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ANDIE BRYMER / HERALD
Kings Mountain Police Department’s patrol division has launched Taking It To the Streets. The campaign fights drugs
at the street dealer and user level.
COPS
From 1A
Interstate 85 is another pipeline.
Twelve miles of interstate run north
and south through Kings Mountain.
Patrol officers are now watching trans-
fer trucks there and on N.C. 74. During
a recent Highway Drug Investigations
class, officers received intelligence
reports on trucking companies known
for trafficking. Additional training con-
tinues.
The types of drugs and who uses
them knows no bounds, officials say.
Methamphetamine, cocaine, crack,
marijuana and xanac, oxycontin and
other prescription drugs have been
confiscated. Arrests span economic,
gender and racial lines.
Murphrey and the city council are
backing the department's efforts with
funding. Murphrey has heard from
several families hurt by drugs.
Sometimes a child is addicted, other
times it’s the parents.
“It tears the family apart,” he said.
More busts are planned though
Proctor won't give details.
“If they want to know, they can call
me.”
MCDANIEL
From 1A
could be enjoyable. It’s the chance to
serve others that appeals to him.
“At a time like this, they (families)
need some help,” he said.
McDaniel and three other licensed
funeral directors share the responsibili-
ty of being on call. That means middle
of the night work sometimes.
McDaniel began his career in 1949,
two years after Ollie Harris started the
funeral home. He remained as a part
time employee from 1960 to 1996 while
working for the postal service. In 1996,
McDaniel began a full time schedule
once again.
McDaniel has watched the funeral
industry change over the past half cen-
tury. When he started, hearses doubled
as ambulances. With standard first aid
training, the undertaker doubled as an
emergency medical provider. The floor
of the hearse, equipped with rollers for
the casket, flipped over providing a
smooth surface to place the stretcher. A
red light on the dash signaled other
drivers to clear the road.
In the 1950s and 1960s, most families
received friends at home. Today, the
funeral home averages only one family
per year holding a home receiving.
According to McDaniel, using the
funeral home is more convenient for
most families.
“It’s easier on them,” he said.
The price of a funeral has changed
over the decades. When McDaniel
began, the average funeral cost was
between $500 and $800. Today, funerals
run from $6,000 to $7,000. He credits
this to inflation and the Federal Trade
Commission requiring itemization.
Cremation was rare decades ago.
Today, 10 percent of families served by
Harris opt for it. The practice has his-
torically been more popular in north- /
ern states. As more people move south,
requests for cremation have increased.
The practice is also gaining in popular-
ity among natives.
“A lot of people are going to that,”
he said.
Despite all the changes, McDaniel
says families still grieve as much as
ever.
McDaniel says he and his co-work-
ers deal with the sadness they see daily
BRASWELL
From 1A
Johnson. “The mother (of -
Justin) is satisfied. We're
pleased.”
Braswell, who was devel-
opmentally delayed, was 19
at the time of his death. He
was robbed and then shot
while walking home from a
city sponsored street dance
in 2001.
Another defendant,
By Kenneth Kitzmiller
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Year to date 73.67
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High temperature 85 (14th)
Average temperature 69.9
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JUST FINE FOOD
AT THE BEST PRICES
Meat and 2 Fresh Vegetables
Rolls - Cornbread - Biscuits
EAT IN or CARRY OUT
Come Eat with
Diane and Shirley Mullinax
134
606 East King Street -
Adrian Slade, still awaits
sentencing.
Johnson is relieved the
case is almost finished.
“Hopefully a little bit of
closure can come forth, for
the family and for us,”
Johnson said.
The detective said the
case should serve as a
“You have to keep your
eyes open,” he said.
KINGS MOUNTAIN WEATHER
Kings Mountain
(704) 734-0132
by not taking the job home with them.
“You've got a job to do. You brace
yourself up and do it,” McDaniel said.
He admits this is not easy when a
child or mother of young children dies.
McDaniel says he was nervous when
he first began his career. Literally
recruited out of the cotton field, he was
only 18 or 19.
While visiting McDaniel’s father’s
farm, Ollie Harris turned to the young
man and asked him his plans for the
following day.
“He told me to ‘put your suit on and
help me,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel’s first duties included get-
ting flower arrangements in and out of
churches. In 1955, he was licensed as a
funeral director. In 1956, he graduated
from the Dallas Institute Gupton Jones
College of Mortuary Science. Since
then he has done all aspects of funeral
care except for hair styling.
McDaniel plays golf every Tuesday.
He is a member of Bethlehem Baptist
Church. He and his wife June have two
children, Susie Terres and David
McDaniel. They have two grandchil-
dren, Brandy McDaniel and Josh
Newton.
Highland Tech
reminder that anyone can be Crest :
a victim. Forestview
Cherryville
South Point
East Gaston
AREA HIGH SCHOOLS
ABC RE
Kings Mountain
88 5% students pres
~ 80.7% students proficient
78.1% students proficient
77.3% students proficient
74.3% students proficient |
70.5% students proficient
~ 70.5% students proficient
69.4% students proficient
69.4% students proficient
~ 64.9% students proficient
64.1% students proficient |
58.8% students proficient
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ear Ago a
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Page 3A
SCHOOLS
From 1A
ry.
" “We're really proud. All of our schools for the first time
are high growth,” said John Goforth, director of curriculum
and instruction.
Goforth realizes that there is controversy over testing.
Some say students are tested too frequently.
“There is a good deal of testing at the high school level
but at the elementary there are two days of End of Grades
testing,” he said. :
There is speculation that once most schools meet the cri-
teria set by the state, the requirements will be raised.
“Eventually they will raise the bar. We will respond to
what they do,” Goforth said.
KM SCHOOLS
KM High School
Grover Elementary ~~ 89
Gospel sing at senior center
Carol George and John Heath Jr. will be in concert Friday
at 10:30 a.m. at the H. Lawrence Patrick Senior Life and
Conference Center.
Tommy
Hawkins
Ward 3
City Council
“Elect Tommy for Tomorrow”
TANNING SALON’
an EN Re
So You Don’t Match the Snow!
TAN TUESDAYS &
THURSDAYS UNTIL 20041
Zo 1 0 at
Tan Twice a Week and
That Glow You Shall Keep!
“Tanning At It's Best!”
704-730-1003
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