Thursday, May 11, 2000
KINGS MOUNTAIN
Vol. 112 No. 19
Since 1889 he
oy
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207 11-11-00 310U 27P 85
MAUNEY MEMORIAL LIBRARY
100 S PIEDMONT AVE
KINGS MOUNTAIN NC
‘50 Cents
Suzanne Davison
and husband Tom
raised eight children 3A
Merger
costs km Merger hearing slated
football
coach, AD
Ron Massey accepts
Kannapolis position
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
The impending merger of
Cleveland County’s school sys-
tems dealt Kings Mountain an- |
other jarring blow Monday
when KMHS football coach and
athletic di- pum ! ;
rector Ron §
Massey ac-
cepted a po- |
sition as
head coach
and athletic
director at
A.L. Brown
High School
in
Kannapolis.
Massey, who had won more
championships in five years
than any other coach in the
school’s history, referred to his
gut-wrenching decision as a
“sad day,” but that he had to
soon start getting excited about
moving to what has been recog-
nized over the years as one of
the elite football powerhouses
in North Carolina.
“We'll take away from Kings
Mountain a whole lot more
than we could ever think of giv-
ing back,” Massey said. “I
couldn’t ask for a better five
years than we had with the peo-
ple of Kings Mountain.”
Massey came here in 1995 af-
ter building successful pro-
grams at Raleigh Enloe and
Fayetteville Seventy First, and
immediately turned the
Mountaineers into a winner. In
five years he compiled an over-
all 47-15-2 record, winning con-
secutive Southwestern 3A
Conference titles in 1996, ‘97
and ‘98, and the Western North
Carolina championship in 1998.
During his tenure here, his
teams had two meetings with
A.L. Brown. The Mountaineers
lost to the Wonders 40-27 in the
1997 Western N.C. champi-
onship game, and in 1998 the
Mountaineers defeated the
Wonders and their All-
American running back, Nick
Maddox, 27-21 en route to the
North Carolina 3A champi-
onship game.
Massey said while
Kannapolis presents some ex-
cellent opportunities, he will
never forget Kings Mountain
and the relationships he built
here.
“It was a decision that took a
lot of struggle internally for all
of us,” he said. “We waited as
long as we possibly could and
put it off as much as we possi-
bly could. I always said the on-
ly way I'd leave Kings
Mountain was if it was a better
situation for me and my family,
and that’s the way it is. We al-
ways said there were only a few
places in North Carolina that
we would leave Kings
Mountain for, and Kannapolis
is one of them.
Massey said the merger of the
county’s three school systems
had a direct impact on his deci-
sion. He always favored coach-
ing in school systems that have
only one high school. :
“Merger had a lot to do with
our decision,” he said. “This of-
fers us some opportunities that
might not be there in a larger
system.” ;
Kannapolis, a city system, 1s
basically the same size as Kings
Mountain District Schools. It is
MASSEY
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
The lawyer for the Kings
Mountain Support Our Schools
group has received notice from
the Office of Administrative
Hearings that their case against
the State School Board will be
heard by Judge Sammy Chess
the week of September 4 in
Charlotte.
Meanwhile, attorney Lue
Lesegne of Charlotte has filed a
motion for a Stay of Agency
Action, asking the judge to stop
the State Board of Education
from taking any action on
Cleveland County
Commissioners plan for school
merger until after the case is
heard by the Administrative
Law Judge.
If that is granted it could be a
major step in the community’s
efforts to halt a merger of the
Kings Mountain, Shelby and
Cleveland County School
Boards. But, if that or an injunc-
tion is not granted in one of the
other lawsuits filed last week,
and the State School Board ap-
proves the merger plan anyway,
the systems will be merged on
July 1.
The State Board was stopped
from acting on the merger plan
at last week’s meeting after at-
torneys for the Kings Mountain
Board of Education won a 10-
day restraining order from a
judge in Wake County.
The School Board's lawyers
filed law suits in both
Cleveland and Wake counties
late Wednesday afternoon. The
Cleveland County lawsuit listed
the County Commissioners as
4
Grover School third grade teacher Jackie Blanton has been an educator for 50 years. Enjoying a
good read with Blanton are her students, left to right; Krista Harris, Jacob Bridges, and Daniel
Luangsay.
Jackie Blanton has been turning
kids on to learning for 50 years
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
With 50 years of school teaching under her belt,
educator Jackie Blanton of Grover School has
touched many lives. Even though her third grade
class has computers, it’s the basics that Blanton
stresses in her lessons.
“I believe in using lots of books in my class,”
Blanton said. “Books help the students gain
knowledge.”
A native of Gaffney, Blanton attended
Limestone College where she earned her under-
graduate degree in Elementary Education. She
later went on to earn a Masters in Reading for
grades K-12 from Appalachian State University.
She earned that degree over an eight year span
while teaching full-time.
Blanton's teaching career actually started out
in Cabarrus County. After spending a year teach-
ing sixth grade at Mount Pleasant School, she
came back home.
“B.N. Barnes and the principal at East School
at that time, Irma Thompson, came to interview
me for a teaching job,” Blanton said. “After the
interview, they called me from a pay phone to say
I had the position.” Bien
Blanton's career in the Kings Mountain District
Schools has included stints at Bethware, East
School, and Grover. She spent at least 20 years at
East, and has been at Grover since the mid-1970s.
Currently, Blanton teaches third grade, the “hot
seat of school” as she puts it.
For someone to spend a half century teaching
school, they have to be in it for something besides
the money. Even now, Blanton says she could
make more in retirement than by staying in the
classroom.
“”The best part about teaching is turning the
kids on to learning,” Blanton says. “Kids really
like to feel, and see, then learn.”
Besides focusing on the basics such as reading,
Blanton also gets back to the basic of discipline in
“I'm strict in my classes, but the kids say they
love me.” Blanton said. “I expect them to be-
have.”
Even though she keeps her students on the
straight and narrow, Blanton admits the job is
harder than it used to be.
“Years ago, I could ask them to behave and not
have to repeat myself,” she said. “Now it’s differ-
ent.”
One especially rewarding part of her job as an
educator is taking at risk students in summer
school and turning them around. Summer school
has been part of Blanton's schedule for the past 11
years.
Many of Blanton's students go on to great
things. One former student, “Corky” Fulton, is
owner of SageSport store. Another former stu-
dent, Karla Bennett, works at West School and
was just named Teacher of the Year for Kings
Mountain District Schools.
Blanton's current crop of students also hold her
in high regard.
“I learned more in her class than in first and
second grade put together,” said third grader
Jacob Bridges.
Besides her teaching role, Blanton is also active
in civic affairs. Her list of involvement includes
Kings Mountain Woman's Club, Cleveland
County Reading Association, North Carolina
Reading Association and Phi Delta Kappa.
Regarding merger, Blanton doesn’t hold back in
her opposition to the idea.
“Kings Mountain Schools have worked hard to
get where they are today,” she said. “Those ac-
complishments shouldn't be taken away. We
have a family atmosphere in our schools.”
As far as advice for parents who want their
children to be good students, Blanton says one
key is reading to them from an early age. That,
and teaching the kids good citizenship as well.
“We have computers today,” Blanton said, “But
the basics of education, with reading at the top of
ALAN HODGE,/THE HERALD
defendants and the Raleigh
lawsuit listed the State School
Board as defendant.
Cleveland County Judge Don
Bridges’ denied Attorney Bryan
Shaw’s request to issue an or-
der, but in Raleigh Judge Abe
Jones approved a request from
Shaw's partner, Richard
Schwartz.
All members of the Kings
Mountain Board of Education,
Supt. Bob McRae and many
parents were already in Raleigh
for the scheduled Thursday
morning discussion by the State
for September
Board.
At The Herald's press dead-
line, the School System had not
heard if an injunction had been
ordered. If it hasn't been issued
by the end of 10 days, the State
Board could call a special meet-
ing to act on the merger plan or
act on it at its next regularly
scheduled meeting on June 1.
Kings Mountain Schools
Supt. Bob’ McRae said the next
few days could be critical for
the anti-merger effort.
See Merger, 3A
11th hour pay
hike for Council
narrowly defeated
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
An 11th hour proposal by
Councilman Clavon Kelly to in-
crease the salary of the mayor
from $600 to $1,000 a month
and council members from $300
to $500 a month failed by a 3-4
vote at Tuesday night’s Council
meeting.
Kelly's proposal seemed to
take everyone by surprise as it
came near the end of discussion
on the 2000-01 fiscal year bud-
get. According to state law,
salary increases for council
must be approved in the budget
. and not through amendments
during the fiscal year.
A majority of the council
members seemed to be in agree-
ment with Kelly until the actual
figures were presented. That
prompted Councilman Jim
Guyton to vote against Kelly’s
motion.
Voting with Kelly to raise the
salaries were Bob Hayes and
Rev. Howard Shipp. Gene
White, Dean Spears, Carl
DeVane and Guyton voted
against it.
White's substitute motion to
include any salary hikes in next
year’s budget to go into effect
after the next election also
failed on a 3-4 vote with White,
DeVane and Spears voting for
it, and Guyton, Hayes, Shipp
and Kelly voting against it.
Guyton said after the meeting
he still favors a smaller salary
increase, but said both White's
and Kelly's motions were “in-
appropriate.”
Kelly claimed councilmen are
See Pay, 6A
Council okays
budget, curbside
garbage collection
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain City Council :.
Tuesday night approved a
$25,956,509 budget for 2000-
2001 which includes a four-cent Z
property tax reduction, curb-
side garbage collection and re-
turning Animal Control to the
Kings Mountain Police
Department.
© The budget passed on a 5-2
vote with Councilmen Bob
Hayes and Clavon Kelly voting
against it.
Although he said he is not
against curbside pickup person- -
ally, Kelly questioned its fair-
ness to the elderly and physical-
ly challenged citizens.
Hayes also opposed return-
ing Animal Control to the
Police Department, since he
said that had been tried in the
past and failed, and also be-
cause the Animal Control
Officers would not be sworn
police officers.
The budget vote came follow-
ing a public hearing and discus-
sion time which consumed al-
most two hours of the 2
1/2-hour meeting at City Hall.
Only four persons spoke dur-
ing the public hearing, all four
about curbside garbage pickup.
Two spoke in favor and two
were against .
City Manager Jimmy Maney
noted that by rotating the shifts
See Garbage, 6A
Rod Croft performed on his dulcimer in the Kings Mountain
History Museum during the Tour of Homes on Saturday. The
event raised over $4,000 for historic preservation in Kings
PLT
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See Massey, 3A her classes. the list, is the key to success.” Mountain.
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