Begins Sunday! Serving Belmont, Mount Holly, Stanley, Cramerton, and McAdenville
Volume 78 • Issue 10 • Wednesday, March 6, 2013
75¢
Dr. Murphy named 2012 Belmont Citizen of the Year
Photo by Alan Hodge
Military Order of the Purple Heart Post 634 members and Mount Holly officials gathered last week to dedicate the first of five signs declaring the town a Purple Heart City. The first sign is at the corner of West Central Avenue and NC 27.
Contributed Photo
Dr. Martin Murphy has been named Belmont Citizen of the Year 2012 by the Belmont Historical Society for his many years of volunteer work. In this picture he is seen with his wife JoAnn who has been by his side throughout his years of helping others. By Alan Hodge Editor Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
The Belmont Historical Society has named Dr. Martin Murphy as its 2012 Citizen of the Year. Murphy, husband of the former JoAnn Ewing, was raised on the Acme mill village in North Belmont. He is a retired dentist by vocation and a community volunteer by avocation. He was completely surprised by being chosen for the prestigious
Citizen of the Year honor. “I am very humbled and never expected it,” he said. “I don’t know why they chose me, there are many more people who deserve it.” But the folks familiar with Murphy and his volunteer work with groups such as the Belmont Historical Society, Habitat for Humanity, and the Belmont Community Organization (BCO) to name a few, know his value. “Martin is truly a See MURPHY, 4A
‘Purple Heart City’ dedication By Alan Hodge Editor Alan.bannernews@gmail.com Folks driving into Mount Holly on NC 273, NC 27, or Belmont-Mount Holly Road will soon see an addition to the “welcome” signs there in the form of a new plaque declaring the town a “Purple Heart City.” The first plaque was dedicated last Wednesday in a ceremony at the corner of NC 27 and West Central Avenue that saw members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart Post 634 as well as several Mount Holly city officials in at-
By Alan Hodge Editor Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
The Mount Holly City Council received an Economic Development Report recently and it bore good news concerning the local business community in particular and the town in general. The 12-page summary also took a look at the place the arts plays in the overall ambience of the downtown area as well as the role that strategic planning has and will continue to play in Mount Holly development. Greg Beal, Mount Holly’s planning and development director, stressed the importance of having things such as the city’s 2013 Pedestrian Master Plan in place when it comes time to seek grants or other similar funding. “A master plan is invaluable,” he said. “No plan means no money.” Beal also addressed the work that the city has been doing with the Mount Holly Chamber. He serves on the Chamber’s board of directors with 14 other people. The City of Mount Holly has been a Chamber member for
two years. “The Mount Holly Chamber has stepped up to represent the face of the business community,” he said. In January 2012, City Planning and Development staff met with the Mount Holly Chamber in setting up an annual Business Resource Forum. In addition to small businesses, Beal said another goal is to bring Mount Holly’s larger employers such as Clarion, National Gypsum, and Freightliner to the table. During the summer of 2012, the Mount Holly Merchant’s Association was formed. Over the past year, ten new businesses have set up shop in downtown Mount Holly. In addition, the downtown area was named to the National Register of Historic Places. To further boost Mount Holly’s image, the city adopted a Branding Identity program with the slogan “Connecting Community and Nature” and a matching logo. The brand and logo will appear on everything from t-shirts to banners attached to decorative light poles on Main Street. Also approved by city officials in recent months are 15 wayfaring signs that will not only improve the aesthetic appeal of downtown Mount Holly but also provide clear directions to attractions and municipal buildings for See MT. HOLLY 4A
dressed the crowd and related his own experience of not only being wounded in Viet Nam but also some of the travails he and his fellow soldiers faced after coming home. “As with many of my comrades, we felt we were in a thankless war,” Santmire said. “As a wounded combat vet I was not welcomed back, I was spat upon at the airport and called a baby killer, all for protecting our freedom.” However, Santmire went on to relate a defining moment that happened during the Rolling Thunder Ride in See DEDICATION, 4A
Old newsreel videos discovered on YouTube By Alan Hodge Editor Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
City of Mount Holly receives favorable report
tendance. Mayor Pro Tem David Moore welcomed the wounded veterans. “We are proud to have you here,” he said. “This is a special day for Mount Holly. We are humbled to be in your presence.” Mount Holly City Manager Danny Jackson also expressed appreciation for the veterans’ service. “It is a tremendous thing for the city to recognize and pay homage to those who put their lives on the line for freedom,” he said. Mike Santmire, Mount Holly’s director of solid waste and streets, ad-
As former Belmont resident 85-year-old Ralph Hawes of Sycamore, Georgia can attest, you never know what faces from the past might pop up on your computer screen when you go web surfing. What Hawes discovered by sheer chance was a YouTube video that shows newsreel film shot during the 1930s and 1940s in both Belmont and Kings Mountain. “I was just searching online for stuff about Belmont and the video popped up,” said Hawes. “I thought ‘good god!” The video includes interviews with mill workers, action from a 1940 flood, and Herbert Hoover speaking to a huge crowd at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Kings Mountain celebration. The YouTube video was made and posted by Belmont’s Harding Stowe using
original home movies actually shot on the scenes by his uncle, the late Daniel Stowe. “When he passed away I got the films and had them digitalized by a company in Pennsylvania,” Harding said. “I thought other people might want to see them so I posted the video.” Stowe hopes to compile and post more films from the collection in the future. “He started taking movies in the 1920s and the other films are travel and family See VIDEOS, 4A
One segment of the original film shot by Daniel Stowe that appears on the YouTube video posted by his nephew Harding Stowe shows this bridge over what is likely the South Fork River in danger of being swept away during a flood circa 1940.
Council names park for Everette ‘Ebb’ Gantt The Belmont City Council discussed and approved naming of the new park on Brook Street at its March 5 meeting. The park will feature soccer fields and other amenities and is located in East Belmont. The park will be named for Everette C. “Ebb” Gantt. Gantt’s name had been recommended by the Parks and Recreation Citizens Advisory Board at its Feb. 11, meeting by a 8-2 vote. Other names that were considered for the park included Kevin Loftin Memorial Park, Mill Workers Celebration Park, East End Athletic and Soccer Complex, and Kevin B. Loftin Memorial Park. Gantt was chosen due to his extensive involvement as a volunteer in youth sports from the 1940s until he passed away in 1999. His many accomplishments in this area included starting Belmont’s first “Bantam” football league, and forming a church league for youth baseball. Gantt also founded the Belmont Boys Club in the basement of the old police station
where boxers such as Guy Brown got their start. During the 1950s he began broadcasting high school football games on radio WCGC, a practice he continued for about 30 years. ‘Ebb’ Gantt Gantt also received the J. Robert Marlowe Merit Award, the highest accolade a broadcaster can receive in North Carolina. He was inducted into the Belmont Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. Having the soccer complex named for former Belmont mayor, the late Kevin Loftin was seriously discussed by the Parks and Recreation Board and his name received several strong nominations. Loftin had a major impact on Belmont’s redevelopment during his term as mayor from1992-1997 and was still active in a variety of civic affairs at the time of his death on Feb. 22, 2012. A letter by Jim Sells suggesting naming the park for Loftin described his “humble yet bold
spirit”. However, though the soccer complex will be named for Gantt, Loftin will likely be the top contender when it comes time to name the new park that will be built on the Catawba River near US 29/74 in East Belmont. However, the naming process for that park must still be followed through as it was with the soccer complex. In that regard, the council also passed a resolution Monday requesting the Parks and Recreation Citizens Advisory Committee move forward “expeditiously” in the naming process for the river park and come back before the council with its recommendation at an early date. As for the other suggestions for the soccer complex, Tim Parker of Gastonia suggested naming it in honor of the mill workers who made up the majority of citizens in East Belmont for decades. Former East Belmont resident Karen Johnson who currently lives in Georgia suggested the East End Athletic and Soccer Complex name for the new facility.
2 Day Dentures at $498 per arch ~ Extractions start at $65 per tooth
Call us today at 704.263.4646 of Stanley
In-Network With Most Insurances Open Monday - Friday • Located on Hwy 27 South in Stanley - across from Food Lion