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THE TUESDAY EDITION
VOL. 88 NO.
TUESDAY, MARCH M, 1977
KinOV MOUMTMh
MIRROR-HGRhLD
15-
In Barnes Auditorium
Concert Tonight
ITie Kings Mountain Junior High
Ninth Grade Band and the Kings
Mountain Senior High Blaser Band
will present a concert Tuesday
(tonl^t) at 8 p. m. In B. N. Barnes
Auditorium.
Admission Is free and the public la
Invited to attend.
Both groups will play state contest
festival selections.
Christopher Cole will direct the
Ninth Grade Band and Donald Dead
will direct the KMSHS Blazer Band.
For New Gty Hall
Citizens Asked To
Attend Plans Meet
Kings Mountain Senior High Blazer Band To Perform
»AY
r
1371
y By TOM MCINTYRE
Editor, Mirror-Herald
The number one Item on tonight’s
e; city commissioners meeting Is a
\ discussion and review of ar-
cMtectural plans for the proposed
• Governmental Services Facilities
I Building.
At 8 p. m. this sdtemoon the
commissioners will receive bids on
the first phase of construction of the
new city hall. For this reason the
regulsu* Monday night meeting was
moved to tonight.
f The bids will be for site
development, the first of four sec
tional bids on the project Con
struction on the building, under the
federal grant guidelines, must begin
< within 80 days of the date of grant
? acceptance, or January 0 In this
case.
The grant was for $89B,X0.
Architect Moodye Clary of
Peterson-Oary Architects, PA. of
I'- Ik .t Charlott" expected *0 V it
tonight’s 7:80 meeting to make
recommendations on the bids.
Claiy was In Kings Mountain last
Friday aftemocsi to show com
missioners and Mayor John H. Moss
the plans tor the building.
Clary told the commissioners
Friday that the new city hall ar
chitectural rendering la "much
warmer than the preliminary
drawing, reflecting much more the
personality of the community."
The mayor and commissioners
Invite the public to attend tonight’s
board meeting for a first hand look
at the proposed city hall plans.
Clary’s meeting followed a speclsd
ccmmisaloners meeting at noon In
which the board voted to purchase
the former Bonnie Mill property on
Gold St. between S. Cherokee and S.
Piedmont for a total at $36,078 from
the redevelopment commission as
the site for the new dty hall.
In other action at Friday’s special
meeting, the board approved
several resolutions for applications
for funding.
The first was fOr funds under the
Comprehensive Employment and
97
Training Act of 1978 (GETA). This Is
a continuing program In which the
funds would be used to offer em
ployment and on the Job training to
Vietnam Era veterans, veterans,
unemployed, minority groups and
low Income persons.
The second resolution tor ap
plication tor funds under Title 30,
Social Services Department for the
city’s aging program. The third was
a slmlleu- resolution, this one under
Title ’Three, dealing with older
Americans.
The funds under ’Title Three are
used tor services to the aging In
cluding counseling, transportation,
health related services, legal ser
vices and adult education em
ployment.
The final resolution was tor ap
plication for funds under Title 30 for
Home Based Child Care. This
program Is currently operating In
Kings Mountain funded by the
Community Development Block'
Grants
The commissioners also approved
an Affirmative Action Plan
(Please Thm To Page 4)
Harris Bill Passage Is Delayed
Following debate last week in
Raleigh, Senator OUle Harris’ bill to
expand the powers of the Cleveland
and Rutherford county coroners
may be delayed for a couple of
weeks before passage.
The hangup came In the House
locsd government committee after
the bill had passed without op
position In the Senate.
The local legislators were on hand
at the hearing and all showed sup
port for the Harris bill and a
spokesman for the House committee
said he felt the bill would pass In the
final analysis.
The Harris bill would allow
coroners to remove bodies from the
scenes of violence, sign death cer
tificates where no foul play Is
suspected and order autopsies when
there is a suspicion of foul play.
Crime Prevention And
Youth Bureaus Moving
The Kings Mountain Police Crime
Prevention and Youth bureaus are
moving into the rock building beside
Kings Mountain Baptist Church this
week.
Chief Earl Lloyd said Officers
Houston Com, who has been ap
pointed to head the Crime
Prevention Bureau, and Robert
Dodge, youth bureau officer, will
man the offices on a temporary
basis.
Funeral Rites Held
For Laughter Sunday
Funeral services tor William
Franklin Laughter, 86, veteran
postal employe, were conducted
Sunday afternoon at 8 p. m. from
First Baptist Church of which he
was a deacon.
His pastor. Rev. Clyde Bearden,
was assisted by Rev. Harvey
Laughter and Interment was In
Mountain Rest Cemetery.
Mr. Laughter died Saturday
morning in Kings Mountain Hospital
after declining health for sometime.
He was son ot the late Mr. and Mrs.
Christopher Laughter, a mason and
veteran of World War n.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Sue
Littlejohn Laughter; four sons,
Stanley Laughter of Germantown,
Tenn. and Chris, Steve and Mark
Laughter, all of the home; one
daughter, Mrs. David Collins of
Hillsborough; tour brothers, Arvll
Laughter of Gastonia, the Rev.
Hsurey Laughter of Icard, Woodrow
Laughter of Kings Mountain and
Clyde Laughter of Greenville, S. C.;
and four sisters, Mrs. Ed Wlngerd,
of Dundock, Md.; Mrs. Marlon
Dixon of Kings Mountain; Mrs.
Barney Stone of Shelby and Mrs.
, Bertha Morris of Ellenboro.
Harris Funeral Home was In
charge of arrangements.
The bill was drawn originally
because of longrunnlng problems
within the medical examiner
system. Cleveland County Coroner
Bennett Masters said earlier In a
meeting with the county com
missioners that reaching a medical
examiner and getting him to the
scene has been a problem In the
past.
Harris reportedly said the medical
examiners "are not doing their
Jobs” and that expanding the
coroner’s powers would serve to
expedite matters In death when
m-dical examiners cannot be
reached or will not come to the
scene.
Prior to last Wednesday’s debate
Senator Harris offered an amend
ment to his bill to the effect that
coroners would have the authority to
order autopsies on persons receiving
Veterans Administration benefits at
the time of their death. Senator
Harris said he offered the amend
ment to satisfy the Disabled
American Veterans (DAV).
During the debate Harris com
mented that both the Cleveland
County coroner and assistant
coroner have had training to
determine wdiether or not there Is
evidence of foul play In a death.
The senator also said that Dr. J. B.
Gentry, a Cleveland County
pathologist, supports his bill and
that Dr. Gentry Is "so disgusted with
the medical examiner system that
he won’t do autopsies, forcing us to
send the bodies to Chapel Hill."
Speaking at the hearing In op
position to the bill were Dr. Avery
McMurry, a medical examiner
from Shelby, and Dr. Page Hudson,
chief medical examiner tor the
state.
Both McMurry and Hudson
commented they felt Harris’ bill "Is
(Please Tuni T^Page 4)
y
WILLUM LAUGHTER
"We will move these two men and
their offices back to city hall once
the new governmental services
building Is completed and
renovation on the present city hall Is
done," Chief Lloyd said.
The two operations will be
available to the public at the rock
building between 8 a. m. and five p,
m. dally. The phone numbers,
available during these hours, are
789-7444 for the Crime Prevention
Bureau and 786-8876 for the Youth
Bureau. Before 8 a. m. and after 8 p.
m. persons seeking contact with
either bureau should call 789-8686,
the police department.
Chief Lloyd said that Com has not
been able to take over file Crime
Prevention Bureau fulltime as yet
because a replacement on the
regular force must be hired. He said
applications for patrolmen are
currently being processed.
"Since we have funds allocated
under the Crime Prevention Bureau
grant for a display van, ’ ’ Chief Lioyd
said, "We have arranged tor the
Mecklenburg CPB officer to bring
his fan here tonight for a demon
stration to the city commissioners.
’Ihls will give us a good Idea of what
we should look for when we buy our
van.”
TYPING COURSE
A new quarter In Beginning and
Intermediate Typing Courses from
Cleveland County Technical In
stitute starts April 4. Registration on
that date Is at Compact School from
6 p. m. until 9 p. m.
Mrs. Carl Finger Is Instructor.
Call 786-2868 for further Intormatlon.
SCHOOL PERSONNEL
The Cleveland County Retired
School Personnel will meet April 6 at
the Elks Club In Shelby at noon. Any
member who has not made reser-
vations and would like to attend
please do so by calling 789-3884 or
789-4910 by March 26.
ROTARY SCHOLARSHIP - Charles Hamilton,
president of the Kings Mountain Rotary Clid> (left) and
Forrest Wheeler, principal of Kings Mountain Senior
High (right) pose with Mark Mercler, this year’s
Photo By Tom Mehitjrre
recipient ot the Rotary annual Modem Foreign
Language Award and Scholarship. Mercler Is a senior
at KMSHS.
Mark Mercier Is Awarded
Annual Rotary Scholarship
Mark Mercler, an 18-year old
senior at Kings Mountain Senior
High School, Is this year’s recipient
of the annual KM Rotary Club
Modern Foreign Language Award
and Scholarship.
The scholarship Is worth $600 this
year, according to Charles
Hamilton, president of the Rotary
dub. The funds tor the scholarship
are raised annually through the
club’s golf tournament.
Hamilton said this year the
tournament will be presented April
28 and 24 In anticipation of a better
turnout. The tourney has
traditionally been held In the fall.
The award and certificate were
presented at last Thursday’s Rotary
luncheon at the Kings Mountain
dxintry dub by Forrest Wheeler,
principal of KM Senior High.
In presenting the award, Wheeler
said the annual scholarship Is given
to a local student who has main
tained high academic achievements
suid has successfully and unselfishly
Involved himself In extra curricular
activities.
Mark is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
Jack Mercler. He Is a member of the
senior class. A dedicated student, he
ranks 18th scholastically In the
senior class. He has been accepted
and plans to attend the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There
he plans to major In English and do
additional studies In French.
Wheeler said Mercler has thus tar
successfully completed tlu'ee years
of French studies here.
During his Junior year Mercler
was a member of the National Beta
Club and the Mu Alpha Theta
National Math dub. He also par
ticipated In the Human Relations
Council, of which he Is chairman.
Wheeler sidd Mercler's activities
are not limited to high school. He has
actively worked with the Big
Brothers - Big Sisters program
where he helps elementary students
to better understsuid themselves.
Mercler also acts as a peer coun
selor at the high school.
One of the scholarship winner’s
major life goals Is to teach school In
Europe.
Following the scholarship
presentation last Thunsday, John
Beck, an historian at Kings
Mountain National MlUtvy Park,
presented a film by the Department
of The Interior on Alaska — the lost
Amerlcsm frontier.