Commercial Truck Insurance in Halifax, NC

We would describe the results of our recent October casino poll as having more votes cast in it than in a typical Halifax County municipal election — 1,674 in favor, 381 against and 43 undecided — nearly 4.5 times more people favoring a casino in the Carolina Crossroads Entertainment District than those who oppose it.

Voting is now closed as we have pulled our poll from the website as we planned after the last day of October.

With it now established that the casino issue will again be brought up by legislators in their short session beginning April 24, there is much work to do on the local level to lobby lawmakers to choose Roanoke Rapids as a location.

As we have previously editorialized, we believe Carolina Crossroads is the perfect place for this private investment project — adequate land, all the required infrastructure, a renewed interest in the former Roanoke Rapids Theatre after its sale, and an interstate from which it is visible from both travel lanes.

All the land uses are in place at Carolina Crossroads that would allow other things beyond casinos — hotels, waterparks, restaurants and similar attractions — with more than 7,000 feet of road frontage along the interstate and more than 350 acres of developable land.

We believe this matter is not so much about people being able to do with their money what they please, but the catalyst it could provide to bring more economic development here. Sure, that will possibly include more eating, retail and commercial establishments but with an economic vibrancy that hasn’t been seen here since the textiles mills closed we can’t discount that at least one or two industries may see the area in a more favorable light since leaders decided to take this step to help the area improve.

What has been in discussion by state lawmakers is not a fly-by-night proposal in which someone sets up fishing tables or sweepstakes cafes in a strip mall, but people making a required $500 million investment for a stand alone casino and hotel.

This is private investment that requires no local government matching funds that has typically been the case in past economic development projects.

Before Halifax County commissioners deadlocked on a resolution supporting the efforts of Roanoke Rapids to land a casino in Carolina Crossroads — after they initially rejected the proposal — they were told the taxes that would be generated to Halifax County are $3.8 million a year and for Roanoke Rapids $3.3 million a year.

Excise taxes based on gross casino revenue would generate $3,375,000 a year in Halifax County.

The casino would represent $57 million in new payroll revenues a year which would generate new retail sales for the county and communities.

That would benefit Halifax County to the tune of $8.4 million a year, Roanoke Rapids $2.3 million a year and other entities, which would include municipalities over $600,000 a year.

Several boards and commissions which have influence in economic development matters in Halifax County have already endorsed the concept of a Carolina Crossroads casino — factors that should not be not be ignored by state lawmakers when the issue is revisited in the short session.

And we would humbly ask that they also take a look at our poll results — one that has had more votes than you would typically see in a Halifax County municipal election — Editor

Many of North Carolina's manmade, recreational lakes have entire ghost towns hidden beneath their surface.

However, one lost town in particular has an incredible story of a clever woman who escaped slavery in the 1800s and became a fugitive brewer that created beer so memorable it's still honored by brewers today.

The town where she lived in freedom, making a living on her beloved ale, was known as Rock Landing. Oddly, unlike the mill towns and farmland that we so often find beneath lakes, Rock Landing was apparently known for being pretty metropolitan for its time, according to Steven Lassiter Green-Hockaday, a historian who has been doing research on the role of the Underground Railroad in Rock Landing.

"It was supposed to be the next New York or Philadelphia," said Green-Hockaday. "Rock Landing was at the beginning of the Roanoke Canal, which was a big deal in 1817."

This would have made Rock Landing a center of shipping in North Carolina, bringing in wealth and people from all over the country.

It also made the town an ideal place for those escaping slavery to hide – because the Roanoke Canal and Roanoke River in Halifax County are both known for their major roles as 'freedom roads,' helping enslaved men and women escape slavery from this area of the state. Even today, Halifax County is the only place in NC with three registered historic sites on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. These are places where visitors can touch tangible remnants of this painful and powerful past.

Tunnels, jails and canals: Remnants of the Underground Railroad still exist in Halifax County

Patsy Young: 'Fugitive brewer' escapes slavery, serves ale to Roanoke Canal workers from Rock Landing

Before her freedom, Young was known as Piety. Twice in her life, she escaped from Nathaniel Hunt's plantation in Franklin County. First, when she was 16. Then again, several years later, she escaped again, bringing her young daughter with her.

Escaping slavery was so dangerous that experts in Underground Railroad history say many enslaved men and women chose not to escape. Some felt they were not physically capable of making the journey. Others were afraid to leave their families. Still others were unsure how they'd make a living once off the plantation.

Young escaping as a mother with a 4-year-old daughter would have carried extreme risk – but the risk was worth her freedom. Plus, she knew exactly how she would make money and build a life for herself and her daughter, Eliza.

During her time in slavery, Young's cooking and brewing became extremely popular, allowing her enslaver to make a lot of money on her skills, according to storyteller and historic interpreter Jackie Ruffin, who plays Young and shares a 'firsthand account' of her escape into freedom -- and fame as a brewer.

"I heard about free people of color, able to work on the Roanoke Canal, and I wanted that job," said Ruffin, while in character as Young.

Aware of how much money her talents were worth, Young escaped the Franklin County plantation and ran for Halifax, which was known as a place with a large population of free Black families and abolitionists for the Underground Railroad.

According to angry 'slave ads' released from her outraged enslaver Nathaniel Hunt, he was clearly worried about all the money she was making cooking lunches and ale for the Roanoke Canal workers, where she had made plenty of friends and supporters.

He wrote that he was informed she'd been living near Halifax and spent summers in Rock Landing, where "she cooked for the hands employed on the Canal." He added, "at the above places she has many acquaintances.”

He warned her friends and supporters not to help her.

"I forewarn all owners of boats, captains and owners of vessels from taking on board their vessels or carrying away this woman and her child Eliza.

He also tried to steal her free name, writing, "The proper name of the woman is Piety, but she will no doubt change it."

Young was not the only Freedom Seeker known to have escaped to Rock Landing. At least five 'fugitive slave ads' point to Freedom Seekers who made their way to the canal town of Rock Landing.

Why did Rock Landing become a ghost town?

Today, Rock Landing is just a name on a street sign.

In its heyday, Rock Landing was a major terminus on the Roanoke Canal. According to letters and writings from the era, it was slated to be the next New York City or Philadephia and was wondered metropolitan.

"There were taverns, restaurants, shops, a hotel and homes. A bustling port with workers eating lunch. People from New York speculated on the land. Some of my research shows it may have even had one of the first Oddfellows organizations," he said. "It was a canal boom town."

So why would such a metropolitan town eventually become a ghost town?

"The railroad came through and made the canal obsolete," said Green-Hockaday.

The railroad bypassed Rock Landing all-together, leaving the once-bustling port town out of the path of progress.

Even the famous Roanoke Canal itself has even been mostly flooded beneath the lake – forgotten by time.

However, there's a stretch still of dry land where people can hike or even visit the historic remnants at the Roanoke Canal Museum & Trail.

Along that stretch is a 200-year-old stone aqueduct built using enslaved labor that was also used to help freedom seekers escaping slavery along the canal.

Patsy Young inspires new generation of Black women working in brewing

According to experts at Good Beer Hunting, enslaved men and women played a major role in the history of beer brewing.

"It was enslaved people and other household laborers who were critical to beer production in the earliest years of American history," they wrote.

Young's ale was not only popular enough to earn her livelihood in freedom, but famous enough that her story and beer have continued to capture imaginations nearly 200 years later.

"Some local brewers and historians are working to try and re-create her beer in her name and honor her history and memory," said Green-Hockaday.

Celeste Beatty, owner and creator of Harlem Brewing Company – and Harlem Brew South in Rocky Mount – is the first Black woman in the United States to own a brewery. Beatty, who has made history as a brewer herself, is inspired by Patsy Young's story. So nearly 200 years after Young first brewed her famous ale, Beatty hopes to create a beer inspired by Young's story.

Learn more about Harlem Brewing South in Rocky Mount on their website.

Halifax County, N.C. — It was the first railroad hub of the South. It's a place where the first action was taken in 1776 declaring independence from Great Britain. Halifax County holds a place in American history, which includes the lives of freed and enslaved Black people.

Three locations within the county are designated sites for the National Park Service's Network to Freedom: the old town of Halifax called Historic Halifax, the Roanoke River and the Roanoke Canal. The three sites were a part of the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

Through research in 2013, historian Rodney Pierce says he is one who made the connection to identify the Roanoke Canal as part of the journey.

Uncovering Black History

Pierce, from Halifax County, is dedicated to uncovering the untold history in his community. During the bulk of Pierce's research, he was the cultural resource leader at the Roanoke Canal Museum and Trail.

"We knew that the Underground Railroad ran through the Town of Halifax, and we knew that it ran through the Roanoke River," said Pierce. "And so knowing that the batteaux (or boats) were driven by enslaved Black men who sometimes did not have white survivors, I hypothesized - these guys probably used these barrels that we were carrying salt and other goods in to sneak enslaved people to freedom."

Though uncovering history and his research, Pierce says he got the calling to become a teacher in his community.

"I also knew that if I wasn't taught what I learned while I was working here, then they probably weren't being taught that either," said Pierce. "So, they needed to know it."

Pierce says he wants to educate students on the full picture of the town's history so they know the role their ancestors played.

Confederate at Center

Beyond history, Pierce's activism in the community continues present day. Historic Weldon, also in Halifax County, was a bustling center of activity during the Civil War with several Confederate training camps in the area.

One Confederate statue still remains, in what is now a predominately Black neighborhood in Weldon. Pierce and neighbors are working to get the statue relocated to Historic Halifax.

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Angela Person, who is from Halifax County, still has family in the area and says she wants the statue to come down soon.

"Children are out and riding their bikes and trying to enjoy life as young Black children, and then they have this statue standing over them with a gun in his hands. And I would be threatened," said Person. "I would go home and ask questions. 'Why is there a man with gun standing, hovering over me?'"

Weldon's town administrator says he put together a relocation presentation on the statue and presented it to the Weldon Board of Commissioners. In over a year, the commissioners have not taken any action.

A separate stone that sat out front of the county courthouse, which honored a Confederate general, has since been removed.

The Cemetery

Learning the history of Halifax County means looking into one’s own family lineage. Pierce says he has always wanted to learn about his ancestors, but looking into the town's past was more natural for him.

One of his mentors and lifelong friends, Dr. Terence Wyche, is a genealogist who put in the work to find out his own family story. Wyche says for years he would spend time in the family records section of the Halifax County Library, looking for anything he could find on his ancestors, the Hawkins family.

Aside from the library, he would visit a cemetery. It’s where some of his ancestors are buried, and he knows their stories.

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“Reverend Captain Hawkins was not a slave, but his father was a slave. His name was Robert Hawkins, and he is listed in the slave register,” said Wyche. “Next to this is his mother-in-law, Lizzie Diggs Hicks, as well as his wife Sallie Diggs Hawkins."

He says this cemetery is where they believe Sary was buried. According to Wyche’s research, she is the first recorded Black Hawkins to come to Halifax County. Wyche says she was born around 1780 and, based on records he has uncovered, she is the start of 95% of the Black Hawkins family.

She is Wyche’s fifth-great grandmother, and Pierce’s sixth-great grandmother.

Wyche says while tending the cemetery one day, he got the call to look more into the stories of his family.

"I looked back, I head an inaudible voice - just in my mind it said 'tell our story,'” said Wyche. “And I sought to just make them come alive."

Connecting the Dots

Dr. Terence Wyche says many of his weekends in the '90s were dedicated to going to the Halifax County Library. He would go through the Bible records and the family records on file to find any information his could about his ancestors – the Hawkins family.

He says his mom and grandparents are the people who got him interested in his ancestry.

“There was no ancestry.com, so you had to go through the files,” said Wyche. “Open up these old documents and dust and everything just falling, you had no choice but to do it.”

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It’s a time consuming process, but for Wyche it was worth it.

“It was just so rewarding to just be able to just see that these names that you heard so much about, they began to become alive,” said Wyche.

Through his research he has put together two books on his family history. It includes hundreds of family members and copies of slave registries. He has information on how much money an enslaved person in his family was valued for by their slave owners.

His book includes information on the slave owners too – James Maddison Hawkins, and his family.

Reconnecting a Family

Dr. Wyche’s research means being able to connect with family members he never knew he before. He says at the first family reunion in 1995 close to 1,200 of Sary’s descendants were there. Sary is the first recorded Black Hawkins that Wyche has been able to find, born around 1780.

“We thought that was remarkable,” said Wyche.

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He says no matter if they were first cousins on 20^th cousins, the family embraced each other.

Plenty of the family had not met each other before, or if they had met they didn’t know they were related. What they did share was similar stories.

“We couldn’t date, we couldn’t go traveling. We couldn’t go to a ball game with people,” said a cousin remembering how it was growing up in Halifax County. “Until my mom and dad approved of it. I thought they were just being over protective, but come to find out they were just looking out to make sure we weren’t dating our cousin.”

It’s stories they laugh about now, knowing their family connections.

The NAACP North Carolina State Conference expressed its condemnation of an unauthorized use of its name on a sample “Blue Ballot” distributed in Halifax County.

According to a press release from the organization on Thursday, Executive Director Da’Quan Marcell Love made a statement regarding the inappropriate use of the NAACP’s name and logo by Michael Hawkins Committee for Board of Education:

“The NAACP North Carolina State Conference vehemently condemns the unauthorized and deceptive utilization of the NAACP name on ‘Blue Ballots,’ allegedly funded by the Michael Hawkins Committee for Board of Education. These sample ballots, which contain endorsements for Democratic primary candidates, have been extensively disseminated throughout the Halifax County community,” the statement reads. “The NAACP has formally communicated with the campaign committee, demanding an immediate cessation of the use of the NAACP’s name to mislead the public. It is imperative to clarify that the NAACP neither has nor will ever endorse candidates for public office, regardless of party or level. The NAACP North Carolina State Conference remains committed to taking swift and appropriate measures to safeguard the integrity of the NAACP’s intellectual property and reputation as a trusted, nonpartisan civil rights organization.”

According to the two-sided “The Blue Ballot,” one side explains it is a collective initiative by community organizations that include the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, A. Philip Randolph Institute, fraternities, sororities, local churches and civic groups.

The Blue Ballot reads:

“This unified initiative aims to serve as a tool for greater unity and as a means of communicating to decision makers that thorough investigation and study has led to the following recommendations. The Blue Ballot endorses candidates and measures that align with the values and objectives of the collaborating organizations. It is a reflection of extensive research and analysis to support the advancement of economic development, educational excellence, health care, social justice, public safety, recreation, and more. We encourage all voters to consider The Blue Ballot and its endorsements as a valuable resource when casting their votes. Your participation in the electoral process can help promote positive change and progress in our communities, Halifax County, North Carolina and beyond.”

The document is signed off by Michael Hawkins, who is a retired educator of 25 years and is on the Halifax County Schools Board of Education.

On the other side of the document is a sample ballot for the Democratic Party Primary of the recommended candidates to vote for.

According to the SCLC and NAACP websites, both organizations are nonprofit.

According to the Internal Revenue Service website, under the Internal Revenue Code, all nonprofit 501©(3) organizations “are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position [verbal or written] made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.”

On Friday, David Harvey told the Herald the Halifax County Branch of the NAACP is still active, and he remains its president. Harvey said he supports the mission of the NAACP and all it stands for and work for a century.

“The NAACP has always worked to educate and push for voter turnout and getting our people to vote all over this country,” he said. “We recognize that in elections and anywhere in this country, when the candidates are running for office, different groups and different organizations put out ballots, and we recognize that. And sometimes some things can be put out that the NAACP may not completely support.”

Harvey said they feel there was no ill intent on behalf of the candidates running for office.

“It happens, but when it is brought to our attention, we address it, and we addressed this,” he said. “The issue has been addressed to the satisfaction of the NAACP, and we’re just moving forward from that.”

Harvey made it clear that the NAACP does not have a ballot that was put out and that it was a Hawkins ballot.

“I talked with him, and the ballots are being redone,” he said.

Executive Director Love told the Herald that the Halifax County branch of the NAACP has been inactive for a few years.

“In accordance with our bylaws, the State Conference retains programmatic jurisdiction in Halifax County,” he said. “And we are continuing as we do in any locality, to build membership and to bring that unit into compliance. We have been in contact with Mr. Harvey, who we are dealing with in our internal process. But Mr. Harvey does not speak for the NAACP, the North Carolina State Conference or our national office.”

Love said the organization is actively working to recruit and find members in Halifax County.

“There is no one outside of the State Conference that can speak for the NAACP and Halifax County,” he said.

Love also made it known that the organization has sent a cease and desist letter to the Michael Hawkins campaign.

“Our attorneys are reviewing legal options, and Mr. Harvey is receiving internal disciplinary action by our national office at this time,” he said.

Love said the organization is encouraging and looking for people to join the association and help expand the civil rights mission and plans to visit the county with the hopes of reactivating the branch.

“Folks that are interested in joining in and helping with the branch, we would love to have them,” he said.

Love said anyone who is interested can visit naacp.org and become a member.

Hawkins told the Herald he was working on remedying the situation but would not go into further explanation until he had had more discussion with Executive Director Love, who condemned the action on behalf of the NAACP North Carolina State Conference.

The Herald also reached out to James Mills, who is president of the Roanoke Valley SCLC and an HCS Board of Education member who is running for reelection and whose name was selected on the sample ballot. Mills declined to comment regarding the NAACP’s announcement.

The Herald reached out to some of the candidates on the sample ballot for comment.

Rep. Michael Wray (D-27), who is running against candidate Rodney Pierce in the Democratic Primary, was recommended on “The Blue Ballot.”

“Over the past twenty years, I have always run a positive campaign,” Wray said in a statement. “The ballot in question was not put out by my campaign. I commend the prompt response of the NAACP North Carolina Conference in protecting the NAACP’s name and reputation as a respected nonpartisan champion for civil rights.”

Pierce also provided the Herald with a statement regarding the sample ballot.

“I’m very troubled by the misrepresentation portrayed by the Hawkins campaign and whoever else was involved in the creation of that ballot,” he said. “The people of Halifax County deserve honesty from those asking for their vote, and it’s unfortunate that Hawkins felt the need to subject the area to this type of deception. I also want to commend the NAACP on their quick and clear response.”

Candidate Jimmie Silver, who is running for Halifax County Board of Commissioners for District 1, was not recommended on the ballot. Littleton Commissioner Ophelia Gould-Faison, who is running for the same seat against Silver, was recommended.

“I feel like it’s unethical, and it’s a betrayal of the citizens’ trust,” Silver told the Herald. “ I was hurt when I was informed the NAACP had endorsed the other candidate without interviewing me. They really took advantage of the NAACP and the SCLC, and it’s to no fault of those organizations that they did this. But if they’re willing to go out and use this kind of tactics, what would they do when they get elected in office to meet the agenda? And the other thing about it is that we’ve had James Mills with SCLC endorsing himself because he’s the president of the organization, and that’s in violation of the charter of the SCLC and also the tax code. But to me, and I know some of the other candidates, we feel like it has hampered our ability to raise funds, and it may have damaged our reputation for us — the ability to reach some of these other groups because people that feel like they’re the ones who are working for civil rights issues. They’re the ones who are going to be working for all people and stuff.”

Silvers said there may be more inaccurate information being circulated throughout the community.

“I just think people need to look at the candidates and vote for candidates who are going to be fair, have integrity, and be honest to them,” he said. “I am shocked that leaders such as Harvey, Hawkins and Mills would take such action.”

Gould-Faison provided comment regarding the NAACP’s recent announcement about the “Blue Ballot.”

“They have some concern, which I guess you are aware of, and from my understanding Mr. Hawkins is addressing that concern as it relates to the ‘Blue Ballot,” she said. “And I am on the ‘Blue Ballot.’ ”

The “Blue Ballot” notes that it was paid for by the Michael Hawkins Committee for the Board of Education and not created by the Board of Elections.

The N.C. Court of Appeals is considering a legal dispute between Roanoke Rapids and Halifax County over the city’s role in funding a county 911 call center.

Roanoke Rapids filed its brief in the case this week.

Since 1998, county government has operated the only 911 call center within Halifax County. It’s technically referred to as a public safety answering point. It takes emergency calls and dispatches law enforcement officers to address those calls.

Roanoke Rapids and other municipalities have paid the county to cover a portion of the call center’s costs. Problems with that arrangement started after a 2013 amendment to the funding formula, the city argued.

“Since the 2015-16 fiscal year, the amount the County has asked the City to contribute increased dramatically based on the amended 2013 formula,” wrote attorney Geoffrey Davis, representing Roanoke Rapids.

The city’s required payment jumped from $225,390 in 2015-16 to $356,394 in 2020-21. “Moreover, irrespective of the year, the amount that the County expected the City to pay was significantly more than the amounts paid by the other municipalities in Halifax County,” Davis wrote.

“[I]t is noteworthy that under these agreements, the City has no material input in the County’s budgetary, personnel, or other management choices” regarding the call center, according to Roanoke Rapids’ brief.

A 2004 agreement between the county and municipalities created a Central Communications Advisory Board. It has representatives from affected public safety agencies. “[T]his advisory board is functionally powerless, and the County’s Board of Commissioners is not obligated to follow any of its recommendations or consider its input.”

Roanoke Rapids tried to negotiate a new agreement with Halifax County in 2020-21, but no agreement was reached. The city terminated the deal in June 2021.

As the two parties continued to discuss a new arrangement, Halifax County announced it would bill Roanoke Rapids $406,863 for the 2022-23 budget year. The county had billed the city for half that sum by the time the matter reached Superior Court.

“At the heart of the controversy between the City and County over this matter is the City’s assertion that beginning in 2010, changes to State laws governing the operation of PSAPs have had the effect of requiring the County as the operator of Halifax County’s sole PSAP to continue to provide PSAP service to the City’s public safety agencies irrespective of any financial contribution from the City,” Davis wrote.

“In response, the County denies this obligation, and has maintained that it is not permitted by law to expend County funds on providing dispatching services to municipal public safety agencies,” Roanoke Rapids’ brief continued.

Superior Court Judge Jeffery Foster ruled in January that Halifax County must make its 911 center available to Roanoke Rapids and take calls on the city’s behalf. But the judge also agreed with the county that Halifax was “constitutionally and statutorily barred” from bearing the center’s full costs.

Foster determined that the city must bear some costs of operating the county 911 center. The judge set a formula for calculating Roanoke Rapids’ cost: “the City’s percentage of the PSAP’s total annual call volume would be calculated and applied to the County’s actual costs for PSAP personnel for the year, rather than its budgeted costs.”

Roanoke Rapids appealed Foster’s ruling. Halifax County will have a chance to respond to the city’s latest arguments before the case heads to a three-judge Appeals Court panel.