i
KM Bands
present
Spring coneert
VOL. 104 NO. 21
Commencement exercises for 204 Kings Mountain
High School seniors will begin Sunday night with
baccalaureate at B. N. Barnes Auditorium and end on
Friday night, May 29, with graduation exercises at
John Gamble Stadium. Both programs are at 7 p.m.
Rev. John Futterer, pastor of Resurrection
Lutheran Church, will deliver the sermon. Other min-
isters on the program are Rev. Theron Feemster, pas-
tor of Miracle Tabernacle Church; Rev. Dale
Thornburg, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church; Rev.
Robert Little, pastor of Central United Methodist
Church, and Rev. Mitchell Pruitt, pastor of Chestnut
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The KMHS Choral Union will sing two anthems:
Driscoll's "I Am His" and Eilers’ "Go Ye Now In
Peace.” Mrs. Sherry Young will be pianist.
Students will be on the program for the finals exer-
cises May 29. Douangchit Mounghane will give the
invocation, SPO president Aaron Allen will give the
welcome, Angela Blanton will recognize honor grad-
uates, Emily Campbell will present the class gift, and
Dawn Hardin will pronounce the benediction. Ronnie
Hawkins, chairman of the KM Board of Education,
will accept the class of 1992 gift on behalf of the
school.
The Choral Union will sing "Maybe Someday” by
Thursday, May 21, 1992
Li): 30
Ridge Baptist Church,
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McPheeters and John Carter's "My Wish For You."
Melanie Dixon, chief marshal, will assist Principal
Jackie Lavender and Supt. Dr. Robert McRae in pre-
senting the diplomas. ;
Other marshals are Leanne Baity, Chris Blanton,
Douglas Bridges, Binh Davis, Stephen Fisher, T
Kathryn Goforth, Angela Hardin, Edie Hicks, Jil!
Jimison, Tosheen Peters, Rebecca Senter, and Todd
Ware.
Eugene C. Bumgardner will direct the choir and
Gil Doggett will direct the ninth grade band in
"Pomp and Circumstance" as the seniors are present-
ed in the processional.
Senior Class officers are Leigh Kendrick, presi- Jag?
hele? lass son
ediay)."
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$ Emily Campbell, treasurers,
¥ motto is "As werleave this school we
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dent; Dawn Hardin, vice-president; Angela Blanton, aynd Mrs. Betsy Wells.
By ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
Don Welch could well claim the
title of "Mr. Fix-it."
The popular repairman opened
his radio and television repair busi-
ness on a shoestring in 1957 but
phased it out three years ago be-
cause it became cheaper to buy a
foreign-made television set than to
fix one.
Now, Welch and his son, Don
Jr., do commercial painting in
Welch's TV & Repair on Grover
Road. They paint the tips for the
life-saving Jaws of Life for Hurst
Corporation and air-conditioner
compressors for Copeland
{-Corporation, The father and son.
team is the commercial engineer-
ing team which fixes on-the-air
equipment for Radio Station
WKMT and WBT in Charlotte.
Don inherited his "Mr. Fix-it" ti-
tle from his father, Lester Welch.
Duringhis high school days they
worked together at the old
Margrace Mill where Lester Welch
was head electrician for 32 years.
After graduating from KMHS in
1952 Don went in the Coast Guard.
He enrolled at Gaston College in
1953 on the GI Bill. ‘It was natural
that he would study radio and tele-
vision repair, he said.
KM's Don
is ‘Mr. Fix-it'
Reared on the farm where his fa-
ther still resides today, Don learned
about hard work at a young age.
He milked cows at the old Allen
Dairy twice a day as a boy and
helped his parents, Lester and the
late Flora Caldwell Welch, grow-
ing up in a family of four sisters.
He bought his first television tubes
with a few dollars left from his
weekly paycheck at the Margrace
Mill.
Television tubes became obso-
lete about 10 years ago and were
replaced with transistors. Welch
said he has abou 1,000 obsolete
tubes in his shop. However, he said
that many people have old sets
Stored in aitics, garages, and barns,
but the repair bill to fix then would
© be costly, noting that tubes which
once were $6-a-piece now. are $45-
a-piece. "When Taiwan started pro-
ducing TV sets small repair shops
had to quit because you can buy a
19 inch set with remote control for
less than $200," said Welch.
Don and his father built the busi-
ness on Grover Road and also the.
house where Don and Bobbie
Bennett Welch live on Dixon
‘School Road.
Don married his high school
See Welch, Page 3-A
DON WELCH
f Fine-tuning of the Kings
Mountain District School's redis-
tricting plan is on the agenda for a
special board of education meeting
41 Monday morning at 7 a.m. at the
“1 School Administration Building on
Parker Street.
Supt. Dr. Bob McRae said that
the work focuses on the North
School area because North remains
about 5 percent in minority popula-
tion above the board's goal for the
school of 25 percent.
"We want to try to give a better
balance to all the schools," said
McRae, who indicated that nodes
would be moved from North
Schodl to another school which
After school starts next year he
sees little changes in minority pop-
ulation. "Once we move some Stu-
dents this year we should be in
good shape for a number of years,"
he said.
With West School students mov-
ing out of the old Central School
and into a new school in June,
McRae said the board will be tak-
ing a long hard look on what to do
with the old building. He said it is
Beam |
288 make profession
at Rick Gage crusade
The recent Rick Gage Crusade
drew an average attendance of
1,700 for four services in which
288 prc ‘essions of faith were made
and over 500 people rededicated
their lives to Christ.
"Kings Mountain has experi-
enced a revival spirit,” said Rev.
David Philbeck, Crusade chairman
and pastor of Macedonia Baptist
Church. Philbeck said the revival
spirit has spilled over to more than
30 congregations participating in
the crusade. At Macedonia Church
Sunday night 12 people made a
profession of faith and will be bap-
tized.
Cleveland County poultry pro-
ducers inducted the late David E.
Beam of Lawndale into its first
Hall of Fame Tuesday night.
State Agriculture Commissioner
Jim Graham presented the posthu-
mous award to<Beam's widow at
the 30th annual barbecue which at-
tracted 600 people to Cleveland
Community College. :
The award honored a pioneer 1n
the poultry industry for his lcader-
ship, not only in farming, but in
Cleveland County. Beam, 80, who
died this year, was chairman of the
county board of commissioners
from 1964-66 and was chairman of
the county Democratic Party from
1972-74. Beam, who stood six fect
six inches tall, portrayed Uncle
Sam in Lawndale's July 4th pa-
"I feel the Lord has blessed
Kings Mountain in a major way,"
said Philbeck. He also credited the
success of the crusade to the 500
people working behind the scenes
for nearly a year.
Philbeck said that more than 100
counselors were used in the four
services at Gamble Stadium.
"Although we started praying daily
for revival last year we had official
prayer services beginning in
January as plans began to shape up
for the crusade," he said.
Philbeck said churches raised
$17,000 to meet the budget for the
Crusade.
rades for many years. In 1981 as
chairman of Upper Cleveland
County Commissioners he cam-
paigned for a rural water system
which is now the Cleveland
County Sanitary System.
Environmental concerns, animal
rights, urban sprawl, and labor
practices will be the major issucs
facing the poultry industry in the
next few years, Graham said.
"As much as people like to cat,
they don't want the mess involved
with raising birds or processing
them," Graham said. "The cnviron-
mental fervor that is sweeping this
country will continuc to impact -
agricultural operations.”
Graham reccommended that cv-
cry producer in the state follow the
current laws precisely. "A mistake
KM's Mr. Fix-it
crusade in Kings Mountain.
n poultry ‘Hall
by one producer is a black eye for
the entire industry,” Graham said.
Consumption of poultry prod-
ucts are projected to increase as
consumers are looking for a more
nutritious dict. The convenience of
prepared poultry dishes, such as
chicken nuggets or diced turkey,
have made poultry a big business.
Each day, 2,216,000 broilers arc
slaughtered. Including cggs, the
North Carolina poultry industry is
the biggest farm income producer
in the state, worth $1.5 billion a
ycar.
He said that the poultry industry
ranks number onc in agriculture in-
come in Cleveland County worth
$15 million.
See Poulty, Page 3-A
Rick Gage talks to worshipers who responded to invitation during
Council to
City Council will clarify an ordi-
nance Tuesday to probably allow
car washing by hand at detail shops
and service stations in the Central
and Neighborhood Business
Districts,
The board will also consider a
rezoning request by Barrett Floor
Covering to allow additions to his
property in the one-mile perimeter.
The two items are on the agenda
fia the 7:30 p.m. meeting at
Governmental Facilities Center.
City Manager George Wood, fi-
nalizing a preliminary budget for
the new fiscal year, will ask
# Council to set preliminary hearing
& on the budget for June 16. The
Mrs. David E. Beam accepts the award honosing her late hus-
band, inducted posthumously as the first membe: of the Cleveland
County Poultrymen Association's Hall of Fame. Making the pre-
sentation Tuesday are John Hendrick, left, presideit of the Poultry
Council, and State Agriculture Commissioner JamesA, Graham.
Board to meet
/ :
yh redistricting
the goal of the school board to
move the current administrative of-
fices to Central and renovate the
building. "It doesn't make much
sense to spend lots of money reno-
vating the building until it becomes
fairly apparent that we will be able
to continue to exist as a city
schools system. It's a dilemma the
board will be tackling in months to
come."
McRae said he is concerned that
when vacant Central would be a
target for vandalism. The Central
plant would give the administrative
staff the extra space it requires and
offer plenty of storage facilities. He
said the current facility is crowded.
ROUSE] ROR CAIRN. iM TICE Nl, iLL
this year. bellet for a library expansion ai
Noj th School.
Redistricting was implemented -
with the current school year. B.S.
Peeler and Sherra Miller came on
the school board after the redis-
tricting was in place. McRae said a
work session on Monday by the
full board reviewed the redistrict-
ing plan now in place so that the
new members could be involved in
taking an indepth look at enroll-
ment numbers and distribution.
clarify
car wash ordinance
Council is expected to adopt the
budget at the June 30 meeting.
Wood said that Barrett's request
for rezoning is recommended by
the Planning & Zoning Board and
following a revision by Barrett to
delete an area which adjoining
property owners have been used
for entrance into church and ad-
joining homes on Compact School
Board.
Wood said a current ordinance
restricts automated car washes in
both Central and Neighborhood
Business and also restricts hand
washing of cars. He said the staff is
looking at making changes to avoid
confusion,
Public hearing
set on zoning
Public hearing on a cou ty land
usc task force proposal or pro-
~ posed zoning along the industrial
corridor near Grover will be held
by county commissioners June 15
at 10 a.m. in Shelby.,
The zoning proposal divides the
5,200 acres for 6 1/2 miles along
Interstate 85 and U. 8. 29 into resi-
dential, general business, and light
and heavy industrial zonings,
Under the plan, 1,1080 acres
would be zoned for light industry
and 2,068 acres would be zoned for
heavy industry.
Planning Director Bill McCarter
has worked with the task force on
the proposals for months and says
the group has atlempted 10 accom-
modate as many property owners
as possible, hearing concerns from
mining companies and residential
property owners,