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Page 4A-THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday, January 16, 1992
Opinions
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Charlie Walker
will be missed
To the editor:
At approximately 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 7,
the world continued on as if nothing had happen. But,
in a small comer of the world at the Kings Mountain
Senior Center and at his home, time seemed to stand
still as we mourned the passing of our dear friend and
co-worker, Charles Walker.
When I first met Charlie, as I affectionately called
him, his Yankee disposition scared me a bit. But upon
closer inspection and observing him daily, I came to
know the caring, special man inside. :
To the seniors, he was their answer for any problem
that would arise. Charlie helped them with insurance
problems, medicare, medicaid and medigap problems,
social security problems, SSI and VA problems, hear-
ing aids and doctor problems, food stamps, property
tax listing, and the list goes on. He wrote checks for
them, wrote letters and read letters to them, but most
of all he loved, and listened and cared for them. Their
concerns became his concerns and he solved each
problem as though it was for the president himself. He
would not stop his search for an answer until he had
exhausted ever avenue possible.
Those who came to see Charlie with a frown of dis-
couragement and distress always left happy, unbur-
dened and smiling. You would have thought he had
solved the world's biggest problem, for he smiled from
ear to ear as he recounted to Monty Thornburg and I
his problem solving for the day. Helping people gave
him a bigger thrill than being the richest man on earth
could ever have done. He loved his work and the se-
niors he helped.
He loved the staff at the senior center, too. I felt the
love he had for me personally in many ways. On days
when I was rushed by deadlines, etc., Charlie always
said, "What can I do to help?" and he always made my
load lighter though he had his own work to do. He
nagged me lovingly to seek an answer to the pain I
was having and I now do not have that pain in part be-
cause of his caring. He always complimented me on
my work and showed appreciation for anything I did
for him. We shared a special relationship in our office.
Few people can say that they love their work and the
people they worked with as I loved working with
Charlie. He always made me laugh just when I needed
it. He made working fun and exciting. Even the dullest
routine job he could make pleasant. Charlie has also
even helped me with personal financial matters and
gave me excellent advice. I learned so much from him.
Although I called him Charlie instead of Mr. Walker, I
had the deepest respect for him and I had absolute trust
in him.
The world is a better place because Charlie Walker
was in it. They say everyone can be replaced, but I say
no one will ever replace Charlie Walker in our office
or in our lives. His spirit of giving and doing for oth-
ers, sharing, laughing, joking, and loving will live on
in our hearts and lives forever. His life did make a dif-
ference! I loved him and I will miss him, my dear
friend Charlie, but our separation will not be perma-
nent for in heaven someday I will see you again.
Sharon B. Eaker,
Administrative Assistant,
Kings Mountain Senior Center
Thanks for help
To the editor:
We would like to thank everyone for being so nice
during our fire at Lake Montonia.
‘When our neighbor's house was burning it looked as
though our's was next. Within minutes we had many
people to offer assistance, offer their homes for the
night. The love, thoughtfulness and kindness that was
shown was overwhelming. We thank each of you from
our hearts.
Thanks to the Kings Mountain, Bethlehem, Oak
Grove, South Gastonia Fire Departments, and the
Cleveland County Fire Marshall for a super job well
done. These men showed so much concern for our
house along with their courage, bravery and kindness.
We will always be grateful to each of you. Thanks so
much.
We would last like to thank Kevin, our son, for tak-
ing over while his dad was absent at the time the fire
started. He knew just the right and necessary things to
do to vacate our family and the items in and around it.
His bravery, love and most of all his concern for all of
_ us will always be remembered. We love and thank you
so much.
Our hats off and a big salute to all of you.
Thanks again,
Christy and Gary Cooke
Thanks, volunteers
To the editor:
On behalf of the American Cancer Society, I would
like to thank all the volunteers and patrons of our an-
nual Christmas gift wrapping for a job well done and
their continued support.
This year 84 volunteers raised over $4,000 for con-
tinued work in the areas of education, service and re-
habilitation for Cleveland County cancer patients, and
cancer research. Our Tarheel State leads the country in
cancer research due to the vast number of institutes.
For each dollar raised another $3 will come back to
North Carolina in the form of research grants from the
American Cancer Society's National Pool of Funds.
This year 26,000 North Carolinians will develop
cancer, averaging 67 new cascs a day. These volun-
teers and supporters of the Christmas gift wrap have
already made a tremendous difference in many lives.
Thank you again for your continued support of thc
American Cancer Society and our fight for the climi-
nation of cancer as a major health problem. There is
nothing mightier than the sword.
Lou Wray, Executive Director,
Cleveland County Unit, ACS
| ALLOWED RO @ YEE)
Should employers be allowed to:
Time /CNN Telephone Poll of 500 people conducted October 1991
Listen in on employee phone conversations?
95%
Check the credit history of job applicants?
IR
Scan work areas with video cameras?
A
46% EY
Require job applicants to take psychological ,
Require employees to take drug tests?
| 76%
Source: Timemagazine, Nov. 11, 1991
Our own way of talking
I caught myself using some very bad English the
other day.
Moments after last week's paper came off the
press, I told a co-worker it was time to start on
"anuddin.”
Of course, I meant "another one."
Running words together, and entirely mis-pro-
nouncing them, is common to this area. I guess peo-
ple in every area of the land have their own unique
way of talking.
"Anuddin” got me to thinking about some other
phrases we use that really sound ridiculous when
you think about them. Most of them would make
your high school English teacher and Daniel
Webster turn over in their graves.
My wife has been trying for 20 years to get across
to me that the state of Michigan is not pronounced
~ "Mitch-e-cun."” But, her family up there in the
foothills of North Carolina can't correctly pronotince
night and right. They come out "niet" and "riet."
One of my favorite Kings Mountain words is
"backair." It has nothing whatsoever to do with your
back or air. It's used thusly: "Where's Darrell?"
"He's backair in his office."
Some others:
Cheer - It's not a detergent or something you do
when your favorite team scores a touchdown. It's
something you sit in.
Dope - It is used as a slang for drug but dope was
a familiar word in this area long before illegal drugs
came on the scene. It's used to describe soft drinks,
such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Royal Crown. Some
people call them "sweetie dopes."
Taters and maters - Vegetables and fruit which
grow in your garden along side the "okri." Taters
are good either boiled, baked or mashed. Maters are
good in salad but are best when put between two
slices of bread and smothered with mayonnaise, salt
and black pepper. In fact, I'd love to have a mater
sandwich right now, and a sweetie dope to wash it
down. :
You'd never
There we were, on a lazy Saturday moming with
nothing to do but watch an old western movie on
television. There were four of us and the coffee was
good.
The movie was "Gunfight at the OK Corral.” The
one with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, not the
one with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature (My
Darling Clementine).
"Didn't Doc Holliday get killed in that fight?"
somebody asked.
"Nah," said another, "he went to a TB sanitarium
in Denver, got cured and lived a long life."
I wondered about that, so I looked it up.
It turns out that Doc Holliday didn't leave much
of a paper trail. His birthplace, for example, may or
may not have been Griffin, Georgia, but it probably
was since the carliest authentic document concemn-
ing John Henry Holliday is an infant baptismal
record on file at the First Presbyterian Church of
Griffin.
Holliday was born to Henry Burroughs Holliday
and Alice Jane McKey Holliday in the latter part of
1851. His parents were natives of South Carolina.
H.B. Holliday was a former Major in the U.S.
Army who served four terms as Mayor of Valdosta,
Georgia. He was a gentleman farmer, druggist, fur-
niture distributor and horticulturist who dabbled in
plant propagation.
Doc attended grade school at Valdosta Institute,
but there is no mention anywhere of any high
school. He lcarncd dentistry at a college in
Baltimore, but there's no record of which college.
Holliday did become a dentist somewhere because
he practiced in Valdosta, Atlanta, Griffin, Dallas and
Dodge City, Kansas. :
Trouble scemed to follow Doc Holliday wherever
he went. Upon graduation from dental school, he
contracted the chronic pulmonary tuberculosis that
would later kill him, and developed a taste for poker
and whiskey.
Doc probably left Georgia and headed West after
a black youth was killed at a "swimming holc" hc
2
“A
Be,
’
GARY
STEWART
@
Editor
Shuda and oughta - Should have and ought to.
Narin or nary-nuddin - Something you never had,
or just ran out of. "Gary, give me one of your
dopes." "I ain't got nary nuddin."
Flier - This could be a paper being circulated
around town, especially during the political season
or when some elected officials have taken a retreat
at taxpayers’ expense. But it's not, really. We often
use it to describe something that's beautiful and
smells good - a "flower."
Yurin, yores and yorn - Something that belongs to
you. "No, I don't want that dope. It's yorn."
Iron - It's a metal, a golf club, and something you
press clothes with. But we also use it to describe a
possession: "This is yorn, that's iron" (possibly
spelled our).
Pore - It could be a small hole, but it's also used to
describe someone who doesn't have much money.
Tar, far and fur - Tar could be something you use
to black-top a road. But, to many people it's a
round, rubber substance which fits on the wheel of
their car. Far is a long distance to travel, but to some
it's something that's burning. Fur can be used to
make beautiful, expensive coats but is also a long
distance to travel. A fartruck with slick tars on it
may not make it too fur, which is where this colum-
n's heading.
See you next week. This paper's out and it's time
to start on anuddin.
Trip a failure
The recent trip to Japan by President Bush and an
entourage of high-salaried automobile manufactur-
ers was a failure in more ways than the Republican
Party would care to admit.
The Japanese were not impressed by Lee Iacocca
and his associates nor were they very impressed
with Mr. Bush.
The press had a ficld day, claiming the Americans
came calling with their hats in hand, and they.
ridiculed the Americans’ inability to produce cars
that can compete with their own.
To make matters worse, the President's illness
came at a state dinner. The Japanese, who take great
pride in physical fitness, may view that incident as
weakness.
Here at home, Democrats took the opportunity to
point out that, if Bush had been seriously ill and un-
able to carry on with his duties, the country would
have fallen into the hands of the vice-president.
President Bush, upon his return, warned the
Democrats not to make his health an issue in the
coming election. You can bet your bottom dollar that
warning will go unheeded.
Regardless of whether the vice-president is capa-
ble of taking over the Presidency if necessary, most
people in this country have little confidence in him.
Perhaps it's time for the powers that be in the
Republican party to re-evaluate Dan Quayle's spot
on the ticket.
Labor Dept. failed
The N.C. Department of Labor has fined Imperial
Foods of Hamlet, N.C. $800,000 for the disastrous
fire that claimed the lives of 25 workers in
September. The company was cited for 83 safety vi-
olations, including locked fire doors.
Imperial Foods operated in Hamlet for 11 years.
During that time they were never inspected by the
Labor Department. Had they been, most, if not all,
those violations would have been discovered. It
wasn't as if Imperial was trying to hide them. The
factory didn't even have a sprinkler system, fire
alarm or emergency plan. The exit doors were not
lighted or marked with signs.
While it is true there is a shortage of inspectors in
the department, and almost impossible to spot check
over 150,000 businesses in this state, the fact re-
mains it is the duty of the Department of Labor to
ensure workplace safety for everyone.
Guidelines should be made available to all manu-
facturing plants and follow-up letters or telephone
calls might at least remind those in charge that safe-
ty inspections are not out of the question.
Meanwhile the state is unlikely to receive any
money from Imperial Foods. It appears they may
file for bankruptcy. :
Another blunder
If you haven't renewed your handicapped tag, you
have until February 1 to do so.
Many people are using tags owned by others or
family members who have passed away, thus the re-
newal is necessary, according to the DMV.
We have no quarrel with that, but we do question
why the month of January was chosen for this exer-
cise. During January, all commercial trucks and fleet
vehicles have to renew their license plates.
The result has been long lines of wheel chairs and
crutches at the license bureaus around the state.
Some have even paid others to stand in line for them
as they are unable to do so themselves.
It seems to us a blunder on the part of the DMV
that has caused discomfort and added expense to a
segment of society that can least afford it.
A suggestion: use the mail next time, DMV.
call Doc Holliday dead-eye
Jim
Heffner
@
Columnist
and some of his cronics had staked out as their own.
His father witnessed the shooting, but claimed his
son aimed over thc heads of the offenders, which
could have meant Doc actually shot somebody, be-
cause his aim was absolutely terrible. It's for sure
somebody got killed, and Doc went to Texas.
Holliday hung his shingle in Dallas and practiced
quictly until he got to know the local gamblers. It
should be noted here that Doc Holliday was a soft-
spoken, gentle, well-dressed man until he got
liquored up. Then he became a mean, sneaky tyrant
who would rather shoot than talk, and he had a
hacking cough from the TB that irritated him. Doc
was certain he was dying and he really didn't care
who he offended when he was drunk.
There were a couple of battles in Dallas. He and a
saloon-kceper shot it out with neither of them get-
ting hit. They were arrested and later released. Doc's
next fracas, with a fellow gambler, turned into a
shoot-out bullcts as well. The good doctor missed
his man, but hc managed to kill a prominent Dallas
citizen, which hastened his move further west.
Shooting innocent bystanders seemed to be onc of
the things Doc Holliday did best. There was another
incident, in Dodge City, when he and a bartender
traded shots. They stood fifteen feet apart firing
away at cach other. Doc winged onc bystander in the
arm and another in the foot. He barely nicked the
man he had targeted.
Doc Holliday hit all thc boom towns, including
New. Orleans, Dallas, .Dodge City, Ft. Griffin,
ditt:
Denver, Las Vegas, Leadville, Deadwood and
Tombstone. He filled and extracted teeth, gambled,
drank and made a general nuisance of himself along
the way.
Doc teamed up with Wyatt Earp in Ft. Collins,
Texas when Earp recruited him to help track down a
bandit. It could be that the Earp and Holliday families
were acquainted in Georgia. There are branches of
both around Griffin.
The OK Corral incident occurred on October 26,
1881. It seems Ike Clanton and Earp had some deal-
ings that went sour and so did Doc and the Clantons.
Ike and his younger brother Billy ha been mouthing
off about the Earps around Tombstone, Arizona. At the
time Virgil Earp was Chief of Police and his brother
Morgan was a special deputy on the city payroll. Virgil
deputized Doc and Wyatt and put out the word that the
Clantons could have a fight if they so desired.
The Earps, Holliday, the Clantons and Tom and
Frank McLowery all came together at 2 p.m. on that
fateful day. There are many versions of the fight. It is
known that Sheriff John Behan tricd to stop the Earps,
but they walked right past him. It's further known that
Virgil ordered the others to put up their hands. Then
the shooting began.
Doc Holliday probably fired the first shot using a
shotgun. Billy Clanton, who had his hands up, was
killed immediately, probably by Virgil. Doc got onc of
the McLowery's with a shotgun blast. Both the
McLowery brothers were killed carly on. Ike Clanton
came away with a minor wound, as did Morgan Earp.
Virgil was shot in the leg, and a bullet creased Doc's
back.
The gunfight lasted less than five minutes and less
than thirty shots were fired. The fight has been greatly
magnificd over the years, but there really wasn't much
to it.
Doc Holliday didn't dic at the OK Corral. He did go
to Denver, but as far as can be Icamed, never entered
an institution. He diced in Glenwood Springs, Colorado
of tuberculosis on November 8, 1887. He was 36 years
old.
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