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The city's cash flow is im-
proving, according to City
Manager Chuck Nance, who is
optimistic about the city's finan-
cial outlook in 1995, he said
this week.
Mayor Scott Neisler said he
hoped that 1995 will see a
restoration of faith in city gov-
ernment and called for citizens
to take a positive outlook, rather
than negative.
"I still say and will continue
to say that our city financial po-
sition is better than has been
Nance has optimistic outlook for 1995
stated and I will continue to
speak out on issues that we are
all concerned about," said the
mayor.
Neisler said he hoped that cit-
izens will get behind a beautifi-
cation effort and praised those
who are taking more interest in
beautifying the city. He praised
the recent efforts of a commit-
tee to upgrade the holiday deco-
rations and said that 500 day
lily plants are being donated to
add to a city-wide beautification
effort.
The mayor said that a prison
work crew will be helping in
the beautification effort as well
as working with Pubic Works
crews on clearing of sewer line
rights-of-way.
"We have a lot of positive
things going on and we will see
more in 1995," he said.
Nance says the city's finan-
cial picture will improve, as is
already indicated by cash flow
reports.
See 1995, 10-A
32-cent stamp
popular item
Thousands of new U. S.
postage stamps were sold at the
Kings Mountain Post Office
Tuesday as five postal clerks at
all three windows were kept
hopping all day on the first day
of the increase.
Way back when, a stamp cost
3 cents. That's how much the
price went up January 1- from
29 cents to 32 cents for a stamp
for a first-class letter.
Quay Moss, KM Post Office
Customer Services Supervisor,
‘said that 50,000 of the "G:
stamps for "Old Glory
30,000 more 3 centers an
ty of books of self-adhesive
stamps were available to cus-
tomers when the doors opened
“Tuesday after the New Year's
- Day holiday. By mid-afternoon
© the lines were still long and the
: Post Office was running low on
= the 3 cent stamps.
~The parking lot at the facility
was full almost all day, accord-
ing to Moss, who said that the
third of the month is also Social
“Security check day for many
residents who flock to the Post
i=Office.
= The increase in the cost of a
“postcard went from 18 to 20
cents and bulk rate and second
class postage also went up. The
cost of a second ounce on a first
class letter is the same, 23
cents.
Moss, who joined the local
staff in 1973, recalled that 20
years ago the cost of a stamp
was 8 cents and he recalled nine
increases during the period,
“from 8 to 10 cents; 10 to 13
~ cents; 13 to 15 cents; 15 to 18
cents; 18 to 20 cents; 20 to 22
cents; 22 to 25 cents; 25 to 29
cents; and 29 to 32 cents.
"A stamp is really the best
buy in town," says Moss, who
said a first class letter can go as
far distant as Hawaii and can be
returned to the sender for the
same 32 cents.
"When you compare the
postal increases to other in-
See Stamps, 10-A
Sex ed report
is due Monday
A report by the Kings
Mountain Health Council on a
revised Middle School family
life curriculum will be present-
ed to the Kings Mountain Board
of Education Monday night.
Wanda Ammay, chairman of
the Health Council, will make
the report following weeks of
study by the committee.
Supt. Bob McRae said the
board will not consider adop-
tion of the curriculum until after
a community meeting is held in
February for parents to attend
and give input into the discus-
sion.
McRae said the report to the
board is for information only.
McRae said the report is the
major item of business on the
agenda for the January meeting.
The board meets at 7 p.m. at
Central School.
d plen-
Kings Mountain Hospital has contracted with Dr.
six more months. Members of the Clinic staff from left are Ann
and Sandi Patterson, a new nurse on the staff. |
Doctor to stay six more months
Kings Mountain Hospital
contracted this week with Dr.
Walter Minor to staff the old
McGill Clinic for six more
months. ;
Minor, who came to McGill
Clinic in October after Drs.
Charles Adams and Dr. Frank
Sincox left the family medical
practice, was also given hospi-
tal admitting privileges and will
be admitting patients to Kings
Mountain Hospital, according
to Assistant Administrator Alex
Bell.
There had been rumors that
the hospital was closing the
McGill Clinic permanently,
now called KMH Medical
Services, on December 31.
"This practice is building up
and we are taking new pa-
tients," said Minor, a retired
family physician and US Army
flight surgeon from Fuquay
Varina who lives in Kings
Mountain five days a week and |
commutes on weekends to his |
home in Eastern North
Carolina.
Minor also announced that
Sandi Patterson has joined his
staff as a registered nurse. Other
members of the staff are Ann
Green, Avis Morrow and Sissy
Glass.
Minor said that he is seeing
patients on a full schedule from
9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through
Friday and that walk-in patients
are welcome.
Trustees of the hospital were
meeting in executive session
Wednesday to hear recommen-
dations from a consultant for
solving problems of the doctor-
short, financially strapped insti-
tution.
Bell said trustees are also
meeting in executive session
with Cleveland Memorial
Hospital trustees on January 9.
Bell said that one of the rec-
10
Alternative
Two representatives of the
state treasurer's office, Craig
Barfield and Vance Holleman of
the Local Government
Commission, are being invited
by City Manager Chuck Nance
to attend the January 31 meet-
ing of City Council to respond
to questions by Council on the
1993-94 audit.
Nance presented Mayor Scott
Neisler and seven Council
members copies of the audit on
Friday.
A special meeting of City
Council is set for Thursday at 7
p.m. for City Auditor Darrell
Keller to give a presentation on
the audit. The board will take
Walter Minor to keep the old McGill Clinic open for
Green, Avis Morrow, Minor, Sissy Glass
ommendations of Alex Scott of
Growth Activation of Atlanta
is possible merger with another
(facility and the closest facility is
Cleveland Memorial Hospital at
Shelby. .
Scott's report will describe
the available forms of merger,
discuss criteria for acceptable
partners and list health care net-
works that fit the criteria, said J.
C. Bridges, chairman of the
KMH trustees.
Jim Rose, chairman of the
Clevaland Memorial Hospital
| board of trustees, contacted
Bridges several weeks ago
about the January 9 meeting
with his board.
Rose'and Bridges said that
the two boards have a common
goal - to deliver better health
care to the Cleveland County
€ommunity.
"We may talk about merger
and it may} never come to the
See Roctor,10-A
:
Bo action until possibly January
31.
Nance said that he had not
had time to study specifics of
the audit report, which under
law was sent to the LGC under
due date of October 31, 1994.
Nance said since the faxed
copy of the LGC's tentative ap-
proval of the audit accountants
there have made several
changes and that it would have
been premature of Keller to
have released the audit until all
the changes were made. ;
Keller has been criticized by
several member of the city
board for not releasing the audit
earlier. But Nance said Council
is receiving the audit earlier this
up.
year than last. He said Council
took its first look at the 1992-93
audit on January 11, 1993.
City officials have been anx-
ious to see the audit so ques-
tions regarding the city's finan-
cial condition could be cleared
Mayor Scott Neisler has
maintained for some months
that the city's financial picture
is not as bad as it has been
painted. The audit is expected
to give an independent picture
of the city's financial condition
for fiscal 1993-94.
Representatives of the LGC
came to Kings Mountain last
See Audit, 10-A
Teen allegedly killed
after argument at game
An argument before a basket-
ball game ended in the shooting
death of a Shelby man last
Wednesday night and the arrest
of five young Kings Mountain
men on murder charges.
Cleveland County Sheriff
Dan Crawford said Barry
Cornelius Lynch, 18, a former
student at Shelby High School,
died in the arms of a friend
while others smashed two win-
‘dows in doors at the front en- -
Mountain
that the,
was dt the
y en
rear of the building.
Lynch died in the parking lot
of the hospital, according to po-
lice reports.
Chad Strong, 16, a student at
Crest High School, Jock
Degree, 20, a graduate of
Shelby High School, and
Anthony Allen, 18, a student at
Shelby High School, were all
treated at the hospital for gun-
shot wounds and released.
Arrested were:
Shedrick Lashon Crosby, 21,
of Carolina Garden Apartments
in Kings Mountain. Crosby is
an employee of Beverly Knits.
Eric Germaine Hunter Jr., 17,
of 41 Carolina Gardens
Apartments. He is a student at
Kings Mountain High School.
Henry Allen Moore, 23, of
521 Harmon Court in Kings
Mountain.
Sheldon Jaron Thompson, 20,
of 1906 Alpine Drive in Kings
Mountain.
David Lee Bell, 18, of 42
Pine Manor Apartments in
Kings Mountain.
Each of the men is charged
with one felony count of mur-
der and two felony counts of
shooting into an occupied vehi-
cle. They are being held in the
Cleveland County jail without
bond.
Crawford said investigators
don't know what started the
confrontation before the Shelby
Star Holiday Classic, the sec-
ond night of a three day basket-
ball tournament at Kings
Mountain High School.
Crawford said the group of
suspects allegedly followed the
other group out of the gym and
parking lot at the high school.
Crawford said a white 1989
ges and a gray 1685 Nissan
Maxima carried three or four
others from Shelby from the
high school gymnasium.
About two miles from the
gym, Crawford said a 1984 bur-
gundy Oldsmobile Cutlass car-
ying the suspects passed the
caravan of Shelby teens on
Crocker Road and gunfire
erupted.
"The car carrying the Kings
Mountain teens passed the two
cars, opened fire and sped fast,"
he said.
Crawford said there is no ev-
idence that the Shelby teens re-
turned fire on the passing car.
He alleges that all five suspects
fired weapons.,
He said which gun fired the
fatal shot is not a factor in the
murder charges. Firing into an
occupied vehicle is a felony and
when death occurs all alleged
participants are charged.
Crawford said Lynch was
seated in the left rear of the
Volkswagen when he was shot
three times with bullets from
different guns.
Both of the Shelby cars had
injured people.
"The panicked Shelby teens
See Death, 10-A
Kings Mountain People
RUTH B. WHITE
Ruth helps heal with hugs
Ruth Blantoh White, 73, is a staunch believer
in angels and hugs.
After surviving three serious wrecks without a
scratch in four years, she credits the good Lord
for sending his angels to look after her.
Her philosophy 18 that everyone needs an angel
and a hug and she hugs her patients at Greenfield
Manor at least oncc\a day.
"Sometimes | think the hugs and kisses do
more than the medicine,” said the licensed practi-
cal nurse who went back to school at age 53 at
the urging of formck Kings Mountain Hospital
head nurse Edna Childers.
"Edna told me that\my calling was in nursing
after 1 completed a nursing assistants course al
the hospital." said Ruths White returned to the lo- school education
cal hospital and work for 10 years. certificate.
After the wrecks that imjured one of her passen-
gers seriously. Ruth developed a philosophy to
live cach day to the fullest. “1 decided that God Cleveland Community College.
wasn't ready for mc )
from four wrecks and |
much as 1 can”
Three years ago Rutl
ing home mn Gastonia. Sh
teer for a number of yea
t when 1 walked away
tricd to help others as
nt to work at the nurs
was a Hospice volun-
area
cVer
White said that her career choice and the career
choices of her three daughters grew out of their
desire to help someone else. Sandi Blanton
Packard of Shelby is a Cleveland County Home
Health nurse: Rita Ann Blanton Stratton works
with abused children in the Portland, Oregon
Court System. and Tinker Blanton of Kings
Mountain is a computer specialist in Charlotte.
The four grandchildren are Vic and Paul Allen
Packard and Lindsey and Nicky Stratton.
Ruth Reep Blanton White quit school in the
10th grade in Lincolnton when the family moved
to Kings Mountain. Ruth took her nursing assis-
tant's course before graduating high school but
Edna Childers encouraged her to finish her high
When her youngest daughter was in college.
Mrs. White went back to school herself at
White is a member of Bethlehem Baptist
Church and 1s active in Senior Citizen clubs in the
Her activity belies her age. She danced the old
year out and the new year in, she said. and loved
sstep she took, i
and get her practical nursing
five Shelby
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