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Volume 78 • Issue 30 • Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Stanley All-Stars win state tourney The Town of Stanley not only hosted the North Carolina Dixie Youth Baseball AAA state tournament last week at Harper Park, it also saw its home team, the 10-and-under AllStars, win the whole show. Now, the Stanley players will advance to the Dixie Youth Baseball World Series to be held Aug. 3-8 in Laurel, Miss. The World Series will include 12 teams, 11 of which are state champs. Stanley’s record during the Harper Park series was 7-2. The team defeated East Duplin on Saturday in a three game playoff by winning two of the contests. The tournament was a win-win for Stanley. Not only did its team take home the championship, but Stanley Parks and Recreation Director Tug Deason was also recognized by Dixie Youth Baseball officials with a plaque for his hard work in bringing the event to town.
Photo by Alan Hodge
Mount Holly firefighters, from left, Timmy Treece, Justin Westbrook, and Capt. David Stevens are seen checking out their water rescue boat and equipment. All full-time members of the fire department are required to take water rescue training annually.
Firefighters prepped for water rescue By Alan Hodge Alan.bannernews@gamil.com
Hawkettes to be inducted into MH Sports Hall of Fame
“In my experience only one person drowned while wearing a life jacket.� If everyone took those words by Mount Holly Fire Dept. Captain David Stevens to heart, then
the water rescue training his men do might not be needed. But of course that isn’t the case. The Catawba River is just žmile from the Mount Holly Fire Department’s main building and is one of our area’s most popular recreational attractions with everything from cabin cruisers
to kayaks plying its waters. Unfortunately factors such as inexperience in handling watercraft, showing off, innocent error, and alcohol abuse mean that accidents do occur on the Catawba. That’s why the Mount Holly Fire Department puts its staff through water rescue training.
“All paid staff is required to attend annual training, and volunteers can take part if they want to,� said Stevens. “We do the training in August. After the classroom portion, we go down on a Saturday and spend all day on the water.� See WATER RESCUE, 5A
Debate continues over Fighting Yank
By Kathy Blake Special to the Banner News
This is a portrait of girls high school basketball in the 1940s: Forwards played at one end of the court, guards at the other. They did not cross the center line. If a player was fouled, she only got one shot. Uniforms were two-piece, a satin-like material, and had short shorts. “All the way up to the crotch, with elastic. Like baby diapers, or the bottom of two-piece pajamas,� said Mount Holly High School guard Rachel Wilson Jackson, 82. Gyms weren’t air-conditioned. Teams had six players – three on offense, three on defense. “Oh, but we enjoyed it. We had a good comaraderie with the girls on the team, and we got to meet people in other schools,� said guard Faye Roberts Stroupe, 83. “Growing up and playing in Mount Holly, it was like the show ‘Happy Days,’� said Lois Herring Parker, 84, a 5-foot-9 forward. “It was special back then.� “That’s the only sport we had,� said Edith Jenkins Moose, 85, who played guard in 194445, “or I would have played every sport. I loved sports. But that’s the only team that the high school had. Basketball was my life.� The Mount Holly High School Hawkettes of 1944-45, 1945-46 and 1946-47 had a combined record of 40-9-4, played for three different coaches, shared the Little Eight Conference Championship in ’46 and won it outright in ’47. It was a time when boys’ minds were on the war, roads weren’t always paved and Charlie’s Drug & Sundries on West Central Avenue, then as now, was the after-school hangout. “I look back and I think, Lord have mercy, I don’t know if I could run the whole court like they do now,� Jackson said. “But we had some exciting games.� * Edith Moose played one season for Mount Holly High and graduated in 1945, after 11 years of schooling. It wasn’t until the following year that students stayed for a 12th grade. She was a 5-foot-6 guard for Coach L.C. Ward’s Hawkettes team that went 13-5-1. She made All-State, but said it was more of a title, See HAWKETTES, 5A
Original placement was slated for Main Street ALAN HODGE alan.bannernews@gmail.com
With news now out and the debate growing concerning the possibility of moving Belmont’s “Spirit of the Fighting Yank� World War II memorial statue from where it has stood since 1946 on the grounds of former Belmont High (now Belmont Middle) School to Stowe Park, it’s interesting to learn how the bronze soldier got there in the first place. Actually, the Belmont High campus location was “Plan B�. During 1946 the Belmont Banner re-
ported on the Fighting Yank’s arrival and placement in a series of articles that started on January 23 and continued until the statue was officially dedicated on September 22, 1946. According to the first article, credit was given to the Belmont Junior Chamber of Commerce for coming up with the idea of bringing the Fighting Yank to Belmont. Ray Buckner was chair of the committee that was behind it. Originally, and somewhat ironically given the current drive to put the statue in Stowe Park directly across from Caravan Coffee, the Fighting Yank was to have been placed on Main Street near the post office,
now Belmont City Hall. The January 23,1946 Banner article also mentioned that the stone base for the Fighting Yank was on schedule but his bronze “body� was being held up due to metal shortages still being felt following the end of WWII just six months prior. The March 13, 1946 Belmont Banner hit the streets with a front page story updating folks on what the latest news was regarding the Fighting Yank. The story revealed that the Belmont Jaycees had teamed up with the American Legion to learn the names of local veterans and to work out a dedication program when the statue was to be erected. The target date was Memorial Day- Thursday, May 30. See FIGHTING YANK, 7A
Stanley man killed by train
Coal ash controversy continues By Alan Hodge Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Photo by Alan Hodge
This section of track beside NC27 near Mariposa Road in Stanley is where Filberto David Beck was killed last Thursday by a CXS train. The tracks are a popular path for folks heading to a nearby convenience store. By Alan Hodge Alan.bannernews@gmail.com
A man died last Thursday after being struck by a CXS train on the tracks near NC27 and Mariposa Road in Stanley. He was identified as Filberto David Beck, 29, of 528 N. Buckoak Drive of Stanley. The tracks are near a convenience store at the corner of NC27
and Mariposa Road and police think Beck may have been heading that way when the accident happened. Beck is hearing impaired and likely didn’t hear the train coming. He was also wearing stereo earbuds at the time of the incident. The train engineer apparently didn’t realize Beck had been hit and did not stop. Police are working with CSX to determine the
exact location of the accident. Beck’s body was discovered around 1:40 p.m. by a teenager who reported it to Jason Black, owner of Black’s Auto Sales at the corner of NC27 and Mariposa. Black notified police. Gaston County Police, Stanley Police, Stanley Fire Department and the Gaston County Medical Examiner all reported to the scene.
Controversy over Duke Energy’s coal ash containment policy and procedures at locations such as the Riverbend Steam Station on Mountain Island Lake near Mount Holly continued last week when the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) and the utility proposed a settlement last week in a lawsuit that said coal ash stored at Riverbend is a threat to water quality. Mountain Island Lake supplies drinking water to about 750,000 people. Riverbend closed on April 1 after nearly a century of producing electricity. The proposed order will be open for public comment for 30 days and can be viewed on the NCDENR Div. of Water Quality website. In it, Duke said it would further examine the sources of and extent of coal ash See DUKE, 5A
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