Gaston Gazette

The Wal-Mart effect: Build it, and THEY will come !

Several years ago the political lines in the Belmont area were pretty well divided over growth issues. Type of Growth, Rate of Growth, Vision of Community, Sense of Belonging, and the kicker — Property Rights.

The mill community mentality, taken from the farms and hills of the early twentieth century learned young’uns the value of owning property if you “cud git ahold a sum”. Gaston County divided itself along the lines of the “Haves”, and the “Have Nots”.

The funny thing during the debate process (some called it “steamrolling”) was that nobody discussed the attendant collateral damage of big box development.

The collateral damage is the “flow-through” of increased traffic that these types of development brings to an area. Increased malicious mischief, vandalism, theft, and larceny are the damages.

(Belmont Police photo published in Gazette)

This series is not just “kids with nothing to do”. It is not necessarily gang-related either.

Belmont Police Chief David James, always on the lookout for more money to increase the size of his force, commented on the potential of these issues in the original series of debates. Of course, his eye was on the development of his department — remember we built that grand new police department building on Chronicle Street with an eye on the future – (re: bigger than needed) 

The article in the Gazette about the recent rash of auto break-ins, noted the neighborhoods where these occurred. “Build It, and They will come !” Works for both good and bad.

What can the community do? Well, besides call the police?

Be vigilant in your travels through town. Not paranoid, just observant.

With a lot of new people in the area, new homes, bigger dogs (which always seem to come with the type of folk who want to make some kind of “statement”), fancy-schmanzy cars, we need to try to reach out and make a community that is larger than the great walls that have been erected around several of the subdivisions.

Community Watch efforts are always good. The Neighborhood Preservation portion of the new Land Use Plan, can and should encourage these community efforts. Maybe Chief James would seek out funding opportunities to support Community Watch and Community Policing efforts.  Another idea is to encourage police officers to live in the community. Many of our recent police recruits don’t live here, why should they care what they see as they are driving out of town at the end of their shift?

What efforts are being made to encourage/require public safety personnel to be active members of the community? Granted, there are a few who do live here, but as the force grows, what is being done?

The big deal a few years ago was to allow officers to drive their vehicle home — helps as a deterrent to crime. Problem is, We have never seen those cars in our various neighborhoods, unless there is a called-in issue.  

Presence, vigilance, and connectivity help keep communities safe for everyone. Maybe the police department can use some of their funding from us to do more along those lines rather than buying more stuff…

Youth Football – Pop Warner – Pee Wee

Cramerton 34, Gaston War Huskies 0 — Zach Brown and Tyler Bray had two touchdowns each. Dan Johnson added a fifth touchdown. Cody Griffin, Caleb Gilley, Kamen Powell and Brandon Lee led the defense.

Union Road 33, Belmont 6 (Sept. 15) — Marquis Myers scored twice and T.J. Fair, Tre Brice and Grant Stafford all added a touchdown for Union Road. Johnny Beard and Logan Bradley led the defense.

Union Road 40, Belmont 6 (Sept. 15) — Myklti Armstrong scored four touchdowns and Josh Dawkins and Bishop Ford had a touchdown each. Scott Krawcyzk and Alec Inman led the defense.

Belmont 16, Mount Holly 0 — Andrew Jordan and Nick Muse scored touchdowns and had extra-point kicks in Belmont’s win. Muse, Jerme’ Leeper, Corey Stowe, David Ray, Thomas Brooks and Greyson Queen stood out on the Belmont’s (3-1) defense.

Mighty Mites South
Belmont 20, Mount Holly 7 — Ethan Broome, Scott Lee and Nick Farmer scored touchdowns in the win. Alex Nagle and Mario Douglas stood out for the Belmont (2-1) defense.

McAdenville Orange 32, Kings Mountain 0 — Isaac Hampton scored a pair of touchdowns while Jacquez Armstrong scored twice, including once on a fumble recovery and Chadian Rodriguez returned a kick for a score. Adrian Delph recorded an extra point, Chase Sturgis and Jason Odem led the offensive line and Dylan Green, Devion Moore and Christopher Craig led the defense.

Tiny Mites
Belmont, Mount Holly Black — Keaton Hale and Devon King had touchdown runs. Celeb Gibson, Chandler Evans, Sam Lowrance and Evan Tatham stood out in the game.

Middle school softball     

Belmont 20, Holbrook 0 — Jordan Wilson (4-for-4) and Ashley Mull (3-for-3) led the Wildcats offense, who had 12 hits. Emily Tucker got the win on the mound with 8 strikeouts for the 4-0 Wildcats.

(Chris Lane making a first down – John Clark, Gazette Photo) 

The Gazette has partnered with www.varsitync.com to offer a wider variety of subjects rather than the tired old Ashbrook and Forestview fare that we have come to read over the past several years.

The article, written by stringer Bill Hupp, offers the Gastonia paper a lesson in “fair and balanced”. It is a good idea to contract with people who will give the flavor of the event, rather than slant it to the paper’s ultimate interest.

 Anyway, South Point beat East Gaston 31-0, taking a measure from last year’s whuppin’. Lowery, Lane, and Crumbly looked good in the effort on the ground. Justice had a struggle kicking last night, but the season is still not to the halfway mark yet.

Reports of “8,000 people” and an “overflow crowd” are a bit exaggerated, even by South Point Booster standards. With this event being called “Black Friday”, the new “PSL” seats keep many people away from the stands, wandering around as if they were in the wilderness. “Black Friday” at South Point is the culmination of a weeklong series of themes, pep rallies, and school spirit activities uniting the student body. The term comes from the tradition of the Black and Red school colors, and wearing all black on the Friday of the East Gaston game. Of course, there are a small number that choose to wear all white on this day, just to stick out. Most of the 1,200 students at SPHS are into the week’s events and participate with enthusiasm. I carried over to the ball game as well. Great spirit in the stands and in the areas outside the fence near the new scoreboard.

Area homeowners and neighbors have taken a page from the homes and businesses that surround Wrigley Field in Chicago. Charge a few buck to park in our driveways, cut down the walking distances to Lineberger Stadium on game days — helps with the ol’ property tax bill.

The still undefeated Red Raider football team is looking good. Keep goin’ boys!