The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch until 9 pm this evening for the following counties: Mecklenburg, Union, Stanly, Cabarrus, Anson, Cleveland, Davie, Rowan, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln,
Uwharrie Capital Corp, a multibank holding company that owns Bank of Stanly, Cabarrus Bank & Trust, and Anson Bank & Trust, announced it will merge all its banks into one single bank.
“The business model for how banks have operated in the past is no longer viable,” said Roger Dick, President & CEO of Uwharrie Capital Corp. “The multibank structure is an expensive model to operate in that it requires each bank and brand to be independently supported. This takes away resources and efficiencies in operations that can better be focused on supporting our customers and the communities in which we operate.”
Uwharrie Capital Corp has operated under the multibank structure since 2000. One of the drivers of this decision, according to Dick, is the effect of the burden of thousands of pages of new banking regulations and the associated additional expense to the industry. Small, independent banks are seeing their operating costs rise sharply while at the same time new regulations have reduced traditional sources of income.
As an example, Dick offered a bank checking account. Consumers have enjoyed little or no-cost checking accounts and free debit cards for decades.
“Checking accounts are one of the most expensive products for a bank to offer. Those costs are not obvious to the public for many reasons,” said Dick. Continue reading
The West Stanly Rotary club, in conjunction with Live again Ministries are stepping up to help provide assistance to needy families around the world.
Centuries-old cooking methods in Latin America and other countries across the globe have been killing people, literally. The old method uses an open fire in an enclosed area. The result is that in Latin America alone, 4 million burns are reported annually and respiratory illnesses from the smoke are the leading causes of death
in children under five. Smoke from open cooking fires kills more than four times as many people as malaria. Daily cooking is the equivalent to smoking three packs of cigarettes a day for mothers and young children.
Ecostoves, known as ecocinas in Spanish, provide a safe and efficient cooking system. The unit is enclosed and 99 percent of the toxic smoke is eliminated. Where they are being used, the results have been phenomenal: dramatic reduction in burns, respiratory, eye and skin problems, reduction of carbon emissions and particulate matter by 70 percent, they are portable and quick-cooking, requiring no installation or chimney, reduction in use of wood for fuel by more than 50 percent, are built from all local materials such as concrete, pumice and tile, provide local jobs in sustainable factories, and are adapted to local cooking methods. Continue reading
Approximately 77 million babies were born in the U.S. during the “boom” years of 1946-1964, and beginning in January 2006, the first boomers turned 60. The baby boomer generation is the largest popula- tion group with one in four Americans born during the time period. O.A.S.I.S., Older Adult Services in Stanly, provides the baby boomer generation and anyone over the age of 60 in Stanly County with services to help maintain independence and dignity, and they are need in volunteers.
O.A.S.I.S. was established in 1995 and for nearly two decades has provided a wide range of services to the older adults in the county to “help maintain indepen- dence and dignity, prevent premature nursing home admittance, and enhance the quality of life through interfaith volunteers from area congregations.
During the economic downturn beginning in 2008, many businesses closed their doors, but agriculture at the county, state, and national level has continued to be a leading industry despite the hindrances of a fail- ing economy. This month, elected officials, county boards, and business leaders in Stanly County will get an up-close look at the world of agriculture and how local farms have not only stayed in operation but have continued to be successful, while on the Stanly County Ag Tour.
Through the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Services of Stanly County, attendees will tour Muddy Boots Farms, Rolling Hills Gin, and Hardy Creek Farms to hear from local farmers on their operations, success, and future endeavors. Continue reading
“I make a motion to suspend all public activity in the park building other than the senior lunch pending a review of the building by the county health inspector,” said Council member David Walker after coming out of executive session at the Locust City Council April meeting Thursday evening.
During the parks period of the meeting, Tate Osborne, Parks and Recreation supervisor, informed the council of a structural engineering report that had been made on the Locust Community Building citing structural damage, beetle infestations in the ceiling, drainage issues, and flooring problems to name a few. The damage caused by the beetles cannot be determined fully, said Osborne, until the ceiling is taken down. The council will ask the Stanly County Building Inspection Department to inspect the building for further information on the safety and liability of allowing continued use in the current conditions.
Osborne told the council there may be “real problems” if events had more than 30 people, in concentrated spots, in attendance but said it was hard to determine the problem’s expanse.
“Right decisions are seldom easy,” said city administrator Tim Fesperman. “We don’t have a choice.”
“If the building inspector comes back with a different answer, we will readdress,” said Walker.
“We are in a dilemma because people depend on that for food,” added Fesperman citing the senior lunch program hosted at the community building. The council discussed alternate ways to temporarily house the afternoon senior lunches until a more permanent situation could be attained, but no official decisions were made at the meeting.
The council meeting has been recessed until Wednesday, April 24 at 7pm for a budget meeting.
For more information and details on the council meeting, pick up next week’s copy of the Weekly Post.
At the end of September, Stanly County Chamber President and CEO Tom Ramseur will say farewell as he begins his retirement and ends his time at the Stanly Chamber.
“Tom has been good for our Chamber, working extremely hard to bring our community of businesses together,” said current Board Chair Bill Lawhon, Bank of Stanly President, in a press release.
In the next six months, Ramseur will work with a search committee to fill the positions he will be leaving behind. After the positions are filled, the new President and CEO will work together with Ramseur for a couple months to insure a smooth transition. The chamber will begin posting information on the position soon.
Ramseur became the President and CEO of the chamber in January 2006 and will retire with more than 20 years work- ing for a chamber. From 1988 to 2001, Ramseur led the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce as President and CEO. He has worked in fundraising and development for private schools as well as churches, and served as Vice Presi- dent of Sales and Marketing for Technologies Edge in Concord. Continue reading
The Stanly County Chamber of Commerce, local business leaders, and patients joined the staff of Jordan Family Dentistry in a ribbon-cutting and open house celebration last Friday afternoon.
“This part of the country is in the center of everything. We are a great small com- munity that is closer to bigger cities and close to the mountains and to the coast. There is no reason why people shouldn’t want to do business here and live here, I hope your business takes off and is very successful,” said Bill Lawhone, Stanly County Chamber Board Chair and Bank of Stanly President.
Dr. Sherrill Jordan and her staff, Gina McGrew, office manager, and Danielle Almond, dental hygienist, opened the practice in September 2012. The practice is located at 4385 Hwy. 24/27 East, Suite B in the Presnell Business Park in Midland.
“We have been blessed to be here for six months. I could not have done it without Gina and Danielle, they have been with me the whole time. We have learned together and we have had wonderful patients and we look forward to years and years of being the hometown dentist here,” said Jordan.
Residents look at their property and the potential changes that may occur from resurveying with Paul Reynolds, GIS Administrator of the Stanly County GIS. PHOTOS BY MICHELLE WATERS
Stanly County residents were invited to attend an informal drop-in community meeting Monday evening to discuss future changes to their properties during a two-year county line survey between Stanly and Cabarrus counties.
More than 120 properties on the Cabarrus and Stanly counties line may be affected soon. The county line, which was established in 1762 from Mecklenburg and Anson counties, has never defined a clear border between the two counties.
According to J. Brent Weisner, Cabarrus County Tax Administrator, the board of commissioners have requested the North Carolina Geodetic Survey to aid the county in establishing the boundaries in 1994, 1997, 1999, and have completed their work and are now ready to survey and set monuments on the new line. The entire process could take up to two years.
“There is a common boundary between us, but historically no one has really known where it was. We have been operating with two different county lines,” said Weisner at a Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners meeting in February. “Stanly County has a county line and Cabarrus County has a county line. Sometimes they have crossed over each other and sometimes there has been a gap between the two of them and fortunately those gaps have not been very large.” Continue reading