Archive - Jul 2011 - News Article
July 29th

The first week Claremont held its Tailgate Market, three vendors showed up to sell produce and plants. 
The next week, nine vendors came. The week after that, 14 citizen sellers lined the Claremont City Hall parking lot.
Now, Claremont Special Events Coordinator Henry Helton said he is turning people away.Â
As Catawba County football teams start football practices Saturday, coaches and trainers will follow new rules the N. C. High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) implemented to help athletes combat the heat.
These new guidelines go along with standard guidance offered by coaches throughout the county.
Newton-Conover football coach Nick Bazzle gives his players a number of different tips, including telling them to drink a lot of Gatorade and eat three meals a day. That, he said, will help his players’ hydration and strength.
Fire and rescue personnel offered a heroes salute to Asheville Fire Capt. Jeff Bowen at the Conover Boulevard West bridge of I-40 on Friday afternoon. Bowen, 37, died after suffering serious injuries while trying to see if anyone was trapped inside a burning office building in Asheville on Thursday. As his body was transported from a Winston-Salem hospital to Asheville on Friday, area fire and rescue personnel manned Catawba County bridges crossing I-40 to salute the fallen firefighter.
Elisa Baker’s attorney wants her trial moved outside Catawba County, but the state will argue on Monday that a fair trial can be found here.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Kincaid will hear oral arguments on Monday about Elisa’s trial being moved outside the county.
Elisa’s attorney, Scott Reilly, says the woman accused of murdering and dismembering her 10-year-old step-daughter, Zahra, cannot receive a fair trial in Catawba County because of prejudicial publicity surrounding the case.
Catawba County District Attorney Jay Gaither disagrees.
July 28th
Most people would find an anthropologist in a foreign country studying a culture or excavating remains of an ancient civilization, but not Steven Lyerly.
Lyerly, Olde Hickory Brewery (OHB) brewmaster, might have studied anthropology in college but found his true passion was making beer.
In college, Lyerly began homebrewing beer with his roommate who was given a homebrew kit for Christmas.
An impaired driver tried to flee the scene of his own car accident in Newton on Thursday, but didn’t make it very far.
Police say Timothy R. Holiday, 49, of Shelby, was traveling north on Startown Road in Newton on Thursday when his 2005 Toyota Tundra ran off the right side of the road and struck a utility box. The car then continued across the intersection of N.C. 10 and hit a utility pole in front of the Kangaroo convenience store.
Catawba County’s 9-1-1 communicators are in need of more space, but a planned expansion project to the existing Justice Center should help meet their needs, officials say. 
The county is in the design process of building a new 9-1-1 communication facility as part of an overall expansion project to the county’s Justice Center in Newton.
July 27th
Election season is right around the corner, and citizens can expect to see a plethora of campaign signs popping up in their area. Before you plant, or pull up, a wiry cardboard ad in your neighbor’s front yard, government leaders are reminding citizens of proper election signage.
This year, some municipal races will have up to eight candidates running for two or three elected positions. With large races, municipal leaders say the importance of signage rules becomes even more significant as candidates vie for a spot on the lawn as well as their government’s ruling body.
A plan to replace a 75-year-old water line in Maiden will affect traffic in coming months, but town officials say the impact will be as minimal as possible.
Maiden’s Main Street Waterline Replacement Project will replace one of the oldest water lines in the town as well as relocate a new water line out of the road. Maiden Town Manager Todd Herms said the old water line has had several breaks over the past few years. Buildup inside the pipe has caused the problem, he said.
July 26th
Before this summer, Snow Creek Elementary School’s library had blank, white walls.
Thanks to five Hickory High School (HHS) girls and Snow Creek media coordinator, Ellen Sigmon, windows have opened up in the library, literally.
“Since there aren’t windows, I thought it would be neat to have murals fill the blank space in the library,” Sigmon said. “I was talking to Caroline (Sigmon’s daughter) about it and she wanted to do one.”
