February 15, 2012
Twelve-year-old Tyler Withers of
Kings Mountain was diagnosed with
Type 1 Diabetes on October 2, 2007.
He and his family have experienced
many sleepless nights, closely monitor-
ing his blood sugar. For Tyler, it is a
never-ending cycle of finger pricking to
make sure those levels are not too high
or low. One fluctuation either way,
when he sleeps, could lead to seizures,
organ failure, diabetic retinopathy,
coma, even death.
It's called "dead in bed" syndrome
and it's what Type 1 diabetics and their
loved ones fear more than anything.
But until there's a cure for this auto-im-
mune disorder that affects 25.8 million
American children and adults, thete's a
dog. A diabetic alert dog, specifically
trained to sense through scent when
.
_The Kings Mountain Herald | www. kmherald. net
NEEDED: One alert dog for a restful night's sleep
has been shown to save lives.
Tyler and his parents, Ty and Shanna
Withers, hope to have one soon, for the
sake of a restful night's sleep and peace
of mind.
"Through scent, the Diabetic Alert
Dog would be also to sense when
Tyler's blood sugar levels are off and
would then alert him and those around
that there is a problem. His dog will be
able to detect a high or low 20 to 45
minutes prior to'any monitor," wrote his
mother, Shanna. :
The Withers are hosting a benefit
golf tournament to help raise money for
a service dog. The four-man captain
choice tournament will be held at
Woodbridge Golf Club in Kings Moun-
tain on Saturday, April 28. Registration
is due by April 7th.
The first 25 teams will tee off at 8
a.m. Lunch will be provided. To regis-
ter or for more information, email
Shanna at shannawithers@gmail.com
or Ty Withers at tywithers@gmail.com
or call 704-473-8880 or 704-473-8521.
"Tyler is getting to the age where he
will want a little independence. So
when he is by himself and in case of di-
abetic shock the dogs are even trained
to alert 911. The dog would accompany
Tyler to public affairs, his sports events
and even when he travels, always keep-
ing a keen alert of his blood sugar lev-
els," Shanna said.
Tyler is an active sixth grader at
Kings Mountain Intermediate.
Diabetic alert dogs are trained
through Guardian Angel Service Dogs
out of Montpelier, Va. Tyler is now on
See NEEDED, 5A°
Page 3A
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Twelve-year-old Tyler Withers is in search of a dog...not just
blood sugar falls out of a healthy range,
any dog.
SCOUTS: shadow city
FROM Page 1
name of a department the
Scout would shadow. Paul
Pillado, an Eagle Scout from
Troop 93 drew Public
Works. Fellow troop mem-
ber and Eagle Scout John
* Bridges was assigned the fire
department.
Troop 39's Sean Downey,
a volunteer with the Kings
Mountain Rescue Squad,
began his morning in the
city's codes department be-
fore a trip to the fire station.
Eagle Scout Ross Clark of
Troop 92, a junior Kings
Mountain firefighter, toured
the city's water department.
. Randall Trahan and Alex
Hannon, both of Troop 95,
rode along with the Kings
Mountain Police and toured
the KMPD headquarters.
Garret Allen of Troop 39
tagged along with the mayor,
sitting in his office, checking
out his walls of photos of
events and people Mur-
phrey's met during his
tenure. Allen was dubbed
"mayor" for the morning.
And the first order of busi-
fess on this particular morn-
ing was to go out and
investigate a complaint. A
hillside in the city was rid-
dled with burrows.
"We think it may be a
groundhog infestation," the
mayor said. No word on
those shadows.
He told Allen that part of
his job is to help find a solu-
tion and to "get the right peo-
ple involved" to help when
there's a problem. The mayor
and his "mini me" toured
local industrial sites buzzing
with new activity and then
headed off to Moss Lake -
the city's 15-billion grllon
IESELVOIL.
Eddie Grabert of Troop
91 and Hunter Cooke of
Troop 92 doubled up for a
double treat, touring the
city's electric and gas depart-
ments. The two looked at a
bucket truck and handled
some of the lineman's tools. .
With a bit of enthusiasm
Grabert explained how they
were shown a truck handled
by controls similar to a video
game console and watched a
lineman scale a pole with
/
"spikes in his shoes".
Asking if he would ever
like to climb a pole like the
lineman he saw, he said
'no". It wasn't the height so
much that unnerved him as
the thought of those spikes,
which easily dug into wood,
that could do the same to
one's legs with one wrong
step. ’
"That would leave a
mark," he agreed.
Then, Grabert said, they
went into a building and
"walked down a hallway for -
a while" until they reached a
door that read "STAFF
ONLY". "We went in there,"
he said, with a grin.
* In the room, he saw the
city's SCADA system illumi-
‘nated by a computerized
map of Kings Mountain's
electric grid. Cooke and
Grabert were shown how a
power outage in a particular
sector shows up in green.
~ This was Cooke's ‘first
. time shadowing departments
in the city. He said he en-
joyed it. And a little after
noon the Scouts reunited at
the Patrick Senior Center for
a pizza lunch.
This annual City-Scout
Shadow day began in Kings
Mountain as early as the
1950s, according to Scout
Master Tommy King, who
took over leading the pro-
gram in 1958. The Boy
Scouts, which celebrated its
100th birthday in America in
2010, began here two years
before it was nationally char-
tered, by a Kings Mountain
troop based out of St.
Matthew's Lutheran Church.
King told The Herald in
2010 that Kings Mountain
was the only municipality he
knew of that allows local
scouts to shadow city em-
ployees.
“We are very appreciative
of the city doing this,” he
added.
“We're always very proud
to have the scouts come
downtown and work with
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Photos by EMILY
WEAVER
Left to right, Boy Scouts John
Bridges, Paul Pillado, Eddie
Grabert, Garret Allen, Sean
Downey, Mayor Rick Murphrey,
Scouts Ross Clark, Hunter
Cooke, Randall Trahan and Alex
Hannon.
BELOW: Police Chief Melvin
Proctor and Capt. Jerry Tess-
neer, I-r, introduce Boy Scouts
Randall Trahan and Alex Han-
non to dispatcher LaVern Smith
- KMPD's first line of defense.
the different department
heads,” said the mayor, who
is an Eagle Scout himself.
“They learn a lot about the
city and we learn from
them.”
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beginning in Shelby
At last, a serious alternative for those who want to hear *
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Dress is casual
gs OTE er
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