Tag Archive for: #wizsnews

TownTalk: Granville Gears Up For A Spooktacular Halloween And More!

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Granville County Tourism Director Angela Allen needs a big calendar, but she may wish she had an even bigger one especially for fall, given all the events that take place across the county between September and the end of the year.

“We are in full swing for (the) fall season,” she told John C. Rose on Thursday’s TownTalk. From pumpkin farms and corn mazes, downtown trick-or-treating  to a concert in support of bees, there truly is something for everyone packed in to a short time frame.

Dixon Farms, located just beyond the Granville County Expo Center on Highway 15 South, is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. A ticket gets you a pumpkin of your choice, not to mention access to all kinds of fun outdoor activities for the youngsters – a petting zoo, corn maze and tractor rides, just to name a few.

Dixon Farms announces their fall festival will take place this Saturday, Oct. 22, beginning at 10 a.m.

A little further down in the southern part of the county, William Lyon opens his pumpkin patch  on Saturdays and Sundays  (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) for folks to find the perfect pumpkin, as well as take part in a hay ride and navigate a corn maze. Lyon’s farm is located at 1563 Will Suitt Rd., Creedmoor.

For those who want a little nighttime adventure should drive over to the Granville Haunt Farm, where Grey Blackwell has assembled ghosts and ghouls – benevolent and otherwise – to entertain carloads of folks who drive through.

On Friday and Saturday evenings in October, you can “get a little scare on,” Allen said. This popular destination features scenes from iconic Halloween movies – scary ones and not-so-scary ones, she noted. “It really is a great mixed bag,” she said.

Bonus: The Haunt Farm will be open on Sunday, Oct. 30 and Monday, Oct. 31 to thrill, frighten and entertain.

The star of the Halloween season for many youngsters is trick-or-treating, and families can visit participating downtown retailers in Oxford for their “Spooktacular” between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Downtown Creedmoor merchants will sponsor their trick-or-treating event from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Butner’s Covenant Life Church will be at Butner Athletic Park for a trunk-or-treat from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., where folks can get free kettle corn, cotton candy and hot drinks as they enjoy the various decorated trunks that will fill up the parking lot.

A new event called Bees and Boos will take place at Highrock Farm on Enon Road outside Oxford. The Granville County Beekeepers’ Association is hosting this event, which will be held in two parts – a family fun festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then “a flat-out costume party beginning at 6 p.m. The fun festival is free, and will feature a variety of vendors and a lot of honey-based products, among other activities.

The costume party is a ticketed event and will include a concert by rising Nashville musician Zach Top. Visit https://fb.me/e/2WZSRGiOm to purchase tickets or find the Granville County Beekeepers Association on social media.

Allen said if you’ve always wanted to try mead, honey beer or experience a candy apple bar, this is the event to check all the boxes.

If you have any energy left when October’s events are completed, join the

Granville County Chamber of Commerce for the annual “Cluck ‘N Shuck” seafood extravaganza on Nov. 4 at the Granville County Expo Center. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased by calling the Chamber office at 919.693.6125 or online at https://granville-chamber.com/

The next day, Saturday, Nov. 5 marks the Creedmoor City Golf Championship at South Granville Country Club. This event begins at 8:30 a.m., followed by a 9:30 a.m. shotgun start. The SGCC is partnering with Creedmoor Parks and Recreation and will max out at 80 golfers. Registration is $60 per golfer. Trophies will be awarded for the top players in each division, Allen said.

Bonus: register NOW to play golf and get $10 off the purchase of a Cluck ‘N Shuck ticket.

 

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Cooperative Extension With Jamon Glover: Bedtime Problems. Pt. 5

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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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Town Talk: The Success Of Show, Shine, Shag And Dine

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By all accounts, last weekend’s Show, Shine, Shag & Dine was a success – the perfect fall weather welcomed tens of thousands of people to Vance County and Pam Hester and Norman Dickerson couldn’t be happier.

But they probably are happy that another event is in the rearview mirror, too.

The Vance County Tourism Authority duo spoke Wednesday with John C. Rose on TownTalk to to give a follow-up of all the festivities, which required hours, weeks and months of planning, Hester noted.

Things got underway on Friday with a couple of cruise-ins, one at Satterwhite Point in the afternoon and a second at Charles Bowman’s Southern Classic Cars in downtown Henderson on Friday evening.

Hester estimated more than 200 cars came out to the lake, where lunch was available and a DJ providing music.

“You’d think that it was full,” Hester said, “then a group of cars would leave and another car club would come in.”

Dickerson concurred. “Attendance was excellent – it was one of the largest I can recall seeing in a number of years. Hester said at the height, there were probably 25,000 to 30,000 people on Garnett Street, enjoying food, vendors and, of course, the cars.

“It was packed,” Hester said. “Part of the time it was wall-to-wall people.”

Those who came to downtown Henderson saw a mixture of old, new and new-again events, they said.

One new event was the Jeep Jam, and Hester said 15 Jeeps drove in for the day.

“I think you have to keep the history of the event, but you also have to keep it relevant, and that will make an event stay fresh,” she said.

The Jeep Jam is an example of a new event, and the return of the race cars – more than 16 or so – goes into the “new-again” category.

Comments about the 20th annual event, on social media posts and personal comments into the tourism office, have been overwhelmingly positive, she said.

The 50-some volunteers, along with collaboration from the city and county and the support of the tourism board, all contributed to the festive atmosphere and how smoothly things ran.

And the support from downtown merchants was unsurpassed, Hester said.

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Home And Garden Show

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

  • Start preparing your leaf collection equipment.PPE, rakes, leaf blower.
  • You have missed the preferred planting window for tall fescue. Consider carefully before investing heavily in seed, etc.
  • Now is a good time to control fire ants. Use granule fire ant bait on days ants are actively foraging
  • Plant a cover crop on vacant areas of your garden.
  • Prepare to compost those leaves. Do Not Burn Leaves!
  • Don’t be too quick to tidy up your garden.

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TRLC To Open New Preserve In Creedmoor On Nov. 4

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Creedmoor is the site of a ribbon-cutting scheduled for Friday, Nov. 4 to mark the opening of Robertson Creek Nature Preserve.

The tract is part of Tar River Land Conservancy and is located along Hwy 56 E. in Creedmoor.

Parking for the ribbon-cutting will be at Creedmoor Commons, 2173 E.Wilton Ave. creedmoor.

An optional guided hike will follow the ceremony.

Volunteers have worked to complete hiking trails in the preserve over the summer and early fall. As with other TRLC tracts, the trails will have signs, footbridges and benches for hikers to use and enjoy.

To register, contact events@tarriver.org or phone 919.496.5902

VGCC Takes Top Awards At National Conference

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-Information courtesy of Vance-Granville Community College

Vance-Granville Community College received two awards totaling $60,000 at a national conference held recently in Boston.

The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship named VGCC as the 2022  Heather Van Sickle Entrepreneurial College of the Year, which is accompanied by a $50,000 award. The award is part of NACCE’s “Pitch for the Foundations,” a new initiative created to support community colleges and their foundations in providing transformational opportunities. In this competition, Tanya Weary, executive director of The VGCC Foundation, Sheri Jones, associate director of The VGCC Foundation, and Kenneth Wilson, grants administrator, made a presentation that won the prize (tied for the largest amount given to any competitor this year) for the VGCC Red Tails Drone aviation program. This program has provided training in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, commonly known as “drones”), particularly through a summer camp for area high school students. This camp taught students how to play a team sport called “Drone Soccer” as part of a team nicknamed the “Red Tails.”

Another VGCC group participated in NACCE’s “Pitch for the Trades” competition. This competition featured teams of community college faculty from across the country, who “pitched” their creative ideas for incorporating entrepreneurship into workforce training programs to a panel of judges. Led by Dean of Business & Applied Technologies Stephanie Tolbert and Grants Administrator Kenneth Wilson, VGCC’s presentation won $10,000 to support expansion of the Welding Technology program. The judges encouraged VGCC to continue working on this project and pitch it again next year.

Both pitch competitions were presented by NACCE in partnership with the Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation.

Topping off those big wins, VGCC was then recognized as the 2022 Entrepreneurial College of the Year. Chris Whaley, the president of Roane State Community College in Tennessee and chair-elect of the NACCE Board of Directors, presented the award, noting VGCC’s rural population and that this competitive award is given to a college that makes a difference in the ecosystem of a community.

In a statement about VGCC’s selection for that honor, NACCE saluted the leadership of President Rachel Desmarais, Ph.D., who has steadily expanded the college’s entrepreneurial initiatives. In 2021, President Desmarais signed NACCE’s Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge (PFEP), committing the college to five action steps designed to create economic vitality through entrepreneurship.

In addition to the Drone program, the college has hosted an innovative entrepreneurship youth camp called “Be a ‘Trep” (short for entrepreneur) for area middle school students, opened the VGCC Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center at the college’s South Campus, established a Student Entrepreneurship Club, and offered an Agricultural Entrepreneurship Program.

“Through innovative events hosted by Vance-Granville’s Small Business Center and other entrepreneurial programming, the college has demonstrated its commitment to promoting entrepreneurship throughout the region it serves,” said Rebecca Corbin, president of the Cary-based NACCE.  “It is a pleasure to recognize this outstanding college, which was selected by an independent judging panel, as the winner of NACCE’s 2022 Entrepreneurial College of the Year Award.”

Desmarais congratulated the team involved, along with the entire VGCC faculty and staff for adopting an entrepreneurial mindset.

“We could not be prouder of the VGCC Vanguards for making a big ‘splash’ at the NACCE conference, and for embracing entrepreneurship both inside and outside the classroom,” Desmarais said. “Entrepreneurship is an important way to promote both student success and our region’s economic development. It is also related to the innovative, outside-the-box thinking that we have incorporated into how we address challenges and how we offer education and training programs for the community.”

Early Voting For Nov. 8 Election Kicks Off Thursday, Oct. 20

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North Carolina’s in-person early voting period begins Thursday, Oct. 20, and ends at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.

There are two early voting locations in Vance County, three in Granville, one in Warren and four in Franklin, according to information from the N.C. State Board of Elections.

In-person early voting accounted for 65 percent of the votes cast in the 2020 election. There are 359 early voting sites open across the state, up 17 percent from the 307 sites for the 2018 midterm elections.

“The 100 county boards of elections have spent months preparing for the start of in-person voting for the important 2022 general election,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “The bipartisan election officials who work in each early voting site are prepared for a smooth voting process and to ensure the ballots of all eligible voters are counted.”

 

Below is a list by county of the early voting sites:

Vance County:

·      Andrea Harris Henderson Operations Center, 900 S. Beckford Dr., Henderson

·      Aycock Rec Complex, 307 Carey Chapel Rd., Henderson

Granville County:

·      Oxford Public Works Building, 127 Penn Ave., Oxford

·      South Branch Library, 1550 South Campus Dr., Creedmoor

·      Tar River Elementary School, 2642 Philo White Rd., Franklinton

Warren County:

·      Warren County Board of Elections Office, 309 N. Main St., Warrenton

Franklin County:

·      Franklin Plaza Service (County Training Room, 279 S. Bickett Blvd., Suite 102, Louisburg

·      Franklinton Lions Club, 205 S. Chavis St., Franklinton

·      Sheriff Substation, 382 NC 98 W, Bunn

·      Youngsville Public Library Meeting Room, 218 US-1 Alt., Youngsville

 

For more information about early voting, please visit Vote Early in Person.

The State Board offers the following 10 tips for early voters:

1.    Voters may cast a ballot at any early voting site in their county. For sites and hours in all 100 counties, use the One-Stop Early Voting Sites search tool. Also see One-Stop Voting Sites for the November 8, 2022 Election (PDF).

2.    Sample ballots for the primary election are available through the Voter Search tool. For more information on candidates for the N.C. Supreme Court and N.C. Court of Appeals, see the State Board’s Judicial Voter Guide 2022: Midterm General Election. The State Board does not provide information about candidates for other contests, but some media outlets and advocacy groups do. Many candidates also have websites and social media accounts. Knowing your candidate choices in advance and being familiar with the ballot will help your voting experience go more smoothly.

3.    Individuals who missed the regular voter registration deadline on October 14 may register and vote at the same time during the early voting period. Same-day registrants must attest to their eligibility and provide proof of where they live. For more information, visit Register in Person During Early Voting. This is the only option for individuals who missed the regular registration deadline to be able to register and vote in the general election.

4.    When you check in to vote at an early voting site, you may update your name or address within the same county, if necessary.

5.    Voters who receive an absentee ballot by mail may deliver their completed ballot to an election official at an early voting site in their county. Ballots will be kept securely and delivered to the county board of elections for processing. For more information on returning absentee-by-mail ballots, see Detailed Instructions to Vote By Mail.

6.    Voters who requested an absentee-by-mail ballot but have not yet returned it may choose instead to vote in person during the early voting period or on Election Day, November 8. Voters may discard the by-mail ballot and do not need to bring it to a voting site.

7.    Under state law, all early votes – by mail and in person – are considered absentee votes because they are cast “absent” of Election Day. You can see that your early vote counted in the “Your Absentee Ballot” section of the Voter Search database. Type in your first and last names to pull up your voter record. Scroll down to the “Your Absentee Ballot: By Mail or Early Voting” section. Once your ballot is received by your county board of elections, “Absentee Status” will show “VALID RETURN,” the “Return Method” will be “IN PERSON” and your “Return Status” will be “ACCEPTED.” Your ballot status also will show up in the “Voter History” section of your voter record as soon as your county completes the post-election process of compiling the information on who has been recorded as having voted during the election through the various voting methods. This may take a couple of weeks or longer.

8.    The State Board asks that all voters respect the rights of others to participate in the election. Intimidating any voter is a crime. Voters who feel harassed or intimidated should notify an election official immediately.

9.    Voters at one-stop early voting sites are entitled to the same assistance as voters at a voting place on Election Day. Curbside voting is available for eligible individuals at all early voting sites. For more information, visit Curbside Voting.

10. North Carolina law prohibits photographing or videotaping voted ballots. Voters may use electronic devices in the voting booth to access a slate card or candidate information, provided they don’t use the devices to communicate with anyone or take photographs of their ballot.
Domestic Violence Awareness Month

TownTalk: Domestic Violence Awareness Event This Weekend

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The statistics are staggering: Every minute in the United States, 20 people are being physically abused by an intimate partner.

In the past year, Vance County’s Emergency 911 received 1,107 calls related to a domestic disturbances or disputes, according to Debbie K. Scott, domestic violence coordinator and gang resource specialist for the Vance County Sheriff’s Office.

Of those calls, 336 were assaults, 70 involved a weapon and unfortunately one of those calls involved the death of a male victim.

These cold, hard facts are just part of the story of domestic violence awareness, and Scott said the sheriff’s office is teaming up with Clearview Church for the 4th annual event to shed light on a subject that for too long has remained in the shadows of society.

The “Think Community” event will begin at 3 p.m. at Clearview Church, located at 3485 Hwy 158 Business in Henderson.

This year’s theme is “Break the Silence – Stop the Violence” and Scott told John C. Rose on Tuesday’s TownTalk that there will be several guest speakers and performers on hand, including pastor Roy Burroughs and the Work In Progress Gospel Choir, Sgt. Myron Alexander with the Vance County Sheriff’s Office and Keisha Valentine, a survivor of domestic violence.

“We’re looking forward to having a great program,” Scott said.

Whether you are a victim of domestic violence or you suspect someone else may be, it’s important to speak up and speak out, Scott said.

Valentine’s son witnessed her attack – she was shot multiple times at point-blank range – and it was her son who phoned 911 to report the incident.

“He was strong enough to speak up and make that call,” Scott recounted. Victims of abuse must not give up, she said. “You have to speak up – you can’t be quiet. You have to stand up against it…(and) try to get help.”

Victims can speak to other family members, a co-worker, a best friend – anyone who can provide support.

Valentine will share her story at Saturday’s event, and Scott said she hopes that others find strength as a result of hearing it.

“Come and break the silence,” she said. “We can put a dent in (domestic violence) and we can confront it.”

Domestic violence may begin with something as simple as hurtful words or disrespect, Scott explained. Saying hurtful things and intimidation tactics can escalate to emotional and physical abuse.

The weekend event is a way for the community to show its support, Scott said. “It’s a way to stand with the victims, support the surviviors, (and) help us continue to educate and confront this issue” as well as learning from hearing victims’ stories of survival and grieve collectively for those who have lost their lives to domestic violence.

Scott said support from local organizations helps to promote awareness about domestic violence. Last year, the Henderson Woman’s Club won a regional award for the work it did to donate bags of items to victims of domestic violence.

Participating in meaningful ways shows others that domestic violence “is not invited in our community – it’s unwanted and we will not be quiet any more.”

 

To learn more, contact Scott at 252.738.2235 or email her at dscott@vancecounty.org.

 

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