2A
MOORESVILLE TRIBUNE
FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2006
WHAT’S UP
Learn about 6th grade
An “information night”
for parents of students
who will enter the 6th
grade this fall at Brawley
Middle School will be held
Tuesday, April 25, from
4:30- 6 p.m. and 7-8:30
p.m. Parents are invited to
visit the school, meet the
teachers, and ask questions.
Also, the Brawley
Clothes Closet will be
open that night, selling
new and “gently used”
BMS dress code items.
All you can eat
The Mooresville Masonic Lodge will hold an
all-you-can-eat breakfast
on Saturday from 7-10
a.m. It’s $5, at the Lodge
on Institute Street.
West End egg hunt
Children are invited to
an Easter egg hunt Saturday at noon at Stevenson
Park, located off West
McLelland Avenue in the
West End community.
Details: 704-658-7679.
Spring Fest Bluegrass
The 6th annual Spring
Fest Bluegrass Festival will
be held April 22 at the
Cross Country Campground on N.C. 150 in
Denver. Featured will be
the original Carolina
Mountain Boys, Southern
Junction, Pinetuckett, the
Edwards Family, Timber
Ridge and Midway.
Admission is $12
(advance tickets $10, 803328-3224 or 800-8524840.)
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MOORESVILLE TRIBUNE
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CROSS
Continued from 1A
countries in need.
Wood said that, although
he is an evangelist, he is just
like other people – he hasn’t
always followed God’s calling. So when the idea to
carry the cross came to him
while sitting in church six
weeks ago, “it was like a light
switch,” he said, and a calling he couldn’t turn away
from.
His hope is that people
will see him carrying the
cross and realize that this is
what Christ did for humanity, and that he can be a light
that people will be drawn to.
“I don’t know what God
has in mind…I’m just doing
what God has laid on my
heart. I’m just out to change
somebody’s life,” he said.
Wood will leave from the
Mooresville Public Library at
9 a.m. on Saturday morning
to begin his trek to
Statesville. Anyone who is
interested is welcome to join
him.
PHOTO BY DALE GOWING/MOORESVILLE TRIBUNE
PREPARATIONS: Doug Wood builds the wooden cross that he will carry Saturday.
HEROES: 5 residents honored for unselfish acts during recent fires in Mooresville
Continued from 1A
ed the three residents with
citizens’ awards at this
month’s town board meeting
– Dodson and Crucitti “were
separately driving through
the area and saw smoke
coming from the Tall Oaks
neighborhood.”
They soon realized the
smoke was coming from a
house. “After a call to 911,
they quickly reacted by grabbing whatever water hoses
they could find,” Styers said.
Upon seeing a strange
man in her backyard, and
thinking he might be a burglar, young Madison – who
lives next door to the burning house – realized what
was going on and sprung
into action, quickly helping
the men find the water hose
hooked to her house.
“She really had her wits
about her,” Styers said. With
Madison’s help, Dodson and
Crucitti extinguished the
blaze prior to the fire department’s arrival.
Styers said the three
Mooresville residents did
firefighters, and the homeowners, a huge favor that
day. “It was a mere 30 seconds to being a really bad
fire,” Styters said. “That was
a real big save.”
Williamson Road
Less than a month earlier,
on Feb. 25, the Mooresville
Fire Department was dispatched to a Williamson
Road apartment fire, where
upon arrival they found
Monique Peliter using a fire
extinguisher to keep the fire
in check.
Peliter had apparently
been asleep in her mother’s
apartment when her mother
alerted her to the apartment
fire, said Styers. While
Peliter’s mom called 911,
Peliter “took it upon herself
to use a fire extinguisher to
slow the fire spread,” Styers
said.
Peliter was also recognized for her “unselfish act”
of alerting all the apartment
CANDIDATE FORUM
Continued from 1A
fellow incumbent Steve
Johnson repeatedly stressed
his belief in fiscal responsibility and small government.
“I know what it is to pinch
a penny,” Johnson said in
comparing his auto parts
store to governing the county. “You have to set a budget
and stick to it.“
Johnson further came out
against the proposed commuter rail and highlighted
his past support of IredellStatesville Schools.
For his part, Williams
pretty much stuck to the
script of his six years as a
commissioner as well. He
expressed doubt that the
train would bring a “big economic” boom to anybody
and talked about the vitality
of Iredell.
But as both incumbents
said last week, they’ve had
plenty of time during the
past few years to express
their views. The forum hosted by the Mooresville-South
Iredell Chamber of Commerce was really a chance for
voters to get to know challengers Brad Howard and
Vickie Kidd.
Howard, an Iredell native
and product of I-SS, stressed
his business and real estate
experience, telling the audience, “I know how to work
with people.“
He consistently spoke
about the needs of Iredell as
a whole rather than focusing
on one region or the other
and said he supported the
expansion of commercial
business opportunities as a
way of managing growth and
maximizing revenue.
Kidd, a former City of
Charlotte project manager,
perhaps went out on a limb
more than the other candidates. Answering a question
about how to stop the flow of
young people out of Iredell
County, rather than offering
a vague commercial or educational solution, Kidd said
the county should appeal to
youthful desires for more
restaurants and “night life.“
As for the commuter train,
while most candidates approached it with decided caution, Kidd suggested that
“you have to look at all the
options, but you can’t just
look at the cost.”
Marvin
Commissioner
Norman and challenger
Sheryl Souther did not
attend the forum.
TRAFFIC JAM
Continued from 1A
said.
Some people apparently
mistakenly attributed the
traffic jam to Mooresville’s
Crouch Bros. House Moving
Contractors, located on
Main Street.
“We’re the local house
movers,” said Administra-
CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK
tive Assistant Kelli McGuffey.
“It’s unfortunate what
happened on N.C. 150, but it
wasn’t us.”
However, she said, “Mr.
Crouch is afraid that (if the
case of ‘mistaken identity,’
isn’t cleared up), it will make
it tougher for us to be able to
move houses” in Mooresville.
occupants to the fire and its
location, which firefighters
say allowed the residents to
safely escape the burning
building.
Styers said had it not been
for Peliter, the incident could
have resulted in a major fire
loss. “Monique’s willingness
to get involved also reduced
the chance for citizens to be
injured as a result of this
fire,” he added.
Manor Circle
Early this month, a house
on Manor Circle caught on
fire, and fortunately for the
homeowner, neighbor and
former mayor Al Jones was
there to help.
“It got a good jump on
us,” said Mooresville Fire
Engineer James Carrigan.
“We got there, and pretty
much the whole back of the
house was engulfed in
flames. There was heavy
smoke coming out of the
eaves and windows.
“From what I understand,” Carrigan continued,
“(Jones) was in the hallway,
using a water hose to spray
the fire, until a compressor
on the refrigerator exploded,
and he thought it was time to
evacuate … which was a
good thing.”
Only three or four minutes elapsed from the time
firefighters were dispatched
until they arrived on the
scene, Carrigan said, “so we
had plenty of guys on top of
it within minutes.”
He said the homeowner
“lost the living room, the
kitchen and a kitten,” and
the rest of the home sustained smoke damage.
Said Styers: “That was a
pretty significant fire.” He
said Jones “slowed the
process of the fire which
allowed for us to put it the
rest of the way out.”
Don’t try this at home
Though the five Mooresville residents are considered
heroes – and Styers said the
Mooresville fire department
is appreciative and “very
thankful” for their actions –
he also said that the fire
department does not necessarily advocate citizen firefighting.
“We want people to be
careful,” he said. “We’ve had
incidents where people have
gone back in (to a burning
home), and they have not
been able to make it back
out. They go back in to get
pets or valuables, and they
don’t return.”
Styers said the three
recent fires were mostly
fought from the structures’
exteriors, “so the life risk
wasn’t that great.” But sometimes, he said, “the outcome
is very different, and we definitely don’t want that.”
It boils down to “fight or
flight” when it comes to a
fire, Styers said, and
“instincts typically tell you
what to do.”
The best course of action
is to report a fire to 911, he
said. “Knowing the address is
important so we can
respond quickly.”
TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Continued from 1A
there is good reason why
this English and Public
Speaking teacher was voted
Mooresville Graded School
District’s Teacher of the
Year.
The MGSD chose Pearce
from seven Teacher of the
Year candidates at a dinner
at the Charles Mack Citizen
Center on Tuesday. As both
Supt. Bruce Boyles and
MHS Principal John Streb
said the award means that
Pearce is “among the best of
the best.”
Pearce, who lives in
Mooresville with her husband, Jeff, and their three
children, came to MHS
from St. Stephens High
School in Catawba County
in the fall of 2003. She has
been teaching since 1995.
That has been ample
time for Pearce to formulate
an extremely effective
teaching technique: Her
success in reaching her students comes not from force,
but from enthusiasm, consistent support, and subtle,
innovative direction.
The technique is now so
ingrained that it is present
in every facet of Pearce’s
classroom.
Dozens of motivational
and thought-provoking sayings pepper the walls:
“Time is an illusion,” states
a piece of paper covering
the face of the classroom
clock; “This life is not a
dress rehearsal” says a rosecolored plaque that hangs
next to a bookshelf weighed
down with public speaking
textbooks and copies of
Hamlet, Dracula, and Lord
of the Flies.
Even Pearce’s somewhat
casual attire serves a specific purpose — it bespeaks
not a casual approach to
teaching, but a studied
focus on comfort. It is beneficial both to Pearce, who is
on her feet most of the day,
actively teaching, as well as
to her students. The casual
clothing makes her seem
more approachable, and
helps to put even the most
hesitant student at ease.
The technique has certainly been successful.
Students from all grades
find her a compelling
teacher and a trusted confidante. “She is not only a
teacher to us, she is a true
friend,”
said
student
Brittany Smith. “I hope to
have her for the rest of my
high school career.”
Students like Lauren
Hahn and Tremaine Gordon
also speak of Pearce with a
deep and abiding respect.
“She is one of the few teachers that I can call a friend
and mentor. She is not only
the kind of person I would
trust with my life, but the
kind of person I am glad to
have in my life,” said Hahn.
“(Mrs. Pearce) goes
beyond what’s expected of
her as a teacher; she cares
for her students and strives
very hard to do anything in
her power to help a student
succeed who puts forth the
effort … if there were a
teacher hall of fame, there
would be no contest,” said
Gordon.
So, too, do colleagues.
“Students who have been
fortunate enough to have
Mrs. Pearce have had one of
the best teachers that the
profession has to offer,” said
one.
Like her clothes, Pearce’s
approach to teaching is
relaxed but purposeful. She
speaks to her students
about public speaking, the
horsepower of a Camaro,
the future of MHS, and
“American Idol” with the
same fervor and insight that
she would an adult.
As a result, she has
earned a strong following
among
her
students
because she talks to them
not as children, but as
peers.
At the same time, however, Pearce’s conversations
are pointed – they consistently explore student interests and use them as a tool
to redirect students to and
interest them in the task at
hand. She asks probing
questions and gently encourages students to take
their observations one step
further.
As a result, when Pearce
leaves a group of students,
they rarely revert to small
talk. Instead, they continue
to work because they see
their schoolwork not as a
chore, but as something
compelling and worth their
attention.
That self-direction, said
Pearce, is the ultimate goal
of teaching. To prove her
point, she pulled out a
favorite quote by Lao Tzu, a
6th century Chinese philosopher and author of the
seminal Taoist work the
“Tao Te Ching.” It was written on a piece of paper that
she carries in the pocket of
her purse.
“The master doesn’t talk;
the master acts,” she read.
“When her work is done,
the people say amazing, we
did it, all by ourselves.”