William Gaston Awards 2011

The 2011 recipients include:

Charlie Martin

Charlie Martin was born in New York City and after a stint in the U.S. Navy in the early sixties, he moved to Belmont, NC to attend Belmont Abbey College in 1968.

For more than 40 years, Charlie has been involved in the insurance business from sales to management. He was Area VP for the NC Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors and also was President of the Gaston County Life Underwriters twice and won several awards.

Charlie is an active participant in the community. He has held offices in the Belmont Optimist Club, the Knights of Columbus, and the Gaston County Babe Ruth League. He also served on Catherine's House Board and the Stowe YMCA board.

Currently, Charlie has served on the Gaston County Travel and Tourism Advisory Board for almost six years and on the Gaston County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for the past 12 years and 7 months and on the Social Services Board for the past year and one-half. He also serves on many other boards including the Gaston County Red Cross.

Charlie also serves as President of the Belmont Abbey College Alumni Association - his Alma Mata - and as Mayor Pro-Tem for the City of Belmont.

Many of you listen to Charlie on WCGC 1270 am in Belmont as he does the radio football broadcasts for the South Point Red Raiders. His athletic interests have led him to coach soccer at the high school level as well as baseball, softball, and basketball.

Charlie is well known for his generosity in helping others, especially those in need.

He is married to Dot Martin and has five children and fifteen grandchildren.

Charlie, you have been a very generous contributor to our county and its citizens and have made this a better place to live.

On behalf of the County Commission, it is my pleasure to present you with the 2011 William Gaston Award.

Monte Monteleone

In 1967, Mr. Monteleone also came to pursue an education at Belmont Abbey College and after his graduation, he served a three-year stint in the United States Marine Corps. Returning in 1974, he joined the banking industry and was employed by First Union National Bank until his retirement in 2002, and having had a very active career in banking, Mr. Monteleone set about seeking a second career and found that opportunity in his Alma Mata - Belmont Abbey College - at which he currently remains.

Wanting to pursue a more active part in the community, Mr. Monteleone joined the Gaston County Chamber where he volunteered on many committees and met many County citizens, elected officials and public employees which gave him the opportunity to pursue even more volunteer activities. For the past ten years, he has been a vital part of the community participating in the Gaston Regional Chambers Ambassadors Program, Governmental Affairs and Board of Directors, Leadership Gaston where he served as Chairman, the Belmont Chamber, Gaston 2012, the United Way, the YMCA Metro, the 2020 Marketing and Transportation Committees and the Gastonia East Rotary Club.

For the past three years and four months, Mr. Monteleone has been a member of the Gaston County Travel and Tourism Advisory Board.

Mr. Monteleone and his wife, Sarah, a lifelong County resident, will be married 40 years in June of 2012. They have two sons, Micah and Seth, and three grandchildren all residing here in the county.

Monte Monteleone, we are most grateful for your volunteer service to the people of Gaston County and hope your active participation will continue for many years to come.

On behalf of the County Commission, it is my pleasure to present you with the William Gaston Award.

Doug Lance

In 1977, Doug came to Gaston County from Asheville, NC to work at the Red Shield Boys and Girls Club on Marietta Street and pursue an education at Belmont Abbey College. He graduated in 1980 and continued working at the Red Shield until 1985 when he left to find a new career. In 1988 he was selected as the first Executive Director of the Gaston County Community Penalties Program, which is now the Alternative Community Penalties Program, Inc., the corporate umbrella for multiple criminal justice programs in Gaston and Cleveland County. He has served the Program continuously since that time.

Doug's work in the addiction treatment field and the criminal justice system led him to volunteer to serve on the Gaston County Criminal Justice Partnership Committee which he chaired in 1994. He has served on that committee since its inception. Since 1988 Doug has been involved in the design and implementation of many programs in Gaston County's criminal justice system including Sentencing Services, the Restorative Justice Day Reporting Center, and Gaston County Pretrial Services. In 2006 he designed the Gaston County Jail Population Control Model, which sought to safely reduce the Gaston County jail population by using technological supervision, in-house substance abuse and mental health treatment, and linkage to aftercare services. The plan helped to reduce daily jail populations and lower recidivism/re-arrest rates which prompted the Governor's Crime Commission to conduct a study of the program and call the Gaston program "the 'model' for all criminal justice pretrial programs in NC". Since 2006, the program has saved the County an estimated 18 million dollars per year in incarceration and other costs.

In 1992, Doug became a volunteer assistant chaplain at the Dallas Correctional Facility and has served in that capacity for the past 19 years. In 2008 he graduated from the Nonprofit Management Program at Duke University (although he is a UNC Tar Heel basketball fan). Doug is also an avid fisherman.

Doug and his wife Kay, a lifelong Gaston County resident, have three children, six grandchildren, and one great-grandson.

Doug, you have been a visionary and an innovator in developing and implementing a solution to the County's overcrowding problem in the jail which allowed bed space to be outsourced to Federal and State Governments and to earn income for Gaston County. Your pilot project is recognized state-wide and we gratefully appreciate all the work that you have done to contribute to the success of this project!

On behalf of the County Commission, it is my pleasure to present you with the William Gaston Award.