Area residents are invited to a public meeting with the N.C. Department
of Transportation to discuss the proposal to upgrade Dabney Drive from
Coble Boulevard to U.S. Hwy. 158 Business in Vance County. The revisions
include a roundabout at the intersection with Dorsey Avenue.
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 13, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at E.
M. Rollins Elementary School, 1600 S. Garnett St. Extension, in Henderson.
– Information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel
Vance-Granville Community College is teaming up with one of its sister schools on an innovative hybrid program, paving the way for new career opportunities in its four-county service area.
VGCC has partnered with Fayetteville Technical Community College to bring FTCC’s Funeral Service Education program to students in Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties. FTCC runs the only funeral service program of its kind in North Carolina, which is accredited by the American Board of Funeral Service Education and led by licensed funeral professionals.
“This is extremely relevant to our area,” said VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais. “We really want to open this up as a possibility.”
The agreement allows VGCC students to take general education courses close to home before applying to transfer into FTCC’s funeral service program. Much of the program’s specialized instruction is offered online and can be completed remotely. Students must complete certain practical requirements in labs at FTCC or during work-based learning at a local funeral home, and they will be required to visit FTCC in person a few times to demonstrate or learn key funeral service skills.
FTCC President Dr. Mark Sorrells noted that the program offers VGCC students the opportunity to accomplish much of their education without having to travel the distance to Fayetteville. “We think that’s a tremendous advantage and a way that we, as the only funeral service program in the state, can extend that service out into the rural areas and the small- to medium-sized colleges that have a lot of employment demand and need,” he said.
N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon, who owns three funeral homes in Vance and Granville counties, was one of several industry professionals to attend the partnership’s signing ceremony in Henderson. “The more people locally we can get who consider going into this industry, the more likely funeral homes will stay family-owned,” Sossamon said. “I think that’s a valuable thing.”
Vance-Granville is the fifth community college in the North Carolina Community College System to partner with Fayetteville Tech’s funeral service program.
Information courtesy of VCS Chief Communications Officer Aarika Sandlin
Parents of school-age children are invited to attend an Innovative Schools Night for Vance County Public Schools to learn more about the district’s five innovative schools.
The information session will be held Wednesday, Jan. 31 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Center for Innovation, 219 Charles St., Henderson.
Applications for the five schools – E.M. Rollins STEAM Academy, STEM Early High, Vance County Early College, Advance Academy, and Vance Virtual Village Academy – will be accepted through Feb. 29 and decisions will be mailed out on Mar. 28, according to information on the district website.
Find the application at vcs.k12.nc.us or click the link “Innovative Schools Application” to download the form.
Vance Granville-Community College will host its second annual Youth Honor Band concert on Friday, Feb. 2 at the college’s Main Campus Civic Center in Henderson.
Last year’s inaugural event was for musicians from local high schools, but it was so successful that this year’s concert will include musicians from several local middle schools as well, said VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel.
The participants, representing schools in Vance, Granville and Franklin counties, were nominated by their respective band directors for their musical talent and passion. They will gather for the first time to rehearse Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. They’ll come together for the concert at 6:30 p.m.
The performance is free and open to the public; family, friends, and community members are encouraged to come support these talented students and the schools they represent, Cissel stated.
This event was planned by a committee comprised of faculty and staff from VGCC, area band directors, area school administrators, local business owners and other community members. Brian D. Miller, VGCC music instructor and Community Band director, will lead the high school band; Sherri M. Damon, music instructor at Oxford’s Credle Elementary School, will lead the middle school band.
The student musicians will learn new songs especially for this event. Music selections had not yet been finalized at the time of publication, but event organizers offered a preview of what songs attendees might hear: “The Tempest” (Robert W. Smith), “Bach: Two Joyous Chorales” (arr. Anne McGinty), “Military Escort march” (Harold Bennett), “American Youth Overture” (Floyd St. Clair), and “Air for Band” (Frank Erickson).
To learn more about the VGCC Honor Band or Fine Arts at Vance-Granville Community Colleg, contact Betsy Henderson, department chair of Fine Arts & Humanities, at hendersonb@vgcc.edu or 252.738.3371.
Vance County Schools is among more than 200 school districts and charter schools across the state to get part of $35 million to address school safety by the Department of Public Instruction’s Center for Safer Schools.
Vance County Schools will get $300,000, as will Franklin County Schools, according to a press release from CFSS Executive Director Karen W. Fairley.
Granville County Public Schools and Warren County Schools each will receive $150,000. In addition, two Granville County charter schools also will get funding – Falls Lake Academy will get $53,874 and Oxford Preparatory School will get $40,000.
Districts and schools had to submit applications for the grant funding, which will be used for safety equipment, training and services for students in crisis.
Safety equipment covered by this grant includes items such as cameras, vape detectors, radios, and weapons detection systems. Training can include professional development for school leaders to assist students who are experiencing anxiety, trauma and/or conduct problems. Services made available through this grant can include school-based mental health services.
“It is part of the center’s mandate and mission to give public-school units the tools they need to help keep their schools safer – that includes grant funding,” she said. “We thank the General Assembly for its generous appropriation that enables us to support North Carolina public schools.”
State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said the need for school safety funding is crucial in ensuring students’ well-being throughout their educational journey.
“Nothing is more important than making our schools safer and more secure, and these grants will continue to play a vital role,” Truitt said. “This funding will help improve school security in many ways, including, updating technology and training to prevent future emergencies. I applaud state lawmakers for making this a priority and look forward to working with them to deliver more safety funding in the future.”
Funding for the hiring and training of school resource officers (SROs) was a continuation of the $33 million in SRO funding awarded in October 2022 for the 2022-23 school year.
Awards are subject to all administrative and financial requirements, including timely submission of all financial and programmatic reports; resolution of all interim audit findings; and adherence to allowable expenses.
A list of public-school units that were awarded 2023-24 School Safety Grant funding can be found here.
In 2018, the General Assembly worked with the Department of Public Instruction to launch a new School Safety Grant Program to improve safety in public school units by providing grants for school resource officers, services for students in crisis, training to increase school safety, safety equipment in schools and additional school mental health support personnel.
Since then, more than $150 million has been awarded to public-school units across North Carolina.
Downtown Henderson is planning for a busy weekend with not one, but two, events scheduled for mid-March.
Plans are underway for Shamrocks on Breckenridge Friday, Mar. 15 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and then an International Foods Food Truck Festival the next day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
In keeping with the St. Patrick’s Day theme, Shamrocks on Breckenridge will feature music, dancing, food trucks and community resource vendors.
Downtown Development Commission Chair Amanda Ellis said applications for sponsors are being taken now, so don’t wait to get your business logo on all kinds of advertisements for the upcoming event.
This year, food vendors will be the only retail vendors; other vendors will be set up to share community resources available in the area, according to information to WIZS from Ellis.
The sponsorship levels are: Pot of Gold – $1,000; Shamrock – $500; and Leprechaun – $250.
Ellis said the plan is to provide free food through the sponsorships for the event.
The deadline for sponsors is Feb. 16, 2024. Email Ellis at amanda@rogersandrogerslawyers.com or phone Alice Sallins at 252.767.4579 to learn more about becoming a sponsor or a vendor.
Downtown Development Director Tracy Madigan said more information will be forthcoming about the international food festival soon.
The Vance County Board of Education has appointed Ayana Lewis to serve in the District 4 Board seat after the recent resignation of Edward Wilson, who had served since 2012.
Lewis, a Henderson native, will be sworn in at the board’s next meeting on Feb. 12 at 6 p.m., according to information from VCS Chief Communication Officer Aarika Sandlin.
Lewis, a Democrat, had filed for the District 4 seat and would have been on the ballot in November. Wilson did not file for re-election.
Lewis has close to 20 years of education experience, having previously served in Vance County Schools as Gear Up’s assistant coordinator, as well as bookkeeper and first grade teacher.
She and her husband are co-founders of the Abria Chase Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to the memories of two of their children who lost their lives in a house fire.
Lewis helps other parents who have lost children and she and her husband received the Community Excellence Award from the Full Effect Church of North Carolina in 2023.
Lewis received her bachelor’s degree from N.C. Central University and a Master of Art in Counseling – Clinical Mental Health from Wake Forest University.
Tracy Madigan, director of the Henderson-Vance Downtown Development Commission, is the newest recipient of the Sam Watkins Visionary Award presented by the United Way.
Madigan said she was among the 40 or so in attendance at the United Way’s annual breakfast when her name was called.
“I was very honored and very humbled,” Madigan said in a telephone interview Thursday with WIZS. “It hit me from left field – I was blindsided,” she said, never expecting that she would follow in the footsteps of previous recipients like Vance County Commissioner Col. Archie Taylor, George Watkins, Donald Seifert and others who have been honored since the award was established after Watkins’s death in February 2014.
But if anyone deserves an award for being a visionary, it’s the person in charge of reimagining downtown Henderson.
The ever-modest Madigan said that when she accepted the award, she said she was most appreciative, but reminded those gathered that “it’s all about partnership – all of us working together to make things happen.”
Sam Watkins, a driving force in the revitalization effort that produced McGregor Hall, is remembered for the vision he had for Henderson and Vance County through the award.
Madigan said the mission statement of the downtown development commission centers around McGregor Hall, which she called a cultural hub for the five-county area.
In addition to McGregor Hall, Henderson’s downtown is going to be in the spotlight as plans for the S-Line passenger and commuter rail take shape. Having a depot – mobility hub – on Garnett Street is in the works and Madigan said she looks forward to continuing the city’s initial efforts to make the downtown area more physically attractive as well as a spot for future businesses to locate.
N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon has partnered with N.C. Sen. Lisa Barnes to bring more dollars to the area.
“We’re going to be asking for more, too,” Madigan noted.
Right now, she would like to see more development in and around the downtown area, especially near McGregor Hall and the Police Department. She wants to make Garnett Street more pedestrian-friendly and attract more businesses to the downtown.
She said a carefully placed deli and/or bakery would attract more people to want to come and live in or near the downtown area.
She’s got the vision, and she said downtown Henderson is just one or two projects and a little more initial investment away from taking off. “There’s a lot going one, it just doesn’t happen overnight.”
N.C. Department of Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey was in Henderson Tuesday and spoke to a room full of local insurance agents, business leaders and others from the community about what’s going on in the industry.
The event, sponsored by the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce, was held in the Farm Bureau Room of Perry Memorial Library, which Causey noted was a fitting location for the program. Following his remarks, Causey entertained questions from the audience.
Causey is seeking a third term as the state’s insurance commissioner; he faces two Republican challengers in the Mar. 5 primary.
At the top of everybody’s minds is the proposed 40-plus percent rate hike presented recently to Causey by the N.C. Rate Bureau.
Causey told the group that state law requires just one word from the insurance commissioner with regard to a proposed rate hike: yes or no.
Causey said he’s always answered “no,” which means the proposal goes before the courts for a determination. The Rate Bureau has to submit a lot of paperwork that includes payout totals for claims and amounts paid for premiums.
The period for public comment continues through Feb. 2; so far, Causey said his department has gotten about 10,000 comments, the vast majority of which are against the rate hike.
He said he must wait until the comment period has closed before making a statement about the proposed rate hike. He said that likely would come sometime between Feb. 2 and Feb. 22; a court date most likely would come in October.
“In fairness to the insurance companies, they have paid out a lot in claims,” Causey explained, citing dozens of recent natural disasters from wildfires to hurricanes. “We all pay for it, no matter where you live.”
The insurance department oversees more than just homeowners’ insurance, Causey said. The Smart NC program,for example, helps consumers who have disputes with doctors, hospitals and medical bills. “It’s done a lot to help people,” he said.
The department’s fraud control group mainly focuses on white collar crime and there are sworn officers – federally funded – who investigate Social Security fraud.
“I talk about fraud so much because we’re paying for it,” Causey said. The “we” in this case is everyone who pays insurance of any kind. He said that about 20 cents of every dollar spent on insurance is used to combat fraud.
In the world of insurance, the rule of thumb is that 1 in 10 claims will be unfounded or fake. But when it comes to health care fraud, that number jumps to more than 4 in 10, he said.
Anyone who suspects fraud can report anonymously to the Department of Insurance. It takes less than a minute to file a complaint online, he said. The department fields about 6,000 calls a year.
If investigators determine that the fraud is a civil, rather than criminal, matter, the department sends out a warning letter that lets folks know that what they’ve done is wrong and they’ve been put on notice to stop.
Causey said more than 200 letters have been sent, and not one person has been a repeat offender.
“Sometimes it just takes getting their attention,” he said.
Another program available through DOI is the Lost Life Insurance Locator, which does exactly what the name implies – it helps locate life insurance policies. People who want to know if their deceased relatives have any life insurance policies that they don’t know about need only submit a bit of demographic information to find the answer.
“If it was written within the state, we’ll find it,” Causey said.
So far, the program has found more than $300 million in life insurance. Last year alone, the figure was $66 million.
Causey has in his possession a policy from 1908 that is signed by the very first person to hold the office of insurance commissioner in North Carolina. That man was James Young, an insurance agent from right here in Henderson. He served for 22 years, from 1899 to 1921.
Visit www.ncdoi.gov to find out more.
Check out Tuesday’s TownTalk at wizs.com to hear an interview with Commissioner Causey that was aired at 11 a.m.
The Vance County Board of Commissioners has approved pay raises for the county’s finance director and county manager.
Katherine Bigelow, the county’s finance director, is seeing a $25,000 jump in her salary to $136,503, according to information from County Manager Renee Perry.
As Perry explained in an email on Monday to WIZS News, another county had offered Bigelow a job – and a “significant raise to go along with it,” Perry said.
“I felt we could keep her if we were able to eliminate the financial incentive for her (to) accept the position,” and the board agreed to the salary increase.
“Katherine brings much-needed experience to Vance County and I wanted to retain her on staff,” Perry said.
In their discussions, Perry said her $15,000 increase in pay was approved because commissioners “wanted to ensure the compensation for their manager still exceeded that of the finance director for internal equity purposes.”
Bigelow’s bump in pay also brings with it a new title: She now serves as deputy county manager/chief financial officer.
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