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Thursday, March 14, 2002
Vol. 114 No. 11
Since 1889
50 Cents
home run
6A
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Motorists traveling I-85 and
U.S. 74 bypass near Kings
Mountain would be wise to
obey the speed limit.
The Kings Mountain Police
Department's Traffic
Enforcement Division, in coop-
eration with the local unit of
the North Carolina Highway
Patrol, is making a concentrat-
ed effort to curtail speeding on
the major highways, including
No fly zone
KM police, Highway Patrol
crack down on I-85 speeding
resulted in a large number of
speeding tickets but appears to
be accomplishing its goal - a
decrease in wrecks.
Officers B.C. Burnette and
Jerry Shull of KMPD are oper-
ating out of unmarked black
Camaros with heavy concen-
tration on I-85 between the
Gaston County line and the
North Carolina rest stop near
Dixon School Road.
Last week alone, KMPD
issued over 40 speeding tickets
and all but one of them were to
IIA)
Four to be
inducted into
Hall of Fame
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
The 15th annual Kings Mountain Sports Hall
of Fame dinner and induction ceremony will be
held Tuesday, April 23 at Kings Mountain High
School.
The dinner will begin at 6 p.m. in the cafete-
ria, and the induction ceremony will begin at
7:15 in B.N. Barnes Auditorium.
Four of Kings Mountain High's all-time great
athletes will be inducted. They include two men,
Jack Ruth and Jerry Adams, who were three-
sports stars for the Mountaineers and two,
Butch Blalock and Calvin Stephens, who made
All-American in the collegiate ranks and also
had a taste of pro ball.
In addition, the Hall of Fame will honor sev-
eral Kings Mountain High teams and individu-
als that have won either conference or State ~~
championships during the current school year.
Jack Ruth, now of Hendersonville, played
football, baseball and basketball for the
Mountaineers from 1944-49. As an 8th grader he
was a member of the undefeated 1945 men’s bas- -
ketball team.
He was best known for his exploits on the foot-
ball field. He was a single-wing fullback at KMHS
under four different coaches - Don Parker, Clyde
Canipe, John Rudisill and Shu Carlton - and as a
freshman at Davidson College he was that
school’s first T-formation quarterback. He was the
starting quarterback at Davidson his junior and
senior seasons and was Davidson’s Student Body
President.
Jerry Adams was a three-sport athlete at KMHS RUTH S
from 1957-61, but he also was best known in foot- Led
ball. In 1959 he made All-State at center and led
the Mountai toa : ;
Re
Central. In 1960 he led John Gamble's
Mountaineers to a 9-1 season. He went on to start
for four years at Western Carolina University and
had several successful years as a high school foot-
ball, baseball and basketball coach. He is now
principal of Bessemer City Primary.
Butch Blalock is Kings Mountain's all-time lead-
ing scorer in basketball, having tallied 1,370
points in his three-year varsity career. His 48-point
effort against Lincolnton is still a single game
men’s record, as is his 780 points scored during his senior season of
1974. That year, his 32.5 points per game average was second in the
State to Phil Ford’s 35 ppg average at Rocky Mount.
See Fame, 5A
Gas price
going up
By BEN LEDBETTER
those areas that are within the out-of-town motorists. First
Kings Mountain city limits.
The every day effort has
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Kings Mountain Police officer B.C. Burnette (top photo) runs
radar at the Highway 161 south ramp on Interstate 85. In lower
photo Burnette stops a vehicle for speeding on I-85.
See Speeding, 5A
BLALOCK
STEPHENS
Y plans $4.5 million expansion
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
moved to the area where the nautilus and cardio-
vascular equipment is now.
Ozmore said the project is an exciting one.
Kings Mountain went into a partnership with “It’s a major project,” he said. “It’s an exciting
the Cleveland County YMCA three years ago, and
now the non-profit organization wants to
strengthen those ties.
During Tuesday’s Kings Mountain City Council
work session, CCYMCA Kings Mountain Branch
Director David Ozmore unveiled a $4.5 million
dollar project which would have renovations and
additions to the facility which was formerly the
Community Center in the Kings Mountain Parks
and Recreation Department.
. Jim Stumbo with Cooper, Stewart and Newell .
architects said changes would include a new posi-
tion for the front entrance which would face the
major parking lot. Also freeweights would be
project for the staff and board at the Y.”
Other additions include another swimming
pool, which would be indoors and primarily for
people who don’t swim laps or participate on a
swim team.
One of the concerns council member Jim
Guyton addressed was the amount of parking
spaces at the facility, especially with a construc-
tion project that could take up spaces.
“I don’t think we have sufficient room,” he
said.
Mayor Rick Murphrey said the city’s partner
See YMCA, 5A
Gateway, park connection discussed
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Two projects in two different
phases could help increase
recreation opportunities in
Kings Mountain.
During a Kings Mountain
Gateway Connector Workshop
where several representatives of
area parks, trials, and environ-
mental groups attended last
week, the two Kings Mountain
projects were detailed as part of
a larger picture.
One project, the Gateway, was
started about two years ago by
the city to connect the three
parks near Kings Mountain to
the city.
Already signs have been
placed on N.C. 161 marking the
direction to the parks.
Another project, which
Limestone College professor
Paul LeFrancois is participating,
would be a trail from Cowpens,
SC to Kings Mountain.
The group, created by the
Cherokee County Council
between 1995-96, is a chapter of
the Overmountain Victory Trail
Association.
Currently the group is work-
ing on two seven-mile segments
in Cherokee County.
LeFrancois said the associa-
tion is in the process of obtain-
ing land easements for some of
the trail which is on private
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 128 Years
property.
The trail, which is expected to
be called the Cowpens-Kings
Mountain Greenway, will be
about 30 to 35 miles. It will also
be a part of the Overmountain
Victory National Historic Trail
which is between Abingdon, VA
and Kings Mountain.
While much of the Cowpens-
Kings Mountain Greenway
work is still in South Carolina,
some of the work toward the
Gateway project has been going
on in the city of Kings Mountain
as well as the parks.
Kings Mountain National
Military Park Superintendent
See Gateway, 5A
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
BEN LEDBETTER / THE HERALD
Danny Bryant pumps gas Tuesday at Parker's Amoco on Shelby
Road. Gas prices have started to increase in the area.
Gastonia
529 New Hope Road
704-865-1233
106 S. Lafayette St.
Shelby
704-484-6200
Staff Writer
Gas prices in Kings Mountain
and the Charlotte region have
started to make their monthly
increase.
In Kings Mountain, prices
that were about $1.07 recently
have risen as high as $1.21 for a
gallon of 87 grade octane fuel.
Jacquie Hughett with the
Carolinas Chapter of the
American Automobile
Association said part of the rea-
son for the increase in gas
prices is the anticipation of
spring break for many public
school systems. Many colleges
in North Carolina have had
their annual spring break.
In addition, she said oil
refineries have cut back their
current production for summer
grade gasoline.
The economy is also a factor.
“In addition to that, it looks
like the economy's getting
stronger,” Hughett said.
The increase started about
two weeks ago, with the major-
ity coming last week.
According to fuelgaugere-
port.com, the Asheville area
has the highest prices in the
state for 87 octane at $1.20 per
gallon. ,
See Gas, 5A
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
Member FDIC |