SALISBURY - Salisbury resident Eric Slipp has made a gift to establish a new scholarship at Catawba College. Preference for the Eric P. Slipp Endowed Scholarship will be given to a member of the Catawba baseball team who is majoring in business, environmental science or physical education.

Slipp, a native of Anson, Maine, made the scholarship stipulations, he explained, because the combination of qualifications “touches areas of the College where I have had the pleasure to be involved. In particular, I have enjoyed the opportunity to watch the baseball program grow in stature in many ways. It is my hope that this scholarship will help to attract young men who dream of contributing to a program like this.”

Slipp was complimentary of Jim Gantt, Catawba’s head baseball coach, and his role in helping the young men on his team reach their full potential, on and off the field. “Coach Gantt’s role in developing leadership and teamwork skills in our student-athletes is important in making them the outstanding Catawba alumni that they become,” Slipp explained. “I value the lessons that I have learned about developing these skills, in addition to the competitive skills, from Coach Gantt.”

CONCORD - Services in both Concord and Kannapolis are now set to remember SFC Donald "Donnie" Shue on Saturday.

“We want people to come, bring your American flags, tell your neighbors about it," said Peter Franzese of the City of Concord.  "This is a really important event for our town to be able to honor Donnie Shue and his family.”

Shue, U.S. Army Special Forces, went missing in Laos in November 1969.  Shue grew up in Concord, and moved to Kannapolis before entering the Army in 1967. 

His remains were recently located in Laos, are now in Pearl Harbor, and will arrive in Charlotte on April 30.

SFC Shue was part of a special forces reconnaissance patrol that was on a mission in Vietnam's Quang Tri Provenance that was "attacked and overrun by enemy forces on a remote hilltop," a spokeswoman for the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command Center told WBTV in March.

The reconnaissance team retreated, but SFC Shue and two others were injured in the attack and presumed killed. SFC Shue has been listed as "Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered" since the attack.

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There will be a large procession from Charlotte to Whitley’s Funeral Home in Kannapolis, with a stop in Downtown Concord for a presentation from the City, other government entities, and veterans groups. 

The procession will be escorted by the Concord Police Department, Kannapolis Police Department, and Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office, with support from the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department and the North Carolina Highway Patrol. 

CHARLOTTE - The Charlotte Checkers are gearing up for the second round of the Calder Cup, with one last practice before heading to Pennsylvania to take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the East Coast Division finals.

The Checkers hit the ice at the Extreme Ice Center in Indian Trail Wednesday morning, before they fly up to Wilkes-Barre Wednesday night.

"[The Checkers had] great tempo and the guys look ready to go," said Mike Lappan, director of public and media relations.