Construction at the intersection of Catawba Avnenue and Hwy. 115 will close the intersection for almost 10 days this month. Installation The 24-inch water line work will require a total closure of the intersection from 10 a.m. Tues., March 16 to about 10 a.m. Thurs., March 25.
The Town Commissioners approved these seven residents as members of the Transportation Advisory Board for 2010: Del Arrendale, Linda Daley, Marilynn Lester, Kurt Naas, Louis Raymond, David Vieser and Woody Washam.
Signs, banners
Cornelius Town Commissioner Lynette Rinker will lead a three-month effort to revamp the town's sign ordinance. Meanwhile, the banner issue will be put on hold. Approval to go ahead with an RFP for design assistance in developing a comprehensive approach to gateway and wayfinding signs was approved Monday night. Commissioner David Gilroy voted against the motion because it was not clear how much would be spent on the assistance.
The Cornelius Police Department and Proshred Security will hold a free Shred-a-Thon 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat., March 20 behind Town Hall. Residents may bring any paper documents to be safely destroyed. The goal is to help protect residents against identity theft by shredding personal documents such as obsolete tax documents, bank statements/cancelled checks, financial statements, insurance documents and business records.
The North Mecklenburg Woman’s Club is offering four $2,000 education scholarships to women age 21 and older who are currently enrolled at, or looking to enter or return to, a North Carolina college at the undergraduate level.
Applicants must reside in Mecklenburg, Iredell or Lincoln counties, and factors that will be considered include financial need, dedication to service in the community, and predicted success in their chosen field. Applications can be obtained at local churches and at the Ada Jenkins Center, the Davidson-Cornelius Day Care Center, Central Piedmont Community College and UNC Charlotte. Deadline: postmarked by March 20. Details: Denise Linerode 704-948-6544.
Rotary Scholarship
The Rotary Club of Lake Norman/Huntersville will award one $1,500 college scholarship to a Lake Norman area high school senior in recognition of his/her community service efforts and achievements. High school principals or scholarship coordinators may nominate two students to apply, and the Lake Norman Rotary Club-Huntersville will select the scholarship recipient from among these applicants. To be eligible a student must be a high school senior graduating in spring semester 2010 with a B average or higher from NorthMecklenburgHigh School, Davidson Day, HopewellHigh School or the SouthlakeChristianAcademy. The applicant must enroll in an accredited college or technical/vocational school for the 2010-11 academic year. Interested high school seniors should inquire about the scholarship and application requirements with their school principal or scholarship coordinator.
Animal licensing required
All dogs, cats and ferrets in Cornelius over 4 months old are required to be licensed as of Jan. 1.The annual license fee for sterile animals is $20, or $50 for a three-year license. All fertile animals are licensed at $50 per year. Residents 65 and older may license sterile pets without fee. Any disabled owner of a spayed or neutered dog that is used for seeing or hearing purposes may obtain a dog license free of charge.
To license an animal, owners should complete a license application available online at www.CorneliusPD.org or www.PetData.com, and mail to the address listed on the form, along with payment, pet’s rabies vaccination certificate, and proof of spay/neuter if not indicated on rabies certificate. Details: 877-730-6348 or www.petdata.com.
Health-field scholarships
The Volunteer Auxiliary of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville is taking applications for eight $2,000 academic/ need-based scholarships to be awarded to graduating high school seniors in the hospital’s service area. Applications available through local school guidance counselors or email ScholarsLNRMC@aol.com. Candidates must complete application and provide documentation of acceptance into accredited healthcare education program. Deadline is April 1.
Senior softball tournament
The Cornelius and Huntersville Parks and Recreation Departments will offer Senior Softball in the Lake Norman area again this spring for adults age 50 and better. The Ralph Lambert Senior Softball League of Lake Norman games will be played on Wednesday nights and will consist of a 10-game regular season with an end of the season tournament. Registration is through March 12, with a Skills Day 9 a.m. March 13 at Torrence Chapel Park in Cornelius. A Players Meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. March 10 at the Huntersville Parks and Recreation Department, 12600 Old Statesville Road, Huntersville. The cost is $30 for residents; $45 for non-residents. Registration, details: 704-896-2460 ext. 160.
Hospital junior volunteers
Applications are available for the summer junior volunteer program with the Volunteer Auxiliary of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, Mooresville. The program is for high school students in grades 9-11. Applications may be obtained 8 a.m.-4 p.m. from the Visitor Desk at the hospital’s main Visitor Entrance or online at www.LNRMC.com (go to careers; volunteer opportunities; junior volunteer application) and at high school guidance departments. Application deadline is March 29; interviews will be held in April. Details: Bette Weese, 704-528-1737 or Amico Colaianni, 704-660-3574.
Don’t you love to tell stories? What fun we have as families, friends and neighbors telling stories. Some stories poke fun at others. Some stories may stretch the truth. Some stories are downright lies. Some are helpful; some are not. Some help us dig deep into the depths of our souls. There are poignant ones, beautiful ones, silly ones, thoughtful ones. Some are melancholy, ugly, historical or hysterical. Others are spiritual, secular or sorrowful. Some have no point at all, others help us to learn, to teach us about our ancestors, help us to grasp our roots, give us wings to fly or keep us grounded.
The last issue of Silver Threads asked the question “What is your truth” and began the explanation of how to embark upon a journey of frank and honest discovery. This issue will focus on something called “Core Beliefs.” When you can tap into your core beliefs you will easily locate your truth. What is a core belief?
Jack Conard: To long-time residents, “old” Cornelius is simply “Cornelius”
By Dave Yochum
If the past informs the future, as the saying goes, then we should be more careful about what’s left of Cornelius history. It’s fast disappearing in big ways and more subtle ways. For example, the correct way to pronounce “Jetton” (as in Jetton Road) is J’tun with the accent on the second syllable. In light of the extraordinary increase in our population, the number of long-timers who know how to say the family name are minuscule compared to the number of newcomers who say J’ton, rhymes with on.
But there’s a difference, and it’s an important, since it matters how one’s name is pronounced. One should be aware that long-time, multi-generation residents of Cornelius refer to the old part of town as Cornelius; newcomers, of course, refer to the original Cornelius as “Old Cornelius.”
Generations of Mount Zion Methodist kids knew there was at least one spring back behind the outdoor sanctuary where Revolutionary War soldiers slaked their thirst. It was plowed over earlier this year by the developers of Antiquity.
Distinguished gathering: Men of Smithville many years ago. Can you identify any?
Look on an old map and you’ll see Bethel Church Road was called River Road before Duke Power dammed the Catawba River.
James E. “Jack” Conard Jr. knows all these things well. He lives in a house built sometime before 1905, the year Cornelius was incorporated. He grew up playing up and down Main Street, and hiking down River Road with the Boy Scout troop at Mount Zion.
More importantly, he is one of a handful of people actively trying to preserve the town’s past. He has thousands of old photos filed away, preserved as best he can in the confines of his own makeshift museum, a house that looks like it could suffer in a stiff breeze.
But it’s home and it has been home to members of the family for three generations. Almost every square inch of the interior walls are decorated with old photos and magazine covers and even calendars from car dealers in the Packard era.
The kitchen is the nerve center of this combination research lab, archeology exhibit and art show. Conard is the curator, having started as a boy collecting this and that, a church bulletin here, an old newspaper there. He researches families through graveyards, census data and personal interviews.
1944: Atwell Motor Co. calendar
He stores electronic images of photos on a personal computer, next to a phone, a flatbed scanner and a view of his back yard, the scene of many Labor Day parties. There is no air conditioning, but thanks to screen doors and full-grown trees, the house is comfortable. He turns WDAV off when opera kicks in on Saturday.
On a recent summer morning Conard is excited to learn that a member of one of the oldest families in Cornelius is still quite alive, albeit in a nursing home in Charlotte. He is making plans to visit her, with photos in need of proper names and a little background.
“What I’m working on mainly is getting names on pictures, stories on people, who was married to who and who worked where,” Conard says. Fascinating stories abound. The scion of a plantation family, Clifton Eugene Smith, saw to it that black families had sufficient land for their own community, now known as Smithville.
Conard’s father moved here from Thomasville and worked for the sheriffs department for many years. James E. Conard was part of the Mecklenburg County rural police in the 1950s.
Jack Conard Jr. remembers the Confederate Reunion held for decades on the grounds of Mount Zion the first week in August. Once the last Civil War reunion was held in 1949, a carnival came every year, setting up on the ball field near Legion Street. Like most every youngster in Cornelius, Conard would save money all summer and spend every penny when the carnival was in town.
Halloween came next and the seven Caldwell sisters went all out. Conard says they dressed up like witches and served hot chocolate from an old cauldron in front of their house on North Main where Patrick Joseph & Associates is now located. Out of the seven sisters, only two were married, so the tradition lasted many years. Christmas was a quieter affair, with the annual Christmas parade being a newer phenomenon.
Conard says the parade started in the late 1980s, when he started wanting to preserve Cornelius history. In 1989, he began meeting with a group of Cornelius people who have breakfast every Saturday at a fast-food restaurant and visit with each other. Now, 20 years later, some are in their 80s and Conard himself is 62 and not particularly well. He has recently had quadruple bypass surgery. Recovery has been slow.
Conard still goes, despite a cough that indicates fluid in his longs. “It’s a good way for me to ask them questions about things I can’t remember. There are less and less of the old timers around here anymore,” he says.
Time is running out to collect the stories and photos and put them in a safe place. Some people want Conard’s photo collection to go to Davidson College. Some have suggested UNC-Charlotte, which has appropriate preservation capabilities.
It’s been a two-decade labor of love. What happens if he is hit by a car tomorrow? “No telling,” Conard says. He and his mother (“Don’t mention her name or she’ll be mad.”) are the only members of the family left.
“There’s no way to preserve anything anymore,” he says.
History in Cornelius
While there is a small historical exhibit at Cornelius Town, some serious history is collected in the “Smith History Room,” a sizable collection at Mount Zion Methodist Church. Named for Miriam Whisnant’s parents, Mary Reid Smith and Clifton Eugene Smith — the benefactor of Smithville, the collection is open to the public by appointment.
Mrs. Whisnant, who spent five years on the Historical Commission, says the huge influx of people from other parts of the country means there’s less interest in town history than there might be. Everyone’s sense of roots is somewhere else, it seems.
Indeed, a proper town museum is not high on the agenda at Town Hall.
The first step toward a town museum is to collect “all of our treasures and stories, so as not to lose them,” says Mayor Jeff Tarte. “We need to find a place of safe keeping until we can publicly display them at some future date. We need somebody to step forward and take on this critically important task.”
To visit the Smith History Room, call Mount Zion at 704-892-8566.
North Mecklenburg Republican Women will host U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick at a dinner meeting Mon., April 12 at NorthStone Club, 15801 Northstone Dr., Huntersville. The only woman to serve as mayor of Charlotte, Rep. Myrick is also the first Republican woman elected to the U.S. Congress from North Carolina. Tickets, by reservation, are $20 and can be made by emailing nomeckrw@gmail.com. Registration begins at 6 p.m., buffet dinner 6:30 p.m. Open to the public. Details: Mary Lou Richardson, nomeckrw@gmail.com.
New exhibit, gallery crawl
The Cornelius Department of Parks, Arts, Recreation and Culture along with The Community Arts Project presents a new exhibit of selected works by artists Jhony Meneses and Gustavo Ortiz at the Cornelius Arts Center gallery through April 30.
An artists’ reception will be held 6-9:30 p.m. Fri., April 16 in conjunction with the Annual Gallery Crawl at the Cornelius Arts Center, 19725 Oak St.
Ada Jenkins fundraiser
The FIRE 5K race and FIRE Bar-B-Que will be held Sat., April 17 in Davidson. $25 race registration fee; $35 the day of the event. Registration 8 a.m., race start 10 a.m. Race tickets include choice of: 1 pound of BBQ, ¼ pound of BBQ and fixings, up to five samples from BBQ competitors or restaurant.
The FIRE Bar-B-Que at the Ada Jenkins Center features cook-off competitions, restaurants, celebrities, music and entertainment for children. BBQ will be served 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Drive-thru take-away meals available. Tickets $10; can be purchased at the Ada Jenkins Center or online at www.adajenkins.org/fire/.
Details on BBQ competition: Georgia Krueger or Natisha Rivera, 704-896-0471.
Race details: www.queencitytiming.com. Click on the Race Calendar and then scroll until you see the Ada Jenkins 5K event.
Great Chili Cook Off
The Rotary Clubs of Mooresville and Troutman will host their second annual charity chili cook off 11.m.-5 p.m. Sat., Sept. 25 at Mooresville Town Square. Proceeds from the event will benefit Our Towns Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, Mooresville Christian Mission, Mooresville Soup Kitchen, Health Reach and other non-profit organizations. Chili cookers from around the area are invited to vie for the best chili recipe in town. In addition to the chili cook off and tasting, there will be music, games, demonstrations, booths and displays. Details: tcox@ourtownshabitat.org.
Habitat Car Show
The third annual Habitat for Humanity Car Show hosted by Our Towns Habitat for Humanity will be held 2-6 p.m. Sun., April 18 in the Habitat ReStore parking lot, 20414 N. Main St., Cornelius. Proceeds from the event will benefit Our Towns Habitat for Humanity’s Youth United group. Youth United fully funds and builds a new home every other year. They currently are building their fourth home, which should be completed by May. Admission is free; raffle tickets, $5. Show entry fees are $20 for early registration; $25 on the day of the event. The event will include food, raffle prizes, a DJ and entertainment. Details: 704-896-8957 ext. 1120 or kate@ourtownshabitat.org.
Concert, mission fair at Mt. Zion
Mick and the Ultras will perform 1 p.m. Sun., May 16 on the front lawn of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in conjunction with the Mt. Zion Mission Fair. Bring a blanket and a picnic and enjoy the fellowship and classic rock and blues music. Free; freewill offering will be taken.
LKN Kiwanis pancake breakfast is March 13
The Lake Norman Kiwanis will hold their annual pancake breakfast Saturday March 13 starting at 8 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of Huntersville. Tickets to the annual charity event, which includes a full breakfast, raffle and silent auction, are $6. Proceeds benefit the Ada Jenkins Center in Davidson. The church is at 119 Old Statesville Road. For more info: arcieroa@bellsouth.net or tim@callmaestro.com
Raise the Roof
A benefit will be held 7-10 p.m. Sat., March 20 at the home of Ron & Amie Carroll, 171 Washam Rd., Mooresville to raise money for repairs to the roof of the HealthReach Community in Mooresville. The clinic is the only free clinic in Iredell County that provides health services to residents of Mooresville, Troutman and Mt. Mourne who do not qualify for public assistance and have no other healthcare options. Tickets are $100 per person and remittance or donations can be made to HealthReach Community Clinic, PO Box 1265, Mooresville, NC 28115.
Free Session on Bankruptcy
United Family Services, with an office in Cornelius, is holding a free discussion on “Bankruptcy Myths and Realities” on Mon., April 19. The 90-minute session starts at 6:30 p.m. at the North County Regional Library, 16500 Holly Crest Lane in Huntersville. The speaker is Beth Carter, a bankruptcy attorney with The McIntosh Law Firm in Davidson. Carter will provide explanations on what to expect if you file for bankruptcy, when someone should consider bankruptcy, and other options to explore. Details: Kathryn Firmin-Sellers at: 704-655-8745.
The fourth annual Lake Norman Senior Fun and Fitness Day will be held Tuesday April 20 starting at 10 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to walk around Jetton Park and also participate in special activities at 15 pre-arranged stations, including basketball free throw, football toss and golf chipping.
The second Annual Guns & Hoses Charity Softball Game will be held 1 p.m. Sat., April 10 at Torrence Chapel Park, 21309 Torrence Chapel Rd. Proceeds will benefit the Jeff Shelton and Sean Clark Memorial Parks. Sponsorships available and all donations accepted. Bring the family for food, fun and a good cause. Details: Cale Ervin, 704-728-9587 or Sgt. George Brinzey, 704-892-1363.
Miss Race City USA
The Mooresville-South Iredell Chamber of Commerce will hold the third annual Miss Race City USA Scholarship Pageant 7 p.m. May 15 in the Roland R. Morgan Auditorium at MooresvilleSenior High School. Winners will be selected in two categories: Between the ages of 13-16 years, Race Teen Princess; and between the ages of 17- 24 years, Miss Race CityUSA. Applications are available at the MSI Chamber of Commerce, 149 E. Iredell Ave., Mooresville or by emailing missracecityusa@yahoo.com or calling 704-664-3898. All applications must be received by April 15. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 students, children under 3 no charge. The pageant is held on the same day as the Race City Festival, an outdoor street fair 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in downtown Mooresville.
Marina/Boating Safety Day
The second annual Marina/Boating Safety Day at the Peninsula Yacht Club will be held 1-5 p.m. Sat., May 15. The event – with demonstrations, children’s activities, boating displays and opportunities to speak with representatives from organizations – is open to the public. The organizations include: Mecklenburg County Lake Patrol, Sea Tow of Lake Norman, Coast Guard Auxiliary, United States Sail and Power Squadron, Cornelius Fire Department, Light House Marine Service and Sea Ray of Lake Norman. Details: 704-895-8996, ext. 28.
For Dana Peterson, the new Loaded Baked Potato Chowder recipe from The Pampered Chef hits the spot. Peterson is a sales director for The Pampered Chef, and joined the company shortly after moving Cornelius in the mid-1990s. “I always thought I was a pretty good cook,” she says, and having a flexible schedule was ideal for the mother of three young boys.
Those in favor were Robert E. and Kathryn Kunkleman and children Deborah, who is now a teacher in Union County; Greg, a real estate lawyer in Charlotte; and Dan, who has worked with his parents since 1985.
Aquesta Insurance has officially opened its office in Cabarrus County, having acquired OTC-The Lake Insurance, which had already purchased Kannapolis General Insurance on Dale Earnhardt Boulevard and Davis General Insurance on South Union in Concord. The Cabarrus offices were consolidated into 1,500 square feet of space in Copperfield Commons in Concord. Insurance agencies have been snapped up by banks and larger insurance agencies during the economic downturn. OTC-The Lake was based in Cornelius as a unit of Oswald Trippe and Co. Inc. of Fort Myers, Fla.
When using the Lake Norman Regional Bike route, be mindful that you are sharing the road with cars. Wear a helmet and use hand signals when turning.
Don’t worry about air pollution or auto emissions, they’re more of an issue in congested urban settings.
The Centralina Council of Governments has organized a regional bicycle plan for the Lake Norman area, running through Cornelius, Davidson, Mooresville and even Denver.
Boxed wine, instead of bottled, is becoming all the rage for environmental reasons.
With more and more wineries offering organic varieties to lower their eco-footprint, it's no surprise that they're looking at the environmental impacts of their packaging as well. The making of conventional glass bottles (and the corks that cap them) uses significant quantities of natural resources and generates considerable pollution.
