THE SHELBY INDEPENDENT

By Wes Westmoreland | Special Guest Op-Ed Columnist for The Shelby Independent OPINION – Ink-stained hands methodically distributed lead soldiers into the wooden case. Robert Bell had known tough times in Scotland, and even tougher times in Dublin, but these times were different. It had been only five years since he arrived in Philadelphia and set up a press. In those few years, he had become a widely recognized printer and publisher, creating a market by offering low-cost

By Wes Westmoreland | Special Guest Columnist for The Sunday Column Wes Westmoreland | The Sunday Column An excited John Adams wrote to his beloved Abigail: “The Second Day of July 1776… ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews (shows), Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever

By Wes Westmoreland | The Sunday Column Wes Westmoreland | The Sunday Column The Sunday Column – There may be nothing that swells the heart with a greater feeling of patriotism and pride than the Stars and Stripes. Immortalized in song and memory, will anyone forget the emotion brought on by the display of flags on September 12, 2001, the sound of the “Stars and Stripes Forever”, or standing for our National Anthem? Some generations ago, the flag that brought about similar pa

By Wes Westmoreland | The Sunday Column | Special to The Shelby Independent Westmoreland April 12 marks the 250th anniversary of a largely forgotten, but significant date in American history. On this date in 1776, the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina met in Halifax and unanimously passed a measure instructing its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote to declare independence from Great Britain. With the Halifax Resolves, North Carolina became the first co

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square A pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution rests on an American flag. Alan Wooten / The Center Square (The Center Square) – Eighty-nine of 100 counties in North Carolina have America 250 NC committees, and more than $2 million in grants have already been distributed to 74 counties by the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The first of multiple signature events begins in three weeks at the First in Freedom Festival. “In 20