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*Your Hometown Newspaper Since 1889¢
Vol. 102 No. 88 Thursday, August 16, 1990 Kings Mountain, N.C. 28086
RR TE ED RE
Buildings Will Be Ready School Bells
For Students On Mond Ring Mond
There is still a lot of "touching — school and become more mature
up" to be done to new Kings fo S h 1 there will be less concern about I 1
Mountain high school and middle | a Gl Le 3 sixth graders having more contact Phifer Road Tr affic
school buildings but Supt. Bob | 5 hedul with the older children." [AJ .
McRae says he's confident the LA “= e u BE Will Be Big Problem
buildings will be ready for use by |= 0 ; ]
students Monday morning. hia BEGIN. DISMISS Ronnie Wilson, Asst. Supt. in School bells will ring Monday morning for some
"We've got a few odds and ends | i charge of personnel, reports that 3,750 Kings Mountain students and about 2,050 of
to do," he said, "and there are a few | High School 7:55am 2:25pm | the school staff is complete except them will be traveling Phifer Road to attend Kings
things where suppliers of materials 3k : s for a vocational teacher at the high Mountain Middle School and Kings Mountain High
have not delivered on schedule and Middle School 8:00am 2:50pm school. Linda Dixon, long-time School. ;
will have to be caught up during | Bethware 8:40am 2:40 home economics teacher, resigned That will probably present a lot of traffic problems.
the first month. But it won't ham- PT | Tuesday morning to take an assis- Supt. Bob McRae said his office will monitor the
per the use of the buildings." ‘East 8:00am 2:35pm tant principal position at traffic situation "very closely" and will try to get assis-
Meanwhile, teachers are moving | ~ - - Northbrook Elementary in Lincoln tance from the Kings Mountain Police Department to
fiaterials Hite theif clasorOOmS. Grover 8:15am 2:40pm County. deal with the traffic.
The spacious new wing at Kings | North 8:20am 2:40pm And, McRae said, if traffic becomes an insurmount-
Mountain High School, which will -_ ; able problem the schools may have to look at stagger-
house the math and social studies | West 8:10am 2:35pm Most schools will take up and ing the beginning times of the two schools. "We prefer
classrooms, has not yet been air- dismiss at different times this year. not to do that, but if it's a matter of safety and the pure
conditioned and teachers were tioned, McRae said. Sixth graders McRae said schools are required to need to get kids in class on time and we are unable to
sweating and using fans while and students in exceptional chil- have a 5 1/2-hour instructional day do that by starting at the same time, we may have to
preparing their rooms this week. dren's classes will use that wing. but some schools have added some make some changes," he said.
"We've been promised that the "We've tried to structure it in instructional time "to be sure _ Kings Mountain is going to a middle school (grades
high school will be completely air such a way that sixth graders, for they're able to get in everything six through eight) and high school (grades 9-12) struc-
conditioned Monday morning," the most part, are kept separate they need to get in during the day." ture this year. That reorganization adds approximately
McRae said. "We've met with the from the other classes,” McRae 600 students at the two schools. There will be about id
contractor several times, as recent- said. "There will be some seventh "The Senate Bill 2 plan allows 900 students at the Middle School and 1,150 at the i
ly as yesterday, and they plan to graders in that building but the way more freedom to individual schools high school. i
work through the weekend to make the school has designed the traffic to make determinations about what "If most of those additional students ride buses, od
sure that happens. Obviously, we're pattern for students, sixth graders best serves their schools and we're _-—_—r . we'll have less a problem than if they go to school in A
~ "keeping our fingers crossed." will be going in a different direc- allowing ‘school level people to An electrician puts the finishes touches on a light cars,” McRae said. "If most of them are in cars it will mii
The new building at the Middle tion from the other. As the year make decisions that are most ap- fixture in the hallway of the new math-social stud- tie up Phifer Road." : la
School has already been air condi- propriate for them," he said.
goes on and as they get used to the
Will Close Again
TG&Y-McRory Stores at West Gate Plaza will close
Oct. 31, according to Bruce Richardson, local manag-
er.
Richardson said that a 15% reduction sale is cur-
rently underway to clear the store of merchandise. He
said that employees will mark down merchandise 20%
during the two days the store will be closed for inven-
tory on Aug. 29-30. Owners of the company say they
expect the operation to close officially by the end of
October.
Local employees said the opening of the new U. S.
74 ByPass killed business as customers travel to big-
ger stores to buy similar products. The market is also
highly competitive, they said.
TG&Y opened in Kings Mountain in 1972 and
closed in 1984. Public protest at the closing reopened
the store in May 1985 after customers led a letter-
writing campaign to store management asking that the
store remain open. In July 1985, McRory Stores of
Pennsylvania bought out the firm and have operated
since as TG&Y-McRory.
je
ELLEN ELAM
ies wing at Kings Mountain High.
Ellen Elam learned about com-
mitment and practice during the
Great Depression Years when her
mother found the extra dollar a
week she needed to give her piano
lessons.
Since those years, Mrs. Elam has
become proficient in both piano
and organ and on Sept. 30 will re-
tire as organist at First Baptist
Church where she has played for
1715 church services over the past
35 years plus hundreds of wed-
dings and funerals in most every
church and every denomination in
the community.
Happiest when she is at the or-
gan or piano, she radiates the glow
to the worshipers in the pews when
she plays in God's house. Sacred
music and sacred classics are her
favorites.
Music is the love of her life, but
in retirement Ellen and her hus-
band, Broadus Elam, plan to do
some traveling, visit children and
grandchildren and listen to others
play the organ.
"I just want to sit in the pew
with the family and worship," says
Mrs. Elam.
When Ellen Elam joined First
Baptist Church as choir director
and pianist 35 years, she planned
only to fill in for Mrs. J. C.
Bridges, who was on maternity
leave. After the Bridges daughter
was born in 1955, the J. C. Bridges
family moved to Kings Mountain
Baptist Church and Ellen took on
See School, 11-A
almost a full-time role as the
church musician. In the late 1950's
the late B. T. Wright helped orga-
nize the popular Men's Chorus
which has a membership of 18-30
men who have sung in churches in
a wide area. Over the years the
church grew and the love of music
increased.
Ellen taught herself organ, after
graduating from Wingate College
in her hometown of Wingate, and
the first organ she played at First
Baptist was a Hammond organ. In
recent years the church has gained
membership from 300 to over
1,000, increased staff and talents,
and the music program was en-
hanced with a mighty Rogers
See Elam, 10-A (
Geneva Crawford of Kings Mountain has been a
clerk with the business since it opened in 1972 and
will hate to see the store close.
Laura Black has been a clerk and cashier with
TG&Y-McRory for 32 years, coming to Kings
Mountain in 1985 from Lincolnton when TG&Y
closed there and before that worked for TG&Y in
Hendersonville 10 years. McRory, headquartered in
York, Pa., is also closing its small stores in York, S.C.
and Landrum, S. C.
"I hate to see the store close but I guess we will just
have to rest for awhile and then look for work," Black
said, noting that TG&Y-McRory had been good for
employees and for the town. "I'll miss it," she says.
School Policy To Be Put On Trial
The Kings Mountain Board of Education spent
about a half of its 90-minute meeting time Monday
night discussing the proposed policy which would in-
crease the teacher work day from seven hours, 20 min-
utes to 7 1/2 hours.
Without comment, the board approved policies for
the length of school days for students, attendance poli-
cy for Kings Mountain High School, and the policy for
hiring administrative personnel.
But it was another story altogether when it came
time to discuss the teacher work day. After a lengthy
discussion, the board approved the policy for a month's
trial basis.
School Board member Ronnie Hawkins said a lot of
teachers weren't aware of the proposed policy change
until "6 o'clock tonight" and he felt like the board
should take some time to receive input from teachers.
The proposed policy had been presented at a board
meeting two weeks ago at Central School and Supt.
Bob McRae also pointed out that it had been unani-
mously passed by the Personnel Policy Committee on
. June 24.
McRae said that, although 10 minutes doesn't seem
like a lot of time, it is needed because the school day at
the Middle School has been extended and that there is
also a need some days for meetings and discussion by
personnel.
"We need to increase planning time at every
school,” he said. "Principals have said that there is just
not enough time at the end of the day. Ten minutes
don't sound like much but it's enough time to assemble
and get a little bit done."
The old policy, it was pointed out, would allow
teachers to leave the school grounds five minutes after
the students were dismissed. At the Middle School, es-
pecially, it would be possible for the teachers to be
gone before the campus was cleared of students. .
Gasoline Prices May Drop
i{ings Mountain People
Gas station operators along King Street were speculating Wednesday
that gas prices will come down over the weekend.
The price motorists pay at the gas pumps weren't climbing in Kings
Mountain Wednesday, a check of several service stations inside and out-
side the city limits revealed.
The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded, the most commonly
used grade of gasoline, was $1.19.
"We don't foresee an increase,” said spokesmen for Parker's Amoco,
Kings Mountain Exxon, Petroleum World, Conner's Shell, The Pantry
on Cleveland Avenue and Shockley's Texaco. Shell on Cleveland
Avenue had increased the cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline to $1.34
last week but was down to $1.19 yesterday.
The Carolina Motor Club said this week that the average price of a
gallon at the pump had climbed 5 cents in the last seven days. They said
that best way for drivers to save on gasoline was to make sure their cars
are running their best by having their engines tuned and clean filters in-
stalled.
"The word is out that the prices will break in a downtrend by the
weekend,” said Bob Kempston, manager of KM Exxon. Other station
managers agreed. : :
Last week local gas stations reported increases at the pumps of 10
cents per gallon following the invasion Aug. 2 by Iraq of oil-rich
Kuwait.
THOMAS W. TINDALL
Life A Challenge For Tindall
Thomas W. Tindall doesn't
punch the clock anymore on a reg-
ular basis but he finds that every
day is busy and challenging.
Although he retired seven years
ago from Life Insurance Company
of Georgia after 35 years and after
25 years as secretary of Fairview
Lodge 339 AF&AM, Tindall finds
there are insufficient hours in the
day to do all the volunteer work
with Shriners Crippled & Burn
Hospitals that he wants to do.
During his leadership of
Piedmont Shrine Club in 1979, he
helped found the Piedmont Pistons,
the car-driving group of Shriners
who are popular with parade
crowds, and in 1982 he helped the
late Paul Kirk Falls charter the
White Plains Shrine Club, of which
he is treasurer. He is also chaplain
of Fairview Lodge.
Tom is an avid supporter at
Shrine barbecues, donkey ball
games, softball tournaments and
paper sales as each year local
Shriners increase their giving to
Shriners Hospitals. Last year the
local club gave $31,000, which
compares with $12,000 the first
year the club was organized eight
years ago.
A deacon at Kings Mountain
Baptist Church, Tom is also an as-
sistant Sunday School teacher and
is active in the bus ministry of the {
church. For 30 years, he was leader
of the youth program but now finds
his niche is the bus ministry. He
gets excited when he starts talking
about picking up people to ride to
Sunday School at the downtown
church.
In retirement, Tom also has time
to attend the Shrine Bowl in
Charlotte and to attend Shrine cere-
monies in Asheville. Cooking has
also become a hobby for Tindall,
especially making sauerkraut and it
isn't unusual to go to the Tindall
home and see five gallons of
See Tindall, 11-A