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Thursday, August 10, 2000 KINGS MOUNTAIN The Heral Vol. 112 No. 32 Since 1889 50 Cents Merger report upsets KM paren By GARY STEWART Editor of The Herald The report sent by Cleveland County’s merger attorney Gil Middlebrooks to the U.S. Justice Department is drawing the ire of some educators and parents in Kings Mountain. The Justice Department recently ruled that it would not preclear the county's merger plan until it received more information from Middlebrooks on several issues including voting maps, minority input into the merger plan, and a chronology of how the merger assessment came into being, in- Civic leader Selena Trott dies Monday BY ALAN HODGE Staff Writer With the passing of Selena Trott on Monday, Kings Mountain lost one of its most j vital civic and cultural lead- ers, as well as a true Southern lady. The wife of long-time 1 insurance agent Tom | Trott, she was an inspiration to all who knew her. = “My good friend Selena Trott was an excellent role model and ‘mentor,” said Esther Muench. “She was a fantastic person to know. She was a conscientious and driving force at the Woman's Club floral fair and arts programs. I hope I can live my life for others as she did.” "A native of Waynesville in Haywood County, Trott was the daughter of High R. and Ethel Woody Parton. “Mother was very proud of her mountain roots,” said daughter Libby Blanton. “Her grandfather’s home is still standing in the Great Smoky Mountains Park.” She came to Kings Mountain in 1926 when her father opened a furniture store. The Partons bought a house at 208 E. King Street that the Trotts called home until recently. For many years they operated a funeral service from the downstairs. Trott’s professional career al- so included business school and a job with attorney E.A. Harrill. Her memories of growing in up Kings Mountain included visits from U.S. Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt In 1942, she married Tom Trott and spent several years in Bennetsville, S.C. where their daughter Anne was born. Later, the Trotts moved to Statesville and had their second child, Libby. In 1952, the Trotts came back . to Kings Mountain for good. In 1957, Tom opened an insurance agency that served the people of Kings Mountain for several decades. Over the years, she was very active in the social life of Kings Mountain. Involvements in- cluded the Kings Mountain Woman's Club, the Open Gate Garden Club where she was president of the Conservation Department, andthe Thursday Afternoon Book Club. She was a long-standing member of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church where she was a former circle leader and served on the Social Committee. Through the years of her civic work, Trott received several awards. In 1999, Trott was named Club Woman of the Year by the Kings Mountain Woman's Club. She also re- ceived the Paul Harris Fellow See Trott, 2A cluding input from any individuals and organiza- ‘tions that pushed it. Middlebrooks mailed a 19-page letter, accom- panied by graphs, video tapes and other informa- tion, to the Justice Department last week. The Justice Department had said earlier it would make a decision within 60 days after receiving the information. After learning the contents of the letter, several Kings Mountain folks say they especially disagree with statements about Kings Mountain District Schools refusing to participate in reassignment of students and what they say was the insinuation School Board to weigh _ options for new school S Middlebrooks including her name in the report 9A that the Close the Achievement Gap effort by the local black community was a part of the commis- sioners’ effort to include minorities in the merger assessment. Mary Accor, principal of Bethware School and a key player in the Close the Gap effort, said way.” without her consent. “Close the Gap didn’t have one thing to do with the merger assessment,” Accor said. “I've told them from the beginning that Close the Gap + is based on children and merger has never been based on children. The two do not relate in any Accor said it is “ludicrous” for anyone to as- merger and Close the Gap are not now and never have been related, and she resented East Elementary students Tyler Black and Jasmine Roseborc got a lesse tin biology from teacher Jenny Hollifield on the first day of school Monday. Sand dollars and bird rissts were part of the course. East and West among best on state ABC scores BY ALAN HODGE Staff Writer In what is getting to be an an- nual celebration, Kings Mountain District Schools once again blew the roof off the North Carolina ABCs test scores. Highlights of this year’s testing included East Elementary being ranked as one of most improved K-8 schools statewide, as well as scoring a 91.80 performance composite- highest of any school in Cleveland, Gaston, or Lincoln counties. “We are extremely pleased ,” said East principal Jerry Hoyle. “It is quite an honor to be ranked in the top 25, but to make it two years in a row is ex- traordinary.” ' Hoyle said he attribuied East's achievements to the strong support of parents, a dedicated staff, and hard work- ing students. The ABCs of Public Education is released yearly by the State Board of Education. It provides school-by-school per- - formance results for all of the ~ state’s 2,115 public schools eligi- ble to participate in the pro- gram. The ABCs accountability model is designed to measure achievement and performance with the goal of improving the overall level of student achieve- ment in North Carolina. This year, a total of 69.8 per- cent of North Carolina students in grades three through eight scored at or above grade level on the end-of-grade-tests in reading and math. This repre- sents slightly less than a one percent gain for the year and a nearly 10 percentage points gain since 1995-96, the year the ABCs program was developed. See ABC, 3A Italian visitor gets in touch with past BY ALAN HODGE Staff Writer Italian journalist Alessandra Bruscagli may live and work in. Sesto Fiorentino, but part of her heart is in Kings Mountain. The natural daughter of the late Marvin “Mutt” Upchurch, Bruscagli has been spending the last couple of weeks in Kings Mountain getting in touch with her past and present. Bruscagli’s story begins back in the closing days of World War II in war-torn Italy. In the army at that time, Upchurch and Bruscagli’s mother fell in love. Due to government regu- lations, the parents were not on- ly unable to marry, but daugh- Italy when Upchurch came back home. Even though they were sepa- rated physically by an ocean, Bruscagli and Upchurch stayed in touch until his death in 1973. Driven by a longing to see the land where her father had lived and to visit his grave, Bruscagli first came to Kings Mountain last year for a visit with rela- tives she had never seen before. Some of those kinfolk include sisters Barbara Biddix, Shirley Wright, Betty Roark of Kings Mountain and Dale Wright of Maryland. Bruscagli’s step- mother is Doris Upchurch and her niece is Carolyn Bell of the Kings Mountain Senior Center. This year, Bruscagli made a not only for more visitation, but also as an ambassador for her town of Sesto Fiorentino where she serves on the city council. Helping Bruscagli overcome the language barrier- she speaks but little English- is interpreter Antonietta Smith of Kings Mountain. In addition to her job. at the local Italian newspaper, Bruscagli has also published several books of poems, and does travel and culture stories for a magazine. She’s been a writer for about 10 years now. “The things that impress me most about America are the big spaces and all the trees,” Bruscagli said through her in- terpreter. “Also the food is dif- “ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD sume that closing the achievement gap was a part of the merger assessment. See Merger, 2A Deputy says shooting death was result of ongoing feud ALAN HODGE Staff Writer What law enforcement offi- | cials called an apparent feud | erupted into gunfire Sunday at a Kings Mountain trailer park that left one man dead and an- other critically injured. Dead is Billy Cecil Welch, 59, 206 Lavender Street, Charlotte. Wounded in the stomach was § Jason Pruitt, 115 Miranda Lane, Lot 4, Kings Mountain. Charged with one count of Murder and one count of Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill is 30-year-old Tony David Rice, who lives next door to Pruitt at Lot 5. The shooting was apparently the culmination of what Cleveland County Sheriff's Chief Paul Cash termed a “Hatfield and McCoys type feud.” “It was a chaotic scene when we arrived,” Cash said. “We sent eight deputies to the scene and Kings Mountain sent four officers.” When police arrived, they found the body of Welch lying in a dirt road near the mobile home park. He had been shot with two loads of pellets. Deputies also found Jason Pruitt approximately 50 yards from Welch’s body. He had been wounded in the stomach, also with a shotgun. He is in critical condition at Gaston Memorial Hospital. Welch was a friend of Pruitt and had been visiting the Pruitt home when the shooting occurred. “Welch was apparently aware of the feud between Pruitt and Rice,” Cash said. “He said he. would solve the problem and got his gun. Rice appears to have been waiting on him.” Cash said deputies have had several calls to the trailers be- fore for disturbances. See Shooting, 3A Local hotel, restaurant are robbed Kings Mountain police are in- vestigating two armed rob- beries which occurred within four hours and a few blocks of each other Saturday morning. At 2:21 a.m., Officer B.S. Biletnikoff responded to a panic alarm at Holiday Inn Express at the York Road /I85 inter- change, and found that a clerk had been robbed. According to the officer’s re- port, two black males entered the hotel and inquired about getting a room for the night. While they were talking, one of the men took a handgun from underneath his shirt and de- manded money. The clerk reportedly opened the cash drawer, and the man took all of the money from it; and then took money from the woman's purse which was be- hind the counter. The men reportedly put the clerk into a closet and ordered her not to come out. The men are described as be ing in their early 20s. One was: about 5-9, 165 pounds with short hair; and the other was described as about 5-8, 160 pounds with short curly hair. At 6:32 a.m., Ptl. J.D. Buff re- sponded to a call about an + armed robbery at McDonalds at 725 S. York Road. He said a cashier reported that a black male and white male entered the restaurant and ordered everyone to get on the floor. The black male reportedly had a handgun and demanded that the clerk give him the mon- ey from the cash register. See Robbery, 3A ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD Italian journalist Alessandra Bruscagll (right) spent a couple of weeks recently visiting relatives in Kings Mountain. Friend Antonietta Smith acted as interpreter for Bruscagli who rN FA Er TP WS NOT ter and mom had to remain in second trip to Kings Mountain See Italy, 3A speaks just a little English. Kings Mountain Gastonia Shelby Bessemer City FIRST NATIONAL BANK 300 Ww Mountain St. 529 New Hope Rd. 106 S. Lafayette St. 1225 Gastonia Hwy. Celebrating 126 Years 739-4782 865-1233 484-6200 629-3906 Member FDIC ES ——
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Aug. 10, 2000, edition 1
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