January 23, 2003
KING
From 1A
become a reality.”
“The dreams of Martin
Luther King back in 1963
are the same as those of the
young people today,” said
Brooks. Young people
dream of a time when his
and their ideals will also be
fulfilled, she said.
Kings Mountain Mayor
Rick Murphrey also
addressed the crowd at the
event. He stressed the spirit
of the people who fought
the Battle of Kings
Mountain, saying that the
same spirit that motivated
them, motivated the civil
rights activists.
“Dr. Martin Luther King
worked to improve the
quality of life for all peo-
ple,” said Murphrey. “Our
city is a loving and caring
community dedicated to
working together to
improve the quality of life
for all its citizens.” ’
He continued by stressing
the importance of racial jus-
tice, equality, and love.
“Love sees no color. The
world does not need more
love, only for us to do more
loving,” said Murphrey.
The idea for the oratorical
competition actually came
from Rev. Howard Shipp,
Kings Mountain mayor pro-
tem, said Brooks. Shipp
was present at the event to
lead the invocation and clos-
ing prayer.
CITY
From 1A
munication skills. We want
to make sure someone will
come in and be able to have
good communication with
council and staff.”
Murphrey said council
members have already gone
over the applications on
their own. On February 4,
they will begin screening
them as a group. Murphrey
indicated Council would
probably narrow the possi-
bilities down to ten, then
five, andthen; begin persans
aldnterviiewss1 5 zaw brs 1
He predicted that process
would take the entire
month of February, then the
person chosen would have
to give notification to his
present employer.
“We hope we can expe-
dite the process and have
someone in as soon as pos-
sible,” Murphrey said, “but .
realistically it will probably
be April before we have
anybody on board.”
CHARGED
From 1A
Proctor said the four
probably know they're
wanted and have left town.
“Officers have been to
their last known addresses
trying to serve them, but
folks are saying they've
moved and they don’t
know where to,” she said.
Proctor said approximate-
ly half of the people arrest-
ed in December are now
out on bond. Most of them
have had their probable
cause hearings and have
either waived probable
cause or the judge has
found probable cause to
send them to trial, she said.
Trial dates haven't been set
yet.
Five people competed in
the oratorical competition,
which is two more than last
year. Brooks said she hoped
even more would compete
next year. The competitors
included Tyree Surratt, Ken
Gober, Kesha Childers,
Sherod Thurman, and Lester
Williams.
Lester Williams, defend-
ing champion, again placed
first this year with his emo-
tional performance of the “I
Have a Dream” speech.
Tyree Surratt, of Shelby,
placed second in the compe-
tition with his voice imitat-
ing the qualities of Martin
Luther King’s. He was only
.5 points away from the top
place.
Sherod Thurman, age 13,
is president of the Shelby
Middle School. Thurman
competed last year as well
and placed third this year.
He was the youngest com-
petitor of the night.
Ken Gober, a 9th grader at
Crest High School, also
joined the competition for
the first time this year. One
of the youngest in the com-
petition, Gober was also the
only competitor to step
away from the podium and
command the attention of
the audience from the edge
of the stage.
Kesha Childers, a senior at
Shelby High School, became
the first ever female com-
petitor. Childers hopes to
become an actress.
Judges were John L.
Blalock, Carlee Jenkins, Jr.,
and Hazeline Abernathy.
Music was provided by
Veronica Green and Shana
Butler, who both sang.
Green opened the ceremony
with “The Lord's Prayer.”
Butler sang “Amazing
Grace” before the awards
ceremony. The Bynum
Chapel Choir also sang at
the event, with featured
soloist and former
Councilman Phillip Hager
singing “Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot.”
The Blessed Liturgical
Dancers from Adams
Chapel AM.E. Zion Church,
International Gates of
Dance, and a junior group
of International Gates of |
Dance provided interpretive
dances to poplitar Christian’
songs during the competi-
tion. Each speaker was pre-
ceded by a music or dance
event of some sort.
At the end of the pro-
gram, the Bynum Chapel
Choir and competitors led
the audience in “We Shall
Overcome” and “Lift Every
Voice and Sing.”
Shana Butler, of Kings
Mountain, sang “Amazing
Grace” at the Kings
Mountain Martin Luther
King Oratorical
Competition on Monday. .
It’s Here Again...
TAX TIME?
Let Us Help With Your Tax
The Wings Mountain Herald
KM Marine deployed to Gulf
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Travis Patterson, 23, son of
Ted and Janet Hayes of
Kings Mountain and Jerry
and Kathy Patterson of
Blacksburg, SC and grand-
son of Margaret Smith of
Kings Mountain, joined the
war against terrorism on
Friday, January 10. A
Private, 1st Class in the
Marine Corps, Patterson is
part of the air wing support
group for helicopter
squadrons based out of the
New River Air Station in
Jacksonville, FL.
“He cannot tell us exactly
where he’s going,” said Mrs.
Hayes. “He knows approxi-
mately what region he’s
going to, but he can’t tell
us.”
All of the Marines on the
USS Saipan, where Travis is
currently serving, take turns
having guard duty, said
Hayes. Travis is on duty
every other 24-hour period
while he is on the ship. He
serves four hours and then
has eight hours off for a 24-
hour peri-
od. He
can call
home
whenever
he is off-
duty, but
the phone
calls are
very
expensive:
$1 per
minute, she
said.
“He's able to call most
anytime he wants, but for
money reasons, he can’t call
very often,” she said.
For security reasons, all of
the Marines’ calls from the
ship are monitored, said
Hayes. From what he said
before he left, she said she
thought he was being sent to
the Persian Gulf area. He
will be gone anywhere from
six months to two years, she
said.
“He was told before he left
that all the Marines on his
ship were going to be split
into three groups: a third of
them would stay on the
ship, a third would be sta-
PATTERSON
tioned at the main base,
which is on land but a safe
distance away from the
action, and a third of them
would be stationed at the
forward base, which is on
the front line. That's where
he’s going to be assigned,”
she said.
Travis enlisted in the
Marines last January. He
had been thinking about it
for a while, said Hayes, and
a combination of reasons
finally led him to enlist. The
opportunities offered by the
Marine Corps and the con-
cern of more terrorist attacks
after September 11 were two
of his reasons for deciding
to join, said Hayes.
“I was concerned, but I
guess in this day and age,
you don’t really think about
boys actually going to war,”
she said. “It’s really hit
home.”
During Desert Storm,
Travis was ten years old.
He, his mother, and his sis-
ter frequently made care
packages to send to the sol-
diers. Now Hayes is mak-
ing them to send to Travis.
Page 3A
“Never in my wildest
dreams did I think that I
would be sending care pack-
ages to him over there,” she
said.
While the situation in the
Middle East is scary, espe-
cially with her son involved,
Hayes said she believes that
the Bush administration
knows much more about the
situation in Iraq than she
does and that she has to
trust their judgement.
“I just have to pray that
they know what they're
doing, that their reasons jus-
tify what they're doing,” she
said.
Hayes is a member of
David Baptist Church and
said that she has a very sup-
portive church family there.
“There's a lot of prayers
going up for Travis,” she
said. “I know the Lord has
more in store for him than to
go over there and end his
life. I know he'll be back.”
Travis graduated from
Kings Mountain High
School in 1998. His younger
sister, Mollie Patterson,
attends Wingate University.
I.G.
From 1A
“The first picture was of my mother.
To see that film develop right before
my eyes 3000 miles away from home
was fascinating to me. That was when
I got hooked on photography,” he said.
Alexander graduated from J.H. Gunn
High School, which was part of the
Mecklenburg County school system.
Charlotte and Mecklenburg schools
were separate then. He said some of
his teachers at J.H. Gunn High School
inspired him to become a teacher.
“I had some excellent teachers in
high school,” he said. One of his
favorites, his science teacher, Howard
W. Hill, is still living. When he went to
his class reunion last year, Hill was
there.
In 1957, Alexander graduated from
Johnson C. Smith University with a
B.S. in education. He could not get a
job right away, though, because he was
1A on the military draft list, which
meant that he could be drafted at any
time; When he!went before the selec-
tive ‘service board to ask when he
would be drafted, he was not given a
definite answer. However, he was told
that he could go ahead and get his
service time out of the way by volun-
teering.
He decided to go ahead and volun-
teer, even though he knew he would
have to serve an extra year than would
have if he were drafted. He said his
military time was one of the best
things that every happened to him. He
was trained to be a medical specialist
and served his first year at the Loring
Air Force Base in Maine, even though
he was not in the Air Force. Then he
was sent to France for the last two
years of his service.
When he left France, Alexander
moved back to Charlotte and got mar-
ried. He set up his first home studio in
Roseboro, where he did mostly free-
lancing for weddings and various
groups. After three years, he came to
Shelby and used one of the bedrooms
in his house as a lab.
As his business grew, he built anoth-
er home with a lab in it up the street
from his first Shelby home. Since his
new house didn’t have a studio, he
used the living room, moving the fur-
niture out of the room whenever he
needed to take some studio pictures.
His wife finally put her foot down after
a few years of this, he said.
“She said, ‘I don’t want my living
room all over Shelby. You've got to do
ALL TOYS, 4 WHEELERS, DIRT BIKES
better,” he said.
In 1971, the couple built the home
where they currently live with a studio
and lab in the basement.
Beginning in 1963, Alexander was a
science teacher at Compact School, the
school for black students when the
Kings Mountain school system was
segregated. When the schools were
integrated a few years later, he moved
to Kings Mountain High School. In all,
he taught for 33 years, retiring in 1991.
He mainly taught biology, although he
did teach chemistry and physical sci-
ence sometimes, as well.
Alexander said he did not see much
difference in the students after the
schools were integrated. The students
were the same at both schools, he said.
“I didn’t really see that much of a
difference myself. When I went to
Kings Mountain High School from
Compact, the whole high school was
integrated. Students were students to
me. We got along well,” he said.
While he was at the high school, he
took most of the school pictures for the
annual, he said. During his time at
Compact, he also did pictures for the
Kings Mountain Herald.
“When he [then owner, Martin
Harmon] saw the pictures that I was
bringing him from Compact School, he
asked me to do the pictures. for the
paper,” said Alexander.
Alexander also taught photography
for a semester at what was then
Cleveland Technical College. Now, of
course, it is Cleveland Community
College. During that semester, he
taught both Gary and Lib Stewart. The
class turned out to be a hassle, howev-
er, because Alexander had to haul his
lab equipment back and forth to to
each class each week.
In his science classes at Kings
Mountain High School, Alexander fre-
quently included a unit on photogra-
phy, since so much science and math is
involved in the trade. His photogra-
phy units were always very popular
among the students, and one of his
coworkers even had him teach a unit
to his students as well.
He said it was very rewarding to
meet some of his former students and
have them tell him that they remember
his photography units and even still
have some of their pictures from the
classes.
During his years of practicing pho-
tography, Alexander has seen many
changes. Since black and white pic-
tures were the only option when he
started, he saw the age of color devel-
op. He said he has also seen photogra-
phy become more specialized since he
started. He is able to do portraits,
weddings, and lab work. Now, pho-
tographers tend to specialize in only
one of those areas.
Of course, the equipment has also
improved a lot since he started. He no
longer has to use a strictly manual
camera with a separate flash since
automatic cameras with built-in flashes
are now available. The papers, films,
and chemicals are more refined and
enable the photographer to get a much
better resolution now as well, he said.
“The equipment is much better than
it was then,” he said.
Since his retirement from teaching in
1991, Alexander said he does not work
as much as he used to, although he still
stays busy enough to use his lab chem-
icals. He still enjoys doing photogra-
phy, he said. Although he still does
some weddings, groups, portraits, and
candids, he also does work for his own
enjoyment.
“Now I do this because I like to do
it,” he said. “When a person does
something that he likes to do rather
than what he has to do, it’s going to
show up in his work.”
Alexander and his wife of 42 years
still live-in Shelby. Alexander knew
who his wife was in college, although
he never introduced himself to her.
“We were in college together. I saw
her, but I never said anything to her. I
would see her and just look,” he said.
When he came home on leave from the
army, he finally met her. She became
friends with his sister in college. He
met her at his sister's house and finally
got to talk to her. They were married
on December 24, 1960.
His wife retired from the Kings
Mountain School District at the same
time he did. She was in early child-
hood development when she retired,
although she also taught grades 1-3 at
various times.
Alexander and his wife have two
sons and three grandchildren. They
also have a niece who they consider to
be their daughter because she lived
with them from the time she was eight
years old, he said. They have three
grandchildren, plus their niece’s two
children.
Alexander said photography has
helped him meet many people in the
area.
“I've appreciated having the oppor-
tunities over the years to serve the peo-
ple. I have met many wonderful peo-
ple in this area because of photogra-
phy,” he said.
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