Rutherford County earned an unfortunate spot on the Associated Press' national list of counties with a population greater than 25,000 that were most severely affected by the recession.

The county ranked 13th out of the top 20 counties in the U.S. whose economic health had deteriorated the most between April 2008 and April 2009.  The AP uses unemployment, bankruptcy and foreclosure rates to measure the recession's impact.

Rutherford, home to Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, is between Charlotte and Asheville and was pummeled by the closure of textile mills in recent years. 

Here's the complete list.

Walter Dalton promoted his Home Protection Pilot Program in Raleigh today.

At a meeting of the N.C. Housing Finance Agency, the candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor talked about a program that provides no-interest bridge loans to workers who have lost their jobs to prevent them from losing their homes.

The program has helped more than 300 families in 61 counties get bridge loans to keep their homes.

Dalton plans to make the program permanent, extend it to all 100 counties and double the funding.

Spokesman Lewis Lowe said the program began as a response to the displaced textile workers in the senator's home district of Rutherford and Cleveland counties.

"I listen to my constituents," Dalton said. "Many of my textile workers came to me and they were very fearful they would lose their home."

Sharon Lowery, who is a middle school secretary, approached Dalton at a meeting of the N.C. Association of Educators to thank him. She was later invited to share her experience at publicity events.

"I have screamed it from the rooftop 'Thank you Senator Dalton for helping us keep our house,'" she said.

A history of Tryon County says William Gilbert was later cleared.

In "The History of Old Tryon and Rutherford Counties," county historian Clarence Griffin says the one-time representative was expelled on Feb. 8, 1779, on charges of fraud for allegedly duplicating his vouchers while working as commissary of the Tryon County militia.

In a footnote (p. 71), Griffin says Gilbert denied his guilt and was later re-elected. 

In 1781, he was appointed a justice of the peace in the Rutherford County court and chosen as chairman. That October, the court heard testimony on the fraud charges and vindicated Gilbert with the following order:

It is the opinion of the court that the said William Gilbert is not guilty of the charge laid against him to the General Assembly, and we do certify that the said William Gilbert never plundered, nor was guilty of plundering, to our knowledge. 

Of course, Gilbert was in charge of the court at the time and the county's largest landholder, so one could be skeptical. The truth, Griffin notes, "in all likelihood will never be known."