YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1978 w w w. j a m e s t o w n n e w s . c o m
WeekLy edITIOn
SePt. 17-23, 2025 vol 47 No 38 | 1 Section | 8 Pages
COMPILed By nORMa B. dennIs HEEdiNG GOd’S CALL: RESTORiNG FOuNdATiONS The North Carolina Peace Resource Center is sponsoring a special seminar, Heeding God’s Call: Restoring Foundations, Sept. 27 from 3:30 to 6 p.m. The event will be held at Jamestown Friends Meeting, 509 Guilford Road, Jamestown. The Reverend Jennifer Copeland, PhD, executive director of North Carolina Council of Churches, will be the keynote speaker. Her topic is immigration concerns, “For the Bible Tells Me So.” Representatives will be on hand from Faith Action International, Greensboro; Veterans for Peace, Raleigh; and Friends Committee on N.C. Legislation. For more information or if your organization would like to be represented, send an email to jamestownfriendsmeeting@gmail.com. The community is invited to hear an inspiring message followed by music, fellowship, and hors d’oeuvres. OLd SCHOOL BBQ Nostalgia and tradition combine to provide an evening of food, fun and fellowship at the annual Jamestown Public Library/Old School BBQ fundraiser on Sept. 27. The Old Jamestown School Association, Jamestown Alumni Association and Friends of the Library are sponsoring the event. All proceeds go toward the restoration and upkeep of the old Jamestown School in which the library is housed. BBQ Joe’s Country Cooking & Catering will supply the food for the evening from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15 and may be purchased in advance by cash or check at the Jamestown Library. Dance and shag to beach music by The Pink Panthers from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. There is no cost to enjoy the music or to take tours of the old school’s archives. Of course, fellowship is a given as friends, family and former classmates gather to reminisce or just enjoy the evening. The event will be held rain or shine. Bring your own lawn chair. TOWN OF JAMESTOWN CALENdAR OF EVENTS Sept. 26, 1 p.m., ribbon cutting for opening of new inclusive playground at Jamestown Park. The space has been redesigned so children of all abilities can play, explore and grow. In addition to the playground, a new nature trail, natural play area and basketball court will be unveiled. It is all part of the Town’s commitment to promote outdoor activity, community connection and healthy lifestyles for residents of all ages. Oct. 3, 4-6 p.m. Open House at the Fire Station. Stop by for a tour of the station before attending the Music in the Park event that evening. Oct. 3, 6-10 p.m., final Music In The Park for the season at Wrenn Miller Park, 6-10 p.m. Music by 8Oz NATION. Admission is free. Bring your lawn chairs or blanket. ROTARY CLuBS COMMiT TO HELP CiTYSERVE The Jamestown and Furnitureland Rotary clubs are teaming up for a one-night event to collect new items and financial contributions for CityServe of the Triad in Jamestown. It will be held Oct. 3 at the 80’s theme night Music in the Park at Wrenn Miller Park. The clubs will donate $1,200 in grant money plus whatever they raise at Music in the Park. “We are hoping to get a huge collection of food, clothing, toys, school supplies, household items and financial contributions to bless the socks off of CityServe,” said Angela Morrow, president of the Jamestown Rotary Club. “Our Rotary clubs want to help CityServe alleviate childhood food insecurity as well as give a hand to those struggling in our community. We believe partnering with CityServe will do both of these and a lot more.” Rotary members will have a table at the season’s final Music in the Park event to receive donations. Have an event that you think needs to be included in About Town? Email Norma B. Dennis at ndworddesign@ gmail.com or Carol Brooks at cab1hp@gmail.com
JBa hosts political forum for candidates
By CaROL BROOks FreeLANCe WrIter cab1hp@gmail.com
The Jamestown Business Association sponsored a two-hour Political Forum on Sept. 10 for Jamestown Town Council and mayoral candidates. The Council Chambers at Town Hall was standingroom only with concerned residents wanting to learn more about the candidates. Council candidates are Phyllis Bridges, Richard Clapp, Jim Gibson, Clliff Paddock, Shakina Simeona-Lee and Jim Westmoreland. Bob Calicutt of the JBA moderated the forum and read questions previously submitted by Jamestown residents. “The questions were modified through artificial intelli-
gence to remove slanted opinions or political comment,” Callicutt said. “The forum is not a debate. It is intended to introduce the public to the candidates.” He drew the questions from a fishbowl, then replaced the read questions, so some questions were read more than once, usually to a different candidate. Each candidate had the opportunity to pass on a question but none did. The questions were separated into categories: leadership and collaboration, budget and finance, growth and development, community engagement, and integrity and trust. Some candidates received similar questions. No candidate had every question asked of him/her. Candidates were seated in
alphabetical order and each of the five rounds began with the same person. Following the rounds, candidates were given the opportunity to give closing comments. The video of the Political Forum may be found at www. youtube.com/watch?v=7_ nGlPxsffM. The closing comments may be found online at the 1:30:56 time stamp. NOTE: Responses have been edited for space but not for content. Questions posed to mayoral candidates Susan Dickenson and Rebecca Rayborn will run in the Sept. 24 Jamestown News with other responses asked by the news. Town Council responses to questions asked by the News have appeared in the Sept. 3 and 10 papers.
Blending traditional and Brazilian makes Bake amor unique
How do you propose to work with Town staff and other councilmembers to accomplish goals for the community? Clapp: “I would work with them with openness and working together to reach a common goal with the safety and security of Jamestown. Also looking at each item in the Capital Improvement project to find ones we could prioritize.”
Serving on Council means working with people who have very different perspectives. How will you build productive relationships with councilmembers, residents and staff to achieve common goals? see FORUM, PAGe 2
Early Voting begins By CaROL BROOks FreeLANCe WrIter cab1hp@gmail.com
By nORMa B. dennIs FreeLANCe WrIter ndworddesign@gmail.com What’s in a name? For a business it can be quite important. Whether it directly denotes what the business does or is so unique it captures one’s attention, business names are often selected only after careful consideration. Owners of the new bakery in the Jamestown Shopping Center opted for both simple and unique, calling Photo by Norma B. Dennis their business Bake Amor. eddie Villar shows examples of some decorative “Bake is what we do and whatever cakes that Bake amor produces. language anyone speaks, most know that amor means love,” said Eddie Villar, principle owner of the bakery. “That is those businesses and he also wanted to do what we do here, bake with love.” something different. His participation in Bake Amor, however, Bake Amor opened Aug. 14 to a large fanleans more to investment and marketing. He fare with family, friends and other business calls the bakery a family business and includes associates. The company continues to add new Claudia, Brenda, Carlos, Patricia and Tono items to its growing list of available baked as part of the team who have made the new goods. “So far we have had numerous orders for endeavor possible. personalized cakes,” Villar said. “Currently “One day they were showing me a bakery our best sellers are Red Velvet, Tres Leches they had in Brazil and I thought it would be and Napoleon. In the future we will have more great to do that here,” Villar said, “to bring a pastries, breads and breakfast items.” little Spanish and Brazilian flavor to the area. Villar is not a baker. In fact, he has 67 I pitched the idea and we decided to start with T-Mobile businesses up and down the East coast. He says you cannot be creative with see Bake, PAGe 6
One-Stop Early Voting will begin in Jamestown Sept. 25, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and run thru Oct. 3. Saturday and Sunday hours are 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Voting will be held in the Council Chambers in the Civic Center at 301 E. Main St. The primary election will be held Oct. 7 in the same location 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. to reduce the number of Town Council candidates from six to four for the two open seats. The mayoral contest vote will not be until the Nov. 4 general election. The deadline to register to vote was Sept. 12 but you may register and vote at the same time during the inperson early voting period. Town of Jamestown staff cannot assist voters with information related to elections as voting is a function of the Guilford County Board of Elections. For more information, visit https://www.guilfordcountync.gov/government/ board-elections.
Village Fair returns Sept. 21 to mendenhall homeplace By CaROL BROOks FreeLANCe WrIter cab1hp@gmail.com The 20th Village Fair returns Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mendenhall Homeplace, 603 W. Main St., Jamestown. Again this year it is sponsored by the Historic Jamestown Society and is in conjunction with Day in the Park across the street at City Lake Park. “This is a great time to get out and visit with family and friends,” said Jay McQuillan, president of the Historic Jamestown Society. “There will be many exhibitors who can show their wares and explain how their crafts work.” Early settlers throughout the country usually were not close to a town to get supplies, including clothing, shoes, bedding, animal harnesses, seeds and grain. This meant families had to learn
Photos by Carol Brooks
scenes from 2024 Village Fair.
Letters to the Editor
The Jamestown News will accept letters to the editor regarding the current Town Council and mayoral candidates. Letters to the editor should be concise, typically under 400 words, and must respond to a recent or upcoming event in Jamestown. They should include the author’s full name, be original work and avoid being submitted elsewhere, including social media. No bad language will be accepted. Send your letter to cab1hp@gmail.com no later than 5 p.m. the Friday before publication.
50¢
see FaIR, PAGe 2