2 THE BETHLEHEM STAR, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

• From Page 1event, which was hosted by current owners, Nathan Powers and Mark Richards.

MARCH • Leah Starnes of Bethlehem Elementary School won the 2015 Alexander County Spelling Bee and Sara Beth Inman of Taylorsville Elementary was runner-up. • Hilltops Designs Monogramming, owned by Megan Medlin, opened in the Bethlehem Shopping Center. • Alexander County Commissioners’ Choice Awards were presented March 19 at ACHS. Alexander Friends of the Library won first place and $200 in the adult division and Alexander County Livestock 4-H Club was first in the youth division. Community Spark award winners includ-ed Donna Abernathy, Bud Caywood, Sheila Chestnut, George Collins, Melissa Hager, Pat Harris, Steve Jeffords, Dorothy Maynard, Brenda McRae, Sandy Moore, Kay Pace, Donny Pennell, Carrie Pulley, Beverly Diane Self, and Peg Talbott. • A March 23 fire destroyed the mobile home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Powell in the Bethlehem Community. • Scheduled maintenance on the Highway 127 Bridge in Bethlehem was scheduled for April thru September (later delayed to 2016). • Two ACHS musicians were selected to the All-State Honor Bands for 2015. They were Carter Pennell on the Snare Drum and Robert West on Euphonium. • More than 400 runners participated in Robin’s Run in Taylorsville on March 28. Hunter Townsend finished first in the race and Marissa Cooper was the top female fin-isher. • A Bethlehem home owned by Betty Suddreth was damaged by fire an estimated $30,000 on March 30. • The WAMS Volleyball Team won the school’s fifth straight conference title and ran its consecutive win streak to 40 matches with a 2-0 per-formance in the NW Middle School Conference Tourna-ment.

• Madi Suddreth was voted the NPC Conference Player of the Year in basketball, while ACHS Coaches Ed Wills and Brad Mangum earned Coach of the Year honors for ACHS. Suddreth captured the Player of the Year Award for the fourth time in her high school career. In addition, Abby Cook, Logan Gant, and Ty Iredell earned All-NPC honors in basketball.

APRIL • James Best, 88, the actor best known for his portrayal of Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane on TV’s “The Dukes of Hazzard,” died April 6, 2015. Best had a residence in the Bethlehem Community. • Alexander County Geography Bee winner, Ian Garnto, won the state com-petition and advanced to the National competition in Washington, DC. • The Crossroads Community Theater’s annual spring dinner theater pre-sentation, “Yee Haw” was performed at the Fellowship Advent Christian Church in

Bethlehem April 24-25 & 26. • The 2014-15 Associated Press All-State Prep Basket-ball Teams for North Carolina, as selected by 22 sports writ-ers across the state, results were released Thursday, April 2. ACHS Senior and four-time Conference Player of the Year Madi Suddreth earned 12 to-tal votes and was selected to the All-State Women’s Team. Suddreth is the all-time lead-ing scorer, male or female, at ACHS with 1,890 career points. Suddreth was selected to play in the East/West All Star Bas-ketball Game in Greensboro. Suddreth is the first ACHS basketball player to ever earn a spot in the game. She joins several football players and coaches, and one women’s soc-cer player as the ACHS repre-sentatives in the annual event.

• ACHS senior Abbey Hartsell of Bethlehem signed her college intent letter to play college golf at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Hartsell was a three-time Conference Player of the Year and a two-time All-State performer. Hartsell played in the 4A State Championship in all four of her high school seasons and holds the Northwestern Conference and North Piedmont Confer-ence records for low rounds. She fired an NWC record 33 at Brushy Mtn, Golf Club and shot a 34 to set the NPC mark.

MAY • Crosspoint Church in Taylorsville announced that its 957 Mobile Cafe began local service on May 6. Mike Richmond said the outreach effort is for our community to ‘Serve Hope, One Meal at a Time’ for the less fortunate people of Alexander County. • The Bethlehem Community Development Association and Healing for Life Chiropractic & Acupuncture of Hickory spon-sored the First Annual Great Race 4K on May 16 to ben-efit the Taylorsville Rotary Back Pack Food Program of Alexander County. Bryan Barbee took first place over a field of more than 90 runners. • Taylorsville attorney Joel Cline Harbinson retained for 2015 the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating for attorneys. This rating is the highest possible for an attor-ney for both ethical standards and legal ability. • David Hart of Bethlehem won the $1,000 Grand Prize in the 2015 Buy Local Challenge in May. Sixty-three businesses participated in the Buy Local Challenge, which received more than 10,000 entries. • On Friday, May 22, Tay-lorsville Times Sports Edi-tor Donny Pennell and ACHS Coaches Brad Mangum and Jonathan Winkler presented the 17th Annual Taylorsville-times.Com Athletes of the Year Awards during the Alexander Central Awards Day. Seniors Madi Suddreth and Kevin Ala-nis were selected as the 2014-15 winners.

JUNE • Bethlehem Fire Chief, Shannon Lowrance, retired as Fire Chief after 16 years as the department leader. A 27-year fire service veteran, Lowrance is still an active firefighter with the department. Mr. Ashley Starnes was named new Fire Chief.

• Amanda Simpson was selected as the State Employees Credit Union 2015 Alexander County First Year Teacher of the Year award recipient. Melissa Bowman was recognized as the Alexander County Schools Outstanding Elementary Mathematics Teacher.

JULY • Effective on July 1, moped operators were required to obtain a registration card and display a license plate. • The sanctuary of Bethlehem Baptist Church was destroyed by fire on July 18 after it was struck by light-ning. Over 100 firefighters responded to the fire and were able to protect the education wing from the raging sanctu-ary fire. Kim Corriher of Bethlehem joined Hospice and Home Care of Alexander County as Public Relations & Marketing Coordinator.

AUGUST • The Bethlehem satellite of the Alexander Senior Center added Wednesday as an addi-tional day to their operational schedule. • The Alexander County Schools opened on August 24th for students for the 2015-16 term. • Catawba Valley Community College’s new Promise Scholars Initiative, which allows high school stu-dents to earn up to a year’s worth of college credits, was noted in the August 26th edi-tion. Tanner Ingle, a 2015 ACHS grad, had earned 16 hours of credit which he uti-lized as he entered Western Carolina University.

SEPTEMBER • Alexander Central Beta Club freshmen members raised over $500 to aid flood victims in South Carolina. • The Alexander County Public Education Foundation and Sports Hall of Fame announced the 2015 Class of inductees. They included: Mitzi Davis, Robin Harris, Shena Bowman Hollar, Chris Kite, and Edwin G. Thomas. This was the fourth class selected. • West Middle School students Carlie Hamby and Rachel Skinner launched a special summer project to support Bethlehem Baptist Church in the aftermath of its July 18 fire. Their dog walk-ing and pet grooming proj-ect raised $795 to assist the church. The girls are not mem-bers of the Bethlehem Baptist Church. • The Alexander County Board of Elections received state approval to merge sev-eral local voting precincts, reducing the number from 16 to 10 voting locations but retaining the 16 tabulation dis-tricts. • The 6th Annual Bethlehem Day Festival and Classic Car Cruise-In was held September 19 offering live music, entertainment, and activities, arts, crafts, and food. • Layne Hendrickson joined The Times staff as a feature writer, focusing on “People and Culture” articles. • The Alexander County Library, in partnership with Recorded Books and the Bethlehem Friends of the Library, announced the offer-ing of Universal Class Library Edition. This online continuing education service is designed specifically for use by the patrons of public libraries. • Urgent Care of Mountain View’s Taylorsville clinic cel-ebrated its first year of opera-tion in Taylorsville on Sept. 10th.

• The North Carolina Coaches Association announced that Alexander Central Men’s Basketball Coach Ed Wills has been named as an assistant coach for the 2016 East/West All-Star Basketball game next July in Greensboro. The annual games are held each year in conjunction with the North Carolina High School Coaches Clinic. Wills was named the North Piedmont Conference Coach of the Year this past season. In 11 sea-sons in Taylorsville, nine of Wills’ teams and seven of his last eight have reached the postseason. Last season, the Cougars finished 18-7. NCCA records indicate the only other Alexander Central coaches at East-West were in football, Glenn Wilson in 1973 and Tom Harper in 2011.

• Former ACHS golf standout and current Lenoir-Rhyne University player Abbey Hartsell recorded a new women’s course record at the Rock Barn Golf Club’s Jones Course during a tourna-ment on Sunday, August 16. The Lenoir-Rhyne freshman carded seven birdies and tal-lied just one bogey en route to a women’s course record score of 66 during Rock Barn’s

Ladies Member/Member event.

OCTOBER • A Bethlehem Community physician pleaded guilty Oct. 5 to health care fraud charges for submitting to Medicare and Medicaid over $467,376 in fraudulent reimbursement claims, according to Jill W. Rose, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Dr. Wayne V. Wilson, 54, entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer. • Mt. Bethel UMC spon-sored their 4th CROP Hunger Walk on October 18 with over $13,000 being raised for local and world hunger. • Fellowship Advent Christian Church held a suc-cessful golf tournament on October 17 at Hampton Heights Golf Course in Hickory, said Pastor Dave Ross. The event is the church’s tenth annual and benefits church mission trips and projects.

• West Alexander Middle School eighth grader Steven Montgomery scored five touchdowns on the night to lead his team to a resounding 44-16 win over East Alexander in the 17th Annual Apple Bowl on Tuesday night, October 13, at Alexander Central High School. Montgomery scored four rushing touchdowns and added another score on a kick-off return as the Bulldogs ran their record to 5-1 on the sea-son. The win also earned the Bulldogs at least a share of the NW Middle School Conference title and returned the cov-eted Apple Bowl trophy to Bethlehem for one more year.

• ACHS Seniors Mattie Brown and Alston Robinson of Alexander Central High School have been named School Winners for the nationally-recognized Wendy’s® High School Heisman® Award. Alston Robinson is the son of Wendy Pennell of Bethlehem and Sean Robinson of Newton.

NOVEMBER • The Fourth Sports Hall of Fame induction was held November 23 at Alexander Central High School. The 2015 inductees included: Mitzi Davis, Robin Harris, Shena Bowman Hollar, Chris Kite, and Edwin Gail Thomas. • The “Cricket County Christmas Charity” dinner the-ater was presented November 27, 28, 29 at Fellowship Advent Christian Church by the Crossroads Community Theater group. Proceeds were to benefit a number of area ministries, including seasonal assistance for needy families. • Five people were injured in a two-car collision on Nov. 20th on NC 127 in Ellendale. Nikki Hagy, 12, was airlifted to a Charlotte hospital.

• The ACHS Wrestling Team is off to another strong start this season. The team posted a 4-1 record and grabbed a third-place finish in the South Caldwell Duals held in Sawmills on Saturday, November 21. The highlight of the day for the Cougar team was the 5-0 performance by senior captain Daylin Jackson leading to his 100th career win. Jackson’s second win of the day against East Gaston secured the 100th victory for the Bethlehem native, making him the 20th Cougar to reach the 100-victory mark in a high school career.

DECEMBER • The 39th annual Bethlehem Star Lighting was held on December 5th with Jimmy Moore as the official lighter of the Star. • The ACHS Beta Club provided some 85 boxes for the 2015 Operation Christmas Child project. • The “Christmas in Bethlehem” drive-thru was held December 11-13, spon-sored by the churches in Bethlehem, and featured over 30 live scenes depcit-ing Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth.

• Ryan Mayberry was elected as chairman of the Alexander County Board of Commissioners for 2016 and Milton Campbell as vice chair-man. • Joshua Presnell, 9, installed solar powered Christmas lights on his playhouse at his home in Bethlehem. Joshua has been interested in electronics since about age 4, and utilized a three panel solar array to charge a battery to power the lights and a radio in the play-house. • Bethlehem Ruritan Club officers for 2016 were installed Dec. 9: President Trey Braswell, Vice Pres. Hayden Bentley, Secretary Fred Lackey, Treasurer Wanda Stafford, and Directors Max White, George Collins, and John Millholland were

installed by Ruritan District Representative Larry Richardson. • In one of the most com-petitive seasons in years, Alexander County’s two middle schools captured one title each in the NW Middle School Conference this year. The West Alexander Bulldogs, under the direction of Head Coach Brian Killian, captured the NWC regular season with an impressive 9-1 record. The title marked the ninth time in the last 10 seasons that West has won or shared the league title. Across the county, EastAlexander enjoyed an up-and-down season that closed on the highest note of the year when the Lady Falcons cap-tured the NWC post-season tournament title last week with a finals wins over Hudson on Thursday, December 17.

ALEXANDER’SALL-STAR

Above, Madi Suddreth battles for ball control against three members of the East All-Star Team. In the end, Suddreth con-trolled the ball for one of her nine rebounds. At the right, Alexander Central’s all-time scoring leader waits at the score table prior to return-ing the game on Monday, July 20.

HIGHLIGHTS: Top Bethlehem stories from 2015

CHURCH BURNS FOLLOWING LIGHTNING STRIKE — The sanctuary of Bethlehem Baptist Church, located on NC 127 at the intersection with TeagueTown Road, burned down on the afternoon of Saturday, July 18, 2015.

(Photo courtesy of Summer LaShay Peterson.)

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STATE GEOGRAPHY BEE WINNER — WAMS student, Ian Garnto was recognized as winner of the 2015 NC State Geography Bee. Ian will represent North Carolina in Washington, DC at the National Geography Bee on May 10-14, 2015. Pictured above from left: Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Hefner, Ian Garnto, and Board Member Scott Bowman.

Vote Larry Yoderfor County Commissioner

IN THE MARCH 152016 REPUBLICAN

PRIMARY ELECTION

• Continued support for education/children

• Encourage economic development/jobs

• CVCC - Alexander applied Technology Project to improve Training for Industry and our citizens.

• Millersville Sanitary Waste Project contracted with Taylorsville.

• Mitchell Gold Gas Line Project received Grants to create jobs.

• Funding for Hiddenite Center for Tourism

• Shurtape Sewer Project

• Continued improvements to Rocky Face Park with Grants.

Paid for by Larry Yoder, Candidate for County Commisioner

“Thank you for allowing me to serve you for the past twelve years.

I will appreciate your support.”