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Page 4A-THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday, November 4, 1993 | Opinions | JIM HEFFNER Columnist Mob influence no excuse Any day now I expect the U.S. government to file charges against those guys in L.A. who almost Killed Reginald Denny. I suspect they'll be accused of violat- ing his civil rights. That's how it works isn't it? At least it was true in the Rodney King case. Wouldn't it be nice if it were true? It will never hap- pen. That law was placed on the books, first of all to get by the double jeopardy rule, then to be used only in those instances when a member of a minority is in- jured by a member of a majority. The statute doesn't work the other way. How many times have you seen a member of any minority group charged with violating someone's civil rights. It just doesn't happen. No need to worry, however, in my heart I know Jesse Jackson will go out to Califomia before long to sort out the entire mess. But seriously folks, excusing responsibility for criminal activity, because of the "mob influence" is the first step toward anarchy. I am convinced that members of that jury were scared to render a guilty verdict. They were afraid for their own personal safety and they were afraid their verdict might trigger violence. We have come to the edge of the precipice when we allow thugs to dictate jury verdicts. Somebody some- where has got to say. "If you threaten an individual or a community with an eye toward influencing a verdict, you are going to jail." Without guarantees of safety, juries will not perform their duties. When that becomes the case, we might just as well go back to the law of the jungle. I've heard enough - I mean I've heard enough about the Carolina Panthers and the NFL and how Charlotte is surely a world class city now! Most of you know I'm not much of a football fan anyway, at least above the high school level, but we have been so bombarded with NFL! NFL! for the last two weeks that I'm just plain sick of it. We're hearing the same rubbish that we heard just before the Hornets came to town. It's going to be great for the area, the economy will soar and everybody has a share. I'm still waiting on my windfall from the Hornets. I've said it once and I'll say it again. You and I will not find ourselves moved into a higher tax bracket be- cause the NFL is coming to Charlotte. Some restau- rants and hotels will make money on specific week- ends, and the Richardson family will make lots and lots of money, but I don't think I'd put in an order for a new car just yet. I'm glad the area is getting a team, just for the many fans around here who have been forced to root for teams such as the Redskins, and never get to see them play in person. That's one good thing about it. I don't think I'm going to be buying any seat licens- es, To tell you the truth, I wouldn't go to a pro football game if somebody gave me free tickets, drove me to the game and brought me home. I cannot tell you who is the reigning Super Bowl champion. Fish or cut bait - Me, my wife, son and daughter- in-law went down to the coast this past weekend to fish. My oldest son, Mike, absolutely loves to stand on the end of the pier and cast his lines as far out to sea as humanly possible. We all love to fish, but this weekend was not a great one. All indications were that the fish were biting, and they were to a degree. I came down with a terrible cold and didn't even wet a hook, my wife caught my cold, and didn't fish either. My daughter-in-law felt she had to spend time with my wife, so Mike is the only one that fished. He caught a few, but not a lot. Saturday, it rained all day, and that's when they were biting best. Mike bought a wet suit and-hit the. pier all day, he caught some good ones too, but gave them away, because he just likes to catch them, not clean them, and we didn't feel like cleaning them either. I came away with this fishy ode: The whiting were biting, The spots not so hot. The pompanos were no-shows, The trout we did without. I couldn't find a word that rhymed with flounder, but we didn't get any of them either. Established 1889 Published Thursday at East King Street at Canterbury Road, Kings Mountain, North Carolina 28086, USPS 931-040, by Republic Newspapers, Inc.-2nd Class postage paid in Kings Mountain BOD Ot dena Ba ta iS LR] Publisher Darrell Austin ...Associate Publisher Gay SWEAR... i A Editor Elizabeth Stewart... a0 i ion News Editor Shirley Austin ... ....Advertising Representative Bill Fulton.......... ....Advertising Representative Laura Hullette ... ...Advertising Representative Nancy Miller...... ....Advertising Representative Sah Glin. an at Business Manager Cheryl Pullen... hv a anton Bookkeeper Deniece Talbert ..Circulation Manager + Fran Black........ ..Production Manager JUHE BOONE. ri i a de noha. Graphic Artist SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In Gaston & Cleveland Counties: 1 Year $16.00; 6 Months $9.00. Other NC Counties: 1 Year $18.00: 6 Months $10.00. Outside NC: 1 Year $21.00; 6 Months $11.50. NEWSPAPERS. INC. 4 i) L WOR) Member Noth Carchna Preis Associaton Postmaster: Send Address Changes To: Kings Mountain Herald: P.O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 Back issues, one month or older, when available, are 70¢ per copy. REPUBLIC —) Pictorial Editorial EXERCISING HIS RIGHT - Greg Duncan casts his vote in Grover Tuesday as 248 people went to the polls to vote for three seats up for grabs on Town Council and a record turnout voted in the school board election. Your Right To Say It Have your pets vaccinated To the editor: Two generations have grown up in North Carolina without knowing the dread that was once associated with rabies in this state. Rabies was dreaded because it was, and still is, a fatal disease. Recent reports across North-Carolina indicate that rabies has returned. Closer to home, there have been reports of rabies in Mecklenburg County, Union County and in some of the northern counties of South Carolina. Rabies is caused by a virus present in the saliva of an animal with the disease. Thus, it is transmitted most often by a bite. People get rabies when they are bitten by a rabid animal and the animal's saliva comes into contact with the fresh, open wound. The disease can also be transmitted by scratching infectious saliva is on the animal's claws. In addition, rabies can be ac- quired by inhalation, so people who explore bat-infest- ed caves are at risk. If you are bitten or exposed to rabies, wash the wound thoroughly with lots of warm soap and water. Seek medical attention immediately from your doctor or the local hospital Emergency Room. Also, contact your local animal control agency or Health Department to report the infected animal. It is very difficult to know if an animal has rabies just by the way it acts or looks. Therefore, a person should always be cautious around wild or unknown animals. Animals with rabies may be aggressive or at- tack without being provoked. They may have difficulty walking. Drooling, or "foaming at the mouth," may or may not be present. Wild animals most often infected with rabies are raccoons, skunks, foxes, and bats. House pets bites from wiid animals who have the disease. Rabies cannot be cured, but it can be prevented. Every dog and cat in Cleveland County should be vac- cinated. All veterinarians give rabies vaccinations, and the cost is approximately $8. The first shot protects the animal for one year, and the next shot last for three years. By protecting your animal against this deadly disease, you may well be protecting your own life. So, if your animal is not current on its rabies vaccination, have it vaccinated today. Cleveland County Health Dept. Art by any other name Senator Helms and his fellow conservatives in the U. S. Senate may have lost their recent battles over funding for the National Endowment for the Arts but “the times, they are changing." Almost one-third of the Senate backed Senator Helms and his proposed changes in federal spending on the "arts." Once again the cries of "censorship" and "totalitar- anism" were heard in the halls of Congress, but if we get past the rhetoric to the reality, we sec a totally different picture. One of our senior Scnator's com- mon scnse proposals was merely to require that NEA funding be restricted to nonprofit organizations. It sounds sensible. Let's only allow nonprofit groups to apply for and receive the free hard-camed tax dollars of working Americans. As Scnator Helms said, never heard a symphony orchestra that offended any- onc." Wrong Senator Helms--you should know better than to question the omnipotent wisdom of the NEA. In response, the Senate came down against such restrictions on funding. The NEA can continue to fund any number of individual artists of questionable skill and taste. Don't forget--it's art and us little peo- plc have no right to question its value to society. We arc just expected to pay for it. The othier "offensive" action by conservatives in the U. S. Senate was to require that no less than 70 nd livestock become infected through’ God still in scouting To the Editor: There seems to be a misunderstanding that I need to clarify. The media has recently announced that God was to be taken out of the Girl Scout Promise. This was never the plan. God was and still is part of the Girl Scout Promise. The motivating force in Girl Scouting is three fold. The spiritual force is the first one, one's country and helping people are the other two. THE GIRL SCOUT PROMISE On my honor, I will try; To serve God And my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law. The decision made at the recent convention allows a girl who worships a spiritual being with another name to use that word when reciting the Promise. The writ- ten Promise remains the same. The decision was made in acknowledgement of the increasing cultural diversi- ty of Girl Scouting membership especially in large metropolitan areas. Here in Pioneer Council, Gaston, Cleveland, Rutherford and Lincoln Counties, the re- cent decisions will have very little impact because the majority of our membership are members of the Christian faith. : Sylvia Holmes Executive Director Save the wasted space To the editor: I am conscience about the environment. I recycle, re-use, and try to conserve the best that I can. I wish you would do the same by saving the wasted paper that is used to print Mr. Heffner's ignorant, narrow- minded, backwoods sounding column. Who cares about the breakdown of Larry Johnson's salary? This is a prime example of what perpetuates the opinion that all Southerners are people who would rather watch mud wrestling and gulp cheap beer. Sincerely, John Leonard } GUEST COLUMN THOMAS GOOLSBY Carolina‘Syndicated Columns on percent of the NEA funds be sent to the states for lo- cal distribution. Another critical and "dictatorial" cr- ror. How dare anyonc question the power of the NEA and their ability to decide what is "art" and what art is worthy of funding. To trust decisions of such cx- treme import to "provincials' in Any Town, U. S. A. is patently absurd. If Bill Clinton has his way, we will soon have a ncw "madame of the Arts." Actress Jane Alexander is the President's choice as the new chairman of NEA. When Scnator Helms was suggesting the pre- viously mentioned changes to the NEA's spending habits, Senator Barbara Boxer, D-California, told him, "I am not an art critic. The senator from North Carolina is not an art critic. We will make mistakes, yes, but give Jane Alexander a chance.” Senator mendations of the task force before formulating final the shortest of times. If your son or daughter holds a BOB McRAE Superintendent Kings Mountain Schools School violence a major concern | In my last column I wrote about the efforts of the re- & cent session of the General Assembly to help schools § curb violent activity on their campuses. I also told you 3 about the task force that was recently appointed by the 3 Board of Education to make recommendations about how we should respond to increasing violence in the Kings Mountain District Schools. I'had planned on keeping you informed through this column about the work of the task force in the months ahead. However, I did not plan that my next column would also deal with the topic of violence in the schools. I have postponed what had been written for this is- sue of the paper due to several incidents which have happened in our school system in recent weeks. I feel I must return to the topic of violence in our system. While the Board of Education needs to hear the recom- plans, we cannot ignore the current situation while awaiting that report. You need to know what steps we are already taking to react to violent situations, or po- tentially violent ones. I especially want you to know how we deal with firearms on campus. For those of you who have children in our system this is especially important. Board of Education procedures adopted in 1992 re- quire a principal to make a recommendation for long term suspension in the case of a student who possesses a firearm on one of our campuses, in one of our school buses, or at a school event off campus. Long term sus- pension means for the rest of the school year. That is the strongest school disciplinary measure which we can take at this time for such incidents. We also turn all incidents involving firearms over to the appropriate law enforcement officials. Please understand that we define the term "posses- sion of a firearm" very strictly. A student is guilty of this offense if he or she brings the firearm to school or if he or she receives the firearm from someone else while there. This includes holding the firearm for even firearm at school for even one second, he or she will be suspended for the remainder of the school year. I know this is a very strict interpretation of the rule, but it only takes a second for a firearm to go off and strike someone. We simply cannot look upon such a situation lightly even when we are dealing with a short period of time. There was some confusion with our most recent in- cident which happened. at:the:Middle:Sehool overwhoms should file charges against the student. This confusion was only temporary, and charges have been filed. I want to assure everyone in our community that when- ever it is most appropriate that the school system file the charges we will do so. We have already discussed this with our police department to make certain that charges are always filed in situations on our campuses which involve student possession of a firearm. Remember, beginning on December 1, 1993, itis a felony for any person to bring a firearm on school grounds. This law is more restrictive for students than for anyone else. For instance, there is an exception which makes it only a misdemeanor to bring an un- loaded shotgun in a secure gun rack in a vehicle onto school grounds for non-students. However, that same act will be a felony for students. Even concealed firearms, locked in the trunk of a car, will result in felony charges if discovered. The message which must be understood is that hav- ing firearms on school property is a very serious oc- currence, one that neither the law enforcement officials nor the school officials can or will take lightly. Parents, please talk specifically with your children about the dangers of such actions and the severe con- sequences. We need your help. Keep firearms put se- curely away from the reach of your children. Did you know that, as of December 1, you could be charged with a misdemeanor if you do not make a reasonable effort to keep firearms from your children and one of them takes a firearm to school? We will not back away from our.responsibility to deal with this problem. I do not want to suspend any student for the remainder of the year, but I will not hesitate to do so in incidents where students are in- volved with firearms. Let's work together to try to as- sure that it does not happen to anyone else. More im- portantly, let's work together to make sure our schools are safe for our students, employees, and guests. Boxer left out that Ms. Alexander is not an art critic either, but even if she were, what gives her the right to decide what is art and what is not? - Ifreely-admit-that 1 don't agree with any federal funding of the arts. When so many Americans need so many things and when our Nation is trillions of dollars in debt, how can we take 180 million addi- tional dollars away form those who need it in order to give it away to something as vague as "art." Even if you disagree and believe in taxpayer funding of the arts, what is wrong with requiring that 70 percent or more of the money be distributed by local officials? At Icast then the "little guy" has more of a chance in deciding how his moncy is spent. The best analogy to use for describing the attitude that exists in the minds of our so-called art critics at thc NEA is to pretend that they hire house painters. You may not have even decided if your house needed painting. However, for the sake of make believe. a government burcaucrat shows up and says not only does our house need painting, but you will pay for i whether you like it or not. Further. you don't even have a choice on the color of paint--that's for the “artist” to decide. Just remember--it's a cry world we live in and you're paying the tab.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Nov. 4, 1993, edition 1
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