RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will host three workshops focusing on growing local farmers markets across North Carolina. The one-day trainings are scheduled for Wilmington, Smithfield and Fletcher. The workshops, geared toward market managers and their board members, will cover a range of topics such as food safety, effective promotional techniques and an overview of past and future marketing opportunities. “With more than 200 local and regional farmers markets across the state, it’s never been …
Month: January 2013
VGCC names three New Deans to lead instructional programs
A new year and a new semester recently brought new leadership to three divisions at Vance-Granville Community College. In January, Angela L. Gardner-Ragland of Henderson was named VGCC’s Dean of Business and Applied Technologies, Angela M. Thomas of Hillsborough was named Dean of Health Sciences, and Dale L. Fey of Greensboro was named Dean of Continuing Education. Both Gardner-Ragland and Thomas are familiar faces at VGCC as experienced educators, while Fey is a newcomer to the institution with experience in …
VGCC Small Business Center hosts free seminar on taxes, workers’ compensation
The Small Business Center at Vance-Granville Community College is inviting local business owners to use their lunch break to learn more about complying with taxes and workers’ compensation laws. A free seminar, entitled “What every Business Owner needs to know about Taxes and Workers’ Compensation Insurance,” is scheduled to be held Tuesday, Feb. 19, from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. in Room 7107 (Building 7) on VGCC’s Main Campus in Vance County. Presenters are set to include representatives of the …
VGCC schedules Photography class at Main Campus
Vance-Granville Community College is currently registering students for a one-night class that will help local amateur photographers hone their skills. The “Photography: Shooting in Manual” class is scheduled to be held on VGCC’s Main Campus in Vance County on Thursday, Feb. 21 from 5:30 until 9:30 p.m. Participants will enjoy a fun, informative session with Nancy Jo Smith of Nancy Jo Photography. Smith is a Kittrell-based professional photographer who specializes in children and family portraiture. “This course will teach you …
Friday / Weekend Open Line
On this date in 1915, east and west were linked by voice in the first transcontinental phone call. This event was a conference call involving Alexander Graham Bell in New York, his assistant Thomas Watson in San Francisco, President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, and the president of American Telephone and Telegraph in Georgia. Using the new, commercial service was a major financial commitment. The charge for a three-minute call from New York to San Francisco started at $20.70. That’s over …
Vance County Schools To Dismiss Early Friday
Vance County Schools will dismiss elementary and high school students at 11:30 a.m. and middle school students at 11:45 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, January 25, due to the forecast for inclement weather.
Vance County Annual Retreat Topics, Including HiH Reader Comments
Attached is the full packet from the Vance County Annual Retreat on January 23rd, 2013. Download here: Vance County Board of Commmissioners Annual Planning Retreat-1 (50 pages) The packet outlines goals that were set last year, the status of those goals, and goals for the upcoming year. We asked for your comments, and several of you responded with comments for the commissioners. We were able to actually get your comments in the full packet that was given to each commissioner. …
Franklin County Sherriff Makes Statement Regarding Gun Control
Citizens of Franklin County North Carolina, As most of you are aware I attended a meeting at Fargo’s Restaurant in Zebulon some weeks back. The purpose of the meeting was simple, to provide clarification to the citizenry as to where your Sheriffs stand with regards to your 2nd Amendment Rights to Keep and Bear Arms. Particular interest was given to the possibility of any new Federal Laws and/or restrictions and how each Sheriff would react should such measures be taken. …
Vance County Schools Committee Upcoming Dates
Vance County Board of Education Committee Meeting Dates: * Building & Grounds, Thursday, January 24th, 8:30 am * Community Relations, Tuesday, January 29th, 5:30 pm * Finance Committee, Wednesday, January 30th, 5:30 pm * Policy Committee, Wednesday, January 30th, 6:00 pm * Personnel Committee, Tuesday, February 5th, 8:30 am Note: All meetings are held in the Superintendent’s Conference Room.
Voluntary Ag District workshops to be held around the state
RALEIGH – The N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund will assist in hosting five workshops across the state for local governments interested in protecting their communities’ agricultural lands. The Voluntary Agricultural District workshops are for agricultural advisory board members, county representatives, program staff, farmers and anyone responsible for, or interested in, developing and administering voluntary and enhanced voluntary agricultural plans. Workshops will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the following dates and locations: Feb. 4 …
Carolinas Aviation Museum getting NASA artifacts from shuttle program
Pieces of NASA’s space shuttle program soon will be landing in Charlotte. In a key acquisition of space history, an emergency escape basket – designed to whisk astronauts away from the launch pad in event of trouble – will become part of the permanent collection at the Carolinas Aviation Museum, Shawn Dorsch, the museum’s president, said Monday. It is part of a cache of items from the shuttle program that the space agency is assigning to prominent museums across the …
AAA announces 2013 Five and Four Diamond Award Hotels and Restaurants in North Carolina
AAA has announced its 2013 Five and Four Diamond Award winners for Hotels and Restaurants. In North Carolina, Five Diamond Lodging includes The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary, The Ritz-Carlton in Charlotte and the Fearrington House Country Inn in Pittsboro. Five Diamond Restaurants are Heron’s in Cary and the Fearrington House Restaurant in Pittsboro. Five Diamond Restaurants are Heron’s in Cary and the Fearrington House Restaurant in Pittsboro. Four Diamond Hotels include Asheville’s 1889 White Gate Inn & Cottage,1900 …
New York Times: ’36 Hours in Durham’
In last Friday’s travel section, The New York Times featured “36 Hours in Durham, N.C.” The tobacco and textile industries left their imprint on Durham long ago, but now the historic brick mills and repurposed factories form the backdrop of North Carolina’s re-energized Bull City. Recently, artist studios and upstart galleries have multiplied in the flourishing downtown area, where new bakeries, pizzerias, tapas bars and food trucks – and trailers and buses and even the odd tricycle – seem to …
Pop star Bieber rocks photo shoot at Transportation Museum in Spencer
Justin Bieber, one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, was in Spencer over the holiday weekend doing a photo shoot for Teen Vogue at the N.C. Transportation Museum. Museum interim Director Larry Neal said a production crew from Greensboro photographed Bieber in several locations throughout the property. The magazine paid for the privilege of using the state-owned facility as a photo backdrop. “It’s very beneficial for the museum in showcasing the fact that our property does lend itself …
‘Dawson’s Creek’ debuted 15 years ago
In January of 1998, a TV series that would become a national phenomenon burst onto the small screen and quickly stole teens’ hearts. “Dawson’s Creek” premiered on Jan. 20 to mixed reviews, but it struck a chord with high schoolers and young adults, earning it a spot as the most popular show in the WB network’s 10-year history. It also catapulted Wilmington’s film industry into the national spotlight and changed the way television executives planned scripted series, said Wilmington Regional …
Asheville distillery makes big expansion
The craft whiskey business is booming at Asheville’s first legal distillery, where a big, new custom-made German still is greatly increasing production. Asheville Distilling Co., makers of Troy & Sons high-end moonshine whiskey, has just installed a 5,000-liter still, the largest of its kind made in Germany, said Charlie Ball, who founded the company with his wife, Troy. The company’s old still, since dismantled, sold and shipped elsewhere, could produce one 53-gallon barrel, or 400 bottles, of whiskey a day. …
North Carolina Weekend
For the week of Jan. 24 on UNC-TV’s “North Carolina Weekend,” take in a performance by the Burning Coal Theatre Company in Raleigh. Whet your appetite at The Weeping Radish Brewery and Restaurant in Grandy. Sample the fare at J. Betskis in Raleigh. Get your swing on at the N.C. Jazz Festival in Wilmington. And check out the scene at the Beyu Caffe in Durham. (Please note: listings are subject to change.) “North Carolina Weekend” is exclusively underwritten by the …
Thursday Open Line
Surgery has been practiced since the Stone Age, but the fearsome pain suffered by the patients of such procedures held back the practice for ages. This began to be resolved in the 19th century with the advent of anesthesia. Now anesthesia is an advanced and specialized component of the surgical process. In recognition, January 20 through the 26th is Nurse Anesthetists Week, celebrating the professionals that are the main provider of anesthesia in rural America. There are 2.7 million registered …
Elissa Yount: Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts
“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” This warning holds meaning for us in Henderson just as it did for the Trojans in ancient times. The first gift we should have been wary of was the gift of the warehouse on Zene Street that was accepted by the Downtown Development Commission. This commission is not elected and for the most part is funded by the taxpayers in Henderson. Why the DCC would accept such a large property that harbored vagrants and piles …
VGCC students discuss Service to Humanity at annual Martin Luther King celebration
Speeches by students on the importance of serving others and joyful music were among the highlights of Vance-Granville Community College’s annual celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, held on Jan. 16 in the college’s Civic Center. Attendees were welcomed by VGCC Early Childhood Education program head Tracey Bennett, chair of the college’s Global Awareness Committee, which sponsored the event. VGCC Publications Coordinator Elizabeth Gray, who chairs the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Subcommittee, helped Bennett preside over …