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Thursday, November 25, 1999 Vol. 111 No. 47 Since 1889 50 Cents
EE bg i :
SPORTS erger a IFKS Cnairiman
Nn. BARRE RRR RRR RRA Rar RR Rabari
1 he real reason they wanta ty majority, and they want it to bers of i i ion is “ i
: A wki state t y jority, hey L members of a special Executive ~~ ucation is “assuring every
Kevin Millwood Da a 18 SEN merger of the county’s school be a majority majority. They're Roundtable committee charged Cleveland County youngster
y roc systems trying to step around the real is- with discussing ways t bon the best ibl A hd i
: : . 3 ways to better st possible education, in
held in Bessemer City Cominissioners Pein Jos wile many sue. It’s not an Ie of school prepare students i the work- the best lh facilities,
reasons have been offered for a construction or school location force - did not recommend a equipped with the best possible
Ie should put up merger in the past, the real rea- or whether or not we have qual- merger, according to Hawkins HEY and with the best
ti Ana or shut u son commissioners and other ified candidates to go through and KM Supt. Bob McRae, both possible teachers and adminis-
I sd P proponents now seek merger is the workforce. It boils down to members of the committee. trators,” and that commission-
, on because Shelby’s total enroll- the county commissionersare They said it was mentioned ers “are interested in assessing,
2 i) By GARY STEWART ment is dropping and their mi- looking for power and control near the end of the fourth of without outside assistance
Rh. : Editor of The Herald nority percentage has risen to and are trying to settle themi- four meetings of the groupbya whether a merger of the three
Sif BCs | . in School 65 percent. ; i nority issue of Shelby Schools.” businessman. school systems does or does not
trond : Kings Mountain Schoo “The real issue is the minority Hawkins’ statements came af- But County Commission have the potential for assuring
oe Son, } Board Chaimish Ronnie issue in Shelby,” says Hawkins. ter a front page story in the Chairman Jim Crawley circulat- the achievement of those objec-
Atlanta i Hawkins said it’s time for “It has nothing to do with class- ~~ Shelby Star Sunday that stated ed a statement - signed by all tives.”
Braves i Cleveland County rooms, nothing to do with loca- business leaders in Cleveland members of the County Board - Both Hawkins and McRae
MILLWOOD pitcher i Commissioners to quit “step- tion - it all has to do with County “cry out for merger.” which stated that the commis-
Kevin i pingaround the issue” and Shelby schools being a minori- Those business leaders - ’ See Merger, 6A
Millwood. The recreation park
where Kevin won many
games as a youngster was re-
named in his honor, and Kevin
shared his expertise with hun-
~ dreds of young baseball play-
ers at a camp at Bessemer City
High School. 1A
Mountaineers crank
up for winter sports
Kings Mountain High's
men’s and women’s basketball
and swim teams are gearing
up for the season. See pre-
views on page 1B.
PEOPLE
Detter has much
to be thankful for
h ’ ahi Nak Jessica
Detterof
Kings
Mountain
was serious-
ly injured in
an automo-
bile accident
several
weeks ago,
and spent
several days
in a coma in
a Charlotte hospital. Jessica's
recovery has been miraculous
and she is now back in school
at Kings Mountain High
School. 3A
DETTER
KM'’s Larry Rountree
hits the big time again
Call him lucky. He calls
himself blessed. Whatever the
case, Kings Mountain's Larry
Rountree has made a fortune
in recent years by winning
area drawings and contests.
Last week he won a new
Gateway computer and a trip
for two to the Bahamas in a
promotion at Winn-Dixie. 5A
Costners get ready
for Midpines Christmas
Christmas is just around the
corner, and a lot of folks will
be turning on their Christmas
‘lights Thanksgiving night.
One of the favorite places to
visit in Kings Mountain each
year is the home of Katie and
Grady Costner in Midpines.
They'll turn over over 150,000
lights Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
2A
Alzheimer’s is tragic,
misunderstood disease
This is National Alzheimer’s
Disease Month. Alzheimer’s
ssssee
cesesscccesececsssscesnesssesssssse
evescscensssce
esesoe
ALAN HODGE/THE HERA
Susan Goforth of Kings Mountain and Jimmy Patrum watch over a colonial Thanksgiving stew at
Schiele Museum. The cooks were part of a special Carolina backcountry Thanksgiving feast liv-
ing history display at the museum on Saturday.
Colonial Thanksgiving
Turkey probably wasn’t on ancestors’ menu
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Folks who complain about
slaving over a microwave oven
this Thanksgiving should have
been at Schiele Museum on
Saturday to see how the fall
feast would have been prepared
in our ancestor’s day. Part of a
Carolina backcountry living his-
tory program, historians
dressed in colonial garb pre-
pared an authentic 18th century
harvest feast. :
Schiele program specialist
Kay Moss was one of the two
dozen or so men and women
who brought history and its
tastes back to life at the event.
“We researched the foods and
the way they were cooked to
make sure it is all done just as
they did it in the colonial period
in this area,” Moss said. “The
feast we are representing would
have been the second one of the
year in a colonial village, the
first one would have been held
in mid-summer.”
Items on the menu at the
feast included sea pie, roast
fowl, forcemeat balls, ragout of
beef, cabbage, carrots, stuffed
Tree ornament sale
to aid Relay for Life
By GARY STEWART
- Editor of The Herald
The Kings Mountain Relay
for Life Committee is hoping
the Christmas spirit will move
area people to give a gift to
wipe out cancer.
In cooperation with the Kings
Mountain Fire Department,
Relay for Life will sponsor a
Christmas tree ornament sale,
with proceeds going to the 2000
Relay for Life fund-raiser in
Kings Mountain.
For a $5 donation, you can
have a Christmas tree ornament
placed on a huge city Christmas
tree in memory or in honor of
someone who has had cancer,
or in appreciation of caregivers.
4 at a special Relay for Life
booth that will be set up at the
Mountaineer Christmas
Celebration at the downtown
gazebo. :
Betty Mitchell and Fire Chief
Frank Burns are heading up the
project. Rauch Industries of
Gaston County has donated the
ornaments.
Local artist Shirley Brutko -
will print the name of the hon-
oree and the year on each orna-
ment.
According to Mitchell, the
tree will either be placed at the
new gazebo in downtown
Kings Mountain, or depending
on the weather, in the lobby of
City Hall. Persons who pur-
chase ornaments will be able to
pumpkin, Carolina snowballs,’
wheat bread, pies and quaking
pudding. Especially interesting
were the Carolina snow balls, a
dish made by coating peeled
apples with uncooked rice,
wrapping the apples in cloth,
then boiling them until tender.
A few items that weren’t on
Saturday’s menu, but which
Moss said were considered a
treat in the 18th century, were
baked cow udder and opossum.
There are reports that some of
the Overmountain men on their
See Museum, 3A
sioners’ principal interest in ed-
KM Utilities Committee
discusses deregulation
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain's Utility
Committee will probably rec-
ommend that City Council take
some type of official action to
state its opposition to the pro-
posed bailout of the electric
power agencies in North
Carolina, but deep down mem-
bers doubt that it will do any
good.
“But we shouldn't go down
without a fight,” committee
chairman and mayor-elect Rick
Murphrey stated at Tuesday's
meeting at City Hall. “We did
not make this decision (to buy
into power generation plants).
‘We've worked very hard and
- our system is doing very well.
So we as a city do not feel we
should help pay someone else’s
debt.”
As part of a massive deregu-
lation of the electric industry in
North Carolina, Duke Power
and CP&L are proposing to buy
back the shares that 51 mem-
bers of ElectriCities purchased
in nuclear power plants 20
years ago. Because of various
reasons, the debt of those cities
has risen to $6 billion, which ac-
cording to City Manager Jimmy
Maney ranks as the second
highest debt of its kind in the
US.
Kings Mountain is not one of
the municipal electric systems
that bought into the power gen-
eration plants; however, the
proposals that are now before a
state-appointed Study
Commission include attaching a
$2 to $3 monthly transition fee
over a 17-year period to the
bills of every customer in the
state to help retire the debt. The
See Council, 3A
City to host
Y2K meeting
The City of Kings Mountain
is making plans for a “Y2K
Open Meeting” on Tuesday,
November 30 prior to the City
Council meeting. Carol George,
Computer Analyst and also
Y2K Task Force Coordinator for
the city , says the purpose of the
meeting will be to give the pub-
lic an insight into the efforts
that have been made to prepare
the city for Y2K.
The Y2K Open Meeting will
~ begin in the lobby of City Hall
“at 5:15 pm and last until 6 pm.
There will bé tables set up for
display with representatives
from several businesses and
utilities. George says she is
working with several other in-
terested groups but plans to
have representatives from Duke
Power, Bell South, Fidelity
Bank, and the American Red
Cross, as well as the Kings
Mountain Fire Department, and
Police Department, and the
electric, water, and gas depart-
ments of the city. During this
open lobby session, the public
can browse and ask their ques-
tions of these representatives.
A formal presentation will
follow the lobby session begin-
ning at 6 pm in the Council
Chambers. The Y2K Task Force
members will be present along
with the representatives from
the lobby session. George will
begin the formal session with a
review of the Y2K efforts of the
city, followed by a brief update
from the Fire Chief and Police
Chief about the Y2K event as it
relates to safety and security.
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Kings Mountain’s Relay for Life is selling tree ornaments to raise money for cancer re-
search. The effort was kicked off Friday at City Hall. Left to right are Betty Mitchell, co-
afflicts millions of people of all Ornaments may be purchased pick them up a few days before chairman of the effort; Shirley Austin, placing an ornament in memory of her husband,
ages, and it’s still one of the anytime day or night at the Christmas and hang them on Darrell Austin; Myrtle Christenson, placing ornaments In honor of Joe Smith and in memo-
most misunderstood diseases Kings Mountain Fire See Relay, 3A _ ry of William Christenson; Reg Alexander, placing ornaments In honor of Charles and Ruby
of our time. 7A Department, and on December y: Alexander; and Frank Burns, placing an ornament in memory of Bud Ware.
n kA
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