Thursday, June 9, 2005
Medical
facility
planned
by Harris
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Kings Mountain may be
getting a new medical facili-
ty. ;
John O. Harris Interest is
partnering with Charlotte-
based developer Kirco and
OrthoCarolina to build a
: 30,000-
square-
foot com-
plex. The
two-story,
brick and
glass
building
would be
located
where the
Kings
Mountain
Country
Club’s
tennis
courts
now sit.
A site
plan
should be
available
in the next 10 days for the
$4.5 to $5 million project. A
purchase agreement has
been executed with the
country club, Harris said.
He describes the pro-
posed building as “Class
A.” It will sit on approxi-
mately 2.25 acres. There will
be 150 parking spots and
extensive landscaping.
“AT want to be a good
neighbor,” Harris said.
OrthoCarolina will occu-
py 10,000 to 15,000-square-
feet. Harris said Kings
Mountain Hospital's new
operating rooms were
attractive to the orthopedic
group. OrthoCarolina was
formed when Miller
Orthopedic and Charlotte
Orthopedic merged.
So far Cleveland County
Commissioners and the
Kings Mountain Council
members he has talked to
about the project have been
‘supportive, Harris said.
As part of the project, the
country club will get an
upgrade to its parking lot.
Harris also is developing
a 4,200-square-feet medical
facility in Bessemer City
which Cleveland
HealthCare System will
operate.
Book on
KM history
planned
A committee associated
with the Kings Mountain
Historical Museum
Foundation last week
signed contracts to publish
a history of the City of
Kings Mountain and com-
mission Dave Baity to write
it.
“We want
to be a
good
neighbor.”
John Harris
The history was
launched through a seed
.grant from Laura Mauney
‘Houser, a member of one of
tthe founding families of the
city.
Previously, a brief histo-
1y of the community was
‘compiled by Charles and
‘Mary Mauney for the Kings
‘Mountain Historical
Museum Foundation as
part of the city’s 1974 cen-
tennial celebration. The
work drew heavily on
“Kings Mountain: Her
Background and
Beginning,” written by the
late Bonnie Mauney
Summers, daughter of
Kings Mountain pioneers
William A. and Candace
See Book, 5A
Vol. 117 No. 22
MOUNTAIN
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a NOUNEY MEMORIAL {'FREARG
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DeWitt named
KMHS women’s
basketball coach
SE
50 Cents
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
School ended for most area stu-
dents May 20 but for others summer
means back to class. -
Kings Mountain Intermediate,
Middle and High schools are offer-
ing summer academies for grades
three through 12. At KMIS and
KMMS, classes started last Tuesday
and run through Friday. Another
session begins Monday and last 10
days.
While students at KMIS’s Summer
Academy have breaks and are given
a brief chance to play after lunch,
Principal Roxanne Bridges describes
the classes which run from 8:30 a.m.
* to 1 p.m. as “intense.” Throughout
the regular school year Bridges is an
assistant principal at KMIS but she
is serving as Summer Academy
principal.
KMIS Summer Academy serves
Kings Mountain and Grover area
third through sixth graders who
either didn’t pass end-of-grade test-
ing or make a passing report card
grade. Reading and math classes are
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
man found himself without a job.
door.
ter for us,” Wilson said.
When Ronnie Wilson's employer Wirtz
Manufacturing closed, the Kings Mountain
While the situation could be frightening,
Wilson believes God used it to open a new
“Sometimes God wants us to step out of
our comfort zones. He's got something bet-
That something better was a job as facili-
ties manager at the Charlotte distribution
center for Samaritan’s Purse. The Christian
relief organization is best known for
Operation Christmas Child which sends
shoe boxes filled with gifts to poor children
around the world. Churches and individu-
Kings Mountain High's women’s softball team completed a 31-1 season Sunday
with a 4-1 win over West Rowan at Walnut Creek Park in Raleigh. Front row,
and Lauren Gaffney. Second row, Morgan Childers, Heather Hale, Casey Camp, Amber Milwood and Laura Weigel. Back
row, assistant coach Don Sweezy, Courtney Tate, Haley Barrett, Kristin Cogdill, Kristyn Funderburke, Jessica Yarbro,
LaRonda McClain, Kala Buchanan and head coach Suzanne Grayson.
Back to Class
Summer School helps students make next grade
offered. Approximately 60 students
are attending the first session.
Smaller numbers are signed up for
the next session.
EOG tests are given at the end of
the sessions. This is the students’
third and final shot at passing.
During the regular school year these
students had a week's worth of -
remediation before attempting the
first retest.
The state requires students typi-
cally pass the EOG before advancing
to the next grade. Cleveland County
Schools also require students pass
the classroom grade or have satisfac-
tory summer academy performance
before advancing.
Generally behavior is good, teach-
ers say. They credit small class size.
It’s keeping kids motivated that
poses the biggest challenge.
Sarah Jones is teaching seven stu-
dents third grade math this summer.
She uses play money, calculators,
chips and games in addition to
enrichment activities to keep stu-
dents’ attention engaged.
See School, 5A
by winning the State 3A championship
left to right, Brittney Thornburg, Andi Mullis
4A
State Champions!
Lady Mountaineers win three straight in
Raleigh to claim first NCHSAA 3-A title
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Years of hard work paid
off for Kings Mountain
High’s women's softball
team, which rolled into
Raleigh’s Walnut Creek
Park last weekend and
swept its first State 3A
championship with an
almost-perfect performance.
Sparked by ace pitcher
Morgan Childers’ perfect
game in a 1-0 opening win
over two-time State
Champion West Rowan, the
Lady Mountaineers won
three straight games to fin-
ish their season with a 31-1
overall record and a two-
year mark of 55-4.
Even though there wasn’t
a senior on the team, Kings
Mountain fielded one of the
most experienced teams in
the tournament as most of
its players have played
together in AAU, middle
school and high school for
several years.
Childers, who was voted
the State tournament’s most
valuable player, completed
her season with a 22-0
See Champs, 3A
Gilmore new assistant
at intermediate school
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Students won't be the only ones
in a new environment when school
starts back. Summer is the time
when administra-
tors shift posi-
tions.
In Kings
Mountain, Henry
Gilmore will
replace Gary
Statler as an
assistant princi-
pal at the inter-
mediate school.
Statler is leaving
the CCS system.
Gilmore moves from his assistant
post at Kings Mountain High
School. :
GILMORE
“I'm excited about it, getting the
opportunity to work with folks of a
younger age,” he said Tuesday.
Gilmore has been an administra-
tor at KMHS for three years han-
dling primarily transportation and
facilities management. There he
worked with Principal John Yarbro
KINGS MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
God turned loss of job into
ministry for Ronnie Wilson
als from across the U.S. contribute supplies
and money for the project.
Wilson has been on the job almost a year.
Despite the daily drive to Charlotte, he
says every morning is a “great morning.”
Wilson uses the commute time to pray and
reflect.
Once in Charlotte, his work day begins
with group devotions. Wilson says he
enjoys the Christian environment.
He spends the month of August setting
the facility up for the 25,000 volunteers
who come to pack boxes. Wilson oversees
getting 1.7 million boxes processed at the
Charlotte location. Nationwide Samaritan’s
Purse distributes 7.4 million boxes.
Despite Operation Christmas Child's
high visibility, Wilson says it is just a small
See Wilson, 5A
and assistants Ronny Funderburke
and Dave Greene.
“I've learned so much from these
guys. I've certainly had the best
teachers in the world,” Gilmore
said.
Gilmore will continue to coordi-
nate Project TEACH. The program
prepares African-American middle
and high school students whose
parents haven't been to college to
achieve that goal.
A Bessemer City native, Gilmore
graduated from Johnson C. Smith
University with a degree in commu-
nications. He worked for WBTV for
11 years before using the lateral
entry program to enter the class-
room. In 1997 Gilmore came on
board at KMMS as a technology
teacher. He then earned a Masters
Degree in School Administration
from Gardner-Webb University.
Gilmore is a deacon and choir
© director at Mt. Zion Baptist Church.
He and his wife Wanda have two
children, Ashley and Henry. They
live in Kings Mountain.
“It’s a perfect place to raise a fam-
ily,” Gilmore said.
distribution center.
Macedonia Baptist Pastor Ronnie Wilson also ministers
as facilities director for Samaritan’s Purse’s Charlotte:
ANDIE L. BRYMER/HERALD
Sm
FEET