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The Het
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Vol. 115 No. 21
Since 1889
KINGS MOUNTAIN
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307 11-11-03 0001A00
MAUNEY I MEMORIAL LIBRARY
100 5 PIEDMONT AVE
KINGS MOUNTAIN NC 28086-3414
CALAN S
50 Cents
KM women’s soccer
25
Memorial
Day events
planned in
KM, Shelby
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Memorial Day services
are planned Monday in
Kings Mountain and Shelby.
At 10 a.m., the city will be
placing a wreath at
Mountain Rest Cemetery in
honor of those who have
died defending their coun-
try in war, said Mayor Rick
Murphrey.
“I think it’s important to
honor those who died
defending their country,”
said Murphrey.
The ceremony will be
brief and the public is invit-
ed.
At 2 p.m., the Cleveland
County Veterans Council
will host a special service at
Cleveland Memorial Park.
In case of bad weather it
will be in the mausoleum
chapel.
Richard McSwain is chair-
man and master of cere-
monies. The Burns High
School US Air Force Junior
ROTC will be the color
guard, and the First Baptist
Church Youth Ensemble
will sing the National
Anthem. Jim Cox, U.S.
Navy Retired, will give the
invocation and benediction.
_ Members of the American
Legion, Amvets, D.A.V. and
V.EW. will take part in plac-
ing wreaths. All veterans,
POWs and others will be
recognized.
Guest speaker will be
Interim Pastor Robert
Philbeck of Mt. Pleasant
Baptist Church, Sandy
Mush.
In the past, Kings
Mountain has not done
anything on Memorial Day,
but with the recent wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan,
Murphrey said he felt that
the city needed to do some
See Memorial, 3A
mony.
People from four states packed the
Patrick Senior Center Saturday night for
the 16th annual Kings Mountain Sports
Hall of Fame banquet and induction cere-
Reigning World Heavyweight Greco-
Roman Wrestling Champion Dremiel
Byers, former football standouts Mike
Ware and Aubrey Hollifield, and former
KMHS baseball star Barry Gibson were
inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Local umpire Pressley Anderson and
the late Paul Lancaster, a longtime sup-
porter of Kings Mountain sports, received
Distinguished Service Awards and current
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Dremiel Byers, right, receives Hall of Fame plaque from master of ceremonies Jay
Rhodes at Satuday’s induction ceremony at the Patrick Centeer
Four former Mounties
inducted on Saturday
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
KMHS athletes Shonda Cole and Sedrick
Young won the Special Achievement
Awards.
Six KMHS student athletes were pre-
sented $500 college scholarships. The Shu
Carlton Memorial Scholarship, sponsored
by the KMHS Booster Club, went to Chris
Yon; the Booster Club Scholarship went to
Matt Frazier; the Gary Stewart
Scholarship, sponsored by Carl and Pat
Champion, went to Rachelle Chryst; the
Hall of Fame Scholarship went to Presha
Barnes; and the two City of Kings
Mountain Scholarships went to Sarah -
Propst and Danielle Gill.
All four of the inductees left impressive
marks on Kings Mountain sports, and
See Hall, 3A
Weather Watcher
Kitzmiller has been keeping daily stats since 1981
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Most people brave weather of all types.
Kenneth Kitzmiller tracks weather of all
types.
Kitzmiller is the weather man for the
Herald. He tracks the weather as a hobby.
He first began keeping track of the weather
during his time working in the various
water departments. Temperature and pre-
cipitation effect the operations of the waste-
water treatment plants. He had to include a
weather report in his reports to the state, as
Celetnating 129 Years
well.
Now, he keeps track of the weather on his
calendar each day, something he has done
since 1981. He writes down the temperature
for the day and the amount of precipitation
the area received during the night.
Kitzmiller is originally from Ohio. He
lived many years in a small town in central
Ohio, called Johnstown.
Kitzmiller prides himself in keeping busy
as a young man. He substituted as a rural
mill carrier and for the movie theater, while
See Kitzmiller, 5A
ABIGAIL WOLFORD / HERALD
Bobby Kennedy, an industrial hygienist for the state, talks about bioterrorism at the terrorism
awareness training at the Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Department. Dewey Cook, emergency
management director for Cleveland County, looks on. A dozen members of the fire department
took part in the terrorism awareness class.
| FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
KENNETH KITZMILLER
: Staff Writer
last week.
Gastonia
704-865-1233
A dozen members of the Bethlehem
Volunteer Fire Department participated
in a 12-hour terrorism awareness class
The training is part of homeland secu-
rity, although it is not required. The
training is simply something in which
many fire departments nationwide have
the opportunity to participate.
This is the first time the training has
been offered at Bethlehem Volunteer Fire
Department, although some of the fire-
fighters are members of the hazardous
materials team and have gone through
some training for that program. This is
‘the first time the training has included
Class of ‘03
to graduate
Friday
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Kings Mountain High
School will graduate
approximately 250 seniors
on Friday, at 7 p.m., at John
Gamble Stadium.
The senior class has been
very strong academically,
something that is proved in
the number of scholarships
its members have received,
said John Yarbro, principal
of Kings Mountain High
School.
At the graduation ceremo-
ny, the Kings Mountain
High School 9th grade band
will play “Pomp and
Circumstance.” The sym-
phonic chorale will perform
two selections, “Maybe
Someday” and “Forever
Friends.”
Students Rachel Hughes,
Wesley Grifffin, Michelle
Odums, Emily Rountree,
and Angela Brice will lead
parts of the ceremony.
Yarbro, the valedictorian,
and the salutatorian will
speak at the ceremony, as
well.
night
The junior marshals will
be Kristen Ammay, Laura
Berry, Thomas Bridges,
Harrison Bumgardner,
Kevin Echols, Stephen Hall,
Lauren Horne, Mary
Malaythong, Kasey
Sizemore, Charles Smith,
Tina Soutthanirasay, Brian
Styers, and Tiffany Williams.
The senior class officers
are Michelle Odums,
President; Rachel Hughes,
Vice-President; Emily
Rountree, Secretary; and
Angela Brice, Treasurer.
The senior class sponsors
are Donna Russ, Susan
Canipe, Hannah Cole,
Nelson Connor, Melva
Hulffstetler, Julia Hunt,
Mary Ann Lattimore, Robin
Spicer, Kay Stowe, Kay
Walker, Betsy Wells, and
Sally Hendricks.
KM improves on
end-of-grade tests
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
The end of grade tests for
grades three through eight
have been validated by the
state. Kings Mountain stu-
dents showed great :
improvement at each grade
level, said John Goforth,
executive director of cur-
riculum and instruction.
“Every grade level went
up, some substantially,” said
Goforth. “We're just very
proud of our teachers and
.our kids and our schools.”
In reading, the third grade
jumped from 83.3 percent
last year to 91 percent this
year, the fourth grade from
84.2 percent to 90.6 percent,
the fifth grade from 91.8
percent to 92.4 percent, the
sixth grade from 77.2 per
cent to 88.5 percent, the sev-
enth grade from 79.9 percent
to 90.1 percent, and the
eighth from 87.5 percent to
ments.
92.7 percent.
In math, the third grade
jumped from 77.8 percent
last year to 94 percent this
year, the fourth grade from
95.1 percent to 98.2 percent,
the fifth grade from 93.5
percent to 96.7 percent, the
sixth grade from 94.1 per-
cent to 95.4 percent, the sev-
enth grade from 90.8 percent
to 91.4 percent, and the
eighth grade from 80.7 per-
cent to 91.4 percent.
The high school has not
received any results yet
since students are still being
tested.
How did the schools
achieve their high scores
this year?
“We focused on weakness-
es that we saw last year,”
said Goforth.
Teachers attended work-
shops where they studied
the types of questions that
students might see on the
See Tests, 3A
Bethlehem firemen train
on terrorism awareness
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD biological, chemical, and nuclear ele-
Larry McDaniel, chief of the depart-
ment, said he hopes that wars will never
. come to the United States, but if they do
the fire department will be ready to take
care of the citizens.
Shelby
- 529 New Hope Road 106 S Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
“It’s sad for me that we have to get to
this stage. We're trained to save and pro-
tect lives. Anything we can do, we will
do. We're excited to be at that level, but
I hope we never have to use it, especially
locally,” said McDaniel.
The class took place Monday through
Thursday, from 7-10 p.m. each evening.
Participants learned about the laws, stan-
dards, and history of terrorism legisla-
tion, the nuclear, biological, and chemical
See Firemen, 3A
Bessemer City
225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906