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Volume 125 e Issue 36 ¢ Wednesday, September 4, 2013 75¢
Council renames stadium
In other business: City buys new equipment, moves to demolish two abandoned homes
=: DAVE BLANTON
: dave.kmherald @gmail.com
The Kings Mountain City
Council met last Tuesday to
rename one of the city’s
sports stadium after a Kings
Mountain coaching great,
award a commercial mower
bid contract, recognize sev-
eral city employees for their
service and set two con-
demned properties for even-
tual demolition, among other
business.
Parker Farm Service beat
three other bidders on the
price and delivery of a boom
mower, also known as a bush
hog, that will be used to cut
grass on city property as
needed. The cost of the
mower is $102,000, an ex-
penditure that was already
part of the year’s budget.
City Stadium, located at
W. Mountain St. and S. Gas-
ton St., is set to be renamed
“Shu” Carlton Stadium, the
Kings Mountain High
School’s head football coach
from 1948-1956, who
amassed a 48-25-8 record,
during his tenure. Carlton
won the Southwestern Con-
ference championship twice.
He was also a Bronze-medal
winner in the Korean War,
for leaving his tank and
crawling through a minefield
to rescue a fellow Marine
who was under heavy fire,
according to documents pro-
duced by the council.
Carlton is a member of
- five sports halls of fame, in-
cluding The Kings Mountain
Sports Hall of Fame, the
Gaston County Sports Hall
of Fame and the N.C. High
School Athletic Association
Hall of Fame. The Kings
Mountain Hall of Fame is set
to raise money for any costs
associated with new signage
and street markings, accord-
ing to Kings Mountain
Mayor Rick Murphrey.
The city moved a step
closer to demolishing two
vacant properties in the Mid-
pines area that are in disre-
pair and are overgrown with
See COUNCIL 6A,
Mayor Rick Murphrey thanks Mauney Memorial Library Teen Volunteers at last week’s ses-
sion. The council praised the youngsters for helping encourage children to read, leading
camp songs and helping prepare crafts and activities. In all, they worked over 1,000 hours
in the summer reading program.
New hope for Travis | Bethware principal
eager to share credit
Battle against rare
disease continues
DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald @gmail.com
Ashley Milton is standing by
her young son in a frightening med-
ical ordeal that has tested the entire
family since he got a terrifying di-
agnosis of a rare and dangerous im-
mune system disorder back in
January.
Travis Davis, 8, underwent a po-
tentially life-saving bone-marrow
transplant on Aug. 24 at Levine
Children’s Hospital in Charlotte in
an effort to reverse the effects of a
very uncommon autoimmune dis-
ease called hyper immunoglobulin
syndrome. In general, the condition
causes grave weaknesses in the im-
mune system and results in patients
having a higher than normal sus-
ceptibility to various infections.
Now, the doctors and family are
waiting anxiously to see if the
transplant procedure was a success.
“We're hearing it went well ...
but we don’t know yet if it was a
complete success,” Milton said.
“The bone marrow hasn’t starting
growing in his body.”
Milton said doctors have told
her that within the next week her
son’s white blood count should
start rising. That would signal that
his body is accepting the donor tis-
sue, and that he may be able to de-
feat the disease that affects only
one in two million males. Females
are carriers of the gene that causes
hyper immunoglobulin syndrome
and are not susceptible to it, as doc-
tors have explained to Milton.
Patients with Davis’s condition
who do not receive a successful
bone marrow transplant face stark
odds: eighty percent die before the
age of 29 from liver disease, Milton
See DAVIS, 3A
8'"%9.8525%00200""1
Travis Davis, seated, and cousin Cameron Petti squeeze in some playtime
at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte. Davis’s family is hoping a bone
marrow transplant he got last month will help him fight off a rare and po-
tentially fatal auto-immune disease he was diagnosed with in the winter.
Make a Wish come
true this Saturday
A high school senior project
about generosity that leapt from the
school grounds to try to do some
‘real good in the world is now in its
fourth year. The annual Jammin’
for Wishes benefit, a music festival
and Sk run that so far has raised
$7,500 for the Make-A-Wish Foun-
dation.
The event, which features live
music, face painting and other fam-
ily-oriented activities, kicks off at
8 a.m. Saturday at Patriots Park
downtown.
Isaac Pearson took an interest-
ing fundraising as a teen at Kings
Mountain High School. He wowed
judges with a senior project on the
psychology of giving and founded
See JAMMIN’, 6A
DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald@gmail.com
Jennifer Wampler is taking
her latest accomplishment in
stride.
The Bethware School princi-
pal who was recently named the
best at what she does in the
Cleveland County Schools in-
sists the school’s success is a
team effort.
. “It’s not determined whether
I won the apple,” she said, point-
ing to the glass award in the
shape of the red fruit she picked
up August 23 at a Shelby cere-
mony. “It’s determined by what
my teachers say, and by what
my staff says. This school has
come a long way in just a few
Three years ago, when she
inherited the top job at the
school that serves the Oak
Grove community and other
parts of western Kings Moun-
tain, Bethware was last place in
standardized testing for reading
and math. Last year, it claimed
first in those categories.
Climbing that hill required a
solid plan and a steady hand at
sticking to a goal of not only im-
menor
Patriot Day celebration Sept. 11
proving those scores but wy | !
them the best among the dis-
trict’s other
15 elementary |
schools. She also said getting
wouldn’t have been possible
without a bright and forward-
looking staff of teachers and as-
sistant teachers.
“You can’t make a change in
a year if there aren’t people here
who get it,” Wampler said.
A product of Kings Mountain
High School (class of 1994) and |
belonging to a family of educa-
tors, she said she knew early in
life she wanted to be a teacher.
She earned a B.A. from Ap- |
palachian State University and |
from there moved right into the
classroom — teaching chemistry
at Wake Forest-Rolesville High |
short years.” School, near Raleigh.
Going by the student Six years later, she felt a pull
achievement numbers, she’s toward her adopted hometown
right. of Kings Mountain and moved
to the area to take an assistant |
principal job at Mount Holly’s
Pinewood Elementary School.
Along the way she had earned a
master’s degree in education |
from her alma mater.
“I always wanted to be a
teacher,” she said, speaking of
her days as a high school stu-
dent. “I didn’t see myself in ad-
ministration.”
See WAMPLER, 6A
A ST IN SR pe
The City of Kings Mountain will observe Patriot Day on Wednesday,
Sept. 11.
This solemn anniversary is an annual commemorative service for
those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
“This was a very dark day for Americans and the world,”
said Mayor
Rick Murphrey. “We will never forget the attack on so many innocent
people and we honor those whose lives were lost and stand proud of our
servicemen and women who continue, to this day, to defend and fight
for the freedom we have here in America.”
The observance will be held on the plaza in front of Kings Mountain
City Hall, 101 W. Gold Street, at 12 noon. Participants will include the
presentation of colors by the Kings Mountain Police Honor Guard, an
invocation by Police Chief Melvin Proctor, pledge of allegiance by Fire
Chief Frank Burns and the National Anthem by Shana Adams.
Mayor Murphrey will speak followed by a moment of silence and the
memorial ringing of the Fire Bell.
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