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August 22, 2002 The Kings Mountain Herald Page 3A
SERT use it,” Cash said. “We could hear him but
he never talked on it. He would talk to peo-
From 1A
he had not been taking his medicine.
“When officers first got there, he didn’t
come to the door.” Cash noted. “He came to
a window and brandished a knife to his
wrist and said he was going to kill himself.”
Cash said deputies talked to the man for 2
1/2 hours. Nearby Cansler Street was lined
with police cars. An ambulance waited on
one side of the street, and the Sheriff's
Department’s emergency command center
set up onthe other side.
ple at the window.”
Cash said the man said he wanted a com-
“We talked to him the entire time,” Cash
said. “We wanted to negotiate him out. He'd
talk to us for awhile and then he would be
mute for 10 or 15 minutes.”
The man did allow the officers to put a
wireless phone in to talk to him. “We got it
into the room with him but he never would
puter, and to see the Pope.
“He never talked anything rational and
never made any demands,” Cash said. “His
mother said he has never had a computer
and wouldn't know how to operate one.”
After negotiating continuously for over
two hours, Cash said officers felt they had
done what they needed to do and, when
they saw the back door open they feared the -
man may be getting ready to carry out his
suicide threat.
“About 12 o’clock he started moving
around and opened the back door, and we
were concerned that he might be about to
do something,” Cash said. “We felt like we
should go ahead and do something i in case
he tried to commit suicide.”
BEN LEDBETTER / THE HERALD
Andy Nichols, left, and Kale Hallman are in position as accident victims during
Saturday’s mock disaster drill at the depot on Piedmont Ave.
RAIN
From 1A
the whole lake. We need the
rain to continue to fall regu-
larly.”
Moss Lake, which holds
15 billion gallons of water,
probably has about 12 bil-
lion in it because the four-
year drought has dropped
the lake level four feet, Ollis
said.
“The top four feet of the
lake probably holds 20 per-
cent of the water,” he said,
“so we're probably missing
three billion gallons.”
Kings Mountain, which is
permitted to pump up to 8.4
million gallons a day, aver-
ages pumping about 6.5 mil-
lion when Shelby’s on line,
Ollis said.
While Kings Mountain is
not suffering any water
woes of its own, Ollis said it
will take good levels of rain
over several months to
assure plenty of water for
the future.
“We can pump, with our
regular pumps, down to 20
feet,” Ollis said. “If it ever
gets to that point the Lord
only knows what quality of
water we'll be getting. It’s
down four feet now. If it
gets down 20, it will mean
there’s no water coming in.”
At this time, Buffalo
Creek, which feeds the lake,
is running very slowly, Ollis
said. “It’s better today than
it was two weeks ago, but |
it’s still nok very go od, brie
The City continues to
monitor the intake and out-
take of water at Moss Lake
on a daily basis. Ollis posts
the water level and the rain
level on a chart at City Hall.
If the lake level doesn’t
pick up, Ollis predicted that
the city could begin experi-
encing some water problems
of its own early next year.
“That's if we don’t get
some pretty hefty rains by
Christmas,” he said.
“The bad thing is, if we're
in trouble at that point in
time then everybody else is
going to be in worse trouble.
It would be mean,” he said.
Ollis attended a meeting
in Rutherfordton Tuesday
morning at which area and
State officials talked about
the drought situation. It was
revealed that Broad River
would normally flow 400
million gallons of water a
day. That day, it was flow-
ing 20 million.
“You're talking about five
percent,” he said.
“What we really need is to
get two inches of rain a
week for the next six
months.”
Most water districts in
this area of North Carolina
that get their water from
streams and rivers are fac-
ing the same situation as
Kings Mountain's neigh-
bors, Ollis said.
“You have counties along
the Tennessee border that
are in good shape because
of rain coming off the
mountains, and you have
counties in the eastern part
of the state that have water
coming from the ocean, and
they're all in good shape,”
he said. “Everybody in
between has problems, and
ry
Srp
the farther away you are
from those areas the worse
your problems are.”
Kings Mountain has been
given special permission
from the State to increase its
maximum pumping level to
8.4 million instead of 8 mil-
lion gallons a day, and to
keep more of the water
that’s flowing into the lake.
Kings Mountain is the only
municipal water system on
Buffalo Creek. The city is
keeping its reserve tank at
Public Works full with nine
million gallons of water, and
the clear well at Moss Lake
is full with an additional
two million gallons.
“We're in good shape
right now, but again this is a
temporary fix for those com-
munities that depend on the
river,” Murphrey said. “It'll
just flow by and they'll get
what they can, and if it
doesn’t rain it'll start drying
back up.”
Murphrey, Shelby Mayor
Mike Philbeck, Cleveland
County Commission
Chairman Willie McIntosh,
and John Cline of the
Cleveland County Sanitary
District last week signed a’
proclamation declaring
Thursday as a Day of Prayer
for Drought Relief. A prayer
service will be held from
12:20-12:40 p.m. Thursday at
Bethel Baptist Church, 600
South DeKalb Street, Shelby.
People from all over the
gounty are invited fo partici-
pate.
Murphrey said he and city
staff plan to continue work-
ing on a presentation to City
Council calling for a study
for a second lake near Moss
Lake. The concept will be
taken to Council at its
August 27 meeting.
Murphrey wants to resur-
rect a 1986 plan by then
Mayor John Henry Moss to
build a 1,500 acre lake on
Muddy Fork Creek which
would impound approxi-
mately 12 billion gallons of
water.
Ollis says it’s a good idea.
“At the rate this area is
growing, it could very well
be needed by the time they
get it built,” he said. “If I'm
a business or industry con-
sidering this area, one thing
I'm going to check before I
move in is who has water
and who doesn’t, and who's
going to shut me down and
who isn’t.”
Murphrey said he is confi-
dent the idea will get the
approval of City Council.
“We want to make a good
presentation to them and
answer any questions they
have,” he said.
BARN
From 1A
barn to positive words
about Putnam.
Putnam has since moved
from Kings Mountain to
Cherokee County in South
Carolina and said the barn
was part of the reason for
the move.
He was raised in the
Kings Mountain area but
said the whole ordeal with
the barn has soured him to
the city.
“I think I got a dirty
deal,” he said. “I'm really
kind of down on Kings
Mountain.” -
While he has moved,
Putnam said he did not
plan to build another barn.
“That barn disheartened
me so bad I doubt I will
build another barn like
that,” he said. “It's been
kind of a mental thing. It's
been kind of rough.”
Putnam estimated that
after the barn is torn down
that it would have cost him
$75,000.
“I took a beating,” he
said. “It’s just an unfair sit-
uation.”
Kings Mountain Building
Codes and Zoning
Enforcement Director Holly
Black said Putnam com-
plied with a request to
remove the horses. He also
removed a camper from the
property, she said.
‘With some more, work, it
could have, been a home,
she said. 7"! B
“The barn could have
been converted to a single
family dwelling,” she said.
“It would have taken some
work to convert but it could
have been done.”
RESCUE
From 1A
fatalities.
The drill started at 8:22
a.m., with Grover arriving at
about 8:50 a.m.
While the scene was not
real some aspects of
Saturday’s drill were real.
When the Kings Mountain
Fire Department got the call
from its dispatcher, no men-
tion of the drill was men-
tioned.
“I have a report of a train
wreck...” the voice said on
Rescue Squad member
James Ledbetter’s radio.
Other agencies that were
called were Kings Mountain
Police Department,
Cleveland County EMS, the
Cleveland County
Hazardous Materials Team,
Oak Grove Volunteer Fire
Department, Bethlehem
Volunteer Fire Department
and the Norfolk Southern
Police.
The Haz-Mat team had ‘its
decontaminating station set
up in the middle of
Piedmont Avenue where
both emergency workers
and patients were sent
through.
Ledbetter, who organized
the drill, said he thought it
went well.
“So far it’s going pretty
good,” he said. “We're going
to sit back after the drill is
BEN LEDBETTER / THE HER-
ALD
Fire and rescue workers
put victim Kale Hallman on
a stretcher and wheel him
for treatment during
Saturday’s mock disaster
drill at the depot.
over with and we're going
to critique our members.
From what we've seen
everything went pretty
good.”
Ledbetter said the squad
tries to do two drills per
year. He said an objective of
the drills is to see how what
type of resources the squad
could use.
Emergency agencies were
not the only ones honing
their skills Saturday.
Norfolk Southern
Trainmaster Ray Wallace
said disaster drills helps him
train the company’s
nel.
“This gives me a look at
ways that I can help them to
make it as quick as possible
so that I can train my people
on the train,” he said.
The people who served as
accident victims Saturday
said it gave them insight
into the events of an actual
disaster.
“It’s a very interesting
experience,” James Gladden
said. “You really don't real-
ize what all goes into this
when you just hear about it
on TV.” Gladden was a
bystander who got every-
body out of the church van.
He burned his hand and cut
his forearm.
Karen Snyder was the
engineer of the train. She
was conscious. but had cuts
over her tace and arm and
could not move her right
leg.
KM Rescue Squad mem-
person-
ber Mark Mull prioritized
the order in which the six
people were treated.
Sheets with color codes
were set out in a parking lot
across the street where the
victims were taken for initial
treatment.
Red was an emergency,
Mull said. Yellow was treat
within an hour, green was
treat in a couple hours and
black was not treatable.
Mull said there was only
supposed to be one fatality.
BUS
From 1A
Byrnes’ office serves all
three Cleveland County
school systems.
He said it has not hap-
pened here but it has in
other places.
“It’s a very very rare
occurrence,” he said. “It’s a
freak incident. Occasionally
you'll hear of one some-
where.”
Byrnes said the bus that
burned Monday is a total
loss.
JOY NIGHT SERVICE
Rev. Jeff Ross of Shelby
will be the speaker for Joy
Night August 25 at 6 p.m.
at Long Branch First Baptist
Church in Grover. For more
information call 937-3834.
FS
The Her
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