West Rowan News, Events, and Fun

    It was a busy night at the Oct 2022 Cleveland, NC town board meeting. In addition to covering a lot of ground as far as topics, there were fourteen people at the meeting not including the nine who are on the board or work for the town (23 total attendance). Public Comments Cleveland resident Jeanette Rankin addressed the town board at the start of the meeting. She said that she was concerned that the town was talking about investing in the new park on School Street when nothing had been done at the Town Park for years.   “We’ve got all that land. Nothing there,” said Rankin. “All you’ve got is a shelter.” She said that the children in town needed safe playground equipment and a place to play basketball. “I’m talking about adding things,” said Rankin. Commissioner Richard Taylor said that there are problems with getting bids on doing work at the park. Someone did rotary wash the poles on the playground equipment, but they did not want to do any more work, because the

  Carlton Killian - Running for Rowan County Sheriff 2022   Candidate for Rowan County sheriff, Carlton Killian, was at the RPL west branch meet and greet in Cleveland today Saturday 10-8-2022. Carlton has thirty-five years in law enforcement including at the local, state, and federal levels. He said he had not planned to run for sheriff, but the “Lord spoke to me.” When the Lord speaks, Carlton listens, so he has been out on the campaign trail across Rowan County. “I don’t have anything to lose,” said Carlton. “I’m retired.’ And, he said this makes it easier for him to do what is best for the community.   Other candidates have avoided discussions about mental health or have gone on the record saying that mental health is not a priority, but Carlton says that he thinks mental health is not only important but critical. This includes for inmates but also for officers. “Respect has diminished,” said Carlton. “There is not much empathy for the badge.” He said that the work is

 Ebony Rivers Boyd - Running for Rowan County School Board   Ebony Rivers Boyd was at west branch Rowan Public Library today (10-8-2022) for a meet and greet with residents from the western part of the county. Ebony is running for seat 4 of the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Board of Education. “We know how to come together,” said Ebony. Although we don’t do it all the time, “we have the ability. We have the ability to show up as a force.” With a unique and varied background, Ebony says that she is able to relate and also “think outside the box.” She feels that she would add value to the board and a strong voice for the community. Ebony grew up in the area and attended Knox and graduated from Salisbury. She then spent six years teaching at the same schools as well as working for DSS and child support education. She is now in higher education. She said that she knows what teachers need, because she was a teacher in the local schools “not so long ago.” She “understands the needs of te