Tag Archive for: #wizsnews

Cooperative Extension With Wykia Macon Summer Programs

/by

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

Click Play!

 

Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland – Pests In The Garden

/by

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

Click Play!

 

Perry Memorial Library

Perry Library This Summer, Books, Programs, Opportunties

/by

Anyone who works with young people will probably offer this advice: Be ready for anything. Getting tweens and teens off their devices and into the library may be a tall order, but Perry Memorial Library’s Youth Services Director Melody Peters is up for the challenge.

“Reading’s boring,” they’ll say. “Oh, you just haven’t found the right book,” she’ll reply.

“I’m really interested in worms,” one announces, expecting Peters to come up empty-handed. Nope. She points them to a whole section of books about worms, or whatever the topic from out of left field may be.

“I find their interest,” she said, following up with “I guarantee there is a book that relates to that.”

“I love to get their ear for a moment,” Peters said Tuesday on The Local Skinny! If she can get their attention for even a short time, she’s got a chance to share her love of reading and of books.

For example, she recently visited Vance County High School for an outreach session that involved making bracelets and key chains. Nothing to do with books, but chances are she took a moment to talk to them about books and reading and visiting the library.

Sure, the library has books. Lots of books. But there’s also a Teen Zone, and lots of programs and activities that tweens and teens can take part in. “There’s so much more than books – but don’t forget the books,” she said.

One event that Peters is inviting readers of all ages to participate in is the June 18 kickoff of the summer reading program.

From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., the library will be hoppin’ with carnival-style games, crafts and more as the library begins “Adventure Begins at Your Library,” which offers reading logs, incentives and prizes for all ages, from toddlers to adults.

Representatives from the local recreation and parks department will be there, as well Kerr Lake rangers, all offering information about programs they’ve got going on during the summer.

For her, finding a good book is like finding treasure, Peters said.

Come find some treasure of your own at your library.

Visit https://www.perrylibrary.org/ to find out about all the programs and services the library offers.

Click Play!

Council Members Split On Funding For McGregor Hall

/by

As members of the Henderson City Council continued budget deliberations at a work session Monday, they found themselves in lockstep to help displaced families find more permanent housing, but far apart on providing financial support for McGregor Hall.

The Council approved giving $2,000 to 22 families who had to move out of the Motel 121 in early May because it was deemed uninhabitable by inspectors.

Since then, five of the 27 families have found other places to live with help from Vaya Health, leaving 22 families – with 47 children – living in motels in Vance and Granville counties.

State money that has been paying for lodging is running out, and the families face being homeless again without some intervention.

“Twenty-two families, as of tomorrow, are going to be homeless again,” said City Manager Terrell Blackmon during the budget work session.

According to Mayor Melissa Elliott, the bill so far is roughly $144,000 in motel bills.

It would cost close to $40,000 to keep them in their current situation until the end of the month, she said.

After some discussion, the Council agreed to pay the $2,000 voucher to all 22 families and then request that the county reimburse the city for half. That way, the city will end up paying for 11 families and the county would pick up the other 11.

It was unclear when the vouchers would be distributed, where the money would come from or whether the families would be allowed to stay in their current lodging after check-out time Tuesday.

Elliott acknowledged that $2,000 is “not a lot of money to relocate…(but) we have to start somewhere.”

Blackmon said he and County Manager C. Renee Perry had been in communication about the situation, and he said that the feeling is the county would be open to help pay for the vouchers.

“I don’t think they’ll leave us hanging out there on this,” he told the council.

In further discussion, some Council members asked whether there are funds set aside in the budget for providing emergency housing.

Blackmon said there may be funds to provide temporary housing for people whose homes are being repaired with community development block grant funding, but he doesn’t think there is a pot of money that would help in situations like the one at Motel 121.

“This exercise, although unexpected, has shown us that we really don’t have the structure to accommodate and help families a little bit longer,” Blackmon said.

Geraldine Champion said she didn’t want anyone to go through what the families living at Motel 121 have gone through.

“We need to do something and we need to be proactive,” she said.

One option that came up is a shelter for displaced families that could operate in the city.

Blackmon said there typically is more funding available for programs than for brick and mortar projects. “We need to figure out how we can get that type of facility in the city,” he said.

The recommended budget, which totals roughly $45 million, could be adopted as early as June 10. Just as the recommended budget presented to Council in early May didn’t have any money designated for emergency housing, neither did it provide any funding for McGregor Hall.

At last night’s work session, two motions failed that would have provided substantial money to the performing arts venue – Garry Daeke’s first motion was for the full request of $75,000. That failed 5-2, with only Daeke and Council Member Sam Seifert voting in favor.

Daeke followed up with a motion, also seconded by Seifert, to provide $60,000. That motion failed, too. Commissioners Geraldine Champion, Sara Coffey, Ola Thorpe-Cooper, Michael Venable and Tami Walker voted no.

Council Member Lamont Noel was absent.

McGregor Hall Executive Director Mark Hopper – who is the venue’s only full-time employee – had requested $75,000 from the city and $60,000 from the county in this year’s budget cycle, all of which would be used to retire the mortgage debt. Blackmon said $124,620 in debt service is due in early July each year.

On the heels of the two failed motions, Coffey offered a motion, seconded by Champion, to provide $5,000 to McGregor Hall in the form of a one-year renewable grant, as well as placing a voting member of the council on the McGregor Hall board and to know how the funding would be spent.

“I don’t think $5,000 will get anyone the board,” Daeke said. “I would like to see it fully funded.”

Seifert said, “I can’t agree more with Mr. Daeke…We need economic development here in Henderson, and this right here is a beacon that draws it in,” he said of McGregor Hall. “This is a driver for many different things.”

Plans to purchase property owned by McGregor Hall continue, which would add up to $275,000 to the performing arts venue’s bottom line. Blackmon said there’s a CAF that is ready to be presented at the next meeting.

Click Play!

TownTalk: Hawkins Named Vice Dean of UNC School of Social Work

/by

Robert Hawkins graduated high school in 1981 and he’s pretty much stayed in the field of academia since he left Henderson to attend Appalachian State University as a new undergraduate.

His experiences growing up in Vance County, along with his extensive research in the field of social work and especially the effects of living in poverty, have served Dr. Robert Hawkins throughout his career.

Hawkins will become vice dean of the UNC-CH School of Social Work on July 1 and he was a guest on Thursday’s TownTalk to discuss his new role, his research and growing up in the area.

Although his primary role will be administrator – think of it like being a chief operating officer – in dealing with day-to-day activities, he said he’ll use his research into how people deal with poverty, the effect of poverty on individuals and on society, to inform how he functions as an administrator.

“Poverty is so much more than whether or not you have money,” Hawkins explained. He also wants to learn about people’s lived experiences in poverty and the processes that people go through that allow them to survive in poverty.

“My research is central to what I believe social work research should look like,” he said. “We look to move people to a better place” where they can thrive and rise beyond their current situation.

Hawkins said he would definitely use his own life experiences, as well as his experience as a researcher to help drive his decisions and the initiatives he wants to be involved in.

While the School of Social Work doesn’t make policy, it can be a resource to help policymakers in the legislature. The decisions that are made will be the result of a team effort, he said, adding that he views his role as a service position – a support position – rather than a position of power.

“My job will be to make sure the School of Social Work is doing the best it can and being the best it can be,” Hawkins said. “I will be making decisions with a lot of other people.”

Having faculty members with strong policy backgrounds can help evaluate existing policies and those that are being created, not to influence policy-making but help people understand which policies may be most effective and why.

He was attracted to the newly created vice dean position by the spirit of community and the chance to collaborate in making decisions within the realm of social work – and the impacts that can be felt within the state and maybe across the nation.

The idea of being able to “implement a vision that you’ve created together” is most appealing, he added.

The UNC School of Social Work is ranked fourth in the country, on the campus of one of the foremost public universities in the nation. “Who wouldn’t want to be there?” he said.

The idea of social justice is something that trained social workers have done for decades, Hawkins said. “When we talk about social justice, we’re talking about how people equitably exist in society. It’s the shared human worth of all people – it’s not controversial, or at least it shouldn’t be.”

Talking about social justice is just one of the things that Hawkins said he enjoys about his work. “Social work has given me opportunities that I could have never imagined,” he said. A true social worker is a researcher, someone who can resolve conflict, engage in mediation and who can understand everyday human behavior.”

He said he thinks about this a lot and one area he keeps circling back to is education. He remembers one high school English teacher who really helped him and believed in him and his potential. “That person guided me in the right direction,” he said.

Then, teachers were not so over-stretched, he said, and they could pay closer attention to students’ needs, especially their educational needs.

“Do teachers today have the time to pay that kind of attention to their students? I’m sure many do, but it’s something that we should be encouraging and helping teachers accomplish. We’re not seeing that out in the world right now.”

With family still living in Henderson, Hawkins finds himself in Henderson fairly often. He loves to stop in at his favorite barbecue restaurant (he didn’t identify it, but did reveal that he grew up just a ways from Skipper’s Forsyth’s).

He recalled his childhood, growing up in a house near Satterwhite Point without running water and working in tobacco fields.

In 1980, he said the family was able to move from that house to a mobile home. “This was a big deal,” he said. That move marked a significant economic change for his family. “For me, it wasn’t a step down – it was a step up.”

CLICK PLAY!

Calculating Your Property Tax Bill

/by

Whether you reach for a sharpened No. 2 pencil and a piece of paper or choose to tap numbers into your phone’s calculator, it’s time to do a little math to at least have an idea of what your tax bill may look like.

Although neither the city nor the county has adopted the new budgets, the recommended budgets have been received. The City Council got a 158-page budget document earlier this month and the Vance County Board of Commissioners got a 138-page budget document on Monday, May 28.

Now comes the time when each body of elected officials has budget work sessions and holds public hearings to hear citizens’ comments about the budget particulars; budgets must be approved before July 1.

The city’s budget includes a property tax rate of 55 cents per $100 valuation; the county’s budget includes a property tax rate of 61.3 cents per $100 valuation.

As both the city council and county commissioners review the budget, it’s possible that some changes will be made before the final budget is adopted.

However, if you’re itching to see what your tax bill could be, you can play around with the current tax rates that are contained in the proposed budgets.

Now here’s where some basic math comes in to play. Consider this scenario:

Let’s say your property is valued at $100,000.

  • If your property is in the county, you will need to use the 61.3 cents per $100 valuation PLUS the fire tax rate, which is 5.9 cents per $100 valuation to get a total of 67.2 cents per $100.
  • If your property is located within the city of Henderson, guess what – you will add the city’s rate of 55 cents per $100 PLUS the county’s rate of 61.3 cents for a total of 1.163 per $100.

But there’s one more important step: You must divide your property value ($100,000 in this example) by 100 because the tax rate is per $100.

$100,000 divided by 100 = $1,000

Using this scenario, county residents would multiply $1,000 by .672 to get $672; city residents would multiply $1,000 by 1.163 to get $1,163.

CLICK PLAY!