Mt. Holly

From the Charlotte Observer  

JOE DEPRIEST AND REBECCA SULOCK

Staff Writers

In Gastonia, the city still has plenty of good quality water, but continues to urge conservation, according to Ed Cross, division manager of water supply and treatment.

The city, which has mandatory Stage 2 water restrictions in place, gets its water from Mountain Island Lake and supplies the towns of Cramerton, McAdenville, Lowell, Ranlo and Clover, S.C. Cross said between 80,000 to 100,000 people depend on Gastonia for water.

The biggest impact under a Stage 3 drought would be the banning of outdoor sprinkler systems for lawns, Cross said. All outdoor watering would have to be done by hand-held nozzles.

City of Belmont officials are asking residents to cut back or stop lawn-watering, and to wait to plant or reseed lawns until the region gets significant rainfall, said City Manager Barry Webb. Belmont officials also sent out letter to its top dozen or so water users, including Spartan Dyers and Wal-Mart, letting them know Stage 3 restrictions could be coming and asking for conservation now

Current measures in Gastonia have reduced water usage by 11 percent since August, Cross said. The goal under Stage 2 restrictions is reducing usage by 5 to 10 percent.

“We’re doing relatively well,” Cross said. “But if the drought continues we’ll have to reassess things.”

His biggest concern for a Stage 4 emergency would be going to a water allocation program for residences and businesses.

“That would be phenomenally complicated,” Cross said. “But what else can you do?”

(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!

 Click Here — Not the Picture !

Belmont’s thriving downtown businesses include two places where wine aficionados can seek out their favorites. The Belmont Banner — or “Bannernews” — as it is now called, ran a delightful article about the Emporium on Main, and the new Cork and Candle stores in this week’s issue.

Unfortunately, the Belmont Front Porch cannot link the source article in this case, so we will try as best as we (hiccup) can to describe some of the upcoming events.

Both stores offer wine tasting and can order your favorites. Cork and Candle has a good selection of NC wines. For wine drinkers in the area, each store has knowledgeable sales people and are happy to help your discovery process.