KINGS MOUNTAIN
The Heral
THw/stay, February 17, 2005
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monologue in KM
5B
Land Use
committee
to be named
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER |
Staff Writer
Vol. 117 No. 7
50 Cents
Since 1889
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
SEAR
.
Land use committee appointments will likely be
announced during Tuesday's Kings Mountain City Council
meeting at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
The city’s five-year plan expires this year. Mayor Rick
Murphrey wants the new committee ;
to create a 10-year plan this time.
“It gives up direction,” he said. “I
really feel like Kings Mountain is on
the verge of a lot of growth.”
The committee will make recom-
mendations on residential and
industrial zoning changes, infra-
structure and road planning. The
plan will include the city and its
two-mile extra territorial jurisdiction.
Around 20 to 25 representatives
will be appointed from business,
industry, Kings Mountain Hospital,
Cleveland County Schools, Gateway ,
and beautification projects, down-
ANDIE BRYMER / HERALD
Zenobia Degree, left, Hattie Smith and Clara Williams watch as Pearle Pressley does a monologue of Sojourner
Truth during a Black History Month celebration at the Patrick Senior Center Friday morning.
Speeches, monologue, tribute
highlight Patrick Center event
|
|
|
|
| really feel |
town revitalization, Kings Mountain |jke Kings : !
Business and Professional |
Association and other area residents. Mountain is
City staff and council members also
will be represented. ;
on the verge
“We'll be pulling from a wide of a lot of ;
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER nation.” and wheel chair. hii Becta of the community,” growth.”
Staff Writer Sally Taylor continued with a trib- “Generally their inventions enable Hi I HE h 1 int
ute to African-American inventors us to have a safer, better quality of hil a th » yn pon ;
. Black history was remembered and including traffic light inventor Otis life,” Taylor said. IMEMders 01 the ac noc communes = Mayor Murphrey .
but also will take input from council
members.
Murphrey credited the five-year plan for designating a Lo
place for both the city’s industrial park on N.C. 161 and the Ll
- Cleveland County Industrial Park. He also said the plan Sl
“had heiped developers plan subdivisions: Em der ng
In other business, a zoning change requested by David
Faunce will be on the agenda but will be continued until LH
See Land, 3A IE
Downtown KM §
to be studied = |
The School of Business at Gardner Webb University will i
conduct a marketing study and analysis of the Kings
Mountain Downtown business area.
The study will help the Mountaineer Partnership, Inc.
make decisions as they pursue revitalization and down-
town enhancement projects. It will also help in the recruit-
ing of new businesses. :
The study will collect data on the existing economic sta-
tus of the area, make comparison to other similar communi-
ties and prepare a document on the findings. There also will:
be recommendations for some projects to pursue. The first !
phase of the should be completed by the end of March 2 ]
2005. i
The study will be conducted by Venita D. Jamerson and
Heather Adams, both Kings Mountain natives.
Jamerson is pursuing a Masters of Business degree in the -
school of business. She has received a bachelors degree in .
marketing from Howard University. ,
3 ANDIE BRYMER / HERALD Adams is also pursuing a Masters of Business
Emily Ledford has been chosen to perform with See Study, 3A
the Charlotte Symphony : -
KINGS MOUNTAIN PEOPLE ;
THE DEAN
Westmoreland has much knowledge
in politics, history, farming and life
celebrated Friday morning at the
Patrick Senior Center.
Event organizer Hazelene
Abernathy paid homage to the
“sweat, blood, tears, anger of many
African-American” and the “joy ener-
gy, prayers and hope of a people who
have given so much to this majestic
KMHS student to
play with Symphony
“It was a shock,” Ledford
said. “There are a lot of really
good people who tried out.”
She’s practiced on her own
and on Wednesday participated
in the first practice with the
symphony. There will be one
more practice, a dress rehearsal
Tuesday.
Her advice to anyone else
auditioning, “have an ego.”
“You get your confidence
level up you're going to do
well,” Ledford said.
While the Charlotte
Symphony performance is
Ledford’s first, she’s no stranger
to the stage. Ledford performs
with the Charlotte Youth
Symphony, the Kings Mountain
See Ledford, 3A
Boykin and cosmetics magnate
Madame C.J. Walker. Other products
include the clothes dryer, automatic
gear shift, traffic light, elevator and
furnace. The first open heart surgery
was performed by an African-
American. Blacks in the U.S. also
invented the refrigerator, helicopter
In a monologue of abolitionist
Sojourner Truth, Zenobia Degree
talked about the historic figure’s
appointment by Lincoln as counselor
to the Freedman’s Bureau. Degree... .,
also dramatized Truth’s successful
slander suit against prominent whites
See History, 3A
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
When the Charlotte
Symphony plays for
Mecklenburg County elemen-
tary and middle school students
next Thursday, a Kings
Mountain High School senior
will be on stage as one the
musicians.
Emily Ledford is among a
handful of area high school stu-
dents to perform with the sym-
phony. She'll be playing the
third movement of Mozart's
clarinet concerto.
Ledford auditioned in
January and soon learned she
had made the cut. The news
surprised her.
Wells
appointed
to board
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Democrat Steve Wells of
Kings Mountain will
replace Dean Westmoreland
on the
Cleveland
County
Board of
Elections.
Wells’
appoint-
| ment by
the county
Democrat’
Party’s
executive
committee was approved
earlier this month by the
state Board of Elections.
Wells served as chief
judge of the Grover Precinct
for eight years. He served
See Wells, 5A
WELLS
ANDIE BRYMER / HERALD
Dean Westmoreland is happiest when he’s talking poli-
tics and history.
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer |
GROVER - Traveler, teacher and politi-
cian - Dean Westmoreland has been all of
the above.
Unlike many who are active in politics,
Westmoreland didn’t inherit his avocation.
“If they (parents) ever voted I don’t
know anything about it,” he said.
It was Roosevelt's Social Security pro-
gram which inspired Westmoreland’s alle-
giance to the Democrat party.
“Tt was a lifesaver,” he said.
The law, passed in 1935, the year
Westmoreland was born, established pub-
lic health and unemployment programs
and assistance for poor children in addi-
tion to retirement funds for seniors.
Westmoreland chaired the Grover
Precinct for 18 years and the county party
from 1991 to 1993. He's served on the
state’s executive committee for three years,
on 9th and 10th Congressional district
committees and as a delegate to county,
district and state conventions.
Westmoreland stepped down earlier this
year as chairman of the county board of
elections. He also made a bid for state sen-
ate and house in the 1990s.
Westmoreland advises would-be politi-
cians to have thick skins and access to
money for advertising.
“The amount of money you have to
raise, it’s a sin, a disgrace,” he said. iT
See Dean, 5A
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