VOL. 105 NO. 46
+ “BILLY BRIDGES
Parent Fair
; November 22 at
Kings Mountain Middle School
See Page 3B
Helen and Clarence Barnette
will take their terminally ill grand-
son, Billy Bridges, to Raleigh
Friday to try to beat a system they
call cold and lacking in sympathy.
The Kings Mountain Hospital
second shift nurse is carrying with
her at least 200 letters from people
pleading with the Department of
Human Resources and Medicare to
keep giving Billy the 24-hour nurs-
ing care he needs. With costs piling
up, they fear that Medicaid may
stop health care at home for their
"two million dollar baby."
"We may not do any good for
Billy but if we can plead for help
25 LO SINAN
In Kings Mountain,
See Special Insert
Inside Today
1 J (% £1
|
Thursday, November 18, 1993
Family battles the system for Bar
for other babies like him it will
worth the effort,” said Helen, 53.
"Life can't be bought with a
price but it can be extended with
your help," say the many people,
young and old, who have written
letters of support for the Barnettes
who brought the baby home from
the hospital when he was 9 1/2
months old when the parents said
they could not cope with a termi-
nally ill child.
Billy, who has beat the odds,
will be three years old in February.
Congressman Charles Taylor
and Senator J. Ollie Harris of
Kings Mountain have been urging
Medicaid to continue funds for
nursing assistance around the clock
for Billy in the home.
Barnette requested the hearing
Friday to request that no funds be
cut off and she plans to take Billy
to speak for himself.
Mrs.
Both Barnette and her husband
work full time jobs. Medicaid
turned down Mrs. Barnette's offer
to pay her to work an eight hour
shift and help care for her grand-
child, Mrs. Barnette is critical of a
system that will pay for care in the
hospital but will deny a child the
love of a home environment.
See Battle, 10-A
KM Man caiches
World Record carp
See Page AA
“
Billy Bridges is a special child,
Tender loving care can work
miracles.
Billy Bridges is a terminally ill
three-year-old-boy whose bubbly
personality and tenacity wins the
hearts of anyone who sees him.
Repeatedly, Billy's life seemed
to be ebbing away but he keeps ral-
lying from one life-threatening set-
back after another.
Doctors say he is a unique pa-
tient, a little fighter, who thrives in
the home he shares with his grand-
parents, Helen and Clarence
"Butch" Barnette.
The pretty boy with sparkling
eyes looks much like a normal
youngster except that Billy's space
in the living room of his yellow
and white home extends eight feet
the length of two tubes hooked up
to machines feeding him oxygen
and liquid nourishment. He's never
known a time when the tubes
weren't there.
See Billy, 10-A
SSL ORR h
i IL A
Herald will publish
day early next week
Because Thanksgiving falls
on its regular publishing
date, the Herald will publish
on Wednesday next week.
All advertising and news
deadlines will be 5 p.m.
Monday.
The paper will be available
at newsstands on Tuesday
evening, and will be deliv-
% ered to mail customers on
ark school violence will recom-
mend to the Board of Education
that random searches begin with
metal detectors of 10 percent of the
students at Kings Mountain High
School and Kings Mountain
Middle School and that a city po-
liceman be hired to work the high
school grounds and parking lots
from 2:15 - 4:45 p.m. on school
days.
4 Ronnie Hawkins, a member of
the committee and chairman of the
school board, said he will call a
special meeting prior to the regular
meeting December 13 to act on the
requests.
The five students above are members of the newly-formed Task Force on School Violence. Left to right,
seated, are Corey McCrary, Cedric Moore, Cameron Falls and Israel Angeles, a all of Kings Mountain High
Chief of Police Warren Goforth,
also a member of the committee,
praised the 20-member group's rec-
ommendations, calling it a "pro-
gressive step against school vio-
lence."
John Bridges and Cedric Moore
will present the recommendations.
The group will also recof{imend
that informational signs go up soon
at both schools that detail tl:e new
December 1 law making it a felony
for a student to possess or carry a
firearm or explosive on educational
property. It is also being recom-
mended that school principals
schedule assembly programs with
See Violence, 8-A
Kings Mountain People
School, Standing i is Sherita Warren of. Kings Mountain Middle School.
A 14-year-old Kings Mountain
Middle School student was sus-
pended Tuesday afternoon from
school and will be charged with
possession of a weapon on school
property.
Principal John Goforth said an-
other student saw a pellet gun in
the boy's possession and told a
teacher who notified the principal.
Goforth said the boy had the gun in
his pocket and handed it to him.
The incident occurred after
school about 3:25 p.m. on school
Gun-packing student suspended
property, Goforth said.
Goforth: called Kings Mountain
Police Department and the boy's
parents.
After December 1, a new state
law makes it a felony to possess or
carry a firearm or explosive on
school property or to cause, en-
courage or aid a minor to possess
or carry a firearm or explosive on
educational property.
The new law makes it a misde-
a
See Student, i =
Ruth Putnam Early has com-
bined patience and imagination to
create hundreds of dresses and
suits for Kings Mountain people
during a busy seamstress career
that has spanned a half century.
Early, 68, who started sewing as
a teenager growing up in a big
family in the Dixon Community, is
putting her sewing machine in re-
tirement.
Early reluctantly put up her
sewing needles in June because of
eye problems.
After her first marriage to the
late Max Putnam, Ruth made beau-
tiful suits and shirts for their six
boys and taught them to sew. She
laughs at the story that her second
son, Phillip, told of his Navy duty.
Because Phillip knew how to sew
on buttons he was called on often
to sew buttons on sailor uniforms.
He made extra money sewing,
thanks to his mother.
Ruth recalled that another expe-
rience involving Phillip was a con-
versation piece at Hambright
Ruth Early packs her thread
Family reunions. Philip had to
have proof from his mother that
July 4th was really his birthday so
that he could get a prize on July 4.
"The Putnam Museum" is how
Ruth's husband Bill describes their
home in the Oak Grove
Community, fondly pointing to
pictures of the six boys, Dale,
Phillip, Gene, Terry, Roy and
Dennis; his daughter, Nancy Hoyle
and her two children; and all 18
grandchildren and three great-
See Ruth, 9-A
RUTH EARLY
Senior play opens Thursday
Lights, camera, and action! The curtain goes up
Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on Jim
Kelly's spoof of "Phantom of the Opry," the annual
Kings Mountain High School Senior Play which will
be dedicated by the Class of '94 to the memory of dra-
ma student Dave Gentry, 16, who died suddenly
November 12.
Director Betsy Wells says the show promises to be
hilarious with laughter and some mystery and intrigue.
Tickets are $4 for adults and $3 for students and se-
nior citizens without a KMHS pass.
Skunk Creek Opry House is the setting for the rol-
licking comedy and opening night could turn out to be
disastrous if The Phantom, played by Michael Wray,
makes good his threat. There may be no show unless
the beautiful Christine Swansong, played by Jada
Brown, replaces the famous but ‘over the hill’ songbird
Carlotta Barracuda, played by Janey Ollis.
Linda Dixon, Eugene Bumgardner and Sherry
Young combine their ‘musical talents to direct the mu-
sic for the production which also includes a number of
dances for which choreographer is Jane Campbell.
Wells has included almost all members of the
KMHS Senior Class in the production, many of whom
will be working behind the scenes to put on a show
that play-goers won't soon forget, according to Wells.
Other cast members and crew include: Guppy
Gopher, Jennifer Davison; Minerva Hotchkiss,
Michelle Pence; Louisa Pampermouse, Teresa Lyman;
Madame Barricuda, Sonja Sadler; Mrs. Swansong,
Cruetia Jeffries; Junior Hampster, Forrest Connor;
Silky Acid Tongue, Dennis Mills; Felicity Van Loon,
Nikki Dixon; Flufferduff Chipstrap, Natalie Barnes;
Chester Broomhandle, Shannon Hullender; ZaZa,
Jayda Biddix; Mimi, Kim Whetstine; Lulu, Becky
Miller; FeFe, Takeisha Griffin; Humphrey Rainwater,
Heather Ely; Lt. Farleigh Good, Aaron Ford; Dora,
Carrie Moss; Smokey Fish Eric Richardson; Salome
Dibble, Amanda Blanton,
Dancers are Nikki Whiiwe, Kimberly Parker, Ann
Marie Sanders, Holly Paul, April Thornburg, Chuck
Taylor, Nikki Dixon, Paige Pierce, Tameron Gains,
Becky Miller, Ginger Blalock, Carrie Moss, Christy
Robbs, Bruce Robinson, Betty Mellon, Bre McMillan,
Windi Goode, Takischa Griffin, Melanie Bumgardner,
Courtney Goforth, Aaron Ford, Eddie Henson, Sylvia
Bess, Eugene Stevenson, Stephanie Phillips, Kim
Whetstine, Lori Edwards, Elizabeth Perkins, Brandon
Putnam, Cindy Robbs, Cale McDaniel, Jayda Biddix,
Amy Ruppe, Anita Whitaker, Heather Ely, Darrel
Myers and Teresa Lyman.
Aneurysm fatal for Gentry,
16-year-old student-athlete
School friends of Dave Gentry
Jr., 16, say it is a credit to his mem-
ory that the 6 feet, 260-pound JV
football player was willing to do-
nate his organs to help others.
His father, Dave Gentry Sr., says
the tributes by classmates through
poems and letters used at the stu-
dent's funeral Sunday only under-
scored what they already knew
about the special boy they loved.
Dave Gentry Jr., son of Dave
and Kristy Gentry of 147 Green
Meadow Drive, died Friday in
Carolinas Medical Center after a
g strong and
healthy as a a horse, said his father.
"That's the shocking part."
"After Dave died I remembered
that he came to me four or five
months ago and told me he wanted
to donate his organs if something
happened to him," said Gentry Sr.
Young Gentry got his driver's li-
cense in June on his 16th birthday
but had not included that informa-
tion on his license.
"He was a real easy going kid
with a smile on his face and he al-
ways found something good in any
situation," said his father. Football
and baseball were his loves and he
also rode with his dad, an avid
Harley Davidson cyclist. At Dave's
funeral 25 motorcyclists formed an
impressive processional and over
300 friends, including KMHS stu-
dents, overflowed Carothers
Funeral Chapel in Gastonia.
"I know that Dave was looking
down from heaven and smiling,"
said Dave Sr.
"Dave Gentry was a likable stu-
dent. He was involved in school
activities, especially drama, and JV
football. It is a credit to his memo-
ry that he was willing to donate his
organs to help others. He will be
missed," said KMHS Principal
Jackie Lavender.
"I was so fortunate to have Dave
Gentry in my drama program,” said
Betsy Wells. He was the type of
person you enjoy being around, a
worker always willing to help ac-
DAVE GENTRY JR.
complish the task at hand and with
a personality that made him a stu-
dent I'll never forget."
"We're all very sad at the loss of
a special kid," said Coach Denny
Hicks. "Dave got along well with
the team. He was always the first
one down at the field house and the
first one to get dressed out and on
the field. It was tough loss for all
of us. He was the type of young
"man you like to have in a sports
program."
Michael Wray, a senior, called
Dave a "good friend who made us
laugh and smile."
Bonita Guiton, 9th grader, called
Dave "a hard worker." She said he
was in her first period drama class
and was always helpful. "I never
heard him say a bad word about
anyone."
Jennifer Davison, a senior, said
Dave was "nice and helpful." He
donated a trophy for the car show
and was into sports, especially
football.
Jada Brown, a senior, said Dave
sold tickets for the drama class for
a dance."He was friendly and
nice."
Wells said the 1984 Senior Class
will dedicate its Senior Play this
weekend to the memory of the
Junior Varsity defensive tackle
who was so interested in drama.
"he stave 3 "Dh. the 4M Rei 2 . . o .
The stage crew of "Phantom of the Opry" is pictured at Barnes Auditorium. Front row, from left, Heidi
Hamrick, Robert Goins,
Wilson and Andrew Phillips.
Thomas Grant and Brian Wilson. Back row, from left,
Janey Ollis, Kennet