April 6, 2000 Herald/Times Page 3A {
eget system on July 1 could OBITUARIES \
SCHOOL
A
i handle the situation.
| | From 1A “We've already made plans = EEE. ©. NE ON El
and purchased the property for
ia ~ the new school,” said Kings EUGENE W. TATE
i Contrary to what many peo- Mountain school board member PORTLAND, OREGON -
i ple think, the supplemental tax Melony Bolin. Eugene W. Tate, 12012 N.W.
is not used for the construction
of new schools, but rather for
salaries, utility bills, insurance,
and other costs of running the
schools on a day to day basis.
The money used to build new
schools does not come directly
from the supplemental tax, but
is affected by it in a way known
as “taxing effort.” Money for
new schools comes from the re-
distribution of state sales tax
money.
Kings Mountain has plans for
a new school for grades 5-6, but
it’s possible the building won't
be constructed. According to
the merger plan, all construc-
tion for new schools will be
halted unless the school in
question is approved by the
Board of Commissioners.
Commissioners did say, howev-
er, that Kings Mountain could
continue with their plansand
that the interim school board
that will take power under a
Cost for a new school in
Kings Mountain is expected to
~ be between $9 and $10 million,
according to superintendent Dr.
Bob McRae. So far, Kings
Mountain has gotten $6.142 mil- .
~ lion from state bonds and $2.5-
-$3 million from the sales tax re- '
distribution for the proposed
school. About $420,000 has been
spent for the land on Phifer
Road near Kings Mountain
- Middle School. About $1 mil-
lion more is needed to have all
the money for the job.
- What are the plans in Kings
Mountain since merger could
possibly prevent construction of
the school? McRae and his staff
are meeting with their architect
- and reviewing the draft of a
plan for the school regardless of
what the commissioners or an
interim board does.
“We are going ahead with
+ our plans until we are told to
- stop,” McRae said.
SMITH
From 1A
Mountain Business and
Professional Association and
the building of the downtown
gazebo park.
Kathy Neely, who along with
Linda Allen had the idea to
form the association, said the
group always looked to Smith
for advice.
“He always Tiew the right
thing to do and the right person
to call,” she said. “Anytime we
had a question we would call
on Joe. It’s going to be hard to
do without him.
“He was definitely the pillar
of our organization,” she
added. “I think that he was ex-
tremely proud of the progress
that we've made. I'm glad that
he was here when we were able
to finish the gazebo. It was his
idea to make that corner (West
Gold and Railroad Avenue) into
some kind of park. As far as
the association is concerned,
that will always be Joe Smith's -
that her father died at home
park no matter what they name
it.”
Neely said Smith taught her, -
and others, a valuable lesson in.
courage.
“This is a tremendous loss,”
she said. “He was there every
step of the way for us. Even
through his illness he never:
demonstrated any type of pain
or suffering to us. His strength
every day was beyond belief.”
That courage was also noted
by Jay Rhodes, one of Smith's
fellow Rotarians and Director of
the Kings Mountain Branch of
the Cleveland Chamber of
Commerce. Despite the pain as-
sociated with cancer, Rhodes °
said Smith always had a posi-
tive outlook.
“I found Joe Smith to bea
man of God, who was very pro
Kings Mountain and sought out
avenues to improve our com-
munity,” Rhodes said.
~ world,”
"his Nancy, and that's just where
Though as not well known as
his civic endeavors, Smith's
greatest legacy may be the quiet
way he went about helping oth-
er people who had cancer.
“Anytime he heard about
anyone that had cancer he
~~ would make a quiet phone call
and say, ‘I'm here if you want to
- know anything about cancer, or
-. just to talk,” “ said Joni. “That
‘was kind of his ministry. He
“touched so many lives.”
Smith was instrumental in
forming the local Prostate
- Cancer Support Group which
met monthly at Kings Mountain
“Hospital. He and Ruby
Alexander were co-Grand
Marshals of Kings Mountain's
first Cancer Relay for Life two
years ago.
- Smith had been battling can-
cer for almost eight years, and
- his daughter said he fought it to
. theend.
~ “He was at work last week,”
~ Joni said. “He was going out to
- lunch with everybody. I don’t
think there was a minute of his
life that he didn’t live.”
Joni said it was.a blessing
the place he wanted to be.
“He was here with the one
woman that he adored more
than anything else in this
she said. “He was with
he wanted to be.” °
“He did so much for this
town and the people of this
town,” she added. “It was such
an honor to have been his
child.”
Joni, too, recognized her fa-
ther’s courage in the face of
death.
“Anytime someone would
ask him ‘how are you doing,” he
~ would say, ‘the best you ever
.- saw.” And that’s the truth,” she
said.
His friends and those who
knew him as a Kings Mountain
advocate, would agree. They
. know they've ost one of the
best.
Kings Mountain Weather Report
(Compiled by Kenneth Kitzmiller)
March 29-Apr. 4 Yr. Ago
Total precip. .56 gir : 1.01
Max. 1 day © .38 (2nd) 1.01 (31)
Year to date 13.65 8.82
Min. temp. 35 (4th) 38 (31st)
Max. temp. 75 (2nd, 3rd) 86 i
65.
Avg. temp. | 60.3
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{ILDREN
hen fo "WHOA" First
3 MERGER
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
it was standing room only Tuesday night when the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners vot-
ed to go ahead with school merger. The proceedings were emotional and interrupted several
times by outbursts from the crowd.
MERGER
From 1A
er because they are scared of
losing their money power base
in Shelby. I find this entire affair
amazing.”
Though merger to this point
has caused more bruised feel-
ings and egos than an angry
mule kick, those wounds must
heal and the nuts and bolts of
getting the plan ironed out tak-
en care of.
Details of the deal include: an
interim school board made up
of nine members- two each
from the current school boards
and three new members from
anywhere in the county; no
tampering with student assign-
ments for school year 2000-
2001; grandfathering of 11th
and 12 graders at current high
schools; staggered elections for
permanent board seats begin-
ning in November 2001 when
the three at-large interim mem-
bers seats will be up for grabs,
then November 2002 when
three of the current school
board members on the interim
board will go up for votes, then
November 2003 when the re-
maining three interim seats will
be up for reelection. The new
system will be called Cleveland
County Schools. The new board
will be named the Cleveland
County Board of Education.
Other elements of the plan in-
clude freezing construction of
new schools in the county- with
the exception of the Springmore
School. Planning work on the
new grade 5-6 school in Kings
Mountain was also spared. The
interim board will have respon-
sibility beginning in September
to report on the progress made
by lower achieving students in
the county. The current school
supplement tax will also be re-
placed with a base 13 cents per
HALL |
From 1A
head wrestling coach at KMHS.
Prior to that he organized the
successful wrestling program at
Kings Mountain Junior High.
He had an overall record of 200-
48-2.
Layton played football, base-
ball and basketball at KMHS
from 1955-58. He was
Honorable Mention All-State in
football and played in the
North-South All-Star basketball
game his senior year. He went
on to play baseball and football
at The Citadel, helping the
Bulldogs win Southern
Conference championships in
both sports.
Special Recognition Awards
will go to present and former
KMHS athletes who won State
championships during the past
year, including:
B Anthony Hillman, the
school’s all-time leading rusher
and scorer in football and State
3A wrestling champion.
M Kareem Marshall, former
KMHS athlete who won both
the Shot Put and Discus in the
1999 State 3A track champi-
onship.
HB Matt Ash, KMHS junior
who won the 2000 State 3A
wrestling championship.
Special Achievement Awards
will go to KMHS teams that
won championships in the
Southwestern 3A and/or in
higher levels of competition.
Those include:
Hl The 1999 KMHS men’s
track team, which won the SWC
and Western North Carolina
championships and finished
second in the state 3A champi-
onship.
HB The 1999 KMHS women’s
volleyball team, which won the
SWC title and was Western
N.C. runner-up.
HM The 1999 KMHS women’s
soccer team, which won the
SWC championship in their
first year playing the sport.
HM The 2000 KMHS men’s
wrestling team, which won the
SWC regular season and tour-
nament championship.
HM The 2000 KMHS men’s
swim team, which won the
SWC championship.
In addition, four deserving
KMHS student athletes will re-
ceive $500 college scholarships.
Two of the scholarships will be
given by the Hall of Fame
Committee. Two will be given
in memory of Alfred “Duck”
Phillips by the KMHS Booster
Club and Phillips’ widow,
Anita.
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a FORD OF CHERRYVILLE « KEETER FORD OF CHERRYVILLE « KEETER FORD OF CHERRYVILLE
$100 education tax which could
be raised if need be.
The disposition of current
school system employees was
also taken into consideration
Tuesday night. According to the
accepted merger draft, all em-
ployees of the separate systems
would become employees of
the new merged system until
reassigned. Contracts in place
with employees would remain
in effect but could not be re-
newed or extended.
Once the details of the merg-
er draft had been presented and
approved by the commission-
ers, the public was given a
chance to express their opinion
on the subject- and express it
they did. For over one hour citi-
zen after citizen railed at com-
missioners over their decision.
Ron Humphries of Kings
Mountain deliver a rousing,
stump-pulling speech in which
he invoked our nation’s found-
ing fathers and the
Constitution. Ninth-grader
. + Elizabeth Logan of Kings
‘Mountain High School took
ARF
commissioners to task and said
merger would destroy her
school. Gene White predicted
that the bitterness caused by
merger would “last for years.”
Only one person commended
the commissioners on their vot-
ing. Tom Brooks of Kings
Mountain said he “took his hat
off to the commissioners for
giving this county direction.”
Now that the draft proposal
for merger is a done deal, all
eyes will be watching the calen-
dar for the April 18 public hear-
ing. The event is scheduled to
take place at 6 p.m. on that day
at either Malcolm Brown
Auditorium or the auditorium
at Cleveland Community
College. Once the last voice
from the populace is heard that
evening, commissioners can
vote to send the draft to the
State Board of Education for fi-
nal approval and enactment in-
to law. When the gavel strikes
that evening, many expect it to
be the death knell for schools as
Cleveland County has known
them for decades.
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KEETER FORD OF CHERRYVILLE « KEETER FORD OF CHERRYVILLE »
Menamee Road, died April 3,
2000.
He was the son of the late
Brooks R. Tate and Leola
Bridges Tate. He served in the
U.S. Army Air Corp in New
Guinea.
He is survived by his wife,
Margaret Pauley Tate of
Portland; sons, Bobby Tate and
Mark Tate and wife, Judy, of
Portland; daughter, Paula
Abbott and husband, Oran, of
Portland; grandchildren, Tyman
Abbott and wife, Holly, and
Preston Abbott of Portland, and
Eva Tate of Nampa, Idaho;
brothers, Oliver Tate and wife,
Helen, and Fred Tate and wife,
Colleen, of Kings Mountain.
The funeral will be conducted
on Saturday, April 8 in
Portland.
Visitation will be Friday from
6-9 p,m. at Fuiten Mortuary, 171
N. East 3rd St., Hillsboro,
Oregon 97124. .:
DAVID GARRISON SR.
KINGS MOUNTAIN - David
Douglas Garrison Sr., 76, 130
Gunsmoke Trail, died April 4,
2000 in Bessemer City:
A native of Gaston County,
he was the son of the late
Geneva O’Daniel Gladden and
Gus Garrison. He was a ma-
chine shop foreman and a
World War II Army. veteran. He
was retired from Wallace
Machine Shop, Bellview, NJ af-
ter 26 years of service.
He was married to the late
Eva E. Garrison.
He is survived by his sons,
Mark S. Garrison of Gastonia,
Roger Hawkins of Wilmington,
and Lynn Hawkins of Topeka,
KS; daughters and sons-in-law,
Judy and Jerry Jones of
Lebanon, MO, Terry and Don
Lassen of Lawrence, KS, Tracy
and Jeff Crisp of Bessemer City,
and Kelly Garrison of Kings
Mountain; sister, Violet Lowery
of Bessemer City; 15 grandchil-
dren and seven great-grandchil-
dren.
A graveside service will be
conducted by the Rev. Jerry
Millwdod at'4'p.m. Friday at
Gaston Memorial Park;
~The family’ will receive
friends from 6-8 p.m. Thursday
at Sisk-Butler Funeral Home,
Bessemer City.
Memorials may be made to
Hospice of Cleveland County,
951 Wendover Heights Drive,
Shelby, NC 28150.
Sisk-Butler Funeral Home,
Bessemer City, is in charge of
arrangements.
Career fair sot’
Thursday at CCC
Two career. fairs will be held
Thursday at Cleveland
Community College:
Workforce 2000, a career
awareness fair for seventh
grade students, will be held
from 8:30-2:30 p.m.
JobLine 2000, a job fair. for
anyone seeking employment,
will be held from 2-8 p.m.
Area businesses will have
representatives on hand to
speak to anyone seeking sum-
mer, part-time and full-time
jobs...
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ETT EEE he EL EEE RE RR LE eR Le LE EEN LE RR YC CECE CL LF ETE ED
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