Page 2A
The Kings Mountain Herald | www.kmherald.net
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Panning for gold? You can...right here in Kings Mountain!
DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald@gmail.com
Could Kings Mountain be
the site of another gold rush?
Probably not, but Ted
Ford nevertheless hopes to
get kids excited about rocks,
gems and history by letting
them pan for gold at his King
Street business. Ford, the
longtime owner and operator
of KM Pools, said the new
venture represents a lifelong
interest in precious metals
and gemstones like quartz,
garnet and ruby.
~ KM. Pools and Gem
Mining opened about six
weeks ago and by April 1 he
and his staff will have a pan-
ning trough up and running.
Folks of all ages can buy a
small or large bucket of un-
sorted earth and learn how to
pan for treasures in raised
wooden structure supplied
with sanitized water.
He’s also offering classes
on gems, gem mining and
jewelry-making.
The location is already a
popular hangout for local ge-
ologists and hobbyists. Many
of them will be on hand to in-
struct patrons about panning
technique.
Mining and precious met-
als culture runs deep in the
history of Kings Mountain. A
Jack Stacey, 12, examines a sample of smoky quartz under
a magnifying glass at K.M. Pools and Gem Mining.
Photo by DAVE BLANTON
CAUSBY: Director of Elections
.Causby’s eight year old son Jimmy, pictured above, enjoys
taking part in bull riding competitions.
From page 1A
- whether bulls or horses.
+ Dayna’s love of horseback riding is how she met her hus-
band. Jack, an experienced farrier, shod her horse.
The family is active in Walls Baptist Church in Bostic.
“Ours is a close knit family and we love to do things to-
* gether, rain or shine,” said Dayna. On a recent rainy week-
end young Causby couldn’t ride bulls, so the family got
together for movie night.
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gold rush in the early 1800s
brought boom and prosperity
to this section of the Pied-
mont for more than two gen-
erations until textile
manufacturing eventually
began to dominate the econ-
omy around the time of the
Civil War.
Ford says he buying the
raw material for his panning
operation from local mining
outfits like Foote Mineral
and Martin Marietta.
Which kinds of gems are
likely to come out of the sift-
ing in this area? Topaz, cit-
rine and amethyst, which are
all types of quartzes. And of
course mica, which is still
mined in the area and is used
industrially in such products
as paint, cosmetics and com-
puter chips.
The Carolina gold rush
may have come and gone
more than 150 years ago, but
that. doesn’t mean there
aren’t small deposits in the
rivers and creek beds that dot
the area, Ford says. He and
other hobbyists have a pas-
sion for finding treasures hid-
den just under the surface
and he wants to encourage
young folks to learn about
gems and precious metals in
their backyards and nearby
creeks.
“I think it really repre-
sents a wonderful opportu-
nity to learn about the world
and about local history,” he
said.
Jack Eaker, a retired geol-
ogist at Foote Mineral, vis-
ited Ford at his shop last
week and the two talked
rocks and history. Together
they inspected a large brick
of mica called book mica that
Eaker said was found north
of Shelby.
“I think it will be a lot of
fun — there’s a lot of interest-
ing finds in the ground in this
area,” he said.
For Kenneth Cash, who
helps Ford manage both the
pool and gem businesses, he
sees the gem mining store as
kind of a free museum where
people can look at fluorite,
petrified rocks and even
trilobyte (an ancient arthro-
pod) fossils.
Cash will also teach a free
gemstones class. His wife,
Robin, will be teaching a
jewelry making class for $20,
which includes all materials.
BIG BIRTHDAYS ~ Pictured left to right are Ruth Beam, Kenneth Kitzmiller, Maude McCarter,
and Mary Warren, participants at the Patrick Senior Center who are holding signs reflecting
their age this month. The motto at the Patrick Senior Center is “Adding Life fo Years”.
SCHOOL BOARD: hears input on superintendent search
From page 1A
For others, the next su-
perintendent should work
hard with other administra-
tors too ensure high aca-
demic standards for student
athletes.
“There’s too much focus
on sports,” said Roy Lock-
hart, Jr. “The academic ex-
pectations we place athletes
should be higher.”
The public comments
served as prelude to a dis-
cussion about the results of
a recent community survey
that sought to find out what
folks in Cleveland County
were looking for in their
next school leader. Superin-
tendent Dr. Bruce Boyles is
set to retire June 30.
Scott Murray, a represen-
tative from the N.C. School
Boards ‘Association
(NCSBA), which wrote the
survey and is consulting in
the candidate search, led the
presentation and explained
the survey results.
More than 1,100 people
took the survey, which con-
sisted of five questions, plus
a comment section. The sur-
vey was taken by members
of the community and
Cleveland County Schools
personnel — and the break-
down of their answers was
given in the survey results.
“Excellent teachers and
staff” topped the list of pos-
sible answers from both
groups to the question
“Please select the FIVE
most significant strengths of
the Cleveland County
Schools.” That was followed
by “Student achievement”
(for the community) and
“Supportive community”
(for staff).
Community and staff re-
sponses were identical when
ranking “the FIVE most im-
portant areas of skill or ex-
pertise that the next
superintendent should pos-
sess.”
“Communication with
parents and community,”
Educational leadership” and
Interpersonal and public re-
lations skills” topped the list
from the both groups.
“This was a high turnout
for the surveys, given the
size of the community,”
Murray said. “It’s a short
survey, but hopefully very
effective (in helping you
make a choice) down the
road.”
Carolyn Barringer addresses the Cleveland County Board of
Education Monday night. She and others said it was impor-
tant that the next school leader be able to close the gap be-
tween low-achieving and high-achieving students.
The survey results also
indicated that members of
the community ranked “Ex-
perience as a classroom
teacher,” “Experience in fi-
nance, budgets, and acquir-
ing outside funding” as the
three most important quali-
fications of the next school
leader. The staff response re-
sults mostly mirrored those
sentiments.
The survey and the pub-
lic comments are designed
to help the board create a
“candidate profile” ahead of
consideration of any indi-
vidual application, Murray
said.
He said that several have
applied for the position, but
those applications are being
held by the NCSBA until
the April 9 deadline has
passed. At the point the
board will begin the process
of vetting attractive candi-
dates for the school system's
top job.
Murray also solicited
feedback from board mem-
bers directly and wrote
down their individual rec-
ommendations.
PATTERSON: Pastor, husband is now KM’s new HR director
From page 1A
to 2005.
The City of Kings Moun-
tain is one of the largest em-
ployers =~ in town, but
Patterson said he’s grateful
that its workers tend to stay
on the job longer than aver-,
age.
“We’re blessed not to
have a tremendous turnover
rate,” he said. “We found
great people for the posi-
tions and we’ve seen them
stay in the jobs for a long
time.”
Those in city government
are taking the opportunity to
welcome Patterson on
board, calling him a “true
professional” with a surplus
of experience in his field.
“I’ve known him for
many years in the private
sector,” said Kings Moun-
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tain Mayor Rick Murphrey.
“We’re proud to have him
on the staff. He’ll do a great
job for the city.”
Patterson, 61 and soft-
spoken, has long been active
with local churches, whether
it be singing in the choir,
teaching Sunday school or
serving as a youth coordina-
tor. In fact, he said he was
drawn to churches from
early age.
“My parents weren’t big
churchgoers ... but my sister
and I liked going. We would
go to whichever ones were
within walking distance,” he
said. “I got to where I went
to any church that had a
youth group and would let
me sing.”
Patterson was a longtime
member of First Presbyte-
rian Church until about 12
years ago when he decided
he would do what he always
knew he should do and be-
come a pastor himself. He
enrolled in a commissioned
lay pastor program and soon
took the reins of Dixon Pres-
byterian Church on Dixon
School Rd. There, he pre-
sides over a congregation of
about 80 people.
Outside of his busy
schedule as a city adminis-
trator and a pastor, Patterson
said he and his wife enjoy
reading, movies and spend-
ing time with their grand-
children, who live in
Lawndale and Shelby. He’s
partial to James Patterson
mysteries and to inspira-
tional books.
“Faith is a huge part of
my life,” he said.
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