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Rings Mountam Herald
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Volume 126 ¢ lIssue21 ¢ Wednesday, May 21, 2014 15¢
Fisher named new superintendent
Picked to lead schools in close vote
am DAVE BLANTON
3 dave.kmherald@gmail.com
In a 6-3 vote, the Cleveland County
Board of Education moved Tuesday to name
Dr. Stephen Fisher as the county schools’
new superintendent. Fisher, currently the as-
Allen Williams and Anna-
marie Fulbright were
crowned KMHS 2014 prom
king and queen at Saturday
nights festivites at the
LeGrand Center.
See more photos on pages
6-7B.
Downtown
KM shops
to sponsor
Senior Day
Starting in June, most of
the shops in downtown Kings
Mountain will offer special
discounts to seniors, 60 and
older, on the first Wednesday
of each month, during regular
store hours.
These business owners
have come together to promote
their stores, and each other, in
a joint effort to market Kings
Mountain to Kings Mountain.
Organized by Nicole Smith at
Mike's Great Finds, the shop-
keepers have developed a sys-
tem to realize what
- merchandise each carries so
they can direct shoppers to the
items they want.
"I've purchased multi-card
racks and we are sharing busi-
ness cards that shoppers can
pick up from each one," she
said. They are also looking
into special flags to place in
front of their businesses on
Senior Wednesday to remind
shoppers to come in for the
specials.
A 'membership' card is also
in the works, to give to shop-
pers as recognition of their
participation in helping local
merchants stay in business and
keep Kings Mountain's down-
town alive and prosperous.
"Look for our ad in next
week's Herald, and a map pin-
ning the 47 businesses that are
participating in our first Senior
Wednesday on June 4."
|| 0020 Tm
sistant superintendent for curriculum and in-
struction, will be awarded a four-year con-
tract and assume the role on July 1.
In explaining her vote to pick Fisher, the
board’s vice chairperson Shearra Miller said
that the selection and interview process was
exhaustive and that she learned a lot about
Dr. Stephen Fisher
Fisher in the last several
weeks.
“I saw strengths in
Dr. Fisher I had not seen
before,” she said. “I saw
a vision in Dr. Fisher
that I had not seen be-
fore. I look forward to
working with him in the
Honoring those who serve
Veteran remembers a people
who paid a steep price for freedom
DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald @gmail.com
While fighting in the Vietnam War,
Abraham Ruff learned a powerful lesson
in loyalty, toughness and sacrifice.
His U.S. Army Special Forces unit
was up against the North Vietnamese
Army in the treacherous jungles of the
divided nation. Danger lurked at every
turn. But his men found a valuable ally
in the members of an indigenous Viet-
namese tribe.
That band of people — called the mon-
tagnard, or Mountain People, from the
French — served as interpreters and
lookouts during those hostile times when
“you felt like you were all alone, didn’t
speak the language and were surrounded
by the enemy.”
Ruff, who joined the Army in 1960 at
18 and retired in 1980, was able to enjoy
a reunion with some of the members of
the montagnard who helped his unit and
others survive that difficult war on the
other side of the world. Three of the
montagnard — also known as the Degar —
met him and other members of his Green
Beret team in Charlotte. Two are in poor
health and the third is a minister in
United States after the brutal proxy war,
but not after the conquering communist
forces imprisoned and mistreated them
for years.
Ruff will be speaking about his expe-
rience with the montagnard at Dixon
Presbyterian Church this Sunday 11 a.m.
and his aim is to connect the bonds he
made and the sacrifices he witnessed to
Memorial Day here in the United States
and the sacrifice Christ made for those
who believed in him.
“The montagnard are a simple peo-
ple,” Ruff said. “They live off the land
and don’t make use of much technology.
They are like the Native Americans of
this country when European settlers were
getting here.”
And the montagnard have suffered the
same persecution and indignities as Na-
tive Americans did, Ruff said, who has
seen their mistreatment first-hand. “They
harshly imprisoned them ... and they
burned their books.”
“A lot of people don’t understand that
serving your country sometimes means
making the ultimate sacrifice,” Ruff said.
“The montagnard know this.”
Ruff served in Vietnam with the Army
See RUFF, 8A,
Greensboro. They emigrated to the
Memorial Day
observance
set for Monday
Captain Frank Sincox, retired
Kings Mountain medical doctor who
served in the Medical Corps US
Navy, Reserves and with the Marine
Corps for 42 years, will make the ad-
dress at Monday’s community-wide
Memorial Day observance at 10 a.m.
at Patriots Park.
Sincox practiced medicine for 50
years prior to retirement. In Kings
Mountain he has been active in the
Rescue Squad, Chamber of Com-
merce, Kiwanis Club, Civil Air Pa-
trol, Cleveland County Health
Department, Kings Mountain Hospi-
tal, church activities, and on mayoral
committees.
Also participating in the service
will be KMPD Chief Melvin Proctor,
who will give the invocation, Sheriff
Alan Norman who will lead the
pledge of allegiance, Justin Morrow
who will sing “The National An-
them” and trumpeter Paul Fulton who
will play “Taps.”
Piper Jane Gulden will play spe-
cial music including “Amazing
Grace” and the KMPD honor guard
will post and retrieve the colors.
Mayor Rick Murphrey will wel-
come guests and preside, introduce
the speaker and lead the presentation
of a red, white and blue memorial
wreath at the close of the ceremony.
Budget meeting
Thursday night
City Manager Marilyn Sellers will present the
2014-15 city of Kings Mountain budget to city
council Thursday night at 6 p.m. at a special
meeting of city council at the H. Lawrence
Patrick Senior Life & Conference Center.
Last Thursday city council heard projects pre-
sented by department heads, some of which may
be included in the budget projections to be pre-
sented by Sellers on Thursday.
The 2014 benefit overview by Human Re-
sources Director Randy Patterson showed four
medical option plans for the 200-plus city em-
ployees, two of which are of no cost to city em-
ployees. He proposed a change in medical
administrator (healthgram) and provider network
(CIGNA/Express Scripts) and noted new report-
ing requirements under President Obama’s Af-
fordable Care Act which removes pre-existing
conditions exclusions.
He recommended a benefit strategy to reduce
future claim costs, including encouraging em-
ployees to use new care venues (on-site clinics,
retail clinics, mobile units) and employee partic-
ipation in city sponsored programs on employee
and family education benefits. Employees will
be encouraged to take health screenings for cho-
lesterol, blood pressure, etc. and participate in fit-
ness programs with attention on weight
management.
Energy Director Nick Hendricks who heads
up the gas and electric departments, gave a re-
view of several projects, including Smart Meter,
as did other department heads in preparation for
Thursday’s budget presentation.
future.”
The three dissenting votes came from
Donnie Thurman, Jr., Danny Blanton and
Roger Harris, all of which said they would
nevertheless support Fisher, who is 39, and
respected his qualifications and character
despite favoring other candidates who were
up for the top education job.
See FISHER, 7A
Jimmie Johnson, six-time Sprint Cup NASCAR champion,
nears the finish line in Saturday’s big race. See more photos
on page 12B
Photo by DAVE BLANTON
Battling out a
triathlon victory
ms DAVE BLANTON
\ dave.kmherald@gmail.com
Sunny weather, fierce
competition and a dash of
celebrity marked the 15th
annual Over The Mountain
Triathlon on Saturday as
elite athletes. from around
the state and region raced
through the challenging
course that covers four
counties in two states.
The overall winner of the
37-mile course, which in-
cludes swimming, biking
and running segments, was
27-year-old Matthews resi-
dent Matt Patton, finishing
with a time of 2 hours and
13 minutes.
“I loved it. It’s a really
challenging course,” said
Patton, a two-time All
American swimmer at the
University of Michigan and
a member of the Olympic
Swim Team who ran his first
Over the Mountain race on
Saturday. “The (bicycle)
climbing played to one of
my strong suits.”
The course for the race,
which begins at 8 a.m. at
Moss Lake, consists of a 1-
mile swim across the lake, a
30-mile bike ride and fin-
ishes with a 10K race
through parts of downtown
Kings Mountain and along
Phifer Road. This year’s
race drew 175 participants.
The city employs dozens
of volunteers to mark the
course and its many turns
through the countryside,
state parks and city streets.
Six-time Sprint Cup
champion Jimmie Johnson
had a strong showing in the
grueling Olympic-style race.
The popular NASCAR
driver won his 35-39 age
group in the Triathlon just
hours before heading to the
Charlotte Motor Speedway
to compete in the All-Star
Race, ‘where he wound up
See TRIATHLON, 8A
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