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Thursday, Soptemnor 20, 2001
Vol. 113 No. 38
KINGS MOUNTAIN
The Heral
Since 1889
50 Cents
Mounties
Defeat
Forestview
Page 1B
WTC attack
frightening
experience
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Molly Blanton took a train
from her New Jersey resi-
dence to work near the World
Trade Center Tuesday,
September 11 as she usually
does.
She took the elevator up to
her office, and was in there
when the first plane hit.
That morning she noticed
something gravely wrong
when she arrived to her office
at Mongoose Atlantic.
The British Company does
classified advertisements for
Newsweek Magazine. The
magazine is part of the
Washington Post Company.
“I saw the smoke but had
no idea of what was going
n,” Blanton said.
She later called one of her
friends to see what was going
on. Blanton, along with her
colleagues, looked out a win-
dow and saw the second
plane hit the World Todet
Center.
“It’s very frightening,
because you can’t see any-
thing past the building”
Blanton said about the acci-
dent. “We got down to
Battery Park, two blocks from
our office where it was a little
more clear. I could see the top
of the building from there.”
As with most Americans,
Blanton thought the World
Trade Center was invincible.
“At that point, I never
thought in a million years the
building would go down,”
Blanton said.
North Jersey shares both
mourning and a business as
usual mood.
“Every house has a flag
here,” Blanton said. “I think
there’s a sense of unity but
also a sense of mourning.”
She has lived in the area for | D.C.
about three months.
In North Jersey, Blanton
said, a lot of people commute.
Children are going to
school and businesses are all
open, she said.
Blanton is the daughter of
Libby and Jerry Blanton of
Kings Mountain.
She graduated from Kings
Mountain High School in
1997 and the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“I really think it’s an
American tragedy,” Blanton
said about Tuesday's attack.
“It’s a time for us to stick
together as Americans.”
South.
hours.
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Religion has always played a
part in people’s lives in the
And during a time of griev-
ing that truth was evident at a
prayer service in front of Kings
Mountain City Hall in the
wake of terrorist attacks in
New York and Washington
_ President Bush made last
Friday a National Day of
Prayer and Remembrance, and
asked people to attend memo-
rial services in their lunch
With a service going on in
the National Cathedral in
Washington, other cities
around the state and nation
also held one.
Rev. Doug Allen led the city-
sponsored prayer service near
_ the flag poles at City Hall.
City officials, firefighters,
police officers and residents
filled the area around the front
steps, close to the fountain.
“We want to stand firm as a
Praying for America
BEN LEDBETTER/T HE HERALD
People in attendance at Friday's prayer service at City Hall wave small United States flags the
city was handing out.
During time of grieving
community turns to prayer
heads in prayer.
prayer.
nation,” Allen said during his
"BEN LEDBETTER/THE HERALD
Attendees at Friday's prayer service at City Hall bow their
during the day dealt with
patriotism and spiritual issues.
Much of the theme of Allen's
prayer, and others that spoke
See Prayer Page 3A
DA to seek
death penalty
in KM murder
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
The state will be seeking the
death penalty against two of the
suspects in the Justin Braswell
murder, and the two juveniles
involved in the case will be
tried as adults.
Cleveland County District
Attorney Bill Young said in a
statement during a news confer-
ence Wednesday at the Kings
Mountain Police Department
that he will ask for the death
penalty for David Allen Glover
and Timothy McDowell.
Charges against all suspects
include first degree murder.
Young said a probable cause
hearing for Glover and
McDowell is expected to be
scheduled around November 5.
Young said his office will not
seek the death penalty for Brian
Hemphill.
Jamie Walker and Adrian
Slade, the two juvenile suspects,
will be tried as adults pending
an expected probable cause
hearing on Friday.
If the judge in juvenile court
does not find probable cause to
try Walker and Slade as adults,
the case would not proceed on
any level, Young said.
North Carolina law does not
allow anybody under the age of
17 to be prosecuted for the
death penalty.
“The maximum sentence a
juvenile can receive, if convicted
of first degree murder, is life
imprisonment without parole,” {
Young said.
Deciding on whether his
office will seek a particular
penalty involves looking at a
broader issue, Young said.
“It’s a process of looking at
the totality of the alleged partic-
ipation,” Young said.
With the arrests, Young said
the Kings Mountain Police
Department is in the process of
providing his office with a copy
of the department's investiga-
tion report.
But he said he was able to
view enough details to make a
decision on prosecuting the
suspects.
. Young said he expects to see a
copy of the report in approxi-
mately two weeks.
The District Attorney said he
See Murder Page 2A
Committee to propose
reimbursement change
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
New subdivisions would no
longer receive reimbursement
from the city for major infra-
structure under policy revisions
the Utility Committee plans to
take before City Council within
90 days.
Meeting Tuesday afternoon at
City Hall, the committee gave
its approval to the Planning
Department’s proposals which
would grandfather five subdivi-
sions which have already been
approved by City Council.
The change would eliminate
reimbursement for such items
as water and sewer lines, side-
walks, streets and curb and gut-
tering. City Planning Director
Steve Killian said Kings
Mountain is the only city in the
area that still shares in the cost
of running such services.
Subdivisions created and
approved by the city prior to
July 1, 2001 will still be reim-
bursed 50% of the costs of run-
ning the above services. Killian
said there is still provisions in
the policy which would allow
contractors to save money if
they install water taps at the
time of construction.
The city also plans to monitor
construction periodically to
ensure that streets, etc. within
the subdivisions meet city
See Committee Page 2A
ala a
__ PROUDLY SHE WAVES
KM native sees WTC tower collapse
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
A Kings Mountain native who watched
the collapse of one of the World Trade
Center towers from an apartment window
says New Yorkers are doing very well and
feel the support of people from all over the
country.
Anne Hayes, a 1970 Kings Mountain
High graduate who has lived and worked
in New York for 30 years, is the Chief of
Staff for Antonio Pagan, Commissioner of
Employment for New York City, and her
office is seven blocks from the site of the ter-
rorist attack.
Hayes was running late for work on the
morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11 when two air-
planes that were hijacked by terrorists
crashed into the two 110-story twin towers.
Within an hour, they collapsed and over
5,000 people are either dead or missing and
presumed dead.
Hayes was scheduled to be in a meeting 1
1/2 blocks away from the twin towers, but
was still in her apartment getting ready :
when she heard the news on the radio of an
apparent bombing. She intended to stop on
her way to work to vote in the New York
primary election, which was later cancelled.
. “I immediately thought it was terrorism,”
Hayes said. “In 1993 I was working at City
Council just a block away when the terror-
ists bombed the World Trade Center.”
About that time, the radio went dead and
she turned on the TV to hear that the first
building had been hit by a plane.
“Then,” she said, “I thought it was an
accident, which still would have been
awful.”
Hayes called her family in Kings
Mountain to tell them she was okay and -
. was going to go on to work. She went to
vote with every intention of going to work,
but as she got to Second Avenue and had a
clear view of the WTC area she knew she
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 127 Yeano
wouldn’t make it.
“There were people standing all around,
just looking up and dumfounded,” she
recalled. “I asked someone what was going
on and he said another plane had hit the
tower. I said, ‘no, there was just one plane,’
but he said, ‘look’ and I looked and both
towers were on fire.”
Hayes made her way to a friend’s apart-
ment where they saw one of the towers col-
lapse.
Just before that happened, she said they
had gotten the news that the Pentagon in
Washington, DC had also been hit by a
* hijacked plane.
“That was a very, very chilling moment,”
she said. “Then a half-hour later I was
downstairs in another friend’s apartment
and watching TV and they were telling that
they'd locked down the air space, but there *:
were four planes unaccounted for. We heard
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
While college and 4 professional sports suspended play last
weekend because of the terrorist bombings, local high schools
felt it was best to keep playing and give their fans and players
an opportunity to get their minds set on more pleasant thoughts
for awhile. But patriotism was the theme of the pre-game festivi-
ties at the Kings Mountain at Forestview game, where Old Giory
See Collapse Page 3A flew high in a stiff breeze atop Joe Alala Stadium. Game details
are on page 1B. .
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