Friday to feature local library on UNC-TV
Friday to feature local library on UNC-TV
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE Randy Parker, center, president of Vance-Granville Community College, and Sam Watkins, right, president of the Embassy Square Foundation, are interviewed by Dr. William Friday, President Emeritus of the University of North Carolina and host of UNC-TV’s “North Carolina People,” for a taping of the show inside the new H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library Wednesday morning. |
By JASON ALSTON,
Daily Dispatch Writer
A revered North Carolina educator who has consistently voiced support for Henderson’s Embassy Square project will be featured along with the Embassy Square Foundation’s chairman in a televised interview set to air in May.
William Clyde Friday, former president
of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill and current host of
UNC-TV’s “North Carolina People,”
met with Embassy Square chairman Sam Watkins and Vance-Granville Community College president Randy Parker last
week at the new H. Leslie Perry
Memorial Library building. Watkins and Parker were interviewed for upcoming episodes of “North Carolina People.”
The Watkins edition is slated to air on
UNC-TV on May 5 at 9 p.m. and May 7 at 5:30 p.m. The Parker show will air May 19 at 9 p.m. and May 21 at 5:30 p.m.
“I saw this as an opportunity to hear what he (Friday) had to say, but also as an opportunity to promote Vance County on 300 television channels,” Watkins said Monday during a Dispatch interview. “I think we do have to try some things to convince people that we’re a decent place to (bring jobs).”
Watkins said that the Embassy Square Foundation sought advice from many sources before plunging into the new library project and other endeavors intended to revitalize the area. Friday, Watkins said, was one of the sources who originally told the foundation that the library project was worthwhile.
“We were very encouraged by his encouragement,” said Kathy Powell of the Embassy Square Foundation. “Anytime you have somebody as well traveled Š give any kind of credence to what you are doing, it’s like a rubber stamp to your project.”
Though Watkins didn’t want to divulge too many details about the upcoming shows, he said Friday remains supportive of the new library project and feels that the new Perry Library could be the model for other small town libraries.
The library isn’t the only focus of the upcoming “North Carolina People” installments featuring Vance County.
Other subjects covered in these two episodes include the Kerr-Tar Hub, Vance-Granville Community College and improvements at Maria Parham Medical Center.
Watkins also reaffirmed his own support for the new Perry Library, which has already endured several obstacles that could delay its initial opening, most of them related to funding.
“Those small towns that are doing things to attempt to survive just might,” Watkins said. “But those that do nothing, won’t.”
Contact the writer at alston@hendersondispatch.com .
