Serving Belmont, Mount Holly, Stanley, Cramerton, and McAdenville
Volume 78 • Issue 22 • Wednesday, May 29, 2013
75¢
Celebrating those who serve
3A
Bike trail /park vision becomes reality ALAN HODGE alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Thanks to hard work by Belmont Police Department officers, volunteers, and donation of the use of a piece of land by local resident Ginger Feimster, Belmont will soon have a new place for folks to hike or ride mountain bikes- and it’s all just five minutes from the heart of downtown. Last week, Belmont officers including Chief Franklin, Capt. Ward, Lt. Marett, Sgt. Wilson, Sgt. Mull, detectives Plummer, Pullen,
Buchanon, and Cpl. Huffstetler spent the day building bridges out of sections of power pole at Belmont’s new mountain bike park. The park will be single-track trails for biking and running. It weaves through the forest and across a creek at the end of W. Woodrow St. The city had 28 acres there that was not being used and the adjacent property owner, Virginia Feimster, is allowing the city to use her 12 acres to expand the site to a 40-acre park. Steve Pepitone, South Main Cycles owner, has also been a key
player in the park’s development. Piedmont Area Single Track Association, PASA, has designed and provided the bulk of the labor to this point. “Very little money has been spent, all the work has been volunteer efforts, and some material has been donated,� said Cpl. Doug Huffstetler. “The goal was to be a grass roots effort, volunteers putting in sweat equity. That gives the community a feeling of ownership.� When completed, the park will have 3.5 to 4 miles of trails. The
park will open this summer. “Not many cities have such a park within four blocks of their downtown,� Huffstetler said. “This is a great addition to our recreational opportunities in Belmont.� There will be workdays scheduled through the end of the year. The next one will be June 1 at 8AM. For more information or to volunteer, email dhuffstetler@belmontpolice.org. Belmont Parks and Recreation Director Sallie Stevenson thinks the new park will be another great
Running with ‘heart’
Lawsuit over coal ash ponds heats up
Erin Jones survived two open-heart surgeries and took part in Saturday’s Belmont Classic 5k event. Seen with Jones is her nephew Conner Johnson who is part of the Boys Run Belmont club.
By Alan Hodge
asset for the city. “The new mountain biking trail is going to add to our Park System here in Belmont by providing a place for youth and adults to enjoy the woods and trails on their bicycles,� said Stevenson. “The citizens of Belmont are blessed to have the Rocky Branch Park with its 28 acres of natural rolling hills with big oak trees and the Rocky Branch flowing through it, and it’s just a half a mile from our downtown district. Where else in Gaston County See BIKE PARK, 2A
Cramerton gets $500k NC PARTF Grant
Photo by Alan Hodge
Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Even though Duke Energy’s coal-fired Riverbend steam station on Mountain Island Lake near Mount Holly closed on April 1, 2013, controversy over leakage from its coal ash ponds heated up last week when the NC Division of Water Quality filed a lawsuit against the utility. The state’s suit is filed under oath and states that Duke Energy’s “unpermitted seeps� at Mountain Island Lake violate North Carolina law and that Duke Energy’s pollution at Mountain Island Lake “poses a serious danger to the health, safety, and welfare of the people of North Carolina and serious harm to the water resources of the state.� The state’s suit was filed just days before the 60-day limit passed on a Notice of Intent to Sue filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, also in relation to the coal ash ponds. Mountain Island Lake is the source of drinking water for over 8600,000 people in the greater Charlotte area, including residents of Mount Holly. The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation declares that Duke Energy has allowed toxic metals, including arsenic, and other harmful substances from coal ash in unlined waste lagoons to pollute Mountain Island Lake, the Catawba River, and groundwater at its Riverbend facility for years, in violation of its water pollution elimination permit. “Despite Duke Energy’s past claims that leaks of contaminated water are a sign of a healthy dam, there’s nothing healthy – or legal – about discharging unregulated amounts of toxic and harmful pollutants into the drinking water supply for almost a million people around Charlotte,� Frank Holleman, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center said in a press See LAWSUIT, 2A
Jones running a miracle of the heart ALAN HODGE alan.bannernews@gmail.com
When 25-year-old Erin Jones took part in last Saturday’s 9th annual Belmont Classic 5K run/walk event, it wasn’t just a miracle, it was a dream come true for her. What made it so is the fact that not only did Jones have open heart surgery at the tender ago of 34 hours, but she also had a repeat operation just a few months ago- on December 10, 2012 to be exact. “I was born with critical aortic stenosis,� said Jones, �I was blue at birth and the doctors weren’t sure I would live so they performed open heart surgery on me right away.� “Stenosis� is the medical term for a
blockage or narrowing of a passage. Critical aortic stenosis refers to the dangerous and extreme narrowing of the aortic valve in newborn babies. The aortic valve is the passage through which blood flows out of the lower left chamber (the left ventricle) of the heart to reach the aortic artery, which circulates oxygenated blood to the body. Before birth, a baby can survive well with only one well-functioning ventricle due to unique blood flow patterns. That is not the case after birth. With critical aortic stenosis, the left ventricle is not able to pump blood adequately through the narrowed aortic valve into the aorta. As a result, a See RUNNING, 7A
From trash to treasure
Photo by Alan Hodge
The new pedestrian bridge slated to be built in Cramerton will cross over to Goat Island Park near this spot on the downtown side of the South Fork River. The Town of Cramerton was awarded a $500,000 grant from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Authority (NC PARTF) on Friday, May 10th. The NC Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Authority received 78 applications requesting $20,600,000 in funding and only 14 projects were successful in sharing $4,000,000 in funding. The Goat Island Park, Phase II project includes the construction of a 191’ x 10’ pedestrian bridge connecting Goat Island to the Town Center area, a paved loop trail around the open meadow area, a 2-5 year old
playground, dog park, permanent cornhole boards, and two concrete outdoor ping pong tables. The total cost of the Phase II Island Project is $1,220,000 and the Town is actively seeking additional funding for the project. The Town has received a $10,000 Adopt-A-Trails grant for the project. More information is available on the Town’s website for potential fundraising opportunities. The Town also received a $20,000 grant from the Glenn Foundation here in Gaston County to go towards the construction of the project too.
City of Mount Holly receives SHARP award By Alan Hodge Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Photo by Alan Hodge
Art Cozart of Stanley has turned more than 1,000 styrofoam coffee cups into works of art. His work has been widely displayed and he was the subject of a June 2011 feature article in Our State Magazine. ALAN HODGE alan.bannernews@gmail.com
When most folks finish drinking coffee from a Styrofoam cup they toss it in the garbage, but for Art Cozart of Stanly, that little white piece of trash becomes a treasure once he gets his hands on it. You see, Cozart has a unique talent. He draws portraits and other figures on Styrofoam cups. So far he’s illustrated over 1,000 cups and doesn’t seem to be slowing down a
bit. A US Airways baggage handler at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Cozart says he got started in the cup art medium at work about 13 years ago. “I was taking a break and when I finished my coffee I took out a pen and started drawing on the cup,� he said. “Some people said it looked pretty good.� Cozart’s first artistic efforts were of what he calls “silly� subjects, but that soon See CUPS, 7A
The City of Mount Holly Streets and Solid Waste and Public Utilities departments have received a prestigious award from the state and it was presented during a recent city council meeting by none other than the NC Secretary of Labor Cherie Berry. The city was recognized as a Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) participant. The Public Sector SHARP is designed to recognize and award public sector employees in North Carolina for their leadership in occupational safety and health management. The SHARP Program meets or exceeds OSHA standards for employee
safety. Over the past three years, Mount Holly had a better employee accident or injury rate than the state average. “You have to earn this award,� Berry said. At the presentation, Berry stood in the council chambers with workers from the city’s streets and utilities departments and unfurled a large flag bearing the SHARP logo. “You are committed to safety,� she told the employees. See MOUNT HOLLY, 5A
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