eDiiORiM^&OPinion?
Page 4A Thunelay, November 11, 1976
‘Soon’ will come on
Thanksgiving week
After three yean of publishing one Issue weekly The Mirror-Herald will begin
publishing two Issues each week.
llie move has been talked about since Oeneral Publishing came to Kings
Mountain In August of 197S. When OP purchased The Mirror we were asked by
countless local citizens, merchants and businessmen how long would It be before
Kings Mountain had a newspaper published more than once each week.
Our stock answer was "soon, we hope."
"Soon" comes Thanksgiving week. Our readers will receive their papers on
Monday and Wednesday of that week because of the post office holiday closing
schedule. Normally The Mirror-Herald Is published on Wednesday evening for
mailing and street distribution on Thursday morning. Since Thanksgiving
always falls on a Thursday we must mall out a day earlier.
The following week we go back to a normal routine and publish on Monday
evening for Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening for Thursday. New
deadlines for ads and news had to be set to accommodate this schedule. The
question of why such eariy deadlines has often been asked. It Is simply a matter
at logistics. The Mirror-Herald maintains business and editorial offices on S.
Piedmont Ave. In Kings Mountain. We have type-setting and pasteup facilities
here, also, but our printing is done tai Belmont at General Publishing Company’s
main offices. We are given deadlines by the printers we must observe. Besides
The Mirror-Herald, GP publishes three other company-owned newspapers —
The Bessemer City Record, The Belm(mt Banner and Mount Holly News. GP also
publishes The CherryvUle Eag^e and The Charlotte Post, plus a dozen other In
dependent newspapers and tabloids.
General Publishing has made great progress since coming to Kings Mountain
a little over diree years ago. During the first year of operation of The Mirror
news coverage, adv ertlslng cllentel and circulation were increased greatly. One
year after piu'chasing The Mirror, General Publishing purchased The Herald
and combined the two for a single Thursday publication.
Now, twice weekly.
Last week attorney Tim Harris, who Is constructing offices In downtown Kings
Mountain, said he felt Kings Mountain Is on the verge of a growth explosion. That
comment is one we say amen to. It may sound like rah-rah, hometeam talk, but
It’s what we truly believe. No matter how much talk Is heard to the contrary, we
believe that the majority of KMers feel the same way.
Play, gypsies ••• but
do it somewhere else
For aU of you over 30, remember the Images of romantic adventure conjured In
literature and movies about those devil-may-care nomads kiawn as gypsies?
The mere mention of the name brings to mind pictures of dashing and hand
some men with flashing smiles and a golden earring dangling from a single lobe.
And pictures of exotically beautiful women with fiery tempers and swirling
skirts.
Images of Ray Mllland and Hedy Lamarr cavorting about a campfire, their
shadows plying across the faces of Intricately carved and painted wagons, sre
called to mind.
It can be traumatic when brought face to face with romantic legend.
After last Monday, If anyone at city hall had had any notions of romcuice and
adventure about the gypsies — they don’t have It anymore.
Into this neat, well-ordered mini-society ctune a howling, screaming, Spanish-
shoutlng band of the dirtiest, nastiest, grungiest human flotsam and Jetsam
anyone ever laid eyes on.
They came, not In colorful horse-drawn wagons, but beatup old Jalopies, seven
or el^t to a Jalopy. They were suspects In a Rutherford County robbery.
The local long arms of the law were alert and hauled them In. The convenience
store operators from our neighboring county managed to recover all of the
mcsiey taken in the common law robbery and the Rutherford County D. A.
decided Justice would be better served If he dropped the charges against the
eleven men and women under arrest for the crime.
Justice would be better served If the entire gypsy band was escorted to the
county line with a little friendly advice to head back in the direction from which
they came.
Justice would be better served In this manner than by placing the arrestees in
the pokey and allowing the rest of the gypsies to set up camp In the county and
running the risk of having everything not nailed down stolen.
The Rutherford County D. A. Is probably hard put to see Justice served In such
a classic manner on many occasions. •
TTie gypsy whirlwind only lasted a short while and the valuables removed were
minimal — a cup of coffee and a bar or two of chocolate. But the damage to the
romance and dashing imagery of the cult was horrendous.
Pity poor Commissioner Bill Grissom. He may never recover. Now he knows
that beneath that grimy gypsy breast beats the heart of a naturaLbom rip off
artist.
Sigh.
Play, gypsies, play. But do It somewhere else.
LOOKIMG
BI^CK
Archltect-anglneera for the projected John
Gamble Stadium at Kings Mountain Ihgh
School were authorised Tuesday to complete
revlskm of plana designed to pare con
struction coats and to invite bids as quickly
as possible.
Revival services are underway at Pat
terson Grove Baptist Church, Rev. Richard
Ptrier has announced.
miiPhrald
GARLAND ATKINS
PUBLISHER
TOM McINTYRE
Editor
OARY8TEWART
SporR Editor
DARREL AUSTIN
Gen. Mgr.'
EI.IZABETH STEWART
Womaa’s Editor
CLYDE HILL
. Adv. Dir.
MEMBER OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS ASSOCIATION
Kings Maintain Mirror-Herald is pablisbed each Tharsday by Oeaeral
Publishing Co., P. O. Box S, Kings Mountain, N. C., U6S«. OMeee are loeatod
downtown at M4 8. Piedmont Ave. Phone TW-74SS. single copy IS gq),.
scriptfon rates: In N. C., yearly, |6.t0; Ont-Ot-Stato, yearly, SSJa. Second class
postage paid at Kings Mountain, N. C.
First Tar Heel secession
tcdk was heard in Shelby
The tlrat meeting held in North Carolina to
urge the state’s secession from the Uhlan
was held in Cleveland County on November
12. 1860.
An overflow crowd attended the eoun-
tywlde meeting at the courthouae in Shelby.
Inflamed by the eleetlon of Abraham Lincoln
as President and the fast pace of events that
followed, one after another of the deep South
states announced their intentions to quit the
Union to Join a new “Confederacy.”
Aweek later a similar meeting was held in
Wilmington, quickly followed by others in
various parts of the state. On November 16
the Oeneral Assembly would convene hi
Raleigh with the question of what course the
state should follow being iqipermost in
everyone’s mind.
Sentiment In the state was far from
unanimous, however, and North Carolina
would not quit the Union until open hostllltlea
began at Fort Sumter in April of 1861.
-oOo-
One of the most famous duels in North
Carolina history was fought on November 6,
1887.
GD
9MITH
Robert B. Vance, a former U. S. Congress
man, was mortally wounded by his suc
cessor in office, Samuel P. Carson.
Vance was an imcle of the man who would
become perhaps North Carolina’s moot
famous Governor, Zebulon B. Vance.
Carson would later move to ’Texas and
become an Important figure in that rtate’a
early history. And it la Intaresthw to Mto
that in the duel ^th Vance, Carons second
was a man who would become a legend in
Richard K. McMacktn, Kings Mountain
native, has been promoted to assistant
secretary of Wachovia Bank and Trtiat Co. of
Winston-Salem.
Ktaigs Mountain broke a six game losing
streak here Friday by deteatlng Belmont’s
Red Raiders 14-0 In a key Southwest Con
ference football game, win was first
Mountsdneer victory since Wpt. IT, when the
locals won a 18-8 declslan over CherryvUle.
SOCIAL AND PERSONAL
Anne Trott, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tom
TVott, was recently pledged to Epsilon Alpha
Chapter of Sigma Kappa at Lenoir Rhyne
College where she Is a freshman.
Jane Morrie, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F.
O. Morris, has been selected Miss HI Miss for
Kings Moisitabi High School tor 1068.
u
Texas’ fight tor Independence - Davy
Crockett
-oOo-
On November 8,1787, a young law studsHI
named Andrew Jackson was admitted to ttas
Rowan County Bar In Salisbury.
Jackson had studied Uw tor the prooodlag
two years under Spruce Mackay, a Salisbury
attorney.
-oOo-
On November 7, 1088, In a state-wM»
referendum, the voters of North CaroUn*
repealed the 18th Amendment to the U. I.
Cbnstitutlan, thus hefolng end the "NoUs
Experiment’’ of Prohibition, making the salo
of liquor legal once more In tlda state.
-oOo-
On November 18,1888, what was described
as "a splendid display of shooting meteors"
occurred In the skies over the eastern
seaboard.
The celestial fireworks caused widespread
alarm In thU stote with thousands at people
teitflng the end of the world had come.
-oOo-
Richard CasweU, first Governor of the
Independent state of North Candlna, died on
November 10, 1780.
Chswell hod been a brigadier general In
North Carolina farces during the RevolutlaB
and a hero at the Battle of Moore’s Oeek
Bridge.
The state’s first General Assembly elected
him Govenun* hi 1770. He served she one-year
terms between 1TTA87. ChsweU shares with
Luther Hodges the record for the longest
total lengUHof service as the state’s chief
executive — 74 months.
OasweU also served as a delegate to the U.
S. Constitutional Convention, and as a state’
senator.
-oOo-
Bom on November 0,1810, Thomas Brsgg,
pre-ClvU War governor — 1888-00 — and
Confederate Cabinet member.
Died November 0, 1004, WUIlam W. Kit
chen, North Carolina Oovemar from 1000-18.
-oOo-
On November 8,1718 a number of plrati||
were hanged In Charieston, S. C. Most hdil
been members of the crew of C^taln Steds
Bonnet on The Royal Jamee, which operated
oft the CaroUnas coast.
Oapt. Bonnet himself was hanged two days
later and burled along with his men In the
saltwater mordies below the high tide level.
What^s your Qpiniqii^ • •
The Mirror-Herald welcomes
letters from readers eiqiresaing
your opinions on any subject you
choose, or rebutting any
editorial opinion we express.
All letters must be signed by
writer with address Included.
Unsigned letters will not be
published.
Address all correspondence
for this page to Reader
Dialogue, Mirror-Herald, P. O.
Drawer 763, Kings Mountain, N.
C., 28086.
Is there an
author in
the house?
Two or three times each year mailings
about contests from writers clubs come
across my desk. We always publish the
contest announcements tai the hope someone
out there Is a budding author.
Well, there la a budding author In the
house.
(Blush) It’s me.
The only problem Is toat at my age the
buds tend to bloom, but the stems ain’t what
they used to be.
Since I was lO-acne-fhced-years-old I’ve
had this overwhelming urge to write. First,
It was short-short stories, then long short
stories, then half-hour TV scrlpta, then hour-
long and 00-mlnute and lao-mlnute Jobs.
When I was about 81 I actually sat me
down and wrote half of a novel. I wrote It In
long-hand because I was not yet the superb
two-flnger concert artist on the typewriter
that I am today.
It has bqsn said that when I die the un
dertaker will have to beat my two Index
fingers to death wtth a stick.
Anyway, I wrote from the heart with my
Eagle pencil. Such emotion, such depth, such
flowery language, such Intimacy.
Rsd-faced and disgusted, the person I
allowed to read my effort said, "How could
you write such filthy words?”
write nice things. Write about love and
little ehUdrsn and animals. ’Rist was the
advice I was given.
But, I was only 81. What did I know about
love and little children and animals?
Besides, all the manuals I ever read on the
subject said write about the things you know.
At 811 figured I knew a lot about sin, sex and
sadism In the south.
Obviously, I didn’t know as much as I
figured.
I never finished the novel.
But I left my hero and heroine In a good
place, though. At a house party In the snow-
covered mountains. My Hero, Ben, had Just
had a rather nasty confrontation with a
wealthy simp named Brad.
"You two acted like strange cats,” said the
heroine.
"Yeah. He was the strangest cat I ever
met,” Ben said.
They toasted with their champagne
glasses and draiUc.
Probably they have sclerosis of the liver
by now.
-oOo-
Actually, the first time I ever took pencil In
hand to Jot down a story I was 14-yeara old.
What I really did was detail a dream I had
had the night before. The character was
called Hardrock. He was a western gun
slinger who rides In to this ranch one day and
takes up with the family. A small rancher,
Hardrock’s friend Is being put upon by a big
rancher.
When I was 10-years old I saw my etory
done as a film. The movie was titled
“Shane” and It starred Alan Ladd.
I was upset and looking for someone to sue.
The next time I set out with the definite
Idea to complete a short stmy I was 18. A
member of the student body at a military
school at the time I wrote the story to enter
In the English class short story contest.
"How could you write such filthy words?”
asked the English Instructor.
-oOo-
Read the classics. Read the great authors.
That's the advice given the budding
writer.
So, you read Shakespeare. What did he
write about?
Sin, sex and sadism.
I wonder If his English Instructor asked
him how he could write about such things?
-oOo-
TOM
MclMTYRe
About 10 years ago I closed myself up In a
small room at home and began to write h
second novel. This one dealt with high level
politics and espionage.
I did maybe a third of the novel, theq
tossed it on the shelf. A couple of years later
I dug out the pages and fashioned a Him
serfot. I rewrote that bloody thing four
times.
Four years ago I dug out the script and
wrote a novel from It Yes, Virginia. P
finished a novel. r
Boom! William Morris Agency Is In^'
terested. They want to read It. They read It'
Boom! They’re no longer Interested.
"You have The Preridsnt of the United
States Involved In underhanded dealings,”,
said the agent. "No one would over belleva
that" ^
When Watergate came to light and NlxoR
resigned I turned my house upside down'
looking for that agent’s phone number. 1.
wanted to gloat.
Finally, a little more than two years ago I-
finally got an agent Interested. He said this
thing has aU kinds of posslbUmes... a series
of novels with the same character... a high
budget motion picture ...
I haven’t heard from the agent In a year
and a half.
(Sigh). **
Am I discouraged? No! A thousand times
no!
I have decided to lay in a supply ol
cigarettes and a hundred pounds of coffee,
sit me down and write The Great American'
Novel.
I’m gonna do that as soon as I can find out
what The Great American Novel Is.