The Arts Council of Lincoln County is holding its annual Flo Robinson Literary Competition. The trustees of Mrs. Robinson's estate established this competition to memorialize her lifelong interest in poetry and prose and to encourage writers to pursue excellence in their craft.

Poetry Entries: one per person, on any subject, in any style, free verse, blank verse, or rhymed and should be limited to 32 lines or less.

Prose Entries: one per person, an essay or short story on any subject, limited to approximately 750 words.

Entries in prose and poetry must be titled, original, unpublished, and must never have won a cash award before.

The competition is open to students in public and private schools and to adults. All entrants must be present or past residents of Lincoln County. Each school is asked the screen is entries and must submit only the best works. Student entries must come through the school.

Awards: Prize money ($500) will be equally divided between prose and poetry in the following categories:

Elementary Schools
grades 3 – 5
1st prize: $20
2nd prize: $15
3rd prize: $10

Middle Schools
grades 6 – 8
1st prize: $20
2nd prize: $15
3rd prize: $10

High Schools
grades 9 – 12
1st prize: $25
2nd prize: $15
3rd prize: $10

Adults
18 and over
1st prize: $60
2nd prize: $40
3rd prize: $25

Entry Rules: Submit two typewritten, double space copies of your entry. One copy must include the following information in the upper right-hand corner: full name (age, if a student), address, telephone number, category (prose or poetry), age group (grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12; or adult), school (if applicable). The second copy should include only the poem, essay or story.

Student entries must be submitted through participating school system

Adult entries must be postmarked by April 10, 2010

Late entries will not be accepted. All entries should be mailed to: the Arts Council of Lincoln County Literary Competition, P.O. Box 45, Lincolnton, North Carolina 28092.

An awards ceremony and reading will be held April 29, 2010.

This project is sponsored in part by a grant provided by the Grassroots Art Program of the North Carolina Arts Council. For more formation contact the Arts Council at: 704 732-9044

Lincoln County nonprofit organizations can submit applications for grants worth up to $10,000 each to the Lincoln County Allied Waste Non-Profit Grant Committee. For more information and the application form please go to the Allied Waste Grant Page

The U.S. Constitution requires a national census once every 10 years. Census forms will be mailed to every household in March 2010 and Census Day is April 1, 2010. In Lincoln County, more than 42,000 housing units will receive the Census! The brief questionnaire takes about 10 minutes to complete, and asks for the name, gender, age, race, ethnicity and relationship to the householder, and whether the householder owns or rents their home. You should fill out your census form wherever you are on the day you receive it, regardless of where you live at other times of the year. Lincoln County 2010 Census page

In March, Lincoln County EMS will begin providing quarterly CPR and First Aid Courses for all Lincoln County employees. The classes will be at no cost to employees. Course completion cards may be purchased by the employee for $1.50. All courses will be located at the Lincoln County EMS classroom at 720 John Howell Memorial Drive. Course manuals may be checked out the week before the class from the Lincoln County EMS office. Course manuals will need to be returned to Lincoln County EMS after completion of the course. There will be a total of 10 slots available for each session. Please call Rita Rudisill at 704- 726-9385 to register for the course. Course Times and Dates

If you want a Flu shot, either Seasonal Flu or H1N1 (Swine) Flu, use the locator found on the Influenza page to find where to get your shots.

East Lincoln Speedway Holdings, LLC, is requesting the rezoning of 27.5 acres from R-T (Transitional Residential) and CU I-G (Conditional Use General Industrial) to CZ R-R (Conditional Zoning Rural Residential) to bring a nonconforming (grandfathered) racetrack into conformity and to permit facilities to be expanded. The property (Parcel ID# 53985, 71170 and 59382) is located on the east side of Mariposa Road about six-tenths of a mile south of Old Plank Road in Catawba Springs Township.

A community involvement meeting will be held on Thursday, March 18, 2010, at 6 p.m. at East Lincoln Speedway to provide information about the proposal and to receive comments prior to a public hearing. (This meeting was originally scheduled to be held March 11 at Faith Baptist Church.)

For more information, contact the Lincoln County Planning and Inspections Department at (704) 736-8440.

The Lake Norman Rural Planning Organization (LNRPO) has released the Metrolina Air Quality Conformity report for a 30-day comment period, ending March 25. [Additional info...]