Five generations of the Williams family

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Wilson City Council members approved a slight increase to the $15 million budget for a new downtown parking garage on Thursday.
&ldquo;First of all, I&rsquo;m all for it,&rdquo; Councilman James Johnson said when shown three versions of the garage with various architectural upgrades. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always gone first-class, so we are not going to do anything basic with this project, especially in that growth area.&rdquo;
Johnson and Councilmen Donald Evans, Derrick Creech and Michael Bell concurred in favoring the second option with brick to match the new BB&amp;T building and the planned construction for the adjacent YMCA and mixed-use development. The proposal included brackets and banners to adorn two sides of the structure. The project would cost $14,901,018 without the upgrades, but the brick and banners brings the total to $15,131,018.
According to a preliminary timeline, construction of the pre-cast walls with the brick inlays will start immediately, with work beginning on-site this summer. Construction is expected to take less than a year to complete.
Also during the 7 p.m. virtual meeting, the council discussed several rezoning requests and amendments to the unified development ordinance to comply with state statutes. The changes necessitate public hearings, and since state law requires an additional 24 hours of public comment before taking action, the council will reconvene at 6 p.m. Monday to vote on the matters.
Wilson residents who wish to submit a comment can email their remarks to City Clerk Tonya West at twest@wilsonnc.org. Commenters are asked to include their name, address and phone number along with where they can be reached during Monday&rsquo;s meeting. For questions on the public comment process, email West or call her at 252-399-2302.

Wilson City Council approves $15M parking garage design

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The retired four-star general who's now leading the Pentagon as the United States&rsquo; first Black defense secretary has family ties to Wilson.
Senators confirmed Lloyd Austin to the Cabinet post in a 93-2 vote on Friday. Austin was a Fort Bragg commander during his Army career and his wife, Charlene Austin, previously lived in Wilson.
&ldquo;I am honored to have this chance to serve again and to do so alongside you and your families,&rdquo; Austin wrote in a Friday memo to U.S. troops titled Day One Message to the Force. &ldquo;My wife, Charlene, and I know all too well the sacrifices you make to keep this country safe. That safety is job one, and I promise to work as hard as you do at it.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-Wilson, noted his rapport with the couple, describing the Austins as &ldquo;family friends of many years.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Mrs. Austin&rsquo;s parents were my neighbors in Wilson, North Carolina,&rdquo; Butterfield said in a prepared statement. &ldquo;General and Mrs. Austin have been a perfect example of a military family who unselfishly serve our nation.&rdquo;
Austin was the first Black officer to lead U.S. Central Command. In that role, Austin succeeded Gen. Jim Mattis, who served as President Donald Trump&rsquo;s secretary of defense from 2017-19.
&ldquo;General Austin is well qualified to serve in this most important position,&rdquo; Butterfield said. &ldquo;His years of command leadership and commitment to our nation&rsquo;s defense are unparalleled.&rdquo;
Austin retired from the Army in 2016, capping a 40-year military career. On Thursday, both houses of Congress approved a waiver allowing Austin to lead the Department of Defense due to a law that requires a seven-year period between military service and civilian leadership. Congress had also approved that exception for Mattis.
President Joe Biden nominated Austin to serve as secretary of defense in early December, noting that he was only the 200th person and sixth African American to become a four-star general in the U.S. military.
&ldquo;General Austin shares my profound belief that our nation is at its strongest when we lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example,&rdquo; Biden said in a December news release announcing the nomination. &ldquo;Throughout his lifetime of dedicated service &mdash; and in the many hours we&rsquo;ve spent together in the White House Situation Room and with our troops overseas &mdash; General Austin has demonstrated exemplary leadership, character and command.&rdquo;
Charlene D. Austin is a Washington, D.C., native who&rsquo;s served as a volunteer, adviser and consultant on issues affecting military families, according to a biography on the National Defense University website. She earned a bachelor&rsquo;s degree from Fayetteville State University and a master&rsquo;s from Auburn University, where her husband also attended graduate school.
While the Austins were stationed at Fort Bragg, Charlene Austin received the Partnership for Children of Cumberland County&rsquo;s inaugural Award for Military Family and Leadership. &nbsp;

New defense secretary has Wilson ties

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Police say a man shot and wounded a coworker Friday morning at a Wilson air filter business.&nbsp;
Authorities arrested 29-year-old Brandon Devon White of Wilson on charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury in the shooting of 35-year-old Donnie Moore, according to Wilson Police Capt. Kendra Howell.&nbsp;
Police responded to Second Nature at 11:38 a.m. regarding an employee who had been shot inside the business, Howell said. The 1920 Farrior Ave. SE business is at the end of Cargill Avenue in the former Tobacco Processors plant.&nbsp;
Howell said officers and emergency personnel arrived and found Moore suffering from a gunshot wound.&nbsp;
Moore was taken to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville for emergency treatment, Howell said.&nbsp;
She said the department&rsquo;s investigation resulted in White&rsquo;s identification and arrest.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Both victim and suspect work together at the business,&rdquo; Howell said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.&nbsp;
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Howell said no one else was injured in the shooting.&nbsp;
The Wilson location is a fulfillment center for Second Nature, an air filtration company headquartered in Raleigh. Attempts to reach the company Friday were unsuccessful.&nbsp;
&lsquo;EVERYBODY TOOK OFF RUNNING&rsquo;
Second Nature employee Brandon Carr said workers were minding their own business when gunfire rang out.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Next thing I know, I heard a shot,&rdquo; said Carr, who works in the facility&rsquo;s shipping section. &ldquo;I thought it was a pallet jack at first and then I heard continuous shots and then everybody took off running.&rdquo;&nbsp;
While Carr said he didn&rsquo;t see his coworker get shot, he witnessed the aftermath. He said he saw the victim &ldquo;fly to the ground.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;We just all just took off and ran,&rdquo; Carr said. &ldquo;No questions asked. Nobody had to tell us to take off and run or nothing, just instinct.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Carr said about 30 employees were in the shipping area. He said he didn&rsquo;t hear any threats or hints of violence prior to the shooting.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Nobody was fussing or arguing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody was cool, I thought. Everybody gets along very great.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Carr, who&rsquo;s worked at the facility for four months, said he hasn&rsquo;t noticed confrontations or conflicts between any of his coworkers.&nbsp;
Stefonia Andrews, another employee who was on the shipping floor, said while she didn&rsquo;t see anything, she did hear gunshots.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I saw everybody running, so I just ran,&rdquo; said Andrews, who noted she was able to evacuate quickly because she works near a exit door.&nbsp;
Investigators ask anyone with information to call the Wilson Police Department at 252-399-2323 or Crime Stoppers at 252-243-2255. &nbsp;

Police: Wilson man shot, injured coworker

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Spring Arbor of Wilson was briefly evacuated Wednesday after a clothes dryer caught fire, sending white smoke into the memory care unit. Wilson Fire/Rescue Services Deputy Chief Jim Campbell commended Spring Arbor employees for their quick response. &#x201C;They were very efficient in getting them outside,&#x201D; Campbell said. Campbell said firefighters were called to the 2405 Ward Blvd. assisted living center at 4:29 p.m. &#x201C;Wilson Fire/Rescue Services was dispatched in reference to a fire alarm. Companies arrived at Spring Arbor assisted living to find white smoke coming from the rear of the building,&#x201D; Campbell said. &#x201C;Upon investigation, crews encountered a fire inside of a clothes dryer. Crews gained entry to the dryer and extinguished the fire.&#x201D; &#x201C;The fire damage was limited to the appliance, and there was mild smoke spread throughout the facility,&#x201D; Campbell continued. &#x201C;The occupants were sheltered in an established safe area while ventilation efforts to remove the smoke were in progress.&#x201D; No firefighter or civilian injuries were reported. &#x201C;Servpro responded to remove the smoke odor from the building before returning the occupants to their rooms,&#x201D; Campbell said. The Wilson Police Department and Wilson County EMS also responded. &#x201C;The staff at Spring Arbor did an exceptional job in evacuating the residents in such a smooth and methodical manner,&#x201D; Campbell said. &#x201C;The fire alarm alerted the occupants and fire department early, which assisted in the evacuation and life safety.&#x201D; Deborah Jones, executive director at Spring Arbor, said 14 residents were in the memory care unit when the fire started. They were moved to another location within the facility until the smoke was cleared. The fire&#x2019;s cause is undetermined.

Dryer fire evacuates Spring Arbor assisted living facility 

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We had a special breakfast at my house recently, overnight French toast filled with fruit and pecans. Breakfast on weekdays is usually cheese toast, grits, frozen waffles, fruit and granola or cereal, but I had the ingredients on hand, so I mixed up the recipe and popped it in the fridge to chill and work some magic. Not only did I want to eat the fruity French toast, I also wanted to experiment with an adaptable recipe that would work well for a special breakfast or brunch for company. I think I succeeded. All you have to do is prepare the French toast the night before, take it out of the fridge and bake while getting ready for the day. Because it was just my husband and me, I made a small recipe of the baked French toast that would equal four servings. Earlier in the week, we had eaten part of a large loaf of French bread I had gotten in our Walmart pickup order. There was plenty left for our breakfast. Most baked French toast recipes follow a basic guide: dice some bread; stir a mixture of milk, eggs, vanilla and maybe spices; add fruit or nuts. Some recipes include cream cheese and a buttery topping, but I don&#x2019;t like overly-sweet breakfast recipes, so mine was simple. Although I used French bread, I would have loved using a loaf of challah for my French toast. I also used skim milk, but some prefer cream. I had fresh blueberries in the refrigerator that needed to be eaten soon, so I used those, as well as some peaches from the freezer. You could also skip adding the fruit to the mixture that bakes, and instead could top plain French toast with fresh fruit. Chopped pecans topped our breakfast treat. There are so many ways you can adapt this basic recipe. Change the bread, switch the milk, experiment with fruit. My husband would have loved diced apples. And you can always use walnuts or almonds if you prefer. I was happy that I could use what I had on hand. Since the pandemic, I&#x2019;ve really learned to rely on the foods I have in the house and have come up with many substitutions that have worked just fine for us. Lisa Boykin Batts has been writing a weekly food column since 2001. Her column includes recipes she and her family enjoy.

Baked French toast a morning treat

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Kenneth and Leisa Houghton of Statesboro, Georgia, announce the engagement of their daughter, Kendra Sharon Houghton, to Eric Milliken Via, both of Warner Robins, Georgia. The bride is the granddaughter of the Sharon Robertson of Harrison, Arkansas, and late Harrell Robertson, and Wanda Houghton and Nadean Houghton of Harrison and the late Bill Houghton Parents of the groom are Michael and Mary Sargent and Dr. B. Scott Via, all of Wilson. He is the grandson of the late Eugene Via and the late Jeanne Via; Conrad and Anne Odden of Wilson; Harrison Givens of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the late Marylou Givens; and Richard and Mary Sargent of Wilson. A Nov. 13 wedding is planned in Savannah, Georgia.

Five generations of the Williams family

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