Thursday, February 24, 2000
KINGS
Vol. 112 No. 08
Since 1889
MOUNTAIN
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50 Cents
oL Ti s
ON 3 preserve
2 one of a kind 1B
SPORTS
Spring sports crank
up at high school
With the weather warming,
young people at
Kings Mountain
High School are
busy preparing
for the spring
sports seasons
which begin next week.
Stories on the Mountaineer
baseball and softball teams are
on page 2B, and a story on the
iwomen'’s soccer team is on 4B.
Kings Mountain runner
to compete in World run
Kings Mountain’s Chad
Pearson, a freshman at the
University of North Carolina
at Asheville, is one of only six
runners across the United
States who will compete for th
USA cross country team in the
upcoming World
Championship in Portugal. 4B
KM basketball teams
bow out of playoffs
Kings Mountain High's bas-
ketball season is over. The
Mountaineer men fell to R-S
Central last week in the semi-
finals of the Southwestern 3A
Conference tournament, and
the Lady Mountaineers lost to
Trinity Morfiday night in the
opening round of the state 3A
playoffs. 3B
Danny McDowell
versatile teacher
Danny Ray McDowell,
fourth grade teacher at
Bethware Elementary School
and a finalist for Region
Teacher of the Year, wears
many hats in the community.
In addition to winning many
state awards for his innovative
style of teaching, he is also a
winning basketball coach. 3A
Glenda O’Shields
Woman of the Year
Former Kings Mountain
-school principal Glenda
O’Shields has been named
Woman of the Year by the
Kings Mountain Woman's:
Club. 5A
BUSINESS
Taco Bell, new hotel
close to completion
Several construction projects :
are nearing completion and al-
most ready for grand opening
near the I-85/161 interchange.
The new Holiday Inn Express
and Taco Bell are going up
fast, and sdme other business-
es are looking at the prospects
of coming to Kings Mountain.
3A
Curves for Women
opens on Battleground
A unique ladies only fitness
center - Curves for Women - is
now open for business on
Battleground Avenue. The
center features a unique
QuickFit program which al-
lows women to get in shape in
a non-competitive atmo-
sphere. 8A
The 13th annual Kings 5
Mountain Sports Hall of Fame
dinner and induction ceremony
will be held Tuesday, April 11 at
and current radio commentator
and Keith Layton, former
KMHS wrestling coach Steve
Moffitt, and retired City of
Kings Mountain Recreation
Kings Mountain High School. Director Roy Pearson.
Gil McGregor, former Wake Also to be honored are a’
Forest University and NBA star = number of athletes and teams
for special achievement since
for the Charlotte Hornets, will the last Hall of Fame event.
be the guest speaker. Tickets will go on sale soon at
The four inductees include various locations around town.
former Kings Mountain High Tickets are $10 and include the
GIL McGREGOR School athletes Regina Brown meal and induction ceremony.
Bl HISTORY IN PAINT
Downtown Kings Mountain will soon have a
new and striking artwork. Currently being cre-
ated by artist Clive Haynes, the masterpiece
will take the form of a mural on the side of the
old Plonk building in the heart of the city.
Using a print of Kings Mountain from an 1880s
“Harpers” magazine, Haynes will tell the
town’s story in paint.
“Haynes is a very talented muralist who cre-
"ated a fabulous work in his hometown of
Forest City,” said Shirley Brutko of the Kings
Mountain branch, Cleveland County Chamber
of Commerce. “His work will add beauty and
interest to our city.”
Sponsored by the City of Kings Mountain,
~ work on the mural is presently i in the prepara-
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Clive Haynes of Forest City pressure washes the side of the old Plonk Department Store build-
ing on Railroad Avenue to get it ready for a mural depicting the history of Kings Mountain.
Artist Clive Haynes begins
preparing building for mural
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
tion stage. Hoisted in a “cherry picker” boom,
Haynes has been blasting the wall at Plonks
and will follow this up with making sure all
cracks are filled. When these procedures are
finished in about two weeks, Haynes will be-
gin the actual painting work.
“The mural should be finished in about wo
months,” said Brutko. “It will last as long as 25
years.”
Scenes for the mural will depict the early life
and history of Kings Mountain. Don’t look for
just a straightforward piece of work. Haynes is
noted for his whimsy and plans to have hu-
morous sketches hidden in the body of the
larger work. Potential scenes to be included in
the mural are mountainmen, British redcoats, a
view of the mountain, and agricultural topics.
The final cost of ths mural will be around
$16,000.
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Tickets may also be purchased
at the door.
Regina Brown was an All-
‘Conference basketball, volley-
ball and softball player at
KMHS from 1983-86. She led
the volleyball team to three
Southwestern Conference
championships and was SWC
Player of the Year and KMHS
Female Athlete of the Year her
senior season.
She played four years of vol-
chool
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Members of the Kings
Mountain, Cleveland County,
and Shelby City school boards
met last Wednesday before sev-
eral hundred concerned citizens
to discuss what they could do
to head off the proposed merg-
er of their systems. Through the
Cleveland County Board of
Commissioners were invited,
only Charlie Harry and Willie
McIntosh showed up.
Coordinated by Cleveland
County Schools Board
Chairman Tommy Greene, the
two-hour meeting took each
one of the nine points county
i commissioners had drawn up
to study in the merger question
and looked at way the separate
systems could address them
without the ultimate need for
merger. Greene said the meet-
ing was “ a step above a brain-
storming session.” Greene also
stressed the importance of frank
but fair discussion during the
talks.
“If we take off our gloves and
speak up,” Greene said, “we are
still friends.”
Of the commissioners nine
. points, there were several that
the school boards felt they
could study and come up with
ways to meet the proposed cri-
teria. One idea talked over by
school board members from the
three districts in response to the
commissioners point of provid-
ing equitable financial resources
to each child in Cleveland
County included establishing a
county wide school tax with
equal distribution of funds to
all three systems.
Off
100l boards
discuss merger
Hall of Fame to induct 4
McGregor to speak at April 11 ceremony at KMHS
leyball and one year of basket-
ball'at Western Carolina
University where she still holds
17 volleyball records. She led
the 1989 team to the Southern
Conference championship and
was Southern Conference
Player of the Year in 1990. She
was All-Region in 1989 and
1990, All-Tournament in 1988,
‘89 and “90, and first team All-
| See Hall, 3A
|
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
Kings Mountain District |
Schools board chairman Larry
Allen (left) confers with board
member Ronnie Hawkins dur-
ing the recent summit meeting |
on school merger. The two are |
vocal opponents to merger of
schools in Cleveland County.
Another topic discussed at
the meeting was to establish a |
closer working and planning re-
lationship between the three
school systems. Also reviewed
were ways that the three sys-
tems could coordinate efforts to
better serve the bottom 25 per-
cent of students academically.
Throughout the discussion, ;
the main underlying question |
was if there were actually any
inequities in funding, facilities,
or academics between the three
separate school systems in
Cleveland County. When the
subject of facility utilization
was approached, it seemed as if
the core of the merger issue had
been reached when Shelby City
Schools chairman Jack Hamrick
said that some of their schools,
including Shelby High, had [
space for more students.
See Merger, 3A
icers turn to TV show
to help find Asha Degree
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Over one week has passed,
and 9-year-old Asha Degree is
still missing. Despite search ef-
forts that have consumed over
9,000 man-hours, no real clues
have turned up to explain why
the Fallston Elementary fourth-
grader walked away from her
home in the middle of the night,
or what has happened to her
since.
“There are no new develop-
ments,” Alicia Ross of the
Cleveland County Sheriff's
Department said Wednesday
morning.
Efforts to locate Degree have
included aerial units from the
N.C. Highway Patrol and State
Bureau of Investigation, the FBI,
Cleveland County Sheriff's
- Department, local volunteer fire
departments, volunteers on
horseback, and hundred of con-
cerned citizens combing the
land along Highway 18 on foot.
Even though the official
week-long ground search was \
called off Sunday, officials are \
urging everyone who lives in \
the area to search their barns, \
outbuildings, and garages for
signs that the child might have
sought shelter.
Besides extensive coverage
by local media, Degree’s story is.
scheduled to be aired on
“America’s Most Wanted” tele-
vision show Saturday evening (i
at 9 p.m. on Fox. Degree’s name
has also been added to a nation-
al database of missing children.
Though hard clues on
Degree’s disappearance have
been few and far between, offi-
cials do believe that the child ;
left home of her own accord.
What transpired between the
time she acted in this respect,
and where she is now, is the
source of the mystery. Theories
and speculations surrounding
what happened range from ab-
duction to falling down an
abandoned well.
5
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