Williams honored with Jack Dalton Award

February 24, 2026February 26, 2026

The Henry County Board of Supervisors recognized Charles Williams as the recipient of the 2025 Jack Dalton Community Service Award during its meeting on February 24.

The annual award honors a Henry County resident whose volunteerism and civic involvement reflect the spirit of longtime public servant Jack Dalton.

Williams is a U.S. Army veteran who served from 1969 to 1972, including service in Vietnam, and has remained deeply involved in supporting fellow veterans as a Life Member of VFW Post 1115 and a member of American Legion Post 42. For decades, he has also supported local emergency services, including the Horsepasture Volunteer Fire Department, Horsepasture Volunteer Rescue Squad, Fieldale Volunteer Fire Department, and the Fieldale Heritage Group. He previously served as a driver for the Horsepasture Rescue Squad and currently serves on its Board, in addition to past leadership on the Henry County Emergency Services Advisory Committee. A member of the Horsepasture Ruritan Club for more than 30 years, Williams served four years as president and helped grow the organization’s membership from just over 30 to more than 100 members. He has also volunteered for more than 25 years with the Coat Drive for Kids program and served on the Citizens’ Advisory Board of Camp 28. Williams, who retired from Georgia-Pacific, continues to contribute to the local economy through his business, Williams Auction Co., LLC, and has attended nearly 700 Henry County Board of Supervisors meetings.

Board Chairman Jim Adams praised Williams’ longstanding commitment to the community.

“Charles Williams represents the very best of Henry County,” Adams said. “For decades, he has quietly and consistently stepped up wherever there was a need, whether that be supporting our emergency services or strengthening our civic organizations. His lifetime of service has made a real and lasting difference in our community.”

The Jack Dalton Community Service Award is presented annually to recognize individuals whose personal volunteer efforts and active involvement help promote the quality of life in Henry County. Dalton served on the Henry County Board of Supervisors for more than 24 years and was serving as chairman at the time of his death in 2000.

In other matters, the Board:

Received an update from RiverStreet Networks and Appalachian Power on the status of broadband installation in Henry County.
Approved an additional appropriation of $141,630 from the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority to fund the implementation of a Kinship Navigator Position within the Henry-Martinsville Department of Social Services.
Approved an additional appropriation of $211,000 received from the Economic Development
Corporation and Nathan Trotter for the extension of water and sewer lines to Lot #4 of the
Patriot Centre. The Board also awarded a contract in the amount of $354,500 to Steve Martin’s
Trenching, with the remainder of the funds provided by the Industrial Development Authority.
Conducted a joint work session with the Henry County School Board regarding its fiscal year 2026-2027 budget.
Presented Lisa Hughes with a resolution honoring her public service as she prepares to retire from the Virginia Department of Transportation after more than 40 years of service.
Conducted a public hearing and approved the rezoning of approximately 10.36-acres of the Ridgeway District from Suburban Residential District (S-R) to Agricultural District (A-1). The applicant wishes to use the property as a hobby farm, and also additional storage.
Conducted a public hearing and approved the rezoning of approximately 117.9-acres of the Ridgeway District from Agricultural District (A-1) to Industrial District (I-1). The property belongs to the Henry County Industrial Development Authority which will develop the property for industrial use.
Received a presentation by All Vets regarding ongoing activities and events.

Ridgeway man arrested after drug raid

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After nearly 1,000 cases, here’s how South Carolina officials beat back a measles outbreak

A sign outside a mobile clinic offering measles and flu vaccinations on February 6, 2026 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — A few months ago, a measles outbreak seemed poised to overwhelm the northern region of South Carolina.

More than 100 infections were being reported every week, with the total eventually surpassing that of last year’s record-setting outbreak in Texas.

However, after six months and nearly 1,000 cases, the outbreak took a dramatic turn in the right direction.

Over the weekend, the South Carolina Department of Public Health said no new cases had been confirmed for 42 days, leading to an announcement on Monday that the outbreak is officially over.

Public health experts told ABC News that the combination of a strong vaccination push, people following isolation and quarantine orders and an awareness campaign helped beat back the disease.

“Measles vaccinations [were] the most effective single containment tool,” Dr. James Harber, an internal medicine physician with Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, told ABC News. “And then to identify the index cases and their exposures and enforcing quarantine, and there’s that integrated public health and private sector collaboration. Those are the keys.”

Vaccination push

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends people receive two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine — the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old.

One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, according to the CDC.

In Spartanburg County — the epicenter of the outbreak in northwestern South Carolina — 88.9% of students had the required immunizations needed to attend school, among the lowest in the state, according to state health department data.

This is lower than the 95% threshold needed to achieve herd immunity.

In the wider Upstate region of South Carolina, some pockets have much lower vaccination rates. State data shows that, for the 2025-2026 school year, one elementary and middle school only had 17% of students with the required immunizations.

Of the 997 cases during the outbreak, 932 were among unvaccinated individuals who were mostly under the age of 17, state data shows. Experts told ABC News that a vaccination campaign helped play a big role in reigning in cases.

“We believe vaccination is one of the primary reasons this outbreak came to an end,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, deputy director of health promotion and services and chief medical officer at the state health department, told ABC News. “Thousands of people got vaccinated. An additional 3,788 doses of MMR were administered in Spartanburg County during the six months of the outbreak compared to the previous year.”

Traxler said that 15,000 additional doses were administered in the Upstate counties over this period competed to the year prior.

She added that January and February were record months for MMR vaccination in the state.

The health department does not track vaccine exemptions at the individual level, but Spartanburg Regional Medical Center’s Harber believes some vaccine-hesitant parents were encouraged to vaccinate their children — even those with previous exemptions on file — as the outbreak grew and their kids were exposed to the virus.

“I think the numbers … speak to the idea that that definitely happened,” he said. “Parents and/or young people who have historically requested and been granted exemptions and not been vaccinated saw what was happening within the community and then changed their minds.”

People following isolation, quarantine orders

South Carolina health authorities first confirmed the outbreak on Oct. 2, 2025, after eight cases were recorded in the Upstate region.

Most cases were recorded in Spartanburg County, with some confirmed in neighboring Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville and Pickens counties.

Only two other counties that didn’t border the epicenter saw measles cases: Lancaster County in the north central area and Sumter County in the central area.

Harber said that people generally followed health officials’ orders about quarantine and isolation, which helped keep the outbreak under control

“I think that’s probably the second most important part, the very aggressive quarantine and exposure control when index cases were identified,” he said. “They were very quickly provided with information around isolation and what they needed to do — staying away from others and to help prevent that spread.”

Harber said more than 2,000 quarantine orders were issued and almost 900 students stayed home when they tested positive across 33 schools in the Upstate region.

“That rapid identification and isolation of the suspected cases .. once they were confirmed really helped to prevent that secondary spread that is such a big problem because of how contagious [measles] really is,” he said. “So, we really had great compliance especially within families and that really helped shorten transmission window based on all the data we have.”

Awareness campaigns

Traxler said the state health department conducted wide-range outreach in Spartanburg County and surrounding areas to “educate the public about the facts regarding measles and the outbreak as well as to encourage people to consider being vaccinated to get long-term protection against the virus.”

She noted that the department communicated with schools, churches, community-based organizations, community leaders, local health care professionals and other organizations.

Traxler added that the health department offered vaccinations at mobile health units at libraries, churches and other locations, where workers also distributed educational materials.

Ukrainian and Russian-speaking communities in South Carolina were hard hit by measles during the outbreak, and so the health department translated measles fact sheets and vaccine information into Ukrainian and Russian, as well as Spanish, Traxler said.

However, just because the outbreak is over doesn’t mean the work is done, she added.

Other states are continuing to see measles cases and the U.S. is currently at risk of losing its elimination status, which it earned in 2000. Measles would once again be considered endemic or constantly circulating.

“The outbreak is over, but our work to understand and prevent measles is not. Large outbreaks of measles, and other infectious diseases, can be prevented entirely when vaccine coverage in the population is very high,” Traxler said.

Exclusive: Barack Obama calls for Virginians to vote ‘Yes’ in new video just days before crucial redistricting election

Former President Barack Obama during a campaign event for Representative Mikie Sherrill, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for New Jersey, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Barack Obama, in a video shared exclusively with ABC News, called on Virginians to vote in favor of a redistricting measure that could give Democrats a boost in the 2026 midterms if it passes.

“By voting yes, you can push back against the Republicans trying to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterms,” Obama said in the video shared with ABC News. “By voting yes, you can take a temporary step to level the playing field. And we’re counting on you.”

Over a million Virginians have voted early already, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, in an April 21 statewide referendum that will decide if the Democratic-controlled legislature should be allowed to redraw the state’s congressional map.

That would allow the legislature to implement a map it already advanced that would reconfigure four congressional seats to favor Democrats, which could be decisive in the midterm elections for the U.S. House of Representatives given Republicans’ current slim majority.

Democrats — including Obama, who previously starred in an advertisement for the “yes” side — have argued that it’s a necessary counterweight to mid-decade redistricting in 2025 that redrew nine seats to favor Republicans.

Republicans and other opponents of the redistricting gambit, which is also still facing a court challenge even as the election was allowed to proceed, have slammed the move as unfair to a large swath of Virginia voters. President Donald Trump received 46% of the vote in Virginia in the 2024 election.

“Virginia is a very purple state, and there’s a wide variety of voices in Virginia,” U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, a Republican whose district is redrawn by the proposed new map, told ABC News. “And for one political party to come in and assume that it’s their way or the highway, and to force that down Virginians’ throats — this will come back to bite them.”

The “Yes” side has fundraised and spent millions more on advertisements than the “No” side, according to campaign finance filings and an analysis by AdImpact. It’s also been bolstered by celeb power from figures such as Kerry Washington, John Legend and Pusha T.

Yet polling has still shown a close race, despite the seeming momentum behind the “Yes” efforts. A Washington Post-Schar School poll conducted in late March, after early voting had begun in the state, found that 52% of likely voters in the referendum supported the move, while 47% were opposed — a result just outside the poll’s margin of error.

Why does it appear so close? J. Miles Coleman, a political expert and analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told ABC News that could be in part because for Democrats, the stakes may not seem as high as they are for Republicans.

“For Democrats, it would be nice to have these four extra seats out of Virginia if this map gets passed,” he said. “But I just think probably something driving enthusiasm on the Republican side is that, from their point of view, this vote probably seems more existential … they lost their statewide seats last year in a drubbing. They could very well stand to lose a lot of their federal representation.”

But Obama, in the video shared with ABC News, framed the stakes as having national importance.

“By voting yes, you have the chance to do something important — not just for the Commonwealth, but for our entire country,” Obama said in the video.

(The video also serves as a way for Obama to reaffirm his support for the ballot measure, after allies of his harshly criticized mailers that used old quotes from Obama about redistricting to portray him as against the initiative.)

Some Democrats are not onboard.

Outside of an early polling site in Virginia on Thursday, Geoff Warrington, who works in tech and identified himself as a Democrat, told ABC News he had chosen to vote no because he believes it is “relatively unfair to essentially have redistricting temporarily to reallocate seats to sway an election.”

But for some Democratic “yes” voters, the referendum is a way for Democrats to be able to strike back while being locked out of power in the White House and Congress.

“I mean, the Republicans have been playing dirty, so I think the Democrats are good to play dirty,” Adan Hernandez, an engineer, told ABC News at a separate early voting site in Virginia on Thursday.

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