Sept. 11 a date no one will forget

Sept. 11, 2001.

It changed us along with the rest of the world.

And the Salisbury Post news staff overwhelmingly picked terrorist attacks and the shock wave they triggered as the biggest local story of 2001.

Some might wonder if you can consider such an event local. But we contributed local names and headlines to that worldwide tragedy.

At least one Salisbury native, Todd Isaac, who worked on the 103rd floor of one of the twin towers in New York, perished in that act of madness. Others with Salisbury ties were near the towers or the Pentagon on that fateful morning.

Volunteers from Salisbury went with a Baptist Men’s feeding team to the Pentagon to provide hot meals for the emergency workers toiling around the clock to move the wreckage.

We sent banners and letters with condolences, contributions and many pints of blood.

But not all the news was in New York, Washington and the Pennsylvania countryside.

Hundreds of local residents attended rallies in Salisbury and Kannapolis honoring the dead and those who died trying to help others.

As we showed solidarity with other Americans, we also shared their fears.

We evacuated local post offices because of anthrax scares, and residents had to endure longer waits at airports because of increased security.

From the schools to the courthouse, leaders acted to make our public institutions more secure.

Then, we watched as local residents went to war in or near Afghanistan, and we tried to learn more about Islam, and as in previous wars, local Muslim groups asked us not to tar them with a broad brush.

Even as the year ends, we wait to see what happens next.

We also reflect back on other momentous stories that shaped 2001. Here’s how the Post news staffers — only those who have been here since Jan. 1 — voted:

2. Dale Earnhardt

In February, a split second of speed meeting concrete sent people around the world looking on maps for the city of Kannapolis — home of sports legend Dale Earnhardt.

Earnhardt’s tragic death proved what NASCAR fans already knew, that he was one of the South’s most powerful sports figures.

The outpouring of grief came from all over the world. Overnight, fans began creating a shrine at Earnhardt’s race-car business on N.C. 136 between Kannapolis and Mooresville. People wrote letters and poetry and brought their children by so they’d remember.

About 4,500 people turned out for a memorial service at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium. And a quickly formed committee, including the mayor and several council members, hired a sculptor to create permanent monument; now they only have to raise the money.

3. Drought

Though we’ve all enjoyed the late rains of December, 2001 may still go down as the driest year since records have been kept.

From January to December, water — the lack of it — was never far from the minds of Rowan County residents, particularly in the southern part of the county.

The drought has gripped us for several years now, and as 2001 began, Rowan County commissioners and Salisbury officials started talking in January about extending a water line from Salisbury to China Grove, Landis and Kannapolis, whose lakes have been hit the hardest. Even though county and municipal officials signed a historic agreement to send water south — the ceremony had the feel of an armistice — the pipes and pumps won’t be ready until the middle of 2002.

So China Grove, Landis and Kannapolis remained on tough water-use restrictions, and the two south Rowan towns even faced the possibility of ordering businesses closed.

Finally, Charlotte came through with a promise of water from the Catawba River, after Landis installed a pump to bring the water through a Kannapolis line.

4. Economy

Rowan County’s economic woes continued, as the rest of the country finally conceded the Recession of 2001.

Pillowtex, already in bankruptcy court, and Freightliner, which already had eliminated more than 1,000 jobs here, idled thousands of workers for weeks at a time.

Finally, Pillowtex closed Plant 4, eliminated 390 jobs at Plant 1 and sold or closed plants in other cities.

Fuchs, a manufacturer of electric-arc furnaces and related industrial equipment, finally closed its Salisbury plant.

The county’s unemployment rate hit 11.4 percent, the highest rate in decades, though it later dropped again. Still, the local and state rates were increasing again by the end of the year.

Local nonprofit agencies reported being overwhelmed by people who need help with their utility and food bills. And when the Altrusa Club helped give out bulk food in December, people start lining up at 4 a.m.

5. East Spencer

After repeatedly warning the Board of Aldermen, state officials finally took over financial control of East Spencer, which they say is in the worst shape of any town in North Carolina.

State officials made the move after county officials agreed to help with accounting and other personnel services, and Salisbury agreed to help with utility services.

But the state’s actions don’t resolve the many questions that remain about East Spencer’s finances. The FBI has acknowledged it was investigating town records, and a private group of citizens, led by retired nurse Erma Jefferies, sued the town board and the private company the town hired to conduct much of town business.

The citizens’ group said the town had withheld reams of financial documents, one reason state officials were having a hard time piecing together the town’s financial record.

Jefferies and her group had the final word, though. In November, East Spencer residents elected Jefferies and a like-minded slate of candidates to lead the board.

6. (tie) Elizabeth Dole

After all these years of running as an underdog, Salisbury native daughter Elizabeth Dole finally appears to be the leading candidate to fill the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

Dole came home and officially registered as a voter in her hometown, after years of voting as a Kansan with her husband, Bob.

Though there was an initial flurry of interest from other name Republicans such as Lauch Faircloth and Richard Vinroot, she eventually received their endorsements. Now, with millions of dollars in her campaign account, she’s crisscrossing the state doing what she’s known for — meeting people.

Two other Rowan Countians, school board member Dr. Ada Fisher and Rockwell insurance agent Doug Sellers, also are campaigning for the Republican nomination.

Democrats Erskine Bowles and Elaine Marshall plan to make the election interesting.

Before all the hoopla could overshadow it, however, Dole and her brother, John, took time to throw a big 100th birthday bash — Willard Scott came, for goodness sake! — for their mother, Mary Hanford, at the Salisbury Civic Center.

6. (tie) Teachers

Several local teachers ran into trouble with the law with allegations of sexual misconduct, all in the month of May.

In mid May, West Rowan math teacher and girls’ basketball coach Angie Waddell was charged with 21 counts of sexual impropriety with a player. Those charges are pending.

Then, in a week’s time, teachers at Landis Elementary and Erwin Middle schools were arrested.

In Landis, fifth-grade teacher Jason Lee Shafer was charged with third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Parents voiced concerns after authorities confiscated Shafer’s computer, videotapes and photographs.

But officials assured parents that no local children were involved. Shafer pleaded guilty to two counts of child pornography and was extradited to New York where he faces a charge of first-degree sodomy stemming from an incident involving a 3-year-old boy.

Howard Boyd “Trey” Coffie III, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Erwin, was charged with taking indecent liberties with a student, a felony. That case also is pending.

8. Catawba fire

An Oct. 28 fire at Catawba College’s Foil House dormitory killed a student from New Mexico.

Besides the damage to the college community and the dorm building, the fire left a number of questions that remain unanswered as the year comes to an end.

Investigators have said the fire that killed Stephen Andrew Grooms started on a sofa in the common area of the dorm, but officials are not saying the cause of the fire, though they say they found no accelerants.

They also haven’t said which students unplugged several smoke detectors or who started two other fires discovered that night before the fatal blaze.

The dorm was supposed to be a substance-free area, without alcohol and tobacco.

College officials did not contact the Fire Department after the first two fires, and Catawba President J. Fred Corriher Jr. immediately implemented a policy that college officials will call the Fire Department about any fire in the future.

The college also promised to more rigorously follow fire drills and fine students who didn’t evacuate.

9. State budget woes

You could argue that this story belongs with economic bad times (See No. 4), but one of the ripple effects of the recession was the biggest state budget crisis in many years.

State lawmakers stayed in a record-long session trying to decide whether to raise taxes or cut programs.

At one point, for instance, leaders of local nursing homes warned that without some increase in state Medicaid payments, services to some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens could be cut.

For a time, the state withheld reimbursements that local agencies had budgeted. That forced county commissioners and leaders of local towns to freeze hiring and consider where to hold the line. The state finally released the money.

Community colleges weren’t so lucky.

Lawmakers asked the colleges to give back part of their budget in the fall and warned that they might have to give more. Rowan-Cabarrus Community College invoked the first enrollment cap in its history and a moratorium on new programs and construction projects.

10. Schools

Rowan-Salisbury Schools squeaked into our top 10 list this year, but just consider it a warmup for 2002.

In the first part of the year, a special redistricting committee, after long deliberations, and the school board endorsed a choice zone to address disagreements about high-school attendance boundaries.

Early in the year, school officials began talking about the need for a bond to raise money for new buildings. Though it got a chilly reception initially from county commissioners, the school board was back in December with plans for a $96-million bond, including the county’s sixth high school and three new elementary schools.

County commissioners already have acknowledged part of the problem, such as overcrowding at Knollwood and Isenberg elementary schools, but they haven’t commented on the school system’s larger facility needs plan — or the price tag.

Possibly more incendiary, the schools have yet to offer the public a plan for how they will redraw school boundaries as they move students to new and expanded schools.

It’s always interesting to note a few stories that did not make the newsroom’s top 10 list:

• Worried about possible chemical hazards at the defunct Color-Tex plant on U.S. 29, the county commission foreclosed on the property to stop the new owners from selling equipment in the plant piece by piece.

Finally, Boston businessman Dave Risdon worked out an agreement to buy the debt, clear out the chemical hazards and pay taxes and back wages still owed.

• Livingstone inaugurated a new president in November. Dr. Algeania Freeman is the historically black college’s 11th president but the first woman to lead the institution.

Freeman pledged to increase Livingstone’s endowment and improve academics, and this month, the school announced the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has reaccredited Livingstone.

• Fire heavily damaged historic Stoudemire Furniture, but firefighters from a number of fire departments prevented the fire from damaging neighboring businesses.

And in the end, Stoudemire owners were able to salvage the heart of the building and expected to reopen their doors on Jan. 2.

• Carolina Power & Light cranked up a new $250-million peak generating plant in west Rowan, even as Entergy, a Houston-Texas-based company, and Duke Energy considered building their own plants.

County officials hailed the investments as a way to pay for local needs, such as new schools.

But neighbors weren’t so happy when CP&L announced they would upgrade their plant to operate seven days a week throughout the year. Though it means more tax revenues, neighbors will have to get used to exhaust stacks that are some of the highest structures in the county.

• Four men were convicted in the robbery and murder of one of the owners of the A-OK convenience store at Lincolnton Road and South Fulton Street.

Before trial, three men entered plea agreements and agreed to testify against the man they say killed Pralhad Patel and shot his wife, Kunjbala, who survived. But the jury didn’t trust the accomplices’ accounts and convicted Nevius Poag of second-degree murder, sparing him the possibility of the death penalty.

Contact Frank DeLoache at 704-797-4245 or fdeloache@salisburypost.com .