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Tue
29 May La Cage Event: La CageVenue: Belk Theatre at Blumenthal Performing Arts CenterStart: 5/29/2012 7:30:00 PMCategory: THEATRE MUSICAL / …

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Wed
30 May La Cage Event: La CageVenue: Belk Theatre at Blumenthal Performing Arts CenterStart: 5/30/2012 7:30:00 PMCategory: THEATRE MUSICAL / …

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Thu
31 May La Cage Event: La CageVenue: Belk Theatre at Blumenthal Performing Arts CenterStart: 5/31/2012 7:30:00 PMCategory: THEATRE MUSICAL / …

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Kannapolis Area News

Cab driver carjacked at knifepoint in broad daylight, police say

Charlotte police are looking for a man and woman who carjacked a taxi at knifepoint Monday afternoon.

        The Prestige Taxi driver, Thephilus Hoggard, told Channel 9 he was on his way home just before noon when he picked the two up near the intersection of North Tryon Street and Sugarcreek Road.  He said he drove them about 14 miles when they had him turn down a deserted road off of South Boulevard. 

"I felt a knife behind my neck," Hoggard said.

        Hoggard knew when they asked for his money he had no choice. 

"He told me if I fight he would kill me." 

The thieves left in the taxi and left Hoggard on that deserted road.  Less than an hour later, the taxi was located in a parking lot near the intersection of Beattes Ford Road and LaSalle Street.  It was found quickly thanks to a GPS system that Prestige Taxi had installed in it just four days ago. 
       
James Williams, from XPress Automotive Services, showed an Eyewitness News crew how he easily located the taxi on his phone as soon as he found out what happened. 

"This vehicle was lost an hour ago and was able to be found.  It could have taken days and days for it to be found," Williams said.
       
As police search for the robbers, Hoggard is just grateful he wasn't hurt and that his taxi was found. 

"I thank God that they used GPS to track my car,"  Hoggard said.
       
Several Charlotte taxi companies are now installing GPS systems in their taxis.  Prestige Taxi, which owns the one stolen on Monday, said it is also planning on installing cameras in each of its cabs.

_{Mon, 28 May 2012 18:01:37 -0400}

Thousands of soldiers buried in unmarked graves in Salisbury cemetery

Thousands of soldiers are buried in unmarked graves in a Salisbury cemetery.

One man is making it his mission to give them the recognition they earned in war.

For the past eight years, Mark Hughes said he has been asking the government to label the gravesites of more than 3,500 Union soldiers who died while in a Confederate prison in Salisbury.

Their bodies were thrown in mass trenches and Hughes said many of their families never learned how they died or where they were buried.

“What I would like to see are bronze tables. Maybe four by eight with the name, rank and the unit of every soldier,” Hughes said.

But in the most recent letter from the Department of Veteran Affairs, Hughes said they turned down his request.

The letter said in part, “It would not be historically appropriate to affix bronze plaques.” The letter also said prison records listing the names of each soldier were “incomplete and in disarray.”

Hughes argues that the records are accurate.  He said a VA officials told him there was another reason why they wouldn’t install the markers.

“She said, ‘You know that the markers are not going to happen. That would be too much work,’” Hughes said.

Hughes and others say no matter how long it takes, it’s the right thing to do.

“For family members to come and see a name and put that with their family member rather than to just come and see unknown,” said Toni Hill.

Channel 9 reached out to the Department of Veteran Affairs, but has not heard back yet.

_{Mon, 28 May 2012 17:42:18 -0400}

Historic Burke Co. church packing up after almost 50 years

A Burke County pastor is packing up the church he's led for 18 years and moving out.

The Rev. John Whisnant said Grandview Baptist Church cannot afford to stay in its current building and Burke County officials would not let him move forward with a plan that could save it.

    Whisnant says it's heartbreaking to pack up and leave.

    "It's pretty tough," he said.

    He was married in the church by his grandfather. His relatives' names are on the stained-glass windows. He plays bass guitar in the band with his son.

    The church building is almost 50 years old and was paid for long ago.

    Whisnant says the problem is the family life center, which they build right next to the church. He said they borrowed $575,000 from Bank of Granite in 2003 to build it, dreaming it would serve the community as a recreation center. But as the economy became worse and both attendance and offerings got lower, it became more difficult to make their payments.

    But Whisnant had a solution. He would rent space in the center's gym to a business that packed meals for overseas missions.

    He said it was simple -- they just needed Burke County to make an exception in the zoning.

    But the planning board didn't see it that way.

    "We were shocked," Whisnant said. "I absolutely could not believe it."

    Earl Grindstaff, who was on the Burke County planning board at the time it considered the application last year, said granting an exception would have set a precedent.

    "We thought if we opened that door -- to allow churches to lease or use their facility for profitable purposes -- then it would open a can of worms," he said. "Churches could basically run any kind of business they wanted to out of their structure. That was not in the best interest of the public."

    The board wanted to investigate more before deciding, the business went elsewhere, and the bank took over both buildings.

    Now the church, filled with members and music since 1963, has to be empty by Wednesday.

    Whisnant says what's most important is not the building itself, but the congregation.

    "The church is not brick and mortar, it's people," he said.

    But he still needs to find a new, permanent home for them.

    "The Lord doesn't close any door that he doesn't open up a better one," Whisnant said. "And I'm waiting for the other door to open."

_{Mon, 28 May 2012 17:25:51 -0400}

News Source: MedleyStory More Local News Stories