Archive - Feb 24, 2012
Bandys is returning to the Western Regionals following a 73-55 win against North Stanly on Friday.
The Lady Trojans (27-2) delivered the Lady Comets their second loss of the season in New London.
“I was really tickled with the win,” said Bandys coach Beth Queen. “We went into a difficult gym to play at. They had a good crowd. It was a small gym. They were really loud.”
The Trojans fell behind 6-0 with two three-pointers from North Stanly, but Bandys roared back to take an eight-point lead after the first quarter.
The transformation from Tiger to Wasp started Friday for Katheryn McGinnis.
The Foard senior soccer player signed her National Letter of Intent to play for Emory & Henry this fall.
“I’m really, really excited,” McGinnis said. “It’s something I’ve always looked forward to as a kid growing up — getting to play first at the varsity level and now at college. I’m very excited that my dream is coming true.”
A four-year member of the Lady Tigers varsity squad, McGinnis earned all-conference honors last season and the coaches’ award in 2010.
Four Catawba County wrestlers are in the finals on Saturday of the 2A and 3A state championships in Greensboro.
Newton-Conover’s Franklin Wepner (126) and Addison Klutz (152), Maiden’s Evan Spears (160) and St. Stephens’ Bradley Bader (113) are all in the championships of their respective weight classes with a chance to bring home individual state titles.
Wepner and Klutz and trying to become the first state champion wrestlers at Newton-Conover since Andrew Tremain in 2010.
If Spears is victorious, he will become the first-ever Maiden wrestler to win an individual state title.
Catawba County Schools officials say relocating Banoak Elementary School will solve a host of pending issues in the Foard area.
They say by relocating the school to a nearby vicinity, CCS can ease overcrowding problems at Mountain View and Blackburn elementary schools, and remove students from a current Banoak building in desperate need of improvements.
However, the relocation could cause the current Banoak School to be no more — something surrounding residents have something to say about.
Officials have suspended an elementary school student for 10 days after a teacher found a BB gun in his backpack this week.
Police said the student showed the BB gun pistol to one of his friends Wednesday morning at Clyde Campbell Elementary School in Hickory. His friend alerted a teacher.
Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid said the BB gun was inoperable, adding that the student did not threaten anyone and did not have any BBs.
Catawba County Schools officials suspended the student for 10 days.
Newton is crawling with cats.
A booming population of what appears to be feral felines is causing problems and it has city leaders looking for solutions.
"Staff and citizens have observed a large number of feral cats throughout the city. As a result, animal control has captured a number of cats that were apparently homeless," said Newton City Manager Todd Clark. "The city of Newton is doing what is in the best interests of our citizens to protect their health, safety and welfare."
Nine 2A wrestlers and seven 3A wrestlers are still alive for a chance at NCHSAA individual state wrestling titles after the first day of competition in Greensboro.
Newton-Conover remains in the best shape for a potential state championship. All five Red Devils who qualified for states, including Ian Canrobert (106), Franklin Wepner (126), Eric Holbrook (145), Addison Klutz (152) and Tyler Benfield (195), all advanced to the second round.
A pottery and soup fundraiser Saturday will help fill the stomachs of hungry citizens in Catawba County.
St. Stephens High School will host the sixth annual Empty Bowls event in its cafeteria from 5-8 p.m.
For $15, guests get a handmade pottery bowl, gourmet soup from local restaurants, homemade yeast rolls, dessert and a drink.
All proceeds will benefit The Corner Table in Newton and the Hickory Soup Kitchen.
During the event, students will perform monologues and songs for entertainment.
Robert "Bob" Thomas, who served three terms as district 25 attorney, died this week at his Hickory home.
He was 82.
Thomas served in the U.S. Air Force and worked 23 years as a special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
From 1982-94, he served as district attorney in North Carolina's 25th district, which includes Catawba, Caldwell and Burke counties.
Sean McGinnis, current assistant district attorney, said Thomas hired him in December 1993.
Catawba County’s Justice Center was a busy place Thursday, and The Observer News Enterprise is delivering all the details in the Friday print an online editions.
Michael Anderson was sentenced to at least 16 years in prison for the second-degree murder of his roommate last year. The 20-year-old’s guilty plea comes after he shot and killed Stephen Starr and mutilated the man’s body with an ax.
Another killer received a life jail sentence for pleading guilty to killing a 26-year-old woman in a Hickory mobile home park in 2006.
