ROSE HILL — Innovation, creativity and diligence to engage the minds of local students paid off for five dedicated teachers at Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary School as Four County Electric Membership Corporation recently announced its NC Bright Ideas grant winners.
TaNisha Jones, Jasmine Jones, Tanya Novakowski, Sulnora Oluyemi and Tim Mateer, are five of 21 educators who won NC Bright Ideas grants, bringing home a total of $10,489.44 to fund their school projects. T. Jones received $1,950 for her project Sphero Indi Education Robot, J. Jones received $1,572.86 for her project PocketLab for thermal Energy Exploration, Novakowski received $1,316.58 for her project Water, water, everywhere!, Oluyemi received $1,900 for her project Visual Art, STEAMA, Social Studies, Math, 21st Century skills, and Mateer was awarded $1,875 for his project LEGO & I’m in the KNow!
Mateer, RHM Elementary School STEAMA teacher shared that any teacher whocomes up with a great idea for their classroom can “write a grant for it and very possibly get it funded” through the program.
“It is a godsend to us teachers… Most of us can’t just take that out of our pockets and go out and buy it,” he added.
“I tell teachers ‘Look, you’ve got this dream where you want to do something that’s really cool, here’s your opportunity to do it, and you don’t have to have money out of your pocket,’” said Mateer. “Duplin Schools does not have funds to pay for stuff that are above and beyond the normal curriculum for teachers either.”
Mateer’s Lego project teaches kids about forces and how forces work in everyday life.
“It teaches them motion, and it teaches them the push and the pull and all of that by building a Lego figure and then it actually acts it out and it shows them how that force is used,” said Mateer. ”This is a perfect way to teach forces to these kids and they’ll never forget it. But it’s also a blast.”
“There’s a lot of exciting stuff that’s going on and the kids love it,” said Mateer to the Duplin Journal. “My goal is for the kids to get excited about education, that’s what I’m all about and if I can get them to be excited about that, then I’ll keep writing grants as much as I can.”
“We are honored to award $28,000 to 21 exceptional educators, empowering them to implement groundbreaking classroom projects. Witnessing the positive impact on over 2,500 students in Bladen, Duplin, Pender, and Sampson counties is truly inspiring. Congratulations to these education trailblazers; we can’t wait to see what they come up with next year,” said Molly Giffin with Four County Electric Membership Corporation.
KENANSVILLE — Mattie Elizabeth “Liz” Batts, of Beulaville, was honored for her commitment, devotion, and service to the seniors of Duplin County on Monday, Nov. 20 during the Board of County Commissioners bimonthly meeting in Kenansville.
Batts, who retired earlier this year, has served with the Senior Services Department for three decades. She started her career with the department in 1993 as a secretary and later became the Seniors Health Insurance Information Program coordinator for the county.
“For 30 years, Liz’s ability to empathize with seniors was remarkable,” said Melisa Brown, Senior Services Director, as she spoke about Batts’ service, praising her commitment to assisting seniors and disabled individuals, and presenting her with a retirement plaque. “She never wavered. Even before she retired, she signed up as a volunteer willing to serve on the Aging Advisory Committee and serve with special events. The staff, and I miss her and the home cooked meals she would provide for us daily.”
Batts actively volunteers with Senior Services and serves in the community alongside her husband, Pastor Malcolm Batts.
Mattie Elizabeth Batts (left) embraces Melisa Brown, Senior Services director, after Brown gets ready to present her with a retirement plaque on Monday, Nov. 20 during the County Commissioners Meeting. Photo by Ena Sellers | Duplin Journal
The end of an era is looming in Wallace. After 47 years, Dr. Dan Robinson, commonly known simply as “Dr. Dan,” will retire and close his practice, bringing an end to the three-generations long stint of the Robinson family practicing medicine in the town.
Dr. Dan’s grandfather, Dr. John D. Robinson, Sr., opened his medical practice in downtown Wallace in 1954, followed years later by his son, Dr. John D. Robinson, Jr., who opened an optometry practice. Dr. Dan decided at an early age that he wanted to be an optometrist, just like his dad.
He made the decision in seventh grade, Dr. Dan said. “We had to do a term paper and I thought it’d be easy to write about optometry, because I thought my dad would send me all this information,” he explained. “My mother and father divorced when I was 10, so I was living in Durham. He sent me information, but I had to do the work on my own. By the time I went to college, my schoolwork was all the optometry prerequisites. I graduated from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington with a degree in chemistry. Then I got two degrees from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. One is in visiological optics and the other is a doctorate in optometry. I was pretty dead set on what I was going to do, and I’ve never regretted it.”
He opened his practice on Main Street in Wallace in 1976, and will close it on December 22, 2023. He said he made the decision with the help of his two employees, Linda Kraulik, who has been with the practice for 40 years, and Rhonda DeVane, who’s been there 32 years.
“They’ve been dedicated employees,” Dr. Dan said. “You can’t go to many practices that have receptionists or technicians or whatever that have worked 32 or 40 years. That’s been wonderful here, patients come in and they know who these girls are, and the girls know them. But that makes a difference. I look at that like community. They’re really family to me. I’ve spent a lot more hours with them than I have with my wife, by a long measure.”
Dr. Dan Robinson, center, is flanked by his longtime staff, Rhonda DeVane, left, and Linda Kraulik.
Dr. Dan and his staff made the decision to close the practice together, he said, adding that he was going to retire in two years anyway, but his staff’s health concerns have necessitated an acceleration in those plans. “It’s the best time, in my mind,” he said.
“It’s been a very rewarding profession, and we’ve had so many families that have been loyal patients,” Dr. Dan added. “We’re seeing third, and sometimes fourth generations.”
Kraulik said she will miss the patients, many of whom she’s gotten to know very well over the past 40-plus years. “We are more like family than coworkers,” added DeVane.
The staff is required to maintain the practice for 90 days after its closure, to rectify any outstanding insurance claims and provide records to patients. However, Dr. Dan is hopeful that he’ll be able to find a qualified practitioner to take over the practice in that time. “I’m trying to find somebody suitable to come in and take over a well-established practice,” he said. “The community needs it.”
He understands that his loyal patients feel concern about finding a new eye doctor once his practice is closed. “People have come in and said, ‘Oh, Dr. Dan, you can’t retire!’,” he said. “And it makes you feel good because you know they care. And [they ask,] ’who am I going to see?’ A lot of these practices are full with their patients. I tell them, give me some time to see if I can get somebody, but we’ll get you seen. We’ve got good practitioners around us, in Kenansville and Burgaw.”
Dr. Dan’s patients are so loyal that even after a satellite practice in Warsaw closed in 2016, many of those patients followed him back to the Wallace office.
Dr. Dan Robinson also gets referrals for eye injuries, in addition to regular eye exams. “I don’t know who’s going to be able to do that once we close,” he admitted. “But I can’t practice without a sufficient office staff. And hopefully, we’ll get a new practitioner or a group to come in and take over. They may not be in this building but they’d have access to our patient base.”
One thing is for certain: Dr. Dan and his wife, Tanya, will remain in the Wallace community. Though he moved to Durham with his mother in the fourth grade, he returned to Wallace after college and has stayed there ever since. There was never any question that his optometric practice would be right here at home.
“When I was an undergraduate in UNCW, I came home almost every weekend,” he said. “I love the people of Wallace. … I can’t imagine wanting to live in a city anymore, especially when you try to drive around Wilmington or Raleigh, or even Durham.”
Not only has Dr. Dan been a mainstay in the medical community of Wallace, he’s also been very active in his community, like his father and grandfather before him. He was a part of the Wallace Jaycees when it was in existence, as well as the Wallace 100 Committee, and served on the Duplin Board of Health for 15 years. He is also a member and past president of the Rotary Club in Wallace. He’s active in his church, Wallace Presbyterian, and is a member of the Gideons International and a qualified church speaker.
“When you get involved, you become part of the fabric of the community,” he said. “When I look at what my grandfather did, my dad’s service… one of the credos in the Jaycees creed was that service to humanity is the best work of life. Rotary, you know, has a saying, he profits most who serves best.”
Of the many accomplishments and awards that line his office walls, including photos of his grandfather with Eleanor Roosevelt and an invitation to John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, Dr. Dan is perhaps most proud of receiving the award that bears his late father’s name. “Because of his service to the Board of Examiners of Optometry, my dad was recognized by people all over the U.S.,” he explained. His father was instrumental in passing a nationwide law in 1977, which established that optometrists could prescribe medications and treatments. “So, they established this award in my dad’s honor, the Clinical Excellence Award. And I was a clinical examiner for many years. So our people that come out of school and want to be optometrists, have to take a board exam, so they established this on June 7, 2002. And after years of serving as a clinical examiner, I actually was given the award that’s named for my dad in 2008. So that was a pretty proud moment.”
Wallace optometrist Dr. Dan Robinson’s office is filled with family history. Here, he points to a photo of his grandmother’s house, which burned in 1962.
With just a little more than three weeks left to care for his patents’ eyes, Dr. Dan reflects on his many years in Wallace, and his father and grandfather’s legacies, and realizing he now has one, too. So, what will he do now? Maybe finally find time to play golf, he joked.
“But you know, when you close a practice down, you’re closing a chapter in your life, and it’s like I’m going into uncharted waters,” he said. “I’m going to miss seeing patients in my office, and I hope I’ll recognize them out in public places. It’s been a good 47 years, and I can’t regret a moment.”
KENANSVILLE — An amendment to modify construction documents for the new Duplin County Detention Center was approved on Monday, Nov. 20, during the Board of County Commissioners bimonthly meeting in Kenansville.
“This redesign and amendment will provide significant cost savings to the county in the future, maybe up to $2.5 million worth of savings,” said County Manager Bryan Miller, adding that the architects have agreed to waive their contractual 5% additional markup for their involvement and are presenting the amendment as a pass-through cost only.
The $24,000 services agreement with Moseley Architects is for a redesign that will accommodate a future Law Enforcement Center west of the planned facility without the demolition of the planned staff parking lot, which will need to occupy a different location.
During a county commissioners meeting held on July 17, 2023, the dire need for a larger detention facility was discussed in great detail along with potential risks of operating a facility that is “not suitable for employees or inmates.” It was also discussed that the detention facility cannot accommodate the needs of the county with a capacity for less than 100 people. A constant overflow of inmates who are having to be housed in other jails due to the lack of capacity remains a problem in Duplin County, costing taxpayer dollars every year that goes by without an adequate facility. At the end of the meeting everyone agreed that there is a pressing need for a bigger jail, however there was no decision whether they would construct a 236-bed or a 156-bed facility. The cost to build the three-pod facility was estimated at $43 million, and the smaller two-pod option was estimated at $34 million.
“I’m looking forward to working with County Commissioners and the county manager, it does look like the jail project is moving forward,” Sheriff Stratton Stokes told the Duplin Journal, adding that he hopes they will get a definitive answer soon on exactly what size facility they are going to build.
Sheriff Stokes shared that the parking lot has been a topic of conversation for the past three or four months. “If they build the jail and the Sheriff’s Office, the staff parking lot would be beside the Sheriff’s Office. At one time when they were looking at just building the jail, they were looking at putting the staff parking lot right beside the jail, which would be the footprint of the Sheriff’s Office if it ever expanded and that’s one issue we had because we didn’t want to put a parking lot down for them to destroy it later on.”
“If the Sheriff’s Office is built, it is going to change the design of the jail a little bit; if it’s not hopefully it’ll be a bigger jail – something that we need,” said Sheriff Stokes, adding that the county commissioners have not relayed any information about which way they are deciding to go at this time.
Sheriff Stokes stated he maintains his position that the county needs a 236-bed facility.
“We need to build something that’s adequate for the county and that will last us, and a 150-bed facility would be at capacity as soon as it was open, so I’m completely against that.”
Last year, Duplin County was awarded $21.3 million from the State Capital Infrastructure Fund to help build the new jail. On Sept. 5, the Board approved a contract with First Tryon advisors to start the process for obtaining Limited Obligation Bonds to help finance the new Detention facility. Most recently, $11 million in appropriations from the North Carolina state budget were allocated for public safety facilities including planning and construction of the new detention center, which puts the county a step ahead with more than $32 million in funding from the state.
“As for which way we’re going with the extra $11 million, it’s just going to depend on the county commissioners and how they want to move forward,” said Sheriff Stokes. “They still have not decided on what size jail to build, and that is just dependent on if we are just going to do a jail or if they are going to try to do a jail and a Sheriff’s Office.
The next Board of County Commissioners meeting will be on Monday, Dec. 4.
KENANSVILLE — Adjacent to Duplin County Regional Airport’s 6,000-foot runway is the AirPark-Duplin County Business and Industry Center, now in the very beginning stages of a big development poised to change the county’s economic landscape.
“It is a very exciting time in Duplin County,” said Scotty Summerlin, Economic Development Commission executive director, as he speaks about the land clearing and grubbing going on at the AirPark.
The cleared area is part of a master plan that encompasses 15 acres out of 119 owned by the county and available for development. The site goes from Best Road to Airport Road and incorporates a lot that will be used for a shell building and the corridors for roads, water, and wastewater.
“There’s no vertical construction going on right now,” explained Summerlin. “The road design is practically done, so when we get water and wastewater plans finalized, we are going to go to bid for the water, the wastewater and road construction.”
The AirPark will be home to NC Forestry Service Region One Headquarters, which according to Summerlin will be completed in late 2025.
As for the master plan, Summerlin shared that they have identified some larger tracts that could be used for distribution facilities. “There’s industrial parks dotted all over this state that have a combination,” said the Army veteran, explaining that some larger spaces may be 100,000-square feet “but also, we want to take advantage of the 25,000-square feet and smaller that may be like outparcel space and could be smaller-type operations. We want to take advantage of both.”
According to Carrie Shields, County manager assistant and former EDC director having shell building infrastructure adjacent to the airport’s runway positions the county in a suitable place to attract manufacturing companies and light industrial businesses that complement the surrounding counties.
“We are really in a perfect position to capture any kind of businesses and industries, due to our location,” said Shields.
Located less than nine miles from Interstate 40, the AirPark provides six exits throughout the county with easy connections to I-95, I-85, I-77, and I-26. Access to Highway 24 is only 5.2 miles from the AirPark with two deep-water ports within a 1.5-hour drive. In addition to its proximity to Duplin Airport, the Airpark is conveniently located 41 miles from ISO regional airport, and 60 miles from ILM international airport.
According to Summerlin, a $12 million State Budget allocation for infrastructure improvements will provide funding for all three industrial parks in Duplin County and added that a fourth industrial park is on the horizon for Beulaville.
“The state has been very helpful,” said Summerlin. “Senator Brent Jackson and Representative Jimmy Dixon, they were instrumental in getting funding to help us.” Summerlin also shared that because the county relies on the towns for sewer capacity at each park, they will be working closely with the towns of Kenansville, Warsaw, and Wallace.
According to Summerlin, in addition to the State Budget allocation they received $262,000 for project design and appraisals from the North Carolina Southeast Regional Partnership, $17,500 for project due diligence work, and $423,500 for clearing, grubbing, and rough grading of the project area from the Golden LEAF Foundation, a legislative allocation of $1.5 million from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund for road construction within the park and $2.75 million for water and sewer extensions, and additional road construction from the NC Commerce Industrial Development Fund, totaling $16,953,500.
“It’s taken a whole community to rally behind this to make this happen,” said Shields, explaining that the AirPark was the fruit of an effort that brought together local and regional stakeholders, members of the Economic Development Board, the Airport Board, County Commissioners, and legislators.
“Jennifer Martin with Parish and Partners and myself, we went and interviewed all our stakeholders that are currently at the airport. We met with Smithfield, Southern Bank, Tri-County Electric Membership Corporation, and the North Carolina Electric Cooperatives,” said Shields, explaining that the stakeholders were instrumental in the planning process of developing the AirPark master plan providing key insight to industry-specific needs and funding.
“They helped open our eyes to several things that we were lacking that we wouldn’t have necessarily seen unless we were in that industry,” said Shields. “The master plan was finalized in 2021 and from there, we have been advocating with our state, and our stakeholders for funding so that we could make this vision a reality.”
Shields attributes its success to knowledgeable leadership with an enterprising mentality.
“The Economic Development Board is an extraordinarily strong forward-thinking board as well as our Board of County Commissioners. They see what other counties are doing, and we have done the right investigative work to position Duplin County to receive the same opportunities,” said Shields, adding that “Tri-County EMC and the North Carolina Electric Cooperative, they’ve been our biggest advocates to support the Airpark.”
“Through this forward-thinking effort, they are making sure that all of our municipalities that have available infrastructure are in a position to recruit business and industry,” said Shields, explaining that the goal is to “create space to attract business and industry that complement the businesses and industry that we have already recruited to Duplin County as well as what is being recruited around Duplin County.”
Summerlin told the Duplin Journal that they are looking to bring industries that support services for agriculture and aviation. “Logistics also could be a major player, but supporting aviation and supporting agriculture is what we’re going after,” said Summerlin.
“We’ve got our eyes open to lots of opportunities,” said Shields. “It’s definitely going to be prosperous for Kenansville as a municipality and then Duplin County as a whole.”
“Economic development for me, the true mission is business and industry and for us that is putting infrastructure in place. That is having the water and wastewater because the towns are doing a great job on residential development. But I really see our key role is building capacity and that’s water and wastewater and then marketing the county,” said Summerlin. “I am not saying that we are focusing on one side of business. But really, every aspect of business growth.”
Through local and regional partnerships, the common goal is to encourage economic development across the region.
Summerlin, shared that they are utilizing services of local businesses in the construction. F&S Grading out of Warsaw is handling the clearing and grubbing work, McDavid Associates is doing the water and sewer engineering and design. Parrish and Partners is the lead engineer and was responsible for the Duplin County AirPark Master Development Plan.
“Duplin County is an agricultural powerhouse, in my opinion,” says Brent Davis, a farmer and chairman of the county school board. “I will say from a county perspective, from an agricultural standpoint, we can’t afford for that to ever change.”
Keeping Duplin County’s agricultural economy alive goes hand in hand with preserving its rich farmland. According to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture’s 2017 census, the most recent data available, Duplin County’s 243,098 acres of farmland makes up nearly half of the county’s total acreage. Year after year, the county tops the state in agricultural receipts, and that’s why it’s integral to maintain land on which to farm.
“Agriculture is obviously the bread and butter of Duplin County,” Davis adds.
That’s a sentiment shared by another local leader and farmer, County Commissioner Justin Edwards. “It’s super important to preserve our farmland,” Edwards says. “It’s not only the bread and butter of Duplin County; it’s the bread and butter of modern society. In fact, modern society survives because of farmers.”
Duplin’s appreciation of agriculture and preserving the farming way of life goes all the way to state government with N.C. Rep. Jimmy Dixon, who also happens to be a farmer. “Food and fiber are necessities,” he says. “A nation that can’t feed itself is a nation in jeopardy.”
Dixon chairs an appropriations committee that funds Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler’s Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund so Duplin farmers can rest assured that they have a voice in state government. Recently, Troxler announced that applications for farmland preservation grants are open until 5 p.m. on Dec. 18.
“Investments in farmland preservation are more important than ever,” Troxler said in a press release. “In the face of population growth and development pressure, these grants are critical in preserving North Carolina’s agricultural economy and ensuring food security for future generations.”
According to Dixon, the biggest threats to farmland are development and solar farms. “Our research has helped us to be able to produce more on less acreage,” he says. “It appears we’re going to be able to continue to improve that. We’ve got to continue to produce more with the same land. It’s a great challenge.”
Dixon adds that the greatest help to accomplishing the goal of preserving farmland would be to teach those in more urban areas the importance agriculture has in their daily lives. “We’ve got to teach our urban friends that food doesn’t come from a grocery store. We’ve got to reintroduce Mr. and Mrs. Urbanite to our farming heritage. Our own success — meaning the success of farmers — means that we have given Mr. and Mrs. Urbanite the confidence that tomorrow’s dinner is on the grocery store shelves today.”
Davis is also doing his part to help ensure that future generations understand the importance of farming as well. “One thing within our school system is that we’ve adopted the STEAMA program, which focuses on STEM, as well as agriculture and the arts,” he says. “We want students in this county to know where their food comes from. And not only to understand where food comes from, but also understand how much of that food Duplin County provides.”
The preservation grants from Commissioner Troxler are great for the few that can get them, Davis says, but the real key is to educate the public so the general population will know that their lives literally depend on the fruits of farmers’ labor.
“Urban sprawl is real,” Edwards pointed out. In fact, the Cedar Fork community outside Beulaville in which he lives and farms hasn’t yet been affected by the rapid growth of nearby Camp Lejeune, but he knows that’s a possibility in the future. “With great economic growth, we can lose farmland. Over time, it may affect our farm, but I will do everything in my power as a commissioner, the president of the Duplin County Farm Bureau and a farmer to protect our way of life.”
He adds that it’s not his goal to keep development out of Duplin County, but to make people aware that development encroaching on a farming community can have detrimental effects not only on the farmer and his or her family, but society as a whole.
“Just about everything you come into contact with on a daily basis is touched by agriculture,” Edwards says. “A farmer is responsible for the towel you dry yourself off with after your shower, a farmer is responsible for the jacket you put on before you go out, a farmer is responsible for the sandwich you eat. Without a viable agricultural industry, society doesn’t flourish.”
As for the farmland preservation grants, landowners interested in preserving their farms through conservation easements must work with county governments or land trusts to apply for grant funds. Grant applications as well as rules and information packets are available online at www.ncadfp.org/Cycle17.htm.
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