The Hera
Vol. 114 No. 5
Since 1889
Anvil
to close -
KM plant
next year
Anvil Knitwear, Inc.
announced today that, begin-
ning in late 2002, operations at
its Kings Mountain facility will
be relocated to and consolidat-
ed with the Company's opera-
tions in Asheville, and the
Kings Mountain facility will be
closed.
The complete relocation is
expected to take approximate-
ly 18 months.
A substantial number of
employees at the Kings
Mountain operation are
expected to be offered trans-
fers to Asheville. The
Company currently employs
approximately 400 at the Kings
Mountain plant.
The company is developing
an incentive bonus program
for those employees who do
not transfer and remain
through the transition period.
Employees of the Kings
Mountain plant were reported-
ly given letters explaining the
company’s plans to close the
plant.
The letter indicated that the
Kings Mountain plant will
close its dye house and finish-
ing departments in January
2003, and that the knitting
department will continue to
operate until around
September, 2003.
No other details were avail-
able at The Herald's press
time.
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
During the annual legislative luncheon Friday
at the Patrick Senior Center, senior citizens were
given a chance to participate in a question and
answer session with local and state officials.
Much of Friday's questions were directed to
state officials who serve Cleveland County in
Raleigh. State officials fielded questions from lot-
tery possibilities to the status of the new bypass
in Shelby.
Since Medicaid is projected to be another prob-
lem with the state budget this year, it was a topic
during Friday's session.
“It’s a very large monster that continues to
grow with unemployment,” State Representative
Debbie Clary, R-Shelby, said.
Part of the state’s projected Medicaid increase
See Seniors, 5A
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
With the aura of a revival under a tent,
the Clyde Dupin Crusade held its kickoff
banquet last Thursday at the Patrick Senior
Center. ;
The Dupin Crusade, which is scheduled
for April 14-18, will be held at the Kings
Mountain High School gymnasium.
While it was far from the amount of activ-
ities planned for the five-day event, all ele-
ments from an address from Dupin to two
songs by crusade saxophonist Donnie
Haulk were part of the evening.
During his message, Dupin told several
stories of how people in different cities he
had held crusades had become Christians.
Several of the stories were of how Dupin or
his staff reached out to others.
One moment took place during a crusade
in Oxford, a town near Durham.
Dupin had met a man who had not been
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Stephanie Wilson and her 10-month-old son, Eli, took advantage of Tuesday’s 78-
degree temperature to take a stroll at Jake Early Memorial Park. The spring-like
temperatures of Tuesday and Wednesday will give way to more normal conditions
by the weekend. The weatherman says highs will be in the 50s.
Seniors speak out -
at legislative lunch
luncheon last Friday at the Patrick Senior Center.
Dupin Crusade planned in KM ™
in church in about 20 years who became a
Christian that night.
Personal evangelism is an element impor-
tant to Dupin. ;
“That is such a vital part of the crusade,”
he said.
“God is about to do something very spe-
cial,” Dupin said about the upcoming cru-
sade in Kings Mountain.
But while Dupin referred to the crusade
locally, he also touched on things he saw
affecting the nation. :
“America is in need of a spiritual awak-
ening,” Dupin said, identifying a spiritual
decline in America.
Elements called multiculturalism, free
expression, and the lottery were a few of the
things Dupin spoke out against in his
Thursday message.
While the crusade is three months away,
plans have already been made for the week-
long event. ;
A crusade office is expected to be open,
FIRST NATIONAL BANK Kings Mountain
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6A
KM Hospital
to open
merger
talk with CRMC
.By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Merger is now back dt the front of the
Kings Mountain landscape.
During the Kings Mountain Hospital
Board of Directors annual meeting
Wednesday morning, the board
approved the recommendations of the
hospitals Trustee Advisory Council to
open talks with Cleveland Regional
Medical Center in Shelby about merger.
“This is an exciting possibility,”
Trustee Advisory Council Chairman J.C,
Bridges said. “We go into this process
committed to a strong and growing
Kings Mountain health care presence.”
But while he saw it as exciting,
Bridges said no action has been taken
yet.
“Nothing has been done It is all to be
studied,” Bridges said.
The possibility of merging with
Cleveland Regional, which is part of
Carolinas HealthCare System with
Kings Mountain, was part of the
approved strategic plan. It was a second
option in the hospital’s quest to answer
several financial questions.
The first option was to look for addi-
tional funding from CHS.
But after meeting with CHS President
and CEO Dr. Harry Nurkin, Bridges and
board member Scott Neisler said getting
the additional money would not be pos-
sible.
Nurkin, who was also on the KMH
board, recently resigned, according to
KM Hospital CEO 'Hank Neal.
In a letter to Bridges, Nurkin said
CHS does not have a legal obligation to
give additional funds to Kings
Mountain Hospital. (
Dr. AR. Gangoo, current head of the
hospital's medical staff, had addressed
the issue of the health care chain’s obli-
gations during the meeting.
“Given the financial prosperity of
CHS in the last year and prior years,
such a commitment will not pose undue
financial strain on CHS,” Gangoo said.
“On the contrary, not helping KMH at
the time it has the potential to flourish,
would amount to abandoning the hospi-
tal and the community.”
Both Bridges and Neisler said they
thought their meeting with Nurkin went
well, and they understood his point of
view.
“I felt like we had an excellent meet-
ing,” Bridges said. “They have other
hospitals in the area they need to help.”
While Kings Mountain Hospital will
not see any additional money from
Charlotte, Neisler said he felt Nurkin
wanted to hand them a check. He also
said while the health care chain has been
doing well financially, a majority of
funds goes for other purposes.
“Most of that is placed back into the
indebtedness of the system,” Neisler
said.
Trying to recover 25 percent of
patients that are seeking health care in
Gaston County would also be one way a
merger could help the system, Neisler
said. :
The nearest hospital in Gaston County
is Gaston Memorial, which is owned by
CaroMont. The health care company
also operates a family practice clinic in
Kings Mountain. hE
Competing with Gaston concerned Dr.
Everette Thombs.”
“Do you tear down one county to
build up another ?” he asked.
Harrison “Hack” Trammell, Chairman
of the board, said the hospital would not
See Merger, 5A
BR Council discusses
hotel tax, locking
gas rate for plants
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
New tourism revenue and locked natural gas
prices for two Kings Mountain industries were
topics discussed by the Kings Mountain City
Council at its meeting Tuesday.
Council established a hotel /motel tax, which
would fund tourism for the city and would
involve a tax on the four hotels in the city limits.
State legislature approved the tax this summer.
In addition to the tax, council approved the
creation of the five member Kings Mountain
Tourism Development Authority, which was part
of the state ordinance regulating the tax.
Four of the members were named Tuesday,
BEN LEDBETTER / THE HERALD while the fifth spot was left vacant.
Kings Mountain resident Lou Ballew gestures while explaining her point during the legislative
i
300 W. Mountain St.
and will be at 103 Regal Drive, Suite 1. It
will be open from 9 am. to 1 p.m. Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays.
On February 7 at 7:30 p.m. a leadership
rally will be held at Macedonia Baptist
Church, and on Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. a prayer
rally will be held at the Church of the
Nazarene.
Dupin pastored a Wesleyan church in
Evansville, IN for 10 years and worked with
evangelist Bill Glass for six years.
In 1974, he started his own interdenomi-
national ministry, based in Kernersville. He
also writes a weekly newspaper column,
“Religious Viewpoints”, which is published
in newspapers around the nations. Locally,
his column can be read in The Eagle and the
Bessemer City Record, sister papers of the
Herald. ]
The last crusade Dupin held in Kings
Mountain was in 1987 at John Gamble
Stadium at Kings Mountain High School.
‘Gastonia
529 New Hope Road
704-865-1233
See Council, 5A
Ld
BEN LEDBETTER / THE HERALD
Kernersville evangelist Clyde Dupin speaks at a kickoff banquet
for his April Kings Mountain crusade last Thursday at the Patrick
Senior Center.
Shelby
106 S. Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906 :
Member FDIC