Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Feb. 22, 2001, edition 1 / Page 1
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the Limit | rR original Tuskegee Airman George Shade to speak Sunday at Kings Mountain church BY ALAN HODGE Staff Writer Thursday, February 22, 2001 KINGS Vol. 113 No. 08 Since 1889 50 Cents KMHS diver Sedrick Young wins state 3A championship 8A Race fans mourn death of Earnhardt BY ALAN HODGE Staff Writer In one of the most shocking and tragic incidents in motor sports history, Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed in a last-lap crash in Sunday’s Daytona 500. An at- tending physician said Earnhardt probably died at the momerit of impact with the fourth turn wall. The race had been marked by extremely close racing and had already been marred by a mas- sive pileup that sent Tony Stewart airborne and half the field to the junkyard. Earnhardt’s accident came as he and Dale Earnhardt Jr. help block the pack for Michael Waltrip’s first win in over 400 starts. Reaction to the seven-time Winston Cup champions tragic death was mainly one of shock and disbelief from fans. Known as “The Intimidator,” Earnhardt’s go-for-broke driv- ing style made every race he en- tered an exciting one. ‘Because of his rough and tumble upbringing on dirt’ tracks during stock car racing's lean years, as well as being the son of a pioneering race driver himself, Earnhardt was a fa- vorite of many fans who identi- fied with his working man per- sona. 3 Tommy Bumgardner of Kings Mountain knew Earnhardt dur- The Sky's A pioneer in black history will be coming to Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Kings Mountain on February 25. One of the original “Tuskegee Airmen” of World War II aviation fame, Major George Shade will speak in the church’s Family Life Center, 220 N. Watterson Street at 4 p.m. “I don’t want to just discuss airplanes,” Shade said. “I want to lecture on morals and educa- tion. I want to talk about mod- ern problems such as fatherless homes-and their solutions.” A native and resident of Lenoir, Shade was a fighter pi- lot during World War II with the famed 332nd Fighter Group. The group was made up of African-American pilots- a radi- cal concept in the days when just about every part of . American society was still seg- regated. Shade recalled a mo- ment from his youth that would lead to his love of the sky. “My father and I were pick- ing sweet potatoes in a field when a mail plane went over,” Shade recalled. “I asked him if there were any black fliers. He said there weren't many such opportunities for our people. This set my mind in motion.” Shade would eventually go on to attend the famed Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. While he was there, he took part in an experimental pro- See Airman, 3A Blanton appointed BY ALAN HODGE Staff Writer The Kings Mountain Board of Education has selected Jerry Blanton to fill the seat vacated by Dr. Larry Allen’s move into the superintendent's position. Blanton's approval for the post came in a board meeting held Tuesday night in the Cleveland County administra- tive building prior to the county .commissioner’s session. “Jerry has long been active in the Kings Mountain school sys- tem,” said board member Melony Bolin. “He shares our vision for the schools here.” Blanton was chosen from a field of seven candidates. These included David Caldwell, Perry Davis, Jr., Ray Hughes, Wayne King II, Mary McClain, and Charlotte Pettis. All candidates received praise from school board members. “We were lucky to have such a group of qualified appli- See Blanton. 3A FIRST NATIONAL BANK Celebrating 1 27 Yeano to KM School Board Bethware teachers help save student from choking BY ALAN HODGE Staff Writer Thanks to quick action by two teachers and the staff nurse, a Bethware School fifth grader was saved Tuesday from a situation that could have been tragic. According to teacher Darrel Whetstine, the student began having a combination of seizure-like symptoms and choking at the same time. “I ran over to where he had passed out,” Whetstine said. “And began assisting the nurse and other teacher who had al- ready started helping him.” Whetstine said that in matter of minutes, an EMT crew from Kings Mountain also arrived on See Student, 3A ing his youth. Bumgardner also worked as a pit crew member for drivers such as Darrell Waltrip and Benny Parsons so he also realizes the danger in- herent in climbing into a car and going 190 miles per hour. “The cars today are as safe as we can get them,” said Bumgardner. “But the drivers have to take advantage of all the equipment. I heard that Earnhardt didn’t want to use a head restraint.” : The piece Bumgardner allud- ed to is called a HANS device. The acronym stands for Head and Neck Support. The tethers prevent extremely violent See Dale, 11A KM Board can’t see re-assigning students By GARY STEWART Editor of The Herald At a special meeting Monday night, Kings Mountain School Board members indicated they could not support any redistricting proposal that | would take students out of the Kings Mountain School System. That probably means any re-districting effort to try to persuade local legislators to consider intro- : File/Herald NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt was killed during the last lap of Sunday’s Daytona 500. ing dents. $1.87 million. Mustangs during World War II. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Seen in a wartime photo perched on a B-17 bomber, Tuskegee Airman Major George Shade will be speaking Sunday at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Kings Mountain. A native of Lenoir, Major Shade flew 36 combat missions in P-51 GARY STEWART / THE HERALD Cleveland County Commission Chairman Willie Mcintosh told school officials to start “flopping your jaws” and come up with an alternative to merger at Tuesday night's meeting in Shelby. Kings Mountain 300 W. Mountain St. 704-739-4782 Gastonia 529 New Hope Road 704-865-1233 106 S. Lafayette St. BY ALAN HODGE Staff Writer Like an old farm wagon stuck in the mud, the three school systems in Cleveland County had little progress to report on merger alternatives at Tuesday night’s county commissioner's meeting. The gathering was characterized by recalcitrance on the part of the school boards- each convinced that de- viation from their particular plan was not a viable option. “You need to start floppin” your jaws and come up with a plan to resolve this issue,” said an exasperated commission chairman Willie McIntosh. In an effort to get the merger wagon moving, McIntosh put forth the idea of having the , Shelby City Schools, Cleveland County Schools, and Kings Mountain District Schools each select a chairman who would have decision making power. These chairs were to meet with a county-appointed and fi- nanced mediator two times be- tween now and March 5 to work out a merger alternative. This idea was modified to in- clude all school board mem- bers. Kings Mountain and Shelby 704-484-6200 ducing a bill to overturn merger will take an agreement between the Shelby and Cleveland County School boards. : The county’s three systems were urged by the County Commissioners to come up with a plan for re-districting which would be reviewed every five years, and also to present a proposal for funding the three systems on an equal basis prior to Tuesday night's regular Commissioners meet- The County Board had met last week and iden- tified some 425 students in the Number Three area that it would consider releasing to Shelby, and the Shelby Board countered with a proposal that CCS release students in the Elizabeth School and Oak Grove Road areas. KM Superintendent Bob McRae Monday pre- sented some possible scenarios for sending some 151 KM students who live in the St. Luke’s, Oak Grove, and Long Branch areas to the Cleveland County System (which would allow CCS to re- assign additional students to Shelby) but the situ- ations would have resulted in KM students being bused a longer distance to school and board members felt that would not be fair to those stu- could cost KIMDS $798,000 based on a per pupil funding of approximately $6,000; and he added that if merger eventually is approved and Kings Mountain loses the 172 students who live in Gaston County the funding loss could be around fs | McRae estimated that moving those students The students affected by the scenarios offered by McRae included only four Black students. Seventy of the students live in the St. Luke Church Road, Goforth Road, Rollingbrook vicini- ty; 63 in the Woodbridge, Stony Point and Oak Grove vicinity; and 18 in the Long Branch and Barrett Road vicinity. The mileage charts presented by Dr. McRae in- dicated that, in each case, students would be trav-- eling a longer distance to school. Distances to ele- mentary schools would not be a drastic change, but distances for middle and high school students See Board, 3A Mcintosh to schools: get busy Shelby agreed to the idea readi- ly, but it took the Cleveland County board members a while to accept the proposal. According to McIntosh, the decision on a merger alternative needs to be made soon. “You need to get on the ball and make a decision, or the courts will decide,” said McIntosh. “Our legislative al- ternative will be gone March 21. _ The courts could drag it out for twelve to eighteen months.” Kings Mountain Schools su- perintendent Dr. Bob McRae said that a proper job could not be done in a couple of weeks. “I don’t offer great hope that a job can be done in two weeks which would normally take six months to a year to accom- plish,” McRae told the commis- sioners. All three school boards told McIntosh that they felt public hearings should be held on any plan they might work out be- fore it was put into place. Shelby City school superinten- dent Cliff Wilson told McIntosh - that proposals between the three boards were just now en- tering a “discussion” or “nego- tiation” phase. Bessemer City 1225 Gastonia Hwy. 704-629-3906 Member FDIC
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Feb. 22, 2001, edition 1
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