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kmherald.net
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ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald @gmail.com
“We're rethinking our best prac-
tices,” Stephen Fisher, Director of
Administrative Services, told the
Cleveland County Board of Educa-
tion at a workshop session Monday
night.
He was speaking about school
Faunce
continues
to seek
rezoning
City Council will get a recommen-
dation from the city planning board
Jan. 29 to continue a Kings Mountain
businessman’s request for rezoning
“to give everyone more than adequate
time to review his site plans and con-
ditions for rezoning.”
For several months David Faunce
of Faunce Properties has sought re-
zoning of property at King and Moun-
tain streets, most recently reducing
the number of uses and presenting a
site plan showing what could be used
in the zoning classification of Office,
a medical or non-medical building.
Residents of Mountain Street,
where part of the neighborhood is
designated historical, have challenged
the rezoning for some time. The
Faunce location is currently occupied
by a day care center at West Mountain
and King streets. The new plans call
for elimination of access to Mountain
Street
At last Tuesday night’s meeting of
the planning and zoning board Faunce
agreed to withdraw his zoning request
long enough to allow West Mountain
Street property owners more time to
review the site plan, which includes
parking lot, driveway access, layout
and application changes.
City Council makes the final de-
cision on zoning matters.
Input sought
for planning
and growth
What do you value most about
Kings Mountain and what would you
like to see happen in the future? How
should our region grow?
Your input into these questions
and more about future planning and
growth is invited at an open house
Thursday, Jan. 17, from 4-7 p.m. at H.
Lawrence Patrick Senior Center, the
eighth in a series of 30 community
open houses planned in the “Connect
Our Future” project spearheaded by
the Carolinas Council of Govern-
ments.
Kings Mountain is part of a 14-
county region billed as one of the
fastest growing in the nation, with
See YOUR INPUT, 8A
8798525700200
School EN
safety.
“Each time a school
tragedy happens we look at
each situation differently and we’re
in conversations daily since the
horrible shooting in an elementary
school in Connecticut,” he said.
Fisher added that the safety com-
mittee is focusing on three areas:
physical structure, school reaction
and our plan; and communication
in community and emergency re-
sponse. :
Several board members men-
tioned that several local campuses
include more than one building,
how to protect mobile units, some
campuses have more than one en-
ing?
Boyles.
KMH file ot
Minister of Music Avery Jones leads the Mt. Calvary Baptist Choir in a moving
rendition at the 10th annual Martin Luther King Jr. tribute in 2012.
Photo contest to highlight
ML King Day celebration
The late Civil Rights leader Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke numer-
ous words of inspiration on “Faith”
and “Faith” is the theme of the Martin
Luther King Day 2013 photography
contest at Kings Mountain City Hall
on Monday, Jan. 21.
King once said “Faith is taking the
first step even when you don’t see the
entire staircase.” He also said, “All
who call on God in true faith,
earnestly from the heart, will certainly
be heard, and will receive what they
have asked and desired.”
The photography show will be
See CONTEST, 8A
Dropout rates down
in Cleveland County
Figures released recently show 28
percent fewer students left local high
schools without graduating last year.
Some 180 students in grades nine
through 12 (3.56 percent) dropped out
of schools in Cleveland County in 2012
— 70 students less than in 2010-11 when
250 (4.81 percent) left without graduat-
ing.
Last year’s rate of 3.56 percent rep-
resents an improvement of more than 3
points since 2007-08 when the rate was
6.76 percent. And, the number of stu-
dents dropping out each year has been
reduced by half since 2007-08 when 376
students left school before graduating.
State average dropout rates also im-
proved last year to 3 percent down from
3.43 percent in the for students in grades
nine through 12.
The annual dropout rate differs from
the four-year cohort graduation rate. The
cohort graduation rate follows a group
of ninth-graders across four years’ time
and reports the percentage of these stu-
dents who graduate four years after they
begin high school. The annual dropout
rate illustrates the number and percent-
age of students who drop out during one
.year’s time.
A lower dropout rate often corre-
sponds with a higher graduation rate as
is the case in Cleveland County. The
local graduation rate exceeded 77 per-
cent in 2012 — an improvement of more
than 4 percentage points from the previ-
ous year and the highest rate ever
recorded.
Figures show 77.7 percent of those
local students who entered ninth-grade
in 2008-09 completed high school in
four years of less. This is up from of
73.2 percent in 2011 and an improve-
ment of more than 15 percentage points
since 2005-06.
See CLEVELAND COUNTY, 8A
trance, what about lunchrooms,
schools with breezeways and fenc-
“We're looking at all the needs
and we’re taking these questions
seriously,
Safety plans are in place at each
school in the county and school re-
SPORTS,
1B
m What would your child’s
B school do in an emergency?
source officers work in all second-
ary schools with a supervisor, all
paid employees of the school sys-
said Supt. Dr. Bruce
tem. Security entrances,
drills, including fire and tornado, a
code red system for emergencies
safety
and critical incident kits are a few
of the
safety
See SCHOOL SAFETY, 8A
steps already
Flu appears
to be weakening
zw BETH BROCK
beth.kmherald@gmail.com
The flu appears to be on a
downward trend in Kings
Mountain as well as all over
the nation.
But health officials are
still warning that if you feel
any flu-like symptoms, stay
at home unless seeking med-
ical attention.
Dottie Leatherwood, Di-
rector of the Public Relations
Department of Cleveland
Regional Hospital, said that
the effects of the flu in
Cleveland County seem. to
have reached their height
and have begun to subside.
Over 10 percent of all pa-
tients tested for the flu have
tested positive according to
Leatherwood who said that
most of the doctors and
emergency rooms in the area
have stopped using the test
because it is not 100 percent
accurate and is very expen-
sive.
Now if the patients ex-
hibit flu-like symptoms,
most doctors go ahead and
treat them for the flu she
added.
Cleveland Regional and
Kings Mountain Hospitals
are still enforcing the direc-
tive that no one under the
age of 12 is permitted to visit
patients.
Area nursing facilities are
asking that no one with .
coughs ‘or other flu-like
symptoms visit the residents.
Flu vaccinations are
available at your family
physician’s office, many area
pharmacies, and the Cleve-
land County Health Depart-
ment’s General Clinic
located at 315 E. Grover St.
in Shelby. The Cleveland
County Health Department
is now offering free flu vac-
cines to uninsured and un-
derinsured. There is a
consent form available to
download on the health
See FLU, 8A
Council remains
undecided about
police coverage
BESSEMER CITY - By
the end of January Town
Council will make a decision
on whether to re-launch its
own police department 14
years after disbanding it.
City Manager James
Inman says it’s a tough call
for the six member board
and purely a financial deci-
sion.
“Regardless of any ru-
mors around town our work-
ing arrangement with Gaston
County has been a good one,
there have been no issues
and police do a great job in
this community.”
Mayor * Becky Smith
handed each board member
reams of material from the
city, consultants and Gaston
County at Mondays council
meeting to take home to
study. She plans to call a spe-
cial meeting later this month
for a vote on the issue.
Inman said that a poll re-
cently conducted on Face-
book, at Angel’s Shop and
Central Drug Store revealed
that 73% of the city’s 5,400
residents want their own po-
lice department run by the
city.
«Gaston County has an-
‘nounced its plans to termi-
nate its contract with
Bessemer City July 1 unless
the contract can be negoti-
ated. Currently, Bessemer
.City pays Gaston County
$430, 00 annually which in-
cludes a 5% increase each
year. In 2013 the cost to
Bessemer City from the
county for police patrolling
will be $640,000 with in-
creases for the next three
years bringing the total cost
by year 2016 to $1.2 million
dollars.
After first hearing the
county’s request for more
funds in September, Inman
enlisted a private consultant
to examine the cost of
See BC COUNCIL, 7A
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To schedule an appointment contact Baker Dental Care today! Call 704-739-4461
703 E. Kings St., Suite 9, Kings Mountain * www.BakerDentalCare.com
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