Tuesday, November 17, 2009 — Monday evening's meeting of the Stanly County Commissioners was a short one in minutes spent, but a long one in matters discussed.
Stanly County Extension Agent Lori Ivey presented a short summary of the Stanly County Farmland Protection Plan, then two farm families were represented as they spoke in favor of the plan before the commissioners.
Farmer Franklin Lee from Norwood commented, “Our farmlands are very important to the quality of life we have here in Stanly County. Once farm land goes into an alternative use, it is lost for good.”
Jan Lee Watson said her father moved to Stanly County in 1946 from Anson County, buying farm land on the county line, and if she gets her wish, “it will always be a farm.”
Both Lee and Watson spoke to the strong economic impact of farming on the Stanly County economy and Watson discussed the projections of continued population growth in North Carolina and the need to protect farm land from becoming new sub-divisions.
Next, Carl Helms and Chris Story updated the commissioners on the Community Inn – Stanly County's homeless shelter. Story, who is its director, said that on three occasions he has had to turn people away because the Community Inn was full.
While keeping homeless fed and warm is one goal, assisting them back to a productive life is the deeper goal. To date, two men have been helped with finding jobs in Charlotte and Helms and Story are hoping for financial help from the commissioners to expand their efforts.
Finally, Economic Director Kevin Gullette reported on the Federal Contracting Symposium, The event had 430 people register and 320 attend, all in search of how to do business in part of the economy that is flourishing – the military.
On this seemingly quiet night, there was deep passion for making life in Stanly County better for all of us.
Opinion
Making life better for all
- Opinion
-
-
Shop local, support small businesses
The themes of bringing the community together, offering quality goods and customer service and shopping local were distributed throughout the Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting Monday night.
-
More questions than answers
The community had questions, we worked to provide answers.
-
Your answers are coming
The relicensing process for the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project has been ongoing for several years, and we, like many others have had questions regarding how the process works and what have been the issues surrounding this particular license.
-
Writing a new chapter
2012 promises to be a year of change in the lives of many people. I know it will be a year of change in my life.
-
Building forts
When I was a child, I considered building forts to be one of the most thrilling aspects of creative play.
The earliest “forts” I remember were rings of stuffed animals, dolls and pillows that surrounded me when I went to sleep at night. Mom and Dad would build these forts with me and my siblings at night to keep us from being scared of monsters under the bed or in the closet. They offered a sense of security and became a fun bedtime ritual. -
A bit of good news
Many times we find ourselves focusing on the bad things. We often are accused of only writing negative news, when we actually have both good and bad in every edition.
-
Replacing elections with lotteries
There has to be a better way.
Some of us reached that conclusion after discussing the mess our congressional and legislative governing systems have come to. -
Alcoa Follows Through With Threat
The following release was issued Friday morning by Stanly County Manager Andy Lucas.
-
Cancer deaths on the decline
It’s a disease that has probably touched all of us at some point in our lives — either a relative or someone else close to us have heard the diagnosis.
-
Christmas surprise
My favorite Christmas present this past holiday didn’t come from Santa Claus.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Shop local, support small businesses
