INSIDE... ‘No Wake Zone’? ..... 3A Obituaries .............. 5A Police/Crime ........... 5A Sports .................... 6A
Serving Belmont, Mount Holly, Stanley, Cramerton, and McAdenville | Volume 79 • Issue 32 • Wednesday, August 6, 2014
WWII GIs remembered After 69 years, challenges for GIs not so different By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews
Hodges, Lawing to be inducted into MHSHF Buddie Hodges – to receive Community Spirit Award
The official end of World War II was August 15, 1945 and the editions that week of both the Belmont Banner and Mount Holly News were low-key regarding the milestone. One reason perhaps being the fact that two members of the staff had lost brothers in the war. Another being the knowledge that even though a glorious victory had been achieved, the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who were coming back home would be facing many of the same issues that those of today come up against–finding a job, getting an education, and dealing with the emotional aftermath of combat. The local job scene was flooded with ex-GIs looking for work. On the front of the October 17, 1945 paper was a list of questions that several discharged troops had asked regarding work prospects. The questions were sent to local U.S. Employment Manager W.C. Palmer who answered them in print. Gene Reinhardt of Belmont, now
By Kathy Blake Special to the Banner News
Sometimes, if a man grows up in deprivation, he dedicates his life to assuring others don’t experience the same fate. Buddie Hodges knows that McDowell County, West Virginia, is 535 square miles of Appalachia where the war on poverty is a battle cry with little ammunition. “We lived in the coalmining camps of West Vir-
ginia, west of Bluefield, where it was rated as the poorest county not just in West Virginia, but in the whole USA. Daddy worked in the mines. The community was the worst of the worst,” he said. “You sorta had to pipe in daylight. I went back up there a few years ago, and my wife literally got sick. I’d told her she probably shouldn’t go.” Hodges and See HODGES, 4A
Lawing – loved playing football By Kathy Blake Special to the Banner News
See WWII, 7A Photo by Alan Hodge
Gene Reinhardt, who will soon be 93 years old, shows the Japanese flag he got on the island of New Guinea during WWII. Reinhardt is a Pearl Harbor survivor.
Muellers try their hand at hydroponics By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
The Belmont Community Garden has some interesting plots, but none is more unusual than the one belonging to the Mueller family. Designed and built by William Mueller, the space is making use of the hydroponic method of growing and is not only producing a variety of herbs, vegetables, and flowers, but also providing William's wife Ana and daughters Ariana, 9, and Marijay, 5, with a valuable summer science and agricultural lesson. The hydroponic rig itself is a marvel of compact engineering. Basically, it consists of a series of gutter downspout sections stacked horizontally on a wooden frame. A bucket in the ground below holds water and a pump. The pump is powered by two solar panels and sends water and nutrients to the gutter sections. The sections have holes cut in them and in the holes are small pots filled with pebbles and the flora of choice. The water, which is obtained from the Community Garden cistern, flows over the
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Some people are born with musical talent. They can play anything with strings or keys by ear, and read music as easily as reading a menu. Some people, however, have trouble playing anything more difficult than a radio. Thinking back, Larry Lawing is glad to be in the second category. “I went out for band, and I could not play one note, so I decided I’d go out for football. I played baseball and basketball, too, but I played football the best,” Lawing, 72, said from his home in Greensboro. He was talking
about his induction into the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame, and how it wouldn’t have happened – how his whole athletic career might not have happened – if he’d had a talent for music: “They tried me on three or four instruments, but none of them worked out. I could play a juke box, though, if I had a dime or a quarter. Let’s just say I was not musically inclined.” What Lawing was inclined to do was run with a football. His size – about 5-foot11, 170 pounds – added to his agility and speed, and it brought him a collection of all-conference, all-district See LAWING, 4A
Goins defense goes to work Photo by Alan Hodge
Ana Mueller and her daughters Ariana (left) and Marijay are seen with their hydroponic plot in the Belmont Community Garden. The unique rig was designed and built by the trio's husband and dad, William. roots and back down through a series of tubes to the ground and into a bed of stones topped with dirt where it goes back into the
bucket and so forth. The entire operation is ingenious and basically runs itself. “William has an amazing mind when it comes to un-
derstanding things like this,” Ana said. William shared his thoughts on the project. See GARDEN 4A,
Drowning victim identified Candidates file for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has identified the body of a Mountain Island Lake drowning victim as 21-year-old Jonathan Cureton of Charlotte. Police said Cureton and some friends were jumping off the bridge on Brookshire Boulevard bridge at the lake on Thursday evening when he drowned. A witness said he jumped from the bridge, and surfaced once before going under again. Emergency crews searched the water near the bridge until nightfall, then resumed looking Friday morning, when Cureton's body was located. Authorities said Cureton's sister was the one who called 911.
School Board seats Filing for Gaston County Board of Education seats ended Friday at noon. The election is November 4. Candidates include: At-Large- Jerry Bostic, Dot Cherry, Nick Huffman, Rebecca Schwindemann. Dallas Township- Kaye Gribble, Catherine Roberts. Gastonia Township- Lee Dedmon, Mark Stephens, Daniel Ware. Riverbend Township- Kevin Collier. South Point Township- Chris Howell, Wil Neumann, Rae Pritchard.
By Alan Hodge alan.bannernew@gmail.com
The trial of former East Gaston High wrestling coach Gary Scott Goins continued last week with the defense calling witnesses to the stand. Goins has been accused by three former members of the wrestling team of sexual misconduct during the period 1988-2004. Goins was arrested in June 2013 and charged with 22 crimes. His trial began the week of July 14 with jury selection. Prosecution witnesses testified the week of July 21. Last Monday, defense lawyer Brent Ratchford called several witnesses to the stand. Former East Gaston wrestler Joseph Coss testified that Goins was an inspiration to him as a team member and personally as well. Coss described Goins as a father figure. Another defense witness
that testified last Monday was former East Gaston principal Eddie McGinnis who admitted he had a couple of complaints against the way Goins disciplined team members, but in his opinion they did not warrant suspending or otherwise punishing the coach. After McGinnis was shown letters and affidavits from former wrestling team members containing accusations of abuse and possible sexual misconduct, he said he didn't recall seeing them. Tuesday saw a break in the trial so a jury member could take care of a doctor appointment. On Wednesday, the trial continued and witnesses who were parents of former wrestling team members were questioned. The witnesses said they never noticed any behavior by Goins that would arouse suspicion relating to misconduct with See GOINS, 4A
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