a
Thursday, February 6, 2003
Annexation
“discussion
planned by
city council
The first step in what could
mean the involuntary
annexation of less than a
square mile - 500-600 acres -
in the western section of the
city will come to the front
burner of City Council
Monday night at 7 p.m. at
an informational meeting.
Planning Director Steve
Killian said council okayed
a study that basically
includes the taking in by
the city of the western side
of the city as far as the
Cleveland County
Industrial Park and
Reliance Electric.
“We annually present a
report to council on annexa-
tion potential and this area
for discussion rose to the
top when council author-
ized us to proceed with
more data,” said Killian.
The last involuntary
annexation by the City of
Kings Mountain was July 1,
2000 when the city ina
See Annexation, 5A
KM Board of
Education
discuss new
federal law
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
The Kings Mountain
District Board of Education
met on Friday to discuss
various issues that affect the
school system each year.
They also discussed the
No Child Left Behind act
and how it would affect the
city’s schools.
“It’s going to cost states
millions and millions of
dollars to put these pro-
grams in place that we
already have,” said John
Goforth, Executive Director
of Instruction Services for
Kings Mountain District
Schools. “Kings Mountain
has always tested the vast
majority of our students.”
The No Child Left Behind
act would require the
See KM Board, 5a
Vol. 115 No. 6
Since 1889 ~
Two local women
2 Gh BW i Bho AY A 3
Veniva Lingerfeldt (I) donated one of her kidneys to co-worker Nina Jimson (r) for a
transplant.
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Nina Jimson and Veniva Lingerfeldt
have worked together for eleven years at
Sara Lee Intimates in Kings Mountain.
On October 30, the two women created a
lasting bond, as Lingerfeldt gave one of
her kidneys to Jimson.
Before they bonded during the trans-
plant process, the two women did not
know each other very well, they said.
They did not work in the same depart-
ment, but they each knew who the other
one was.
“She always walked by me everyday.
We always spoke, and we went out to
lunch a couple days,” said Jimson.
When Jimson got sick, everything
changed.
Jimson did not have any health prob-
lems before she got sick two-and-a-half
years before the transplant. After exten-
sive testing, doctors discovered that her
‘kidneys had never grown. She wis 39
when she finally learned of her kidney
problems. Jimson said she spent approxi-
mately a year and nine months on dialy-
sis before the transplant occurred.
“Two-and-a-half years ago, somebody
told me Nina was sick. She had been out
of work a couple of days. She had kidney
problems and needed a transplant. I went
up to her and asked her what her blood
type was,” said Lingerfeldt. Both women
have O-positive blood. “I said, “When it’s
that time, let me know.”
“She said, ‘If you need a kidney, you
can have one of mine.” I just started cry-
ing,” said Jimson.
Later, Lingerfeldt reminded Jimson of
her promise, and when Jimson was finally
added to the transplant list in April, she
brought Lingerfeldt the phone number.
“I figured she was probably caught up
in the moment [when she offered her kid-
ney the first time],” said Jimson. “Then
she said, ‘Well, Nina, you ain’t said noth-
ing about it. When are we going to do
i?’
“I kind of looked at it like this: If I was
in her predicament, I hope someone
would do that for me,” said Lingerfeldt,
create special bond
xg
of why she decided to donate the kidney
to Jimson.
Lingerfeldt called and had the donor kit
sent to her. She had to have many tests
done and blood drawn before the doctors
finally concluded that she matched
Jimson’s needs up to one out of five anti-
gens.
“That's close enough to be sisters,” said
Josephine Marable, Jimson’s mother.
In June, Lingerfeldt learned that she
matched, but she still had to have exten-
sive tests done before the doctors con-
cluded that they could use her kidney.
“I was tested in every area known to
man,” she said. “They said I was a per-
fect candidate to donate a kidney.”
In September, the doctors asked the two
women to choose a date in October when
they could both go through the transplant
procedures. They chose October 30, since
the doctors at Duke only do transplants
oon Mondays and Wednesdays. They :
needed to-ge-through pre-op; as well, so
they had to choose a Wednesday for the
procedure since the hospital does not do
pre-op on Sundays.
The procedure for Lingerfeldt was fairly
simple. The surgery was done with a
lapriscopic procedure, and she was
released from the hospital the next day.
She said she doesn’t even have a mark
where the surgery took place.
“It’s not bad. It’s painful, but once it’s
over, you forget it,” she said.
The road to recovery has not been easy
for Jimson, however. The medications she
has to take to help her body adjust to her
new kidney have been hard on her body.
She has been back in the hospital twice
since the original operation. Last time,
she spent eleven days and was finally
released from the hospital on Sunday,
January 26.
She is taking 35 pills and has trouble
keeping them down.” She has developed
diabetes as a result of one of the medica-
tions. :
Her mother has been in charge of
changing her bandages twice a day, said
See Bond, 5A
50 Cents
a0
Jol S 75
wy 7%
Cole breaks
KMHS career
scoring record
12A
\
Space shuttle
tragedy impacts
area residents
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
The flags that flew half
staff earlier this week in
honor of the disastrous
Columbia shuttle mission
Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Rev. Kenneth
Gillikin said that he
acknowledged the disaster
during the morning
announcements and again
could only before the
reflect the time of
tragedy that prayer. He
few were said the
able to voice church
after the spoke a
event. petition on
Many behalf of the
churches victims of
spent time the disaster
in prayer for and asked
the astro- for courage
nauts and for those left
their fami- behind in
lies, as well the space
as the future program
of the and in the
nation’s victims’
space pro- families.
gram, dur- Gillikin said
ing thelr ABIGAIL WOLFORD / HERALD he fol: diss
funy The flag flies half staff on : Sound
At Monday in memory of the
} seven astronauts who were
Resurrection killed on the Columbia. See Space, 3A
Litter problems
addressed by
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Keep Kings Mountain
Beautiful, a branch of Keep
America Beautiful, will be
meeting on February 14 at 9
a.m. to do a litter index of
the city. The program will
last until approximately 1
p.m.
The litter index will
involve looking at sections
of the city and deciding if
litter problems exist there.
If so, the committee will dis-
cuss how they can be fixed.
They will discuss if road
crews are needed in that
area, if litter ordinances are
not being enforced, or even
if ordinances exist in that
- area at all. The litter index
will also be a chance to
review ordinances that are
already in place, said Mayor
Rick Murphrey.
“We've made a real effort
new committee
to clean and beautify our
city,” he said.
Murphrey said that the
city joined the organization
last year and that a commit-
tee had been appointed to
discuss the ways Kings
Mountain can meet the stan-
dards of Keep America
Beautiful. The group is also
working with the schools
and the Scouts to educate
young people about litter
prevention. Currently, the
Kings Mountain branch has
60 members. Karen Roy has
even written a song to help
get kids involved in the
organization.
So far, the organization
has been sponsoring spring
and fall cleanups in the city,
said Murphrey. The spring
cleanup will probably take
place in April this year, he
See Litter, 3A
Area citizens awarded by Region C Law Enforcement
WINNERS ALL - Pictured are local winners of Region C Law Enforcement awards for 2002.
From left, Reserve Officer of the Year Raeford White; Child Abuse Investigator of the
Year Lisa Proctor; Mayor Rick Murphrey; Chief of Police Melvin Proctor, both of whom
presented awards to local winners; Gary Stewart, Herald Editor and Media Person of the
Your; and Sgt. Bob Myers, Uniformed Officer of the Year.
9
CA
bL1T :
HOMETOWN
BANK :
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celetrating 129 Years
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
Three Kings Mountain
Police officers and Kings
Mountain Herald Editor
Gary Stewart won awards
from the four-county Region
C Law Enforcement
Association Thursday in
Rutherfordton.
Stewart and Det. Sgt. Lisa
Proctor won the awards for
a second time, Stewart in
1991 as News Media Person
of the Year and Proctor in
recent years for her work in
investigations. The 2002
award for Proctor was Child
Abuse Investigator of the
Year.
Also recipients of top
awards were Sgt. Bob
Myers, Uniformed Officer of
the Year, and Raeford White,
Reserve Officer of the Year.
KMPD Chief Melvin
Proctor and Kings Mountain
Mayor Rick Murphrey pre-
sented the engraved plaque
to Stewart. Chief Proctor
Gastonia
704-865-1233
presented the awards to
Myers and White and Lt.
Don Huckabee, of the
Rutherford County Sheriff's
Department and Region C
chairman presented the
award to Sgt. Proctor.
Myers joined the Kings
Mountain Police
Department as a reserve
officer in 1983 while he was
a partner in Myers Printing,
went on to Rookie School
and became a patrolman in
1990 and was promoted
through the ranks to patrol
sergeant in 1995. He became
the Moss Lake patrol officer
in 1998. City officials said
Myers, on his own time, had
organized an honor guard
which serves on requests
and at the dinner meeting
his squad composed of
Kings Mountain and
Rutherford County officers
posted and retired the col-
ors.
Shelby
'529 New Hope Road 106 S Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
White joined the Kings
Mountain Police
Department as a reserve
officer in 1976 and volun-
teered while working a full
time job. Chief Proctor said
White directed traffic,
worked with other officers
in the recent ice storm, had
helped to target and clean
up drug problems and
works side by side with offi-
cers. Said Proctor of White
and Myers, "They love what
they do."
Sgt. Lisa Capps Proctor,
wife of Chief Proctor, joined
KMPD in March 1992 and
was a DARE officer from
1995-1998. She was promot-
ed through the ranks to ser-
geant in the detective divi-
sion and has completed spe-
cial training in the field of
child abuse and narcotics
investigations.
See Citizens, 5A
Bessemer City
225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906