t
_ cal or feasible to go forward on
Member
North Carolina Press Association
Vol. 109 No. 03
White Oak
revised plan
on agenda
White Oak Manor officials
are offering adjoining neighbors
of the Sipes Street property an
additional 14 feet to be fenced,
buffered and planted even if
plans for expansion are not re-
alized in the near future.
The ' Kings Mountain
Planning and Zoning Board will
take a look at the nursing home-
's revised plan for expansion
Tuesday at 7 p.m. and make a
decision on a recommendation
to City Council January 28 for
rezoning of the facility from
Residential to Conditional Use.
White Oak Administrator
Jane Alexander said Cecil's,
which owns the nursing home,
wants to be a good neighbor
and that President Oliver Cecil
is going the extra mile by invit-
ing the neighbors to select the
trees and shrubs which will
form a buffer.
"We have had some very pos-
itive meetings with the neigh-
bors," she said.
Alexander said White Oak of-
ficials were meeting with Vice
President of Finance John
Barber this week on how to pro-
ceed with expansion if a grant
is not approved to fund a pro-
posed addition which would in-
ude 20 beds for alzheimer
dtl
for expansion but Alexander
says it's most important because
under current zoning in event
of a fire or disaster the nursing
home could not be rebuilt at the
spot. The facility was built in a
residential area 23 years ago.
"We have just been extremely
lucky that we've had no disas-
ters," she said.
Alexander said that property
owner Lou Ballew is suggesting
the type of fence and plants to
separate her property from
White Oak. Dot Finger has sug-
gested a buffer of trees and
shrubs and shrubs at the end of
her driveway.
White Oak also plans to re-
move some of the pine trees
with small roots as a precaution
in ice storms.
"We have a gentlemen's
agreement with the property
owners," she said.
Alexander said she is prepar-
ing information on Number 4
Township, including the age of
the population based on a 1990
census to present to White Oak
officials as they look to expan-
sion of the facility.
"We won't know if it's practi-
the addition but when and if we
do we need the rezoning for
the future of White Oak
Manor," she said.
Peggy’s Restaurant
under new owners
Mountaineers host
Shelby Friday
Pe
pr ay 4 x U
ba . wr 3 4 eT &
Sg 5 Wl Te
= ZT ASE Jy oY Ee ,
ees j ~] 57 Zp SW ry C ~ge08e A. 0)
I / = Ze ~= == pve Zain Bk
; : 3 » 4 Pe iy aa be) ¢
iF Ak
\L | - LY ( & [] k 1) % pl DN
[| |] ere = y : A Lt
; » \ Lt ere
Thursday, January 16, 1997
PATTI CARLAND-DEEN
..at 3 months, she was called Peggy
Patti Carland-Deen given up for adoption
shortly after birth in Kings Mountain in 1954
Every day Patti Carland-Deen searches for
some small clue that may lead her to her biologi-
cal mother.
Friday she drove from Richmond, Va. to Kings
Mountain where she was born November 14,
looked around at other customers waiting for
lunch and wondered if someone there could be
one of her relatives.
The intriguing story of the young travel agent's
search for her Kings Mountain roots began in
1973. But North Carolina has strict laws forbid-
ding her adoption file to be opened even though
she learned’ she has two letters in that file from
her mother.
Patricia Susan Carland was adopted Sept. 11,
1956 by an Asheville couple who got a telephone
call in the middle of the night in February 1955
that a three-months-old baby girl had been locat-
ed for them but the child must never be returned
to her place of birth. Lawrence and Sarah Carland
had earlier adopted a boy and after adopting
Patti had two daughters. At the age of five Patti
was told by her parents that she had been adopt-
ed and that her name at birth was probably
Peggy and she came from a place called Kings
Mountain.
In 1983 Patti hired a national search company
after hearing their success on the Oprey Winfrey
Show. After five years and thousands of dollars
she started her own search and was able to secure
some legally open information about her birth
mother's family.
Hoping to identify either her biological mother
or father's side of the family she secured Kings
Mountain and Gaston County telephone books
for the period 1954-55, visited countless libraries
and newspaper offices and looked through hun-
dreds of newspaper files, all to no avail.
A former journalist, Patti said her curiosity
and her desire to. just meet her mother, if she is
still living, or her mother's family has kept her
digging for her roots.
PATTI CARLAND-DEEN
at age 42
"Maybe it's the journalist in me that wants to
know the whole story," said Patti who describes
her life as "happy and fulfilled" and herself as "a
strong self sufficient person fully enjoying he
“patti s birth es was in good health in Hosa
and delivered a full term baby weighing six
pounds, 14 ounces. The mother came from a
large family in which most of the siblings went to
high school and one brother in 1954 was study-
ing to be a minister. The other brothers were car-
penters, clectricians and TV service men. Patti's
maternal great-grandfather was a carpenter and
her maternal great-grandmother operated a
school cafeteria. Patti's mother worked as a sales
clerk, waitress and nurses aid. At the time of her
birth Patti had an eight-year-old half brother.
Patti was told that her father managed his father's
grocery store and died in his 40's.
Social Service workers told her adopting par-
ents that Patti was surrendered for adoption af-
ter many months of working with her birth fami-
ly. She said she was told that her mother, particu-
larly, tried to find a way she could keep her and
adequately care for her. However, the mother felt
she could not provide for her and give the baby
the opportunities in life she could provide
through adoption," said Patti.
Every year on her birthday Patti Deen, a recent
bride, thinks of a woman she has never met who
she wants to thank for giving her a good life. And
she wonders if she got her curly top hair and
freckles and some of her stamina and strength
from the woman who gave her life.
Deen chose a career in the travel business be-
cause she loves to travel. Her adopted father, a
Delta Airlines employee for 38 years, raised the
family in Charlotte but he and his wife and their
children lived all over the country, including St.
Louis, Mo. and 15 years in Dallas, Texas,
See Patti, 3-A
AN PR JANE
0%
cant A
WOW 2 jo
Ot
SIRKE % 089
Kings Mountain, N.C. * 28086 * 50¢
KM Schools
see big jump
in enrollment
School enrollment expected
to jump by at least 200 students
by next school year will mean
more mobile classroom units,
Supt.of Personnel Ronnie
Wilson told members of the
Kings Mountain District Board
of Education.
He said a reduction in class
size for. 1997-98 at the third
grade level will place 23 stu-
dents in a class and that by
1997-98 the largest grades K-4
will comprise about 400 stu-
dents and the total school popu-
lation could rise to 4,300.
"Across the system we are
gaining about 100 students each
year,’ said Wilson who was
asked to give the numbers as
the board heard priorities for
the system established in the fa-
cilities study conducted in the
1995-96 school year. The Board
discussed the process for pro-
ceeding with the facilities de-
velopment in light of the pas-
sage of the state bonds in
‘November 1996.
to the Department of Public
Instruction which sets an order
for the work which is to be
completed with bond funds.
McRae said the report can be re-
vised after the board decides,
following public hearings, if it
favors building a new school or
using the bond money for im-
provements to present campus-
es.
Vice-Chairman Billy Houze
called attention to the growth in
the Bethlehem Road area and
said ‘that some 50 new homes
have gone up.
Chairman Ronnie Hawkins
said the study estimated that six
classrooms were needed in the
elementary schools and 17 at
the middle and high schools
which seemed out of line with
the growth projection particu-
larly in the Grover and
Bethware areas.
McRae said East Elementary
is completely out of space and
no land is available for addi-
tional classrooms. He called
Grover Elementary the tightest
area and he said two classrooms
could be made available at both
North and West Schools and
Bethware still has the luxury of
an old school building which
could be utilized for classroom
space.
Proud to be in
HAPPY ON HIS JOB - Brian Moss has participated in the pro-
gram at Cleveland Vocational Industries in Lawndale for eight
years and loves it, never missing a day.
By LIB STEWART
of the Herald Staff
Happiness for Brian Moss,
Terri Cook and Walter Camp is
catching the van in Kings
Mountain every morning to
Cleveland Vocational Industries
in Lawndale.
"I never miss and when I
have to miss I'm upset,” said
Moss, son of KM Public Works
Supt..Karl Moss and Mrs. Moss.
Cleveland Vocational
Industries serves 175 young
adults who may have barriers
to employment but by all ac-
counts are moving from depen-
dence into lives with usefulness
and meaning.
Brian, a handsome 30-year-
old and a big Tar Heel fan, uses
his paycheck for tapes, new
clothes and Tar Heel memora-
bilia and to take his grand-
mother Eva Moss out to supper.
"And you bet we are proud,”
says his doting Dad. -
Terri, daughter of Ken and
Becky Cook, was among the
first 40 young adults in the pro-
gram in 1985. She was born
with Xerodermapigmentosum,
a skin problem, and Desanctis, a
muscular disorder. Her
wheelchair doesn’t hamper her
enjoyment of the program.
"Terri can't do what she used
to do when she first joined the
program but she's excited every
day to see her friends," says her
Mom.
Walter Camp is ribbed alot by
his friends about his favorite ac-
tivity, playing Santa at the re-
cent Christmas party. Walter
formerly worked at Bost Bakery
for three years and is a part-
time employee of Plastic
Oddities.
"They call me Walter Claus,”
See School, 3-A
Public hearings set
by School Board
The first of three public hear-
ings by the Kings Mountain
District Board of Education for
input by the public on how the
system will spend $6.1 million
in state school facilitics bonds
will be held January 30 at 7 p.m.
in the Kings Mountain Middle
School Cafeteria.
Other public hearings are set
February 6 at 9 a.m. in the
Board Room at Central School
and February 18 at 7 p.m. in
Grover Elementary School
Cafeteria.
"The public is encouraged to
attend one or more of the public
hearings and give input to this
very important decision," said
Supt. Dr. Bob McRae who said
board members welcome com-
ments at other times as well and
written comments may be sent
to the SUpTIniandont; s office at
105 E. PRide St., i Kin
Education set ‘the Pearinas and
said information will be sent to
parents prior to the meetings
and local principals will also
help get the word out at parent-
‘teacher meetings and other
school-wide events.
The Board of Education is
considering three options for
the use of $6,142,100.00 for capi-
tal expenditures from the sale of
state school facilities bonds
which voters approved in
November.
1) Various capital projects at
each campus including the con-
struction of additional class-
rooms on several campuses.
Examples of other projects
which would be carried out in-""*
clude reroofing, paving, heating
and/or air conditioning up-
grades, painting and carpeting.
2) Construction of a new ele-
mentary school, grades K-5, to
relieve the overcrowding which
is developing in the system, cs-
pecially in the Bethware and
Grover areas.
3) Construction. of a new in-
termediate school, grades 5-6,
which would relieve the over-
crowding in all elementary
schools and at Kings Mountain
Middle School. This would re-
sult in the Middle School be-
coming a school which serves
grades 7 and 8.
the workforce
he said with a big grin.
Most every day a visitor to
the facility can observe Walter
grinding up plastic materials
which are recycled and Moss
boxing cones which are bought
by local industry.
Moss and Cook are in the
same Sunday School class at
First Baptist Church. Moss rode
with the Cook family to the re-
cent Christmas party and never
sat out a dance. oh
"l enjoy myself wherever [
am," he said,
"CVII bridges the gap be-
tween a work force with valu-
able energy and potential and
the needs of businesses and in-
dustry in Cleveland County,”
says Ken Bagby, director of the
program since its inception in
1984.
Cleveland Vocational gener-
ates 45 percent of its operating
expenses through work con-
tracted with area businesses
and industry. Partnerships with
the area textile industry helps to
annually recycle 2.6 million
pounds of polypropylene plas-
tic waste destined for area
landfills and provides a stable
base of work for training associ-
ates. In its raw state that textile
waste equates to 346 tractor
loads of material kept out of
area landfills. When possible,
clients are placed and support-
ed in traditional work places in
industry. Since 1987 over 36 in-
dividuals have been successful-
ly placed in jobs with business-
es in Cleveland County. To date,
their taxable earnings have been
in excess of $865,000.
Cleveland Vocational
Industries is a Kings Mountain
United Fund and Cleveland
See Work, 3-A
ARE