Thursday, April 13, 2006
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Vol. 118 No. 15
Since 1889
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Kings Mountain
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50 Cents
HOMEFRONT
Easter Bunny hop,
egg hunt set in KM
Calling all kids! Be sure not to miss
the Easter Bunny this year. He will
visit different locations in Kings
Mountain Thursday, April 13 and
Friday, April 14. He will also be at the
Easter Egg Hunt this Saturday from
10-11 a.m. at the playground of the
Jake Early Sports Complex, next to
the YMCA.
The Kings Mountain Fire
Department will escort the Easter
bunny around town as he brings
delight to children of all ages at local
schools, churches, hospitals and day
cares. He will have a basket of eggs
to give away and will pose for pic-
tures if a camera is nearby. For a
schedule of the Easter Bunny's stops
and appearances contact the City of
Kings Mountain at (704) 734-0333.
At the Easter egg hunt, there will
be hidden eggs filled with candy and
surprises for children to find. The
special golden eggs will hold $25 gift
certificates. The Easter egg hunters
will be separated into different age
groups, allowing equal opportunities
for the treasure seekers of all sizes to
find their prizes.
A petting zoo with billy goats and a
chance to have pictures taken with a
llama will be offered at the play-
ground.
Bibles saved in
fire near Grover
A mobile home near Grover burned
Tuesday night, but God’s Word
always survives.
While fighting the blaze at the home
of Ronda Fender, Grover firemen
threw a night stand out the window.
Two Bibles were inside the stand.
According to Fender's mother,
Kathy Lovelace, the outside of the
Bibles were burned, “but not a single
word inside of them was burned.”
Lovelace plans to take the Bibles to
church on Easter Sunday.
A full report of the fire was not
available at press time.
Bloodmobile to visit
Swoogers April 18
Swoogers on US 74 Bypass, Kings
Mountain, will host a bloodmobile
Tuesday, April 18 from 1-7:30 p.m.
Each donor will receive a free milk-
shake.
To donate blood, one must be in
general good health, weigh 110 or
more pounds, be 17 years or older,
and take a picture ID or blood donor
card.
ICE team makes
arrest on I-85
A Charlotte man who said he was
on his way to Spartanburg, SC was
arrested and charged with trafficking
ecstasy following a traffic stop
Tuesday on I-85 south near Grover.
Cleveland County Sheriff's Office
ICE Team stopped a 1997 Acura at
the 1-mile marker. According to
Sheriff Raymond Hamrick, the driver
gave officers permission to search his
vehicle. Hamrick said deputies found
and seized 2,954 ecstasy tablets val-
ued at $40,000. He said the pills were
hidden in an aftermarket compart-
ment built into the armrest of the
back seat. :
The driver, Dung Van Quoc Tran,
23, was charged with trafficking
schedule 1 MDA /MDMA and jailed
under a $500,000 bond. Hamrick said
officers also seized $3,650 in currency.
Ll
RADAR WATCH
Kings Mountain Police will be run-
ning radar at the following locations
the week of April 16-22:
Sunday, April 16 - 1-85, US 74
Bypass, Hwy. 216.
Monday, April 17 - I-85, US 74
Bypass, Linwood Rd.
Tuesday, April 18 - 1-85, US 74
Bypass, Shelby Rd.
Wednesday, April 19 - I-85, US 74
Bypass, Margrace Rd.
Thursday, April 20 - I-85, US 74
Bypass, York Rd.
Friday, April 21 - 1-85, US 74
Bypass, Cansler St.
Saturday, April 22 - I-85, US 74
Bypass, Cleveland Ave.
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Roosevelt Ingram critically injured
when grenade explodes in his hand
ELIZABETH STEWART
Herald Correspondent
Roosevelt Ingram, 71, of 403
Belvedere Circle, is fighting for his
life in Wake Forest University
Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem
after a M15 grenade exploded in
his hand Monday night in the
carport of his home.
“1 was with my great-grandbaby
inside the house and heard a loud
explosion and saw a red flash and
ran outside and it scared me to
death,” said Ingram’s wife,
Geneva, speaking from the
Intensive Care Unit waiting room
of the burn center where she and
her four children wait and pray.
“Roosevelt is in critical condi-
tion, we need the prayers of Kings
Mountain people,” said Mrs.
Ingram.
Mrs. Ingram said the loud boom
brought her next door neighbor,
Greg Gay, quickly to the scene. He
took a hose pipe and extinguished
the flame.
Fire Chief Frank Burns, who
arrived at the scene with police
shortly after the 8:15 p.m. inci-
dent, said family members told
him they thought at first that a
new charcoal grill had exploded.
Burns said the WWII weapon
had been apparently stored for a
long time in the Ingram utility
room. “I don’t know if Ingram
had just touched it or what hap-
pened,” said the chief.
Mrs. Ingram said she had no |
idea where the grenade came from
and would not know until her
husband was able to tell her.
Ingram was badly burned on his
face, on the front of his chest and
his arms.
Chief Burns said that a signaling
flare from an M15 throws out a
terrific boom sound followed by a
big flash. He said that he saw the
See Ingram, 12A
SPRING CLEANING
JOSEPH BRYMER / HERALD
Kevin Randall, co-owner of Forever Green Lawn Care & Landscaping of Kings Mountain,
clears a sidewalk at Kings Mountain Baptist Church.
Firehouse Cook-off starts Friday
MILY WEAVER
© eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
Fifty teams from across
the country will go head to
head and spatula to spatula
at this year’s 10th Annual
Kings Mountain Firehouse
Barbecue Cook-off. The
competition will be held at
the Walking Track next to
the YMCA off Cleveland
Avenue from 5 p.m. Friday
until 3 p.m. Saturday. There
will be fun for all ages and
enough food to feed a small
country.
Teams are coming from as
far off as New York to com-
pete in this BBQ show-
down. Cooks and side
kicks, matched in aprons,
will stand at the ready to
whip out their secret ingre-
dients. Some will set up
camp and cook all night,
continuously checking tem-
peratures, taste and tender-
ness. Some more confident
competitors may stay the
night at a hotel, hoping that
rest will be their winning
factor. But every team will
at Kings Mountain Walking Track
feel the heat inside and out-
side of the kitchen as their
proud, private recipes are
put to the taste test.
Sanctioned by the Kansas
City BBQ Society (KCBS)
and hosted by the Kings
Mountain Fire Department
(KMFD) the cook-off will
award over $10,000 in total
prizes. The winning team
will be named the NC
Firehouse BBQ State
Champion and will be invit-
ed to compete in the
See Cook-Off, 8A
City Manager
resigns, Sellers
named interim
LIZABETH STEWART
Herald Correspondent
City Manager Greg McGinnis is out and Marilyn
Sellers is in at Kings Mountain City Hall.
McGinnis tendered his resignation to Mayor Rick
Murphy Sunday. “I am resigning immediately,” he
said and did not offer a reason.
Council emerged after a 40-minute emergency-
called closed session Monday night and voted 5-1
to appoint city clerk Marilyn Sellers to replace
McGinnis. No one commented publicly.
Councilman Jerry Mullinax
voted “no,” preferring, he said,
to consult first with the Local
Government Commission.
Members Houston Corn, Dean
Spears, Rodney Gordon, Mike
Butler and Howard Shipp
voted “yes.” Keith Miller was
out of state on business.
“I am honored by the coun-
cil’s confidence in me,” said
Sellers, a city employee for 17
years and city clerk for 13 years.
She was hired by the first of five
city managers since 1988 in the
city’s reinstituted council /man-
ager form of government. She
also served a 30-day interim
term in October 2004 during a
leave of absence McGinnis took
for personal reasons.
McGinnis, Kings Mountain
native, was hired by council on August 23, 2004.
He succeeded Gastonian Phil Ponder, who suc-
ceeded former longtime city employee Jimmy
Maney who was manager from 1996-2003.
Council set Sellers’ salary as interim manager at
$58,000 annually, plus benefits.
Mrs. Sellers, wife of Jody Sellers, is a graduate of
Mitchell High School in Bakersville and Gardner-
Webb University with a B. S. degree. She and her
husband are parents of two daughters, Morgan, 11,
and Johanna, 8, are members of First Baptist
Church. She is the daughter of Etta Herrell and the
late Willie Herrell.
SELLERS
“I want the city to move forward,” said Sellers,
who is confident in her staff and their years of
experience that the city will continue to be pro-
gressive. Sellers said the staff’s first priority is the
2006-2007 budget and having it ready for council
to approve by the end of May.
“We have great department heads who will be
working with me and council on the budget
preparations and a total of 210 caring and efficient
employees,” said Sellers. She said she expects the
new budget to be “conservative” but that the high
costs of gasoline will drive the city expenditures
upward.
“Marilyn will keep some stability in this posi-
tion,” said the mayor. He said council will not
See Manager, 8A
Early detection, God, helped Lynch beat cancer
LIZABETH STEWART
. Herald Correspondent
By the “grace of God,”
early detection of breast
cancer by a mammogram
and a positive attitude is
how Louise Owens Lynch
beat cancer twice.
“God gave me 15 good
years after I was diag-
nosed with cancer in 1983
and this year is the eighth
year since my second
occurrence,” Louise says.
She underwent two
lumpectomies and a total
of 60 radiation treatments.
Most survivors who par-
ticipate in the annual
Relay for Life events in
Kings Mountain in April
have met Louise. She’s the
cheerful voice on the tele-
phone who invites them
to the annual Relay for
Life dinner for survivors
and the first volunteer
they see when they regis-
ter and receive their color-
ful shirts and banners to
walk in the first lap of the
- event at the city’s walking
track.
Louise credits the late
Mary Ann Hutchins for
getting her hooked” on
Relay. “It was the third
See Lynch, 8A
LOUISE LYNCH
Survivor dinner tonight
at The Patrick Center
GARY STEWART
gstewart@kingsmountainherald.com
The excitement is building for Kings Mountain's ninth
annual Relay for Life, slated for April 28-29 at the munic-
ipal walking track off Cleveland Avenue.
The annual survivor's dinner is slated for Thursday,
April 13 at 6 p.m. at The Patrick Center. Over 75 sur-
vivors plus guests have already signed up to attend the
dinner and any other survivors who wish to attend may
register at the door.
me of Grover, is free.
The meal, catered by Roger’s
See Survivor, 3A
McGINNIS
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