WIZS Radio Local News Audio 05-03-23 Noon
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The Local Skinny! Shriner’s Fish Fry Is Scheduled For May 17th
The Tri-County Shriner’s Fish Fry is on again for its traditional third Wednesday in May and area Shriners are gearing up for another long, but productive day, with delicious results for its patrons.
Plates are $10 each – take-out only – and sales will begin at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 17, said chairman Vernon Mustian.
Mustian and Donald Seifert were guests on WIZS “The Local Skinny!” to talk up the 59th fish fry.
You just may spy Mustian near the cookers on Fish Fry Day. “I have been cooking there for awhile,” he acknowledged. He holds the club’s office of First Vice President, but the club also put him in charge of the whole event this year. “It is a chore,” he said, adding that his admiration has grown for those who have organized past events.
“We try to put out a good plate,” Seifert said. “The price is reasonable and if we have good weather, I’m sure we’ll have a good turnout.”
Drive out to 210 Industry Drive near Lowe’s and Mako Medical to pick up plates. Delivery is available for 10 or more plates. Call 919.369.0316 to make delivery arrangements.
You can buy tickets in advance or purchase plates at the take-out tent.
“We are hoping to raise more than last year, “ Mustian said. “We had a good year last year, and we’re looking for a big number – at least $10,000.”
Shriner Henry Gupton told WIZS in an earlier interview that all proceeds after expenses will be donated to the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Greenville, SC.
THIS STORY WAS ORGINALLY PUBLISHED MAY 2, 2023 AND IS BEING RE-POSTED FOR VIEWING AT THIS TIME.
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3 Warren Leaders Complete Rural Center’s “Homegrown” Program
Three Warren County leaders – Demetrius Hunter, Crystal Smith, and Rose Ponton – all recently graduated from the N.C. Rural Center’s Homegrown Leaders program. This three-day regional leadership and economic development program develops and supports highly motivated local leaders committed to regional collaboration.
“This experience has really underscored the importance of authentic storytelling and engaged listening in addressing community challenges,” said Ponton, who is Warren County’s Community and Economic Developer – and also a Warrenton resident. “It was so valuable to meet other regional leaders and learn how we are all addressing similar issues.”
Smith, director of Warren County Cooperative Extension, stated, “I highly recommend Homegrown Leaders. The content is relevant to creating a thriving community.”
From his perspective as a local entrepreneur, Hunter said today’s leaders need to understand equity and inclusion. He is the owner of the Soul City Event Center. As well as Peanut and Zelb’s Produce that recently opened in Norlina.
“Leaders need to act on policy change and not be afraid,” Hunter stated. “Equity is not an invested dollar; it is a debt owed to my ancestors. Therefore, I am the recipient.”
The training, held in Pittsboro from April 18-20, attracted existing and emerging leaders from a 13-county region that includes the four counties in the WIZS listening area – Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin – as well as Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange, Person and Wake.
“Our Homegrown Leaders curriculum showcases the critical importance of innovation in leadership development and regional collaboration,” said Rural Center Senior Director of Leadership and Engagement Bronwyn Lucas. “It is vital to lift up our rural leaders and the critical work they do to enhance their communities. We are thrilled these talented graduates will now be joining the Rural Center’s leadership alumni network of more than 1,400 rural leaders across the state.”
Graduation certificates were presented to the program’s 33 participants upon completion of the training.
“Leadership development is at the core of the Rural Center’s work, and now more than ever it is important that our leaders are equipped with the skills and tools to foster growth and innovation,” said Rural Center President Patrick Woodie. “We’re excited to see the impact our Homegrown Leaders graduates will have in their communities and regions to create a thriving future for generations of residents.”
Class participants included economic development and health professionals, educators, and civic and nonprofit leaders.
To learn more, visit https://www.ncruralcenter.org/leadership/.
The Rural Center was established in 1987 and serves the state’s 78 rural counties with a special focus on people with low-to-moderate incomes and communities with limited resources. To learn more about how the NC Rural Center is developing and supporting rural leaders across the state, visit ncruralcenter.org.
WIZS Radio Local News Audio 05-02-23 Noon
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TownTalk: Henderson Kiwanis Club Celebrates 100 Years
The Kiwanis Club of Henderson observed 100 years of service to the community during a special celebration that featured proclamations by city officials, reflections on the civic group’s history and a reminder of the club’s mission to be advocates for children.
Art Falkner, current president of the local Kiwanis Club, was a guest on TownTalk to discuss the club’s past – and its future.
“Not many clubs can say they’re a hundred years old,” Falkner said. “It’s a major milestone.”
The civic organization received its charter on April 16, 1923, just eight years after the very first club was formed in Detroit, Michigan. Today, the international organization has a place for individuals from elementary-school age to adult and boasts of having a presence in close to 100 countries around the world, with 600,000 members in 8,000 clubs.
One upcoming fundraiser event is a golf tournament, scheduled for May 25 at Kerr Lake Country Club.
Just this year, Henderson Collegiate started a Key Club for its high schoolers, Falkner said.
The Kiwanis mission is “molding good kids into exceptional adults,” he said. The Key Club is just one way to help support this mission.
Helping young people understand how to give back to their communities through civic clubs and organizations also can be a way to promote membership in clubs when those young people leave school and head out into the world.
“Just like other civic organizations, we’re losing membership,” Falkner said. But despite lower numbers – the club has 12 members now, down from a high of up to 70 – the club continues to help make a difference.
Falkner said there’s no telling how much money the club has raised throughout its history, but during the 1990’s, Falkner said longtime club treasurer Bill Cox kept meticulous financial records of all the fundraiser projects, and he estimated that the club contributed $75,000 to local projects that directly benefit children just during that 10-year period.
Thinking back on some of the past Kiwanis projects, Falkner said the annual azalea sale was always popular, as were the peanut sales and everyone remembers the funnel cakes that the club sold in front of Frazco on Garnett Street during Colorfest.
“We sold azaleas in pretty much any empty lot in town,” Falkner said with a chuckle. Same for peanuts.
“We’ve bagged peanuts in just about any open place we could find,” he recalled. During the peak of the peanut sales, club member Bob Leggett was a good resource. “He used to let us set up a stand right out there at the entrance to Leggett’s, the department store that was located in Henderson Mall.
Throughout its 100 years of existence, the focus has been on young people. “We’ve supported children throughout,” Falkner said, providing scholarships for high school graduates and in 2014 endowed a scholarship at Vance-Granville Community College in honor of longtime member Robert J. Turner.
Recent projects include providing dictionaries and other sets of books to all 3rd grade classrooms across the county.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesday evenings at 6 p.m. for dinner at the Henderson Country Club. “We would love to have visitors come,” Falkner said. “We need young people and new ideas.”
As the club enters its second century of service to the community, members acknowledge the successes of the past and the hope of the future in comments that appeared in the program of the April 22 celebration:
“We take a moment to reflect on the service and dedication of the hundreds of Kiwanians from our community who have preceded us. The Kiwanis Club of Henderson has a remarkable history of assistance to the children of Vance County and a proud legacy of service to our community Looking forward, the Club will continue its efforts to recruit new members so that we may continue our traditions and work in Vance County. May we continue to be guided by the call to Work and Build. On Kiwanis, on Kiwanis – there is work to do!”
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Cooperative Extension With Paul McKenzie: What Works in the Garden
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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WIZS Radio Local News Audio 05-01-23 Noon
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TownTalk: Watkins VFD Plans BBQ Fundraiser
Watkins Volunteer Fire Department’s upcoming barbecue and chicken fundraiser on Friday, May 5, is one way the firefighters have to help make sure the residents inside their fire district – and beyond – have everything they need when it comes to fire, EMS and other services.
Assistant Fire Chief Brandon Link said this is one of two fundraisers the fire department undertakes each year, with a filler fundraiser in between.
Plates of barbecue or grilled chicken, with potatoes, slaw, bread and dessert, are $12. Plates with both barbecue and chicken are $15 and a pound of barbecue is $10, Link said.
The sales begin at 11 a.m. and they’ll serve it up until it’s all gone. Patrons can eat in or take out.
Watkins Volunteer Fire Department is located at 1590 Horseshoe Bend Rd., Henderson.
Link said Monday on TownTalk that Watkins, like other volunteer departments in the county, receives county funding for operations and to help pay for paid staff, but it’s not enough. Watkins gets $100,000 from the county, which comes from the county’s fire tax.
He estimated that between 15 percent and 20 percent of the department’s funding comes from the community in the form of fundraisers. The firefighters are always looking for ways to be frugal, Link said, and “getting more bang for our buck.”
The firefighters respond to all types of calls, not just fire calls, he said. There’s also EMS calls, and then there are the collisions and wrecks that happen within the district, too.
Link said departments like his use volunteers in creative ways to try to make sure there’s someone in the firehouse at all times. Nights and weekends are problematic, but Link said it’s important to provide the best coverage possible. “It takes some creativity to fill those gaps,”he said.
Of course, the ultimate goal is to have the firehouse staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long. In the meantime, they’re doing the best they can.
“We make sure we’re using everything that the county is providing us, and taxpayers are providing for us,” Link said. “Everyone pays the same tax rate and deserves the same level of service.”
The fire department uses some of the funds for trainings like an upcoming workshop scheduled at the Vance County Rescue Squad about electric vehicles.
Fred’s Towing is going to do the training, which will help firefighters get up to speed on differences between EVs and traditional gas-powered vehicles.
“EV fires are an entirely different monster,” he noted, adding that they require lots more water than the routine vehicle fire call.
“This specialized training comes at a cost,” Link said, but it’s essential to keep firefighters training updated.
“The end goal is to provide the best service that we can to the taxpayer, to the customer,” Link said. Sometimes that means accepting changes, like when service areas change. There are multiple areas across the county that used to be covered by one department and now it’s covered by another.
“We’re passionate about who we serve,” Link said. “As a department, (with) some things you gotta bite the bullet and let it go – and be the second responder.”
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Volunteers Join Voices To Read Bible Aloud From Genesis To Revelation May 3
About a dozen local churches are taking part in this year’s Public Bible Reading Day. If everything falls into place like it’s supposed to, volunteers will have read the Bible – from start to finish – by the end of the day.
This special day happens Wednesday, May 3 and it is specifically timed to take place around the National Day of Prayer, which is observed on the first Thursday in May.
Lois Murphy told WIZS that the different churches in the area already have been assigned their books of the Bible.
COVID has thrown a monkey wrench of sorts into the plan that organizers have of reading aloud in public, Murphy said.
“We read aloud and we read publicly if we can,” Murphy said. “COVID has shut down some of the public reading, and some churches still have some COVID restrictions in place,” she said.
Because of this, volunteers have the option of reading in their church or from the comfort of their own homes.
“I would like to see people reading…at the plaza at the courthouse, maybe at a downtown location, even in stores or businesses, if they would permit us,” she mused.
The way it works is pretty simple: Each church gets a section of scripture that can be read in 15 minute increments. The whole Bible is divided into 15-minute segments. After a quick calculation, Murphy said it would take about four hours to read Genesis and another three to get through Exodus.
Here is a list of local churches that will be participating in the Reading Day:
First Baptist Church
First United Methodist Church
Union Chapel
Island Creek
Clearview Church
Harriet Baptist
Fuller Chapel
Cotton Memorial
Blessed Hope
West End
South Henderson
New Sandy Creek
Murphy suggested that anyone interested in joining in the read-aloud contact one of the churches listed above to get more information.
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Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Tomato Planting
Chances are, most of us have planted tomato plants in our lives – either in neat rows in a beautifully tilled garden or in a container placed in the sunniest part of the yard.
There’s the “if you plant it, it will live” philosophy and then there are those more serious gardeners who time their plantings, amend the soil and pay attention to what the folks at the extension office have to say about growing the juicy, summertime produce that actually is a fruit, not a vegetable.
Vance County Cooperative Extension’s Resource Technician Wayne Rowland suggests trying several different varieties of tomatoes to find one that suits your needs – and your growing conditions.
Better Boy, Whopper and Celebrity, for example, are good performers and also are resistant to certain diseases that often plague tomato plants.
It’s also important to amend soil that is either heavy with clay or too sandy to provide proper nutrients. Mixing in a few inches of organic material like compost or leaf mold will help, and if you haven’t done a soil test, you may want to consider sending off a sample to the folks in Raleigh to learn the pH of the soil in the garden.
The soil sample results helps gardeners know what type of fertilizer to use, but if you don’t have a soil sample, no need to fret: you can make your own at home.
A simple fertilizer recipe is ¾ c. of lime (the mineral, not the fruit) and ½ c. of 8-8-8 fertilizer makes a good multi-purpose fertilizer, Rowland said.
As for how to plant those tomato plants to get the best yield and to make harvesting easier, Rowland recommends spacing the plants 1-2 feet apart along the row, and having 3-4 feet of space between rows.
If your transplants have gotten tall and leggy (maybe because you just couldn’t wait and bought them weeks ago in anticipation of planting time), Rowland shared a gardener’s trick that could help: Instead of digging a hole, dig a trench and plant the tomato, roots and bare stem sideways!
If using this trench method, remove all the leave along the stem except for the top leaf cluster. Lay the plant on its side and cover the roots and the stem with a few inches of soil, taking care not to tamp down the soil too hard that you break the stem.
No matter which method you use, the tomato plants will benefit from applying a starter solution, something that’s available at local garden centers or you can make your own.
If you need a lot, mix 1 pound of 8-8-8 fertilizer in 10 gallons of water.
If you don’t need that much, add 3 tablespoons of 8-8-8 to 1 gallon of water.
Whether you want cherry tomatoes to put in a fresh salad, Romas for spaghetti sauce or if you have your mouth set for a juicy slice of tomato slathered with Duke’s mayo between two slices of white bread, now’s the time to get those plants in the ground. With these helpful tips from N.C. Cooperative Extension, your work surely will pay dividends later in the summer.
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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