Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Jan. 17, 2002, edition 1 / Page 4
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OUR OPINION KM Schools must do more to recruit minorities Kings Mountain District Schools has a problem not unlike most small town/ rural school systems in America. And, although we would all like to see this problem correct- ed it’s not likely that it will be anytime soon. Kings Mountain's number of minority employees vs. the ‘number of minority students is way out of line. The problem is, it’s a nationwide trend that can’t . be corrected overnight. Approximately 27 percent of Kings Mountain's student popu- lation, but only about 14 percent of its employees, are minorities. That percentage is basically the same as the nationwide aver- age, but the problem still deserves a lot of attention here because the percentage of administrative-level minority employees is far less than the average. For instance, only about 12 percent of the Kings Mountain principals and assistant princi- pals is minority. Only one of the eight principals, and only one of the eight assistant principals, is a minority. The Central Office Staff is about 10 percent minority, but that number includes support and maintenance staff. None of the high-ranking Central Office administrators is minority. In sports, the number of minorities is atrocious. While Black athletes make up about 50 percent of most teams there are only three Black coaches among the 46 on the staffs at Kings Mountain High School and Kings Mountain Middle School. There are no Black coaches at the Middle School and two of the three Black coaches at the high school are assigned to the men’s basketball team. Kings Mountain District : Schools no doubt has tried hard to recruit qualified minority edu- cators in the past, and we have no reason to believe that they won't continue to do it in the future. But they must go that extra mile and find new ways to attract minority employees. These low percentages might be sending the wrong message to qualified minority candidates. They may think it’s'useless to apply for openings in Kings Mountain. News Deadlines We welcome your news items for publication in each Thursday’s paper. Please ~ observe the following deadlines: For B Section articles, the deadline is 12 noon Monday. This includes social news such as weddings, engagements, birthdays, anniversaries, club news and community news as well as school news. For A section articles, the deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday. This includes regular news and sports, city and county news. _I utterly detested. Among these have beervtruck driver) grocery! HERALD / FILE A new slate of officers for the Kings Mountain Rescue Squad took office in January 1974. Left to right are Richard Byers, ser- geant; Johnnie Caldwell, secretary; Keith Bowen, first lieutenant; and Bob Hope, captain. From paint brush to front page not a boring journey Alan Hodge During the course of most folk’s lives, they Guest Column have several jobs. All honest work is good. If you are one of the lucky few like I am, your current position is one that is both challenging and rewarding. It was not always so, for.I'have over the last several eons held jobs _ with the aroma of varnish and paint thinner filling our nostrils . arise. For those debates, the owner kept a ball bat under the counter. bag boy, gas station attendant, and library after school daycare referee. One job I had back in the 1970s was part-time house painter with my friend Brutus Casey, his brother Tomo, and their father Benson “Claudine” Casey. Yes indeed, those were heady days on a regular basis. House painting afforded me the opportunity to see a wide variety of people and to experience situations that were of the type most office workers never do. Each day as a painter was sure to bring a new. excitement or visual stimulation. You might not think it, but house painters are connoisseurs of unique dining. Yes indeed, many are the luncheons we had of sardines, beenee-weenies, and saltine crackers. Sometimes the beans were heated up on the exhaust manifold of the paint truck. In the gustatory nomenclature of the period these delights were simply referred to as “beans, ‘teens, and deans.” To wash down these delicacies, we frequently turned to such high class examples of the vintner’s art as Bali-Hai and Mad Dog. On certain days when a trip was made to one of the paint sup- ply stores along Central Avenue in Charlotte, we would stop at an establishment known as The Penguin for hamburgers and something cold to drink. Some of the clientele often had too many cold things to drink and philosophical differences would Another unique feature of he Penguin was the fact that the restroom had a large hole in the ceiling. What made this special was the fact that you could enjoy the sight of clouds scuttling by as you paid your visit. Today, The Penguin is owned by someone else and is a “trendy” place to go Charlotte. Trendy See Alan, 5A Don’t be too quick to spend that extra money If you've already received your first pay check of the new year you probably noticed a few more dollars. No, you didn’t get a raise from your employ- er. You benefitted from President Bush’s 2001 tax cuts package. If you recall, last year you got a check from the government for $300 (if you're single) or $600 (if you/re married). This year, those funds will come a little bit at a time - each time you draw a pay check. The purpose behind these tax breaks was to stimulate the sag- ging economy. There are those, however, who want to get their hands on that money, and more. During the midst of a disastrous economic year which has seen North Carolina lead the nation in unemployment, North Carolina was the only State in the nation to increase taxes - in the form of an additional penny sales tax. You pay it every time you purchase something in the Tar Heel State. Instead of doing more to cut fat, the money lovers in Raleigh even conned local county commission boards into passing resolutions for a half- cent sales hike, so that it would look like they were only doing what local communities were requesting them to do. Now, Democratic U.S. Senator Tom Daschle wants to rescind President Bush's tax cuts. Not many people in North Carolina had probably ever heard the name Tom Daschle until terrorists sent anthrax to his office. Now we know him as just another tax- and-spend liberal who thinks raising taxes helps the country recover from a bad economy. President Bush has already hinted that he will veto any legis- lation involving a tax hike. In a speech last week, President Bush said rescission of the tax will come “over my dead body.” Any politician who advocates tax increases during such bad economic times should be removed from office - by the taxpay- ers. We hope people on the national level will remember folks like Tom Daschle the next time they go to the polls. And, we hope people right here in Cleveland County and North Carolina will remember those uf uur uwil Who have already stuck it to us in the name of sound economy. One of the country’s most renowned economic forecasters, Abby Joseph Cohen, predicted recently that the economy will recover this year, partly because of the “stimulative tax policy” See Gary, 5A Gary Stewart Editor Thursday, January 17, 2002 Editor: Gary Stewart 739-7496 SE YOUR VIEW Hu It takes low down person to steal from grave To the editor: My mother passed away in July of 1989. Since then someone has stolen something from her grave at least once a year. This year my father and sister passed away five days apart. Losing two members of your family at one time makes for a really sad holiday season. I fixed Christmas trees for all three of their graves. My cousin, who lives out of state, sent me money and I did one for her mother’s grave. I went to pick them up after New Years and all four were gone. It takes a very low person to steal from a grave. Obviously, they have no feelings or con- science. If you took these things, you must have never lost a loved one. If and when you do, you will understand the pain you cause families when you steal from gave sites. May God forgive you. Barbara Falls Kings Mountain Letter Policy We appreaciate your letters to the editor and encourage you to write. Because we receive so many letters, however, we must impose guidelines to ensure that as many readers as possible are able to share their views. We therefore limit the number of let- ters that any one person may have published to one a month. Also, we ask that you keep your letters short, no more than two pages double-spaced or one page single-spaced. Handwritten let- ters are accepted, but must be legible. We will not publish third party letters, thank-you letters or let- ters from anonymous writers; names, addresses, and phone numbers must be included. We reserve the right to edit letters for grammar, punctuation, clari- ty, brevity and content. Letters must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Monday of the week they are to be pub-- lished. Mail letters to The Editor, P.O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 or fax them to (704) 739-0611. Corrections ‘I'he Herald will be happy to correct any mistakes. To request a correction call the editor at 739- 7496 between the hours of 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. SIDEWALK SURVEY mn BY BEN LEDBETTER THE HERALD = Do you plan on playing the South Carolina lottery? No. | don’t have much interest. It would really depend on what the school systems and the state would get. Bob Muncatchy Columbia, SC Ivan Dunovant Shelby Oh yeah. | already have. Luther Bishop Mount Holly | don't even play the Georgia lottery, and that’s where I'm from. Russ Schemmel Newborn, GA Got a question you'd like to submit to Sidewalk Survey? Send your question by mail to us here at The Herald. If we use your question, we'll give you the credit. No. | just don’t do that. Ronnie Hull Shelby AA epg i
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Jan. 17, 2002, edition 1
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