The first Chinese student to graduate from an American college was Yung Wing, a naturalized American who received his bachelor of arts degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut this month in 1854. That year, some 16,000 Chinese immigrants arrived in California, though ensuing restrictions greatly reduced the annual arrivals for decades thereafter. Today, there are about 3.7 million Americans of Chinese descent, and they are no longer a rarity on college campuses. Over 46 percent of school-age Chinese-Americans …
Vance County Properties Committee Meeting Notice
The County’s Properties Committee is scheduled to meet Monday, June 23 at 3:30 p.m. in the County Manager’s Office. The purpose is to recommend an appraisal company for the 2016 tax revaluations. Also, any other items as needed.
Statewide visitor profile provides key marketing data
The 2013 North Carolina Visitor Profile, which includes a wealth of demographic and spending data, is now available on the Division’s website at no cost. The research provides critical data that help to guide the Division’s marketing decisions. For example, in 2013, 81 percent of all domestic visitors came to North Carolina for pleasure purposes, while 13 percent of visitors came to conduct business (includes meetings/conventions). The average household trip expenditure for overnight visitors was $517; daytrip parties to the …
North Carolina Weekend
For the week of June 19 on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Weekend, “Collecting Carolina” examines pottery in the Catawba Valley region. Test yourself via a variety of sports activities at Dher’s Action Sports Complex in Holly Springs. Whet your taste buds at Tokyo House in Raleigh. Explore the Vance Toe River Lodge in Plumtree. And relax at the Seven Seas Inn in Kure Beach. (Please note: listings are subject to change.) North Carolina Weekend is underwritten by the N.C. Division of …
Butterfield and Price Press EPA Administrator for Stricter Standards on Coal Ash
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representatives G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) and David Price (NC-04) released a letter urging Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy for tougher standards regarding the storage and disposal of coal ash. Their letter, which is cosigned by 83 members of Congress, presses for stricter standards and enforcement under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by year’s end, and follows several recent coal ash spills, including the Dan River spill in North Carolina in March. The congressmen …
Battleship North Carolina poised to undergo major renovation
The Battleship North Carolina could soon get a major facelift as a cofferdam and walkway are planned to be built around the vessel’s gray steel body. The sheet-piling structure will encase the whole ship, Executive Director Terry Bragg said, and most of the wall won’t be visible above water. The dam, to be constructed 100 feet away from the ship in a rectangular shape, will give crews space to address longtime concerns about the brittle state of parts of the …
Thursday Open Line
As radio broadcasting matured and television was being birthed, the Federal Communications Commission was established on this date 70 years ago to regulate use of the airwaves in the public interest. The agency’s job has grown much larger and more complex in the years since, and includes all non-federal government use of the frequency spectrum. Current issues include obscenity on the air and the blurring of distinctions between telephone companies and cable television. Among the outlets the FCC monitors are …
VGCC Music Scholarship endowed in memory of Dale Ramsey
Vance-Granville Community College students with a passion for music will in the future receive scholarships bearing the name of the late Dale Weatherington Ramsey of Henderson, who died in May. Ramsey worked for many years as the office manager at Century 21 Hancock Properties in Oxford. The firm’s owner, Wills Hancock of Oxford, and other friends of Ramsey have established the new VGCC scholarship in her memory, called the Dale W. Ramsey Music Scholars Memorial Presidential Merit Award. This is …
Wednesday Open Line
If there’s a musical equivalent of the late Rodney Dangerfield, who complained that he never got any respect, it would be the accordion. During June, fans of this neglected musical instrument have been celebrating National Accordion Awareness Month, with the idea of increasing its popularity beyond polka bands. The earliest ancestors of the accordion are traced to China of some 2,000 years ago, while the modern instrument had its beginnings in Vienna and Berlin in the 1820s. Older Americans might …
Greg’s Garden – June 16th, 2014
Greg’s Garden – June 16th, 2014 Written by Mari Miller Father’s Day Grilling Yesterday was Father’s Day and we celebrated quietly at our house. Our son lives in Maryland so he could not come to North Carolina to share his dad’s day. Instead Greg enjoyed himself by having grilled vegetables and the traditional Angus beef burgers smothered in all the fixings. We shared the day with laziness and quiet time on our yard swing. Greg has been promising to build …
VGCC School-Age Education students volunteer in Vance County schools
Students from Vance-Granville Community College recently volunteered as proctors for end-of-grade (EOG) testing in Vance County elementary and middle schools. More than 30 students and alumni served as proctors at Dabney Elementary, Pinkston Street Elementary, New Hope Elementary, Carver Elementary, Eaton-Johnson Middle and Henderson Middle schools. Most were students in the School-Age Education program at the college. The volunteer effort was organized by VGCC’s chapter of the Student North Carolina Association of Educators (SNCAE), a pre-professional organization that includes students …
Chamber Ribbon Cutting – Sam’s Club
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on Thursday, May 22nd at 2:00PM for Sam’s Club to celebrate their membership with the Chamber. Whether you’re an individual or a business, a Sam’s Club Membership more than pays for itself. With exclusive savings on the things you need, the things you love, and on all sorts of unexpected things. Whether stocking a pantry or a business, selecting new electronics or getting ready for a party, you can count on Sam’s Club as the source …
Tuesday Open Line
America’s first accident insurance company was chartered on this date in 1863 in Hartford, Connecticut. It was the Travelers Insurance Company — still with us today as the Travelers Companies — and its first policies insured against loss during periods of travel only. In 1864, the charter was amended to cover all manner of accidents. The first such rider, sealed with a handshake, was to insure James Bolter of Hartford for $5,000 against accidents on his walk between his home …
2 Arrested in Heroin Charges
On Friday, June 13, 2014, members of the Henderson Police Department Special Operations Unit arrested two individuals on heroin related charges. Lorenzo Alston, 24, 876 Burr Street, Henderson was charged with the following: Possession with the intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver heroin; Felonious possession of heroin; and simple possession of marijuana. Alexander Trowbridge, 29, 66 Pine Cone Lane, Henderson was charged with the following: Possession with the intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver heroin and felonious possession of …
Search Warrant Leads to Drug Arrest
On Saturday, June 14, 2014, members of the Henderson Police Department Special Operations Unit, and the Vance County Sheriff’s Department Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant at 195 Manor Lane in Henderson. During the search officers located 23 Oxycontin pills, 116 grams of marijuana, ¼ kilo of cocaine, 50 grams of crack cocaine and two handguns. Rashod Maurice Richmond, 33, 195 Manor Lane, Henderson was charged with the following litany of charges: Trafficking in cocaine; Possession with the intent …
Vance County Schools – Zeb Vance Teachers In State Network
Jenny Waite and Sharon Hopper, both teachers at Zeb Vance Elementary School have been selected to participate in the Governor’s Teacher Network for the next year. N.C. Gov.Pat McCrory, in partnership with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, established the Governor’s Teacher Network to recognize and reward teachers who can help advance Race to the Top funded educational remodeling efforts across the state. Approximately 450 outstanding teachers from across North Carolina were selected through an application process to serve for …
Legislative Update from Senator Richard Burr
Last week, I joined Minority Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee members in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, pressing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to join efforts with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Inspector General’s investigation into misconduct at VA facilities. On Wednesday, the FBI also opened a criminal probe into the VA scandal. To read the text of the letter, click here. The Senate passed the bipartisan Veterans Access to Care through Choice, Accountability and Transparency Act to …
Vance County Schools – Top Reader at E.O. Young Jr. Elementary
Stephanie Pegram, a fifth-grade student at E.O. Young Jr. Elementary School, was honored on May 6 as the top reader in the school through the Read & Win program sponsored by the Henderson Optimist Club. Pegram is shown at center in the photo as she accepts the bird house given to her as a gift for the recognition by John Pecora, president of the Henderson Optimist Club, right, as Principal Marylaura McKoon joins them. Members of the club have worked …
Vance County Schools – Dabney Teacher Receives Grant
Susan Hughes, a fifth-grade teacher at Dabney Elementary School, has received a $750 grant from the N.C. Farm Bureau and the Vance County Farm Bureau. A total of $500 of the grant funding is from the state agency, with the remainder of the money from the county agency. Hughes will use the grant funds to purchase a HydroStacker Vertical Hydroponic Growing System for the use of her students and other students at the school. The HydroStacker is approximately six feet …
Monday Open Line
For centuries, the month of June has been the most popular choice for weddings. One of the purported reasons was that some hundreds of years ago, this time was just after May’s annual bath, so the happy couple and the guests were about as clean as could be hoped. With the ensuing advances in plumbing and overall hygiene, dressy weddings are readily staged year round, from simple civil ceremonies and backyard or back-to-nature vows, to elaborate church functions. Each year, …