It was an especially joyous first day of school for Jaxson Franklin, a first grader at Stokesdale Elementary, and his parents. Jaxson’s kindergarten year was cut short last March when he was hit by a car one morning while boarding his school bus and sustained serious injuries. While he is still recovering from those injuries, his mom, Sarah, said he was very excited about returning to school this past Monday.
See article on p. 13.
At an Aug. 21 rezoning hearing for nearly 193 acres on U.S. 220 in Rockingham County, Mark Richardson, Rockingham County Commission chair, said the commission is trying to manage change in the best interests of the county’s 92,000 residents. See article on page 8.
In response, the two towns asked for nearly $3.2 million for recreation and other projects, while Summerfield is left out of consideration for funding
by CHRIS BURRITT
NW GUILFORD – State Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger extended an offer to Oak Ridge and Stokesdale that town leaders hadn’t expected and decided was too good to turn down.
Berger’s office recently asked the
towns for their wish lists for projects for which they’d like funding. Oak Ridge’s Town Council voted unanimously to request slightly more than $3 million for four projects already under development or in planning: Heritage Farm
WISH LISTS
...continued from p. 1
Park, a disabled-accessible playground at the park, the municipal water system and the Farmhouse Community Center.
Stokesdale Mayor Mike Crawford said his town has so far asked Berger’s office for $175,000 for lights for the soccer fields at Town Park. In addition, Mayor Pro Tem Derek Foy has shared suggestions for two other projects that he said would enhance the town park; they include additional parking and the construction of an amphitheater, with an estimated cost of $1 million.
“We haven’t had a chance to meet yet about this, but it will be on the agenda for our Sept. 14 council meeting,” Foy said.
Meanwhile, Summerfield leaders didn’t get a call from Berger’s staff.
“I’m sure this is just an oversight,” Summerfield Mayor Tim Sessoms said in an interview earlier this week.
After learning that Berger’s staff
sought funding recommendations from Oak Ridge and Stokesdale, Sessoms said he checked his phone to see whether he had missed a call from the senator’s office.
spotlight in northwestern Guilford County. The lawmaker represents Rockingham and the part of Guilford County that includes Summerfield, where he’s considering whether to support legislation de-annexing developer David Couch’s 973 acres.
Berger is also among Republican leaders in Raleigh drafting legislation that would extend gambling beyond tribal lands in North Carolina to three rural counties, including a U.S. 220 site in Rockingham, a few miles north of Stokesdale and Summerfield. (See related article on p. 8.)
Berger’s spokeswoman.
“Local project funding is not tied to a municipality supporting any given policy position,” Horsch said in an email earlier this week. She didn’t answer a question about why Berger’s staff bypassed Summerfield.
Oak Ridge’s council held a special called meeting Aug. 10 after Berger’s office sought the list of projects for which the town would like funding. During the nearly hour-long meeting, the council settled on a strategy “to go big” and request funding for four projects at varying prices.
Sessoms said he laid out the town’s funding needs in a letter to Berger earlier this week, acting quickly because the legislature is expected to adopt this fiscal year’s state budget in the next few weeks.
In recent months, Berger (R-District 26) has stepped into the
Sunday School for all ages: 10am
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Earlier this month, the Stokesdale and Summerfield councils passed casino-related resolutions that asked legislators drafting the gambling bill to authorize local referendums in the three counties where casinos are planned. In addition, the Stokesdale council passed a second resolution opposing the Rockingham County casino. Oak Ridge’s council didn’t take up a casino-related resolution during its Aug. 3 meeting.
The possibility that the state legislature may vote to de-annex Couch’s land prompted the councils in Summerfield and Oak Ridge to pass resolutions opposing de-annexation.
Sorting out whether the casino and de-annexation stances by the three towns figured into Berger’s funding requests to Oak Ridge and Stokesdale and his decision to bypass Summerfield would be guesswork for town leaders.
The senator isn’t influenced by the position of municipalities on issues, according to Lauren Horsch,
“It’s our job to make these sound really vital,” Mayor Ann Schneider said during the meeting.
The biggest request was for $1.8 million to accelerate construction of the second phase of Heritage Farm Park, with courts for tennis, basketball and possibly pickleball and three picnic shelters.
Adding increasingly popular pickleball as a possible use for the courts might “get the attention” of Berger’s staff and improve the town’s odds of getting funding, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Kinneman said.
Another $500,000 would extend beyond current plans the engineering and construction of municipal water system lines. Berger “likes municipal water,” councilman George McClellan said.
The Farmhouse Community Center and landscaping of the Town Park entrance at Linville Road and Lisa Drive would get another $435,000.
“I did not,” the mayor said. “We will be reaching out to Sen. Berger’s office to say ‘hey, we are in your district and we could easily provide a list of things that would be very helpful to Summerfield going forward.’”
Funding of $285,000 would help pay for the new playground at Heritage Farm Park.
“We don’t know how much (Berger) wants to give us,” Schneider said in an interview earlier this week. “I would fall down in a dead faint if he funded them all.”
On the chance that the senator’s staff offers relatively little money, town leaders are prepared to pivot and designate funding to a specific project, Schneider said.
As far as she knows, the mayor said, Berger has never asked Oak Ridge for a list of projects. But she added “requesting money from an open discretionary fund in no way binds us to support Phil Berger.”
In Stokesdale, Mayor Pro Tem Derek Foy said “I won’t speak to the consequential timing.” However, he added, he believes Stokesdale deserves a portion of surplus funds under the charge of the state Senate.
“The Senate deals with taxpayer money,” Foy said in an interview. “And
the citizens of the town of Stokesdale pay plenty of money, whether it’s through their income or gas taxes or whatever. If there’s money left over, I would support it being given to the town of Stokesdale since we have so many citizens who pay taxes.”
At least in recent years, Berger hasn’t asked Stokesdale for funding requests, Foy said.
“This is unchartered territory for me,” he added.
Even though leaders in Oak Ridge and Stokesdale may be unfamiliar with the process, legislators reaching out to municipalities they represent “is standard practice when the General Assembly works on the state budget (or any other policy matter),” said Horsch, Berger’s spokeswoman.
All 170 state legislators can request the inclusion of local projects in the state budget, she said, and “Senators and House members often ask the municipalities they represent for any local needs that could potentially receive funding in the state budget.”
NW GUILFORD – Despite efforts by the local Republican Party and the state legislature to oust him, Guilford County Schools’ website still shows Bill Goebel as the District 3 board member representing students in Summerfield, Oak Ridge, Stokesdale and parts of Greensboro.
Goebel is staying put, said his lawyer Chuck Winfree, even after the local GOP executive committee met this past Wednesday night, Aug. 30, to select a replacement for Goebel. (The committee voted after the Northwest ...continued on p. 4
Despite a new law approved by the General Assembly earlier this month, Bill Goebel (above, right) says for now, at least, he’s staying put as Guilford County School Board’s District 3 representative. In the meantime, Michael Logan (above, left), who was the Republican Party’s nominee for the seat after it was vacated by Pat Tillman last December –and who was repeatedly rejected by the Democrat-majority school board earlier this year – is among the nominees the party will consider at a meeting Aug. 30.
member Bill Goebel is staying put even though a new state law says he’s out
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Observer had gone to press. Check the newspaper’s website or Facebook page for the new Republican nominee.)
The executive committee acted after a new law drafted by Republican leaders in Raleigh and approved by the General Assembly earlier this month removed Goebel from the school board. The law authorized the local GOP executive committee to recommend a nominee to GCS Superintendent Whitney Oakley.
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“That individual shall take the oath of office at the next regular meeting of the Board of Education,” slated for Sept. 19, local Republican Party Chairman Chris Meadows said in a statement earlier this month. “The Board has no vote or voice in the matter.”
Jill Wilson, the school board’s lawyer, didn’t reply to a request for comment earlier this week. Nor did board Chair Deena Hayes-Greene, a Democrat.
Winfree said he believes the new state law violates the constitutional rights of Goebel.
“Though the legislature has the authority to reorganize a board or move its powers to other boards, it emphatically does not have the authority to remove an incumbent, who was duly appointed, just because the legislative leadership would like someone else in office,” Winfree said in an email earlier this week. “If that were legal, then any local official could face legislative removal with no due process.”
District 2 board member Crissy Pratt, a Republican, countered that the new law “very clearly states” that Goebel was removed from the board and that his replacement is to be selected by the local GOP’s executive committee.
“We have a law in place that is not being followed,” Pratt said in an interview earlier this week. “I think it sends the wrong message to everybody. You don’t get to pick and choose which laws you want to follow.”
The GOP executive committee gave Goebel a temporary waiver of its censure of him so that he could seek the committee’s nomination, according to Winfree. He described that step as unnecessary because Goebel “does not intend to campaign to fill a non-existent vacancy. Rather, he intends to concentrate on serving the citizens of District 3 so long as he has the legal authority to do so.”
In an email earlier this week, Meadows said he doesn’t expect Goebel to seek the nomination “even though he knows about it and was given a waiver to attend the meeting.”
Meadows added that Michael
Logan is a nominee for the District 3 seat.
Starting late last year, the school board repeatedly refused along party lines to seat Logan, who lives in northwestern Guilford County. At that time, state law stipulated the school board had to vote to accept the executive committee’s nomination.
The District 3 vacancy occurred after Pat Tillman, a Republican, had left the seat following his election to the county’s Board of Commissioners in November 2022.
Earlier this year, the Board of Education rebuffed the first attempt by the legislature to clear the way for the Guilford GOP’s executive committee to seat Logan. Instead, the board seated Goebel, partly because they considered the Greensboro Republican’s views less divisive than Logan’s.
Earlier this week, Democratic board member Dianne Bellamy Small declined to comment, citing litigation against the six Democratic board members by Republican board members Pratt and Linda Welborn and Logan.
Just as we were going to press, we learned the Republican Party’s executive committee has nominated Michael Logan as the school board’s District 3 representative.
THURSDAY
Sept. 7 6–9:30pm
Carnival Rides, Food & Games
Everyone is welcome
All-night ride pass $20
Destination Arts
Performances 6:30 - 7:30 pm
ORYA Appreciation Night
FRIDAY Sept. 8 5:30–9:30pm
Carnival Rides, Food & Games
All-night ride pass $25
Food Trucks
Pizza, burgers, hot dogs, seafood, BBQ, Mexican and all your carnival favorites
RidgeFest Cruise-in
Supercharged by EuroHaus & Shine Shop Automotive
Live Music
Barefoot Modern
Carnival Rides, Food & Games
All-night ride pass $25
Food Trucks
SATURDAY Sept. 9 4:30–10 pm New
Pizza, burgers, hot dogs, seafood, BBQ, Mexican and all your carnival favorites
Touch-a-ride by Oak Ridge Leos
KidSummit
Merchant Marketplace
Live Music
Ghosts of Liberty & Carolina 5
Bandit Flight Flyover 6:30 pm
Town of Oak Ridge Fireworks 8:30 pm
as reported by PATTI STOKES
(meeting coverage continued from our Aug. 17-30 issue)
After several citizens addressed the council to seek its support in opposing the rezoning of 193 acres on U.S. 220, just north of the Stokesdale town limits, the council unanimously passed two resolutions: the first, stating opposition to a “large casino gaming operation less than four miles from the Town of Stokesdale,” and the second, requesting citizens be given an opportunity to vote on specific locations for “casinos, entertainment districts, and Class III gaming activities on non-tribal lands in North Carolina.” (See our Aug. 17-30 issue in-print or online edition
at www.nwobserver.com for more.)
After the resolutions were unanimously approved, the following speakers addressed the council…
Michael Logan, a resident of northwest Greensboro, introduced himself as Guilford County Republican Party’s appointed representative for District 3.
Logan said Northwest High School is overcrowded, and residents of Colfax are “up in arms over a school being forced into their community.” The proposed school in Colfax should be stopped, and the money allocated for it be redirected to overcrowded schools, Logan said.
He also expressed concerns about how far the $300 million bond voters approved in 2020 and the $1.7 billion school bond approved in 2022 would actually go in light of continuously escalating construction costs.
“There will not be money for this area if we do not control this money,” he said, adding that $500,000 was raised by private citizens and business owners last year to refurbish mobile classrooms at Northwest High School.
“We are overcrowded in the northwest school area and that is where we need to focus,” he said.
Summerfield resident Teresa Perryman, a candidate for Summerfield Town Council this November, voiced her support for Stokesdale Town Council passing the two gaming operationsrelated resolutions earlier in the meeting. She suggested giving legislators an alternative to a casino in Rockingham County that might “give them the money they want.”
Park Improvements. Chair Tee Stephenson said the committee is still
waiting for permit approval before construction on the basketball and pickleball courts in the town park can begin. Also, he said committee members recently met with Stokesdale Parks and Recreation Association representatives to discuss a wish list of park enhancements, and are weighing feasibilities of requests.
Nature trails are next on the park improvements project list, and criteria for routing the trails is being discussed, Stephenson said.
Town Clerk Robbie Wagoner gave the monthly financial report on behalf of Finance Officer Kim Thacker, who was recovering from surgery. Wagoner noted that of the town’s over 700 water customer accounts, 25 are 90 days past due.
Justin Snyder, a senior planner with Guilford County who serves as the town’s contracted planner, presented a rezoning case for an outparcel in Kings Crossing Shopping Center, at N.C. 68 and Haw River Road.
The applicant’s request was to amend the parcel’s existing zoning to allow automobile repair services, auto repair services and tire sales as permitted uses.
Bill Greco of Land Solutions spoke on behalf of the applicant and explained the reason for the rezoning request.
5 0 to approve the rezoning request.
Snyder also presented a request to rezone two parcels totaling .87 acre on the east side of Stokesdale Street in downtown Stokesdale, from LO (Limited Office) and RS-30 to CZ-GB (Conditional Use-General Business).
Councilman Tim Jones asked several questions about what type of landscape buffer was planned to shield the adjoining Stokesdale United Methodist Church from the business that would be located on this property. Jones’s question was followed up by a question from Councilman Jimmy Landreth about the hours of operation.
“I’m protective of the church people. That’s why I’m asking about the planting beds and hours of operation,” Jones said.
“I don’t have any opposition to the zoning, but I don’t know what they’re going to do there,” Landreth added. “Noise is a concern … I don’t want them to be tuning up motorcycles on Sunday morning.”
Greco then offered a rezoning condition that available hours of
operation be limited to 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. After further discussion, he also offered to double the 5-foot landscape buffer that is required by the town’s development ordinance.
Mahlia McGee questioned whether Loyola Drive, where the church is located, had ever been abandoned by NCDOT, and said she believed it had not been (Snyder confirmed the council had voted on May 9, 2019, to abandon the road).
Bernadeen Privette got emotional when sharing that her family had decided to sell the two parcels; she acknowledged concern about a buffer between them and Stokesdale UM Church, but said respecting activities at the funeral home located right across the street was just as important.
After Privette’s comments, the council remained silent for several moments, after which Foy asked if his fellow council members had issues of concern before voting on the rezoning.
“Miss Privette had an interesting point about the funeral home,” Jones responded.
After more visual hesitation, Councilman Jim Rigsbee motioned to approve the rezoning request, including Greco’s offerings regarding hours of operation and additional landscaping. Foy seconded, then asked, “Is there anything about this rezoning that I’m missing?”
The council meeting room in Stokesdale Town Hall was full to capacity on Aug. 10. Most of the citizens in attendance were there to seek the council’s support in opposing the rezoning of 193 acres on U.S. 220 in Rockingham County that could pave the way for a gambling casino, pending approval of legislation that many fear will be pushed through the state Senate and House of Representatives within the next few weeks.
Shown in photo, John Blust, a Republican who served terms in both the state Senate and House of Representatives, was one of several speakers who addressed the council on Aug. 10. “Where are the elected representatives? Isn’t this Sen. Berger’s district?”
“The church and the funeral home – that doesn’t make me enthusiastic about the process,” Jones responded.
5 0 to approve the rezoning.
Consideration of ordinance. Wagoner explained the purpose of a proposed ordinance before the council was to confirm $366,400 of ARPA funds would be spent out of the water enterprise account to add system redundancy to the town’s municipal water system.
Consideration of proposals. On behalf of the town’s Property Committee, Rigsbee presented two proposals for staining the picnic shelters in the town park – one for $4,147 and the other for $7,600. Because of the significant difference, he offered to get a third quote.
5 0 to approve a resolution adding Peony Drive in Treeline Trails to the secondary state road maintenance system.
Speed bumps. Rigsbee said he and Foy had observed cars entering the park faster than they should have, and expressed concerns this would worsen after pickleball and basketball courts are installed. He then presented an estimate for installing three speed bumps.
“This will be a quick fix – we need something like they have in Oak Ridge (Commons Shopping Center, beside Rio Grande),” Landreth said. “You’re not going to play with that bump!... We do need to do something.”
Blust asked. “These people are supposed to be working for youd!” he said, noting he had not yet seen a propossed bill that would make gambling legal in three counties, including Rockingham.
“Someone is supposed to see a bill that goes on the calendar… so you can see what is going on in the full light of day in the U.S., where we have a Republican form of government. There needs to be a bill … how do we know what they’re doing? It seems like too often the people who are supposed to represent others aren’t representing the people who put them there.”
(For more on this topic, see our Aug. 17-30 issue in-print or online edition at www.nwobserver.com.)
5 0 to purchase nine speed bump sections, with 18-inch galvanized steel spikes and six end caps, at a cost not to exceed $2,000.
5 0 to approve a quote for $3,000 from A&D Enterprises to install a tap, meter setter and meter box on Vaughn Street.
Council recessed the open meeting and went into closed session at 10:09 p.m. After reconvening around 11:22 p.m., no action was taken and a few council members offered brief comments before the meeting was adjourned soon afterward.
WENTWORTH – A possible casino on U.S. 220 a few miles north of Stokesdale and Summerfield moved a step closer to reality last week after the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 Aug. 21 to rezone nearly 193 acres in the southwestern corner of the county. Construction of a casino on the property hinges on the passage of proposed legislation by the state General Assembly that would expand gambling beyond tribal lands to Rockingham and two other rural counties, Nash and Anson.
The unanimous vote rebuffed opponents who made up the majority of the estimated 500 people overflowing the commission chambers and other meeting rooms in the county’s governmental center in Wentworth. Latecomers listened to the approximately two-hour meeting from outside the building under the cover of a picnic shelter.
After hearing from about 15 opponents, commissioners explained their support of the rezoning request before they voted on it. For some, it was their first remarks on the issue in a public setting.
Turning down the rezoning request, they said, would infringe upon the sellers’ property rights. The property owners are the four daughters of Anne and Gib Jones, the founders of Camp Carefree, which abuts the possible casino site to the south.
Rejecting the rezoning would also
undermine the investment of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to promote economic development along the U.S. 220 corridor, according to commissioners.
Commissioner Don Powell likened the government’s interference with the buying and selling of land to communism and socialism.
The highway corridor “has been declared a growth area for a long time,” Powell said. “For me to tell a person now or forever that they can’t sell their land because their neighbor likes to look at their cows, I think that’s unjust. You can buy the cows or you can buy the land. That’s the way it works in this country.”
“We are going to try to do what’s best for (the) 92,000 residents of the county,” Commission Chairman Mark Richardson said. “It’s our job to manage change.”
Earlier, Eden resident Malcolm Allen
pinned the socialist label on county leaders. Their lack of public discussion amid the opposition “sounds more like
Wearing a Camp Carefree T-shirt that reads on the back, “The you CAN do it camp... where kids CAN just be kids,” Camp Carefree program director Ryan Joyce addressed the Rockingham County commissioners on Aug. 21. Joyce told them development of a casino next to the camp would require security measures to ensure the safety of special-needs children attending free summer sessions.
socialism where the government thinks they know what’s best for the people more than the people,” he said.
[ The highway corridor] has been declared a growth area for a long time. For me to tell a person now or forever that they can’t sell their land because their neighbor likes to look at their cows, I think that’s unjust. You can buy the cows or you can buy the land. That’s the way it works in this country.”
Don Powell, Rockingham County commissioner
“I thought the Republicans were the ones who stood up against socialism,” said Allen, drawing applause from the crowd. “Am I wrong?”
“I don’t mind the applause,” Richardson said, “but save the hooting and hollering for other places.”
Instead of rezoning the entire parcel, Madison resident Katherine Williams suggested the commission rezone the 40 acres closest to U.S. 220, leaving more of a buffer for Camp Carefree and nearby residential neighborhoods such as Dogwood Acres.
“It’s a beautiful tract of land,” Williams said. “It deserves better treatment than that, and the people who live around it deserve better.”
Hiram Marziano, the county’s director of planning and zoning, and County Manager Lance Metzler fielded questions from some commissioners who sought staff’s interpretation of the county’s development regulations and highway corridor infrastructure improvements to reinforce their support for rezoning the property.
Asked by Commission Vice Chair Charlie Hall about local, state and federal efforts to upgrade and designate U.S. 220 as part of Interstate 73, Marziano said the county’s land use plan envisions “high-intensity developments of both residential and commercial” types for the four-lane road.
Over the past two decades, county tax dollars paid for the extension of water and sewer services along U.S. 220, Metzler noted.
Neither the commissioners nor Will Quick, the lawyer representing the sellers as well as the potential buyer of the land, has specified the property would be the site of a casino. At the county level, the rezoning process doesn’t require applicants to disclose how they might use the property.
In recent years, residents participated in the process of reviewing and revising the county’s development regulations, according to Clyde Albright, the county’s attorney.
A statute enacted by North Carolina’s legislature in 2019 required municipalities statewide to evaluate whether their land use plans met the requirements of the new law and, if not, make changes to bring their development rules into compliance, Albright said.
Residents appointed by Rockingham commissioners took part in the process.
“These rules were written by the people of this county,” Albright said. “Maybe
would be “transformational” for the U.S. 220 corridor.
On the other hand, the tract’s proximity to Camp Carefree creates “a big concern” for the safety of chronically ill children who attend free summer camp there, said Ryan Joyce, one of the camp’s program directors.
“No matter what (development) goes there, you are bringing in a lot of commercial traffic (and) a lot of unfamiliar people and driving them straight past our road,” Joyce said. “That means that people may trespass. We’re going to have to put in security measures to keep our kids safe.”
“Any time you have an influx of money, you have an influx of crime,” said Allen, the Eden resident.
Rezoning the property from residential agriculture (AG) to highway commercial (HC) would threaten the surrounding community with a wide assortment of potential uses beyond gambling, he added.
As a straight rezoning, the commissioners didn’t impose conditions, or limitations, on potential uses allowed in the highway commercial district. According to Gulden, potential uses include “hazardous waste generators, incineration facilities, industrial landfills, liquid animal waste operations, mining and wastewater sewer collection.”
After the meeting, Gulden said in an interview that opponents are going to consider their legal options and may challenge the commission’s rezoning decision in the county’s Superior Court.
If opponents were to challenge the rezoning in court, the developer of the property might be asked to pay for security measures for Camp Carefree or create a wider buffer between the two properties than required by county zoning rules, said Brad Bailey, a camp board member.
folks
know about it, but they were written by citizens of the county.”
However, opponents criticized the lack of public disclosure and discussion among leaders about the U.S. 220 rezoning request. Citing a “lack of transparency,” former U.S. representative and Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Walker told the commissioners that “whether intended or not, (this) has come across as a railroad job.”
“We’ve been left in the dark far too long,” added Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, a Republican running for lieutenant governor. “All of us here deserve full transparency and honesty in the operation of our government and leadership.”
Describing the potential use of the property as “the type of high-quality mixed-use development” that his client specializes in, Quick said the project
Gambling is “played mostly by people who can’t afford it, trying to get lucky when the odds are stacked against them,” he added. “I was told this is the Bible belt we live in. Let’s not put down our Bibles for the slot machine.”
Brian Gulden, a lawyer representing opponents to both the rezoning and a potential gambling casino, argued the rezoning application isn’t consistent with the county’s development rules.
“It’s been a goal of the entire county to develop that entire corridor,” said commissioner Kevin Berger. He’s the son of state Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, a Rockingham Republican helping draft the statewide casino legislation.
folks…forgot about it, maybe
didn’t
“It’s going to be impossible to convince parents to send their kids to a camp with what’s going to be in front of them,” said Chis Rodenbough, the camp’s property manager.
Happy birthday to Kernersville native Lucille Stockton Bowman, who turned 108 on Aug. 25! Lucille still lives at home in Oak Ridge, with the assistance of her two daughters and another caregiver. We spoke with one of Lucille’s daughters, Judy Goodwin, earlier this week and she told us Lucille was one of 10 children in her family, and is the last living sibling.
After Lucille and her husband were married, they lived with his parents; later, their two daughters joined them in the home. Lucille’s husband died at age 40 of a heart attack when Judy was 9 and her younger sister Kathy was 6. During her earlier years when she was raising her children, Judy
said her mother always worked on the family farm, which included working in tobacco.
“And, she was always a caregiver,” Judy said. “She cared for my grandparents (her father’s parents) in their later years.” Lucille’s mother was confined to a wheelchair the last several years of her life and Lucille also cared for her in the 13 years before she died.
Lucille worked at Adams-Millis before
going to work as a caregiver at Bradford Village (assisted living community) in Kernersville for 27 years before retiring in her 80s to take care of her brother.
Judy said her mother enjoyed quilting in her younger years and in her 60s, she learned to swim and regularly went to the YMCA. Before her eyesight failed, she enjoyed doing word search puzzles.
It wasn’t until Lucille was in her 90s that she finally stopped mowing her lawn.
Lucille attended Union Grove Baptist Church until recent years.
Judy and Kathy have a half-brother, Phillip Stewart, and Lucille has four grandsons and five great-grandchildren who “have kept her young,” Judy said, adding, “She loves her babies!”
Hazel Weeks, who now resides at Countryside Village in Stokesdale, celebrated her 107th birthday on Aug. 28, along with another resident, Charlotte, who “only” turned 95, according to Hazel’s daughter, Betty Stantliff of Summerfield.
“There’s lots of history between them,” Stantliff told the Northwest Observer earlier this week.
“My mother spent her life caring for others,” Stantliff told us when we spoke to her a few years ago on her mother’s 105th birthday.
“She worked hard supporting her family, caring for her dad, and later, her grandchildren. Her determination and faith have served her well and have supported her through these last
When we interviewed Hazel five years before that, on her 100th birthday, we asked her about her secret to such a long life. Her answer was simple: “The Lord.”
Stantliff added a little more to her mother’s response.
Photo courtesy of Betty Stantliff
Stokesdale resident Hazel Weeks was born outside southeast Greensboro on Aug. 28, 1916. At the time, World War I was underway and most everyone was focused on the battles taking place in Europe. Hazel recalls living with no electricity or phone service, cooking on a wood stove and the use of horse-drawn wagons as the primary mode of transportation. She’s lived through both world wars and all the wars that have followed, the Great Depression, the Great Recession, the pandemic (including a bout with COVID herself) – and she’s also seen 19 U.S. presidents in office.
“Clean living. No cussing, no drinking, no smoking,” she said, which elicited a chuckle from her mom.
“Mom continues to amaze us all,” Stantliff told us this past Monday, on Hazel’s 107th birthday. “Though sightimpaired and wheelchair-bound, she remains energetic and full of stories
NW GUILFORD – Residents in the northwest Guilford County area have begun the process of forming a Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT. The team is designed to support public safety agencies, including fire, EMS, law enforcement and Emergency Management, in the event of a large-scale disaster.
and advice. She’s my hero!”
Read previous articles we’ve written about Hazel Weeks at www.nwobserver.com (type “Hazel Weeks” in the Search bar on the upper LH corner of the homepage – and be sure to include the quotation marks).
The new CERT in northwest Guilford County will serve the towns of Oak Ridge, Stokesdale and Summerfield, and is in the process of seeking volunteers. Members will receive 24 hours of instruction on topics including disaster preparedness, fire safety, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, and disaster psychology. Members will also be provided with a backpack which includes safety equipment, first aid supplies and tools needed when responding to a disaster.
The Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) established the CERT program in 1993 to provide nationwide systematic training for volunteers. There are over 2,700 local CERT programs nationwide, and more than 600,000 people have trained since CERT
became a national program. Each CERT is unique to its community and is established, managed and supervised on a local level. Guilford County Emergency Management will sponsor the CERT in northwest Guilford County and provide training.
CERT volunteers must be 18 or older and able to complete the 24-hour CERT Basic Training Class. Training will be geared to each individual’s strengths, expertise and abilities. Previous emergency training or experience is not a requirement.
An informational meeting will be held for potential volunteers at the Summerfield Community Center, 5404 Centerfield Road, Summerfield, on Thursday, Aug. 31, at 7:30 p.m.
For more info, call Bob Wray at (336) 601-5891 or email cert.nwgc@gmail.com.
Parents with children at Northwest Middle, Northwest High and Stokesdale Elementary schools, as well as some schools in the northern part of the county, are angry about bus miscues at the start of the school year
by CHRIS BURRITTNW/NORTHERN GUILFORD – Earlier this week, transportation glitches greeted some students returning to three northwestern Guilford County schools and at least two schools in the northern part of the county.
Fifty ninth-graders at Northwest Guilford High School didn’t receive bus assignments due to “a software error in the routing system” for the school, Guilford County Schools (GCS) spokesperson Gabrielle Brown said in an email earlier this week. As technicians repaired the system, the district’s staff notified parents and told them their children would get bus assignments this week.
At Northwest Guilford Middle School, about 90 students who rode buses last year “do not have transportation” so far this year, said parent and school
employee Morgan Watson.
“It’s been a disaster,” said Watson, explaining that GCS staff is telling parents arranging transportation for their children may take 10 days.
“Monday afternoon, I had tons of kids here because they didn’t know how they were going to get home,” Watson said in an interview earlier this week. “They wouldn’t let them get on the bus because they weren’t on the bus roster.”
“Human error” prevented seven Stokesdale Elementary School students from boarding buses, although shortly later they got bus passes, according to Brown. The number of disrupted students was actually higher, said Sarah Turner, president of Stokesdale Elementary’s Parent Teacher Organization.
“There was so much miscommunication from GCS about bus transportation,” Turner wrote in an email to district administrators earlier this week. “How could so many kids have been dropped from the bus census at the last minute and no one noticed? Why is it so difficult to put kids on buses with existing bus stops?”
Complaints posted by nearly 90 parents and grandparents on the Northwest Observer’s Facebook page expressed frustration over the breakdown of GCS’ process for arranging transportation for students. Once children sign up for buses, they’re not required to sign up for the next academic year as long as their addresses don’t change and they’re attending the same schools.
Some parents said their children weren’t able to board buses even after they had verified transportation information with the district office and during open houses at schools.
Northwest Guilford High parent Denise Altamura described as “unreal” the experience for her daughter due to confusion among district staff and her bus driver over whether she was actually signed up to ride.
“I called two weeks ago just to make sure my request was received and that my child had an assignment at NWHS,” Altamura posted on the Northwest Observer’s Facebook page. “I was given a bus number and times. I got the same info at open house. I happened to check PowerSchool late Sunday night and not only had the number changed but the times changed too.”
Altamura said the bus picked her daughter up late for school, making her tardy for her first-period class, and then “drove past our house 3 times” before dropping her off at 6:23 p.m.
Some parents complained that buses didn’t arrive on schedule and that some routes don’t make sense.
“The bus was 10 minutes late yesterday morning,” Stokesdale resident Terri Smith posted. “And was 30 minutes late getting her home.”
“We experienced no bus yesterday for our NWHS student,” wrote Elizabeth Hepler. “Today a bus came, but it was a different one than is listed in the app we rely on to see when the bus is coming.
“I called yesterday and was redirected to a line that no one answered,” Hepler added. “I called today and no one answered.”
As the GCS transportation department works on resolving the bus issues, many parents said they’ve been left with no choice but to get their students to and from school themselves.
“The craziest part is, the schools send out messages practically begging parents to utilize buses because the car rider lines are out of control. Really!? This is why!! No one wants to deal with the year-after-year bus drama!” wrote Fallon Gumhold on Facebook.
Mentos, gave his mom lots of hugs, asked questions and polished off his lunch, followed by a vanilla ice cream cone.)
In Sarah’s words, here is the Franklin family’s story… Me: Would you start from the beginning, with the morning of March 30?
by PATTI STOKES
STOKESDALE – Jaxson Franklin, an exuberant, wideeyed, blond-headed 6-year-old “all boy,” sat at a table recently waiting for his order of hamburger and French fires at a local McDonald’s. Beside him sat his mom, Sarah, who came prepared to share her family’s experience since an almost fatal accident so dramatically uprooted their lives last March.
“We had a pretty normal life. Jaxson was a very social guy, and just a sweet, loving little boy. We were pretty homebody-type people and pretty much kept to ourselves and our small circle of friends and family,” Sarah said as she described life before the accident.
(In between our conversation, Jaxson educated me on Pokemon characters, including his favorite, Arceus, who he said “can walk on air,” asked about my favorite color, introduced me to orange mint
Sarah: “So, we had our morning routine. I don’t know what other families are like, but I am responsible for getting Jaxson ready. I make sure his lunch is packed, his clothes are laid out, and I make it as simple (for my husband, Ryan) as I can make it in the mornings. All he has to do is get Jaxson’s shoes on and make sure he gets on the bus.”
Sarah had just pulled into the parking deck at Cone Health Moses Cone Hospital where she works 12-hour shifts as a CVICU (cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit) nurse when she got a phone call she’ll never forget.
“I see Ryan’s name come across the screen. And I actually laughed, because I anticipated him saying, ‘I can’t find his shoes, he’s going to miss the bus, I’m going to be late…’
“But when I answered, it didn’t sound right. I could hear what sounded like screaming in the distance. And I could hear him (Ryan) breathing, and it was
these rapid, shallow breaths… and so I answered, and at first he didn’t say anything. And I said ‘hello?’”
It was Ryan’s next words that numbed Sarah to the core. He told her Jaxson had been hit by a car … and their son wasn’t breathing.
“He said, ‘You need to come home.’
“You would think you hear something like that and you fall apart, right then and there. But that’s not what happened. Everything just went numb. There weren’t tears… I was in shock.
“Then I said, ‘what?’ and he said it again – and I tore through the parking deck trying to get to my son.” Me: What was that drive home like?
Sarah: “We live about 20 minutes away (from work) and about halfway through, Ryan called me and said, ‘he’s breathing. The ambulance is going to take him to the hospital.’
The next several moments were a blur… until Sarah said she got about a mile and a half from her home.
...continued on p. 14
As he continues recovering from an accident that left him in critical condition last March, 6-year-old Jaxson Franklin was excited to be reunited with his classmates and begin first grade on Aug. 28
“My car just died. It just stopped working… and I rolled to the (Polar) water station (in downtown Stokesdale). And I’m literally slamming my foot on the gas pedal, willing the car to go and it wouldn’t do anything, so I got out of the car. I was wearing Crocs, and I got out of them and ran barefoot toward my house (about 1 ½ miles away).
“I remember that feeling of desperation and doing everything I could to get to him (Jaxson). At some point I called my mother-in-law, because my in-laws live relatively close. It was a miracle she could understand anything I said, but they got to Jaxson before I did. The ambulance had left before I could make it to Jaxson, so my husband and mother-in-law rode in the ambulance to Brenner’s. My father-in-law actually picked me up on the side of the road and I remember being able to see the ambulance ahead of us and thinking, ‘Can you please just drive faster? We’re so close, but so far away from him.’”
Later, Ryan told Sarah how glad he was that she didn’t have to witness Jaxson being hit, as he had, and that she didn’t have to be in the ambulance with their son, because those are horrible memories that will never leave him.
When she arrived at Brenners’s, Ryan met her outside the Emergency Room door, hugged her and then helped into the building.
“I could see Jaxson lying there in the trauma bay, and they were working on him. He was flaccid at first, but then we heard this earth-shattering scream come out from him and he flailed his body… and then he was flaccid again. And this went on for a couple of minutes. His left arm was broken, his left hip, left leg, his whole left side was broken, and we don’t know if it was part of him coming to and then passing out from the pain, or part of the brain injury.”
Jaxson was quickly put on life support and after being stabilized, given a head-to-toe CT scan. At first, the results were almost reassuring, Sarah said. There was no internal bleeding, a small area of bleeding in his brain, and then of course the broken bones.
“I thought, ‘bones, we can handle a few broken bones.’
“Once we got to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit), the neurosurgeons were called in. Because of how hard Jaxson was hit, they were worried about brain swelling, and needed to
do an MRI to further evaluate. But because of the swelling, they said they had to drill a hole into his head and place a device that monitors the pressure to the brain.
“That was a hard decision. Then, they couldn’t do an MRI because it wasn’t compatible with the device. So, we waited. And we stared at him for several days, lying in that bed, unresponsive and on medi cation to keep him sedated. At that point we knew there was an injury to his brain, but we didn’t know to what extent.”
Me: What was the hardest part of all that?
Sarah: “Not knowing was defi nitely the hardest part. I remem ber everyone saying how strong I was and I thought, ‘It’s not even being strong. It’s just getting through it.’”
Me: And this went on for days?
Sarah: “Yes, for days. And after they treated the swelling and they felt comfortable taking the bolt out, it was nerve-racking to watch the screen and wait for interventions to work. It was just awful.”
Me: You’re an ICU nurse. How much did that help you understand what was going on?
Sarah: “Oh my goodness, you know too much and too little at the same time. My background is cardiovascular, so when it came to neurology, I didn’t know anything. I remember feeling empathy for patients being on the other side, because now I couldn’t comprehend everything that is being said to me.”
Me: When did you get your first glimmer of hope?
Sarah: “After they had taken the bolt out, they took him down for an MRI and took the breathing tube out, he was breathing on his own. But that wasn’t it. The neurosurgeons gave us
Photo courtesy of Sarah Franklin Jaxson Franklin, 6, a first grader at Stokesdale Elementary, with his parents, Ryan and Sarah Franklin, on Jaxson’s first day of school this past Monday. Jaxson’s kindergarten year was cut short last March when he was hit by a vehicle while crossing the highway to board his school bus and he sustained life-threatening injuries, including bran trauma as well as several broken bones.
the MRI results and said Jaxson had suffered diffuse axonal injury – a shearing of the brain’s connecting nerve fibers. I didn’t know what that was, so I Googled it – and I don’t recommend that to anyone!
“The nurses and doctors kept telling us that kids are so resilient and ‘you just have to wait and see what he does.’ At
this point we were starting to fall apart. And Jaxson had started going through withdrawals from the medication they gave him when he was on life support. I’m familiar with that medicine, and we use it all the time when patients are on life support – but I didn’t know how kids respond when they come off of it, which can be very violently.”
Me: So, were you thinking the withdrawals would pass quickly and Jaxson would wake up soon?
Sarah: “Yes, but that’s not how it worked. He thrashed in the bed, and they ended up putting him in restraints. It was breaking our hearts and breaking us down. He kept flailing, so hard that he dislocated his shoulder that wasn’t injured. I finally just asked if I could get in the bed with him and hold him – and that’s what I did. I wrapped one arm and one leg over the other. And it felt like days.
“In
at the foot of the bed and Jaxson’s little head turns ever so slightly towards her. I could feel it and see it and she (the nurse) walks to the other side of the bed and his little head followed ever so slightly toward her.
“I asked, ‘did he just track you?’ and she screamed, ‘Yes’ and was literally jumping up and down. And then Jaxson (who was in a neck brace) turns his head, ever so slightly, and looks toward me and says, ‘Hi Mommy.’ And it was a voice that I thought I was never going to get to hear again.
“And I just cried… and cried… and cried tears of joy. I thanked God for that big and obvious sign – and that was it, we went from absolutely nothing to my child speaking well enough for me to understand, and recognizing who I was.
“I had told myself that if God got us through this, I would give the glory to Him and share this story to everyone who would listen.”
Me: At this point, did Jaxson start to show signs of recovering fairly quickly?
A few days later Jaxson was transferred to a rehab facility for two weeks.
And within a month of the accident, he returned home – to a house full of toys and stuffed animals and other wonderful things that friends and even strangers had waiting there on his arrival.
Over the last few months Jaxson has had “lots” of doctor appointments, and will for a while. Meanwhile, Sarah and Ryan continue to help him improve his cognition skills and his impulsiveness as they work toward recovering what he can recover.
“Every day since that moment in the hospital when he said, ‘Hi Mommy,’ we get a little more of him back. We see things that are different, but if you didn’t know him, you wouldn’t know anything had happened.”
Me: Are you more on edge when you see him run, or climb, afraid that he’ll fall and hurt himself?
Sarah: “All the time! From the beginning we were always very protective parents – even though I told myself I would not be that helicopter parent! And of course now, it’s much more so!”
Me: How is Ryan now?
things for them. He recognizes that we are so blessed and Jaxson not being able to do those things again is so trivial – but still, that was a life that was taken from Jaxson.”
Me: What are some of your favorite moments with Jaxson now that he’s home?
Sarah: “My favorite part of the day is to go and sit on the couch in the morning, right in front of where I’ll see him when he runs out of his room. And then he wakes up, opens up his door, rubs his eyes and comes running and we just get morning snuggles on the couch. It’s my favorite part of the day and I sit there and look at him and I melt. I feel so much love.”
Me: Is there anything you want to share with the community before we close?
At one point, Sarah said she “lost it.”
“I screamed, and I begged to God, and I said, I need a big sign that we’re going to get through this, and he’s going to be okay, because I can’t do this anymore.”
Sarah and Ryan held each other through the night and the next morning, she said she got up and once again climbed in bed with Jaxson and held him.
And then, she got the sign she had prayed for.
“Later that afternoon, I’m sitting behind Jaxson and the nurse is working
Sarah: “Yes, every day from that point, something happened. He started saying more words, then talked about Pokemon. And then he started doing simple math problems. Every day we got something back and it got better and better.”
Then, Jaxson was moved from ICU to a regular floor.
“At first, he was very flat-sounding (i.e., monotone). I remember feeling guilty and thinking, ‘my kid is alive, he’s breathing and he’s interacting –but is this all it’s going to be? He was very compliant, and robotic-like and I remember thinking, there are parents who would beg for this compliant-type child. But that wasn’t Jaxson, and I just wanted the rambunctious, spontaneous, little boy who loved to ride dirt bikes, play football, and fish.”
Sarah: “It’s frustrating, because he envisioned this life of all the things they were going to do together, especially with Jaxson being so ‘all-boy.’ Things like hunting and riding dirt bikes, and playing football, those were bonding
Sarah: “Yes! The Stokesdale Elementary PTSO was one of the first groups that reached out about the GoFundMe account, and the community just went wild with it. They donated, and they had so many encouraging words. We are so grateful for everything everyone has done throughout this whole thing. We have been awe-inspired by the community coming together the way it did for us, from donating money to saying prayers – which was the biggest thing anyone could do for Jaxson – to offering to mow our lawns and bring us meals. People just made sure we were so taken care of and I will never be able to express how grateful we are for that.”
the meantime, I’m falling apart, and my husband was watching. And I will say, you could not have asked for a better man in that situation. He loved Jaxson just the right amount, but he also loved me through this whole thing. I was lost, not eating, not sleeping, and he was being strong for both of us…
Jaxson, a first grader, and Jacob, a second grader, were all smiles on their first day of school at Oak Ridge Elementary.
London, a sophomore at Northwest Guilford High School, and Keegan, a senior, started their new school year off with smiles.
Siblings Addison (left) and Cohen (below) were excited for their first day in the fifth and third grades at Stokesdale Elementary.
Lilabelle is ready for kindergarten at Stokesdale Elementary as big sister Autumn heads off to sixth grade at Northwest Middle School. Fifth ready final Elementary
Big sister Ava, a second grader at Stokesdale Elementary, leads the way into the new school year for little brothers Mason, a kindergartner at Stokesdale Elementary, and Cody, who is in the 2/3 combo class at Oak Ridge Weekday School.
Lily H. headed grade year Elementary
That toothless grin, backpack, lunchbox and first-day-of-school sign can only mean one thing – Layne H. is ready to begin kindergarten at Stokesdale Elementary.
Fifth grader Jenson was ready to kick off his final year at Oak Ridge Elementary School.
Luke looked pretty happy as he prepared to start the new school year as a first grader at Revolution Academy in Summerfield on Aug. 14.
Sierra Walker and her son, Anders, had a great first day of the 2023-2024 school year at Summerfield Elementary. It’s year #9 for Sierra, who teaches first grade at the school, and just the beginning for her kindergartner son!
Jackson, an eighth grader at Northwest Middle School, Piper, a fourth grader, and Greenlee, a kindergartner at Oak Ridge Elementary, put on some great happy faces for their first-day-ofschool photo.
First grader Jack and third grader Ella Grace headed to Revolution Academy on Aug. 14, excited for the new school year!
for Stokesdale sister to Northwest
headed into her first year at Summerfield Elementary with a big grin.
OAK RIDGE – Only a small fraction of the roughly 8 million or so athletes who compete in high school sports go on to play at the highest levels in college. Ben Willer, who graduated from Northwest Guilford High in June, is set to become a member of an even rarer fraternity: Americans competing collegiately in Europe.
On Sept. 11, 6-foot-4, 200-pound Ben will ship off to the capital city of Wales to suit up for Cardiff Metropolitan University Rugby Football Club.
“Once I learned that my school, Cardiff Met, had hundreds of (rugby) players, I was instantly hooked,” said Ben, whose father Mike Willer hails from England, Wales’ neighbor to the east. “I immediately wanted to be surrounded by people who love the game.”
A long list of Cardiff Met first-team players have gone on to represent their home countries internationally – most of them for Wales, where rugby is a national pastime.
According to USA Rugby, more than 100,000 of its members play in over 2,500 clubs nationwide, with college and high
school-age players accounting for close to half of those numbers. But rugby isn’t sanctioned by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), leading to a much different-looking collegiate landscape in the USA than other more popular sports.
The associations considered by USA Rugby to be the top tiers of men’s collegiate rugby have virtually no presence in the Southeast. Ben’s brother Tom plays for East Carolina University’s club team, which competes in a lower division with other in-state schools.
“Ben does a lot of work on the field, and he just wants to take his game to the next level,” Mike said.
Having grown up playing rugby in San Diego, Ben has been frustrated by the sport often being overlooked in North Carolina, although his dad says rugby is catching on more around the state and in the Charlotte area, in particular. Mike has been doing his part to help grow the game since the Willers moved to the Triad seven years ago, serving as a coach with Northwest High’s club team in addition to leading rugby programs
I think it’s an absolute win for a lot of kids. Certainly for the kids who play football that are benched a lot and spend most of the time on the sideline. And that saddens me when kids sign up to play football and they don’t play. They’re still part of the football team but they just don’t play half the time. In rugby, you play. You signed up. We get you playing.”
Ben Willer, rugby player
within Oak Ridge Youth Association and Greensboro Youth Rugby.
Mike’s coaching extends to the middle school and elementary levels, and he is passionate about getting girls involved in rugby, too.
“I think it’s an absolute win for a lot of kids,” he said. “Certainly for the kids who play football that are benched a lot and spend most of the time on the sideline. And that saddens me when kids sign up to play football and they don’t
by KELLEN HOLTZMAN
NORTHERN GUILFORD – Taking the reins of an established high school athletics program that has had more than its share of successes could, for many, come with a bit of pressure. But as Chase Cochran, Northern Guilford High School’s new athletic director (AD), settles into the role he assumed Aug. 1, he believes everything leading up to now has prepared him well for the challenges ahead.
Cochran most recently taught sports marketing at the high school and served as assistant athletics director. As the school’s new AD, he picks up the baton from Brian Thomas, who served as Northern Guilford High School’s AD for more than a decade and presided over many of the Nighthawks’ athletic successes during his tenure – including four state football championships from 2010-2014.
It was during that exact timeframe that Cochran emerged as a standout wide receiver for Ohio University’s football team, under the direction of lauded head coach Frank Solich.
Cochran hails from Lebanon, Ohio, outside of Cincinnati. He and his wife, Faith, met at Ohio University when he was on the football team and she was a member of the Bobcats’ volleyball team.
He credits Jason Grooms, former Ohio Bobcats football operations director, for inspiring him to become an athletic director (Grooms left Ohio for Vanderbilt and later joined Texas as the football program’s chief of staff).
“Everything he instilled in us from a director of operations’ perspective, I really clung to that,” Cochran said. “I really enjoyed seeing what he
did as a profession.”
The Cochrans moved to the Triad area when Faith, a Kernersville native, enrolled in graduate school at Wake Forest University. For six years Cochran led Northern Guilford Middle’s athletic department in addition to coaching the school’s football team and serving as an assistant coach for Northern High’s football program under Erik Westberg.
On succeeding Thomas as Northern’s AD, Cochran acknowledged, “I definitely have big shoes to fill with him retiring. He’s done such a good job
here for such a long time. He really has built this school athletically into what it is.
“We are fortunate enough and blessed enough to have some really successful programs,” Cochran continued. “Being that this is our 18th year and we have 17 state championships, that’s a really good place to be. And I say that humbly, because some schools may never get that many state championships.”
While he never takes winning for granted, Cochran said he has shared his expectation with the Northern Guilford coaching staff that the athletic program’s tradition of success over the last 17 years will continue.
Thomas, he said, advised him that his most important role will be making sure he does everything possible to put the school’s coaches in positions to win.
“I really relish this opportunity and I want what’s best for our kids,” Cochran said. “When our kids graduate from here, I want them to walk away and say, ‘Man, that was awesome! In my time at Northern Guilford, people were great to us. Our coaches treated us fairly. They coached us hard but they loved us.’
“I want our kids to leave here with a smile on their faces,” he added. “If we do that, I think all of the records and all of the championships – all of those things will come.”
Northwest Guilford High School
5240 Northwest School Road, Greensboro
(Games start at 7:30 p.m., except on Sept. 1, which starts at 7 p.m.)
Aug. 18 Williams Home (L) 39-34
Aug. 25 .......... North Davidson ..................... Away (W) 27-0
Sept. 1 R.J. Reynolds Away
Sept. 15 Western Guilford* Home
Sept. 22 .......... Grimsley* ............................ Home
Sept. 29 .......... Page* .................................... Away
Oct. 6 Northern Guilford* Away
Oct. 13 ........... Ragsdale* ............................ Home
Oct. 20 ........... Southeast Guilford* ............. Home
Oct. 27 Southwest Guilford* Away
* Conference games (4A West Conference)
Standings
(as of Aug. 31)
Overall 1-1 Conference 0-0
Northern Guilford High School
7101 Spencer Dixon Road, Greensboro
(Games start at 7:30 p.m.) DATE
Aug. 18 ........... Eastern Guilford ................... Home (L) 39-11
Aug. 25 .......... New Bern .............................. Away (L) 31-21
Sept. 1 Eastern Alamance Away
Sept. 15 .......... Ragsdale* .............................. Away
Sept. 22 .......... Southeast Guilford* ............. Home
Sept. 29 Southwest Guilford* Away
Oct. 6 ............. Northwest Guilford* ............. Home
Oct. 13 ........... Page* .................................... Away
Oct. 20 Western Guilford* Home
Oct. 27 Grimsley* Home
* Conference games (4A West Conference)
Standings
(as of Aug. 31)
Overall 0-2 Conference 0-0
Since 2010, Guilford Backpack Ministry (GBM) has been providing northern and northwest Guilford County-area students in need with food and basic necessities to help fill the weekend food gap. GBM currently serves the following 14 schools and afterschool programs: Oak Ridge Elementary, Summerfield Elementary, Stokesdale Elementary, Northern Elementary, Northern Middle and Northern High, Northwest Middle and Northwest High, Summerfield Charter Academy, Revolution Academy, Greensboro Academy, two Operation Excel (afterschool) programs and McNair Elementary.
As a community-based, 100-percent volunteer non-profit that operates out of Oak Ridge United Methodist Church, GBM depends on local businesses, groups, churches and individuals to support us in serving close to 400 area students and their families. The cost of providing each child with supplemental food and basic necessities is about $500 per year.
With the new school year underway, we’re kicking off our “Back to School Fund Drive” and would appreciate your support. Monetary donations can be made by texting “ORUMC Backpack” to 73256. Those able to help make a difference by volunteering and/or conducting a food drive are asked to email us at guilfordbackpackministry@gmail.com.
Students in need at one of the schools we serve may also email us at the above email address.
...continued from p. 18
play. They’re still part of the football team but they just don’t play half the time. In rugby, you play. You signed up. We get you playing.”
Ben is drawn to the complexity and physicality of the sport, but added he believes the litany of rules in place help make up for the absence of padding and other protective equipment more common in American football.
Ben lists being a North Carolina Youth Rugby Union all-star, and an Eagle Scout, among his accomplishments during his high school years. For his Eagle Scout project, he built a 10x8 sports shed for ORYA to house equipment for sports including rugby, soccer, lacrosse and football.
His three-year program with Cardiff Met is about to get underway, and Ben is set to begin classes Sept. 18. With a British father, he’s no stranger to Europe, but Wales, a nation of 3.1 million inhabitants, will be new.
And that’s really the essence of why Ben is taking on this challenge: for the experience of playing the sport he loves at an advanced level, in a country and at a university where it’s ingrained in the culture.
As Ben notes, in rugby, the game is only part of what draws athletes to the sport.
“… The culture rugby brings is unlike any other sport,” he said. “There are not many sports where players can wage war against one another for 90 minutes, and straight afterwards share food and drinks like they have been friends the whole time.”
Greensboro Youth Rugby Club is always interested in growing its program in northwest Guilford County and welcomes more middle- and high school-age players. To learn more about the club or to register as a player, visit www.greensboroyouthrugby.com. Questions may be directed to Mike Willer at greensboroyrc@gmail.com.
“I love the sport for the fact that all 15 people on the pitch have integral roles vital to beating their opponents,” Ben said. “… The physicality of rugby is unmatched. Making tackles at high-intensity speeds for two 45-minute halves truly pushes your body to its limits.”Photo courtesy of Alison Willer Prior to his scheduled departure for Wales, Ben Willer completed an Eagle Scout project in which he built a sports shed for Oak Ridge Youth Association.
has recently responded to the following incidents in northwest/northern Guilford County ...
Aug. 15 | Officers responded to a reported domestic incident in the 8800 block of Ellisboro Road in Stokesdale.
Aug. 15 | A 36-year-old female was arrested in the 4100 block of Brynwood Drive in Colfax (off Leabourne Road) for simple assault and resisting/delaying/obstructing a police officer.
Aug. 18 | Officers responded to a reported incident involving a shotgun in the 5600 block of Fairlawn Drive in Summerfield (near I-73 N).
Aug. 25 | A 34-year-old and a 36-year-old were arrested in the 5300 block of Northwest School Road in northwest Greensboro for simple assault.
Aug. 26 | Officers conducted a death investigation in the 7700 block of Athens Road in Stokesdale (off U.S. 158).
Aug. 17 | Officers responded to a reported opiate overdose in the 2000 block of Scalesville Road in Summerfield.
Aug. 16 | An employee of Tractor Supply Co. in Oak Ridge reported an unknown suspect used two counterfeit $100 bills to pay for merchandise.
Aug. 22 | A resident of the 8100 block of Oak Creek Drive in Stokesdale (near U.S. 158) reported
that between Aug. 15 and Aug. 22 an unknown suspect fraudulently used her personal identification information.
Aug. 15 | A 34-year-old female was arrested in the 9100 block of U.S. 158 in Stokesdale for cyberstalking and several counts of threatening an executive/legal/court officer.
Aug. 23 | A citizen at CVS Pharmacy in Summerfield reported she had received harassing phone calls between Aug. 19 and Aug. 23.
Aug. 23 | A resident of the 7600 block of Deboe Road in Summerfield (near I-73 N) reported she had received harassing phone calls.
Aug. 23 | A resident of the 7100 block of Ellison Road in Stokesdale (off U.S. 158) reported he lost a black GLOCK firearm worth $500.
Aug. 21 | A 27-year-old female was arrested in the 5800 block of Old Oak Ridge Road in northwest Greensboro for receiving and transferring stolen vehicles and resisting/delaying/ obstructing a police officer.
Aug. 21 | Officers responded to a report of suspicious activity in the 5300 block of Northwest School Road in northwest Greensboro.
THEFT
Aug. 14 | An employee of Iron Play
golf course in Summerfield reported an unknown suspect entered a building via an unlocked door and stole an orange/white STIHL loop handle trimmer and chainsaw, worth $810 together.
Aug. 21 | A resident of the 8900 block of Osage Road in Stokesdale (near Belews Creek Road) reported an unknown suspect broke into his residence via a window and stole the title to a 2005 Ford Escape, a black Xbox worth $550 and 21 pairs of premium sneakers worth $4,270 altogether.
Aug. 24 | A resident of the 6000 block of Windsor Farme Road in Summerfield (off Bunch Road) reported an unknown suspect stole her prescription of 90 Ketamine pills, worth $70.
Aug. 25 | A resident of the 8400 block of Spicer Lane in Stokesdale (near U.S. 158) reported an unknown suspect pried open her back door and entered her residence.
Aug. 24 | Officers responded to a report of vandalism in the 8900 block of Osage Road in Stokesdale (near Belews Creek Road).
Aug. 27 | The owner of Southern Lights Outdoor Lighting & Audio in Summerfield reported that between Aug. 26 and Aug. 27 an unknown suspect caused $300 worth of damage to a truck on the property.
Report suspicious activity immediately: Call 911
7504 Summerfield Road
Main number: (336) 641-2300
Report non-emergency crime-related incidents by calling: (336) 373-2222 8 a.m.–5 p.m., M-F www.guilfordcountync.gov/ our-county/sheriff-s-office
z Back-to-school fundraiser | Guilford Backpack Ministry is having a back-to-school fundraiser. Sixteen percent of children in the schools served by GBM are food insecure, and $500 feeds each child we serve for one year. To donate, text “ORUMC Backpack” to 73256 or visit www.facebook.com/ guilfordbackpackministry.
z Farmers’ Day | Friends of Stokesdale invites local farmers to participate in its 2nd annual Farmers’ Day on Saturday, Oct. 7, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Stokesdale United Methodist Church, 8305 Loyola Drive. Farmers will be displaying their equipment and sharing their knowledge of
Stokesdale’s farming history. To learn more or participate, email friendsofstokesdale@gmail.com, call (336) 552-0704, or visit www.facebook.com/ friendsofstokesdale.
z NW Guilford Farmers & Specialty Market | A farmers market is open Wednesday evenings from 4 p.m. to dusk and Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Greensboro Performing Arts, 7200 Summerfield Road. More info: Nicki Wagoner, (336) 817-7765 or fromtheearthfm@gmail.com.
z CERT information session | CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) will hold an information session Aug. 31, starting at 7:30 p.m. at Summerfield Community Center, 5404 Centerfield Road. Volunteers are needed to train in assisting first responders with natural disasters and other major emergencies. This session will provide details on the training required and how the team would
be utilized. More info: Bob Wray, (336) 601-5891.
z Kiwanis Club | Kiwanis Club of Northwest Guilford, a nonprofit that engages in projects focused on children in our community, will meet Sept. 5, starting at 12 noon at Bill’s Pizza, 1431 N.C. 68 in Oak Ridge. More info: nwgkiwanis@gmail.com.
z SMA meeting | Summerfield Merchants Association (SMA), which focuses on supporting local businesses, nonprofits and the Summerfield community, invites professionals who live in Summerfield or represent a business or nonprofit based in Summerfield to a meeting Sept. 5, 6:15 to 8 p.m. Learn more about SMA or RSVP to attend the meeting as a guest at www.summerfieldmerchant.com.
z Friends of Stokesdale meeting | Friends of Stokesdale, a nonprofit committed to preserving Stokesdale’s history and downtown charm, will meet Sept. 5, 7 to 8 p.m. at Stokesdale Town Hall, 8325 Angel Pardue Road. For more info, visit www.facebook.com/friendsofstokesdale
or call Joe Thacker, president, at (336) 708-0334.
z Senior program | Senior Resources of Guilford County will sponsor a senior program including activities and a take-home lunch on Sept. 6, 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon at Oak Ridge First Baptist Church, 2445 Oak Ridge Road. To learn more and/or RSVP, call (336) 373-4816, ext. 265.
z Community meal | Gideon Grove United Methodist Church at 2865 Gideon Grove Church Road in Stokesdale will host a free spaghetti meal
Sept. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. Donations will be accepted for Good Samaritan Ministries of Stokesdale. Visit www.facebook.com/gideongroveumc to learn more.
z Preservation Oak Ridge meeting | Preservation Oak Ridge, a nonprofit committed to preserving historic structures in Oak Ridge, will meet Sept. 6, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the historic Ai Church, 1306 N.C. 68 N in Oak Ridge. More info: (336) 644-1777.
z RidgeFest | Merchants of Oak Ridge, in partnership with the Town
of Oak Ridge and with the help of sponsors and many volunteers, will host the 14th annual RidgeFest Thursday, Sept. 7, 6 to 9:30 p.m.; Friday, Sept. 8, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Sept. 9, 4:30 to 10 p.m. at Oak Ridge Town Park, 6231 Lisa Drive. Enjoy carnival rides for kids of all ages, food trucks, live music, vendors, games and other activities – and a spectacular fireworks show on the last night. Guilford Backpack Ministry will host a “Food Drive Bingo” table, starting at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Contact backpackfooddrive@gmail.com to download the rules and a bingo sheet. (See display ad on p. 5 for more event details.)
z Town Council meeting | Oak Ridge Town Council will meet Sept. 7, starting at 7 p.m. at Oak Ridge Town Hall, 8315 Linville Road. Attend in person or watch the meeting in
real time or at a later time on the town’s YouTube channel (a link to the recorded meeting will also be posted on the town’s Facebook page). Visit www.oakridgenc.com for more info or a meeting agenda.
z Friday Night Lights Festival | Northwest Guilford High School will host a Friday Night Lights Festival Sept. 8, starting at 6 p.m. at R.L. Billings Stadium, 5240 Northwest School Road. Bearded BBQ food truck and Kona Ice will be on site, and activities will include a cornhole tournament, a field goal kicking contest, pie-acoach and a movie broadcast on the video scoreboard. Tickets cost $5 per person, and cornhole costs $20 per team – there will be a cash prize for the winning team. Proceeds will go to the NW Student Athlete Leadership Team. More info: Jason Allred, allredd3@gcsnc.com.
Hazel, for her excellent editorial (in Aug. 17-30 issue) about a perpetual problem. Female discrimination starts early and doesn’t end at any age. It is now acceptable to call women who express opinions/facts “Karen.” See G&G for continued judgment on their choice of clothing.
Trivium Racing and all the
volunteers who helped put on an amazing sprint triathlon on Aug. 12 at Oak Hollow Marina. It was a very well-organized race and an awesome experience. The medals and shirts were great, too!
Oak Ridge rescuers Nancy and Edward for helping the box turtle “V” find wildlife rehabilitators Carole and Mark Bloom. We’re grateful such wise, patient people help injured
animals, removing the nail polish in six weeks of care. Bravo!
State Farm Insurance in Stokesdale, for excellent customer service!
Stokesdale deputy town clerk Priscilla Hunsucker for being so welcoming to my family, who was visiting from Japan, when we stopped by Town Hall. Your kindness made a big impression on us all.
Pam, the Greensboro Nursery vendor at the Farmers Market, who is always friendly and helpful, and is very knowledgeable about plants. There’s a great selection of healthy trees, shrubs and flowers at fair prices. Happy to skip the big box stores!
Those supporting the yard-working women and their attire. I’m sure the encouraging comments were appreciated. Imagine what would happen if the griper visited Triad Park and saw the ladies playing volleyball!
Dr. Sue Thomas and the staff of Summerfield Veterinary Hospital for helping make a very difficult decision a little more tolerable.
Bodie at Food Lion in Stokesdale. Thank you for your joyful spirit and kind words as I checked out last weekend. I hope you had a great first day back to school. Keep smiling – it goes further than you know!
Stokesdale Elementary School parents, teachers, staff and students – what a great start to the 2023-2024 school year! We love our community school!
The NWO for allowing people to express their grins and gripes.
The poor audio at Northwest High School’s ring presentation for the state champion wrestling team during halftime of the recent football game. Our state champion wrestlers
deserve better – state championships at Northwest athletics don’t come around very often.
The lady Lexus owner who claimed she’s a “Patriot.” Is a “Patriot” someone who is slavishly devoted to the orange, twice-impeached, fourtimes-indicted domestic terrorist who attempted to overthrow our democracy on Jan. 6, 2021? Please clarify.
Lowes Foods. Cobwebs and skull platters for sale at the front entrance on Aug. 21, right at the cut-and-go cooler? Watermelon and cobwebs? Ewwww. What are you thinking?
Halloween is two months away! What happened to Back to School and Labor Day displays?
People who don’t cross Linville Road (in Oak Ridge) safely. Please use the pedestrian walk when crossing the street – and use the lights, which ensure cars can see you.
Oak Ridge leaders, who take pride in the town’s beautiful park and town hall grounds but don’t extend that same care to the median on N.C. 68 and 150 (both sides), which is the center of Oak Ridge.
Editor’s note: The median actually falls under the domain of N.C. Department of Transportation. There are plans in the works for making stoplight and other improvements to this intersection in an effort aimed at slowing traffic and improving pedestrian and cyclist safety in the commercial business district; additionally, NCDOT will install roundabouts in two locations (one at N.C. 68 and Linville Road and the other at N.C. 150 and Marketplace Drive). The project is expected to get underway next spring and take two years to complete. We’ll confirm with NCDOT that the weeds growing from cracks in the concrete median will be removed when the intersection improvements are made (if not before).
People who think it’s okay to bring their dogs into places of business. Are you kidding me? This has gotten out of control. Give them a bone and leave them at home.
Northwest Observer for allowing a misogynistic slur by a griper musing that only women care about disrespectful behavior; e.g., domestic
pets defecating in parks and yards. “Karen” is a substitute for calling women a “B” and telling them to shut up.
The driver of the Land Rover who laid on his horn at the Northwest Middle School open house when the driver of the van was simply parallel parking. She knew you were there and her sensors did too.
Town of Oak Ridge Facebook administrators for posting inaccurate and unsafe information about school bus traffic laws, which was shared by many. The error was pointed out, but not corrected. I hope the misinformation doesn’t lead to any accidents or injuries.
The bartender at a beer/wine business in Oak Ridge last weekend. Not everyone wants to hear your inappropriate language.
The condition of Old Union Graveyard on Harrell Road. What happened to keeping Oak Ridge beautiful?
The wife who believes women working in their yards should alter their attire because her husband was distracted by them. Be forewarned: it may be a bikini next time. Perhaps blinders need to be purchased to save your marriage.
The guy at Oak Ridge Swim Club in his big, white truck and his cool, white tank top who parked in a space not designated for parking, preventing turnaround access at the bottom of the parking lot.
Food Lion in Summerfield, for mixing brown hamburger meat with fresh hamburger meat just bought on Aug. 26. This kind of thing has happened before, and going forward we will shop at Harris Teeter!
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EUROHAUSAUTO.PRO
CHOICE TIRE AND AUTOMOTIVE. Oil changes, inspections, alignments and general automotive repairs. 1080 US Hwy 66 S, Kernersville, NC. (336) 992-9002
KNIGHT IMPORT SPECIALTY SERVICE
European Auto Service & Repair. Specializing in factory-scheduled maintenance and repairs. BMW, Audi, Volvo, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Mini, and Porsche. 32 years experience. 4559 US Hwy. 220, Summerfield (across from Food Lion). (336) 337-0669
SAM'S AUTO BODY SHOP. Any type of body work. 45 years exp. (336) 965-7955
LOCAL PRESCHOOL seeking an engaging and enthusiastic Pre-K assistant teacher for our church preschool. Four-day position: M-Th, 8:45am-1:15pm. Please contact Lindsay Villaran at orpcschool@gmail.com to apply.
JOEY'S BURGER BAR now hiring. Apply at www.joeysburgerbar.com
The TOWN of OAK RIDGE is currently accepting applications for a part-time Parks & Recreation groundskeeper. Up to 25 hrs./ wk.; $15/hr. Very flexible schedule required, including weekends. Applicants must have clean NCDL and be able to pass background check. Candidates should submit an application (which can be found at www.oakridgenc.com under the "Our Town" tab) to tlannon@oakridgenc.com or at Oak Ridge Town Hall, 8315 Linville Road (M-F, 8:30am-4:30pm).
Hiring? www.nwobserver.com
SENIOR HELPERS. Homecare for seniors and others including companion, personal needs, transitional, chronic disease, VA, respite, post-surgery assistance. Can provide house chores as part of service at no extra charge. Knowing your loved one is happy, safe, and cared for is your priority and ours too! Locally owned and operated. Call (336) 893-0300
KIDS CONSIGNMENT SALE. Friday, Sept. 15, 9am-8pm, and Sat., Sept. 16, 8am-1pm. Some items 50% off on Sat. St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, 2715 Horse Pen Creek Road, Greensboro. www.saintpaulskidssale.com
MULTIPLE-FAMILY SALE. Sat., Sept 2, 7-11am. Grove Park Drive. Oak Ridge.
Follow us on Facebook for updates! www.facebook.com/northwestobserver
AIR CONDITIONING & HEATING
A-ACTION AIR. Air conditioning check-up, $79.95. (336) 268-6768 or (336) 382-3750
MAID-2-SHINE. Excellent service, 15 years experience. Free estimates, excellent references. (336) 338-0223
PAOLA CLEANING SERVICE. Residential & commercial. Insured. (336) 669-5210
CRYSTAL CLEAR WINDOW CLEANING
Gutter cleaning, pressure washing. Fully ins. windowcleaningnc.com. (336) 595-2873
CHRISTIAN MOM needs work cleaning houses, running errands. Quality cleaning/ budget friendly. Pet sitting also avail. References. Call Laura Bennett, (336) 231-1838
ANNASARAH'S CLEANING. Excellent references. Trustworthy. Family-owned business. Free estimates. (336) 543-3941
EXPERIENCED INTERIOR DECORATOR & personal furniture shopper will help you with style, color, shopping & furniture placement. E-mail appeninc@gmail.com or call Ann Appenzeller, (336) 314-1411
BALEX ELECTRICAL COMPANY, LLC.
Residential, commercial and solar electrical services. (336) 298-4192
Do you have ELECTRICAL NEEDS? It's portable generator season. Call Coble Electric, LLC at (336) 209-1486
MONTERO'S HARDWOOD FLOORING
Installation of hardwood, laminate & tile; hardwood sanding & finishing. Commercial & residential. Insured, 17 yrs. exp. Free est., exc. references. Call (336) 215-8842 or visit Monteros-hardwood-flooring.com.
GENERAL REPAIR & SERVICES
“No Job Too Small”
Wood Rot Repairs on door jambs & window sills Bathroom Remodeling • Decks and much more! • Insured
APPLIANCE REPAIR – Call Mr. Appliance A step above the rest! (336) 609-5707 Contact us for a free estimate!
oldschoolsjhr@triad.rr.com
GENERAL HANDYMAN. Repairs, installations, assemblies, etc. Light electrical and plumbing. Yard work and power washing. Insured. No job too small. Give Gordon a call, (336) 253-7700
GARY’S HANDYMAN HOME SERVICES
“Providing value for the home-ownership experience.” Gary Gellert, serving NC’s Piedmont Triad area. Garygellert@gmail.com, (336) 423-8223
336.554.5007
kjhomeservices4u@gmail.com
LOW-COST GARAGE DOORS. Repair and sales. 35 years exp. (336) 207-1003
CLOCK SERVICE. Free house calls for sick clocks. 8103 Windspray Dr., Summerfield. (336) 643-9931
L & T SMALL ENGINE SERVICE
“We get you mowing!” Comm./res., all models. Oak Ridge, NC. Please call (336) 298-4314 Ltsmeng16@gmail.com
H&L GRADING, LLC No job too tough or too small. Call us first! We are a full-service grading company that specializes in residential projects. Owner/Operator Timmy Hart has more than 30 years of grading and equipment experience. Fully licensed and insured. Land clearing, debris removal, driveways, French drains, portable sawmill and much more. We also do custom roughcut lumber. Call owner/operator Bobby Lipstreu, (336) 543-7867.
BRAD'S BOBCAT & HAULING SVCS, LLC Debris removal, grading, gravel/dirt, driveways, concrete work. (336) 362-3647
ANTHONY’S GRADING & HAULING
Excavating, land clearing, demolition, dirt, available. Zane Anthony, (336) 362-4035
GAULDIN TRUCKING, grading & hauling, bobcat work, lot clearing, driveways, fill dirt, gravel, etc. (336) 362-1150
PLACE YOUR AD: nwobserver.com
Installation, repair, replacement, Leaf Guard
Stokesdale 336-420-0200
WILSON LANDSCAPING, INC
Lawn maint., landscaping. Irrigation/landscape contractor. Hardscaping & landscape lighting. 26 years exp. (336) 399-7764
MEDLIN'S LANDSCAPING. Res./comm. lawn service. Fully insured. Call/text (336) 817-3036.
ARBOR MASTERS TREE SERVICE
Total tree removal, storm damage cleanup, shrub and tree pruning. Free estimates. Licensed & insured. (336) 643-9157
COLFAX LAWNCARE. Core aeration & seeding. Fertilizing, mowing, trimming. Complete lawn care/maintenance. Res./comm. Fully insured. Serving the Triad for 34 years. (336) 362-5860.
DILLON TREE SERVICE. Certified arborists. BBB accredited. Fully insured. Familyowned. Tree removal and trimming. Available for emergency removals 24/7. Free estimates. (336) 996-6156. www.dillontreeservice.com. info@dillontreeservice.com.
GOSSETT'S LAWNCARE. Complete lawn care/maintenance. Res./comm. Fully insured. In business for 33 yrs. (336) 451-5216
DSL DRAIN SYSTEMS & LANDSCAPING (336) 362-4354
INTEGRITY TREE SERVICE, LLC Tree removal, risk assessment, tree pruning, dead wood removal. Affordable/competitive pricing. Fully insured. Owner-operated. Call for free estimate, (336) 210-8310
CM STUMP GRINDING, LLC. Family owned and operated. Commercial/residential. Free quotes! (336) 317-4600
EXTERIOR GREENSCAPES. Lawn maintenance service. Call for a free estimate (336) 682-1456
ORTIZ LANDSCAPING, complete lawn care. Trimming, cleaning, planting & mulch, gutter cleaning, patios & pavers, waterfalls, retaining walls, sidewalks, stonework. Residential and commercial. (336) 280-8981
SOUTHERN CUTZ LAWN CARE. Offering complete lawn maintenance services, landscaping, bush hogging, privacy fence installation/repair/staining, and stump grinding. Nathan Adkins, (336) 430-6086
STRAIGHT EDGE LAWN CARE. Free estimates. Please call (336) 306-0274
GUZMAN LANDSCAPE & MAINTENANCE
Pine needles, mulch, leaf removal, tree pruning, complete lawn maint. (336) 655-6490
R C LAWN CARE. Res./comm. lawn service. Fully insured. Call/text (336) 231-9599
AQUA SYSTEMS IRRIGATION. Quality irrigation systems. NC licensed contractor. We service all systems. Free est. (336) 644-1174
HILL LAWNCARE & OUTDOOR SERVICES
Free est. Call (336) 669-5448
COLONIAL MASONRY. 40 yrs. exp. Specializing in outdoor living spaces; dry-stack natural stone and flagstone. Let us help you plan your patio, fire pit, fireplace, kitchen –or anything else you would like! Call (336) 949-9019. www.colonialmasonry.com.
NEW PHASE CONCRETE. Here for all your decorative concrete needs. Specializing in decorative stamp, stained, epoxy and all other concrete poured finishes as well. Also offering refurbishment of existing stamped concrete. Make your existing stamped look like new again! (336) 399-1474 or (336) 595-4654.
Flake Epoxy Systems
Garage Floor and Concrete Resurfacing
Decorative Concrete Overlays
Stamped Concrete Rejuvenation
Eric Sauls, Owner ● (336) 970-3543
Call for your free estimate
HOME SUPPORT SERVICES PROVIDER
Oak Ridge and surrounding area. Will run errands and do light housekeeping. M,W,F. Call (336) 707-4946; ask for Katrena.
Certified Mold Inspections
Certified Mold Remediation
Crawl Space Vapor Barriers
Crawl Space Cleaning Insulation/Foam Board Sealing Basement Moisture Issues
locally based in Stokesdale ● (336) 937-4983 northstarmoisture@gmail.com www.northstarmoisture.com
ON EAGLE'S WINGS residential home design/drafting. Call Patti, (336) 605-0519
JUNK & DEBRIS REMOVAL, construction, remodeling, and general cleanup, outbuildings, garages, basements, yard waste, etc. Also can haul mulch. Call (336) 706-8470
PEARMAN QUARRY LCID. Inert debris landfill. Yard waste, concrete, etc. Mulch and fill dirt available. (336) 803-2195 or (336) 558-7673
PAINTING INTERIOR & EXTERIOR , 40 yrs. exp. Sheetrock repair. Average BDRM walls $100. Insured. Call Brad Rogers, (336) 314-3186
STILL PERFECTION PAINTING. Reliable, skilled, affordable. Painting, pressure washing, handyman services. Scott Still, (336) 462-3683, stillperfectionpainting.com.
LAWSON'S PAINTING. Custom decks, pressure washing, boat docks, block fill, wood repair, stain work, textured ceilings, sheetrock repair. Call (336) 253-9089
Residential & Commercial
David & Judy Long, owners (336) 931-0600
BEKPaintCompany.com
• References Available
• Licensed & Insured
• All Work Guaranteed
PLUMBING
WEBSTER & SONS PLUMBING, Inc
(336) 992-2503. Licensed, insured, bonded. 24/7 service. Plumbing, drain cleaning, well pumps. Give us a call, we do it all! Go to www.webstersplumbing.com for more info.
BRANSON PLUMBING & SOLAR No job too small! Experienced, guaranteed. Lic./ Ins. Cleanliness in your home is our #1 priority. Call Mark, (336) 337-7924
POOLS
COX POOL SERVICE. Openings, closings, routine maintenance, weekly service. No contracts; free estimates! (336) 327-5122
PRESSURE WASHING
PRESSURE WASHING, gutter & window cleaning. Fully insured. Crystal Clear, www. windowcleaningnc.com or (336) 595-2873
HOUSE and ROOF SOFT WASHING Martin's Pressure Washing. (919) 931-0856
We DISASSEMBLE and RECONSTRUCT old log buildings, cabins and tobacco barns. If you have a log structure and don’t want it, we will remove it for you! If you want to relocate it, we can do that too! We also construct pole barns/buildings. Call (336) 430-9507 anytime.
Check in with your neighbors: www.facebook.com/northwestobserver
PAINTING, DECKS AND MORE. Call Premier Construction for free estimates. (336) 430-9507
AFFORDABLE HOME REPAIRS. One call fixes all! A+ with BBB. For a free estimate call (336) 643-1184 or (336) 987-0350.
RENOVATION WORKS, INC.
New construction, remodeling, additions, kitchen, bath and decks. We are a locally owned, full-service design and build company, A+ accredited with the BBB. Visit www.myrenovationworks.com or call (336) 427-7391 to start your next project.
BELEWS CREEK CONSTRUCTION
Kitchens/baths, custom decks, garages, dock work, siding, windows, roofing, rotted wood. Senior discount. 41 years exp. (336) 215-6122 or (336) 362-6343
KEITH SMITH CONSTRUCTION, LLC. N.C. general contractor with 30 years experience. Specializing in new homes, room additions, kitchens & baths, garages, decks, vinyl siding and windows, painting, tile, laminate and vinyl plank, and remodeling of all kinds. Quality for the right price. Free est. Please call (336) 362-7469
ORTIZ REMODELING – Total restoration & home improvement. Drywall, painting, kitchen cabinets, interior trim & more. Free estimates. (336) 280-8981
PREMIER ROOFING. Commercial/residential. Providing service for all of your roofing needs. Locally owned. Please call (336) 430-9507 for free assessments.
$$$ – WILL PAY CASH for your junk / wrecked vehicle. For quote, call (336) 552-0328
YARN NEEDED to make children's hats for homeless shelter. Call Beth, (336) 644-8155
Wanted: FARM EQUIPMENT to buy. All kinds. Please call (336) 430-9507
Call today for a FREE inspection
(336) 310-4133
WWW.VILLAGEROOFS.COM
DUSTIN CLINARD ROOFING. Shingles, metal, and leak repairs. Certified for 50year non-prorated shingle warranties. Call (336) 268-1908
CLINARD & SON ROOFING, LLC 40 + years experience. (336) 643-8191
BELEWS CREEK CONSTRUCTION
Lifetime shingle and metal roofing. We finance. Free estimates. Since 1979. (336) 215-6122 or (336) 362-6343
BOAT N RV STORAGE. $70/$100 monthly. Located on Brigham Rd., Greensboro, near Pleasant Ridge Road. Call (336) 663-3051
PORTABLE WELDING SERVICE. Welding & fabrication services. Call (336) 908-6906.
WELDING AND TRAILER REPAIR
Call Tim, (336) 402-3869
FREE PICK-UP of unwanted riding & push mowers, tillers, generators, power washers, 4-wheelers, mini-bikes, golf carts, bikes, and other gas-powered items. (336) 689-4167
GOLDEN SHEEPADOODLES. Reserve your puppy today! 12 weeks old. Ready to go to their fur-ever home. Please call (336) 906-6691 to schedule a meeting to see these beautiful babies!
SUMMERFIELD AREA , Rockingham County taxes. Large homesites. Bring your own builder, build when you’re ready. NO HOA!!!! Call (336) 314-3773. Anytime!
LAND WANTED
WANTED: LAND. Any size or shape. Vacant or with dwellings. Matters not. We pay CASH! Quick closings! Call (336) 430-9507
TORKER BOARDWALK CRUISER adult trikes. 3-speed nexus gear box. Hand and coaster brakes. Fenders and basket like new. One blue and one red. $750 each. Call Dave, (336) 938-0376. Leave message.
Oh, the places you’ll go!
Alison Huber of Stokesdale read the Northwest Observer in three countries – the Philippines, Singapore and Australia – in three days!
Bill Stork and his reenactor group, “the Guilford Greys” (who can be seen at the Oak Ridge Heritage Festival on Sept. 30), attended the 160th Anniversary of Gettysburg and enjoyed catching up on the local news in style!
Mike, Ashlyn, Berkley and Harper Gordon of Oak Ridge enjoyed reading the local news while standing under the palm trees in beautiful Cancun.
Oak Ridge residents Ning Yu (right) and Lie Dou did an 11-day backpack hiking trip in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains, along Alta Via 2.. Their reward at the end of each day’s hike? Pulling out the Northwest Observer to read about everything happening back home!
Going
