FRIENDS AND FAMILY REMEMBER MORE THAN JUST A MUSICAL ICON
Monday, October 2, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
MORGANTON— Three months ago, 93-year-old Etta Baker plucked strawberries from the garden behind her small white home in Burke County. She carried the berries into her kitchen, placing the red fruit beside the plums she was getting ready to can and turn into jams.
The year before, when her health began failing her, Baker was forced to abandon strumming on her acoustic guitar and focus instead on the banjo. But the things Baker loved - playing the blues, gardening and cooking - were hobbies she refused to give up, her children said.
"You should see her back porch," said daughter Doris Thomas of the peonies, black-eyed Susans and geraniums Baker tended to everyday. "You have to walk through flowers just to get to the door."
The world remembers Baker, who died Sept. 26, as a Piedmont blues legend whose unusual two-fingered picking style influenced Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal. But in Morganton, Baker is also remembered as a mother, a friend and a woman who quit a textile factory job to follow a dream.
Baker was born in the foothills of Caldwell County in 1913, and within three years she had learned to play the guitar.
Her father, musician "Medicine" Boone Reid, would place the instrument across his lap and pluck at the strings while a young Baker rested her body between his knees, daughter Joann Thomas remembers her mother saying. He'd teach Baker how to pick with her tiny fingers, and she'd mimic the way he strummed the strings.
"When he smiled, she knew she hit the right chord," Joann Thomas said.
It took 60 years, however, for Baker to take up music full time. She had raised nine children and was working at a Morganton factory when, one day in 1958, a professional musician suggested she change careers.
"This was on a Wednesday," Baker recalled in a 2005 interview. "I went in and told 'em I was quitting on Friday, and I did. I never did go back."
At Baker's funeral Sunday at the Morganton Municipal Auditorium, her family paid tribute to Baker with their own gospel and blues, including a song by her 12-year-old great-grandson.
Baker's talents have been recognized throughout the world. She toured in Europe, and the National Endowment for the Arts awarded her with top honors. But it was her positive attitude that grandson Steven Avery said was one of her true accomplishments.
"She did not have the blues, she played the blues," Avery said at the funeral. "The `happy blues,' she called it."
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10/1/06
Anti-war rally at park peaceful
DEMONSTRATION HELD A WEEK AFTER PROTESTERS CLASHED WITH POLICE
Sunday, October 1, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
CHARLOTTE — An afternoon rally held one week after police clashed with anti-war protesters uptown remained peaceful Saturday at Charlotte's Freedom Park.
Event organizers, including members of the Green Party and the Action Center for Justice, feared a repeat of last week's Human Rights Fest, where Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested six protesters at Trade and Tryon streets.
Police said last week's rally got out of control when protesters refused to follow orders, swore at officers and placed a burning newspaper near an officer's feet. Protesters said officers violated their First Amendment rights. At least one man was shocked with a Taser, and another protester, David Crane, said he suffered a broken rib and a punctured lung.
Organizers said Saturday's rally, which called for the impeachment of President Bush, attracted at least 50 more participants than last week's event, including some of those arrested.
Crane said he "wouldn't have missed this for the world."
Visible police presence was minimal Saturday, but C.W. McIver from the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department said plainclothes officers attended the event. He said the number of officers was higher than usual for such gatherings.
Jim Gronquist, an attorney for the Action Center for Justice, said he attended to observe police and protester actions.
"There's a disconnect for police between what's impolite and illegal speech," he said.
The Action Center for Justice will hold another anti-war rally at Trade and Tryon streets at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Planners said they tried to minimize confrontations Saturday by asking two punk rock bands not to use profanities during their performances, said Ken Davies, a Green Party organizer.
The first band violated the agreement, causing park officials to consider ending the event. After conversations with Davies, McIver decided to allow the second band to play but threatened to pull the sound if it happened again.
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and may not be republished without permission.
Sunday, October 1, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
CHARLOTTE — An afternoon rally held one week after police clashed with anti-war protesters uptown remained peaceful Saturday at Charlotte's Freedom Park.
Event organizers, including members of the Green Party and the Action Center for Justice, feared a repeat of last week's Human Rights Fest, where Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested six protesters at Trade and Tryon streets.
Police said last week's rally got out of control when protesters refused to follow orders, swore at officers and placed a burning newspaper near an officer's feet. Protesters said officers violated their First Amendment rights. At least one man was shocked with a Taser, and another protester, David Crane, said he suffered a broken rib and a punctured lung.
Organizers said Saturday's rally, which called for the impeachment of President Bush, attracted at least 50 more participants than last week's event, including some of those arrested.
Crane said he "wouldn't have missed this for the world."
Visible police presence was minimal Saturday, but C.W. McIver from the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department said plainclothes officers attended the event. He said the number of officers was higher than usual for such gatherings.
Jim Gronquist, an attorney for the Action Center for Justice, said he attended to observe police and protester actions.
"There's a disconnect for police between what's impolite and illegal speech," he said.
The Action Center for Justice will hold another anti-war rally at Trade and Tryon streets at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Planners said they tried to minimize confrontations Saturday by asking two punk rock bands not to use profanities during their performances, said Ken Davies, a Green Party organizer.
The first band violated the agreement, causing park officials to consider ending the event. After conversations with Davies, McIver decided to allow the second band to play but threatened to pull the sound if it happened again.
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and may not be republished without permission.
9/29/06
Officials seek man who left hospital
HE WAS HURT IN CRASH AS DEPUTIES TRIED TO SERVE A WARRANT
Friday, September 29, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
Authorities continued searching for a Lenoir man who signed himself out of a Winston-Salem hospital Tuesday after he was injured in a Saturday crash while deputies tried to serve him with a warrant.
Jeremy David Greene, 30, was injured Saturday after Caldwell County sheriff's deputies approached him with a warrant charging him with misdemeanor larceny and failing to pay child support, said Capt. David Anderson.
The deputies confronted Greene on foot, Anderson said, and Greene then ran to his pickup truck and drove away. Within moments, he crashed into a Lexus SUV, which then struck a Sheriff's Office patrol car, Anderson said.
Greene, who suffered broken ribs and head injuries in the wreck, was taken to Caldwell Memorial Hospital before being airlifted to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, Anderson said.
He was listed in critical condition but signed himself out of the hospital on Tuesday against the advice of hospital staff, Anderson said.
Anderson said hospital security and local police in Winston-Salem were told to notify the Sheriff's Office when Greene was released.
"Somehow, it slipped through the cracks," Anderson said.
Greene's sister, Anderson said, picked him up at the hospital and briefly took him to his parents' home in Lenoir before dropping him off in the city's Piney community.
Greene's family said they have not heard from him since Tuesday, Anderson said. Authorities worry that Greene is still critically injured and is not receiving medical treatment.
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and may not be republished without permission.
Friday, September 29, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
Authorities continued searching for a Lenoir man who signed himself out of a Winston-Salem hospital Tuesday after he was injured in a Saturday crash while deputies tried to serve him with a warrant.
Jeremy David Greene, 30, was injured Saturday after Caldwell County sheriff's deputies approached him with a warrant charging him with misdemeanor larceny and failing to pay child support, said Capt. David Anderson.
The deputies confronted Greene on foot, Anderson said, and Greene then ran to his pickup truck and drove away. Within moments, he crashed into a Lexus SUV, which then struck a Sheriff's Office patrol car, Anderson said.
Greene, who suffered broken ribs and head injuries in the wreck, was taken to Caldwell Memorial Hospital before being airlifted to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, Anderson said.
He was listed in critical condition but signed himself out of the hospital on Tuesday against the advice of hospital staff, Anderson said.
Anderson said hospital security and local police in Winston-Salem were told to notify the Sheriff's Office when Greene was released.
"Somehow, it slipped through the cracks," Anderson said.
Greene's sister, Anderson said, picked him up at the hospital and briefly took him to his parents' home in Lenoir before dropping him off in the city's Piney community.
Greene's family said they have not heard from him since Tuesday, Anderson said. Authorities worry that Greene is still critically injured and is not receiving medical treatment.
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and may not be republished without permission.
9/27/06
Lenoir -- Where sculpture reigns
CALDWELL COUNTY IS DOTTED WITH NEARLY 50 OUTDOOR WORKS OF ART
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
New York. Paris. Lenoir?
Major cities boasting public art collections have a rival in Caldwell County, now officially one of the nation's premier areas for public outdoor sculpture.
Nearly 50 works of art, including Mike Roig's prominent West Wind Sentinel on U.S. 321, are scattered around the county, putting it among the largest outdoor public sculpture collections, per capita, in the U.S.
Residents of Caldwell County knew the collection was one of the nation's most extensive, said Caldwell Arts Council executive director Carol Lee Giduz, but it was something the arts council had never officially confirmed.
The Smithsonian in Washington, however, had been tracking the county's collection as part of its Save Outdoor Sculpture initiative, said art council member Norma Suddreth.
"They (told us) that we had a large number of sculpture for a town our size," she said, "but the number they credited us with was lower than what we actually had."
A study by the mathematics department of Appalachian State University and graduate student Jane Robertson confirmed that the county ranked No. 1 for communities its size, and in the top 2 percent in the U.S.
"No one of a similar population even came close to the collection size," Robertson said.
The statistics were confirmed by the N.C. secretary of cultural resources.
Said Giduz: "There's sculpture gardens and sculpture parks, but we have a sculpture county."
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and may not be republished without permission.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
New York. Paris. Lenoir?
Major cities boasting public art collections have a rival in Caldwell County, now officially one of the nation's premier areas for public outdoor sculpture.
Nearly 50 works of art, including Mike Roig's prominent West Wind Sentinel on U.S. 321, are scattered around the county, putting it among the largest outdoor public sculpture collections, per capita, in the U.S.
Residents of Caldwell County knew the collection was one of the nation's most extensive, said Caldwell Arts Council executive director Carol Lee Giduz, but it was something the arts council had never officially confirmed.
The Smithsonian in Washington, however, had been tracking the county's collection as part of its Save Outdoor Sculpture initiative, said art council member Norma Suddreth.
"They (told us) that we had a large number of sculpture for a town our size," she said, "but the number they credited us with was lower than what we actually had."
A study by the mathematics department of Appalachian State University and graduate student Jane Robertson confirmed that the county ranked No. 1 for communities its size, and in the top 2 percent in the U.S.
"No one of a similar population even came close to the collection size," Robertson said.
The statistics were confirmed by the N.C. secretary of cultural resources.
Said Giduz: "There's sculpture gardens and sculpture parks, but we have a sculpture county."
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and may not be republished without permission.
9/26/06
Sheriff's Office says rash of cigarette thefts possibly related
Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer
Staff Writer
A rash of thefts of cigarettes in the Catawba Valley have authorities wondering how many of the incidents are connected.
Investigators for several agencies have responded to seven reports of cigarette thefts with breaking and entering during the last two weeks. Since Friday, more than $3,400 in cigarettes - about 120 cartons - were taken from three retailers in Hickory and Conover, according to police reports.
Catawba County Sheriff's Office Maj. Coy Reid said at least three of the five larcenies in the county are connected. One suspect, who authorities believe is a woman, appears in the security videos from three thefts, Reid said.
Hickory Police Department officers responded to similar calls on Friday and Saturday, but police administrative assistant Libby Grigg said city officers are unsure if the incidents were related.
All content © THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER and may not be republished without permission.
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer
Staff Writer
A rash of thefts of cigarettes in the Catawba Valley have authorities wondering how many of the incidents are connected.
Investigators for several agencies have responded to seven reports of cigarette thefts with breaking and entering during the last two weeks. Since Friday, more than $3,400 in cigarettes - about 120 cartons - were taken from three retailers in Hickory and Conover, according to police reports.
Catawba County Sheriff's Office Maj. Coy Reid said at least three of the five larcenies in the county are connected. One suspect, who authorities believe is a woman, appears in the security videos from three thefts, Reid said.
Hickory Police Department officers responded to similar calls on Friday and Saturday, but police administrative assistant Libby Grigg said city officers are unsure if the incidents were related.
All content © THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER and may not be republished without permission.
9/24/06
Orchestra putting string quartets through tryouts
Sunday, September 24, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
It's a string quartet Battle of the Bands.
For its upcoming season, the Western Piedmont Symphony is mixing things up by inviting four string quartets from around the nation to audition for a three-year stint with the orchestra.
The Degas Quartet, which joined the symphony after a similar tryout, completed its residency last season.
Conductor John Gordon Ross said he's both excited and a little nervous about bringing in a new principle string group, with four new musicians.
"Having those people in those front chairs will change the sound of the orchestra," Ross said. "(But) this is the best four groups we've had come to town in a single year. I think maybe this takes us a step up."
The quartets auditioning are LaCatrina from Kent State University, Kailas from Rice University, Hyperion from San Diego State University the Vega String Quartet from Emory University.
The musicians in those quartets are from all over the world, symphony Executive Director John Brown said, including Mexico, Great Britain and Japan.
"The fact that we have the four quartets challenging each other and bringing different backgrounds and cultural emphasis to the community is important," Brown said.
Each quartet will have two main performances in its audition - one with the orchestra in the Masterworks series and one in the Friends of the Quartet Chamber Classics Series.
Ross said each quartet will keep busy while here. Their itineraries include performances at schools, community centers and retirement homes, formal dinners and B-flat concerts.
At the end of the season, Ross and a committee of symphony board members, members of the community and orchestra musicians will select one of the quartets to join the symphony for the 2007-08 season.
It isn't just the auditioning quartets that make the upcoming season unique, Brown said. The Masterworks Series will hold its first performance at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir. Previously all concerts have been held at First Baptist Church in Hickory.
"We've become more of the western Piedmont, which we are," Brown said. "We're not the Hickory Symphony."
As in past years, the symphony will host a 6 p.m. dinner before each performance. Masterworks dinners will be held at Michael's on Fourth, and Chamber Classics dinners will take place in the north lobby of the SALT Block. Each costs $30.
Ross said he's looking forward to the season.
"I've been here 15 years, and it's always very interesting," he said. "There's a little bit of excitement and well-directed anxiety, and that makes it kind of fun."
All content © THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
and may not be republished without permission.
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
It's a string quartet Battle of the Bands.
For its upcoming season, the Western Piedmont Symphony is mixing things up by inviting four string quartets from around the nation to audition for a three-year stint with the orchestra.
The Degas Quartet, which joined the symphony after a similar tryout, completed its residency last season.
Conductor John Gordon Ross said he's both excited and a little nervous about bringing in a new principle string group, with four new musicians.
"Having those people in those front chairs will change the sound of the orchestra," Ross said. "(But) this is the best four groups we've had come to town in a single year. I think maybe this takes us a step up."
The quartets auditioning are LaCatrina from Kent State University, Kailas from Rice University, Hyperion from San Diego State University the Vega String Quartet from Emory University.
The musicians in those quartets are from all over the world, symphony Executive Director John Brown said, including Mexico, Great Britain and Japan.
"The fact that we have the four quartets challenging each other and bringing different backgrounds and cultural emphasis to the community is important," Brown said.
Each quartet will have two main performances in its audition - one with the orchestra in the Masterworks series and one in the Friends of the Quartet Chamber Classics Series.
Ross said each quartet will keep busy while here. Their itineraries include performances at schools, community centers and retirement homes, formal dinners and B-flat concerts.
At the end of the season, Ross and a committee of symphony board members, members of the community and orchestra musicians will select one of the quartets to join the symphony for the 2007-08 season.
It isn't just the auditioning quartets that make the upcoming season unique, Brown said. The Masterworks Series will hold its first performance at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir. Previously all concerts have been held at First Baptist Church in Hickory.
"We've become more of the western Piedmont, which we are," Brown said. "We're not the Hickory Symphony."
As in past years, the symphony will host a 6 p.m. dinner before each performance. Masterworks dinners will be held at Michael's on Fourth, and Chamber Classics dinners will take place in the north lobby of the SALT Block. Each costs $30.
Ross said he's looking forward to the season.
"I've been here 15 years, and it's always very interesting," he said. "There's a little bit of excitement and well-directed anxiety, and that makes it kind of fun."
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and may not be republished without permission.
9/23/06
Officer kills man after woman reports assault
RAMPAGE, ATTACK ON GIRLFRIEND END WITH CLOSE-RANGE SHOOTING
Saturday, September 23, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
HICKORY -- The girlfriend of a man killed by a Hickory police officer praised the officer Friday for protecting her and her baby.
Officer Melissa Hildebrand killed Garry Wayne McCloud, 51, Thursday night after responding to a call at Ridgeview apartment complex in southeast Hickory, police said.
Hildebrand, who has worked as an officer since April, is on administrative leave with pay until the State Bureau of Investigation and Hickory Police Department complete their investigations, police said.
Linda Andrews, 31, told the Observer she was holding her baby Thursday night when McCloud, her boyfriend of two years, kicked through a window. Andrews said McCloud threw a chair at her, and she had to lift her arm to protect their 1-year-old daughter. She said she handed her child to a friend just in time.
"(He) knocked me down from behind," Andrews said, "and starting hitting my head on the ground."
Andrews said she called police about 6 p.m., as McCloud was thrashing through the living room, kitchen and upstairs bedroom of her apartment. By the time Hildebrand got there eight minutes later, Maj. Tom Adkins said, McCloud had left.
Andrews said Hildebrand, 33, had been at her apartment for only a couple of minutes when McCloud returned. He rounded the corner of the complex's parking lot in his pickup truck and smashed into Andrews' 1996 Buick.
McCloud then got out of the truck, Andrews said, and began yelling and walking toward them. Andrew's friend Maresia Covington, who was with Andrews when she called police, said McCloud was visibly agitated and hostile.
"The way it looked to me, he wanted to take the gun from the officer and kill (Andrews)," Covington said.
Hildebrand told McCloud to stop approaching, Adkins said. Covington and Andrews said McCloud stopped only briefly before coming toward the group again.
Then, they said, Hildebrand forcefully told McCloud to lay on the ground, pulling out the 9 mm semi-automatic handgun from her holster. McCloud continued to walk toward Hildebrand. Covington recalls Hildebrand backing up and repeatedly yelling, "Sir, I don't want to have to shoot you."
McCloud was within five feet of Hildebrand when the officer pulled the trigger, Adkins said.
Andrews said she heard two shots before McCloud fell to the ground. Andrews ran around the corner of the apartment and said she recalls hearing three more shots.
Adkins would not say how many shots were fired or where the bullets penetrated McCloud's body.
Adkins said Hickory police officers are trained to "defend themselves reasonably." They do not have specific guidelines saying an officer must first see a weapon, where to aim or when to shoot, he said. Officers carry a baton and pepper spray in addition to a gun, he said.
"The key is to take the force necessary to stop the threat, whatever that might be," Adkins said. "Every situation is different. Every person is different. You can't say `aim here.' "
Backup officers were on the way to the apartment when McCloud was shot, Adkins said.
Court records show McCloud had been arrested twice for assault on a female, and he appeared in court Monday for striking Andrews in July. The district judge released him on a 60-day suspended sentence and two years' probation.
Police would not say whether McCloud was armed, but Andrews said her boyfriend didn't carry a weapon. Still, Andrews said, she was worried McCloud, who did not live at the apartment, would kill her and hurt her children.
Andrews and Covington said they are collecting money from other residents to send Hildebrand flowers as a thank-you.
"(Hildebrand) saved our lives," Andrews said. "She saved me and my babies."
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and may not be republished without permission.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
HICKORY -- The girlfriend of a man killed by a Hickory police officer praised the officer Friday for protecting her and her baby.
Officer Melissa Hildebrand killed Garry Wayne McCloud, 51, Thursday night after responding to a call at Ridgeview apartment complex in southeast Hickory, police said.
Hildebrand, who has worked as an officer since April, is on administrative leave with pay until the State Bureau of Investigation and Hickory Police Department complete their investigations, police said.
Linda Andrews, 31, told the Observer she was holding her baby Thursday night when McCloud, her boyfriend of two years, kicked through a window. Andrews said McCloud threw a chair at her, and she had to lift her arm to protect their 1-year-old daughter. She said she handed her child to a friend just in time.
"(He) knocked me down from behind," Andrews said, "and starting hitting my head on the ground."
Andrews said she called police about 6 p.m., as McCloud was thrashing through the living room, kitchen and upstairs bedroom of her apartment. By the time Hildebrand got there eight minutes later, Maj. Tom Adkins said, McCloud had left.
Andrews said Hildebrand, 33, had been at her apartment for only a couple of minutes when McCloud returned. He rounded the corner of the complex's parking lot in his pickup truck and smashed into Andrews' 1996 Buick.
McCloud then got out of the truck, Andrews said, and began yelling and walking toward them. Andrew's friend Maresia Covington, who was with Andrews when she called police, said McCloud was visibly agitated and hostile.
"The way it looked to me, he wanted to take the gun from the officer and kill (Andrews)," Covington said.
Hildebrand told McCloud to stop approaching, Adkins said. Covington and Andrews said McCloud stopped only briefly before coming toward the group again.
Then, they said, Hildebrand forcefully told McCloud to lay on the ground, pulling out the 9 mm semi-automatic handgun from her holster. McCloud continued to walk toward Hildebrand. Covington recalls Hildebrand backing up and repeatedly yelling, "Sir, I don't want to have to shoot you."
McCloud was within five feet of Hildebrand when the officer pulled the trigger, Adkins said.
Andrews said she heard two shots before McCloud fell to the ground. Andrews ran around the corner of the apartment and said she recalls hearing three more shots.
Adkins would not say how many shots were fired or where the bullets penetrated McCloud's body.
Adkins said Hickory police officers are trained to "defend themselves reasonably." They do not have specific guidelines saying an officer must first see a weapon, where to aim or when to shoot, he said. Officers carry a baton and pepper spray in addition to a gun, he said.
"The key is to take the force necessary to stop the threat, whatever that might be," Adkins said. "Every situation is different. Every person is different. You can't say `aim here.' "
Backup officers were on the way to the apartment when McCloud was shot, Adkins said.
Court records show McCloud had been arrested twice for assault on a female, and he appeared in court Monday for striking Andrews in July. The district judge released him on a 60-day suspended sentence and two years' probation.
Police would not say whether McCloud was armed, but Andrews said her boyfriend didn't carry a weapon. Still, Andrews said, she was worried McCloud, who did not live at the apartment, would kill her and hurt her children.
Andrews and Covington said they are collecting money from other residents to send Hildebrand flowers as a thank-you.
"(Hildebrand) saved our lives," Andrews said. "She saved me and my babies."
All content © THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
and may not be republished without permission.
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