Mountaineers win 4th straight crown...8A
The Way We Were 22 years Agoee.... 1B
I
£2 a
Re ad <
A ANN Foe
=< TZ ZZ: SW. WW ——
J %
TE Tl OTE CS)
GaN § \ AE
: : - OO CG
i t 53%
®r Ww w
VOL. 105 NO. 5 Thursday, February 4, 1993 Kings Mountain, N.C. 2 2 ex
zS O
2%
~y éar-o a AILY 1gnts for 11°
A Kings Mountain father says his once healthy, <
There was no warning. Chad
Baity, 7, was a perfectly healthy
academically gifted student.
Suddenly, Chad was dying.
West School Principal Sherrill
Toney described the trauma that
members of his staff experienced
the moming of January 20 when
the first grader told his teacher
Carla Bennett that he was dizzy
and complained of a headache.
Within minutes, the boy was un-
conscious.
The boy's father, Brent Baity,
said that having current medical in-
Quick action by school saved Chad
formation and family phone num-
bers available at the school may
have saved Chad's life.
Having the information on file
allowed Bennett, Judy Ford, and
Mary Anthony to react quickly.
While one staff member called the
parent, another called pediatrician
Dr. Martin Stallings and another
dialed 911. Marilyn Rhyne volun-
teered to keep Chad's 3-year-old
sister while Baity accompanied his
son to Kings Mountain Hospital
where the boy's condition was sta-
bilized and he was airlifted to
Carolinas Medical Center.
Toney had been called away
himself that morning due to a fami-
ly illness but he praised his staff]
for their quick action.
He also joins with Baity in en-
couraging all parents to check with
their children's schools to make
sure current information is on file.
Toney says that many parents do
not give school personnel their cur-
rent place of work numbers so they
can be reached in event of an emer-
gency.
See Action, 2-A
happy little boy will never be t
hope. ; ;
Life changed in a split second two weeks ago for
Brent Baity, 31, and his wife,
Cindy, 28, when a blood vessel
apparently burst in 7-year-old
Chad Baity's brain as he sat at
lunch at West School.
"One minute he was fine and
then he complained of dizziness
and a headache. His head be-
came alarmingly red and he
could hardly walk," said Baity
who rushed to the school to find
the boy unconscious and school *=
personnel working with him.
went major surgery twice. His condition
as critical, is now upgraded to serious.
mains unconscious but Baity says he ap]
“little bit lighter" and appears more comfi
his color is good.
he same but he has
Doctors told the family that the boy appeared to
have a stroke. Arterio Venous Malformation, an ab-
normal connection between an artery and a vein was
the diagnosis when the boy went into surgery the
first time. "They told us he might not live and I asked
them, ‘what do you mean he may not live?" said
Baity, who refused to believe the boy would not re-
cover.
"They told us that Chad is a miracle,” said Baity,
but he counts his blessings for one more day of
progress.
CHAD BAITY
Mayor:
no secret
meetings
GROVER - Mayor Ronald
Queen defended his Council
Monday from attacks by a stand-
ing-room-only delegation of citi-
zens accusing the board of secret
meetings.
"I have never and will never
have meetings not open to the pub-
lic," said Queen.
The furor surfaced after the
board held a workshop meeting last
month on the question of raising
water rates, recessing. the regular
meeting for an executive session
that lasted 2 1/2 hours. : :
Upon their return to the regular
meeting, Queen called for the vote
on the question of raising w-
ater/sewer rates and the board vot-
ed to pass on additional charges by
Kings Mountain, the city's supplier
of water, to the citizens. The in-
. crease will be about 11 percent.
. The average customer will pay
See Mayor, 3-A
From Kings Mountain Hospital, the boy was air-
lifted to Carolinas Medical Center where he under-
DOWN WITH THE OLD - Bulldozer demolishes the old Hardee's Restaurant at the intersection of
Highways 161 and 74 Business in Kings Mountain Monday. The new restaurant, shown in background,
will open in one to two weeks, weather permitting. The area of the old building will be paved for addition-
al parking.
66-home subdivision planned
A Shelby developer announced
plans Tuesday for building 66 new
homes in a new subdivision on
Crocker Road.
Don Peeler, representing
Coldwell, Banker and Horne
Associates, said the homes would
be priced from $55,000 to $75,000.
He requested utility services
from Kings Mountain during a
meeting of the Kings Mountain
Utility committee Tuesday night.
The development is located be-
tween Phifer and El Bethel Roads
in the vicinity of Beason Creek, the
city's extra territorial jurisdiction
area.
Cleveland County will have to
approve plans for the subdivision,
said Community Service Director
Tom Howard.
Howard said the local commis-
sion has not made a decision on
what to recommend to the next
meeting of City Council.
The Peeler group was developer
for Bethlehem Estates in the
Bethlehem Community.
In other business of the meeting,
the commission voted to recom-
mend to City Council that the city
accept discharge from cleaning up
the old Petroleum gas station site
across from Pizza Hut on US 74.
Ground water contamination
closed the site. Howard said the
city will require sampling at the
site often and will install a water
meter.
The county has asked the city to
See Homes, 3-A
Kings Mountain People
Camping to be discussed"
The question of whether the city
will end its policy of granting an-
nual campsite leases at Moss Lake
is on the agenda again at Monday
night's Moss lake commission at 7
p.m. at City Hall.
The commission voted unani-
mously recently to end the policy
but City Council, which has the fi-
nal say, appointed Councilmen Jim
Guyton and Jerry White to work
with the lake commission on a so-
lution after a dozen campers at-
tended last week's Council meeting
and protested the decision as un-
fair.
Campers say they have helped
beautify the campground by pick-
ing up trash and planting flowers.
Lake commission members want
all long-term campsites closed and
all renters to move their temporary
and fixed structures by April 1
when the leases run out. Campers
pay $500 annual fees, which in-
clude water and lights from Kings
Mountain and use of bathhouse fa-
cilities.
City staffers also recommended
the closing because they said some
campers had become permanent
campers and left little space for
See Camping, 3-A
When D.A.R.E. Officer Alan
Hardin goes into a school he's usu-
ally greeted by hugs from the stu-
dents.
The Kings Mountain policeman
has a rapport with the students
which began in the fall of 1989
when a new program called Drug
Abuse Resistance Education was
launched in Sth grades of the dis-
trict's five elementary schools and
patterned after a program begun in
1983 by the California Unified
School System and the Los
Angeles Police Department.
"We're seeing good results of
this program,” said Hardin, who
joined KMPD as a lake officer in
May 1988. He has 20 years experi-
ence in law enforcement.
"Education is the key to beating
Hardin's a hit with kids
the drug battle," says Hardin, who
sees the need for both drug preven-
tion and enforcement of the law.
During this semester he spends
one day a week at North, East and
West Elementary Schools, using
classroom time to teach kids to
build on their self-esteem and how
to say 'no' to drugs and feel good
about themselves without alienat-
ing their friends. Next semester he
will lead the same program at
Grover and Bethware Schools.
"This is the age most susceptible
to this type of training and the exit
level from clementary school to
middle school," said Hardin. "It's
very vital education.”
This is the first year that all cur-
rent students in the 6th, 7th and 8th
grades at Kings Mountain Middle
School are graduates of the
D.A RE. program. The next gradu-
ation of Sth graders will be in May.
Hardin says he is seeing results
from the D.A.R.E- program.
Nationwide, he says there is a 25
percent reduction in substance
abuse among 7th grade students.
"Kings Mountain doesn't have a
drug problem," said Hardin.
Students use a workbook in class
but are assigned no homework.
They do complete special assign-
ments during free time.
Hardin likes kids. He has raised
four daughters and the youngest,
Angela, is a senior at Kings
Mountain High School. Julia
Hardin Bridges is married to Mike
See Hardin, 2-A
PTL. ALAN HARDIN
Only a handful of parents attend-
ed an informational meeting called
by Kings Mountain school officials
Thursday to answer questions
about weapons on school property.
"I was disappointed," said Board
of Education Chairman Ronnie
Hawkins.
Hawkins said a panel represent-
ing school officials, law enforce-
ment, court officials, and coun-
selors traced step-by-step the
procedures followed on the local
campuses when a weapon is found,
Presenters said after the meeting
that it often takes a tragedy for par-
ents to get involved.
Two incidents of guns on the
campus of Kings Mountain Middle
School and 16 more incidents of
guns at other schools in Cleveland
County during the past year
prompted the program.
Kings Mountain Police Chief
Warren Goforth said the police de-
partment is committed to more vis-
ibility of police on the campuses.
School Board member B. S. Peeler
has encouraged more police at ev-
ery school and he has commented
that he notices that children are re-
sponding in a positive way to po-
lice. "They get a lot of hugs," he
said.
D#nny Henderson wanted to
know why parents aren't held re-
sponsible if their children under 18
bring a hand gun to school but Det.
Lt. Richard Reynolds says there's
no law on the books but local legis-
lators may be working on getting
such a law on the books.
Stella Putnam wanted to know if
police will continue to be at school
if a grant in the works isn't ap-
proved for implementation of a
new education program patterned
after D.A.R.E. Goforth said that
officers are committed to the pro-
gram.
Melanie Bolin asked school offi-
cials about the suspension program
and Supt. Dr. Bob McRae reviewed
See Chad, 2-A
Not many attend
weapons meeting
Toney selected
Principal of Year
Sherrill Toney, the Kings
Mountain school system's Principal
of the Year, took the initiative at
West School in
pushing for a
year-round
school.
Although
participation f
fell short by 38 |
of the required |
130 for ‘the La
board of educa-
tion to sched- 8
ule it, he hasn't
lost his dream TONEY
of a year round school,
“It's the school of the future,”
says the 46-year-old educator who
has been with the Kings Mountain
Schools since 1969 and has taught
all-age children,
Toney taught Science, Math and
Health at Central School for 17
years. When a job came open at
Kings Mountain High School in
the Biology Department he took it
because that was his favorite sub-
ject in high school and college. For
two years he was assistant princi-
pal at KMHS but in 1990-91 he
was appointed to the principalship
of West School, a K-5 clementary
school.
Toney said he had always been
reluctant about changing jobs he
loved, When he went to KMHS he
taught some of his former students
from Central and made biology fun
for them, again using hands on
projects he started with kids in the
7th grade at Central.
“It was good to see kids
progress. About 50 percent of my
class that first year was made up of
See Guns, 3-A
See Toney, 5-A
Park Grace School sold
Kings Mountain businessmen
Kelly Bunch and Jim Childers have
purchased the old Park Grace
School property for $53,600.
Childers, who called the pur-
chase "a good investment," said no
definite plans have been made for
use of the property but he said that
he and Bunch will probably paint
and renovate the four acres and uti-
lize the buildings for a storage cen-
ter. for small businesses.
Kings Mountain Board of
Education accepted the bid at
Monday night's meeting at Kings
Mountain High School.
Bunch is associated with the
family business Bunch Inc. on
Grover Road. Childers operates a
roofing business in Shelby and is a
former Kings Mountain city coun-
cilman,
Auorney Scott Cloninger told
the board the 10-day upset bid pe-
riod had expired and the bid was
on the table.
The board, upon motion by Billy
Houze and seconded by Sherra
Miller, accepted the bid unani-
mously.
In other actions of the short
meeting, the board:
Sct February 25 for a onc-day
Advance at 8:30 a.m. in the board
room,
Named Wendell Bunch, Thad
Roberts, John Mitchell and Rick
Murphrey to the Vocational and
Technology Education Advisory
committee,
After the final reading, approved
policy GAADA, Bloodborne
Pathogens, and will begin state
OSHA required training ol em-
ployces. "At risk” employees
would be required to take hepatitis
vaccinations.
Heard a report from Sherra
Miller who attended a three-day
legislative conference in
Washington, DC as representative
See School, 3-A