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EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
Betty Miller looks through old photo-
graphs of her son Dustin, who disap-
peared from their home in Kings
Mountain over three months ago.
Anyone who has seen Dustin is
‘asked to call the police or Crime Stop-
pers.
PAGE 4A
€lay-Barnette
Funeral opens
Pr. Howard marks 30
years of service
Volume 121 e Issue 45 ¢ Wednesday, Noven
Mystery surrounds disappearance of
troubled 22 year old; mom cries for help
_ By EMILY WEAVER
Editor
A cloud of mystery hangs low over the unsolved case of Dustin
Miller. The 22-year-old disappeared from his Kings Mountain
» home on Aug. 12, 2009, mere hours after he told his mother his
life had been threatened.
She said that he went to the convenience store, just a short walk
from their apartment home at Chesterfield Court, on Aug. 12 to
pick up a loaf of bread and a few other things. When he returned
around 10:30 p.m., he was visibly shaken and out of breath as he
stumbled over the front threshold, she said.
* He told his mother, Betty Miller, that on his way home he was
stopped by a car filled with men. One of the guys, he said, pulled
a gun on him and threatened to kill him and his mother. The threat
allegedly came courtesy of another man the two had a brush with
earlier.
Several months back, a man was arrested for attempting to
break into the Millers' apartment.
On the night of the break-in, Betty said, the man was wearing
a bullet-proof vest and was carrying a gun.
She said that the man tried to come in through the front door as
she tried to fend him off with a kitchen knife. When her son got
home, he rushed in through the back door and stabbed the suspect
in the leg before the police arrived, she said.
Not long before the attempted break-in, Betty said, a man, who
was allegedly visiting in the apartment complex, asked to use her
Breakfast with Santa
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Santa has breakfast with a young
year’s Breakfast with Santa at the KM
Woman’s Clubhouse. Right, children enjoy
the special reindeer pancakes at breakfast.
The Kings Mountain Woman's Club will spon-
sor "Breakfast with Santa" Saturday, Nov. 21, from
6:30-10 a.m. at the Woman's Club, East Mountain
Street.
The buffet menu will feature sausage, bacon,
eggs, grits, pancakes (reindeer pancakes for chil-
| dren) biscuits, juice and coffee. Plates are $5 with
i] preschoolers eating free. The public is invited.
Private shopping in the Elves Closet will fea-
| ture gifts for $1 each - shop for Christmas, teach-
1 ers, friends and/or parents without parents looking.
J A photographer will make pictures of children
4 with Santa from 7:30 until noon. Prices vary ac-
7] cording to the package you choose beginning at
$11:
girl at last
On the ail
ity honors veterans
HAVE YOU SEEN HI
Youns man vanishes
Grants in the works
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Staff writer
Rural Economic Devel-
opment Grants to the city
could total up to $480,000
to new businesses wanting
ta relocate and renovate
buildings and the first,
$12,000, was approved this
week to Body
Junction/Shapes by Jodi re-
locating with The Looking
Glass Salon to the former
* McGinnis Furniture Co. on
S. Battleground Avenue.
Three more new busi-
nesses - Bell Lines Inc.,
Farm Equipment & Repair,
and Metal Retooling have
applied for grants, which
city council is expected to
approve Tuesday night.
Each approved business re-
ceives $12,000 per new job
they bring to town.
The relocation of three
downtown businesses,
where one new person will
be hired, and their plans to
{
renovate a previously
owned building have made
Body Junction/Shapes by
Jodi eligible for a $12,000
grant from the Rural Devel-
opment Grants Program.
Mayor Rick Murphrey
said that the City of Kings
Mountain has been selected .
for funding under the De-
velopment Grants Program
for the reuse and restoration
fund development of N.C.
Rural Economic Develop-
ment Center, Raleigh.
The mayor said that fu-
ture months should see a
total of 450 jobs available.
See GRANTS, 3A
Alliance
Bank&Trust
Building Communities
3
City to look at new
“annexation plan
~ Eighteen homes i in Area I, the Crocker Ridge Sub-
division, could be annexed by the city Tuesday night -
by City Council, but 28 homes on Countryside Road
and the Kris Kraft building are aed from the original
plan.
at City Hall.
‘SUPER SAVINGS ACCOUNT!!!
1.50% $2,500.00 minimum to open
$2,500 minimum to earn advertised rate
APY*
ari public hearing « on the! Sanation plan last
2) month, questions ‘were raised about the cost to he city ;
to Tun services to these areas. i
* The Crocker Ridge neighborhood contains 9, 5
acres of residential acreage subdivided into lots and
tracts three acres or less in size. : i
_ A portion ‘of Area H is included in the annexation 4
; olin excluding Countryside and the Kris Kraft plant,
0 City Council meets at6 P m. in Council Chambers :
209 S. Battleground Ave., Kings Mountain ® 704.739.5411
www. alliancebankandtrust.com e MEMBER FDIC
By
", Harris Funeral Home
Locally Owned
& Operated Since 1947
®; ; }
) A Family Tradition of Dignity,
% Service & Understanding
5
: 108 5S. Piedmont Ave:
e 1 Kings Mountain, NC - #}
739.2591
phone.
"I wouldn't let the guy
use my phone," she'said.
According to Betty, that
- was her first encounter
into her apartment.
The man charged in the
break-in is still in jail, ac-
cording to police. Author-
ities have said there is no
evidence to indicate that
he was involved in the dis-
appearance of Dustin.
When Dustin told his
mother about his harrow-
ing encounter Aug. 12, she
said, "he wanted to get some protection and go back out looking for
them."
She tried to calm him down and told him she would call the po-
lice. Betty suggested he go lie down in his room and try to relax
while she finished dinner. He did.
"When Betty went to his room to rouse him for supper, Dustin
was gone.
His wallet and identification were still sitting on the dresser
where he left it next to a plastic bag of medication he would need
to take the following morning. ' 3
"He took no clothes, no money or his cigarettes,"
in a missing person's report.
Nothing seemed to be missing but him.
_ DUSTIN MILLER
Betty wrote
‘See MISSING; 7A
City to discuss
moratorium on
sweeps applications
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Staff writer
Kings Mountain City Council may set a moratorium Tuesday
_ night at 6 p.m. on any future "sweepstakes" applications from busi-
nesses flooding the area with video gaming machines.
Mayor Rick Murphrey said city officials are working with City
Attorney Mickey Corry to draft zoning and codes to limit the in-
flux of machines. :
The city has been receiving calls from citizens for several weeks
and the mayor said council will take direction from the attorney as
it continues to look at present zoning and codes restrictions.
At least eight businesses in the immediate area have the sweep-
stake terminals available to customers.
It depends on who you talk to if they are legal or not.
Judges in two North Carolina counties have ruled either the ma-
chines successfully evade the gambling law or that the law itself is
unconstitutional. Law enforcement hands are apparently tied until
state legislation steps in. ;
"I got an education visiting one of these places in town today,"
said the mayor Tuesday.
Sweepstakes machines require players to buy a product such as
a long distance phone card or prepaid Internet access. Store clerks
provide a personal identification number, which players enter into
the machine to play a game of chance. No money is dispensed from
the terminals. Players collect their winnings at the cash register.
Prosecutors differ in their opinion of the games which some call
entertainment and others call gambling.
RIDING FOR A CAUSE
Murphy’s annual
Toy Run Saturday
The 15th annual Murphey's Scooter Shed Toy Run for
benefit of Shriners Hospital, the Masonic Home for Chil-
dren and the Kings Mountain Police Department's Christ-
mas project for the needy will be held Saturday with police
escorts from the Kings Mountain Police Department and
Cleveland County Sheriff's Department escorting motor-
cyclists coming from Kings Mountain, Gastonia, Shelby
and South Carolina to participate in the pre-holiday event.
The event will begin with BBQ and music by Crimson
Rose Band at 11 a.m. at 114 Camelot Court.
The route: 114 Camelot Court, right onto Phifer Road,
right onto Bethlehem Road, left onto 74 West bound, right
onto DeKalb Street, right onto E. Marion Street, left onto
See TOY RUN, 3A
*Annual Perfentage Yield. Rate effective 8/01/09, Rates subject to change. Offer valid for a limited time ag. $2,500 minimum to open. If tiance falls below $2,500, rate will reduce to regular published rate.
with the man who broke
ETE —