Inside: Marvin Ridge hires baseball coach • Page 5A
INDEX Crime................................................................................ 4A Classifieds..............................................................5B Faith....................................................................................4B Calendar....................................................................3B Sports.............................................................................. 5A Puzzles.........................................................................4B
Friday, July 6, 2018 • Vol. 13 • No. 27
Thinking outside the box
ABOUT US P.O. BOX 1104 Matthews, NC 28106 (704) 849-2261 justin@cmgweekly.com unioncountyweekly.com
Schools place in international problem-solving competition
Restrictions apply. See store for details.
by Yustin Riopko Contributor 1813 Matthews Township Parkway, Matthews, NC (Next To Harris Teeter)
WEEKLY PICKS
Heather Sides shows off dog treats to her service dog, Nana. The items were in the trunk of the car donated to her by Caliber Collision and All-State Insurance. Paul Nielsen/UCW photo
Army veteran receives car for service by Paul Nielsen paul@cmgweekly.com
Storyteller Linda Goodman leads a mini-workshop, “Good Medicine: The Healing Power of Story,” through the Council on Aging in Union County on July 10 at Langford Chapel in Monroe. See page 3B for more details about the event.
Food The Trail House is among several fine dining options participating in Queens Feast: Charlotte Restaurant Week from July 20 to 29. Reservations are encouraged to ensure you get a table during the promotion. Flip to page 3A for details about the week.
Drink Some of the latest craft beers introduced at Growler USA in Indian Trail include Cigar City Jai Alai, DreamChaser’s Crazy Socks Lager and Blue Blaze Twenty Mile Cascade Session IPA.
Music The likelihood of Jimmy Buffet performing in Union County is extremely small, but you can enjoy the next big thing with a performance by the Party Parrot Band. The Charlotte band rocks Treehouse Vineyards on July 7.
Movies If you’re still emotional following the ending of “Avengers: Infinity War,” then let Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp” cheer you up. Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly return in a comic book movie that follows the events after “Captain America: Civil War.”
Television Ever wonder what celebrity pals talk about during those mundane drives to Starbucks? Jerry Seinfeld gives us a glimpse during “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: New 2018: Freshly Brewed.” The season launches July 6 and features Dana Carvey, Dave Chappelle and Jerry Lewis.
Fruits of labor Couple ditches financing for farming, 3A
Super Team Meryl Johnson tops our lacrosse squad, 5A
INDIAN TRAIL – Caliber Collision and All-State Insurance gave Heather Sides the keys to a Honda CRV on June 26 in what was another huge step for an Army veteran that has overcome many hurdles – including living in a homeless shelter and giving up her service dog – since leaving the military. As part of the National Auto Body Council’s Recycled Rides program, Caliber, All-State and their industry partners provided Sides with a new vehicle after her old truck died several months ago. Being without a vehicle meant Sides had to use
public transportation to get to work as a manager trainee at McDonalds and it made everyday living difficult. It also meant that Sides had to put her plans to take college classes on the backburner. “This is exciting and this is a new chapter in my life,” Sides said. And the previous few chapters have all had happy endings, including being reunited with Nana, her service dog and best friend. But some of the chapters in Sides’ life post-military have been downright see VETERAN, Page 4A
Heather Sides greets one of the workers that helped refurbish her new car at Caliber Collision in Indian Trail. Paul Nielsen/UCW photo
Sun Valley Middle makes baseball history by Andrew Stark andrew@cmgweekly.com
INDIAN TRAIL – A new head coach, a revamped culture and an emphasis on teamwork led the Sun Valley Middle School JV and varsity baseball teams to unchartered success on the diamond this season. Sun Valley, which opened in 1961, has never won a county baseball championship. Well, not
until this year anyway. This season, the Sun Valley Middle School JV team took home the title after defeating Porter Ridge 10-2 in late May. Not to be outdone, the Sun Valley Middle School varsity baseball team followed suit, ending a 57year drought with a pair of see BASEBALL, Page 5A
The Sun Valley Middle School varsity team. Photo courtesy of Christina Valentine
WAXHAW – Kensington Elementary and Cuthbertson Middle schools earned fourth and ninth place respectively at the 39th annual Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in Ames, Iowa. Odyssey of the Mind is an international creative problem-solving competition, sponsored by NASA, that presents fantastical prompts for students to solve. To fulfill the competition’s requirements, students use recycled materials to invent gadgets, develop sets and write skits to present before judges. The hardest part: Teachers and parents can’t help. The teams of seven created funny 8-minute performances that took place in totally made up intergalactic hangouts. Specific rules guided the students’ invention processes. For example, the props had to include a homemade map, and the players had to include at least one “worker” character. The set consisted of hundreds of compact discs, and one student’s costume was made completely out of candy wrappers. On top of the planned team performances, students worked individually in “spontaneous problems.” For this part of the competition, students were separated from their teachers and asked to use limited resources in front of judges in a private room to complete tasks in unique ways. Teams and organizing faculty presented and received congratulations at the June 12 Waxhaw commissioners meeting. One Odyssey of the Mind team member from Cuthbertson believes these kinds of activities strengthen creative thinking. “In a real-life scenario, you won’t be given perfect materials. You need to make do with what you have,” the student said. “[Odyssey of the Mind] teaches you those life skills to better understand how to do that.” The tournament hosted 5,300 students from schools in 39 states and 28 different countries.
From sitting at a desk to making them by Lee Noles Contributor
After leaving the Air Force several years ago, Tyler Rawlings decided to play it safe and do what a lot of people in their twenties normally do. He graduated from college and jumped into the workforce. But after a couple of years at a mortgage firm, Rawlings needed a major change. “Sitting at my desk is not what I wanted to do all my life,” Rawlings said. “I want to be moving around and using my hands.” Rawlings has done just that by turning a hobby of wood working
into a full-time business, which has the Union County resident creating pieces from his garage and selling them across the United States. What makes Rawlings’ work even more impressive is his only training was a wood shop class his freshman year of high school nearly 15 years ago. Most of what Rawlings has learned has been either trial and error or doing research on the internet. “You have to start small,” Rawlings said. “I did. One of the first things I made was a small bottle opener you could put on the wall, and when I had finished, I was so proud. So, what I say is start small
and build your confidence up.” The process Rawlings takes isn’t complicated, even though finished projects reveal the details and intricacies he puts into each piece. Starting with several boards of wood he buys at lumber stores, Rawlings sketches out the type of furniture he wants to create. He then cuts the wood on a miter saw before running it through a planer to further smooth out the surfaces. To create the holes for his screws, Rawlings uses a kreg jig and begins to fit the pieces of the furniture together. He continues to smooth it down with see WOOD, Page 4A
Tyler Rawlings stands in front of the garage that doubles as his woodworking shop. Lee Noles/UCW photo
BELIEVE
THE HYPE!
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