February 17, 2000
Herald/Times
WILLIE
From 1A
Although there was no
planned agenda, people in the
audience backed up their posi-
‘tion with qualified questions
and comments. Teachers who
have taught in many different
systems said students are better
educated in small, local school
systems and some who teach in
Kings Mountain and whose
children attend school in Shelby
or Cleveland County praised
the achievement of all three sys-
tems.
Grace Costner, a
teacher /counselor at East
Elementary, said one of the rea-
sons Kings Mountain schools
have fared so well in state test-
ing is because the system is
small and that educators and
parents have a personal rela-
tionship with Central Office ad-
ministrators.
“Kings Mountain has taken
hold of what needs to be done
in this town,” she said. “The ad-_
ministration knows us by name.
They know our children: That's
one of the reasons we've done
so well. Small school systems
are much more effective.”
Costner also said that numer-
ous problems that come up
from time to time would require
a 30-minute drive to Shelby if
systems are merged. “We won’ %
have access to services we need
immediately.”
She pointed out that West
and East elementary schools are
among the top schools in the, =
county in achievement scores, |
and they're also among the
smallest in enrollment. ~~
Ron Massey, football coach at
KMHS, noted that he had ©
taught at one of the poorest sys-
tems in the state and two of the
largest (Wake County and’
Cumberland County) and told
McIntosh he never “shook the
hand of a superintendent or as-
sistant” in those systems. -
“If you think merger will cut
the fat, you're fooling yourself,”
he said. “Everybody's going to
have an assistant.”
School Board member Stella
Putnam echoed that position,
stating that she had contacted
an auditor for a system that re-
HA med and the merger
tion, 311 on
lid to a point
that part of the merger assess--
ment is to address equality,
Patti Weathers, who lives in
Shelby and teaches in KM, said
the people in Kings Mountain
are putting money into pro-
grams that result in student
achievement “and you're going
to take their money and solve
Cleveland County’s problems.
Kings Mountain doesn’t have
inequality. We get the money to
support the need. Everybody:
wants to be as good as we ae!
Don Champion added, *
have a good system and we
shouldn't take our system and
bring it down to their level. If
they want to bring theirs up to
ours, let them work for it just
like we did.”
Walt Hovis, a resident of
Bessemer City, related to
McIntosh some of the problems
brought on by the merger of
Gaston County Schools in the
late 1960s. He said he was in el-
ementary school at the time,
and all the promises made by
those pushing merger never
materialized
“I brought my kids to Rig
Mountain schools because of,
what merger has done to
Gaston County,” he said. “We
were promised everything un-
der the sun. Bessemer City is
still unimproved and
Cherryville was condemned. - ~~
We have to beg Gastonia for
their leftovers. If you don't
want to run to Shelby for left- *
overs don't let this happen.”
Several speakers pointed out
that Kings Mountain's academ-
ic success is a result of the com-
bined efforts of educators and.
parents. Norman Pressley said
one of the reasons for the suc-
cess at East School is because
teachers stay after school to
work with students that need
extra help.
Putnam said that type a vol-
unteer spirit may be lost if there
is a merger.
Gail McDougal pointed out
that students don’t understand
why county commissioners are
studying merger and asked
McIntosh if he and commission-
ers had read the papers that stu-
dents wrote and presented to
commissioners at the recent +, :
summit in Shelby. McIntosh +...
said that he'had “not received”
the letters.
“Students are terrified ot
what's going to happen,”
McDougal said. “They feel like
if they have to go to Shelby to
school it will be worse than
death. They're concerned about
violence, they're concerned
about time, and they're con-
cerned about their athletic pro-
grams. Students have concerns
that you guys haven't thought
about.”
Dr. Pam SherGill and many
others criticized the conumis-
sioners for hiring a lawyer to
assess the school merger, rather
than a team of professional edu-
- cators. They questioned how a
lawyer could conduct a thor-
ough study “by the end of
February” when most studies
done by professional educators
take “18 months.” Comparing a
merger assessment to a patient,
SherGill said a diagnosis should
be done fjrst, and then the cure
prescribed.
“You're trying to analyze and
you don’t know what you're
fixing,” she said. “Having a law
firm look into it doesn’t make
sense.
“If you came to me with a
‘broken arm and I put plaster
on your leg, would you come
‘back to me? Would you trust
. me?” SherGill asked
McIntosh replied that he
wouldn’t, but later in the meet-
ing did tell SherGill his back
was hurting and asked if she
could do something for it.
“Let me talk to some lawyers
and I'll see what I can do,” she
‘said.
A number of people also
were critical of the apparent
pull that a few businessmen -
specifically the 20 members of
the Business Roundtable - have
“in the merger issue.
Stella Putnam said the “busi-
‘ness leaders” that are pushing
“the merger “have never been in
our schools. There's no reason
why our boards can’t work to-
gether and look at things we
can do to make things better.”
Liza Dellinger, a vocational
teacher at KMHS, said it is the
responsibility of business lead-
ers to become involved in
schools.
“Business people that I've
talked to get involved,” she
said. “The Roundtable is asking
an institution to fix their prob-
lems.”
Ron Humphries, a graduate
‘of Crest High School, suggested
‘that the people behind ‘the issue
is the “small group of people in
power” in Shelby, and remind-
ed McIntosh that in the 1970s
when Cleveland County
Schools asked Shelby City
Schools to join them in merger,
Shelby declined.
Mearl Valentine also suggest-
ed that the real reason behind
the merger talk was to benefit
Shelby High School.
“I've always said if it’s not
- broke, don’t fix it. We all know
the real problem is Shelby High
School. They're forcing this is-
sue. We've always heard of the
Battle of Buffalo Creek. If this
thing goes through there will be
a big battle.”
Kings Mountain School
. Board member Ronnie Hawkins
told McIntosh there was “no
crisis in the school systems” un-
til November 18 when
Commission Chairman Jim
Crawley circulated a letter stat-
ing that the board would assess
merger. The letter was reported-
ly prompted by business lead-
ers “crying out for merger.”
“If you don’t
want to run
to Shelby for
leftovers don’t
let this happen.”
-Walt Hovis
Bessemer City
“Who are these people that
you can take advice from and
turn this county upside down?”
asked Hawkins. “Why would
you sign such a letter without
talking to the School Boards?”
McIntosh admitted the chair-
man wrote the letter after at-
tending a meeting of the
Business Roundtable.....but “If I
had it to do over I probably
wouldn't have signed that let-
ter.”
Hawkins also criticized the
commissioners for calling for a
two-hour public meeting to dis-
cuss merger with the school
boards, but commissioners took
“an hour and 10 minutes arid
gave the three boards only 50
minutes combined.” i
“It’s frustrating to go'to a
meeting and not get answers to
your questions,” Hawkins said.
“If the majority ‘of the people
are saying no, that’s what you
should be listening to. Your
constituency has already told
you how to vote.”
Don Smith told McIntosh the
decision should be easy. =
“Eighty percent of the people.
say they don’ t want it.”
Hawkins and Rifaath :
Ledford of the Cleveland
County School Board, said
merger is not needed because
the three school systems are
working well together now to
provide the best education pos-
sible for all county students.
“This will tear up the sys-
tems,” Ledford said. “If you
would go to the North Carolina
School Boards Association you
would find out that merged
systems have as much or more
problems than they had before
merger. The three systems have
been working dependently in a
lot of cases, but our purpose is
tq sce that our children have the
best education possible. We're
trying to look at ideas and ways
not to merge the three systems.
We have problems, but we will
have a lot more if we merge be-
cause taxes are going to have to
go up.”
Hawkins said merger would
cost a lot of money and would:
not raise achievement.
“And the real battle will start
when you start re-districting,”
he said. “The interim school
board is going to have to take
the heat for the county comimis-
sioners’ decision.”
KM School Board memiber
Shearra Miller asked McIntosh
to push to give the three sys--
tems the estimated $3 million
that implementing merger es
would cost.
He said if merger is not ap-
proved, he would pursue that.
“Certainly, with all the ener-
gy we're putting into this we"
should put some effoft'in en”
hancing the Schools: dhothier:
way,” he sold: rid
1d
MERGER
From 1A
sary if the county is willing to
_ give the Elizabelh School dis-
trict to Shelby.
“The attendance line issue
doesn’t seem to affect us,” said
Miller, “but there may be other
areas that we can have input
oh
Hawkins said if the Shelby
and Cleveland County boards
discuss re-drawing lines, he is
certain they will handle it “dif-
ferently than the commissioners
handled merger and seek input
from citizens.”
Kings Mountain Board
Chairman Larry Allen said he
can envision waysall three '<'
boards can work together. .
“All of the systems have: :'
some good things going on,”
said Vice-Chairman Melony -..
Bolin. “Theré are many ways
we can help each other and still
keep our systends intact: The’
number one thing is all the si stu :
dents in Cleveland County. he
“We're working together,”
said the Kings Mountain +",
board’s newest member, Stella-
Putnam. “I'knew the boards al-
ways did that, but we're work-
ing together in a lot of ways I
wasn’t aware of before. I got on
the Board.” 4 0
CENTER
From 1A
ty was zoned R-10, but has been
changed to R-20. The site has
1,295 feet of road frontage and
is 886 feet deep. The road front
will have two double entrances
and exits.
Services to be offered by the
new facility will include
overnight respite care. Patrons
will be admitted on a tempo-
rary basis. The idea is to allow a
family to keep loved one’s at
home as much as possible, but
have the adult day care center
available for respite. lhe rezon-
ing application stressed that the
facility would “be both safe and
aesthetically pleasing.”
Plans to achieve the aesthetic”
gaals of the site include “more
than adequate setbacks and
buffering to preserve the natu-"
ral integrity of the property.”
The developers feel that the
center will have no more inten- :
sity that a church and will “cer-
tainly be less than a school.” ~~
“This adult day care facility
will be good for Kings :
Mountain and Grover when it is
completed,” said Brooks.
"EAST ELEMENTARY SECOND GRADE A HONOR ROLL - First row, Elizabeth Sheffield, Tara
Harbison, Brent Stevens, Sara Thompson. Second row, Haley Britton, Karen Self, Chasity
Llewelyn, Destiny Ivester, Megan Davis, Amanda Dotson. Back, Katelynn Daniel, Ansley
Putnam, Tyler Black, Benjamin Wilson, Tyler Spain.
Always be
for severe
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Spring and its sometimes turbulent weather is
not far away. Recognizing that fact, the North
Carolina Emergency Management Division and
county Emergency Management officers across
our state have declared February 20-26 as Severe
Weather Awareness Week.
Last year, 36 tornadoes struck North Carolina.
Luckily, only two people were injured. In the
past, folks have not always been so lucky. Three
twisters on March, 1998, November 1988, and
March 1984 claimed 45 lives. With this in mind,
the theme for the Year 2000 Severe Weather
Awareness Week is “Be Alert, Be Prepared, and
Be Safe.”
“We have seen deadly weather systems move
across the southeast, touching down first in one
state and then another,” said Gov. Jim Hunt. “Our
citizens need to be ready in case this happens
again.”
As part of Severe Weather Awareness Week,
schools, government agencies, and businesses
across the southeast, including North Carolina,
will take partin. the annual tornado drill sched- «
uled for Wednesday morning, February 23. In
case of actual severe weather on February 23; the!
drill will be held on Friday, February 25.
Cleveland County will be participating in the
drill.
“In Cleveland County we will be announcing
on television that the drill is taking place,” said
county Emergency Management Director Beau
Lovelace. “We probably won't be sounding
sirens. We will also be working with the schools
in helping them organize and carry out the drill.”
Lovelace and his Emergency Management
crews are highly trained and experienced with se-
vere weather. :
“The main thing for people to keep in mind
this time of year is that severe weather can strike
quickly,” Lovelace said. “You have to take shelter
at a moment's notice.”
Understanding what broadcast announcers are
saying in relation to severe weather is important.
A severe weather “watch” means conditions are
favorable for the development of a particular
weather event. A severe weather “warning”
means that particular type of event is actually oc-
prepared
weather
curring and you should take provaciive action at
once.
Planning for severe weather is important. Tips
to help you and your family get ready for severe
weather can include developing an overall emer-
gency plan, preparing a disaster supplies kit, hav-
ing drills, knowing your location ir relation to:
storm paths, and having a NOAA Weather Radio
at home.
Items that should be included in‘'an emergency
kit are one gallon of water per person per day,
hand operated can opener, three to seven days ra-
tions, flashlights, battery powered radios, first aid
kit, prescription drugs, and reading materials to
pass the time.
Thunderstorms and tornadoes are the most fre-
quent type of severe weather to occur in
Cleveland County in spring. Tornadoes are usual-
ly preceded by heavy rain and often hail. Winds
in a tornado can reach 250 m.p.h. or more. The
average tornado travels in a path from southwest
to northeast, but can move in any direction.
Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3
p.m. and 7 p.m., but can strike at any hour.
Thunderstorms can be 15 miles in dianieter and
last an average of 30 minutes. Lighting associated
with thunderstorms can strike up to'10 miles -
away fromthe storm cell. North Carolina ranks
third in the nation in number of lightning related
deaths. Most lightning deaths in North Carolina
occur at ball parks or in open areas. Besides trees,
the next most likely place to be struck by light-
ning is on the water.
When thunderstorms come to your area- and
they will - the best thing a person can do is get in-
to a building or hardtop car. If you are in the
open, drop to your knees and bend forward,
putting your hands on your head. It is important
to remember not to lie flat on the ground.
Indoors, unplug TV sets’and stay off the tele-
phone. Do not take a showér or bath when a
storm is in progress.
Following these and other common sense safe-
ty tips can save property. and even lives. For more
information on severe weather preparedness, vis-
it the Education and Emergency, Information
Section, North Carolina Emergency: Management
Division website at www.ncem:org; or call
Cleveland County Bern Management at
484-4841. : :
would be canceled.
DOCTOR
From 1A
Women’s Clinic to open the
only Ob/Gyn clinic in Kings
Mountain by September 1. To
be called Kings Mountain
Women’s Care, the office will be
located on King Street at the site
of the old Kings Mountain
Motel. Chamberlain says his
current office is simply too
small for the number of doctors
on board.
“We have seven doctors in
our Shelby office,” Chamberlain
“said. “I will be coming to the
new Kings Mountain office
when it is completed. There are
also plans for a physical thera-
pist and a nurse/midwife from
the Health Department to occu-
py the building as well.”
Chamberlain said that in ad-
dition to offering service in
Kings Mountain, his group is
also considering opening a
practice in Boiling Springs.
Kings Mountain Women's Care
will offer most Ob/Gyn ser-
vices but will probably not do
on-site mammograms.
Also on the medical office
‘move in Kings Mountain are
‘plans for CLECO Primary Care
physicians in the Kings
Mountain Medical Center at 711
W. Mountain Street to move in-
to larger quarters at the old
Revco building on King Street
-near the hospital.
Dr. Everette B.
Thombs will move his office
from its current location at 103
W. King St. into the CLECO lo-
cation.
GROVER
From 1A
Cleveland County who would
be entrusted to see that an accu-
rate census was done in their lo-
cation. The list was provided by
mayors from each of the 12
towns in the county.
In other business Tuesday,
commissioners served notice
that their March 7 meeting
In a bit of a surprise ending
to their session Tuesday
evening, chairman Jim Crawley
announced that the had re-
ceived a petition-against school
merger. A letter attached to the
petition outlining the feelings .
against merger was signed by
citizen Barbara Edwards. Over
300 names Snheals on'the at-
tached petition. .
wel
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