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The Foothills View
BO 17
Second Class Postage Paid In Boiling Springs, N. C. 29017
THURS., SEPT. 24, 1981
See It Your If ay”
FDH HEFEHENCE
JVot to be taken from Library
-GARDNER WEBB COLLEGE LIBRARY
Kays Gary:
An Interview
The Editor.
When I tell people I’ve worked for the Charlotte Observer
the first question they ask is not if I know the reporters who
won the Pulitzer Prize. Instead, they ask if I know Kays
If the Pulitzer.were awarded for service to the human heart
Kays Gary would win the goid. Thursday night this Fallston
auditorium of friends at Cieveland
Techs Cleveiand County in Transition” program.
Introducing him, WBTV’s C.J. Underwood said: ‘‘Kays Gary
IS at the top of the list of peopie Cieveiand County is proud
or He IS one of America’s premier journaiists.”
For over 25 years Kays Gary’s column has appeared as
pages of Knight-Ridder’s
Charlotte Observer - more years than Knight-Ridder has
owned the newspaper. Like the weather box, Kays’ column
has recorded the daily vissitudes of our lives - the stormy
upheavals and God-given calms of work, love, deaths, and
‘Tm satis
fied now.
It's a grace,
if you will,
given by
God.”
Kays Gary: he’s that rarest of combinations, a
nfnM ® program Thursday
night, he further gave of himself with an interview for the
readers of the Foothills View. Here’s what Kays said about
living and writing.
Kays, where shall we begin?
Gary: Start with memories.
C.J. Underwood said tonight that if he could choose to live a
life other than his own, he would choose yours. Have you
ever wanted to be someone else?
Gary: I don’t think so. They’re too many damn distractions
today to live over. When I was growing up In Fallston their
mere absence made for creativity. You had more time to
evaluate, and to cherish, friendships. Today I think there’s a
confusion with people about what they really want in life.
Were you ever confused about wanting to be a writer?
Gary: No. I knew it was for me. My home is in the center of
the newsroom. Back in ’42 a man gave me a job in
Thomasville as editor; we both knew I was going to be called
up, I was just working for him until he could get a 4-F man to
fill the job. Well, the Shelby Star wrote me and asked me to
work there. I was sports editor and also covered courts.
Wasn’t that a combination?
Back then the wire machine would set off belts when the
news came over. I didn’t need a watch, I could tell time by
the bells - they would go ding-ding-ding, somebody was
always yelling “Copy-boy!” It would be Bedlam, a rising
cresendo. It was for me.
Didn’t you also teach journalism at Gardner-Webb College?
Gary: Sure did. Once a week. Thursdays.
Did they pay you?
Gary: [Laughing] I can’t remember. My boss at the Star
volunteered me. Well, actually, he volunteered his services,
and then he went to South America, or someplace. I had to
fill in the gap. [Lighting a cigarette and smiling] But it was
all right. I like it all right.
Did you come back to the Star after the war?
Gary: I sure did. It represented a kind of security. You know
I was married then, and 9 months, 3 weeks after our
marriage we had our first baby. I was working for the Star
for $50 a week, which was really a good wage, or so it
seemed, because the pre-war salary was $20. I also sold
features to the Observer at $3 and $5 a clip. [Lighting a
second cigarette from the first] I had to hustle bucks then ...
hard.
We’ve both heard tonight about Cleveland in transition. Is
Kays Gary in transition?
Gary: Oh sure. The transition is constant in life. I’m a less
emotional person now. You know, I used to be very scared
about death, and I spent a lot of time worrying about the
great philosophic questions. I’m satisfied now. It’s a grace, if
Please turn to Kays Gary, pg. 3.
Chargers Roll, 28-13, ‘Dogs Ramble, 31-8
iieiU'
ROBERT McCLUNEY (above Nofc 20) rolled for two touch
downs Friday night as ^est scored A imlressive 28-13 victory over
East Rutherfordj/C^ip Suar^^krigjit) thwows a touchdown pass to
Duane Foster |ftlJBulfiogs raiSble&oaJeasy 38-8 victory Saturday
over Newberr^ Slrfl arefcelow.
First Downs
Yds. Rushing
Yards Passing
Punts
Fumbles Lost
Interceptions Suffered
Penalties
East
4-3
Sfd 13
Crest: -Robert McCluney 1 yd. run
Randy Lovelace kick good
Crest-Herbert Harbison 44 yd. run
Lovelace kick good
Crest-McCluney 3 yd run
Lovelace kick good
Crest-Maurice Lee 18 yd past from Smith
Lovelace kick good
Leading Tacklers
Crest-Tony Wray
Rayfield Smith
Maruin Burris
Jim Newman
Interceptions
Jeff Bell, Randy Lovelace
ED PILEGARD PHOTOGRAPHING THE GAME
team stats
First Downs
Yds. Rushing
Yds. Passing
Rushing Atts.
Passing Atts.
Pass Comp.
Passes Inf. By
Total Off. Plays
Avg. Per Play
Fumbles Lost
Pen/Yards
TD IPAT 2PAT FG S
Rosey Kirby
Jamie Pope
Carlisle Kounts
Chip Stuart
Dvane Foster
Tim Davis
12
13
Who
“W/io guards the guards?” asked the Roman
satirist Juvenal. The question is asked today
in Boiling Springs just as in first-century Rome
as newspapers set themselves up as the guard
ians of truthful reporting. But who guards
the guards? Who reports the reporters?
Other newspapers do, as I found out this
summer when I was interviewed by Woody
Woodruff, managing editor of the Publisher’s
Auxiliary. The Auxiliary is a trade journal
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — Most teachers
—even journalism teachers—might have mixed
feelings about school starting after a summer’s
respite. Not Dave Robertson.
He couldn’t wait for his students to arrive on
campus, because he’s worn out from trying
to be a one-man band.
Over the summer, Gardner-Webb College,
a small liberal arts school in this rural area
north of Charlotte, bought a weekly newspaper
and hired Robertson to run it.
The Foothills View, eight years old, was Boiling
Springs’ only in-town newspaper when Dianne
Holland, the founder, put it on the market
because “It was getting to be a full-time job.”
At the same time Gardner-Webb, which al
ready operated a 5,000-watt radio station,
was looking for the nucleus of a proposed jour
nalism program. The college president. Dr.
Craven Williams, said he wanted a cohimunity
newspaper for teaching purposes rather than
one that just covered the camous.
There was a “coincidence of availability,”
circulated nationwide among newspaper
editors. I found myself on the other side of the
desk as Woody reported on me and my arrival
at The Foothills View. As when the View
interviews local figures, I had no idea whether
the published story would be favorable or
critical.
The Auxiliary published its story Aug. 31.
We reprint it below The Editor
said Williams, that “would not require our
beginning entirely from ground zero.”
The money for buying the Foothills View came
from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a
trust connected with the R.J. Reynolds tobacco
family that has given more than $100 million
to various causes within the state—including
two previous grants to Gardner-Webb.
“It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision,”
allows Barry Hartis, the college’s vice president
for business and finance.
Williams said the college definitely wanted
a community newspaper rather than a college
campus paper.
“As journalists we’ve got to sell newspapers,”
says the president. The Foothills View is “not
going to be a Gardner-Webb propaganda
newspaper.”
We re not playing at being a newspaper,”
agrees Robertson. •
And as of Monday, August 24, Dave Robertson
had some journalism students to go with his
community newspaper.