The Kings Mountain Herald, Thursday, June 8, 2006
a
i
| Promoting KN
ELIZABETH STEWART
Herald Correspondent
The director of the Kings
Mountain branch office of
Cleveland Chamber of Commerce,
Shirley Brutko, obviously loves her
job.
Brutko answers the telephone
with a smile in her voice and an
excitement for revitalizing Kings
Mountain that shows in her busy
schedule.
“This was my calling,” said
Shirley, who joined the Chamber
nearly nine years ago as a part
time administrative assistant to Jay
Rhodes when the office was locat-
ed on the second floor of City Hall.
Tim Waters succeeded Rhodes in
the position and Brutko managed
the office when it was relocated by
the Cleveland Chamber on York
Road.
The present location in the heart
of downtown Kings Mountain is
perfect for the Chamber, says
Brutko. She has decorated the
comfortable office that used to be
the office of Travel Matters and
planted flowers outside to create a
park-like atmosphere. She is busy
Mondays through Fridays from 9
a.m.-3 p.m. and recently invited
Lou Ballew, a member of the
Chamber, to help her out as a Girl
Friday answering the telephone
and distributing maps and materi-
als to visitors to the office.
The local Chamber is involved in
the Main Street program and
downtown revitalization spear-
headed by Morgan Edwards and
chairman Joni Smith and opening
of that new office downtown.
Brutko has focused attention on
the Keep Kings Mountain
Beautiful program headed by
Sandra Murphrey and Mary Ann
Hendricks; Kings Mountain
Gateway Trails Inc.-headed by
David Ozmore exploring the pos-
sibilities of connecting downtown
to the city’s lakes and historic bat-
tleground beyond and boosting the
travel and tourism program, and
other projects either ongoing or in
the planning stages.
“We welcomed the new
Magnolia Manor to the historic
section of Kings Mountain and are
excited about plans by John O.
Harris Interests for a coffee
shop /retail center next to the old
Eagle's Dime Store which will
enhance the shopping area down-
town,” said Brutko. She said
Johnny Harris plans to revitalize
both the back and front of that
building.
Brutko accepted the invitation of
Kings Mountain Rotary Club to
pick out the playground equip-
ment the club plans to install this
fall at Patriot Park, looking at
slides and swings, a picnic area
and possibly a walkway area for
parents and their children to enjoy.
This week she has received
applications from people interested
in jobs which could encourage a
boat manufacturer to locate in
Cleveland County. She said 1,350
applications had been received
from Cleveland County citizens in
a project initiated by the Cleveland
Chamber called Operation Float.
Since January Shirley has wel-
comed 14 new Chamber members.
Shirley says she appreciates the
active board of directors Bill
Plowden, Mark Carter, Gregg
Johnson, Scott Neisler and Steve
Padgett and the advisory council
which includes Dr. David Johnson,
Larry Hamrick Jr., Robert Bolin,
Rosemary Suess, Ronnie Hawkins,
Troy Jones, Dr. Jay Majors, Sherry
is Shirley’s calling
SHIRLEY BRUTKO
DeShazo, and ex officio members
Kristi Anthony, Houston Corn,
' Morgan Edwards, Stuart Gilbert,
Terry Brown, Adrian Hamrick and
Stephanie Trogdon
“My roots are in Kings
Mountain,” said Brutko who is a
native of Raeford but moved here
35 years ago when her husband
was transferred by Spectrum
Textured Fibers and the whole
family quickly became active in the
Kings Mountain community.
A talented artist, Shirley Knapp
started drawing at age 5 and cred-
its her love of art to her father, -
also an artist, and her mother, who
encouraged her to enter a newspa-
per coloring contest which she
won and received a Madame
Alexander doll, Ginny. Shirley
inherited her creativity from her
great-grandfather, an inventor.
Not only is her artwork dis-
played in the Chamber office but is
seen on note cards available at the
Chamber, Patrick Center,
Cleveland Arts Council and Kings
Mountain Historical Museum. She
also designs the annual July t-shirt
for Lake Montonia Club on the
theme, “Love this Life.” She usu-
ally keeps the originals of her note
card art work which include a
variety of subjects, the Mauney
House, founded in 1874, one of the
oldest structures in Kings
Mountain in the historic district;
and the Battle monument, to name
a few.
She was instrumental in the
relocation of the Barber Cabin on.
the site of the KM Historical
Museum property and said that
presently the house is being
chinked, cementing between the
logs. The old Cornwell house at
the site is also to be renovated, she
said.
Shirley’s favorite watercolor, the
Kings Mountain day lily, is on a
bookmark available to the public.
Brutko has her own Kings
Mountain day lily garden and
enjoys photographing and painting
the flowers in her yard. She said
the inspiration for the book mark
came from former mayor Scott
Neisler who visited Iron Gate
Gardens in Cherryville in 1977 and
found that the owner, Van Sellers,
had propagated the Kings
Mountain day lily, a very large
flower with ruffles on the edges.
The beautiful plants were pur-
chased by Neisler and are being
grown in Kings Mountain. Garden
clubs and individuals are presently
cultivating and multiplying the
plants and they bloom in the early
summer at garden spots at the
local post office.
Shirley’s interest in the Southern
Arts Society has led to several of
her paintings exhibited there.
Recently she won the People’s
Choice Award, a portrait she paint-
ed of daughter, Kerri, in the “I Am
Woman” show at the Depot Art
Center. Currently Shirley enjoys
painting and studying with artists
at Cleveland Community College
and plans to paint Don Dixon's
100-year-old red barn for note
cards which will include the histo-
ry of the Dixon barn.
Shirley Knapp Gossett and Mal
Brutko were married 24 years ago.
Their family includes three chil-
dren, Lt. Col. Todd Gossett, a
USAF career officer who moves to
The Pentagon in July, and his wife,
Lisa; Ashley Harris and husband,
Johnny; and Kerri Brutko, a grad-
uate of Appalachian State
University who teaches health
education for the Cleveland
County Health Department. The
six grandchildren include Kayla,
Dora and Ada Gossett and John,
Layla and Abby Harris.
Shirley teaches an adult Sunday
School class at First Presbyterian
Church.
Shirley and Mal are planning a
special trip in celebration of their
silver wedding anniversary next
year. The Brutko family, with huge
roots in Wales, is planning a 10-
day trip to Ireland, Switzerland
and Wales, and have already had
their first dinner meeting with sev-
eral other couples who plan to join
them on the anniversary excursion.
They are Ronnie and Libby
Hawkins, Hallie and Nelson
Conner, Ron and Jane Morgan of
Charlotte and Carl Elliott and a
friend from Rock Hill, SC
“It’s going to take us a year to
plan this trip and we're having
such fun getting together at each
other’s homes, planning the itiner-
ary and we even plan a mini week-
end in Virginia as a trial run to see
how we’d enjoy being together for
a longer period of time,” she said.
Training helps police prepare for desperate situations
i | EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
An officer receives a call
about two suspicious males
in an abandoned warehouse.
Upon arrival, the officer
finds two men standing near
a female on the floor. She
looks up and softly cries,
“Help me.” About that time,
one of the men pulls out a
large kitchen knife and holds
it up near his head. The offi-
cer informs the man to drop
his weapon and put his
hands in the air. After some
hesitation, he puts the knife
on the ground and his hands
to the sky. But while one is
surrendering, the other, not
so eager to be imprisoned, -
reaches for his gun. Fight or
flight syndrome kicks in, but
running is not an option for
law enforcement. They have
to stay and fight. They have
to protect the people they
serve at all costs, even if the
cost is their life. The above
scenario is one of many new
training simulations now
being used by the Kings
Mountain Police Department
(KMPD) to prepare their offi-
cers for these desperate situ-
ations.
Great
In these life and death,
heart-pounding, blood-rac-
ing situations, decisions have
to made within a fraction of a
second. An officers reaction
is key to his survival. Proper
training improves reactions
and keeps the officer on his
toes. KMPD and Shelby
Police Department (SPD)
now have access to some of
the most technologically-
advanced training for law
enforcement today. The new
system L600 uses interactive
simulated scenarios, along
with laser sensors, cameras,
computers, nylon balls and
laser beams to provide offi-
cers with real-life experience
in the safety of a classroom.
Cleveland County
Community College con-
tributed half of the purchase
price on the L600 from .
Advanced Interactive
Systems (AIS). They will
maintain the system. SPD
and KMPD put in the rest of
the money dependent on the
number of officers they had
in each of their departments.
Their dedicated room for
training is Classroom 2 at the
training center in Shelby. The
departments can schedule
the months or time periods
they would like to do their
exercises in the room and
have complete private
access. But the new technolo-
gy is also portable.
“We have these systems in
over 59 countries worldwide.
We sell to both police depart-
ments, federal and local
agencies, as well as military,”
said AIS Field Manager John
Wills. “Our latest product,
called the L600, is what they
have purchased here and it’s
a portable system that comes
in four cases. They can put it
in the back of an SUV and set
up anywhere they want.” It
takes about 15 minutes to set
up. \
ron this new technol-
ogy, officers can practice
their marksmanship,
improve their response or
reaction times and polish
other skills that can be essen-
tial out in the field. In a live
firing range, the shooters and
paper targets are standing
still. This practice helps
improve marksmanship but
is not always practical for in
the heat of the moment situa-
tions.
“In the real world, the bad
guys are moving and a lot of
times we're moving too. So
that’s what we want to see in
here. Can they apply the
same skills that they learned
on that range, right in here
and then apply that to the
real world,” Wills said.
Many different situations
have been filmed with many
different possible outcomes
for the officers to practice
with. The scenario is project-
ed onto the screen from the
computer. The officer stands
facing the screen and must
react and give commands. to
the people on the screen just
like he would do in real life.
If deadly force is necessary,
the officer may use his gun,
taser, O.C. spray (mace), or
shot gun. These weapons are
the exact same ones used out
in the field but are empty and
rigged with a laser device.
When they are fired at the
screens, the laser beam is
read by the laser sensors on
the camera below the screen,
which records the exact loca-
tion of the hits on the target
or person.
“If they use the taser cor-
rectly on the scenario here,
the same thing that happens
to a person on the street
where it freezes that person
and it causes the central
nervous system to react - the
same thing happens in here.
If they get shot on the screen,
the bad guy goes down. If
they get sprayed with the
O.C. the same reaction occurs
just like on the street. Most
people are going to cover
their eyes and they're going
to stop whatever they're
doing. The same reactions
that occur in the real world
are filmed on the scenarios to
occur just like they would on
the street,” Wills said.
The operator programs
what happens and the out-
comes of each situation
based on what the officers
- say and do. If they say and
do the right things then the
operator will branch the sce-
nario to end with the suspect
cooperating. “The instructor °
has the ability to override the -
system, so to speak, and it’s
See Training, 8A
We love you and are
very proud of you!
Kristina Owens KMHS
Love,
Your family
Her KINGS MOUNTAIN
Poblished. every Thursday"
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