kmherald.net
Casino
coming?
Will Kings Mountain
land a casino in the future?
Reams of" copy in the
daily newspapers and reports
on area TV stations have
been grinding out stories that
a South Carolina Native
American tribe is reportedly
eyeing property in this area,
which could bring a hotel, a
casino and other retail busi-
ness.
But most importantly, a
project of that magnitude
could bring thousands of
jobs to a county where the
rate of unemployment tops
10 percent.
City and county officials
say discussions on economic
development projects require
confidentiality. They are not
talking.
“I was at a meeting at a
local site with a representa-
tive of the Governor’s office
for about 10 minutes last
month to show local prop-
erty,” said Ronnie Hawkins,
_ chairman of the county
board of commissioners.
The site was the Jim
Testa property on Dixon
School Road, 45 acres be-
side the Roadside Truck
Plaza, 400 Dixon School
Road, owned by the Testa
family. For several weeks
surveyors have been sta-
tioned along that stretch of
road just off Interstate 85.
Kings Mountain City
See CASINO, 3A
Properties
eyed for
demolition
City Council is eyeing
two pieces of property on
Edel Street in the Midpines
Community for demolition.
Mayor Rick Murphrey
said that council will con-
sider adopting an ordinance
ordering demolition of prop-
erties neighbors complain
are a public nuisance.
The neighbors say 10-
foot high grass is up to the
roof of a vacant house at 307
Edel Street, has been, cut
only twice in three years and
is infested by rats and
snakes. A storm knocked out
windows in this house. The
other vacant property is at
311 Edel Street.
~The properties lie in the
city’s extra territorial juris-
diction.
Among other items on
the Tuesday night 6 p.m.
board agenda is a public
hearing on a voluntary an-
nexation request by In-
focrossing.
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Volume 125 e Issue 34 » Wednesday, August 21, 2013 ¢ 75¢
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Farm fresh goodness |
The Foothills Farmers’ Market had a successful first day Saturday i
EEE
in spite of the rainy weather. The Farmers’ Market, in downtown |
Kings Mountain, will be located on South Railroad Avenue between |
Gold and Mountain streets. The emphasis is on healthy eating and
a fresh engagement hetween growers and consumers. The market
will run through Oct. 12. For the 2014 growing season, the market
{ looks to be open from early May through October.
EE A ET ET TAA
Photo 2b ELLEN De VENNE Y
CRT sya
Mail carrier
recovering after
recent dog attack
The animal involved in the attack has
been quarantined by county authorities
DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald@gmail.com
‘When mail carrier Mary Anne
Figuerua was delivering packages
and letters along one of her routes
on a recent Saturday morning, she
encountered something that’s not
unusual to her or to her line of work:
a pit bull terrier, off its leash.
“He popped his head up,” she
said. “I must have startled it.”
Within moments, the powerful
male dog was in attack mode and
had sunk its teeth into her bare left
leg. Mail carriers are trained to re-
spond to such incidents with a pep-
per spray, their first line of defense
against aggressive dogs they may
come across. But the pepper spray.
wasn’t working to fend off this ca-
nine. Fortunately, a man who
Figuerua believes was the dog’s
owner intervened and managed to
pull it off of her before she suffered
more serious injuries.
“Now I can (laugh) about it,”
said the eight-year veteran of United
States Postal Service. “But at the
time I was mad ... and scared.”
“ Figuerua was quickly treated and
released at the Kings Mountain
Hospital emergency room for the
August 10 incident, which occurred
Mary Anne Figuerua
on Baker Street in the neighborhood
between N. Piedmont Avenue and
N. Battleground Avenue. There she
received a tetanus shot and was able
to return to work the following day,
although her routes were shifted
around to put her in a vehicle and
off her feet, due to lingering sore-
ness in her calf. The dog, whose
owner has not stepped forward, is
being held in a 10-day quarantine by
Cleveland County Animal Control,
protocol for any animal attack. The
See FIGUERUA, 5A
2013
Drug
bust
Kings Mountain’s largest criminal roundup ever
Law enforcement officers are arresting and have warrants for 30 suspects on
84 drug related charges in the largest criminal roundup ever, “Operation Sum-
mertime Blues.” From left to right at a press conference Friday at the Kings
Mountain Police Department are Mayor Rick Murphrey, Chief of Police Melvin
Proctor, mayor pro tem Rodney Gordon and Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Nor-
man.
ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
“You do drugs in Kings Mountain
and we’ll put you in jail,” Chief of
Police Melvin Proctor said Friday
morning as the Kings Mountain Nar-
cotics Division of KMPD conducted
the largest drug bust roundup ever in
Kings Mountain.
Thirty people were arrested on 84
total charges related to drug activity, .
involving a number of controlled sub-
stances, including pain pills, metham-
phetamine, crack cocaine and
marijuana.
Kings Mountain police started
picking up suspects Friday at 9 a.m.,
assisted by the Cleveland County
Sheriff’s Department and other agen-
cies.
“I’m tired of what drugs have
done to this community; we won’t
Photo by ELLIS NOELL
stop until all drugs are off the streets,”
said Proctor. He added, “Drugs affect
everyone economically and a collab-
orative effort that we have with law
enforcement will put a stop to it,
that’s our goal.”
Cleveland County Sheriff Alan
Norman echoed the chief’s words.
. “This just goes to show this is a part-
nership with law enforcement agen-
cies that was developed years ago,”
He added, “The drug dealer knows no
city and county boundary. and we all
work as a unit to use our resources
and you see the result of these efforts
this morning.”
Proctor said “Operation Summer-
time Blues” began in 2012 and an-
other operation is in the works with
several agencies involved.
“There are high-risk individuals
that you don’t know what they’re
See DRUG BUST, 5A
Back to the books
Busy time as teachers
and administrators pack
in training, hammer out
new schedules and get
classrooms ready.
+= DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald@gmail.com
Nearly 15,000 students will pour
into Cleveland County school cam-
puses on Monday, and for the last two
weeks or so teachers, administrators
and other staff have been getting
ready for the late August rush of ori-
entation, scheduling and training that
accompanies a new school year.
“It’s a pretty crazy time for them,”
said Greg Shull, Communications Di-
rector for the Cleveland County
Schools. “There’s a lot of preparation
and there’s tons of training,” referring
to new software that is used, among
other things, to track grades and at-
tendance. “Basically, they’re devel-
oping the blueprint for an entire
year.”
Most teachers reported back to
work for the first time on Aug. 14,
when administrators held a system-
wide staff orientation. New teachers
attended a separate orientation the
following day at the system’s main
offices in Shelby. There was also a
teacher assistant rally on Tuesday.
A 7:45 a.m. breakfast honoring
2012-2013 Teacher of the Year, Prin-
cipal of the Year and Teacher Assis-
tant of the year is scheduled for
Friday at the LeGrand Center in
Shelby.
For Sharon Brown, a 6th grade
language arts teacher at Kings Moun-
tain Intermediate School, this is a
busy and energizing time of year.
She’s spent the last several weeks
planning activities, meeting with
other teachers and, of course, deco-
rating her room at the school.
“My excitement level every year
has not diminished one bit,” said the
seven-year teacher, who fulfilled a
lifelong goal of becoming an educa-
tor after a first act in life as an office
manager and holding other jobs in the
manufacturing sector.
For Brown and other teachers
working at that grade level, the first
week of school is focused on “learn-
ing the rules, the expectations.”
“That’s the starting point — respect
for the other students and respect for
the teachers at the school,” she said.
The Intermediate School functions
See SCHOOLS, 5A
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