Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Dec. 15, 1983, edition 1 / Page 2
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PUBLISHED EACH THURSDAY GARLAND ATKINS Publisher GARY STEWART Managing Editor DARRELL AUSTIN General Manager ELIZABETH STEWART News Editor MEMBER OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS ASSOCIATION The Herald is published by Herald Publishing House, P.O. Box 752. Kings Mountain, North Carolina. 28086. Business and editorial offices are located at Canterbury Road-East King Street. Phone 739-7496. Second class postage paid at Kings Mountain, N.C. Single copy 25 cents. Subscription rates: $10.40 yearly in-state. $5.20 six months. $11.44 yearly out of state. $5.72 six months. Student rates for nine months, $7.80. USPS 931-040. TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE: For with God nothing is impossible. St Luke 1:37. E€DITORINL OPINION 365 Days Of Christmas Dixon Presbyterian Church Choirs are presenting “365 Days of Christmas Each Year” next Wednesday night, so the congregation has been thinking about Christmas for sometime as the songs in the musicale are intended to inspire them to celebrate Christmas every day of the year, not just December 25. All the flurry, the busyness of the holiday, the pressures of presents to buy, parties to give and attend, church activities to plan, all coming within a short period of time, tend to make us feel that Christmas is a mess. It’s just too busy, too rushed, too active! But we've known Christmas was coming all year. Shopping gets finished the week of Christmas, cards are yet to go in the mail, decora- tions are put up at the last minute. Now that’s not the fault of the season, or the church, but the fact that we're not prepared for it. We wonder if Christmas would seem as hectic if we were more prepared for it. Is not most of the rush precisely because we have not done what we should have done long before we do it? Do we not have Vo | the responsibility to be prepared for Christmas before it comes? Would we not find that the season was full of much more joy and much less frustration if we began now to get ready for it? That, it seems to us is the whole point of Advent and the Advent services, which conclude next Wednesday, in the local churches. It is because they weren’t prepared that the Jews were not able to recognize or receive the Savior when he came. Let’s make a real attempt to get ready early so we can enjoy the season. If we will do it, we bet there will be fewer growns and grips when Christmas comes this year. What do we have to lose? Some of us have been doing it the other way so long. How about joining us? E.C. MARTIN His friends were saddened at the death of E.C. (Ae) Martin, former Kings Mountain businessman who owned and operated Modern Cleaners on North Piedmont Avenue for a number of years before il- Iness and retirement. Mr. Martin’s friendliness and the courtesy manner in which he met the public endeared him to the community. The Herald joins other friends and the business community in ex- pressing Christian symathy to his family. COMMUNITY CALENDAR If you wish to announce a meeting or event in the Communi- ty Calendar, please call The Herald at 749-7496 or mail infor- mation to PO Box 752, Kings Mountain, N.C. 28086. THURSDAY: 12:00 - Kings Mountain Rotary Club at the Holi- day Inn. 6:45 p.m. - Kings Mountain Kiwanis Club at the Holi- day Inn. 8:00 - Kings Mountain District Schools Band Concert at B.N. Barnes Auditorium. Free to the public. FRIDAY: 7:00 - Cotillion Club Christmas dinner-dance at Kings Mountain Country Club. SATURDAY: 6:30 - American Legion Post 155 Christmas din- ner and dance at the American Legion Building. Legionnaires, wives and Auxiliary members. MONDAY: 4:00-6 p.m. - Drop In Christmas party at the Kings Mountain Depot, Christmas party for all senior citizens in the community. 5:15 p.m. - Lions Club meets at B&B Grocery to distribute fruit baskets. 7:00 - Bethware Progressive Club ladies night. Christmas party at Bethware School. WEDNESDAY: 12:05 - Community-wide Advent service at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church followed by light luncheon in the social hall. ~~ Wiis; . know hi Page 2A-KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday. December 15 1983 Russell Fitts Still Making People Laugh One of the most interesting persons I've ever known 1s Rev. Russell Fitts, pastor of Zion Baptist Church near Lawndale and former pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Kings Mountain. Rev. Fitts 1s not only an inspirational preacher, he has a great sense of humor and is a very comical after-dinner speaker. He spoke Tuesday night at the annual Christmas party for senior citizens at Dixon Presbyterian Church and, as usual, was very enter- taining. It was great to see him and hear him again after so many years. For those who have heard him before and know of his ability, and for others who might not know him but will get a big kick out of some of his best jokes, here are just a few of his stories: *When Rev. Fitts was growing up, President Roosevelt was in the White House for about 16 vears and his wife, Eleanor was a very ac- tive woman. “lI remember once | saw her picture in the paper and went back in a room and hid and cried,” Rev. Fitts said. “My mother came in and said, ‘what’s the matter with you?’ I said, momma, it just don’t seem right that any woman on the face ot the Earth should be that ug- ly. Later, a reporter was interviewing Mr. Roosevelt and said, ‘you've just been over in France and now you're going over 10 see Churchill in London, and next week you'll be up in Canada. Does your wife ever accompany you?’ Oh, yeah, Mr. Roosevelt said, Eleanor always is right there by my side. I wouldn’t kiss that woman goodbye for nothing.” *Rev. Fitts’ oldest son, Jimmy, 1s a student at Clemson University. tried to caution him about going to Clemson, since right now they're on probation,” Rev. Fitts says. “I hear the only good thing coming out of Clemson 1s 1-85. He told me, they’ve already changed the mascot. Instead of the Tigers, they call them the cheaters now.” * There was once a little boy who grew up near some persimmon trees. He knew they were mighty good but hadn’t heard that if you eat persimmons before some heavy frosts they’re just as bitter as quinine. “He got a pocketfull on the way to schol one day and began nibbling on them,” Fitts recalled. “By the time he got to school he thought his mouth was going to turn inside out. He went into the room and the teacher said ‘good morning’ and (in his puckered voice) the boy said ‘eood morning.” She said ‘what’s wrong with that boy, 1s he taking dope or something? Come up here I want to ask you a question.” He said ‘you better ask it quick, I'm closing up fast.” : One of Rev. Fitts favorites 1s about an elephant trainer who took his elephant all over the country making a living off him. He’d put up a sign that said ‘Pay $5. Make the elephant lift all fours off the ground and win $500. Everywhere he went people would come with waterguns, make funny faces and do just about anything to try to get the elephant to lift all fours off the ground. But he wouldn't budge. Finally, he went to a small town in Indiana. An old man pulled up in a little red truck, looked at the sign and the elephant and said, “I can make that elephant lift all fours off the ground.” He paid his $5, went back to the truck and got an eight-foot long 2 x 4, came back, walked around the elephant, reared back and hit the animal as hard as he could. The elephant jumped off the ground with all four feet. The trainer said, “you’ve got me. You win $500. But you’ve ruined my livlihood. There’s no way I can make a living now. Everybody will [ v to make/the elephdnt moveralt fours)” So the. took his elephant to Florida for the winter. He recalled that he once heard that you could teach an elephant to shake his head up and down in a “yes” manner but no one had ever taught an elephant to shake his head back and forth in a “no” manner. So, he went back on tour and for $5, of- fered the public $500 if anyone could make the elephant shake his head back and forth in as if to say no. He was making a lot of money but finally got up to a little town in Indiana. A little red truck pulled up and a man got out and said “I can make that elephant shake his head.” So he paid his $5, went back to the truck and got an eight-foot 2 x 4. He started walking around the elephant and shaking the stick. “You remember this?,” he asked the elephant. The elephant shook his head up and down in a “yes” manner. “Y ou want me to hit you again?,” the man asked. The elephant shook his head back and forth. WY. NY. pI Stewart’s Slants JH Zr) By Gary Stewart * Here's one that Julie Wood likes: A minister looked out the window of the church one day and saw a man in the cemetery. People often come to cemeteries to decorate, meditate, or just visit. Two hours later, the pastor looked out and saw the man still in the same spot. Near nightfall, he looked andthe man was still there. The preacher became con- cerned so he strolled out close to the man and heard him, almost at a point of tears, mumbling, “Why in the world did it hap- pen? I just can’t figure out why it happened.” The preacher eased over and put his hand on his shoulder. RUSSELL FITTS “Mother?”, the preacher asked. “Neo, no, not my mother,” the man said. “Why did this happen?” “One of your children?” the preacher asked. “No, nothing like that,” he said. “Well, who 1s 1t?,” asked the preacher. He said, “it’s my wife’s first husband. Why in the world did he die?” * When Rev. Fitts was a seminary student in Louisville, he had a close friend named Bob who was a very emotional man who believed in expressing his thoughts in church. Another friend was into youth evangelism and was leading a revival at the biggest Baptist church in Kentucky. “I’m going every night and give him my support,” Bob told Rev. Fitts. So, the young preacher was getting wound up in the pulpit, and said, “I feel like we need a revival.” “Yes, we need a revival,” the expressionist Bob came back. “I feel like we need a revival right now,” the young preacher said. “Yes, right now,” Bob came back. “I feel like it’s cold in this church,” the student preacher said. Shaking all over, Bob said “Brrrrrrr 93 EAC AEE Gas SETS { LTB 100} J ALR, 3 8 are Ee Fa pir RR bs pen Simpl Aare falar oud AREY ““*And Rev. Fitts couldn’t resist telling oné on ‘one of his fornier -members at Bethlehem, Nancy Hughes, who introduced him Tuesday night. When Nancy Reynolds married Jackie Hughes several years ago, Jackie felt like he couldn't just walk up to the altar and get Nancy for nothing. “So when her father was ready to give her away, Jackie reach- ed over and gave him a quarter,” Rev. Fitts recalled. “But Jimmy Reynolds wasn’t going to be outwitted, so he gave him 15 cents change.” I know at least the first half of that story is true because I was the best man in that wedding and saw Jackie give Mr. Reynolds the quarter. Whether he got any change back I don’t know. Either way, he got a good buy. Lib Stewart Get Your Doll Birth Certificate Jolly Ole Saint Nick may be having a hard time finding that Cab- bage Patch doll for little Mary this Christmas but if nurses at Kings Mountain Hospital have anything to do about it your little girl’s doll will have her own birth certificate. Why can’t all dolls have birth certificates this Christmas? They can, according to nurses in the Kings Mountain Hospital Obstetrical Department. Here’s all Santa’s helper has to do. Visit the Kings Mountain Hospital on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 15 and Dec. 16 or Monday through Friday, Dec. 19-23, from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Give the nurse on duty in the Obstetrical Department the doll’s name. The nurse will weigh and measure the doll and issue the birth certificate. Peeps Into The Past (From the Thursday, Dec. 11, 1952 edition of The Kings Moun- tain Herald). Kings Mountain voters declined to approve a bond issue for sewage improvements in a special election held last Saturday. The official can- vas showed 244 votes against the bond issue with 187 votes for the bond issue. The margin of defeat for the bond issue was 57 votes. Rev. Boyce Huffstetler, 22, who will graduate from Wofford Col- lege in January, has accepted the pastorate at El Bethel and Penley’s Chapel Methodist Churches and delivered his first sermon on Sunday. Circle 8 of Central United Methodist Church met Monday with Mrs. Jim Dickey. Thirteen members and one visitor were present. Mr. and Mrs. Dorus Bennett announce the birth of a daughter, Mary Anne, Friday, Dec. 5th, Garrison General Hospital; Gastonia. Circle 4 of First Presbyterian Church met Monday night with Mrs. O.P. Lewis. Even though little Mary or Lynn may be disappointed on Christmas morning that Santa didn’t locate the Cabbage Patch Kid, Your Christmas doll will have her own birth certificate, a unique Christmas present from the hospital staff. DOLL GETS BIRTH CERTIFICATE - Bobbie Moses, a nurse at Kings Mountain Hospital, weighs Raggedy Andy and gives the doll a birth certificate. i ——i Le mr
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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