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Volume 85 • Issue 1
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Thursday, January 3, 2019
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• Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Stephen Roberts named Belmont Firefighter of the Year 2018 By Alan Hodge alan@cfmedia.com
Stephen Roberts, 26, has been named as the Belmont Fire Department’s Firefighter of the Year for 2018. Roberts grew up in Mt. Holly, graduated from East Gaston High in June 2010, and the very next month entered the fire academy for professional training. However, even before that he had shown interest in the career. “I was accepted into the fire service at age seventeen in a neighboring volunteer fire department where I got
my start,” he said. Roberts came to work for the Belmont Fire Dept. in 2013 on the B Shift, but he also helps out part time at Mt. Holly Fire Dept., West Mecklenburg Fire Dept., East Gaston Volunteer Fire Dept., and Gaston College. Therefore, he puts in a lot of time at fire stations. “Overall, I work about eighty hours a week,” says Roberts. He added this remark with characteristic humor- “My wife Elizabeth and I were married last year and she makes me come home some-
time.” According to Roberts, the main motivation for his desire to become a firefighter was seeing the assistance his mom got from public service professionals when he was growing up. “My mom was sick and they helped her a lot,” he said. “That inspired me to help people in times of need.” Another reason Roberts says the fire service is attractive to him is the excitement factor. “I’m an engineer and drive the truck,” he said. “I See ROBERTS, Page 2
Belmont’s Firefighter of the Year 2018 Stephen Roberts.
When it comes to alpacas, warm and fuzzy sums it up By Alan Hodge alan@cfmedia.com
Sisters Malaysia and Mariah Deas added a splash of patriotic color to Belmont’s Red, White and Blue event in July.
2018 Year in Review part 2 By Alan Hodge alan@cfmedia.com
The last six months of 2018 brought us hurricanes, lots of news on the arts front, and a big event in Cramerton with the dedication of the Veterans Memorial. The year closed out with a large voter turnout in the mid-term elections and spectacular Christmas light displays not only in McAdenville but other local towns as well. The July 5 BannerNews featured a regional story about the Washburn General Store in Bostic, NC, which was first established in 1831 and is the oldest continuously
operating family business in our state. An especially uplifting article in the July 5 BannerNews revolved around a group of volunteers from the Build America Pi Kappa Phi team who constructed a new garden at Holy Angels in Belmont. The July 12 BannerNews was topped by an article about Kevin Moran, 85, of Belmont and his exhaustive research on the possible burial cloth of Jesus, the Shroud of Turin. Moran is a world-class expert on the cloth and has traveled to Italy several times to see and study the artifact. Another July 12 story gave some press to the
Gaston Braves American Legion baseball team who were having a great season and heading for the playoffs. The July 4th holiday had brought a lot of celebrations to our area and the BannerNews dated the 12th had several pages filled with photos of the patriotic happenings. The lead story in the BannerNews dated July 19 announced the fact that the paper’s parent company, Shelby-based Community First Media, owner Greg Ledford, had given permission for the Belmont Historical Society to take possession of the bound volumes going See REVIEW, Page 7
It’s a pretty safe bet to say that when a lot of folks drive past 1041 Brevard Place Rd. near Iron Station and Stanley, they do a double take at what they see in the field there. The object of interest is an alpaca, actually around twenty of them, and they’re owned by Mike and Shelly Walsh. The Walsh enterprise is called Good Karma Ranch and the purpose is to raise alpacas for their extremely soft and warm fiber as well as promoting the raising and breeding of the unique animals. So, just exactly what is an alpaca? According to the Alpaca Owners Association, the alpaca (vicugña pacos) is a domesticated species of South American camelid. The camels that most people are familiar with are the ones with humps; the dromedary of Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Asia, and the Bactrian camel of China and Tibet. However, there are four other camelids (without humps) that are indigenous to South America: two of them, llamas and alpacas, have been domesticated for thousands of years; whereas the other two varieties, guanacos and vicunas, continue to roam in wild herds today. The alpaca comes in two breed-types: huacaya (pronounced wah-KI-ah) and suri
Mike and Shelly Walsh and one of the 20 or so alpacas they raise on their Good Karma Ranch near Stanley and Iron Station. Incidentally, this animal’s name is GKR Lover’s Liberation. Photo by Alan Hodge (SOO-ree). Huacayas, the more common type and the ones found at Good Karma Ranch, account for about 90% of all alpacas, and have fluffy, crimpy fleece that gives the animals a teddy bear-like appearance. Suris, on the other hand, grow silky, lustrous fleece that drapes gracefully in beautiful pencillocks People often confuse alpacas with llamas. While closely related, llamas and alpacas are distinctly different animals. First, llamas are
much larger, about twice the size of an alpaca, with an average weight of about 250 to 450 pounds, compared to an alpaca whose weight averages 100 to 200 pounds. Llamas are primarily used for packing or for guarding herds of sheep or alpacas, whereas alpacas are primarily raised for their soft and luxurious fleece. Mike estimates there are currently 300,000 alpacas in the United States. See ALPACAS, Page 3