Page 2-MlRROR-HERALD-Tue8day, March 14. 1978
GDITORItXL
opinion
Painted into a corner
In Us efforts to see that medical services during emergencies are updated to
give victims a better chance for survival, the state has also painted the rescue
service into a comer.
Last July 1 Cleveland County became responsible, by state law, for providing
rescue and ambulance service to countlans. Ihere were five rescue units
operating on a volunteer basis in the county at the time. Two of those units,
Shelby and Kings Mountain, voted to go under a fee system In order that fulltime
Emergency Medical Technicians could be on call five days each week during
daylight hours. The evenings and weekends would still be covered by volunteers
}ust as before.
Now, according to Larry Revels of the Cleveland County Emergency Services,
one of the three volunteer units still operating under the origins^ system Is In
danger of folding.
Why? PubUc donations have fallen off to practically nothing. It was for this
very reason that the Kings Mountain Res(me Squad voted to go under the fee
system — which means patients would be (irarged for transport tr4>s. The fur
ther the trip, the greater the charge.
Ihe county emergency services sends the bills to the patients, cbUects the
charges, then passes them on to the rescue squad. In addition the county sup
plements the Shelby and Kings Mountain units to help meet expenses. Tliey do
not do this for the other three units because originally these units (Grover, .
Bolling Springs and Upper Cleveland) chose not to accept the system.
The problem Is that the charge system is not working. At present the
emergency services has outstanding bills totalling $20,000. This week garnishee
peq>ers In the hands of a process server are being carried around. The process
server has orders to rattle doorknobs and come back with the money.
Last week the members of Kings Mountain Rescue Squad stated emphatically
that they did not like this action in the least. Larry Revels admitted that he does
not like the action at all, but that he has a Job to do and his orders are to do It.
How has the state’s good Intentions painted rescue service Into a c(»ner?
Simple. The law has made It Impossible to return to the old volunteer basis —
unless the general public again feels It Is better to donate regularly to si^port a
rescue service, as It did here for almost 20 years. The state demands that all
rescue transport vehicles be standardized and carry sufficient equipment, plus
that the vehicles be manned by a qualified driver and an EMT In attendance with
the patient In the back of the vehicle. This Is to have a qualified person available
who knows vdiere all of the equipment Is stored and which ^ece to use for
treatment enrotite to hospitals or' medical clinics.
This same rule has applied even when the rescue unit has transported non
emergency patients to and from one hospital to smother, or from hospital to
home. The longer the tr4> the more the ejqjiensea Incurred and the less likely the
squad has of bresddng even. This Is because the squad can only charge the
transport patient for a one-way trip.
These non-emergency trips also place the local citizenry In Jeopardy because
of the unavailability of qualified men and equipment should a real emergency
develop right here at home.
What do we do about this situation?
Dr. Frank Slncox suggests a second organization of volunteers to handle the
non-emergency trips using vehicles that will sdlow people to either sit up or lie
down. Vehicles not equipped with all the first class devices nor manned wltti
EMTs as perscrlbed In emergency cases.
Slncox Insists this can be done If the organization sella Itself only as a transport
service and not a medical or rescue service.
The problem — who will organize such a unit and how would It be paid for?
But even with the existence of such an organization fully funded by public
donations, that does not answer the problem now existing — how to get the
charge system to pay for Itself.
If we can put any dependence In history, then the other units In the county will
eventually be forced to come under the sune system as Shelby and Kings
Mountain and the problems of paying the freight will Increase.
The light at the end of the tunnel. In this case, might very weU be a Ux on every
property owner In the county to raise the funds to pay for ambulance and rescue
service. The commissioners do not even want to discuss this possibility at this
time, but If the system continues to fall more and more behind, the point of no
return will be reached and the commissioners will be forced to make a declskxi.
R€W)€R DIMOGU£
Safety precautions needed at lake
LI
•I s
To the editor,
tlpon reading the Mar. 9 Issue of the
MhTor-Herald, It has come to my attention
that the Moss Lake swimming area will be
re-opened next summer — with Im-
IHOvements.
According to the article, Improvement of
the swimming area will consist of (1) ex
panding the beach area; (3) fencing In the
swimming area and (8), oonstructkm of
control booths. However, nothing was said
about repairing the dangerous drop-offs and
snags which exist within the roped swim
ming area as It stands now.
I have worked as a lifeguard at the lake for
the paat two sununers. Last sununer alone
there were 13 swimming Incidents, six of
which I was peraonally Involved with. (In
cidentally — only two of these, one of which
was a broken neck, were deemed serious
enough by lake officials to appear In official
accident reports).
For two summers the American Red Cross
has been willing to conduct a safety study of
the swimming area at no charge to the dty.
This would Include an evaluation of the
swimming conditions as weU as the beach
surveillance practices and rescue equip
ment. I attended a dty council meeting last
summer, during which such a study by the
Red cross was approved. Inanews article at
the time of the dosing of the lake’s swim
ming area It was atmounced that a private
firm, Oarikier Oldley and Associates would
conduct a safety study. To my knowledge, no
such safety study was conducted. I am
curious to kiMw If Gardner GHdley and
Associates had anything to say about the
swimming conditions after conducting their
recently atmounced survey. I suq>ect that
nOboqy got Ms suit wet
I am by no meatu condemning the
prcqxised Improvements, they are good and
necessary. However, In the interest of public
safety. It seems to me that unless furbier
Inqxrovements are made to proted the
hundreds of poor or non-swimmers who visit
the lake, re-<^>enlng the area with such
hazardous conditions stUl existing would be
a serious mistake.
As a former lifeguard arxl a concerned
cttlsen, I strongly urge the lake authority to
consider the safety matter. I feel that It
would be wise to let the Red Cross run a
safety study of the area before the swlm-
nUng season begins, so that improvements
can be made.
I dncerely hope that the lake authority has
eiXMgh Interert In public safety to take
action. While I realize that any swlmnUng
area Is boimd to have Its share of problems, I
also feel that a human life Is too valuable to
neglect any precautloiu which can be taken
to protect that life. Do you agree?
REBBXXIA THOMPSON
Rt. 1. Box S44
Kings Motmtaln
What would we do?
Tb the editor,
I would like to use your column to pay
tribute to one of the most dedicated, yet
over-looked public servants In our city today
— the sanitation worker.
He Is the man who everyone sees, but very
few people really get to know.
He la the neighbor who comes to your
house twice each week. But very few people
give him a neighborly smile or even bother
to say good morning.
He works under some of the hardest
oofKlltlons possible smd the weather Is his
worst enemy. I have seen these men when
the wind and cold burned their faces smd
made their eyes water. When their hands
and feet were so cold they were numb, yet
somehow they go on trying to do a good Job
and serve the people on their route.
Sure, I agree he might miss your house
some time or might drop paper on the
ground while hauling off the garbage, but It
is never Intended to be this way. How nmny
people can say they have never made a
mlstSLke on their Job?
When you consider we have only 11 men
who make over 6,000 pick-ups per week and
Worst shot in history
David Smith, the young seminary student
who associate pastors at First Presbytertan
Church, has been bitten by the golfing bug.
Lsust week, wdille pursuing his new hobby,
David racked up a brand new record on the
Kings Momtain Country Club course.
It was around 5;M p. m. when David, Pop
Foster and Parks Nelsler teed off on the 17th
hole. The fairway lies as strsUght as an
arrow smd as flat as an Ironbosmd and
measures maybe 300 yards frmn tee to
The 17th hole also runs aiDacent to
numerous homes off Sherwood Dr. Darrell
and Shirley Austin live In one of these homes.
They were sitting In the dining room chatting
at the time David teed off. A few momenta
later the Austins heard a thump — a noise
about like something falling off the kitchen
cabinet onto the floor.
Darrell saw Foster and Nelsler wandering
around Ms backyard a bit later and went out
to ask what they were looking for. David
iqipeared about then and answered, "My
golf baU."
TOM
McltiTYRC
GD
9MITH
This week in tar heel history
Jackson left his mark
lutul off tons of garbage from our town each
day, I ask myself - what would we do
without them?
DONALD W. SHORT
Sanitation Siq>ervlaor,
Ctty of Kings Mountain
Money not everything
To the editor, >•
No one In their right mind denies ttot
money Is essential In our everyday lives. But
If life were composed only of money It would
be most miserable.
Cbuld be many of the problems we face as
anatlonaixl as people come from our fafiiiik
to recognise that all good and perfect gifts
come from above. We, as Americans, have
been well blessed from above, but how much
longer we may expect this depends on us.
Perhiqts the problems we are facing now
with coal strikes and short power stqipUes Is
scmethlng we are being told from above.
Dr. LessUe D. Weatherhead, emlrwnt
preacher and author, tells of the poor native*
African woman hauled Into court and tinod
for a technical offense. She paid her fine with
a single gold coin and prepared to leave.
The court clerk caUed her back and said
the price of gold had gorM up and to her
astonishment die had change coming.
"How often that has happened to us. We '
lost this, but gained that," comments Dr.
Weatherhead.
EVERETTE PEARSON
Kings Momtain
Poet’s
Corner
AKITEINFUQHT
High above the tree tops
flies the resdeas kits.
Carried on the breezy current
More than a child’s delight.
A kite unanchored free to fly
high above the earth.
Oh, how fragile are the wings
But, oh strong the mirth.
Eager eyes follow you
and envy how you soar.
Until you dart Old of sight
beyond the sycamore.
Darrell fomd the ball and told David he
had set some kind of new record — a wln-
dowbox-ln-one. Tlie ball had Mt the house
and dropped Into the wfaidowbox..
"It was also the worst shot In golfing
history,’’ Darrell said.
Oh, pretty kite so fragile
what diall be your fate?
Will bramble briers soon claim you
and contlnua to captivate?
Andrew Jackson left his mark In North
Carolina, though history associates his rise
to fame with the state at Tennessee.
On Mar. IS, 1767, Jackson, the seventh
President of the United States, was bom In
the Waxhaw Settlement, wMch straddled the
border between the two CaroUnaa As some
doubt now exists as to the exact location,
both states have claimed hbn as a native
state of Tennessee. The cocky Jackson
talked himself Into being appointed
proaeeuting attorney for the area, thus
becoming one of the frontlor territory’s most
prominent polltloal figures.
Though Ms troops had outnumbered the
Britlah by two-to-ons (4,800 to 3,300)
North Carolina figured prominently la
Jackson’s Ufa, however, for hs was educated
at Queen’sMuseum In Charlotte, and studied
law under Judge Spruce Maoay In Salisbury.
He was admitted to the Rowan County bar on
Nov. 6, 1767, before he was old eiwugh to
vote.
Jackson was rsmambersd there as . . .
"the most roaring, rollicking, game-cocking,
horse-racing, card-playing, mischievous
fellow that ever lived In Salisbury, the head
of the rowdies hereabouts. He was more In
the stable than In the office!"
A month after he wa.i admitted to the bar,
the General Assembly of North Carolina
created a new Westera District Superior
Court to hando all of the troublesome,
distant territory that would soon become the
Tbday North Carolina seams althsr to have
lost Intersst In Its claim as Jackson’s blr-
th^oe, or to have tost ths battle by default
III sits — In Union County — Is difficult to
find, marked only by a small stons
moraimont located In a woed-grown field
down an obscure country road. South
CsroUria, meanwhile, has built an Im-
prsaslvs state park la Jackson’s honor,
oomplets with a rsatorsd log cabin and
museum.
Greene’s American Army had been forced to
rstrsat from ths field. The American
casultles had been twice as high also, a total
of 1366 In kUled, womded and missing, to 663
total oasumos for ths Redcoats. Tat Greene
was correct, Ths heavy casultles ha suffered
at Guilford Courthouse, plus a critical
shortage of supplies, would force Lord
Comwallla to abandon hla Invasion of ths
southern Intwtor and fall back toward ths
ssa coast. It tumsd Oresn’s army from ths
hunted Into the hunter.
•oOo-
’Ihs battle lasted two hours, and even
Cornwallis (who was himself slightly
wounded and had two horses killed beneath
Mm) later wroto "I never saw such fighting
afeios God made mo. The Americans fought
Uks demons!'’
For a Miioral who had Just tost an Im
portant wtle the day bsfers, Nathaniel
Oreens was strangely slated. Referring to
the Battle of Guilford Courthouss, which had
bedn fought on March 16,1711, GreeiM wrots
"One mors such action and they are
ruined! Ths Enemy got ths Ground, but ws
ths Victory. They had ths Iplendour, but we
got the Advantage!"
On naoer. thlnsrs looked bad for Greene.
Uhfortunately, many of the North Carolina
troops Involved that day (mostly untrained
mlUtla) did rwt cover themselves with glory.
Grasns later charged that half of thorn had
fied without firing a shot, and that 676
Carolina militiamen (nearly half of Ms total
casultles) wore listed as "missing" after the
battle, though only seven wore MUed and six
wounded.
mmmiD
PUSLItHSeSMH
TUaiDAV AMO THUSleSV
eASLAMDATKIHI
rueiiuiw
TOM MMNTVSS
aaiw
eASVtTBWAST
•HtH SSNtr
OASSBLkAUtTIM
SmatcI stAMear
cLVDasn>k
AAvaftMIt eiTMlW
MSMsaaes
NesTNCAaei.MA
rsaUAlMCIATION
Th» Mirref'HtralS M AvkllMwe kr Smartl
kieilkklnf CkiTikany, P. 0. Ortwtr Tn. Klie*
Maintaln,N.C..IMM. SwtlMMknC teiWrltl tHIett
art Mcatas at IM lauMi SlaaiiiaM Avk. Mam m-
jmt. lacam ciaai kaataea paM at Ktnea MsMalaki,
N. C. kintia caay )l canfa. kvkacrletlaa ralaa: n.W
»aari» in atata. M.M ala manittai w.ll aaarW aeTW--
atata, U ala manniaj IhMaai rata tar nlna.4ianaia
M la
and
with rhythm you have tried your pretty wings
you know ths thrill to fly.
Although you may mver touch a star
Touaresopleaalngtothe aye.
VIVIAN STEWART BILTCUFFI!