Mountaineers play at Bessemer City Friday night .................... SSE
Kings Mountain Men who wanted to serve others gunned down
IN Gastonia
YOUNG LIVES CUT SHORT
Raymond Sean Garris, 23, wanted
to follow in his father's footsteps
Since he was a small child, 23-
year-old Sean Garris wanted to fol-
low in his father's footsteps and be
a police officer.
He had recently completed his
Basic Law Enforcement Training
at Cleveland Community College
and was to enter Gaston College
today for advanced training.
But early Saturday morning, his
dreams and his life were snuffed
out in what his policeman father
called a "useless" shooting on a
Gastonia street.
The death was devastating for
Sean's father, Sgt. Raymond
Garris, a training officer for Kings
Mountain Police Department and
Sean's instructor at Cleveland
Community College.
"It's tough," said Sgt. Garris. "I
little argument.over girls. For
someone to take a weapon and just
shoot people like he shot them is
just useless."
Sean and three friends reported-
ly went to Gastonia to eat after at-
tending a football game at Kings
Mountain High School Friday.
About 1:50 a.m. they pulled into a
service station to get gas and ap-
parently argued with occupants of
another car. After being told to
leave the premises by police, the
occupants of the two cars reported-
“ly took their disagreement to the
parking lot of a closed service sta-
tion on West Franklin Blvd. near
Bessemer City Road, where the
shootings took place. Eighteen-
year-old, Shannon Oneal
Skumanick of Gastonia was
don't see any reason for anyone to
go and take somebody's life over a
See Garris, 12-A
Sean Garris, pictured with his dog, Dallas Irving.
Kings Mountain Parks and Recreation
Department is planning one of its biggest
Mountaineer Day celebrations in recent years
Saturday, Oct. 8 in downtown Kings Mountain.
Activities will begin at 10 a.m. and run until
midnight, with a gigantic street dance which
begins at 8 p.m. capping off the celebration.
Monty Deaton of the Recreation Department
said many new events are being added this year
which should make the event more attractive to
local citizens.
Traditional activities such as arts and crafts,
food, and entertainment will remain a part of
the program, but many new activities are sure
_ to create some excitement.
One thing that should attract a good crowd is
a dunking booth which will feature Town
Councilmen and department heads from 12
noon-4 p.m. Anyone with a grudge to settle
should begin loosening up their pitching arm.
At other times the dunking booth targets will
be high school students.
Sports activities will be a big feature. Pop
Warner football games will be played begin-
ning at City Stadium beginning at 9:30 a.m.,
and at halftime all ages will be invited to com-
pete in punt, pass and kick competition.
Cheerleading competition featuring middle
and high school teams from Gaston and
Cleveland Counties will be held at the enter-
tainment stage which will be set up at the cor-
ner of Cherokee and East Gold streets.
A 3-on-3 basketball tournament will be held
at the Community Center gym, and horseshoe
tournaments will be held at the Community
Center pits.
Another event which should attract a lot of
participation is a 5-K run.
Persons interested in competing in the punt,
pass and kick events must register at the
Community Center. Registration for the basket-
ball tournament is $40 and registration for most
of the other events is $10. The registration fee
includes a T-shirt. There is no charge for the
Youngsters and adults alike enjoyed train rides at Grover's pre- Labor Day celebration Saturday. Story and more photos on page 1-B.
Mountaineer Day celebration set for October 8
cheerleading competition.
From 4-7 p.m., bingo will be played inside
City Hall. Kings Mountain Fire Department
will sell barbecue in the parking lot of the old
Western Auto, and will host a car show at the
Fire Department.
Tickets will go on soon for cow pasture, bin-
go, which will be held at Jake Early Field.
Shaggers will perform all day in front of
Sagesport, there will be a tea contest for area
restaurants, rocking chair events, raffle for $50
in food, Boy Scout exhibits, putt-putt, kiddie
rides, moon walk, and other activities.
Booths for non-profit organizations will be
free and booths for food vendors will rent for
$50.
Other activities will be added between now
and October.
For more information on the events or to
volunteer to help, call the Parks and Recreation
Department at 734-0449.
Jason R. Dover, 24, had dreams
of becoming a probation officer
Paul Dover hasn't been able to
talk much since the shooting death
of his 24-year-
old son, Jason,
and his friend,
Sean Garris.
on a Gastonia
cruising strip
early Saturday
morning, but
there is one
thing he wants
the public to
understand:
Even though DOVER
the young men were killed in a
cruising section by cruisers, the
Kings Mountain men were not
cruisers.
"It has been very disturbing lis-
tening to television reports and
reading the papers since it hap-
pened," Dover said. "They keep
School office move
set for next Friday
Kings Mountain School offices
will move several blocks east
Friday, Sept. 16 to the renovated
Central School on East Ridge
Street.
Old Davidson School on Parker
Street has served as the school of-
yearstocome: lie
Supt. Bob McRae said the sys-
tem initially hoped to make the
move during the summer, and had
hired a crew of students, teachers
and others to help make the move.
When the time schedule had to be
delayed, the system hired a moving
firm at a smaller cost which can
make the move in one day.
"[ think it will take a few days to
really get to full efficiency, but we
should be answering the phone by
the next Monday," McRae said.
"We would just ask the community
to be understanding. We will try
not to lose service any more than
absolutely necessary, but if anyone
has any pressing problems and
can't get through to us we hope
they will call the principal of the
school that's involved."
The superintendent's office, fi-
nance office and School Board
room will be located on the main
floor. Most of the instructional of-
fices will be located on the third
floor, and Head Start will be locat-
ed on'the ground floor.
Renovation is basically com-
plete, but architects and workers
are making corrections and minor
repairs.
saying they were cruising. They
absolutely were not cruising. They
were in Gastonia on completely le-
gitimate reasons. They were killed
by cruisers but they weren't cruis-
ers."
Gastonia police have charged
18-year-old Shannon Oneal
Skumanick with two counts of
murder in the shooting deaths of
Dover and Garris, and he also faces
two counts of assault with a deadly
weapon in the injuries of Dentis
Mark Crawford, 24, of Kings
Mountain, and Larry Mark
Williams, 20, of Gastonia, who
were treated and released at Gaston
Memorial Hospital.
According to reports, the three
Kings Mountain men and Williams
got into an argument with the occu-
See Dover, 12-A
Mary Accor principal
of alternative school
Mary Accor, assistant principal
at Kings Mountain Middle School,
has been named principal of the
new Alternative
1001 ‘which
second semester
of the current
school year at the
current office of
Mg District Schools
A six-person
committee comprised of represen-
tatives of the Kings Mountain,
Shelby and Cleveland County
school systems interviewed 11 ap-
plicants and "strongly" recom-
mended Accor for the post, accord-
ing to Kings Mountain
Superintendent Bob McRae.
Accor began her teaching career
at Kings Mountain's Central
School. During the first half of the
1993-94 school year she served as
interim principal at Bethware
School.
Lynda Stewart will fill Mrs.
Accor's post at the Middle School
for the remainder of the current
school year, then the Kings
Mountain Board of Education will
advertise that position.
Supt. McRae said the next step
in organizing the school, which
will serve troubled students from
all three county systems, is to hire
a staff and work toward imple-
See Accor, 11-A
inning of the
By GARY STEWART
Editor of the Herald
dening J.D. Lefevers of Grover thinks big.
bearing bunches of huge, ripe bananas.
about three bunches of big bananas on them."
ter them occasionally.
because of that.
Banana trees sprouting
up all over Long Branch
His acquaintances call him by his childhood nickname "Tiny," but when it comes to gar-
Especially when it comes to growing bananas.
That's right. The tropical banana trees thrive on Lefevers' two acre farm on Long
Branch Road. Plants he got from Dan Bagwell several years ago have matured and are
Growing bananas in North Carolina is not as difficult as you might think, explains
Lefevers and his wife, Hilda. They take their plants up each fall before the first frost, store
them in the basement and set them back out after the last frost of spring.
"It takes about four to five years for the trees to mature and have bananas on them,"
Mrs. Lefevers noted. "We've had some little bananas in the past but this year every tree has
The Lefevers fill a huge hole with compost prior to planting the trees, and then just wa-
"They're no trouble at all," Mrs. Lefevers said.
The couple gets a kick out of breaking the young sprouts off the trees and giving them
to their friends and neighbors. You'll likely see a lot more banana trees in the Grover area
"The bananas mature in hot wéather - around July and August," Mrs. Lefevers said.
"They are really good. They smell and taste just like the bananas you buy in the store.”
The Lefevers plan to try some lemon and mango trees next spring. "I had a mango tree
once and it had little mangos on it," Mrs. Lefevers said, "but I forgot and left it outside ard
the frost hit it. They taste wonderful in salads or just to cat them off the tree.”
Tiny Lefevers and his banana tree