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Volume 84 • Issue 9
Thursday, March 1, 2018
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• Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
Thursday,March 1, 2018
Winter Olympics Rally filled Belmont with red, white, and blue By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
The City of Belmont threw a Winter Olympics Rally last week that brought a nice crowd of folks downtown to cheer on Team USA and generally enjoy a sunny, warm, late winter afternoon. Adding to the festive atmosphere was the fact that stores and other businesses in the downtown area festooned their facades with American flag pennants. The event was a replay of a similar one back in August 2016 when Belmont rallied behind Team USA during the Rio Summer Olympics. The success of the 2016 rally gave organizers the idea to do it again for the 2018 Winter Games being held at Pyeong Chang, South Korean. Belmont's rally featured a variety of amusements including ice sculpture, Olympic rings toss, a booth where folks could craft their own Olympic buttons, an Olympic logo photo booth complete with “snow” (read soap bubble) blower, snacks, cornhole competition, plenty of red, white, and blue flags, hats, and sunglasses, and a big helping of hometown camaraderie. “It's always good to celebrate the Olympics,” said Belmont mayor Charles Martin. “This rally is a great thing, especially for the kids.” Last week's rally was broadcast live on WCNC TV as was Belmont's 2016 event. WCNC producer Allison Andrews explained why the station came back. “We were very impressed with Belmont and the 2016 rally,” Andrews said. “We decided we would return this year. The whole town and its businesses are so engaged and supportive of the Olympics.” These kids were having a fabulous time waving flags and showing support for the USA at Belmont’s Olympic Rally held WCNC reporter Kelsey Riggs did the broadcast commentary. downtown last Wednesday. Photo by Alan Hodge See OLYMPICS page 2
Belmont’s Tom Hall receives Life Saving Award Belmont native Tom Hall, 27, was recently recognized by his employer the Lincolnton Police Dept. He's been with Lincolnton PD since October, 2015. Hall, son of Joe and Dawn Hall of Belmont, was presented with the Life Saving Award at a recent Lincolnton
city council meeting. Lincolnton police chief Rodney Jordan recommended to the council that Hall be honored with the award. The incident that Hall was involved in took place August 26, 2016 when he responded to a call that there was an un-
responsive man in Wal-Mart. When he arrived on scene, Hall saw that the man's airway was restricted. Hall immediately began administering sternum rubs and diaphragm compression and the man began to breathe again. A letter to Chief Jordan from Lincoln County Emergency Services, Lt. Steve Bridges credited Hall for his professionalism. “His (Hall's) actions were the difference between the man living and dying,” Bridges wrote. Here's Hall's account of what happened. “I had originally responded to WalMart in reference to a possibly intoxicated and disruptive subject,” Hall said. “There was limited information about the call but I was anticipating that the situation would require some form of peace-keeping. When I found the man unresponsive and blue from lack of oxygen it was shocking. I quickly had to change gears from a peace-keeping mindset to a more medically focused life saving one. It just goes to show that no call is routine.” In addition to the Wal-Mart incident, A Belmont native, Lincolnton Police Officer Tom Hall is seen with the recognition he Hall was also recognized for having adreceived for saving a man’s life. Pictured with Hall are sergeants Tiffany Cline and ministered CPR to another man on Nov. David Mocanu. Joe Hall photo See TOM HALL page 2
Y A L P TH E
Big kaboom mystery solved by Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@ gmail.com
Kaboom is the name of a bathroom cleanser but it also describes the sound that shook the ground, rattled windows, and basically had folks wondering “what the heck was that!” last week in the Mt. Holly region. This map compiled by Matt Holmes of Mt. Now, the mys- Holly shows where folks heard the recent tery has been Tannerite blast (green dots) and where solved. they did not (red dots) the blast area is Turns out the shown with the orange circle. blast was the reMatt Homes map sult of some folks The beaver dam blowup near Dallas who took place at Miles Road/ disassembled a beaver dam with about 50 pounds of an Loray Farm Rd. near Dallas. explosive substance called A woman who identified herTannerite. See KABOOM page 2
Lotter y