Category: Open Lines

This afternoon be sure to visit downtown Henderson, NC for a special event Meet Me in the Street.  Come early to browse the downtown shops, but the main event runs from 5:30pm to 8:30pm on Breckenridge Street.  The second of 3 “Meet Me in the Street” concerts this year, todays event features “The Konnection Band” and is presented by Harris Incorporated of Henderson.  The next Meet Me in the Street will be on September 1st, featuring The Holiday Band.  This …

A report released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce paints grim employment stats.  The reports findings show since April 2011 to May 2011 the economy lost 7,400 non farm positions.  However, total employment has increased by over 12 thousand. The discrepancy is because total employment includes farm workers, unpaid family workers, the self-employed, and people on unpaid leave.  Financial Activities gained 1,500 jobs, the largest job increase since last month.  Professional and Business Services had the largest job loss, …

Tuesday’s high is expected to reach 100 degrees with a heat index of 105-110 considering humidity. Stay inside in the AC as much as possible. If you don’t have AC visit some of your local businesses just to browse around, perhaps you’ll see something you’d like to pick up! For some times regarding staying cool and the precautions to take ABC11 has provided the following video for your viewing.

Tonight hosts a meeting at both the city and county levels.  The Vance County Board of Commissioners will be having it’s monthly meeting tonight at 6pm, it was moved from the regular meeting date of the first Monday of the month due to that falling on July 4th.  The meeting beings at at 6:00 p.m. at the usual place, the Commissioners’ Conference Room, Vance County Administration Building, Henderson, NC. Also tonight at 7pm the City of Henderson hosts is regular …

Thanks to the Henderson Dispatch for the tip regarding Brett Webb-Mitchell new article at Salon.com When a gay minister moved to a small Southern town. In the article Brett discussed how the community, particularly Home in Henderson commentators, reacted to the news of him being an openly gay minister taking an intern pastor position at First Presbyterian Church. The article gives examples of right negative comments towards Brett regarding his orientation that were posted here.  However, the comments on the Salon …

Not only is Sheetz building a new store here in Henderson, NC but rumor is they are also looking for a location for a new distribution hub to service the whole area as they expand more into North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.  Their current distribution hub is in Pennsylvania, and boasts daily shipments from Pennsylvania to each store, including those here in North Carolina.  Transportation savings justify seeking a 200,000 square foot facility in our state that would bring …

President Obama addresses the need to reduce the nation’s deficit while creating jobs across the country and wishes Americans a happy Fourth of July. Thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday yesterday.  Don’t quite feel old yet, but life’s working on that for me.  Now to try and get back to this work thing… Welcome to the Wednesday Open Line!  

We hope everyone had a safe and fun July 4th weekend.  If you have any pictures you’d like to send in please email them to submit@homeinhenderson.com  

President Obama on Our Economy and the Debt Limit: “Now is the Time to Go Ahead and Make the Tough Choices” At a press conference this week, President Obama discussed the difficult job economy. Watch and Listen below: We hope everyone has a cool and safe Independence Day Weekend. Saturday July 2nd Satterwhite Point Marina hosts a fireworks and entertainment event from 6:30pm to 10pm.  July 4th Franklinton hosts its fireworks and entertainment event on the Franklinton High School football …

Henderson made news in Raleigh today regarding the house fire that burned 4 people last weekend.  The link to the article about the Henderson, NC house fire is here. We’d like you guys to send in July 4th events in the area so we can compile a list. We know that July 2nd, 6:30pm to 10pm will be the fireworks at Satterwhite Point on Kerr Lake.  Bus service is avaiable as well from the Roses parking lot on Norlina Road …

The University of North Carolina Health Care System Board has created and appointed several members to a Special Committee to review the WakeMed proposal to purchase Rex Healthcare. The chairman of the Special Committee  is D. Jordan Whichard, and other members include Rev. Lisa Fischbeck, Dr. Andrew Greganti, Dale Jenkins, James Speed and Chancellor Holden Thorp. The Special Committee would like comments from the public about WakeMed’s proposal to purchase Rex Healthcare. Although you may comment on our open lines …

Governor Perdue vetoed a bill Monday that required a woman to wait 24 hours and attend a counseling session before having an abortion.  North Carolina is one of 16 states that do not require specialized counseling before an abortion.  Perdue said, “This bill is a dangerous intrusion into the confidential relationship that exists between women and their doctors. The bill contains provisions that are the most extreme in the nation in terms of interfering with that relationship. Physicians must be free …

We’d like to remind all of a City of Henderson council meeting tonight.  Please see our post about it for more details, and to download the agenda and the full agenda package (over 100 pages) A quick recap of the agenda is as follows: a)  Close Out Amendment for FY 10-11 b)  Approving Audit Contract c)  FY 11 Budget Amendment #46, North Carolina Department of Commerce Water and Sewer Project Grant d) Authorization to Submit 2011 BJA Justice Assistance Grant …

North Carolina has the 13th highest taxes per gallon of gas in the nation.  This July 1st our gas tax will increase by another 2.5 cents per gallon to a total of 53.7  cents per gallon. You can read a detailed article about the North Carolina gas tax hike and reasons here. This weekend, we encourage readers to visit Hill Music Shoppe for a chance to meet a local published author, Mari Miller, purchase her book and get an autograph.  …

A reminder that tonight hosts the Neighborhood Watch Meeting at Maria Parham Medical Center.  For more information please click the previous link to go to our calendar event page. In Wednesday night’s presidential speech, Obama called for 30,000 troops to be pulled from Afghanistan.  Is it too little too late?  Or should we keep our troops there to secure our national security?

Perhaps you’ve read in the news about a North Carolina man who had lost his job after 17 years as a Coca-Cola delivery man, and with it his health insurance. He was in increasing pain from slipped discs, arthritic joints, a gammy foot and a growth on his chest.  The story is making international news now mocking our health care system (or lack thereof) due to the fact the gentleman figured the best way to get proper treatment for his …

North Carolina has wasted $318 million dollars in a debacle regarding which company handles the state medicaid claims processing. EDS (now owned by Hewlett Packard) held the contract with North Carolina for years when in 2004 it was suggested to rebid out the contract.  In 2004 ACS (Affiliated Computer Services) won the bid with the lowest cost, but failed to deliver a working system.  The state cancelled, ACS sued, and NC paid 10.5 million for breach of contract.  In 2008, …

The Governor is expected to Veto another bill this week, the new voter identification bill that requires a photo ID to be presented by a voter during the voting process. Please be informed that the County’s Public Safety Committee is scheduled to meet tonight,  Monday, June 20 at 4:00 p.m. in the County Manager’s Office. Also, Chairman Eddie L. Wright has called a special meeting for Tuesday, June 21 at 4:30 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Conference Room, Vance County Administration …

I’ll keep it light today and put up for consideration our official North Carolina State Sport may soon become NASCAR if the Governor signs the bill on her desk.  Good choice? Discuss and more on your open line…

By the time you read this Wednesday Morning, the North Carolina Legislature may have already overridden the veto of Perdue’s budget veto.  Rumors are that a 12:01am session Wednesday morning will attempt to override her veto of the budget which included heavy cuts to North Carolina schools.  Democratic Local Representative James Crawford Jr. is one of the ‘party of 5’ democratic legislators expected to vote with republicans for the override.  The other four are William Brisson, Dewey Hill, Bill Owens, …