CORNELIUS — Norfolk Southern officials said in a letter Tuesday, Feb. 21, the current financing plan for the proposed Red Line Regional Rail project, which would create a 25-mile passenger rail line from Charlotte to Mooresville, is not feasible.

In the letter addressed to N.C. Department of Transportation’s Deputy Secretary of Transit Paul Morris, John Edwards, Norfolk Southern’s general director of passenger policy, wrote, “Norfolk Southern stands ready to study with NCDOT and CATS the introduction of commuter rail service on the Norfolk Southern O Line. … Having said that, Norfolk Southern cannot support the current Red Line plan proposed by NCDOT for use of Norfolk Southern’s property.”

The letter states the Red Line plan is “fatally flawed” and based on assumptions about the amount of freight usage the line would see.

“For those reasons, the current proposal is not feasible and does not constitute a starting point for further discussion,” Edwards wrote.

He continued that if the Department of Transportation wants to continue pursuing commuter rail on the O Line, Norfolk Southern “will be ready to begin the study based upon updated freight operating assumptions, and the correct financial, tax, liability and regulatory models.”

He said that process won’t be short, or easy, and it will be expensive.

Read the letter:

Dear Paul

We have followed with interest and concern the recent campaign to introduce “Red Line”
commuter service on the Norfolk Southern-owned rail line between Charlotte and Mooresville.
Norfolk Southern stands ready to study with NCDOT and CATS the introduction of commuter
rail service on the Norfolk Southern 0 Line. Although I cannot now anticipate the eventual
conclusions of such a study, Norfolk Southern commits to ensuring that any new study is based
upon realistic operating, financial and regulatory assumptions.
Having said that, Norfolk Southern cannot support the current “Red Line” plan proposed by
NCDOT for use of Norfolk Southern’s property. The “Red Line” plan is fatally flawed and based
upon assumptions about the projected freight use of the 0 Line that are no longer valid. For
those reasons, the current proposal is not feasible and does not constitute a starting point for
further discussions. The JPA development process, therefore, is premature and will not lead to
an accelerated construction schedule.
If NCDOT wishes to pursue some form of commuter rail on Norfolk Southern’s “0″ Line, Norfolk
Southern will be ready to begin the study based upon updated freight operating assumptions,
and the correct financial, tax, liability and regulatory models. This process is not short or easy.
It will be an expensive process for NCDOT. But we will work with you to ensure that together
we get it right.

Sincerely,
John V. Edwards
General Director Passenger Policy
John V. Edwards

The North Mecklenburg basketball team celebrates after winning the 2005 Class 4A state title. That team was led by Jamie Skeen, a 6-foot-9 standout forward who would later lead the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams to a 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four. Skeen made the Herald Weekly’s list of the area’s best players over the past decade.

by Cliff Mehrtens

North Carolina has long been known as a basketball hotbed.

So, it figures that the most storied athletes to pass through The Herald Weekly’s area during the publication’s first decade were basketball players.  Our area has produced dozens of college players since the newspaper began 2002, and one skinny collegian who advanced to become an NBA starter.

Yet, as much as basketball grips the area, we’ve been rich in every sport.

Here’s a list of the top 10 Herald Weekly-area athletes in the past decade:

1. Stephen Curry,

Davidson College basketball

Curry, then a sophomore, became a national folk hero in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. The country’s obsession with “March Madness” on television led to many asking “What’s Davidson?”, “Where’s Davidson?” and “Who’s the boney guy scoring a ton of points?”

Curry, who starred at Charlotte Christian in high school, led Davidson to its first NCAA tournament victories since 1969. He did it in dizzying, dazzling fashion – 40 points (including eight 3-pointers) in a win against Gonzaga; 30 points in a win against Georgetown; 33 points in a win against Wisconsin, with NBA star LeBron James in attendance; and 25 points in the tournament-ending loss to Kansas.

Curry led the nation in scoring as a junior (28.6 scoring average), and left as the school’s career scoring leader (2,488 points). He bypassed his senior year and was drafted in the first round (No. 7 overall) of the NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. Curry, in his third NBA season, has an 18-point scoring average as a professional.

2. Jamie Skeen, North

Mecklenburg High basketball

Skeen was a big man with a dancer’s feet. He was a 6-foot-9 terror around the basket for the Vikings, but it wasn’t brute strength. Skeen’s game relied as much on quickness as anything.

As a junior in 2005, Skeen won the N.C. Mr. Basketball award as the state’s top player. He averaged 20.1 points and 11.1 rebounds as North Mecklenburg won the N.C. 4A championship. A year later, Skeen and the Vikings again reached the 4A state final, but lost to Raleigh Wakefield.

After two seasons at Wake Forest, Skeen transferred to Virginia Commonwealth. He, like Curry, exploded into the national spotlight when VCU advanced to the Final Four in 2011. Skeen was VCU’s leading scorer, including 26 points in an upset against Kansas. He currently plays professionally in Lyon, France.

3. and 4. Shaina and Miranda Ervin, Hopewell High softball

The twins shouldn’t be separated because each was integral in putting Hopewell on the state’s sports radar. The Titans, with Shaina pitching and Miranda catching, won the N.C. 4A softball championship in the school’s first year (2002). Then to prove it wasn’t a fluke, Hopewell won the title again in 2003.

The Ervin twins signed to play at N.C. State together.’

5. Brandyn Curry, Hopewell High basketball

He’s a combination of brains and a jump shot. Curry was a two-time all-state player for the Titans (2008 and 2009), and had a 4.6 grade point average as a senior. That helped land him at Harvard, where as a junior he’s a starting guard and leads the Crimson in assists (4.9 average).

Curry twice was the MECA 7 4A conference player of the year at Hopewell, twice and as a senior averaged 15 points and seven assists.

6. Sarah Mooney, North Mecklenburg High softball

She hit the ball hard, often and everywhere. Mooney, a catcher, set a N.C. High School Athletic Association season record with a .779 batting average in 2011.

That’s 60 hits in 77 at-bats. Mooney also had 55 RBIs, and her 19 home runs tied the state single-season record.

Mooney, who signed with James Madison University, set the state record with 37 career home runs. Mooney’s .566 career batting average is the fourth-highest in state history. She was named to the Louisville Slugger All-America teams twice.

7. Kimberly Spano, North Mecklenburg High cross country and track

Spano was a three-time N.C. 4A cross country champion (2007-09). She won the 1,600-meter track state title, and 3,200 state titles in the indoor and outdoor competitions. Also, she was the 1-mile indoor state champion, 2-mile outdoor state champion and indoor and outdoor national finalist.

8. Daryl Vereen, North Mecklenburg football

Vereen rushed for 2,603 yards and 31 touchdowns as a senior in 2006, and soon signed to play collegiately with Tennessee. As a junior, he rushed for 1,200 yards and 15 touchdowns before injuries caused him to miss four games. Vereen used a potent combination of speed, strength and vision. He was a three-time all-conference pick, and was a starter on North Mecklenburg’s basketball team that won the 2005 N.C. 4A championship.

9. Jenny Falcone, Davidson Day tennis

Falcone won two N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1A singles state championships and one doubles state championship (2008-10). After sweeping through her senior season in which she was undefeated and lost only three games, Falcone signed with College of Charleston.

10. Hannah Early, Hopewell High basketball and volleyball

Early was the 2010 I-MECK 4A Conference Player of the Year in volleyball and the I-MECK 4A Player of the Year in basketball in 2010-11. She helped the Titans win basketball conference titles as a junior and senior, and reach the N.C. 4A Western Regional. Early signed to play basketball at Davidson.

by Josh Lanier

CORNELIUS – Michael Cherry said this week he intends to sue the Cornelius Police Department, and all of the investigators who worked on his case, claiming he was wrongly imprisoned for 27 months on bad evidence and faulty police work.

Cherry, 40, was released from jail last month after the Mecklenburg County District Attorney dropped several charges against him, including rape, kidnapping, robbery with a dangerous weapon and burglary, saying the evidence collected by police wasn’t strong enough to take to trial. Cherry was accused of a September 2009 Cornelius home invasion where two people were robbed and a third person was raped, forced inside a stolen car and driven to Huntersville.

Cherry, who is black, claims investigators targeted him because of his race and history with Cornelius police. Those dealings include several previous convictions of breaking and entering, theft and assault charges.

“I was (Cornelius police’s) Moby Dick. I am their great white whale – their great black whale is what I call it,” he said. “They went after me because they just don’t like me and because of my race. I wasn’t involved in this act.”

One of his attorneys, Sam McGee, of the Jackson & McGee law firm, couldn’t release many details about any potential lawsuit, but said his office is still investigating Cherry’s claims.

“Right now, we’re investigating it,” McGee said. “… What I’m most concerned about right now is he was held for such a long period of time, and his bond was raised at one point, in a case that has now been thrown out because of lack of evidence.”

Police: Cherry’s claims ‘unfounded’

Cornelius Police Chief Bence Hoyle said Cherry was a target of the police investigation because the evidence pointed to him.

“His accusations are unfounded,” he said. “The DNA evidence pointed to Cherry, and a magistrate upheld our findings.”

Hoyle said Cherry became a suspect after a vodka bottle found at the scene had Cherry’s DNA, and the steering wheel of a truck stolen from the home had Cherry’s prints. But, in its filings, the Mecklenburg County District Attorney said police hadn’t properly upheld the chain of custody with the bottle, leaving open the possibility someone could have tampered with it or Cherry could have left his DNA on the items at another time before the crime took place. Cornelius police have since changed how they process crime scenes to prevent problems like this.

Cherry said he had never been to that house before and that it was transfer DNA investigators found on the bottle and steering wheel. He said someone who had recently handled an object after him must have picked up DNA and that’s the person who left it on the bottle.

Dr. LiLi Johnson, Associate Dean of Public Safety at Central Piedmont Community College, said a DNA transfer was statistically possible, but would most likely be too contaminated to get a match to a suspect.

“For instance, if I put my finger in your mouth and rubbed it on your cheek, there is a chance I would have your DNA on my finger, but I would also have nine other fingers with only my DNA,” she said. “Technically, your DNA on my finger would likely end up contaminated with my DNA.”

The fact that fingerprint were left behind by the criminals was also a sticking point with the district attorney, as the suspects allegedly wore latex gloves during the robbery.

Cherry said his attorneys would have been able to prove he had nothing to do with this crime, and that, as he claims, was at home with his children when the attack took place.

“There is nothing linking me to this,” he said. “All the evidence – the DNA, the identification by one of the victims – all of it has been proven wrong.”

But Hoyle stands by the work of his detectives and how the case played out, and investigators have said Cherry is still the prime suspect in the case.

“To say we targeted anyone for any reason other than our investigation pointed that way is untrue,” Hoyle said. “The standard of evidence for arrest is far different than at trial. … The fact that we dropped the charges because we noticed a deterioration of evidence shows our dedication to making sure we’re doing what is best for the case and the suspect. That’s how our system is supposed to work.”

Cherry to pen book on experience

A little more than a month after his release, Cherry said he intends to write a book, presently titled “27 Months of Constant Pressure,” detailing his time in prison and dealings with police.

“Everything is going to be in that book,” he said. “The whole experience starting from when I grew up in this area.”

He said he has also been asked to write a monthly column for “Gutter Magazine.”

Cherry said he hopes the book and his lawsuit help clear his name since he was unable to during a trial.

“I wanted my trial,” he said. “… I want to prove I had nothing to do with this crime. To put me in jail then release me without the chance to give my side is unfair … in a way, they’ve already won.”

But one of the alleged victim’s fathers said Cherry is trying to cash in on the press coverage surrounding his release.

“This is deeply troubling to our family that Michael Cherry is making this a racial issue considering the victims in this case never positively identified the suspects. They could not know the race of the people who committed this crime,” the father said. “And it’s deeply troubling that the people responsible have not been punished.”

The Herald Weekly is withholding the father’s name to protect his daughter’s identity.

Cherry said he hopes his experience will become a cautionary tale for police.

“At the end of this, I did 27 months in jail for nothing,” Cherry said. “I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to somebody else.”

by Eren Tataragasi

CORNELIUS – Homeowners fighting their property’s tax revaluation are again searching for answers after county commissioners were told last week there was nothing they could do to stop the appeals process.

Cornelius commissioners requested in a letter two weeks ago the appeals process be put on hold in order to help property owners have time to help them understand the process better.

“What’s rubbing people the wrong way is they’re not getting answers,” said Town Manager Anthony Roberts. “The system is broken.”

With no other action to take regarding this year’s revaluation, Roberts said he and Cornelius commissioners will focus on assembling a task force to look into what went wrong with this year’s revaluation and figure out ways to prevent them the next time.

Roberts said one of the main problems property owners have is they can’t understand how some of the property was valued.

Eric Anderson, assistant tax assessor for Mecklenburg County said he knows people have been particularly upset with this year’s revaluations, but that he and his assessors used qualified, comparable sales that occurred prior to Jan. 1, 2011, and for the first time, took into consideration whether homeowners were in an area where the majority of transactions were a result of a distress situation, like foreclosure, bank sales or short sales.

“Because even though you weren’t in that desperate situation, if you were selling then, that’s who your competition would be,” Anderson said.

Roberts said the second problem is that property owners haven’t been able to get a clear step-by-step response from the county on the appeals process.

Anderson said the most important aspect of filing an appeal is timeliness.

“Generally speaking, for 2011, the ability to appeal has come and gone,” he said. “But there are still a few thousand informal reviews to go out, and people will be getting those reviews in the coming week or so. There are about 500 or less that have yet to be dealt with of the initial 41,000.”

The informal review is the property assessment directly from the tax assessor’s office, which property owners can appeal with the county Board of Equalization and Review.

“We’ve had a record level of appeals, there’s no other way to say it,” Anderson said. “I’m sure that it has much to do with the downturn in the economy. … I’ve been doing this for about 30 decades and this is the most robust level of appeal I’ve ever encountered, and most other counties are seeing it, too. It’s to be expected, and it’s important to work through the process and that’s the best we can do.”

How the appeals process works, and what you’ll need to know

• The Board of Equalization and Review meets Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. until the last appeal has been heard, until June 30.

• To appeal, homeowners must file a separate Real Property Appeal Notification form, supplied by the assessor’s office with that informal review, for each parcel placed under appeal.

• The Real Property Appeal Notification must be filed with the assessor’s office, prior to the board’s adjournment, unless the final notice of value was mailed to the taxpayer fewer than 15 days prior to the board’s adjournment.

• Taxpayers have the burden of proving that the property was incorrectly valued, and that the tax value substantially exceeds the true market value of the property as of Jan. 1, 2011. Appraisals of the property, comparable sales of other like property, photographs, statements of income and expenses for income-producing property, and replacement or reproduction costs can all be used in the appeal.

Anderson said if property owners hire an appraiser to help appeal their revaluation, they have to make sure that appraisal is done on sales comparable prior to Jan. 1, 2011, otherwise the appeal will be thrown out.

And because each property is different, Anderson said it’s important homeowners provide the board and tax assessors with details about damages, square footage, or any other detail they feel is pertinent to the value of the property.

“We generally use market models, but there may be instances where your property is different from others in your neighborhood, and we wouldn’t know that unless you brought that to our attention,” Anderson said.

• Taxpayers will be notified of the hearing date and can appear personally or be represented by an attorney.

• Failure of the taxpayer to complete the Real Property Appeal Notification, and to supply any additional documentation, prior to the hearing date may result in a dismissal of the appeal.

• All hearings begin at 9 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and last until they’re done. It’s first-come-first serve, and residential cases will be heard before commercial. Property owners have about five minutes to make their case, longer if they have pertinent, new information to share, then the county will make its case. Once all appeals have been heard, the board will make its decisions and send a written notice of decision to property owners within three weeks.

• If the taxpayer disagrees with the board’s decision, they have 30 days to file a Form AV-14 Notice of Appeal and Application for Hearing with the North Carolina Property Tax Commission. A copy must also be served on the taxing jurisdiction’s assessor and attorney.

• At the commission level, parties must file an Order on Final Pre-Hearing Conference that provides all facts and proposed evidence, and six copies must be provided to the commission at least 10 days before the hearing.

• Once the commission makes its decision, if either the taxpayer or the county disagrees, they can appeal the decision to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court.

The Davidson School –  former home of Davidson IB Middle School and currently home to Lake Norman Christian School – could become a historic landmark.

Stewart Gray, preservation planner with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, explained the history, and possible designation, ofthe 251 South St. building during the Davidson town board meeting Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Built in 1948, Gray said the building is one of the best and only post-WWII New Deal public works projects still standing in the area. Charlotte native Luis Asbury designed the building.

Historic landmark designation would not prevent renovations or development on the property, Gray said, but would require any material changes to be approved by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission and could be delayed up to one year.

The landmarks commission would be able to purchase the property if it became necessary to preserve it, and if a private owner ever bought the property, it would be eligible to pay 50 percent less taxes.

Lake Norman Christian Principal Sarah Beam said she and the school support the designation as long as it does not prevent them from expanding or improving the building, while maintaining its historic integrity.

Since Davidson IB was forced last year to move operations to Alexander Middle, Davidson planners have wanted to find a way to preserve the building.

In other board news

• Clare Meyer of Tinsley & Terry, CPA, gave the town a good audit report, saying some of its previous financial issues had been resolved for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011.

Issues like failures to reconcile banking issues on a timely basis or properly monitor ledger accounts, Meyer said, seemed to be resolved in the new fiscal year under interim finance director Holli Rogozinski.

• Mecklenburg County is planning to create fire tax districts to fund fire protection in unincorporated areas. Town Manager Leamon Brice tentatively plans to request the county implement a 4.5 to 5 percent tax on the ETJ to fund Davidson Fire Department protection of the area. See more on fire tax districts on page 11.

• The town and planning boards will meet Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in town hall to discuss a proposed retirement home.

Proposed fire-tax districts could severely cut funding to the Cornelius-Lemley Fire Rescue, but the town is fighting the county commission’s measure. (Josh Lanier/Herald photo)

CORNELIUS – Town leaders are fighting proposed fire tax districts that could gut the town’s volunteer department if county commissioners approve it next week.

Town Manager Anthony Roberts said the county’s plans to implement a fire tax in the extraterritorial jurisdictions of towns such as Cornelius, Huntersville and Davidson, will leave Cornelius-Lemley Fire Rescue with a $95,000 budget shortfall.

County commissioners are considering setting a fire district tax of four to seven cents per $100 of assessed property value for the various ETJ districts throughout the county. That money would go directly toward those volunteer departments, in lieu of coming from the county’s general fund. Mecklenburg County commissioners are expected to vote on the measure at their Tuesday, Feb. 21 meeting, and set a public hearing for April 3.

For the last several years, the county has given about $135,000 to Cornelius-Lemley Fire Rescue – $85,000 of which is a cash donation, and the rest is made up of forestry contracts, workers compensation benefits, and radio user fees and upgrades.

Roberts said because the town’s ETJ is small and mostly vacant land, one cent of tax only generates $10,000. So if the county sets a 4.5-cent tax rate, which he said is what’s being discussed, that won’t come close to the $135,000 the fire department counts on.

“Cornelius is going to be the most affected,” Roberts said. “The other towns will come out whole, or with a surplus.”

Fire Chief Jim Barbee said he and his staff have tried to look at ways the department could handle such a big cut, but so far they haven’t come up with any viable options.

“A lot of people say you can cut personnel, but in the fire business that’s not a smart thing to do, so we’re not sure what we’ll wind up doing,” Barbee said. “We’ve made several cuts in the past few years to lean the budget down and be as prudent with our dollars as we can, but other expenses like fuel and utilities are fixed, so other than cutting personnel I’m not sure where we’re going to go from here.”

To prevent cuts to personnel, the town is opposing the proposed tax rate, but has also proposed some alternatives that could still ensure the department has the money it needs to operate.

One was to set a different tax rate for each department, based on their annual budgets, but Roberts said the county wants the same tax across the board.

Another alternative was for the county to pay the remaining balance of what the fire district tax does not generate.

The least favorable option is a phase out, so the department doesn’t have such a drastic budget shortfall.

But ideally, there’d be no fire tax at all.

Roberts said the town already contributes about $1 million annually to the department, and he’s not sure how much more he could ask the town to do.

The town owns the two volunteer fire stations, plus most of the equipment, but taking the volunteer department and making it a full-time town department isn’t something the town is ready to do.

“The county does not have to provide fire service, but they have been for so long, contracting with volunteer departments, but it sounds like they’re trying to get out of that business,” Roberts said. “We have considered taking in the fire department, but it’s the cost, it’s just not cost effective.”

Roberts fears if the town makes the department go full-time, it could lose many of its volunteers since many of them work at the fire station as a second job.

Roberts said this is at least the third time in his 11 years with the town, that the county has brought up the issue of a fire district tax, but said, “if the other town’s aren’t fighting this, I don’t know how much support we’ll get from the county commissioners.”

Hough High student Summer McFadden reads a clue with Davidson College student volunteer Linnea Ng during a community scavenger hunt as part of the Davidson Service Board orientation Saturday, Feb. 11. (Courtesy of Ben Hardie)

Davidson College students are putting civil service in the hands of an even younger generation.

Youth Davidson, a college club, held the first orientation session for the Davidson Service Board Saturday, Feb. 11. Students from Davidson Day, Hough High, North Mecklenburg, Bailey Middle and Cannon schools and Community School of Davidson, 43 in all, came out to begin the journey toward an entirely youth-led community service initiative in Davidson.

College freshmen Aric Reviere, Hannah Nelson, Brian Parker, Gi Lee and Renato Guerrieri started Youth Davidson last fall, the college support behind the Davidson Service Board. They applied for and secured grant funding through the college’s Center for Civic Engagement’s Bonner Scholars program.

The group of freshman has put together a curriculum for the first semester of the Davidson Service Board, starting wit orientation day.

Students broke into teams for a town-wide scavenger hunt, learning about municipal government’s role in civic engagement at town hall, public services at Ada Jenkins and racial and physical dividers at the railroad tracks.

Mayor John Woods spoke to students about active engagement in the community, Reviere said.

Students also heard from former Habitat for Humanity Chief Executive Paul Leonard, Davidson College Dean of Students Tom Shandley, Davidson College Student Body President Gerard Dash, Kristen Booher from the Center for Civic Engagement and also from Reviere.

Reviere said he wants to hear from middle and high school students about the issues they see in town and give them the tools to address them.

For the rest of the spring semester, the middle school and high school board will each meet weekly, at a location to be decided.

Students will go through a series of workshops and then write, create and film public service announcements on the issues they see in the community, and Youth Davidson will publish the announcements.

Youth Davidson has about $3,000 secured to fund two projects for each board for the spring and fall semester, but they will also push the younger students to network in the community.

“We’re never going to fund a full project of theirs,” Reviere said. “We’re going to require that they find other means to fund a project.”

Davidson Service Board members will have to build relationships with other nonprofits in town and secure funding on their own.

The high school board will present its first project at Town Day on May 5, once they settle on one.

“They could do a community-wide art project on an issue they identify,” Reviere said. “Maybe they’ll orchestrate all the volunteers … or maybe a poverty awareness initiative.”

The middle school board will work on a community-wide art project on an issue they identify for Davidson’s Art on the Green April 21-22.

College volunteers will help the board identify needs and create projects this year, but starting the in fall of 2012, the students will be completely in charge, Reviere said.

The middle and high school students will come up with their own projects and write grant proposals to Youth Davidson and their other funding partners.

Want more information?

For more information or to sign up for the Davidson Service Board, visit www.YouthMovement.be.

Dawkins, 7, (left) and his sister, CJ Varner, 8, brighten their neighbors Barbara and Jay Zimberg’s day after they lost their Pomeranian, Sadie. (Courtesy of Barbara Zimberg)

HUNTERSVILLE – Barbara and Jay Zimberg’s Pomeranian, Sadie, passed away Jan. 20. Barbara told her neighbor in the NorthStone subdivision, Amanda Varner, so her children wouldn’t be surprised that Sadie wasn’t outside to greet them at the bus stop. When Barbara got home from work that day, Huntersville Elementary students, 8-year-old CJ Varner and her 7-year-old brother, Dawkins, brought sympathy cards, pizza, soda and stuffed animals that Barbara and Jay could borrow so they wouldn’t be so lonely. The Varners’ thoughtfulness and sympathy messages, “All dogs go to heaven,” and “I feel sad, and I bet you do to, but it’s going to be all right!,” were “just such a wonderful example of children who are being raised right,” Barbara Zimberg said.

Crews with Piedmont Natural Gas have been working to replace gas valves, and have encountered delays due to the weather, and from working around live transmission lines. A scheduled tie-in was also postponed due to rain and a flooded trench. Motorists should take Hambright Road around the work area.

For real-time travel information at any time, call 511, visit www.ncdot.gov/travel or contact the Mecklenburg County District Office at 704-596-6900.