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VOL. 106 NO. 5
Little Billy Bridges’ Barney birthday cake was
topped with three candles Tuesday and colorful bal-
loons and Valentines made his Carolinas Medical
Center hospital room a festive, party setting.
But the terminally ill boy didn't get to eat any of the
cake baked by local nurse Jean Martin.
Billy's grandmother, Helen Barnette, said the boy
enjoyed a brief celebration with her and her husband,
Clarence, her daughter, Teresa Blake, and a few close
friends.
"Billy has come a long way but he is very pale,” said
Barnette.
Billy Bridges’ fight for life despite the odds have
captured the attention of many people. His grandpar-
ents said doctors gave the boy little chance for survival
when he was born three years ago. :
Billy's most recent health problems began
December 7 with an ear infection. He went into the
hospital with double pneumonia and a contagious res-
235 EEE _ARTRY
B¥ :
PERE
Thursday, February 3, 1994
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY
Terminally ill boy spends third birthday in Charlotte hospital
piratory synthetic viral infection. Because his condi-
tion has required strong antibiotics to treat, Helen says
Billy now has "slick bowels." Barnette said antibiotics
cleared the bacteria from the bowels and that condition
has complicated other problems.
Billy had been home only briefly since he went into
the hospital January 16. "We took him home on a
Wednesday and had to rush him back by ambulance on
Thursday," said Barnette.
"He's been a really sick, little boy."
Barnette has taken a leave of absence from her nurs-
ing job at Kings Mountain Hospital and lives with
Billy in a room for terminally ill patients and their
families that the hospital makes available on
Pediatrics' seventh floor. Barnette said a couch makes
a double bed. A TV set, VCR and refrigerator are also
provided for the patient's comfort. When Billy isn't
sleeping Helen plays the Barney tapes he loves.
See Billy, 12-A
»
BILLY BRIDGES
Walk America
drive to begin
Kristen Gillespie's mother was
© told June 3, 1988 she was stillborn,
by a doctor who was sure the baby
would die. ;
But then the tiny preemie, one
pound six ounces with feet the size
of paper clips and eyelids fused
shut, unaccountably started to
breathe.
That was just the beginning of
med pecial
Ambassador" of the March of
Dimes.
Kristen, daughter of Johanna
and Richard Gillespie of Shelby,
helped kick off the Cleveland
County Walk America campaign
for funds Thursday at a luncheon at
Days Inn in Shelby.
Walk Day is April 30 but
Honorary Chairman Jim Rennirt,
plant manager of Kings Mountain's
Eaton Corporation, said there's
much work to be done between
now and then. Theme of the
Biddix Miss Teen
Kings Mountain High School se-
nior Jayda Biddix says she is look-
ing forward to the opportunity of a
lifetime when she competes in Los
Angeles, California February 12-
17 for the title of Miss Teenage
America 1994.
The 17-year-old blonde, blue-
eyed beauty was picked from
10,000 plus entries for the Teen
Magazine-sponsored scholarship
pageant which awards $15,000 to
one of 12 finalists.
Biddix won an all-expense-paid
trip to Los Angeles and will be
rooming at Beverly Hills Hotel
Nikkop with Sharon Houle of
Prospect, Ct. In addition to the
pageant finals and interviews, she
testify before Congress for the new
Cleveland County campaign, of
which Isaiah Russell is 1994 chair-
man, is "Putting Our Best Foot
Forward."
Rennirt said that Cleveland
County citizens have an extra spe-
cial reason to walk because of the
spunky, healthy, normal Kristen.
Mrs. Gillespie has been asked to
ealth car : Sristen
ents will tell Kristen's story of how
she beat the odds.
Volunteers from area business
and industry at Thursday's kickoff
watched a video presentation and
heard Kristen's Story. Back in
1970s the March of Dimes spear-
headed the effort that led to the de-
velopment of intensive care units
like the one at Carolinas Medical
Center's Neonatal Intensive Care °
Unit that saved Kristen's life. That
research and equipment was made
See Walk, 12-A
will be treated to sightseeing and a
trip to Disney World.
Although there is no talent com-
petition, Jayda will be judged in
formal wear. She will wear a black
velvet sheath dress. The finalists
will wear suits for judging sessions
and press interviews. Her photo-
graph will appear in the June issue
of Teen Magazine.
Jayda has been a Teen
Magazine subscriber for about five
years and that's how she learned
about the upcoming competition
and sent in her entry. She watched
for the mail every day and submit-
ted more answers to questions
when she was told she was in the
top 300 and then in the top 46.
Jim Rennirt, Plant Manager of Eaton Corporation, and five-year-
old Kristen Gillespie kick off the annual March of Dimes
WalkAmerica campaign.
finalist
After writing an essay on '"vio-
lence in the schools," she was in-
terviewed by telephone and learned
last week that she was one of the
12 finalists for the title. She re-
ceived her airplane tickets and
pageant information this week and
had a call from her roommate and
letters from the other contestants.
The recent earthquake in Los
Angeles and its after-shocks have
made Jayda's parents, Brenda and
Jay Biddix, nervous about their on-
ly child making a trip 2,125 miles
away. Jayda admits to some anxi-
ety herself, after talking to pageant
chaperones this week who told her
See Biddix, 12-A
Candidate filing ends Tuesday
Candidate filing for local and state political offices
ends Tuesday at noon with the Cleveland County
Board of Elections except for the office of Superior
Court Judge, which has been extended to February 18.
This week three more Democrats entered the race
for two seats up for grabs in November on the
Cleveland County Board of Commissioners.
Incumbent Ralph Gilbert of Fallston was joined by
political newcomers Bill Weaver and John Laughlin,
both of Shelby.
Biggest interest in Cleveland County could be a
toss-up between the race for sheriff of Cleveland and
the two seats on the county commission.
The fate of the county commission race is now in
the hands of a federal judge, who could order filing to
be suspended.
Contenders for Sheriff Buddy McKinney's job are
Shelbians Roy Blanton, Dan Crawford, J. D. Fish,
Willie B. McIntosh Jr., Ron McKinney, J. C. Sanders
and David H. Ware, of Lawndale, all Democrats, and
Ward Kellum, of Shelby, and David C. Morrow, of
Earl, Republicans.
The two-at large seats on the county board are now
held by Democratic incumbents Joyce Falls Cashion of
Kings Mountain and Gilbert. They are being chal-
lenged by Democrats Jerry Adams and Gene Willis,
both of Shelby, and Republicans Norris G. Hastings of
Shelby and Robert Morgan Jr. of Kings Mountain.
In the N.C. House District 48 the three seats up for
grabs are now held by John Weatherly, Republican of
Kings Mountain, and Dr. Jack Hunt of Lattimore and
Edith Lutz of Lawndale, Democrats. The challengers
are Debbie Clary of Shelby and Jeanne Kincaid of
Mooresboro, Republicans, and Andy Dedmon of Earl
and John Eaker of Cherryville, Democrats.
In the N. C. Senate District 37, five people are vying
for the seat now held by Kings Mountain's J. Ollie
Harris, who is retiring. They are: Bobby Rogers and
David Teddy, both of Shelby, Billy Williams of
Lattimore, Dean Westmoreland of Grover, all
Democrats, and Dennis Davis, of Lattimore,
Republican.
In the U. S. House of Representatives, District 9,
Republicans Sue Myrick, David Balmer, Neal
Williams, all of Charlotte, and Neal Howes of
Huntersville, and Rory Blake and Roger Dale Dixon
Charlotte Democrats, seek the seat now held by
Republican Alex McMillan of Charlotte, who is not a
candidate for reelection.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, District 11,
Charles Taylor, Brevard Republican, faces opposition
from James Richard Queen, Democrat,
Waynesville.
of
Mayor Scott Neisler. The mayor's
Kings Mountain, NC 28086 « 50¢ .
Budget battle
Is heating up
Kings Mountain City Council
has called a special meeting to dis-
cuss reductions in the budget for
Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.
At the urging of City Council,
department heads of the City of
Kings Mountain are looking at
their budgets and costs of running
their individual departments with
an eye toward trimming them.
City Manager George Wood said
he is meeting with Department
heads Friday to go over their sug-
gestions for making cuts in their
individual departments to come up
with a shortfall of $118,000.
Wood said at last week's City
Council meeting that a delay in up-
ping water and sewer rates to in-
dustry would cost the city about
$20,000 a month in revenues.
City industry has been singled
out for the increase because it rep-
resents the largest share of Kings
Mountain's water and sewer usage.
Representatives of Spectrum, the
city's biggest user, have been most
vocal in thei objection to the hike.
Councilman Rick Murphrey,
who is Vice-President of Sales for
Spectrum, spoke against the rate
increase at last week's meeting at
which Council voted 7-0 to table a
9 percent rate hike to industry that
was strongly recommended by
presented three options for hikes to
industry.
Murphrey suggested that
Council take a hard look at every
aspect of every job to make sure it
is being run efficiently and make
the reductions so that utility in-
creases would not be necessary.
Neisler stated his support for the
increase to close the gap and for
an internal management study
which he said should be handled
by an outside professional.
Council rejected the mayor's idea
6-1, saying doing a study was their
job.
Adding to the controversy this
week was the circulation of an un-
signed letter from the Conservative
Voters Organization to the mayor,
city commissioners and the area
media. The letter writer said cuts
could se made by charging higher
fees t¢ Moss Lake residents, by
assessing lake residents the cost of
patroll' ng the lake and by cutting
out payment of Council's insurance
premiums.
The letter writer asked the
Council to show citizens of Kings
Mountain that they represent all the
people, a campaign promise the
letter writer said the new members
of the board made when they were
recently elected.
"Get a city map and review the
city limits and the limits of your
district,” said the last line of the
two-page flyer.
rat )
Spectrum
'Q3 bill:
$2.3 million
‘The public doesn't
understand and | hope
other industrial leaders will
speak out at Tuesday's
meeting of Council."
-Hubert Johnson
Spectrum Corporate Engineer
Hubert Johnson said the industry
pays the City of Kings Mountain
$2.3 million annually for utilities
and another projected rate by
Kings Mountain for water will
raise what the company pays annu-
ally to $162,000 for water alone.
"We can't stand any more rate
increases and there are other indus-
tries in the same boat who will
probably speak out at the next
meeting of City Council,” said
Johnson.
Johnson said he has no "vendetta
against the city over past business"
but that companies must be com-
petitive and industry has been
d hE C Q0
Johnson said Spectrum is a ma-
jor natural gas customer of the city
and spends $1.16 million annually
with the city for gas.
Spectrum, the biggest water us-
er, spends $1.18 million with the
city annually for water, Johnson
said.
"We are also a tax-paying citizen
and paid over $42,000 last year,"
said Johnson, who also is corporate
engineer of Spectrum plants in
Belmont and Hickory.
Johnson spoke against the pro-
posed rate increase at last month's
meeting of the city utility commit-
tee meeting. He was in the audi-
ence at last Tuesday's City Council
meeting but did not address the is-
sue.
"This is not an issue between
Spectrum and the City of Kings
Mountain," said Johnson, who says
he has been bombarded with calls
of criticism about his industry
fighting the increases.
"The public doesn't understand
and I hope that other industrial
leaders will speak out at Tuesday's
budget reduction meeting of
Council."
"Spectrum plans to stay in
Kings Mountain and remain a good
customer and industrial citizen but
it isn't fair that the public sees our
concern for higher rates as an issue
between just one company and the
city," he said.
4
RENOVATION UNDERWAY - Construction workers from Morrison Construction Company of Shelby
are putting up petitions in the old Central
School,
the future home of the Kings Mountain District
Schools’ office. Left to right, Wolfe Buchner, Jimmy Morgan and Ace Morrison work on the second floor
of the building.