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Volume 80 • Issue 18
Serving Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Goat Island Phase II opens with fanfare By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Goat Island Park Phase II in Cramerton opened Friday afternoon to much fanfare and fun. The official ribbon cutting took place at 6pm after a round of speeches by local, state, and federal dignitaries who praised the park and the hard work, and hard cash, that went into making it a reality. No sooner had the ribbon been cut than hundreds of folks swarmed over the bridge to the park where hot dogs and a happy time in the warm sun awaited. Cramerton Mayor Ronnie Worley related his days as a youth growing up near the South Fork River, and an overgrown and wild Goat Island. “It was a mysterious place,” he said. “But opening Phase II of the park is something that has been long anticipated. It is a great day for Cramerton.” Worley praised the Cramerton commissioners for staying the course in getting the park done. Cramerton commissioner Tammy Lawrence handled the scissors at last Friday’s official opening of Goat Island Park Phase II. Photo by Alan Hodge
Ted Hall celebrates a decade at Montcross Chamber of Commerce By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
It’s said if a person loves their job, the time at it never seems like work. In that case, Montcross Area Chamber of Commerce president Ted Hall hasn’t hit a lick in 10 years. Seriously, old adages aside, the fact is Hall shows up for work at his office in the Stowe Building in downtown Belmont every day rarin’ for action and ready to pursue his passion for seeing the Chamber, as well as the communities in Eastern Gaston County, continue to grow and prosper. As of April 26, it’s a job he’s been at for ten years. Recognizing that feat, Hall was honored recently at a Montcross Chamber after hours mixer at Chronicle Mill when he was presented with a crystal trophy and plenty of praise. Hall’s journey to his present position began in 1949 when he was born in Caroleen, a textile community in
Rutherford County. “My mom and dad worked in the mill,” Hall said. “I graduated from Chase High in 1968 and then went to Isothermal Community College. I was the first in my family to go to college.” From an early age, the written word fascinated Hall. After graduating from Isothermal, he went to UNC Journalism School where he graduated in 1972. “I credit teachers like Frances Spratt at Chase for helping me get to UNC,” he said. “Later I went back and thanked them.” Hall got a job with Blue Cross in Durham doing PR work and hung in there for two years, but newspaper work was what he wanted so he, wife Freda, and three-year-old daughter Allison moved to Morganton where he was a reporter at the News Herald for eight years, rising to managing editor. See TED page 2
See GOAT ISLAND page 3
... and the band played on
20 years of music at East Gaston Adult Day Care Center By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Sleeves rolled up, coat on a chair, coffee in his cup, papers piled high, Montcross Area Chamber of Commerce president Ted Hall gets ready to start another day at the post he’s occupied for a decade. Photo by Alan Hodge
It all began 20 years ago with a game of checkers. That’s how weekly musical performances got started at the East Gaston Adult Day Care Center in Catawba Heights two decades ago. But let activities assistant Jan Stephens explain. “There was a guy who was a master checkers player who used to come to the center and he was bored beating everyone,” she said. “We asked Mildred Southers if she knew anyone who could play him. She brought P.W. Bailey. Then Vernon Harris came to play and he saw our group. Vernon decided we needed some music and that’s how it started.” The original “Vernon Harris Group” combo featured musicians like Gene Barker, Boyce O’Daniel, Don Smith, Tom Parks, Dean McCoy, Smokey Coe, Clyde Costner, and of course Vernon. “Tom Parks played in the group until he was 92-yearsold,” said Janet Harris, Vernon’s wife. See MUSIC page 5
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