Serving Belmont, Mount Holly, Stanley, Cramerton, and McAdenville
Volume 78 • Issue 16 • Wednesday, April 17, 2013
75¢
Belmont, Mount Holly set for spring festivals By Alan Hodge Editor Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Warm weather is here at last and spring festival time is upon us. May 4 will bring the Belmont Criterium Day, Festival & Concert to town. The Belmont Criterium bicycle race is sponsored by Carolinas Health Care System and will bring scores of pro bike riders to downtown Belmont for a thrilling race on the streets. This event is organized by the Merchants Association, the City of Belmont and South Main Cycles. The GaribaldiFest spring festival will begin the day at 11am. Vendors will be in Stowe Park and along South Main Street from 11am-5pm. The festival will feature arts and crafts, jewelry, a variety of businesses, food, children’s activities, music and fun. There will be a children’s area in Stowe Park with inflatables such as the Rainforest and Tiger as well as sev-
eral games with prizes. All events are free except for children’s area in Stowe Park. All Day Wristbands for the children’s area in Stowe Park will be sold for five dollars each. For the concert on Main St., “Moses Jones� will play and a drum circle will be held from noon until 2:30pm. A variety of local dance groups will perform in the gazebo and a demonstration by Explosion Martial Arts will be held from 11:30am until 5pm. There will also be a DJ and Karaoke by Buddy Love. At 2pm activities will begin on North Main and Catawba Street featuring a Kids Zone with more inflatables and fun activities, beverages, funnel cakes, food, a hospitality tent hosted by String Bean Restaurant and the South Point High Band. At 4pm the women’s pro criterium bike race will begin and at 5pm the men’s pro race will begin.
Contributed photo
See FESTIVALS, 7A
Spring festivals will be coming to Belmont and Mount Holly in the next few weeks. This shot shows the crowd last year in Stowe Park.
Where do you go in an emergency?
Sewer upgrade approved in Stanley
Warning: Do not Duke lays out nuclear eat channel cats evacuation plan caught in MI Lake
No cost increase planned for customers
Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
By Alan Hodge Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
The Stanley Town Council gave unanimous approval last week to a plan that will address the municipality’s sewer needs. The plan that was approved will see Stanley’s wastewater tied in with Two River Utilities via a new line to an already existing one at High Shoals. The project will be paid for with an up to $3 million no interest loan from the state. Stanley was also on the receiving end of a $600,000 grant from the Clean Water Management Fund. Thanks to the no interest loan, Stanley customers won’t see an increase in their sewer bill. Once the line is hooked up, Two Rivers Utilities will charge Stanley $3.80 per 1,000 gallons to treat wastewater. That’s the same amount Two Rivers charges its other wholesale customers. “This option stood out as the best one for our town,� said Stanley’s Interim Town manager Heath Jenkins. Two Rivers Utilities provides regional services to approximately 100,000 residents of Gastonia, Bessemer City, Cramerton, Kings Mountain, Lowell, McAdenville, Ranlo and Clover, S.C. The water treatment facility processes about 5 billion gallons of water per year. There are three wastewater treatment facilities – Long Creek, Crowders Creek, and Eagle Road. The water treatment plant processes approximately 5
By Alan Hodge Duke Energy’s McGuire Nuclear Station on NC Hwy 73 is only ten miles from Mt. Holly as the crow flies and has an excellent safety record. However, if a nuclear accident of some sort should take place, Duke has a plan laid out to alert citizens regarding what steps they should take. To help spread the word, the utility has created an informative calendar that includes everything from evacuation maps to how local citizens can protect themselves from radiation. “The calendar is mailed to all residents in the ten mile radius Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ),� said Duke Energy spokesperson Jennifer DeWitt. “The calendars are also available to anyone who calls and requests one or stops by the EnergyExplorium – the education center located at McGuire Nuclear Station. We are happy to answer any additional ques-
tions.� At the heart of the plan and calendar is a map with McGuire as the bull’s eye and concentric rings radiating from it at five and ten mile intervals. The map is divided into lettered zones and a key to the letters is provided that shows where emergency reception centers are located. For example, for students in school, Ida Rankin Elementary in Mount Holly is located in zone “S� and the emergency reception center for those kids is South Point High in Belmont. Other Gaston County schools within the ten-mile zone include Kiser, Pinewood, and Springfield elementaries, Mount Holly and Stanley middle schools, Mountain Island Charter, and Stanley Christian Academy. In addition to South Point, North Gaston High and Harvest Community Church are listed as evacuation centers. The calendar map also has schools and their respective emergency reception See EVACUATION PLAN, 7A
Monument rededicated
By Alan Hodge Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Folks who consume catfish caught in Mountain Island Lake might want to eat more chicken. Last week an advisory went out from the NC Division of Public Health citing potentially unsafe levels of PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, in catfish in Mountain Island Lake. The lake is the main water source for Mount Holly, Charlotte, and Gastonia. PCB levels in the water itself are not under advisement, only the amounts in catfish. Before the 1980s PCBs were used as coolants in devices such as electrical transformers and motors. In 1979, Congress banned production of PCB. The chemical has been known to cause cancer in animals, but not in humans. However, PCB is a long-lasting toxin and exposure to it has been linked to non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a form of cancer that can prove fatal. The state recommends that no one eat channel catfish from Mountain Island Lake and that pregnant women, women nursing, or children under the age of 15
not eat the cats or largemouth bass. Others should not eat more than two meals a month of largemouth bass or more than one meal a month of blue catfish. Lake Norman has also been placed under a PCB/fish advisory- the first ever for the lake. The state is recommending that pregnant or nursing women, women who might become pregnant, and children under 15 not eat striped bass or largemouth bass caught in the lake. The advisory also cautions other folks to eat no more than two meals a month of largemouth bass and one meal a week of striped bass. Since many Latino fishermen eat their catch at homeespecially stripers- the state plans to have Spanish-speaking representatives visit popular fishing spots on the lake providing information on the PCB advisory. Catawba Riverkeeper Rick Gaskins had this to say about the PCB advisories. “At the present time the source of the PCBs is not known. Catawba Riverkeeper is working with both North Carolina and South Carolina to identify potential sources of PCBs. In addition, See WARNING, 7A
Guardians ride for the children By Alan Hodge Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
See SEWER, 7A
Photo by Alan Hodge
The monument on the grounds where East Belmont Elementary once stood was rededicated last Friday, five years to the day it was first unveiled on April 12, 2008. Attending the rededication were from left: Charles Arrowood, Norman Phillips, Jo Ann Trull, Caroll Trull, Roy Young, and Reginald Deal. See the story on page 3A.
The rumble of motorcycles and riders in black jackets might seem like the last thing someone would associate with child abuse prevention, but that is exactly what a local group of riders is all about. Known as the Guardians of the Children, the 20 or so members of the Gaston chapter of the Texasbased club ride to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect.
Tina Gordon of Belmont loves bikes and kids and joined the local club not long after its founding in November 2010. “Child abuse is a rising problem in our area,� said Gordon. “It’s up to us adults to report it if we see it.� Fundraising for child abuse agencies is one of the things that the Guardians do and they have a ride coming up for that very purpose on April 20. See GUARDIANS, 2A
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