thursday, June 14, 2001
KINGS "MOUNTAIN
The Heral
Vol. 113 No. 24
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Bolin resigns from KM School Board
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
School Board member
Melony Bolin resigned from the
Kings Mountain District School
Board at its monthly meeting
Tuesday night at Central
School.
In a letter dated June 12,
Bolin said she hoped to com-
plete the six months left in her
term, but that was not possible
because of health reasons.
School board chairperson
Sherra Miller said she did not
know when the vacancy would
be filled.
Bolin was not available for
See Concerns, 2A
School merger cases to be
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
The two court cases in the
Cleveland County school merg-
er issue filed by Kings
Mountain District Schools will
not be heard by the North
Carolina Court of Appeals.
“We trust our attorneys will
do their best to change their
" minds,” Kings Mountain
3 GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Over 60 Kings Mountain area cancer survivors walked the first lap to open the most successful Relay for Life ever in Kings
Mountain Friday at the Walking Track. Over 500 walkers participated in the fourth annual event, raising over $67,000 to help find a
cure for cancer. i
Over 500 walkers help KM raise
$67,000 in cancer Relay for Life
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
A little bit of rain and a lot of
tired, aching bones did little to
dampen the spirits of the some
500 walkers participating in the
fourth annual Joseph R. Smith
Relay for Life Friday and
Saturday at the Kings Mountain
Walking Track.
Although some of them
brought out umbrellas until the
rain stopped, most were just
like the Energizer bunny. They
just kept going and going.
The total amount of money
raised by the 35 teams spon-
sored by area churches and oth-
er organizations, just keeps go-
ing also. At last count, the event
had raised $67,000 - $17,000
over the $50,000 goal - and
Relay co-chairman Joyce Roark
predicts the effort will top the
$70,000 mark before all pledges
and donations are turned in.
Roark had no doubt the
group would surpass its goal,
because since the beginning of
the almost year-long organiza-
tion for the walk there has been
a tremendous amount of inter-
est.
But, she said she was pleas-
antly surprised that the event
went so much greater than ex-
pected.
“Our teams have really
worked hard,” she said.
“They've been fantastic - just
outstanding.”
With 35 teams participating,
the event attracted almost twice
the number of participants as
last year, when $36,000 was
raised. Only 19 teams partici-
pated last year.
Like most people, Roark had
extra incentive to do what she
See Relay, 3A
]
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
77-year-old cancer patient Autumn Malpass of Kings Mountain
was the center of attention at Friday night’s Relay for Life at
the KM Walking Track.
Cancer serious threat to African-Americans
By RYAN FOUST
Special to The Herald
Everybody, regardless of race
or sex, has the potential for
developing cancer, but for
African-Americans that threat is
especially real.
According to a study released
by the American Cancer Society,
‘Cancer Facts and Figures for
African-Americans 2000-2001,’
African-American men and
women are more at risk for
developing cancer than white
men and women, and their
survival rate is lower for some of
the most common cancers like
breast, colorectal, lung and
prostate.
African-American men de-
velop cancer 27 percent more
frequently than white men and
have a 45 percent higher death
rate. African-American women,
meanwhile, have a 22 percent
higher death rate than white
women.
But according to the American
Cancer Society's studies, there is
a ray of hope. The rates of
newly -diagnosed cancers
among African-Americans
dropped between 1993 and 1997
for the first time in 20 years and
between 1991 and 1997 death
rates from cancer fell for the first
time in 30 years.
Yet during a 1988-1992 study
period, African-American men
were more likely than any other
racial or ethnic group to develop
the prostate, lung and oral
cancers. Overall, prostate, lung,
colon and rectum, oral and
stomach cancers were the
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 127 Years
leading cancer cases.
African-American men de-
velop prostate cancer 60 percent
more often than white men and
are twice as likely to die from it
than are white men.
For African-American women,
the leading cancer types include
breast, colon and rectum and
lung. Lung, colon and rectum
cancer rates are higher among
African-American women than
among women of any other
racial or ethnic group other than
Alaska Natives.
Fewer African-American
women develop breast cancer
than white women, but they are
still more likely to die from the
disease.
Overall, whites are more likely
See Cancer, 3A
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
529 New Hope Road
CANCER DIAGNOSES
Here's a look at the reported
number of new cancer diagnoses
from 1973 to 1996. Figures
represent the number of new
cases per 100,000 population.
YEAR AF-AM WHITE
1973 353.1 319.7
1975 356.6 333.9
1980 390.7 346.4
1985 408.6 3754
1990 427.1 405.1
1992 470.9 428.7
1993 471.8 412.2
1994 465.4 404.2
1995 442.4 396.4
1996 430.9 387.3
SOURCE - National Institutes of Health,
National Cancer Institute, Cancer Statistics
Branch, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Gastonia
704-865-1233
106 S. Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
consolidated
Schools Superintendent Dr.
Larry Allen said in the board's
meeting Tuesday night.
Allen said the two cases
scheduled to be heard in Wake
County Superior Court on July
23 will be consolidated, and a
decision might not be handed
down for another three months.
With the decision coming to-
ward the end of the summer
break, the 2001-2002 school year
could start before merger is de-
cided.
School Board Chairperson
Sherra Miller said that with the
judges not hearing oral argu-
ments, there is not any way to
determine how the judges will
interpret the briefs.
“We're having to trust our at-
torneys to what they feel
See Merger, 2A
Service clubs
seek CU
permits
for video poker
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
A Board of Adjustments
meeting Tuesday morning at
City Hall to hear requests from
three area service-related orga-
nizations that they be given
conditional use permits to con-
tinue to operate video poker
machines was postponed when
three of the six members of the
board failed to show up.
According to Planning
Department secretary Tandra
Ramsey, chairman Bob Myers
recently underwent surgery and
members Lou Ballew and Ron
Humphries were out of town
on business.
Clavon Kelly, who made the
announcement that the meeting
would be delayed until July 3,
Herman Green and Howard
Shipp were the only members
present. Without a quorum they
could not conduct any business,
Kelly said.
The local American Legion,
VFW and Amvets posts are ask-
ing for conditional use permits
to continue video poker opera-
tions.
Officials from the three orga-
nizations immediately went in-
to another room at City Hall to”
confer with Attorney Bill Lamb
of Shelby, who is advising the
American Legion.
Word spreading around City
Hall was that there is a possibil-
ity of a federal law which
would exempt the nonprofit
clubs from the new Kings
Mountain Zoning Ordinances.
But Planning Director Steve
Killian and City Attorney
Mickey Corry, neither of whom
was at the meeting, said later
that they are not aware of such
an exemption.
“I spoke with their legal
counsel and told him that if he
had that information to provide
it to us,” Corry said. “We are
not aware of it and have not
found anything, either state or
federal, that would give them
some kind of exemption.”
Corry said if such an exemp-
tion exists, “we would be re-
quired to look at it,” but said
that the only exemption to the
state’s recently-enacted video
poker law that he knows of is
See Poker, 5A
Central School
historic district
on National Register
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
The Kings Mountain
Landmarks Commission and
City received word earlier this
week that the Central School
Historic District has been listed
on the National Register of
Historic Places.
The Landmarks Commission,
which includes chairwoman
Mary Neisler, Evelyn Hamrick,
Pat Childers, Bernice Chappell
and Mike Smith, worked for
two years to-get the four-block
area placed on the Register. It's
designation on the National
Register is a first for Cleveland
County.
Neisler said the area includes
31 properties in the four-block
area bounded by King Street,
North Gaston Street, Parker
Street, and North Battleground
Avenue. Two churches, three
businesses and Central School
are included in the area.
The homes, such as the I.
Walton Garrett house, the Rev.
John David Mauney house, and
the first William Andrew
Mauney house, are some of the
oldest in Kings Mountain.
“The first home was built
about the time the city was
chartered in the mid-1870s,”
Neisler said.
Megan Eades, a consultant
from Macon, GA, assisted the
commission for the past year
documenting properties and
applying for the award. She
“It was a very difficult pro-
cess,” Neisler said. The applica-
Shelby
tion was first approved by the
North Carolina Department of
Cultural Resources, and then
sent to the Department of
Interior in Washington for final
approval. The National Register
is administered by the National
Park Service.
Neisler said the Landmarks
Commission doesn’t plan any-
thing specific with the district
but each house will receive a
plaque designating it as a na-
tional historic landmark, and
hopefully signs will be posted
at each entrance to the neigh-
borhood. She also said there are
certain tax benefits when reno-
vating historic properties.
Neisler said the Commission
will now focus on applying to
have the designation amended
to include the south side of
King Street from Gaston Street
v
to Battleground Avenue, includ-:
ing the “overhead” bridge. That
area would also include
Mauney Memorial Library, the
Harmon House and the
Cornwell House.
“That process will probably
be a lot quicker because we've
already got a district,” she said.
Neisler said the Commission
sought the historic designation
not just because of the historical
and architectural value of the
homes, but because they were
built by the early settlers of
Kings Mountain.
“They were the founders of
our community,” she said.
“They were the first industrial-
ists and the movers and shakers
of the community.”
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
Member FDIC
IES
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