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Thursday, November 7, 2019
VETERANS DAY Monday November 11th
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Volume 85 • Issue 45
We appreciate our Veterans
• Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
See page 24
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Wesley Ashe of Catawba Heights loved his time in the U.S. Navy By Alan Hodge alan@cfmedia.info
During his decade of service in the U.S. Navy, Catawba Heights native Wesley Ashe, 78, not only sailed the globe and visited a wide variety of ports, he had fun doing it. Ashe was just 19-yearsold when he signed up. “I was bumming around the country in October, 1960 and was in Pensacola, Florida when I saw a Navy recruiting poster in the post office,” Ashe said. “I signed up and was sworn in at Birmingham, Alabama.”
The Navy wasted little time in making a sailorman out of Ashe. He was trained to become a commissary man or a cook. “They sent me to the Great Lakes Training Center,” he said. “Soon I was on the heavy cruiser USS Los Angeles.” Ashe’s next assignment saw him on the aviation gas and oil ship the USS Genesee heading for the Philippines. After that, he was on an ammunition ship, the USS Pyro (as in pyrotechnics). The ship hauled so much ammo that it received a citation from the Secretary of the Navy.
Having survived that perilous assignment, Ashe moved on to the destroyer USS Meredith. Next up in his career was a stint at the Mine Defense Lab in Panama City, Florida. “I spent eight years at sea before I got my first shore duty,” he said. But the Navy had one more ship for Ashe, the USS Glennon. “It was a destroyer based in Mayport, Florida,” he said. Having served on board so many ships, you would rightfully surmise that Ashe covered a lot of ocean and tied up in a lot of ports.
Local aerialist Becca Harwell is building a career out of turning upside down By Alan Hodge
Wesley Ashe of Catawba Heights when he was a 19-year-old U.S. Navy sailor. “My favorite place was the Philippines,” he said. “The people there were very friendly. I had a favorite restaurant I used to go to. It was owned by a Chinese lady named Susan Cho.” See ASHE, Page 3 Ashe looking over some of his Navy documents last week.
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When Mt. Island resident Becca Harwell, 29, is at her job she spends a lot of time upside down- not from stress but hanging gracefully and happily from long, silky, ropes called aerial silks. In fact, she loves it so much she’s carving herself a career out of what she says is a wonderful way to get in shape and do something unique. Harwell’s Aerial Arts studio in Belmont is where the action takes place. “It’s a great way to build up strength and encourage flexibility,” Harwell says. “It is a unique, creative outlet for your mind and body. It builds self confidence for every age and body type.” Folks at the recent Belmont Boo Fest in Stowe Park got a chance to see Harwell and associate Sara Caldwell climbing and contorting on 23-feet-long silks. Their
Belmont and Cramerton park improvements get the spotlight By Alan Hodge alan@cfmedia.info
Becca Harwell literally turns upside down with delight with her career teaching folks the fine art of aerial exercise. Photo by Alan Hodge demonstrations had everyone staring in amazement. So, how did Harwell, a native of Athens, Georgia, become interested in the
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aerial exercise experience and in sharing that skill with others? “I was a gymnast growing See AERIALIST, Page 4
Several park improvements in Cramerton and Belmont have occurred recently, and last Saturday saw two ribbon cutting ceremonies take place to celebrate that fact. In Cramerton, folks gathered in the chilly morning at Goat Island Park to see the ribbon cutting and official opening of the River Link Greenway. The Greenway is located at 305 Greenwood Place (the back side of Goat Island Park Copeland Nichols (left) and Daniel Hensley wasted no time in and Greenway). trying out the new playground equipment at Linford Park in Photo by Alan Hodge See PARKS, Pages 10 & 11 North Belmont.
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