kmherald.com
Candidate
filing
opens July 6
Candidate filing for the
November 3 election begins
July 6, a little over a month
from now at the Cleveland
County Board of Elections.
Registration also begins
on July 6 and ends on July
17 at 12 noon at the Board
of Elections, Patton Drive,
Shelby.
Kings Mountain voters
will help elect a mayor and
four councilmen in Kings
Mountain, five members of
the Cleveland County Board
of Education, and three
members of the Cleveland
County Water Board. Gro-
ver voters will also elect a
mayor and three members
of the board.
Politicking, outwardly
quiet, will probably start
picking up in the next
weeks prior to the filing
date.
Elections Supervisor
Dana Causby says there is
See CANDIDATE, Page 7A
Orange
barriers
to be
removed
Mayor Rick Murphrey
said there's good news. The
city finally will be able to
remove the orange barriers
at the Mountain and Gold
Street railroad crossings by
the end of August or before.
The Department of
Transportation and Norfolk
Southern Railroad will be
placing message boards
downtown announcing the
temporary closure of the
Mountain Street and Gold
Street railroad crossings
within seven days prior to
the start of this project.
Concrete dividers, with
planters; will be installed to
restrict the 18 wheel trucks
from crossing at these
points. This is a safety and
beautification issue at no
cost to the City. The Police
and Fire Departments have
reviewed these plans along
with the City Manager and
staff.
The crossings have two
railroad tracks. The con-
tractor will be required to
close both crossings during
construction in order to
keep one of the tracks open
at all times for the train to
continue operation.
9852570020
iN
Volume 127 o Issue 22 ¢ Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Special Graduation Section Inside
C legs
ERALD
15¢
osIMountain
Former US Senator Rick Santorum pays a visit to Kings Mountain and is greeted by sup-
porters at 238 Pizzeria.
(Photo by Lib Stewart)
Presidential hopeful
makes stop in KM
ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald @ gmail.com
The first visit of a 2016
Presidential candidate to
Kings Mountain may not be
the last.
Ronnie Whetstine, newly
appointed chairman of the
Cleveland County Republi-
can Party, thinks that because
North Carolina is having an
early Primary that more can-
didates will be in the area.
Wayne King, long ac-
tive in the GOP and a close
friend of former Senator
Rick Santorum, learned that
Santorum, 57, planned a trip
to South Carolina after his
presidential announcement
Wednesday and he quickly
got on the phone and invited
him to Kings Mountain on
Saturday and chose 238 Piz-
zeria as the spot for him to
pitch his message.
Robert Bolin, owner
of the new Pizzeria which
just opened, welcomed the
visit, and the restaurant was
packed, standing-room-only
for the 7:45 p.m. visit of the
Presidential hopeful.
Bolin put on his apron
and started serving the crowd
which started arriving early
evening and later in the eve-
ning (the Senator had not had
supper) showed the Pennsyl-
vania visitor how to make
pizza.
Mayor Rick Murphrey
presented Santorum with a
key to the city.
“I'm not running the same
campaign I ran in 2012," said
the personable Santorum. “I
spent too much time debat-
ing all about the best person
to beat Barack Obama and
didn't lay out my own vision
for this country," declaring
that the issues are what this
race is about.
“People are concerned
about the threats by ISIS,
China, Russia, the economy,
national security, and strug-
gling families," said Santo-
rum.
Growing up in a mill
town, Santorum said he saw
manufacturing become a
robust industry but now it's
gone and so has employment.
“America needs to go back
to work," he said, adding
that the break-down of the
American family concerns
him and leadership is needed
in Washington to help an
America divided between
the haves and the have nots.
Santorum said there is no
candidate among the long list
of GOP hopefuls with stron-
ger foreign policy creden-
tials. He has been touted as
a faithful advocate for Israel
and a staunch voice against
Iran obtaining a nuclear
weapon. During his tenure
in the US Senate he was a
leader on US Israeli affairs.
He said the Islamic State
is expanding and Allah is
blessing them." When he
loses a round, they gain
more recruits. If you elect
me we will defeat ISIS," he
declared. He said an ISIS on-
line magazine had the Pres-
ident's picture on the front
page, the caption reading
“who they are in the words
of our enemy."
See photo Page 3A
Race day in KM: Triathlon draws healthy crowd
DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald @ gmail.com
Elite athletes from
across the Carolinas and
beyond descended on
Kings Mountain Saturday
to tackle a triathlon course
often described as “tough”
and “beautiful.”
After a 1-mile swim
across Moss Lake, a 30-
mile bike ride through four
counties and two states and
a 6-mile through parts of the
west side of town, 39-year-
old Trent Kirk emerged as
the top racer of the day,
which featured nearly
cloudless skies and tem-
peratures in the mid-70s.
“Good race today — I
See TRIATHALON, Page 7A
A runner begins his race in the Kings Mountain Triatholon
Saturday.
INSIDE...
Obituaries ..cuesssmasssssanssannnes 2
Police Log....ussumsunssanenns 2 & 7
Lifestyles ...cusmmsnsassanesssnannss 6
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Operation Summertime Blues
BUSTED
§ ELIZABETH STEWART
"a lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Operation Summertime
Blues, a 18-month long in-
vestigation by the Narcot-
ics Division of the Kings
Mountain Police Depart-
ment that focuses on round-
ing up drug dealers, was
paying off Friday as police
busted 25 suspects who face
93 felony charges.
Det. Sgt. Lisa Proctor,
who heads the operation,
said police have seen an in-
crease in the selling of pre-
scription medications in the
area during the past year and
that has been a big focus of
the investigation. More ar-
rests will be made
this week.
At a press
conference at
KMPD Friday
Mayor Rick
Murphrey com-
mended Kings Mountain
Police for their continuing
and “never stop” efforts to
keep Kings Mountain safe.
Sgt. Proctor said that
when the department uses
undercover officers they
are focused on the safety of
the officers. She said that
officers knew that some of
the people they approached
were known to carry fire-
arms. "What you think is a
See BUSTED, Page 7A
Farmers Market opens
this Saturday downtown
It’s time! The Foothills
Farmers’ Market- Kings
Mountain is all set for open-
ing day -
this Sat-
urday.
Market
hours
are 8 fe
a.m. to |
noon.
This
season,
the mar-
ket will be held along the
winding walkway through
Patriots Park, near the Ga-
zebo. This is sure to be
a nice location, with re-
strooms and water fountains
CATHEY NOELL
easily accessible.
Parking is available on
Railroad Avenue and on the
grass entering from Gold
Street.
Season features, in ad-
dition to the freshest food
available, will be live
music, cooking demonstra-
tions, children’s activities,
semi-weekly visits from
Cleveland County Master
Gardeners, and a weekly
presence by Kings Moun-
tain’s Mauney Memorial
Library.
Season opening day will
feature a cooking demon-
stration at 10 a.m. by local
See FARMERS MARKET, Page 7A
Relay for Life —-
fighting
for a cure in 2015
Carsqiiers galiier for a ceremonial lap at John Gamble
Stadium during Relay for Life Friday evening.
DAVE BLANTON
adave.kmherald@gmail.com
A new venue. A new vibe.
That was the prevailing
theme at Kings Mountain’s
2015 Relay for Life held at
the high school Friday night.
It was also a time for
celebration. Celebration of
a battle hard fought. Cele-
bration of new research that
is helping to fend off cancer
and its many forms, a killer
of millions every year.
“We have both battled
cancer — and we’re so pleased
to be able to take part in the
Survivor Lap,” said Susan
Beam, who fought and won
a battle against breast cancer
in 2011. Her husband Stuart,
who survived a bout with
skin cancer about 10 years
ago, now has a new chal-
lenge of fighting cancer of
the lymph nodes.
“Love has the last word.
For the sake of this love
See FIGHTING, Page 11A
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