TARBORO —
The DAR Micajah Pettaway Chapter met November 15, 2012, 10:30 a. m. in Braswell Memorial Library. After Regent Dottie Barrett greeted everyone, she introduced prospective member guests Debra Tucker and Marjorie Bradley.
Speaker and former Regent Toni Wade delivered the program on cotton. Toni is an independent Agriculture Crop Consultant. Independent means she does not make any money from any chemical or fertilizer sales. The name of her company is Crop Management, Inc. Toni can be reached at 252-450-9600.
If a farmer sprays a thousand acres of his cotton fields, it could cost him about $12,000. If she can delay or prevent spraying, she can possibly save him close to $1,000 per day. He simply pays her a few dollars per acre for scouting his fields with her helpers. The idea not to spray until absolutely necessary is called reaching the “economic threshold.”
Toni is also a Technical Service Provider for NRCS, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (formerly Soil and Water Conservation).
She is certified to do pest management programs and nutrient management programs. She is the only person in North Carolina and Florida who is certified to write “transition to organic” plans and management programs.
Toni left Miami, Florida and went to the University of Georgia .She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts. After taking an undergraduate horticulture class, she stayed there and earned a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and a Masters Degree in Plant Protection and Pest Management. Pest Management is a combination of agronomy, plant pathology and entomology.
At one time she worked for a consultanting firm in the area. After she told them she wanted to be a Crop Consultant instead of a Scout, they told her no one would hire her “because she is a girl.” Toni is in an occupation where it is a man’s world.
When she first came to North Carolina, Ralph Brake, an Edgecombe County farmer, had her scout his cotton on Saturdays. He also took her to see other farmers and she influenced them to save money by not spraying their cotton fields.
By walking in an X or S pattern in a field, a Cotton Scout monitors the field’s pest population. As an internship for her Masters Degree, she worked as a Cotton Scout in north Georgia. She supervised five young men in three counties. Many petroleum companies made chemicals for agriculture use.
She got a job selling agriculture products mainly in the peanut market in North Carolina and Virginia. While living in Rocky Mount then, she fell in love with the area.
It is amazing how technology has helped. She used to have a beeper so somebody could page her and she would return the call. She bought FAX machines and put them where her scouts could report to her. Today, she can receive emails, contact clients and take pictures with her cell phone.
If she is 12 miles from the farmer and he had just sprayed a field, but she found out he needed to spray another nearby field, she could get word to him while he is in that area. She may need to tell him to go spray another nearby field for worms. She can communicate with the farmer if he is on one of his tractors, too. All this saves the farmer’s time.
When she does soil samples, she computerizes the results for the farmers.
Few farmers had an organized system of keeping up with their maps. First, it was difficult for her to figure out 20 year old aerial maps. As farmers drove her through fields, she wrote down the directions.
Then she returned to the fields and drew pictures of where the fields were. Finally it clicked for her. Now, if she knows where her location is on that aerial photograph, she can take you to any place on the map.
She has all the aerial photographs from their new FSA (Farm Service Agency) and organizes them in a notebook.
A boll weevil is a mean creature that can injure more than 25 cotton boll blossoms and 100 baby bolls. .It was devastating to our cotton crop. The Boll Weevil Eradication Program started in North Carolina.
Cotton is seed hair. Their seeds are in seed locks like an orange which may have 5-7 seeds. A healthy boll has 5-7 seeds in a lock. The cotton blossom has to be pollinated by bees. After being fertilized for the first 23 days, the fiber cotton grows long. The cotton fiber fattens up in the second 23 days. The length is called the staple. The width is called micronaire.
Cotton is an amazing plant! It is like magic! It is thread made on a plant. It is just like cotton balls in the drug store except their seeds have been ginned away. Cotton makes clothes which breathe and they absorb moisture. It is wonderful, “the fabric of our lives”.
Martha Blount and Toni Wade were thanked for being hostesses this month.
Regent Dottie closed with Prayer II from the DAR Ritual for Thanksgiving. It was An American Day of Thanksgiving commemorating the Pilgrim celebration of a good harvest in 1621.
Community
Daughters of American Revolution Chapter informed way Agriculture Crop Consultant manages cotton crops
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WALTON EARNS SCHOLARSHIP
John Ronald Walton, a 2013 graduate of Edgecombe Early College High School and son of John and Lesa Walton, is presented a $2,000 scholarship check by Edgecomber County Farm Bureau Presidet Tom Proter. Walton is enrolled at NC State University for the fall semester.
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Edgecombe County Public Schools announces 2013-2014 teachers of the year
Fourteen Edgecombe County Public Schools (ECPS) teachers have been chosen as the teacher of the year for their schools. Now they will compete against one another to be named Edgecombe County Teacher of the Year.
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Woodmen help Tarboro High School JROTC
Ruth Cherry, Trustee of Woodmen of the World, Tarboro Lodge 115, presents a check for $100 to Tarboro High School aerospace science instructor Senior Master Sgt. (ret) Steve Alderman. These funds will be used to help send Tarboro High School JROTC cadets to summer leadership school. This is one of Woodmen's outstanding fraternal projects.
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State Employees’ Credit Union Members Award $10,000 Scholarship to Area High School Student!
Edgecombe County – State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) members via the SECU Foundation, presented a $10,000 four-year college scholarship to Dawson Blaire Gould, a senior at SouthWest Edgecombe High School. Dawson is the daughter of Jeff and Pam Gould. This scholarship was awarded for study at Appalachian State University, part of North Carolina’s 16-campus University of North Carolina System.
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Helpful Scouts
A Scout is helpful. Yes, it's true, evident in the work these young Scouts from the First Free Will Baptist Church Troop 816 performed for America in Bloom (AIB) Community Cleanup Day on Saturday. In spite of heavy spurts of rain, they collected litter along the railroad track from Albemarle Avenue, across Main Street all the way to Saint Andrew Street. Afterwards, they met Buddy Hooks at the south end of Main near the traffic circle and helped him complete two AIB projects that will complement the south entrance to town. By spreading mulch around the plantings at the Thorne Realty landscape and edging the walkway at the Quigless Clinic landscape where other colorful plants were installed. Cornelia McGee-Anthony, from the Nash-Edgecombe Keep America Beautiful provided gloves and trash bags for all the volunteers. Troop 816 Scouts participating in the effort included (left to right) Bryson Parker, Davonatte McDowell, Jessie Tyson, Wayne Davis (assistant scoutmaster), CJ Keel, Dean Wells (scoutmaster), Steven Davis, Garrett Parker, Allen Taylor.
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Nonagenarian Tea Honors Six Tarboro Women
The Perry-Weston Historical Institute recognized and honored six community nonagenarians on Saturday, June 1, in the Calvary Episcopal Church Memorial Hall.. They were Carrie Lawrence Bridgers (91), Magnolia Spencer Bryant (92), Irma Harrison DuBose (91), Lillie Mae White James (90), Bessie Brown Lawrence (91), and V. Dorothula Harrison Vines (92). Since 2004, citizens 90 years of age or older have been honored at the Perry-Weston Nonagenarian Tea. This is the fourth such event.
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New senior leadership team in place at ECPS
The current school year is in its final days, and a new leadership team at Edgecombe County Public Schools (ECPS) is gearing up for the upcoming school year.
The team of three leaders in the executive cabinet includes superintendent John Farrelly, who is wrapping up his first year as ECPS leader, associate superintendent Karen Dameron and Dr. Valerie Bridges. Bridges will begin her role as the assistant superintendent of the educational program services division on July 1. Bridges replaces Dr. Renee Franklin, who is transferring to Caswell County Schools as the superintendent. -
Dr. Sibyl E. Moses Featured Speaker
Dr. Sibyl E. Moses, was enthusiastically received as the featured speaker at the Nonagenarian Tea, sponsored by the Perry-Weston Institute on June 1 at Calvary Episcopal Church Memorial Hall. Dr. Moses talked about “The History of the Afternoon Tea Within the African American Community.” In her research, she has identified more than 800 different kinds of afternoon teas.
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Essie Ruth Richardson Humanitarian Award
The Perry-Weston Historical Institute presented the first Essie Ruth Humanitarian Award to the first recipients on June 1, as a part of the Nonagenarian Tea at Calvary Episcopal Church Memorial Hall. The Essie Ruth Richardson Humanitarian Award has been established by the Perry-Weston Historical, Educational, and Cultural Institute to honor Ms. Richardson’s work, to preserve her memory, and, at the same time, to recognize outstanding members of our community.
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Stocks Elementary buggy day
Stocks Elementary School first graders on Friday participated in fun insect-related activities at “Buggy Day.”
The day began with a lecture from Entomologist Bruce Panneton from Edgecombe Community College. Panneton discussed his study of insects with the students before they broke off into groups to learn more about bugs through exciting activities. - More Community Headlines
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