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IN OUR OPINION Liberty is worth preserving A funny thing happened to British troops on that fate- ful October day in 1780. They believed the Patriots were beaten down and that their remaining task, that of driving through the Caro- linas and Virginia on to New York, would be a lark. Lord Cornwallis and Major Patrick Ferguson made a serious error in judgement. After the surrender of the huge American Army in Charleston, British troops had routed General Gates and his forces at Camden and had won another victory at Fishing Creek, In effect they had overrun the state of South Carolina and intended to do the same in North Carolina. Bud they hadn't dealt with anything near the likes of the volunteer army that con- fronted them at Kings Mountain. These hearty men, mostly farmers, with a few trades- men mixed in, not only turned the Loyalist forces back, but defeated them soundly, killed Patrick Ferguson as he tried to escape the battle and turned the tide of the Revolutionary War. The Patriots, dodging from tree to tree, swept up the sides of the mountain and laid waste to the British with devastating musketry. There were cases of neigh- . bor against neighbor and, in at least one incident, brother, against brother. EBS LOOKING BACK W ee Thursday, October 10, 2002 The Kings Mountain Herald LOOK BACK are getting harder to find and harder to find. decades. Kings Mountain High's 1952 cheerleaders are pictured above. Left to right are Lois Ann Spake, Anne Dilling, Janel Medlin, Marcelene Spake and Maxine Eubanks. Like steam locomotives and moustache Alan Hodge wax, old time stores are getting harder Recently I had the good fortune to visit a genuine gen- eral store that hearkened back to the days when “rat” cheese was a dietary staple and bib overalls were the uni- form of the day. The place I'm referring to is the Washburn Store near Bostic in Rutherford County. It was this trip that set me to recollecting some other quaint retail establishments that I have given trade to over the ¢ When, Lwas, a,chapiwe lived for a tinie'on Gattison : Street in Occupied Eastern Belmont behind a lady we being built 50 years ago {From the October 9, 1952 edition of the Kings © Mountain Herald: -Progress on the con- © struction of Radio Station © WKMT, Kings Mountain, is going forward and the sta- tion may get on the air waves by the middle of November, John Greene, partner in the enterprise, said this week. Greene and Rock Hill businessman R.H, Whitesides are part- ners in the radio station. -Friction in the city’s department of public works was aired at a spe- cial meeting of the city board of commissioners last Thursday, but only a minority of the board was present to hear the discus- sions. Present were Mayor Garland Still and Commissioners Olland Pearson and James Layton, while Commissioners Lloyd Davis, C.P. Barry and B.T. Wright were absent. Two employees claimed that another employee had used city materials in building of his residence. -The Kings Mountain Little Theatre closed its 12- performance season Saturday night of “The Sword of Gideon,” having played to approximately 4,000 persons. How in the world have we survived without all A's? Jim Heffner There was a story from the left coast last ggjumnist week about a couple of parents petition-, ing their local school board to consider lowering the pass- ing grade level for “some” students. Their thinking is that young children might be traumatized if they fail a grade and have to watch their friends advance while they stay behind to try to learn what the passing kids learned the Guest Column [Editon Gary Stewart 739-7496 : The mountain fairly glowed with flashes and called Granny Carrot. There was a little grocery store on the corner, operated in those days I am told by a propri- etress named Nanny Richardson. This was around 1959. that is. Some of us even flunked a grade and remained unscarred. But not only that. first time around. -KMLT elected Jimmy My question is why have school in the first place? It Spivey as its president for would eliminate a lot of paperwork if pie ogldjust i issue the coming, year, succeed- | diplomas, and birt th certificates at Tha '3'* § ing’B.S. Peeler Jr., and wel- It’s hard, to, believe angst; of us hd IR! 6 THY; RE | comed;six, new members have. We survived at least 12 years of schooling, most of us including Bill Briggs, Phyllis Ware, Phillip Baker, Mrs. Merle Beatty, John Curtis and Jane Looper. musket smoke hung to the trees for hours after the bat- tle was over. The Patriots exhibited uncommon valor during the Battle of Kings Mountain. Their courageous stand delayed Cornwallis’ plan for several months, and the British eventually aban- doned their North Carolina campaign The entire battle was over in one hour, but it was an hour marked by valor and patriotism on the part of American citizens who were tired of being ruled by despots. Perhaps the lesson to be learned from that battle is that liberty is precious and worth fighting for. The Patriots at Kings Mountain were willing to lay down owner. wood. marshmallow ice cream cones. simply as “Utley’s.” nuts. Someone refresh my memory if I'm wrong about the Anyway, this store made several impressions on my young mind. In fact I still recall very clearly certain images from the establishment. The place always had some green sawdust-looking stuff on the floor, but I don’t remember why. It also had a screen door with a metal piece across to push on. The metal piece advertised bread I think. The screen door always made a big slamming noise. It was hot inside the store and smelled like oil and Though I am certain my mommy sent me to this store for the staples of life such as bread and milk, my real mis- sion was to get candy. Particular favorites that come to mind were little wax bottles of candy-juice and miniature When we moved to Charlotte and lived on Attaberry Drive, there was a store at the corner of that street and Shamrock Drive. This little cinder block affair was known Two things from Utley’s were placed in my memory bank. One was a type of snack that came in a cardboard tube and contained peanuts and loose coins. The coins were a prize. I wonder how many kids choked on the coins as they tipped the cardboard tube back to get at the The other thing was some sort of medical condition that As children, we rode in cars without seat belts and air bags. Why, we even rode in the back of pickup trucks on a warm day. That was a special treat. Our baby cribs were probably covered with bright-col- ored lead-based paint. They might have been painted with it too. One skeleton key fit every front door on the mill hill, but they weren't needed, because nobody locked their doors -Sonny McDaniel has been named president of the senior class at Kings Mountain High School. Other officers elected were Darrell Austin, vice presi- dent; Janell Medlin, secre- tary; and Delores Davidson anyway. and Peggy Crocker, co- We had no child-proof lids on medicine bottles and when treasurers. Sarah Frances we rode our bikes around the neighborhood, we didn’t Mauney and Gary DeVinny were selected as class mascots. © -Kings Mountain failed . to cross the,goal line in two serious scoring threats at wear helmets. Some of us even skated up and down the streets without getting dragged off to juvenile court. We drank water from garden hoses, and the stream that ran behind the house, not from a bottle purchased at the local market. We spent hours building go-carts from scraps of lumber, §# Forest City Legion then rode them down the hill, only to find we forgot the Memorial Stadium Friday brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we night as the Golden learned when to drag our feet, and we didn’t get taken to Tornadoes kept the goose the emergency room to treat the scratches from the bushes. eggs hanging with a 12-0 Mom would just paint them with Bismuth of Violet or mer- Western AA verdict. curochrome. We left home in the morning and played all day, the only restriction we had was we had to be home when the street lights came on. Nobody could find us if we didn’t want to Good buys at area mer- chants: Baby blankets were sell- their lives for their country. We wonder if Americans would willingly go that far today. afflicted Mr. Utley’s index finger. In a way that both amazed yet frightened us kids, his digit puffed up to the size of a hot dog. Perhaps he slammed it in a car door. See Alan 5A be found, and nobody panicked. We played dodgeball, and sometimes the ball really hurt, but we laughed about it and nobody got sued. . We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank sodas with See Jim, 5A When Andy Dedmon votes it costs money To the editor: Recently I have noticed a few let- ters in our local newspapers con- cerning the votes that Representative Andy Dedmon did not cast upon the floor of the State House of Representatives. First of all, let me wish Rep. Dedmon’s father a speedy recovery. What concerns me more than the - votes that Rep. Dedmon didn’t cast are the ones that he actually voted on. Upon doing some research of the voting record of Rep. Dedmon I came across a few issues that - well, to put it bluntly - hit me right where it hurts, in the pocketbook. I found out that Dedmon voted for the Budget Appropriations Act of 2001 (Senate Bill 1005), which included numerous tax increases. He also voted for the local option sales tax increase, which increased the sales tax from 6.5 cents to 7 cents (House Bill 1633). Regardless of whether he was not present to vote for the additional half-cent tax increase voted upon recently, Dedmon is on record for already voting to increase our taxes. Dedmon also voted for the budget revenue act of 2002, which also included numerous tax increases. I think the record is quite clear that Rep. Dedmon has a history of voting to raise taxes. I also found it quite disturbing that Dedmon signed a pledge with “Citizens for a Sound Economy” not to vote for any tax hikes. He has blatantly and numerously broken this pledge so much that he refused to even sign this same pledge again for this ses- sion passed. This is not the type of leadership we need in Raleigh to represent Cleveland County, where still today many consider a man’s word as his bond. The leadership role that : Dedmon has obtained while in the State House should have been used. for the taxpayers of our county ‘and not as a pawn on the governor’s chessboard. Governor Easley has taken money away from Cleveland County for the past two years and created havoc upon the county commissioners to scrounge for funds to keep the coun- ty operational and Andy Dedmon has done nothing but align himself with Governor Easley and his tax- hiking, county-robbing machine. Mr. Dedmon, lower tax rates and tax incentives is what lures business- es to make commitments to provide jobs for our county, not tax increas- es. What this county and state needs is more jobs and less taxes. In retrospect it’s probably a good thing Andy Dedmon was not avail- able to cast those votes. Seems like we may be better off when he does- n’t vote. For when he does vote it seems to always cost me more money. Rebecca Estes Shelby \ Murder victim’s mother supports district attorney To the editor: My husband and I had only one child, Krista Byers. In 1997, she was brutally murdered. District Attorney Bill Young prosecuted her four killers. Watching Mr. Young work gave me an appreciation of the difficulties he must handle. I had thought jus- tice would come easily. I came to see that justice would not have come at all, but for his hard-nosed prosecu- tion. Mr. Young kept my husband and me informed. We witnessed the See Letters, 5A ing for 69 cents to $3.98 at Keeter’s...Women'’s hats were going for $2.50 to $8.95 at Plonk’s...Men’s socks were 15 cents a pair at Myers Department Store, and winter suits were only $19.95... A year’s subscription to The Herald was $2.50...Bread was 15 cents a loaf, bananas two pounds for 25 cents, grapes three pounds for 29 cents, 20 packs of chewing gum 67 cents, ham 49 cents a pound, Kellogg's Sugar Corn Pops two packages for 20 cents, cigarettes 16 cents a pack, and kerosene five gallons for 80 cents at Blalock’s Park-In. A 36-piece electric drill kit was $12.95 and an auto- matic coffee maker $6.95 at “City Auto Home Supply... Admission to the KMHS football games was $1 for adults and 50 cents for students, and a double feature and cartoon at Kings Mountain and Bessemer City Drive-In was only 40 cents with children under 12 getting in free. Admission on Monday and Tuesday nights was 50 cents a car load. AER LC _ ELEY Seamed Tm Sa Sri EL
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Oct. 10, 2002, edition 1
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