xmherald.net
Volume 124 ¢ Issue Ge Hotnesay February 8, 2012 ° 75¢
Three arrested i in cold case murder
ELIZABETH STEWART
lib. kmherald @gmail.com
Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman
said Tuesday that three men have been
charged with first-degree murder in the death
of Kings Mountain area resident Charleen E.
Simon, 49, almost 17 years ago.
The homicide has been a cold case since
June 21, 1995.
The arrests Monday afternoon and Mon-
day night followed a four-state investigation
in the two Carolinas, Tennessee and Florida
by two cold case investigators from the Th
iff's department and one investigator from
the Special Bureau of Investigation, assisted
part-time by retired Gaston Police Sgt.
Jimmy West, formerly of the Kings Moun-
tain Police Department, and retired officer
Jim Hollingsworth of the Charlotte/Mecklen-
burg Police Department.
Simons was killed during an armed rob-
bery in her home, familiarly called "The Log
Cabin," at 1208 S. Battleground Road. The
cause of death was never released. The resi-
dence (which was torn down some years
ago) was Sn a beer joint.
Gator Walter Martin, 42, of 1721 Roy
Woods Road, Comer, Ga., and William Earl
(Rusty) Huffstetler, 37, from 110 Brull Street
in Blacksburg, S.C., were arrested Monday
and charged with killing Charleen Simons on
June 21, 1995, according to arrest warrants.
Both Martin and Huffstetler are in the Cleve-
land County Detention Center without bond.
A third man, Randy Michael Wagenknect, -
40, of 1317 Jourolman Avenue, Knoxville,
Tenn. faces similar charges and is in Knox
to Cleveland County, said Norman.
"This was the first cold case the team has
reviewed and there are more cold cases on
file," said the sheriff. y
According to the Herald front-page story
June 22, 1995, Charleen E. Simons was
found dead June 21, 1995 at 1:45 a.m. sitting
in a chair behind a bar. "There was a lot of
blood at the scene," according to then-
County Coroner Ralph Mitchem. Autopsy
into the cause of death was conducted at
See THREE, 5A
6 Tu
CIR
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
Left to right, Chemetall Foote President John Mitchell, Mayor Rick Murphrey, Chemetall Foote Project Engineer Mare Tuttle
and Chemetall Foote Corp. CFO Ron France stand with a Chevy Volt, left, and a Nissan Leaf outside of the new technical
Cele. TOP RIGHT, Mayor Rick Murphrey i is surprised to jean the Volt powsisd on Without a Sound,
EMILY WEAVER
Editor
One of Kings Mountain
Little Theatre's largest pro-
ductions - renovating its Joy
- has taken center stage pri-
ority as construction workers
and . volunteers ready the
house for the arrival of 270
new seats, set to be in Feb.
23.
A lot must be done before
they come and before the
theatre's next production of
"School House Rock" opens
March 8th. Dozens of busy
workers are on the job.
Dust went flying Satur-
day as Jim Swanson, of
Eagle Restoration, and crew
scraped and sanded the floor
County Jail in Knoxville awaiting extradition
:
world-class
space for
WORLD
LEADER
EMILY WEAVER
Editor
Construction is nearing completion of Chemetall Foote
Corp.’s new 56,000-square-foot technical center, one of only
two in the world, and lithium hydroxide plant, where this rec-
ognized world leader in lithium technology will develop ma-
terials for advanced transportation batteries and more.
Chemetall officials say they hope to move into their new
state-of-the-art headquarters - a stone’s throw away from
their 30-year-old digs on its 800-acre Kings Mountain site ~
around the end of March. The nearly $60 million investment
has added about 300 contract workers to the site during con-
struction and may add close to 80 permanent high-tech jobs
to the company in total.
See CONSTRUCTION, 3A
Tesenair advocating
awareness, battling
mysterious disease
: and then got on his computer
and found out facts about the
life-threatening lung disease.
+ ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
of the auditorium. The old
‘seats were removed in
See Joy, 5A
3 Local agencies kick off
community read initiative with
1,000 free books, quickly given
* mw KYRA A. TURNER
. kyra.kmherald@gmail.com
What if government ruled
all> and pitted your kids
“.- against each other in a fight
to the death for its entertain-
ment? In Suzanne Collins’
"The Hunger Games", that
fictional threat is reality. It's
created quite a "fansational”
‘buzz.
Mauney Memorial Li-
brary opened to a line of
Volunteers work to replace the stage lighting near the control box in the baleany, of the Jy
Perinaming Arts Center Saturday.
anxious readers Wednesday
morning waiting to get a free
copy of the book, the first
event of several in a county-
wide initiative to "Read-
Unite-Survive".
The library partnered
with other county agencies,
Gardner-Webb University,
Kings Mountain Historical
Museum, Southern Arts So-
ciety, Cleveland County Arts
See INITIATIVE, 5A
Joy Laney, a Kindergarten teacher from Kings Mountain, in-
tently reads “The Hunger Games”.
Told he had a mysterious,
incurable disease that kills as
many people a year as breast
cancer, Boyce Tesenair, 63,
reacted the way many people
diagnosed with pulmonary
fibrosis do. :
He put his faith in God
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
Jeffrey Graham Foster,
45, of 802 First St., is a lucky
man.
Kings Mountain Det.
Cpl. K. L. Hamrick said that
officers found Foster lying
on the side of the Baker
Street railroad tracks after an
Amtrack passenger train hit
him early Monday morning.
The Norfolk Southern
train was northbound and
struck Foster around 12:30
50h Bag of Baccto :
EE Professional Botting Soil
Foster in hospital after
getting struck by train
Then he decided to spread
awareness in his hometown.
The more research and at-
tention given the disease, the
better, according to Tesenair,
who, even with shortness of
See TESENAIR, 5A
a.m., according to a KMPD
incident report filed by Sgt.
Mark Butler. :
Hamrick said Amtrack
called KMPD and officers
See FOSTER, 5A
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