The Herald
Thursday, December 11, 2003
season
hits hard
in area
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Kings Mountain District
Schools are reporting an
increase in sickness related
absences which are being
attributed to the flu.
Last week, Kings
Mountain High School
averaged 175 absences each
day. This week that number
is down to 110. Typically, 35
to 40 students are absent
each day.
Students are absent due
to congestion, sore throat,
fever and stomach prob-
lems. Doctors are telling
school officials it takes 10
days to recover.
At Kings Mountain
Intermediate School,
around 50 students were
absent each day last week
compared with a typical
day’s 20 absences. Teachers
have also been out due to
sickness, according to prin-
cipal Ethel Pedersen.
The Cleveland County
Health Department ran out
of flu vaccination Friday.
Additional vaccine is
expected in this week, offi-
cials say.
The department ordered
5,000 doses in the spring.
The vaccine is typically
ordered then, according to
Gay Melton, adult health
supervisor.
This year’s flu strain is
more ‘severe and striking
earlier than anyone expect-
ed. Last year the flu peaked
in February.
“It’s really making people
come in and get the vac-
cine,” Melton said.
The Centers for Disease
Control say that 83 million
doses of the vaccine have
been distributed across the
country this year.
State health officials
encourage almost everyone
to get the vaccination but
especially people in high
risk groups. Those people
include anyone over age 50,
residents of nursing homes
and other chronic care facil-
ities, children and teens
ages six months to 18 years
who are on long term
aspirin therapy and there-
fore possibly at risk for
Reye’s syndrome post-flu,
women in the second or
See Flu, 3A
School board
meets with
merger lawyer
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Kings Mountain District
Schools board members met
with attorney Brian Shaw
last week in closed session.
According to Shaw, he
had not formally met with
the board since the North
Carolina Supreme Court
declined to hear an appeal
of a lower court's decision.
The board is fighting merg-
er with Cleveland County
and Shelby City schools.
The Department of
Justice is now investigating
the proposed merger to see
if it violates the Voting
Rights Act.
KMDS is contending that
See Merger, 3A
KINGS MOUNTAIN
Vol. 115 No. 50
Since 1889
— SANTA CLAUS COMES TO TOWN -
XCAR-RT LOT%%C 008
207 11-11-05 0001A00 ~~ 99 8
KINGS MOUNTAIN NC 28086-3414
OUT CtUILd>
comes to Grover
Christmas
parade
50 Cents
ne il
attend
parade.
- participated.
BA.
CREE
Thousands
KM parade
Thousands of spectators
lined the streets of Kings
Mountain Saturday for the
annual City Christmas
Over 100 units - including
kids, dancers, business and
community floats, bands,
Santa Claus, and even dogs
More photos are on page
Photos by Gary Stewart
KINGS
rescind
1B i =
will Council
110
alcohol policy?
Issue may come up
at Tuesday meeting
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Lease holders of city
owned buildings may be
allowed to serve alcohol at
receptions and other events
if city council votes to
rescind the current ordi-
nance.
While the official agenda
for next Tuesday's Kings
Mountain City Council
meeting was not released
before press time, both a
current and incoming city
council member have con-
firmed that the vote will
take place.
City council member
Gene White and incoming
member Jerry Mullinax
have made public their
opposition to serving alco-
hol in city owned buildings.
The issue was first debat-
ed after one council member
objected to alcohol being
served at a Veteran's Day
reception at the Kings
Mountain Historical
Musuem. The museum leas-
es that building from the
city.
Musuem officials said
they were unaware of the
city ordinance. Nothing was
in the museum’s lease
regarding the matter.
White says rescinding the
ordinance is pandering to
special interest groups,
inappropriate and a liability
to the city.
According to Mullinax,
the item is placed on the
agenda before new mem-
bers are sworn. He said the
decision should be left up to
incoming board members.
The ordinance effects the
history museum, Patrick
Senior Center, the Coldwell
Banker Horn and Associates
building and Depots Arts
Center.
In other business Tuesday
night, the council will be
sworn in and will elect a
See Council, 3A
Board to hear
poker requests
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Video poker is on the
agenda for Kings Mountain
Planning Board's Monday
meeting.
The board will decide if
Kings Mountain Truck
Plaza, owned by Jim Testa,
may continue to operate
video poker machines.
Portions of Testa’s busi-
ness are closer than the min-
imum 200 feet from a pri-
vate residence. He submit-
ted a revised site plan dur-
ing the Nov. 18 meeting.
Under the plan, a fenced
trailer storage lot would be
built in the area which is
within the 200 feet.
Board members appeared
pleased with the plan but
MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
were concerned that video
poker machines were being
operated illegally within 200
feet of Testa’s business. City
codes prohibit businesses
with video poker machines
being located near one
another.
The public may comment
of a conditional use permit
which would allow the
Silver Villa to continue to
operate video poker
machines.
The business allowed its
permit to lapse this year
meaning it must go through
the application process
again.
In other business, Hall
Builders and Clarence and
Mary Philbeck will apply
for variances allowing con-
struction inside property
setback lines.
Librarian Rose Turner retiring
ANDIE BRYMER / HERALD
Rose Turner reviews a stack of books at Mauney
Memorial Library
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
When Rose Turner was 13 she moved
with her family from Louisiana's bayou
country to New Orleans. A branch library
was only blocks from her new-home.
Though the building was small, Turner
remembers it as a “treasure house.” ’
Before that moment, the books Turner's
parents bought her and those on the book-
mobile and the small library at the mission
school where her parents served were the
only books she had access to.
Since then Turner has earned a masters in
library science, amassed a 3,000 book per-
sonal collection and worked as Mauney
Memorial's librarian for two decades. She
will retire Dec. 31.
During her tenure, Turner brought the
two major building expansions.
When she started in 1983, patrons used a
card catalog to find titles. The library had no
library system.
videos nor books on tape.
Today the library is fully automated and
is connected electronically with the county’s
Titles were added to the fiction depart-
ment expanding it beyond romance novels.
The non-fiction collection grew as well.
Turner realized it especially lacked science
books and worked to add that subject.
A new room for non-fiction and a meeting
room were added in 1989. The Harris
preschools.
library into the electronic age and oversaw
Gastonia
Shelby
529 New Hope Road 106 S Lafayette St.
704-865-1233
704-484-6200 *
Children’s Wing was built in 2000.
The expansion is not limited to bricks,
mortar and books. The library also makes 30
visits each month to daycare centers and
“I feel very strongly about public library
See Turner, 3A
Bessemer City
225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906