Friday 7:30 + First Round State AAA Play-Offs
See Page 9A
North Carolina Press Association
u
_ Vol. 107 No. 45
Haulers
draw ire
of chairman
By ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
An obviously upset Becky
Cook, chairman of the Kings
Mountain Board of Elections,
blasted conduct by supporters out-
side the city polling places
Tuesday.
'It's a shame that candidates
can't win elections on their own
merits without hauling people to
the polls," she said.
It was wet, it was cold and it was
generally a messy day at the polls
Tuesday as tired election workers
allowed curbside voting to keep the
elderly and handicapped voters out
of the rain.
But Cook said that when she
questioned a voter if he or she
needed some help with his or her
ballot that on more than one occa-
sion a driver would accompany a
voter into the polling place.
"One driver grabbed the ballots
when county registrar Mary
Frances Etters worked the curbside
taking signed statements from the
voters," said Cook.
"We stopped that and would not
permit the driver .to mark the bal-
lots for the people riding with her."
By law a person who is dis-
abled, blind or for reasons of intel-
lect can request that someone ac-""
company him or her into the voting
See Cook, 7-A
Thursday, November 9, 1995
REPEAT
_. A jubilant reelected, Mayor Scott Neisler relishes his/role-ak the !
city's chief cheerleader, a title he tacked on himself during his first’
term.
Bridges retains
KM Council seat
Councilwoman Norma Bridges edged political
newcomer Wendell Bunch by 29 votes Tuesday as
‘Kings Mountain voters returned her to City Hall for
another term.
WIN $100.00 - LAST WEEK OF “PICK THE WINNERS”
19s Mountain at Enka] FOOTBALL CONTEST
Nor th School Axxrond-~
+14E 98082 NM Naa 55 00
8 ii
Hoe 1-d
3
re
TYINOM SF
NV GTanian ai
ge61-12-0
12
Since 1889
Kings Mountain, N.C. * 28086 » 50¢ _
Neisler elected
to second term
Scott Neisler was reelected to
his second term as mayor Tuesday,
defeating former commissioner Jim
Childers by 255 votes as 1,562 vot-
ers went to the polls, a heavy
turnout in spite of the day long
heavy downpour of rain.
Shouts went up from the large
audience of spectators as the totals
were posted on a big board in the
lobby of City Hall.
A total of 903 voters supported
Neisler, 388 in East Kings
Mountain and 515 in West Kings
Mountain, while a total of 648, 270
voters in East Kings Mountain and
378 in West Kings Mountain, sup-
ported Childers.
Mullinax
wins..maybe
Jerry Mullinax led incumbent
Ward 2 Councilman Jim Guyton by
three votes (161-158) Tuesday
night as vote totals were posted but
nine sealed provisional ballots are
yet to be counted.
City Elections Chairman Becky
Cook said the majority of the bal-
lots uncounted are from Ward 2.
She said the final vote won't be
tabulated until Thursday at 11 a.m.
in the second floor conference
room at City Hall.
"I love it," said an obviously
I elated Muliinax who got hugs from
his mother, Jeanette Mullinax, and
See Mullinax, 7-A
"I am happy," said the Mayor,
who was flanked by his parents,
Charles and Mary Neisler, in greet-
ing voters as the election totals
were posted by Elections Chairman
Becky Cook.
"I want to thank the voters of
Kings Mountain for coming out in
a horrible, sloppy day. It's a super
turnout for a day like this," said
the mayor.
"It makes me feel proud that
Kings Mountain people think I did
a good job the past four years," he
said.
Neisler pledged to reestablish
credibility to the city government
during his next two years in office.
Jerry Mullinax, overjoyed at the news that he led by three votes in
the Ward 2 Council race, gets a big hug from his mother, Jeanette
Mullinax.
Childers, who has run unsuc-
cessfully before for mayor and is a
former two-term city commission-
er, said he did not plan to run
again.
"This doesn't mean that I won't
be active in city government and
still attend the board meetings but
this is my career in politics," an ob-
viously disappointed Childers said.
"I wish Scott well," said
Childers.
The mayor's race had been
closely watched for several weeks
and pollwatchers had predicted the
winner would be chosen by a very
close margin.
See Mayor, 7-A
Cancer a tough mountain
for Steve Sprouse to climb
By ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
Every cloud has a silver lining, says Steve Sprouse,
46, who is battling cancer with the same zeal that:
helped him to climb mountains.
Sprouse says the strong faith of his mother and the
new friends he's met from Hospice of Cleveland
County brighten his day.
i
op N—
"I am happy,” said Mrs. Bridges, who said she is
pleased that voters had trusted her to serve another
term. "I have always voted on matters that I thought
An outdoorsman, Steve says he misses hiking and
climbing and would have liked to finish up his last
course at Gaston College and start his nursing career, a
Brandon Bridges, 10, gives Grandma Norma
Bridges a big hug after she won the At-Large
Council race Tuesday.
best for all the community and I am so pleased," she
said.
Bunch congratulated Mrs. Bridges.
"I worked hard and I am proud of the close race and
just did the best I could," said Bunch.
"I ran a clean campaign and I ran on my own mer-
is.”
The vote total was 775 for Bridges and 746 for
Bunch.
Earlier pollwatchers waiting in the lobby of City
Hall for the election returns said they thought the
Bridges-Bunch race would be too close to call.
And Mrs. Bridges, a veteran of political campaigns,
said she agreed.
"It will be close," she said as she waited for the re-
sults to be posted by the city elections committee.
The totals by precincts were: East Kings Mountain,
Bridges 352 and Bunch 291; West Kings Mountain,
Bunch 455 and Bridges 423.
Photo by Gary SEL
Kings Mountain High football coach Ron Massey talks to his Mountaineers following last week's 24-15 victory over
East Rutherford which gave the Mountaineers an 8-2 regular season record and #2 seed in the upcoming state 3-A
playoffs. KM travels to Enka Friday for a 7:30 first round game. More stories and pictures are on page 1-B.
Mountain.
~ Steve Sprouse gets love and attention from Lucy
Pasquier, Hospice social worker, his mother and
caregiver, Geneva Sprouse, his nurse Melissa
Ellis McMurray, Hospice
Director of Supportive Services and chaplain Tim
Burroughs, Patti
Lowry.
Hospice,"
er.
Kings Mountain People
longtime dream.
"But we don't know what God has in store for us,"
he said last week. z
“In July I started having severe headaches and went :
to the doctor. After tests at Carolinas Medical Center I :
was told I had a brain tumor,” he said.
He chose not to take aggressive therapy for
glioblastoma and moved from Dallas to his mother's
home at 1301 W. Gold Street Extension in Kings
"I sleep on the couch beside of Steve's bed and I
could not give my son the care he needs without
says Geneva Sprouse whose husband died in
February from a brain aneurysm.
Some days are better than others - and Steve is
grateful that Hospice workers can give his mother
some time away from the pressures of being a caregiv-
See Sprouse, 8-A
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Of The Herald Staff
No baseball fan was more excit-
ed than Ray Cline, 88, when the
Atlanta Braves won the World
Series.
The well-known Kings
Mountain man's birthday came
during the week of the Series and
his family said they had a hard
time getting him away from the
television set to cut his birthday
cake.
Cline has always been a sports
enthusiast, rooting for the Braves,
the Kings Mountain High School
teams and his No. 1 favorite all his
life, the Chicago Cubs.
At the Cline home there are
three television sets going because
Ray's wife Lib always cheers for
the Cincinnati Reds and when the
grandchildren are around they are
rooting for different teams.
"We are a big sports family,"
said Ray, a former several terms
city commissioner from Ward I
who served in the administrations
of Glee A. Bridges and John Henry
RAY CLINE
Moss.
Baseball has been Cline's love
all his life, mainly because he
played outfield himself in the ear-
ly 1930's and in later years for the
South Atlantic Sally League and
Gastonia Groves team. For many
years he'was a baseball umpire for
Cline loves KM, baseball
the American Legion and Western
Carolinas League teams.
"My wife and I never disagreed
on anything in nearly 60 years of
marriage but when we got to the
ball games that was another story,"
said Ray.
Lib Huffstickler Cline agrees on
that score. Ray never called the
plays as she would have liked as
she cheered from the stands, she
said.
For many years before their re-
tirement the Clines traveled to see
the Cubs play ball. Every year
about this time they flew to
Chicago, Cincinnati and
Milwaukee, stopping off in
Indianapolis to visit Lib's sister.
A native of Lincolnton, Cline
came to Kings Mountain in 1934
and his first job here was at the old
Bonnie Mill but he retired after 23
years with Mauney Hosiery where
Lib also worked 25 years.
He served in the US Navy dur-
ing World Ward II from 1943-45.
"Ray joined the Navv a week be-
See Cline, 7-A