Mounties fall to Burns
VF
y se ; 4 ;
., Tr 4 we ey
: 4 "aT 2.8 y ~~
= ~ I eg St of
-— Z< Sr ENS Zs, NY =
— hS Er ES = =
Te 1 pS —_— 32 Zs £ wo
£ % — > mr
; ”
Petition getting good response
Term election could be soon
A referendum to amend the city charter
to shorten the terms of City Council from
four to two years could be held as early as
this summer.
Debra Blanton, supervisor of the
Cleveland County Board of Elections, says
that the timing of the process is dependent
upon how quickly citizens who have
initiated the charter amendment can get the
names of 10 percent of the registered voters
on a petition, have the petition validated by
her office and then present it to City
Council for calling of the election.
~- Gene White, retired city planner who
has initiated the petition effort,
getting good response from citizens and
Dr. Joe Lee
dies Tuesday
Dr. Joe Lee, Kings Mountain
family doctor for 31 years, died
Tuesday night of leukemia. He
was 63.
Lee's
trademark was
his compassion
and gentleness
with his pa-
tients, said his
longtime nurse
Jean Moore.
"He was such
an inspiration to
all of us."
Dr. Thomas
Durham, a life-
LEE
long close friend and partner at
Kings Mountain Family
Practice, said Lee will be great-
ly missed.
Lee and Durham graduated
‘together from Landrum, SC
“High School. Durham came to
Kings Mountain as a partner
with Dr. Paul Hendricks Sr. a
few years before Lee joined the
staff as Hendricks-Durham-Lee
Clinic.
= Lee was a graduate of
Clemson Uriversity and
Medical College of Charleston,
SC. He was a member and for-
mer deacon of First Baptist
Church, a former Chief and a
trustee of the Medical Staff at
Kings Mountain Hospital, and a
member of the board of direc-
tors at White Oak Manor.
He is survived by his wife,
June Chalmers Lee; two sons,
Michael Lee of Lexington and
Steven Lee of Chapel Hill; and
two daughters, Nancy Bryant
of Burlington and Suzanne Orr
of Texas; and two grandchil-
_dren.
* The funeral will be conducted
Friday at 1 p.m. at First Baptist
Church.
The family will receive
friends Thursday from 6:30-
8:30 p.m. at Harris Funeral
Home.
BW principal
Holland retiring
His Bethware School stu-
dents are the love of his life and
Principal Hugh Holland will
miss them on his retirement
from the school system June 30.
Holland, 56, is
taking early re-
tirement due to
health reasons.
He underwent
four operations
1 in four years,
including back
surgery twice
and colon can-
: cer in 1993.
HOLLAND The fusing of
three vertebrae in experimental
pack surgery has relieved some
~but not all of the pain.
Proud of his 600-plus stu-
dents in grades K-5, Holland
“said his association with
Bethware School faculty and
students have been among the
“happiest days of his life.
=~ He had his Broadman
See Holland, 11-A
election and also the change in the charter if
approved by voters.
"This may be a tight schedule but it can
be done in time for the October elections,"
says Blanton.
Kings Mountain Board of Elections, of
which Becky Cook is chairman, runs the
city elections. The cost of a city election
runs between $3500 and $4000 and the city
budgets $8500 for both the election and
runoff if needed.
In October four year terms of Council
members Norma Bridges, Jim Guyton and
Phil Hager and Mayor Scott Neisler are up
for grabs.
See Petition, 11-A
will be at City Hall again this week to
continue the petition process.
Last week White said he had obtained
one-fourth of the needed 413 signatures but
he is shooting for 500 names.
White said he plans to have the petition
validated before he presents it to City
Council.
Under the election laws, the Council
must call the referendum between 60 and
120 days after the petition is received.
Council could not refuse the petition if the
appropriate names ‘are certified as
registered voters of the city of Kings
Mountain. The United States Justice
Department must, however, preclear the
said he is
BLOODMOBILE - Joey Downey, Kings Mountain High School senior, donates a pint of blood at the
recent visit of the Cleveland County Chapter American Red Cross bloodmobile sponsored by the high
school chapter of Future Homemakers of America. Nurse Margaret Terrana, above with Downey, was a
volunteer at the visit which produced 64 pints of blood.
KMHS block scheduling approved
Next school year will be different at Kings
Mountain High School and Monday night the
board of education unanimously gave block
scheduling and a concentrated curriculum the
green light.
Students will attend four 90-minute classe a
day for one semester, then take four new 90-
minute classes the next semester.
“The first bell will ring at 7:50 a.m. and the last
bell will ring at 2:48 p.m.
A major change, which brought questions from
school board member Billy Houze, is that gradua-
tion day for seniors will be on Friday, June 7, and
seniors will be required to take end of course ex-
ams on June 5-6.
By the year 1999 graduation requirements will
be raised to 27 units but it will be possible that a
student could complete 32 units during four
years of high school. In 1996 a senior must have
earned 20 credits to graduate; in 1997 a total of things to report about block scheduling since the
2 in 1998 a total of 24; and in 1999 a total of high school there changed curriculums three
. ears ago.
Joel Rountree, chairman of the calendar com- : "Thy told me that teachers are the key to the
mittee, presented what he called a hypothetical success. The kids adjust.”
calendar which also called for mid-term report McRae said he is excited about the program
cards on the 45th and 90th days of school and which will send a message to high school stu-
progress reports every 15 days. dents and their families that education must come
Board member Ronnie Hawkins asked about first.
test score results of students at Crest High School
and Southeast Guilford, where similar programs
have been implemented.
Supt. Dr. Bob McRae said that more increases
were noted in elective courses taken by students
and there was clearly no drop-off in test scores.
Chairman B. S. Peeler asked if students would
be penalized in class rank by taking eight units of
band and Bumgardner said that in block schedul-
ing a student could take eight units of band and
still have 24 with an opportunity for weighted
courses.
"This curriculum is a matter of choice and our
kids can still take every advanced course in aca-
demics that we offer," said McRae.
KMHS Principal Jackie Lavender said that af-
ter about two years in the program the students
may opt to finish their language requirements in
two years.
Vice-Chairman Shearra Miller reported that
teachers from Asheboro Schools had only fine
See Schedule, 11-A
culating the petition.
KM Schools
shows some improvement
The Kings Mountain District
School's report card from the
state showed a mixed bag - im-
provements in reading and math
in elementary and middle
school grades in seven areas
and a decline in scores in six
core courses at the high school.
The largest rise in scores
came in the fourth grade writing
test which jumped from 10 per-
cent of students at or above
grade level to 34.2 percent.
The sixth grade scores also
improved from 31.9 to 55.1 per-
cent but a drop was recorded in
the eighth grade writing test
from 75.4 percent in 1993 to
58.5 percent this year.
The high school science
scores also fell, from 45.1 per-
cent to 32.8. Performance im-
proved in reading and math in
grades 3-8 and third and eighth
grade science.
Dropouts rose from 3.11 to
3.33 percent.
Kings Mountain is in the
same cluster with nine other
systems, some as far distant as
Transylvania County and
Rowan-Salisbury.
Director of Student Services
Jean Thrift told members of the
Kings Mountain Board of
Education Monday night that
the newest results mark the sec-
ond year under a new system
introduced by the State
Department of Instruction, mea-
suring scores or end-of-grade
and end-of-course tests against
a set performance standard
rather than average scores.
Kings Mountain moved from
7th place in 1993 to 8th place in
1994 in percent proficient in the
six core courses at the high
school level with a score of 34.5
percent.
Kings Mountain moved from
10th place in 1993 to 4th place
in 1994 in percent proficient in
reading, grades 3-8, with a
score of 66.4 percent.
Kings Mountain moved from
7th place in 1993 to 3rd place in
1994 in percent proficient in
math, grades 3-8, with a score
See Report, 11-A
‘Ward 3 resident Charles Oliver, right, signs a petition to shorten
the terms of city council. Retired city planner Gene White, left, is cir-
report card
‘Family Life
curriculum
approved
Boys and girls will be sepa-
rated for the classes teaching
sensitive subjects in a revised
family life education curricu-
Jum which got unanimous ap-
proval from the Board of
JEducation Monday night.
The curriculum, modified due
to concerns expressed by par-
ents and the Kings Mountain
Ministerial Association, puts a
greater emphasis on abstinence
‘I'before marriage and monogamy
in marriage.
After a parent meeting last
week, the Kings Mountain
Health Council took another
look at the curriculum and made
minor changes, deleting some
of the terminology and graphic
diagrams in the seventh and
eighth grade materials. Some of
the materials were designated
for teacher reference use only.
The two weeks of classes in
family life education will be
taught at Kings Mountain
Middle School in the spring and
parents may opt to exclude their
students. Supt. Dr. Bob McRae
said that exclusion forms will
soon go out in the mail to par-
ents.
The sex education classes
will be taught next school year
in the fall, said McRae.
Dr. Jane King commented
briefly on the slight alterations
to the curriculum and McRae
thanked King and her staff and
members of the Health Council
for the long hours spent in de-
veloping the curriculum. The
board adopted the revised poli-
cy without comment.
"There was no way to make
this type of curriculum accept-
able to all but everyone has
worked and I am proud of our
accomplishments," said
Chairman B. S. Peeler.
eee —
Kings Mountain Feople
the citizens who come to the
police department for dog tags,
wreck reports and numerous
other business.
Her new job also gives her
Theresa Washington Long,
the new records secretary at the
Kings Mountain Police
Department, finds her new as-
signment challenging.
THERESA W. LONG
Most importantly, she says
she is more than a voice over
the telephone responding to a
caller's alarm.
A former dispatcher for over
four years, Long was promoted
recently when the position came
open.
Now, instead of answering
calls in the communications
center and dispatching police all
over the city she keeps records
and enters data in a computer
and has the opportunity to meet
more time with her family since
she now works a regular eight
hour shift instead of a 12-hour
swing shift.
A Kings Mountain native,
Long is the daughter of Hazel
and Mary Washington. She
. graduated from Kings Mountain
High School in 1975 and took
general office technology at
Cleveland Community College.
For 12 years she was supervisor
of housekeeping and laundry at
Hill Haven Health Care in
Gastonia. She supervised a 20-
member staff overseeing the
housekeeping details of 113
rooms.
It was at the Gastonia facil-
ity five years ago that she met
her husband, Larry Long, who
drove an 18-wheeler and deliv-
ered medical supplies.
"It was love at first sight," ac-
cording to Theresa, who has a
son, Max, 21. a Gaston College
student and employee of
Clevemont Mills, and a daugh-
ter, Sherika, 18. a Kings
Mountain High School senior
who works at McDonald's. Mr.
Long. a former 82nd Airborne
paratrooper for 13 years. is
Police job challenging for Long
now employed at Lithium
Corporation. The family also in-
cludes Theresa's 12-year-old
brother, Michael. a Kings
Mountain Middle School stu-
dent.
Theresa took her training as a
police dispatcher at Gaston
College and at Kings Mountain
Police Department and keeps
her certification current.
Interim Chief of Police Bob
Hayes says Long's versatility
and training is invaluable to po-
lice. "Theresa is knowledge-
wise in telecommunicating and
computers and she is good on
See Long, 11-A