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Thursday, March 8, 2001
KINGS MOUNTAIN
he Heral
Vol. 113 No. 10
Since 1889
50 Cents
In like
High winds Tuesday morning put this huge oak tree on
the home of Tommy and Marcella Morrow of Kings
Mountain. The Morrows were asleep in their bedroom
when the tree came crashing through the ceiling.
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
a lion
Strong March wind Uproots tree,
damages home in Kings Mountain
By GARY STEWART
and ALAN HODGE
While some Kings Mountain
area residents were greeted ear-
ly Tuesday morning with a
dusting of snow, others saw the
month of March come in like a
roaring lion.
Tommy and Marcella
Moirow of Shelby Road were .
awakened by the crashing
sodind of a huge oak tree which
did considerable damage to the
outside of their home and in-
side the bedroom in which they
were sleeping.
The Morrows had gone back
to bed at 10 a.m. for their usual
mid-morning nap. About the
time they dozed off, the tree
came crashing through the ceil-
ing. : :
“It didn’t take long to get
out,” Mr. Morrow said. “I didn’t
know if a plane had hit the
house or what. It shook the
whole house.”
The Morrows’ insurance
agent was quickly on the scene,
and an adjuster was scheduled
to be there later in the day to as-
sess the damage. A big portion
of the ceiling was caved in.
Kim Crowe and Terry Mizelle
were in the living room at the
opposite end of the house and
they, too, feared the worst.
Body found under
Interstate
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
A homeless man found dead
underneath the I-85/Dixon
School Road bridge Monday
morning apparently died of nat-
ural causes.
Det. Billy Benton of the
Cleveland County Sheriff's
Department said an inmate
helping Department of
Transportation crews pick up
trash and liter around the
bridge found the body of
Marlin Edward Blume, 60,
about 10:30 a.m.
Authorities believe Blume
was just passing through the
area and was not known by
anyone here. He had ID and
medical papers on his person
linking him to several states, in-
cluding Minnesota, California,
Arizona and South Carolina.
“We're trying to notify these
places where he had ID in his
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 127 Years
85 bridge
pocket,” Benton said. “All of
them were like social agencies.
We're attempting to find some
type of address. He didn’t have
a firm address for notifying any
next of kin.
“That’s why we went ahead
and released his name.
Hopefully somebody will read
the name that will know him
and point us in the direction to
‘find some kinfolk. We usually
do not release the name until
we notify the next of kin, but in
this case we had no choice.”
Blume’s body was taken to
Gaston Memorial Hospital for
an autopsy, but Benton said it
appears he died of natural caus-
es
“When we pulled him out
from under the bridge he didn’t
have any apparent trauma,”
Benton said. “Just based on the
appearance of the body, he
See Body, 3A
“The whole house just
shook,” Crowe said.
“We thought it might be a
wreck,” Mizelle added. “There’s
wrecks happening out there on
the highway (U.S. 74 Business)
all the time.”
Mizelle said the wind had
been howling all morning, and
she had looked out a back win-
dow on one earlier occasion to
see how severely it was blow-
ing.
“It sounded like something
rumbling,” she said.
Morrow said the oak tree was
large when he moved into the
house 25 years ago.
“There are several more out
there that need to come down,”
he said, “but not the way that
one did.”
The Morrows had already be-
gun moving everything out of
the bedroom so the adjuster
could get a good look at the
damage.
“We'll get someone to do the
carpenter work,” he said.
“There’s just not much we can
do until the adjuster comes. But
the tree needs to be taken down
and a tarp put up to keep the
weather out.”
The gusts that caused the
. trees to topple were part of a
See Wind, 3A
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Paul Cash, left, and Billy Benton of the Cleveland County
Sheriff's Department work Monday at the I-85/Dixon School
Road bridge where the body of a homeless man was found.
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
529 New Hope Road
Gastonia
704-865-1233
106 S. Lafayette St.
AAT 1 TANTO IIIA + Ce a wand
nC’s
northern
coastal
towns
Tuesday wreck
fatal to student
Sharon Ellis, 17 |
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
A 17-year-old Kings
Mountain High School senior
died Tuesday following a 6:06
p.m. traffic accident at the inter-
section of Tracy Street and U.S.
74 Business.
Police reports indicated that
Sharon Elizabeth Ellis ran the
stop sign at the intersection and
was struck by two other vehi-
cles. She was transported to
Cleveland Memorial Hospital,
where she was pronounced
dead.
Police Chief Houston Corn
said a report filed by Cpl. M.T.
Dellinger, investigating officer,
indicated that Ellis ran the stop
sign and was struck in the left
side by a vehicle that was trav-
eling west on Highway 74. That
spun the Ellis vehicle around
and into the eastbound lane,
and she was struck by another
vehicle traveling east. The
drivers of the other vehicles
were treated at Kings Mountain
Hospital and Cleveland
Regional Medical Center, and
released.
KMHS students were in-
formed of the tragedy upon
their arrival to school on
Wednesday morning, and coun-
selors and teachers were avail-
able to help them deal with
their grief. Fellow seniors from
her first period English class
# decorated their lockers and
made a banner, and decorated
City takes no action |
Sharon's desk. Her picture was
placed on her desk and will re-
main there the rest of the school
year,
“Sharon was a sweet young
lady,” said Assistant Principal
Dianna Bridges. “She always
took her time to speak and say
hello. She was involved in her |
Senior Porject and had put a lot
of time and energy into it. She
loved children, and that was
what her Senior Project was
about. The first period English °
class was where they did they
Senior Project, and when you
go through that project you
bond.”
Sharon's PE. teacher, Tony
Leigh, echoed Bridges’ state-
ment.
“She was a very likable
young lady,” he said. “She al-
ways wanted to come up and
talk to you. She had injured her
arm at McDonalds a couple of
weeks ago and we'd talk about
it every day. She was always
talking, always laughing, al-
ways going on with everybody. )
“She was a fine studentand a =
very fine person,” he added.
“I've already had some stu-
dents come by that are pretty
upset.”
Principal John Yarbro said the
students appear to be dealing
well with “a tragic situation.”
He said he witnessed Sharon's g
first period English class |
Wednesday morning and her
See Student, 11A wd
A ——
“on utility reduction
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
The Kings Mountain
Utilities Committee met
Monday afternoon and voted 2-
1 to recommend to City Council
that no action be taken in re-
sponse to a letter from
Spectrum Dyed Yarns and
Anvil Knitwear requesting a
lower natural gas rate.
The companies said in the let-
ter dated February 22 they
would move forward with
building their own gas pipeline
if the City didn’t provide a
“written definitive plan by
March 16” to their inquiry for a
lower rate.
The two firms are the largest
users of natural gas in Kings
Mountain. They currently re-
ceive the city’s “interruptible”
rate- the lowest charged, and
represent 35 percent of the city’s
gas load. In 2000, Anvil paid
Kings Mountain about $1.5 mil~
lion for gas and Spectrum ap-
proximately $1.4 million.
Speaking at the Utilities
Committee meeting, city man-
See Utilities, 11A -
Grover supports
CC branch library
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Lovers of books in Grover got
a big boost at Monday's town
council meeting when unani-
mous approval was given to
adopt a Resolution of Intent to
provide support and at least
some funding for the proposed
Southern Extension of the
Cleveland County Library.
The letter will be presented to
the Cleveland County Board of
Commissioners at their March =
20 meeting. Grover officials
have already said they would
provide sewer, water, and trash
pickup for the new library
when it is built. The motion
adopted Monday will add cash
to the pot.
The amount of that annual
cash stipend was at the heart of
the discussion. After a bit of de-
bate on just how much Grover -
could afford, it was decided
Shelby
704-484-6200
that an initial figure of $2,500. .
was appropriate- with the note
that the figure could be adjust-
ed as future town budgets per-
mitted.
Also on Monday's agenda
was the appointment of a coun-
cil member to fill the seat vacat-
ed last election when current
mayor Bill Favell took office.
The new council member will
serve until the upcoming elec-
tion in November. When the
question of a possible candidate
was brought up, council mem-
ber Jack Herndon was quick
with an answer.
“I talked to John Harry and
he said he would be available
for the position,” said Herndon.
“I feel like he would do a good
job.”
Grover mayor pro-tem Max
Rollins agreed with Herndon.
“He would be an excellent
See Grover, 3A
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
Member FDIC