. Photo by ELLIS NOELL
HEY SANTA - Isabella Laughridge, 2, is awestruck with
Jolly Ole Saint Nick at a local day care visited hy Santa’s
Firetruck Express.
See more Sights of the Season on page 8A
Christmas Eve
services planned
Christmas Eve church
services will highlight the
Christian celebration of
Christmas.
Three Kings Mountain
Lutheran churches, Advent,
Resurrection and St.
Matthew’s Lutheran, are
planning traditional 11 p.m.
candlelight services. The Ad-
vent congregation worships
at H. Lawrence Patrick Sen-
ior & Conference Center.
The chancel at St
Matthew’s will be decorated
with a pair of Chrismon trees,
white poinsettias, and an Ad-
vent wreath with a Christ
Candle in the center, lighted
at the point in the reading of
Luke 2 when the Christ Child
is born. Pew torches will be
used. Holy Communion will
be celebrated around the
manger at the altar rail. Spe-
cial music will be provided
by the choir and familiar car-
ols will be sung by the con-
gregation. Candle lights will
be passed down each pew at
the end of the service sym-
bolizing the Christ Child
coming to each of us. Pastor
Setzer’s sermon will be on
“The Wondrous Gift.” “Visi-
tors are warmly welcome to
join the congregation on this
Holy Christmas Night,” said
the pastor.
First Presbyterian Church
will hold candlelight com-
munion service at 9 p.m. on
Christmas Eve. Special music
will be presented by the choir.
Dixon Presbyterian
Church will hold candlelight
communion at 5 p.m. Christ-
mas Eve. Allysa Newton will
sing “Happy Birthday Jesus.”
Boyce Memorial ARP
Church will hold Christmas
Eve service at 7 p.m. After
Lessons and carols, the con-
gregation will light candles
around a circle in the sanctu-
ary and sing “Silent Night.”
Amendment okayed
By a 7-0 vote Kings
Mountain city council took
the planning board’s recom-
mendation last Tuesday
night and okayed a zoning
text amendment which regu-
lates permitted and condi-
tional uses for public
commercial multiple recre-
ational and entertainment
uses.
The amendment specifies
for recreational/entertain-
ment use, under residential
setbacks, that public streets
and right of ways edge shall
be a distance of 100 lineal
feet.
Councilman “Tommy
Hawkins made the motion to
approve the text amendment,
seconded by councilman
Rick Moore.
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Businessman Mike
Brown, who is developing
Hounds Campground, re-
quested the amendment be-
cause currently there .is no
provision for multiple recre-
ation in city ordinances.
* The minimum standards
for a private recreational
complex of at least 40 acres
includes: 50 foot setbacks
along any commercially
zoned property or a 100 foot
setback along any residential
property, or a 400 foot set-
back from any existing
church or residence from any
motorized vehicle (go-carts
or ATVs) activity; screening;
six foot fence around any go-
cart course or track; any
cabin occupancy restricted to
no more than 21 consecutive
days; hours of operation for
any go-cart or ATV activity
restricted to Monday through
Friday from 9 a.m.-11 p.m.
and Sunday from 1-11 p.m.;
and parking as required in
Article IV of the Kings
Mountain Zoning Ordinance.
AA Vere BS
Volume 124 Issue 51 » Wednesday, December 19, 2012 ¢ 75¢
Locally Ouned
& Operated Since 1947
A Family Tradition of Dignity,
Service & Understanding
"i : 108 S. Piedmont Ave.
1 Kings Mountain, NC
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139-2591
A joyful season turns mournful
* Area schools: emergency safety plans in place
au ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Due to the Connecticut school
shooting, Cleveland County school
leaders will be re-evaluating sys-
temwide emergency plans at the next
district work session.
“Any time something like this hap-
pens we get additional advice from
law enforcement and review what we
already have in place,” ‘Supt. Dr.
Bruce Boyles said at Monday night’s
board of education meeting.
All Cleveland County schools
have safety plans in place designed
specifically for use in emergency sit-
uations.
Local school officials work with
the county schools administration to
develop emergency plans and they
practice them throughout the year so
that students and staff will know what
to expect.
Schools work closely with local
law enforcement agencies, including
Kings Mountain Police, Shelby Police
and the Cleveland County Sheriff’s
Department, all of whom are aware of
the individual school’s safety plans.
Security entrances have been cre-
ated at all of the schools that include
a patrolled access door controlled by
staff. Each school and its entryway is
also monitored with cameras.
Along with law enforcement offi-
cers stopping by some schools: on
Monday, Kings Mountain High
School students were signing a banner
and cards of sympathy to be sent to
the families of the Sandy Hook Ele-
mentary School shooting victims. At
7:15 a.m. today (Wednesday) the stu-
dents and staff at KMHS released a
balloon for each of the 26 victims on
the front lawn of the high school on
Phifer Road.
The Cleveland County Board of
Education opened its Monday night
meeting with a moment of silence in
memory of the victims of the horrify-
ing Friday morning attack by 20-year-
old Adam Lanzy, in a killing frenzy
that also included his mother and him-
self.
“We work hard in our schools to
keep all our children safe, and in
Cleveland County we have incorpo-
rated best practices to do that by
working with individual schools and
with law enforcement agencies,” said
Supt. Boyles. He added, “We don’t
know why this tragedy happened but
our prayers and thoughts are with the
people in Newtown, Connecticut, we
know they are hurting and we are
hurting with them.”
Funerals for two of the young vic-
tims were held Monday and more are
planned this week.
The Associated Press reported that
families in Newtown were already
taking down Christmas decorations in
this joyful season turned mournful.
Prayer vigil Saturday
A prayer vigil for the victims of the
Connecticut school shooting will be held
Saturday, Dec. 22, at 2 p.m. at Central
United Methodist Church in Kings Moun-
tain. 7 :
Harris Funeral Home and Central
‘United Methodist Church are sponsoring
the service to which the public is invited.
Rev. Rex Gibbs, Central Methodist pas-
tor, and Rev. Tom Jolly, El Bethel-Grace
United Methodist pastor, will lead the serv-
“ice,
Twenty-six candles will be lighted at the
altar in memory of the 20 elementary
school children, ages six and seven, and six
teachers who were gunned down Friday
morning at Sandy Hook Elementary Schoel
in Newtown, Connecticut, in the second
worst school massacre in American history.
“We strongly believe that the faith com-
munity should come together for prayer for
these bereaved families,” said Eric Wright
of the staff of Harris Funeral Home. “We
don’t know them but we know their hearts
are broken.”
The public is invited to participate in the
memorial service.
Harris Funeral Home is also opening a
register book for sharing your thoughts
with the bereaved families in Connecticut.
You can also share condolences by clicking
on the website www.HarrisFunerals.com
The register book will be mailed by
‘Harris staff to Honan Funeral home in
Newtown with your messages and for-
warded to families of the victims.
ones.
penses.
fain.
Ready to shine
Christmas Eve
The 15th annual luminaria service at Kings Mountain’s
Mountain Rest Cemetery is scheduled for Christmas Eve
from 6 p.m.-midnight.
City staffers with the Kings Mountain Public Works De-
partment will place 6,000 luminaries on graves in the ceme-
tery and 1,000 luminaries on roads leading into the cemetery
on Thursday and Friday. :
Ricky Putnam, city public works director, said that vol-
unteers are needed to help city workers light the luminaries
beginning at 2 p.m. Christmas Eve.
Last year’s event drew thousands of visitors to the ceme-
tery to celebrate the Christmas season and to remember loved
Admission is free but donations are Bocepted to defray ex-
Luminaries shine around a statue of an angel during the 2011
luminaria service at Mountain Rest Cemetery in Kings Moun-
Library celebrates
75th anniversary
« WENDY ISBELL
weekly community time at-
Help needed to nab
robbery suspect
Kings Mountain police
\ wendy.kmherald@gmail.com
Mauney Library took on
a festive air Friday as head
librarian Sharon Stack, her
staff and visitors celebrated
75th years as a city depart-
ment. :
Cupcakes, balloons and
party hats were being en-
joyed by students from Heart
4 Homeschooling, directed
by Cheryl Vagnozzi. The
kids spent part of their
tending the party.
Laid out to peruse—with
protective gloves—were his-
torical scrapbooks from the
70s, 80s and 90s, the original
guest log book from the
1947 opening of the library,
and the 1924 brochure of
Mountain Rest Cemetery.
The Jacob S. Mauney Li-
brary is housed in the Hord
mansion, built in the early
See LIBRARY, 6A
Historical Museum lia Stephanie Walsh looks through
the original 1947 guest log.
- Photo by Wendy Isbell
are asking for the public’s
help identifying a man who,
- robbed a drug store over the
weekend.
Police said an armed man
walked into the Rite Aid at
601 East King Street on Sat-
urday and demanded a con-
trolled substance
(prescription drugs) from
behind the pharmacy
counter.
The man grabbed the [
medication and jumped into
an older, dirty, white vehicle
with dark paneling down the
side and possibly a hubcap
missing on the driver’s side:
of the vehicle. Police said
another white male was
driving the car which left on
Cleveland Avenue traveling
north.
The suspect was de-
scribed as a white man in‘his
late 40’s to 50’s standing
5°7” to 5’9” tall and weigh-
ing 150-180 pounds. He was
wearing a red baseball cap,
black hoody sweatshirt and
blue jeans, and brandished a
KMPD photos
black in color semi-auto-
matic handgun. ' .
The suspect left with an
undisclosed amount of med-
ication from the pharmacy
area, police said.
Anyone with information
regarding this robbery is
asked to contact Det. Cpl. K.
L. Hamrick with the Kings
Mountain Police Criminal
Investigations Division at
704-734-0444.
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