Archive - Aug 2010
August 6th
One residential property in Maiden was cleaned to rectify nuisance ordinance violations, and additional violating properties are under investigation.
“We don’t mess around,” said Sam Schultz, Maiden planning director. “We send out a letter, and we’re coming.”
Maiden recently implemented a public hearing based-process to clean and rectify properties in violation of the town’s nuisance ordinance.
“Maiden takes a lot of pride in itself,” Schultz said. “If you have a person who isn’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing, they’re endangering the health, safety and welfare of others.”
Lenoir-Rhyne’s Carlee Carpenter left an impressive record in her athletic career at Bandys. The accomplished softball player also left her mark on the state record books. Carpenter set the North Carolina record for career triples – the hardest type of hit to earn in softball – her senior year with the Trojans.
“I really don’t have a clue how that happened,” she said.
Carpenter was voted as The Observer News Enterprise’s Female Athlete of the Decade presented by Dan Waters and Associates. Carpenter was nominated and voted on by readers of The O-N-E.
By
Jordan-Ashley Baker, O-N-E staff writer
The off-duty Huntersville Police detective who was involved in a minor accident in Catawba County and later killed in a one-car collision was legally drunk at the time of the crash.
Tests from the N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that Kimberly Sue Nesbitt, 43, of Mooresville, had a blood alcohol level of .22 when she crashed her car July 5 on Lowrance Road near Catawba, said N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper R.E. Rudisill.
A driver is legally intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of .08 or more, which means Nesbitt was more than three times over the legal limit at the time of the crash.
August 5th
Nick Bazzle led the Newton-Conover Red Devils to two consecutive state championship games — winning one in 2008. He has 97 career wins as head coach at Newton-Conover, and he can add one more to that before the start of the season.
Bazzle, in his 12th season as head coach of the Newton-Conover Red Devils, is The Observer News Enterprise Coach of the Decade presented by Dwayne Wilson Insurance. Bazzle won the award based on the amount of reader votes he received.
Newton-Conover reached the top of the hill in 2008, and it set some records and high standards during that season. The Red Devils’ 15 wins that season set a school record, and their state football title is still the only one in school history.
“That was a dream come true,” said Tevin James, a former Newton-Conover lineman who now plays at Elon. “I guess we were the team to beat that year.”
The Maiden Blue Devils don’t have a wealth of experience on their offensive line this season. Tony Martin is the only returning starter, and even he has to adjust to moving from guard and tackle to center.
The linemen this year make up for that lack of game experience with two things — energy and enthusiasm.
“A lot of the guys are ready to show what they can do, and I hope they can do something too,” Martin said. “I think it’s finally helping out that we practice a lot harder than we used to. When it’s time for joking, we do it. Some things can get a little crazy.”
Campmeeting in August is a way of life in Catawba County. Matter of fact, it’s been that way for the past 156 year,when the first campmeeting was held.
In August 1853, Rev. H. H. Durant and Rev. Lewis Scarborough held religious services at the sight of the current Balls Creek Campground, under a brush arbor that first year. Folks traveled to campmeeting along dusty roads in covered wagons, and either lived in their wagons for the duration or erected canvas tents. Ten or so families built permanent wooden structures, or “tents,“ to stay in for the 1853 services.
* “I remember when they put 55 gallon cans on each of corner of the campground to burn wood in.”
— John Carl Ervin, of Conover
* “I remember when the ice man sold blocks of ice because no one had a refrigerator.”
— Janet Jones, Sherrills Ford
* “One of my happiest memories is when I bought my own tent. I also remember my mother telling she came to campmeeting in a covered wagon.”
Sunday, Aug. 8
* 6:30 p.m., A Celebration of Campmeeting — Center UMC Old-Time Hymn Sing
* 7:30 p.m,. Evening Worship —Center UMC, Rev. Paula Northup, Center UMC, Catawba.
Monday, Aug. 9
* 6:15 p.m.,Children’s Service — Gail Hildebran & Rose Bibeau — Hopewell UMC
* 7:30 p.m., Evening Worship —Mt. Anderson Baptist, Rev. Donald Cline, Mt. Anderson Baptist, Maiden.
Tuesday, Aug. 10
A lot on South Main Street in Catawba was used for civil war re-enactments, Boy Scout displays, town festivals and green-space preservation.
Those uses will stop, however, because the property was sold Tuesday to a private buyer after Catawba Town Council’s controversial decision Monday not to purchase the property.
“People’s ideas of what’s best for the town are different,” said Catawba Mayor Vance Readling at the council’s Monday meeting. “Opinions vary … Some of them felt if you had a purpose for (the land), it would be better for it.”
