Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Goat Facilities
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TownTalk: Be Safe When Using Space Heaters
The recent fires in Philadelphia and in New York that killed dozens of residents in the past week serve as tragic reminders about home fire safety during the winter months, when about half of all home heating fires occur.
With temperatures dipping into the 20s at night, it may be tempting to keep a space heater turned on to keep the chill off, but any supplemental heat unit should be turned off overnight – or even when you leave the room, according to a checklist from the National Fire Protection Association.
There are numerous items to double-check to make sure your home is as safe as possible, from testing smoke detectors and installing carbon monoxide alarms to knowing the proper use of space heaters and portable generators.
When dealing with winter storms that knock out power and create icy conditions, it is important to use care and caution inside and outside the home. Make sure that the street address is clearly visible from the road so emergency personnel can quickly identify your location. It’s also important to keep drives and sidewalks as clean of ice and snow as possible, for your own safety and in case emergency personnel need to get up to your home.
Be ready with flashlights – not candles – in case the power goes out.
And never use generators indoors. They should be kept away from structures when in use.
Supplemental space heaters should never be plugged into a power strip or used with an extension cord. Anything that can catch fire should be kept at least three feet away from space heaters.
All these precautions should be taken during and after a winter storm or extended cold snap, but having properly functioning smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in your home is something that can be done at any time of the year.
Test these devices monthly and replace batteries or the entire detector when that annoying chirping sound begins.
The Henderson Fire Department has smoke detectors and Lee Edmonds said city residents can call the department at 252.430.1877 and fire officials will come and install them in their homes.
The Office of State Fire Marshal Mike Causey has posted the following reminders on its webpage. Visit www.ncosfm.gov to learn more.
- Keep anything that can burn at least three feet away from heating equipment, such as the furnace, fireplace, wood stove, or portable space heater.
- Have a three-foot, kid-free zone around open fires and space heaters.
- Never use your oven to heat your home.
- Have a qualified professional install stationary space heating equipment, water heaters or central heating equipment according to the local codes and manufacturer’s instructions.
- Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional.
- Remember to turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.
- Always use the right kind of fuel, specified by the manufacturer, for fuel burning space heaters.
- When refueling kerosene heaters, be sure to move them outside to refill.
- Make sure the fireplace has a sturdy screen to stop sparks from flying into the room. Ashes should be cool before putting them in a metal container. Keep the container a safe distance away from your home.
Town Talk: Talent Connect Connects People To Employment
A short informational virtual session could be the jumpstart to a new career path, and Desiree Brooks said staff at NCWorks is available to follow up with individuals who have questions about next steps toward seeking meaningful employment.
Brooks spoke with John C. Rose on Monday’s Town Talk about Tuesday’s 10 a.m. Talent Connect series, sponsored by the Kerr-Tar COG.
The session lasts 10 minutes, she said, but will be chock-full of information for participants.
“There’s a pathway for every person,” she said, adding that there’s no one set way for prospective employees to find a job that suits them and their skill sets.
Participants will have a chance to interact with presenter Helen Bradby during the virtual session – Tues, Jan 11 – Register at: bit.ly/pathways0111.
Anyone without internet access can simply call NCWorks at 252.438.6129 in Henderson or 919.693.2686 in Oxford to schedule an appointment to learn more.
“We’ll figure out a way to get them the information they need,” Brooks said.
Other virtual sessions are scheduled for Tuesdays in January – the topic for Jan. 18 is professional communication and interview skills (register here – bit.ly/professionalskills0118) and the topic for Jan. 25 is resume building (register here – bit.ly/resumebuilding0125).
These “soft skills” can be important for interviews, Brooks said; prospective employers are looking for new workers who will be a good fit, and job seekers should feel confident when going into an interview.
The Jan. 18 session will give tips for gaining the confidence to kind of help you “shake those nerves…to go in and get the job.”
The Jan. 25 session about resume building will help participants create a resume, which doesn’t necessarily have list a long job history to be a powerful tool. “If you don’t have work experience, that’s OK,” Brooks said. There is plenty that you can put on a resume, from extracurricular activities like church, civic and community service participation.
“All that experience definitely needs to be highlighted on your resume,” she said.
Job seekers can practice those soft skills on Thursday, Jan. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oxford NCWorks Center’s hiring event with Express Employment Professionals. The NCWorks Center is located at 111 Hilltop Village off US Hwy 158.
Learn more and bookmark www.kerrtarworks.com.
The Local Skinny! Shingles? Ouch!
A case of shingles can really get on your nerves – literally. The viral infection causes a painful skin rash and accompanying nerve pain that can linger long after the rash has cleared up.
The shingles is associated with the childhood disease varicella, commonly called chickenpox.
Contracting the chickenpox as a 5- or 6-year-old was common and not seen as a big deal, as far as childhood diseases go.
But about 30 years ago, a vaccine was introduced to eliminate or greatly reduce the severity of the chickenpox in young children.
Shingles is not contagious, but it can be transmitted to someone who has not had chickenpox or who hasn’t had the vaccine against chickenpox, according to information on the CDC website.
Shingles is caused by varicella zoster virus, which is the same virus that causes chickenpox. It lies dormant and then reactivates – sometimes triggered by stress – and usually affects older adults or people with weak immune systems. The rash typically appears on one side of the face or body and lasts two to four weeks. But lingering effects of nerve pain, which can feel like tingling or that pins-and-needles feeling can last longer than the rash.
Thankfully, most people only have a single episode during their lifetime, but it is possible to have shingles more than once. The risk of spreading VZV to others is low if you cover the shingles rash. People with shingles cannot spread the virus before their rash blisters appear or after the rash crusts.
People with chickenpox are more likely to spread VZV than people with shingles.
Consult your health professional or primary care provider to learn whether you should get the shingles vaccine. The vaccine is recommended for healthy adults over 50.
WIZS Radio Local News Audio 01-10-22 Noon
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Vance County Middle Students Shift To Remote Instruction To Start School Week
Vance County Middle School is the latest area school to fall victim to the raging omicron variant and school officials announced that middle school students will shift to remote instruction for the first part of next week.
According to information posted Friday afternoon on the school system’s social media page, which stated, in part: “In an effort to mitigate the rapid increase of staff and student COVID-19 cases” reported at VCMS, students will not have in-person instruction on Monday, Jan. 10 and Tuesday, Jan. 11.
Families with students at VCMS will be contacted over the weekend with details, according to information posted about 3 p.m. Friday.
At this time, all other VCS schools will continue on a normal schedule with in-person instruction.
VCMS students are instructed to login with their teacher at their designated class time.
Granville School Board To Meet Monday, Jan. 10
The Granville County Board of Education will meet for a regular board meeting on Monday, Jan. 10, 2022 at 6 p.m. at the Mary Potter Center of Education, 200 Taylor Street, Oxford, NC 27565. Members of the public are invited to view via livestream. To join the livestream meeting, please use the following link: https://live.myvrspot.com/st?cid=MDhkZj.
The Board also will meet in closed session in accordance with N.C. General Statute 143.318.11 (a)(6), 143-318.11 (a)(3), 143.318.11 (a)(5) and Section 115C-321 for Personnel and Attorney/Client Privilege.
Public comments for this meeting can be made in person at the board meeting or in writing by using the following link: https://tinyurl.com/y37evl6z Comments made using the link must be submitted between the hours of 12 noon and 4 p.m. on Jan. 10, 2021. A copy will be distributed to board members. A maximum of 30 minutes in total will be allotted for public comment.
All meeting attendees must wear face coverings and comply with all safety measures, including social distancing. Face coverings must be worn at all times while inside the building.
Anyone without access to WiFi may use the internet services at the Richard Thornton library 210 Main Street, Oxford, or the South Branch Library, 1550 South Campus Drive, Creedmoor.
GVPH Weekly Update: COVID-19 Cases Continue Uptick
Vance and Granville counties continue to rack up new COVID-19 cases, and the local health district reports a total of 1,376 new cases in the last seven days. The state figure stands at 28,474.
According to GVPH Director Lisa Harrison, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services notified local health departments that boosters for those ages 12-15 will be available beginning next week. Vaccines and boosters are available Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. in Henderson at 115 Charles Rollins Road and beginning Monday, Jan. 10 at the new location in Granville County at 1028 College St. in Oxford, behind Granville Health System.
Both counties remain in the “high community transmission” category, with Vance at 25.5 percent positivity rate and Granville at 17.2 percent positivity rate. Both counties still fall below the state’s positivity rate, which currently is 31.2 percent.
Specifically, in the past week, Vance County has had 685 new cases and Granville reports 691 new cases, according to a weekly report from the Granville-Vance Health District.
There have been 9,935 cases of COVID-19 in Granville County and 8,648 cases of COVID-19 in Vance County for a total of 18,583 across the health district.
Granville County has documented 107 deaths as a result of COVID-19 and Vance County has a total of 104 deaths for a total of 211 deaths across the health district. Across North Carolina, 19,619 people have died of COVID-19.
“The numbers of cases of COVID-19 are higher than ever and still climbing in short order,” writes Health Director Lisa Harrison. She said that her department is “making an overall shift to paying closer attention to hospitalizations and deaths rather than cases as an indicator of overall risk. Just remember that hospitalization and death are also lagging indicators so given how MANY cases we are seeing, even if the majority of them are experiencing mild symptoms or no symptoms, the sheer numbers dictate that we will still see hospitalizations and potentially deaths increase in the coming weeks as well. Hospitalizations are up locally and statewide this week as the graphs show: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard/hospitalizations. Omicron is not to be ignored,” Harrison wrote in the weekly update.
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Henderson City Council Set To Meet Monday, Jan. 10
The Henderson City Council will meet Monday, Jan. 10, 2022 at 6 p.m. for its regular monthly meeting in City Hall Council Chambers, 134 Rose Ave. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
Anyone who wishes to address the council must do so in person or submit comments or questions to the city clerk no later than 3 p.m. on Monday. Questions and comments from the public are no longer taken via Zoom.
Use the following link to join virtually:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85987462307?pwd=SUdUR3lYeStoMkFleCtEam9pUUgvQT09
Meeting ID: 859 8746 2307
Passcode: 743012
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,85987462307#,,,,*743012# US (Chicago)
+19292056099,,85987462307#,,,,*743012# US (New York)
Cancer Society To Benefit From Corbitt Emporium Auction
Tomorrow’s auction at Corbitt Emporium will have a special twist, thanks to the owner of the collectibles and antiques business – he’s donated all the remaining inventory to the American Cancer Society.
Aaron Ramsey opened the business more than five years ago, which featured items from individual vendors as well as items he had collected over the years. The auction is being sponsored by Frances and Friends, a local Relay for Life team.
The auction begins at 10 a.m., but the 1508 Second Street location will open at 9 a.m. for customer viewing.
Auctioneers Dan Weldon and Tom Eaves will conduct the sale, which includes antiques, collectibles, glassware, old tools, seasonal items and much more.
Items purchased from the American Cancer Society are tax-deductible.