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These names will be forever attached to Wilmington's convention center.
Wednesday afternoon, about 200 elected leaders, business owners and everyday residents signed their names in marker on a steel beam. The beam, architects said, would live in the roof over the convention center lobby for as long as the facility stands on the downtown Cape Fear riverfront.
Even a handful of firefighters, on their way to train on the city's fire boat, were lured to the beam to add their marks to city history.
The "beam signing" took place in a parking lot adjacent to the convention center site, immediately after the The Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce's 142nd Annual Meeting, which brought several hundred business people downtown for lunch.
"Anything worth having is worth fighting for," wrote Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo near his signature. Below his name he wrote the letters "TCB," which he later said stood for "taking care of business."
Resident Kathleen Baylies signed her name with the words "In Memory of Karl F. Davis," her late husband. Davis,...