Homesley tops in field
One of world's best bird dog trainers
1-B
VOL. 104 NO. 20
Is Russia Next?
1
Rick Gage, evangelist trom
Atlanta, Ga., followed the rains last
week, bringing refreshment in the
form of the Gospel to Kings
Mountain and area residents at his
crusade Sunday through
Wednesday nights,
Tuesday night he had many mes-
sages to relate to the crowd gath-
ered in the high school football sta-
dium.
He began by revealing that his
ministry had been invited to Russia
and Eastern Europe next
November to preach.
"I'm in awe with these invita-
tions," he said. "I'm overwhelmed."
Gage wants to recruit 100 "soul-
winners" to make the trip with him.
The cost will be $50,000.
“I don't know how we're going
to raise it," he said. But he hopes
that 50 businessmen will donate a
$1,000 each toward the effort.
His goal is to take 1,000 Bibles
on the trip to be handed out. Each
Bible costs $1 for printing and pro-
duction. Gage said Russians will
fill the halls if you promise them a
Bible in return.
"Jesus deserves to be number
one," was Gage's next message.
"Only he who does the will of
the Father will be saved," he quot-
ed, saying that those who claim to
believe but do not do God's will,
are on a path to Hell and don't
know it.
“Jesus said, 'Only a few people
will find Heaven," said Gage,
adding that "I'm not preaching
tonight that you cannot fall as a
Christian. . . . God knows what's in
your heart."
"Don't you leave the stadium
tonight until you know that you
know that you know that you are
going to Heaven," he instructed.
The crusade began Saturday
evening with a Youth Rally at
Central School. Dana Russell en-
tertained in concert and Gage
spoke to the youngsters.
Sunday night was Church Night;
Monday was Sunday School Night;
Tuesday Night was Friends Night;
and Wednesday Night was Youth
Night. Also on Wednesday
evening, a free Pizza Blast was
planned for the youth before the 7
p.m. service.
Gage spoke to 1,100 high school
students and 900 middle school
students Tuesday in the Kings
Mountain Schools. He has spoken
to over a million students in the
last five years in all parts of the
country.
See Gage, 9-A
Kailroad displays to be at Kings viountain Depot Cenier during
Railroad display planned for Mountain Fest
bringing this outstanding exhibit to
A big layout of a Piedmont 'N
Southern railroad will be one of the
free featured exhibits at the May
30 Mountain Fest shaping up to be
one of the top events ever held in
the city. ;
Branch Bank & Trust Company
of Kings Mountain is sponsoring
the exhibit, which will be free to
———— EE —————————————
the public at the Depot Center dur-
ing the day-long festival.
BB&T President Glenn
Anderson said the model railroad is
12x28 feet and was constructed by
the Piedmont N Southern Model
Railroad Club, a club organized in
1980 in Greenville, SC as an N-
Trak module club. N-Trak is an or-
Kings Mountain People ;
Mountaineers whip R-S
13-2 for SWC crown
Thursday, May 14, 1992
Rick Gage preaches to huge crowd at crusade at Kings Mountain's
John Gamble Stadium.
Mountain Fest Celebration on Saturday, May 30.
ganization that really advanced N-
Scale railroading. Any module
built by N-Trak module standards
can interconnect with any other N-
Trak module in the world, he said.
Large layouts are set up at shows
and conventions that are very im-
pressive.
"We are delighted that BB&T is
Kings Mountain and at no charge
for King Mountain citizens to see
this continuous loop of tracks. All
modules have the optional
Mountain Division trackage so that
four trains can be operated inde-
pendently," said Chamber
See Fest, 9-A
Jim Wright turned hobby
into full-time employment
could fix a garden tractor. When it /
By Elizabeth Stewart
of The Herald Staff ;
Jim Wright clipped his wings a
few years ago and settled down to
fixing anything that's fixable--on
the ground. i
Wright, who flew his own plane
and set up textile plants all over the
world during a 43 year career in
textiles, sold his plane, built a
| house in 1976, and bought a tractor
when he retired from textiles in
1985 and opened Jim's Small
Engine Repairs on Chestnut Ridge
Road. : hr
He has earned the enviable rep-
* utation of being able to fix "almost
anything" after practicing a hobby .
for years int which he repaired free
of charge his neighbors and co-
workers lawn mowers and tillers
from a back yard hobby shop.
~ As plant manager of Fieldcrest
Mills in 1969, Jim recalled that in
Worthville, = 'Richard Petty
Country,’ he was the only man who
was time to plant gardens, he was
flooded with requests. "I didn't
charge ‘anyone because it was a
hobby I loved and never thought
about getting into a business for
profit until we returned to live in
Kings Mountain."
Goal setting was always impor-
tant to Wright, 62, who had his so-
16, private, and commercial license
to fly an airplane at age 40. He
logged 9,000 hours in the air, mak-
ing 21 trips to Kingston, Jamaica
and Nassau and Freeport in the
Bahamas, among other places.
Wright loved to fly and owned a
Commander 250 four-seater and
was a licensed instrument rated pi-
lot, taking hours to complete his
schooling while working in the tex-
tile mill.The couple lived in
Thomasville, Worthville, and
Alabama but found the perfect
spot on Chestnut Ridge Road close
See Wright, 9-A
JIM WRIGHT
Kings Mountain, N
Grover Elementary ;
Multi-age
class sets) oh
Sixty-eight Grover Elementary
students will participate in a new
program next school year to help
expand their learning opportunities
outside the traditional classroom.
A multi-age classroom will be
set up in the old cafeteria building
at Grover to hold the first, second
and third grade students along with
three teachers and three teacher as-
sistants.
The new program was approved
at Monday's Kings Mountain
School Board meeting. Grover
principal Jim Scruggs said teachers
Terri Briggs and Gale Baber had
worked on the program for three
years now and he believed that
they could make it work.
One of the features of the multi-
age classroom is an open space
class with students working in
groups or individually. There will
be no student desks.
The teachers say that many stu-
dents are not reaching their poten-
tial under the traditional structure.
Multi-age classes will allow stu-
dents to learn at an appropriate lev-
el and pace.
"The setting is more natural,”
said Baber. "And it does away with
a lot of frustration and isolation."
A graded structure does not al-
low for deviation below or above
Sixth grade
eight grade
Jean Thrift, director of pupil
support services in the Kings
Mountain School District, reported
to the school board Monday night
that local 6th and 8th grade stu-
dents continue to be ahead of state
and regional student averages in
the annual writing assessment. )
She said scores are not as high
as they were two years ago before
a middle school was incorporated.
Thrift said that this year's 6th
graders gained 20 percent in scores
over last year's students, with a
slight decrease in 8th grade perfor-
mance. But she said it was not an
alarming drop.
Other issues before the board in-
cluded:
The board approved use of
school facilities for the summer
“tennis clinic for elementary and
middle school-age children.
Sessions will be held on June 8-12
and June 15-19. Kathy James and
‘ Barbara Jones will conduct the
clinics.
Dave Hinson, county trans-
portation director, reviewed the
funding formula for school district
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grade level in a variety ¢' & ots,
Baber said. But multi-ag¢ ses
let students excel in soi 2as
and receive remediation in others.
Spanish will be. taugit one to
two hours each day as'a partial im-
mersion part of the program.
The make-up of the students in-
cludes: 13 exceptional students;
two academically gifted students;
and 14 Chapter 1 students.
Parental consent is necessary
and a skills checklist will be: sent
home with students along with re-
port cards for parental monitoring.
A grant proposal has been sub-
mitted for $75,000 to enhance the
program, but teachers say the mon-
ey is not necessary for the program
to work. Baber said they expect to
hear by the end of the month
whether they receive the grant. She
is hopeful that Grover will be one
of the four schools awarded the
money since there are only six ap-
plicants.
Baber said the other teachers be-
sides Briggs, Lynn Ellis and herself
have been very cooperative in
starting up the program.
"They're very optimistic about
it," she said. "This has been a total
school effort."
‘See Grover, 9-A
scores up,
decreases
transportation. Hinson said he was
looking for a 100 percent efficien-
cy rating in the future and would
find ways to upgrade efficiency
from the present rate of 94.8 per-
cent. Suggestions include combin-
ing bus routes and staggering
times. Dr. Larry Allen, associate
superintendent, presented a sample
of a bus route and said he is work-
ing with the computer system to
_ map out all routes, which will be
reviewed with principals this sum-
mer.
The board approved the
Chapter I Reading Program appli-
cation, which expands one half
time teacher/parent trainer position
to full time and adds one Chapter I
teacher with a 10 percent. increase
in funding.
§ The board approved plans for
summer School as submitted by
Jean Thrift. Third, 6th and 8th
grade summer school will I state-
funded. Middle School and High
School summer school will be tu-
ition-funded and will not make
lunch or transporation available.
Summer school dates are June 17
KM's Larry Hamrick named
to development commission
Larry Hamrick Sr., Kings
Mountain insuranceman since 1955
and a Kings Mountain realtor for a
quarter century, will fill one of the
four seats appointed by the County .
Board of Commissioners on the
new Economic Development
Commission.
The other members of the nine-
member board will come from
Kings Mountain city council,
Shelby city council, Boiling
Springs city council, Cleveland
County Chamber of Commerce,
and the Cleveland County Sanitary
District.
The commissioners also appoint-
ed Jim Crawley, who heads up
Phillips Optical Media in Kings
Mountain, Jack Mabry of Shclby,
and Jim Boggs of
Cleveland. All four appointees had
previously served on the old board
which has previously functioned as
an advisory board reporting to the
county commission. Each munici-
Upper
LARRY HAMRICK SR.
pality will pay $3,000 for a scat on
the board in a restructuring effort
aimed to give members more con-
trol and municipalities more input
See Hamrick, 9-A
KN
M
SS