El a NnN ee i Y
gs
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Vol. 119 No. 28
<1ijoy
Kings
Mountain’s
Fabulous
Fourth
of July
celebration
Since 1889
50 Cents 3A
RELAY FOR LIFE
Kids lead way
as KM Relay
tops ACS goal
with $82,865
EMILY WEAVER
: eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
The top fund-raising team for
Relay for Life this year was not
the adults, it was the kids. One
team, called Angels Battling
Cancer, with five children, all
under the age of 12, raised the
most money, beating Kings
Mountain Hospital's eight
teams with 63 members.
But there could be no losers in
this battle. Every team compet-
ed for a common cause - to find
a cure for cancer. However,
Angels Battling Cancer (ABC)
couldn’t help but bask in the
glory at Monday night's wrap-
up ceremony at the Patrick
Senior Center, when the official
fund-raising amounts were
announced.
This year’s efforts in Kings
Mountain Relay for Life have
raised $82,865.13 in the fight for
a cure for cancer. “We raised
about $10,000 over last year’s
total ($73,444),” said co-chair
Tammy Hogue. “We raised less
than the goal Tammy (White)
and I set but more than the goal
the American Cancer Society
set. So we were right in the mid-
dle.”
The Top 10 teams that raised
the most money for this year’s
10th Annual Relay for Life were,
from tenth to first, El Bethel
UMC Youth, Eaton Corp., White
Oak Manor, Sassy Red Delights,
Bethware Elementary, A Kut
Above, Cleveland Home
Health, Firestone, KM Hospital,
and ABC.
See Relay, 7A
East gets
$10,000
for books
EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
3
East Elementary School was
recognized for recently receiv-
ing a $10,000 federal grant for
beefing up its Non-Fiction
library collection Monday night
at the Cleveland County School
Board meeting.
East will match a quarter
($2,500) of the $10,000 Library
Services and Technology Act
School Library Collection
Development Grant to purchase
over 600 new books. Principal
Jerry Hoyle said that they got
the good news about a month
ago and it was sweet to hear.
“We had been working on this
grant for about a year,” he said,
adding that school librarian
Erica Melton put so much time
and energy into the grant acqui-
sition.
“We had been concerned that
we needed to strengthen our
collection of books,” Hoyle said.
“All of your science books
become outdated very quickly.
You don’t want 30-year-old
books on spacecrafts.”
He added that books can also
get worn with age and that it
may be harder for a student,
today, to relate or be attracted to
a book that pictures kids from a
different era. :
Hoyle said that about $500,000
in these library grants were
See East, 4A
GARY STEWART
gstewart@kingsmountainherald.com
All incumbents but two have
filed for re-election to Kings
Mountain City Council, but thus
far none of them have opposi-
tion.
Filing began Friday at the
Cleveland County Board of
Elections and will continue
through 12 noon, Friday, July 20.
incumbent councilmen Howard
Shipp, Jerry Mullinax, Dean
Spears, Mike Butler and Rodney
Gordon. Incumbents Keith
Miller (Ward 5) and Houston
Corn (At-Large) have yet to file.
Former At-Large councilman
Rick Moore has filed for Miller's
seat in Ward 5. Spears is the only
person to file for one of the two
At-Large seats.
In a new staggered term for-
ELECTION
at-large candidate with the most
votes and the mayor, and wards
1, 4 and 5 winners will receive
four-year terms. The second
highest vote-getter in the at-large
race and the winners of the
wards 2 and 3 races will receive
two-year terms. Those positions
will be up for election again in
2009 with winners then receiving
four-year terms. After that point,
the staggered term format will
Thus far, mayor Rick mat approved last Thursday by
Murphrey has filed along with the U.S. Justice Department, the
be fully implemented.
See Council, 7A
FOURTH FUN
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Rexen Vong plays on the monkey bars at Jake Early Sports Complex - and did
quite well doing it by himself - as his father Don looks on prior to the July
Fourth Extravaganza. Rexen Is four years and 10 months old.
am
EMILY WEAVER
Sunday night, May 27.
Hk 8 Win.
Bob and Annette Webster have been singing and lead-
Ing the music at Oak Grove Baptist Church for over 50
years.
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
Annette and Bob Webster have
been singing for the Lord at Oak
Grove Baptist Church for the past 50
years. They were honored for their
service at a church reception on
Mary Lee, chairwoman of OGBC’s
personnel committee, said that Mr.
Webster began leading the church’s
music in 1956. His wife followed
2009 election.
RED CROSS 90TH ANNIVERSARY
Additional services planned
GARY STEWART
gstewart@kingsmountainherald.com
Cleveland County Red Cross is cele-
brating its 90th year this week with plans
to expand its services in Kings Mountain.
The
‘at Kings Mountain’s office
One of the Kings Mountain office's
future goals is to coordinate a community
blood drive. Cook says a Saturday drive
is being considered so people who work
during the week will be able to donate.
Cook
American
Red Cross
was found-
ed in 1881
but most
chapters in
the: =11.S es as’ the .
today trace | at i Shelby
their roots headquar-
back to The Kings Mountain Red Cross office is located at 212 ters, and
1917 when S-Pledmont Avenue In the oid Kings Mountain Herald added that
they organ- building. the KM
ized to assist families of soldiers involved
in World War L
The Kings Mountain and Shelby chap-
ters merged in 1964 to become the
Cleveland County Red Cross, and in July
2002 the chapter opened a branch office in
Kings Mountain at 212 South Piedmont
Avenue in the former Herald and Regal
Graphics Building. It is staffed part-time
Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m.-1
p.m. and at other times in emergencies
and is the only Red Cross office in
Cleveland, Gaston and Rutherford coun-
ties that serves as a center for persons to
give blood in advance of their own sur-
geries. The service is offered the first
Thursday of every month.
Benny W. Cook Jr. serves as Executive
Director and holds office hours at the
Kings Mountain location every Thursday
morning. At other times, volunteers man
the office. :
The Kings Mountain office also holds
Health and Safety instruction, including
CPR and First Aid. Companies, groups
and others are invited to call the Red
Cross office at 704-487-8594 to inquire
about those classes.
Cook says the chapter will have “more
of a full-time presence”in Kings
Mountain in the future. More volunteers
are needed to make that goal a reality and
anyone interested in volunteering is also
urged to call 487-8594. Volunteers assist
with numerous administrative duties,
fund raisers and mandatory reporting to
the National Red Cross office.
KINGS MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
Making a Joyful Noise to the Lord
Websters have been singing at Oak Grove Baptist for 50 years
suit in the Spring of 1957 playing the
piano and then the organ in 1960.
“They're thrilled to death (about
being honored) and very humble by
the experience,” Lee said. “He will
tell you that he doesn’t know why
we kept them around this long, but
it's because they're both very talent-
ed, humble, and very good at what
they do.”
The Websters had no idea of what
was to come that Sunday night.
Since the church is currently in
said the
Kings
Mountain
office tries
to offer the
same servic-
facility is used more often than other area
facilities as an emergency shelter. During
the December 2005 ice storm 10 residents
took advantage of the shelter’s service.
The building is equipment with numer-
ous rooms and cots, and a generator to
run the building; and there is plenty of
room to expand.
Cook said the Kings Mountain facility
would take on major significance as a
shelter during a disaster for the entire
area since Kings Mountain is an evacua-
tion route for the Catawba Nuclear
Facility. He also said the potential for dis-
asters also exist because of Kings
Mountain’s proximity to I-85, Business
and Bypass 74 and Southern Railway.
That potential, as well as the growth
being experienced in the Kings
Mountain-Grover area, dictates that Red
Cross have a presence here for many
years to come.
“We are one of the best kept secrets in
the Kings Mountain-Grover area,” Cook
says. “Not a lot of people know we're
here.”
Kings Mountain has a strong presence
on the Cleveland County Red Cross
Board of Directors. Fire Chief Frank
Burns is the new chairman of the board
and recently attended The Chairman's
Institute at National Headquarters in
Washington, DC. Former Mayor Scott
Neisler is vice-chairman.
The Neisler Family purchased the
Kings Mountain building from Regal
See Red Cross, 2A
between pastors, traditional Sunday
night services have been replaced
with singing and fellowship. One of
their sons, John, who lives in
Raleigh, was “asked to come play
the piano as a special treat for
Sunday night,” Lee said. The
Webster sons were in on it, but their
parents had no idea.
“The kids drug them to the
church. We've been passing notes
around and going behind their back.
‘See Websters, 9A
Lot of interest in KM Council race
Three Kings Mountain residents are among the four people who
have filed thus far for a seat on the Cleveland County Board of
Education.
Incumbents Shearra Miller and Terry McClain will be joined on the
ballot by retired Kings Mountain educator Connie Phifer Savell.
Also filing for the board is S. Dale Oliver of Shelby.
Six seats are available this year as the board moves to a staggered
term format. The five people with the most votes will receive four-
year terms, and the sixth highest vote getter will receive a two-year
term. The four-year term format will be fully implemented with the
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