Gaston County’s
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The Banner News / banner-news.com
Thursday, December 21, 2017
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Volume 83 • Issue 51
News from a neighbor! • Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Mt. Holly council meeting one of recognition and remembrance By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Last week's meeting of the Mt. Holly city council saw two council members sworn in, two outgoing members awarded plaques for many years on the council, a plethora of employees honored for length of service, and former assistant city manager the late Jamie Guffey remembered for his loyal service and engaging personality District Judge Jesse Caldwell swore in council newcomer Charles McCorkle and reelected incumbent David Moore. “The first thing I want to do as a new council member is to become acclimated to what is going on in the city,” McCorkle said. “I want to blend in and work as a team member.” Outgoing council members Jerry Bishop and Jim Hope were given awards and heartfelt words of appreciation as they stepped down. Bishop had served on the council since 2005 and was MHPD chief from 1989 to 1999. Bishop's other involvements in Mt. Holly included serving as a volunteer
fireman for 18 years. As a member of the police department, he led development of the city 911 system, the School Resource Officer program, Bike Patrol, and in car computer and camera systems. Hope led many efforts to improve the quality of life for Mt. Holly citizens including picking up the torch Phyllis Harris lit concerning a greenway in town. Hope was on the council for 25 years. Hope worked tirelessly on the Downtown Streetscape project, expansion of Tuckaseegee Park, Headquarters Fire Department, and construction of the new Public Works Complex and North Fire Station. Prior to the council meeting, city officials past and present, as well as friends and family, of the late Jamie Guffey gathered for a ceremony dedicating and naming the upper floor offices of the Municipal Complex in his honor. Guffey passed away unexpectedly on December 18, 2015. He had been awarded a plaque by the City of Mt. Holly for 15 years of service just four days prior. New incoming Mt. Holly city council member Charles McCorkle was sworn in last Monday by Judge Jesse Caldwell. McCorkle was joined by his wife Angie and family including grandson Channing McPhoto by Alan Hodge See MT. HOLLY COUNCIL page 4 Corkle, daughters Whitney McCorkle and Orita McCorkle.
New K9 team at Belmont PD shaping up to be a great one By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
There's a new K9 team at the Belmont Police Department and it's looking good. The dynamic duo consists of Officer Kreston Seigler and his K9 “Max”. The pair have been together now for about a month, getting to know each other, and preparing to serve the citizens of Belmont. Seigler, 26, has been with Belmont PD for 4 ½ years. A native of South Gastonia, he earned his Basic Law Enforcement certificate from Gaston College in 2012 and is working on an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice. He and his Belmont PD K9 handler Officer Kreston Seigler and his wife Anna have been married new dog Max are getting to know each other and grow as just over a year. a top notch crime-fighting team. So, what attracted Seigler to Photo by Alan Hodge
Did Lincoln's mother live in Belmont?
the K9 side of policing? “I've always been interested in K9,” Seigler said. “I had a cousin who was a K9 officer on the Gaston County Police and an uncle who is K9 at Kings Mtn. Police. I went to the previous Belmont K9 officer Kevin Wingate and told him I was interested.” Seigler started with the recently retired K9 “Dutch”. “I went to CMPD and trained with Dutch for six weeks,” said Seigler. “He taught me a lot.” Then Max came on the Belmont scene. His previous owner, Calvin Dixon of Gastonia, had health issues and donated Max to Belmont PD. Max is about a
One of American history's most controversial mysterieswho the biological father of Abraham Lincoln actually washas roots in a Belmont neighborhood. In the early part of the 19th century, Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks, as well as her mother Mandy and sister Lucy, are said to have not only spent time in what would eventually become Belmont, but according to some folks conceive Abe while she was in this part of Gaston County- with someone other than Tom Lincoln, Abe’s “legal” daddy. As a girl in the early 19th century, Nancy and the other girls supposedly visited her uncle Dicky Hanks who lived on land off what is now South Point Rd. To commemorate that time, there’s a stone and bronze marker on the site where Uncle Dicky’s log cabin is said to have stood. The monument is at the very end of Hanks Creek Lane off Dorie Drive in the Pinsto development near South Point High School. The marker was put up in 1923 by descendants of C. T. Stowe, namely Samuel Pinckney Stowe, who at that time
See K9 TEAM page 2
See LINCOLN page 3