VOLUME 145 ISSUE 78 | WEEKEND EDITION, OCT. 4 – OCT. 5 | STANLYNEWSJOURNAL.COM
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Stanly NewS Journal THE STANLY COUNTY EDITION OF NORTH STATE JOURNAL
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Shut down Large portions of the federal government shut down on Wednesday, and it does affect Stanly County. Though post offices will operate as normal and Social Security offices will remain open with more limited operations — benefits will continue while new applications and card replacements may face delays — local USDA offices, including the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Rural Development, are closed until funding is restored.
WHAT’S HAPPENING Trump declares drug cartels operating in Caribbean unlawful combatants President Donald Trump declared that drug cartels operating in the Caribbean are unlawful combatants and said the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict.” That’s according to a Trump administration memo obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. A U.S. official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly said Congress was notified about the designation by Pentagon officials Wednesday. The move comes after the U.S. military last month carried out three deadly strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean. At least two of those operations were carried out on vessels that originated from Venezuela.
AOL’s dial up internet takes its last bow, marking end of an era Unlimited dial-up is no more. AOL confirmed it discontinued the service on Tuesday, citing routine evaluations of its offerings. Dial-up is no longer advertised on AOL’s website, and former help pages related to the service are unavailable. AOL, formerly America Online, introduced many households to the World Wide Web for the first time when its dialup service launched decades ago. The creaky door to the internet was characterized by a once-ubiquitous series of beeps and buzzes heard over the phone used to connect your computer to a wider world.
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Albemarle celebrates Public Power Week The city offers electricity through a nonprofit By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal ALBEMARLE — As a member of ElectriCities of North Carolina, Albemarle will celebrate Public Power Week on Oct. 5-11. ElectriCities is the membership organization that provides power supply and related critical services to more than 90 community-owned electric systems in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia — collectively known as public power. Public power utilities across the United States celebrate the annual event during the first full week of October to help customers and stakeholders recognize the importance of reliable,
JESSE DEAL / STANLY NEWS JOURNAL
Albemarle’s Terex digger derrick truck is used by electrical line workers out in the field. community-owned electricity. Albemarle is a public power community, which means its electric division operates as a not-for-profit, reinvesting revenues back into the system. A
team of lineworkers, engineers, customer service representatives and other specialists serve Albemarle’s residential and commercial customers. Public power communities See POWER, page A5
Friends of the Stanly County Public Library to host fall book sale The book sale runs from Oct. 8-11 By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal ALBEMARLE — The Friends of the Stanly County Library will hold its annual fall book sale this week in the lower level of the Albemarle library, offering readers of all ages the chance to find bargains while supporting local library programs. The sale will take place at 133 E. Main St. in downtown Albemarle. Friends members with ac-
tive, paid memberships will receive early access to shop the best selections during a special preview event from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Memberships may be purchased or renewed at the door. The public sale will open Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., followed by the popular “bargain bag day” on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. On that final day, shoppers can fill a bag of books for just $1. Proceeds from the sale benefit the Friends of the Stanly County Library, a nonprofit See BOOK SALE, page A5
benefit from enhanced reliability as customers are without power for less than half the amount of time customers of other power providers are, according to national averages reported to the Energy Information Administration. Per EIA data, North Carolina’s public power customers fare even better, with outages lasting only a third as long as customers of other providers. Because Albemarle provides power as a not-for-profit service, it also allows the city to provide it at a lower cost. “Unbeaten reliability, local control and community focus are just a few of the advantages that public power customers enjoy,” ElectriCities CEO Roy Jones said. “This week, and throughout the year, we celebrate these benefits that provide a better quality of life in our public power communities.” In the early 1970s, Albemarle, along with 13 other cities, joined together and bought one of the two reactors at the Catawba Nuclear Station from Duke Energy.
“The Friends recently had the best thing happen.” Friends of the Stanly County Public Library