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le —— re or ee ine Kings Mountain Herald Page 5A ok GARY STEWART / HERALD WELL DONE -Members of the Vestibule A.M.E. Zion Church Relay for Life team grill hot dogs at their campsite Friday at the KM Walking Track to help the Relay raise over $80,000 for cancer research. Left to right are Danny Childers, Sarah Manning, Ethel Bess and 94-year-old cancer survivor Callie Thomas. LETTER TO THE EDITOR CVS decision will affect many To the editor: When CVS announced that they were refusing to process claims for the pre- scription plan held by state employees many beneficiar- ies were shocked. - As the largest pharmacy chain in North Carolina this decision will affect many people. It jis one more example of the negative impact of health plans on pharmacy benefits that turn out to be a detri- ment to the consumer. It needs to be remembered that this affects not just ordi- nary people but already sick . citizens because they need pharmaceutical goods and services. It is important to know that pharmacists and phar- macies are not refusing to fill prescriptions for state employees. Patients can still have their valid pre- scriptions filled atany phar- macy in the state and then file a claim with their health plan. It is the claim filing service for state employees with a co-pay that is being refused. By the way, many consumers believe that the pharmacy keeps the co-pay amount and that is not true. Health plans deduct the co- pay from the payment to the pharmacy so it is a dollar for dollar benefit to the plan and nobody else. Health care is expanding at a record rate but the num- ber of drug stores is declin- ing in this state. The pri- mary cause for this retrench- ment is sparse payments from health plans. There were 1706 retail drug stores in 1990 compared to 1481 in the year 2000. The number of prescriptions filled in that decade doubled. Many small communities have one or two drug stores left that are barely surviving. New chain drug stores on many corner locations give the illusion of expansion and that is not the case. In most of these situations the company is closing a loca- | tion at a strip mall and mov- ing it to a more desirable corner lot. It is important to remem- ber that over 90% of phar- macy payments by health plans go to drug companies such as Merck. This pay- ment share remains high dispute many fiscal contor- tions to encourage generic use or switch therapy to cheaper drugs. Many of these companies are the sin- gle sources for essential products. There is no doubt that the prescription drug delivery system in this state is greatly stressed. The danger to pub- lic health increases as each day goes by with more pre- scriptions and fewer drug stores. I believe what is needed is a regulatory commission, similar to the Public Utilities Commission, which would Fly flags proudly on Friday To the Editor: This Friday, June 14th is Flag Day. It is the anniver- sary of the day on which the Continental Congress adopt- ed the flag of the United States in 1777. Flag Day is not an official national holiday, but it is observed by Presidential proclamation. It is a legal holiday in Pennsylvania. Flag Day was first official- ly celebrated in 1877, when Congress requested the flag regulate the terms, condir, .,.,, ~he flown from all public tions, fees and services ofall... pharmacy benefit plans operating in the state. This is a justifiable regulation of an essential product, phar- maceuticals provided pur- suant to a health plan. This independent group could review the economic and health factors involved and set payment rates that would provide a fair return on investment to pharma- cies and assure the public of adequate availability of pre- scription goods and services in their communities. This agency could operate in a way similar to the Public Utilities Commission which approves the rates and oper- ation of utilities essential to the public welfare. Experts, similar to the Public Staff of the Utilities Commission, would advise the Commission in its decision making. We should not require pharmacies to go out of business and consumers to forego essential prescrip- tion goods and services before serious consideration is given to a plan to avoid these consequences. (David R. Work buildings. yt J y In 1885, Bernard J. f Cigrand (1866-1932), a school teacher of Waubeka, Wis., began a lifetime effort for a yearly national obser- vance of Flag Day. He is sometimes called the “Father of Flag Day.” + We should encourage the display of the flag on homes; business establish- ments and public buildings around the nation. This is an appropriate time for special programs featuring patriotic music and discussion about the flag's meaning and ori- gin. Russell S. Davis Jr. Charlotte BEN From 4A North Carolina. It doesn’t look like Republicans or Democrats will get their way so let’s cut losses and move to some campaigning. All that’s left now is a review by the U.S. Department of Justice and the elections will be final. LETTER POLICY We appreaciate your let- ters 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 letters 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 letters are accepted, but must be legible. We will not publish third party letters, thank-you let- ters or letters from anony- mous writers; names, addresses, and phone num- bers must be included. We _ reserve the right to edit let- ters for grammar, punctua- tion, clarity, brevity and content. Letters must be signed in ink. Letters must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Monday of the week they are to be published. p Mail letters to The Editor, P.O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 or fax them to (704) 739-0611. Excerpts from the Tuesday, June 12, 1979 edi- tion of the Kings Mountain Mirror-Herald: - A Kings Mountain Senior Center Advisory Committee has been formed formed to have input in activity planning for the city’s aging program. Halbert Webb, Alice Hoyle, Lydia Mitchell and Hazel Brown Sr. were elected last week by the senior citizens to serve as the committee, which will work with the program director and city officials. - Reg Alexander, Housing Rehabilitation Officer for the City of Kings Mountain since Sept. 1,1978 has resigned, effective Wednesday, to accept the position of Director of Christian Education at New Hope Baptist Church in Gastonia. - Eight Kings Mountain District Schools teachers were nominated for Kings Mountain Teacher of the Year 1979-80and new offi- cers of the KM unit of NCAE and ACT were installed at the annual NCAE luncheon Friday at Senior board formed in ‘79 KM Senior High Cafeteria. - George H. (Sandy) Mauney Jr. of Kings Mountain received the Hubert Plaster Award as male volunteer of the year from the Cleveland County Red Cross Chapter at last week's annual meeting at Aldersgate Methodist Church in Shelby. - Four Central School stu- dents will attend Gifted and Talented programs at Appalachian State University and Milligan College in Tennessee this summer. All the group will study science at sessions of two weeks each during July and August. - A recreation program which will provide services for the total community is the goal of Kings Mountain's first supervisor of the Parks and Recreation Department, Mike Nappi. Nappi, 32, joined the Kings Mountain Department April 1 and already is implement- ing new programs and improving existing ones. He came here with five years of experience as recreation director for Silver Springs Shores, Fla. o Na Special During | [Fairways Sixt Please Call Renovation Back 9 Open | ib bias loilonls ARIS@Se Bring COUPON) ssi wil ~iiin ii Expires 7-15-02 For Tee Times | [704] 739-5871 l | | | | | | I| lof Front o | | | I ! N74 Kings Mountain KMCC Country Club 109 Country Club Road Kings Mountain, NC 28086 | | | | ; Weekday $23 - $5= $18 Greenfee & Cart 18 Holes I Weekend $29 - $5= 824 |i ; I I ; *After 1:00 weekends at weekday rates. {xe TiO Public Play Welcome Coupon Not Valid With Other Discounts N39 2 911 8DA8 {oVg | +4 Long time resident of Cherryville. Member of the Free Saints Chapel. Tommy has six children, three sons and three daughters. Family and Locally Owned Carpenter's JFuneral Home Serving Gaston, Cleveland and Lincoln counties ra Vax” 1100 East Main Strect, Cherryville, N.C. 28021 Phone: 704-435-6711 704-435-6848 Tommy Jones i LETTER From 4A sented with petitions that had approximately 250 sig- natures opposing this action and there were approxi- mately 75 people that attended the public meeting to discuss and oppose the rezoning. As Mr. Kelly stated in a news article on Thursday, March 28, 2002 that we as citizens had the right to ask Mr. Egan questions but.the mayor did not let the citi- zens ask questions as his gavel abruptly interrupted them. he also stated in the article that the questions we might have asked would not have changed the vote. To me it seems that a deci- sion was made before the meeting and no matter what we could have said or how many people signed the petition or attended the public hearing opposing the rezoning of this land would have changed the outcome. We the citizens of Kings Mountain have not been treated fairly by our mayor and City Council. They did not listen tot he citizens and even our own council repre- sentative, Dean Spears, voted against his district's wishes. I hope that the citi- zens of Kings Mountain will show our city officials how we feel at the next election. We need a new mayor and city council that will repre- we feel at the next election. We need a new mayor and city council that will repre- sent the citizens of Kings Mountain and that will lis- ten to the public's view. Eddie Payne Kings Mountain USE THE HERALD AS AREADING TOOL FOR KIDS! Instructions “NOT. Included. ry fap ! * BOOT CAMP ICE ESO : New babies don’t come with owners’ manuals. Breast feeding, diaper changing and dealing with mom are all new experiences for first-time fathers. At Boot Camp For New Dads we train first-time fathers to be experienced dads. Participate in one 3-hour workshop taught by dads who bring their own babies to practice with. You will leave more confident in your ability to be a great dad. Saturday, June 22, 2002 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Cleveland Regional Medical Center To register 704-487-3199 Cost $10" Gift certificates available @ Cleveland Regional Medical Center Carolinas HealthCare System 201 East Grover Street Shelby, NC 28150 www.clevelandregional.org vl
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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June 13, 2002, edition 1
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