The Weekly Post

Youth Baseball/Softball
Registrations will be January 25-February 19. Registrations cost is $55 for resident and $70 for Non-Resident. The cost includes umpire fees, uniform, & administration.  You can register Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at the Locust Parks & Recreation Center Office 4:00pm-7:30pm or at City Hall Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (Wednesday 8:00 a.m. – 12 p.m.). Games will begin late March and end in June.

Adult Softball Leagues
Registration for Adult All Men & All Women League will be Monday, February 1– Friday, February 26 at Locust Parks & Recreation Center Office Monday, Tuesday, Thursday,
4:00pm-7:30pm.  Cost for the league will be $360. Teams will provide their own balls. All teams must be paid in full by first game.

The  next meeting of the Midland Business Association is Tuesday January 19th.  We will be planning  2010 and putting together goals for the year.  We have accomplished a lot over the years and as we start a new year it is time for us to do more for the community and members.  Much of the meeting will be geared towards planning and focus for going forward.  We have prepared a worksheet to use as part of the discussion piece for Tuesday’s meeting.  Hopefully you can prepare prior to so we can make the most of the time we have together.

Again – this meeting is probably the most important meeting we have had in some time and we need everyone’s input.  If you just can not make it – please take the time to add comments and send them back to me.  If you are not involved in helping to shape the organization – you can’t complain or be negative about the association.  The MBA is only as good as its members and their involvement.

We look forward to seeing you all Tuesday at noon!  Please send this out to everyone you know that has a business or may want to be involved.

The West Stanly Business Association will meet on Wednesday, January 13, noon, at the Crutchfield Campus of SCC in Locust, NC. Lunch is FREE this month, courtesy of First Bank but you must register. Contact group VP Joyce Lavene at The Weekly Post, 704-888-1229 for more information or to register. Speaker will be CPA Todd Swaringen who will be talking about small business and taxes. Dues to join the group are $35.

rime Alert – Larceny from coin machine Oakboro Laundry 01-04-10 5:45PM W/M white hair 40s. On Monday @ 17:45 hrs. A W/M appearing to be in his 40’s allegedly stole coins from a dollar bill changer @ Oakboro Laundry beside Oakboro School. The suspect has white hair and wears glasses sometimes. Any info would be appreciated. 704-485-4214.

Albemarle Middle School has closed because of a faulty furnace today.

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End of Year – December 30 – January – June
By Joyce Lavene
Senior Staff Writer
If there was a catch phrase for 2009, it would probably be ‘do more with less’. The year was a time of loss and fear – of people losing their jobs like leaves falling from the autumn trees. Banks failed and homes were taken. The nation struggled to keep its head above water while  states came up short on budgets and slashed red ink.
Locally, many people fared better than their neighbors. While unemployment rates rose to double digits across the area, residents of Midland, Stanfield, Locust, Red Cross and Oakboro hung tight and  reinvented themselves. They opened new businesses or closed their businesses and went out to work for companies for the first time in years. They made do and gritted their teeth, waiting for the good times that would surely come.
Towns did the same as budgets were cut and schools tried to offset North Carolina taking lottery revenues and tightening its belt. Roads went unpaved for lack of funds and houses ready to sell went unpurchased. For many, 2009 will be a year they remember as the first time they went on food stamps or received other aid from the government.
Yet there were bright sides too, as communities chipped in to keep things going. It was a year of fundraising and hope for a better future as it didn’t seem like things could get worse. But as the year came to a close, there were signs that the worst might be over. Lights at the end of the tunnel beckoned us to believe that we had all been through a rough time but we were looking forward to a brighter year in 2010.
Photos by Joyce and Jim Lavene

No one covers Western Stanly and Southern Cabarrus County like The Weekly Post! 704-888-1229. Photo by Joyce Lavene

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