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KINGS MOUNTAIN
The Herald
Vol. 119 No. 27
Since 1889
50 Cents
~raig Short
joins football
coaching staff at
Kings Mountain
High School
10A
KINGS MOUNTAIN
David Ozmore
Rotary Citizen
of the Year
EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@Kingsmountainherald.com
: David Ozmore, executive
director of the KM Family
YMCA, was named the first
Rotary Club of Kings Mountain
Citizen of the Year at the Awards
Banquet last
week at the
Patrick Senior
Center.
His family,
who was in on
the surprise,
dragged him to
the banquet.
But small hints
2 along the wa
§ OZMORE helped cushion
his surprise. He said that he
game home from work and was
fold not to change; the family
was going out to dinner. “We
pulled into the parking lot (of
the Senior Center) and I saw a
couple of people and said,
‘These are Rotary people,
because I used to be in Rotary.
We go inside and then I won-
dered Why am I the only one
that has my children here?” he
said. “I knew something was up
and she (my wife) was just grin-
ning ear to ear.”
About halfway through the
‘program outgoing President
Doug Satterfield made an
announcement about the
awards they were going to be
giving away. “Citizen of the
Year was the only non-Rotarian
award that he listed so I knew I
had to be getting that. By deduc-
tion I figured out about halfway
through the event what was
going on,” he said, with a grin.
Ozmore was a Rotary member
from 1999-2003 and had to leave
the club behind due to other
commitments and engagements.
The criteria for the award cen-
tered on community involve-
ment, a definite fit for him. He
teaches Sunday School at First
Baptist, does the broadcasting
for Kings Mountain High School
football games, is the president
of the Gateway Trails, and is
also active on a few YMCA
boards like the AYP (Association
of YMCA Professionals in North
and South Carolina). “Between
those passions, I stay pretty
busy,” he said.
Ozmore also runs marathons
and spends much of his days
biking and running to stay in
shape and to prepare for his
next marathon competition.
Thirty-plus mile biking adven-
tures are common expeditions
See Ozmore, 10A
1,
JOHN H. MOSS DAY
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Kings Mountain Mayor Rick Murphrey, left, shares a laugh with former mayor John H. Moss as he presents
Moss with a Key to the City at Thursday’s reception honoring Moss at the Kings Mountain History Museum.
Reception at KM History Museum
honors baseball,
"GARY STEWART
Wi gstewart@kingsmountainherald.co
John H. Moss, who is stepping down at the end of the
year after almost 50 years as President of the South
Atlantic League, was honored by his hometown with a
reception Thursday night at the Kings Mountain
History Museum.
Memorabilia from Moss's career in baseball and his
23-plus year career as mayor of the City of Kings
Mountain, is on display at the museum through the end
of August.
A huge crowd of friends, neighbors, city and county
officials and baseball personalities from the minor
leagues attended the event.
During a brief ceremony inside the museum, Kings
Mountain History Museum President Evelyn Hamrick
and Mayor Rick Murphrey paid tribute to a man who
was once crowned “King of Baseball” by the minor
leagues and noted by national publications as the
“Mayor with the Midas Touch” for his knack of secur-
ing almost $30 million in federal funds for the city dur-
ing his tenure as mayor.
“He is a very special person,” said Mayor Murphrey,
who said he often leans on Moss for advice in leading
the city forward.
-“He has given so much to this community,”
Murphrey said. “He is a visionary, a man of honor, and
has given his life to baseball and service to his commu-
nity.”
Murphrey said Kings Mountain continues to build on
the foundation Moss built years ago as mayor. When
Murphrey and Council recently began planning for a
second reservoir near Moss Lake, he said Moss was the
cal lagend
first person he called on for advice.
“Moss Lake is one of the most important events in the
history of Cleveland County,” Murphrey noted.
“During the drought a few years back it was a blessing.
“John Henry is not only Mr. Baseball, but Mr. Kings
Mountain,” Murphrey said.
Murphrey presented Moss with a huge plaque desig-
nating Thursday as “John H. Moss Day in Kings
Mountain,” and then presented him with a key to the
city, an award both mayors presented to hundreds of
people over the years in appreciation of their service to
the town.
“Iam truly appreciative and will remember this for
many years,” Moss said.
Standing before a huge banner listing the names of
the members of the SAL Hall of Fame was indeed fitting
for Moss’s remarks, because at the end of his tenure as
league president Moss will be working to establish a
permanent SAL Hall of Fame.
The league, which is 104 years old, spans 16 cities
including 14 in the southeast, and last year set a minor
league record for attendance with 3.8 million. Moss said
the league is on track to top the 4-million mark in atten-
dance this year.
During his tenure as mayor, the Moss Administration
was responsible for securing federal grants that helped
build numerous buildings in town, including the
Community Center (now the YMCA) and City Hall,
and recruited industries such as Eaton Corp., Reliance
Electric and others which created 4,587 jobs.
Following the ceremony, Moss and guests moved out-
side to the Commons Area where they enjoyed food,
refreshments and fellowship.
ELECTION 2007
ling opens
| Friday for
local offices
Murphrey to run for fifth term
as Kings Mountain’s mayor
Kings Mountain mayor Rick Murphrey will file
for his fifth term when filing for local elections
begins Friday at noon at the County Elections
Board.
Murphrey is a veteran of 14 years on City
Council, serving six years as a commissioner and
eight as mayor.
If Kings Mountain's resolution to change the city
charter to have four-year terms of office passes the
U.S. Justice Department, the mayor’s post will be a
four-year term. Also getting a four-year term will be
the person getting the highest number of votes for
the two at-large seats and the winners of the wards
one, four and five elections.
The second highest vote-getter in the at-large
election, and the winners in wards two and three
will receive two-year terms. They will run again in
two years for four-year terms and after that city
elections will be staggered every two years.
Filing for Grover Council, Cleveland County
Board of Election, and Cleveland County Sanitary
District seats also begins Friday. Filing ends at 12
noon on Friday, July 20.
“I believe in Kings Mountain and care about its
future, and will work together with the Council as a
“team to move Kings Mountain progressively for-
ward, providing good service to the citizens and by
keeping taxes and utility rates as some of the lowest
in the surrounding area,” Murphrey said in making
his announcement.
Murphrey pointed to several successes during his
past and current administrations, including form-
ing a lease agreement with the History Museum for
use of the old Post Office facility and forming a
partnership with the YMCA to lease the
Community Center and ball fields and “provide a
number of different programs form infant care up
through the elderly.”
He also pointed to the new police department
and new senior center as major accomplishments,
as well as a community-wide effort in 2001 to build
the children’s playground at Jake Early Memorial
Sports Complex.
Industrial recruitment, he said, has resulted in .
over $100 million dollars in investments and over
2,000 jobs since 2004. He is also proud that the city
has received a “perfect audit” for the past seven
-years and that the city is able to provide numerous
free special events several times a year to “give back
to the community.”
Under his watch the city also signed a contract
with Siemen’s that he said will save the city over $3
million in energy savings over the next 12 years;
started two peak shaving plants that save the city $1
million a year; and recently made the last payment
on a buyout of its 30-year wastewater contract with
Gastonia which is saving the city $17 million over
the life of the contract.
Some of Murphrey’s goals during the next two
years are to expand the Patrick Center and add a
picnic shelter out front, continue an aggressive
industrial recruitment and incentives program, con-
tinue to work with Mountaineer Partnership to
revitalize downtown Kings Mountain, and continue
Emily Anthony has been teaching and ministering to missionary
and Intemational children In Hungary over the past year at the
International Christian School of Budapest, where she teaches
high school math. She Is home for the summer but will return to
Hungary In August for another year of service.
| EMILY WEAVER
iL. eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
Teaching can be a great adventure.
Kings Mountain native Emily Anthony
spent her first four years as a teacher at
South Caldwell High School, after grad-
uating from Appalachian State
University.
But at the end of those four years she
began an amazing journey halfway
across the globe. Now home for the sum-
mer, she has just finished her first year as
a math teacher at the International
Christian School of Budapest (ICSB). She
plans to return to the 1-12 grade school in
August for at least one more year.
“Wher communism fell in eastern
Europe lots of missionary organizations
wanted to bring their mission headquar-, «
ters into eastern Europe. People ‘call
Hungary the gateway to eastern Europe
but it’s the most westernized country in
the area,” she said.
“One of the top three reasons why mis-
sionaries leave the field is they don’t
Anthony teaching missionary in Hungary
have a good education for their kids. A
lot of them come back to the United
States for that reason,” she said. ICSB
was founded in hopes of eliminating that
reason by creating an American-based
curriculum school in the missionaries’
backyard. But not only are they giving an
American education to missionary chil-
dren and other international students,
they are also bringing the hope of Jesus
Christ alive for the youth who might
never have been exposed to Him other-
wise.
“When I was at Appalachian God real-
ly just burned my heart with missions. I
went to East Asia with Campus Crusade
and the Chinese people just really
grabbed my heart,” she said. “It was an
amazing opportunity to minister there
and to be in a place where people had
never heard about Jesus Christ before.”
She said that she felt like God was call-
ing her to ministry and missions, but at
the same time didn’t feel like she had
: See Anthony, 5A
to go forward with plans to become a gateway com-
munity to adjoining state and national parks.
He said infrastructure will continue to be a prior-
ity, since it is a valuable tool in recruiting new
industry and residents. He will continue efforts to
plan for a second water reservoir near Moss Lake as
See Election, 7A
CTION FACTS
_ Filing period - Noon Friday, July 6 throush noon
Gi) u re at. Cleveland Comney Bond of
day to ER an absentee bal-
ne wi before election. The last day
5
nds at 1 p.m. Saturday
Tuesday, November g 6:30
sday, November 13.
: RES
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er