On the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report from Wayne Rowland:
Spotted lanternfly is an invasive pest that can be devastating to grape vines.
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The Kerr-Tar Council of Governments is hosting the 11th annual elder abuse awareness and prevention day on Friday, June 13 at the Warren County Armory Civic Center.
This event is free and open to the public, and Kim Hawkins, KTCOG’s regional ombudsman, said it’s the perfect time to come out and learn more about what elder abuse is, how to spot it and report it to keep vulnerable senior adults safe from being physically, emotionally and financially exploited.
In North Carolina, the time between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day is usually when organizations and agencies focus on providing educational programs like the one that will happen Friday, Hawkins said.
“It’s going to be a fun day,” she said. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will feature dozens of vendors, t-shirts, entertainment from the Vance and Warren senior centers, a commemorative walk, lunch – and ice cream! The colors for the day are purple and silver, representing abuse awareness and elders, respectively.
“We hope everybody will come out and gain some information,” Hawkins said, adding that it’s events like this that help remind us how important senior adults are to their communities.
The vendors represent agencies and other organizations that provide information and resources; they’ll be on hand to help people become more aware of what’s in their community and how to report to the Department of Social Services if you suspect a senior is at risk.
One in 10 individuals over the age of 65 will experience some form of abuse, Hawkins said. The signs of abuse can be subtle, and sometimes people don’t report for fear of retaliation, isolation or just plain old embarrassment.
Anyone who suspects abuse is obligated to report to DSS, Hawkins noted. The reports are anonymous, but the elder person’s name and his/her location is necessary.
Signs could range from outward changes or changes in personality – think about the person who once could chat on and on who now won’t pick up the phone when it rings, she said.
It could be a change in a person’s tone of voice or facial expressions, or it could be something like self-neglect that could be a sign of cognitive decline.
Hawkins monitors long-term care facilities; call her at 252.436.2050 to learn more. Or call the main KTCOG number at 252.436.2040 if you’d like information about other topics.
Visit www.kerrtarcog.org for more details.
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The Oxford Armory Farmers Market has gotten off to a good start. In just a few Saturdays, organizers say the open-air market has had about 2,400 visitors. That number makes Wendy Tatum very happy, and hopeful for future sustainability.
Tatum is the Food and Built Environment associate with Granville County Cooperative Extension, a new position supported by N.C. A&T State University.
Using information from a 2022 needs assessment, Tatum assembled a core group of volunteers to create a place for local producers could sell their produce and farm products. What began as a series of pop-up markets in downtown Oxford morphed into dozens of vendors setting up shop on the grounds of the Armory.
“We’re very much centered around agriculture,” Tatum said on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny! with WIZS’s Scout Hughes. The market is open on Saturdays May through October from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Craft vendors are at the market on the third Saturdays of each month.
She credits strong partnerships with the city of Oxford, the Granville County Board of Commissioners, the Kerr-Tar COG Food Council and many volunteers to get off on a positive note and to have such strong support from the community.
“We wanted a place that was highly visible,” Tatum said, in the choice made for the location of the market. “We needed it to be a walkable space – and comfortable,” she added. The Armory, located at 105 W. Spring St., is just a block or so away from the main downtown area of Oxford.
With a grant for $8,500 from Triangle North Healthcare, Tatum said the market buys produce from vendors at the end of the market day to stock the “Farm to Fridge” coolers located in library branches in the county.
Visit https://granville.ces.ncsu.edu/oxford-armory-farmers-market/ to learn more about the market or call Tatum at 919.603.1350.
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If you’re a Baby Boomer, chances are you grew up hearing stories from parents or grandparents about Hazel. That’d be Hurricane Hazel, the October 1954 storm that tore through this part of North Carolina on a path that went all the way to Canada.
It’s just one example of a natural disaster that people use as a yardstick of sorts by which to measure other storms. Hazel made landfall in Calabash as a Category 4 storm as it headed straight up the middle of the state on its way north.
Millenials, Gen Xers and Gen Zers will be able to tell stories about Florence, Fran and Floyd, but hurricanes are just one category of natural disaster that has struck this area. WIZS’s Bill Harris chatted with local historian Mark Pace to remember a number of historic events that affected the four-county area in Thursday’s TownTalk segment Around Old Granville.
“What made Hazel so remarkable,” Pace said, was that it was very short-lived. After making landfall on the coast, it reached this area by about 2 p.m. “By 3:45, it was gone from Vance County,” he said. “It came through like a freight train.”
Forty-two years later, Hurricane Fran took more or less the same route as it rolled through North Carolina, killing 36 people and causing extensive damage in September 1996.
Hazel’s fierce winds snapped off a lot of the trees halfway up, Pace said, and it brought great destruction in a short period of time.
This area was also subjected to what is called “the Great Storm of 1893,”
“People didn’t have to worry about the electricity going out,” Pace said, because there weren’t many places that had it. “In a lot of ways, they were able to deal with the effects of the storm a lot better” than we do today.
Over the years, information from climatologists and weather forecasters help prepare for weather events like hurricanes, but people don’t always have a lot of advance warning about tornadoes.
And this area has had its share of tornadoes. Just last year, Epsom experienced a rash of tornadoes, spawned in the remnants of Tropical Storm Debbie. They were relatively weak – F-0 and F-1 – but that’s strong enough to cause damage.
In the Oak Hill community in northern Granville County, a tornado flattened Oak Hill School in November 1952, Pace said. Luckily, it was after school had let out, so there were no injuries. But the yearbook in subsequent years was renamed ‘The Tornado.’
Other tornadoes have demolished warehouses and killed more than a dozen people in Warrenton in 1936, homes in Huntsboro in 2016 and tore roofs off the Medical Arts building on Ruin Creek Road in 1988.
And while nobody welcomes hurricanes and tornadoes, there are plenty of people who wish for a good snowfall every winter – none more than schoolchildren. And probably a teacher or two.
But even the biggest snow fans may balk at the possibility of having 2 feet of snow on the ground. That’s what Warren County got during a massive storm in 1856.
Henderson got close to that – 22.5 inches – in 1922, which collapsed a couple of tobacco warehouse roofs and part of the Corbitt Factory, Pace said.
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Vance County Cooperative Extension Report from Jamon Glover
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The Brick Power Team will host an induction ceremony for the N.C. State Strength Sports Hall of Fame on June 21 at 220 Seafood Restaurant in Henderson.
Harry Orr said Randy Perry and Will Lynch are this year’s honorees.
Orr, executive director of the statewide group, also is part of the Brick Power Team, said the honorees will receive plaques to recognize their accomplishments and contributions to the sport of powerlifting and weight lifting.
The Brick Power Team is an outreach ministry of Freedom Life Church of God and raises money for worthy causes with weightlifting competitions.
He said the group is accepting donations to help defray costs associated with the event.
All donations are tax-deductible.
“Any donations will be appreciated, whatever size,” Orr said.
The Brick Power Team will have a fish plate fundraiser on Monday, July 28 at 220 Seafood Restaurant, with most of the proceeds going to Freedom Life Church of God, which Orr said is instrumental in the work of the Brick Power Team.
“The Brick Power Team is putting it on,” he said. “Whatever we get out of that, we give most back to the church.”
Tickets are $10 and plates are take-out only.
Contact Orr to find out more about sponsoring the induction ceremony or to learn more about the hall of fame or the Brick Power Team at 252.432.4196 or email horr2553@yahoo.com
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The Vance County Board of Commissioners offered thanks Monday – and a round of applause – to show their appreciation for the work that Special Projects Coordinator Frankie Nobles has done so far to tackle a long “to-do” list at the county detention center.
In providing an update on the progress made since he was given the lengthy list of repairs and maintenance projects, Nobles told commissioners he reckons about half of the items have been addressed so far.
“We’re going to work until we can get them (done),” he told commissioners during the regular monthly meeting.
Commissioner Tommy Hester said, “I want to say thank you, because this guy is doing a great job.” With that comment, the board offered a round of applause.
The state of the jail has been an ongoing topic of discussion for commissioners, and it’s just one of the five corrective action items that were included in a letter from the state dated April 1. In the letter, the state outlined required steps county leaders must take to get the facility back in compliance.
Commissioners took steps to put the repairs and maintenance under the supervision of the county rather than the sheriff’s office, and that’s when Nobles took over.
County Manager C. Renee Perry said, “We’ve been getting things done under Frankie’s leadership.”
Nobles added that the state is “very happy” with the progress that’s been made thus far.
In response to a question from Commissioner Tommy Hester about whether he’s had difficulty getting the work done, Nobles said, “Everybody that I’ve talked to has been caught up and paid except one,” who still has four invoices that haven’t been paid for. Commissioners had received reports that work wasn’t being completed either because workers weren’t being paid or because of safety concerns. For now, that challenge seems to be less of a problem than before.
The list of completed tasks is impressive, from power washing interior walls, ceilings and floors to replacing expired fire extinguishers and generator batteries. Broken glass has been removed and replaced, as well as air filters on the two-year-old units that apparently hadn’t been replaced since October 2023.
“Those units were completely stopped up,” Nobles said, adding that he didn’t know how they were still operational.
So after the paint, toilet and shower repairs and replacements, holes in walls patched and bunks bolted anew to walls…what’s left?
“The big stuff,” Nobles said. Things like locks on doors, the camera system, among others.
But for now, the county is happy – happier – because the state is happy as Nobles leads the effort to put more repairs in the “completed” column on his “to-do” list.
Assistant County Manager Jeremy Jones told commissioners on Monday that the RFQ – request for qualifications – process closed just a couple of hours before the meeting began. There was one reply to the RFQ, which sets in motion the design/build process county leaders are considering for a new facility. The RFQ is scheduled to come before the commissioners on July 7 for possible approval. Commissioners will receive for review a copy of the RFQ before the July meeting, she said.
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On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.
The Vance County Cooperative Extension is located at 305 Young St, Henderson, NC 27536
The Vance County Regional Farmers Market is located at 210 Southpark Dr., Henderson, NC 27536
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