The Vance Organization to Implement Community Excellence will hold a public forum at 6 p.m. Monday at the Gateway Center on the effort to obtain official recognition for a federal Weed and Seed site in and around Henderson.
Commissioners mandate direct deposit for new hires
Unanimity reigned at Tuesday’s meeting of the Vance County Board of Commissioners except on one issue: direct deposit of county paychecks.
ALE organizes Katrina collections Saturday
The local Red Cross and the Alcohol Law Enforcement Division of the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety will sponsor Relief Aid on Saturday to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Vance board responds to Katrina
Although the issue was not on the agenda for Tuesday night’s Vance County Board of Commissioners meeting, County Manager Jerry Ayscue asked the board for a resolution to designate the old Vance Manor building a possible site to house refugees from Hurricane Katrina.
Wednesday’s open line
The good news is that we were flooded with great submissions Tuesday, including more from the Board of Commissioners meeting than we’ve posted so far. The bad news is that our Internet connection turned balky, so much of the information, including a report from Chavasse Avenue, will have to wait until tonight. Meanwhile, the board is yours.
County approves borrowing $2M for schools
The Vance County Board of Commissioners on Monday night unanimously approved resolutions that would allow the sale of Qualified Zone Academy Bonds for use in school renovations.
Yount: Data must back up incentives
The following is a letter prepared by Henderson City Council member Elissa Yount for her colleagues in response to reports of planned incentives for a retail development. When it comes to incentives for retail developers, there is not a lot of difference between giving incentives and writing a developer a check from the city, because what you are doing is giving money away. My question as an elected official is what are we going to get for giving up that …
Team Vance, partners launch job-training project
“All the pieces started to fall into place quickly.” “We want to work with you.” “We need to be proactive rather than reactive.” “You know when something really clicks.” “We can have a tremendous impact very quickly.”
Tuesday’s open line
The open line took a couple of days off because, well, just because. Call it a holiday weekend. Or call it a careless oversight by an overworked editor. By the way, gasoline is less than $3 a gallon along Interstate 85 in both South Carolina and Georgia, thanks in part to the relatively low state gas tax in South Carolina and the one-month suspension of the gas tax in Georgia. So the good Samaritans trucking relief supplies to the Gulf …
Pick of the day: Developments in the local economy
Seeing as how Monday was the day we celebrated labor by taking a day off, it seems appropriate that the day after could bring some news to help people get back to laboring. An announcement is set for 11 a.m. at Vance-Granville Community College about a Team Vance grant for job retraining for some of the people who lost manufacturing jobs this year. And the Vance County Board of Commissioners could be asked to approve a package of incentives during …
Opinion: ‘Retail is not economic development’
The word on the street is that the county commissioners and the City Council are going to be asked to endorse an in incentive package for a retail development group. On this site Tom Hannon has even said there is a fire station in the deal.
Milestones: A disaster for human nature
Editor’s note: Miles, as a good Roman soldier, doesn’t take time off for Labor Day. The same cannot be said for his editor. We apologize for the delay in posting Miles’ musings for this week. It took three days for civilization to break down in New Orleans. There’s hardly anything worthwhile and permanent and lasting that can be done by human beings in 72 hours, but 300 years of civilization can be undone in three tiny days.
Legislative report: Bipartisanship on property taxes
Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series of articles being contributed by Sen. Doug Berger. As many of you know, I am a Democrat who proudly wears that affilation. I firmly believe that Democrats should offer a clear choice when running against Republicans in campaigns for public office. The question often came up during my campaign for Senate as to whether I would support a good idea if its origin was from a Republican. While there are …
Saturday’s open line
If nothing else in the past 24 hours, we’ve learned that HomeinHenderson has a diverse readership: We have short people AND tall people, plus a bunch of us somewhere in the middle. We can all get along; we just might not all fit in the VW Bug. On an extremely serious note, we’d like to thank all of you who expressed concern about family members in New Orleans, as well as anyone who is doing anything to help. The editor’s …
Ways to help
–contributed by Tech Support (Chris Jacobs) With apologies for pre-empting the Editor, here’s a temporary link to collect donations for victims of Hurricaine Katrina through the Salvation Army. Life is topsy-turvy right now, and I’m not sure when I will have time to make permanent alterations to get a button up on the site’s right sidebar, but that will get you where you’re most needed. The Salvation Army says it’s concerned about “donor fatigue,” and that the funds pledged so …
Friday’s open line
It’s a pathetic commentary on human nature that even while New Orleans is turning into a real-life, if temporary, version of “Water World,” complete with post-apocalyptic anarchy, people across the nation are responding by waiting in lines to buy every possible drop of gasoline at jacked-up panic prices. After all, what are tens of billions of dollars in damage, hundreds of thousands of lives shattered, entire neighborhoods and towns gone, and unknown hundreds or thousands of deaths compared with the …
Cleanup committee seeks easier civil penalties
Frustrations over civil penalties and the collection of fines dominated Wednesday’s meeting of the Clean Up Henderson Committee and led to the selection of a committee to put together a forum to gather information.
Etheridge links Vance to relief efforts
Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-Lillington, whose congressional district includes southern Vance County, has created a page on his Web site to provide information on the latest developments concerning Hurricane Katrina and ways that North Carolinians can help with the recovery. “Like all Americans, I offer my deepest condolences to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and their families,” said Etheridge, who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee. “North Carolinians know firsthand the devastation that hurricanes can cause. When our own state …
City leaders discuss future with Ferguson
Henderson could use lobbying in Raleigh as a test of whether the city needs to keep Washington lobbying firm The Ferguson Group, Mayor Clem Seifert suggested at a meeting with a Ferguson representative Monday.
Thursday’s open line
The lottery and state revenues in general dominated Wednesday’s discussion. And we hardly touched on what we’ll do if anf when the other shoe drops with the long-awaited (or long-feared) lottery: What happens if the numbers from the numbers game don’t add up to enough money to build a couple of schools in Vance County? But today, like tomorrow, is another day, so write away on the topic of your choice.