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KINGS MOUNTAIM
Thursday, June 24, 2004 Vol. 116 No. 26
Since 1889 50 Cents
KM TRIATHLON
Area man
charged in
| Staff Writer
ing.
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Friday night Gregg
Dean arrived at the Patrick
Center.wearing a tee-shirt
emblazoned with “multi-
tasking” and drawings of a
man swimming, biking
and running. The Cary
man’s clothing summa-
rizes perfectly the Over
the Mountain Triathlon he
was registering for.
Dean along with almost
300 others competed in the
grueling race Saturday
morning. He came in sev-
enth. Competition started
at 8 a.m. with.a swim
across Moss Lake. The ath-
letes then rode approxi-
mately 30 miles crossing
the South Carolina state
line into Cherokee then
York counties. The course
led back into North
Carolina by way of Gaston
County ending in Kings
Mountain with an approxi-
mate 7.5 mile run through
town.
“It went off without a
hitch,” said Ellis Noell, city
Over the Mountain Triathlon winner Trent Kirk, left, and second place finisher John Dewey cool off Saturday morn-
Over the Mountain Triathlon
course proves challenging
Jamie Collins finishes ninth in the Over the Mountain Triathlon.
special events coordinator.
A few athletes were treat-
ed on site for heat exhaus-
tion but there were no seri-
ous injuries, according to
Noell.
Dean and several other
competitors called the race
“challenging” because of
the hills through Kings
Mountain state and nation-
al parks.
Despite the course's diffi-
culty, Michael Seuss of
Kings Mountain enjoyed
the race.
See Triathlon Page 3A
homicide
GROVER - Christopher
James Burns, 22, of 112-A
..Main Street has been
* Ucharged with first degree
murder in the death of
Eddie Lee Whitener.
Burns was placed under
arrest by the Cleveland
County Sheriff's Office and
the North Carolina State
Bureau of Investigation on
June 18. He is in the
Cleveland County Detention
Center with no bond.
According to a press .
release from the Sheriff's
department, the homicide
occurred in Cleveland
County on June 16.
After the homicide was
committed, the victim was
transported in his own vehi-
cle and left on the side of
the road just off Boss Moore
Road in Rutherford County.
Steven Magic Oglesby, 16,
of 6021 Deep Green Drive,
Shelby has also been
charged with one count of
murder in connection with
Whitener’s death.
Also charged is Debra
Ann Burns, 44, of 3819
Barrier Drive, Shelby with
one count of conspiracy, one
count accessory before the
fact to felony and one count
accessory after the fact to
felony.
She is in the detention
center under a $150,000
secured bond. Oglesby is
jailed with no bond.
Warrants have also been
issued for Marcus Crank, 22,
of 1308 Hunt Streét, Shelby
and Keith Eugene Patterson,
19, of 716 Nalley Drive,
Shelby charging each with
one count of murder.
Whitener, 40, was from
Rutherford County. The case
is still under investigation.
Bell tower project
continues forward
Mountain Rest Cemetery
is designed as a wagon...
wheel, according to Jim Belt
who is spearheading a
fundraising drive to build a
bell tower in the “hub.”
The wagon wheel, with a
missing spoke, is a common
flower arrangements at
funerals, Belt said. Some of
Mountain Rest’s “spokes”
end at gates named for area
residents.
The gate nearest city sta-
dium bears the name of Otis
Green who was Kings
Mountain's first resident to
die in World War I.
The Blackwell Gate
fronting East Gold Street is
named for the first native
son to die in World War II.
The Falls Gate is named
after the local family which
donated land for the ceme-
tery.
Cemetery desigrier HC.
.Dwelle is remembered with
a gate at Dilling Street near
the office.
Former park superintend-
ent, the late Sam Suber, is
memorialized with an East
Gold Street entrance.
Jenkins Circle memorial-
izes another past superin-
tendent.
Original cemetery plans
called for a bell tower,
according to Belt.
“We're completing some-
thing that has always been a
dream of somebody,” he
said.
The computer pro-
grammed bell tower will
play 1,200 songs and will be
used during holiday servic-
es and funerals.
Belt expects to break
ground on the bell tower
during the second week of
July.
Over half the money
needed for a bell tower has
been raised, he said.
Belt has raised funds for
the bell tower by holding a
Christmas Eve candle light-
ing service.
This year’s service with
be the tenth. Volunteers col-
lected donations from
motorists who came to see
the service.
To purchase a name paver
for placement on the name
wall, call 704-739-5425 or
704- 477-0522.
Loyal Minister Retires After
40 Years at Chestnut Ridge
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Rev. Mitchel Pruitt has as the Apostle
Paul wrote “fought the good. fight, finished
"and is now retiring
after 40 years as pastor of Chestnut Ridge
the race, kept the faith’
later he was sitting in on classes at Gardner
Webb, then a junior college. After passing a
ating in 1963.
high school equivalence test, Rev. Pruitt
enrolled as student at Gardner Webb. Later
he transferred to Limestone College, gradu-
While a student, Rev. Pruitt worked full-
Rev. Mitchel Pruitt and his wife Martha Pruitt in front of the Chestnut Ridge Baptist par-
sonage.
Baptist Church.
Rev. Pruitt, 86, preached his official
farewell sermon Sunday but will stay on
until a new minister or an interim is hired.
He is retiring for health reasons and will
remain a member.
“I love to preach. I'd like it to continue
but the Bible says there is a time for all
things,” he said. “I told them to stick togeth-
er till God sends them another man.”
Rev. Pruitt’s ministry career started in
early January, 1958 when he told fellow
church members at Dover Baptist that he
had accepted a calling from God. Eight days
time in a factory and pastored a Blacksburg,
S.C. church. In 1964, Chestnut Ridge called
him to be their full time minister.
“It’s been a little corner of Heaven for
,” Rev. Pruitt said of his four decades
with Chestnut Ridge.
The church is located just over the Gaston
County line off N.C. 216. Rev. Pruitt is the
oldest minister in the Greater Gaston Baptist
Association.
His advice to new ministers is simple.
“If you love people and treat them right,
See Loyal Page 5A
SaUDIBEL HEARING CENTER
704-484-9233 Vi 0% Financing
1198 Wyke Road, Shelby, NC - Across from YMCA Available
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