Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Aug. 22, 1996, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Page 4A | Opinion THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD GARY Editor Darrell's in new building and everything is he At the end of this month I will close out my 32nd year in the newspaper business. For about 25 of those years I worked with Darrell Austin, who died last week of cancer. I first met Darrell in the late-sixties when we worked for the Gastonia Gazette. He was an ad- vertising salesman and I was a young sportswrit- er. When General Publishing Company bought the young, struggling Kings Mountain Mirror in 1973 owner Garland Atkins hired Darrell as General Manager. Even before his first day on the job, Darrell called me and asked me to join the team as sports editor. I did, and Darrell and I quickly became good friends. The news of Darrell's death reached me last week when our family was on vacation and cele- brating our 25th wedding anniversary and our son's 20th birthday. It brought a lot of sadness to what should have been a joyous occasion. I shed a lot of tears - and I still am - as I recall some of the good times and bad times we shared together. I once read that the definition of a true friend is "one who knows all of your faults but loves you anyway." I can truthfully say that Darrell and I knew each other as closely as two people can - ex- cept for man and wife - and despite all of our faults we loved each other very much. During the early years of the Kings Mountain Mirror - and the Mirror-Herald and Herald after General Publishing purchased Herald Publishing in 1974 - we changed locations about every time the wind changed directions. We started out in small buildings on Railroad Avenue and West Mountain Street before moving into the old Herald office on South Piedmont. For a year or so while we were waiting for our current office to be built on East King at Canterbury Road, we occu- pied a one-room building beside Curt Gaffney's Barber Shop on North Piedmont. The newspaper business is very stressful with a lot of fussing, cussing and criticism of one depart- ment toward another. People who didn't know us probably thought Darrell and I were each other's worst enemies because we were always criticiz- ing each other, but those who really knew us both over the long haul knew that it was just our way of getting rid of some of the stress and aggrava- tion. Whenever I vented frustrations, Darrell's fa- vorite reply was "everything will be alright when we get in the new building." Of course, everything is never alright in the newspaper business. Darrell, who later became Publisher after General Publishing sold out to Greene Newspapers and then to Republic, probably did- n't have the education or the business sense of some other publishers but he was a people per- son, which in my opinion is most important. It hurt him deeply when he had to fire someone be- cause he felt he was taking away their livelihood. Darrell as publisher, and I as editor, always tried to put ourselves in the shoes of the people we were writing about and dealing with. Darrell overcame a lot of obstacles in his earlier years, and perhaps because of that he had a kind and compassionate heart and always went the extra mile to try to help someone through hard times. Those who know me well know of the situation our family went through with our granddaugh- ter, Kayla, who was on life support from the day she was born until her death on March 8, 1996 at the age of three. The medical bills were astronom- ical and the physical and emotional stress was al- most unbearable, and I can truthfully say if it had not been for a merciful God and generous, caring friends like Darrell Austin our family could not have made it through that ordeal. Ironically, it was just a few days after Kayla's death that Darrell learned he had cancer in his adrenal gland. He had successfully undergone surgery to remove a tumor from his lung a year or so earlier, and was told he had beaten the dis- ease. Although outwardly Darrell said he was going to "beat it again," I knew deep-down that it was- n't going to happen except through death, be- cause over the years we had talked a lot about the disease and both of us were very scared of it. When Darrell first learned the cancer had re- turned, he hesitated several days to tell me about it because of what we had just been through with Kayla. But he mustered the strength one day to come into my office, and with a huge lump in his throat told me that it didn't look good. Through the years Darrell and I had a lot of conversations about our faith in God, and I told him that no matter how it turned out that he could count on God to be right there with him ev- ery step of the way. And he acknowledged that he had already put himself and his situation in God's hand. As I get older and hopefully wiser - and also because of the experience of losing my father to cancer and my only grandchild to a very rare dis- ease which medicine cannot explain - I continue to believe in miracles but I also believe that the most perfect healing is death. I thank God that Darrell did not have to suffer long, that he knew his family and friends until the end, and that he kept the faith. And most of all I am thankful that loved ones like my father and grandchild, and now Darrell Austin, are in that new building and everything is alright. [Cartoonitorial | \ [= hat si Fone Lo in ot ii olden {8 Hie. E ah : @ — VES \ = =a Y 5 Don't lose faith in The Rock There was a great amount of excitement last week over the announcement of the discovery of a meteor in Antarctica that is believed to have come from the planet Mars and is also believed to show evidence of life on that planet. For centuries, people have speculated about the possibility about some form of life on another planet. In recent years, space probes have been launched to distant planets to gather information about the nature of planet surfaces and atmo- spheres and look for evidence of some life form. This meteor found right here on earth is the clos- est thing we have to date of such evidence, unless you are into believing all the UFO stories that have circulated over the past 50 years. At best, there is still a great deal of speculation and plenty of room for doubt regarding the rock from Mars. The main evidence that the meteor is from the planet is that its composition is similar to the soil samples analyzed by space probes to Mars. This does not rule out other possible places the rock may have come from. The evidence of life on the rock is the fossil-like structure of the rock that look like some sort of primitive life- form. Believe me, they are not talking about a man from Mars as yet! But just the idea that life exists elsewhere in our solar system, far less in our vast @iniverse, ‘gets many people excited and some wondeting. Some are wondering what impact all this may have on faith, for example. If there are other plan- ets that have life, what impact does that have on humanity and all life on earth as far as our signif- icance? Could it be that God has created many planets with life in many parts of the universe? If so, are those creatures accountable to God in simi- lar ways, and has God had to redeem other crea- tures from their sinfulness as God has had to do here on earth? Would heaven include beings from other planets? It can really get to be mind bog- gling when you consider all the possibilities. That is why this little rock found in Antarctica is con- sidered to be so significant. I heard a geology teacher say last week that this may be a real challenge to some people's faith. I think he was particularly speaking about those whom he would call ‘creationists,’ people who be- lieve in a literal interpretation of the Creation ac- count in the Old Testament book of Genesis. I can't speak for the creationists, but I suspect they will not find this discussion that significant, since this new theory of life on Mars is highly specula- tive in the first place. Besides, other theories that have challenged the creationists have been met by either dismissing the theories or, in some cases, making room for the theories by placing them "between the lines" of the written text, so to speak. REFLECTIONS ON RELIGION AND LIFE Rev. Harold Schwantes Pastor Central United Methodist Church KINGS MOUNTAIN , NC I think that most of us are simply going to find this new 'discovery,' if indeed it is anything sig- nificant, to be just another example of the won- ders of our universe and the greatness of God. Many years ago this century, the author J.B. Phillips challenged our thinking with the idea that "your God is too small." His point was well taken, for many of us are guilty of wrapping God up in a neat little package that fits the lifestyle or thought process we want to maintain. God is a lot greater than we want to admit, and there is no finite being who can comprehend the mind of our Infinite God. While I haven't thought about it a great deal, I don't see how the possibili- ty that God has created and loved another life form somewhere else in the univesse will: in any. way, diminish God's love for. his igreated beings, on earth. The coming of God's Son, Jesus Christ, to re- deem us proves God has more than enough love to spare for us earthlings. And if God has other beings elsewhere, I have no doubt of the suffi- ciency of his infinite love for them as well. Also, this discussion does not even take into account our long-standing belief in the Judeo-Christian heritage of angels and other spiritual forces, which are life forms of another nature. I don't think that the Rock from Mars will be ‘rocking’ the faith of too many people, especially those whose life is founded on the Rock of Ages. TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. : "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." -Romans 5:6-9 Sidewalk Survey Overview Maney good choice for KM City Manager Jimmy Maney was a good choice by City Council for the position of interim city manager. He brings a new perspective to the city man- ager's office. Not only does Jimmy have long experience in running city utilities but he is a former four year town councilman. Maney came to Kings Mountain nearly 16 years ago from the City of Bessemer City after a Show Cause Order from the State required Kings Mountain to hire a qualified gas superintendent. The city currently has 3300 gas customers and in the last six months expanded to White Plains community adding five miles of four inch lines and three miles of two inch lines with 70 cus- tomers signing on. Two hundred more customers are expected to be added by year end with other expansion projects on the table. On the electric side, Maney has worked for months to close a deal with Duke Power Company which could mean reduced rates. A peak generation shaving plant has been his baby for some time. He has sat on both sides of the desk, from that of an employee/ department head to city council and now to management. The Herald would be remiss if while congratu- lating Jimmy we did not thank Gary Hicks for his service to Kings Mountain. Mr. Hicks, retired Gastonia City Manager, had no intention of stay- ing on as a permanent manager but he came to help out when the city needed him and the city got back on good financial footing during his ad- ministration. When Hicks' philosophies clashed with City Council, he stepped down last week. Maney is the city's fifth city manager in the present system of government and the second department head to serve. After George Wood left the city, finance director Maxine Parsons was interim manager for a while until Chuck Nance was hired and resigned after a year. Mrs. Parsons was hired on a 4-3 vote, however, and never got the full support of Council during her service. Maney was hired on a 7-0 vote which sends a positive message. It's a welcome sign. Published every Thursday. ¢ Periodicals postage at East King Street at Canterbury Road, NC 28086 USPS 931-040 by Republic Newspapers, Inc. Postmaster, send address changes to: “PO. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 Phone (704) 739-7496 * Fax (704) 739-0611 Office: 824-1 East King Street, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 E-Mail: NEWS@SHELBY.NET Dean Ridings Darrell Austin Aron R. Goss Libby Thomas Robin Phelan Gary Stewart Elizabeth Stewart Shirley Austin Mary Frances Etters... Sarah Griffin Publisher Publisher Emeritus Marketing Director Advertising Manager ...Assistant Advertising Manager Editor News Editor Account Executive Account Executive Business Manager Debbie Welsh Production Manager Julie Long Graphic Artist Republic Tm Newspapers, Inc. MEMBER Member His NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION North Carolina Press Association Mail Subscription Rates Payable in Advance. All Prices Add 6% NC State Sales Tax. 1 Year 6 Months $17.00 $10.00 $19.00 $11.00 $22.00 $12.50 Gaston & Cleveland Co. Other NC Counties Outside NC * By Elizabeth Stewart Were You ready | for school to start? KATY MOSS Fifth grader Shelby Yes. I can’t believe I said I wanted some homework. And I wanted to see my friends. Third grader Bessemer City LINDSAY BEDSOLE Sort of. I went from Primary School to Central which is new for me. rn MELISSA LAWRENCE Travel consultant Kings Mountain Yes and No. [ am disappointed that Gastonia didn’t follow Kings it. Mountain’s schedule of early opening. Starting back to school gets us into a good routine at my house. CASEY OWENSBY Kindergarten student Kings Mountain Yes. I am five years old and in kindergarten and I like xk bv ose oe x # HALEY TEAGUE Pre-Schooler Grover Yes. I am four years old and I like to color and draw pictures. or seh whines oa _ = iS NETS RE EE —“ is 7 — CER EE —
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 22, 1996, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75