100 years

By Hugh Fisher
hfisher@kannapoliscitizen.com
Standing in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church in the heart of Kannapolis, pastor Joe Crawford is also standing at a crossroads.
The church is entering its centennial year. Founded as a Sunday school group for local Presbyterians in 1908, the congregation was officially chartered on June 27, 1909.
From its beginnings in the upper rooms of a downtown drugstore and the old Kannapolis YMCA to the current sanctuary on Vance Street, First Presbyterian Church has long played an important role in the city.
Addressing his parishioners on a recent Sunday, Crawford reminded them of their duty as witnesses and beneficiaries of that tradition.
“We stand on the shoulders of those who gave of themselves in love and in every way,” Crawford said. “We have to remember that and go forward … The church is not truly the church until it reaches out beyond these four walls.”
During the year ahead, Crawford and his congregation will work to define the role their church will play in the new era of Kannapolis.
His hope is that the church can provide more than just Sunday worship — that in the centennial year First Presbyterian can become a center of friendship and support for the people of Kannapolis.
“I tell every single person that life is about relationships,” said Crawford, who has been pastor at First Presbyterian for eight years. “You can have every comfort, every toy, everything in this culture and you can still be lonely.”
Crawford hopes the events planned for 2009 will help draw people to the church and show them that its members have open hearts and listening ears.

Deep roots
According to a history of the church published on its Web site, First Presbyterian’s membership grew to 530 by the 1930’s.
In fact, sister churches Second Presbyterian and Royal Oaks Presbyterian were started as offshoots of that first congregation.
In recent years, as Kannapolis has been beset by changes, First Presbyterian has joined churches at the forefront of efforts to meet the people’s needs.
Crawford recalled the weeks after the closing of Pillowtex when the church hosted a food pantry for struggling families.
“It was one of the best opportunities we had to be a church,” Crawford said of the effort to help Cooperative Christian Ministries and other groups respond to the community need. “We became friends with people whom we’d never have befriended. It was a privilege for us,” he said.
And now, with the North Carolina Research Campus giving Kannapolis a new identity and purpose, Crawford and other church leaders have identified six goals they hope to achieve in the centennial year.
Along with studying building needs, the church wants to use the anniversary as a focal point — “to become a church whose vision for the future is larger than our memories of the past.”
First Presbyterian Church will help encourage its members to be ready and able to share their faith in the community, and to particularly expand ministries to children and families.
The church hopes also to reach out to young adults in the congregation and the community.
Crawford points to a tentative calendar of events for 2009 as evidence of how seriously the church takes these goals.
From special Bible studies and a class on church history to special guest speakers, social events and service projects, the emphasis is on involving the whole community, not just church members, in First Presbyterian’s celebration.
It will be some weeks yet before the schedule of events for the yearlong centennial celebration is complete.
But members are already excited about some of the “hundredfold” goals that church leaders have mentioned — such as planting 10 trees, one for each decade of the church’s history, and collecting 100 pints of blood via American Red Cross blood drives.
“I am very ecstatic about it because it’s stretching us,” Crawford said. “A couple of those events are going to be a challenge.”
It won’t be easy, “but it’s better to have a goal that is worth pursuing,” he said.
Judy Goodnight, chairwoman of the church’s Centennial Task Force, said that special events are planned for each month of 2009.
“Judge Clarence Horton will speak at our first worship service of the year on Jan. 4,” Goodnight said.
In March, church families will celebrate history with a presentation of milestones from church and city history. Goodnight said members will dress in historic clothing to represent different eras in Kannapolis’ past.
The actual anniversary of the church’s founding will be celebrated on Sunday, June 21, 2009.
“We will also consider it a homecoming, inviting our former members,” Goodnight said. Among the invited guests is the Rev. Eldon Wadsworth, First Presbyterian Church’s longest-serving pastor.
A special birthday party for children is also planned.
“And of course our purpose is to honor God, not just to look at our own history,” Goodnight said. “But looking to the future, we hope this celebration of our history will guide us in ways that we can serve the community.”

Inevitable change
Perhaps the most challenging item on the list is the goal of adding at least 100 new active members by next year.
The church is moving closer to its goal even now.
Joe and Beth Dinsmore started attending First Presbyterian with their children, Wyatt and Jordan, about two months ago.
“We’re attending the membership class now,” Joe Dinsmore said.
Evening sessions allow church leaders and prospective members to gather, share a meal and learn about Christianity and the Presbyterian Church.
Dinsmore said his family had visited three other area churches before deciding on First Presbyterian.
“The congregation is very warm and welcoming,” he said.
Wyatt and Jordan attended Vacation Bible School at the church.
During the morning worship service, they joined other kids in collecting change for a special offering benefitting Living Waters of the World, a mission project the group studied.
The money will go to help the charity supply fresh water to poor communities in one of 17 nations.
Vacation Bible School also draws visitors to the church. That made Emily Griggs, who helped lead the middle school group, glad for the chance to give back to her church and community.
“I feel like we’re doing something that’s necessary,” Griggs said. “We’re not going to church just for ourselves. This is something I can do, something we all can be a part of.”
Crawford said he realizes that the city of Kannapolis is changing and hopes that the people will embrace that spirit of change.
Part of that has to do with realizing that the way Kannapolis looks is going to change.
“I think we’re starting to understand that we are going to be a multicultural city,” Crawford said.
“But the city has been so staid — I believe there are groups that aren’t necessarily caring for each other, but it’s not overt.”
Crawford said that he had known some people who hid their prejudices behind polite talk — who said in private what they wouldn’t dare say to a person’s face.
“None of us has it all together,” Crawford said. “We’ll say something about somebody and then end the sentence with ‘Bless his little heart,’ as if we’re trying to say that it’s OK, what we just said about them.”
Instead, Crawford hopes his church can be a leader in fostering an atmosphere of trust and community.
“I can look back at my life, and I can say that the times I have really grown in my life are those when I have had people willing to take time” to be in a spirit of friendship and community, he said. “That is what I would like to try to create and provide. …
“One of the mottos of First Presbyterian is ‘A place to believe and a place to become.’ There are people out there who hope to find a place that will accept them as they are.”
Building that community of friendship and faith is as much a challenge today as it was a century ago.
But as the hundredth year of First Presbyterian Church begins, it’s a challenge Crawford and members seem eager to take on.

R3 Center announces August workshops

The R3 Center is offering numerous career development workshops and resume clinics in August for adults in Cabarrus and Rowan counties. All of the programs are provided free-of-charge.
Located at 164 Dale Earnhardt Blvd., in Kannapolis, the R3 Center is a career development center established by Rowan-Cabarrus Community College (RCCC) to assist workers who are unemployed or under-employed.
The center’s mission is built on three Rs — a refocus on individual skills and interests, retraining and further education, and partnering with other workforce development agencies to secure career-oriented re-employment.
The center’s August schedule of free workshops includes the following. Due to the popularity of its free workshops, the R3 Center encourages clients to call the center in advance, and reserve a seat.
• New Client Mondays — 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Aug. 4, 11, 18 and 25. New Client Mondays is an orientation program offered for persons who have never attended an R3 Center workshop or taken advantage of its other services.
• Is It Time for More Training? — 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 6;
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator — 6 p.m. on Aug. 7;
• Looking for Work with a Criminal Record — 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 8;
• Interview Techniques — 6 p.m. on Aug. 19;
• Lay-Off Survival Tips — 6 p.m. on Aug. 20;
• Top Jobs for Your Personality — 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 22; and
• Looking for Work at Age 50+ — 9 a.m. on Aug. 23.
The R3 Center also will offer a number of free resume clinics to help job searchers improve their current resume or create a new one from scratch. The resume clinic schedule includes day, evening and Saturday sessions. Clinics will be offered at:
• 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 13;
• 9 a.m. on Aug. 16;
• 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Aug. 21; and
• 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Aug. 29.
The R3 Center helps adult workers assess and profile their skills, aptitudes, training and academic credentials, and future career interests to develop a plan for career growth. All R3 Center services are provided free of charge.
The R3 Center partners with other workforce development agencies, including the Centralina Workforce Development Board, JobLink Career Centers of Cabarrus and Rowan counties, N.C. Employment Security Commission and other area community colleges.
For more information about the R3 Center and its services and programs, call 704-216-7201, or visit the center’s Web site at http://www.rowancabarrus. edu/r3center/.

RCCC to lease space on NCRC for $44 million

By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College leaders last week agreed to pay the developers of the N.C. Research Campus about $44 million over 20 years so the school can operate there. The college’s board of trustees voted to enter into a lease with Castle & Cooke, the company building the science campus in Kannapolis.
RCCC will pay Castle & Cooke about $2.2 million a year for 20 years, said Robert Keeney, vice president of business and technical services for the school.
RCCC will use money set aside by state lawmakers to pay its rent. The General Assembly is appropriating $3.3 million a year to the school to pay the lease and other expenses such as utilities and insurance, Keeney said.
Community colleges normally operate with state funding that is doled out based on student enrollment.
“The research campus is a little different,” Keeney said.
The school cannot use its regular state money to pay its bills in Kannapolis. Instead, RCCC will have to depend on the special state appropriation coming in every year.
That’s a gamble some board members said worried them.
“I can understand why anyone would be concerned about funding from the state of North Carolina, believe me,” said Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, who represents Cabarrus and Iredell counties. Hartsell has played a key role in development of the research campus. But Hartsell told board members that lawmakers haven’t argued about the state appropriations to RCCC. “It simply was not an issue.”
The 60,000-square-foot building will house biotechnology and agricultural biotechnology classes, Keeney said. The building might also be used for clinical research.
Keeney recommended that the board enter into the lease. The risk of not signing on, he said, is missing out on space to train students for science jobs. But Keeney said there are risks for entering into the contract, too.
“If the jobs don’t materialize, the demand won’t materialize,” he said. “And we’ll end up with a very expensive building not doing much.”
The rent payments will stay the same throughout the years. But other costs, such as utilities and labor, will likely increase. At some point, Cabarrus and Rowan might need to pitch in money to help RCCC deal with inflation, Keeney said.

Magnet installed at Research Campus Monday

By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
The 950 has arrived.
The N.C. Research Campus took delivery Monday on the Avance II 950 US2, one of the world’s strongest magnets and the celebrity occupant of the Core Lab basement.
The instrument, a 950 megahertz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer with the strongest actively shielded superconducting magnet in the world, puts the Research Campus at the forefront of the biotechnology industry even before scientists in downtown Kannapolis have conducted a single experiment.
“It’s exciting to have the first NMR 950 deployed in the United States right here,” said Dr. Steven Colman, interim chief of operations for the David H. Murdock Research Institute.
The world’s first 950 went to Frankfurt, Germany. Kannapolis has the second. A third machine will arrive in Paris next month.
“It’s smaller than I thought it would be,” said James Ewing, who walked over from his home on Ridge Avenue to watch the delivery. “One person can save a city, and that’s what I think Murdock is doing.”
Research Campus founder David H. Murdock, billionaire owner of Castle & Cooke and Dole Food Co., bought the 8-ton instrument last summer and donated it to his research institute, which owns and operates the Core Lab.
The 950 is the flagship in an armada of NMR equipment in Kannapolis that includes four other systems. It will allow researchers to view molecules at an unprecedented resolution.
German manufacturer Bruker Biospin shipped the instrument about six weeks ago to the port of Baltimore. ARK Machinery Movers trucked the pieces to Kannapolis, where four Bruker engineers were waiting to assemble it.
“This is a unique site because every system is arriving at once,” said Chris Knapp, a Bruker engineer from California. “That is huge.”
A small crowd of campus scientists and construction workers watched a 100-ton crane hoist the magnet while engineers removed shipping restraints and pulled off plastic wrap.
Phyllis Beaver, campus marketing director, came on her day off to watch.
“I just couldn’t stay away,” she said. “It’s addictive.”
The crane slowly lowered the magnet through a concrete delivery shaft into the basement NMR suite, where engineers will spend the next month assembling, cooling and energizing four systems.
They will install a fifth system on the fourth floor.
In the basement, engineers floated the 950 on air casters, moving it into position.
The instrument will stand about 14 feet high on permanent legs, and a platform surrounding it will allow scientists to reach various probes.
“The 950 is something really special,” said Doug Lyons, a Bruker engineer from Massachusetts. “The higher the field, the better the resolution.”
The Bruker engineering team included Wolfgang Welker and Christian Fritz, both based in Germany.
Another Bruker engineer will spend a year in Kannapolis tweaking the instruments.
Campus tenants like Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and N.C. State University will rent time on the machines.
Dr. Leonard Spicer of Duke and Dr. John Cavanagh of N.C. State will oversee the NMR suite temporarily until Murdock’s research institute hires an NMR director, Colman said.
Spicer watched the installation Monday afternoon with his colleagues, who gave a thumbs up when workers turned the suspended magnet to reveal the words “Bruker 950 US2.”

Kannapolis Calendar

Beach music festival this weekend at Village Park
After the successful inaugural festival last year, the city of Kannapolis Parks and Recreation Department, in conjunction with Ike’s Construction, has expanded the free Beach Music Festival into a two-day event.
On Friday, beginning at 7 p.m., and Saturday, beginning at 3 p.m., Village Park Amphitheater, located between West A and C streets off Dale Earnhardt Boulevard, will come alive with beach music.
Saturday night, the sky will be set ablaze with fireworks, as well.
Tap your toes to Jim Quick & Coastline, an eclectic blend of soul, blues and rock. Sing along with The Craig Woolard Band. Originally of The Embers, Craig Woolard is now on his own creating beach music hits. Show off your shagging skills to award-winning Mark Roberts with Mark Roberts and Breeze and enjoy The Fantastic Shakers, a group that has been entertaining audiences up and down the East Coast for 30 years.
Games, crafts and face painting will be going on throughout the day for the kids.
The evening is sponsored by city of Kannapolis Parks and Recreation, Ike’s Construction, Cabarrus Arts Council, WCNC, Radio Disney, Villas at Winecoff, Walker Marketing and Sunbelt Rentals.
Coming up next is the U.S. Navy Band on Wednesday, Sept. 3.
Parking for outdoor concerts will be available at the outer parking lots along Dale Earnhardt Boulevard with free shuttles to Village Park. The Village Park parking lot will be reserved for handicapped parking only (valid handicap placard or license plate required). Blankets, lawn chairs and picnics are permitted and concessions will be available. Please, no pets, alcohol, grilling or glass bottles.
Line-up is:
• Friday, 7 p.m. — Jim Quick & Coastline
• Saturday, 3 p.m. — The Craig Woolard Band
• Saturday, 5 p.m. — Mark Roberts and Breeze
• Saturday, 7 p.m. — The Fantastic Shakers
• Saturday, 9:30 p.m. — fireworks
Admission is free. For more information, call 704-920-4343 or visit www.city ofkannapolis.com.

Thursday
• The Cabarrus County Democratic Party will have a meeting Thursday at 7 p.m., 1207 Rogers Lake Road, for Democrats who vote in precinct 04-07 — voting place is the Cabarrus Shrine Club.
Please call 704-788-8383 for more information.

Aug. 23
• The Astronomical Society of Rowan County will meet Saturday, Aug. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the home of Ralph and Alice Deal, 1920 Deal Road, Mooresville.
The club will be talking about the upcoming Star Party to be held at Frank Liske Park Aug. 30 from 4-10 p.m.
Weather permitting, the club will be doing some stargazing at the regular meeting, as well.
For more information, contact Ralph Deal at 704-855-1591, or Alice Deal at 704-857-2788. Visit the club’s Web site at www.astrowan.org.

Aug. 25
• Fun science classes held on Mondays beginning Aug. 25, 12-1:30 p.m., taught by Melody Wilkes, naturalist, from “A Walk in the Woods,” Environmental Education Co., eight weeks of 90-minute, hands-on wildlife workshops for kids ages 7 and up. N.C. Cooperative Extension-Cabarrus County Center, 715 Cabarrus Ave. W., Concord.
Cost is $85 per student.
Each museum-based program consists of hands-on items with rare and endangered artifacts from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, interactive educational displays, a slide show presentation and live animal demonstrations with selected animals for touching.
For more information, contact Wilkes at 704-436-9048 or visit www.awalkin thewoods.us.
To register call Cynthia Brown or Heather Jones at 704-920-3310 or go to www.cabarrus county.us/ReservePartner/?c= Common/Home. Deadline to register is Aug. 20.

Aug. 26
• The Cabarrus County Democratic Party will have a precinct meeting for Democrats who vote in precinct 12-04 (Concord High School).
It will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 7 p.m., at 166 Church St., Concord (Cabarrus County Democratic Headquarters).
Please call 704-788-8383 for more information.

Hamilton to speak Aug. 14
CONCORD — Marcus Hamilton, who draws the daily “Dennis the Menace” comic strip, will present a free talk about his work at the Arts Council Galleries on Thursday, Aug. 14.
Hamilton’s talk will be at 7 p.m. in the Davis Theatre at 65 Union St.-S., Concord. It is co-sponsored by the Arts Council Galleries and the Cabarrus Art Guild.
An exhibition of Hamilton’s work, “Illustrating: A Career and Drawing Dennis,” is on display at the Arts Council Galleries through Aug. 28. It includes a Saturday Evening Post cover of Bob Hope, a Children’s Digest illustration of Reggie Jackson and a Junior Scholastic depiction of Ronald Reagan as well as panels from the comic strip and paintings.
A North Carolina native, Hamilton received a degree in commercial art from Atlantic Christian College and began his career in the art department of WBTV/Jefferson Pilot Broadcasting in Charlotte. He worked for other design studios and freelanced for national publications until the emergence of computer graphics in the late 1980’s signaled what he thought was the end of his art career. In 1993, however, he saw a television interview with “Dennis” creator Hank Ketchum, in which Ketchum said he would like to retire some day. Hamilton contacted Ketchum and after “retraining” began drawing some of the daily panels. Until his death in 2001, Ketchum continued to advise and critique every panel Hamilton drew. The strip is syndicated worldwide in 1,000 newspapers, appears in 48 countries and is translated into 19 languages.
Also showing July 28-Aug. 28 at the Arts Council Galleries is Raw Talent III, a juried exhibition of works by advanced high school and college students; Domestications, works by Raw Talent II winner Molly Kraus of Boston University; recent works by en plein air artist Bob Brown; and photographs by News and Observer photojournalist Gene Furr.
Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays. Group tours can be arranged at other times by appointment. For more information, call 704-920-ARTS (2787) or visit www.Cabarrus ArtsCouncil.org.

Relative: Wife killed out of jealousy

By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
The man who police think killed two people Saturday might have murdered his wife and another man out of jealousy, a family member said.
Police are still looking for Joaquin Alvarez Rios, 35.
Rios’ three children, 4- and 10-year-old girls and a 5-year-old boy, were in the house at 702 W. Eighth St. when Rios allegedly shot and killed their mother and another man, said Jose Hernandez, his brother-in-law.
Hernandez identified Rios’ wife, 28-year-old Lorena Soto, as one of the victims. Hernandez said he did not know the full name of the murdered man. Police have not released either victim’s name.
Rios was jealous of the man’s relationship with his wife, Hernandez said.
“He find her with somebody else,” he said.
Hernandez and his wife, Laticia Alvarez, who is Rios’ sister, said Rios came to their house in Kannapolis on Saturday night with his kids.
“He said he did something wrong only,” Hernandez said.
He said Rios took off in Alvarez’s Ford Focus station wagon, which police later found in the Freedom Drive area of Charlotte.
On Saturday, Hernandez and Alvarez called police around 10:30 p.m. after Rios went to their home.
Alvarez removed the kids’ belongings from the West Eighth Street house on Monday to bring to her home.
Hernandez said the Department of Social Services took the children to an appointment Monday but was expected to return them to him and his wife.
Soto and the man were killed in a bedroom, Hernandez said. At the time of the killings, the children were also in bedrooms in the small one-story house, he said.
“The 10-year-old, she say she saw everything,” Hernandez said.
Rios worked construction jobs in the area, while Soto stayed home with their children, Hernandez said.
He said Rios was a nice guy and a good father.
“He don’t drink and he don’t do nothing,” Hernandez said. “I think he was jealous.”
Hernandez said he didn’t know if the couple had been having problems in their marriage.
Ricky Cheek, who lives on the adjoining property to Rios’ home, said Monday the couple had recently split.
He said he didn’t know the family well, but they would wave to each other once in a while.
Cheek said Soto “was very nice, and the kids were all very polite.”
He said he saw another man on the back porch of the house last Thursday. He said he saw Rios outside the house crying that same night.
“He seemed like a very nice guy,” Cheek said.
Cheek and his wife usually sit outside in the evenings. But on Saturday night, they decided to stay indoors.
“I’m glad we did, ’cause we don’t never go inside,” he said.
Cheek said he likely would have approached Rios on Saturday if he had known what was going on. He did not hear gunshots.
“I’m one of those type of people that would have stopped him,” he said.
Kannapolis Police Sgt. Chris Nesbitt said the female victim’s family was on their way to North Carolina from California.
Alvarez said she has not heard from her brother.
“I don’t know what happened,” she said.

Concord agent to speak at Toronto conference

CONCORD — Jean Griswold, a broker/Realtor affiliated with RE/MAX Leading Edge in Concord, has agreed to speak on behalf of Susan G. Komen for the Cure at the Community Initiatives session of the RE/MAX International Summer Conference for Broker/Owners and Managers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, held Aug. 10-12.
The Community Initiatives session brings together RE/MAX Regional Leaders to learn about RE/MAX and its continued support of charities. In March 2007, RE/MAX International partnered with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s largest breast cancer advocacy organization, and began a program called Sold for the Cure, which is an opportunity for RE/MAX associates to make a voluntary contribution to Komen with the sale of a home.
Griswold will speak to RE/MAX regional leaders about her experience with breast cancer awareness and Komen for the Cure. Komen hand-picked Griswold to speak at the session because she is an avid supporter of the cause and can relate to both the breast cancer world and the real estate world.
For 15 years, Griswold owned/operated a mobile mammography program based out of Charlotte that provided both breast health education programs and mammograms to low income women as well as uninsured/ underinsured women throughout four Southeastern states.
She and her program received national recognition and many awards — including recognition from Oprah Winfrey’s “Angels Network.” A graduate of Leadership Charlotte (class XVI), Griswold was a Charlotte Chamber Entrepreneur of the Year; sat on numerous health-care boards at the national level, and has lectured nationally and internationally on healthcare issues.
As one of a group of what she calls “remarkable women,” Griswold helped establish the first annual Susan G. Komen Charlotte Race for the Cure in 1997. Her mobile mammography program provided mammograms on-site on race day for many years. She remains an avid supporter of the Charlotte Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
With its “RE/MAX Racing for Life” slogan, RE/MAX is proud to be a co-sponsor of the National Series Breast Cancer Survivor Recognition Program at Komen Race for the Cure events. At RE/MAX, associate generosity is known as Premier Community Citizenship, or corporate grace in action.
Komen’s Survivor Recognition Program celebrates breast cancer survivors and remembers those who have lost their battles with the disease. RE/MAX shares sponsorship with Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity, a nonprofit volunteer organization.
RE/MAX contributes pink survivor T-shirts and caps, as well as “In celebration of” and “In memory of” back signs and program banners for every race. RE/MAX associates who are breast cancer survivors or who have been affected by the disease are encouraged to solicit pledges for their own participation. Corporate representatives host breast cancer survivor recognition tents at the more than 100 events in the United States.

Steel guitar jam brings famous, first-timers together

By Hugh Fisher
hfisher@kannapoliscitizen.com
Twice a year, steel guitar players from across the region gather in Kannapolis to catch up, trade tips and techniques and — most of all — to play and enjoy music.
The sound of “the steel,” sometimes plaintive and other times glorious, stirs the hearts of these musicians.
And this summer’s Mid-Atlantic Steel Guitar Association Jam, held Saturday and Sunday at the Kannapolis Moose Lodge, was all the more special because one of the all-time great steel guitar players was on hand to play and to teach.
Herby Wallace, nicknamed the “Godfather of Steel,” has backed some of the biggest names in country music. He’s played on stage with Roy Clark, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Paycheck and many others, and was inducted into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2001.
On Saturday and Sunday, Wallace played his own instrumental hits and some favorite classics for a crowd that swelled to more than 200 during the day.
And an instructional workshop scheduled for Saturday had to be expanded at the last minute due to interest.
“I brought 24 tabs (copies of music) with me and ended up having to make 15 more,” Wallace said. “That was a really good turnout.”
And the session went longer than planned: Wallace ended up teaching different tuning and techniques for more than two hours.
“People who didn’t come missed some top-notice instruction,” said Ray Petrea, Kannapolis resident and Mid-Atlantic Steel Guitar Association member.
E.R. Chandler is the president of the association. He said he was pleased with the turnout at the Jam.
“The music has been super,” said Chandler. “We’ve had top-of-the-line musicians and good fellowship.”
This year’s event followed the same basic format as other recent Mid-Atlantic Steel Guitar Association meets. Steel guitar players gathered to play, reminisce and share instruction on Saturday, with a dance that evening featuring the Woody Ledford band and steel guitarists.
Sunday morning featured Gospel music from the Christian band Revelation followed by more guitar songs with the live band.
“So far, we’re having one of the best jams yet,” said Carl Epling, Kannapolis resident and Mid-Atlantic Steel Guitar Association member who promotes the local meets.
Rows of colorful pedal steel guitars lined the front of the dance floor at the Kannapolis Moose Lodge, which has hosted the guitar jams since the event came to Kannapolis.
The public is always invited to attend, to see and hear steel guitar players from across the country take the stage.
“This year we had 24 out-of-town steel players, from Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia,” Chandler said. “That’s not counting locals.”
Whether or not they’re professional players, numerous locals have come to know and enjoy the jams over the years.
Bobby Goins of Kannapolis came to the jam with his son, Brandon. Both play steel guitar. Bobby has been playing for about eight years, while Brandon is just starting out.
“It’s not easy,” Brandon said.
“I come to the jams here as well as in Saluda, S.C.,” Bobby Goins said. “I try to play a little each time … I hadn’t planned to play today, but I might. The day isn’t over yet.”
A little later, while Herby Wallace played instrumental Gospel on stage, Brandon called out to nationally-known steel player Bryan Adams, who happened to be walking by.
“You played good,” Brandon said.
“Thank you, brother,” Adams replied.
Adams, who has been a featured performer at previous Mid-Atlantic Steel Guitar Association Jams, said he was pleased with this session’s turnout.
“It’s been a good one. We sold a few CDs, saw some old friends and met some new friends,” Adams said.
Epling said the next jam will likely be held in Kannapolis in early 2009, probably March.
More information on the Kannapolis Steel Guitar Jams and other events can be found at the association’s Web site, www.masga.org.

A friend for life — and then some

A lot of things happened five years ago — the most serious being the Pillowtex closing, leaving close to 5,000 people in Cabarrus and Rowan counties without jobs.
On a lighter side, five years ago, we started the Kannapolis Citizen. It was a good move for all — readers got a newspaper packed full with Kannapolis news and people. We got something that, to me, is much more rewarding.
We got friends.
That’s what we here at the Citizen consider all of our readers. Our friends. When we’ve had great things to write about, you’ve been there to cheer us on. When we have made mistakes, like a true friend, you’ve been there to let us know and help us get better.
And along the way, doing stories about people and events, we’ve come across special friends, people we like to see and visit often.
One of those people was Mr. E.F. Demarcus. I didn’t know his name the first time I met him. He insisted that I call him Elmer Fudd, or Fudd for short. This jovial man always had a smile on his face and an opinion about anything you asked him.
I met him at Centerview Hardware on U.S. 29, while doing a story about the men who congregate there to shoot the breeze. I didn’t get his name the first time I met him, only the typical, “Just call me Elmer Fudd” he gave everyone he met at the store. I was a reporter, not to be trusted with names. I also got, “Just call me Panama” and “Just call me The Professor.”
No, that’s not the professor from Gilligan’s Island. He is truly a professor and his real name, I later found out, is Kenny. Panama would be Tim. There are others, but those three nicknames always seemed funny to me.
Fudd finally did give me his real name, and along with all the other men at the store, I instantly bonded. What’s not to like about a man who can joke about himself? “I took my purdy pills today” seemed to be his standard line, along with offering a purdy pill to some of the other men in the store he may have considered not as good looking as himself.
I could always stop by the hardware store for a quick drink and a hug from Fudd.
Now, I can’t. Fudd died on Sunday, after battling cancer.
I can still go by the hardware store — and will — for a diet, caffeine-free Sundrop and a quick conversation with the Professor and the rest of the guys up there. That’s a given.
But I won’t be able to drive by and see that turquoise truck sitting beside the store and plan on what I’d say to Fudd today.
I’ll still have my memories of Fudd though. He enjoyed the company of everyone who knew him. Even in his final days, his quick wit was legendary, as a sign on his door warned away strangers and friends could just “come on in.”
That’s what he’ll always be to me. A friend. And I’ll remember that anytime I want, I can come on in to the hardware store and just about anywhere else in Kannapolis, thanks to the friends I’ve made over the past five years.
Joanie Morris is editor of the Kannapolis Citizen. She can be reached at 704-932-3336 or jmorris@kannapoliscitizen.com.

From cotton to towels

Part 3 in a series

By Norris Dearmon
For the Kannapolis Citizen
By the time the card room had processed the cotton, it is clean and the fibers have been combed into a straight line, ready for the next step in producing yarn. Yarn can be in several stages during the process. Some are loose and thick, like a rope. Others are loose and slender, like a pencil. Finally, it is a thread, but it is all called yarn.
First the yarn is run on a Whitin or Saco-Lowell spinning machine where rovin is drafted and spun to make it a thread size. The number of spins is gauged by a certain number of spins per inch, according to the needs of a particular product.
When the bobbins are filled, the machine is stopped and released. A doffer then brings in two boxes with wheels. One box is filled with empty bobbins and the other is empty. The doffer moves the boxes down the machine, removing the full bobbins and replacing them with the empty bobbins. A good doffer can do the job without breaking the ends, which go to a mechanism near the underside of the bobbin. This mechanism allows the yarn to correctly thread the yarn onto the bobbin. Should the doffer break an end, he must manually fix it before starting up the machine again.
Needless to say, doffing is a back-breaking job and there is competition to see who can do the best job the fastest. The doffer usually has to have a break between doffing each machine.
Eventually, a different machine was produced, which eliminated one operation in the card room. It was called an open spinner. It was able to take the sliver directly into the spinning process instead of going through the rovin machine. In the picture, notice the difference in the size of the sliver verses the size of the rovin.
The boxes are then sent to another location called the spooler room, for preparation of the yarn for final use. There, the bobbins are placed either on a Volkman twister machine or winder machine. The operators of the twister machine are called twister hands. The operators of the winder are called automatic winder operators. On these machines, the size of the filling is determined by the requirement of the filling deeded by specific towels. Some has to be two-ply and others have to be three- or four-ply.
The ply is the number of threads used to spin the filling. For the filling in the weaving process, the requirement is generally single-ply and is run on the winder. Again, a doffer has to remove the filling bobbins from the machine.
The twister hand makes what is called “cheese.” In the picture can be seen large round shapes, which resemble small hoops of cheese, giving it its name. Some of the yarn is also run onto cones. In either case, the yarn is used in making warps and is of more ply than filling. Warp making will be covered in the next article.
Thanks to Tommy Harrison and J.W. Regan for helping me to name the machines and processes of the spinning room. They were long-time workers and supervisors for Cannon Mills.
Norris Dearmon is a local historian and member of the Kannapolis History Associates. He is a volunteer in the Hinson History Room at the Kannapolis Branch of the Cabarrus County Public Library.

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