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Teen uses birthday
wish to help others
KM’s Morgan Childers
OBITUARIES 22
Noble Parker, 84
Tommie Millen; 80
Pete McDaniel, 80
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Opal Bell, 85
COURTESY OF GROVER PD
A photo of evidence from a recent
drug bust shows the marijuana, guns,
money, beer and other items that
were seized. A
Big drug
bust for
Grover PD
Over a pound of marijuana,
loaded guns, cocaine
confiscated in traffic stop
By EMILY WEAVER
Editor
1
Grover Police Chief Todd Martin and Ofc.
Shannon Hamrick made one of the largest.
drug busts in the history of the Grover Police
Department Friday night as they pulled over a
pound of marijuana, loaded guns and cocaine
from a vehicle in a traffic stop.
Mayor Robert Sides said that it was the
largest drug bust he could remember in the
years since the department has been in action.
It began with a simple traffic violation.
Police pulled over Marquis Lebrone
Adams, 33, of 529 Crocker Rd., Kings Moun-
tain, after they say he failed to stop at a stop
sign on Laurel Ave. During the stop, Chief
Martin said he noticed an open container of al-
cohol in the front of the vehicle, but police say
he confessed to having more in the car.
"After he told us that he had a gun in the
car it led to a search," Martin said.
Hamrick and Martin say they pulled two
loaded handguns, cocaine, and several bags of
marijuana and drug paraphernalia from the
2001 silver Chevy Impala Adams was driving.
The marijuana weighed 462 grams, which
totaled over 16.5 oz, Martin added.
"It's good to get it off the streets," ‘Hamrick
said, adding that the bust helped them "get it
out of Grover and this area and, hopefully, out
of other areas too."
Adams was taken into custody around 9:50
p.m. and was charged with one felony count
of possession with intent to sell and deliver
marijuana, a felony count of possession of a
schedule VI controlled substance, a felony
count of possession of cocaine, possession of
drug paraphernalia, and operating a vehicle
with an open container of alcohol. He was also
cited for a stop sign violation.
Adams was transported to the Cleveland
County Detention Center and was booked
under a $15,000 secured bond. The Impala
was impounded.
Chief Martin said that he has adopted a "no
tolerance policy" when it comes to drugs and
dealers in Grover.
"We're just not going to put up with it," he
added. i
His message for anyone involved with nar-
cotics who lives or travels through Grover is
BUST, Page 4A
Council to set hearing
on ‘sweepstakes’ zoning
Kings Mountain City Council at its meet-
ing Tuesday, March 30 at 6 p.m. is expected
to call for public hearing April 27 on a pro-
posed new zoning amendment for amusement
video arcades, including Internet cafes and
businesses (including retail)
with sweepstakes gaming
machines and the like:
The emergence of gaming
establishments has city offi-
cials mapping out a strategy
on how to regulate gaming
operations as lawmakers and
state - courts debate on
whether such businesses are
legal.
Nell Laughridge, 78
Thelma Haney, 57
Republicans: yeah,
_ of the much-debated and con-
hurls 3rd no hitter,
reaches 700 in career
strikeouts
MARCH MADNESS
Democrats: We've
passed historic vote
historically bad
By EMILY WEAVER :
Bier US Rep. Patrick Betsy Wells Jason Falls DeanWestmorsland Suzanne Amos
olitical Smackaown
Sunday night was marked McHenry (R-10) CC Dem. Party ~~ CC Rep. Party Amos Insurance
by many as "historical". regards to ac- land, bill passed 219-212
Many who spoke and voted in
favor of the health care reform
bill claimed the narrow passing
complishments of ‘member of
Congress for the STATE REPS TO SUE the Cleve-
American people FEDS OVER BILL, 8A 2 atiniiid
that I remember," unty
tentious legislation as a victory
in history.
Congressman Patrick
McHenry (NC-10), who voted
against it, called the bill histori-
cally bad and its passing histor-
ically worse.
"It's amazing to me that we
have our first piece of legisla-
tion that passed that forces peo- -
ple to buy something (in a free
market)," said Jason Falls;
owner of Falls Insurance, who is
currently running on the Repub-
lican ticket for the ‘board of
county COMMUSSIONErs.
"I think this is theamost his-
said Betsy Wells,
former chair and current mem-
ber of the Cleveland County
Democratic Party.
She added that both Democ-
rat and Republican politicians
had talked about the need for
health care reform for years.
"But this Democratic Congress
under President Obama got it
through," she said. "I'm so glad
the Democrats rose up and did
this for the people."
"I think it's a good thing and
it's:about time. in this country
that we had healthcare for-our
5 emo -
cratic Party who appears regu-
larly on the local cable show
"Political Smackdown".
Politicians have taken up
arms on both sides of the issue,
threatening those who vote
"yes" will not be reelected come
November. In the midst of all
the bickering and finger-point-
ing there were also times of
courtship,
tried to woo those on the fence
with presidential rides and fa-
VOors.
But despite maneuverings
where politicians
. ping at Kings Mountain Public Works on Pied-
people, said Dean Westmore- |. and strategies on both fronts, the
torical moment of my lifetime in
THE POWER BEHIND CITY POWER
LIB STEWART/HERALD
Mayor Rick Murphrey, left, and Electric Supt. Nick Hendricks demonstrate high-tech
equipment that is saving the city big bucks in shaving electricity costs..
Updated SCADA system helps
city restore power in fast fashion
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Staff writer
Bucket trucks and men in hard hats are famil-
iar sights when your power is out.
But what some citizens may not know is that a
SCADA computerized system and extensive map-
dated for the second time.
Updates give additional backup to the peak
generation plant which paid for itself, a big elec-
tricity cost-saving plan which Mayor Rick Mur-
phrey says saves the city $1 million a year.
SCADA, the acronym for ‘Supervisory Control
and Data Acquisition’ focuses on gathering and
circulating the right amount of system informa-
tion to the right person or computer within the
right amount of time so that problems are handled
quickly. For instance, the Aug. 14, 2003 blackout
mont Avenue pinpoints your location immediately.
Twenty years ago outages from an electrical
storm similar to Sunday night's thunder and light-
ning would have taken city Workers 12-15 hours
to restore power. Not so today, says the city's Elec-
tric Supt. Nick Hendricks who says there were
zero power outages Sunday night. Hendricks said
his Public Works crew "was on top of it" moni-
toring a 10-year-old SCADA system, recently up-
properly functioning SCADA system in prevent-
ing future blackout.
Murphrey said that knowledge of electric util-
SCADA, Page 4A
Happy Customers
are Our Business!
209 S. Battleground Ave., Kings Mountain ¢ 704.739.5411
www.alliancebankandtrust.com ® MEMBER FDIC
in the U. S. demonstrates the importance of a
with all Republicans and 34 De-
mocrat hold-outs voting "no
“Today’s vote means the
President will sign federal fund-
ing of abortions, the Cornhusker
Kickback, the Louisiana Pur-
chase, 19 tax increases and $500
billion in Medicare cuts into
law. His so-called health care
‘reform’ plan raises premiums,
ignores lawsuit abuse and adds
billions to the federal deficit,"
McHenry said, in a statement re-
leased Sunday night.
The Perks
“An extra $100 million in
Medicaid funding for Nebraska
that was coined the "Cornhusker
Kickback" was removed from
Voting
by the
numbers
By EMILY WEAVER
Editor
Cleveland County has a
total of 61,236 registered
voters in its population. As
, the May 4th Primary Elec-
tion draws near, The Herald
is looking at how many of
those voters will cast their
ballots at polls in the Kings
Mountain area.
In the Bethware commu-
nity, 1,484 voters may-head
to the polls at Bethlehem
Baptist Church in the Pri-
mary Election and Nov. 2nd
General Election this year. In
that crowd, 531 are regis-
tered as Democrats, 614 are
registered as Republican and
333 are unaffiliated, accord-
ing to the most recent statis-
tics . released by the
Cleveland County Board of
Elections.
Although there were only
471 registered voters resid-
ing within the city limits of
Grover as of Feb. 3, a whop-
ping 2,808 from Grover and
the surrounding area will be
invited to cast their ballots
inside Grover Town Hall this
year. The Grover polls are
. set to be Democrat-strong
with 1,124 registered as
such, compared to the 1,081
that signed up as Republi-
cans or the 602 who chose
not to pick a party.
NUMBERS, Page 5A
Alliance
Banks Trust
Building Contmunities
ET
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