INSIDE...
Obituaries ....cousessenssmssansees 2
Police Log.....cuxemurmnmnanssnness 2
Lifestyles .....cummusnurasssmasanss 6
kmherald.com
DAVE BLANTON
| dave.kmherald@gmail.com
Casino? No casino? Will
we hear the rumble of slot
machines and the clink of
dice in Kings Mountain or
will the patch of land on
Dixon School Rd. remain a
quiet crossroads, a symbol
of that something that al-
most was?
The wait for any new de-
velopments on the subject
drags on for many in Kings
Mountain. And for many
of those, especially among
downtown merchants and
business owners, the wait-
ing may not be over, but the
debate is.
“It’ll help everybody,”
said Paul Ingram, who
owns Ingram’s Barber Shop
on Battleground Ave. “It’ll
help downtown. We can’t
be scared to grow. We can’t
be left behind.”
Ingram is joined by oth-
SPORTS.......
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Have
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See Page 14
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MAUNEY MEMORIAL “(20g
100 S PIEDMONT AVE
*HOKAKLETRM 28086
LIBRARY %
KINGS MOUNTAIN NC 28086. 3450
5P
Volume 127 Issue 8 o Wednesday, Febriiary 25, 2015
ers who see parallels be-
tween the casino bid and
the town’s contentious bid
to allow liquor by the drink
some years back. That move
was fiercely opposed by
church leaders and others
who said tweaking long-
standing alcohol regulations
would pave the way for a
kind of pervasive moral
ruin.
“The negatives that were
supposed to come out of that
decision have never come,”
said Bobby Horne, a local
contractor who was a propo-
nent of the alcohol sales rule
change at the time. “We're
seeing that all over again
with the casino project. My-
self and others are tired of
the hypocrisy.”
Several downtown mer-
chants who spoke to the
Herald said they have grown
tired of a group of Casino
opponents — directly or in-
directly affiliated with the
15¢
EE ER BR
grass-roots Kings Mountain
Awareness Group — who
have taken to speaking out at
and protesting Kings Moun-
tain City Council meetings
and holding anti-casino ral-
lies at area churches. The
City Council joined the
Cleveland County Board of
Commissioners last year in
writing letters that voiced
their approval of the gam-
ing resort.
There is in fact a simmer-
ing resentment among many
in the community — business
owners and otherwise — who
feel that too many are taking
to the pulpit to address what
they believe is really a sim-
ple pocketbook issue.
One downtown merchant
who asked to remain anony-
mous said that as a former
teacher she’s heard from
many parents who complain
there are not enough jobs in
Kings Mountain, and that
there is a not-so-subtle mi-
Business owners rally behind casino idea
This artist's rendering shows the proposed Catawba Indian resort and casino that would be
built on Dixon School Road at I-85.
gration of the town’s youth
to nearby cities such as Bel-
mont and Gastonia.
She also said that some
in the religious community
who are also part of the
anti-casino movement are
putting an unfair pressure
on business owners to stay
silent on the subject.
“Myself and many oth-
ers see it as kind of a shame
campaign,” she said last
week at her business.
Opponents of the casino
argue that a gambling resort
would create very little new
wealth. And organizers be-
hind that movement have in-
vited pastors, lobbyists and
other credentialed speakers
from across the state and
See BUSINESS, Page 6
‘Black history every day' theme
Champion: Man for all stages
gu DAVE BLANTON
i dave.kmherald @gmail.com
Jim Champion has had
a lot of roles over the years:
attorney, a doctor, a business
owner, an actor, a police offi-
cer, a monarch and a mystery
writer.
The longtime Kings Moun-
tain Little Theatre player took
a look back at his 40-plus
years as an actor, producer and
director for Kings Mountain
Little Theatre productions,
starting with a small role in
“Bus Stop” in his early 20s.
Through four decades
he’s had a major hand in the
on- and off-stage duties (in-
JIM CHAMPION
cluding more than 50 roles) of
the theatre company, which is
debuting its current season’s
comedy, “Southern Hospital-
ity,” on Friday. In the play,
Champion plays a business
owner whose arrival to a small
town sets a plot twist in mo-
tion.
Champion said he got
the stage bug early in life,
as a young member of Oak
Grove Baptist Church. There,
he was an avid participant in
its Christmas pageants. By
the time he was a senior at
KMHS, he was directing the
small shows.
When he saw an arti-
cle in the newspaper that
said there was a push to
get the Little Theatre back
on its feet after a hiatus, he
jumped at the chance. But
the man who would go on
See CHAMPION, Page 7
“Southern Hospitality"
Friday at Joy Performance Center
The hilarious comedy,
“Southern Hospitality,"
opens Friday night at 7:30
p.m. at Joy Performance
Center with performances
also on Saturday night at
7:30 p.m. and a Sunday af-
ternoon matinee, March 1,
opens
of Senior Center celebration
#9 ELIZABETH STEWART
20 lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Tuesday morning's sur-
prise snow didn't deter the
celebration of -Black History
Month at the H. Lawrence
Patrick Senior Life & Con-
ference Center.
“The people came," said
Lorada Mason, who coordi-
nated the morning program,
assisted by Bishop Victoria
Felder, Sarah Miller, Bar-
bara Crosby, Helen McClain
and Goldie Diggs.
Each member of the
planning committee con-
tributed to the program in
special songs, poems, with
inspirational words by guest
speaker, Bishop Sharon
Martin of Washington Mis-
sionary Baptist Church of
Shelby.
Mayor Rick Murphrey
brought greetings and spoke
of the significance of Black
History Month. The Patrick
Senior Center Spiritual Choir
composed of Alma Adams,
Mattie Adams, Mary Helen
LORADA MASON
McClain, Sarah Miller, Ol-
ivia Moore, Christine Moore,
Jessie Moore, Betty Pitts,
Nellie Roseboro, Brenda
Smith, Guynetha Warren
and Mary Warren presented
See BLACK: HISTORY, Page 7
at3 p.m. Brown, Maria Burris, Helen
Next weekend shows
are March 6 and March 7 at L =
BG Light dusting Tuesday
2 COMEDY, Page 3
98525700200
Leslie Brown, left, and Mary Grace Keller rehearse a scene
from the Little Theatre show, “Southern Hospitality,” which
opens Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Joy Theatre. Other per-
formances this weekend are on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and
a matinee Sunday afternoon.
~ Photo by BRIAN HALLMAN
but will there be more snow?
Kings Mountain area citizens woke
Tuesday morning to snow falling in the
area.
The soft, flufty, white stuff was on
yards, house tops and cars, leaving the
streets wet with the dusting.
School was out Tuesday for a fourth
Snow Day but weather predictors were say-
ing there could likely be more snow from
Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
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