iv Carpenter says he probably
a
. 8-A
-—
~ Plonk twins sign
pro baseball contracts
- Since 1889 -
ranked
Spectrum, Parkdale
in top 100
12-A
VOL, 104 NO. 24
D-Day
recalled
KM veterans know
price of Normandy
By ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
Charlie Carpenter went back to
Normandy in October 1990, the
44th year since the landings.
He and daughter,
Bingham, took a 5,000 kilometer
tour of the battle route in 30 days.
The trip was timely. October 3,
1990 was German Reunification
Day when West and East Germany
were again joined.
They climbed up stone steps
from Omaha Beach and walked
through the cemetery.
"We know the price of that strip
of beach,” says Carpenter.
So does retired KMHS band di-
rector and West School Principal
Joe Hedden, who got together with
Carpenter on the 48th anniversary
of D Day June 6, 1992, to relive
the memories.
Every year 1.5 million visitors
return to the invasion sites. Why?
The Kings Mountain vets be-
lieve that people go seeking reas-
surance, as though the silent dead--
their last link to a moment in
history when men laid down their
lives for clear values--had the an-
swers. And there they also see
what the liberation of Europe cost
Americans.
won't go back. When he returned to
Kings Mountain, a Second
Lieutenant in Cannon Company
16th Infantry, he brought a Silver
Star and many memories he hopes
someday to compile for a book en-
titled," We Were There." He wants
to get area WWII veterans together
to talk about the war and write
their memoirs. Charlie says his
wife Marion and son, Chuck, didn't
want to make the trip but he's glad
his daughter talked him into return-
ing to the places where so many
gallant men lost their lives and
where he was one of the lucky
ones.
Carpenter was a member of the
"Big Red One" 16th Infantry
i
Laura
World War II veterans Charlie Carpenter, left, and Joe Hedden relived memories June 6 on the an-
niversary of D Day. Charlie was a member of the "Big Red One" in the Infantry. Hedden participated in
two Naval invasions during a period of four months and was on a ship sunk the day after D Day 1944.
Regiment as a forward observer of
artillery, attached to rifle units. In
1944 the USA had 105 howitzers
in North #ifrica and Sicily. These
guns were mounted on half tracks
and tanks but in France and
Germany the soldiers pulled the
guns with trucks. Carpenter said
that Col. George Taylor, one of the
oldest officers to land in the assault
that day, waded ashore with his
troops and exclaimed, "Hell, we're
dying here on the beach. Let's
move inland and die." Charlie said
his company lost all its guns except
one which was damaged by enemy
fire. The gun crews loaded off
landing tanks onto the landing craft
vehicles for the trip to the beach
and were dumped into deep water.
Some drowned and all but one gun
Thursday, June 11, 1992
- went down jato the Channel. When
heavy artillery fire disabled hit
landing craft and injured several
men, Lt. Carpenter administered
first aid to the wounded, directed
the beaching and unloading of the
ship and reorganized his men for
an assault on enemy positions, ac-
cording to the citation which ac-
‘companied the Silver Star.
Hedden probably holds the dis-
tinction of being the only veteran
in this area who was in two inva-
sions in four months. He was on
the U.S.S. Meredith, a ship sunk
the day after D Day 1944, and four
months later in the landing of the
USS Hailey in the Pacific.
Hedden remembers the events of
1942-44 as if they were yesterday.
He was a senior at Western
but he quickly adjusted.
Carobsia College age 20;-nd had
appiied tor the Naval School of
Music. Before he could graduate,
he left behind his sweetheart
Frances Crouse, then a freshman
from Kings Mountain, and an-
swered Uncle Sam's call, enlisting
in 1942 for six years in the regular
Navy and reporting to Norfolk
Naval Yard which was headquar-
ters for the School of Music. After
he received his diploma in
May1943 he applied for a com-
mission in the Naval Reserves.
Coming back to his barracks the
new Ensign was saluted by the
sailors. As an officer he couldn't
sleep with the enlisted squads. He
also didn't have an Ensign uniform
See D-Day, 2-A
Supt. Dr. Bob McRae's annual
evaluation by the Kings Mountain
Board of Education was completed
Monday night during executive
session, said Ronnie Hawkins,
chairman of the school board.
The results were that McRae
was found to have "demonstrated
exemplary performance in carrying
out his duties" as superintendent.
"It was a comprehensive effort
to reach a consensus,” said
Hawkins.
Hawkins explained how the
board reaches its evaluation. The
instrument used to evaluate the su-
perintendent is in its second year.
The instrument deals with two
areas: a subjective or narrative
evaluation by each board member
and a formative evaluation by each
member. Upon completion by the
individual members, a compilation
is attained to reach the final evalu-
ation, said Hawkins.
The narrative evaluation in-
volved three goals put forth by the
school board, which are: increased
parental and community participa-
tion, improved support programs of
Kings Mountain People
a ®
at-risk students and improved use
of technology in the schools. «
Each board member was asked
to write how McRae had worked
toward fostering those goals.
Under the formative evaluation,
McRae was rated on a scale of one
to three on the following: board
policies and goals; board relation-
ships; community relationships;
personnel relationships; education-
al programs; and budget.
A summary appraisal was then
produced.
4 4
O'SHIELDS HOYLE
By ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
Carl Wilson's eyes light up when
great-granddaughter Miranda
climbs on his lap and calls him
"Pop." ; ;
It isn't long until Wilson, 75,
starts retelling the days when he
played baseball and in later years
when he worked long and hard
with young boys who wanted to
pitch and swing their bats for
American Legion ball clubs when
he was the state Commissioner of
Baseball for the veteran's organiza-
tion.
"I really love sports and I'm
one of the Atlanta Braves' big
fans," said Carl, who spends a
good part of his time before a tele-
Wilson still loves baseball
vision set watching sports, game
shows, and cartoons with his
grandchildren. In poor health the
past several years, Carl is facing
major surgery in the next couple
weeks.
Next to his family, kids and
baseball are the dove of his life be-
sides his church, Christ the King .
Catholic Church. Although he has
been home-bound, his Priest brings
communion to him and Carl main-
tains aN avid intérest in the church
and community. :
Wilson, who moved to Kings
Mountain in 1928, retired in 1983
from Foote Mineral Company after
30 years as superintendent of main-
tenance. He was working at the
Savannah, Ga. shipyards in 1943
for the Virginia Carolinas League
. daughter. The two were married in
when he was drafted into Uncle
«Sam's Army during World War II.
After the War, he played right field
for Shorty Eden's ball team at the
old Bonnie Mill and also played
later Chatham
and for
Manufacturing Company's ball fi
club at Elkin. "Back then, the mills |
hired you pretty quickly if you
could swing a bat and I guess I
played professionally for five or
six years." :
Joining Pearl Baptist Church in §
Iron Station was a red letter day for
Carl. He met the love of his life,
Evelyn Weaver, the preacher's
1939 and sct up housekeeping in
* See Wilson, 7-A
CARL WILSON
Kings Mountain, N.
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18.2 milli
budget eyea
by KM
Public hearing on the city's bud-
get for 1992-93 is on the agenda
for a special meeting of City
Council Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.
The proposed preliminary bud-
. get reflects an increase of 3.8 per-
cent or $651,700.00 over the
1991-92 budget of $17.5 million
and an overall operating budget of
$18.2 million.
It calls for no cost-of-living in-
creases for the city's 160-plus em-
ployees for the second year but
does include merit pay of 2.5 per-
cent for qualifying employees. It
projects no increase in the tax rate
of 36 cents per $100 property valu-
ation.
City Manager George Wood dis-
tributed copies of the 138-page
budget to the full Council last
Thursday. It reflects priority fund-
ing made by the full Council dur-
ing a spring planning meeting.
Wood said the current year saw a
continuation of the longest post-
war recession ever, which only re-
cently appears to be lifting, and
dampened use of water and sewer
utilities, sharply decreasing rev-
enues. In addition, he said that
-December, January and February
were the mildest since weather
|, statistics began being collected in
Betty Gamble, vocational educa-
_ tion director for the Kings
Mountain School District, present-
ed the annual vocational education
application for the school board's
approval at their regular meeting
Monday night.
For the second consecutive year,
the state has granted the program a
$150,000 grant for Tech Prep.
Gamble said that the Tech Prep
program in its second year in
Kings Mountain was doing well
among students. Thirty-two per-
cent of the ninth graders have en-
for '93
the late 1800's, dramatically affect-
ing electric and natural gas sales.
The market price of gas declined
sharply, helping offset some of the
lost revenues. The city also lost
previously appropriated revenue
from the state.
Wood said a new garbage trans-
fer station on line in early June will
generate considerable savings. The
proposed budget includes two less
positions in the sanitation’ depart-
ment due to consolidation of routes
with current trips to the landfill cut
from 20 to three per week. Gas
savings and vehicle maintenance
savings will be offset by the new
cost of paying a contractor to un-
load the large transfer site contain-
er three times weekly.
The budget will remain on the
table for review by the public until
Council adopts it at the June 30
meeting.
Two public hearings, including
one zoning change and a proposal
to clarify the current ordinance re-
garding car washes in
Neighborhood Business areas, and
an executive session are also on the
agenda. Mayor Scott Neisler will
appoint the city's representative on
the Cleveland County Economic
Development Board. ;
Tech Prep program
receives *150,000 grant
rolled in the program this year.
The program was also awarded
an $18,500 grant for sex equity,
which is a program that encourages
students to explore nontraditional
jobs in the work force.
Three other grants were award-
ed: the JTPA 78 percent Isothermal
for $12,600; JTPA eight percent
State Department of Public
Instruction work program for
$42,239; and a special home eco==
nomics grant for an after-school=
program for students to explore af==
See Grant, 7-A
Three KM principals
reassigned for 1992-93
Three Kings Mountain School
Distirct principals will start the
1992-93 school year in different
schools.
The movement of the adminstra-
tors was the topic of discussion for
an executive session Monday night
of the Kings Mountain Board of
Education.
At East School will be Jerry D.
Hoyle, Glenda E. O'Shields will
head Grover and John R. Goforth
will lead at Middle School next
year.
Chairman of the school board
Ronnie Hawkins said the switch
was made because there was not
enough money to warrant continu-
ing funding co-principals at the
Middle School with local money.
"It (co-principals) had its mer-
its," said Hawkins. But he added
that the Middle School concept is
now underway and going well and
it's time to go back to one adminis-
trator.
The second principal's position
at the Middle School” #as only
funded by the state for two years,
said Hawkins.
Merger will close
KM's Norick plant
A merger of Norick Brothers
Inc. and The Reynolds and
Reynolds Company of Dayton,’
Ohio will close the Norick printing
business here at the end of June.
"Thirty-eight employees will lose
their jobs.
"We looked at the small plant in
Kings Mountain and it just isn't
profitable to keep it open," said
Reynolds Director of Corporate
Communications Paul Guthrie. He
said the new owners will also close
a small plant in Las Vegas, Nevada
but continuc to operate Norick's
major plant in Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma.
Local plant manager Jack
Horner would not comment except
to say that local employees arc sad-
dened that the 15-year operation
will be closing. Local employees
were notified they would be out of
a job on June 1 and the first group
of local workers were laid off last
week. The fourth and final group
will finish by July 1. No employees
will be relocated. The company
said a number of executive and ad-
ministrative positions would also
be consolidated.
The Reynolds and Reynolds
Company is the sixth largest busi-
ness forms manufacturer in North
America and acquired Norick
Brothers Inc., an Oklahoma City-
“based automotive business forms
manufacturer, in a pooling of inter-
csts (stock for stock exchange)
See Norick, 2-A
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