all for the kids.

“This is what we do and what we get excited about,” Wilkerson said as she kicked off the official part of the program, thanking sponsors and providing details about the actual shopping day – Friday, Dec. 20.

Shopping Day is a special, special day, she said, adding that law enforcement officers and others will join “the other million people” taking care of last-minute shopping at the Henderson Walmart.

But Vance County Schools students don’t start their holiday break until lunchtime on that day, so Wilkerson said they’ll get going about 3 p.m.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to deliver you a check like we did last year,” Wilkerson said to Sheriff Curtis Brame, Police Chief Marcus Barrow and Fire Chief Tim Twisdale, referring to the $15,000 that the program got to share with children on their shopping spree.

Shop With a Cop is a memorable experience for the children, but it’s also something adults are sure to remember as well, Brame said, “to see the excitement in children’s eyes” as they stroll the aisles.

But it’s also a humbling experience, he said, to see kids who want to buy gifts for their parents and siblings instead of for themselves.

Chief Barrow recalled that the department started the program some years ago, a small-scale effort to give back to those in need. When the Chamber president approached the department with the idea of forming a partnership, it was a no-brainer. The first year of that partnership raised about $6,000, he said, and has ballooned to $15,000 under Wilkerson and her team.

“We’ve gotten so much support,” Barrow said. “It’s more than Shop With a Cop – it’s a partnership” that involves the Department of Social Services, Henderson-Vance Recreation and Parks, the City Council, city manager, county manager, among all the other community supporters.

A highlight of the event was finding out who won the cash prizes associated with the 180 raffle tickets that were sold – four cash prizes were awarded – $200, $500, $1,000 and the top prize of $2,000.

As each name was drawn, Wilkerson easily called them out:

Juanita Sommerville, Kendrick Vann, Hal Muetzel. (Congratulations, by the way!)

But the $2,000 winner had her puzzled, and she may have not wanted to admit it, but she said she didn’t recognize the name: Sam…Citgo?

After a few failed attempts from the gathering to claim the prize, however, the picture became clear. HPD’s Tony Mills spoke up from the crowd to say he stopped by the gas station, “and the rascal bought three tickets.”

Citgo wasn’t the person’s last name – it was his place of business. So, Sam from Citgo, the purchase of three tickets paid off.

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TownTalk: Farmers Appreciation Day Celebration

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The Vance County Regional Farmers Market is located close to where Leo Kelly remembers his family farmed. They weren’t big farmers, Kelly told a group gathered at the farmers market Thursday for the inaugural Farmers Appreciation Day in Vance County, but he remembers chickens, hogs and having spring, summer and fall gardens.

Kelly, vice chair of the Vance County Board of Commissioners, joined others to recognize the importance of farmers, farming and agriculture. In 2023, the Legislature set aside the second Thursday in November as Farmers Appreciation Day.

N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon said the observance is a way to help people understand how farmers and farming affects them daily. These days, fewer people live near farms or don’t personally know farmers.

“Agriculture is more than planting corn and beans,” Sossamon said. It’s agritourism, small farmers producing specialty crops and more.

Vance County’s N.C. Cooperative Extension director Dr. Wykia Macon said she and her staff are always looking for ways to foster among young people an appreciation for agriculture and for farmers and to encourage them to get into agriculture.

Horticulture Agent Mike Ellington said he foresees changes in agriculture, but what remains, he believes, is the “sense of place, of purpose, community that agriculture creates.”

Vance County Commissioner Archie Taylor said he grew up on a farm and it helped shape the person he became.

“As I think about the professions we have,” he said, “no profession teaches our young kids more about hard work than farming.”

With the rise of urbanization, he said, fewer family farms meant that young folks didn’t have the “opportunity” to pitch in with chores like feeding livestock, chopping wood and all the other daily tasks a farm requires.

Taylor said he learned a lot from farm life, including “teaching me to get up in the morning, get started and get working.”

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TownTalk: Paws Of Hope Pantry At Pinkston Street School

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Paws of Hope, the new food pantry at Pinkston Street Elementary, was filled with well-wishers from the community Wednesday who came out to show support for a program designed to feed a child – literally and figuratively.

The new space has a fresh coat of paint – the school colors, of course – and banners hang on the walls to provide a cheery atmosphere for what organizers hope will be a place where children can learn about healthy foods and healthy habits. But most of all, they can learn that they are cared for.

“It’s about educating the total child,” said Principal Canecca Mayes. “Children can’t learn if they’re hungry.”

But the pantry isn’t just a place where Pinkston Street students can duck in, grab a snack and return to class. Henderson Mayor Melissa Elliott said it’s a place where they can shop for themselves and for their families.

“They don’t just shop for themselves,” Elliott told those gathered Wednesday for an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. “They shop for everyone in their household.” There’s a special emphasis on children who qualify for services from the McKinney-Vento Act, a federal program that identifies schoolchildren who are experiencing homelessness.

It’s been a group effort to get the pantry up and running, Elliott said. From community partners providing resources and school leaders welcoming the project to campus, to teachers and social workers on site to identify students’ needs, Elliott said she has witnessed real collaboration.

Children come to the pantry weekly, where they learn about financial literacy and making healthy food choices. They also get in a little exercise, too – although Elliott couldn’t coax any of the students present to break into their “Veggie Dance” routine.

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TownTalk: The Barefoot Movement Headlines Hurricane Relief Concert At SGHS

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The Barefoot Movement’s Noah Wall and Tommy Norris have a deep connection to western North Carolina and east Tennessee, just over the Blue Ridge Mountains. They were dating and in a band when Norris was a student at Western Carolina and Noah was at East Tennessee State, and the two would meet in Asheville for a date night or band-related events.

But they also have connections to Granville County – both are 2006 graduates of South Granville High School in Creedmoor, and when Wall felt the urge to do something to help folks who lost so much in the devastation and flooding brought by Hurricane Helene, she turned to that high school and the choral department.

The result:  a hurricane relief concert on Friday, Nov. 22 featuring a couple of local groups as well as the bluegrass sound of The Barefoot Movement. The concert is sponsored by the South Granville Choral Association.

Tickets are $15 and are on sale now for the concert, which kicks off at 7 p.m.

First up is GrassStreet Bluegrass band, followed by the popular Granville County Southern Rock band Bryan’s Hill.

Wall said she has “zero ego” in being called the headline group, but she’ll take the stage with her fiddle and her husband – (Norris, if you didn’t know) – mandolin in hand, to finish out the concert.

“I wish I could just donate a million dollars,” Wall said on Tuesday’s TownTalk segment with WIZS’s Bill Harris. She said she has been moved by what the folks in the mountains have been going through, so she set about doing what she knows best. “I have my music and I know how to put on a concert,” she explained. The rest fell into place fairly easily.

The high school auditorium has a stage, a sound system and is a comfortable place for a concert. “It ultimately worked out great,” Wall said. All proceeds from the concert will go to Baptist on Mission, which has had teams of people on the ground helping in the disaster zone. They also have a specific Hurricane Helene Relief Fund, so Wall is confident the money will get to where it can be of most use.

Next week’s concert playlist may be a little different from what audiences hear when they’re on tour across the country, Wall said, hinting at what may be in store.

“It won’t be traditional bluegrass, necessarily,” said. “We may cover Ozzy Osborne, but we’ll do it with fiddle and mandolin.”

What it will be, she said, is fun. And she hopes all three bands play to a sold-out house.

“Its’ going to be a great night,” Wall said. “I just felt like I had to do something…just looking at pictures I’ve seen of Asheville, (recovery is) going to take a long time and they need our help.”

Find a link to ticket sales at https://www.thebarefootmovementofficial.com/  or find a link at https://onthestage.com/search 

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