Home Care In Colfax, NC

COLFAX, N.C. —

After 65 years of serving, the Colfax Fire Department has officially disbanded. The Kernersville Fire Department will now take over those services. Dozens of family, loved ones and firefighters gathered at the station on W. Market Street Friday for a "transition of services" ceremony.

The Colfax Fire Department was a vision that started from 33 founding members back in 1958, where in the first year of service, had a volume of 25 calls.

Sixty-five years later, over 475 men and women have served in the department, averaging about 800 to 850 calls a year.

Colfax Fire Chief Dennis Robinson, who has served as chief for nearly two decades, said they knew the time would come to transition services, the question was just a matter of when.

"We thought when Fedex came into Guilford County that might be the timing aspect, that might be the trigger point as we always said," Robinson said.

"Ultimately what it came down to was like I said earlier, the loss of volunteers."

Those services are now getting handed to the Kernersville Fire Department, but not without mention of the contributions, skills and resources from Colfax.

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"Here we are today; they planted a lot of great seeds and now we're seeing the fruits of their seeds," Scott Alderman said, who serves as Kernersville's fire rescue chief.

"We're going to rely a lot on them to show us the way on many things that they have done over the years. We've been talking about that already, our departments have been trained together to prepare for this transition, they've been sharing their knowledge about the community with us."

During the ceremony, memories and accomplishments were shared; some laughs and tears.

And to seal the ending of an era, the station's bell and siren rang for the last time.

"We just want to make sure our people are protected, we want to do our best to make sure the identity of Colfax community and Sandy Ridge communities and Colfax fire department was protected," Robinson said. "Want to make sure our citizens are protected and I think when you boil it all down, you get through that and certain that's number one thing; making sure the community is protected."

When asked if Chief Robinson could leave the Colfax firefighters with any last words, "Pride, proud of the way that the Colfax Fire Department went out on top; proud of what we've done."

Leaders say in the future, they plan to get a monument and change the station's layout to hold pictures and memories of the department.

COLFAX, N.C. —

A 71-year-old man is accused of sex crimes at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market, the Sheriff's Office said.

Guilford County Sheriff Danny H. Rogers reported these crimes happened on June 24 and July 14 at the Farmers' Market on Sandy Ridge Road in Colfax.

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Ivan Hugh-McDonald Peden was charged with felony indecent liberties with a child, felony indecent exposure, misdemeanor sexual battery, and misdemeanor secret peeping and was issued a $50,000 bond.

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No additional details have been released. Anyone with information should contact Detective Z. Cabral at 336-641-5773 or Sergeant J. Wright at 336-641-5971 with the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office or the Greensboro CrimeStoppers at 336-373-1000.

This is an ongoing investigation. Check back for more updates.

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Juneteenth SOULebration was held at the Piedmont Farmers Market Monday, bringing in dozens.

COLFAX, N.C. — President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law two years ago.

This made Juneteenth a federal holiday which was the first since Martin Luther King Junior Day back in 1983.

Juneteenth commemorates the day when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas found out that the civil war had ended and they were free.

This announcement came two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Here in the Triad, dozens of organizations and agencies honor the holiday and held events all weekend long.

Juneteenth SOULebration was held at the Piedmont Farmers Market Monday.

The event was able to last a couple of hours before getting rained out.

People still came out from all over to spend a couple of hours outside, enjoying the festivities and learning more about Juneteenth.

Brenda White said she attends multiple Juneteenth events every year. "It's very exciting because it's diversity. You see people of all colors, all races, and all genders, everybody is welcome. Everybody knows the importance of our history and just to keep it going."

The celebration at the farmers market had live music, dancing, food, games, and local vendors selling their handmade items.

Jashawn Kornegay owns Jay's Flavors, a lemonade business.

"This is so important to me. This is my first Juneteenth celebration. I’m so excited, I love the black, the white, everybody in the community so to see everybody coming together it’s a big, major accomplishment and I just feel so honored just to be here,” Kornegay said.

Chris Graves worked for Benefits N More. His booth was set up in hopes of just meeting more people out in the community.

Graves said, "It's amazing. We are just glad to be a part of it. It's a good celebration, remembering why we are here as important as well."

There were even activities for kids at the event as well as an opportunity for them to learn more about the Juneteenth holiday.

Marjhe Johnston said she wants her children to get a sense of togetherness from the event. "We thought that it was really important. I'm a mom of brown kids. I'm actually a foster mom. We've had many different colors of kids over the years and we love to celebrate each and every one of their cultures. This is a part of ours. They are Americans, I'm Jamerican, I'm from Jamaica so we're just kind of out here celebrating with everyone."

GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — We've seen the proof through major development projects, including just an expansion at PTI airport.

To accommodate all those new workers and families, Guilford County Schools is building additional schools.

It's happening in Colfax, but some neighbors aren't happy.

Folks who drive in the area of Boylston Road will see signs taped on street corners disapproving of the new k- 8 school Guilford County leader want to build.

For 20 years, Tim Thompson has lived near the proposed site of the Katherine G. Johnson School for Science and Mathematics.

“These are little country roads back here where they’re discussing building the elementary school,” Thompson said. “Then you got a real traffic issue.”

To address his and other neighbors' concerns, project representative Amanda Hodierne told GCS and county leaders at a meeting Tuesday they’ll consider infrastructure changes following a traffic impact analysis.

“The point of that is to ensure that at the end of the day, this use is safe and functional on the road system," Hodierne said. "The current specification of Boylston and Bunker Hill Road are not appropriate for this school we have to make them that way."

Thompson said he’d rather see the 34-acre STEM school be built elsewhere.

“This is about the only place in Guilford you can move to where you feel like you’re in the country anymore and it's quickly getting populated out here,” Thompson said. "So yeah to expand the road system would change the environment around here and not necessarily for the good.”

The plot of land is between Southwest and Colfax elementary schools.

Superintendent Dr. Whitney Oakley said several factors played a part In why the district chose the area.

“To attempt to alleviate overcrowding in growing areas of the county to accommodate student enrollment,” Oakley said.

Enrollment at Southwest Elementary and Middle would almost double the state's average by 2025.

Meyakka Sturdivant attended Southwest Guilford School as a child.

"Looking at 1,000 plus homes that have come up in the past year or two it's probably beyond overcrowded," Sturdivant said. "It’s an issue with the teachers being able to handle that load."

Sturdivant said she’s considering moving back to the area but she’s concerned her 6-year-old would end up suffering.

“When you think about your elementary kids growing and staying In that area and district because it's overcrowded,” Sturdivant said. “We need more than one to two schools in the area.”

The money to build the school is already set aside.There are still several steps before the project gets off the ground.

The proposed site is in High Point city limits. Their planning and zoning commission will hold a public meeting on May 23 to get more feedback.

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COLFAX, N.C. (WGHP) — Guilford County Schools leaders have long talked about needing new schools.

Overcrowding has been an issue for years. Back in 2019, the district made a master plan, which included building a new facility. Now, leaders are exploring a piece of land in Colfax, which could house a new K-8 school.

The land in question is about 32 acres at the corner of Boylston Road and Bunker Hill Road. The proposed school would be for about 900 students.

On Tuesday night, GCS representatives had a meeting where they answered questions and heard concerns from people who live in the area.

FOX8 crews talked with a board of education member who was at the meeting after hearing the superintendent’s budget recommendation earlier in the afternoon. She said there’s a balance between needing more schools and not being able to fully staff the ones they have now.

The district is currently down 88 teachers, 77 bus drivers and 76 maintenance workers, among needing other positions.

“Currently, Guilford County has seen recent economic growth with the addition of Boom Supersonic and Toyota coming to our community,” said Tara Trexler, the district’s chief financial officer.

Those big-name companies are driving more people to Guilford County. In the school district’s 2019 master plan, district leaders projected they’d need more space.

“We need more schools,” said Robin Sowell, who lives on Bunker Hill Road. “We need money to put in schools.”

They’re exploring options of where to potentially build a K-8 school. It could be on the corner of Boylston Road and Bunker Hill Road.

The plan caught a lot of people off guard, including Guilford County Commissioner James Upchurch.

“I think the biggest problem is the lack of transparency,” Upchurch said. “I didn’t find out about this meeting until late last night when a constituent reached out to me.”

People who live in the area aren’t opposed to a school. They just want Guilford County Schools leaders to explain to them what could be coming to their neighborhood.

“Not everybody is going to be happy if you’re putting a school in,” Sowell said. “You need to tell them why it really was the best choice in a convincing manner and what you’re going to do to mitigate the issues these people are going to face.”

On Tuesday night, more than 50 people who showed up to Shady Grove Wesleyan Church in Colfax learned the school, which they thought would be a STEM center, might not be one.

“The magnet school sounds wickedly awesome,” Sowell said. “We’re not getting the magnet school anymore.”

A representative with Guilford County Schools told FOX8 the STEM academy will probably be built but maybe not on this property.

The people who had questions said they didn’t get a clear answer.

“We asked about redistricting the schools, which obviously they’re going to have to do because it’s really not far from the other Colfax schools,” Sowell said. “They can’t comment on that because…they don’t own the land yet.”

A spokesperson said GCS has not purchased the land.

It’s not clear when they could put in a bid for the land. After that, it would need to get approved for rezoning. This proposed school location is in the very early planning stages.