Thursday, September 28, 2000
KINGS MOUNTAIN
Vol. 112 No. 39
Since 1889
Coach faces sex charges,
tree on $50,000 cash bond
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
It could take months before
the sex charges against Kings
Mountain High School teach-
er/coach David Ballenger come
to trial, according to Assistant
D.A. Steve Kaylor, who last
week brought 21 charges
. against Ballenger for alleged in-
appropriate sexual contact with
a student.
Ballenger is charged with two
counts of statutory sexual of-
fense against a person who is
13, 14 or 15 years of age, three
counts of crime against nature,
two counts of indecent liberties
with a child, and 14 counts of
County
zoning
hearing
Tuesday
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Folks interested in voicing
their opinion on countywide
zoning in Cleveland County
will have their chance Tuesday,
October 3 at a public hearing.
Tobe held at the 6 p.m. meeting
-of the Cleveland County Board
of Commissioners, the public
hearing could be immediately
followed by a vote to approve
zoning.
For people living in the Kings
Mountain ETJ, any zoning that
comes from the county should
in most cases not pose a dis-
ruption.
“Our zoning is very similar,”
said County Planning Director
Bill McCarter. “It should be a
seamless process.”
Anyone interested in seeing
how the county could be ar-
ranged can view a map of the
layout at the County
Administrative Building at 311
E. Marion Street, Shelby. The
map is one the first floor out-
side the Planning and Zoning
office. .
There are eight different
zones that could be used by the
county if zoning is approved. A
pamphlet of the zones and their
uses is also available to the pub-
lic at the Planning and Zoning
office. :
Zones and examples of their
uses include Restricted
Residential (RR) which permits
single family homes and modu-
lar homes but not manufac-
tured homes; Residential (R)
which allows single and multi
family homes as well as manu-
factured homes; Manufactured
Homes and Parks (RM) which
permits most types of homes in-
cluding manufactured home
See County, 3A
RADAR
WATCH
W.......... nn
Kings Mountain Police will
be running radar at the follow-
ing locations during the week
of October 2-6.
Monday - W. Mountain St.
Tuesday - E. King at
Canterbury Road.
Wednesday - N. Cleveland
Ave.
Thursday - Phifer Road.
Friday - Highway 74 at Food
Lion.
indecent liberties with a stu-
dent.
The charges were filed late
Wednesday afternoon, and
Ballenger was arrested by Kings
Mountain Police Thursday af-
ternoon. He was jailed
overnight in the Cleveland
County Detention Center and
released Friday on a $50,000
cash bond.
Contacted at his home in
Spartanburg, Ballenger simply
said “I'm innocent,” and de-
clined further comment.
According to Kings Mountain
“Police, a 16-year-old KMHS stu-
dent gave Lt. Derek Johnson an
incident report on September 12
claiming that Ballenger had as-
Excellent!
i BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
East is East and West is West, and those Kings
i Mountain elementary schools are two of the best
i in North Carolina. That's the message brought
i from Raleigh last Wednesday when N.C. State
i School Superintendent Mike Ward came to town
i and presented both schools with banners pro-
i claiming them “Schools of Excellence.” In addi-
i tion to School of Excellence honors, East was
i! named one of the Top 25 Most Improved K-8
{schools in the state.
i In ceremonies held at 11:30 a.m. at East and
one hour later at West, Ward was joined by prin-
saulted her during school
hours.
An investigation resulted in
warrants being issued on al-
leged charges dating back to the
1999-2000 school year, when the
student was 15 years old.
The two most severe charges
- statutory sexual offense
against a person who is 13, 14
or 15 years old - were amended
from original charges of first
degree forcible sexual offense.
According to Lt. Johnson, the
original charge deals with sexu-
al intercourse, but “there was
no intercourse. It engages sexu-
al act other than vaginal inter-
course.”
According to Assistant D.A.
Steve Kaylor, the magistrate
who drew up the warrants mis-
understood his instructions.
“The charges are essentially
the same thing,” he said. “The
legislature has just broken the
old statutory sex offense down
to two different charges, essen-
tially on the age of the victim
and the age difference between
the victim and the defendant.”
The incident report filed by
Lt. Johnson stated that on
September 12 at 2:50 p.m., the
student had returned to school
and went into Ballenger’s class-
room. She stated when she en-
tered the door and closed it, it
was locked. She said she
See Coach, 3A
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
Last Wednesday saw East Elementary in Kings Mountain honored for being not only a North Carolina
School of Excellence but also one of the Top 25 Most Improved K-8 schools in the state. Taking part in the
presentation, from left; State School Superintendent Mike Ward, Kings Mountain District Schools
Superintendent Dr. Bob McRae, East principal Jerry Hoyle, state Sen. Walter Dalton and Rep. Jim Horne.
East, West Elementary schools honored
for success in State ABC testing program
David Dimuzio
helps KMHS
students celebrate
Reademic success
S
" SORTxxc 002
5A |
KMHS
teacher/coach
David Ballenger
leaves KM Police
Department for
the Cleveland
County Jail
Thursday after
being arrested on
21 charges of al-
leged improper
sexual conduct
with a student.
ALAN HODGE /
HERALD
City sued
over video
nance.
Store, Inc.
Bessemer
services.
Ei AP
tina IY
chool of Reo
bing IIIA
CELE
Davies said.
i tochangeit.?
Heath and
Attorney Ken Davies of Charlotte filed suit in
Cleveland County Superior Court on behalf of
Bessemer City Express, Inc., and Mike's Food A
game law
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Two Kings Mountain businesses have filed a
lawsuit against the City of Kings Mountain over
its recently-amended video game arcade ordi-
City Express, Inc. is owned by Don
Johnson, who operates two business in Kings
i Mountain (K&M Games and Country Billiards
:- and Brew) that offer gaming entertainment in-
cluding video poker machines; and Heath owns
Lynn’s Gameroom, which provides entertainment
in the form of video poker machines and other
In short, Davies said, Johnson and Heath feel
that their businesses should have been “grandfa-
thered” in the ordinance because they had been
in business here for years before the adoption of
the ordinance on July 25.
“If they try to comply with all the restrictions
it’s basically putting everybody out of business,”
Heath said he is not opposed to the city impos-
ing its new policy to keep other gaming business-
es out of the city.
“If I had just opened my business it would be
different,” he said. “But I’ve been here for 15
years. I opened Pete’s Gameroom in 1985 and
sold it to Don Johnson in 1989 or ‘90. I bought the
(Mike's Food Store) property in 1991 and had it
: annexed for General Business. If you've got
i something that many years why should you have
”
Johnson objected to the plan at a re-
: cent public hearing and subsequent Council ac-
tion. The ordinance places restrictions on the
number of video poker machines a business can
: Allen.
: cipals Jerry Hoyle and Sherrill Toney, faculty, stu-
dents, dignitaries such as state Sen. Walter Dalton
and Rep. Jim Horne, Kings Mountain District
Schools superintendent Dr. Bob McRae, and
Kings Mountain school board chairman Dr. Larry
During his respective presentations, Ward
: heaped accolades on both schools.
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
West Elementary in Kings Mountain earned the coveted
School of Excellence honor for 1999-2000. Displaying the ban-
ner presented to the school last Wednesday by State
Superintendent of Schools Mike Ward are students, from left;
Devin Thompson, Andrew Moss, Samuel Shipp, and Jimmy
house (3), and other restrictions such as mini-
mum distance from residential, church, and
school zones, and minimum distance from other
video game arcades. Former Police Chief Bob \
Hayes was the only Council member to vote )
against the ordinance.
The suit claims that Council’s decision to adopt
the ordinance was “arbitrary and without reason-
able basis in view of the established circum-
See Schools, 3A
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Some Kings Mountain folks
got a welcome piece of mail last
Friday.
Those who had been in con-
tact with the U.S. Justice
Department about the proposed
merger of the three county
school systems received copies
of a letter written from the
Stamey.
ty’s merger attorney, Gil
Middlebrooks, informing him
that the Justice Department
would take no action on the
merger until Kings Mountain's
lawsuits against the county
commissioners and the State
School Board have run their
course in the legal system.
The Justice Department had
earlier requested additional in-
formation from Middlebrooks
member board of education for
the consolidated school district,
. and the schedule for implemen-
tation of merger, and said that
after receiving that information
the Department would act with-
in 60 days.
Joseph D. Rich of the Voting
Section of the Justice
Department told Middlebrooks
that until the Court of Appeals
rules, “merger may not be im-
“If or when we receive no-
tice...that the stay prohibiting
merger has been lifted, the 60-
day review period will recom-
mence,” the letter said.
Neither of Kings Mountain's
lawsuits have been scheduled
for trial. The State Attorney
General has filed papers with
Wake County Superior Court
asking that the lawsuit against
the State Board be dismissed.
See Suit, 3A
Justice Department delays ruling on school merger
Board member Stella Putnam,
one of the local citizens receiv-
ing a copy of the letter to
Middlebrooks, said she has felt
all along that KM District
Schools will defeat the merger
plan and, in her opinion, the let-
ter is “verification that the
Justice Department knows there
are some questions out there
that need to be answered here
at the local level.
9
©
Justice Department to the coun- about the creation of a nine- plemented.” Kings Mountain School See Merger, 3A
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