Police suspect ‘medical
problem’ caused driver to Tz
lose control and crash
head-on into a van driven by
Teresa Wilson, who was
carrying her grandson,
Ramsey Stiles, back home.
Read more, Page 3B
ZIRNIHE
Month
Special
DESMAN THOMPSON
by Robert Harling.
The curtain goes up Friday night at 7:30 p.m. on
opening night of five performances by the Kings Moun-
tain Little Theatre Inc. of the popular *’Steel Magnolias™
By GARY STEWART
Sports Editor
The Kings Mountain sports community is
mourning the death of a gentle giant this week.
Desman Thompson, an All-Conference
center on Kings Mountain’s 2007 football
team, was killed Saturday morning in a head-
on collision on East King Street.
Thompson was a three-year starter for the
Mountaineers and is given credit by his
coaches for providing the leadership and atti-
tude needed to turn the football program
PLAY’'N AROUND
Lid
photo by EMILY WEAVER
Left to right, Linda Nichols, Erika Wood and Ginger Bullock ‘act out a scene in the upcoming pro-
duction of ‘Steel Magnolias’ at the Joy Theatre.
‘Too twisted for color TV’
‘Steel Magnolias’ opens Friday
By ELIZABETH STEWART,
EMILY WEAVER
around.
“He was definitely a leader and a big part of
turning around our program,”
sive line coach Kevin Cruise. “When a new
coaching staff comes in you have to have play-
ers to buy into your system. Our situation here
was that we came in very late in the summer.
If the seniors had not bought into what we
‘ were trying to do it would have been very dif-
ficult. Desman was one of the ones that spear-
headed the turnaround.”
Thompson was one of the captains on the
line. He took his role seriously, and the
Tickets are selling fast as the theatre readies itself for
a play that is sure to make every viewer laugh and cry.
Performances are on Friday and Saturday evenings,
Feb. 20,21,27, and 28 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Feb.
22, at 3 p.m. at the Joy Performance Center, 202 S. Rail-
road Avenue. Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $8 for
TRAGIC ACCIDENT
Mountaineer sports community mourns
death of gentle giant, Desman Thompson
said his offen-
doit.”
statements.
Total Body Taping Salon
108 S. City St. » Open Year-Round
© ii’s Ib ef
younger ‘players followed his example.
“He was a big fellow (375 pounds),” Cruise
noted, “but no matter how long we made them
run he always finished and the younger kids
noticed that. He did anything that was asked
of him and more. Even if there was nothing
~ going on on the field and I asked him to go to
the sideline and snap the football 50 times he’d
Head coach Greg Lloyd echoed Cruise’s
“He helped our younger guys quite a bit,”
See TRIBUTE, Page 4A
By ELIZABETH STEWART
staff writer
The dramatic changes in
the textile economy in the
late 20th Century makes the
survival of the Margrace
Mill Village, remarkably in-
tact for a mill community
nearly 90 years old, even
more significant for con-
sideration as the Margrace
Village Historic District on
the National
Historic Places.
Members of the Kings
Mountain Landmark Com-
mission, who hired archi-
tectural historian David
Foard Hood to prepare the
nomination document, will
probably know in May if
the district is approved.
Becca Johnson, National
Register Coordinator for the
North Carolina State of His-
toric Preservation Office,
also attended Thursday’s
public hearing at City Hall
for presentation of the offi-
cial nomination.
The village’s name re-
flects a combination of the
name of Margaret ( 1907-
1995) and Grace (1910-
1999) Neisler, the eldest of
three daughters born to the
Margrace Mill founder,
Charles Eugene Neisler,
See PLAY, Page 3A 1868-1931." The 46 one-
Register of
ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS
Community gathers
to learn history
of Margrace Village
¢ Couple arrested in
toddler’s death...2A
o White Plains Shrine
Club is looking for
new home...3B
¢ KMHS gears up for
spring sports...2B
story frame mill houses, the
former stone masonry Mar-
grace Mill clubhouse, and
the two-story frame brick
former Margrace Mill Com-
pany Store are distinctive
years after the Margrace
Mill ceased operation by
the Neisler family (1920-
55). In Autumn 1956 the
mill houses were sold to
‘Margrace employees
During the years since
1984 when businessman
Kelly Bunch bought the de-
teriorated mill complex for
salvage value, most of the
factory and processing
buildings have been demol-
ished. The once-flourishing
textile complex is no more
although Bunch has put up
new construction inside the
woven wire fence and de-
See MARGRACE, PG 3A
tain Business Show-
kicks off Tuesday
: Yes fun, food, music
See BUSINESS, PG 4A
ETE
. Shadows fall
on city leaders
By EMILY WEAVER
Editor
Several shadows roamed the halls of city buildings and
streets on Friday, studying their assigned targets.
They listened and absorbed what they could from the
municipal leaders they followed, staring with interest at the
tasks each department has to perform. A peak inside the ev-
idence room at police headquarters, a tour through the
power plant and an enlightening romp through the ceme-
tery - the day’s adventures had just begun.
Friday was the annual Scout Day in the City of Kings
Mountain and the objective for leaders was to broaden the
|
photo by EMILY WEAVER
Capt. Derek Johnson shows Scouts Kirby Hullender, left, and Edward Black-
See SHADOWS, Page 4A pyrn an arrest warrant as they toured through the KMPD on Boy Scout Day.
osm
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209 S. Battleground Avenue
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