The Heral
Since 1889
Thursday, July 26, 2001
KINGS MOUNTAIN
Vol. 113 No. 30
50 Cents
iD
Merger
hearing
underway
in Raleigh
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Kings Mountain District
Schools officials were in
Raleigh for the school system's
case against the State Board of
Education in Wake County
Superior Court.
Kings Mountain filed the law-
suit against the state board in
response to its approval of the
proposed Cleveland County
Merger Plan.
A ruling had not been made
as The Herald went to press.
In what was thought to be the
beginning or the end of the
Kings Mountain District
Schools merger fight, the North
Carolina Court of Appeals’ rui-
ing last Tuesday came down in
the middle.
The three-judge panel dis-
missed the district's appeal of a
Cleveland County Superior
Court ruling by Judge Oliver
Noble that denied Kings
Mountain an injunction to stop
the school merger from pro-
gressing.
The lawsuit was filed against
the Cleveland County Board of
Commissioners, who sought to
implement a merged school
system in 1999.
The court said the appeal was
dismissed because Kings
Mountain was not appealing a
“final judgement; but an inter:
mediate one.
School system officials see the
state courts ruling as ambigu-
ous.
Superintendent Larry Allen
said the court's ruling would
* have been more understood if
they decided to hear the argu-
ments in trial instead of relying
on briefs filed by the respective
attorneys.
“We were disappointed that
they did what they did,” Allen
said. “It is our opinion that
they did not have the full
understanding of everything.”
Allen did not see Tuesday’s
ruling as the end to the merger
issue.
“It’s not a defeat,” Allen said.
“We did not achieve out of it
what we hoped to, but we
don’t consider it a defeat.”
With three members of the ‘99
board being voted out who
favored merger, and three anti-
merger Commissioners taking
those seats, the court said no
parties had any interest toward
a merged school system.
“...Whereas the State Board of
See Merger 3A
Schools, community
working to close gap
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
It started from a retreat in 1997.
Bob Campbell said he was |
asked to work with the National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
to see what issues faced minori-
ty students.
After brainstorming at the
retreat, the group found approxi-
mately five issues that faced
minorities, but later decided to
focus on education.
“When we're talking about
closing the gap,” Campbell said,
“we're talking about closing the
gaps - plural.”
At last Thursday’s meeting at
Mount Zion Church, Kings
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Tuesday’s rain did not keep many people away
from attending the first night of the Bethware Fair
as people were still coming in after light showers
started falling.
Bethware Progressive Club president Craig
Mayes said people were still coming in about an
hour after the fair opened.
“We hope we have some weather by the end of
the week and have a bigger crowd,” Mayes said.
“Theyre starting to come in out there tonight.”
This year’s edition of the fair features over 20
§ rides and approximately, 1,500 exhibits.
Outdoor exhibits included modern and antique
farm equipment plus a number of booths inside
the school gymnasium.
Inside exhibits ranged from themes dealing with
arts, antiques and farm produce.
Exhibits were judged on Wednesday and the
results will be announced Saturday at 7 p.m.
Mayes said the fair will have its first run with
pig races.
“We've never had pig races at Bethware before,”
Mayes said. :
Mayes said the fair organizers got the idea from
a North Carolina Association of Agricultural
Fairs.
The races did well at other fairs, Mayes said.
“Actually we got the idea from other fairs,”
Mayes said. “A lot of other places had pig races
and we just thought we'd try it.”
Like other animal racing sports, spectators
watch the pigs run around a track.
Proceeds from the fair stay in the Kings
Mountain area, with Bethware Elementary, Kings
Mountain High School's Agricultural Program, a
$500 scholarship for a Kings Mountain High stu-
dent and for anybody in the area who is seriously
hurt.
Candice Annette Mayes, a fifth grade student at
Bethware Elementary School and the daughter of
| Mr. and Mrs. Kelly Mayes, is the Fair Queen.
The fair, which is the sole fund-raising project
for the Bethware Progressive Club, started as a
way to help out students at Bethware High
Bethware Fair
Levi Dunn goes fishing Tuesday at the Bethware Fair at Bethware Elementary School.
Rain doesn’t dampen
spirits at fair opening
Mountain Schools officials
BEN LEDBETTER/ THE HERALD
.
BEN LEDBETTER/THE HERALD
Jo Neesmith pushes her great granddaughter
Destiny on a swing Tuesday at the Bethware
Fair. Neesmith said Destiny iis the fourth genera-
tion of children that she has taken to the fair.
School, which is the same building used for the
elementary school.
“They started the fair to help buy uniforms for
the football team,” Fair Co-Manager Marshall
Jones said. “Then it went from there to helping
needy people in the community.”
Jones said that keeping people involved with the
Progressive Club has helped keep the fair going.
“We've got people in the club that have been in
it for three and four generations,” Jones said.
“They get involved in it and they see the good it’s
doing the schools and the community. There's
always enough people that stays involved with it
to keep it.”
The fair will be open from 6 - 11 p.m. Tuesday -
Friday night and 3 - 11 p.m. on Saturday at
Bethware Elementary School off David Baptist
Church Road just west of Kings Mountain.
Bob Campbell
Kings Mountain
looked for ways to make a part-
nership between the schools and
churches.
The county-wide partnerships
will involve a school, a predomi-
nantly African American church
and a predominantly Caucasian
church.
Kings Mountain School Board
Vice Chairperson Stella Putnam
agreed with the idea of a part-
nership. =
“Anytime you put a child with
a caring adult, it’s a good thing,”
Putnam said.
Bethware Elementary already
has partnerships with David
Baptist Church and Ebenezer
Missionary Baptist.
See Gap 3A
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 127 Years
704-739-4782
Gastonia
300 W. Mountain St. 529 New Hope Road
© 704-865-1233
106 S. Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
Candidates off
and running
council
for KM
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
The U.S.
Department
of Justice
Voting Rights
Section
approved
Kings
Mountain's
new ward
lines late-
Friday after-
noon, and
local citizens
are off and
running for
City Council
and Mayor.
Already,
two persons
have filed for
Mayor and
five others
are seeking
seats on City .
Council.
Incumbent
Mayor Rick Murphrey filed
shortly after the filing period
opened Monday at noon, and
early Tuesday morning former
Kings Mountain policeman Jim
Belt entered the race. ...
Those filing for City Council
thus far include incumbents
Gene White, Jim Guyton, Dean
Spears and Howard Shipp, and
former Councilman Jerry
Mullinax. Mullinax and White
are both seeking at-large seats,
while the others are running in
their respective wards.
Filing continues through noon,
August 30 at the Cleveland
County Board of Elections
Office in Shelby. The fee'for
mayor is $60 and the fee for
Council is $35.
Most of the incumbents are
“running on their record,” say-
ing Kings Mountain has made a
lot of progress during the past
two years and they want to see
it continue.
“I am extremely proud of the
accomplishments our city has
made in my eight years with the
city,” said Murphrey, who
served on Council for six years
prior to being elected mayor in
1999. “This could not have been
possible without the support of
the people and the teamwork of
City Council and staff.”
Murphrey pointed to a lower
BELT
MURPHREY
Shelby
tax rate,
lower than
average utili-
ty rates, and
upgrades in
infrastructure
and capital
projects as
some of the
accomplish-
ments of his
administra-
tion. He also
said he will
continue to
work hard to
recruit new
business and
industry, and
revitalization
of downtown.
Murphrey
calls himself a
“salesman”
for Kings
Mountain.
“City govern-
ment’s like a
business,” he
said. “You
must have a
strong team
of visionaries
working
together to
build a better
future.”
Belt, whose
Canterbury
Road neigh-
borhood was
recently
annexed into
the city, said
he, too, wants
to be a part of
a growing
Kings
Mountain. He
previously
served the
city in many
volunteer
capacities,
including
chairman of
the Planning
and Zoning
Board and
Senior Center
Advisory
Council, and
each
GUYTON
MULLINAX
SHIPP
SPEARS
WHITE
Christmas produces the grow-
ing luminary service at
Mountain Rest Cemetery.
See Filing 3A
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
Member FDIC
Newly appointed Kings Mountain District Schools Board of Education member Trace Barnette takes
the oath of office last Thursday from Cleveland County Commissioner and former board member
Ronnie Hawkins. With Barnette, from left, are sons Desmond, Roman, wife Myra and daughter
Montreal. Barnette was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Melony Bolin who resigned in June
because of health reasons.