Tag Archives: Lantern News

DHSpeller’s miNews Update Vol. 4

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This update is all about elections; a little late—but still relevant for future elections.

Windsor | Bertie County Changes to Local Elections.  Bertie County has an Elections Information page located at: http://www.co.bertie.nc.us/departments/elections/elections.html . The page is informative and has great links to other information.  One of the primary changes is that PHOTO ID is NOW required. Apparently, the Republican lead North Carolina Supreme Court reversed the injunction against moving forward with implementing the Photo ID legislation.  So, IDs are now required to vote in North Carolina.

I did not know I could not vote in “municipal elections”. So, yes… I was ignorant of the fact that I could not vote in “town” elections.  I live on the “out skirt” of the town of Windsor—granted.  But, we have to deal with the “town” a lot.  Burn Permits—Town.  Fishing and Hunting permits—Town.  Water Bill… I think…. Town/County-ish.  So my question is, Why can we not have a vote on who is chosen as our town commissioners? Anybody know? I called around but did not get a direct answer.  I think that needs to change.  And for the record, I generally like the commissioners and don’t have beef with anyone—I just want to maximize the vote.  Otherwise, we should be able to do our own thing in the out skirts, like… have a working well as well as have the choice of city connection –if we want to.  What is your input? Maybe a say in all elections will help bring parks, and recreational facilities to the ‘out skirts’ of the town in to more of the community.  Comment below!

A State of Emergency for Public Education.  Did you know that Governor Cooper has declared that public education in North Carolina is facing a state of emergency?  I was researching a few things about elections, grants and how money is spent… and then I ran across a notice indicating there was a public education crisis in North Carolina. In short, he is requesting that citizens (voters) contact state legislators and others to voice your concerns.  I think this is an excellent opportunity for change!  Major elections are coming in 2024 (some local elections are happening now), and we should do all we can to change things for the better.  Even if you don’t have “school aged children” attending school right now; the children who are in school are the future for us all.  It is important that they can function in a workable society.  And function on true facts about the history of this country and our local communities to make things better for everyone. Do the research and heed the call to get involved!  This not only applies to North Carolinians by the way, but this also applies to everyone!

Often, I may write articles or give my opinions about what appears to be “local” issues. But in fact, they can be relevant to a broader community, a global community.  Let’s all get involved and try to influence our political leaders to make decisions that are helpful to everyone in the community.

Become aware of who represents you—A hint to researching.  In researching information for this edition of miNews Updates, I found that a lot of information isn’t as hard to locate as you might think.  If you are interested in finding out who your politicians and representatives are for you specifically, start with your county’s web site.  As I looked through the site where I currently reside, I located a “Directory” page which contained not only the main local contacts, but they also had links to county, state, and federal representatives.  Your city might have the same.  You can start by doing a google search on your location by typing in the “Name and State” of the city you live in.  From the results, look for websites that end in the extensions of “.gov, .us, or maybe .org”.  Those are normally the official information sites of most governmental organizations.

If all else fails, you can also do a Google word search using the term “who represents me?”.  When I did that, the results showed suggestions based on where it thought my geo-location was, and prior Google searches I had performed, indicating both local and national relative websites.

Happy searching!

 

 

Well, that is it for this update!  For more news and information, be sure to visit The Lantern page on our site —https://dhspeller.com!  And please visit our other social media links listing on our site.  We have Tumblr, YouTube and Instagram accounts with great content as well! Blessings!

DHSpeller’s miNews Update Vol. 3

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Bear Season in North Carolina.  Did you know that there were different specific times for hunting bear in North Carolina?  I think they are beautiful animals personally–but I thought it might be useful to provide information related to hunting seasons.  This link to the eRegulations; provides specific information for bears; however you can navigate the site for information concerning other hunting seasons throughout the year.  You can also see information about licenses, permits and fees.  Resource: Hunting Seasons

Something for Retiring Veterans–Active Duty, Reserve, National Guard. If you are a retiring Service Member, this DFAS.mil site might be just what you need to learn more about retirement.  They even have information for Gray Area Retirees!  As you know active duty soldiers are usually eligible for retirement after 20 years of honorable service; but Reservists and National Guard Members become eligible around the age of 60.  Gray Area Retirees can become eligible earlier if certain rules apply.  Read up on it all by visiting the DFAS site!

Have you made a copy of your important documents and valuables?  With today’s technology, it is very easy to make copies or take pictures of important documents and valuables, such as Birth Certificates, ID Cards, and other valuables to prove identification or show ownership.  Using your cell phone or printer scanner can be used to accomplish the task. Making a scan or digitizing old family pictures is also a great idea and a great way to preserve family history.  Need help?  You can always reach out to us at dhspeller.com for some administrative support, or maybe a tech savvy family member who could help with the task at an affordable cost.  Be sure to save or transfer those photos to a thumb drive or some other type of storage medium.  A Terabyte external storage drive is very affordable now and can store a great deal of files and images.  It’s a great project to tackle during the upcoming holiday season!

AARP Bulletin and Website are great sources for information.  Do you receive the AARP Bulletin or have visited the AARP Website?  If not, I recommend you do so.  It has a wealth of information and sometimes great tips and digital coupons are available that can lead to saving a good deal of money. It covers a lot of information about retirement and healthcare; an excellent supplement to visiting the Social Security government site.

 

Well, that is it for this update!  For more news and information, be sure to visit The Lantern page on our site —https://dhspeller.com!  And please visit our other social media links listing on our site.  We have Tumblr, YouTube and Instagram accounts with great content as well! Blessings!

MiNews Update Vol. 2

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Israel and Hamas.  Rather than to seek peace option, Israel has chosen to go forward with their plan to fire upon Gaza in an effort to “drive out Hamas”.  Many, including some Israeli citizens have demonstrated and called for a cease-fire to work on a solution.  The latest skirmish is from an attack Hamas made on Israel.  However, it should be noted that for than 50 years the Palestinians in total have been under a heavy occupation by Israel–with Israel making unrecognized settlements in lands considered to belong to the Palestinians.  In my opinion, it is a total mess over there.  I pray and hope for a peaceful solution.

Dr. Cornel West for President.  Dr. Cornel West is still running for President.  Although the news isn’t covering it much, Dr. Cornel West is still in the race for President of the United States. There have been a few changes in his campaign, but he is still in the race.  He initially started out as a candidate for the People’s Party, then switched to the Green Party. He now runs as an Independent and states that he will continue in the race until election day.  The Wiki information on Dr. West has a good summary, but If you’d like to read more about Dr. West and  his political platform, visit his site at: https://www.cornelwest2024.com/ .

Bertie Business Network (BBN) in the news.  There was an interesting article in the DailyAdvance Online about broadband featuring Nicole Outlaw, the BBN’s Founder.  It is noted that Fybe (which used to be called Roanoke Connect) has don’t a lot of broadband upgrades in the area and Nicole talks about the great possibilities of it for businesses in the area.  You can find the article at this link: Broadband: Digital at the Doorstep by John Foley, Staff Writer.

Medicare Annual Enrollment Period.  Okay, by now I know everybody has heard that this is the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period.  It goes from October 15 – December 7, 2023.  The official Medicare site is: Medicare.gov.  There are a lot of commercials and people who will be calling you on your house and cell phone.  I caution you that should not be giving out your information to everyone calling on your phone.  The safest thing to do is to make the call to your provider and visit the office site so that you can get the best information.

 

Well, that is it for this update!  For more news and information, be sure to visit The Lantern page on our site https://dhspeller.com!  Blessings!

The Beginning of miNews Updates

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This is the first post I’m making of miNews Updates There is a lot going on in the world, and instead of always making a separate blog post of each and every thing I’d like to mention; I thought I could create a post with segments that interested me. I’ve reconfigured the overall blog some and have categorized things differently.

The Lantern page will now, include both local or general news topics, and more detailed searches can be done by using tags.  Sometimes they’ll have links to other posts sometimes not.  It’ll all work out though because it’s all about making you aware! ✊🏾

Our Community Calendar: On my website, dhspeller.com, I usually insert events on the Community Calendar.  It may be a local event, or some other event I found useful.  If you’d like to include an event that you have, use the form located on the events page and submit!  Or if you already have the event on the Facebook or other social media/calendar, tell us where we can get the information and we’ll try to insert the even information using the links provided.

2024 Election:  The 2024 Presidential Election is on November 5, 2024; but prior to that date there will be primaries held in several states.  This update is to let you know about a site called 270towin.com.  It has a calendar that tells you about when primaries will be held by parties of each state along with other information on the site’s primary page.  It’s a very informative map to add to your other election information.

5K Run & 1 Mile Walk in Windsor, NC. The event will be held in Windsor, NC on 28 October 2023.  It is supposed to start at 9:00 a.m., on S. York Street, Windsor.  For other events, be sure to visit our Calendar on the DanielSpeller.info website!

Bundle Up Bertie Clothing Drive.  The Bertie Business Network is in the midst of its annual clothing drive!  The drive is going on from 1 October – 25 November, 2023.  The drive is primarily for supporting school-aged kids, but I believe other items might also be accepted. If you have donations or questions you can reach out to them on their Facebook page or website.  They have several convenient drop sites around the county and if you want to participate, contact them today!

Well, that’s it for today’s update.  I just wanted to start the process and get a post out.  I’m looking forward to working with the community to get out more information. Would you like to try your hand at writing? Let’s talk about it!  And, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe!

Juneteenth Celebration

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Juneteenth is being celebrated more, which I think is a great thing.  Juneteenth is officially on June 19th.  However, Windsor [NC],  has a couple of events coming up on June 17th which I have listed on the community calendar.  Juneteenth is an annual commemoration of the end of slavery at the end of the Civil War.

I was doing some research and saw an interesting presentation that the Smithsonian Institution has on line at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It’s called The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth.  It’s a short read, but the Digital Tool Kit at the bottom of the landing page has additional resources, including this Video called Connecting the Historic to the Now.

Personally, I encourage you to use all the tools to learn all you can.  With everything happening in the public square, we need find ways to continue to grow as a people and network with each other and our allies.  For me, it’s not a matter of black vs. white.  But as others have realized–good vs. evil.

Having the ability to be seen as a humans, with equal rights and freedoms to move about and discover is where we need to get back to.  WE were here long before slavery in the USofA. WE are all over the world, in every country–in every culture.

Be safe and enjoy the celebration!