KINGS MOUNTAIN,
THE THURSDAY EDITION
klMG^ MOUnTWti
MIRROR-HCRMD
NCPA Award
Winning Newspaper
15'
Ambulance
Service To
Stop In 1977
ByTOMMoOfTTRE
Am at July 1,1917 a«valand County
funeral home* will officially be out
of the ambulance lervlce. Notice of
ttla action waa slven to county
commlMlonera thla week.
Klnge Mountain funeral director
onie Harrla told The Mirror-Herald
this la not an arbitrary declalan on
the part of the county’a funeral
Ixanea. "We have remained In Gie
ambulance aervlce bualneaa aa Icng
aa we could, but It’a time to get out.”
Harrla, a Nmlh Carolina Senator,
aald orlf^Uy funeral homea were
aiq>poaed to have auapended am
bulance aervlce on Jan. 1,1976, but
he and other aenatora and
rq>reaentatlvea puahed for a con
tinuance until July 1, 19T7.
Under a State Emergency Medical
Servlcea board ruling aa of July 1,
1977 all ambulancea muat be
manned by a trained Emergency
extra time waa puahed for to give
reacue aquada more time to have
qualified BMT membera.
"My employea (Hairla Funeral
Home) have the neceaaary training
to man ambulancea after July 1,
1977," Harrla aald, "but, continuing
the aervlce haa proven too much of a
Harrla Funeral Home haa
provided ambulance aentoe alncet-
openlng for boalnaaa In 1947, and
' (/paaeeeee<
even though a promlae waa made at
the time to give contlnuoua aervlce,
Harrla aald he and other funeral
dlrectora would have been out of the
ambulance bualneaa yeara ago had It
not been tor the reacue aquada.
"I am not crltlclalng the reacue
aquada,” Harrla aald. "They have
done a tremendoua Job. But aa a
volunteer organlaatlon reacue
aquada are limited In the aervlcaa
they can provide. During the day a
reacue aquad offera little ambulance
coverage aervlce becauae the
membera muat maintain their joba
and inovlde a living tor themalevea
and their tomlllea.”
Hania aald the move by funeral
dlrectora to eeaae ambulance aer
vlce might move the county com-
mlaalociera to oonalder placing paid
men on the Job with the reacue
aquada. He aald Rutherford County
haaalreatty done thla. To Harrla, one
aoluUon would be to have three
aatellttea, one In Shelby, Klnga
Mountain and Upper Cleveland
County to handle ambulance calla
during the day. The reacue aquada
could handle their regular night and
weekend aervlce calla.
Operating an ambulance aervlce
will coat the county an eatlmated
1900,000 to $800,000 amually, ac
cording to commenta by com-
mlaalonera Monday.
Harrla aald the county’a funeral
homea have aaved the county tax-
payera "mllUona of doUari over the
yeara by providing ambulance
aervloe.”
More Flu Sho^.
The Cleveland County Health
Department will again give free
Swine Flu and combination vac-
clnatlona at the Klnga Mountain
Community Center.
Jim Hlnea, county health
educator, aald the program la
planned for Tuea., Doe. 14 from 0-8 p.
m. to the health departmvit offieea
In the community center.
"Onourflratvlalt46 peraonafrom
the Ktoga Moimtaln area were
vaccinated with Swine Flu and the
Swine and A Victoria Flu com
bination aeruma,” Hlnea aald. "We
were alao told that If the clinic waa
hdd open later In the day there
would be more local dtlaena who
could take advantage of the
{nngram.”
Hnea aald we are In the middle of
the flu aeaaon and the longer people
delay gtottog their vaednatlana the
larger the rlak they run of contacting
aome ton&i of flu. The atralna of flu
vary from aeaaon to aaaaon and
everyone la auaceptlbla to the
diaeaae.
Swine Flu ahota are given to
anyone to good health from 18 to 89
yeara of age. The Swine and A
Victoria Flu comblnatlcn ahota are
given to peraona 60-yeara old and
over and to peraona who have a
hlatory of chronic lUneaa, no matter
what the age.
Hlnea aald that In the alx weeka the
Swine Flu program haa been In
affect In Cleveland County that leea
than 90 percent of the dtliena who
ahould have the ahot have actually
been vaccinated. Once the vaccine la
Injected It takea two to tour weeka to
become effective and each day a
peraon delaya "hla ehancea of
catching aome form of flu are
Yule Concert Tonight i
over IBO volcea atrong, will uaher In
the Chrlatmaa aeaaon with a
Chrtatmaa concert, free and apan to
the conununlty, tonl^t In
B. N. Bamea Auditorium.
The 8 p. m. program wUl be di
rected by Mra. J.N. McClure, KM
Dlatrlct Schoola Choral Djactor.
It will Include Chrlatmaa anthema
and traditional Carola.
Featured aa aololata will be Jeff
Boggan, Olenn EUla, Dabble Schab-
buetthl. Sherry Norman, Linda
Smith, Janet Bagwell, Ramona
Burrla, Kathy Roberta, Thmmy
Blanton, and Rene Bradley.
Plano accompanlata will be Rox
anne Sclam and Karen Lall.
The choral program will feature
aelectlona by the Junior Choir, Olrla
Choir and Senior Choir of the Klnga
Moiaitato achool ayatem.
Helping Hand Booths.
The Klnga Mountain Mlnlatoiial
church voliaitaera wlU man the
boothafroml0a.m.untll7p. m. now
In three looal^a through Chrlatmaa Eve.
Helping Hand la a fUnd-ralatog
project aponmred by the aaaoclatlon
to aid needy local clUaana and
npalrable toya to the Klnga Moun
tain Fire Department Toya For TOta
fuel. Donatlona may be delivered to the
The bootha will be aatup In the Are department or will be picked up
Central Buatoaaa Dlatrlct, at Wtam- by calling 789-9889. The toya are
Dixie In the KM Plaaa Shopping being repaired and dlapUyad In the
Omter and at TOST to the Weat former Durham Life Inauraace
Cato Shopping Ptoaa. Mtolatora and offieea on S. Cherokee St.
jpHN C4M8LE
GOING TO DISNEY WORLD - 1
haa been invtted to partldpato at Olaaey World In Orlando, Fla. April 18,
1917. The band wae accepted on the baala of aa audition ti^te anbmltted to and traditional Chriatmaa mnalc
naney World Band Seleotlon Committee. Plana are being nude by the piSHo la Invited and donatlona tor
parenta of band membera for fund ralalng projecta to aponaor the trip, be accepted.
Donald Deal, band director, aald on Ihura., Dee. 18 at 8 p. m. In Bamea
be featured. Admlaelon la I
toe band trip to DIaney Wi
For 1977 General Assembly
Harris Predicts Long Session
The new General Aaaembly will be
awom In at Raleigh cn January 19,
1817 and that, according to Sen. OlUe
Harrla, "will be the atari of a long,
long aeaalon.”
Harrla aald aa uaual the main Item
of conalderatlon will be money. "I
don’t aee any tax tocreaaea,’’ he
aald, "but nalther do I aee the repeal
of any axlattog taxoa.”
The senator from Kings Mountain
atod he would like to see the General
/Ssembly do something about
Inheritance tax. "For over 40 years
the exemptton has been $10,000. With
the Inflated values of real property
In this length of time, that exemption
ahould be raised to $80,000 or $40,000.
That would certainly do something
the surviving family members."
Sen. Harris said, Ir hts opinion, a
rewrite of the state’s capital punish
ment law is the second moat Im
portant Item facing leglalatora this
aesalcni.
"The Supreme Court struck down
our capital punishment law as being
uncorutltutlonal," Harris said.
"Many of toe Isglalators, myaelf
HIT BY A TRAIN - This to what Is left of Uoyd
Buck Early’s 1916 Monte Carlo after betog struck
by the lead engine of a Southern Railroad tmln
about4:18 p. m. Monday. Early, of Kings Mountain,
Included, urged Goveimor Hol-
shouaer to call a spaclal aeaskm to
c-^retosr changing this last
summer, but that request was no
heeded."
Harris aald revisions on the death
penalty law ahould be mom specific
on certain types of crimes, man
datory on certain crimes. He said
the South Carolina, Florida and
Ttoxas capital punishment laws are
good examples to follow, since all
three were ruled constitutional by
the Supreme Court. Harris favors
the death penalty for certain Crimea.
The Equal Rights Amendment la
oiqiected to come up again next
aasalon. The ERA waa defeated
during the last session by the Senate
and Harris said he feels the measure
wlU atm have a better chance of
being defeated In the Senate than In
the House again In 1677. Harris la
against ERA passage.
New laws concerning the In
surance Industry In North Carolina
ar« expected to be passed during the
next session. "I think the trend la
moving toward having Insurance
rates set by a oommlaalon rather
than by an Insurance com-
mlasloner,” Harris said.
Sen. Harrla said he oxpecta>
Govomor-elect Jim Hunt to In
troduce legislation that will give the
governor veto power and the right to
succeed himself In office. "This la
alright by me,” Harris said, "but I
do tool that ahould this be approved
that the General Aaeembly should
ramove other powers the governor
has now, such aa appointments to'
atate agencies. Perha^ the General
Assembly should have tMa power.”
ana a passenger, uiuan uippe oi oraseiner Qty, TiTbT A ^ fTi
were not In the oar, but trying to flag down toe train F K| J.O
axfIattM *Kto toAAlaldhftt
Train Strikes Stalled Car
At Hawthorne St. Crossing
TTie city recorded the first
automobile - train accident of 1876
late Monday afternoon at the Haw-
thome St. Crossing south of the
central business dlatrlct.
A 1976 Monte Carlo, owned by
Uoyd Buck Early, 818 Fulton St.,
Klnga Mountain, was demolished
wiien struck by the lead engine of a
Southern Railroad train at 4:18 p. m.
Neither Early, nor a pasaenger,
UlUan Barrett Capps of Rt. i,
Baasemer City, ware In the vehicle
whan It was struck by the train.
"We started across the tracks,"
Early aald, "whan we hit a slick spot
and the front wheels went off the
pavement and down on the tracks.
We tried to back the ear off the
track, but It wouldn’t move."
Etorly said he got out of the car and
ran about 180 yards up the track to
flag down the train. Ms. Cappe got
out of the car after Early had gone.
Both of them said they stood by
helplessly and watched the train
smash the car oft the tracks.
W. R. Hall, a brakeman, said he
saw the man waving hla arms and
Immediately began applying the
brakes. "We were starting to slow
down when the lead engine hit the
car,” Hall said, ’"rhere Just wasn’t
enough time to bring the train to a
complete atop.”
Kings Mountain Police Ptl. Mike
Sanders, who was driving down
Grover Rd. shortly after the ac
cident, said the Monte Carlo was
damaged about $6,000 or totaled and
P. Q. Norris, train conductor, said
he would estimate the damage to the
lead engine was $8,000 and could run
higher.
Early’s car, with Ms. Capps
driving, was headed west over the
crossing from Grover Rd. TTm train
was headed south. ’The engine struck
the car at the right front fender,
knocking the vehicle clear of the
tracks.
Speak Friday
Chuck Richards, FBI crime
prevention agent In North Carolina,
WlU be weclal guest speaker Friday
night at a COPE Community Crime
Watch dlimar-maetlng at the Kings
Mountain Community Cantor.
Agent Richards wlU q>eak on
crlma prevention meaauras the
private cltlsen can practloe at the 7
p. m. meeting.
COPE members and local law
enforcement officials ara expected
to attend.
ATTENDS SEMIN AR
Chief of Police Earl Uoyd
returned yesterday from the N. C.
JusOoe Academy whore he attended
a three-day seminar tor law an-
torcemant officials wonaorad by the
N. C. Chief of PoUee Association.