Thursday, June 21, 2001
Vol. 113 No. 25
BEN LEDBETTER/THE HERALD
City of Kings Mountain Mayor Rick Murphrey and Police
Officer B.S. Biletnikoff stand beside a 2001 Black Chevrolet
Camaro. The department obtained two Camaros from a state
highway safety grant.
Camaros on Patrol
New cars and officers help KMPD
enforce speed on major highways
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Highway safety has received
more support in Kings
Mountain.
The City of Kings Mountain
Police Department has received
two additional officers and two
black Chevrolet Camaros as
part of the Governor's
Highway Safety Commission.
Police Chief Houston Corn
said the goal of the program
was for municipalities that have
parts of 1. 8. Highway 74 in
their jurisdiction to have addi-
tional officers on the road to pa-
trol that area.
Other highways such as in-
terstates are also covered in the
grant.
The $500,090 grant has been
active since March 5.
“The purpose of this is to cut
down on the number of lives
lost in traffic accidents,” Corn
said.
Corn said Kings Mountain
has a high amount of traffic
deaths.
“Being located where we are,
we have one of the highest traf-
fic fatality rates on I-85 in the
state of North Carolina.”
The new Kings Mountain
Officers, B.S. Belitnikoff and
M.T. Dellinger, will patrol the
area of U.S. Highway 74
Business, Highway 74 Bypass,
Interstate 85 in the city’s limit
and the local streets.
But patrolling is not the only
work the officers will be doing.
The officers will be going to
the two secondary schools in
Kings Mountain and companies
to do safety programs, accord-
ing to Mayor Rick Murphrey.
Murphrey said the program,
from an educational perspec-
tive, will help teenage residents
about to get their driver's li-
cense receive a police officer's
first hand account of what can
happen on the road.
Officer Belitnikoff said the
program will emphasize more
than writing tickets.
“Our main goal is to reduce
the loss of property, the loss of
life in addition to reducing
crimes through enforcement
and education,” Belitnikoff
said. “It’s not necessarily going
out there and writing a bunch
of tickets. But, we can pull
somebody over and educate
them.”
The three-four minute period
an officer has to talk with a
stopped driver can be used to
. educate them about highway
safety, according to Belitnikoff.
“We've already seen a drop in
both personal injury and prop-
erty damage accidents,”
Belitnikoff said.
“One of the main purposes is
we have two additional police
officers that will be in this
program,” Murphrey said.
Murphrey said the supple-
mental officers will make the
current officers available for
other tasks.
“They can be doing other du-
ties in the city,” Murphrey said.
With the new cars, the offi-
cers will be equipped with new
law enforcement tools.
The two Camaros will be un-
marked, Corn said, with the
blue lights mounted on the in-
side and headlights.
The cars will be equipped
with a higher powered radar
that will be able to clock speed-
ers that are within the area of
the Camaros.
Corn said the radar will be
able to clock drivers coming to-
ward and leaving the car, areas
that older models have not been
able to detect.
The Cleveland County
Sheriff's Department, Gastonia
Police Department, Shelby
Police Department and the
Gaston County Police
Department will be the area law
enforcement agencies also
working with Kings Mountain
on the program.
Since 1889
KINGS MOUNTAIN
Heral
50 Cents
E-911 agreement reached
to improve response time
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Response times are critical in emergency
situations.
And the times will be getting faster for
residents who call 911 in the Gaston County
part of Kings Mountain.
An informal agreement has been reached
between the Kings Mountain Police
Department and Gaston County Emergency
Medical Services to improve response time
to the area of Kings Mountain in Gaston
County.
“That area is just as important as any-
body,” Gaston County EMS Director Mark
Lamphiear said.
The agreement will involve Kings
Mountain Police leading Gaston County
emergency vehicles to a residence.
Kings Mountain Police Officers will have
the same radio frequency of Gaston County
to help in the assistance.
The city police department, Gaston
County EMS, Cleveland County EMS had
met and thought of other alternatives before
reaching that decision.
One of the other alternatives was having
Cleveland County respond to the area.
“That wasn’t going to be any better,”
BEN LEDBETTER/THE HERALD
A dance group performs during the afternoon portion of Saturday’s Beach Blast.
BEACH BLAST
KM welcomes summer Saturday at gazebo
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Terry Johnson did not sell his
black 1946 Chevrolet pick up
when he put some miles on it.
He restored it.
Johnson's car was one of the
18 1950s era vehicles. that were
part of the car show at the sec-
ond edition of Beach Blast
Saturday at Patriot's Park in
Kings Mountain.
“Well actually, we had the
truck and it was in pretty good
condition,” Mary Johnson,
Terry’s wife said. “He wanted to
fix the windshield wiper
because it goes from the top
across. So he fixed it and then
he started from there.”
From there he restored every-
thing on the truck.
Johnson drives the car but
only to shows; he carries a col-
lector’s policy on the car
His love for restoring vehicles
started by going to some car
shows. pl
“The truck’s been in the fami-
ly so long,” Terry said. “Instead
of having it sit in the barn so
-much, I just wanted to get it out
where other people can see it.”
Terry said.
Terry said he had to disas-
semble the car and put it back
together.
When he first started with the
car, the parts were hard to find,
but was able to find a company
that furnished the parts he
needed.
“Alot it are reproduced parts,
but some them are original,”
terry said.
Mountaineer Cruisers, a.
Kings Mountain club that’s been
active for over 10 years helped
with the show.
Relays help survivors celebrate life
By TODD HAGANS
Special to The Herald
Just within the past few
months, hundreds of people
across Gaston and Cleveland
counties put on their tennis
shoes, teamed together with
friends and co-workers and
walked in stride to raise money
and celebrate cancer survival.
Through the American Cancer
Society's widely-popular ‘Relay
for Life’ program, people of all
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 127 Years
ages and backgrounds have
collected thousands of dollars to
fund cancer programs and
research while garnering a
unique community spirit and
paying tribute to those who
have experienced the disease.
“Relay for Life is a way to
honor cancer survivors and
remember those who lost their
battle with cancer,” said Tracy
Lewis, cancer program coordina-
tor for the Gaston County
chapter of the American Cancer
Society. “It’s a great way for the
community to come together
and celebrate life.”
Communities across the two-
county territory have already
“celebrated life” this year.
Gaston County held its Relay
for Life at the end of April and
Cleveland County followed with
its event several weeks later at
the fairgrounds in Shelby. Kings
Mountain held its relay over the
weekend and Bessemer City
could soon get a relay of its own.
Lewis said cancer society
representatives will hold a
meeting Thursday to see if
Bessemer City will embrace the
concept. Lewis expects that to
happen since city officials have
already pledged their support
for the event.
“There are a number of cancer
survivors in Bessemer City and I
think we owe it to them and
future cancer survivors,” said
See Relays, 3A
“They're not in it for the
money,” Mountaineer Cruisers
member Butch Pearson said.
Pearson had a blue 1956
Chevrolet sedan at the car show
Saturday.
When he was dealing with the
original equipment more work
was involved before he could
put it in the car.
“It still had the same wrap-
ping 40 years ago,” Terry said.
“I had to get all that cleaned up
before I put it in because it was
original equipment.”
Terry has been going to shows
for three years, and won 17 tro-
phies out of 19 shows during his
first year.
Terry likes to restore vehicles to
their original appearance.
“Well I like to bring it back to
the way it used to be,” Terry
said. “A lot of people will take
See Beach Blast, 3A
Lamphiear said.
Lamphiear said it would be similar dis-
tance for a Cleveland County emergency
vehicle coming from Fallston as it would for
a Gaston County emergency vehicle com-
ing from Gastonia.
See Agreement, 3A
Putnam
named
vice chair
of school
board
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Stella Putnam was appointed
to fill the duties of vice chair-
person at a Kings Mountain
District School Board meeting
on Wednesday following
Melony Bolin’s resignation.
Also the board decided to ap-
point someone to fill Bolin’s
seat for the remainder of its
term.
Kings Mountain District
School Board Chairperson
Sherra Miller had mixed feel-
ings about appointing someone,
but that it would the best deci-
sion.
“I do think with merger
looming over our head that
would be the best option,”
Miller said.
A vice chairperson is needed
on the board, according to
Miller.
“We need to have a vice
chair,” Miller said. “There may
be times that the chairperson
may not be there.” :
Bolin became the third Kings
Mountain District School Board
member to resign in six months.
In a June 12 letter to
Superintendent Larry Allen
Bolin said she hoped to finish
the six months left in her term,
but that was not possible be-
cause of health reasons.
Bolin said she had surgery in
February and felt she had given
herself plenty of time to recover
from the procedure.
“I am very tired lately,” Bolin
said. “And we we're spending
a lot of time with the merger is-
sue.”
Bolin had served on the
board for three and a half years
and her term was scheduled to
end in December.
See School Board, 3A
Survivors lead off the recent Joseph R. Smith Relay for Life at
the Kings Mountain Walking Track.
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Kings Mountain Gastonia Shelby Bessemer City
300 W. Mountain St. 529 New Hope Road 106 S. Lafayette St. 1225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-739-4782 704-865-1233 704-484-6200 704-629-3906
Member FDIC}
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