New industry to locate in Kings Mountain 2a Thursday, June 15, 2006 Over 200 awards and scholarships presented at Kings Mount KINGS MOUNTAIN Herald Vol. 118 No. 24 ain HS 1B Since 1889 ‘bugle bo 50 Cents Inside... Mountain's Fulton retires from Time Kings y’ Paul Warner 2A HOMEFRONT Get us photos and information about military The Herald and other Republic Newspapers in the area will publish a special section on the men and women who are serv- ing or have served us in the mili- tary. “Honor, Glory & Pride” will publish on July 12. Deadline for stories and advertising is June 27 The Herald is soliciting pic- tures and information from the public on anyone who is current- ly serving in the military; and also on persons who have served in the military in the past. There is no charge. Send your photos and stories to The Herald, P.O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 or bring them to the editor's office at 821 East King Street, Kings Mountain. You may also Email them to gstewart@kingsmoun- tainherald.com. Photos will be returned after the publication date. For more information call The Herald at 704-739-7496. Farmer's Market to open Saturday The scheduled opening of the downtown farmer’s market has been postponed until this Saturday. Farmers and vendors can sell their goods at the corner of Mountain and Cherokee streets from 8 a.m.-12 noon each Saturday through early September. For more information, call 730- 0283 or 734-4596. RADAR WATCH Kings Mountain Police Department will be running radar at the following locations during the week of June 19-25: Sunday, June 19 - I-85, US 74 Bypass, NC 161. Monday, June 20 - I-85, US 74 Bypass, NC 216. Tuesday, June 21 - 1-85, US 74 Bypass, Margrace Road. Wednesday, June 22 - I-85, US 74 Bypass, Linwood Road. Thursday, June 23 - I-85, US 74 Bypass, Kings Mountain Blvd. Friday, June 24 - 1-85, US 74 Bypass, Gold Street. Saturday, June 25 - I-85, US 74 Bypass, Mountain St DEATHS Dorothy Patterson, 77 Billie Ann Boheler, 60 Blanton McNeill, 86 Zoe Bachman, 2 Peggy Moss, 66 Page 4A INDEX Classified 5B Lifestyles 9A Obituaries 4A Opinion 3A Police 4A Schools 10A-1B Sports 6A Worship 5A This week’s advertising sections: Food Lion CVS/Pharmacy Health Scene Special Section: Seniors of Summer To advertise or subscribe call The Herald at 704-739-7496 KM Council approves budget $29.4 million package includes property tax hike and other increases ELIZABETH STEWART Herald Correspondent By a 5-2 vote, Kings Mountain City Council Tuesday adopted within 20 minutes a $29.4 million budget and without public com- ment from council or from the pub- lic. After the meeting the two coun- cil members who voted “no” spoke briefly. Jerry Mullinax said he opposed ——— THUNDERSTORM Sunday afternoon’s storm blew a huge oak tree onto Macedonia Baptist Church. 150-year-old Chestnut Oak crashes through roof of Macedonia Baptist EMILY WEAVER eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com A giant chestnut oak tree, over 150 years old, crashed through the roof of Macedonia Baptist Church's sanctuary around 5 pm, when children were practicing choral numbers for the Sunday evening church service. It dam- aged three or four of the rafters inside, but the joints kept it from falling on the children and crash- ing all of the way through. Pastor at the church Ronnie the 4 cents property tax increase and thought there were other ways to cut from activities and keep the same services without raising taxes. Keith Miller said he is uncom- fortable with the redistribution of $1 million for social programs. In a three-page memorandum to council, Miller said “extras” equate to more than 17 cents per $100 property tax valuation and could be saved in cuts to social programs such as aging, cemetery, library, parks and recreation, spe- cial events, charitable grants, lake study, and downtown grants. In the memo he said he’d like to see the finance committee explore a membership schedule for the aging program, the library to become more of a media and infor- mation center and be funded by the majority of franchise fees on cable, telephone and internet providers, the Historical Museum own its building and operate inde- pendently, the YMCA purchase the SM————— Wilson said that it was a miracle more damage was not caused by the massive tree, that had branches larger than trunks of other trees. “One branch pressed against a stained glass window and kind of bowed it,” he said. But amazingly, no limbs or branches shattered the windows. He had placed a tarp in the back of his vehicle a few days ago, in case he needed it for another job, and was glad he did. After the tree was taken off of the roof, the tarp perfectly cov- HIT TRE ered - the hole. “Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Department came out to help and stayed with us until about midnight, until we got the tree off,” Wilson said. “It was a community effort.” They did not have an evening service Sunday night but many people came out to help restore one of God's local homes. Thunderstorms throughout the region caused trees to fall and property damage, early Sunday evening. Utility crews worked See Storm, 2A HD KMHS grads journey EMILY WEAVER / HERALD Graduating seniors enter John Gamble Stadium for Thursday night's Kings Mountain High School commencement ceremony. EMILY WEAVER football field. For that who made the winnin iniscence of times pas Cleveland Hospital ov old Community Center and create a special recre- ation district and the cemetery run on a balanced budget. In her budget presentation, interim manager Marilyn Sellers said the budget was “lean but operational.” “Our citizens expect service and we want to give them service,” said councilman Rodney Gordon. He said he was opposed to a prop- erty tax increase, as are his fellow See Budget, 2A Triathlon Saturday Over 400 athletes to compete in annual swim, bike and run EMILY WEAVER “es eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com Nearly 400 athletes will compete in the Over the Mountain Triathlon Saturday from 8am until about 12 noon, a heart-pounding, high- endurance three-part race extending from Moss Lake to Downtown Kings Mountain. Competitors will only have four hours to complete a 1500- meter swim, 27-mile bike course and a 6.2-mile run. Richard Shank, a Kings Mountain native and excellent KMHS track runner during the late 60s, is returning to his hometown to compete only so that his father can see him run, one more time. He cur- rently lives in Charlotte, working as an optometrist. His father, Nathaniel Shank, has not been able to see him run since high school. “This is his only opportunity to see me run (com- _ petitively) since my track years,” he said. Nathaniel turns 85 years young next month and has been confined to - a wheel chair, limiting his mobility. Richard has competed in other runs and marathons over the years, but they were all too far away or too con- flicting for his father to come and watch. He is worried about the swim part of the competition. “I'm a run- ner, not a swimmer,” Shank said. “But I know if I can get past that part then the rest will be fine.” His father lives at Summit Place off of Phifer Rd. He will roll out to see his 56-year-old son compete. “I'm getting a little old for this,” Shank laughed. See Triathlon, 9A into the world eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com The class of 2006 went to homeroom for the last time Thursday night to prepare for their final march down the one night it seemed as if their differ- ences or past grudges no longer mattered. They were a team, g goal together then carried their tro- phies off to separate homes. They laughed and joked in rem- t, briefly and sometimes barely men- tioning their future plans. Then Seniors and now Alumni, Jeffrey McClain, Nicole Moore and Caroline Cantrell, however, spoke in detail about their next adventures. McClain hopes to find a job at er the summer serving food so that he can save money. He plans to go to Cleveland Community College for two years and then transfer to UNC-Greensboro. “I want to major in Social Work,” he said. “I'm going to go to Western Carolina University this fall,” Moore said. “I'm going to major in Elementary Education “with a concentration in Math and English and I'm going to See Grads, 10A