Progress ENC - 2022

Resilience, community help make progress a reality

Progress felt like a fading prospect two years ago when we published Visions 2020, our first progress edition in decades. The novel coronavirus — that’s what we were calling it then — had begun to spread as we were finishing its pages. By the time we printed and distributed the sections, we had seen the first nightmarish signs that life had abruptly changed. Sporting events went silent, colleges shut their doors, the shutdown started.

In the many months that followed, COVID-19 took its toll. Businesses closed, in some cases for good, some people lost their jobs and nearly all of us had to learn to live more

remotely.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services recorded more than 2.6 million cases of the virus statewide since March 3, 2020, with at least 2,943 deaths. Locally more than 52,000 cases of the virus have been recorded in Pitt County, with at least 153 deaths, the latest on Feb. 26. Martin County saw more than 6,000 cases and 89 deaths, and Greene County had more than 5,700 cases and 56 deaths. Our communities, and

COVID-19 took its toll. Businesses closed, in somecasesforgood,somepeoplelosttheir jobsandnearlyallofushadtolearntolive moreremotely.The N C.Departmentof Health and Human Services recorded more than 2.6 million cases of the virus statewide since March 3, 2020, with at least 2,943 deaths.

our country, proved resilient, however. The steps we took helped us combat the global pandemic’s spread while scientists quickly developed a new type of vaccine utilizing mRNA. Many of the most vulnerable people had been inoculated by the time we published Progress ENC in March 2021.

Steps against the virus continued through the year, even as we confronted the delta and omicron variants. Greater numbers of us received the vaccine, and later booster shots.

As of March 18, 72 percent of people in the state were fully vaccinated. The figure in Pitt County was 53 percent, 49 percent in

Martin County and 64 percent in Greene County.

Spread had dropped substantially by the time we were finishing up the 2022 edition of Progress ENC.

Mask requirements had been lifted, concerts and festivals were gearing up for the first time in two years and people began to have hope the pandemic was controlled.

Most would say that is progress, but it is not the only progress we have seen. Innovations and growth in our communities continued even when case numbers climbed, from industrial expansion and workforce and educational development to municipal and public works projects.

thaywood@apgenc.com

With help from many community members, we have outlined some of that growth and innovation on these pages, with much of it focusing on the people behind the progress.

Thankfully, examples of positive development are too numerous for us to give a complete accounting, but the stories here show many of our strengths.

Those strengths have helped sustain us through these last two years — and will help us to meet more challenges that are sure to come.

Bobby Burns is the executive editor with APG-ENC. Contact him at baburns@reflector.com and 329-9572.

Newsletters the latest tool to deliver for readers, advertisers

BY BOBBY BURNS Staff Writer

GREENVILLE

Aservice developed recently by Adams Publishing GroupENC gives readers and subscribers a new option to receive the day’s top local headlines right in their inboxes every morning.

The company, known for its newspapers, websites and social media footprint, is now distributing digital newsletters via email daily to thousands of readers throughout eastern North Carolina.

Each newsletter shares links to the top news, sports and features from The Daily Advance of Elizabeth City, The Daily Reflector of Greenville and The Rocky Mount Telegram. Readers can sign up to receive reports from their favorite publication and click through to read with a subscription or day pass — the first few reads are free.

“It’s a quick and easy way to see what is happening around our area,” said

Nathan Kohan, regional director of audience development for the company. “Sometimes you don’t have time to read the entire edition, and this is a great way to get small bites of information.”

The newsletters are entry points to a wealth of content that can be found on the websites managed by journalists at each of the newspapers — dailyadvance.com, reflector.com and rockymounttelegram. com. That content includes coverage of people and community events and local government, institutions and organizations at a hyperlocal level with professional reporting, photography and video. Each site also includes access to an e-edition, an electronic copy of that day’s newspaper.

“It is a perfect replica of the printed edition with some added benefits,” Kohan said. “You are able to zoom in to make the print size larger and download pages or the entire edition to keep. If you have a family member featured in the paper, it is easy to save that page. You can also read older editions.”

Many readers say they

subscribe to the newspaper because they like to hold it in their hands. Kohan and others with APG said the printed edition will continue to be a driving force in local news — the impact of a story inked on newsprint cannot be replicated. The digital components, however, are a great complement to the newspaper itself, and every print subscription includes full digital access.

Digital delivers great immediacy. The newsletter and websites include breaking stories that developed after the print deadline. In some cases, it includes more in-depth content with information omitted from print due to space limitations. Typically, the stories include more photos and occasionally video segments. It also gives readers full access to feeds that deliver news and sports from across the state, nation and world.

“We understand the desire to have a printed copy. We also understand there is a need to have a convenient way to read the news and stay informed,” Kohan said.

“The newsletter is a great way to see the most important information quickly. Our website is another simple

way to see what is happening in our community at any time. We want to make it as easy as possible to provide the content you want.”

Digital delivery

Signing up for the newsletter is easy. Each website is promoting the service with newsletter signup ads. Clicking the ad will bring up a form with fields for an email address, first and last name and a zip code. Check your email inbox about 8 a.m. the next morning and the daily digest will be waiting for you.

“Our email newsletters are a great way to read the headlines and easily get to the actual story if you want more detail,” said Gary Lytle, APG-ENC’s director of information technology, who helped develop the newsletter. “For our subscribers, this is an easy way to get to the top content on our site. It’s also an easy way to look back a couple of days to see what’s been going on and get more details if you want.”

When you click a story in the newsletters, it opens up that actual story on the websites, Lytle said.

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Home-grown leader

ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers

credits Greenville roots with helping him cultivate success

BY KIM GRIZZARD Staff Writer

When Philip Rogers made the drive from Alexandria, Va., to Greenville to interview for the chancellor’s job at East Carolina University, he didn’t need coordinates for a GPS. All he had to do was go home.

Rogers, who took office as the university’s 12th chancellor a year ago, may not have been born in Greenville, but it is the only hometown he can remember, giving him an advantage over even the most beloved former East Carolina presidents and chancellors. He never has to worry that he might forget the name of the mascot or accidentally refer to the school as Eastern Carolina University. When he was invited to address a Goldsboro-area Rotary Club last month, nobody had to tell him how to get there.

“I know eastern North Carolina,” Rogers, 39, said in a recent interview.

“You don’t have to explain to me where Deep Run is or where Ahoskie is. I just understand the fabric of East Carolina and the importance of East Carolina University to our region because I am one of the products of this region and of this community.”

Born in Raleigh, Rogers was 6 months old when his family moved to Greenville, where his father, Greg, joined the ministry staff at Oakmont Baptist Church and his mother, Leslie, began a more than 30-year career in higher education at Pitt Community College. When the Rogers family arrived in the early 1980s, ECU was a school with a

student enrollment around 14,000 in a town of about 35,000.

At the time, young Philip didn’t know if he would grow up to enroll at East Carolina, which had been a teachers’ training school when his maternal great-grandmother attended more than a century ago and had become a University of North Carolina system school by the time his mother graduated two generations later. But there was little doubt that he was bound for college somewhere.

“Higher education attainment has always been an expectation for our family,” said Rogers, whose parents both obtained postgraduate degrees. “They set the example. My dad has a doctor of ministry degree, and, to this day, I still remember standing in the balcony of an auditorium, watching him graduate with that honor.

“I think the context in which I grew up centered on education, and so it was just a natural fit for me to also move into this field.”

Still, in his earlier years, other fields were vying for Rogers’ attention, namely athletic ones.

“I played every sport under the sun because that’s what you did as a child in Greenville growing up,” Rogers said, laughing. “Sports was a way of life.”

He divided his time between Greenville Little League baseball, recreation league basketball and competitive tennis, later becoming a member of the tennis team at J.H. Rose High School, where he graduated in 2001.

It was at Rose that he

developed an interest in government and public policy during his senior year in a class taught by Allen Guidry, who now serves as interim vice provost for academic affairs at ECU.

“He was an engaged student,” Guidry recalls of Rogers as a teen. “He took a very mature position on some pretty in-depth issues. He was very open to listening to people.

“As I’ve seen him as a chancellor, I’ve seen those exact same traits that I saw in that high school classroom translate into his leadership style,” he said. “I’ve said it many times since I’ve seen him in his leadership role here: He is a genuine person because he is the same person, in many ways, that I saw in that senior.”

The classroom was not the only place where Rogers grew in his ability to govern. As a pastor’s son, he was expected to participate in various programs at church, from singing in youth choir to taking the stage in theatrical productions.

“That’s the price you pay sometimes for being the son of a pastor or a PK (pastor’s kid),” Rogers said. “You get ‘voluntold’ to do most everything in the life of the church, but it comes with a benefit.

“You know, in the long run, interestingly, I think some of the theater experiences that I was a part of and being asked to speak in front of the church as a child growing up in a very public role really prepared me for this position,” he said. “There are a lot of similarities between the life

Chancellor discusses ECU’s progress

East Carolina Univer-

sity’s Philip Rogers, who was formally installed March 24 as the university’s 12th chancellor, talked with The Daily Reflector about celebrating and anticipating progress in the region.

QIn your first year as chancellor, what progress have you seen that has pleased you most?

AOne of the things that has not changed first and foremost is the fact that Greenville and ECU, in my mind, must be inextricably linked in order for us both to be successful as a whole. We have to work together to build a destination location for students, for faculty, for staff and for residents of this community.

If we do that together, that drives good recruitment opportunities and retention opportunities and it continues to make this a place that people want to live and work and play. I think our community has done a really nice job of maintaining that expectation over the last several decades. You see it play out in terms of some of these opportunities for progress.

One, for example is the new economic development opportunities that we have seen unfold here in the local community and around the region. When you come into Greenville, you see Intersect East unfolding right before your eyes and across the street a brand-new, $90 million Life Sciences and Technology Building that’s connecting industry and

research and faculty and student engagement in one location. When folks drive in off of 264 and later this spring, they will see signs of the emergence of ECU Health as a new academic population health enterprise that is embraced by all of eastern North Carolina. I think you see that ECU has remained true to its mission, and we’ve remained true to our motto of service. It’s really at the heart of all we do. These successes that we’ve had really bring to light the fact that we wake up each and every day focused on student success, public service and regional transformation.

QWhat progress do you see on the horizon for ECU and the region that is most exciting to you?

creative with respect to how we serve the students within our enrollment mix. There is an emerging opportunity to support adult learners throughout North Carolina, those individuals that have some college but no degree, that we want to bring back into the educational system. I think over the course of the next year and beyond, you’re going to see a pretty intentional focus on serving that population of students and doing it in a way that allows us to leverage the digital technologies and the online capacity that ECU is so well known for around the state and around the country.

WEB PHOTO

Above, Rogers speaks about the future of higher education at the GreenvillePitt County Chamber of Commerce Power Luncheon.

At left, Rogers with his wife, Rebekah, a twotime ECU graduate. While Rogers’ degrees are from Wake Forest, UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Pennsylvania, he took one undergraduate course at ECU. “I had a philosophy course that I took over the summer in the Brewster Building, (so) I have been an ECU student formally on at least one occasion,” he said.

A

I think probably the most significant one is probably the official brand launch of ECU Health as an integrated academic health system serving the rural health needs of all of eastern North Carolina. I’m really excited about the opportunity we’ll have together to serve more than 1.5 million patients across our entire region.

The other is we’re having to get much more

I also hope that we continue to see growth and progress within our athletics programs because sometimes those can be the heartbeat of eastern North Carolina. They bring the energy of passion of Pirate pride that we all like to see, and that I certainly experienced growing up here as a young child. Those are all big, high-impact opportunities that drive those multi-billion dollars in economic development that ECU brings to our region and to our state.

— The Daily Reflector

PHOTO Chancellor Philip Rogers speaks to graduates in his first commencement address as the university’s leader. “You can feel the energy, the Pirate spirit, back in the air here,” he said.

CLIFF HOLLIS/ECU NEWS SERVICES East Carolina University Chancellor Philip Rogers and his family, Rebekah Rogers, Grayson and Dean, enjoy some ECU items while touring the TowneBank Tower.

Reach for the sky

Drone operators, technology help boost law enforcement, city services

BY GINGER LIVINGSTON Staff Writer

When an 11-year-old went missing in Pitt County in February, Amelia Frasure took to the skies to help find her.

Frasure is a drone operator for the Greenville Police Department, a job that is on the cutting edge of how technology is saving lives and improving capabilities in law enforcement and other services provided by the city.

“One of our main goals is searching for missing people, enhancing safety for the public and enhancing officer safety,” said Frasure, a three-year veteran with the department who recently became the drone program’s coordinator and technology officer.

Frasure and three more of the department’s operators deployed drones to help the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office search for a missing girl east of the city. Her team was tasked with searching a 1,000-acre area that had a combination of houses, outbuildings, open fields and wooded areas.

Using digital maps to divide the area into grids, a drone with thermal imaging equipment was launched. When a human-like image appeared, drones with spotlights were sent in so the searchers could verify what they were seeing, she said.

As the drones searched outlying areas, searchers on foot were able to focus elsewhere and the girl was located in a barn not far from her home. The drone team had already covered half its search area when it received word the girl had been found.

“We are now able to quickly begin searches in remote areas for missing persons or wanted suspects and provide that real-time information to officers in the field,” Greenville Police Chief Mark Holtzman said. “Drones have already aided officers in the safe apprehension of dangerous persons and flown many hours in search of lost or endangered persons.”

Officially unmanned aerial systems, drones are aircraft without onboard pilots that can be operated remotely by an on-ground pilot or through a programmed onboard flight system.

While they started out as devices used by the military, the equipment now has multiple uses in areas such as law enforcement, real estate, surveying and agriculture, to name a few. Greenville has incorporated drones into law enforcement, marketing and other activities.

“Our department is always looking for ways to improve our delivery of service to the community and increase the safety of our officers,” Holtzman said. “Having a viable drone program at GPD has proven itself on both fronts.”

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there are 857,266 registered drones in the United States with more than half registered for recreational use. Nearly 265,800 people are certified remote pilots.

North Carolina has 4,027 registered drone operators, according to FAA data. Forty-four are in Pitt County, including 28 in Greenville.

The sky is not the limit Frasure was involved in a situation where multiple people ran into the woods at night when an officer stopped a vehicle matching the description of a car believed to be involved in a shots-fired incident.

“We didn’t want (the officer) to get in the woods with these people when we couldn’t see. So he stopped and we deployed the drones,” Frasure said.

Using a combination of thermal imaging and spotlights, the three suspects were located and Frasure guided a K-9 team who brought the suspects out.

“If everybody can go home safe at the end of the day, we know we’ve done our job,” Frasure said. Drone tracking also allowed officers to capture an image of a suspect tossing a weapon over a fence while running from arresting officers.

The police department’s drone unit currently has nine individuals, including

Frasure, who is the only full-time operator. The others are officers, supervisors and detectives who work in other areas of the department.

Frasure wants to recruit more operators with the goal of having two operators per shift.

“Even with the incredible drone team here at GPD, I feel we are still at the dawn

of an exciting period of innovation in law enforcement; one where the sky is no longer the limit,” Holtzman said.

“Drones, unmanned aircraft, unmanned vehicles are becoming more prevalent in law enforcement and public safety in general,” Frasure said. “I

City of Greenville photographer Aaron Hines operates a drone at River Park North on March 2. Hines had used drones recreationally when he was younger and when he learned the city was looking for employees to operate a drone he volunteered.

PHOTOS BY WILLOW ABBEY MERCANDO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

Officer Amelia Frasure operates a drone at River Park North on March 2. Frasure is a drone operator for the Greenville Police Department, a job that is on the cutting edge of how technology is saving lives and improving capabilities in law enforcement and other services provided by the city.

AARON HINES/CITY OF GREENVILLE

The city of Greenville is increasingly using drone technology to capture images of development in the city like the installation of a new pedestrian bridge along East Fifth Street at the South Tar River Greenway crossing near the intersection of East 10th Street on Sept. 26, 2020.

The bridge is part of the city’s ongoing pedestrian safety initiative, accompanied by new sidewalks in the same area.

PCC drone program takes skills to new heights

BY GINGER LIVINGSTON Staff Writer

Drones are important tools in numerous fields, but becoming a licensed drone pilot doesn’t automatically qualify a person for the work.

Pitt Community College has offered a class that prepares people for the Federal Aviation Administration’s unmanned aircraft systems pilot’s license since 2018. While the number of students in this year’s class, six, is far below the 26 that took the inaugural class, the course instructor and college administrators believe new opportunities in the field will stimulate growth.

“It’s really more about enhancing an existing career,” said Bill Lewis, Pitt Community College’s adjunct instructor for unmanned aviation systems.

Evolving technology and materials, however, mean a multitude of future uses are possible.

Dan Mayo, PCC’s dean of public services and fine arts, introduced drones to the school.

Mayo, a retired U.S. Naval helicopter pilot who served on both active duty and in the reserves for more than 30 years, was introduced to unmanned aircraft systems in the 1980s when they were used at the Atlantic Fleet Weapons test facility in Puerto Rico. Over time he saw the systems evolve from testing technology to being used in combat situations.

As battery and GPS technology evolved and the costs came down, hobbyists introduced drones to the general public.

“Plastics have changed it, really changed everything,” Mayo said. “It gave you more precise control. That’s all happened in the last 20 years.”

From hobbyists flying on the weekend, drones began moving into the commercial sector.

The Federal Aviation Administration, concerned that increasing drone usages would endanger airplane flight, established rules for using drones and required people to become licensed if they wanted to operate a drone outside their property.

“Even if you’re having fun, if someone asks, ‘could you take a picture of my house, could you take a

picture of my boat,’ then you need licensing,” Mayo said.

The school obtained a three-year grant from the Perkins Foundation to pay for the equipment and instructor. Lewis, who was PCC’s director of infrastructure, was tapped to lead the program.

Lewis said he pointed out that he didn’t have a background in aviation but was intrigued. He spent six months teaching himself about drones and obtaining his pilot’s license.

Pitt Community College’s first drone class was created at the request of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol which wanted to train troopers to

use drones in their accident investigations and searches, Mayo said.

“If you have to find someone with a helicopter, they (law enforcement) have to have the right crew, the right weather so send the drone in and take care of business,” Mayo said. “That’s the beauty of it. Also a state trooper can pop open the trunk of his car and he’s got it with him for whatever he needs to do.”

Other law enforcement agencies became interested in using drones and joined the classes. After a while, people outside law enforcement wanted to take the class, Mayo said, starting with real estate agents.

PROGRESS REPORT: VIDANT HEALTH

The coursework focuses on operating a drone safely and responsbily.

“We learn about weather, about decision-making and about air space,” Mayo said.

Learning about air space is important because without maps, which are now available on mobile apps, drone pilots need to know how to distinguish what type of airspace they are operating in.

Drone pilots in Greenville have to be extra viligent since there is an airport with routine commercial flights along with private and commerical aircraft flying in and out. Drones can’t fly near airports.

Lewis was working with

emergency management directors and law enforcement to develop a course of study focused on using drones in law enforcement but COVID-19 interrupted the work. The grant ran out and no other funding was available to continue the program full-time although it’s still offered through continuing education.

Lewis is now a technology instructor at Farmville Central High School along with serving as an adjunct instructor for the drone program.

“My opinion is a lot of people have entered into the field, buy a drone and they believe they can do real estate pictures or inspect a roof or inspect a water tower,” Lewis said. “That really isn’t the case. The drone is a tool of the job. You should have the background and experience for how you are planning to use the drone.

“Just because I can take pictures doesn’t mean I am a photographer,” Lewis said.

Mayo said he doesn’t see PCC’s drone program expanding at this time.

Six community colleges in the state offer drone classes. Some, like Wayne and Lenoir Community Colleges, offer the courses through their avaition programs. Others offer it through technology programs.

Elizabeth City State University’s aviation degree program is about to fly higher with the inclusion of a bachelor’s degree in unmanned aerial vehicle systems.

That could change as drone usage becomes more integrated into everyday life such as being used for deliveries.

Contact Ginger Livingston at glivingston@reflector.com or 252-329-9570.

Collaboration with Brody moves health care forward for region

Special to The Daily Reflector

Creating sustainable, high-quality rural health care is as important as ever, especially here in eastern North Carolina, and that is what leaders at Vidant Health and the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University are teaming up to do.

ECU Health, a collaboration between the two organizations launching in the spring, will be an academic health system dedicated to improving access to high-quality care, training the next generation of physicians dedicated to serving the state and improving the health and well-being of the region. Together, two mission-driven organizations will create enhanced rural health training opportunities for medical students and residents, as well as expanded research and clinical trial capabilities.

Alongside leaders from both organizations, Vidant CEO and Brody Dean Dr. Michael Waldrum and Brody

Executive Dean Dr. Jason Higginson are working to make ECU Health and its promise of high-quality academic rural health care a reality. Both Dr. Waldrum and Dr. Higginson have dedicated their careers to academic health care and share a vision of creating an academic health care enterprise that embraces the unique nature of eastern North Carolina.

“When we think about progress here in eastern North Carolina, we think about improving the vitality of communities throughout the region,” said Waldrum.

“Health is perhaps the most important foundation to improve a community’s vitality. Healthy people contribute in the workforce and economy. Access to health care

attracts and retains community members who want to live, work and retire in the region. This focus on health and well-being, combined with the academic mission of Brody, will be at the heart of how ECU Health moves eastern North Carolina forward.”

The two organizations are working together to:

■ Evaluate and modify existing practices to improve quality and coordination of care;

■ Integrate certain management structures and strategic planning efforts;

■ Develop a plan for

shared services to support the integrated entity;

■ Leverage the capabilities of each organization to advance the collective research and education infrastructure; and

■ Coordinate philanthropic initiatives.

Vidant and ECU have a rich history of collaboration in health care and education. Vidant’s role as a regional rural health care leader, and Brody’s status as the highest value medical school and the largest health care educator in the state creates a natural partnership that will advance

the combined mission of ECU Health.

“Eastern North Carolina is strongest when its community leaders work collaboratively to best serve the nearly 1.4 million people who call the region home,” Higginson said. “Vidant and Brody are two pillars for health care and education and the formation of ECU Health will result in better health care for communities we proudly serve. This year marks the beginning of a new, exciting chapter for our region.”

The pathtoprogress is not always astraightline. The success of ourcommunity is fueled by our people, their resiliency, andtheir ability to adapt Togetherweare creating Pitt County’s future.

grow

FILE PHOTOS/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

PCC trustees, foundation board members and faculty watch a drone presentation in the fall of 2020. The college has offered a class that prepares people for the Federal Aviation Administration’s unmanned aircraft systems pilot’s license since 2018.

MAYO

FILE PHOTO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

Dr. Michael Waldrum, Vidant Health CEO and dean of the Brody School of Medicine, answers questions in November about the health partnership at the Vidant Health Administration Building

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Bethel Falkland Far mville Fountain Greenville Grifton Grimesland Simpson Winterville

PROGRESS REPORT: HYSTER YALE

Manufacturer works to grow talented workforce

Special to The Daily Reflector

Hyster-Yale Group, a leading manufacturer of a full line of lift trucks and attachments, is a globally integrated company with the Americas headquarters located in Greenville.

With more than 8,100 employees worldwide, Hyster-Yale not only prides itself on building quality products but also finding and growing the best talent.

“The rise in global competition for a talented and innovative workforce brings opportunities for HYG to partner with local high schools, colleges and universities to build the talent of tomorrow,” said Kelly Brown, director of Global Talent Management.

HYG has created three types of internship programs tailored for high school, undergraduate and graduate students.

The High School Internship program helps students develop interpersonal and professional skills and allows them to discover what areas they excel in. Beginning this summer, HYG will offer an eight-week internship specifically for rising or graduating seniors.

The Undergraduate Internship Program offers students the opportunity to apply things they’ve learned in their undergraduate curriculums into the workplace. They can explore career niches and develop their professional skills while building a network and enhancing industry-related and soft skills, leading from education to employment.

The Graduate Internship Program is for those students who have earned an undergraduate degree and are interested in

DRONE

Continued from A4

would highly recommend to any other agency to start doing research in this area, it’s only going to benefit the public and your officers.”

The Pitt County Sheriff’s Office plans to implement a drone program in the coming months, said Sgt. Lee Darnell, the sheriff’s public relations and information officer.

Last month, the Pitt County Board of Commissioners submitted a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration requesting that the sheriff’s office be allowed to operate drones under the agency’s public aircraft operator rules. The letter certifies that the sheriff’s office meets the legal requirements to operate a drone program.

The sheriff’s office already has several deputies who are trained in drone operations and have received their FAA licenses. It will cost about $101,000 to start the program, Darnell said. The money is already in the sheriff’s budget.

“We are very excited to be able to offer this level of service throughout Pitt County,” Darnell said. “The use of technology in these ways can make law-enforcement a much safer endeavor while making a much safer community. This program can pay dividends for all emergency responders in the county and benefit every citizen.”

Surveying, selling the city

Capturing the scope of a 300-acre stormwater improvement project propelled the City of Greenville to use drones outside law enforcement.

Aaron Hines, a communications specialist with the city, has been in the forefront of its usage.

When Hines joined city government more than five years ago he was hired to work in graphic and web design.

“Once I was here I worked really hard at showing them the value of photography and what we can do with it and it’s become a major part of what I

PROGRESS REPORT: GROVER GAMING

Growth continues at gaming developer

Special to The Daily Reflector

Greenville is well known as the center of advanced manufacturing, medical treatment and education in eastern North Carolina. It is also the place Grover Gaming, a high-tech regulated gambling software company, calls home.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Members of the Hyster-Yale Veterans Resource Group accept the official game ball during a 2021 East Carolina University football game. The veterans program is one of Hyster-Yale’s workforce

advancing research and professional skills relevant to their career niche.

“Today’s students are seeking opportunities that stimulate their interests and provide real-world experiences” said Mary Paramore, senior organizational development adviser. “The HYG internship programs will offer challenging projects that complement the student’s academic programs and career interests while giving a broad exposure to the organization and materials handling industry.”

Another important workforce development initiative at Hyster-Yale is its Veterans Program.

“At Hyster-Yale we are committed to actively hiring veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces,” Brown said. “We believe military veterans have delivered a great gift to all Americans through their service. The rigorous and excellent training that veterans receive while on active duty make them well positioned to offer companies such as ours a

ready-made workforce of men and women who are highly trained and uniquely skilled.

“Veteran employees are creative, focused on the mission, can motivate a team, identify and solve problems, and deliver outcomes that contribute positively to the bottom line,” Brown said.

Ralph Dalton, maintenance technician, has been with HYG for more than 35 years and is a veteran of the U.S. Marines, having served during the Vietnam era.

“Transitioning to a workplace after being in the military can be difficult,” said Dalton. “That’s why we’ve created a Veterans Resource Group to help our veteran employees. We support each other, offering training opportunities while recognizing their service and sacrifice for our country”. For information about the internship programs, opportunities for veterans and what it is like to be a part of Hyster-Yale, visit Hyster-YaleCareers.com and join the Talent Network.

Grover Gaming has made Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies for the past three years, and in 2020, was ranked the 196th fastest-growing company in the United States. Earlier this year, Grover was honored with a Glassdoor Employee’s Choice Award and ranked as the No. 2 best place to work in the country among companies with less than 1,000 employees.

“We are very fortunate yet honored to be recognized in those ways,” says Garrett Blackwelder, president and owner of Grover Gaming. “I give credit for that to the amazing people we have on the team here. Our culture is particularly important to us, not just so that employees have an exciting, challenging place to work but it also makes for good business. Having a great atmosphere in which to work really fuels the creativity and sense of innovation in our people.”

Grover primarily makes electronic gambling games and systems for charitable gaming and lottery markets across the country. Currently, the company is expanding into other gaming markets here and abroad, such as the well-established Class II Tribal Casino market.

Grover Gaming was established in 2013 and started with about 30 employees in one 2,000 square foot building in Greenville, which

Grover Gaming has made Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies for the past three years, and in 2020, Grover was ranked the 196th fastest-growing company in the United States.

included warehouse space. Grover now has almost 400 employees spread in different states.

The company announced in 2020 that it would invest $12.5 million in its Pitt County operations in the coming five years. It was awarded job creation grants by the Greenville City Council totaling more than $200,000 and up to $500,000 from Pitt County Economic Development over the five years.

Currently, the company has over 60,000 square feet of administrative and development space spread around several facilities in Greenville, a game design studio in Wilmington and offices in Georgia, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.

“It’s been a fun ride so far and I can’t wait to see what the future holds,” Blackwelder said. “We are just getting started.”

do now,” Hines said.

He was creating advertising for the recreation and parks department and realized most of its stock photographs were old.

“It seemed like a natural fit to get updated images to help show sports, recreation and parks programs, public works and what they do on a daily basis,” Hines said. “There also was a big push to tell Greenville’s story. That’s something that’s been consistent the whole time I’ve been here.”

Hines had used drones recreationally when he was younger and when he learned the city was looking for employees to operate a drone he volunteered.

After taking an in-house course, he used drones to capture crowd images of festivals and other city events.

The city’s engineering department then approached him about documenting the Town Creek Culvert project, a $33 million effort to repair, replace and reconstruct nearly 300 acres of stormwater infrastructure in the downtown Greenville area. The project required digging 25-foot trenches to remove the old system and shut downtown streets and intersections for multiple weeks and months at a time.

“It was the only way to show the scale of the project and how it fit in the area,” Hines said. “You couldn’t do that from the ground level. Having a drone

really gave us the ability to see not just an overhead view and see how deep they are digging down, but how it’s laid out and how it’s spread across the city.

“It didn’t take long after we got (those images) that the demand for drone imagery really took off in the city,” Hines said.

Hines works with public works to capture aerial images that aid with capital improvement project planning. The city’s Geographic Information Systems office occasionally calls on him to get up-to-date images for mapping.

He also photographs events such as the creation of the Unite Against Racism

street mural in late 2020.

“I knew immediately, judging by the scale of the project, that aerial imaging would be critical to illustrating it properly,” he said. “There was not a single vantage point from ground level that you could see the entire installation so it made sense that capturing it from the air would be an important part of it.”

Drone photography lends context, Hines said. When working on the Town Creek Culvert project, he found it’s sometimes difficult for people to comprehend maps, but a photograph made it easier for people to see where work was taking place.

“It gives you context on how something fits into the overall landscape. It gives you a different perspective. It’s seeing the forest instead of the trees,” Hines said.

It provides a perspective few will ever see, said Brock Letchworth, the city’s public information officer and communications manager.

“Aaron’s use of the drone has drastically improved the quality and variety of photos that we are able to utilize to help tell the city’s story,” Letchworth said. “He has been able to provide a bird’s eye view of city events, landscapes, and more from a viewpoint that many of us would never be able to get.

Letchworth said Hines has done a great job cap-

turing images of the city’s skyline and newly opened Wildwood Park, but one photograph stands out to him.

“The one photo that continues to stand out to me was one he captured during a Freeboot Friday event when Parmalee was performing,” Letchworth said. “The shot, which was taken from behind the stage at Five Points Plaza, provided a unique look at the large crowd and festive atmosphere. It is an image that has helped us and other organizations promote the “play” aspect of when we say live, work, and play in Greenville.”

Contact Ginger Livingston at glivingston@reflector.com or 252-329-9570.

PHOTOS BY AARON HINES/CITY OF GREENVILLE

Joe Lasher and Parmalee perform at Freeboot Friday in 2018. Brock Letchworth, the city’s public information officer and communications manager, cited this photo as one that has “helped the city and other organizations promote the ‘play’ aspect of when we say live, work, and play in Greenville.”

Aaron Hines photographs events such as the creation of the Unite Against Racism street mural in late 2020. “I knew immediately, judging by the scale of the project, that aerial imaging would be critical to illustrating it properly,” he said. “There was not a single vantage point from ground level that you could see the entire installation so it made sense that capturing it from the air would be an important part of it.”

development initiatives.

FILE PHOTO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

BY LESLIE BEACHBOARD

Managing Editor of The Enterprise

Martin County is a county growing economically from the wide variety of business, agriculture and recreation options for those from all walks of life.

The rural county, with a population of approximately 25,000 residents, sits on the well-known Roanoke River, approximately 80 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.

Martin County was formed in 1774 from part of southeastern Halifax County and the western part of Tyrrell County. The county is named for the last royal governor of North Carolina, Josiah Martin.

The county has a total area of 461 square miles. Of the 290,800 acres of land in the county, 150,699 acres are classified as farmland.

The Roanoke River is the northern boundary for the entire county.

Families and their friends can play youth sports, enjoy artistic and creative opportunities and be immersed in the great outdoors, all locally.

Martin County elementary schools emphasize quality instruction and introduction to technology within small class sizes. High school students can choose to take college credit courses onsite at Martin Community College or through distance learning programs.

High school seniors often graduate as “super seniors” with as much as two years worth of credits toward a four-year collegiate degree.

Martin County is located in an area of North Carolina that has abundant natural resources and farm products that can be used as raw materials for manufacturing.

Logging infrastructure makes it an efficient location for wood product companies and biomass energy producers.

Major regional crops include peanuts and soybeans. Martin County is where honey-roasted peanuts originated, and the region is home to over 50 food industry producers.

In addition, the region’s transportation assets make the county an ideal location for any manufacturers or distributor that needs access to east coast markets or proximity to seaports.

According to Martin County Economic Development CEO and President Jason Semple, in the last year The Jay Group announced 22 new jobs and $2.8 million in investment for a new warehouse/logistics operation in Robersonville.

The company selected a location at 1321 Third St. in Robersonville.

“We are pleased to

Martin County is growing

choose Martin County for our rapidly growing operations. Investments in our new location help us better serve our customers. We look forward to joining Martin County’s business industry,” said The Jay Group CEO Ryan Jay.

According to Robersonville Mayor Tina Brown, she is excited about the positive economic news.

“I am excited to hear a new company is coming to the town of Robersonville. This is great for our community bringing in 22 jobs. I am also happy that the building will be utilized and turned into something that will benefit the town,” Mayor Brown added.

According to Semple, The Jay Group is a family-oriented business from eastern North Carolina.

“I am excited to welcome them to our business industry,” he added.

Martin County Schools recently completed renovations for its new Innovation Campus that houses career and technical education courses.

The $7 million project will serve a vital role in providing the future technical workforce, which is in a great shortage across the nation.

The facility is housed in 60,000 square feet that was once a shopping center and represents a partnership between many local organizations.

The community came together in December 2021 for the ribbon cutting for the project. The facility has been in the works since 2016.

The Innovation Campus is an extension of Riverside High School and South Creek High School.

Many of the courses offered will serve as gateways to community colleges and will also get students prepared for work in the area.

“The building was originally created for high school students in the fields of career and technical education. We are envisioning bringing students as young as preschool and kindergarten, elementary and middle school to do STEM and STEAM activities here in the building. The sky’s the limit with the new facility,” Martin County Schools Superintendent David Fonseca said.

The project received funding from Martin County Commissioners, the Local Capital Outlay Fund and the Public Schools Capital Building Fund Needs Based.

“There is so much here, and we’ve invested so much in this facility. It’s going to really open their eyes to all the possibilities that are out there in terms of a career,” Semple said.

School bus transportation and meal service will be provided at the campus

for all students who need it.

The town of Robersonville was one of seven North Carolina public power communities approved to participate in the Site Assist Program in the summer of 2021.

The program helped Robersonville identify some properties for potential industrial development.

In 2021, Martin County Economic Development, Martin Community College’s Small Business Center, the Martin County Chamber of Commerce and Martin County Travel and Tourism were awarded the National Association of Development Organizations 2021 IMPACT Award for the Economy Recovery Forum, a local response to assisting companies with available COVID-19 resources and information.

According to Martin County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rebecca Harned, the Roanoke River has been named a North Carolina State Trail, and will receive funding yearly to promote and enhance the river.

The vital funding will lead to progress in building North Carolina’s 12 official

state trails. These long-distance trails range from the French Broad River Trail in the mountains to the Roanoke River Trail.

Trails are a foundation for North Carolina which make up its $28 billion outdoor recreation economy.

The Downtown Stage in Williamston was completed in 2021 and another stage is planned for downtown Robersonville this year.

The Downtown Stage hosts entertainment for families, while also giving them access to information from organizations and vendors.

According to Harned, multiple bike racks have been installed throughout Martin County as part of the Bike and Pedestrian Plan. This project assists Martin County to become more biking and pedestrian friendly.

New Martin County printed and digital maps were made available in the last year. There have also been new digital kiosks added at tourism locations around the county for visitors to search local food and attractions.

“Spectators are allowed to attend fully booked Bob

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Martin Eastern Agricultural Center events again after being closed due to COVID-19,” said Harned.

Martin County Chamber of Commerce has several upcoming projects to help increase the growth of the recreation industry throughout the county.

2023 is the year of the North Carolina Year of Trails.

The equine or horseback riding trail across from Martin Community College is underway.

There will be incorporating signage about the Roanoke River Underground Railroad Trail and expanding the Martin County Quilt Block Trail.

Martin County’s Historic Church Trail will be enhanced through audio tours.

“The Roanoke River Partners will be historically renovating the Hamilton Rosenwald School as a river center and camping area. River development projects in Williamston are in the planning stages that include an 18-hole disc golf course and expanded walking trail,” Harned added.

Martin County Committee of 100 Chairman Jere-

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

miah Taylor has only been in the position for about a month, but he will continue with several big projects for the organization. In 2021 the main focus was to take possession of the vacant building at 108 W. Main St. in Williamston because of its inability to meet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have granted funds to local businesses in hope to improve the current location, which should hopefully increase the current economic position,” said Taylor.

“The organization’s main focus has been to acquire the building, which we have accomplished,” he added.

The goal with the building is to create a shield space for future business. No particular business, more of a blank canvas for anyone to work with.

“The project is going well. It’s a large investment, and we hope it brings good things to the downtown area,” Taylor said.

Renovations have already begun, and are currently in the demolition stage.

Taylor said this was just the beginning of this type of project.

Once this project is complete, the Committee of 100 has discussed moving to another location. Maybe in a different town.

“We will have to evaluate the next project once we get to that point,” Taylorsaid.

Through industry, education, agriculture and recreation, Martin County organizations work together to increase the economic development for the residents and visitors.

Leslie Beachboard can be reached via email at lbeachboard@apgenc.com.

Due to the location of Martin County, construction and the forestry industry thrive in the area.

The Roanoke River has always served as a way for economic growth and recreation in Martin County. These individuals participated in the Spring Paddle.

A rea gets an economic boost from a wide variety of business, agricultural recreation options

‘There’s purpose in her life’

At age 80, Anne Grimes has more cooking than dumplings

BY KIM GRIZZARD Staff Writer

The first time she took her dad’s 1954 Pontiac out after dark, Anne had a fender-bender.

Though years later Anne Briley Grimes would make her mark as the “Dumpling Lady,” at the time, she was just a teenager in hot water with her father.

“I hadn’t been away from home twenty minutes,” she wrote in her 2008 book, “Dumplings ‘N More.” She recalls holding the displaced fender guard and crying until she heard her father say, “Is that all that’s left?”

Minutes later, she was back behind the wheel, giving it another try.

In the more than six decades since, Grimes has tasted success as an entrepreneur and business owner, a photographer and ordained minister, though the road to progress has not been a smooth ride. Her 80year journey has been filled with starts and stops, turns and detours. But make no mistake, she is going somewhere.

Early years

It seems only fitting that the home where she entered the world on Feb. 1, 1942, is now the middle of Arlington Boulevard.

“It was Arlington Drive then,” Grimes said in an interview from her office at Homeplace of Ayden, an organization for senior adults that she co-founded in 2019. “Because I’ve been around 80 years, I’ve seen a lot of things happen in this area.”

Anne was the first of four children born to Mildred Adelaide Taylor and David Clifton Briley at a time when Greenville had a population of around 13,000, which is less than half the enrollment of East Carolina University today. Except for a bout with rheumatic fever during kindergarten, when she lay in bed at home learning to read from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, Anne remembers an idyllic

ROGERS

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of a pastor and the life of a chancellor, I’ve learned.”

One of those is that the average tenure in those positions is relatively short — six to eight years, by some estimates. But that wasn’t the case in Rogers’ youth. His father remained at the same church for nearly four decades, retiring earlier this year. Unlike many pastors’ children, Rogers was able to live in the same city until he left home for college.

But after graduating from Wake Forest University with a bachelor’s degree in communications and receiving a master’s in public administration from UNC-Chapel Hill, he had no intention of returning to Greenville. Rogers was looking for opportunities in bigger cities farther from home than Winston-Salem and Chapel Hill.

“Even after I finished my master’s degree I didn’t necessarily intend to come back home, but, for me, all roads lead back to ECU in some form or fashion,” he said. “There was this young lady at the time who stole my heart. She lived in Greenville and therefore I intended to live in Greenville, yet again. Best decision I ever make, and Rebekah gets all the credit for me returning back to Greenville.”

Rogers began at ECU as a policy analyst in 2007 and served from 2008-2013 as chief of staff under then-Chancellor Steve Ballard. In 2009, he married

childhood.

Growing up, she divided her time between the swimming pool and movie theaters downtown, where she attended Greenville High School until J.H. Rose High (now C.M. Eppes Middle) was built on Elm Street. Back then, a hamburger, fries and a milkshake at Wilbur Hardee’s restaurant cost 47 cents.

As a teenager, Anne spent her summers selling milkshakes at the dairy where her father worked.

That was where, at age 15, she met Bryan Grimes, the man who would become her husband. By her senior year of high school, they were engaged.

Although Anne received a scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she planned to study pharmacy, the couple eloped during her second semester. Anne did not complete her degree.

By the following spring, 1962, their son was born. Her husband’s enlistment in the U.S. Air Force took the couple away from North Carolina, though by 1967, they were able to come back home.

Rebekah Page, who has undergraduate and graduate degrees from ECU and served as a communications instructor before her husband took a job at the Washington, D.C.-based American Council on Education. Rogers served as vice president and chief of staff and later senior vice president for learning and engagement at ACE. While completing his doctorate in higher education management at the University of Pennsylvania, he wrote his dissertation on managing public universities during times of financial distress.

“What I think interested me in higher education is that in my heart I’m a problem solver,” Rogers said. “I like to roll up my sleeves to develop innovative solutions to tough challenges, and what better place to do that than in the higher education environment?”

His work at ACE, a research, policy and advocacy organization representing more than 1,700 public and private higher education institutions, gave Rogers a clear picture of the challenges that college presidents and chancellors face. ACE’s own American College President Study, a comprehensive survey conducted every five years since 1986, provides insight into why some consider a chancellor’s role to be one of the toughest jobs in the nation. In the most recent study, conducted in 2017, college presidents and chancellors listed financial shortfalls among the top issues

Entrepreneurial lenses

The Grimeses first chance to become entrepreneurs took the couple to Southport where they opened a convenience store in the early 1970s. A day care center and a bakery followed, but when the economy of the waterfront community took a turn for the worse and Anne’s mother became ill, they moved home to Greenville in 1976.

It was back in her hometown Anne opened a bakery on Memorial Drive where she launched a product that would make a name for her. Anne’s Pastry was not initially on the menu at the Rolling Pin, which offered cakes and pies, doughnuts and muffins. One day, some older ladies came in and asked if she sold pastry. When she told them no, one remarked that it was because Anne didn’t know how to make it.

“I’ve never met a challenge that I wasn’t willing to take,” she said, laughing. “And if you tell me I can’t do it, you’d better believe I’m going to kill myself doing it.”

That pastry later became Anne’s Old Fashioned Flat

they faced. Since then, navigating a way forward during a global pandemic and dealing with shrinking enrollments have no doubt been added to the list of challenges.

“There’s no easy problem that ever lands on the desk of a university chancellor. That gives me a lot of energy,” said Rogers, who became the youngest chancellor in ECU history when he took on the role just days after his 38th birthday.

That, in itself, goes against the national trend. According to ACE’s American College President Study, the average president was 61.7 years old in 2017, up from 59.9 years old about a decade earlier.

“I don’t think I would have pursued a presidency or pursued the role of chan-

happen sometimes. You have to take the first step sometimes. Go out there and stir the bushes.”

Sometimes, Anne did that quite literally in her search for bugs or even bears to photograph. At a distance with her long lens ready, she would wait for a black bear to yawn or scratch a tick on its eyebrow.

“I was alone so I could just go out and take my time,” she said. “Through the pictures, the beauty of what God created began to speak to me in a special way.”

Her patience paid off with Grimes’ photos being recognized by National Wildlife Magazine and North American Nature Photographers Association.

Retired but not tired

the coronavirus pandemic made it hard to draw visitors, especially seniors considered at high risk for contracting the virus.

Following a delay in the initial opening, Homeplace began with Bible studies and exercise classes, although crowds for many activities remained thin. To meet expenses, Grimes and Ethridge opened Treasures and Pleasures gifts in 2021, which offers Grimes’ photos and other items for sale. Then they began offering the facility as an events venue, hosting weddings, showers and birthday parties, including Anne’s 80th last month.

Dumplings and launched a company called Harvest Time Foods, which began in 1981 in a converted carport at Grimes’ home. About a decade later, the company won the Small Business Award of North Carolina and the Southern Region Leadership In Entrepreneurial Achievement and Philanthropy — LEAP — Award.

Following her husband’s death in 2006, Anne continued serving as secretary-treasurer of the family-owned business. But she also began to focus on a different passion.

“After he died, I was just kind of floundering around,” Anne said. “He was sick for 14 years. I had just lived and breathed him for all those years. I had to find out who I was.”

Anne had not anticipated viewing life through the lens of widowhood. She found solace in nature and then in nature photography, taking a class to help hone her skills.

“(You can’t) say I’m going to sit back and be sourpuss the rest of my life because things haven’t happened the way I thought,” she said. “You have to make things

cellor at any other institution in the country,” Rogers said. “I can’t imagine doing this kind of work anywhere else.”

Another way in which Rogers hopes to defy statistics is in longevity. In 2016, college presidents spent an average of 6.5 years on their job, down from 8.5 years a decade earlier.

ECU has mirrored this trend. In more than half a century, only three chancellors — Leo Jenkins, Richard Eakin and Steve Ballard — have served a decade or more. Seven, including three interim chancellors, have served six years or fewer.

Guidry hopes to see Rogers join the ranks of ECU’s long-term chancellors.

“We’re trying to be a model of regional transfor-

When she retired in 2019, Grimes and her personal assistant, Pam Eldridge, hit the road, with Eldridge driving while Grimes pursued photography. Spending hours traveling together led the two women to have conversations about longevity and loneliness and to share a vision for creating a home-like place where senior adults could gather for friendship and fellowship. They broke ground for Homeplace of Ayden in 2019.

“I could list all the different things I’ve done in my life and you would (ask), ‘Well how in the world did you go from this to this to this to this?’” Grimes said. “No relation, but every position that I’ve been in in my life has equipped me to go not necessarily to the next position but maybe three positions down. It’s like Lego blocks. You keep building.

“I just knew that I hadn’t reached the end of my journey just because I retired. I don’t know, really, what that word means, because I’m working harder than I ever worked, I think, in the sense that every day I’ve got a list. I can get up excited.”

As Homeplace prepared to open its doors in the first few months of 2020, not everyone shared her enthusiasm. The arrival of

mation, and a lot of that means maintaining the talent and keeping that talent in eastern North Carolina,” he said. “He’s a perfect example of that. I’m just hopeful that we can hang onto him for a long time over here.”

Rogers shares that goal, in part, in order to be able to see his children enjoy the kind of upbringing that he had. Sons Grayson and Dean were ages 5 and 2 when the family moved to Greenville, perhaps too young to remember living anywhere else.

“I was given the gift as a child here in Greenville of a consistent and sustainable life in a wonderful community,” Rogers said. “It was rare to be a son of a pastor and to be able to stay at one church and in one commu-

Plans are underway to complete a pavilion, expand an indoor reception area and turn the gift shop into a bridal dressing room. Additionally, the business is creating a garden space on some of the acreage behind Homeplace in honor of area residents who died from COVID.

“I probably am more adventuresome now than I ever was. I have no fear of anything, absolutely not,” Grimes said. “Inside me is an expectancy of something big. That’s how I get up each morning, expecting God to do whatever it is he’s going to do and I just have to follow along.”

Grimes, who had pacemaker surgery last summer, has shown few signs of slowing down, except for the mid-day nap that she has added to her schedule.

“She is the ultimate example, 80 years old, ran a company for 42 years and she’s running another one,” Eldridge said. “She’s an inspiration to seniors. She’s not kidding you when she says she wakes up in the morning with a list. There’s purpose in her life.

“People need to know that. It’s OK if you have a pacemaker. It’s OK if you have arthritis. It doesn’t mean you have to stop,” she said. “Give it all the gas you’ve got. That’s what she does. She gives it the gas.”

Contact Kim Grizzard at kgrizzard@reflector.com or call 329-9578.

nity for your entire life. The same rarity comes along with presidents and chancellors in higher education.

“Part of coming back home was I knew the incredible experience that I had growing up here, and I wanted the same thing for my two boys,” he said. “I couldn’t pick a better community to raise young children in because I’m a product of that community, and I know what it can do to help you thrive and advance as a young person. It gives me a lot of joy as a parent to know that my kids might have even a small taste of what I experienced growing up in Greenville.”

Contact Kim Grizzard at kgrizzard@reflector.com or call 329-9578.

WILLOW ABBEY MERCANDO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

Pamela Eldridge, left, speaks about her business partner, Anne Grimes during her 80th birthday celebration at Homeplace Events Venue on Feb. 1.

PROGRESS REPORT: GREENVILLE-ENC ALLIANCE

Area business leaders ban together to seek opportunities for growth

By Tom Kulikowski,

Progress is all around us and the Greenville-ENC Alliance, a public-private partnership, is honored to have an impact on economic development efforts in the Greenville metropolitan statistical area.

Formed in 2019, our organization was created to strengthen economic progress by bringing new capital investment and good-paying jobs to Pitt County. Our mission is to market the region to support new and existing businesses while maximizing opportunities for investment, job creation and economic growth.

We target the recruitment of specific industries that research shows will thrive in the area in terms of our available resources, skilled workforce and strong infrastructure. This includes advanced manufacturing, pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, medical devices and supplies, food and beverage manufacturing and/or packaging and technology such as software development and data processing.

The alliance works to develop opportunities for growth and to position our community as forward thinking, adaptable and open for business. We’re also proud to be a region with a comparatively low cost of living and a high quality of life.

What sets the Greenville-ENC Alliance apart is that we are powered by forward-thinking leaders from Pitt County municipalities, utilities, banks, health care, education, business and industry. They have all chosen to invest in the future of economic development in our community because, as the saying goes, “a rising tide

NEWSLETTER

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Subscribers can read that story and go on to any other content on the site. Those who are not subscribers may get one or more free stories before being asked to subscribe.

Subscribing is easy, too, Lytle said. Readers can click on the “subscribe” link when they see the popup box asking them to subscribe. They can pay for a single 24-hour period, a month-to-month option, or subscribe for a year. They also can sign up for the printed edition, which gives readers full digital access and newspaper delivery. Each website also has a “subscribe” link in the upper righthand corner. Print subscribers who don’t have a website login yet can simply call 252329-9505 and the customer care reps will hook them up.

“One of the hidden gems on our websites is the Special Editions box which has links to the digital versions of our magazines,” Lytle said. “The print versions of titles like Her Magazine, Greenville Life in the East, Eastern Living, Albemarle Magazine and others are distributed throughout the community, but no matter where you are you can see the latest digital editions of these just by clicking on the cover in the Special Editions box.”

Reputation, reach

Subscribing supports local journalism and helps

PITT COUNTY, LEADERS IN

lifts all boats.” The benefits of business expansion or new businesses locating here touch all of us.

During 2021, our organization played an important role in local and regional growth. This includes more than $150 million announced in new capital investment and the creation of over 300 new jobs through business expansion efforts.

In addition, our organization funded $20,000 in municipal grants enabling several Pitt County communities to complete impactful economic development projects. Additionally, we were excited to see the North Carolina General Assembly designate $4 million for the Eastern North Carolina Food Commercialization Center in Ayden. Our organization also assisted with the sale of the shell building in Indigreen Corporate Park to support our partners at Pitt County Economic Development. As part of that deal, we also sold one of our parcels of land and optioned another.

That said, over 75 percent of companies looking to locate their business in a new locale are interested in established sites. In collaboration with Pitt County’s economic development team, shell buildings will be constructed in both Farmville and Greenville,

news organizations that have been a part of the community for decades continue to provide coverage of news that in many cases would otherwise go uncovered, said Craig Springer, APG-ENC’s regional advertising director.

“The content you receive as part of your daily subscription or e-edition is from a credible source. The newspaper is your reputable source for proven and factual information.”

Professional, full-time reporters and editors have the ability to get to the bottom of any given issue, said Sean O’Brien, publisher of The Daily Advance.

“Other media organizations frequently rely on newspapers as sources for stories they post. Our readers also make a conscious decision to invest in our product, not only for the news but for the inserts as well other advertising.

“Our websites are chock full of supplemental material that we can’t physically fit in our traditional printed editions,” O’Brien said.

“This would include a large selection of photo galleries featuring local events, jail bookings, updated weather as well as additional coverage on important issues pertinent to the community.”

The newsletters and other digital products also are great tools to help advertisers extend their reach, O’Brien said. “Since the introduction of the internet, social media, and other avenues in the digital space, we are now able to broaden our audience exponentially,” he said. “Our audience

with work beginning later this year. New sites are also being evaluated for additional buildings in various areas of Pitt County.

For Pitt County to flourish, we must embrace change and the benefits it can deliver. The vision to transform economic development into being more collaborative, more forward thinking, more dynamic and more results-oriented is taking shape. Economic development can be a unifying force to bring those of differing backgrounds together with a focus on common goals.

We are eager to work with all who are willing to lend their support to bring more opportunities to Pitt County.

I have had the good fortune of being part of the formation of this public-private partnership and serving first as vice chairman and then as chairman of the Greenville-ENC Alliance. As interim president and CEO, I am excited to be part of turning our shared vision into reality.

To learn more about the Greenville-ENC Alliance’s economic development efforts, please visit our website: www.encalliance.com.

Tom Kulikowski is the interim president and chief executive officer of the Greenville-Eastern North Carolina Alliance.

has never been higher than it is right now, and the best part, there is still room to grow.”

Email newsletters are a great way to “target your audience” to customers who may be searching for products and or services, Springer said. “Digital marketing, in general, is a great way to increase your audience view on your business.”

Springer said APG-ENC has superior capabilities that can help businesses, including targeted display ads, geofencing, geotargeting and social media marketing in addition to advertising on the newspaper websites. Businesses can seize the opportunity to reach thousands of dedicated readers across the region, said Kyle Stephens, publisher Rocky Mount Telegram.

“There’s a common misconception that newspaper readership has steadily been declining for years. That’s simply not true,” Stephens said. “Our readership is stronger than ever, and that is simply because our readers have faith in the information we are delivering. Have the methods of distribution evolved over the years? Certainly, we are no different than any other industry. We are constantly developing new ways to communicate with our community. We do that through our newspapers, our websites, emailed newsletters, video, social, you name it, we provide it.”

Contact Bobby Burns at baburns@reflector.com and 252-329-9572.

TOM KULIKOWSKI

FILE PHOTO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR Greenville ENC Alliance is housed in the East Carolina University’s Research, Economic Development and Engagement Office. The organization was created to strengthen economic progress by bringing new capital investment and good-paying jobs to Pitt County.

MOVES THE WORLD

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Pitt County towns celebrate successes

BY EMILY BRONSON For APG-ENC

When town leaders from Winterville, Farmville and Ayden were asked to reflect on this past year and the growth their towns have experienced, progress was easy to see.

Winterville

Stephen Penn, the economic development planner for Winterville said the community’s downtown area has seen tremendous growth in the past year.

“One of the most unique things I will say about this year is we have two townhome developments that are coming on the fringe of downtown Winterville,” Penn said. “One of them is going to be called 11 at Main and it’s going to be 154 mid to upper-scale townhomes.”

As one of the newest additions to this area, Penn said these units will be sold to individuals not leased out by the complex.

This project was designed to attract more people to the downtown area, Penn said. Density in the community is essential for economic stability and the growth of the town, he said.

“With the growth of this entire region, it’s becoming very difficult to purchase a house,” Penn said. “Inventory is extremely low and it’s really shooting the prices up. To see this townhome development, not only do I think it’s enormous for our downtown but I think it’s going to be enormous for people who are seeking something other than a large single-family detached home.”

Winterville is a much younger community than others in the region due to East Carolina University and Pitt Community College, Penn said.

With these younger professionals and younger families moving to this town, Penn said it is essential to start development that will cater to the needs of this population.

“A lot of that (community growth) stems from the universities, the hospital and pharmaceutical manufacturing,” Penn said. “This really brings young and talented individuals and families to the area. I think the new development in downtown Winterville is going to provide something for people of all ages.”

By offering the communities of Winterville more diverse housing opportunities, Penn said, the downtown area and the town as a whole will continue to grow and flourish economically.

With a walkable and growing commercial area filled with restaurants and stores, Penn said the best thing for potential Winterville residents is a home in proximity to these businesses.

“This (townhome development) is something that provides tremendous opportunity to future homeowners and residents who are looking for something different than what already exists in Winterville right now,” Penn said.

Compared to cities and areas like the Triangle or the Triad, the cost of living in Winterville is not as expensive, Penn said. This is another reason why the area is such a prime candidate for residents of all ages, he said.

“One thing about this area is the cost of living versus the quality of life —I have found it absolutely unmatched,” Penn said.

Farmville

David Hodgkins, town manager for Farmville, said there has been an array of new additions in the past year to the community

headlined by the town’s new public library building. The 17,000-square-foot facility is equipped with a computer lab and large spaces for events. “This replaced the library that was undersized and had some structural issues,” Hodgkins said.

The library officially opened on April 19 and has since served the Farmville community by offering spaces to work, host events for children and their families and offer a wide array of books for all community members to enjoy, Hodgkins said.

The library already was a very active place, Hodgkins said, arguably the social center of the town. The new facility is a place of community fellowship within Farmville.

“We have partnerships with the (Pitt) Community College and with other nonprofit groups,” Hodgkins said. “Our library partners with Parks and Rec for movie nights.”

The decision to build the facility had full community support, Hodgkins said.

“We are unique in that there aren’t a lot of municipal libraries in the state of North Carolina ... Most of them are either county or regional libraries. Ours is only one of a dozen I believe.”

Along with the opening of this new library, Hodgkins said, Farmville is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding.

“Our birthday was Feb. 12, 2022,” Hodgkins said.

“We had several activities throughout the previous year. We had a big parade on the 12th but we also had a big first Friday in Farmville music and fireworks event which was in January.”

As a celebratory gala was planned to take place earlier in the year for the 150th anniversary, Hodg-kins said Farmville residents have this event to look forward to because it was postponed for sometime in the summer months of 2022 due to high cases of COVID-19.

Ayden Ayden Town Manager

Matt Livingston said despite the struggles associated with COVID-19 the locally-owned businesses in Ayden have been thriving.

Town leaders and residents alike are particularly proud of Quilt Lizzy due to the fact that it was an anticipated project and now the owner has made Ayden the headquarters for her growing business, which includes three other stores.

“I think there are several businesses that stick out, but one of them, because it was a long time coming, is the Quilt Lizzy project downtown,” Livingston said. “Getting her headquarters set up here and revitalizing the downtown building and having that as the Ayden Renaissance Center.”

The business itself and the Renaissance Center has drawn people to Ayden, Livingston said, and he hopes that it will continue to do so considering it’s such a unique asset to the downtown Ayden area.

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants all across the state struggled financially, Livingston said.

Ayden residents, however, were able to support local businesses even if that meant not being able to go inside and congregate in-person.

“I think if you talk to the business owners like Gwendy from Gwendy’s Goodies and some of these other new business owners that have opened during the pandemic, (they) have done really well,” Livingston said.

With brand new subdivisions under development in Ayden, Livingston said there is no doubt that the town has grown residentially.

The growth the town of Ayden has experienced in the past year is something that the community hopes continues, Livingston said.

“Allen Park is one of them,” Livingston said. “Not only have they completed phase one, but they are due for phase two. We (Ayden) have added probably 60 or 70 homes in the last year.”

FILE PHOTO/DAILY REFLECTOR

Farmville’s new public library is a 17,000-square-foot facility equipped with a computer lab and large spaces for community events.

FILE PHOTO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

Quilt Lizzy employee Marcie Rouse prepares a three-yard bundle.

Return on investments

Greene County sees progress in health care, service coordination

BY ARIYANNA SMITH Staff Writer

From improving emergency medical service and health care to attracting new jobs, Greene County officials say they are seeing a return on investments in facilities and services for residents. Following are some of the highlights.

Paramedic level EMS

Greene County Emergency Medical Services has been providing the highest possible, pre-hospital level of care offered in North Carolina to its residents since upgrading to paramedic level service on Feb. 1.

The transition involved months of training and certification and securing advanced equipment, EMS Manager Jeremey Anderson said. “We were at the Advanced EMT level. We could already do a lot of life-saving things, but with a paramedic, we can do more and do it faster.”

There is no hospital in Greene County, which means it takes longer for patients to receive care.

“When you call 911 you’re still 45 minutes out from seeing a doctor in an emergency room. Now, we’re able to actually start some treatments which will help improve the outcomes of the patient,” Anderson said. In the past when necessary, an EMT would have to call a paramedic from a neighboring county to the scene or have one join them en route to a hospital.

The county is now looking to add a full-time paramedic to its staff of over 20 certified employees. The job posting differentiates the paramedic position from an advanced emergency medical technician with a list of additional responsibilities including performing defibrillation, administering cardiac medications, pain management and advanced airway management.

Anderson said volunteer agencies used to supplement paid employees. “For a long time we have had volunteer service in Greene County but it’s really hard for volunteers to keep up with everything and have full-time jobs. Paramedicine is a profession.”

The paramedic will be stationed on a new quick-response vehicle the county purchased to add to its three ambulances. The Board of Commissioners also approved the purchase of a new ambulance at their Feb. 21 meeting.

The QRV and two of the ambulances operate out of the EMS building located at 201 Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, Snow Hill. The other ambulance operates out of a satellite building near Walstonburg. The satellite was built a few years prior to improve response times across the county.

Anderson thanked county leadership for supporting the upgrade, which he says cost around $300,000 for equipment alone. “It’s really good that we got this service. It took a lot of investment from the county commissioners and the county manager to get this done. They had the foresight to put money into this and make it happen.”

The county plans to expand its Emergency Medical Services and add a third facility. County Manager Kyle DeHaven said call volume warrants adding an additional building to better serve the county residents.

New operations center

Renovations to the National Guard Armory in Snow Hill were completed this year and county government began moving

into its new operations center in February and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 2.

The facility is located at 312 S.E. Second St. The building underwent renovations and now houses the Emergency 911 Communication and Dispatch Center, Greene County Emergency Services, Transportation Department and the Veterans Service Offices. The Board of Commissioners also meets in the building.

The project has been in the works for several years and received $1.8 million in grants from the Golden LEAF Foundation and the N.C. 911 Board. DeHaven thanked consultants and collaborators who worked on the project at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“The staff maintained professionalism as we worked through the challenges, delays and supply chain issues. They really impressed me with their professionalism. This was a group effort and I’m proud to be part of that team,” he said.

Health clinic

Greene County Health Care reports is contractors are hard at work transforming a former drug store in Snow Hill into a state-of-theart clinic.

Greene County Health Care is a federally qualified agency that provides medical, dental and behavioral health services across Greene, Pitt and Pamlico counties.

It purchased the former Walgreen’s building at 1106 Kingold Blvd. last year to expand services to the region. The new facility will include 12 treatment rooms and have space available for another health care provider.

Work by Farrior & Sons is underway on plumbing, electrical and framing at what will be known as Snow Hill Integrated Care Services, Communications Director Connie Rhem said.

The 10,000-plus-squarefoot building will house medical care, mental health care, mammography, lab services, medication assistance, case management and farmworker services, she said. The center will also make space available for another health care provider.

CEO Doug Smith says this is progress in Snow Hill’s health care community. “The medical facility is the first step in our plans to expand our ability to serve residents of Greene County and eastern North Carolina,” Smith says. “This state-of-the-art

facility will increase access to high quality, affordable, integrated care in our community.”

GCHC also operates Pamlico Dental Services, Walstonburg Medical Center, Bernstein Dental Services, James D. Bernstein Community Health Center, Snow Hill Medical Center, Greene Dental Service and the Kate B. Reynolds Medical Center in Snow Hill.

Economic development

A New Jersey-based company announced in November it plans to invest $5.1 million to open an electronics manufacturing and fulfillment facility to make circuit boards and employ 70 people. Once Precision Graphics begins operations, the area will benefit from more than a $2.9 million payroll impact each year, officials said.

The area’s proximity to the Global TransPark, job training available from area college programs and incentives from the state were among draws for the company, officials said.

With headquarters in Somerville, New Jersey, the family-owned manufacturer serves customers worldwide in robotics, industrial, automotive, telecommunications, aerospace and medical fields. The facility

in Snow Hill will complement existing facilities in Taoyuan, Taiwan, and New Jersey to meet growing demand.

A local company that fabricates architectural framing for large commercial and institutional buildings announced in May it planned to invest in a $1.2 million expansion and create 17 new jobs

Building Envelope Erection Services (BEES) is set to invest $1.2 million over the next five years at its facility on Nahunta Road outside Snow Hill. BEES fabricates, assembles and installs building frames. The company has worked on over 40 projects in North and South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia including the Vidant Cancer Care Eddie and Jo Allison Smith Tower, The Nicholas School of Environment at Duke University and the Charlotte Douglas International Concourse expansion. Greene County in late 2020 also joined Lenoir and Wayne counties as members of the North Carolina Global Transpark Economic Development Region. The organization aims to market eastern North Carolina as a cohesive, desirable region to attract economic investors. As a member, Greene County has access to the GTP business network and resources.

FILE PHOTO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

The Greene County Operations Center held its grand opening on March 2.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Increased staffing, training and equipment upgrades have helped Greene County EMS reach a goal of providing paramedic level service to county residents.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/CONNIE RHEM

Construction underway at latest Greene County Health Care clinic, Snow Hill Integrated Care Services. The 10,000-plus-square-foot building will house medical care, mental health care, mammography, lab services, medication assistance, case management and farmworker services.

New rules mean progress for athletes

But changes present challenges for collegiate athletic programs

BY PATRICK MASON Sports Writer

That battle to recruit and keep strong athletes at the collegiate level has never been more heated, Jon Gilbert said.

East Carolina Universi-

ty’s Director of Athletics says the process has always been competitive, but with new NCAA rules, the competition never ends.

As the governing body has loosened restrictions on players’ ability to transfer and allowed players to make money off their name, image and likeness, programs across the country are able to lure away players already on a college roster. No longer are teams focusing the bulk of their recruiting power on incoming college players.

“The reality is, our really good student-athletes are getting identified and recruited by other schools,” Gilbert said during a recent Board of Trustees meeting.

It is becoming harder and harder for schools to retain their best players. There is a fear that current Pirates guard Tristen Newton could be lured away from the men’s basketball team. And he won’t be the first player.

ECU’s men’s basketball team lost its best player to Virginia when Jayden Gardner announced his intention to enter the transfer portal in March 2021. The Pirates women’s basketball team lost their best player from a season ago to the transfer portal when Lashonda Monk went to Ole Miss after announcing her intention to enter the portal.

Gardner, a Wake Forest native and the American Athletic Conference freshman of the year in 2018-19, led the league in scoring the next year and was second in the AAC in scoring, rebounding and minutes played in his third season in Greenville in 2020-21.

Monk, a talented point guard and Greensboro native, had a similar career arc as she was a two-time AAC defensive player of the year in consecutive seasons.

These high-profile transfers were made possible when the NCAA in April 2021 announced changes to a longtime rule that forced athletes to sit out a year of competition if they transferred to another Division I program.

Now, athletes are afforded a one-time transfer with no penalty and are immediately eligible to compete at their new school.

For Gardner and Monk, and for the thousands of other athletes deciding to enter the portal across the country, this is progress. The move empowers student-athletes to make decisions based on their best interests, breaking from the former power dynamic which gave colleges most of the power as athletes were punished for switching schools.

Empowering athletes

More steps toward progress for the student-athlete were made when another major change was instituted when the NCAA passed a policy allowing its student-athletes the opportunity to take advantage of their name, image and likeness in July 2021.

Both decisions were guided by the spirit of progress, for which athletes have been fighting for years. And while athletes have been awarded the freedom to move, teams are figuring out how to best take advantage of this new reality.

ECU women’s basketball coach Kim McNeill filled in those gaps by recruiting transfer athletes. She signed four players who played at Power 5 schools.

They include Clemson guard Danae McNeal, Clemson forward Tylar Bennett, Virginia Tech guard Da’Ja Green and 6-foot-5 Kansas center and Plymouth native Brittany Franklin. Caroline Lee, the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee vice chair, said through an NCAA release that student-athletes are excited about the rule changes.

“SAAC feels honored to be a part of this major decision and landmark legislation,” said Lee, who played soccer and earned a degree in biology pre-medicine at Southeastern Louisiana.

“The ability to compete immediately offers the utmost flexibility and support of the student-athletes we serve and is a positive step toward improving their overall experience and future success.”

With progress comes figuring out how to best deal with these new realities.

A record 3,000-plus athletes had entered the transfer portal as of January, and coaches and colleges are figuring out how to keep those athletes at their school and out of the portal.

“I think recruiting is going to change permanently for the foreseeable future,”

ECU football coach Mike Houston said. “I don’t know what it’s going to look like.”

Opportunity knocks

Part of that process means colleges must become competitive in the NIL era in order to offer the best fits for an athlete.

Houston added that he thinks Greenville will offer plenty of opportunities for prospective and current athletes.

“The one thing I will say about it is, I do think this area will be a place where student-athletes will benefit more than our peer institutions from NIL because you have such a passionate fan base,” Houston said. “This is a college town; there’s not a pro sport in Greenville. It’s ECU football.

“So the opportunity is there for a business to endorse a student-athlete, or there are fans that are

passionate enough where they’ll participate in the NIL stuff.”

For football, the transfer portal has created the college version of free agency. ECU football has participated in that, and it’s been a fruitful source of players for Houston to fill out his roster. It’s turning into a year-round process, which was normally reserved for the two signing periods.

Of the 18 players signed during December’s early signing period, 13 were high school seniors. The other five came out of the transfer portal, leaving community colleges or other FBS programs to join the Pirates in 2022.

ECU made significant upgrades to its offensive line by acquiring three players from the transfer portal this offseason.

The Pirates added offensive linemen Justin Redd and Ben Johnson, securing both players from the transfer portal in February. ECU also snagged West Virginia transfer Parker Moorer, a 6-foot-4, 313-pound offensive tackle during December’s early signing period.

Yet some schools are going to the extreme. Look at Sun Belt Conference Texas State’s approach to recruiting. The Bobcats added 11 transfers and no high school athletes this past signing period.

“For us, philosophy-wise, I still want high school kids,” Houston said. “I’m big on recruiting and developing, you get your kind of culture and character guy. But now you recruit a high school guy and he can leave. At least if you recruit a transfer, at least they’re tied to you, but I think it’s going to be a balancing act and you’re going to recruit a little bit of everything.”

After losing Jayden Gardner, the men’s basketball team at ECU, led by then-coach Joe Dooley, fought fire with fire.

The Pirates added

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notable transfers Alanzo Frink from South Carolina, Vance Jackson from Arkansas and Wynston Tabbs from Boston College.

Jackson led the league in 3-point shooting, while Frink’s addition shored up the team’s size in the front-court. Tabbs had the potential to be ECU’s best player before and injury robbed him of his 2021-22 season.

The players will stand a chance to profit, especially if they propel the Pirates toward the top of the AAC in the coming seasons.

“We continue to operate in the name, image and likeness space,” Gilbert said. “This is only going to heighten over the years.”

FILE PHOTO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

East Carolina athletics director Jon Gilbert, left, high-fives Grace Sullivan during the Bill Carson Invitational track and field meet hosted by ECU. Gilbert said the athletic recruitment process has always been competitive, but with new NCAA rules, the competition never ends.

MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED

Virginia’s Jayden Gardner (1) drives against Louisville’s Samuell Williamson (10) in the first period of an NCAA college basketball game during the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s tournament on March 9 in New York. Gardner transferred to Virginia from East Carolina University.

Increased opportunities, success in girls’ sports

BY CRAIG MOYER Sports Writer

From winning state championships to sending athletes to play at the collegiate level, the girls’ sports landscape in Pitt County has changed drastically over the years.

Girls’ sports in the area have seen a drastic increase in numbers, and that growth has led to plenty of success for the local high school teams. One area coach whose program has reaped the rewards is D.H. Conley volleyball head coach Jennifer Gillikin.

Gillikin and the Vikings have appeared in four NCHSAA 3A championship matches and won two titles since she took the helm in 2001.

“The level of play all together in girls’ sports as a whole has improved tremendously, and I think that’s attributed to the high schools becoming more competitive,” Gillikin said.

“It’s amazing to me how much more competitive the sport of volleyball is now than it was even 10 years ago.”

Conley volleyball is not the only area girls’ program to have playoff success as of late. J.H. Rose (3A) and Ayden-Grifton (2A) made the state semifinals and quarterfinals respectively last season as well.

In other sports, the Rampants’ girls’ team is coming off a second-place finish in the pool this winter, while Farmville Central’s girls’ basketball team finished as the state runner-up in 2021 and 2022 while sharing the title in 2020. North Pitt won the title on the hardwood in 2018, and on the softball diamond, Conley won its most recent title in 2015.

Gillikin noted that the competition level in the area and across the state has increased significantly since she started coaching over 20 years ago.

The increase in competition has forced area teams to improve in their respective sports, as one key factor is the increase in the numbers of athletes and teams across the state.

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, there has been a 28.3 percent increase (2,616 to 3,651) in teams across the state in the 11 girls’ sports offered at Pitt County high schools.

Ron Butler, who has been the Pitt County athletic director since 2009, has seen plenty of success among the girls’ programs in the county.

“The biggest change is that they’re equal, it’s not a big deal because when we have volleyball, softball or basketball winning a state championship, we don’t think about it as ‘oh it’s a girls sport,’” Butler said.

Playing a key role in the growth of girls’ sports has been the rapid spread of club, recreation and travel

teams around the area.

Gillikin said when she started coaching, many kids did not start playing their respective sports until seventh or eighth grade, but now many of them start in the local youth leagues or clubs.

“Interest in sports is coming much earlier to girls than it did 20 years ago and I think that’s one of the primary reasons why girls’ sports are growing and girls are finding success,” Gillikin said.

Butler said the increase in youth opportunities have been instrumental in the success the area has seen in girls’ sports in recent years.

“You can’t just show up in high school and say ‘Oh I think I’d like to play tennis or volleyball,’ if you don’t have a background in the sport your chances are low,” Butler said.

Gillikin added that club sports have not only provided athletes with a chance to start playing at a younger age, but to also hone their skills if they do not make the school team in middle school.

She said the club and recreational teams have led to a dramatic increase in the skill levels of athletes coming into high school programs.

“The club sports have the ability to put them with similar talent and can play at a competitive level at their respective skill levels,” Gillikin said.

The growth of girls’ youth sports has also been felt at the recreational level in the area.

Don Octigan, who has worked with Greenville Recreation and Parks for 16 years, including as director since last April, has seen the increase in girls’ athletes help improve its leagues.

Octigan used the department’s soccer league as an example of the

improvements.

“When I started with the city, we were doing a lot of co-ed soccer,” Octigan said. “A lot of our age groups now there is a girls league and a boys league and I think that really speaks to the growth of girls’ youth sports.”

He noted that while soccer has made the changeover, the basketball league is still co-ed and he is hoping to make the switch to two leagues in the coming years.

“I think it’s very important for leagues to be available to girls and boys in all age groups. In youth sports, there is a lot more to learn from a sport other than the skills needed for that sport,” Octigan said.

The growth and improvement of girls’ sports programs in the county in the last two decades has led to a drastic increase in the number of athletes earning collegiate scholarships and playing at the next level.

In the early 2000s, Gillikin said only a couple girls would sign each year, while now she can’t even count how many are moving on to the college level this year, some of which are even going to compete at the Division I level in their respective sports.

“The competitive level of girls sports has grown so much around Pitt County that our girls are very competitive across the state,” Gillikin said. “A lot of college coaches are seeing them and wanting them to be a part of their program.

“Just in the last few years the number of our girls going on to play in college has grown tremendously.”

Gillikin, who graduated from Pamlico County High School in 1993, has seen opportunities in girls sports change tenfold since her time as a player to now as a coach.

She was a three-sport athlete in high school, playing volleyball, basketball and softball, which just so happened to be the only three girls’ sports her school offered at the time.

“I played everything I had a chance to play, but I certainly missed out on some sports because back then we didn’t have lacrosse, swimming, soccer and all the other sports that are now available for girls,” Gillikin said. “I think it’s awesome that we have so much available for girls to participate in now.”

The Conley coach also noted that while she went from one sports season to the next as an athlete, many athletes now focus on just one sport yearround. She said volleyball and other sports are much more competitive than when she played because athletes start playing at a younger age and train and practice close to year-round to improve their play.

As for how girls’ sports in the area can grow moving forward, Gillikin believes it just takes more of the same.

“There are just a lot of positives coming out of girls sports right now,” Gillikin said. “Girls’ sports are building and getting stronger and people are starting to enjoy watching them.”

“I think it’s important that we continue to work really hard and try to be as competitive as we can be while teaching some good morals and ethics along the way.

D.H. Conley volleyball coach Jennifer Gillikin talks to players during a game against South Central in 2019. “The level of play all together in girls’ sports as a whole has improved tremendously, and I think that’s attributed to the high schools becoming more competitive,” Gillikin said.

FILE PHOTOS/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

Farmville Central’s Kamiyah Wooten (21) puts up a shot over a Roanoke Rapids defender. Girls’ sports in the area have seen a drastic increase in numbers, and that growth has led to plenty of success for the local high school teams.

Increased opportunities, success in girls’ sports

BY CRAIG MOYER Sports Writer

From winning state championships to sending athletes to play at the collegiate level, the girls’ sports landscape in Pitt County has changed drastically over the years.

Girls’ sports in the area have seen a drastic increase in numbers, and that growth has led to plenty of success for the local high school teams. One area coach whose program has reaped the rewards is D.H. Conley volleyball head coach Jennifer Gillikin.

Gillikin and the Vikings have appeared in four NCHSAA 3A championship matches and won two titles since she took the helm in 2001.

“The level of play all together in girls’ sports as a whole has improved tremendously, and I think that’s attributed to the high schools becoming more competitive,” Gillikin said.

“It’s amazing to me how much more competitive the sport of volleyball is now than it was even 10 years ago.”

Conley volleyball is not the only area girls’ program to have playoff success as of late. J.H. Rose (3A) and Ayden-Grifton (2A) made the state semifinals and quarterfinals respectively last season as well.

In other sports, the Rampants’ girls’ team is coming off a second-place finish in the pool this winter, while Farmville Central’s girls’ basketball team finished as the state runner-up in 2021 and 2022 while sharing the title in 2020. North Pitt won the title on the hardwood in 2018, and on the softball diamond, Conley won its most recent title in 2015.

Gillikin noted that the competition level in the area and across the state has increased significantly since she started coaching over 20 years ago.

The increase in competition has forced area teams to improve in their respective sports, as one key factor is the increase in the numbers of athletes and teams across the state.

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, there has been a 28.3 percent increase (2,616 to 3,651) in teams across the state in the 11 girls’ sports offered at Pitt County high schools.

Ron Butler, who has been the Pitt County athletic director since 2009, has seen plenty of success among the girls’ programs in the county.

“The biggest change is that they’re equal, it’s not a big deal because when we have volleyball, softball or basketball winning a state championship, we don’t think about it as ‘oh it’s a girls sport,’” Butler said.

Playing a key role in the growth of girls’ sports has been the rapid spread of club, recreation and travel

teams around the area.

Gillikin said when she started coaching, many kids did not start playing their respective sports until seventh or eighth grade, but now many of them start in the local youth leagues or clubs.

“Interest in sports is coming much earlier to girls than it did 20 years ago and I think that’s one of the primary reasons why girls’ sports are growing and girls are finding success,” Gillikin said.

Butler said the increase in youth opportunities have been instrumental in the success the area has seen in girls’ sports in recent years.

“You can’t just show up in high school and say ‘Oh I think I’d like to play tennis or volleyball,’ if you don’t have a background in the sport your chances are low,” Butler said.

Gillikin added that club sports have not only provided athletes with a chance to start playing at a younger age, but to also hone their skills if they do not make the school team in middle school.

She said the club and recreational teams have led to a dramatic increase in the skill levels of athletes coming into high school programs.

“The club sports have the ability to put them with similar talent and can play at a competitive level at their respective skill levels,” Gillikin said.

The growth of girls’ youth sports has also been felt at the recreational level in the area.

Don Octigan, who has worked with Greenville Recreation and Parks for 16 years, including as director since last April, has seen the increase in girls’ athletes help improve its leagues.

Octigan used the department’s soccer league as an example of the

improvements.

“When I started with the city, we were doing a lot of co-ed soccer,” Octigan said. “A lot of our age groups now there is a girls league and a boys league and I think that really speaks to the growth of girls’ youth sports.”

He noted that while soccer has made the changeover, the basketball league is still co-ed and he is hoping to make the switch to two leagues in the coming years.

“I think it’s very important for leagues to be available to girls and boys in all age groups. In youth sports, there is a lot more to learn from a sport other than the skills needed for that sport,” Octigan said.

The growth and improvement of girls’ sports programs in the county in the last two decades has led to a drastic increase in the number of athletes earning collegiate scholarships and playing at the next level.

In the early 2000s, Gillikin said only a couple girls would sign each year, while now she can’t even count how many are moving on to the college level this year, some of which are even going to compete at the Division I level in their respective sports.

“The competitive level of girls sports has grown so much around Pitt County that our girls are very competitive across the state,” Gillikin said. “A lot of college coaches are seeing them and wanting them to be a part of their program.

“Just in the last few years the number of our girls going on to play in college has grown tremendously.”

Gillikin, who graduated from Pamlico County High School in 1993, has seen opportunities in girls sports change tenfold since her time as a player to now as a coach.

She was a three-sport athlete in high school, playing volleyball, basketball and softball, which just so happened to be the only three girls’ sports her school offered at the time.

“I played everything I had a chance to play, but I certainly missed out on some sports because back then we didn’t have lacrosse, swimming, soccer and all the other sports that are now available for girls,” Gillikin said. “I think it’s awesome that we have so much available for girls to participate in now.”

The Conley coach also noted that while she went from one sports season to the next as an athlete, many athletes now focus on just one sport yearround. She said volleyball and other sports are much more competitive than when she played because athletes start playing at a younger age and train and practice close to year-round to improve their play.

As for how girls’ sports in the area can grow moving forward, Gillikin believes it just takes more of the same.

“There are just a lot of positives coming out of girls sports right now,” Gillikin said. “Girls’ sports are building and getting stronger and people are starting to enjoy watching them.”

“I think it’s important that we continue to work really hard and try to be as competitive as we can be while teaching some good morals and ethics along the way.

D.H. Conley volleyball coach Jennifer Gillikin talks to players during a game against South Central in 2019. “The level of play all together in girls’ sports as a whole has improved tremendously, and I think that’s attributed to the high schools becoming more competitive,” Gillikin said.

FILE PHOTOS/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

Farmville Central’s Kamiyah Wooten (21) puts up a shot over a Roanoke Rapids defender. Girls’ sports in the area have seen a drastic increase in numbers, and that growth has led to plenty of success for the local high school teams.

Trying to hit it out of the park

Softball commissioner is hoping for a true world series in 2022

BY NATHAN SUMMERS Staff Writer

As the grass in eastern North Carolina begins to turn from winter gold back into the green of spring and summer, Brian Weingartz will spend a good deal of the changing season outdoors in his second home — Stallings Stadium at Elm Street Park.

That’s nothing new for him.

Weingartz is the head groundskeeper at the venerable youth baseball, and now softball, stadium, as well as the veteran commissioner of the Greenville Little Leagues that call that ballpark home. But now, Weingartz also is the commissioner of the Little League Softball World Series.

Elm Street is in its third year, technically, of being the host site of the foremost youth softball event on the planet, but the series has only grown as fast as the pandemic has allowed. Weingartz and many others connected to the tournament hope this is the year for the real thing.

COVID-19 wiped out the scheduled first playing of the series here in 2020, and last year’s inaugural Greenville rendition was played with domestic teams only. It also happened under the weight of strict virus testing and social distancing rules that ultimately affected teams, games and the overall enjoyment of the event for players, families and fans.

The recent omicron surge is now in decline and restrictions are rapidly dissipating along with it. Weingartz is as hopeful as ever that the World Series can be just that for the first time since moving from its former home in Portland, Ore. No matter what happens, the series is set to enact some long-planned changes in setup and format in its quest to help make Sportstown, USA an international destination Aug. 9-15.

“We just don’t know what their participation is going to be,” Weingartz said in a recent interview, adding that he expected a final decision regarding the inclusion of international teams to be made by early summer. “Little League International handles all of that, so the decision will come from them. They have to look at it on a daily or weekly basis. There are a lot of variables and every country is different. There is Canada, and it has some things going on where they’ve had new restrictions put in place the last few weeks. Probably sometime late spring or early summer they will decide.”

Even with that critical piece of the tournament still unknown, Weingartz said planned enhancements to the World Series will move ahead on schedule.

“The World Series is expanding by adding two

U.S. teams, one from New England and another from the Northwest, in addition to the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest,” Weingartz said.

“Basically, they’ve taken the East, divided it into two, and taken the West and divided that into two.”

Also new to the series is a change in format. The tournament will adopt a modified double-elimination setup that pits the winner of a winner’s bracket against the winner of a loser’s bracket in a winnertake-all final.

A regular attendee of the baseball Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., Weingartz knows the international flavor is what makes such events special and unique.

“Having gone to the baseball World Series so many times, it’s fascinating to watch the international teams and their supporters at an event like this. It’s something we don’t get to see every day,” Weingartz said. “At the World Series, to me and I think the people at Little League International, winning is important, of course, but the fact that the players and coaches and families get to interact with people from throughout the U.S. and from around the world is what separates it from other types of events.”

Weingartz said he loves watching the different traditions and rituals of different teams from different places. He wants to see them here.

“I’ll be right in the front

row whenever that happens,” he said.

Lessons learned, looking ahead

Last summer was the first real taste of what the World Series can and will bring each year to Greenville, but part of that was some additional wear and tear on the field and surrounding grounds at Elm Street Park. Although that was expected, it’s still a new wrinkle for an old ballpark.

“I think it’s gone as expected,” Weingartz said of the overall change of hosting the event in a venue built for baseball. “We played 38 fall baseball games on it and it went off without a hitch.

FILE/THE DAILY REFLECTOR Little League Softball World Series Tournament Committee Commissioner Brian Weingartz throws out the ceremonial first pitch at the North CarolinaIndiana game at the 47th Little League Softball World Series at Elm Street Park last August.

PHOTOS BY AARON HINES/CITY OF GREENVILLE Stallings Stadium at Elm Street Park is in its third year of being the host site of the Little League Softball World Series. But COVID-19 wiped out the scheduled first playing of the series in 2020, and last year’s inaugural Greenville rendition was played with domestic teams only.

Cooked peanuts used to innovate business

the cooked peanut business.

BY DEBORAH GRIFFIN Correspondent WINDSOR

Agriculture is still the barometer by which much of the region’s economy is measured.

Jack Powell of Powell and Stokes, Inc., a farm supply and bulk peanut buying company in Windsor, in fact says agriculture “controls everything” in Bertie County.

“If (farmers) don’t have a good year, (people) don’t sell as many cars, don’t go out to eat as often … right on down the line. If they have a good year, everybody has a good year. It affects everybody.”

In this fertile Coastal Plain community, farming has always been vital.

“Agriculture has been the No. 1 industry since the first colonists came here,” said Lewis Hoggard, executive director of the Windsor-Bertie Chamber of Commerce. “And agriculture has remained all this time. Smaller farms have disappeared, and larger farms have appeared. But we still have the same number of fields being used for agriculture.”

Hoggard said the number of farmers has declined over the years, largely because of mechanization, but the number of acres being farmed has remained the same.

“Even though the number of farmers has been reduced, we are still farming all that we have ever have — it is just in a larger, more corporate setting,” he said.

Both Hoggard and Powell agree agriculture will always be important to Bertie — after all, farmers “have to feed the world,” Powell notes. But for a variety of reasons, uncertainty is baked into the business of farming.

“We are looking at so many uncertainties with the price of fertilizer, the price of inputs, the price of fuel. Really, it’s a little scary,” Powell said. “Nobody knows what to expect. You normally don’t have two real good crop years back to back.”

And because farmers sell in the global economy, fallout from world events eventually trickles down to eastern North Carolina farming communities.

Powell likens plowing a field to rolling dice.

“If you are farming, you are gambling,” he said. “You put your money out there and you don’t know what you are going to get back. It’s risky, but people who do it wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

To ensure their survival, local farmers have diversified by raising other types of commodities.

Pine tree farms, for example, have become more popular in the past 15 years. Bertie farmers also tried to grow hemp and clary sage but abandoned the effort for various economic reasons.

Other farmers are turning to offshoots of agriculture like agritourism.

“Many farmers are trying to find different ways of creating revenue using the traditional family farm in nontraditional ways — whether it is trying a different crop, or creating things like a corn maze,” Hoggard said. “Businesses which have emerged as

offshoots are places like Bertie County Peanuts and Bakers Southern Traditions Peanuts, and some others. Those businesses are the byproduct of peanuts.”

Hoggard says innovation in farming is more important than ever.

“Bertie County is not growing in population. It is important we use what we have,” he said.

Powell is someone who is good at using what he has. He’s the grandson of W.L. Powell, one of the brothers-in-law who cofounded Powell and Stokes in 1919. An agricultural icon

in the region, the company has also sold cooked peanuts under the brand Bertie County Peanuts since the 1990s.

Powell said the company’s cooked peanuts were actually born in a popcorn popper. He began cooking nuts in the popper in 1980 as a novelty, handing them out to Powell and Stokes customers and sales representatives.

“During the fall, we would fry them up and give them to farmers,” he said.

“After about seven or eight years, they said, ‘Man, these are the best things we ever

had. You need to try and sell these things.’ That is how we got started cooking peanuts.”

Sold at Powell and Stokes, the peanuts are cooked and processed in a warehouse nearby which has been converted into a commercial kitchen.

Besides helping Powell and Stokes’ bottom line, Bertie County Peanuts’ product has also helped raise the county’s profile outside the region.

Powell recalls serving on a committee appointed by Bertie County commissioners in 1990 before he started

“The county commissioners wanted us to talk to the people in the county to see how we could improve the quality of life. One of the things glaring to me was nobody — nobody — was proud to be from Bertie County,” he said.

The experience stuck with Powell. So when Powell and Stokes decided to start its cooked peanut business, he decided to call it Bertie County Peanuts.

“We thought, ‘Maybe we can give them something to be proud of,’” Powell said.

He said the cooked peanuts have done just that.

“Several years ago, a young lady from Bertie County was living in Winston-Salem,” he said. “She told me when she went into her favorite Ace Hardware store, at the end of the aisle there was a whole display of Bertie County Peanuts. She said, ‘I got so excited, I hollered.’”

Powell said he hears that a lot about Bertie’s cooked peanuts, adding that “it’s cool” when he does.

Powell isn’t sure how far the name Bertie County has traveled because of his cooked peanuts, but he knows it’s gotten as far as the Far East.

“We shipped a bunch to Hong Kong this year,” he said. “The peanuts were $20 and the shipping was $120.”

Powell said Bertie doesn’t sell many cooked peanuts overseas.

“Probably less than two dozen, mostly at Christmas,” he said. “But we ship all over the United States.”

Bertie County Peanuts sells well over 100,000 containers of peanuts a year, he said.

“It’s been quite a ride,” Powell said.

Powell and Stokes sells over 100,000 containers of Bertie County Peanuts a year.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BERTIE COUNTY PEANUTS

Powell and Stokes started selling cooked peanuts and peanut products in the 1990s under the brand name Bertie County Peanuts. The company’s Jack Powell said he began cooking peanuts in a popcorn popper as a novelty in 1980, handing them out to Powell and Stokes customers and sales representatives.

A shared success story

Three women in government pull for each other and their communities

BY PAT GRUNER Staff Writer

Three women who have achieved top administrative positions in local government understand that progress comes easier on a road paved together.

Janis Gallagher, Terri Parker and Ann Wall are among a small but growing number of women who have broken through the proverbial glass ceiling to take on lead government positions at the municipal and county level.

Gallagher was named Pitt County manager in December, making her the first woman to hold the post. She joined Parker, who has been Winterville’s town manager since 2009, and Wall, Greenville city manager since 2017, giving Pitt the rare distinction of having women simultaneously at the helm of county government and its two largest municipalities.

Highlighting disparities

Of the 100 county managers in North Carolina, 21 are women, according to a count in February of this year. Gallagher said she appreciates those kinds of facts and figures.

They can highlight disparities, like women leading only one-fifth of the counties in the country’s 11th most populous state, and they can show growth over time, like the fact that in 2014 there only were eight female county managers in the state.

Wall already was a veteran administrator and an assistant city manager in Charlotte when she moved to Greenville and followed in the path of Babarba Lipscomb, the city’s first female and first black manager. Parker also is a veteran in municipal government, with 30 years of experience in eastern North Carolina government. They joined Gallagher to discuss their paths and how far things have come for women in their position.

When Gallagher got her start in Pitt County government, it was as an assistant county attorney in 1998. During her time in that role, she was given a lens to view progress courtesy of another Pitt County government trailblazer.

“I was hired by Joanne Burgdorff, who was the first female county attorney in Pitt County,” Gallagher said.

“She had a very strong sense of activism and made it her business to promote, mentor and support other women. In her 12 years, she always had an all-female staff. Only an all-female staff.

“I thought it was cool. I did not know any different. She made it her business to promote. In my time as a county attorney, I saw the number of county attorneys who were female steadily increase. First, it was at the assistant level and then moving up into the attorney level.”

Wall, on the other hand, arrived in North Carolina in 1986 and recalls being the only woman at an executive level on staff.

“I worked in a male-dominated field for much of my career,” Wall said. “I think it is actually profound now that I am sitting between these two ladies that are serving as chief executives of their organization. That has been an evolution in the 30 years I have served in local government.”

Wall said the evolution she alluded to could have something to do with visibility. As she recalls, early on in her career the road to becoming a city manager was paved by way of getting your start as an engineer.

“The evolution of government is based on service,” Wall said. “It is a service model and that is what I believe has opened it up to females over the years. Colleges and universities are doing a really good job of talking about public administration, its value and as something you can do to support your community.”

Parker has had a frontrow seat to that evolution.

A native of Ahoskie in Hertford County, she arrived in Pitt in 1985 to attend East Carolina University and has worked in local government since 1989 with stints in Greenville, Bethel and now Winterville. Those 35 years have seen many advances, she said.

“I was the only female in the county at the top level of government,” said Parker about when she became Winterville’s man ager. “I think women now are discovering that they can carry these high-power positions and the respon sibility that comes with it but continue to raise their children and do some of the things at home that people want to do.

“It is hard. It is no joke. But we can do it, we can have that work-life balance in a way that women have not had before,” she said Some changes for wom en in the modern work place are more apparent. Dress codes, for instance, were more traditional. Gallagher saw that as a learning moment.

WILLOW ABBEY MERCANDO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

Winterville Town Manager Terri Parker Eakes, Pitt County Manager Janis Gallagher and Greenville City Manager Ann

PROGRESS REPORT: PITT COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Resilient economy pushes growth; more work to be done

To say that the last two years have been challenging is, no doubt, an understatement. It will likely take years to realize the full impact. Despite this, some communities have shown remarkable stability and resilience, and Pitt County is one of those communities. In the 2022 POLICOM Economic Strength Rankings, Pitt County, also known as the Greenville, NC MSA, ranked 177 out of the 384 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. This moves us up one spot from last year, and puts us well within the top 50 percent of all MSAs in the country.

POLICOM Corp. is an independent economics research firm that studies the dynamics of economies. This ranking studies MSAs, or Metropolitan Statistical Areas. By federal definition, an MSA consists of a city with a population over 50,000 and surrounding areas linked by social and economic factors.

Our MSA consists of just Pitt County, while others are a group of counties. Pitt County has also steadily improved in the POLICOM rankings, up 70 spots from No. 247 five years ago. The study finds that diversified economies are less affected by economic shifts, such as the pandemic. Pitt County’s economy is a diversified mix of sectors, including manufacturing, health care, education, agriculture and tourism. When one sector suffers, others that are less affected keep

our economy stable until conditions improve.

The study also finds that the highest ranked areas show consistent growth in both size and quality. In the past year, we have seen our industrial sector expand in high-growth areas such as biopharmaceuticals. Thermo Fisher Scientific, in a span of just over a year, has announced two expansions totaling over $650 million in new investments and nearly 800 new jobs. Small companies are also expanding, such as Package Craft, which has begun a $6 million expansion in Bethel. Greenville Produce, a wholesale distributor, recently received state funding to expand its operations and nearly double its workforce.

Our ever-improving POLICOM ranking in no way implies that we don’t have challenges. Our retail and hospitality sectors have suffered greatly over the pandemic, and we also continue to have a higher than average poverty rate. This study does conclude, however, through its strategic analysis, that we are making progress.

Progress is moving forward, and in many important ways we are — but there is still much work to be done. Addressing social and economic disparities and labor shortages are just a few. The bright side is that we have a wealth of resources, assets and partners in this community to support ongoing and new efforts. Moving forward, together, we can continue to build on the progress that makes Pitt County — the Greenville, NC MSA, better and better each year.

Kelly Andrews is director of Pitt County Economic Development.

“When I started as an assistant county attorney, Joanne Burgdorff would send me home if I did not have hose on,” Gallagher said. “I was not permitted to wear a pantsuit. It had to be a skirt suit. I knew no different and I am so grateful for that guidance from her.

“I think at that time those were the necessary skills to earn the respect of the people we were working with. As that evolved some things have relaxed. I will not send anybody home if they are barelegged, so long as they are appropriately covered.”

Gaining respect

Gallagher said it is good to see the progress as organizations move past those kinds of expectations for women, but said the experience was good preparation for seeing what is important now.

“Maybe it is not having to wear hose, but it is making sure you phrase things in a way that is not going to affect others or to maintain a sense of equity and inclusion,” Gallagher said. “There are different things that are non-negotiable in order to gain respect across groups of people now. Those kinds of changes I look back on and think, wow, we came a long way.”

Wall believes those kinds of experiences provide a perspective that has proven beneficial in understanding the value of diversity.

“I think that because we have been women in a primarily male-dominated world, we can look at and understand equity and diversity in a different light than others,” Wall said. “We acknowledge the need for it. We are products of that. We can appreciate the value of it.

“Having people at the table with different backgrounds, who look different and know different situations, all of those people bring a different perspective to any decision-making process all along the organization, top to bottom.”

Part of that perspective is looking at all things through a lens of cooperation, the three leaders said. Parker recalls leaving Winterville, a small town in 2001. When she returned in 2009, it had begun to resemble its current state.

“Winterville benefitted immensely from the growth in Greenville,”

Parker said. “People want to work in the large cities and maybe live on the periphery for a quieter personal life. Residentially, Winterville had grown by leaps and bounds. In the more recent years we have focused on bringing economic development opportunities to Winterville that would complement the residential growth so people can shop, eat and have benefits afforded to them so they did not have to get home and then get back in the car and drive 20, 30 minutes.

“We love Greenville and are happy to visit any day, along with the rest of Pitt County, but it is good to be able to go for a walk or ride your bike at home.”

To Wall, cooperation with ECU and Vidant Health come with economic advantages but also a responsibility to the rest of northeastern North Carolina.

“We have to lead and work hard to help the other portions of northeast-

ern North Carolina that struggle every day,” Wall said. “For some people who live in those communities, it is hard.”

That goes for Pitt County’s rural regions as well.

“That is the result of a deliberate effort to include, work together and collaborate,” Gallagher said. “I only see that continuing to grow in the right direction as we continue building partnerships in areas that we have not yet before.”

“If one of us is successful we are all successful in Pitt County. We know that.”

“We cheer those successes on, like Grifton getting a grocery store,” Parker said.

Gallagher continued:

“We live it. We are showing up at each other’s events and we are showing up and being present,” she said.

“While that is happening here, we hope that our other partners in the region are watching. Just like we hope our daughters are watching us in these positions … and sons. It is an example for our sons as well to know that in the workplace there is equal respect and admiration for people’s different talents and skills, but we show it. You can tell somebody a hundred times. When they see it, it matters.”

“And when the other regions in eastern North Carolina see what we do, imitation is the best form of flattery. We are an open book. If it worked well for us and it can work well for you, here is how to do it. Do not reinvent the wheel.”

Contact Pat Gurner at pgruner@reflector.com.

ANDREWS

THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC

Thermo Fisher Scientific is among companies expanding in Greenville, including a new 130,000-square-foot facility as part of a $650 million investment in its operations in Greenville.

FILE PHOTO/THE DAILY REFLECTOR

City Manager Ann Wall presents Lillian and Freddy Outterbridge, who were on the Sycamore Hill Advisory Group, with a photo of the monument for their dedication. Director of Recreation and Parks Gary Fenton is in the background.

Plymouth Mill employees volunteered to restore areas along the Roanoke River in Plymouth, improving the health of the river and beautifying the community’s green space.

In 2020, the Plymouth Mill contributed approximately $50,000 in grassroots giving to local communities.

The Plymouth Mill supports over 330 local jobs. The Plymouth Mill is self-sufficient in meeting electricity needs for the facility, with nearly 100% of the mill’s energy coming from renewable sources.

Domtar’s Plymouth Mill has an estimated regional economic impact of $634 million.