Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) in Mount Holly, NC

MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. — Governor Roy Cooper (D) made a trip to Pinewood Elementary School in Mount Holly on Tuesday to talk with students and teachers about the importance of public education.

Cooper's trip Tuesday comes as the governor continues to say public education in North Carolina is facing a state of emergency.

"One of the reasons I’m spending so much time in our public schools, I want people to know about the great things that are happening there," Cooper said of his visit to the Gaston County school.

Pinewood Elementary School credits its fine arts program for part of its success. Cooper believes hands-on lessons serve as building blocks for kids.

“There's so many incidences of children not doing well in math, not doing well in reading, and then they come upon the arts," Cooper explained. "And they find themselves and they find something good that they can do. And it gives them confidence, and they become better readers. And they become better at math because they've gotten that confidence of something that they do well."

An important piece in maintaining the success at Pinewood Elementary School is keeping quality educators inside the classrooms. The governor plans to expand the success he sees to other schools throughout the state. Cooper's approach includes improving pay for teachers to help maintain talented staffers.

For the latest breaking news, weather and traffic alerts, download the WCNC Charlotte mobile app and enable push notifications.

“One of the things we could do to improve is to pay our educators more substantially," he said. "It's unfortunate. I proposed an 18% pay raise for our educators over the next two years. The general assembly did 7%. That's not enough. We need to make sure that we have the best."

Cooper feels an issue like teacher pay should be a unified solution.

"We need to approach public education in a bipartisan way," he said.

You can stream WCNC Charlotte on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV, just download the free app.

Cooper hopes to recruit more educators and fill the thousands of open teacher vacancies across the state. The governor said the state has over 3,000 open positions.

RELATED: North Carolina budget includes pathways to increase teacher recruitment and retention

“I think it's imperative that we must put public schools first and that includes early childhood education, quality childcare, K through 12, community colleges and universities, he said. "Education — cradle to career — is how we succeed as a state.”

YouTuber Isaac Vargas created most of the props himself and shows others online how to copy the creations.

MT HOLLY, N.C. — Matthew Kallen and his family stood on street, taking in all the spooky sights of the Scaleybark Court home -- the jumbo-sized skeletons, clusters of tombstones, pumpkin patch full of jack-o'-lanterns, and a massive spider complete with giant cobwebs.

It's the latest in a handful of times the Mt. Holly residents have come to see the epic Halloween display since it took shape for the season.

"We've come here probably three, four, five times in the last week," Kallen said. "We haven't seen anything even close to... what he does here with all his unique decorations and artwork."

For the latest breaking news, weather and traffic alerts, download the WCNC Charlotte mobile app and enable push notifications.

Isaac Vargas is the homeowner behind the macabre masterpiece, which seems to grow larger every year, drawing more and more people to drive or walk by and admire the handiwork.

"Every year, I would start with one or two props," Vargas said. "Now I build like 15 props per season."

Credit: WCNC

Many of the petrifying props were born in Vargas's workshop. The DIYer said he taught himself the basics of building several years back to satisfy a passion he has had since he was young.

"I never celebrated Halloween growing up," Vargas said. "But I was always fascinated with Halloween as a kid, and I promised myself that when I grew up, I would do what I could never have as a child."

Vargas, who also pulls out all the stops to decorate for Christmas, isn't keeping his crafty knowledge to himself either. On YouTube, more than 50,000 subscribers watch Vargas detail how to make all his Halloween horrors at home, through his channel "Isaac Alexander DIY."

Credit: WCNC

"I get so many people from all different parts of the world," Vargas said. "I just got a guy from Sweden message me the other day, and another one from Vancouver saying that they're building one of my creations."

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He said he is also getting several offers to do commissioned creations, but so far wants to stick with his passion: Building Halloween Town up, much to the delight of neighbors.

"Let's make other kids have awesome memories that will last a lifetime," Vargas said. "Let's let families and friends come over and enjoy my display. So, it really is fun being able to see the community come out. The kids just being super excited and all that makes it all super worth it."

Miles Braswell will soon leave his position as the city manager of Mount Holly to take that role in neighboring Belmont.

Braswell has 22 years of local and state government experience, previously working for the city of Charlotte and Gaston County Schools before joining the Mount Holly administrative staff in 2014. He was promoted to assistant city manager in 2016 and city manager in 2020.

“We are fortunate to have had someone with Miles’ experience to lead the city during his tenure as city manager. The Council and I thank Miles for serving the city of Mount Holly for the past nine years. His dedication to Mount Holly is evident in the leadership of our departments,” Mount Holly Mayor Bryan Hough said in a press release.

Braswell said his time in Mount Holly leadership has been valuable and rewarding.

“It has been an honor to be Mount Holly’s city manager, and I have been fortunate to work with such a great city staff as well as to serve the citizens, the mayor, and City Council,” Braswell said in the release. “I am grateful for my time here and what we have been able to accomplish together.”

Mount Holly City Council will meet in the upcoming days to plan the recruiting process for the vacancy.

The Belmont position opened when former City Manager Adrian Miller left in December to take the job of assistant city manager for the city of Gastonia.

Since Miller’s departure, Barry Webb has served as interim manager for the city of Belmont.

Webb was no stranger to the job when he took it. He served as Belmont city manager from 2000 to 2016.

Braswell beat out approximately 20 other applicants. He starts his new job June 7, with a salary of $181,000.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Miles lead our great team of employees here at the City of Belmont,” Belmont Mayor Charlie Martin said in a release. “Miles has done a lot of great work with the Mayor and City Council in Mount Holly, so we know he will be a great addition to our team, and we look forward to working with him to continue the work we are doing here in Belmont.”

Diane Turbyfill can be reached at 704-669-3334 and dturbyfill@gannett.com.

There will be a variety of seating and service options for guests, including full-service tables, a walk-up counter, QR code ordering and a bar area. Firehawk Brewpub will also feature a 40+ person patio facing Dutchman’s Creek. There will also be a second patio with 60-70 seats along Main Street. I can tell you that with all the outside seating, this will be a very popular spot this year!

One of the restaurant’s coolest features is the bundle of wood and s’mores kit that folks can purchase. Customers can enjoy it by the creek, giving people the ability to do some fun family activities at the restaurant.

Blackwood is from Mount Holly which gives him the ability to know what local folks like. The menu will feature recipes from his family and friends. One of the most amazing things about this new restaurant is how Blackwood is honoring his late father. Firehawk Brewpub’s motto is ‘feed everyone’. If you can’t afford your meal, you can put it on Papa Ray’s tab. Folks can donate to Papa Ray’s tab to help feed folks and any extra money on the tab will be donated to charity at the end of the year. I love this idea!

Beer, barbeque, a cool place to hang out and helping others is the perfect combo! I’m all about this place and I’m looking forward to checking it out. The restaurant will be located at 309 North Main Street in Mount Holly. The restaurant is currently hiring staff and you can get info and keep up with details on when the restaurant will open here.

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In July, Alison Sheridan wrote a business plan for the bookstore she wanted to open. Two months later, in September, she signed a lease in downtown Mount Holly.

That kind of quick decision making, Sheridan said, is common for her.

"I have a Shakespeare quote that is my guiding principle in the decisions that I make," she said. "It's, 'Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.' I read it in college, and I was like, 'Oh, this is it."

Sheridan opened Cleary's Bookstore at 105 N. Main St., Mount Holly, in early December, less than six months after developing her business plan. The bookstore is a culmination of her passion for reading and her years spent working at both a bookstore and a publishing company.

She has a master's degree in publishing from the University of Galway in Ireland, and she worked for University Book Store, Seattle's oldest bookstore, then for Penguin Random House.

After her husband, Matthew, was offered a job in the area, the couple intended to move to Charlotte. Their plans quickly changed.

"So when we were driving around, we came out to dinner in the area. His boss brought us out to dinner, and we just kind of fell in love, both with Belmont and Mount Holly," Sheridan said.

The couple initially moved to Belmont, but they have plans to move to Mount Holly in the coming months.

Cleary's Bookstore, Sheridan said, is centered solidly on the books. The bookstore is small, but cozy, with shelves of books lining the walls. The genres present include historical fiction, mystery, science fiction, fantasy and romance, as well as selections in nonfiction, a special shelf for cookbooks and an entire room dedicated to books for children.

"I just want this to be a place for readers of all ages to find their favorite books and either continue their love of literature or discover the joy of reading. It's basically a celebration of books," Sheridan said. "This place is just going to be bursting at the seams with new and used books."

The store is named after children's author Beverly Cleary.

"Her entire mission in life was basically just to get books in kids' hands so that they would learn to love reading as much as she did, because she was a librarian from the Pacific Northwest," Sheridan said. "And her mission is very aligned with mine: just kind of promoting a culture of reading, because I think that reading is the best way for you to find a sense of the world without having to leave your room."

Sheridan herself is what she considers a genre reader, and her shop is a reflection of that mindset.

"I think it's really interesting how there are tropes within each and how people have their, you know, tropes that they go to," she said. "So like, in historical fiction, I read World War II… In fantasy, I'm all about the world building. And romance, if I had to have a trope, it would be romantic comedy, or, you know, enemies to lovers. And horror actually is having this great resurgence right now, because everybody needs an escape from the reality of the world."

"You go through so much while you read the book that you have this euphoric feeling after you finish reading it. So I think why I love genre so much is because there's something for everyone," she added. "And I've loved the conversations that I have with readers about what authors they like to read and why that's their favorite genre, and why they keep going back to it and it's so great, you know, just to see the diversity."

Sheridan has special events planned for the coming months, all focused on books, including author readings and signings, book clubs and story time for children.

"I knew that there had to be this untapped community of readers, and that's the feedback that I've been receiving from everybody," she said. "They're so excited to have bookstores. They're so excited to spend their days at the shop and reading, and we've had a lot of families locally that are regulars already. They've come two weekends in a row, and the response to the kids book room has been really positive too."

The store's first author event, featuring Mount Holly author Christy Healy, will be on Jan. 19. Healy's debut novel, Unbound, will be released Jan. 16.

"She actually was the first person to see the store. When we were setting it up, she came and we chatted about what she wanted the event to look like and what we were thinking we were going to do," she said.

Sheridan plans to spend December building out the store.

"We have a big fixture that's coming here. It's several sided. So we'll have an aisle on either side and more fixtures in the back. And in the kids room, we're going to have magazine style fixtures so that the books are phased out," she said. "But we're just going to continue to grow to support our readership. Mount Holly is growing like crazy, and a lot of development and economic resurgence is coming to the area… So we're kind of aligned with the direction that the city is going."