Cooperative Extension with Paul Mckenize: What Works in the Garden
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TownTalk: Chris Wright Talks New EMS And Fire Dept. Building
Any time a call comes in about a motor vehicle crash, first responders spring into action. Whether it’s local law enforcement or a state trooper who dashes to the scene, there also will be a fire truck or rescue squad that responds as well.
Such was the case Wednesday when more than 20 emergency type vehicles were on the scene of an accident on Spring Valley Road.
Vance County Fire Chief Chris Wright was on his way from his home to the gym for his regular workout when the call came in, so he arrived in his personal vehicle.
Wright told WIZS News that there was a large presence and response to the scene, including rescue squad vehicles to the fire department, sheriff’s office and the State Highway Patrol.
By the time Wright arrived, the Extrication Team had begun the process of removing the victim from what was left of the car.
Some of those vehicles have specialized equipment needed for such things as extrication, Wright said. And it means that emergency vehicles, over the years, have gotten bigger as a result.
It’s important to have the most up-to-date equipment possible for first responders to be able to do their jobs, and Wright said it’s also important to have a place that can house those vehicles when they’re not in action.
He said he’s pleased that County Manager Jordan McMillen, Finance Director Katherine Bigelow and the Vance County Board of Commissioners are at least beginning to plan for construction of a new fire department. The commissioners, at their regular meeting earlier this month, approved reallocating $4.5 million to the capital improvement fund to address several projects, one of which is a new fire department. The commissioners identified a new public safety center as one of its five priorities at their recent planning retreat.
“There’s definitely been a need over the last years,” Wright told John C. Rose in a phone interview that was recorded for Thursday’s Town Talk. With the increase in staff, as well as housing fire and EMS in one space, and the number of vehicles for each group, there simply isn’t adequate space for all.
The building was completed in 1960 and added on to in the early 1990’s to provide two additional vehicle bays.
According to Wright, the doorways to the vehicle bays aren’t tall enough to accommodate newer-model vehicles. The way vehicles being built now , “we almost have to have them specially built,” he noted. That’s just one issue facing him and his department – having to spec out vehicles that will fit – literally – in the facility.
In this time of preliminary planning, there are many factors to consider, Wright said, including whether to continue to house EMS and the fire department together or have them in separate spaces.
He said county officials are now beginning to look at land and different models of buildings as they discern the planning process.
It could take a couple of years, or as many as three years, he said, but he hopes that by the time it’s completed, Vance County will have a facility it can be proud of and one that can be a resource to the community it serves.
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The Local Skinny! Lee Anne Peoples, ACTS
Area Christians Together in Service (ACTS) had a successful fundraiser Monday which Executive Director Lee Anne Peoples said probably would bring in more than $2,000 for the local agency that provides food to hungry people in Vance County.
“We are excited about it,” Peoples said, referring to the fundraiser held at 220 Seafood. She said the final total isn’t in yet, but 947 have been turned in and she expects the proceeds to be in the $2,000 to $2,500 range. It’s always a good time when you can raise money and have fun in the process, she told John C. Rose on Thursday’s The Local Skinny! segment.
The money raised “turns right around and helps (ACTS) minister to others,” she said. Similar to running a household, there are costs to keeping ACTS open – like paying for electricity and water. Fundraisers like the one held Monday “go a long way toward helping us out,” Peoples said.
The volunteers stay busy during the week with all that is involved in preparing the daily meal distributed between 11 a.m. and noon. “Anybody can come by and get a nice, hot plate of food,” she said.
In addition, food boxes are given out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Call 252.492.8231 if you need food.
The volunteers help make and distribute the meals, but they also have to clean up and get the food boxes ready, too. Peoples welcomes anyone who would like to stop by for a tour or wants to become a volunteer. “We can always use volunteers, of course,” she said.
Donations are accepted most any time during the week, but if people could avoid dropping off donations when the meals are being distributed, Peoples and the ACTS volunteers would appreciate it.
The 220 fundraiser originally was the only planned fundraiser for this year, but Peoples said she and others are looking at another possible fundraiser – one that would make good use of the commercial kitchen facilities at ACTS.
“We’re looking at possibly doing a spaghetti plate fundraiser,” she said. Stay tuned for more details about that.
Besides monetary donations from individuals, businesses and churches in the area, fundraisers and grants are the chief ways that ACTS gets funded. And grant season is just about in full swing, she said. One grant has been submitted, but several others will be completed as well. “The summer and into early fall really opens up the grant window that we apply for,” she said. “It’s getting to be crunch time as far as those things go,” she said.
Learn more at https://actsofvancecounty.tripod.com or stop by ACTS at 201 S. William St., Henderson.
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WIZS Radio News Audio 03-24-22 Noon
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TownTalk: Pink With A Passion Hosting Walk For Cancer Awareness, Survivors
Join Pink With A Passion on Saturday, April 9 at the Warren County Recreation Complex for a walk to celebrate cancer survivors and to honor the memories of loved ones whose lives cancer has claimed.
Amena Wilson, president of Pink With A Passion, and Elaine White, vice-president, invite the public to come out to show support for all those who are battling the disease.
“We’ve been trying since 2020 to have it,” Wilson told John C. Rose on Wednesday’s Town Talk. “We are so excited to be able to bring forth this walk,” Wilson said.
The event is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and there will be food trucks, a deejay and the local high school band present to provide entertainment. “There are so many fun activities planned,” Wilson said. Bring a lawn chair and stay for a fun-filled day, she added.
In addition to the three-mile walk, there also will be a ceremony to honor cancer survivors, who also are invited to take part in a survivors’ lap and be recognized by the crowd.
The event is not a fundraiser; rather, an opportunity to give back to the community, Wilson said, and to bring awareness to cancer patients. There will be PWAP t-shirts on sale, however.
White said she and Wilson decided to continue the fundraising efforts to help those battling cancer after they had some leftover money from when Wilson went through treatment of breast cancer after a 2018 diagnosis.
They helped White’s sister when she underwent treatment and just decided to keep it going after that.
“It makes me feel awesome – great – for doing this,” White said. Sometimes, when people’s spirits are low, it’s important to get everyone together and just make them feel good, she said.
This walk and other planned activities is a way to do just that, she said. “It’s something to encourage everybody,” she said.
Future events that Pink With A Passion plans include a Rainbow Luncheon in June. This is another “give back,” Wilson said. There will be limited seating for the free luncheon, she said, which is designed to show a little love to cancer patients and a guest of their choice. “We’ll have sit-down luncheon, encourage them and lift their spirits,” White explained.
A wellness clinic scheduled for October in conjunction with another awareness dinner, will be another fundraiser event for Pink With A Passion.
Visit www.pinkwithapassion.org, call Wilson at 252.213.5735 or White at 243.983.7476 for more information.
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TownTalk: GEF Hosts “Arts In Bloom Gala” April 28
There’s a certain satisfaction artists have when they create something that others also admire and appreciate – “budding” artists (pun intended) in Granville County will have the chance to experience that feeling of satisfaction next month at the Granville Education Foundation’s Arts in Bloom Gala and Silent Auction.
GEF Executive Director Jennifer Cufalo Carpenter invites the community to come out to The Granville Museum, 1 Museum Lane in Oxford, beginning Thursday, April 28 to see local students’ artwork. Carpenter spoke with John C. Rose on Wednesday’s Town Talk about the event, which is the first of its kind offered by GEF.
She and Amy Rice, GCPS’s STEAM coordinator (STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) both said they are excited about the event, which will culminate on May 3 at 4 p.m. when the winners of the silent auction will claim their art.
Carpenter said GEF came up with the idea “to showcase (student) talent, promote the visual arts and to give back to the community.”
She said that all schools located in Granville County have been asked to submit at least three items to be included in the art exhibit and silent auction, which will include students in grades K-12. It will be a distinct opportunity for students to be able to see others appreciate, enjoy – and bid on – their artwork, she said.
Rice, whose career in education began as a Science teacher at J.F. Webb High School, said that, for her, “the most exciting part is to showcase the talent of our students.”
Teachers bring the completed artwork to Rice at GCPS Central Services. “I love seeing the artwork as it comes in,” she said.
A teacher recently brought in some entries and commented to Rice that this event allows students to feel successful. Not all students make the A honor roll, Rice said, and the art gala is an important way for students to demonstrate talent in areas other than academics.
Arts in Bloom kicks off with a light reception from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Apr. 28. The event continues on Sunday, May 1 and concludes at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3.
Musical entertainment will be provided on Apr. 28 by students of Granville Central High School musical director Joshua Carter, himself a recipient of three GEF mini-grants in 2021-22 totaling more than $7,000.
The GEF awards grants to Granville County educators who submit applications for projects to enrich and enhance their students’ educational experience. GEF also funds cultural arts programs that bring in the arts to schools in the county. Carpenter said the COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on the cultural arts arm of GEF programming, but she is happy to report that it will resume this spring.
The art submissions are not limited to paintings or drawings, Carpenter said, adding that students may choose to create in any medium – “we wanted to allow the kids to be creative,” she said, adding that entries could be as varied as crochet, quilting or beadwork.
Proceeds provide resources and enrichment programs for students in all Granville County schools.
There are sponsorship opportunities available for Arts in Bloom, too – $500 Rose event sponsor, $250 Daisy supporting sponsor and $100 Tulip featured sponsor. The deadline to submit sponsorships to GEF is April 7. Details about sponsorship and more can be found at www.GranvilleEdFoundation.org.
Email Carpenter at GranvilleEdFoundation@outlook.com or phone 919.693.7047.
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State Board of Elections: Expect Mass Mailings In Advance of May Primary
The State Board of Elections wants everyone to know one thing as the May 17 primary creeps closer: they aren’t to blame for the predicted onslaught of mass mailings that voters are almost certain to be getting in their mailboxes soon – both physical boxes and email inboxes.
The deadline to register to vote in the May primary is April 22. If you miss the deadline, you may register and vote at the same time at any early voting site in your county. Early voting in Vance and Granville counties begins April 28 and ends May 14.
“A number of voter advocacy and political organizations have begun to send mass mailings to voters and prospective voters across North Carolina as the 2022 statewide primary election approaches,” reads a press statement from Patrick Gannon, the board’s public information director.
While it welcomes efforts to engage voters and promote voter participation, the statement reads, the board “recognizes…that many mailings come unsolicited and can be confusing to some recipients.”
First of all, the mailings didn’t emanate from the state board of elections. Secondly, if you have questions or concerns about a mailing you receive, you should contact the organization who sent it. Some mailings will include the organization’s contact information; with emails, there may be a way to unsubscribe to allow voters to opt of future mailings.
The state board said voters may routinely check their registration status using the online tool Voter Search.
For information about registering to vote in North Carolina, go to the Registering section at ncsbe.gov
As an example of such mailings, in the coming days, private organizations called the Voter Participation Center (VPC) and the Center for Voter Information (CVI) are sending about 490,000 voter registration mailings to certain North Carolina residents.
The registration mailings will contain voter registration applications and information for unregistered voters. According to the groups, the mailings will go to unregistered young people who will be eligible to vote in the upcoming elections for the first time, to voters who have recently moved and have not re-registered or updated their voter registration records, and to others who are unregistered in the voting-age population.
Election officials encourage recipients with questions about the mailings to contact these groups directly. Voters may contact the groups by phone at (202) 659-9570 (VPC) and (866) 290-1599 (CVI).
If you want to be removed from the mailing lists, the letter will have a code near the bottom that you can email to VPC or CVI to be automatically removed (unsubscribe@voterparticipation.org and unsubscribe@centerforvoterinformation.org).
WIZS Radio Local News Audio 03-23-22 Noon
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TownTalk: Fentanyl Is Killing America’s Future – Young People
Patricia Drews is on a mission – it’s a mission that won’t bring her daughter back, but she is determined to try to help other families learn more about what she calls drug-induced homicide that took the life of her only child.
Her daughter, Heaven, died in 2019 – one of approximately 200 young people dying each day back then in the U.S. from opioids. That figure has doubled to about 400 a day as the opioid epidemic rages. The NC DHHS reported Monday that an average of nine North Carolinians died each day in 2020 as a result of a drug overdose – a 40 percent increase from the previous year.
Drews has written and published a book titled Death of America’s Future: China’s Fentanyl that she said should be available for purchase by the end of the week. It is a compilation of more than 80 accounts – including the tragic story of her daughter Heaven – of families that have lost loved ones to fentanyl poisoning.
“I wanted a mother’s perspective,” she told John C. Rose on Tuesday’s Town Talk, “of losing a child.” The first 50 copies of the book, which she paid for herself, should be available this week on Amazon. It was expensive endeavor, Drews noted, but if the book sales do make a profit, she wants to donate the proceeds to several different organizations, including Lost Voices of Fentanyl, a national organization with more than 10,000 members.
The book contains a color photograph of every mother and child, which was important to Drews so she could show families as they had once been – “that they lived, they loved, they laughed,” she said.
Drews said 104,000 young people in the United States died from drugs, and the numbers just keep climbing, she said.
Drews draws a clear distinction between a drug overdose versus the lethal opioid poisoning responsible for the deaths of so many young people. “Yes, they made a choice to experiment,” she said, “but they did not choose to die. The drug dealer that sold them that fentanyl made that choice for them.”
Raising awareness is critical to keeping young people safe – “we need to educate ourselves and we need to educate our children,” Drews said.
In December 2019, North Carolina enacted a law that allows prosecutors to charge drug dealers who illegally sell a controlled substance that causes someone’s death. The “death by distribution” act carries a penalty of up to 40 years in prison.
Her daughter’s case remains active, she said. “I refuse to let it go – they need to be held accountable.” Her daughter died in January 2019, just months before the new law went into effect that December.
“But there’s no statute of limitations on homicide,” she said.
To learn more about how to purchase a copy of the book, visit the local Forgotten Victims page on Facebook or contact Drews directly at 252. 204.9611.
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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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