Kings Mountain still
winning in Area IV playoffs
Readers write about
prayer in schools
VOL. 104 NO. 28
Knocking at KM's power
Squirrels play
a shocking game
Squirrels playing in the city's
power lines have blown fuses in at
least a dozen incidents of reported
blinks and outages recently.
"This is the worst season we've
ever had with animals,” says
Utilities Director Jimmy Maney
who asks electric customers to
"bear with us" while plastic cones
are installed over the tops of trans-
formers to keep the animals out.
The tree-lined Linwood Section
of East Kings Mountain has been
the hardest hit, according to
Maney, who blames the mild win-
ters for the influx of squirrels who
climb up the stinger wires, get
grounded, and are electrocuted
when the fuse blows and blinks the
circut.
Maney said three incidents of
blinks this week came from trees
falling into lines. Blinks occurring
during a storm are the direct result
of trees in the lines. When the wind
blows, he says the tree limbs get in
the line and cause one line to touch
the other. There have been several
outages, the most recent on June
30, from trees falling in lines dur-
ing a storm.
Power was out for two hours in
the Linwood section, on First and
Second Streets, at Northwoods,
and on North Piedmont Avenue
when a broken tree limb wrapped
around the lines. The power
Marijuana
destroyed
A marijuana crop with a street
value of $104,000 was destroyed
by Cleveland County drug task
force officers Monday afternoon
off Rollingbrook Road in Kings
Mountain.
The 87 plants, ranging in size
from three to six feet tall, were
spotted from the air by a National
Guard helicopter flying to the
Shelby Airport to refuel.
Vice Officer J.A. Norman said
no arrests have been made but the
investigation is continuing by the
Cleveland County Sheriff's
Department. Norman said the
plants were destroyed Monday af-
ternoon. Norman would not dis-
close the name of the owner of the
property:
Marijuana plants the size of the
local cache have a street value of
$1200 each when they grow to full
maturity, said Norman.
Habitat home
dedication set
Habitat for Humanity will dedi-
cate its first Kings Mountain home
Saturday morning at 11 a.m. on
North Tracy Street. .
Mayor Scott Neisler said the
public is invited to attend and to
enjoy barbecue for a $5 donation.
"This is a very exciting time for
Habitat, which has built three
houses in Cleveland County," said
Neisler. Volunteers built and donat-
ed the equipment for the house at
cost of $19,000. The three-bed-
room house is valued at $28,000
and will be occupied by Brian and
Nancy Curry and their two chil-
dren.
Ministers from the Kings
Mountain Ministerial Association
and members of the board of
Habitat for Humanity will lead the
service. Rev. John Wyatt, chairman
of the board, will present the keys
to their new house to the Currys.
"Thanks to the strong support of
many Christian people we were
‘able to build this house at half the
cost. The construction crew didn't
have to purchase a single two by
four. We had volunteers to build
the house. We are so appreciative
of Kings Mountain area people,”
said Neisler, who has headed up
the project in Kings Mountain.
blinked eight times before it went
out or caused what electricians call
an "instantaneous fault."
Maney said that once the new
SCATA system is installed on the
lines that city crews will be adding
more equipment and will be able to
pinpoint immediately what areas of
town are affected during outages
and get to the problems quicker.
The city is also installing fiber-
glass insulator plates designed to
remedy the serious problem of
squirrels blinking the electrical cir-
cuits. "Ride on any street in town
and you can see squirrels playing
in the street and in the trees," says
Maney.
The squirrel problem is not new
to city electrical systems. At a re-
cent meeting in Rock Hill, SC,
Maney said he talked with other
electrical superintendents who are
having their worst scenario with
squirrels in 25 years.
"We understand the community's
concern and are working to correct
the problems," said Maney.
Maney said that the recent bonds
voted and approved by citizens
won't take care of all the city's
electrical problems. "About 75 per-
cent of our electrical system is 30
to 50 years old and there is on-go-
ing maintenance all the time," he
Squirrels are playing havoc with the city power lines, causing
said. problems for citizens and Fesulting in shocking death for the
See Squirrels, 5-A small animals.
A big cache of marijuana plants was destroyed by drug officers
Monday afternoon off Rollingbrook Road.
Kings Mountain People
Kings Mountain, N.C. 2808¢ «35¢
.
say on
Five concerned citizens made
their views heard on the U.S.
Supreme Court's decision on
prayer during graduation cere-
monies at the July meeting of the
Kings Mountain Board of
Education Monday night.
All five were against the court's
ruling that prayer is prohibited at
graduation. One person urged the
board to submit a resolution to the
proper officials indicating their dis-
pleasure with the decision. Supt.
Dr. Bob McRae said if the board
would like to do so, he would place
the item on the agenda for next
month.
In the continuing revision of the
policy manual, the board heard
first reading on several sections in-
cluding: the time and place of
board meetings; teacher perfor-
mance evaluations; drugs in the
workplace; building and grounds
management; and facility expan-
sion. Action will be taken on these
items during next month's meeting.
The board approved the policy
dealing with transfers and with-
drawals.
Jean Thrift presented the results
of 1992 California Achievement
Testing and end-of-course testing
to the board. One of the board's
goals for this year was (0 raise test-
ing scores to the state level or
above state level. Gains were made
prayer
in the third grade where total bat-
tery scores came up three per-
centile points from 60 to 63 over
last year's scores. The state level
was 66.
In the end-of-course results,
eight out of 10 courses made posi-
tive gains this year, whereas last
year only four out of 10 courses
made positive gains. State scores
are not available as yet to compare
with local results.
"While we're pleased with some
progress, we know that there is
substantial amount of work to be
done," said McRae.
A report of the drop-out rate in
the system was presented showing
a 23.1 percent decrease over last
year's amount of drop-outs system
wide.
"We're still higher than we
should be, but I think it's the right
step in the right direction,” said
McRae.
In other action, the board ap-
proved an interim budget of
$14,826,756 and several budget
amendments.
The board also approved the rec-
ommendation of Cummings
LeBrand out of Shelby to again
provide student accident insurance
in the system. The rates have gone
up. They will be $12 for school
time coverage, $74 for 24-hour
See School, 5-A |
Nurse program to continue at KMHS
By RENEE WALSER
of the Herald Staff
lems. And seven percent sought aid for reproductive
matters.
Officials say the nurse practitioner program at Kings
Mountain High School got off to a good start its first
year.
"We have definite plans to continue it next year,"
said health coordinator Cindy Borders. "And we've
had several requests from parents to expand it to the
Middle School. We've had a busy year."
Statistics compiled at the end of the year show that
the program averaged visits from 350 students every
three months, said Borders. The majority, 40 percent,
of those students seen by Diane Sanders, the nurse
practitioner, were for minor illnesses or injuries or first
aid, she said,
Ten to 15 percent of students who visited the clinic
complained of respiratory or muscular-skeletal prob-
Grover to light
GROVER - The town will spend its’ $7740 recre-
ation grant from the county for lights for Grover
Municipal Park.
Mayor Ronald Queen was authorized by Town
Board Monday to take bids for lights for the Park and
~look at cost of lumber for bleachers. The mayor said
Grover Rescue Squad members have volunteered to
put up the seats if the town buys the lumber.
The board will spend matching funds to make
more improvements to the park where a 1,750 walk-
ing track has been graded and is open daily from 6
a.m. until 10:30 p.m. The park was aerated, reseeded,
and fertilized this year and an infield and fence con-
structed. Since 1983-84 when the board bought the
property for the park, the town has spent thousands
of dollars in improvements. Still to be completed are
two bathrooms for the brick building which houses
concessions.
"This is a real nice facility that we are proud of.
a:
Borders said about half of the student body had-
parental consent forms on file with the nurse practi--
tioner. :
"Everything we've heard from parents has been very:
positive,” said Borders. :
Supt. Dr. Bob McRae commented, "I think we had a ==
successful first year. There were certainly a number of =:
times at the high school where situations arose where:
it (the clinic) was a significant benefit .
McRae said that he felt the statistics bore out offi-
cials' previous beliefs that the clinic would not primar-
ily focus on reproductive issues such as pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases.
He said that the school system would continue to -
promote abstinence as the primary option.
See Nurse, 5-A
Municipal Park
We hope to put lights in soon so that ball games can
be played at night," said Queen.
Commissioner Don Rich said he would like to see
the addition of a supervised swimming pool and ar-
cade rooms at the park but no one else was enthusias-
tic about such a project. Commissioner Jim Howell
said the location would not be good for a swimming
pool. "We don't want any drownings in Grover,” said
Howell.
The board authorized the mayor to look for bins
for recycling plastic and investigate the possibility of
building a 5x16 feet trailer to hold a growing volume
of plastic milk jugs, bottles, etc. "The landfill isn't
free and we need to get our people to recycle,” said
the mayor.
See Grover, 5-A
Gardening good therapy for Roberts
Louise Roberts feels close to God in her flower gardens.
By ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
Louise Roberts feels close to
God in her garden on North,
Piedmont Avenue.
The homemaker, who prefers be-
ing called that because she said it is
a role that she has perfected all her
life, recommends gardening as
good therapy “for whatever ails
you."
Louise's beautiful garden
blooms year-round.
Every morning for 56 years
Roberts has picked flowers from
her garden and placed them on her
breakfast room table. She and her
husband, the late Gene Roberts,
Kings Mountain grocer, started the
tradition when they started house-
keeping across the street from their
present residence. Since his death
in January, Louise and the family
continued that tradition.
"I've lived on this street 56 years
and in this house 36 years," says
Louise, who moved to Kings
Mountain as as a bride in a house
across the street from her present
residence. She had finished
Blacksburg, SC High School and
completed a commercial course be-
fore she started being a homemak-
er. "And, I'm proud to be a home-
maker," she said.
God, country, and home, the
three-prong program of the
Daughters of the American
Revolution, is important to Louise
Hambright Roberts, whose roots
are deep in the Antioch
Community where she learned
these attributes at an early age
from her parents, the late Mr. and
Mrs. T. A. Hambright and her
grandparents, the late Mr. and Mrs.
S.S. Weir.
She also inherited her green
thumb from her mother and grand-
mother. Their homes were also
decorated with hand-picked and
homegrown flowers.
The Hambright two-story
Southern mansion still stands in the
Antioch Community and at least
four brides in the family have said
their 1 do's before the stately arch.
Visitors to the home have often
See Roberts, 5-A