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Golf tournament
The “Pop” Martin Golf Tournament for Belmont Abbey College Athletics is set for Friday, Oct. 3, at Cramer Mountain Country Club. Registration is at 7:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 8:30. All proceeds go to supporting the education of student-athletes.
Advance registration is required, and the field is limited to 100 golfers. A foursome is $600 and a single golfer is $175. A foursome and hole sponsor is $700. A foursome, hole sponsor and Homecoming sponsor for the entire weekend is $1,100. Cost includes golf, goodie bag and lunch reception. For more information, call Tommy Love at (704)825-6248, or email tommylove@bac.edu.
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Future of community fitness center in question
By THOMAS LARK
- Thu, May 1, 2008
MOUNT HOLLY—The equipment inside the Mount Holly Fitness Center may eventually get a new home.
At Monday’s work session of the Mount Holly City Council, members discussed the options for the future of the center, housed inside the former Mount Holly Middle School gymnasium. Council took no action, but much discussion ensued.
Lifetime Mount Holly resident Eddie Wilson said he’d like to see the council maintain the existing facility for current and future use. But Wilson also noted that both the fitness and Tuckaseege centers operate in the red.
“And we don’t get enough to pay the light bills on our parks,” he said.
Citing more than 100 signatures on a petition to keep the center open, Wilson observed that the city pays only $1 a year to rent the building.
Wilson said that he and his fellow citizens, many of whom squeezed into Mount Holly City Hall for the meeting, were simply concerned that the fitness equipment not be taken away from public use. Many older people use it, and it is helpful in physical rehabilitation.
Again citing the cheapness of using the center’s equipment, Wilson contrasted this with the city’s $1 million pledge to the United States National Whitewater Center in Charlotte. He also compared the Mount Holly Fitness Center with the nearby Stowe Family YMCA, which has a rate of $58.50 per month per senior couple and $873 per year per younger couple.
About half the people using the Tuck Center come from outside Mount Holly, said Wilson.
Danny Jackson, Mount Holly’s director of parks and recreation and the assistant city manager for community development, said the Mount Holly Fitness Center had 294 visits—not different visitors but visits—in the month of March. Jackson said the center has 20-25 core patrons a week, using it thrice weekly.
He added that the majority of the users live in Mount Holly, and half of them are seniors—defined as those 55 years of age and older—using it for no charge. Younger in-town users pay monthly rates of $7, while out-of-towners pay $25.
Jackson said the equipment could be moved inside the soon-to-open Mount Holly Citizens Center or, even better and likelier, inside the Tuck Center. Either scenario would involve throwing up walls and creating new space.
“We do have plans in place to do that,” said Jackson, referring to using the Tuck Center.
Mayor Robert Whitt noted that the fitness center creates $19,800 in expenses every four months, and this includes salaries, supplies, utilities, gas, electricity and the like. Whitt added that the program generates $1,500 in revenue in the same time period.
Councilman David Moore said he liked the idea of augmenting the Tuck Center.
“I feel we really do need to add on to it at some point,” said Moore.
To Jackson, Whitt said, “You’ve been raising that flag for years haven’t you?”
Such improvements are part of the city’s capital improvement plan, Jackson noted.
City Manager Eric Davis remarked that there was no need to rush, and the council had no deadline for a decision.
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