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Volume 83 • Issue 52
• Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville le • Mount Holly • Stanley
Thursday, December 28, 2017
2017- The year in review Part 1 By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
The year 2017 saw our local economy continue to expand and more and more folks cast their eyes on Eastern Gaston County as a desirable place to live, work, and play. The January 5 edition of the BannerNews was headlined with a story on the official dedication of the new Tug Deason Gym in Stanley. The $500,000 structure was built at Harper Park and named for Stanley's long-time Parks and Rec. director. On the sports scene, the BannerNews covered the Bud Black/Dennis Tate Holiday Classic high school basketball tourney. The team from Stuart Cramer High took home the trophy. January 12 saw a BannerNews report on the first snowfall of the season. Photos with the article featured folks having fun sledding in Stowe Park. The BannerNews also ran a page congratulating the South Point Red Raider football team on their state championship. January 19 rolled around and the BannerNews lead story profiled new Belmont Parks and Rec. director Zip Stowe. Local author Bobby Brown also got a nod for being recognized by the NC Society of Historians for his new book “Some Things that Come With Life”. In sports, the Stuart Cramer girl's basketball teamed trounced South Point 54-24. A new gym in Stanley was officially opened at Harper Park and named for Parks and Rec. director Tug Deason. Alan Hodge photo See YEAR IN REVIEW page 3
Mt. Holly firefighters take part in mission trip to Haiti
By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Mt. Holly fire chief Ryan Baker, firefighter Daniel Wright, and ten other local folks recently took part in a mission trip to Haiti where they worked alongside farmers in the village of Maliarette. Baker and the group were dispatched from Real Life Church in Lucia. The name of the mission organization they were associated with is 410 Bridge. That Alpharetta, Georgia-based organization carries out projects worldwide in poor and developing nations and takes its name from the biblical passage 1 Peter 4:10- “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms”. According to Baker, 410 Bridge focuses on five main areas in its mission
New bridge planned for US74 over Catawba at Belmont
Mt. Holly fire chief Ryan Baker gets some ox-plowing instructions from Haitian native Dieu Grande Major during the mission trip Baker and other local folks recently took part in to that island nation. Ryan Baker photo field endeavors. These include clean water, education, leadership, healthcare, and economic development. “We flew from Charlotte to Atlanta to Haiti,” Baker said. “Besides Wright and myself,
Y A L P TH E
our group also included three college students, an elementary school teacher, a respiratory therapist, a nurse, three high school students, and a retiree.” See MISSION TRIP page 4
Most everyone puckers up when they have to drive across the ancient bridge that spans the Catawba River on US74 (Wilkinson Blvd.) at Belmont, especially if a big truck shares the roadway there. But relief is on the way, even if it’s several years off. The NC General Assembly recently moved to fund a project to replace the current structure with two, three-lane, bridges. Cost of the project is expected to be around $37 million. The cash will come from a special pot for critical transportation needs called the High Cost High Impact fund. Work on the new bridges could start in 2020. The new bridge would also feature bike and pedestrian lanes. The current bridge has a long history. Bronze plaques placed on its end show its “official” name- Sloans Ferry Bridge. After the Great Flood of 1916, another bridge
that was near the current one’s location was swept away and until the current one was built iaround 1930, a man named Sloan operated a ferry boat across the Catawba to and from Mecklenburg/Gaston counties. The other plaque dedicates the bridge to veterans of WWI from the two counties. The bridge project is one aspect of plans to beautify and modernize Wilkinson Blvd. Near Cramerton, the old bridge over the South Fork River will be replaced with a sixlane one. That work could get underway in 2022 and is part of the overall Build a Better Boulevard initiative. Even in the face of the new bridges, there are folks still calling for another bridge to be built across the Catawba further downstream between the South Point Peninsula and Mecklenburg County near the upcoming River District development. That bridge See NEW BRIDGE page 5
CORRECTION The headline on page 7 of the December 21 BannerNews stating that an after school program for children would be held at FUMC Mt. Holly was incorrect. The program will be held as stated in the article- First Presbyterian Mt. Holly. Also, the cutlie on page 2 for the photo of First Presbyterian Belmont kids singing states they attend Weekday School at FUMC- they attend that school at First Presbyterian.
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