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Today’s Email Announcements

Summer Softball for High Country Seniors Starts June 1

Spring is in the air , Major League Baseball is on TV , both local Colleges are well into their seasons and our High Country Seniors are getting out their bats and balls for the June 1st start of Summer Softball .  This is open to Seniors 55 and up of all talent levels (or lack of), male and female . We will play every Tues at Lee Mc Rea softball  complex off 184 and Thurs at Wakulla Rec off St Farm Rd.   We have both sites from10 am to 12 noon , so just come ready to play ball and have some fun! ……for detail , more info , etc contact Bert Valery by Email or phone ( 727 215 5560 ).    Hope to see you soon . 

 

Holocaust Survivor to Share First-Hand Accounts at Lees-McRae College, Apr. 19

BANNER ELK, N.C. — Holocaust survivor Dr. Walter Ziffer will present first-hand accounts of his experiences at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19 in Evans Auditorium.

Assistant Professor of History, Robert Turpin, planned the free event that is open to the public.  

His presentation titled, “Witness to the Holocaust”, is made possible by funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Currently an Adjunct Professor of philosophy and religion at Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, North Carolina, Dr. Ziffer is a survivor of the Holocaust having endured three years at seven different Nazi slave labor concentration camps.

“The Holocaust is one of those quintessential and horrific historical events that we must remember,” Turpin said.  “We must learn the lessons of the Holocaust and remain vigilant they are never repeated. Walter Ziffer will share his first-hand account of surviving the Holocaust and persevering long after the camps were closed.”

 

23rd Annual Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival and Guitar Competition at Grayson Highlands State Park Saturday, June 17

Registration is open for guitarists who wish to compete in the 23rd annual Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival and Guitar Competition at Grayson Highlands State Park. The winner will be awarded a handmade Henderson guitar.

Applications must be received between April 1 and May 1. To register, send a completed application form and a $20 fee by personal check or money order payable to the Wayne C. Henderson Guitar Competition. Download the form from www.waynehenderson.org and mail it to: Wayne Henderson Guitar Competition, c/o Herb Key, 1423 Dragway Road, Wilkesboro, NC 28697.

Twenty contestant applications and 10 alternate contestant applications will be selected. The first 20 will be drawn at random and approved as contestants by the contestant selection committee. The next 10 will be drawn at random and approved as alternates. Other prizes are second place, $250; third, $150, fourth, $100; and fifth, $75. (These winners also will be eligible for the 2018 contest by simply sending in an application and fee.) All competitors receive free passes to the festival.

The family-friendly festival will be Saturday, June 17, rain or shine, at Grayson Highlands State Park in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia. Performing will be the Krüger Brothers, Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, the Looping Brothers, Betty and the Bullet, Strictly Strings, and Wayne Henderson and Friends. Free children’s events and music are scheduled, too. Admission is $20, and children 12 and younger get in free. There is a state park parking fee.

Since the festival began in 1995, more than $160,500 has been awarded to aid young, local, traditional musicians in continuing their music exploration and education. Details at www.waynehenderson.org.

 

The Watauga Soil and Water District Board to Hold Board Meeting Wednesday, April 26

The Watauga Soil and Water District Board will have a regular board meeting on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 8 a.m. The public is invited to attend. The meeting will take place at 971 West King Street in Boone.

 

Ashe Campus of Wilkes Community College to Present 17th Annual Professional Women’s Seminar Thursday, April 20

The Ashe Campus of Wilkes Community College will offer the 17thAnnual Professional Women’s Seminar on Thursday, April 20, from 1-3 p.m. The keynote presentation will be “Time Management for Businesses: The 90-Day Focus” by Lady Bizness. The event will take place at Blue Ridge Energy, which is located on Hwy 163 in West Jefferson. Pre-registration is required, and seating is limited to the first 50 to register. There is no charge to register.

This seminar, offered at no charge, is great for anyone who want to make changes in their personal, professional and business lives. The event will open with a networking opportunity for participants before the keynote presentation. Chisa Pennix-Brown, Lady Bizness, will discuss the importance of effective time management. She says that all business owners and workers face certain challenges; but, sometimes women entrepreneurs face additional challenges and obstacles. Working mothers often experience additional demands on time, energy and resources. This interactive seminar will help participants develop techniques to:

  • change habits that impede productivity
  • use specific tools to increase productivity
  • create weekly and monthly actionable items that enrich professional goals
  • stay focused on creating lifelong habits for successful time management

The afternoon will wrap up with a drawing for door prizes.

With more than 14 years of experience in business coaching, community outreach, and social media insight, Chisa Pennix-Brown has transformed adaptability and a long-time vision of helping her peers into Lady Bizness, an organization committed to fostering healthy relationships, creating business opportunities, and providing events for entrepreneurs in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad community. Her most recent accomplishment is becoming the author of “The 90 Day Focus: Your Action Plan for Success,” which helps readers transform their mindset towards prioritization and goal-setting to help complete their passion project.

The event is presented by the Ashe Campus of Wilkes Community College and the WCC Small Business Center. It is sponsored by Blue Ridge Energy, Wilkes Community College and WCC Small Business Center.

The deadline to preregister for the seminar is April 13. For more information about the event or to pre-register, contact Laurie Brintle-Jarvis at 336-838-6166 or emailLsbrintle336@wilkescc.edu.

Wilkes Community College, a member of the North Carolina Community College System, is a public, two-year, open-door institution serving the people of Wilkes, Ashe and Alleghany counties and beyond. Established in 1965, WCC continues to build on a strong history of meeting the educational needs and cultural interests of our students, community and workforce. WCC prepares learners for success in a dynamic world.

 

Dr. Curt Fields, Living Historian and Re-enactor, Brings Ulysses S. Grant to Campus and Area Schools April 24-28

As part of a continued exploration of Civil War themes this semester, the Department of History at Appalachian State University will host Dr. Curt Fields for “An Evening with General Ulysses S. Grant: The Man Behind the Uniform,” Monday, April 24. Fields is the National Park Service representative for Grant. He has portrayed the commanding general of the Union Army in films, posters and re-enactments.

Fields will be visiting campus Monday, April 24, through Friday, April 28. Monday evening’s performance is a free public lecture in I.G. Greer Auditorium at 7 p.m. During his visit, Fields will be speaking to students on campus and also to public school students in Watauga and Ashe counties.

Fields was selected to portray Grant at the 150th anniversary of Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, in 2015. He was featured as Grant, and as a Grant authority, in the Discovery Channel three-part documentary series “How Booze Built America.” Fields is the same height and body style as the general and represents a true-to-life image of the man as he would have looked. He does extensive research in order to share an accurate portrayal. His presentations are made in the first person, quoting from memoirs, articles and letters the general wrote, statements he made in interviews and first-person accounts of people who knew the general or were with him and witnessed him during events.

“It’s eerie. Dr. Curt Fields becomes Gen. Ulysses S. Grant . . . and history comes alive,” said James Goff, professor and chair of the Department of History.

Fields has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in education from the University of Memphis in Tennessee. He earned a second master’s in secondary education and a Ph.D. in educational administration and curriculum from Michigan State University. He spent eight years at the junior and senior high school levels teaching before serving 25 years as a high school administrator. He teaches as an adjunct sociology professor at the University of Memphis and in education for Belhaven University, Memphis. He is now an educational consultant and a living historian.

Fields is a frequent contributor to the monthly newsletter “The Civil War Courier,” and is a member of the Tennessee Historical Society, the West Tennessee Historical Society, the Shelby County Historical Society, the Nathan Bedford Forrest Historical Society, the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, the Appomattox 1865 Foundation, the 290 Foundation – dedicated to the Civil War Navies, the Civil War Trust and the Ulysses S. Grant Association.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of History, Department of Communication and Department of Military Science, as well as the Reich College of Education and College Arts and Sciences. For questions about Fields’ visit, contact Dr. Rwany Sibaja at 828-262-8476 or sibajaro@appstate.edu. To learn more about the speaker and to see him in action, visit his website, http://generalgrantbyhimself.com.