Other Days: March 27, 2024

10 YEARS AGO MARCH 26, 2014 Cleveland County Judge Gary Spears said two houses located across Sycamore Street from the court square here were razed earlier this week to make way for a new parking area as well as a site for a possible new county building in the future. The county received $40,000 from the General Improvement Fund of the state to buy the property and make the improvements. Spears said $32,500 was used to buy the two houses and property, while the remaining $7,500 will be used to build the parking area. Spears said the plans are to build a parking lot at the site located next to the Hall-Morgan Veterans Building, while the lot for the other house located at the southeast corner of Magnolia (Hwy. 133) and Sycamore will be left vacant as the site for a possible county building in the future.For the first time since she took over the office 20 years ago, Cleveland County Clerk Sharon Gray said the primary election approaching on May 20 will be the first time in her memory that there will be more contested Republican races on the ballot than Democratic races. Historically, most local elections in Cleveland County have been determined in the primaries since most local candidates have traditionally run as Democrats. This year, for the first time, that trend has basically been flipped. On May 20, voters will find six contested races on the Republican ballot and just two on the Democratic ballot - and one of those is for a Justice of the Peace race that only applies to voters in the Rison area.20 YEARS AGO MARCH 31, 2004 The Kingsland School Board was presented with a petition during a special called meeting Monday night, opposing the proposed consolidation of the Kingsland and Rison school districts into the Cleveland County School District. The petition cited that neither the administration nor the school board had surveyed the general public within the Kingsland School District before taking the vote to consolidate with the Rison School District on March 1…