Dobson Elementary School Teacher of the Year, Renee Fowler and Teaching Assistant of the Year, Dee Snow. (Submitted photo)

Dobson Elementary School recently named its Teacher of the Year and Teaching Assistant of the Year for the 2022-23 school year. Hard-Facing Welding Stuff

Renee Fowler, a third grade teacher, was named as the Teacher of the Year. She has been with Surry County Schools for 23 years and all but two of those years at Dobson Elementary School. She is married to Stephen Fowler, and they have two children Jess and Miles Fowler.

Dee Snow was named Teaching Assistant of the Year. She has been with Surry County Schools since 2009 and at Dobson Elementary for the past seven years. She is married to Chad Snow, and they have four children, Courtni-Morgan Fargis, Mason, Carter and Mattie-Grace Snow.

Principal Nicole Hazelwood and Assistant Principal Ashley Queen surprised each of the winners with the announcement of their selection with flowers and balloons.

Crashed plane, pilot’s body discovered in Carroll

Dobson Elementary School recently named its Teacher of the Year and Teaching Assistant of the Year for the 2022-23 school year.

Renee Fowler, a third grade teacher, was named as the Teacher of the Year. She has been with Surry County Schools for 23 years and all but two of those years at Dobson Elementary School. She is married to Stephen Fowler, and they have two children Jess and Miles Fowler.

Dee Snow was named Teaching Assistant of the Year. She has been with Surry County Schools since 2009 and at Dobson Elementary for the past seven years. She is married to Chad Snow, and they have four children, Courtni-Morgan Fargis, Mason, Carter and Mattie-Grace Snow.

Principal Nicole Hazelwood and Assistant Principal Ashley Queen surprised each of the winners with the announcement of their selection with flowers and balloons.

A record turnout helped the Surry Arts Council raise more than $35,000 during its annual Arts Ball held earlier this month at Cross Creek Country Club. The ball featured a silent auction, passed canapes and soup, a seated dinner, and dancing to the live music of the Band of Oz.

The Mardi Gras theme was present throughout the club. Centerpieces were provided by Airmont Florist, Cana Mount Airy Florist, and Creative Design Flowers. These were available for purchase in the silent auction. Melissa Sumner, coordinator of the Arts Ball, worked with a committee of volunteers from schools, the Surry Arts Council Staff and Board, and the community.

The auction had hundreds of items. The meals hosted in the homes of local chefs were among the most popular items along with vacation condos and homes. Schools donated items built in classes including a porch swing and Adirondack chairs. Baskets ranged from movie night themes to a lottery ticket basket to sports-themed baskets. Clothing, jewelry, home baked items, and many gift cards were among the items purchased.

A photo booth provided by Ish & Ash Productions provided another fun opportunity for guests. There was a line at the booth throughout the evening.

Proceeds from the arts program goes toward taking arts programming to area school children and youth. This year, thousands of students have already enjoyed arts programming provided by the fundraising from the Arts Ball last year.

In addition to directly paying for arts programs, the arts ball proceeds leverage grants from Chorus America, the North Carolina Arts Council, and South Arts. Students receive free arts programs in their own schools and have the opportunity to bus to the Blackmon Amphitheatre, the Historic Earle Theatre, and the Andy Griffith Playhouse. Students also have field trips to the Andy Griffith Museum, the Old-Time Music Heritage Hall, and the Siamese Twins Exhibit at no cost. These field trips include guided tours, scavenger hunts, and music.

The Surry Arts Council provides its venues to the schools for holiday and year-end choral and band programs at no cost to the schools. The Surry Arts Council also works with schools to host interns, provide art instruction in both in-school and after-school programs, in summer programs, and through many other partnerships.

Photos courtesy of Robbie Curlee and Kenny Hooker can be found on the Surry Arts Council website www.surryarts.org.

Dobson residents and businesses recently got a chance to meet their new town manager, during a meet-and-greet Friday, but it was far from the first day on the job for Jeff Sedlacek.

The town’s board of commissioners hired Sedlacek in December, and he officially started his new post on Jan. 3, at the start of the new year.

Sedlacek, who grew up in King, was familiar with Dobson before applying for the job. He attended Surry Community College while working on his degree, before transferring to Appalachian State University.

The town manager’s post came open in June, when Laura Neely left the post after being appointed as finance officer for Surry County. The town board appointed town clerk and assistant town manager Misty Marion as interim until the board hired Sedlacek.

Sedlacek had been serving as strategic initiative manager for the Cleveland County government in Shelby since November 2021. Prior to that, Sedlacek was a management analyst for Cleveland County and earlier served as a budget consultant for the town of North Wilkesboro.

“I saw the position through the league of municipalities, I’m originally from King, this was a good opportunity to get a little closer to home.”

Competition for the Dobson opening was fierce.

“We had 60 to 70 applicants,” said Dobson Mayor Ricky K. Draughn. “We had some real good candidates; he was the top. He just had a lot of good ideas, the way he presented himself,” Draughn said of some of the factors that impressed the commissioners. He said the background checks came up spotless, and the folks he had worked with all had good things to say about their experiences working with Sedlacek.

Sedlacek said he has enjoyed his time thus far in the county seat.

“I was fortunate enough to get the position,” he said of the town manager post. “I’m grateful for it, grateful for getting a chance to meet the great people here.” He said he has been spending a good bit of his time over the past two months meeting with the board, learning the goals of the board members, and familiarizing himself with the townsfolk.

Sedlacek said when he started college at SCC, he initially hoped to become an attorney.

“Then I saw the price tag of a law degree, that was shocking.” Not long afterward, he attended a manager’s program, where he was able to meet with and interact with a number of town and city managers, where he began to refocus his career goals.

He said being creative, working with various governmental agencies and partner organizations attracted him to the field.

“You just have a number of services that require you to leverage a number of avenues to serve people. The vastness of government is what attracted me to it.”

In Dobson, he said his main job is to carry out the vision of the board of commissioners. While there are a multitude of areas to focus on, he said there are three primary areas at present — sewer service expansion, the streetscape program, and community development.

“I think our biggest priority right now is our sewer plant upgrades,” Mayor Draughn said. He explained that while the town’s sewer plant does have some room to increase service so the need is not critical, he said implementing upgrades could be a timely process.

He explained the permitting process from state officials could be lengthy, followed by needed engineering studies, then searching for grants and other sources of funding could take two years or more.

“I may be too optimistic with that,” he said of the timeframe.

Sedlacek explained the town’s plant is rated by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to handle up to 350,000 gallons a day, and the town is generally between 60% and 70%, although periods of heavy rainfall can raise that even more.

“We’re not at capacity, but it’s time to start thinking about it (expansion). At 90% you get a formal letter from DEQ, and you have to find a way to increase capacity.”

As usage climbs closer to that limit, he said the opportunity for business and industrial growth could also be limited.

The good news, he said, is that where the discharge is released near Cody Creek, the allowable limit is 850,000 gallons, so there’s plenty of room for growth there, it is just a matter of expanding the sewer plant operations.

“When business looks at a community sewer and water infrastructure is one of the top three things they look at,” he said, adding that power availability and internet service are the other two.

While he and the board will be looking at ways to upgrade the sewer plant, he said there are plenty of short-term tasks to keep him busy and help make the town successful.

“One of the other biggest things is working with closely with various community partners. I’m looking forward to learning the partners…to being part of the community.”

Donors at American Red Cross blood drives scheduled across Surry County during March might come away lighter in one respect, but their wallets or purses will be fatter.

That’s because those who give will receive a $10 Visa prepaid card by email, plus a chance to win a $3,000 Visa prepaid card to help with gas or grocery expenses.

This campaign recognizes the fact that many folks are struggling with inflation, as highlighted by the message from the Red Cross: “Lend an arm; we’ll lend a hand.” At the same time, it addresses an ongoing need for blood and platelet donors by the Red Cross, the nation’s chief blood-collection agency.

Five winners will be chosen for the $3,000 prepaid cards.

Blood drives are coordinated through the Winston-Salem office of the American Red Cross for Surry and neighboring counties, with this schedule released for local collection events in March including dates, times and locations:

• Wednesday from 2 to 6:30 p.m. at Rockford Elementary School, 719 Rockford Road, Dobson;

• Monday at the Surry American Red Cross building, 844 Westlake Drive, Mount Airy, 1:30 to 6 p.m.;

• March 14, Salem Baptist Church, 430 Rockford Road, Dobson, 2:30 to 7 p.m.;

• March 19, Salem Fork Christian Church, 2245 White Dirt Road, Dobson, noon to 4 p.m.;

• March 20, Elkin Rescue Squad building, 940 N. Bridge St., 1:30 to 6 p.m.;

• March 22, Mountain Park Elementary School, 505 Mountain Park Road in the State Road community, 1 to 5:30 p.m.;

• March 22, Fellowship Baptist Church, 1421 Little Mountain Church Road, Ararat, 3 to 7 p.m.;

• March 24, Elkin High School, 334 Elk Spur St., 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.;

• March 25, Blues Grove Baptist Church, 3607 Red Brush Road, Mount Airy, 2 to 6:30 p.m.;

• March 26, Slate Mountain Baptist Church, 3644 E. Pine St., Mount Airy, 1 to 5 p.m.;

• March 27, Pilot Mountain First United Methodist Church, 210 Marion St., noon to 4:30 p.m.;

• March 29, East Surry High School, 801 W. Main St., Pilot Mountain, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Donation appointments can be made by visiting Give Blood or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

This process also can allow one to determine the availability of appointments for drives on the schedule.

Prospective whole blood donors must be in good health, feeling well and at least 16 years old in most states, along with weighing no less than 110 pounds.

An individual can give every 56 days, up to six times a year, according to information from the Red Cross.

Surry Community College Cosmetology and Nail Technician/Manicurist students had the opportunity to serve the special needs population in Feburary by helping them to prepare for the Night to Shine prom sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation.

Cosmetology Program Director Robin Minton arranged the community service opportunity for her students in partnership with Salem Baptist Church in Dobson.

“We are honored to be involved in the Night to Shine prom preparation for a second time,” Minton said. “It’s a privilege to be a part of this night and to help these folks feel special and loved all day long. They get to feel beautiful all day and all evening.”

Minton said not only is this way to give back to community, but it is also a learning experience for her students.

“It’s a good experience for students to know that everyone is not the same and to be able to adapt to different experiences and people.”

Seven special needs individuals filed into the Cosmetology Salon on SCC’s Dobson campus that Friday morning. They were treated to manicures, makeup application, haircuts, and styling by the students. SCC offers a degree and diploma in cosmetology and certificates in natural hair care specialist and nail technician/manicurist.

The Night to Shine prom is a complimentary event for people with special needs hosted by local churches around the world. The event is open to anyone living with disabilities, ages 14 and older.

The mission of the Tim Tebow Foundation is to bring faith, hope and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need. This mission is being fulfilled every day through 16 initiatives in the fields of orphan care and prevention, special needs, children with profound medical needs, and anti-human trafficking. To learn more about the Tim Tebow Foundation visit www.timtebowfoundation.org.

A study conducted by the Surry County Sheriff’s Office and presented last week to the county commissioners found that the local law enforcement agency is paying less than many neighboring agencies, presenting a challenge to the sheriff’s office that may necessitate changes to compensation to keep the county competitive at hiring time.

The sheriff’s office shared results of an examination of base pay for deputies and detention officers comparing those to other local departments. What they found was a starting pay for both sets of officers that was below what is found in neighboring counties, in some instance by quite a margin.

With a stiff labor market and applicants few and far between these pay rates are hurting the Surry County Sheriff’s Office efforts to recruit. Officials who compiled the study wrote the job market “is currently changing with the new generation of applicants, you are seeing it in your own businesses, most of them see dollar signs, instead of the future.”

“Across North Carolina law enforcement agencies have pursued higher starting pay, raising pay of current staff to stabilize the compression issues. And providing public safety with a fair salary for the harsh and dangerous jobs they do on a daily basis,” the study said.

The image of law enforcement has not helped matter either. “Over the last few years, law enforcement across the United Sates has taken a hit. With bad press coming from the news media and increased restrictions against law enforcement, it has become difficult to attract and hire qualified candidate and retain existing staff.”

The sheriff’s office has been in need of staff and will have a greater need as the time nears to open the new jail. As of Feb. 13, the Surry County Sheriff’s Office had six deputy openings and seven openings for detention officers. According to the study, Surry County employees more than 150 in the sheriff’s department.

Also, they said, “of additional concern is within the next five years, approximately 15 employees can retire from SCSO or detention, with five of those set to retire this year.”

Filling those positions was going to be challenging anyway as many discussions with county level department heads has yielded a similar outcome — there are more openings than there are interested parties. As the board recently heard from the county’s interim social services director Wayne Black, finding any applicant is a challenge; finding the right one may seem a faraway dream.

Officials with the local sheriff’s office believes they may be better able to compete with other law enforcement agencies by raising the base starting pay for deputies and detention officers. They presented a comparison to a first-year starting salary for a police officer in Mount Airy which is $47,500 compared to the starting Surry County deputy rate of $36,672.

To that the Surry County Sheriff’s Office comparison noted, “We have two employees who have been sworn deputies since 2004 and 2008, and they are still earning below the starting salary of Mount Airy Police Department.”

The study also pointed out a newer deputy that has been on the force since 2021 will have to work “approximately 20 years and they are will still be making just $47,388,” or less than Mount Airy’s new base rate.

A first-year officer in Pilot Mountain or on Surry Community College’s security force would start at $40,000 and Dobson police start at $37,903 according to the presentation. For an apples-to-apples comparison, the starting rate for Stokes County deputies is $37,929, Yadkin $37,132, Wilkes $40,410, Forsyth $44,511 and only Alleghany came in lower at $36,491 – but the board was told this was being negotiated at this time.

For detention officers it is even more complicated as the larger counties have thrown a wrench in the machine by offering not only higher starting pay, but lofty signing bonuses.

A Surry County detention officer would start at $35,172 but could cross the county line to Forsyth County to start at $44,511 with a $5,000 recruiting bonus paid out over 18 months. Guilford County is offering $40,688 base pay and $5,000 sign-on bonus and Iredell County starts their day shift detention officers at $41,258 and night shift at $45,626 with a $2,500 signing bonus.

The need for detention officers across the state has grown so dramatically that the hiring standards were modified to allow 20-year-olds to apply for detention jobs; 21 was the previous threshold.

Not all officers in other departments are able to take squad cars home as Surry County deputies can, even across county lines as Commissioner Bill Goins clarified. He noted that the benefits package offered by the county, he felt, was more competitive than that being offered by the city of Mount Airy.

A change to the way in which law enforcement agencies can recruit will be taking effect on July 1, 2024. At that time the standard will be that an applicant must be certified in basic law enforcement training (BLET) before being hired as a deputy, detention officer, or telecommunicators certified for roles in the dispatch center.

The board was told that currently agencies such as the Surry County Sheriff’s Office can hire prior to someone being certified and do on-the-job training before taking classes for detention officer, for example. That system has allowed individuals to see the environment, have hands on experience, and know whether this is the type of job is what they are genuinely interested in pursuing.

Surry County is no exception to the general shortage of applicants experienced across much of the nation. As the local sheriff’s office will be recruiting from the same talent pool that will itself have decreased in size due to the BLET policy change, they said competing against other departments with a higher base rate is hindering their ability to recruit.

It “adds an additional strain on the SCSO hire qualified candidates… when we are competing with agencies that have the same benefits or better,” the memo signed by Sheriff Steve C. Hiatt read.

There will need to much more discussion on this issue but Commissioner Larry Johnson and Goins both started batting around new starting pay rates for the Surry County Sheriff’s Office, which would then follow the county’s existing step raise schedule.

Goins gave an estimate of a starting rate at $39,000 for deputies and $37,000 for detention officers; Johnson suggested $40,000 for deputies and did not specify the rate for detention officers.

Raising these base levels is a change that would be hard to revert from, and some at the county level wondered aloud why Mount Airy raised their police base pay so far, so fast. They have done it, so the bar has been set locally nearly as high as Forsyth County has.

The study summarized, “They place their lives on the line for (us) for 18 to 19% below the starting average across North Carolina because they have the passion and drive to do so. They strive to make Surry County the place of safety and security, a place the county citizens would want to live in.”

The Easter Brothers gospel bluegrass group brought fame to Mount Airy through its many performances over the years, and although the brothers have passed on their musical heritage is being kept alive in multiple ways.

This will include an upcoming event billed as The Easter Brothers Hometown Festival to “celebrate the life, songs and legacy” of the popular trio. It has been spearheaded by Grant Welch, an Easter Brothers fan and family friend, along with Mayor Jon Cawley.

The festival is scheduled for April 22, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Andy Griffith Playhouse in Mount Airy, featuring a performance by Jeff and Sheri Easter. Jeff is the son of James Easter, the last of the brothers who died in December 2021, after the passing of Edd and Russell in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Jeff and his wife Sheri Easter have a huge following in their own right, Cawley pointed out Monday. But they are expected to perform some of the brothers’ favorites during the festival along with their own material.

The two have captured multiple Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association of the United States and live in Lincolnton, Georgia.

“Jeff and Sheri are keeping it alive,” Welch said of The Easter Brothers’ memory and love for Mount Airy, also crediting Denise Easter, James’ wife, and Teresa Shockley, his daughter, longtime operators of Mayberry’s Music Center downtown along with James.

Sheri Easter’s mother is a member of another acclaimed gospel group, The Lewis Family, hailing from Lincolnton.

“It’s going to be a special night,” Welch said of the upcoming event on April 22, which will be a Saturday. Tickets for it are available from the Andy Griffith Playhouse at a cost of $20, with Cawley mentioning that 100 already have been sold.

“If this goes well,” Welch added regarding the festival, “it’s going to happen every year.” That might include the festival stretching over an entire weekend.

Cawley, who is listed as a “special guest” for the April 22 event and will handle announcing chores then, described this Monday as a way of paying back the three Easter Brothers for all they did on behalf of Mount Airy.

Not only are they thought to have written more than 400 songs which brought fame to this city, the brothers won numerous awards for their music including Traditional Bluegrass Band of the Years honors two times in a row.

Cawley says the Easters never forgot their local roots, always mentioning their hometown of Mount Airy wherever they performed. “And how proud they were of it,” the mayor observed.

“I just want to show our gratitude for what The Easter Brothers have done” in promoting Mount Airy, he said of one motivation for the upcoming festival.

At the same time, both Cawley and Welch hope it will introduce more people to the brand of gospel music the brothers are famous for and become part of local tourism efforts in this respect.

“I am an Elvis Presley fan and I found out he liked The Easter Brothers,” the mayor said of another basis for his admiration of the trio and what it accomplished in the musical world.

Welch said launching The Easter Brothers Hometown Festival is the fulfillment of a longtime dream for him personally, along with other efforts he has been involved with on the group’s behalf including the development of a mural honoring it downtown.

A museum celebrating the brothers also will open this spring.

“The Easter Brothers mean a lot to me,” Welch said.

• Jewelry valued at more than $400 was targeted during a recent theft at Walmart, according to Mount Airy Police Department reports.

The crime, reported on Feb. 17, involved a known party “defeating” an anti-theft device at the store earlier in the month to steal merchandise including two 10-karat jewelry sets, two pieces of gold-filled crucifix jewelry, three items of 18-karat gold-plated jewelry, a 14-karat yellow-gold piece and a 14-karat medal. The property is valued at $434 altogether.

While a known party is said to have committed the theft, no charges had been filed in the case at last report.

• A break-in and larceny involving a motor vehicle occurred on Feb. 17 in the parking lot of the Roses shopping center on West Independence Boulevard, where a 2014 Chevrolet Equinox owned by Kimberly Marlana Maracic was entered while unlocked.

A Marc Jacobs tote bag, a Chanel bag containing unspecified items, a gray in color Moto G cell phone and a Blu tablet were listed as stolen, with the total value of the property put at $470.

• Multiple vehicles were entered at Golden Corral on the night of Feb. 17, when a blunt object was used to break windows and steal items from inside including a Craftsman four-piece power tool combination valued at $280, an undisclosed sum of money and a black and red pocketbook valued at $30.

A 2014 Chevrolet Malibu owned by Greta Houchins Payne of Stuart, Virginia, was targeted along with a Ford F-150 pickup and a Nissan Sentra, with model years not given. Annie Hughes Collins of Jonesville also is listed as a victim of the incident.

Last week the Surry County Board of Commissioners heard a concern during open forum on the conduct of dogs in the area and specifically whether or not there should be additional rules in place regarding dogs who are off leash and not being handled by their owner.

Betty Fellows told the board she has had more than one close encounter with a large dog in her neighborhood. “Over the past 23 months I have had four aggressive dog incidents in my neighborhood, three in my own yard,” she explained.

“All four times this almost 100 pound dog was at large off the leash and not controlled, and the dog is not controlled by voice commands from the owner,” she said.

These incidents have led her to believe that there needs to be tougher laws or regulations that can help control the behavior of what she terms “aggressive dogs.”

She referred to the state statues on a potentially dangerous dogs which are defined, in part, as one who, “Approached a person when not on the owner’s property in a vicious or terrorizing manner in an apparent attitude of attack.” Fellows said this fits her example perfectly as the dog in question was for most of these incidents in her own yard.

“Our county and our state need stricter and tougher laws to protect all citizens from aggressive uncontrolled dogs, and I advocate from personal experience,” she said before laying out the details of the incidents she has had with this particular canine.

She said like many, she is a dog lover and has had dogs of varying sizes. “I love dogs, I’ve owned dogs and big dogs too, but they were trained, they were controlled, and they obeyed,” she said.

The concern with the neighborhood dog is its size and that it would overpower her own older dog. She asked the board to consider if a child had been at play when one of these incidents had occurred, at least one of which produced a bite to her own dog.

Fellows said she and other residents in the neighborhood like to be out and about on foot, but she knows that some people are not walking that way to avoid the dog. “That dog is controlling our neighborhood, and no dog is paying taxes,” she said.

Her husband Don expressed concern that their attempts at recourse have not yielded much. “I’m concerned that when all I was told is to take pictures and all you’re going to do is get a fine, and what happens next time? You get another fine, maybe more, but is that really a deterrent?”

Don said when people get caught speeding they may go to something like traffic court and then driving school. He wondered if there could be some sort of penalty for dog owners who cannot control their dogs that could end up with obedience training. He made it clear that taking someone’s dog is not his goal.

Betty said, “We as a county have to have stricter law to protect citizens… my neighborhood is held hostage because this dog is not controlled by the owner.”

A local resident with a history of violence will be spending at least 25 years in prison for a murder conviction in Wilkes County earlier this month.

Tyler Blake Daughenbaugh, 24, of 909 Hunter Drive, Mount Airy, who also has lived in the Zephyr community near Elkin, pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge in Wilkes Superior Court on Feb. 13, according to media reports from Wilkesboro.

Daughenbaugh originally had been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of James “Jimmy” Leroy Conley, 53, who was found dead in his yard in the Pleasant Hill community just west of Elkin on June 13, 2021.

The Mount Airy man was arrested two days later by law enforcement personnel from both Wilkes and Surry counties. They took Daughenbaugh into custody without incident while he was on a riding lawn mower in a wooded area near his home, according to media reports.

He is said to have been an acquaintance of Conley’s who shot the Wilkes man because Conley’s name was similar to that of another person who Daughenbaugh thought had molested his daughter and lived in another area.

Daughenbaugh’s sentencing for second-degree murder resulted from a plea agreement in which he also admitted guilt for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon during the incident. He drew an active sentence of 25 to 31 years and was transported from Wilkes County to Central Prison in Raleigh on Feb. 20, according to state penal records.

The Mount Airy Police Department, Carroll County (Virginia) Sheriff’s Office and State Bureau of Investigation assisted Wilkes County authorities in the case.

The June 2021 shooting in eastern Wilkes was not the first violent incident in which Daughenbaugh has been involved, based on previous local reports.

Less than a year before, in July 2020, Daughenbaugh had been charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury, after allegedly shooting Wesley Dale Hall, 27, during an argument at the latter’s home in the Dobson area.

The argument was over personal property, investigators said, with Hall being wounded in the mid-t0-upper torso, deemed non-life-threatening.

Daughbenbaugh was jailed under a $200,000 secured bond in that case.

This occurred four months after Daughenbaugh had been released from prison on Surry County charges of speeding to elude arrest, failure to heed lights/siren and felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon which had been filed in 2018.

However, there is no conviction record for the Mount Airy man on the assault case involving Hall, which apparently was dismissed or he was found not guilty in court.

Daughenbaugh’s conviction record — among various drug, larceny, weapons and other cases — does include a felony charge of assault, inflicting serious injury issued in July 2016. It stemmed from a domestic dispute in Mount Airy.

United Fund of Surry and Funding for Good will be hosting a leadership education series beginning with “Fundraising for Success: What nonprofits need to know to move from research to results.” The classes will be held on March 1-2. The seminars will be held at the viticulture building at Surry Community College in Dobson.

“On the first day we will focus on how to craft a written fundraising plan and how to implement effective fundraising strategies with your board,” said Melissa Hiatt, executive director of United Fund of Surry. “Day two will focus on grant writing and effective grant research.”

The seminars will help participants understand the kinds of roles that board members can play in development and fundraising, and how to determine if your organization is prepared to apply for grant funding.

Featured speakers for the leadership education series will be Mandy Pearce and Marie Palacios from Funding for Good.

The workshop is free, and lunch will be provided.

Space is limited to 40 people and registration is first come, first served.

To register for the workshop visit http://www.unitedfundofsurry.org/nonprofit-bootcamp

A local teen who was listed in critical but stable condition after being shot early Friday morning is improving.

The victim, whose name was not released by investigators but is said to be a 16-year-old sophomore at Mount Airy High School, has been able to talk since undergoing surgery, according to sources relaying progress reports from his family.

However, he is not able to walk normally as yet although the youth has taken a few steps while recovering from the incident in which he was shot in the stomach by another juvenile believed to be an older cousin.

A prayer vigil was held Sunday night for the local student who was at a location outside the city limits when injured.

The victim was transported to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem after being found by county deputies responding to a call about the shooting around 1:40 a.m. Friday in the 200 block of Woodbridge Drive, Mount Airy. It is located off Pipers Gap Road.

Although the male cousin who allegedly committed the crime initially was thought to be an adult, he actually is also a juvenile, according to the Surry County Sheriff’s Office. Names of both individuals therefore have not been released.

A juvenile petition was issued on the alleged perpetrator for assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. He was taken into custody on the day of the shooting, according to Maj. Scott Hudson, who was unsure Monday if the youth was still being held.

While the Surry Sheriff’s Office has not released circumstances behind the shooting, sources say it was part of an ongoing dispute between the two individuals which also had involved a fistfight between them recently.

That led up to the altercation early Friday, according to sources.

The teen wounded is described as well liked by his classmates and industrious, including holding down an after-school job.

At last report the shooting was listed as an active investigation by the Surry County Sheriff’s Office, which has received assistance from the State Bureau of Investigation.

Gentry Middle School recently named Heather Grant, who teaches eighth grade social studies, as the 2023 Teacher of the Year.

She has worked at Gentry Middle School for the past ten years and has also taught at Chestnut Grove Middle School. She majored in History and secondary education in college and has enjoyed teaching for the past 17 years. She is a National Board Certified Teacher who brings history to life for her students on a daily basis with hands-on, engaging lessons.

Modern offices are a far cry from the days of bulky roll-top desks, uncomfortable wooden chairs, pot-belly stoves and other meager furnishings of drab, dark environments that would make Ebeneezer Scrooge proud.

At Interworks in Mount Airy, the local area’s first-ever co-working space, it’s a totally different story.

The sparkling new facility certainly contains elements of today’s maximum-efficiency offices such as high-speed Internet and other cutting-edge communications technology, and comfy ergonomic-friendly furniture for offices, which at Interworks might be a cube, private room or entire suite.

Safe to say the decor there is a departure from the old-style arrangements lacking imagination and creativity.

Then there are extra amenities to be found at Interworks which are perhaps uncommon, but make the work setting as pleasant as possible while also promoting functionality: a lounge with a big-screen television set; kitchen facilities including refrigerators, microwave ovens, a coffee bar rivalling Starbucks and an ice machine. Countertops, tables and chairs are available for dining.

Executive suites upstairs are even equipped with a fully stocked liquor bar and private restrooms.

Interworks has large and small conference rooms, projection screens for PowerPoint and other presentations, whiteboards, state-of-the-art printing capabilities, access to books and relevant newspapers including The Wall Street Journal.

In a word — what it offers to business professionals of all types is flexibility with a capital “F.”

“That’s the name of the game when it comes to this,” Interworks founder Michael Brannock said of the key concept embodied by the facility launched in Mount Airy earlier this month.

“This is the first co-working space in Surry County,” Brannock explained while giving a tour of its spacious, cozy confines at 190 Virginia St. which represent an investment of just over $2 million.

“Really, the closest one is in Winston-Salem,” added Brannock, who says there is nothing similar in what he calls the “Rural Triad” region.

From the outside, Interworks resembles other two-story buildings downtown, which obscures the presence of the luxurious surroundings to be found inside the 14,000-square-foot structure.

The Interworks design didn’t overlook atmospheric qualities that can be important for one’s mental state — and productivity.

“We wanted light — we wanted color,” Brannock said of the open, airy ambience that resulted.

Even the artwork planned for Interworks’ large lounge/office area has a purpose other than decorative. Brannock says all the paintings and similar features to eventually grace its walls will be made of soundproof materials to lessen the echo in the room.

If someone needs to take a private call while in the lounge section during the middle of a meeting, they can go to one of four enclosed phone booths there.

To provide further inspiration, walls are adorned with famous quotes from titans of business such as Henry Ford and Mark Cuban which Brannock hand-picked.

It seems that everything a person can face during the work day has been accommodated at Interworks.

While new to Surry County, co-working spaces have caught on in other areas.

Co-working is a communal-type arrangement not employed in traditional office settings, which involves personnel of different companies or businesses sharing space. This allows cost savings and convenience via the use of common infrastructure such as equipment, along with cleaning and other services.

Brannock says someone needing a small office, for example, can rent one at Interworks and avoid the Internet and utility hookup hassles that normally would be required along with having to manage and maintain a building.

As a longtime executive of the Workforce Unlimited staffing firm, he saw a need for co-working space in Mount Airy.

“I absolutely think this is an asset to the community when it comes to economic development,” the local businessman said, “to help Mount Airy move forward.”

Brannock also referred to local “Vision” studies in 2021 during which citizen committees identified various goals for economic development and other segments:

“One of the big things that came out of that was a need for co-working space.”

Brannock consulted with Todd Tucker on the Interworks project, before Tucker resigned as president of the Surry County Economic Development Partnership, who fully supported the effort along with city officials.

Those taking space at Interworks on an ongoing basis so far — known as “members” — include six different companies or individuals, according to Marie Talbert, its business manager.

Among them are Mountcastle Insurance; a furniture business; a flooring contractor; and a person working in a bookkeeping capacity at Thirsty Souls Community Brewing nearby who has a separate space at Interworks where he can ply his craft without interruptions.

“There are lot of individual professionals who would love office space,” Brannock said of those Interworks caters to, along with businesses. The trend of more residences downtown also falls in line with the desire of some living there to have offices nearby.

Businesses using the Interworks facility can put their logos on office windows, with name plates placed on cube spaces.

In addition to the other benefits of co-working spaces are the camaraderie and collaboration that develops among the varied occupants. “We feel like it’s a community within a community,” Brannock said, a contrast to the loneliness persons working out of their homes sometimes experience.

At the same time, Interworks’ scheduling flexibility offers a place for such individuals to escape the kids and dogs for a while — “just a place to come,” Brannock said of what amounts to a simple change of scenery. Day passes can be had at the site for $30.

Members have 24/7 keyless access in a security-oriented environment, along with mail-handling services through the providing of a professional business address.

Interworks also has a manned reception area where visitors are greeted.

Event space part of mix

The idea of developing the Interworks facility coincided with Workforce Unlimited’s move from an office complex on Caudle Drive to a building formerly housing a family insurance business, which was owned by David Pruett until bought by the staffing firm.

Workforce Unlimited, which fronts West Independence Boulevard, is in the same building as Interworks located to its rear on Virginia Street.

“It’s meant for them to be a part of this,” Brannock said of the Workforce family, “but it’s also meant to be kept separate to avoid confusion.”

Renovations got under way at the beginning of 2022 for the Interworks facility. “It took the better part of the year, but I think it was worth it,” Brannock said.

Along with office space, Interworks offers a venue for special meetings or events which can accommodate about 75 people.

“You can rent meeting space by the hour,” Brannock said, which includes the option of food being provided by downtown restaurants.

Offices are available on a month-to-month basis or long term (one year), with additional details on membership options listed on the interworksmtairy.com website.

Instead of a bridge to nowhere, a sidewalk to somewhere is being constructed along West Pine Street in Mount Airy to aid pedestrian access to areas including the Emily Taylor Greenway.

The work is occurring near a bridge over Lovills Creek in a busy section of town near the Lowes Foods shopping center and Creekside Cinemas.

“This project will help provide a safer route for residents to walk to shop, work and/or access the Granite City Greenway,” Mount Airy Parks and Recreation Director Peter Raymer explained Thursday.

City Public Works Department employees in the Street Division are constructing the concrete sidewalk that will lead from the shoulder on the south side of West Pine Street directly to the Emily B. Taylor section of the greenway. When complete, it will operate much like an on-ramp or exit ramp of a highway.

Members of a crew working there Thursday said they were about halfway finished with the new walkway.

Raymer mentioned that Public Works Director Mitch Williams is overseeing the project, which was recommended in the Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan for Mount Airy dating to 2013.

That plan notes that in addition to being a vital link into and out of Mount Airy, West Pine Street (N.C. 89) “has a critical interface with the Emily B. Taylor Greenway,” and also New Market Commons, the shopping center including Lowes Foods and other businesses.

“Currently there is no connection to the greenway nor are there sidewalks along the bridge crossing,” the 10-year-old plan further states.

Aside from that specific site, the study cites problems from overall fragmentation, or gaps, among walkways around town and a need to provide more access for pedestrians.

Before beginning the present task to supply the direct link to the greenway, municipal workers constructed another span of connecting sidewalk along West Pine Street on the western side of the Lovills Creek bridge.

The project at hand recognizes the fact that rather than fitness purposes, some people use the greenway to better access business or other locations along its route, as opposed to walking and cycling on busy roadways and risking injury or death.

“We are excited that this project is taking place in an effort to make our community more connected and walkable,” Raymer added.

Along with meeting an immediate need, a big-picture consideration is involved, evidenced by a 5-0 vote by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners on Jan. 5 in favor of a resolution of support for the long-range connection of greenways across Surry County.

This eventually could lead to all municipalities, recreational areas and surrounding trail systems in the county being linked via paved trails and sidewalks, officials have said.

• Alleged reckless driving by a motorcyclist on a city street has led to him being jailed on multiple charges including speeding in a school zone, according to Mount Airy Police Department reports.

Driving violations on the afternoon of Feb. 15 involving Donovan Luke Kendrick, 23, of Toms Creek Church Road, Pilot Mountain, occurred on Rockford Street toward Hamburg Street, where Mount Airy Middle School is located.

Kendrick, operating a 2017 Suzuki, subsequently was arrested on Quaker Road at Westfield Road and charged with reckless driving to endanger and driving while license revoked in addition to speeding in a school zone. He was held in the Surry County Jail under a $4,000 secured bond and slated for a March 22 appearance in District Court.

• Police learned Monday of a break-in and larceny involving a motor vehicle which had occurred on Feb. 17 in a parking lot at the home of Abbie Larae Wagoner on Jasper Pointe Circle.

Wagoner’s 2016 Nissan Rogue was unsecured at the time, enabling the theft of an Aldo black and brown snakeskin purse, a cowhide print wallet and an apartment key. The property taken is valued at $145 altogether.

• A break-in occurred Sunday night at the residence of Gary Warren Chilton on Mitchell Street, where the front door was kicked multiple times by an unknown suspect.

Nothing was listed as stolen or damaged during the incident.

• Merchandise with a total value of $670 was stolen from Ollie’s Bargain Outlet on North Renfro Street as the result of a break-in discovered on Feb. 16.

A window of the business was broken to gain entry, leading to the theft of three portable air conditioners, two vacuum cleaners and a pair of portable heaters.

Shoals Elementary recently announce its January Leaders of the Month.

The character attribute for January was “Respectful.”

“The students chosen this month show what it means to be respectful as they go throughout their day,” school officials said. “They show respect to their teachers, classmates and others they interact with daily. We are so proud of our Mountaineers for making a difference in the world.”

ARARAT, Va. — There is always room for more love in the world, including in Ararat where that word is now prominently displayed in a highly decorative way on the front of Willis Gap Community Center.

This did not occur through a desire to promote romance or this month’s celebration of Valentine’s Day, but this week’s official unveiling of the newest sign in Virginia’s LOVEworks program.

It is a statewide branding initiative designed to promote historic life experiences across the Commonwealth and strengthen awareness of the longtime “Virginia is for Lovers” message.

The new LOVE sign at Willis Gap Community Center which was welcomed during a special unveiling program Wednesday afternoon recognizes the center’s presence as a key stop along The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. The Crooked Road is a 330-mile driving trail through the mountains of Southwest Virginia which connects nine major venues and more than 60 affiliated locations and festivals that visitors can enjoy each day of the year.

That includes the Willis Gap Community Center Open Jam, a weekly series ongoing since the 1990s which showcases multiple musical genres including Appalachian heritage old-time, bluegrass, country and gospel. Musicians and singers of all skill levels are welcome at the Friday night performances that have become popular with fans.

Wednesday’s unveiling event celebrating travel and tourism in Ararat included officials representing the community center, Patrick County Tourism Department and others, according to information from Mary Dellenback Hill, secretary of the Willis Gap Community Center Board of Directors.

Hill has been a member of Willis Gap Community Center for more that 20 years and also is involved in local tourism efforts to promote the Ararat area.

She lent her artistic talents to the center by designing the new LOVE sign that incorporates a musical theme featuring imagery of instruments.

A depiction of an upright bass forms the letter “L,” The Crooked Road logo the “O,” a leaned-over mandolin and fiddle the “V,” with a musical note resembling an “E” completing the word LOVE.

After all board members at the center approved Hill’s design, she sent the concept to David Stanley of SilverLivingDesign, who created a computer image for it that allowed the finished product to be made at another business called SignSpot.

Wednesday afternoon’s program included remarks by Patrick County Tourism Director James Houchins, who also read a statement in honor of the occasion from Carrie Beck, the executive director of Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, Hill related.

“The Crooked Road is excited for this unique LOVE sign in Patrick County,” it reads. “The passion of Willis Gap Community Center’s Open Jam leaders and participants is evident in their love for heritage music.”

Beck added that “there is a long history of pickers and legends that have been in this building, so this sign is an amazing way to showcase their pride in this event. The Crooked Road is thrilled to have partners in the region that make heritage music every week with such dedication and thinks that the LOVE sign is a true beacon for Ararat and the Dan River District of Patrick County.”

Otto and Nellie Hiatt began the open jams in their home, according to Hill, which became so large that the sessions had to be moved to Willis Gap Community Center at 144 The Hollow Road.

Attorney General Josh Stein has sent a memo to all 100 North Carolina counties with “a request for you to take action to secure additional opioid settlement funds for your county.” The nation has been in the grips of the opioid epidemic for many years and with settlements agreements being reached between states and drug manufacturers, promoters, and distributors some tangible penalty has been assigned to parties that promoted the opioids for mass consumption that led to the current crisis.

Stein helped lead recent negotiations for $21 billion in new national settlement agreements with Walmart, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Allergan Finance, LLC, Allergan Limited, CVS Health Corporation, CVS Pharmacy, Inc., and Walgreen Co., as well as their subsidiaries, affiliates, and officers which is being called the Wave Two Settlements.

The Wave Two Settlements will bring the state more than $600 million in addition funds atop that $750 that already received as part of Wave One Settlements with Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisoureBergen as well as the drug maker Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals which Stein was also among the lead negotiators.

Assuming the defendants sign off on the final settlement, not a foregone conclusion hence Stein’s memo, Surry County will get an additional $7,274,337 from the latest round of settlements. These funds will be in addition to the money the county has already begun to receive from the Wave One Settlements totaling $9,087,494.

Of the 114 counties and municipalities listed to receive funds in Wave Two, Surry County will get the fourteenth largest payout, versus the county’s rank of 37 out of 100 counties in population.

“In travelling across North Carolina in recent months I have learned firsthand about the many innovative programs to address the opioid crisis hat counties and municipalities are funding with money from the Wave One Settlement. These settlement funds have the potential to bring significantly greater resources to your county to address the opioid epidemic,” Stein wrote.

“I am excited about the many new or expanded programs that can be funded with the additional resources from Wave Two.”

In all there will be five new settlements coming according to Surry County Attorney Ed Woltz, who advised the county commissioners that each would need to be acted upon separately. He and County Manager Chris Knopf were given authority to sign and submit upon receipt these settlement offers without further action from the board.

“The defendants will agree to finalize the Wave Two Settlements only if the vast majority of local governments across the nation sign onto them,” the memo read.

“We are hoping to achieve the same unanimous approval of Wave 2 Settlements,” Stein said. “I’m proud that the strong partnerships between the state and local governments in North Carolina produced 100% local government participation in Wave One. This enabled the state and the participating local governments to receive 100% of our collective share of the national settlement funds.’

Assuming the same level of participation as was found in Wave One, which Stein’s office is expecting, these funds could reach the county in the latter half of 2023.

– The Surry County Office of Substance Abuse Recovery was approved to enter one-year contracts for media services with WIFM radio and in print to implement a sustained 12-month county wide communications campaign. The goal is to educate on topics involving substance use and mental health. The request said that the campaign is an essential element in the implementation of the Surry County Office of Substance Abuse Prevention Plan that is ongoing through 2024.

The commissioners approved $4,500 for radio ads on WIFM, and $12,647.25 for print advertising,

The Prevention Plan seeks to build community awareness through education and developing community readiness and to reduce the availability of illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and vapes for the under-aged. The local office seeks to strengthen anti-drug use attitudes through sharing information and engaging with youth to enhance their life skills and drug refusal techniques.

By doing so the county’s goal is to reduce risk and improve protection in families by setting rules and opening lines of communication. Their theory is that communication will help kid’s feel more connected and strengthen social bonding that took a hit during the isolation of the pandemic.

Based on the feedback provided by the organization’s Communities Needs Assessment, this campaign will focus on suicide prevention, fentanyl education and prevention, targeted youth vaping prevention, and further promotion of Red Ribbon Week.

Also, Mark Willis, director of substance abuse recovery, gained board approved in a separate action to reallocate a $100,000 surplus from the Partners Recovery Grant to New Hope New Beginnings, a non-profit in Mount Airy that is seeking to open a transitional home for men on Rawley Avenue.

These were state Department of Health and Human Services funds allocated to Partners Health Management on a one time basis to address the needs of county residents who are struggling with disease. The Office of Substance Abuse Recovery gave Partners a list of priorities in 2021 which they received assistance on including funding the intervention team and establishing the re-integration program which helps those completing their time in jail with housing, treatment, and employment.

– Commissioner Larry Johnson is going to let greenbacks do the talking for him. He has offered to sweeten the pot and personally increase the stipend per bag of litter collected through the county’s litter program by $1 per bag.

That makes one bag of trash collected worth $8 – beating the federal minimum hourly wage. If a 501c3 group would like to participate as a fundraiser that county welcomes that but given the lack of participants, this program has been extended to contractors so there is an opportunity here for an industrious group or individuals to clean up both literally and figuratively.

As genial as he is known to be, don’t show up with a bag of litter at Johnson’s home. Contact the Development Services Department at 336-401-8357 for more information.

DOBSON — A local teen was shot early Friday, apparently resulting from an ongoing dispute with an older cousin who also is a juvenile.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that the victim is a student in Mount Airy City Schools, who was wounded in the stomach during an altercation with that relative and taken to a hospital in Winston-Salem.

“The juvenile victim was transported to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and his condition is listed as critical but stable,” said a statement issued by the Surry County Sheriff’s Office late Friday afternoon.

It received a call about 1:40 a.m. Friday in reference to a shooting near the 200 block of Woodbridge Drive, Mount Airy, located off Pipers Gap Road.

Deputies arriving on the scene found the male juvenile victim with an apparent gunshot wound.

Those officers requested the assistance of the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Detectives and agents arrived on the scene to further the investigation of the shooting.

While that investigation was still ongoing late Friday afternoon, a juvenile petition has been issued on the other juvenile male involved for assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill, inflicting serious injury.

The names of both the victim and alleged perpetrator were not released because of their ages.

“This incident is still an active investigation,” the statement released Friday afternoon added. “If any updates come available, the Sheriff’s Office will release the information at a later time.”

Sheriff Steve Hiatt expressed thanks to the State Bureau of Investigation and Surry County Emergency Medical Service for their assistance in the incident.

There were indications from multiple sources that the juvenile who was shot recently had been in a fight with the cousin.

That dispute is said to have led to another altercation overnight Thursday when the youth was wounded.

The time has come for county leaders to begin preliminary planning ahead of crafting the budget for the next fiscal year, which begans on July 1. Before sessions to hash out specifics the commissioners first hold a budget planning retreat, which was held this week at the Yadkin Valley Heritage & Trails Visitor Center in Elkin.

“It’s always interesting, it’s always challenging,” Vice Chair Van Tucker said of the budget process at the onset. At these sessions the board is able to discusses the previous budget along with incoming revenue, hear from department heads and local leaders on what their needs for the upcoming budget may be.

There can be a lot of change between the first meeting proposals to the finalized departmental budgets so these preliminary discussions will help the board members as they prepare to hold more extensive budget hearings in the coming months with individual departments where the nitty gritty details are hashed out.

Before budget talks can begin in earnest the commissioners needed to get a grasp on the county’s prior budget and balance sheet, so Penny Harrison of the tax department presented tax collection data.

Commissioner Larry Johnson has previously taken, and took again, a moment to thank the taxpayers as he marveled at the consistent rate of tax collection the county achieves. Having that consistency in both the property tax rate and the rate of collection will help make better forecasts.

The county budget for the fiscal year 2022-2023, which ends on June 30, is $93,597,569 in expenditures versus revenues at $82,665,933. The county’s total year-end fund balance at the end of the most recent fiscal year rose $34 million to more than $91 million, but most of that figure is earmarked for specific projects. The unassigned balance available to be used also rose $3.5 million to $17.8 million. This is one of the measures of greatest financial health for the county according to analysts.

Assigned funds were set aside for additional capital projects to the tune of $16 million and future education spending at over $9 million. Johnson asked for a breakdown of these funds to see where they came from and what they future projects they are set aside for.

Categories of greatest spending for the county were 29.75% of the budget on education, 14% on law enforcement, 11.6% on department of social services, 9.4% on public health, and 8.8% on emergency services.

The budget has line items of projects that have expired with their balances not being fully spent or projects that come in under budget and the board was told that prior to the retirement of Rhonda Nixon that she had been going through to close out accounts and clean up the books. Neely, who took over for Nixon, gave one example of a $900,000 balance being unused that this type of maintenance turned up.

She went on to explain some ideas she had to lower the county’s debt responsibilities by paying off projects early using this surplus funds. The board was anxious to hear more about her proposal to pay off the $2.5 million Flat Rock/Bannertown water and sewer project and turn operation of that over to the City of Mount Airy.

The project has a balance remaining of $2.1 million and the last payment the county made of $136,846 paid a whopping $89,845 in interest and fees. Neely said the interest rate on that loan is high and with the payoff amount she was quoted it could save the county $1.2 million over the remaining course of the loan.

Some members were ready to vote on this action that would save the county money, and lower water bills for those customer which Neely said were high in this area.

Commissioner Mark Marion said it would be one less headache to deal with and Johnson concurred saying, “We don’t need to fool around with it and administer it; it’s not worth it.”

There was no motion made nor vote taken, so this remains a theory from Neely that the board found appealing but would like more information.

Conversely, the board took a rare piece of action in the form of a vote on a vehicle purchase request form Chief Deputy Larry Lowe of the Surry County Sheriff’s Office. He told the board that sheriff’s office was approved in this budget year for nine squad cards and had received three of them, leaving six outstanding.

Lowe explained that through some miraculous turn of events, seven pursuit rated squad cars were found sitting on a lot in the Midwest and the county’s purchasing agent Miranda Jones made inquiry to check availability. With long delays in securing pursuit rated law enforcement vehicles, the department was eager to gain approval to use existing funds to purchase six of the seven cars using only money the office already has.

The board approved that idea and County Finance Officer Laura Neely said Thursday that the calls to the dealer were fruitful; the squad cars are available. “The dealer has confirmed that they are still available, and we are supposed to get the paperwork Friday to sign.”

North Carolina has the largest Senior Games in the nation.

At least, that’s the message from Bradley Key, the coordinator of programs, special events, and volunteerism for Surry County Parks and Recreation when he was speaking during Monday’s meeting of the county commissioners at which local competitors were honored.

“Thanks for highlighting one of the positive things going on in our community,” Key said. “We were very well represented at the state level.”

The participation was robust, he said, and out of 140 participants that competed at the local level with Yadkin Valley Senior Games in the spring there were 27 participants went on to seek greater glory at state finals in the fall.

Yakin Valley Senior Games and Silver Arts is one of the 53 sanctioned programs making up the North Carolina Senior Games Inc. which encourages and challenges all senior adults aged 50 or better to stay healthy and active.

North Carolina Senior Games is sponsored state-wide by the North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services.

Since its establishment in 1983, the senior games have become the largest Senior Olympic program in the nation, serving more than 60,000 participants across the state each year.

Key said the Yadkin Valley Senior Games and Silver Arts offer 25 different sporting events. For those seeking enrichment along with their friendly competition there are 30 cultural, literary, heritage and performing arts events each year as well.

“We set the bar for California for New York, for states that are bigger and have more seniors than us. They look to us to set the bar for senior programs that provide and encourage a healthy lifestyle year round,” Key said with pride.

It takes help to achieve the level of success the Yadkin Valley and North Carolina Senior Games have achieved, he said. “Without folks like Jackie Lewis, Bob Keck, and Randy Moore – these guys make this program work.”

“They are participants and certified ambassadors and without folks like these guys spreading the good news about senior games to our community, we wouldn’t be as strong and healthy as we are.”

Registration for the 2023 Yadkin Valley Senior Games and Silver Arts will run from March 1 – Mach 31 with events taking place in May and June.

There are many ways to register he said including at local fitness or senior centers, on the Surry County website under parks and recreation, on Facebook at Surry County Parks and Recreation, on ncseniorgames.org or by calling 336-401-8235.

John Brame: Silver Tennis Mixed Doubles

Pattie Brame: Silver Tennis Mixed Doubles

Linda Edwards: Gold Line Dancing – Small Group

Jon Foresman: Silver Pickleball Doubles

Elizabeth Freas: Bronze 50-yard Freestyle, Silver 100-yard Freestyle

Hobert Freeman: Bronze 400-meter Dash

Bonnie Hensel: Silver Pickleball Doubles

Susan Howlett: Gold Pickleball Doubles

Robert Keck: Bronze 50-meter Dash, Bronze Pickleball Doubles, Gold Tennis Doubles

Winston Kobe: Gold Pickleball Doubles

Jackie Lewis: Silver Basketball Shooting, Bronze Football Throw, Silver Croquet, Bronze Pickleball Doubles, Bronze Pickleball Mixed Doubles, Gold Tennis Doubles

Traci McGuire: Gold Line Dancing – Small Group

Daniel Merritt: Silver 10k Run

Randy Moore: Bronze Football Throw, Silver Softball Throw, Silver Billiards, Bronze Bocce, Bronze Horseshoes, Gold Mini Golf

Mary Jane Russell: Gold Line Dancing – Small Group

Sherry Smith: Gold Line Dancing – Small Group

Kathy Taylor: Gold Pickleball Mixed Doubles

Mitchell Taylor: Gold Pickleball Mixed Doubles

Phyllis Wagoner: Silver Pickleball Doubles

Derek White: Silver Pickleball Singles, Silver Pickleball Doubles

Judy Absher, Michelle Brown, Gary Stevens, and Linda Tilley were also among the contingent representing Yadkin Valley Senior Games.

When photographer Will Warasila drove from Durham to Walnut Cove in early November 2018, he thought he was just going to observe a healing service for people who had possibly been harmed by coal ash pollution from Duke Energy’s Belews Creek Steam Station. He had no idea that just four short years later in November 2022, he would be in Paris, France, at the largest photo book expo in the world—debuting his photo book with pictures of the people he had met in Walnut Cove.

Now Warasila is bringing his creation, published by Gnomic Book, to Walnut for a book release event at the Walnut Cove Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. There will be light refreshments and copies of his book for sale—half-price for local residents.

Although Warasila admits he is not particularly religious, he also acknowledges that he was moved by that 2018 outdoor church service under the big tent at The Well. He was particularly struck by one statement from the event’s organizer, Pastor Leslie Bray Brewer: “Bitterness will kill you quicker than coal ash.” Although he was initially puzzled by that statement, he ended up choosing it for the title of his photo book.

Brewer often chuckles when she thinks about that line she spontaneously uttered at the healing service. “I am a former high school English teacher,” she explains, “so after I said it, I worried that I should’ve instead phrased it as ‘Bitterness will kill you more quickly than coal ash.’ But I was later relieved that grammar experts online agree that, although what I said was more informal, either usage is now acceptable.”

Then she shrugs with a smile, “Besides, that’s how we say it out here.”

When Warasila heard Brewer speak that line, he was admittedly torn, having a hard time understanding how she could expect people to forgive a corporation whose byproduct possibly poisoned them. However, he came to understand that hatred and bitterness can be a threat to health as well and that it was possible to lovingly forgive yet still firmly require Duke Energy to do the right thing and clean up the coal ash mess.

Walnut Cove became a regular stop on Warasila’s travels. He worked with Caroline Rutledge Armijo, founder/director of the local nonprofit The Lilies Project to gather photos and interviews from those who had lived near the coal-powered steam station. These were submitted to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality as part of a grassroots demand that Duke Energy transfer the coal ash, which had long been in unlined ponds, to a safer place.

DEQ agreed and ordered the mega-company to do just that. Many of Warasila’s photographs which were part of that fight are featured in his new 100-page hardcover book and can be seen in Walnut Cove on Saturday.

Warasila, a North Carolina native, received his BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 2015 and most recently, his MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University in 2020. He has taught photography courses at Duke and also UNC-Chapel Hill. His photos have been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, The New Yorker, the New York Times, Southern Cultures Magazine and many other publications. One of his photos made the cover of TIME magazine in late September 2022.

“I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to work with such a mover and shaker in the international photography world,” Brewer says. “Will’s passion for environmental issues and his skill with the camera will take him far. I will always believe that his coming to Walnut Cove was a divine appointment.”

Saving someone’s life in an emergency, when every second counts, can be a challenging and intense experience — but 11 members of the Mount Airy Fire Department have done just that.

Lt. Jake Henley, firefighter Isaac Crotts, Lt. Brad Harrell, Lt. Dusty Smith, Capt. Trey Leonard, Lt. Justin Mayes, firefighter Dustin Swaim, Capt Scottie Wolfe and Capt. Danny Vipperman were recognized for lifesaving actions by the city council during a special ceremony at a meeting last Thursday night.

Two other department members also are on the list who did not attend, Steve Everett and Dalton Simmons.

Each person involved is credited with saving one life during 2022 and was issued a certificate.

The lifesaving award presentation is an annual observance recognizing the contributions firefighters make in addition to battling blazes, a gesture that never gets old, city officials say.

This has had special significance since 2010, when municipal fire personnel took on the extra role as first-responders to a wide range of emergency medical situations in addition to their normal functions. That was a major expansion of a service previously launched in 1997 which was limited to cardiac calls.

Those expanded responses might include a heart attack case, drug overdose, stroke, diabetes-related issue, cutting/stabbing, shooting, drowning/diving accident or cases of unresponsive persons.

“The opportunity to save a life doesn’t come on every call,” Fire Chief Zane Poindexter said when the lifesaving honors were bestowed by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners.

But department personnel have proven they are up to that task as needed, which involves providing effective pre-hospital care to victims in various emergencies.

Administering CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), removing an obstruction from an airway or controlling bleeding in a trauma situation were examples of that mentioned by Justin Jarrell, basic life support/public relations coordinator, who spoke during the recognition program.

With an average response time of less than three minutes at last report, city firefighters often reach a scene and render initial care ahead of EMS paramedics who provide advanced treatment that stabilizes patients until they reach a hospital.

Being credited with a medical save is a strictly defined process, which assesses the tangible role a firefighter played in prolonging someone’s life, whether it be restoring a pulse or someone’s ability to breathe.

Under program guidelines, multiple fire personnel can play a role in saving a single patient, according to previous reports. One firefighter might be engaged in chest compression and another ventilation, while someone else administers basic drugs the department is allowed to provide.

A county audit committee examines every case carefully to gauge the difference first-response efforts made in the outcome of an emergency to qualify as a save.

“We are very fortunate for the services they provide,” Commissioner Chad Hutchens said of the city firefighters.

“Departmental saves are up to 110 since the inception of the medical program in 1997,” Poindexter noted Wednesday in reference to the human equation behind the statistics.

“After the 2010 move to go ‘full medical response,’ our save numbers per year started going up significantly due to the fact we were afforded the opportunity to answer more medical calls,” the city fire chief added.

“The more calls we answered, the more chances we had to perform lifesaving measures — we projected that and it did in fact come true.”

• The Tractor Supply store on Rockford Street was the scene of a crime discovered Monday which involved the larceny of property valued at $2,600, according to Mount Airy Police Department reports.

A locking cable was cut overnight Sunday, enabling the theft of Coleman products including a go-kart with a black frame and red seat; a gas-powered 100cc mini bike, black in color; and a green and black gas-powered mini bike. The damage to the cable was put at $50.

• Sage Andrew White, 32, of Madison, was jailed under a $91,500 secured bond on a felony drug charge and warrants for arrest for 16 other felonies, including larceny of a motor vehicle, on Feb. 13.

White was encountered by officers during a traffic stop on Hamburg Street, leading to a consent search of the 2010 Ford Focus he was operating. This led to him being charged with possession of methamphetamine, a felony; possession of marijuana; possession of drug paraphernalia; and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

A routine records check also revealed multiple outstanding warrants for the Madison man on felony charges issued through the Surry County Sheriff’s Office, which in addition to larceny of a motor vehicle include possession of stolen goods, financial card theft, 12 counts of obtaining property by false pretense and breaking or entering of a motor vehicle.

Those warrants had been issued in March 2022, with the exception of the one for vehicle theft which had been filed in October 2021. White is scheduled to appear in Surry District Court next Monday.

• A break-in occurred Sunday at the residence of Gene Rees on Marion Street, where an unknown suspect kicked in a front door to gain entry.

Nothing was listed as stolen, but damage to the door was put at $250.

• Damage to municipal property was discovered Sunday at a restroom facility on West Independence Boulevard adjacent to the Emily B. Taylor Greenway, where graffiti was written on walls, police records state. No damage figure was noted.

Whether it involves good old-fashioned neighborliness or a matter of supply and demand, a long-awaited flow of water from Mount Airy to Pilot Mountain has begun.

A line-extension project in the works since 2018 — when the city agreed to sell part of its excess supply of H2O to the nearby town — finally reached fruition in recent days.

“It’s all working wonderfully and everything’s good to go now,” City Manager Stan Farmer said Tuesday regarding the water to Pilot Mountain being turned on last Friday.

This coincided with Pilot shutting down its own water plant and beginning to rely exclusively on the supply from Mount Airy, a changeover accompanied by few glitches.

“Well, we’ve not had many issues at all,” Pilot Mountain Mayor Evan Cockerham said Tuesday. “It’s really been a smooth transition.”

Plans for the $4.5 million construction contract which was involved called for extending a 12-inch water line from the end of the city service area in the Holly Springs Road section to Pilot Mountain’s water system near Toms Creek.

In addition to the two municipalities, the Surry County government agreed to help fund the effort to serve the eastern portion of the county.

The deal was motivated by a deteriorating utility infrastructure in Pilot Mountain which was deemed more expensive to repair than connecting to an existing city water line running southeast to Holly Springs. Grant and zero-interest loan funding was tapped for that effort.

“We think it will be a great partnership,” Mount Airy Public Works Director Mitch Williams said Tuesday.

While the water transmission itself is going swimmingly, the project was hampered by a situation in which the receiving of certain parts needed for its completion was delayed. “Typical with all construction now,” Williams said of a condition brought on by the pandemic.

“The supply-chain interruptions last year were big,” Farmer, the city manager, agreed.

William said shipments of items such as valves and pipes were involved.

That situation improved to allow much work to occur on the extension during 2022 and now the water transmission is at full operation.

“So far, so good,” Williams added Tuesday.

Cockerham, the Pilot Mountain mayor, said the few issues encountered with the switchover have been minor in nature, with no line breaks or other developments of that magnitude occurring.

“We didn’t have anything out of the ordinary,” he said. “We had to fine-tune the water pressure” due to Mount Airy’s pressure being higher than Pilot’s, with tank levels also addressed.

There were some reports of cloudiness in the water at first, which were cleared up, according to Cockerham.

The Pilot Mountain mayor credited the public works staffs of both municipalities for getting everything up and running.

Under the agreement between the two, Pilot Mountain is buying no less than 100,000 gallons daily from the city and no more than 2 million, a cap that anticipates future growth in Pilot.

Mount Airy also is selling water to Dobson and Carroll County, Virginia, to serve southern areas of it, as part of an ongoing goal of finding new customers for its surplus supply. It resulted from closings of industrial plants over the years which were large users.

Early on in 2020, Williams reported that the city had a water-production capacity of 8.5 million gallons per day, but only 2.3 million were being used at that time — leaving much leeway for additional taps.

Mount Airy officials recently have courted an unnamed manufacturer in California which would be a major water consumer if it were to expand in the city.

In an era when good news surrounding local industries has been hard to come by, Mount Airy officials are making the most of such a development by Renfro Brands.

“Any expansion is good,” Commissioner Tom Koch said of plans by that company to enlarge an existing operation on Riverside Drive.

Koch was speaking at a Mount Airy Board of Commissioners meeting last Thursday night, when the board gave final approval to an incentive package for the project which it initially had OK’d in November, joining a similar one by county leaders.

Officials have said the project will involve a consolidation of Renfro warehouse/distribution operations locally which also had been considered at two other locations in Alabama and South Carolina where the company has operations.

The ultimate decision to choose Mount Airy not only will create 35 jobs, but preserve 63 already here which would have been lost with a consolidation elsewhere.

“I just think it’s a good sign that the operation they have, they’re expanding it,” Commissioner Koch said of a decision that reflects the company’s confidence in this community.

Commissioner Phil Thacker, a retired director of engineering for Renfro, pointed to the company’s long history in Mount Airy, beginning with its founding here in 1921.

“I think it is an amazing accomplishment and I certainly hope it continues for many more years,” Thacker said of Renfro’s success and contributions. “It’s had the opportunity to make jobs available in this community for a long time.”

The unanimous vote by the Mount Airy commissioners putting the finishing touches on the incentive package was described by City Attorney Hugh Campbell as a bit of legal housecleaning.

“It just kind of finalizes it,” Campbell said, “for reasons of efficiency.”

The incentive package had been fast-tracked in November as both municipal and county officials scrambled to influence Renfro’s decision to expand here amid competition from the other states for the endeavor then dubbed secretly as “Project Cobra.”

“We just front-loaded the incentives — I don’t know that they’ve done that before” Campbell said of the city commissioners.

Last week’s action by them does not change any of the terms involved.

“Everything is exactly the same,” the city attorney said, with the exception of taking “mays” out of the agreement and replacing those with “wills.”

Renfro will receive $36,341 from the city and $36,244 from Surry County in the form of local government incentives. These are performance-based and reflect a company investment in taxable property as part of the package. It plans to invest about $2 million in equipment and infrastructure at the expansion location.

“The incentives are subject to a clawback if the company fails to perform,” Campbell said of provisions that will require it to make financial reimbursements should it, for example, decide to remove machinery or equipment acquired through the agreement.

“That seems unlikely,” the attorney said, given Renfro’s track record here.

Also at the meeting, the city commissioners voted 5-0 to rezone property on Carroll Street from a business to residential classification.

This occurred after no one spoke against that move during a public hearing affecting a .542-acre parcel in the 900 block of Carroll Street which is now vacant.

The zoning change, from a B2-CD classification (General Business with conditions) to R-6 (General Residential), will accommodate the construction of a duplex housing unit, Planning Director Andy Goodall has said.

Samuel and Letonia Moore, the owners of the property in question, who live on Hickory Street, had requested the zoning change.

While the commissioners had questions about the proposal, they ultimately voted unanimously for the rezoning.

The Surry County Board of Commissioners decided to begin the process of breaking its 19-year association with the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation last year. As with many relationships of this length, breaking up can be hard to do when one person wants the relationship to work but the other has decided it no longer does.

So is the case with the now defunct Route 6 Mount Airy Connector line that ran commuter bus service up and down US 52 from Mount Airy to Winston-Salem, stopping in King and offering a pair of stops in Pilot Mountain as well.

The commissioners informed PART in January 2022 of their desire to withdraw and end collection of a 5% rental car tax that was levied to cover the costs to operate the bus stops and buses. PART said it will not eliminate the rental car tax but have countered that it be reduced from 5% to 2%.

Surry County voters previously voted down a license plate registration fee or a tax increase for PART. It was decided that a 5% tax on cars rented in the county would be assessed to the renter which would cover the county’s cost for using the services of PART.

The route ceased operation last summer, but PART sent a memo last week to the county explaining that until they divest their assets in the county, the county still has a responsibility to contribute to their upkeep as was agreed upon when the county entered into the regional authority.

“From 2005 to 2022 PART invested in property, capital needs, established PART Express public service, increases promotions and various mobility enhancements in Surry County to expand the mobility options so that citizens of Surry County could reach employment center and join in other counties,” the organization said.

“PART and the jurisdictions of Pilot Mountain and Mount Airy have requested that Surry County reconsider its decision to withdraw from PART and maintain the public services provided to the citizens of Surry County, but have not been successful in maintaining their commitment to be a member of the PART territorial jurisdiction.”

PART seems to have resigned to the fact that Surry County has withdrawn from the authority, but there is no light switch that is going to turn the rental car tax off. Surry County is stuck with that until such time as the properties in Surry County that were operated by PART can be divested.

Officials with PART said that “ongoing maintenance and utility expenses will continue until such properties are no longer owned by PART, which investments and properties will take time to dispose of.”

The wording suggested Surry County cannot just take its ball and go home from a game county officials asked to be part of and contribute to the costs of. Until PART sells off its assets there will be costs. “The board will revisit this local tax at a time when there are zero expenses for the capital investments made in Surry County.”

The transportation authority’s counter to drop the tax to 2% in order “to collect a local fund source to continue the maintenance needs of the property” was not well received by the county commissioners. They were not seeking a reduction but rather an elimination of the rental car tax that was seen as being unfair.

When the commuter service was launched it was thought to be a money saver for riders who could keep hard earned money from going into the gas tank and help the environment while reducing traffic on the Piedmont’s major roadways – US 52 among them.

There was repeated discussion and more than one request from Commissioner Larry Johnson to review the rental car tax. He said as a person who rents cars with some frequency but does not use PART services, he was not too keen on paying a tax for a service he isn’t using.

With ridership numbers down, the commissioners wondered if Surry County residents were being unfairly taxed for a ride share program that was not being widely used. Residents’ taxes may be carrying the load for folks in larger counties who were using the service in greater numbers, it was felt.

PART’s point of view on ridership was that the way to help those numbers was to increase services by considering more stops at more locations. With more frequent opportunities to get on the PART bus for a jaunt to Pilot Mountain perhaps more would have been inclined do so.

The authority was in the process of gaining federal funding to do just that, to the tune of more than $300,000. It was approval of these funds that set this discussion in motion as the board asked for ridership data and Scott Rhine, director of PART, came to speak in person to explain that repeated attempts to get increased funding for rural routes had not been successful up to that point.

After the county exited from PART it was announced that Randolph County had been the beneficiary of this change to the tune of $600,000 – the amount they were going to get anyway, and the $300,000 Surry County declined to accept.

Monday evening it was clear the board members were displeased with PART’s suggested counteroffer and County Attorney Ed Woltz suggested they may want to speak to their representatives in Raleigh to express their “displeasure in the actions of PART.”

The board agreed and Chairman Eddie Harris recalled comments made last year as this was being debated, “We said this is either going to be a clean divorce or a messy one. Looks like it’s going to be a messy one.”

A late afternoon fire on Tuesday damaged a building at Betty’s Outdoors in Walnut Cove and closed portions of NC 89 to motorists for several hours.

The blaze apparently began between 5:30 and 6 p.m., according to multiple online and media reports. Officials with the Stokes County Fire Marshall’s office and with Walnut Cove Volunteer Fire Department were not available for comment Wednesday.

Thick black smoke poured from the fire, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation alert system said the road there was closed shortly after firefighters arrived on the scene a few minutes before 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Several hours later the Stokes County Sheriff’s Office stated on Facebook the road was back open.

While a number of social media reports indicated the building which caught fire was heavily damaged, it was not the main store.

“Last night at approximately 6 p.m., we were dispatched as mutual aid to assist Walnut Cove Fire & Rescue on a report of a building fire on Hwy 89 east @ Betty’s outdoors,” the South Stokes Fire and Rescue Department posted on Facebook. “The first arriving unit advised they had a working fire with fire through the roof. T-40 & 40-E2 operated on scene as water supply other station 40 personnel assisted with fire attack and fire ground operations. The fire is currently under investigation at this time.” the post said.

Other postings said the main store at the location was untouched, but the workshop was a “total loss.”

The store’s Facebook page had a posting on Wednesday stating the store was still open and running as usual for walk-in customers. Attempts to reach owners at the store were not successful.

While parts of the U.S. had the warmest January on record — with that attributed to climate change — this wasn’t the case in Mount Airy.

It experienced above-normal heat last month, but nowhere near the local record set 73 years ago when the mercury averaged 48.1 degrees.

In fact, there have been nine years altogether with an average temperature for January higher than that for 2023 (42.1 degrees), according to information provided Tuesday by Andy Utt, Mount Airy water treatment supervisor.

Local weather conditions are monitored at the city’s F.G. Doggett Water Plant. Statistics for Mount Airy go back nearly 100 years, to 1924.

Last month was indeed much warmer than usual, with the mercury averaging the 42.1-degree figure after factoring in all temperatures recorded during January. This exceeded the all-time local average for the first month of the year, 36.1, by exactly six degrees.

January’s result was bolstered by a high for the month of 67 degrees on Jan. 19. At the lower end of the scale, a trio of 22-degree days, on Jan. 16, 28 and 29, took low-temp honors and frost was noted on seven days.

It’s been hotter

While six degrees above average is nothing to shiver at, many local residents who might assume the weather is appreciably hotter than it once was, due to all the global warming talk, can be assured statistics show the opposite to be true here.

In addition to the all-time Mount Airy average temperature record of 48.1 degrees set during January 1950 were these next-highest years in order for that month, most not part of the modern era and undermining the common assumption of earlier times being much colder:

Last month also was wetter than normal, with all the precipitation measured at the city water plant coming in the form of rain and none of the wintry kind one normally associates with January.

A total of 4.03 inches was logged, which is 0.31 inches — or 8.3% — above normal for the first month of the year for Mount Airy, which averages 3.72 inches.

The maximum output recorded for a single day during January was 1.03 inches on Jan. 26.

Measurable rainfall occurred on 13 of the month’s 31 days.

Snow was not observed at all at the water plant. Fog was on 11 days.

The annual Tommy Jarrell Festival gets underway later this week, with three days of workshops, lessons, competition, dancing and concerts to celebrate the musical legend who spent his life perfecting the Round Peak style of old time fiddle playing.

Jarrell, who lived from March 1, 1901 until Jan. 28, 1985, was known throughout the world of blue grass and old time music for his distinctive playing style. Many musicians from around the world made the sojourn to Surry County to study under his tutelage during his life, and some of those students, along with many fans, descend on the county each February for the festival, set for the final full weekend in February every year.

Old-Time workshops and classes are slated Thursday through Saturday.

On Thursday, the free Youth Traditional Arts Lessons will get under way at the Historic Earle Theatre. At 4:30 p.m. will be flatfoot dancing instructions, followed by fiddle at 5:30 p.m. and the guitar, banjo, and mandolin at 6:15 p.m.

Award-winning musician and teacher Jim Vipperman leads the instrument classes and Darius Flowers oversees the dance lessons. Instruments are provided if needed while available. Parents and guardians are welcome to stay and participate

On Friday, bluegrass and old-time master Wayne Erbsen will hold a beginning banjo workshop, followed by a concert. The workshop is 2 to 4 p.m., while the concert is 7 p.m., both at the Andy Griffith Museum Theatre. The workshop costs $35, with a $10 banjo rental for those who may need an instrument. The workshop and concert cost is $45. Those attending the concert only can expect to pay $12.

“As a musician, Wayne is a master of old-time, bluegrass, folk, Appalachian, cowboy, pioneer, railroad, and gospel music and music of the Civil War,” the Surry Arts Council said. He plays clawhammer and bluegrass banjo, fiddle, mandolin and guitar.

“Wayne has performed … across America and in western Europe. He has recorded many solo CDs and written dozens of music instruction books and songbooks. Wayne has won numerous prizes at fiddler’s conventions, including first place in clawhammer banjo (Galax, Virginia, 1973) and first place in senior old-time fiddler (Fiddler’s Grove, North Carolina, 2004).”

On Saturday, from 2 to 4 p.m. will be a series of old-time workshops in the Historic Earle Theatre, led by Emily and Martha Spencer, with a $25 cost per participant.

At 4 p.m. in the Earle will be one of the highlights of the annual gathering — the Tommy Jarrell Celebration Youth Competition. This is free to all youth who wish to take part, and categories include fiddle, clawhammer banjo, guitar, vocal, dance, and other (which includes all other instruments and bands), in two age levels: 5-12 and 13-18. Each contestant may enter only two categories. Contestants will have three minutes to perform and can have one accompanist, though no recorded backup is permitted.

Saturday evening at 7:30, again at the Historic Earle, will be the annual Tommy Jarrell Birthday Concert, featuring Whitetop Mountain Band.

“The Whitetop Mountain Band is a family-based band from the highest mountains of Virginia,” arts council officials said of this year’s concert artist. “Whitetop, Virginia is an area rich in the old-time music tradition; this band has deep roots in mountain music. The members have done much to preserve the Whitetop region’s style of old-time fiddling and banjo picking and are legendary musicians and teachers of the style. The band is currently led by Emily Spencer, who was a founding member of the group in the mid-1970s.”

Cost of the concert is $12.

For additional information or to enter the youth competition or purchase tickets for any of the events, visit https://www.surryarts.org/shows/tommyjarrell.html or call 336-786-7998. Tickets can also be purchased at the door prior to each show, if they are available.

A Westfield man has been missing since Feb. 5, and now the Stokes County Sheriff’s Office is looking to the public for help in finding him.

Trinity Sabastian Fain, 25, has not been seen since Feb. 5, when he left his Puckett Road residence in Westfield, but that is where the trail seems to go cold, according to scant information released by the sheriff’s office.

“He is reported to have been to his place of employment in Mount Airy on Sunday 2/5/2023,” the statement released by law enforcement said. “He is no longer employed at this location.”

Captain Danny Bottoms said he could not state whether Fain had been fired or quit, nor could he say whether Fain and his employer had parted ways that day before or after his disappearance, or if his employment ended at some other point.

Fain’s vehicle was found around 8 a.m. on Feb. 6, on Puckett Road, about a mile from his residence. However, Bottoms declined to say if foul play was suspected, or if Fain had left any personal belongings behind, such as a phone, wallet, or his identification.

“The information I have given you is all the information available for release at this time,” he said in an email. “This missing persons case is an active investigation.”

Fain was last seen wearing light colored blue jeans, Wolverine work boots, a green shirt and a blue jean Carhartt coat. He is described as being 6 feet tall and weighing 146 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.

“If you have any information on the location of Trinity Sabastian Fain please contact the sheriff’s office,” his statement read.

Anyone with information is asked to call 336-593-8787, 800-672-2851, or 336-593-8130 and ask for Detective Larry Smith or the sergeant on duty.

Six weeks have passed since the death of 4-year-old Skyler Wilson, of Mount Airy, that shocked the Yadkin Valley region and made splashy headlines across the country.

Behind the headlines and left in the wake of the storm is Sherry Bowman, the lone employee of Dr. Joseph Wilson at Affordable Wellness Chiropractic, Acupuncture and Nutrition of Mount Airy. Wilson and his wife, Jodi Ann Wilson, are accused in their son’s death, each charged with murder.

Bowman said the tragedy has taken a toll on her emotionally, mentally, and even professionally. She sees the smiling face of Skyler Wilson and has even taken to drawing that now familiar, toothy grin of the late boy that has adorned social media since early January.

“I’ve been crying on and off for six weeks; I’m having nightmares too, at least one a week,” Bowman explained. “This is something I’ll never forget and never get over and when it all comes out, you’ll see why.”

Bowman has had communication with the Wilson family since Joseph and Jodi Ann were arrested in the Jan. 9 death of their son. She said that she is aware of the status and welfare of all four Wilson children, but declined to elaborate.

During a recent interview, Bowman repeatedly declined to answer questions for concerns of doing harm to the case; she wants justice for Skyler. “I don’t want to say or do anything to jeopardize the case.”

During her four years working for Joseph Wilson at Affordable Wellness, she said she was the only front desk employee despite information to the contrary found on the business’s website. Jodi Ann Wilson had been the initial receptionist when the practice opened and there had been another before Bowman took over, but for most of that time it was just the two of them, she said.

Bowman said that there has been confusion since Jodi Wilson had been previously identified as the front desk employee of Affordable Wellness and some have thought Bowman may be Wilson, “out on bail and looking for a job,” Bowman said Monday.

There has been so much interest in the case that she said people have been trying to reach her by phone, social media, through her child, and even via a drive by visit of her home. She is confused by the morbid fascination in such a sad affair. “There’s no scoop here and there is no dirt to a 4-year-old getting killed,” Bowman said.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” she said. “I’ll have a lot more to say after the trial.”

The next court date for Joseph and Jodi Ann Wilson is set for Superior Court on March 6 in Dobson, but Bowman suggested that the trial could be delayed. She said she was told by the Wilson family that the defendants are on their fourth lawyer and appeared to be on track to find their fifth one soon.

She got to know all five of the Wilson children — Skyler and his younger brother had been adopted by the Wilson family, and she knew that they had fostered other children and had taken classes on being foster parents.

Joseph Wilson, she said, conducted his practice in a way “that was a little too holistic from my perspective, but that’s his choice.” Bowman never worked with Jodi Ann Wilson but described her in some broad terms familiar to local residents when describing a New Yorker, noting she was a fast talker and a little “high-strung.”

She advised the Wilson family to retain legal counsel to deal with the affairs of Affordable Wellness, Dr. Wilson’s practice on West Pine Street in Mount Airy. They told her that the practice was closed for good. Affordable Wellness was not a chain or franchise location, and she pointed out that there is a potential HIPAA minefield waiting inside.

“I asked (the family) what was the plan? It would be a HIPAA violation (to throw the medical records out) so I suggested talking to a lawyer about what to do with medical records,” Bowman explained.

Bowman said she has no knowledge of self-professed parenting guru Nancy Thomas and her for-profit parenting and counseling solutions — according to court records, Skyler died after suffering injuries sustained in a practice called “swaddling,” in which he was allegedly tightly bound up in sheets and other bed clothing and unable to move. Thomas is a proponent of the practice, and other controversial parenting methods.

Bowman said she was not aware of the methods or practices that Thomas was extolling. “I didn’t know anything about her methods, and I assume she was just their counselor.”

Court documents said that Bowman “knew from previous conversations with Joseph Wilson that the Wilsons had recorded Zoom counseling sessions with Nancy Thomas… and knew Joseph Wilson would search parenting techniques and exorcisms while at work.”

Joseph Wilson, in court filings, identified that those swaddling technique were used by Jodi Wilson on the day of the incident, Jan. 5, where young Skyler was swaddled, and oxygen was cut off to his brain.

Surry County detectives were told at Brenner Children’s Hospital that the boy was already brain dead on Jan. 6 from the incident the day before; he did not pass away until Jan. 9.

Search warrants for the Wilson home and Affordable Wellness said detectives were looking for media and evidence “related to pouching, swaddling, and/or Nancy Thomas parenting.”

Thomas is not a doctor or therapist, and she states that in her writing and her website. She said she has learned about parenting and what works through years of experience with troubled kids with “attachment disorder.”

The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children held a task force on attachment theory and in 2006 wrote, “Assessment for attachment problems requires considerable diagnostic knowledge and skill, to accurately recognize attachment problems and to rule out competing diagnoses.”

“A diagnosis of attachment disorder should never be made simply based on a child’s status as maltreated, as having experienced trauma, as being a foster or adoptive child. We believe that it is important to take a stand on harmful or questionable practices and theories, while encouraging increased dialogue and research in these areas.”

One tenant of attachment therapy is the concept of “re-parenting” where a child is treated as though they were younger than they are. The theory suggests kids could be treated like a baby or a toddler in an attempt to create a new bond between child and caregiver to replace those that were not formed with their birth parent or caregiver.

Court documents in the Wilson case said a woman identified as a former foster mother for Skyler’s and his brother had raised concerns to Surry County Department of Social Services for the treatment they were receiving at the hands of the Wilsons. The search warrant said, “Jodi Wilson had discussed with her pouching, swaddling, food restriction, the gating of Skyler in a room for excessive alone time, and the exorcisms of both children.”

North Carolina has banned swaddling of children as of 2017 in child care facilities and group homes as there is a danger in the poor execution of swaddling. The American Academy of Pediatrics said care givers should stop swaddling a child, “As soon as your baby shows any signs of trying to roll over.”

Holy Angels Roman Catholic Church held the 18th Annual Mardi Gras Fundraiser in Mount Airy on Friday. Members of the congregation and the community at large were welcome to the attend and the event had a nice turnout.

There were more than a few folks dressed to impress in regalia that would fit right in on Bourbon Street. However, on Main Street at Holy Angels Catholic, they had a more subdued family friendly evening with music, dancing, raffle, and silent auction.

Donations received at the event and proceeds from the auction and raffles benefit the Columbiettes charitable projects. A giant quilt adorned one wall of the Monseigneur Duncan Center, one of the prizes available during the evening, as silent auction items sat on a table for perusal.

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic partygoers were happy that the Mardi Gras Fundraiser and Celebration was back in full swing. Entering the parking lot, one could hear the music thumping before even getting into the hall. There were cooks in the kitchen getting a meal ready for those who attended in person and take out plates were available as well.

Adreann Belle, one of the event organizers, was hard at work in the kitchen Friday evening and she estimated they served more than 120 meals at the event as well as several to-go orders. Among the projects the Columbiettes use the money for are assisting the Knights of Columbus in their endeavors along with a full slate of projects of their own including helping the Shepherd’s House, food banks, and local handicapped children.

Planning for such an event takes time and while it may be hard to believe, Belle said the committee for next year’s Mardi Gras would be holding its first meeting next week.

The Columbiettes are a sibling organization of the Knight of Columbus who are comprised of affiliated Auxiliaries of the Knights of Columbus Councils. “In 1939 Monsignor J. Francis McIntyre, Chaplain of the New York Chapter Knights of Columbus, seeing great numbers of women coming out of a rally at Madison Square Garden, conceived the idea of a ladies organization to work with the Knights of Columbus,” they wrote.

The group seeks to promote the spiritual, social and charitable welfare of its members and “instill a steadfast conviction relating to the proper place and function of Catholic women in safeguarding the religious, civil and economic rights of all Catholics.”

The city of Mount Airy has another problem building on its hands, the former site of a bank on the corner of North Main and Franklin streets in the heart of the central business district.

Cracked windows that endanger the public and a flow of rainwater damaging neighboring property have emerged as immediate concerns for the structure at 201 N. Main St., which housed major financial institutions of this city in its heyday.

The three-story building that towers over the Franklin-Main corner was constructed in 1923, according to Mount Airy Historic District records. The Bank of Mount Airy originally was located there, with that name etched in granite above the front entrance and still visible. The building served as the bank’s headquarters until 1934, when it became the site of Surry County Loan and Trust Co.

Many longtime local residents also will recall that Northwestern Bank later occupied the spot for many years, which occurred after Surry County Loan and Trust merged with Northwestern in 1961.

Now this century-old, former center of commerce sits vacant and has been for some time. A structure long considered a fine exponent of the fabled white Mount Airy granite it was made from stands in major disrepair.

Not only is its internal structural integrity being compromised by roof leakage, cracked exterior windows on the Franklin Street side of the building pose external hazards to passersby which officials say is an everyday risk.

Cracks in the plate glass are what first brought the issue to municipal attention.

“A good strong wind could put that glass out in the middle of the street and endanger our citizens,” said the city’s building codes enforcement officer, Chuck Morris, in detailing problems Thursday night during a Mount Airy Board of Commissioners meeting.

“The sashes have rotted out of those windows,” Morris explained regarding the structures holding them in place. “Once the sash fails, the glass has no stop.”

Due to that potential, the Mount Airy Police Department has considered closing Franklin Street at that location, it was noted.

During Thursday’s meeting, a comparison between the former bank and another structure further down Franklin Street deemed a major safety hazard for years seemed inevitable.

“This is sort of like the Koozies building,” Commissioner Tom Koch said of what once existed at the corner of Franklin and South streets in relation to the old bank structure, “except it’s closer to Main Street.”

The Koozies building, in a less-trafficked area, was demolished in September after years of inactivity by its out-of-town ownership group that neglected numerous city appeals to correct the situation.

Although there was no talk Thursday night about razing the facility at 201 N. Main, the commissioners did vote unanimously to pursue steps to alleviate the pressing concerns.

“Right now what we’re asking for is to make a quick fix,” Morris said before that action.

Along with the falling glass threat, the flow of water into the neighboring site of a business, Mayberry Embroidery, is deemed a priority. Damage put at $5,000 has occurred to materials and merchandise there as a result, according to meeting discussion.

Similar to Koozies, the old bank building is owned by an out-of-town entity, in its case King’s Corners, LLC, based in Florida. Morris said an elderly lady who has expressed an affinity for the structure is somehow part of the ownership chain, but that admiration has not led to the site being maintained.

“There seems to be little to no effort by the owner to stabilize or improve these conditions,” Mayor Jon Cawley said. “The building has been and remains in a state of disrepair.”

Numerous violations have been spelled out to King’s Corners, LLC and multiple letters sent by the city government, Cawley added, which Morris says have produced “very, very” slow response.

“(The owner) has had opportunity after opportunity and it just keeps getting worse,” Commissioner Koch observed.

A series of photos showing other water damage that has stemmed from roof leakage was presented by the codes officer at the meeting.

This included shots of rotting flooring, damaged ceilings, crumbling stairs and mold outbreaks, with standing water documented throughout.

Some stopgap measure to alleviate the flow to the business next door will be taken along with securing windows.

City officials say that in correcting the immediate priorities, they are prepared to file a lien on the property to recoup the labor and other expenses involved.

Meanwhile, Morris said a private contractor has been exploring ways to shore up the inside of the structure to make it safe to allow substantial roof repairs seen as the ultimate solution.

The codes officer said the interior is not a direct threat to the public as long as entry to it is prohibited, comparing the situation to a tree falling in the woods and no one being there to hear that.

Concerning the long view in dealing with possible implications from the building’s present state, “we’re looking at all the options,” City Attorney Hugh Campbell informed the commissioners.

Campbell, who has been closely involved with the case along with Morris, says he is amazed that someone would pay a substantial sum for the old bank building 10 years ago and then let it fall into ruin.

The total assessed value of the structure and land is listed as $233,760 in county tax records.

Commissioner Marie Wood, apparently bothered by ongoing issues Mount Airy officials encounter with such structures, offered an idea Thursday night for nipping these in the bud, as Deputy Barney Fife might say.

Wood wants a new provision instituted in the city whereby those buying buildings would be subjected to fines if they allow them to become vacant and neglected for a specified time.

She said the penalty involved should be significant enough to compel property owners to avoid such situations.

“Do something to really get their attention rather than just send letters over and over,” Wood suggested.

City Manager Stan Farmer will explore what’s needed to implement such a procedure and report back to the board at an upcoming meeting.

Major League Baseball’s regular season is more than a month away, but a sneak preview of diamond drama was provided to fans this past weekend in Mount Airy.

This didn’t occur on a local field — instead the venue was inside the city’s public library on Rockford Street, where an entertaining and thought-provoking presentation highlighting the life and times of Jackie Robinson was in full swing Saturday.

Robinson was the first African-American player to break into Major League Baseball during its modern era, and a production by the Bright Leaf Touring Theatre celebrating his accomplishment proved to be a hit with the library audience. It was arranged by the Friends of the Mount Airy Public Library and the Surry Arts Council in recognition of Black History Month.

Although Robinson covered much ground before, during and after his baseball career and interacted with many key figures along the way, stories and events surrounding all that were highlighted Saturday through the talents of only two actors in just under an hour.

The Bright Leaf Touring Theatre’s Cedric Calhoun portrayed Robinson and also an elderly man who had seen Robinson play as a youth, while fellow performer Jayla Lomax almost stole the show by tackling a variety of others.

Those included Robinson’s mother, his wife and that of the elderly fan, along with several male figures prominent in the athlete’s life. Among them were his drill sergeant in the Army; boxing legend Joe Louis; Branch Rickey, the general manager of the then-Brooklyn Dodgers who orchestrated Robinson’s historical entry into the big leagues; a bus driver; and a New York sports announcer.

All came to life in a series of rapid-fire skits requiring constant costume changes by Lomax — yet carried out as seamlessly as a Jackie Robinson stolen base or the infielder’s snagging of a line drive.

The audience also was engaged in the production.

“I cut my teeth on baseball, so I had to come,” said one person there, Katherine Rose-Plum of Mount Airy, a retiree who played the sport while growing up in New Jersey.

The fact Jackie Robinson came into prominence during a turbulent time in history — punctuated by segregation — can’t be ignored.

But Saturday’s program also was heavy on the message that anyone of any color who faces adversity through racism or otherwise can learn from the lessons of perseverance, leadership and good role-models which factored into Robinson’s success.

“Knowing that so many people believed in me, it helped a lot,” Calhoun said in character as Robinson, who died in 1972, more than 40 years before a certain film was released.

“I never thought there would be a movie about my life,” the actor added in rendering a statement Robinson might have made had he been alive to see the premier of “42,” a title that referred to his uniform number.

Robinson was born in 1919 to a single mother of five who worked various odd jobs to support them.

She eventually saved enough to buy a house, but while growing up in an affluent community in Pasadena, California — in poverty compared to neighbors who didn’t want them there — Robinson and other friends of color often were excluded from community recreational activities.

“I wanted to run away — my mom decided we would stay,” he (Calhoun) related Saturday of her decision not to move elsewhere. Robinson’s mother encouraged him to not give up on the dream of playing baseball no matter how many unfriendly people he encountered.

“She didn’t let us fight back” — encouraging her children to do so by excelling rather than engaging in violence.

While Robinson was in his early 20s, America entered World War II and he was drafted into the Army.

During that point in Saturday’s production, two kids from the audience were recruited to participate in a short calisthenics session to help recreate the rigors of basic training.

Robinson sought to become an officer, a goal not feasible because of his race.

“That was not the first time I was turned down because of the color of my skin,” Calhoun (as Robinson) told Saturday’s audience, commenting on the absurdity of this:

“Now I want you to think for a minute — did you choose the color of your eyes?”

Robinson later enlisted heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis (played Saturday by Lomax) to use his contacts to help him in becoming an officer. This led to Robinson attending officer school and being promoted to the rank of second lieutenant.

“We’ve got to stick together if we want to change the world,” Louis told Robinson, based on the script.

“But I didn’t earn the right to sit on a bus,” Calhoun (as Robinson) recalled of an event in 1944 which ended his Army career. “I was kicked out of the military for doing the same thing Rosa Parks did — I refused to give up my seat to a white soldier.”

Through the efforts of Branch Rickey, Robinson, who had been a star for the all-black Kansas City Monarchs, joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, bringing more challenges.

“There are no laws about black players playing in the major leagues — there’s just this segregation thing,” Rickey said at the time, according to Saturday’s script.

Along with not being able to eat at certain restaurants, stay in certain hotels or frequent certain movie theaters during his playing days, Robinson faced resentment from some of his own teammates in addition to those on opposing clubs.

That did not deter his performance, with Robinson gaining a reputation for hitting, speed around the bases and fielding, leading to him becoming the first African-American inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967. “Playing baseball always felt at home to me,” Calhoun (as Robinson) said.

Robinson’s experiences formed a natural springboard for becoming part of the Civil Rights Movement after his 10-year playing career, putting him in contact with individuals such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “What a time to be alive,” the actor portraying Robinson said.

Later in life, Robinson held executive positions in the business world, among sports and other involvements, before dying of a heart attack in 1972 while only 53.

A big part of his legacy surrounds the groundbreaking role he played in paving the way for other players of color such as Willie Mays and those of all races to participate in whatever sport they choose, Saturday’s audience was told.

“Jackie Robinson did live an interesting and exciting life,” Calhoun said at one point Saturday, speaking from the viewpoint of actor rather than dramatic subject.

“This story has taught me a lot.”

GALAX, VA — The Blue Ridge Music Center has revealed four of the artists appearing on the organization’s amphitheater stage this summer as part of the annual Roots of American Music concert series. Tickets for these four shows go on sale on Feb. 17 at 10 a.m.

The Music Center is located at milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, just south of Galax and 30 minutes from Sparta and Mount Airy, N.C.

The Steep Canyon Rangers will take the mountain stage at 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 2. This band is a Grammy winner, perennial Billboard chart-toppers, and frequent collaborators of the renowned banjoist (and occasional comedian) Steve Martin.

The group first formed as a band in college at UNC-Chapel Hill, then dove head first into bluegrass in its most traditional form. Over the years, they have risen to the top of the bluegrass genre headlining festivals such as MerleFest and Grey Fox Bluegrass. Their collaboration with Martin has taken the group on a nearly decade-long tour introducing them to hundreds of thousands of new fans, and helping to make the Steep Canyon Rangers one of the most recognizable modern names in bluegrass music. The band has continued to tour extensively on their own, and have expanded their genres into country and Americana. Tickets for this show are $40 for adults and $20 for children 12 and younger.

Sierra Ferrell will perform at 7 p.m., Saturday, July 22, as part of her Long Time Going tour. Growing up in small-town West Virginia, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist left home in her early 20s to journey across the country with a troupe of nomadic musicians, playing everywhere from truck stops to alleyways to freight-train boxcars speeding down the railroad tracks. After years of living in her van and busking on the streets of New Orleans and Seattle, she moved to Nashville and soon landed a deal with Rounder Records on the strength of her magnetic live show. Now, on her label debut Long Time Coming, Ferrell shares a dozen songs unbound by genre or era, instantly transporting her audience to an infinitely more enchanted world. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 day of show, and $15 for children 12 and younger.

Scythian, another fan favorite, is appearing on the Music Center stage at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 3. Scythian was founded by brothers Alexander and Danylo Fedoryka, who are first-generation sons of Ukrainian immigrants. From the start, the group has searched for and loved the “old time, good time” Celtic-influenced music. They were inspired by a tale told by their grandmother of a roving fiddler who came into her farming village every six months or so. Once he was spotted, messengers were sent to all the outlying fields and mills and work ceased; everyone gathered in the barn and danced the night and their cares away. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 day of show, and free for children 12 and younger.

The Lonesome River Band will kick off the season at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 27. Led by five-time International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo Player of the Year, and winner of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, Sammy Shelor, the group is constantly breaking new ground in acoustic music. With two lead vocalists, Jesse Smathers (guitar) and Adam Miller (mandolin), and the talents of Mike Hartgrove (fiddle) and Kameron Keller (bass), the band seamlessly fuses instrumentals and harmony vocals, traditional and contemporary bluegrass sounds, performing their trademark sound that fans continue to love and embrace. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 day of show, and free for children 12 and younger.

Advance tickets for these shows are available beginning 10 a.m., Friday at BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org. Multi-concert passes are also available including full season (all 14 concerts), half season (seven concerts), and pick 3 (three concerts) passes.

The complete lineup and opening acts for the annual Roots of American Music concert series will be released at the end of February. For more information, visit BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org.

CRITZ, VA — You could not, would not, should not miss a birthday such as this! We’re having a party, it’s truer than true. We want to celebrate and party with you!

The Reynolds Homestead will be celebrating the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss on Sunday, March 5. The afternoon will be filled with various fun activities for children and families to enjoy. Sit back and listen to a story, read aloud, walk around and make crafts, or try your hand at a Seuss science experiment.

After eating some Seuss-inspired snacks and refreshments, maybe you’ll find yourself getting your camera out and spending some time taking silly photos in the photo booth using a variety of Seuss character props. The options are endless.

Enjoy a leisurely afternoon with your family celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday. This will be a floating event and everyone is welcome to come and stay for as little or as long as they would like.

In addition to all the Dr. Seuss fun, this event will feature the launch of the Patrick County Dolly Parton Imagination Library. This monthly book-gifting program is available to any child under the age of 5 living in Patrick County, Virginia, and is being sponsored by the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce, STEP INC., One Family Productions, and Stuart Rotary with support from a local steering committee of educators, civic leaders, and business owners. Participation in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library is free, though a registration form must be completed to sign up. Additional information about the program and registration forms will be available for the first time at the Dr. Seuss birthday celebration!

The Dr. Seuss birthday celebration will be from 2- 4 p.m. Admission is $5 per person; find details and register online at reynoldshomestead.vt.edu. Anyone with questions, or seeking additional information should contact Melanie Gilbert at 276-694-7181 ex. 22.

If you see a few — or maybe a lot — of four-legged creatures moseying on down the city greenway near the Rotary Dog Park on Feb. 25, your eyes are not playing trick on you.

That’s because the local dog rescue organization Mayberry4Paws will be sponsoring its first Mardi Growl event.

Jane Taylor, with Mayberry4Paws, said the event is meant as a fun way to piggyback on the seasonal Mardi Gras celebrations while raising awareness of animal rescue efforts in Surry County.

The event will allow dog owners to bring their furry friends for a doggy play date of sorts, complete with short parade and even a canine costume contest.

“It is sort of a fundraiser, but that’s not the main focus,” she said. “Certainly, we would love to have people to buy in to what we’re doing and would like to financially help us out, but it’s more about awareness, and an opportunity for the community to be exposed to things going on, good things going on,” she said, referring to local efforts to rescue dogs and cats and find them good homes.

In addition to Mayberry4Paws, Lee Stalcup, another official with the group, said Tiny Tigers will have representatives there — although no cats are allowed in the parade with the dogs. Other organizations she is hopeful will be able to make it include Carolina Canine Rescue, Surry Animal Rescue, Surry County Animal Control, and Friends of Stokes Shelter, who have all been invited to attend. She said most of them are trying to work out schedules of employees or volunteers so they can attend.

Taylor said the idea to do the event came from “a similar event that was done in Knoxville (Tennessee). One of our good friends and supporters who went to UT (University of Tennessee) stays in touch out there.” While there, she said the friend made some notes of what was going on, then she and other officials with Mayberry4Paws developed a plan to do something similar in Mount Airy.

While folks are encouraged to take their dogs dressed for the occasion, and the contest, she said volunteers on site will be handing out Mardi Gras beads and similar accessories.

In addition to the parade and contest, she said several area vendors will be there with booths set up. Stalcup added that Esmerelda’s Taco Truck will be on hand selling food, there will be live music, and that several animal-rescue non-profits may there distributing information. Dogs eligible for adoption will also be available.

The event is to start behind Creekside Cinema, near the dog park, with parade line-up at 11 a.m. and the start of the procession set for 11:30 a.m. All dogs must have current rabies vaccinations. The cost is $10 for the first dog, $5 for each additional dog a person may bring.

Stalcup said sponsors include Blue Paw Dog Training, Cooke’s Rentals, Summer and Jordan Upchurch, Foothills Pet Healthcare Clinic, Starlight Roller Rink, Uncorked in Mayberry, Soft Touch Skincare, Petsense, though additional sponsorship’s are available.

To register a dog, or to check out sponsorship availability, visit the group’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/541221641322815

In a development that might shatter the hopes of hardcore environmentalists, the city of Mount Airy has stopped accepting glass in its recycling program.

“There is just no market anymore,” City Manager Stan Farmer said of that material Thursday night when formally announcing the change during a meeting of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners.

Farmer said the municipal staff is asking sanitation customers not to put glass into recycling containers, since it no longer is being collected and separated as part of a recycling stream that also includes plastics, metals and paper.

“So they might as well not put it into those containers,” he said of the familiar blue receptacles used for purposes of recycling. “They might as well put it in their normal trash.”

This is just the latest change in the recycling industry overall, which has been subject to the ebb and flow of demand for certain materials in recent years.

In the case of glass, it is being phased out by communities across the country for recycling due to economic factors, according to online reports. In addition to its poor market value at present, weight is a factor with glass, which is heavier compared to items such as cardboard and plastic and can cause compactor trucks to become burdened along with problems from breakage.

“It’s not recycled anymore,” Farmer said.

Mount Airy residents who continue to put glass into the recycling containers will cause a weight-related problem for the city government due to the cost it must pay a company to handle local recyclables.

“There is no reason to pay them $60 per ton,” Farmer said of the rate involved and factoring in the additional weight posed by glass.

The glass exclusion by Mount Airy apparently was not widely disclosed until Thursday night, when the city manager discussed the change prior to the meeting. He later announced it at the end of the meeting when officials may make random comments.

One local resident who notified The Mount Airy News Thursday said many citizens apparently don’t realize that glass recycling has ceased, with the exception of those possibly noticing small magnetic stickers on canisters delivered around the first of the year.

“So all of us are still putting glass in our recycling,” that person said. “It’s a myth to think that citizens saw that little magnetic thing.”

“I did have a couple of people contact me about it,” Commissioner Chad Hutchens said before Thursday night’s meeting.

Mount Airy launched single-stream curbside recycling in January 2012 after years of residents being required to transport recyclable materials to a drop-off center. The single-stream concept has allowed them to place all such items into containers without having to be separated.

For years, the city was paid for the recycled materials it generated.

However, that situation changed in 2018, when China began banning imports of certain recyclables and imposed restrictions on others.

In late 2019, Mount Airy officials were told that not only would the city cease reaping revenues from such materials, it had to begin paying for their collection and processing by Foothills Sanitation and Recycling. It is a company in Wilkesboro which is contracted by the municipality to provide that service.

This resulted in the $60-per-ton charge cited by the city manager. That translated to almost $40,000 annually based on Mount Airy’s volume in late 2019.

Pvt. Henry Wagoner advanced with his company across the German countryside near Aachen on a bitterly cold November day in 1944. “It rained and spit snow every day,” he said in his memoirs.

Shrapnel hit his head and he was knocked to the ground unconscious. Hours later he came to. The battle had moved on and two German soldiers loomed over him with a rifle. “Don’t move.”

The next several days were a swirl of disjointed memories: the soldiers helped him to walk when he was conscious and carried him when he was not; he was loaded in an ambulance, then a train; taken to a hospital in Dusseldorf; his hair was shorn; the shrapnel removed; Allied planes bombed the city.

They gave him a pencil and a postcard to write home.

“November 26th, Dear Myrtle, Just a few lines to let you know that I am well. Hope you are well and OK. I have been captured. I will close with all my love. Henry”

He wrote again on Christmas Day. “Hope you are having a good Christmas. Keep praying and keep your chin up.”

Little could he know but she did.

Myrtle Hill Wagoner lived in Mount Airy with her in-laws while Henry was deployed. She received a telegram from the War Department in November telling her Henry was missing but they didn’t know if he was alive or dead.

It would be January 31, 1945, before she knew for sure and February before Henry’s postcards reached her.

“God was with us all the time,” she said in her family memoirs. “I never gave up of not seeing him any more.”

The youngest of Everett and Siller (Beasley) Hill’s 12 children, she grew up on a farm about seven miles from Mount Airy. When they weren’t in school at Pine Ridge, the children helped raise the corn, tobacco, vegetables, hogs, cattle and chickens the family depended on.

In 1930, when she was 14, times got harder.

“Well, here comes the Depression and dry weather,” she said. “ We did not make anything on the farm, not even enough to pay bills.” In time, her mother encouraged her to try for a job at one of the town’s mills. She went every week for six weeks to ask for a job at the Renfro Mill on Willow Street and they finally said yes.

In 1936, at a ballgame with some friends, she “met this young and handsome boy” and they started to date on weekends and Wednesday nights. When, after three months “Henry asked me would I be his wife” she wasn’t sure she wanted to get married so she didn’t give him an answer that night. He had to wait until the next week.

But on Saturday, March 27, 1937, he worked his morning shift then borrowed his father’s car. Dressed in his best clothes he picked up Myrtle and two friends and drove to Hillsville, Virginia, where they got a license and were married in a minister’s house. Myrtle recalled they “stood on a sheepskin” and had a ring ceremony. Henry gave the minister $5, all the money he had.

The Wagoners attended a revival in 1937 when Myrtle responded to the minister’s invitation. A few weeks later they began attending Calvary Baptist Church and she was baptized in the river at Laurel Bluff. The event and her faith were clearly important to her as she recalled the loss of two infants. “We did not know why God was so displeased with our lives that we could not have a family.”

The hard-working couple lived frugally, paying $6 rent for a small house with no power or running water. They saved enough to buy two acres on Caudle Road for $300 in 1939. By September of the next year, they built a house for $1,000 with help from Federal Building and Loan. There was no power down that road at first, so they heated with wood and coal, and read by oil lamp. She did laundry with a washboard and tub and ironed with a flat iron heated by fire.

When power did reach them, she proudly recalls buying an electric iron and refrigerator.

Then Henry was drafted. She closed up the house and moved in with his parents.

Most of Henry’s memoirs focus on his time in the stalag. As the Allies advanced, the Nazis moved the POWs further from the front. He talked of cutting wood in the forests around the camp, being sent to the fields to plant and tend potatoes, of sleeping on straw mattresses, but through it all he carried a picture of Myrtle in his wallet.

In May 1945 the prisoners were marched for three days, carrying boiled potatoes for food and sleeping in barns along the way. They were taken to a bridge where they were met by American troops and the Germans surrendered.

Though Henry experienced poor health for years following the war, he and Myrtle built a good life together. They ran the grocery his father started years earlier on Bluemont Road and were active in their church.

We know this level of detail about the Wagoner’s love story because members of their family interviewed the couple and created two memoirs annotated with pictures from their 62 years together. The family recently shared scans of the memoirs and photos with the museum and donated a shadowbox of Henry’s WWII service memorabilia.

Such records are incredibly important in giving us a lasting and well-rounded idea of life for people of all social levels in the region. Yes, the lives and experiences of political and business leaders are important but that is only part of the story for any community.

Theirs is a story of everyday people, not celebrities or financially wealthy. They were the sort of people who keep our society moving and they seem to have been wealthy in love and admiration. The museum is so glad to have that important story -their hometown love story – as part of our collection.

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.

• A local teen is facing six charges, including driving while impaired, stemming from a collision Tuesday, according to Mount Airy Police Department reports.

Records indicate that it occurred on North Main Street at Galloway Street, involving a 2004 Ford Mustang operated by Ryan Tanner Linville, 19, of 1389 Loraine Smith Road.

In addition to DWI, the investigation of the incident led to Linville being charged with driving while impaired as a provisional licensee, underage consumption of alcohol, careless and reckless driving, driving left of center and unsafe tires.

He is free on a written promise to appear in Surry District Court on March 13.

• Angela Goins Resignalo, 42, of 311 Athey Simmons Road, was served Tuesday with a criminal summons for a charge of interfering with emergency communications, which had been filed on Feb. 2 with Olivia Ward as the complainant and no other details listed.

Resignalo is free on a written promise to be in District Court on Feb. 28.

• Kelvin Christoper Quinones-Flores, 27, of 1164 Granite Road, was jailed last Saturday after officers responded to a domestic disturbance at that location.

He was found to have allegedly assaulted his girlfriend by pushing her repeatedly as she held their child and also hitting the woman with a closed fist and grabbing her by the neck. Barbara Francheska of the same address is listed as the victim.

Quinones-Flores, who is accused of assault on a female, was held in the Surry County Jail without privilege of bond, which occurs with domestic-dispute cases. He is scheduled to be in District Court on Monday.

After a two-year absence the Community Lenten Services sponsored by the Mount Airy Ministerial Association will return starting next week.

The seven-week series of lunchtime services were a fixture in Mount Airy for years until the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, when the pandemic began, the service series was cut short, and has been out-of-commission since.

“With no uniform protocols to follow…they were cancelled again in 2021 and 2022 due to precautionary efforts deemed necessary at a time when COVID was seemingly at its peak,” said Pastor D.M. Dalton, president of the ministerial association.

“The association had been recently approached by many people from the community wanting the services to start again,” he said. With public gatherings resuming, he said the ministerial group “enthusiastically agreed to restart this wonderful tradition.”

“All the pastors were in agreement of the importance of this time of year and how important it is for us as ministers to refresh and remind people of the price that was paid for our salvation and how much God loves each of us by giving his son to die for our sins and the sins of the world,” Dalton said this week.

The services, which will be each Wednesday for seven weeks, beginning Feb. 22, will be held at noon at Central United Methodist Church. Because of lingering concerns regarding COVID, no meal will be provided this year.

The schedule of speakers includes:

– February 22, Pastor Danny Miller of Central United Methodist Church

– March 1, Dr. David Sparks of Flat Rock Pentecostal Holiness Church

– March 8, Dr. Darrell Tate, Highland Park Baptist Church

– March 15, Pastor Tim Burton, Flippen Memorial Baptist Church

– March 22, Dr. Rick Jackson, Welcome Baptist Church

– March 29, Pastor Austin Caviness, Salem Fork Christian Church.

– April 5, Pastor D.M. Dalton, president of the ministerial association.

As in past years, the series will conclude with a Good Friday service on April 7, at Highland Park Baptist Church, with seven different ministers bringing a message entitled “The Last Seven Words of Christ.“

Those speaking during this service include:

– Minister George Randall, who will be speaking from Luke 23:34 on Christ’s statement “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do;”

– Evangelist Jack Anderson, speaking from Luke 23;43 on “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise;”

– Pastor Andrew Bowman, John 19:26-27, “Woman, behold thy son, son behold thy mother;”

– Rev. Jim Richland, Matthew 27:46, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’

– Pastor Ewell Vernon, John 19:28, “I thirst;”

– Dr. Dan Merritt, John 19:30, “It is finished;”

– Brother Bob Ward, Tabernacle Baptist Church, Luke 23:46, “Father, into they hands I commend my spirit.”

“I encourage each person to make plans to attend these services and enjoy some good fellowship, good preaching, and rekindle your spirit as only the Word of God can do,” Dalton said.

The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America held its 33rd Annual National Leadership Forum in January and Surry County sent members of the Surry County Office of Substance Abuse Recovery to learn from top experts in the field and network with other organizations working toward a similar local outcomes.

The coalition is a non-profit organization representing adult and youth coalition leaders through the nation who are “working to make communities safe, heath and drug-free for more than 25 years.” They have created a network of more than 5,000 community anti-drug coalitions that bring together public and private sector groups who seek to make change through an evidence-based approach to reducing drinking, tobacco use, illicit drug use, and the misuse of prescription drugs.

This was not meant for just the mental health professionals of the world but for educators, faith leaders, those in recovery, public health professionals, and members of law enforcement, all of whom joined together in forums that provided information and strategies to take the work of prevention to the next level. Simple networking with folks in public health or a school system in another state could lead to idea sharing that and collaborations that could benefit communities across the country, officials said.

One of this year’s featured speakers was author Beth Macy, a Roanoke, Virginia journalist who has researched and written extensively about opioid addiction to shine a light on the protracted struggle of rural America and those fighting the battle on its frontlines. Surry County and members of the community have featured prominently in her work.

Members of the county’s substance abuse recovery office from director Mark Willis on down have been telling county leaders for some time that the more money that is spent on prevention means less money being paid out for mental and behavioral health services, often at the county’s expense. Recently the International Narcotics Control Board said in its annual report, “Every dollar spent on drug abuse prevention can save the government up to ten dollars in later costs.”

At the leadership forum participants engaged seminars and classes based around community prevention efforts. In a presentation by Derrick Newby on youth engagement and how to build systems not just for, but with youth, he said, “to develop and support youth leadership in prevention that will support the development of prevention systems where youth interact with their community as a part of the prevention system.”

“A system in which they are not just the receivers of services but where they can have an influence while operating according to a set of rules and become a part of the unified whole,” the presenter Partnership for Success described.

The session “Getting Candid” presented by National Council for Mental Wellbeing (NCMW) provided a host of information that may be used locally, “The COVID-19 pandemic caused incredible disruption in the lives of young people… NCMW conducted four large-scale national assessments of youth from 2021 to 2022 and created a comprehensive, youth-informed message guide and suite of tools to help providers have impactful prevention conversations with the youth they serve.”

Taking information from surveys such as the one National Council for Mental Wellbeing conducted can help guide practices based on the responses they got from kids across the country. Feedback from such surveys helped guide session topics like “Keep Them Safe: Suicide Safety Planning and Access to Means Counseling” presented by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“Suicide is preventable when we know what to do. A critical component of safety planning is the conversation regarding access to lethal means. Removing and restricting access to lethal means during the crisis period can oftentimes be the difference between life or death,” they wrote.

Their session will demonstrate that there is a “critical component of safety planning is the conversation regarding access to lethal means. Removing and restricting access to lethal means during the crisis period can oftentimes be the difference between life or death.”

Another session, “Taking the “Small” Out of Small Towns: Working in Rural America to Promote BIG Health Changes.” The presenter said the session will walk take participants through “the conventional, and sometimes unconventional, processes that must happen to take the “small” out of small towns by making sustainable changes toward healthier outcomes.”

According to the CDC, rural Americans are more likely to die from heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke than their urban counterparts so the presenter, Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living, have been working to reduce secondhand smoke exposure and the overall use of tobacco. Not all remediation campaigns focus on hard drugs: alcohols, tobacco, and vaping are reasons for concern as well.

It’s not every day that a foreign diplomat visits “Mayberry,” and such a day will come in May when Tanee Sangrat from the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington is scheduled to be here.

The upcoming trip by Sangrat, Thailand’s ambassador to the U.S., is not related to “The Andy Griffith Show,” but the opening ceremony for a planned Siamese twins museum in a new Arts Center near the Mount Airy Public Library.

Work on the multi-purpose facility on Rockford Street began in September 2021 and now is winding down.

City officials got a preview earlier this month of the new Surry Arts Council building that will include programming, classroom, exhibit and other space in addition to the twins museum. A statue of the legendary pair also is to be featured.

The opening ceremony appropriately is set for May 11, the birth date in 1811 of Eng and Bunker in what then was known as Siam, before becoming the modern-day Thailand.

The twins left their homeland and made public appearances in the U.S. and elsewhere as their conjoined physical deformity became a major attraction. Known as the “original” Siamese twins, they eventually settled near Mount Airy to farm.

In recent years, Thai officials have established a bond with Mount Airy due to the common link between the two places symbolic of that shared by the brothers themselves.

This has included appearances by embassy officials at local Eng and Chang reunions and forging a sister city relationship with the Samut Songkhram province that produced the twins.

Ambassador Sangrat’s scheduled appearance here in May took root with a WebEx meeting he had with Surry Arts Council Executive Director Tanya Jones on Feb. 6. Jones has spearhead the Arts Center/museum development and is a great-great-granddaughter of Eng Bunker.

As an announcement by Sangrat’s office details:

“Mrs. Jones invited the ambassador to join the opening ceremony of the new museum on the twins’ birthday (on May 11), with city and state executives, especially those involved with the sister cities partnership between Samut Songkhram province and Mount Airy and an existing network of local Thai communities.”

In accepting the invitation, Sangrat mentioned that it is particularly timely due to 2023 coinciding with the 190th anniversary of Thailand-U.S. diplomatic relations.

As a fourth-generation Bunker descendant, Jones is excited about the ambassador’s upcoming trip to Mount Airy.

“I am discussing the visit with the ambassador’s assistant and I am discussing details of an itinerary so we can work with city officials to make the most of this exciting opportunity,” she advised Thursday.

The announcement from the Thai ambassador indicates that it will be broader in scope than just the Siamese twins aspect.

“In this regard, he would like to extend this opportunity by making an official visit to North Carolina and call on both city and state executives, state representatives, senators, Thai firms in the area, agencies that could be beneficial to Thailand, including local Thai communities to discuss ways and means to strengthen Thais and Thai-Americans in North Carolina,” it states.

“We’re hoping that he will stay several days and meet with state and local officials,” Jones said Thursday, which she wants to not only include the government realm but those involved with educational and cultural aspects of the area.

At any rate, the ambassador’s visit represents another key event in Mount Airy’s history, which has experienced only a handful of such occasions.

The first time this occurred was in 1959, when Turkey’s ambassador to the U.S., A Suat Hayri Urguplu, visited the city in conjunction with an event at Mount Airy Country Club called the Four-State Tobacco Luncheon. That same weekend, Mount Airy hosted a National Tobacco Queen pageant at Reeves Community Center.

A Sept. 1, 1959 article in The Mount Airy News stated that A Suat Hayri Urguplu’s appearance here was part of a gala affair reflecting tobacco’s prominence at the time. Local officials expressed pride in being selected for the National Tobacco Queen event and related festivities, which included the agriculture commissioners of both North Carolina and Georgia being present.

After that, the next visit to Mount Airy by a foreign ambassador to the U.S. is believed to have been in July 2013 when then-Thai Ambassador Dr. Chaiyong Satjipanon came to town for the Siamese twins reunion.

Other such appearances included those of Thai Ambassador Pisan Manawapat in 2017 and Ambassador Manasvi Srisodapol in 2021.

Sangrat, the person now holding that position, took office in November. His previous diplomatic involvements have included serving as Thailand’s ambassador to Vietnam.

In the world of stock car racing the white flag doesn’t mean surrender, it means one lap to go; hit the gas. The white flag for Election 2022 is finally in the air as early voting has begun in Dobson to settle what is one of the last undecided contests anywhere in the nation from November, and the checkered flag is tantalizingly close.

“On our opening day of early voting for the Dobson Town Commissioner Election we had 28 voters,” Surry County Election Director Michella Huff said. “We were very pleased with the day’s turnout.”

One-stop early voting period for the Dobson election will run through Saturday, March 4 at the Surry County Service center, 915 E. Atkins St., in Dobson. Residents who will require an absentee ballot need have their submission by 5 p.m. on Feb. 28.

Election Day for the Town of Dobson special election for town commissioner will be held on Tuesday, March 7.

A special election was ordered by the state board of elections following a pair of challenges to the outcome of the Dobson commissioners race in November where incumbents J. Wayne Atkins (184 votes) and Walter White (167) secured the highest two vote counts in a field of four.

Local businessman John Jonczak came in a close third with 159 votes, and Sharon Gates-Hodges got 106 votes posthumously.

The death of Gates-Hodges after early voting had begun and printed ballots were already distributed, used, and returned meant that her name could not be removed. The election would go forward with four named candidates for two seats.

All things being equal, these results would have stood as the 8 votes, or 1.29%, while a close margin of victory for White was not close enough to fire an automatic recount. Huff told the state board in December that three votes would have been that margin.

Things though were not equal as the state board heard in affidavits and sworn testimony offered from local resident Nancy Hill and James E. Yokeley that there may have some undue influence on the outcome.

Both gave an account of a poll worker in Dobson who either told voters that Gates-Hodges or Jonczak was dead. A poll worker can only help the voter with technical problems unless it is an instance where a voter has requested assistance.

For the worker to have offered unsolicited to voters that one of the candidates was deceased may have been an implied endorsement of the others.

The worker also told different voters different information. Hill, for instance, was told Gates-Hodges had passed away. This clearly stood out to her, she said in her affidavit because Gates-Hodges was her friend and had still gotten her vote.

Yokeley said the worker pointed to Jonczak’s name on the ballot when identifying him as dead. He said he was bewildered to discover he had apparently been speaking to an apparition in the parking lot that looked a lot like John Jonczak.

Right away Yokeley said he knew something was off and word got to both Jonczak and Director Huff on election day that the poll worker was conducting herself in an improper manner whether intentionally or not.

Huff spoke to the precinct captain and the poll worker in question on election day. The worker told Huff that she had informed voters a candidate was deceased because they “thought they should be letting people know.”

With three write in votes and 106 for Gates-Hodges, any vote here or there that may have been swayed from confusion could have bridged the eight vote gap between White and Jonczak and thrown this whole affair in another direction.

Under state law, the state board of elections may order a new election if its five members determine that “irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness.”

Damon Circosta, chair of the State Board of Elections, said the State Board does not take decisions to order new elections lightly. “When issues arise, there are procedures in place to remedy them, and that’s where we are now,” he said during the December meeting at which the new election was called for.

Huff said that the county is footing the bill initially for the special election, but that Dobson picks up the bill in the end, “On costs, we will bill the municipality under GS 163-284, because of its mandatory language.”

That statutes said that “the conduct of all elections in municipalities and special districts shall be under the authority of the county board of elections. Each municipality and special district shall reimburse the county board of elections for the actual cost involved in the administration required under this section.”

Huff said, “The Town of Dobson will be billed by the county for full reimbursement. Dobson Town Attorney Hugh Campbell has been made aware and I think the Town has had discussion about this mandate.”

When asked, Huff said the of the costs to run the do-over election for the two Dobson seats, “I estimated no more than $15,000 for the special election.”

It goes on to say that allegations of irregularities “shall be made to the county board of elections and appeals from such rulings may be made to the State Board of Elections under existing statutory provisions and rules,” which is exactly the process that was followed with the Yokeley and Jonczak challenges to the general election results.

This has been another week where there were eyes from outside the Yadkin Valley have peering toward Surry County in an attempt to discern what is going on in these parts. Tuesday’s hearing in Raleigh by the North Carolina State Board of Elections on the possible removal of Surry County Board of Elections Secretary Jerry Forestieri and member Tim DeHaan drew attention from state and national media.

After the state board handled other business and heard the opening remarks of complainant Bob Hall against the county board members, the meeting took a pair of unexpected recesses as Chair Circosta and other board member sought clarification on the general statute on hearings. Ultimately, DeHaan’s objection to procedural elements of the hearing lead the state board to table the hearing and reschedule it for a later date in Surry County. The state statute says that hearings of these nature need to take place in the county in which the offense was alleged to have occurred.

The men signed a letter at a county canvass meeting in November that raised eyebrows. The men in the letter said that they questioned the authority of the state board of elections to conducts free and fair elections since the laws they were executing was built on tenuous ground. After the 2018 federal ruling that knocked down North Carolina’s voter ID requirement, they feel elections have been conducted in a way that leads them open to fraud.

While they found no issue with Surry County’s election, they initially refused to sign off on the county’s election certification. Forestieri essentially said he couldn’t sign a document say the results were 100% accurate if there was no assurance of who voted on election day. DeHaan decided that what the state said was an official ballot was that, and he would accept it and certify the results.

CRITZ, VA — Once Upon a Blue Ridge will perform “Mr. Lincoln’s Office: A Meeting with the President” on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at Virginia Tech’s Reynolds Homestead in Critz, Virginia. This public offering is part of the 2023 regional tour of the show.

This one-man performance is adapted and performed by Peter Holland; the show runs just less than an hour and tickets are available now on the Reynolds Homestead website: reynoldshomestead.vt.edu. Tickets for the show are $10 for adults and $5 for children.

Once Upon a Blue Ridge brought its musical adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” to the Reynolds Homestead in December, and it was met with great enthusiasm from the public. The staff at Reynolds Homestead expects to see similar engagement with “Mr. Lincoln’s Office.”

In addition to the public performance on Tuesday evening, the Reynolds Homestead is working with local educators to take the show to students in Patrick and Henry counties as well as Martinsville on Feb. 20-22. For more information about the student shows available to both public school and homeschool students, email Kristin Hylton, communication and program support assistant at krhylton@vt.edu or call 276-694-7181.

The resurfacing of existing streets and related work is on tap in Mount Airy using funding from the N.C. Department of Transportation.

Bids are now being received for a project targeting a cluster of roadways in the Fairfield neighborhood just off South Main in Bannertown with the help of what is commonly known as Powell Bill money.

The eight streets involved are West Devon Drive, East Devon Drive, West Fairfield Drive, East Fairfield Drive, West Wensley Drive, East Wensley Drive, Vernon Circle and Burnley Lane.

Those were selected for the next round of resurfacing as part on an ongoing city program that addresses streets based on priority of need.

In 2022, the list included ones in the Maple-Merritt Street area where pavement had been disturbed by a major utility project involving the installing of lines.

Sealed proposals from general contractors to perform the upcoming work in the Fairfield section will be received at the Mount Airy Public Works Building on East Pine Street until 2 p.m. on March 1, according to a notice issued by city officials.

Complete plans, specifications and contract documents are available for inspection at that location between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The awarding of the contract is subject to a vote by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners, Public Works Director Mitch Williams advised.

All work must be completed by June 15.

Mount Airy was awarded $352,145 in the last round of funding through the State Street Aid to Municipalities program, or Powell Bill allocations. It is derived from state gas tax revenues that are given back to municipalities across North Carolina based on a formula set by the Legislature.

Powell Bill funds are used primarily to resurface municipal streets, but also to maintain, repair, construct or widen streets, bridges and drainage areas. Localities additionally may use those funds to plan, construct and maintain bike paths, greenways or sidewalks.

State allocations for other municipalities in Surry County include $46,939 for Dobson, $46,554 for Pilot Mountain and Elkin, $140,116.

The sum each community receives is based on a formula set by the N.C. General Assembly, with 75% of the funds linked to population and 25% to the number of locally maintained street miles.

Mount Airy, listed with 10,609 residents, is responsible for the condition of 73 miles of streets on the municipal system.

Meanwhile, the state DOT maintains major routes through town including U.S. 52 and U.S. 601 which are part of its transportation network along with state-designated highways such as N.C. 89 and N.C. 103.

Ashley M. Bryant, FNP-C, has joined the clinical provider team of Northern Family Medicine, a division of Northern Regional Hospital where specialty physicians and nurse practitioners diagnose and treat all patients – from newborns and teens to millennials and seniors.

As a licensed family nurse practitioner, Bryant will apply her nursing knowledge and clinical skills to provide patients “with the most effective treatment plans possible for their clinical condition.” the hospital said in announcing her joining the staff.

“I’ve always known I wanted to be a hands-on healthcare professional – and becoming a family nurse practitioner permits me to offer patients a seamless continuum of care throughout their entire lifespan,” said Bryant, whose past clinical experience includes 16 years of critical-care nursing — with the majority of those years at Northern Regional Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Bryant’s approach to patients is grounded in treating them as if they were a relative or close friend. In addition, “compassion, effective listening, and communication are of utmost importance in my care of patients,” she emphasizes.

“We welcome the addition of Ashley Bryant to our top-notch clinical team,” said Richard Herber, MD, in announcing her appointment to the family medicine practice site. “Ashley’s demonstrated patient-care expertise, her advanced nursing know-how, and her comfortable familiarity with the Northern Regional Hospital family make her a remarkably effective and committed member of our provider team.”

Born and raised in Mount Airy, 37-year-old Bryant launched her nursing career by graduating in 2006 with an associate degree in nursing from Surry Community College. She subsequently followed-up on that academic achievement by earning a bachelor of science degree in 2011 from Winston-Salem State University.

Bryant’s decision to pursue a nursing profession was inspired, in part, by the healthcare-career choices of both her maternal grandmother and mother – who chose to work as a nurse and medical technologist, respectively. “I was raised in the Northern family, as my mom has worked there for over 40 years.”

Bryant’s mother, Kim Cheek, services as director of laboratory services at Northern Regional Hospital.

Bryant’s extensive work experience as a critical-care nurse began when she was assigned to the Intensive Care Unit at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem. Two years later, she joined Northern’s ICU – where, for the past 14 years, she managed the nursing care of ill patients while helping to educate and comfort patients’ families.

“There were many tears and hugs shared, for sure,” she recalled. “A lot of times, family members just wanted to be heard; and I was committed to reassuring them that we were doing our best and would treat their loved one like a member of our own family.”

“An intensive-care environment is very challenging,” she added, “and when you see someone recover – someone who was once very ill — it just holds a special place in your heart.”

Bryant’s desire to transition from inpatient critical-care nursing to the outpatient nature of family medicine was fueled by her observation of the progression of her father’s own chronic illness. “My dad was a diabetic who, very sadly, passed away from complications of the disease,” she said. “It was during that time I realized I wanted to make a difference in patients’ lives before they required hospitalization.”

To that end, Bryant enrolled in Western Carolina University and graduated in 2022, with honors, from that institution’s demanding Master of Science in Nursing – Family Medicine Practitioner program.

In her new role at Northern Family Medicine, Bryant is eager to build trusting and respectful relationships with patients and their families.

“I am passionate about providing my patients with the best possible care; and I’m eager to share with them up-to-date therapies and recommendations about how to prevent health problems or manage chronic conditions they may have already acquired,” she said. With a focus on preventative care, she will also provide patients with a variety of treatment options, as well as advise them on how to access free or affordable educational resources related to their physical or mental health problems.

Bryant is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners; and a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the honor society of nurses. She also holds certifications in basic life support, advanced cardiovascular life support, advanced stroke life support; and management of aggressive behavior training.

Bryant is grateful for the support provided by Northern Regional Hospital during her specialty transition. “I’ve been at Northern for 15 years, and the hospital’s leadership team and my own colleagues have always been encouraging as far as advancing my education and even changing career paths,” she said. “The hospital offers many professional development programs and wants to see their employees succeed. I know I can go to my manager or any of the senior executives and they would open their door and let me spill my heart out.”

Bryant’s career path has also been supported by her family – which includes husband Jake, an engineer with Duke Energy; and three active children – nine-year-old son Skyler; six-year-old son Kyson; and four-year-old daughter Merritt.

“I met my husband on a blind date — during the summer between my junior and senior year of high school,” she recalls. “We dated for five years; and then got married the year after I graduated from nursing school.” This May, the happy couple will celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary.

“Jake has always been a really fantastic partner and great at helping out,” she says. “As a nurse who worked 12-hour shifts, I would come home and find that he had already fed the kids and helped them with their homework.” Together, the whole family enjoys summer vacations at a favorite beach or the mountains, as well as outdoor activities like hiking, taking day-trips to small towns, and visiting theme-related museums. For some occasional “me time,” Bryant enjoys riding her bicycle or reading interesting novels – especially thrillers and mysteries.

To schedule an appointment with Bryant, call Northern Family Medicine at 336-786-4133 or visit Northern Family Medicine online at choosenorthern.org/FamilyMedicine

More than a decade ago, a trip to Delaware for a funeral planted an idea inside Don Holder — to develop a local cemetery just for veterans and their spouses.

Now, that cemetery stands as a final resting place for more than a dozen men who have served in the U.S. armed forces.

Holder, an Air Force veteran who served from July 1951 through July 1973, said he attended that Delaware funeral for the wife of his best friend, and saw that she was laid to rest in a cemetery dedicated to veterans and their spouses.

“There wasn’t anything like that around here,” he said recently, adding he is not aware of any other privately managed veteran’s cemeteries in North Carolina.

The 1-1/2 acre burial ground next to Antioch Baptist Church was part of his farm, but had been divided from the rest of his land because of some rights-of-way changes. After attending the funeral of his friend, he realized the best use of the plot was to create the cemetery there, where those who have served the nation can be laid to rest without cost, a courtesy extended to their spouses as well.

In addition to the burial plots, there is a columbarium on the grounds — a small structure where the ashes of those who have been cremated can be interred.

When Holder started the project, in 2012, he had little more than the land available — and that was covered with trees and stumps. He deeded the property to Veteran’s Park in Mount Airy, and then went on a fundraising tour of the community, getting monetary donations from many, as well as a tremendous amount of donated labor and material.

“Howard Hull and Billy McCraw must have spent two months out there pulling up stumps and taking down tress, they did a lot of work, for nothing,” he said.

Likewise, many area businesses donated granite, marble, and other building material, as well as labor.

Among those firms, he said, were Ararat Rock, which donated 17 dump loads of gravel, and Mount Airy Granite gifting the project a good bit of granite.

“Acme Stone donated the columbarium, that’s probably the most expensive thing up there,” he said, adding that Mark Stevens from Acme Stone also donated his time to help construct and set up five stone columns, each dedicated to the five branches of U.S. military.

Holder said from those first efforts it was two years before the cemetery was ready, with its first burial taking place in December 2014, when Stephen Earl Keith, a 64-year-old U.S. Army veteran, was buried there. Now, Holder said the cemetery has “eight to ten” veterans interred there, as well as another ten in the columbarium. He said he suspects the cemetery can accommodate about 200 burials.

Thus far, he said all of those laid to rest there have been veterans, but each grave has been dug in a way that leaves an adjacent space for their spouse.

One of the things he wants most to do now is to let area folks know the individuals and companies who helped him in his effort. In addition to him and his wife, Doris, he said others involved include Debra and Bob Walker, Page Smith, John Springthorpe and South Data, Seal Brothers, Howard Hull and Hull Saw Mill, Billy McCraw and McCraw Trucking, Mark and Kathy Stevens of Acme Stone, Chris Hawks of Hawks Concrete, David Williams of Blue Ridge Concrete, Jim Crossingham of Ararat Rock, Carol and Tom Booth and Belinda and Gray Hawks, Rick Sowers of Sowers Construction, Kester Sink, Jack King of King Welding, Gloria Lawrence, VJ Hawks, Julia and Leon Fleming, Mike and Sheila Riffe, Johnson Granite, NC Granite, Taylor’s Garage, Moody Funeral Home, and Doug Joyner.

While the recent addition of five flags, one from each branch of the military, was the final touches on the development of the cemetery, he said donations can still be made for the maintenance costs and later improvements.

“Anyone who wants to donate for the upkeep of the cemetery, contact me at 336-401-6034 or Doug Jones at 336-488-8774,” he said. Anyone wishing to inquire about burial at the park can contact Jones, Holder, or Moody Funeral Home.

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