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Thursday, May 8, 2003
Vol. 115 No. 19
Since 1889
50 Cents
‘Hanging in there’
Leach awaiting call for double lung transplant
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
In the face of a devastating illness, many
would find it hard to maintain a positive
attitude. Of course, exceptions exist.
Paula McKinney Leach manages not only
to keep her own spirits up but the spirits of
all those with whom she comes in contact.
Paula suffers from Scleroderma, a disease
which causes the skin and organs to harden.
Paula’s doctors caught her Scleroderma
early, but it had still already affected her
lungs. Now Paula’s doctors say that she
needs a lung transplant.
Paula’s symptoms started in October, -
1999. She developed a cough that wouldn't
go away, even though her doctor treated her
for bronchitis. She had x-rays and eventual-
ly had to go to a pulmonary doctor for more
tests. Finally her doctors found in a scan
that she had shadows on her lungs. In July,
2000, her doctors also noticed that she had
blue fingertips.
In July of that year, she was diagnosed
with Scleroderma. The director of the
rheumatology department at South Carolina
Medical University, Dr. Richard Silver, con-
firmed that she had Scleroderma and told
her that he would treat it aggressively.
Scleroderma can happen slowly or quickly
in a person. In Paula’s case, it happened
very fast.
Her doctor told her that she might need a
lung transplant then, although he said that
many hospitals are reluctant to give organs
to Scleroderma patients. She began to take a
chemotherapy pill that cleared up her skin
but did not help her lungs, as her doctors
had hoped it would. Last year, her doctor
See Leach, 3A
Storm
damage
minor
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
The storm on Friday
afternoon pounded the
region between 4:30 and
5:15 p.m., causing some
damage to the area.
Fire Chief Frank Burns
said that his department
responded to calls about
downed power lines caus-
"ing grass fires. Also, the
wind storm hit during the
Relay for Life rally, causing
participants to lose 15 tents.
Tree limbs also hit two dif-
ferent houses on
Northwoods and Ridge
Street. No one was injured
in either case.
Nick Hendricks, director
of the electric department,
said the city experienced
some scattered outages,
mainly due to the wind. A
few primary lines were torn
down by the wind, and a
few tree limbs caused some
minor damage to lines. The
problems took a total of
approximately four hours to
fix and resulted in only
minor cost to the city, he
said.
Jackie Barnette, director
of the public works depart-
ment, said his department
dealt with two trees that fell
and blocked roads. One of
the trees fell on Groves
Street. Otherwise, his
department was in good
shape, he said.
Police Chief Melvin
Proctor said that the police
department did not have
many problems as a result
of the storm either. They
responded to calls about the
power lines being knocked
out and similar situations
but little else, he said. -
A thunderstorm accompanied by wind gusts of
up to 60 miles an hour pounded the Walking Track
for about an hour prior to the start of Friday's
annual Joseph R. Smith Relay for Life.
The wind sent several tents flying across the
parking lot, and many of the tents that remained
intact were because courageous team members held
onto the metal support posts until the wind passed.
The storm caused the start of the event to be
delayed by a half-hour, and resulted in exactly one-
half of the 120 cancer survivors who signed up for
the opening survivor's lap staying at home.
It also created some mudholes in several areas of
the track’s grassy area where large trucks had
See Relay, 3A
RELAY FOR LIFE
ABIGAIL WOLFORD / HERALD
Paula Leach is awaiting a call for a double
lung transplant
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Cancer survivors (above) lead off the annual Relay for Life Friday at The Kings Mountain Walking
Track. Below, Kathy Lovelace, wearing her son Eric Willis’ Army uniform, proudly displays the
American Flag during Patriotic Hour Saturday morning. S/Sgt. Willis is a tank commander in Iraq.
KM walkers
weather storm
to top $85,000
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
‘Lean on God’
Former prisoner keynote speaker at
Staff Writer
City to
consider
increasing
water rate
Public hearing set
at May 27 meeting
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
At the next Kings Mountain City
Council meeting, citizens will be welcome
to express their opinions about the city’s
budget for the coming year. The meeting
will take place on Tuesday, May 27,at7
p.m.
The proposed budget is very conserva-
tive, said Mayor Rick Murphrey. The only
increase will be a 4 percent water and
sewer increase. The increase is actually a
result of the increase of the cost to use the
Crowders Creek treatment plant in
Gastonia. The city was able to get out of
the contract with Crowders Creek last
year, bringing the city $17 million in sav-
ings over the next 20 years. However, the
city still needs to pay for the sewage it
sends to Crowders Creek.
The cost increase was actually 7 percent
for the city, but citizens will only feel 4
percent of the burden, Murphrey said.
The increase will mean an additional six
cents per 1000 gallons of sewage pro-
duced in a household. The average
household produces 4-6,000 gallons each
- month, which means an increase of 24-36
cents: :
At their meeting last week, City Council
‘members approved a request from Kings
Mountain Country Club to buy water at a
bulk rate for four months at a cost of
$5,000 to irrigate the fairways. Some citi-
zens have questioned this action, saying
that the city should not give a discount to
the wealthy of the community so that they
See Water, 3A
KM coach,
family face
deportation
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Americans often forget how fortunate
they are to live in a country where free
speech is allowed. Jean
Constant and his family
value their free speech
here. However, they are
not’American. They are
Haitian. ]
Constant, the head soc-
cer coach for the varsity
men and junior varsity
women at Kings
Mountain High School, is
facing deportation with
his family. They have
applied for political asy-
lum in the United States but have been
turned down once already. Right now,
* See Coach, 12A
CONSTANT
Susan Allen KMDS
Teacher of the Year
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
first annual mayor’s prayer breaktast
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
The first of what will hopefully
become an annual prayer breakfast
was held at the senior center last
~ Thursday, in honor of the National
Day of Prayer. Approximately 150
citizens of Kings Mountain gathered
at the breakfast to pray for their com-
munity and their leaders.
In 1988, Congress unanimously
0
CE
HOMETOWN
LU [4
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 129 Yeare
passed a resolution declaring the first
Thursday in May the National Day of
Prayer.
“As we look into the future, it is a
new dawn for all of us. The course
our community takes today is unity,”
said Mayor Rick Murphrey, during
his speech at the breakfast. “We
share together a commitment to a
ABIGAIL WOLFORD J HERALD
common purpose. It’s all about help mari Bojorquez prays at the prayer breakfast
See Prayer, 3A
704-739-4782
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
on the National Day of Prayer Thursday.
Gastonia
529 New Hope Road
704-865-1233
Kings Mountain Middle School §
teacher, Susan Allen, was named |
Kings Mountain School District's [8
“Teacher of the Year” on Monday
evening, at the districts service |
awards banquet. Allen is one of
the teachers of the group of :
eighth graders that has become
known as “Allen’s Angels” for all
of their service projects this year.
Allen came to Kings Mountain
after learning about the job on an
See Allen, 12A
Shelby
106 S Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
ALLEN
Bessemer City
225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906