If you happen to be a farmer, I have some important information for you: You’re not getting any younger. Sorry, don’t mean to get personal, but the 2007 Census of Agriculture reports that the average age for farmers in Vance County is almost 60. Nor is this phenomenon limited to our own community. For North Carolina as a whole, the average age is a hair over 57, while the figure is just over 58 for our nation (2012 Census of …
Speedy New Lift, New Tube Park Elevate NC Winter Sports Season
As temperatures drop, the action heats up at winter resorts in the North Carolina mountains. The 2015-16 season opens with a new tubing park at Beech Mountain Resort, a new high-speed, six-seater chairlift at Sugar Mountain Resort and other improvements on and off the slopes. “Every year brings new reasons to get excited about North Carolina ski and snowboard season,” said Wit Tuttell, executive director of Visit North Carolina. “Our six ski areas elevate the state’s western mountains to the …
VGCC and Dill Air Controls Products join forces with Apprenticeship program
Vance-Granville Community College and Oxford-based Dill Air Controls Products, LLC, recently signed on to join the North Carolina Triangle Apprenticeship Program (NCTAP), in an effort to provide new opportunities for local students and to prepare a skilled workforce. NCTAP offers students a unique start to a professional career and develops them into future industry leaders. The program focuses on integrated basic training which develops technical, methodological and social skills. Typically starting in the 11th grade of high school, the four-year …
White House By the Numbers: What You Need to Know about Syrian Refugees in the U.S.
The refugees that have captivated so much attention in the wake of Friday’s attack are fleeing precisely the type of senseless slaughter that happened in Paris. To slam the door in their faces — to decide not to help when we know that we can help — would be a betrayal of our deepest values as Americans. That’s why we’re going to do the right thing in the right way: protecting the American people even as we provide refuge to …
Friday / Weekend Open Lines
Friday, November 20th. One of the most renowned of America’s historically black colleges was founded on this date in 1866 as the Howard Theological Seminary. Named after Civil War general and post-war Freedmen’s Bureau Director Oliver O. Howard, the seminary changed its name to Howard University just two months after its founding. While not the first college to admit black students, nor the first to be established for blacks, Howard was the first to offer full undergraduate, graduate and professional …
North Carolina Weekend
For the week of Nov. 19 on North Carolina Weekend, experience the American Indian Heritage Celebration at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. Discover the various works at the Asheville Museum of Art in Asheville. Tempt your taste buds at Miss Angels Heavenly Pies in Mount Airy. Take in “The Worlds of M. C. Escher: Nature, Science and Imagination” exhibit at the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh. And the “House Special” samples the fare at The Ne’er Do …
Thanksgiving travelers predicted to top 46 million
AAA is predicting that nearly 47 million U.S. residents will travel at least 50 miles away from home during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The figure, 46.9 million, is a 0.6 percent increase compared to 2014 travel in the Thanksgiving period, which is defined as the Wednesday through Sunday surrounding the holiday. The auto club said this year will see the highest number of Thanksgiving travelers since 2007 if the prediction is accurate. AAA attributed part of the predicted increase …
N.C. Museum of Art holds groundbreaking ceremony for park expansion
Wednesday the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh held a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of its park, which is expected to be completed by next summer. The expansion will add tree-lined parking lots, bike and walking paths, and a central elliptic lawn for museum and community programming. The long-term plan for the Museum Park includes a new campus entrance and streetscape, increased paved parking capacity, woodland and meadow restoration, additional trails and infrastructure, improved sustainability measures and additional outdoor …
Governor McCrory Announces New Juvenile Offender Re-Entry Program Wins Federal Grant
Courtsey of Senator Angela Bryant Governor Pat McCrory announced that North Carolina is one of three states to be awarded a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) grant to implement an innovative reintegration of juvenile offenders into the community. “Our strategy focuses on improved assessment, delivering the appropriate education or workforce training and family engagement so they can be the support system for their child when they re-enter the community,” Governor McCrory said. “Our youth must be given every chance to …
Vance County Board of Commissioners Special Called Meeting November 23rd, 2015
Chairman Archie B. Taylor, Jr. has called a special meeting of the Board of Commissioners for Monday, November 23, 2015 at 3:30 p.m. in the commissioners’ conference room. The purpose of the meeting is to enter into closed session to discuss legal matters related to Semprius.
Thursday Open Line
The first automatic toll collection station went into service on this date in 1954. It was installed at the Union Toll Plaza on New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway. Motorists dropped coins into a wire mesh hopper, triggering a green light that told them to go ahead. The idea soon caught on at toll roads around the country, reducing the number of booth attendants and propelling cars and trucks on their way. There are some 3,300 miles of toll roads in …
Vance County Farm-City Week: Soil Health: The Foundation Of Food Production
What’s the difference between dirt and soil? The simple answer, dirt is dead and soil is alive! Soil is comprised of air, water, decayed plant residue, organic matter (living and dead organisms), and mineral matter (sand, silt, clay). Healthy functioning soil needs to be able to sustain and nourish plants, soil microbes, and beneficial insects. Healthy soils are porous, allowing air and water to move freely through them, and are often home to earthworms. A balance between the chemical and …
NCDMV License and Theft Bureau Inspector Named Recipient of 2015 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Heroism
Raleigh – License and Theft Bureau Inspector Talaya D. Vaughn of the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles was honored today with the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Heroism for her July 2014 rescue of a crash victim from a burning vehicle. She received the award in an afternoon ceremony at North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. The rescue occurred while Inspector Vaughn was traveling home from Alabama, when she witnessed a vehicle crash head on into a tree near Atlanta. …
North Carolina Public Schools Title I Distinguished Schools Named
District 7 Elementary School (Cumberland County Schools) and Henderson Collegiate Charter School (Vance County) are North Carolina’s 2015 National Title I Distinguished Schools. Since 1996, North Carolina’s National Title I Distinguished Schools program has recognized two outstanding schools each year. Educators working in these schools hold students to high academic standards and demonstrate exemplary practices in delivering the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. State Superintendent June Atkinson commended the honorees for helping students reach their academic goals. “When you …
Legal Aid to broadcast free DIY divorce clinic to 14 cities across state
Legal Aid of North Carolina, a civil legal aid organization that provides free legal help to low-income people, will broadcast a free, interactive, do-it-yourself divorce clinic at 2:30 p.m. on November 19 2015 to locations in 14 cities across the state. The clinics are designed to empower participants to file for a simple divorce without full-service legal representation. A simple divorce does not involve contested child custody, equitable distribution of assets or other complex legal issues. Legal Aid attorneys provide …
VGCC Trustees celebrate staff-faculty Endowment drive, OK new budget
The Vance-Granville Community College Board of Trustees recently celebrated a 22 percent increase in employee contributions to its annual Endowment Fund drive and adopted a budget of $39 million for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. The trustees also welcomed to the board Aleria Perry as the new Student Trustee as members met for their bimonthly meeting on Nov. 16 on the college’s Main Campus between Henderson and Oxford. Her fellow students recently elected Perry as the president of the Student Government …
Vance County Board of Education Upcoming Committee Meeting Dates
Vance County Board of Education Committee Meeting Dates: * Building & Grounds, Friday, November 20th, 8:30 am * Curriculum Committee, Friday, November 20th, 9:30 am * Personnel Committee, Monday, December 7th, 8:30 am Note: All meetings are held in the Superintendent’s Conference Room.
VGCC Phi Beta Lambda chapter installs new leaders
Vance-Granville Community College’s Chi Beta Chi chapter of Phi Beta Lambda, the business student organization, recently elected officers for the 2015-2016 year. New officers were installed and members were inducted at a ceremony on Nov. 5 on VGCC’s Main Campus. The officers include president Angelica Bridges of Oxford, vice president Ambrianna Winston of Oxford, secretary Ashley Allen of Henderson, treasurer Tiffany Barnes of Henderson, and historian Shekinah Yancey of Oxford. Bridges and Yancey are students in the Business Administration program, …
VGCC History Club partners with area historian on oral history project
Students in the History Club at Vance-Granville Community College are working on a unique project that will bring local history to life and preserve it for future generations. Billy Yeargin, a historian who has taught for VGCC in the past and is now a professor of Southern culture at Duke University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, is writing a book on the history of tobacco in the Oxford area and the culture that surrounded the crop. He has enlisted the help …
VGCC adds more online courses to VOLT; scholarships available
The new “Vanguard Online Learning through Technology” (VOLT) initiative at Vance-Granville Community College continues to grow, with additional courses set to begin in January. VOLT courses are for adult learners who need an online-only educational experience. The college launched VOLT in August and offered 12 course sections in a variety of subjects. When the spring semester begins on Jan. 11, 2016, the number of course sections will be at least 15. Registration for spring is currently ongoing, and ends on …