Tag Archive for: #wizsnews

TownTalk: Get Into The Holiday Spirit With Louisburg Christmas Tour

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Dorothy Cooper and her fellow organizers have done everything possible to plan for the second annual Old Towne Louisburg Candlelight Christmas Tour through the Louisburg Historic District, and it seems like even the weather is going to cooperate by providing winterlike temps for Saturday’s walking tour.

Cooper, historian for the local historic district, said there are 10 locations on this year’s tour, which features a combination of residences and other historic structures.

Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased online at https://www.louisburghistoricdistrict.com/. The tour will be held Saturday, Dec. 16 from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Last year’s event was a great success, with people coming from Orange and Guilford counties, as well as counties closer to Franklin, she said.

“It was really interesting to have people come in and say ‘I never knew this little town was here!’” Cooper said on Wednesday’s TownTalk with WIZS co-host Bill Harris.

Person Place, located at Louisburg College, is where the tour begins. Participants will get a booklet complete with a map of the locations and information about each spot.

The sanctuary of Louisburg Baptist Church will be open, and organist Brian Miller will be providing seasonal music during the tour. Another stop is the Louisburg Fire Department museum – the lone location that folks may want to drive to, Cooper noted.

The majority of the tour stops are within walking distance of Person Place and the parking, which will be on the Louisburg College campus. And there’s one surprise location that ticketholders will learn about when they check in and get their booklets.

Participants also have the chance to book a horse and carriage ride for an additional fee. Bookings can be arranged when purchasing tickets for the tour, she added.

All proceeds support events and workshops of the historic group, including repair and restoration work at the city’s Oakwood Cemetery.

On Jan. 6, the group is sponsoring a Twelfth Night Luminary Drive-Through event at Oakwood Cemetery. Details are available on the website.

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Home And Garden Show

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On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

• Check your garden storage areas and greenhouse for mice.
• If applying mulch, be sure not to overdo it.
• Check stored dormant bulbs, fruits and vegetables for decay.
• If you have large trees that may need pruning, start contacting tree care companies.
• Inventory your seed for next year before ordering more seed of the same variety.
• NC Extension Gardener Handbook is a great last minute gift.
• Check garden equipment that needs replacing so you can put the needed items on your gift wish list.
• Think about how you could improve your landscape to support birds over the winter. Think about cover from evergreen shrubs, brush piles, berries and seed heads.

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TownTalk: Henderson Mayor And City Council Sworn In

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Henderson Mayor Melissa Elliott made history Monday night when she was sworn in as the first woman and the first Black to hold the city’s highest office.

The Henderson City Council chambers and lobby area was standing-room only, filled with family, friends and dignitaries to witness the historic swearing-in ceremony.

With her left hand on a Bible – held by her mother – Elliott raised her right hand and repeated the oath of office administered by Judge Henry Banks.

Four newly elected City Council members also were sworn in Monday as part of the regular monthly meeting of the council.

Geraldine Champion (Ward 1), Sam Seifert (Ward 2), Michael Venable (Ward 3 at-large) and Tami Walker (Ward 4 at-large) were installed and took their seats alongside current members Garry Daeke, Ola Thorpe-Cooper, Lamont Noel and Sara Coffey.

Outgoing Council members Mike Rainey and Marion Brodie Williams shared brief remarks during the meeting; Jason Spriggs was not present.

Banks also administered the oath of office for Seifert, Venable and Walker; Judge Ben Hunter administered the office for Champion.

The first action taken by the reorganized Council was to elect a Mayor Pro Tem. Ward 3’s Daeke was elected unanimously to that role.

In his final remarks as mayor, Ellington said he and Elliott both began their terms on the Council in 2015, adding that they were seated beside one another in Council meetings. “We’ve always been there together when we left …City Hall,” he recalled. He thanked city staff, including former City Manager Frank Frazier who also was in attendance Monday. Ellington accepted a gavel as a parting gift from the Council.

Brodie Williams challenged the incoming Council members “to not just work for your particular ward but the entire city – everyone and everybody. Lean on your mayor and manager and seasoned Council members,” she said. And remember to “do your research.”

Rainey, who joined the Council in 2003, said he had met a lot of people and seen a lot of changes during his 20-year tenure. He recalled the late Mary Emma Evans, former City Council member, who was fond of saying “it’s OK to disagree, but you don’t have to be disagreeable.”

After months of campaigning for the Oct. 3 election among a field of five candidates, Elliott found herself in a runoff with political newcomer and local businessman Greg Etheridge in the November election – an election she easily won by 300 votes. About 20 percent of the city’s registered voters voted in the October election, and 29 percent came out to vote in the runoff.

Just after the runoff Elliott said, “I’m elated…overwhelmed with joy,” about the election outcome.

“I am a servant leader,” Elliott said, and she plans to serve the community at-large and all people.

“Everyone was so wonderful…so much encouragement,” she said. There were “so many people that wouldn’t allow me to quit. I’m thankful for this historic moment in time,” but she said she also looks to the future for the city.

 

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Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Events At Perry Library

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Programs at Perry Memorial Library will be slowing down next week as Christmas approaches, and things were going to be “up in the air” – literally – today at 4 p.m., when the StoryUp! Aerial Theater of Durham comes to town for a performance.

It’s something new for 2023, said Youth Services Director Melody Peters, and that’s just the start for new programs and events for the New Year at the library.

“We’ve got some new things coming,” Peters said on Tuesday’s segment of The Local Skinny! with WIZS co-host Bill Harris. “We’re really excited about that.”

In addition to resuming regular programs like the Mother Goose story time on Thursday mornings, the library will host a community read-aloud on Monday nights beginning in January.

Peters said she hears patrons, including teachers, parents and grandparents, voice concerns about young people’s waning reading habits.

“Either they aren’t reading for enjoyment or pleasure, or they’re not reading at the appropriate level,” Peters said. “I want to get people reading together – listening to each other read,” she added. The idea is to build young readers’ confidence and fluency.

We use different hemispheres of our brains for listening and for reading, Peters said. When you read aloud, there’s more information exchanged across both hemispheres which builds literacy and reading fluency.

The idea is for Peters to read one chapter of a chapter book to the group for the first 15 minutes of each hour-long session. Then the group will divide randomly to tables and they’ll take turns reading to the group. There will be volunteers on hand to help less confident readers if they need it.

“I want to hear people reading for 45 minutes,” Peters said. “I want to make it a positive things (and) don’t want anyone to feel bad about their reading ability,” she said. “This is a new approach – we’ll see how it goes.”

Visit https://www.perrylibrary.org/ for a complete listing of events and programs.

The library will be closed Dec. 23-26 for Christmas, as well as Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

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Cooperative Extension With Paul McKenzie: What Works In The Garden

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Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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TownTalk: Community Prayer Night Is This Friday

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Tiffany Jones, founder of Community Uplift Project, takes her mission seriously – and literally. She is planning a Community Prayer Night for Friday, Dec. 15 and Jones said its purpose is to spiritually uplift the community.

It’s called “Light the Way” and it begins at 7:30 p.m. at the offices of the local nonprofit at 105 S. Garnett St.

There will be food, special music, games for the children and prayer, she told WIZS co-hosts Bill Harris and Steve Lewis on Monday’s TownTalk.

When Jones says there will be food, she clarified: no finger foods, no hors d’ouevres for this community prayer night – everyone in attendance will get a plate full of supper. When they leave, they’re gonna be full spiritually and full literally, she said.

“Everybody leaves with something,” Jones said, “spiritual or tangible.”

Newscasts and news feeds are full of bad news – crime, wars, shootings, she said, the community prayer night is one way she can offer people hope.

“We just want to make sure people are uplifted at this time of the year,” Jones said.

Community Uplift Project was founded in August 2019, when Jones was unable to work because she was suffering from lupus. She was hosting yard sales to earn some money, she recalled. “I was sitting on my mother’s porch,” Jones said, “and the Lord said ‘give it all away.’”

Confused but obedient, Jones said she began posting photos of the items she was now giving away rather than selling.

People responded to her posts and she began to deliver the items to those who needed it.

“The more I did it, the more God gave me,” Jones said. “With the vision He gave me…I was just obedient to the vision.”

Jones is a self-professed giver – “just a little girl from the ‘hood with a big dream,” she said. She accepted the call to ministry more than 10 years ago and has never looked back.

She works with Headstart during the day, but can usually be found at the Community Uplift Project by 4:15 or so. Email her at CommunityUpliftProject2020@yahoo.com

or phone her at 252.425.6056.

 

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S-Line Rail Corridor

The Local Skinny! S Line Rail Corridor Receives Over $1 Billion

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Apparently, $1 billion doesn’t go as far as it used to. At least as far as the S-Line passenger rail line goes, that number – a 1 followed by NINE zeroes – will get the train from Raleigh to as far north as Wake Forest. That’s still 28 miles or so from Henderson.

President Joe Biden and U.S. Department of Transportation announced last week that North Carolina would get a whopping $1.09 billion in federal grant money to build the first segment of the S-Line, a high-performance passenger rail line that will ultimately connect North Carolina with Virginia and points in the Northeast.

WIZS News spoke with NC DOT Rail Division Director Jason Orthner late last week  to find out what the project means for the state, and for Henderson and Vance County – basically the halfway point between Raleigh and Richmond.

Orthner said Henderson is “a critical location on the line…(which, when completed)  will be on one of the most advanced transportation networks in the country.”

The whole project covers 162 miles, Orthner said. While there is existing rail along many stretches, it’s a project that will need to be built in phases. If DOT engineer could wave a magic wand to create all the bridges and other structural components needed to bring the passenger rail service through the state, it surely would shorten the process.

Alas, state DOT officials are just trying to get the train out of Raleigh and north to Wake Forest in this first phase of the massive project.

“We will pursue grant funding and extend service as we do it,” Orthner said, adding that DOT is already planning for the next phases to reach Henderson and beyond.

As for Henderson’s part, Orthner said, being ready for what’s coming, he’s pleased. “We are really excited about Henderson,” he said.

City leaders have been learning about mobility hubs and transportation hubs as they prepare and plan for what passenger rail service can add to the city’s growth and tourism opportunities.

The trick is to use existing tracks up and down the East Coast for passenger rail service without impeding the freight service that uses the same railways.

Train travel is growing in popularity – there’s record ridership between Raleigh and Charlotte, Orthner noted – and he said there is a true interest by the public in rail transportation.

“It’s safe, productive, comfortable and it’s just really a great way to travel.”

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