A third volunteer firefighter from Lincoln County has been charged with setting an empty house on fire. Last week, two men who worked with the Crouse Volunteer Fire Department were charged with setting three vacant houses on fire in December and January. One house was in Gaston County, while the others were in Lincoln.On Monday, Gary Kenneth Shull Jr., 32, of 4173 Highway 182, in Crouse, was charged with setting one house on fire in January. The structure was on C.C. Houser Road in Crouse.
Shull, also a member of the Crouse department, admitted to his involvement in the fire during an interview, according to a report by Lincoln County Sheriff's Detective Lester White. Shull was charged with one felony count of burning an unoccupied dwelling.
He was released on a $10,000 secured bond and made his first court appearance Tuesday.
Also charged were Steven Kyle Harris, 21, of Falconview Road and John Dean Avery, 19, of 3127 Dave Heafner Road.
White said he expected no more arrests. -- JOE DEPRIEST
The N.C. Community College System's board of trustees will receive an update Thursday on the proposed merger of Gaston College and the N.C. Center of Applied Textile Technology. A transition team overseeing the merger has met twice in the last month to discuss the transfer of operations between the campuses.No votes on the project are expected Thursday, said Kennon Briggs, chief financial officer for the community college system.
A 2004 report recommended dissolving the textile center and re-establishing it as the Textile Technology Center. An advisory board would direct the center's programs and staff, and Gaston College would handle its administrative and fiscal operations.
The General Assembly could approve the merger this year. -- APRIL BETHEA
Gaston College's radio station is one step closer toward doubling its signal strength to 6,000 watts.
The Federal Communications Commission granted the station a 30-day extension last month on the project after negotiations to place an antenna on a local radio tower stalled.
Those talks were settled, and WSGE will run at partial strength during the next two to three weeks to work out any kinks with the signal, said college spokeswoman Stephanie Michael-Pickett. -- APRIL BETHEA
