KINGS MOUNTAIN HAD
TheHerald
Midpines
light display
comes on
Thursday
at 5:30
1B
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Rose Stem
drug law idea
to be pitched
to KM Council
"ELIZABETH STEWART
i
Herald Correspondent
Senior projects run the gamut
of new ideas but Chris Greene's
KMHS senior project has all the
earmarks of helping crack down
on drug offenders.
The enterprising young soccer
player will
pitch an ordi-
nance to
Kin gs
Mountain
City Council
Tuesday
night that
would make
is . it a civil viola-
tion and carr
GREENE a fine for y
person found guilty of what is
called a Rose Stem Drug
Ordinance, which would pro-
hibit the buying and selling of
rose stems that are used in the
manufacture of crack cocaine
and other drug activity.
Charlotte recently passed such
an ordinance which fines an
individual $50 but Greene hopes
that Kings Mountain Council
will make the fine $500 and he
said City Attorney Mickey
Corry is drafting the ordinance
this week which is based on
similar ordinances passed in
Charlotte ~~ and ~~ California.
Greene is writing his senior
paper on the subject, “The Need
for Students to Affect Change.”
“Students are influenced on a
lot of negative stuff they see in
the newspapers and hear over
television and it’s time for
young people to step up and
make a difference,” said Greene.
Greene is the son of Dale and
Constance Greene of Kings
Mountain. After high school
graduation he plans to major in
Criminal Justice on a ROTC
scholarship to Appalachian
State University.
Other items on Tuesday night's
agenda for City Council at 7
p.m. at City Hall include several
public hearings, including an
annexation request by Eddie
Yarbro and his mother, Mrs.
Ethel Yarbro, for their property
on Shelby Road which was
recently rezoned by City
Council. Ingles of Asheville is
reportedly looking at the prop-
erty as a possible site for a new
supermarket.
RADAR WATCH
Kings Mountain Police will
run radar November 26-
December 2 at the following
locations. In addition, police run
radar every day on I-85 and US
74.
Sun., Nov. 26 - Gold St.
Mon., Nov. 27 - Fulton Dr.
Tues., Nov. 28 - Waco Rd.
Wed., Nov. 29 - Cansler St.
Thurs., Nov. 30 - Margrace Rd.
Fri., Dec. 1 - Kings Mountain
Blvd.
Sat., Dec. 2 - Mountain St.
5B
Classified............
Lifestyles..........
~ Obituaries......
Opinion........
Vol. 118 No. 47
Since 1889
50 Cents
ALYSE CANNON
“Heart work” paid off for stu-
dents at Kings Mountain Middle
School, who recently raised
$6,535.32 during their fourth
annual “Hoops for Heart” fund
raiser in honor of Alyse Cannon.
One of the happiest days of
Donna and Ronnie Cannon's life
fell on August 24, 1991, when
their only daughter and
youngest child Alyse was born.
But their joy took a breather
when they learned that she was
born with a rare heart defect
called Epstein’s Anomaly of the
Tricuspid Valve. Upon her birth,
doctors also found that she had
two holes in her heart.
“She was the first patient at
Sanger Clinic in Charlotte to
have this particular combination
of defects,” Donna said. “She
had her first surgery at 11
months old to close the two
holes in her heart. Two days
later they did emergency sur-
gery to take out her Tricuspid
valve and put in a St. Jude's
medical valve.”
She said that after the surgery,
surgeon Dr. Mark Steigel came
into the room with tears in his
eyes. She feared for the worst.
He had not wanted to do the
surgery because Alyse’s chance
of survival was so minimal.
A lot of ‘heart work’
Students raise over $6,500 for heart research in honor of Alyse Cannon
Before the surgery he prayed
long and hard. His prayers were
answered. “Alyse is the only
child at her age to live through
this surgery by Dr. Mark
Steigel,” Donna said.
As if those trying bouts of
early surgery were not enough
on the Cannon family, 14 days
later little Alyse was back under
the knife again. “They decided
See Alyse, 6A
Advertising Inserts
JOSEPH BRYMER / HERALD
Despite heavy rain, the town Christmas tree lighting ceremony went on as planned Tuesday night at Mauney Memorial
Library.
Annual ceremony draws big crowd
. EMILY WEAVER
§ eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
The glorious spirit of the Christmas
season was brought to life at Mauney
Memorial Library at the Christmas
Tree Lighting ceremony Tuesday
night. The Kings Mountain Choristers,
made up of dozens of little ones led by
Monica Martin, sang a “Jingle Bell,
Rock around the Clock” medley,
“Christmas Comes from the Heart”
and “Hosanna.”
Mayor Rick Murphrey was there to
read to the children, after Library
Director Sharon Stack told| them that
her favorite word was “read.” She also
informed everyone that there are
Christmas trees ‘scattered throughout
the library with cards hanging from
them. If people would like to pick out
their favorite books, they will be pur-
chased for the library and have mark-
ers placed inside of them for dedica-
tion. “Read to someone that you love,”
Stack said, adding that it is a precious
gift to share. :
“The most important thing to
remember is that Christmas is the
birthday of Lord Jesus Christ our
Savior,” Murphrey said. His first read-
ing came straight from the Bible, Luke
2:7-14.
The Praise and Worship team from
Patterson Grove Baptist Church sang
“Silent Night,” while signing. Older
Re
members of the team danced to the
tune of the song “Mary Did you
Know?”
Murphrey then turned to his second
reading, “The Night Before
Christmas.” Throughout his reading
he paused for emphasis and showed
the pictures in the book to the kids
crowded at his feet before turning the
page, explaining them for the little
ones who could not see it. After
the story, he got a phone call. Santa
had been spotted near Kings
Mountain. The city’s firemen were pre-
pared to pick him up and hustle him to
the eager children. Murphrey hung up -
and told the kids that Santa would
meet them out on the front porch.
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
Sgt. Fitch from the Cleveland County Sheriff's I.C.E. Unit shows
one of the department’s toys to Romanian Officers Constantin
Arisanu (left) and Dan Cojocaru. The device has a camera at the
end to help them see possible hiding places for drugs underneath
a suspicious vehicle.
Police officers from different corners of the earth
enjoyed visiting and learning from each other last
week as 12 law enforcers from Romania visited
with officers from the Kings Mountain Police
Department and Cleveland County Sheriff's
Office.
“This is interesting. (This) is another kind of
organization - is different, but our kind,” said
Romanian Ofc. Felician Vasilescu.
He said that even though they come from a dif-
ferent country they share the “same aim and the
same target” with KMPD officers. “We are finan-
cially different. Our money does not come from the
community. Our money comes from our capitol,
Bucharest,” he said. Vasilescu is the chief of police
in Galati County, which has 350,000 citizens. He
Ultra Machine
is expanding
to Shelby
EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
“We are not moving. We are expanding,” said
Frank Stewart, owner of Ultra Machine and
Fabrication in Kings Mountain, an armor-manu-
facturing defense-related business, Tuesday after-
noon at a press conference at Cleveland County
Country Club to announce his company’s expan-
sion into the old Kémet building in Shelby; creat-
ing at least 63 new jobs. ii
“We are leaving this
(Kings Mountain)
plant open,” he said.
“We're probably going
to move half of ‘our
people out there,
immediately to Shelby,
and half will stay here.
We don’t know exactly
what the numbers are
yet. But we do antici-
pate part of our opera-
tion going to Shelby.
Ultimately, we will not
close this plant in
Kings Mountain.”
When Stewart
moved UMF to Kings
Mountain in 2005 it had 25 employees. They now
employ 138 people. “We have outgrown our build-
ing,” he said. UMF looked at maybe building
another facility on property in Kings Mountain,
but that option did not appear to be very cost-
friendly.
He said that one of the main potential problems
that warranted their expansion was the threat of
disaster. If something were to happen to their one
plant in KM they would not have any other facili-
ty to fall back on, which could cripple their opera-
tion or put them out of business, he said. Because
of the importance of what they do and provide, he
added that they cannot take that risk.
The old Kemet building in Shelby off of US Hwy.
See Ultra, 6A
FRANK STEWART
= Same aim, same target
Romanian, KM police share common goal of
ridding their communities of drugs and crime
has been with the force for 16 years and is now in
charge of 1200 officers.
“These guys are great. We've had so much fun
with them,” said KMPD Chf. Melvin Proctor. “I
couldn't sleep last night (Tuesday) because every
time I'd try to sleep, I'd start laughing at some-
thing these guys have said. They are hilarious.”
A dinner was held in their honor Tuesday night
at the Patrick Senior Center. Afterwards, they
retired to their hotel to wake up bright and early
for a day of training, learning, story trading and
joke making with Cleveland County’s finest.
Pastor Roger Woodard, who has visited Romania
on mission trips, gave the officers a lunch to wel-
come them at the Family Worship Center. After
lunch, the officers were whisked back to the
KMPD, where CCS’s I.C.E. (Interstate Criminal
Enforcement) officers, KMPD Ofc. A. L. Emory,
See Romania, 4A