Catawba County Board of Commissioners next meeting is set for 7 p.m. on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 1924 Courthouse, 30 North College Avenue in Newton, NC.

The Catawba County Board of Commissioners will hold public hearings on 1) a request to rezone 2.18 acres, located at 4596 Macedonia Church Road in the Plateau Small Area Planning District, from R-40 Residential to RC-CD Rural Commercial Conditional District, 2) a request to rezone 6.58 acres, located at 7825 Highway 150 East in the Sherrills Ford Small Area Planning District, from R-30 Residential to PD Planned Development, and 3) a proposed name for an unnamed street off Dubs Café Road in the Clines Township; and will consider accepting a State grant that would be used to make urgent repairs to fourteen houses owned by low income families when the Board meets at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 21, 2007, in the Robert E. Hibbitts Meeting Room of the 1924 Courthouse in Newton.

The Board will also consider appropriating funds received by Catawba County Emergency Services from a State grant that brought in $8933 more than County staff was expecting to receive; consider accepting another grant that Emergency Services will use for disaster preparedness; consider a request from Catawba Valley Community College to transfer funds from other projects and appropriate additional funds to replace a broken chiller unit at the Paap Education Building; and issue proclamations declaring Emergency Medical Services Week, Foster Care Month and Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month.  Full agenda

Catawba County's Social Services Director, Bobby K. Boyd, has been named North Carolina Social Services Director of the Year by the North Carolina Association of County Directors of Social Services. 

Mr. Boyd was recognized for leading an agency that has historically attracted state and national recognition for innovation and quality, and was called a "mentor and advisor" to his colleagues.   Full story

A new season of ozone forecasts began for Catawba County on May 1. 

Knowing when orange or red ozone action days are forecast will help you plan for days when you may need to avoid prolonged outdoor activity.  On Orange Ozone Action days, the Catawba County Public Health Department advises that active children and adults, and people with respiratory diseases such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion. On a Red Ozone Action day, everyone should limit prolonged outdoor activity and those who are more active or suffer from respiratory disease should avoid prolonged outdoor activity.   See ozone forecast

Catawba County Attorney, Debra Bechtel, has been elected to serve as a member of the Government and Public Sector Section Council of the North Carolina Bar Association.

The council works to provide the means by which attorneys who serve in the governmental and public sector can discuss relevant issues, exchange information and ideas, develop continuing education and other programs pertinent to their responsibilities, and deal with legislation affecting the Section’s areas of interest.  Full story

The Department of Social Services honors a local doctor who helped bring a new sense of self esteem to a young boy, severely teased by other children because he was born with disproportionately large ears.

The child's social worker and therapist recognized that if something could be done for his ears, it might boost his self esteem and prevent him from getting into fights at school. But, while Social Services receives funding to care for children within their custody, the funds are only enough to cover basic needs. Plastic surgery to reconstruct a child’s ears is not considered a basic need.  Dr. Steven Siciliano of the Hickory Plastic Surgery Center stepped in to perform corrective surgery at no cost.  Read more

Catawba County's Oxford Convenience Center has reopened. 

Located at 4637 Lookout Dam Road, the site was temporarily closed beginning on April 26, 2007 to allow for necessary maintenance work and upgrades.  It reopened ahead of schedule on May 9.  Full story