KINGS MOUNTAIN
i
Raising -._| KM puts three
the == on county board
Confederate
submarine
Hunley (below)
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
What does Kings Mountain have to do
with the recently raised Confederate subma-
rine Hunley? In the case of Kenneth Edwards,
a great deal. A 30-year veteran of commercial
underwater jobs that have spanned the globe,
Edwards was diving superintendent on the
Hunley project.
+ Even before his work on the Hunley job,
Edwards had tallied three decades of under-
water adventures. Just one of the many fasci-
nating projects he was in on included putting
devices at the base of a dam in Shasta,
California to cool the water for migrating
salmon. The water was 500 feet deep. Another
trek took Edwards to Africa for a job repairing
the hull of a tanker ship that had been con-
verted for petroleum storage.
A native of Ohio, Edwards says he got into
diving because he was “tired of working in
buildings.” He's currently employed by
Oceaneering, International, Inc. The company
is based in Morgan City, Louisiana. Though
his actual underwater days are over, Edwards
acts in a supervisory and coordinating capaci- -
ty above the surface. The type of equipment
that Edwards and his men use has the capabil-
ity of letting them go down 2000 feet. Most
jobs are in water from 100 to 300 feet deep.
Though it looked like high and exciting ad-
venture to folks who followed the story, the
Hunley raising was not that difficult for the
commercial divers.
“The conditions were nice,” Edwards said.
“The water was warm, we had nice weather,
and the visibility was around three or four
feet.”
The dive consisted of two teams. The com-
mercial team had eight divers. Another team
Supervising raising of Confederate submarine just
one of many underwater adventures for KM man
Getting help with his diving suit from Doug
Dawson of Oceaneering International,
Hunley submarine discoverer Ralph Wilbanks
gets set to visit the boat before it was
raised.
of 15 consisted of underwater archaeologists.
Some divers wore scuba gear, others had div-
ing helmets and piped in air.
Except for a few weeks in June, Edwards
was on the Hunley job from May until the end
of July when the sub was raised. He and his
companions had interesting living quarters
while they were in the Charleston area.
See Hunley, 3A
Superintendent leaving
By GARY STEWART Randolph County 1s a much ty. We have great friends here,
Editor of The Herald larger system than KMDS with so I certainly don’t leave out of
; over 17,000 students and 28 any negativity about Kings
Kings Mountain Schools schools. The system has four Mountain. This (Randolph
Superintendent Bob McRae has
high schools - Eastern
County) was just a good oppor-
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain people made
history in Tuesday's Cleveland
County Commissioners elec-
tion. ;
All three :
seats that
were avail-
able went to
Kings
Mountain
residents -
Republican
Ronnie Bl
Hawkins and =~ HAWKINS
Democrats Tom Bridges and
Mary Accor.
This will be the first time in
history that Kings Mountain
has held a majority on the
Board. The three will take their
oath of office on December 1.
The general election, which
drew a voter turnout of over 6C
percent, reaffirmed what voters
seemed to say in the May pri-
mary when the same three can-
didates led the tickets.
All three, as well as most of
the other commission candi-
dates, filed for office after the
present Board of
Commissioners approved a
plan to merge the county’s three
school systems. That resulted in
two of those commissioners -
Joe Cabaniss and Joe Hendrick -
being defeated in the primary.
The third, chairman Jim
Crawley, finished a distant third
in the Republican Primary and.
later announced that he would
resign when his term ends next
month.
Hawkins led the voting
Tuesday with 16,595, followed
by Accor with 16,464, Bridges
16,215, Kenneth Ledford 15,132,
Ray Thomas 13,432 and David
Morrow 11,161. Hawkins led
the voting in 11 of the county’s
28 precincts; Accor led in eight,
and Bridges five. °
“I feel great,” said a drained
Hawkins Wednesday morning
after staying up all night. “I
_ think the vote really speaks well
for what Kings Mountain has
done, and also speaks well for
© what the people all over the
county have done. They want to
go back to being governed by
the consent of the people. They
want the commissioners to lis-
ten.” :
Hawkins said he will contin-
See Three, 5A
~ ACCOR BRIDGES
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
Proving age is no barrier to a concerned citizen, 81-year-old
Libby Mauney of Kings Mountain voted Tuesday at First
Baptist Church. Mauney was driven to the poll by friend
Rebecca Curry.
Bush, Gore wait
on Florida count,
Easley governor
EN
BY ALAN HODGE W (
Staff Writer eatherly i
Cliffhanger and nail biter are bumps Horn
two good terms to use in de-
scribing Tuesday's race for fr om House
President of the United States
between Democrat Al Gore and By GARY STEWART |
Republican George W. Bush. Editor of The Herald
As of noon on Wednesday, the
outcome of the closest electoral One Kings Mountain man
vote in 100 years and the tight- won and another lost in State
est popular vote since Nixon House and Senate races
and Kennedy in 1960 all hinged Tuesday.
on a recount of ballots in Former Representative John
Florida. Weatherly ran third in the race
With nearly all states report- for three EE ;
ing, the figures early seats from ;
Wednesday showed both Gore the 48th
and Bush with 48 percent of the House
popular vote. In the Electoral District and
College, Gore had 255 and Bush will join in-
246 votes. Popular vote num- cumbents
bers as of 8:30 a.m. Wednesday Debbie
had Gore leading Bush Clary and
48,441,615 to 48,213,814. Andy fi
“We owe it to the country to Dedmon in v
do the recount as quickly as the legisla- ~~ WEATHERLY
possible,” said Florida Attorney ture. Weatherly edged Jim
General Bob Butterworth. Horn of Shelby, who served
Final results from the recount one term.
could take several days since Despite leading his home
some absentee ballots were county of Cleveland, former
from out of country military Kings Mountain Mayor Scott
personnel based in Florida. ' Neisler lost his bid to unseat
Until then, many observers Walter Dalton in the 37th
See Bush, 5A See House, 5A
War memorial rededication,
parade mark Veteran’s Day
Kings Mountain will hold
several events on Saturday,
November 11 to remember
Veterans Day.
the globe and areas where ma-
jor conflicts have occurred.
Following the cannon cere-
mony, there will be a procession
resigned his position effective Randolph, Southwest tunity and, honestly, from my Beginning at 10 a.m., there down Gold Street to the
April 1 to become superinten- Randolph, Trinity and perspective it will be good for will be a rededication of the Veterans Memorial at
dent of Randolph County Randleman. 3 : . me and the (Kings Mountain) Kings Mountain War Memorial = Mountain Rest Cemetery. The $
Schools. “It is certainly with mixed system.” at the corner of Mountain Street parade will be led by a color
McRae has been Kings emotions that I leave Kings Kings Mountain Schools have and Railroad Avenue. The can- guard and drum corps and will
Mountain’s superintendent Mountain,” Dr. McRae said. experienced tremendous suc- non there, a 75mm pack how- include dignitaries and veter-
since 1986. Prior to that, he “Kings Mountain has been ; cess under McRae’s leadership, itzer, has been refurbished and ans.
served as KMHS principal wonderful to me and my family especially in the state’s ABCs its base painted with a mural by At Mountain Rest there will |
(1979-83) and assistant superin- on two different occasions for testing program. Kings Clive Haynes who also painted be a service to remember those
tendent of Randolph County almost 20 years. . : the mural on the Plonk :
Schools (1983.66). “This was a great opportuni- See McRae, 3A BOB MCRAE Building. Hayne’s work depicts See Veterans, 2A
i i i Bessemer City
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