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For the first time, the Post is inviting its readers to vote on the top 10 stories of the year.
You can cut out the list and put the numbers beside it, or you can write down your list. And you can vote in several ways:
- If you use the mail, send it to Top 10 2000, Box 4639, Salisbury, NC 28145-4639.
- You can fax your ballot to 639-0003.
- Or you can vote by e-mail. Send your electronic ballot to
fdeloache@salisburypost.com
or go to our Web site — www.salisburypost.com/
— and follow instructions to respond in an online poll.
[Note to website
visitors: Click on any of the stories below to go
directly to the voting section for that story or click
here to vote off the Salisbury Post website]
Just vote for 10 stories — giving your top vote a 10. Your second best story would get 9, third gets 8, etc. You don’t need to sign your ballot. Just return it by Wednesday to the Post.
Remember — read the entire ballot. They are not necessarily listed in chronological order:
1. Lexington man kills Davidson County Sheriff’s deputy when officer tries to serve him with warrant. Man leads deputies on chase, finally killing himself before capture.
2. F&M Bank strikes deal with the county to buy Main Street property, which will become its new headquarters. F&M plans to open Easy Street corridor to rear garden and donates second building to Waterworks Visual Arts Center.
3. Parents of North Rowan Middle School students come to school board warning that school is out of control and begging for help. Under school board’s pressure, Superintendent Dr. Joe McCann assigns extra personnel to school for discipline. Principal Dr. Lamont Foster soon gets transfer, and parents praise Vicki Booker, the new principal, for turning school around.
4. China Grove town board becomes embroiled in police department feud, debate about annexation, the cost of repairing its water and sewer systems and plague of metal-eating squirrels.
5. Jim Graham, the Sodfather, longest serving state commissioner of agriculture in America, finally retires. He gets a highway (part of U.S. 70) and a building at the county fair named for him. He’s subject of a butter sculpture at the state fair and many goodbye banquets.
6. N.C. Rep. Richard Moore of Kannapolis decides not to seek re-election and then faces indictment on six felonies. He suddenly pleads guilty to several counts of inappropriate sexual conduct with former students. He opens a Blimpie sub shop.
7. Construction falls behind on Southeast Middle School. Contractor replaces construction superintendent, but school opens with student body split between other, overcrowded middle schools. Finally, school opens on Oct. 11.
8. Chamber of Commerce and other county economic groups knock down old building and spend year erecting new Gateway center at the entrance to Salisbury on Innes Street.
9. After an emotional, two-week trial, jury acquits Kathy Miller of murdering her father, Leon Wilson Jr., after he accused her of stealing from him.
10. District Court Judge Ted Blanton draws a lot of attention when he held workers finishing new courtrooms in his jury box for several hours, costing county money. Then mother complains that he had no right to put her out-of-control daughter in a dog kennel at the courthouse.
11. Redistricting divides the school board, the county and a special redistricting committee. Salisbury wants to fill its vacancies, but students at West and South don’t want to change schools. Some say race is the issue. Others say close Salisbury and build new school where the students are. Voters defeat Salisbury advocate Vick
Bost, who unsuccessfully tried to engineer redistricting plan.
12. Department of Social Services board member Lee Clement Piper hosts New Year’s Eve party for her daughter and daughter’s friends and gets busted when police find beer and liquor and one teen passed out on a bed. Piper is convicted, but state board refuses county commission’s demand to remove her.
13. Almost 2,000 people lose jobs or are laid off, and Rowan loses several industries, including Ball Corp., Federal Mogul and Color-Tex. Freightliner lays off a third of its work force, and Pillowtex closes it Park Avenue neighborhood plant, idles workers for weeks and finally files for bankruptcy after CEO Chuck Hansen leaves. State officials open investigation of Color-Tex, which withheld money for employees’ health and life insurance but allowed the policies to lapse. Rowan unemployment highest in the state in November.
14. In February, Dr. Burnett Joiner suddenly resigns from Livingstone College, prompting student protests on Founder’s Day. Neither Joiner nor the college will talk about the cause, and by the end of the year, the college still has no replacement. Meanwhile, group of white professors sue the college for discrimination, and Hood Seminary gets church approval to operate independently.
15. East Spencer becomes one of the first towns in the state to privatize its entire operation. Town employees immediately fired, and questions arise about the firm’s method of adding mark-ups (70 percent in one case) to town invoices. The firm, Business Partners, takes back mark-up in question.
16. Freedman’s Cemetery Committee invites 1,500 artists to propose design for memorial. Sixty-seven respond, and committee finally picks artist Jerome Meadows, who splits his time between Washington, D.C. and Savannah.
17. For the second time, state report says Rowan’s roads are the worst in the state. Committees meet, Rep. Charlotte Gardner tries unsuccessfully to change funding formula and Lorene Coates, campaigning on bad roads platform, defeats her in November election.
18. State fines Solite $40,000 for emissions of mercury and hydrogen chloride, and high levels of arsenic found near Stanly County plant. State officials begin testing residents for mercury, but those prove negative. Under pressure, Solite agrees to stop burning what the state considers hazardous wastes, though used motor oil is OK.
19. Cooleemee group launches campaign to buy land and create RiverPark at the
Bullhole. The park group and Davie County join forces to battle South Yadkin Power Co. over use of the dam near the
bullhole.
20. Carolina Power & Light changes plans for power plant to include two combined cycle turbines that recycle steam and will run more often. That pushes record investment to $400 million, and construction begins.
21. Want To Be A VJ contest draws national attention to Spencer and the Transportation Museum and probably doubles the population of the town for one rainy night and day, as young people from all over take their chance at MTV stardom. Student from University of North Carolina at Charlotte is one of two winners and goes on to win runner-up in the national contest.
22. Delhaize America completes $3.5-billion purchase of Hannaford Bros. Critics say that was too much, and stock suffers despite reverse split. Ralph Ketner and others then howl when Delhaize Group proposes buying out the rest of the American company’s outstanding stock — with its own stock. Salisbury’s Bill McCanless gets seat on Group’s board in Belgium.
23. Animals everywhere. Metal-eating squirrels drive China Grove residents and aldermen crazy. Bears pop up in Richfield, Rockwell and Old Beatty Ford Road. And runaway emu is found.
24. Local residents, especially veterans, observe two significant milestones: 25th anniversary of the Vietnam War and, later, the 50th anniversary of the Korean War.
25. Pedestrian bridge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway collapses onto U.S. 29 as fans leave race, injuring more than 100 people, three critically. Tests show acidic grout corroded metal cables, and lawsuits ensue. New bridge opens before big race in the fall.
26. Water! We must have water! Drought conditions again show historic weakness of Kannapolis, Landis and China Grove supplies. All three invoke mandatory water restrictions. Finally, Salisbury and county — as part of deal to supply CP&L plant —reach agreement to cooperate on building lines to supply south Rowan.
27. Rowan-Salisbury Schools Supt. Dr. Joe McCann announces in June that he’ll retire at the end of the year, after getting giant raise that many considered a buyout. School board launches a largely secret search and finally hires Alexander County Superintendent Dr. Wiley
Doby.
28. Led by former Salisbury resident and now Raleigh psychiatrist Rick Weisler, Milford Hills residents organize in outrage over news that the state found well water contaminated years ago near the APAC asphalt plant. Turns out that plant was one of many in the state where the Department of Transportation had its own testing labs and dumped solvents on the ground. State and federal officials investigate, but state tests show contamination in only one well. State says it will clean up water with molasses. City Council considering downzoning the Associated Asphalt/Inman terminal to prevent further expansion, and Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League promises to support the residents.
29. Tied to an oxygen tank and committed by judge, 83-year-old veteran Johnnie Reid comes to the Hefner VA Medical Center on Aug. 3. In an examining room, he pulls a gun and shoots Dr. Charles Flynn in the heart. He keeps shooting, and guards finally kill him in a hail of gunfire. Incident prompts stricter security at all VA centers; VA honors four with awards of valor. Sheriff’s deputy who didn’t search Reid for a gun resigns.
30. After eight-month battle, county strikes deal with Level 3, a worldwide communications company that wants to use part of Plantation Pipeline but pay residents and the county little for right of way. Price goes from $1 to $12 a foot, and Level 3 agrees that landowners must approve any other use of the pipe.
31. Supreme Court knocks down prayer at high school athletic events, though school bands and choruses continue to use religious themes. East Rowan student organizes two community meetings in support of prayer in schools.
32. Granite Quarry convulses. Fire chief and most of volunteers, including one alderman, saying the town board didn’t support them. Board gets new chief, a Salisbury firefighter, and new volunteers and preserves its insurance rating.
33. Entire nation mourns the death of Lakeina Francis and 15 other sailors killed by terrorist bombing of the USS Cole. Rowan community mourns with the Francis family, which has deep roots in
Woodleaf, and supports them as they bury their daughter at National Cemetery annex.
34. The Intimidators kick the Boll Weevils out of Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium. Dale Earnhardt and Bruton Smith, president of the company that owns Lowe’s Motor Speedway, promise big doings as NASCAR joins up with baseball.
35. Election 2000 produces big upsets and changes: Lorene Coates unseats Charlotte Gardner. Gus Andrews leads county commission ticket, and Leda Belk retires Newton Cohen. Martha West and David Aycoth bring new blood to the school board; Salisbury advocate Vick Bost is out. Soil and Water provides election drama with recount switching victor by 3 votes. Cal Cunningham beats Scott Keadle in bitterly-contested state senate race where residency question persists. Robin Hayes easily beats Mike Taylor, and the whole world holds its breath for presidential drama.
36. Masked gunmen shoot and rob couple that own A-OK Mart in Salisbury, leaving neighborhood near Salisbury High School fearful. Pralhad Patel dies, and his wife,
Kunjbala, survives only because small caliber bullet ricochets off her skull. No arrests yet.
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