Gastonia Gazette

Phillip Gardner, a sportswriter for the Gaston Gazette had a couple of nice things to say about the Red Raider game versus Ashbrook the other night.

A little love offering perhaps for the gushiness expressed for Gastonia schools over the last several years perhaps?

Who knows?

Don’t like paying $5 to park in the neighborhood? COME EARLY and tailgate ! If you wrote more stuff about Belmont area sports in a more loving tone, like what is usually reserved for Forestview and Ashbrook, maybe someone would let young Mr. Gardner park for free. 

NOT !

Really, to be fair, we think Mr. Gardner does a wonderful job of covering sports in Gaston County. He makes an effort to attend the games, and get a feel for the players and coaches in his articles.

A little love goes a long way in selling papers…

Ok, so the county doesn’t have money to spend on a Senior Citizen’s Center, and has to charge for parking at the Courthouse, but can unamimously approve a driving track for county police?

The commissioners make the Parks and Recreation Department run through all kinds of hoops to get funding for a project that would affect thousands of people, and yet, has little comment on projects that affect a few.

“Gaston County may eventually try to recoup some of its investment by approaching other area police departments that will benefit from the track.” — a quote from the Gazette article.

We believe that’s wishful thinking on the part of the county commissioners. Their track record on “investments in the community” is not so good. It seems that it would have been more prudent to secure the collaborations and commitments to use the facility BEFORE approaching the taxpayers for money.

But again, people like Tom Keigher and Mickey Price like to spend OPM (“Other People’s Money”).

(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!