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Mooresville TribuneMo iServing South Iredell and Lake Norman

24 PagesVolume 81, No. 20

MARCH 9, 2014

GETTING CLOSERWildcats one win awayfrom state finals — 1B

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INSIDECLASSIFIEDS 8B

LIFESTYLES 9A

OBITUARIES 4A

OPINION 11A

PUZZLES 7B

SPORTS 1B

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From staff reports

The chief of the Mooresville Rescue Squad (MRS)says his organization, which closed Feb. 28 afterIredell County commissioners canceled its fund-ing, is in talks with county officials about what todo with the rescue squad’s trucks, equipment andbuildings.

The nonprofit agency, that since 1952 had pro-vided ambulance and other emergency services toMooresville and South Iredell, was forced to shutdown when the county halted its $141,245 annualfunding. The organization had also relied on UnitedWay funding and private donations to pay its opera-tional expenses and salaries of roughly 30 part-timeemployees.

MRS Chief Bo Winecoff told the Tribune the agen-cy’s board of directors “is working diligently to de-termine the direction our department is going” andto “determine how its assets can continue to benefit

Most of the crowdconsisted of Moores-ville High School andMooresville MiddleSchool students andparents, seeking to gaininformation from theevent titled “Bridgingthe Gap: Life After HighSchool.”

McCrory’s commentsbecame more of aroundtable discussionwith MGSD Superin-tendent Mark Edwards,

who told the governor“It’s a tremendous hon-or to have you join us.”After their discussion,students and parentswere able to participatein several breakoutcareer sessions focusingon advanced manu-facturing and trainingopportunities, athleticscholarship opportuni-ties, financial aid and

SINGING OUT LOUD, SINGING OUT STRONG

Members of the LakeNorman High SchoolShow Choir performduring the West Regional ofthe William Peace UniversityNC Show Choir competitionon Feb. 28 in Hickory. LakeNorman earned an ExcellentRating and a third-place finish,narrowly missing a trip to thestate finals. However, MountMourne IB School advancedto the state finals by placingsecond in the middle schooldivision.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Rescue squad,county look atagency’s assets

Idle Equipment

JESSICA OSBORNE/MOORESVILLE TRIBUNE

Gov. Pat McCrory (right) and Mooresville Graded School District Superintendent Mark Edwards engage in a roundtablediscussion during Thursday’s Career Bridge Seminar at the Charles Mack Citizen Center.

BRIDGING EDUCATION,BRIDGING EDUCATION,COMMERCECOMMERCEGovernor addressesMGSD’s career summit

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTINA NUSS

Ashley Rabuck, a student in the Digital Media AdvancedStudies class at Mooresville High School, interviewsMcCrory on Thursday for the MNN cable channel show,“Blue Devil Update.”

Design contestwill help fundHabitat house

BY JESSICA OSBORNEjosborne@mooresvilletribune.com

Our Towns Habitat for Humanity is gearing up forits fourth annual ReStore ReStyle Design Challengeat the Mooresville Habitat ReStore.

This year’s design fundraiser, scheduled for May 8from 6:30-9:30 p.m., will benefit Our Towns Habitat’s(OTH) Women Build project in Mooresville. AmyWilliamson, marketing specialist for OTH, said offi-cials hope to raise at least $20,000 from the event tohelp with the home construction project and otherHabitat needs.

ReStore ReStyle

See ASSETS, Page 2A

See CONTEST, Page 4ASee SUMMIT, Page 2A

BY JESSICA OSBORNEjosborne@mooresvilletribune.com

Despite a fast-approaching winterstorm, some 650 people packedthe Charles Mack Citizen Center indowntown Mooresville Thursday night tohear Gov. Pat McCrory and participate in theMooresville Graded School District’s fifthannual Career Bridge Seminar.

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2A ! SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2014 MOORESVILLE TRIBUNE ! www.mooresvilletribune.comFROM THE FRONT

What’s upDaylight SavingTime began thismorning

Did you remember tomove your clocks forwardwhen you went to bed Satur-day night? Daylight SavingTime began at 2 a.m., mean-ing that we all lost an hour’ssleep. Along with adjustingyour clocks, be sure to testand change the batteriesin your smoke and carbonmonoxide detectors.

Troutman will be aPurple Heart City

On Thursday, the MilitaryOrder of Purple Heart Chap-ter 285, Iredell County, willformally designate Trout-man as a Purple Heart City.The Purple Heart is Amer-ica’s oldest award given tomen and women who havefought in America’s warsand have been wounded incombat. It is also awardedto those who have diedfrom wounds received incombat and given to thefamilies of those who gavetheir lives.

Thursday’s ceremonywill be at 7 p.m. during theTroutman Board of Alder-men meeting at Town Hall.

Selma Burke openhouse is postponed

Friday’s wintry weatherforced the town of Moores-ville to postpone its publicopen house at the SelmaBurke Community Center toApril 11 from 6-8 p.m.

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Falling trees create headaches, close calls in IredellBY DONNA SWICEGOOD

dswicegood@statesville.com

Tonya Coley said she knows shenarrowly missed serious injury ordeath early Friday morning as atree crashed onto her car on Hick-ory Highway in Statesville.

“God is good,” she said as shewaited to retrieve her belongingsfrom her damaged car.

Coley was one of several Iredellresidents who escaped injurywhen ice-covered trees fell ontoresidences and vehicles from thenorth end of the county to thesouth.

A family of six escaped injurywhen a tree crashed into a mobilehome on Park Drive in Statesvilleon Friday morning. Tilisa Shuford,her fiance, two sons, daughterand her 3-month-old grandson allescaped from the home. The RedCross is assisting the family.

Even emergency workers werenot immune from the dangers onthe roads.

A brush truck from Sheffield-Calahaln Fire Department, whichis located in Davie County butanswers calls in Iredell as well,

turned onto its side on PowellBridge Road on Friday afternoon.Two firefighters were injured andwere taken to Davis RegionalMedical Center. The truck was theonly vehicle involved in the crash.

A couple of hours later, AnnMorrison was in the bedroom ofher Shumaker Drive home whenshe heard a loud crash. She imme-diately realized a tree had falleninto her son’s bedroom, whichwas next door to hers. He was notat home, she said.

Morrison got up and saw crum-bled tree limbs in her son’s bed-room and a gaping hole in herroof.

Ebenezer Fire Department fire-fighters answered her call for helpand put a temporary cover overthe roof hole.

She said she was grateful for thefirefighters who came to her aid inless-than-ideal conditions.“I don’tknow how they do what they do,”she said. “I am so grateful.”

Another grateful Iredell Countyresident was Bob Foster, wholives on North Race Street neardowntown Statesville. He couldn’tsay enough to thank a City of

Statesville utilities crew for itswork in cleaning up a big mess inhis front yard.

Foster said a car hit a fire hy-drant in front of his home Fridaymorning, launching the hydrantinto his nearby trash can.

The broken hydrant spewedwater about three or four feet inthe air and soaked Foster’s newlyfertilized lawn. “I just spent about$500 last week,” he said.

Still, he said, the city crew did agreat job in containing the dam-age and turning off the hydrant.“They did a great job. I can’t sayenough about the job they did,”he said.

The tree that damaged Morri-son’s roof and Shuford’s homerepresented just a couple of thosethat landed on homes Friday.Iredell County Emergency Man-agement Director David Martinsaid trees or limbs damaged resi-dences on Bost Street, Ever GreenWoods Road, Shaw Road andStutts Road.

The trees and ice also broughtdown power lines, causing out-ages throughout the county. As ofFriday afternoon, EnergyUnited

reported that nearly 7,000 of itscustomers were still without pow-er. Michelle Marchwadrt, Ener-gyUnited communications man-ager, said the peak number wasabout 11,000 at 8 a.m. Friday.

Duke Energy reported out-ages at fewer than 100 by Fridayafternoon.

In Mooresville, downed treesand branches were common inthe storm’s aftermath. MooresvilleFire-Rescue responded to some40 calls for service by late Fridaymorning. Those calls, said ChiefCurt Deaton, included one struc-ture fire, a tree on a house, a traf-fic crash with someone trappedin the vehicle and an elevatorentrapment.

N.C. Highway Patrol Sgt. MarkLittle said there were a number oftraffic crashes across the countybut none with any serious inju-ries.

As temperatures warmed intothe mid-30s by Friday afternoon,much of the ice and snow beganto melt, and should be completelygone today as spring-like weatherreturns. Highs today are expectedto be in the mid-60s.

scholarships, and what em-ployers want.

But the highlight of theevening was McCrory’s appear-ance.

It began with Edwards askingMcCrory to talk about the im-portance of vocational educa-tion. McCrory noted there aremany trade businesses withopen positions, but they can’tfill them.

“There’s a disconnect be-tween education and com-merce, and we’re doing every-thing we can to bring educationand commerce together,” hesaid. “(Businesses) need peoplewith these (trade) skills.”

He noted that many people inthe trade industries often makemore money than someonewho may have chosen anothercareer path, such as becominga lawyer. He also said studentshave many choices when itcomes to education, and thatvocational education can bejust as tough as a college careerpath.

“It’s exciting, but it can becompetitive,” he said.

Skill setsEdwards then asked the gov-

ernor what are some skills as agovernor that you look for in aperson entering the businessworld?

Answered McCrory, “Workingin a team situation, rather thanbeing isolated.”

“I recently went to visitGoogle, and everyone is inteams working together, andsucceed or fail together muchlike a basketball or footballteam would, and they allrely on each other,” he said.“Team situations are extremelyimportant, because you candetermine what roles peoplewill play and point out theirstrengths. You also find outwhat the group’s weaknessesare and help each other.

“The second thing that Ilook for is problem solvers. Idon’t surround myself withpeople who will tell me whatthe problem is, but presentsolutions and several optionsto the problem, and know theimportance of options.”

Another key skill McCrorynoted as being importantis learning to communicate— not just vocally but throughwriting.

Holding up his cell phone hesaid, “This is probably one ofthe greatest inventions and theworst in some ways, becauseyou’re no longer talking andcommunicating and not typingbut 5-10 words.

“If you can’t write, you’re notgoing to last long,” he said.

Edwards noted that even “oldfashion successes” such as be-ing on time and working hard,and being dependable are stillimportant today as students goout to get a job.

“By doing the best they caneveryday and being depend-able and working hard a lot ofthings can happen just by thateffort,” he said.

Among other things, McCrorysaid workers who don’t haveethical standards won’t survive.

“From the moment you meetsomeone you can determine ifthey can or cannot be trusted,”he said. “Everywhere I gopeople are (usually) filming me,and if not I answer and act as ifI’m being filmed or would readabout it in the newspaper.”

McCrory also warned stu-dents about the consequencesof drug and alcohol use. “Itwill mess up your life,” he said.“Don’t be stupid and fall forpeer pressure. I have a lot offriends and even colleagueswho are not around becauseof it.”

Teacher payOne of the state’s hot-but-

ton issues — teacher salaries— was bound to be broachedwith McCrory, and Edwardsdid so.

The governor said thatbecause teachers have notreceived a significant pay raisein several years, North Carolinais not a major player in gettingthe best teachers.

“We don’t want to be a start-ing point for our teachers tomove on elsewhere,” he said.“I’m being provided optionsright now on ways to do thisand we’ll look at longer-termconcepts. My first priorityand the legislature’s, too, is tocontinue to get every teacher(who makes) less than $35,000in North Carolina a raise.

“The next (budget) goalwould help all teachers get apay raise, but we’ll have to waitto find out how much Medicaidwill cost and we don’t knowwhat our revenues are. We’llknow more in the next monthto two months.

“Our first goal is to help raisethe base pay, otherwise we’regoing to lose (those teachers).”

McCrory noted even pay in-creases for other state employ-ees needs to be addressed.

Other education goalsMcCrory said he also plans

to address the four silos ofeducation in North Carolinafrom pre-K up to the universitysystem.

“All of these systems arecoming to me saying they areimportant and need help,” hesaid. “So I decided to some-thing during my first month inoffice and make one educationplan because there’s got to be apartnership, and look for waysto share resources, teachers,technology, and students.Even though there is a limitedamount of money, the goal is tohave an educational vision thatcoincides with an economicdevelopment vision, and look

at the broader picture.”McCrory even suggested let-

ting teachers just teach again,aside from the constant streamof tests.

“There are so many testsnow,” he said. “Not only arestudents tested, but teachersare tested, and schools aretested.”

Edwards noted that a studentin the district said the MGSD’smotto should be changed from“every child, every day” to “testevery child, everyday.”

“We’ve got to mitigate (test-ing), but decide on the best wayto do it,” the superintendentsaid.

McCrory agreed there havebeen mistakes made regardingeducation at the state level.

“We need to give what’sbest for each district, whetherits flexibility or teacher payraises,” he said. “It is importantto measure students, and wehear a lot of complaints abouttesting, but don’t take it forgranted because it can changejust like that.

“Next year is a totally differ-ent year with new changes.North Carolina was boomingfor so long that I think manypeople took those successes forgranted, and they should neverbe taken for granted.”

After the round table dis-cussion came to a close, thebreakout sessions began. Theyincluded two middle schoolsession regarding an introduc-tion to Naviance, and a presen-tation about NF Woods schoolto give both middle schoolstudents and parents a betterunderstanding of opportunitiesavailable for all students uponentering high school.

McCrory also stayed brieflyto speak with Mooresville andIredell County governmentand schools officials, askingthem what the issues are here.County Commission ChairmanSteve Johnson and MooresvilleCommissioner Mac Herringtouched on rezoning issuessurrounding properties ortracts of land, among otherthings.

McCrory then dropped in ona few of the breakout sessionsto hear about the topics beingdiscussed.

The annual Career BridgeSeminar is designed to providestudents, parents, and commu-nity members with informationrelated to high school courseofferings, job shadowing, in-ternships, and apprenticeshipopportunities, informationabout the Career and TechnicalEducation Program, as well aspost secondary opportunitiesafter high school and post sec-ondary education and financialassistance.

SummitFrom Page 1A

the Mooresville-South Iredell area.”As the Tribune disclosed on Wednes-

day, the MRS decision to close its doorscame a week after county commissionersvoted Feb. 21 to eliminate funding. Com-missioners and County Manager RonSmith said a duplication of emergencyservices in the south end of the countywith Iredell County EMS and MooresvilleFire-Rescue led to the action.

Traditionally, MRS has provided back-up ambulance services to EMS, alongwith vehicle extrication equipment anda dive team.

In April 2011, county commission-ers approved Mooresville Fire-Rescuebecoming a rescue district certifiedthrough the North Carolina Associa-tion of Rescue & Emergency MedicalServices.

“We respond to vehicle accidents witha fire truck to assist the injured andmake sure the vehicle is free from leaksand does not catch fire while injuredpeople are inside the car,” MooresvilleFire-Rescue Chief Curt Deaton said.

“The rescue status simply gives us theability to provide this service more ef-ficiently by using one vehicle and onecrew to handle and reduce the redun-dant response from multiple agencies.This is different than the Iredell CountyEMS, which provides a transport ambu-lance service county-wide. MFR doesnot transport victims at this time.”

Last September, Lake Norman Vol-unteer Fire Department on BrawleySchool Road and Shepherds VolunteerFire and Rescue Department north oftown followed suit and became rescuecertified.

Eddie Neel, president of LNVFD’sboard of directors, asked commission-ers to shift MRS funds and allow themto stay within his district to “maintainand improve our rescue abilities” atthat time.

By December, the rest of MRS’ districtsplintered with Mount Mourne Volun-teer Fire Department to the south andSouth Iredell Volunteer Fire Depart-ment in the east also gaining rescuestatus.

“We saturated the market,” DavidSaleeby, Iredell’s Fire and EmergencyServices Coordinator, said in Decem-ber. “This did not happen overnight,but it’s starting to be recognized, andall of a sudden the citizens are askingquestions — ‘I fell down and my lawn-mower hit me and broke my leg, why isthere a fire truck with four people on it,an ambulance from the county, a res-cue crash truck with a couple of people,another ambulance from there and allof these volunteers?’”

It made sense, Saleeby said at thetime, to equip fire departments withthe first-responder tools to aid in carwrecks while they extinguished blazes.

This meant districts like MooresvilleFire-Rescue became capable of han-dling the types of calls MRS has histori-cally helped with, such as individualsbecoming pinned inside their cars afteraccidents.

The MRS has two bases of operation— at the corner of Iredell Avenue andChurch Street in downtown Moores-ville, and on Rescue Lane off BrawleySchool Road. The agency also ownsseveral emergency vehicles.

“I’d hope the Mooresville RescueSquad would want to disperse of theirequipment in the southern end of thecounty in the district they once had,”Smith said.

Tribune correspondent Lauren Odomirokcontributed to this article.

AssetsFrom Page 1A

JESSICA OSBORNE/MOORESVILLE TRIBUNE

Iredell County Board of Commissioners chairman Steve Johnson (right)poses a question to Gov. Pat McCrory (center) after the summit.