Tagged: Gaston County

Gaston County Commissioners voted 6-0 Thursday night in support of a resolution that calls for the General Assembly to make gun permit records secret. Commissioner Tracy Philbeck says the resolution was in response to news outlets publishing gun permit information after the shootings at Sandy Hook elementary in Connecticut.

"I'm a strong proponent of government transparency," Philbeck says. "At the same time, I think the press, in a lot of cases, have used the freedom of information act to bring forth an anti-gun agenda to criminalize those that own a gun."

The Gaston County District Attorney says he’ll dismiss all pending cases that hinge on the testimony of four law enforcement officers who were indicted in a federal stolen goods investigation.  Locke Bell says his office is reviewing 83 cases to see whether they depend on those officers’ testimonies.  Speeding tickets and DWIs would fall into that category. 

“If the officer’s testimony is necessary, then I will dismiss the case because I will not call any of these officers and have them put their hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth,” says Bell. 

Gaston County has received a federal grant of more than $1 million to send nurses into the homes of low-income pregnant mothers. The county's infant mortality and child poverty rates routinely outpace the rest of the Charlotte region.

"Woeful" is the word Gaston Public Health Director Chris Dobbins uses to describe the county's health statistics for children.  

"In Gaston County right now, 28 percent of our children live in poverty - 28 percent - that's a staggering number," says Dobbins.