Teen date violence is a growing, yet under-reported problem

Several years ago, I wrote a story about domestic violence after talking with a Denver woman who had experienced a horrible attack. Thanks to her determination, and help from Amy’s House, the women’s domestic abuse shelter in Lincolnton, she was able to get out of a bad situation and move on with her life. Many [...]

Reader expresses his thanks for free newspaper, and that means a lot to us

Bless peoples’ hearts. Well, some people! A reader called recently and said he’d been getting news@norman free for years. He said he wanted to pay us for the paper…but not to enter it as a mailed subscription. He just said he felt “guilty” because he has received it in the mail or has picked it [...]

Help clean up our lake and community; volunteer for Big Sweep

Every year just before the boating season begins, the NC Big Sweep is scheduled, and throngs of people head out to the islands and shoreline of Lake Norman to clean up and make it a little nicer for the rest of us. Former Denver business owner Jill Feldmeyer has done a fabulous job trying to [...]

Anna remembers Joan Cash, her first “face” of Relay for Life

I remember my first involvement with East Lincoln’s Relay for Life many years ago. My assignment was to interview Joan Cash, the secretary at East Lincoln Middle School, for a feature story for the newspaper. Joan, described by some as the “heart” of ELMS, was fighting cancer but she had a positive spirit and an [...]

I’ve got spring cleaning fever, and that mean’s it’s yard sales time

I’ve got spring cleaning fever. I’m ready to be done with winter, a closed up house and drab colorless winter days. I’m ready to move outside and enjoy spring. As part of my push for spring, I’ve started cleaning out closets of old clothes and clutter. I plan to have the rugs cleaned and put [...]

Cold, warm, then cold again. . . c’mon spring, you are long overdue

Mother Nature…please give us a break! After celebrating Easter last weekend, we have had a day or two of nice weather but Thursday is gonna be another cold one. When will it end? I have burned my “last fire of the season” a number of times. After each one, I clean out the fireplace to [...]

Shining a light on government is an important part of our job

A few weeks ago, we put the salaries of all school system employees on our website, and last week we added the salaries of all county employees. This is public information that is available to anyone for the asking under the state’s open records laws. Making the teachers’ salaries available stirred some of you up [...]

Once again, the Postal Service gives the public the shaft

Can you believe the U.S. Postal Service these days? While I have written about the undependable delivery service we have received in the past, a number of our readers are increasingly expressing their frustrations with the postal service. I now pay most of my bills by phone or on the computer because I never know [...]

We’ve warned you before of the advertising scammers who come into a community to sell things and say the money goes to our local schools. Last year, a company out of Charlotte offered very small ad space on things like calendars of the sports teams in the area. They said the money would go to [...]